Aqua and Ruby Hoshino happily dug into the McDonald's breakfast that Dio had brought for them that morning, while Ai watched them with a fond but exasperated look.
After sharing the story of saving Ai and dealing with the Mastermind with the chatroom, he'd used his powers to send her a message saying he'd be coming over with breakfast for everyone and to not worry about cooking. Ai had happily welcomed him and the twins, while still a bit weary of him, were more than happy to enjoy McDonald's breakfast.
"Thank you for bringing breakfast," she told him quietly. "After last night, breakfast was honestly so far removed from my mind- I just wanted to make sure Aqua and Ruby were safe."
"Not a problem at all," he responded easily. "Figured the kids could use a treat, help them not focus on what happened last night. Personally, if you could, I'd get them into counselling."
"Yeah, that would be nice," she sighed, knowing she didn't have the money to afford such a thing. "Did you... You know... Do what you said?"
Dio nodded, using Digital Deluge to create a small barrier around them so that the kids would only hear 'boring adult talk' rather than their actual conversation. "Set up a field, kids won't hear what we say- just to be safe," he told her. "Yeah, I did it. I imagine you'll probably see on the news in a few days or a week that he'll be found in his bed."
Ai exhaled heavily, a look in her eyes that was somewhere between relief, vindication, and mourning. "Good," she said after a moment of silence. "That's... Good."
"Do you hate me?" Dio asked her.
She chuckled softly. "Hate the person who saved my life and made sure I won't be targeted by the person who tried to take it?" She asked. "No. No, I don't. Maybe if I had agreed to marry Hikaru back then... Maybe things would have been different. But what's done is done. Maybe I never really knew who Hikaru truly was, I never knew he would try and get me killed..."
She looked at Dio and smiled warmly. "I'm grateful to you. The Hikaru I knew was dead the second he tried to get me killed and put my children in danger... All you did was kill the monster that was wearing his face. So, no. I don't hate you- not even a little bit."
Dio stared into her eyes... And he could tell, for one of the first times in her life, Ai was truly being honest.
He felt a wave of relief rush through his body, glad that he wasn't hated by Ai. After all, Ai was going to be joining the Chatroom. It wouldn't do to be on bad terms with the people in the chatroom, it would make things inconvenient.
And, besides that... He couldn't deny that Ai Hoshino was a beautiful woman. Seeing her in person, it was no wonder she essentially had a cult following both while she was alive and after her death. In terms of appearance, she was the perfect and ideal idol.
Combined with her ability to lie so well that even she could think it was truth... Well, it was no wonder that, after her death, she essentially had a cult following.
"So, how long are you staying?" Ai asked him, reaching out and wiping some ketchup off of Ruby's cheek with a napkin, the girl giggling happily and rubbing her cheek against Ai's hand.
"I'll be heading off once we're done here," he told Ai. "Even if time is frozen in my world while I'm here, I've got my own things to deal with back home... But you're going to be getting the chatroom once I leave most likely, so you'll be able to talk to me any time. I'll give you some points, so you can buy some skills to defend yourself too in case of another bad situation."
She smiled, a little reluctant but willing to accept the situation, "I won't forget what you've done for me- thank you. Really."
Dio merely smiled at her.
After breakfast, Ai led him to the doorway with a sad smile, "Well, I guess this is a goodbye."
"Not goodbye," Dio disagreed. "More of a... See you later."
She giggled in amusement, "Sure, see you later, Dio."
He smiled warmly, "See you around, Ai."
Dio turned around, tapping a button on his virtual keyboard before he vanished.
Ai just smiled and shook her head before she felt her phone ping in her pocket. She pulled it out and checked it, before her eyes widened in shock at what she saw...
Several billion yen had just been deposited into her account... The kind of money she'd never even dreamed of...
With that, she could continue her idol work for another year or two before she retired and moved onto something else- all while ensuring that Ruby and Aqua continued to have all their needs provided. She could even become a partner at her current idol group once she retired, providing better wages and working conditions for the girls...
She looked at the spot where Dio had disappeared, feeling a smile crawling onto her face. "... You jerk... You didn't even let me say thank you in person..."
[Ding!]
[Welcome to the Multiverse Chatroom!]
Ai smiled happily as she accepted the invitation. "Well, don't think you're going to escape me, Dio-kun..." She lifted a hand to her chest. "After all, I finally know what love is now..."
[Ultimate Idol has joined the chat.]
.
.
.
Dio yawned as he woke up the next morning, having gone straight to bed once he returned to the Moon Cell. He'd been up for an extra twelve hours or so in order to deal with Hikaru and claim his rewards.
Nobu had her head pressed against his chest, rubbing her cheek against him as she hummed happily- slowly waking up herself.
"Morning, Nobu," Dio pat her head.
"Morning, Dio," Nobu yawned as she slowly sat up, stretching and giving Dio a great view of her body. "That was some good sleep... You took a little while to come to bed though, right?"
"Was just doing a little research into our next opponent," he spoke, his face growing serious. "Our next opponent is Dan Blackmoore- a soldier and a close confidant of the Queen of England. His Servant is an Archer- Robin Hood, who specialises in Assassin-like tactics and poisoning. He has two Noble Phantasms. The first is No Face May King, essentially acting like a lesser form of Presence Concealment. His Second is the Yew Bow, which causes poison and diseases within the target to explode like gunpowder when the true name is invoked."
"Feh, a simple enemy then," Nobu scoffed. "So long as we avoid poisoning during the first six days- and even then, your Spiritron hacking will easily remove such things- then his assassin tactics will ultimately fail on the seventh day, and we'll win. Very simple."
Dio nodded at her words. "On top of that, Dan Blackmoore was knighted by the Queen. He has a strong sense of honor and fair combat- he'll be at odds with Archer and force him to play fair even though it's against his nature."
The Demon King snored, "Seriously? So, we fought a master who was led around and brutally criticised his servant whenever something went wrong in the first round. And now we have a Master who won't use his servant to their full potential."
"Unfortunately, that's just how it goes... Well, let's eat breakfast and worry about that later."
After breakfast with Nobu, Dio headed to the roof and met up with Rin- who was typing away on a holographic keyboard.
"Looking up information on your opponent?" Dio asked.
"Yes," she nodded. "My opponent isn't a huge threat, but better to have information and not need it than need it and not have it. What about you?"
"Sir Dan Blackmoore is my opponent."
Rin paused and looked at him. "That's not a light opponent," she told him. "He's a soldier, he's been through warzones just like you have- but he was actually leading people into war and coming out the other side alive. While you survived in warzones, he thrived."
"I know," Dio nodded. "And I'm not underestimating him, not by any means. But I have my own tricks and advantages too, you know. Just from the little observing I've been doing on him, I can already tell you that he and his servant are at odds- which means that I already have an advantage."
"Oh? Not getting along with his servant? Indeed, there are quite a few masters like that... Most of them were weeded out in Round 1. By Round 3, all of the masters who don't get along with their servants should be gone unless they have a ridiculously powerful Noble Phantasm."
He nodded at her words, and the two of them fell into a comfortable silence- merely enjoying each other's company as Rin scrolled through information on her opponent's life.
'Master, why do you not simply mate with her?' Ogre's voice resounded in his mind.
If Dio didn't have Buddha's Enlightenment, he would have visibly recoiled from the shock of the Dragon's words... Truly, he shouldn't have expected any less from a Dragon who had rarely if ever interacted with humans.
'Human mating rituals are more complex than Dragon ones,' he finally responded. 'There is a courtship process in the lead up to mating, where the two must speak and spend time together in order to learn if they are compatible. If they are not, then they may separate without a problem. If they are, then they will start mating.'
'Hm... Humans are weird,' Ogre murmured. 'I would never make such a thing complicated- if Master desires me, then he may have me. Simple as that.'
Moon Cell have mercy on his poor soul...
"Suppose you win the war," Dio spoke up, wanting to distract himself from Ogre's words. "You get your wish... What will you do after?"
"After..." Rin paused and murmured. "... That's a good question- I don't know. I suppose I'll start investing in technology advances and stuff, making sure my wish of getting rid of the Harwey's block doesn't go to waste. What about you? What will you do if you win?"
"Probably use the Moon Cell to deal with the Harwey's and use its authority to live a peaceful and comfortable life for the rest of my days," he admitted. "Besides ruling the Moon Cell, I don't have grand ambitions- I just want to live in peace and comfort."
Rin merely nodded, unsurprised. Rin was an illegitimate child of the Tohsaka Family, but she had been raised to chase greatness. Meanwhile, Dio had only ever desired to live. The differences in their upbringing meant that they had different overall goals in life- nothing to be ashamed of.
Rather, Rin found it refreshing to be around someone who had what she perceived as a simple desire compared to her own... Perhaps that was why she'd found herself attracted to him in the first place.
Though even she hadn't realised she would find herself so comfortable with him and start to fall for him like this... Even though it had only been a few days, she found herself preparing to take the next step in her relationship with Dio.
After all, one day, one of them would die and the other would have to go on living.
While Rin was lost in her thoughts, Dio watched her carefully before he lay down on the roof and stared up at the sky.
Dan Blackmoore.
Even knowing about his opponent and the fact he was at odds with his servant- Dio knew that the fight wouldn't be easy. Robin Hood may not be strong in a one-on-one fight, but he would certainly be a tricky opponent nonetheless... And he also knew the sneaky bugger would ignore Dan's orders and do things his own way- poisoning Dio to get what he wanted.
Dio knew that if he got to the 7th day then victory would be assured. To do that, it seemed like it might be time to purchase some of the things Shadowheart had uploaded...
The Second Week had begun.
VOLUME 1 - FIN
***
That brings V1 of Billionfold Return to a close.
Currently, I have no plans of posting anything else on Tuesdays for a while- I'm experiencing an extreme case of 'I have too much I want to write and can't pick what I want to write.' So, for now, don't expect anything on Tuesdays. You can continue to expect Switch On: Unlimited to keep coming on Tuesdays for quite awhile though, so no need to worry there.
Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you all in the next fic!