The World Is Mine For The Taking

Days passed, yet it felt like the entire world had frozen in place, as if time itself refused to move forward.

Even though only a few weeks remained before the end of the first semester and the long-awaited summer vacation, everything around me still carried the same weightless stillness. It was like being stuck in a loop where nothing changed, no matter how much I waited.

While I was drowning in that feeling of stagnation, Titania, Zeruel, Tris, and Yr suddenly invited me out on a date—together, all four of them at once.

Looking back, it must have been because of how preoccupied I'd been these past months. I had been spending nearly all of my energy working with Solaris, planning every step of how we'd eventually invade the Empire. Without realizing it, I had left my girls feeling lonely. That thought stung a little.

Well… even with my busy days, I still made sure to give them as much affection as I could. I showered them with my attention whenever possible—and sometimes, quite literally showered them with it.

This time, though, they wanted more than just the usual. They asked me to go with them to Lala Land.

Honestly, I was caught off guard when they suggested it. I never would've guessed they'd ask to go there. But then again, knowing them, they enjoyed surprising me with things I wouldn't expect. So, while it shocked me at first, it didn't really at the same time. It was just… them being themselves.

After a while, we finally arrived at Lala Land.

The place stretched out in front of us like a dreamland come to life—an amusement park filled with rides, attractions, and countless games. The air was full of noise with the laughter, music, the clattering of rides, and the sharp bursts of cheerful screams echoing from what you'd call rides similarly on the things back on Earth.

The four of them were practically glowing with excitement. They looked so sweet, so innocent—like they'd suddenly become children again, running around wide-eyed and smiling at everything.

"Leon… tired…" Yr murmured softly.

I looked down at her. Yr's voice was faint, her body swaying a little as she rubbed her eyes. She looked like she was about to collapse into sleep at any second. She had never been the most active among us, and something this loud and overwhelming must've drained her completely.

Well, I knew what I had to do. I bent down, letting her climb onto my back.

This wasn't new. Whenever she got like this, it usually meant one thing and that she wanted me to carry her while she drifted off.

The moment I lifted her, she buried her face against my shoulder. Within seconds, her breathing evened out into soft little snores. She had already fallen asleep. She slept so peacefully, it was as though I had turned into her personal bed.

"Ahh…~ Yr's already asleep?" Titania asked, her tone a mix of amusement and fondness.

"Well, she tires out easily, so I guess it can't be helped," Tris said, shrugging lightly.

"Do you want me to carry her for you, Leon?" Zeruel asked, tilting her head.

I shook mine with a smile. "No, it's fine. I just want you all to enjoy yourselves. I'll carry Yr here and watch over you while you have fun. Honestly, I think she's enjoying her nap more than she would any of the rides."

"Is that really okay? But… we wanted to have fun together with you…" Titania said, her voice carrying a trace of worry.

She was right. The whole reason they brought me out was to enjoy this day with me. And now, with Yr asleep on my back, I couldn't exactly share every ride or run around with them like I should. Unless I put her down—which wasn't an option—it felt like there was a distance between us.

I thought for a moment, then smirked. "Well, I think I have a better way for us to have fun."

Titania's eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed pink. "Leon, that's… lewd…" she muttered.

The other two glanced at me with the same embarrassed blush. Clearly, they misunderstood what I meant.

"That's not it. Not now, anyway," I said with a chuckle. "We can save that for later. For now… just follow me."

With Yr still sleeping soundly against my back, I led the three of them through the lively crowd until we reached our destination.

"What is this place, Leon?" Tris asked, curiosity lighting up her face.

"An arcade," I replied.

"Arcade?"

"Yeah. It's a place where you can play all sorts of games without needing to run around. It won't wear you out—you just use these controls to play," I explained, pointing to the rows of machines.

Their eyes widened in unison. "Ohhh~…"

Good. I had their attention.

"You made this, Leon?" Titania asked.

"Well, not exactly by myself. I had a lot of help. It was a project of the Leonamon as a whole. But I did plan and design it. It'll be opening soon for business. Right now, it's still in trial mode since a few of the games don't work properly—we're still fixing them."

I remembered my own surprise when I first learned that even in this world, the term "bug" also existed.

In case you're wondering, a bug in a game is basically a mistake. It is an error in the code or logic that causes weird or unintended behavior. Sometimes it's something small, like a graphical glitch, and sometimes it's big enough to crash the game completely. Bugs happen when the programming isn't perfect, and the results are things the developers never intended.

The team was still hunting down those bugs, but at least a good chunk of the games already worked fine.

The girls eagerly started playing. At first, they fumbled with the controls, clumsy and unsure. But with time, they grew more comfortable, and eventually, they managed to master the games, laughing and shouting with every win and loss.

At some point, Yr stirred on my back, shifting as her eyes fluttered open.

"Where are we…?" she murmured sleepily, her voice muffled against me.

I explained the place to her, and immediately, her eyes lit up. She wanted to try too.

Not long after, she joined the others, and to everyone's surprise, she got so good at the games that no one could beat her anymore—not even me.

I couldn't help but laugh. I guess we had found her true calling.