Scattered Cherry Blossoms Universe, Human World, Japan, Kuoh.
"*Sigh* Although it was nice seeing the others, there's no place like home." James said as he stretched right after the world transfer ended.
"Indeed." Scáthach added with a nod. "But I must say, those adopted sisters of his are quite good for normal humans."
"Well, they were trained by a famous ninja village, after all." James replied with a shrug. "On top of that, Kasumi is called the Kunoichi of Destiny… Or something like that.'
"I suppose." Scáthach replied.
"James~~~!" Venelana whined, as she suddenly threw herself into James' arms. "Tatsuo wouldn't join my peerage! Wah~~~~~!"
James couldn't help rolling his eyes when he saw the way Venelana was acting.
"He even had the nerve to make a counter offer and asked me to become his." Venelana continued. "Even worse, he only made the offer because he wanted Grayfia and he knew he couldn't have her without getting me to come along! Wahh~~~~~!"
"Oh, I heard about that." James replied with a grin. "Damn… he only saw you as an accessory, huh? That must really hit your pride."
"Actually, there are probably more important things to think about than that." Lilith said calmly.
"Lady Lilith, what do you mean?" Venelana asked, looking quite aggrieved. "What could be more important than my broken heart?"
"Great Red." Lilith said bluntly. She then turned to look directly into James' eyes as she continued. "You said she was quite taken with Tatsuo, as well, correct? And you went on this trip without telling her. I wonder how she'll feel when she sees this in your dreams at some point."
James paled immediately upon hearing that. He then turned to look at Scáthach with a pleading expression.
"Do not look at me like that, my disciple." Scáthach said preemptively. "You'll have to go apologize for this blunder on your own."
"I might really die this time…" James muttered to himself.
"Oh, that reminds me…" Venelana said as she separated from James' embrace, her tone returning to normal while she tapped her chin with her right index finger. "Did you remember to ask Tatsuo about helping Misla?"
*Smack!*
"I guess that's a no, huh?" Venelana asked after seeing James face palm hard enough to leave a dent in concrete. "*Sigh* Rias is gonna be so disappointed."
*Bang!*
Yet, before James could respond, a [Teleportation Magic Circle] appeared in the corner of the room. When it disappeared, Serafall, wearing one of her frilly magical girl outfits, was revealed. Then, after looking around for a moment, she locked onto James, who was still covering his face, and launched herself at him like a tiny missile and knocked him to the floor on impact.
"Jay-Kun! Jay-Kun! You're back!" Serafall said excitedly while sitting on James' abdomen. "I need to ask you a favor."
"Something tells me I'm not gonna like this…" James muttered while looking up at Serafall, who was now wearing an extremely cute, imploring smile. "But let's hear it."
"Well, I recently came across a girl afflicted with the Sleeping Disease." Serafall replied. "She's a Half-Devil descendant of the original Leviathan. So…. I was hoping that you could ask Tatsu-Kun if he could help me wake her up."
"Damn… another one?" James asked rhetorically. "*sigh* Fine, I'll ask."
"You should probably ask him soon." Venelana pointed out while looking at the clock in the room. "Rias should be back from class soon, after all. And if she comes back and you haven't asked, she's not gonna be happy."
"Yeah, and the last thing I wanna deal with is a Rias throwing a tantrum." James muttered. "Getting slapped once is more than enough."
"Yeah, she's never gonna live that down." Venelana said with a giggle.
With a smile of his own on his face, James took Serafall by the waist. Then he stood up before putting her down on the floor. He then turned towards the stairs leading up to the second floor as he pulled out his smartphone and opened the [Dimensional Chat].
"By the way, when Mizore gets back, tell her to come up to my studio." James said while typing away on his smartphone as he climbed the stairs. "I got a new idea for a manga, and I'm gonna need her help."
Hearing that, Serafall's eyes lit up. Then she rushed to follow behind James as she pestered him with questions about his new manga. Meanwhile, Scáthach, Venelana, and Grayfia just watched them go while Lilith went to sit on the couch, turn on the TV, and reach for a video game controller to start up one of the Souls-like games she was addicted to.
Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.
"Phew! They're all gone." Tatsuo muttered to himself as he flopped on the couch in the penthouse's living room. "It didn't feel like they were here for very long, though."
"Well, that's because they were only here for two days." Sumire pointed out as she sat down next to Tatsuo. "But it was fun having them here. They were all nice."
"Most of them were nice." Mai snapped. "I really didn't like those girls, though."
"What a surprise..." Ayane drawled while rolling her eyes. "You don't even like Kasumi all that much after seeing her giving Tatsuo a lap pillow."
Being reminded of the scene she saw after the concert, Mai started to audibly grind her teeth while turning to glare at Kasumi.
In response, Kasumi only smiled at Mai with that gentle smile that she often wore, making Mai feel as if she had just punched a ball of cotton.
"But Tatsu-Chan." Sumire said, sounding slightly disappointed. "You were bad today."
"*Sigh* I know." Tatsuo replied while shaking his head. "I'll make it up to them next time."
Naturally, Tatsuo was talking about how, thanks to his spar with Scáthach, he completely forgot about the trip to Nekoya he mentioned to James and Alfonzo during their first night. But when he really got into his spar with Scathach, he was simply too focused on improving. As a result, the spar did not end until only a few minutes before it was time for everyone to return to their own worlds.
"Hmm?" Tatsuo, while thinking about the next time he would invite everyone to his world, was pulled out of his thoughts when he got a [Notification] saying that he had been tagged in the [Dimensional Chat]. "Maybe it's from Akatsuki? I mean, everyone else just left. I wasn't expecting to hear from anyone until tomorrow at the earliest."
{[Dimensional Chat]
James: Hey, @Tatsuo
James: I got a favor to ask you
James: I forgot to mention it while I was there, though
Tatsuo (Admin): What's up?
James: Well, Ri Ri asked me to ask you this
James: Oh, Sera-Tan wants me to ask you something similar, too
Alfonzo: I think I know where he's going with this
Lici: Yeah, it must be Misla and Ingvild, right?
James: I don't know who Ingvild is
James: But yeah, Ri Ri wants you to help her aunt, Misla,who's been afflicted by the sleeping disease
James: Just like you did with Uncle Dante
Tatsuo (Admin): Sure
Tatsuo (Admin): I don't mind
Tatsuo (Admin): It's not like it's all that hard
James: Thanks
James: Now Ri Ri won't yell at me
Tatsuo (Admin): But
James: But?
Tatsuo (Admin): Are they going to be moved to your house in the human world?
Tatsuo (Admin): I mean, you said you didn't wanna expose me to the underworld, right?
James: Oh, don't worry about that
James: I'll ask Aislynn to make an announcement about you being under her protection, or something
James: I doubt those highborn, bigoted fossils will have the balls to do anything to you with that
Tatsuo (Admin): Yeah, that works
Tatsuo (Admin): I'm actually surprised you didn't bring her with you when you came here
Zelretch: I find it regrettable, as well
Zelretch: Meeting a dragon of such power and renown in a world would be quite insightful
James: Don't remind me
James: She's probably gonna kick my ass when I go to the base later
James: And if I'm unlucky, she might kill me by accident
Violet: By accident?
Aletia: Red dragon woman… Really strong
Tatsuo (Admin): Aletia is understating things again
Tatsuo (Admin): But I'm sure Aislynn knows what she's doing
Tatsuo (Admin): She wouldn't kill you
Tatsuo (Admin): Probably…
Alfonzo: That sounds really reassuring
James: Yeah… REALLY reassuring
James: Anyway, when can you come to my world?
Tatsuo (Admin: Next weekend if that's fine with you
Tatsuo (Admin): Or if you need more time to prepare, Golden Week
Tatsuo (Admin): That's about a month away
James: I'll let you know
James: As long as nothing comes up, next weekend is fine
James: But if not, we'll have to wait until your Golden Week
Tatsuo (Admin): Works for me
Tatsuo (Admin): anyway, I'm tired from sparring
Tatsuo (Admin): I'm gonna go get some sleep
Tatsuo (Admin): I'll talk to you all tomorrow before we start the mission
Alfonzo: Got it
Sakura: I understand
Akatsuki: I'll be ready}
"Is everything okay, Tatsu-Chan?" Sumire asked after seeing Tatsuo put his smartphone down.
"Yeah, James just needed me to make a trip to his world to treat someone with a disease." Tatsuo replied nonchalantly.
"Speaking of treating diseases, are you gonna help that violin girl?" Ayane asked curiously.
"Yeah." Tatsu replied calmly. "I still need to talk to her about what happened during the concert, too. *Sigh* I guess I'll have to just find her at school on Monday."
"That won't be hard." Sumire said with a smile. "I arranged for her to be in your class, after all."
"Just where don't you have influence?" Tatsuo asked in an incredulous tone.
"Tee-Hee." Sumire only giggled cutely in response.
"But… But... But..." Mai, struggling to say what she wanted, stammered with an indecisive expression on her face.
"We already know what you're about to say, Mai." Ayane said in an exasperated tone. "You really need to get over yourself. Even if Tatsuo only ends up with one girl, it won't be you. He already has a girlfriend."
Mai started gritting her teeth at that. On top of that, her ponytail, without any wind in the room, began to sway ominously as she glared at Ayane.
"You. Take. That. Back." Mai said with tears forming in her eyes. "Tatsu-Kun and I are destined to be together."
Ayane only rolled her eyes in response without taking Mai seriously.
*Smack!*
"Bad Mai-Chan." Sumire said firmly after [Blinking] behind Mai and slapping her upside the head. "Even if Tatsu-Chan were yours, he would look down on you for being so selfish."
Sumire then looked over to Tatsuo.
"Right?" Sumire asked.
"Something like that." Tatsuo replied with a shrug. "More than that, I'd be upset if anyone tried to dictate what I can and can't do."
Despite the nonchalant way he spoke, all the women in the room, with Sumire as an exception, could not help but shiver minutely when Tatsuo's domineering draconic aura was unintentionally released and washed over them. IN fact, Tio, also being draconic in nature, looked as if she would go into heat on the spot. Then, there was Mai, who was almost always in heat… She was looking at Tatsuo like she was ready to jump him and tear off his clothes bare handed.
"Calm down, Tatsu-Chan." Sumire said as she placed a hand on Tatsuo's shoulder after [Blinking] to his side. "Your aura is leaking."
"Huh?" Tatsuo hummed in confusion. "Is it? My bad."
Realizing that his mother was right, Tatsuo reeled in his draconic aura. Meanwhile, Sumire lowered her head in thought.
'If Tatsu-Chan doesn't completely synchronize with is draconic side soon, things like this will continue to happen whenever his emotions lean heavily in one direction or he's overstimulated.' Sumire thought to herself. 'Hopefully, this mission will be enough to complete the synchronization. I won't have to watch him so closely about his essence, either. And that would at least make Mai-Chan happy.'
"Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed." Tatsuo said as he stood up from the couch. "Sparring with Master Scáthach was tiring. And I need to be well rested for the [Mission] tomorrow."
"That's a good idea." Sumire said after being pulled out of her contemplation. "Get enough rest. Then, I'll help you pack things that you'll need for going out tomorrow, okay?"
"It's not like I'm going out on a picnic…" Tatsuo muttered as he walked towards the living room's entrance. He then raised his right hand and waved without turning around. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Good night."
"Good night, Tatsu-Chan!" Sumire called back while waving her hands excitedly until Tatsuo disappeared around the corner.
After that, Tatsuo went to bed. But before he went to sleep, he looked into his [Inventory], checking the number of weapons he and Alfonzo were able to make replicas of from all those he was able to make [Projections] of.
"*Sigh* Not as many as I would have liked." Tatsuo muttered to himself while looking at the grid that represented his [Inventory]. "But I guess these will be enough for now. I should be able to face any situation we might come across in the MHA world with these."
Closing the [Inventory], Tatsuo let his head sink into the pillow as he closed his eyes.
"And if worse comes to worst, I can just ask Alfonzo to help me make the weapons I need while we're on the [Mission]." Tatsuo continued to mutter. "Ugh! But I forgot, he said he'd be using [Electromagnetism Magic] as his [Quirk]. Which means, either he or I will have to make the weapons the old fashioned way. Damn…"
While continuing to grumble to himself, Tatsuo eventually fell asleep while knowing that tomorrow he would be headed to another world. And depending on when he and the others were inserted into the timeline, they might be there for a long time.