"It is a cool project," Matsu admitted, as she dusted off a 3D print- one that had been made in a Selective Laser Sintering printer, precisely fusing fine particles of the desired material together to form the part. It was a very capable method, given that the un-sintered dust, in addition to being reusable, acted as support material, and that the laser and the dust could achieve some very fine detail, high-tolerance results. "I'd be a little more enthusiastic about it, if I had a use for a laptop, but..." She shrugged. "Hrm. This place will stay time-dilated, right?"

"Eyup," I said, nodding. "Chiho and Uzume's un-dilated planet is that bright light right there." I pointed at the night sky- because, of course, if I was going to do a romantic date with Matsu, then sure, it'll be us working on an electronics hobby project, but it'll be a starlit electronics hobby project on a beautiful balcony.

How, precisely, we maintained an adequately-lit workspace while also not getting the kind of light pollution that'd make the night sky harder to see, I honestly had no idea. Warehouse Shenanigans, I supposed.

"Maybe we could do a vacation, here," Matsu mused. "A week at a beach resort, getting some sun, seeing some beach babes in bikinis... And, you know, obviously, we're both nerds, so we're going to want to bring real computers with us, but desktops would be too bulky. So..."

"So, this here custom laptop project," I said, nodding. "Which is inspired by something I had been working on before becoming a Jumpchain protagonist, but after I finished the easy part of connecting an SBC to a portable monitor and a bluetooth keyboard, I realized that figuring out a laptop-like power supply that'd let it seamlessly switch between battery power and wall power would be..." I grimaced. "...Well, the kind of thing that requires an education in electronics and circuit design that I just didn't have before this evening."

It'd started pretty straightforwardly. Matsu and I were both computer nerds who knew stuff about programming and networking, but since neither of us knew too much about the nitty gritty hardware side of things, we'd started our date by attending a two-hour class at the local community college, which- thanks to the growing prevalence of former Servants who'd received the Body Mod and the Natural Teacher perk- conveyed to us the sort of knowledge and understanding you'd normally find in a certified electrical engineer who'd been on the job for a few years.

After that shot came a thirty minute chaser on "additive manufacturing"- they apparently thought the term '3D printing' was old-fashioned and born from some misconceptions about the technology. As someone who'd owned a 3D printer, I could agree that, sure, a 3D printer really was just about nothing like a 2D printer that put words and pictures on paper. But, still...

"Christ," I muttered. "I turn my back on this place for two months, and it's like sixteen years went by."

"They did," Matsu said. We'd been making remarks like this the whole evening, prompted each time by our own internal monologues. "Lucky for us, really- all your pet geniuses in here have made some really nice advances in technology. These laptops would be disappointing, otherwise."

"The software end of things is pretty great, too," I said. "Since they don't have to deal with profit motives, they've been taking machine learning in more productive directions than advertisement, and now their compilers and IDEs and really the entire dev toolchain is just... so fucking good. I swear, you could toss it the laziest, most slap-dash code in the world, and those compilers will optimize it so it runs smoother than buttered silk."

"I wonder if it'll run on the computers we have back in Tokyo," Matsu mused, as she carefully pressed the front bezel into place around the display. "They still make stuff for x86, right?"

"They do, yeah," I said. "They've also got plenty of what they call 'legacy machines' lying around, and even in production; they're always working at how to squeeze more performance out of 'em. These days, the hot shot bedroom developers are showing off the size of their code-cocks by porting some hefty modern creative suite to a Windows 8 machine with only 8 gigs of RAM and 20 gigs of open hard drive."

"These hot-shot bedroom developers," Matsu began.

"Most of them do in fact wear programming socks, yes," I said, nodding.

----------------------------------------

We'd only intended for our date to last about four hours in the Warehouse, and thereby only, like, two and a half minutes in the real world (Wasn't time dilation wonderful?), but, well...

Matsu had convinced me that me spending a few hours alone with her, doing something special would be perfectly normal and acceptable even without the Warehouse, and so we had ended the evening by checking into a resort by the beach, where we would be staying for a week and a day. We got a full suite, with a so-called 'kitchenette' that was better-appointed than some actual kitchens, and a big sliding door out to a nice, shaded porch, which itself was barely a minute's walk from the water's edge.

"It's funny," Matsu said, looking out at the beach- not completely depopulated, even at night, and yet with the bonfires of the night-time parties not actually illuminating our room. "I'd always thought that one day, I'd get to go to the beach with my Ashikabi... But, well. After stealing the Jinki... I thought it'd take a lot longer."

"Well, I'm glad I can make a dream come true, for you," I said, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and resting my chin atop her head- both to display affection as well as to display dominance.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Hey, wasn't my fault she was so short.

"Much more than just one," Matsu said primly, pressing her body back against mine. "We're not in Izumo Inn anymore, Rose."

"Well," I began, pausing as she groaned, and then continued once she stopped. "I was about to say, you're right, we aren't. But! But, but, but!"

"That is what I'm rubbing against you right now, yes," Matsu said.

"We need to talk a little more seriously about what it means that, in ten months, I'm leaving your world behind, never to return," I said.

"Ah," Matsu said, her throat suddenly dry.

"I talked to Tsukiumi about it, as a practice run," I admitted. "And... I think I found a good metaphor. The two of us are planting trees in your yard- trees whose shade I will never get to sit beneath. And the question is, Matsu..." I sighed. "I mean... you're invested in this world, and the world you want to make it become. Aren't you?"

"A little, yeah," Matsu said, quietly.

"And as much as I like spending time with you, as much as I enjoy your company..." I sighed, and tried the next one on for size. "...As much as I love you, Matsu... I cannot, in good conscience, ask you to abandon this world to come with me. We have ten more months to make it better, and I genuinely think we can make some serious progress in that time, but... you and I both know there's still going to be plenty of work to do, that needs your personal touch."

"Mmmn," Matsu mumbled, her head tilting downward.

"I told Tsukiumi she didn't have to choose until the day arrived," I said. "But you... there isn't really a choice for you, is there?"

"No," Matsu said morosely. "Is there... Can you at least come back to visit?"

"I don't know, Matsu," I said. "I'm not sure what the future holds. But... even if I did come back to visit... I'd be a different person, after what I've been through."

"Mmn..." Matsu sighed. "...Maybe it was a mistake, checking into this resort. If this week together is just delaying the inevitable..."

"For all things there is a season," I said. "Ours will come to an end, but... for now, it is only beginning."

Matsu lifted her head, and then yelped as I lifted Matsu.

"Or, to speak your language," I continued, tossing her onto my shoulder and carrying her over to the big, plush bed, before tossing her down onto the middle of that. "I might have to go in a year, but that's plenty of time to make some memories."

"Ooooooohhhhh," Matsu said, her pupils dilating to the size of dinner plates shaped like hearts.

"So, Matsu," I said, pulling my shirt up and over my head, and finally, at long last, using my Body Mod-granted abilities to grow some big ol' hentai tentacles out of my back. "My body is ready. Is yours?"

She grabbed her own dress by the bottom of the cleavage window, and ripped it wide open.

"Looks like a yes to me."

----------------------------------------

"You know," Matsu said, before taking a long, slow sip from her mug of tea. "I wasn't expecting to enjoy this so much."

"Us just calmly, happily sitting together in the same room, doing different things, but together?" I asked.

"Exactly!" Matsu said. "I always thought the domestic stuff would just be filler in between the bed-breaking sex, you know?"

"Well, I mean, can't be all freaky sex all the time," I said. "Sure, the way I designed this universe's inhabitants kinda contradicts that, but I don't spend much time in here, so..."

"I'm actually curious about that part," Matsu said, turning in her armchair to look out the window towards the beach, where- now that it was daylight- there were plenty of beachgoers. Just enough to feel lively, and find enough people for whatever game you wanted to get together, but not so many that it felt crowded. "I know you, Rose. No way you didn't come up with some worldbuilding for all this."

I shrugged. "This is actually reusing some worldbuilding from..." I searched my memories. "...Huh. A story I haven't written yet, in this world. Hey, Matsu, it's 2020 back in Tokyo, right?"

"Yeah?"

"It was 2023 when I left home. So, that's three years of my writing you've missed out on, including most of the porn."

"Obviously, there is only one way to correct this," Matsu said. "After you explain the galaxy of hot chicks, of course."

"Right, so," I said. "Pretty much every person you'll meet in here is, genetically, the same species, which is based on but distinct from humans. And, naturally, the thing that you care about is their reproductive schema."

"Mhm," Matsu said, nodding.

"Rather than the two-ish sexes that most animal life has," I said. "And, y'know, I'm aware that intersex individuals exist, and nothing in nature is actually neat and tidy and perfectly categorizable. But anyways. Here, humanity has three sexes slash reproductive castes, all of which look like women. And..." I sighed. "Yes, I did in fact name them in recognition of their inspirational roots: Omegaverse."

"Oh my god," Matsu whispered.

"The short version is, the sexes in this world consist of cis women, dickgirls with vaginas, and dickgirls without," I continued. "But, well, the long version?" I hummed quietly. "Well. We could go and sign up for a week of genetics classes down at the community college. But I think it'd be more fun to go outside and get it straight from the horse's mouth."

"I would like nothing more," Matsu said, sitting up. "Although... Ahhhh, dammit, I didn't bring a bikini, and my dress is torn. All I have to wear is this bathrobe, and I don't want to get sand all over it."

"Good news!" I said. "This beach is clothing optional!"

It was then and there, watching the pure, lustful joy on Matsu's face, that I decided...

...Yeah. I could say there was love here.

Just gotta make sure the rest of our year together has some more moments like these.