"Fascinating," Miya said, looking around at the house I'd made in my pocket dimension, and then so far never used. After, of course, we finished eating dinner. Civilized people did things in order, according to Miya.
"When were you planning on telling us about this?" Matsu asked.
"I don't have a plan," I said. "What I have is 'had a long day.' I'll... I'll share details as they occur to me. I don't intend to keep anything from you guys, but neither do I intend to sit everyone down and recount my entire life story, because I have an ability that makes me not need to sleep and yet even I'd fall asleep out of boredom if I did something like that."
Matsu nodded silently, continuing to examine the house.
"So, not to be a wet blanket, but-" Kagari began.
"There's a time dilation factor over this place," I said. "You could be in here for two hours and go back out to find it's only been, like, a minute and a half. That's how I'm going to learn Japanese fast enough to be useful, since I'm only here for a year, and I'm going to need it a lot faster than that."
"Fair enough," Kagari said with a shrug.
"This place is insane," Uzume said, marveling at the comprehensive collection of games consoles arranged in the Library, and the very obnoxious-looking gaming PC, whose coruscating ergableds decreed the mighty girth of its builder's nerdcock. "Honestly, I kinda wanna ask if you're taking tenants, but..." She paused, frowning, then shook her head. "I don't think the time dilation thing would be great for me."
"Fair enough," I said, nodding. "Anyway. Miya, I do plan to spend most of my time living in your house, rather than this Warehouse, so we should still hash out the details of rent, but... well, if there's anything you want from here, I can see about getting that for you."
"I'll keep that in mind," Miya said, nodding. "Rent is 50,000 yen a month."
I blinked a few times, shifting the decimal point two places to the left- my quick-and-dirty heuristic for 'what's that in dollars?'- and then my jaw dropped.
"You're only charging that much for rent?" I asked.
"That's normal, in Japan," Uzume said.
"Yeah, it really isn't that insane," Kagari added. "It's actually a little high- we only get one private room, but then we also get access to what is, I think, a fairly big and nice common area that still feels home-y, so... Iunno. It's worth it, I think. It's reasonably high, especially considering the food we get to eat."
"Point," I said, nodding. "Five hundred dollars-"
"It's closer to three hundred seventy five US Dollars right now, actually," Matsu corrected me.
"-is a reasonable monthly budget for food, I feel, so..." I shrugged. "Yeah, I can pay that, no problem. Still got some savings from when I had a job... I think. That was in another universe, though, so-"
"You have time," Miya assured me. "However, I do expect to see evidence of a good faith effort, young lady."
"Yes, Mom," I said.
"That's Oka-san to you," Miya said.
"...Is that-" I began.
"That is the Japanese way to refer to your mother, yes," Kagari said, nodding.
"Right, well," I said. "I'm going to translate a list of core vocabulary to Japanese and memorize both those and how to string those together into a basic sentence tonight, on account I'm gonna be jet-lagged for a few days and have nothing better to do."
"Nothing better to do?" Matsu said, pouting piteously as she clung to my shoulder. "You know," she said, her look turning lecherous, "you do have three Sekirei now, right?"
Bonk!
"One of our rules," Miya said, tucking her wooden spoon back into her sleeve, as though that was at all a hygenic place to store a cooking instrument- although given its intentional contact with human hair and scalp, I suppose she wasn't super concerned about that right now. "Is that, in Izumo Inn, there are to be no illicit activities."
"That makes sense," I said, nodding. "I've been there; the walls are literally paper-thin, and it would be extremely inconsiderate to have loud sex while everyone else is trying to sleep, or get work done, or do literally anything they weren't already planning to wear earplugs for."
"I'm glad we understand each other," Miya said, smiling brightly.
"We're not in Izumo Inn!" Matsu protested. "We're in The Warehouse!"
"And if you remember how we got here, you might notice that The Warehouse is in Izumo Inn," Miya continued, her bright smile not disappearing at all as she brought the spoon back out.
"It's a technicality, but she isn't wrong," I said. "Of course, while this is still subject to all of the relevant rules and regulations of Izumo Inn, it is also my own private space, and I would like to escort all of you out, now."
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"What exactly defines 'relevant rules and regulations?'" Uzume asked, grinning a little.
"It has to be either something Miya is able and willing to enforce, or something I'm able and willing to enforce on her behalf because I think it's funny," I said. "Also, I'm serious. Everyone out."
----------------------------------------
"Thank you for translating, Akitsu," I said, hugging the poor, quiet girl. "You and Musubi get some rest. I'll try to be quiet."
Ordinarily, a room at Izumo Inn was intended for one or two occupants. However, Miya was... well, basically a plot contrivance for letting the ecchi and harem stuff happen without letting it veer into hentai territory. As such, she was totally okay with me sharing a bed with three women, so long as we didn't start intentionally getting physically intimate beyond cuddles and maybe a chaste kiss goodnight.
Not that I'd be sleeping tonight. I wasn't kidding when I said I had jet lag, but something I hadn't brought up was the fact that, that one enhanced physicality perk I took for lack of anything better to do with my points? That... kiiiiiinda made it so I could go indefinitely without sleep. And, uh. I wasn't sure how that'd work out, long-term. Prolonged and regular sleepy cuddles sounded really nice, and I wasn't looking forward to the possibility that I would just... never fall asleep again.
"Alright," I murmured to myself, as Akitsu reluctantly laid herself out on the futon next to Musubi. "Let's get to work."
I hadn't gotten into it earlier, but my Warehouse was really more of just a... pocket universe, full of shit I designed- kinda-sorta, I didn't pull up Blender and model everything in it- and, most importantly, full of people I'd designed. People who started out as customized, soulless, person-shaped automatons... but, which I could turn into more fully-realized and capable individual people, all with just more Warehouse facilities.
And so... I opened up a line of text communication with the Warehouse. Told it to start running those automatons through the Body Mod Pods and just never stop. Thanks to an option in the Warehouse supplement I'd used, time passed a hundred times faster in there; an hour in there was only thirty six seconds out here. And so, while I probably could figure out a solution from here, it was a way more efficient distribution of labor to make a bunch of smart people on the inside and get them to figure out how the fuck I'm going to make rent.
I started murmuring basic sentences to myself in Japanese- just two nouns and a verb, nothing fancy. Literally halfway through the second one- "I want cake" but in Japanese- I was interrupted by a response from the Warehouse.
Horizon The Transient:
Run a Servant through the Body Mod Pod with every Essence and Mental Prowess 4, then have her start making more smart Servant builds, with the end goal of figuring out how I'm going to pay rent.
Warehouse Staff:
Hello, this is Warehouse Chief Of Staff Adrianne. We are currently drawing up plans for a distance-learning curriculum for you, which should help you develop a skillset in high demand that employers will be willing to pay top dollar for, in as little time as possible.
Horizon The Transient:
Fantastic. I'm going to have to find a way to compensate you; you deserve a raise, but seeing as I need your help on account I'm currently flat broke...
Warehouse Staff:
That won't be necessary. We already have everything we'll ever want or need. To paraphrase one of your favorite books, you literally cannot thank us enough, and we do not encourage you to strain yourself in the attempt.
Also, I personally feel it important to ask you to hold off, and decide how grateful you feel after having been put through college a second time. I've gathered you didn't enjoy the first time.
Horizon The Transient:
...that cut deep.
Anyway. When do I start?
Warehouse Staff:
We feel it's reasonable to start by getting you fluent in Japanese. Would you agree with this assertion?
Horizon The Transient:
It's... not an unreasonable goal, no. How long is that going to take, though? I've learned a language before, and there's only so fast I can do it.
Warehouse Staff:
Your Japanese Language professor is ready to go now. By virtue of possessing the Polyglot and Natural Teacher perks, she can teach you native-level fluency in Japanese in a single two-hour video call.
I glanced away from my screen, and saw Akitsu looking at me.
"Hey," I whispered quietly- Musubi, by contrast, was dead asleep already. "I've got to go take care of something, but I promise I'll be back in two minutes. Okay?"
Akitsu nodded silently.
Horizon The Transient:
Would it be possible for me to come into the Warehouse, receive this particular lesson in-person? I get the feeling that something is about to require my attention in significantly less than two hours.
Warehouse Staff:
Of course. Come on in.
----------------------------------------
Less than two minutes after I walked into the portal, I walked back out. On the other side of the portal, I'd gotten a lovely cup of tea, and then a two hour crash course in Japanese that ended with a fiendishly tricky proficiency test that I, somehow, managed to pass with a perfect score, puzzling together a few last little details in the process. The instructor- an ethereally beautiful elf woman who looked like nothing so much as an ethereally beautiful Japanese woman with long and pointy ears- had informed me that the test was of equivalent difficulty to the hardest level of the official Japanese Language Proficiency Test, and that I could claim to have passed such without shame.
And yet, when I came back out into my new bedroom and saw Akitsu waiting patiently for me there, sitting upright on the futon, I at first reached for English to reassure her, before remembering that I should be getting into the habit of speaking Japanese while in, y'know, Japan.
"I'm back," I told Akitsu softly in Japanese. "Do you need something?"
Akitsu blinked once, in what was probably surprise, but then she looked to the side, and blushed a little.
"You can tell me anything," I assured her. "You've had a hard time. I won't judge."
Akitsu blushed harder, and then, wordlessly, extended her arms towards me.
"I'm afraid I don't speak sign language," I said, a bit teasingly. "You'll have to say it out loud, angel."
She managed to blush even harder, to the point I was a little worried she'd get a nosebleed, and then, finally, managed to say,
"I... would like it if... if you would hold me," Akitsu all but whispered.
"Well," I said with a shrug. "How can I say no to that?" I stepped beside her, and sat down. "Scoot over a touch, please." As she made room for me, I slipped into the futon with her and Musubi, and carefully scooped her into my lap, wrapping my arms around her. "Like this?"
Akitsu nodded wordlessly.
"Good. Sweet dreams, angel."