[78] Acceptance

[78] Acceptance

Chapter 78: Acceptance

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[Third Person Point of View]

The day wasn't very bright. The sky was filled with dark clouds and it rumbled like lion roars. The LoveMy crew left the hotel and began their shooting.

Once they were in Disneyland, cameras rolled around them and recorded whatever they did to have fun. A couple of hours later, when they were about to be done, the sky let loose and rain began to fall.

– Rumble

“Hey, find cover! It's raining!”

People scattered all over to find shade. A few romantics didn't run and danced under the rain instead. Aqua instructed his aura– his Gold Sign– to vaporize all the droplets of rain that were about to touch him, and he instructed Mem-Cho to do something similar with her power.

Of course, she didn't succeed. Something like costing her skin with Time Aura took advanced control, something that she didn't have.

“Pathetic. You can't create anything other than a circular time bubble?” He rebuked her and raised an arm over her head to keep her protected from the rain.

There were no people around this area, most have taken shelter inside buildings.

“....” Mem-Cho grumbled as they ran off under a closed shop's edge. Couldn't he be a bit nicer to her after he did all that in the morning? No, he was weird every time it had anything to do with her magic. It's as if he switched to another person.

‘Punk.’ Mem-Cho scoffed, and he missed it thanks to the rain.

“Why did it rain today out of all times?” Mem-Cho complained. “At least it started after most of the shoot ended.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. “This is a good time to train my power...”

“Then do it. What's stopping you?”

“Cameras. And people.”

She didn't reply to that and instead put her hand inside her handbag. She took out a packet of cigarettes. She lit up a stick after some difficulty and he turned his head to look at her.

“Quit staring,”

“Why do you smoke?”

“Smoking confuses your body not to feel hunger. Enough reason to smoke.” Mem took a strong buff, blowing out smoke at the rain ahead. “Heh, it's just a bad habit actually. I got addicted to it when nothing was working out in life. I kept jumping from one small work to another to try and keep my family alive. It has stuck with me ever since.”

“I see.”

“Sorry. Does the smell bother you? Although it's strawberry flavored...” She turned her head to look at him but found him smiling at her. “What?”

“You remind me of myself from the past,” he said and she frowned. “Like way back in the past. Back when I wasn't that old.”

“....” Mem-Cho took another puff and just stared at him.

“I was stuck in a Time Loop, and I was trying to change the ending. Yet it wasn't working out. No matter what I did it just... didn't work. The ending was unavoidable. I began to smoke these magical cigars back then, which kept me calm through the research and everything. It was a hard habit to get rid of. It's funny seeing my ‘disciple’ do that same thing as me.”

Instead of giving him a smile in return, Mem-Cho frowned. She hesitated as she took another puff and sighed out the smoke. “Does Ai know?”

“About my age?”

“That you took over her son's body?”

The funniest part was that the punk wasn't even acting. He really was playing house with three girls at once, and who knows, if he had more time he might have announced all three of them as his girlfriends.

Producer Masaya remembered what that kid asked him on the first day of the shooting. Aqua had been worried he'd kiss too many girls and get into trouble. He thought that the kid was just another playboy who let his good luck with average girls get to his head—he thought the kid would be taught a lesson when he tried messing with these popular, high-value girls. Who would have predicted this kind of development?

The producer laughed. “Ahh, I feel a bit bad for whoever becomes his girlfriend in tomorrow's shooting. This brat can't stay with a single woman.”

He had to ask Ai, where did she find a kid like him? And if he could borrow him for a few more shows. He doubted she'd agree though, for some reason.

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[First Person Point of View]

Mem has been acting hesitant around me since I left her room in the morning, even though she hid it well. But whatever she saw in my face during the rain seemed to break that ice. She was cheerful again, and maybe a bit more loving than before. Just like a girl should be behaving after losing her virginity to a man.

Well, it was probably the melancholia she saw. A good portion of women are oddly attracted to depressed guys.

I'm not depressed though. I've gotten over that life a long time ago... It was hard, as I was barely a few hundred years old back then, the death of my Vampire Mother was a strong hit to my mental state. But it has been hundreds of thousands of years since then, even if I still remember her face just as the first day I saw her, I'm over it.

Returning my senses to the present, I took a sip from the orange juice on the table that I was sharing with Mem and another person. Mem wasn't bothered anymore by the fact that I was going to choose another girl as my girlfriend tomorrow, as she ate her expensive Italian with a satisfied face.

Someone else was bothered by this whole situation though—someone annoying, someone who didn't deserve to be bothered.

“But why? You two make a good couple,” Quetzalcoatl yanked my glass of juice and poured it down her throat, earning quite a few stares from the other tables.

She put the glass down and looked at the two of us from above her shades that hung low on her nose. “You two clearly touched each other during the rain, so you guys are already spending nights together. But why won't you date?”

“She's a friend,” I admitted and pulled my empty glass back from her, calling the waiter to fill me a drink. “She's the closest friend I made in these 15 years, so you can say she's my best friend. Her humor is nice so I seduced her and made her mine.”

“I didn't know you considered me as your best friend?” Mem-Cho raised an eyebrow. “And punk, who is ‘yours’? I am with you out of my own will.”

“True,” I sipped juice and with my other hand, I yanked her face toward me. I pressed my lips over her as her eyes grew wide. We kissed as the sweet liquid spread through our mouths.

“Fucker...” Mem-Cho blushed and wiped her when the kiss ended, glaring at me.

Quku stared at the scene with a deadpan look. “Harem, eh. It's not that rare in the supernatural world, so I don't judge. But I don't think the other two girls will accept it.”

“Yet,” I shrugged. “If I deliberately went out of my way to seduce the other two too and bring them to the bed together in this short time we had, I could have made them accept this thing. But then I don't want to deal with three new girlfriends at once, it's too time-consuming. I'll take it slow with them and they'll come to accept it. As you just said, harem isn't rare on this side of the world.”

“Don't get stabbed by some jealous girl,” the Dragon Goddess advised. “Don't tell me the name of who you'll choose out of the other two, but you should go give her some attention. She must feel complicated about you after seeing you with Mem-Cho all the time.”

“I'm surprised this great Goddess cares so much,” I said with a dry tone.

“I just want a fun last episode. Now shoo, leave Memmy with me, I'll teach her some tricks to keep men loyal.” She waved her hand at me as I laughed and got up.

It's not a bad thing if Mem-Cho got close to a powerhouse like her. Though I was hoping to get closer to her myself through this dinner, that didn't work out since our entire group came to the same restaurant for dinner.

So I just spent the rest of the hours with Akane and Mai. Soon, the next day came.

The last half of the 8th episode began. It was time to make my final decision, it was time I got myself a woman.

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