"So... that's what 'a visit from relatives' means."
The two left the bedroom, closing the door gently to let Misha rest alone.
Alain explained the meaning of "relatives" to Millie, helping her roughly understand.
Sitting on the sofa, the girl with the hat had already taken off her gloves to better look after Misha. Her slender fingertips fidgeted, twisting around each other.
After a moment, she reached out and touched her own abdomen. Her lips were a little pale.
Watching her, Alain naturally understood that Millie was thinking about her dear friend again.
After the tension they'd just experienced, Alain knew he needed to say something to ease her anxiety. His professional instincts agreed.
"Actually, I know a way to make sure your 'relatives' don't visit. For about 40 weeks, give or take," Alain said bluntly, trying to keep a straight face.
"Eh? What method is that?!" Her innocent gaze made him feel a pang of guilt.
He beckoned her closer. Puzzled, Millie tilted her head and leaned her ear towards him.
Whisper, whisper, whisper...
As Millie absorbed this new knowledge, her face grew redder and redder. Upon hearing that particular word, she finally snapped. "Wha—?! O-o-o-o-of course not! You and I are bros! We're buddies! How could..."
The girl's gaze flickered towards the bathroom door, then to Misha's bedroom.
Finally, her mortified eyes drifted towards the setting sun visible from the balcony.
"How could you get your good bro pregnant...? That makes no sense..."
Alain really wanted to say: Bro, everything you say and do right now is way too suggestive.
Joking around might relieve tension, but Misha was still suffering in the other room.
Alain silently began planning for the future.
Perhaps his dear Misha was rubbing off on him; he usually didn't bother with complicated plans, preferring to take things one step at a time.
He stood up and looked around his small home.
First... the space issue. There was a reason it was called a small home.
Should he look for a bigger place? Alain considered this a mid-term goal.
Second, the immediate short-term goal: sleeping arrangements. He discussed it with Millie.
"Sleeping spots? I'll sleep on the sofa, what else?" she pouted. "You two are a couple, you can just sleep together, right? I'm just the newcomer, don't worry so much about me."
Bro was usually flighty, but at crucial moments, she was quite considerate of him and Misha.
Alain went into the bedroom to ask Misha's opinion.
"Honey, I can just sleep on the sofa like before..." Misha murmured, her sleepy appearance so adorable that Alain couldn't resist giving her a kiss.
After the kiss, he realized he absolutely couldn't leave the decision up to these two.
It had come to this. Rock-paper-scissors it was.
Given Misha's condition, she definitely needed the bedroom tonight. The rock-paper-scissors match would be between Alain and Millie.
He called Millie into the bedroom for a single round to decide their fate and settle the sleeping arrangements for now.
Millie would sleep on the sofa tonight, while Alain would share the room with Misha.
He felt like asking if the sofa was some kind of "internship bed."
Wait... does this mean I'm sleeping with Misha tonight? Alain thought.
With her 'relatives' visiting, they obviously wouldn't be doing anything intimate. But having a girl sleep next to him...
Having to keep it in check all night—the thought alone terrified Alain.
"Alright!" The girl awarded the "narrow bed" (the sofa) didn't seem the least bit unhappy; in fact, she looked quite cheerful. This further cemented Alain's resolve to get a bigger place sooner rather than later.
With one issue settled, it was time for the next.
Alain scanned every corner of the house.
Honestly, Misha wasn't the type to spend much money, and there were remarkably few girly things in the apartment.
He couldn't even spot any sanitary pads or related items anywhere.
She's so independent and considerate... maybe too considerate, Alain grumbled inwardly.
Now that there was another girl in the house, they couldn't be as casual as before.
"Millie, want to go on a date with me?"
"Whoops, misspoke. Want to go out together?"
"Okay~! I get to go out with bro!"
Misha needed supplies like sanitary pads and tampons. Millie might need them in the future too.
Feels like I'm being a dad and a husband at the same time, he thought.
Alain glanced at Millie, then picked up his phone and opened the Safety Guard panel. He quickly found the bug-fixing interface.
While they were out getting supplies, he also wanted to see how much Millie's progress bar would increase.
He was pessimistic about it. He'd likely have to return to Mita World tomorrow morning.
The time he had left wouldn't be nearly as ample as it was with Misha, where he could patiently guide her through the entire 'dating' process step by step.
This outing would last an hour at most. It probably wouldn't raise the progress bar much.
Just then, the bug-fixing panel popped up on his phone.
Alain glanced at it and thought he was seeing things.
What was with this number?
He blinked and looked again at Millie's progress bar.
Sure enough... the progress bar was stuck at 25%.
[You have obtained real-world usage rights for this bug's exclusive equipment: Game Controller]
The reward notification popped up. Simultaneously, Millie let out a surprised yelp.
"Something just suddenly appeared in my pocket!"
She felt the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a game controller – something that shouldn't exist in reality.
Alain had assumed that after the Safety Guard fixed the bug allowing game items to be brought out, the controller would have dropped onto the floor in the 'hat room', waiting for them to retrieve it on their next entry into the game.
He didn't expect it to follow them into the real world.
Is there anything in reality that needs a game controller?
There were no viruses here. Oh well, it was ultimately a good thing.
Alain thought the more important thing right now was why the 'hat girl' already had a 25% progress bar just after arriving in reality.
He had a slight inkling.
Millie had helped him take out the trash, turn on the heater, log into that website, and a series of other things.
Still feels like too much of a stretch!
"Millie, do you like the real world?" That was the only explanation Alain could think of right now.
"Yup!" She played with the game controller, beaming. "Bro is here, my best friend is here, and there's tons of stuff that isn't in the game! It's really interesting, I like it a lot!"
"...That's good then."
Misha hadn't adapted well to reality at first, so her progress bar increased slowly.
Millie, on the other hand, accepted new things quickly, so naturally, her progress bar filled up faster.
Seizing this opportunity, a new, rather ambitious goal formed in Alain's mind.
He continued checking Millie's progress bar. The subsequent rewards were only shown up to 75%. The reward for 100% was blacked out.
At the current 25%, he had gained real-world use of the game controller.
Adds a bit of security, I guess.
At 50%, the reward was a skill called [Parry], usable only when he was being controlled by the controller.
It was a defensive skill. If he had it, he wouldn't have panicked so much the last time he faced that 'bad woman's' dramatic confrontation. Alain felt his thoughts straying. A perfectly good combat skill being repurposed to fend off relationship drama... ridiculous.
At 75%, he would unlock the opportunity to purchase a new Safety Guard feature:
[720 Cloud Recovery - One Use]
Beyond the name, there was no explanation.
And Alain's "ambitious" goal was—
Use this one-hour outing to see if I can max out her progress bar completely.
This was an idea he could only attempt with Millie as the target.
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