Book 4: Chapter 16: Patch 3.0: A Change of Pace

Ryouta helps Alice with the dishes once him and Serra are done eating, and by the time that they’ve all cleaned up, changed, and brushed their teeth after being reminded to by Alice, Ryouta wants nothing more than to just plop back down onto bed and be lazy for the rest of the day – no, the rest of his existence.

Pulled muscles suck.

Alas, Alice is ensuring that he stays downstairs. At least she’s letting him lie down on the couch.

“Why can’t I just lie down in bed?” Ryouta asks.

“I told you! Cassandra wishes for us to be waiting for her!” Alice says with a pout. “Geez, my hero, I am going to begin thinking that you do not listen to me!”

“So, why can’t I just lie down in bed?”

Alice looks at him ready to pout something fierce and to shout about him not listening some more, but then she sees that teasing, smug smile on his face.

That makes her pout even more than she would have if he really wasn’t listening.

Serra, picking up on the fact that Ryouta is teasing Alice, walks over to him and plops her rear down onto his abdomen.

Ryouta immediately cringes and groans in pain.

“He-hey! That seriously hurts!” Ryouta whines to his deaf munchkin of a girlfriend.

Serra then lies down on top of him, causing even more pain despite how light and small she is.

“Alice, save me,” Ryouta pleads.

“That is what you get! I cook you breakfast and remind you to brush your teeth and you still tease me. Hmph,” Alice pouts.

“One, this seriously hurts, please help. Two, you’re really cute when you pout and go ‘hmph.’ Please do it more.”

Alice blushes and gives him a playful “hmph” sound before coming over to help him. “Now, now, Serra. As much as I appreciate you avenging me, it is not polite to purposely cause him more pain,” she says, pulling on Serra’s arm with one hand while wheeling back with her other.

Serra has no idea what’s going on other than the fact that Alice is trying to pull her off of Ryouta, but she gives in without much effort.

That’s when the front door opens, but only a sliver of the way.

“H-hey,” Cassandra says.

Ryouta and Alice look over at the door, and Serra looks over when she sees the others looking.

“Ah! You are back,” Alice says as she finishes pulling Serra off of Ryouta.

“Y-yeah,” Cassandra says, still not opening the rest of the door.

“Everything alright?” Ryouta asks.

“I – I don’t know.”

That’s enough to make them worried. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, but…”

“Come in and relax!” Alice says.

“Is… everybody there?”

“Yep,” Ryouta answers.

They hear her take a deep breath.

“Close your eyes,” Cassandra says. “And make sure Serra’s are closed.

They close their eyes, and Alice covers up Serra’s eyes for her.

“Is – is everybody’s eyes closed?” Cassandra asks.

Ryouta and Alice confirm their eyes are closed.

They hear the door open the rest of the way and then shut.

“O…okay, you can look,” Cassandra says.

Ryouta and Alice open their eyes, and Alice takes her hands off of Serra’s eyes.

Cassandra’s hair that was once reaching halfway down her back is now struggling to even reach her shoulders. Rather than keeping it straight, it’s a bit fluffier and sticking out rather than just hanging straight down. Her bangs are slightly higher as well, and in general, she looks younger and more energetic. It would even be honest to say that she looks kinder and more feminine now.

Truthfully, none of them would have ever expected her to get a hairstyle like this. She wouldn’t have even believed it herself! Yet, here she is, with a hairstyle that may be unbelievable on her but it looks great nonetheless.

“What… what do you think? It’s – it’s shorter than I was expecting, and… I don’t really… know what to think,” Cassandra practically whimpers out.

She doesn’t get an answer which makes her heart sink further into her stomach, feeling as if she’s made a huge mistake and thinking about a million and one ways that they’re going to hate it, but then she gets hugged and kissed by Ryouta.

When Ryouta pulls away, he sees his beautiful girlfriend with reddened cheeks and tears coming from her eyes. “Why – why didn’t you say something sooner!” Cassandra says, forming fists and gently smacking them against his chest.

“Because you’re too beautiful,” Ryouta says, feeling a bit proud of himself for how smooth he thinks that was.

She must think it was smooth as well seeing as how she looks like she’s about to cry even more despite smiling. “I was so nervous… does – does it look good?” she asks.

“It looks amazing. You look amazing,” Ryouta tells her.

“I agree!” Alice says. “You look absolutely wonderful, Cassandra! This style is beautiful on you!”

Cassandra looks at Serra and gets a thumbs-up with a smile and a nod.

“Are – are you all serious? You like it? You promise?” Cassandra asks.

They all confirm that they’re telling the truth.

Cassandra may not say it, but it’s obvious to them all just how immensely glad she is.

“I’m sorry for keeping it a secret. I just… wanted it to be a surprise,” Cassandra explains.

“I’ll admit that you were really starting to worry me with what it might be, but I’m kind of glad you kept it secret. It made the reveal even better… wait, is this why you asked me about your hair when we were in that dungeon?” Ryouta asks.

Cassandra nods and says, “Yeah… I decided to do this back then, but only just got the courage to do it.”

“You look perfect, so don’t worry too much about it. Was it an AI or person who cut it?”

“Oh, it was umm, the place employed people. It was a girl. She – she was really nice and said we’re all welcome to go there.”

“Hmm. I prefer to cut my own hair,” Alice says, “but I do believe Serra is in need of a haircut!” Alice plays with Serra’s hair to show just how messy and shaggy it is.

When Ryouta and Cassandra look at it… yeah, it is really shaggy. Serra has always had a shaggy head of hair, but this is by far the worst it has ever been.

“I wish I could just shave all my hair off so that I would never have to worry about cutting or styling it,” Ryouta says.

“No,” Cassandra says.

“Agreed. No,” Alice says.

Serra holds up her arms in an x shape and shakes her head.

“Alright, I won’t shave my head, but what if I go bal—”

“No,” Cassandra says.

“You are not allowed to go bald,” Alice says.

Serra opens up her phone, taps away at it, and shows it to him. A picture of hair growth formula is on the screen.

“Alright, I won’t go bald either. I’m pretty sure nobody in my family was bald, so it should be fine,” Ryouta says. “Wait… what’s wrong?” he asks Alice.

She looks like she’s either seen a ghost or like she has finally run out of crazy, kinky fantasies.

“My… my father began balding at a young age. My beautiful children are going to lose their hair! My hero! You are only permitted to give me female sperm!” Alice tells him.

“I don’t think it works that way,” Ryouta answers, scratching the side of his head.

“Then you shall make it work! It is your princess’s decree!”

“It’s fine,” Cassandra says with a groan, “my dad has a stupid amount of hair, so I’ll have the boy.”

“It really doesn’t work that way,” Ryouta says.

Serra signs that she’ll have both girls and boys.

“It still doesn’t work that way for sure.”

“Then we shall make it work! Do you know what year it is? We have science!” Alice says. “I would never want my children to begin balding at such a young age! Imagine if you were bald, my hero! You would be single forever!”

Alice’s words hurt him.

“You’d still love them even if they went bald, right?” Ryouta asks her.

“I would, but I do not want my children to remind me of my father!” Alice explains.

“Wouldn’t girls be at risk too? Like, wouldn’t their hair just thin instead of fall out, or something like that?” Though, when he thinks about it, isn’t thinning a result of it falling out? “Wouldn’t your hair be at risk since he’s your dad?”

Alice places her hands on the top of her head as if trying to hide her hair, but there is way too much for her small hands to hide. “My hair is most certainly not thinning!”

Ryouta returns his attention to Cassandra since she’s the one who actually got a haircut and should be getting the most attention when it comes to hair. “Seriously though,” he says, “you look perfect. You looked perfect before, but now you look even more perfect.”

While Alice pouts about how her hair isn’t thinning, finally being the victim of teasing for once, Cassandra says, “Thanks, Ryouta. Can – can I have another kiss?”

Ryouta answers her question with a kiss.