Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.
Although Sumire made it seem as if the Soramoto Family would immediately have breakfast, move their belongings to the new house, and go shopping for anything they needed, that was not what actually happened. Naturally, Mai, Kasumi, Tio, and Ayane wanted to check out their new house before anything else. So, that was exactly what they did.
The first thing that happened after the house was made was the distribution of house keys, which were completely unnecessary for gaining entry to the house. Instead, they were more of a smoke screen. The real mechanism for entering the house was located on the top floor, in the master bedroom, Sumire's bedroom. But the group explored the house a little before heading directly there.
"This place is huge." Ayane muttered as the group walked into the entrance hall. "Why would anyone need an entrance this big?"
"Well, I'll be setting up a piano in this room." Tatsuo replied with a smile as he pointed to an elevated platform near the back of the hall. "And there are magic circles etched into that platform that will help the music I play reach every corner of the house."
"That means we can hear Tatsu-Chan play from anywhere in the house!" Sumire cheered excitedly. "No more sneaking up on him to take videos! Yes!"
"You know, you would have never had to sneak any of those videos if you just asked, right?" Tatsuo asked in a dry tone.
"Oh, I know." Sumire replied with a smile. "But where would the fun be in that? The pictures I have of the look on your face every time you realized you were being recorded secretly are my treasures."
"The what?" Tatsuo asked in a shocked tone.
"Huh? What are you talking about, Tatsu-Chan?" Sumire asked while pretending to be innocent after letting something she never meant to reveal slip.
The frustrated expression on Tatsuo's face made the other ladies, especially Ayane, smile and giggle. Sumire, on the other hand, continued to wear her innocent expression as if nothing happened.
"*Sigh* Whatever." Tatsuo huffed. "It's not like I could get those pictures from you, anyway."
"What pictures are you talking about, Tatsu-Chan?" Sumire asked, doubling down on her act.
"Never mind." Tatsuo said while shaking his head. "Anyway, although there are magic circles that will broadcast the music played on that platform to everywhere in the house, there are also magic circles all over the house that you can use to turn the music down or off completely, too. So, you don't have to worry about being interrupted while you're sleeping, studying, or whatever you might be doing."
"That's quite considerate of you, Tatsuo-Kun." Kasumi said with a smile.
"I'll never turn down the chance to hear your music, Tatsu-Kun." Mai said with metaphorical hearts in her eyes. "In fact, if you wanted to use me as an instrument, I'd be happy to make some beautiful music for you."
"I'll pass." Tatsuo said nonchalantly, causing Mai to fall to her knees with depression written all over her face.
After that, the group moved through the rooms on the ground floor. There, they found a fully stocked kitchen, three half bathrooms, a full bathroom, two guest bedrooms, and a living room/home theater.
After checking the ground floor, the group moved up to the second floor.
"All your bedrooms, except for Mom's are on this floor." Tatsuo said, explaining the floor's layout as he stepped into one of the bedrooms on the floor. "Each bedroom has its own walk-in closet, independent bathroom with a toilet, a shower, and a decently sized bath."
"As big as this house is, I would have expected nothing less." Tio said with a smile. "And with yours and Alfonzo-San's talent, I'm sure they are all quite well designed."
"My talent had nothing to do with it." Tatsuo replied while shaking his head. "Alfonzo designed everything about this house by himself. Well... everything except the magic circles. But he could have done that, too, if he wanted."
"Still, it was your talent that turned those designs into this with your [Alchemy]." Kasumi said softly. "So, don't sell yourself short, Tatsuo-Kun."
"If you say so." Tatsuo replied with a shrug while leading the ladies back into the hallway.
"Wait!" Mai exclaimed after processing everything Tatsuo said about this floor. "You said OUR bedrooms are on this floor. Does that mean YOURS isn't?"
"That's right." Tatsuo replied with an easy-going smile. "My room is on the first basement floor. It's the same size as Mom's. The security measures are pretty serious, too."
"No~~~~~!" Mai cried out in despair. "Then, that means I won't be able to sneak into Tatsu-Kun's room!"
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ayane asked in a disdainful tone.
"You wouldn't understand!" Mai shot back. "Tatsu-Kun told me to come up with new material when trying to guilt-trip him. But I've had a serious case of writers block. So, my next idea was to jump him at night and make him take responsibility. But with the security measure he was talking about, how am I supposed to do that now?"
While Ayane's disdain did not leave her gaze, she was not the only one who looked at Mai strangely after her declaration of intent. Kasumi's face flushed slightly as she looked at Mai with disbelief. Tio looked at Mai while considering what kind of punishment she would receive if she tried the same thing. Tatsuo looked at her with helplessness written all over his face. Because to this day, he still had no idea what he had done to have Mai so infatuated with him.
However, none of their gazes could be considered anything worth worrying about in Mai's eyes. Instead, she ignored all of them and started thinking of a new plan. However, when she felt the gaze of the last person present, all of Mai's instincts started blaring danger alarms.
"Mai-Chan~." Sumire said, her sweet tone causing every hair on Mai's body to stand on end. "Would you mind repeating that for me, pretty please~?"
'I'm in danger.' Mai thought to herself as she froze like a mouse facing a cat. 'I might really die today.'
"No, there's no need to repeat it now." Sumire continued after not receiving a response for a few seconds. "But I'll need you to come to my room before you go to bed tonight. There are a few things I would like to talk to you about."
Hearing Sumire's order disguised as a request, Mai's body began to shiver involuntarily. She then turned to look at the others for help. However, before she could make eye contact with anyone, they all turned away, leaving her to her fate.
"*Cough* Anyway, let's continue the tour." Tatsuo said in an evasive manner before taking the lead to walk away from the confrontation.
Kasumi and Ayane followed Tatsuo quickly. Tio, on the other hand, was lost in thought for a few seconds before realizing that Tatsuo had left, and quickly followed, as well.
And that left Sumire and Mai standing in the hallway alone. While Mai wanted to call out for the others to not leave her alone with Sumire, she felt that her life might end at that very moment were she to do so. So, she stayed silent.
Sumire, on the other hand, did not do anything that could be considered threatening. She was not even leaking any killing intent. The only thing she did was stare at Mai with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face.
"Come along, Mai-Chan." Sumire eventually said as she turned to follow Tatsuo and the others. "We wouldn't want to be left behind, would we? Besides, after seeing everything on this floor, my bedroom will be next. And I must admit, I'm excited to see it."
As soon as Sumire's gaze moved away from her, Mai almost collapsed on the spot. However, she used all her willpower to make sure that did not happen. Because for some reason, she felt if she were to show anymore weakness, Sumire would not wait to strike. So, she did everything to follow Sumire to catch up with the others on shaky legs.
Eventually, the group finished their tour of the second floor where they took a quick look at each of the bedrooms, Mai, Kasumi, Tio, and Ayane picking the rooms they liked along the way. They also saw that there was a lounge near the center of the floor with enough space for a small kitchenette. That way, they would not have to go downstairs to the kitchen if they wanted to get a snack.
When they eventually reached the third above ground floor, they noticed that there were only three doors on the third floor. One of which led to Sumire's bedroom, the master bedroom, while the other two led to the master bathroom and a storage room.
Since there was nothing special about a storage room, the group decided to check out the bathroom. Walking through the changing room, they all came to a stop when they saw the luxurious master bath, the large bathtub, and all the gold fixtures.
"Tatsu-Chan, I love it!" Sumire cheered excitedly. "I can definitely see myself relaxing here."
"It is quite elegant." Tio added.
"Only the best for Mom." Tatsuo replied with a smile.
"Tch! Dragons and their gold." Ayane muttered. "I bet you wouldn't be so excited if everything wasn't made with gold."
"I don't see your point." Sumire said while tilting her head cutely with a confused expression on her face.
Both Tatsuo and Tio looked at Ayane with "does not compute" written all over their faces, as well.
"Never mind." Ayane said while shaking her head. "Anyway, we should hurry this up. We've still gotta go shopping for the stuff we need, right?"
Immediately, Sumire's, Mai's, Kasumi's, and Tio's eyes lit up when they heard the word, "shopping." Tatsuo, on the other hand, looked as if his soul might seep out of his mouth, despite the fact that they had not begun shopping yet. Even so, the memory of going shopping with Sumire, Mai, and Kasumi when he was first brought back from DOATEC was giving him PTSD.
The group then hurried through the rest of the tour, briefly visiting Sumire's bedroom, which had two walk-in closets and a pair of French doors that led to a balcony overlooking the front yard of the house.
After that, they headed towards the basement levels where Tatsuo's bedroom, the training room, and a massive communal bath were located. However, when they saw the bath, all the ladies froze in place. Then, after a few seconds of staring blankly, they all turned to look at Tatsuo in unison.
"How do you even fit something like this in a house?" Ayane asked the question that most of the ladies were asking internally.
"[Space Expansion Magic Circles]." Tatsuo replied succinctly. "Otherwise, there's no way something like this would have fit under half of the house, right?"
"You're getting better at manipulating space, Tatsu-Chan." Sumire said with a smile. "I actually had to take two looks to notice the space expansion."
"I try." Tatsuo said while buffing his fingernails on his shirt with a proud smile on his face. "Anyway, my bedroom is on the other side of the hall. Let's take a quick look. Then, we can head down to see the training room."
Receiving nods from the ladies, Tatsuo turned around and headed to his bedroom. And when everyone stepped inside, what they saw was a massive bedroom, about as big as Sumire's with two raised platforms, one with a stripper pole at its center, two walk-in closets, and a door leading to a full bath that was almost as luxurious as the master bathroom.
"Tatsuo..." Ayane said after looking around the room.
"What's up?" Tatsuo asked, pretending he did not know what Ayane was about to ask about.
"Why the hell is there a stripper pole in your room." Ayane asked while pointing at the platform with the stripper pole.
"For entertainment." Tatsuo replied casually. "I don't plan on dancing on or around it, though, just in case you were wondering. I don't have that kind of hobby."
"I'd be happy to dance for you, Tatsu-Kun!" Mai cried out excitedly.
"Of course, you would." Ayane said while rolling her eyes.
"As your loyal slave, I'd be happy to dance if you willed it, as well." Tio added.
"Stop encouraging him." Ayane muttered.
"It looks like it could be fun." Kasumi said with a blush.
This time, Ayane could not even retort. Instead, she stared at Kasumi with a dumbfounded expression on, the words "et tu, Kasumi," written all over her face.
"Well, I don't' see a problem with it." Sumire said with a shrug. "As long as you don't force anyone, it's fine with me. Oh, and you put the same sound amplifying magic circle under the other platform, too. So, that means double the opportunities to hear you play."
"Of course." Tatsuo replied with a smile. "I know how much you like to hear me play, Mom."
"What is wrong with this family?" Ayane asked rhetorically. "You know what…? Never mind. The list is definitely long and varied."
"You know you're part of this family now, right?" Tatsuo pointed out.
Ayane's response was to glare at Tatsuo with a promise of pain. However, Tatsuo did not cower in the slightest. Especially since Ayane was not actually strong enough to hurt him at this point.
"Anyway, let's check out the training room." Tatsuo said. "After that, you all can go shopping and whatever."
"What do you mean by that, Tatsu-Chan?" Sumire asked while tilting her head to one side. "Why does it seem like you weren't planning to come with us?"
That caused all the female heads in the room to snap in Tatsuo's direction, causing the young half-dragon to sigh in resignation. He then raised his heads in defeat. He also made a mental note to get back at Ayane, who was smirking at him because of the misfortune he would soon face.
"Anyway, let's just go." Tatsuo muttered before turning to leave the bedroom, the ladies following him shortly afterwards. The group then headed down the last flight of stairs. And when they arrived on the bottom-most basement floor, what they saw was a training room that looked quite similar to the one in the apartment building.
The only difference was that all the walls, the floor, and the ceiling were made of metal. But other than that, everything else was the same. There was still an octagonal, fenced-off sparring ring in the center. There was still a rubberized running track around the circumference of the room, as well.
Yet, there was one thing that was different. And that was a section of the floor that had been portioned off with a futuristic panel standing next to it. And on that panel were settings to change the gravity.
"it's just like the old training room…" Kasumi muttered while looking around.
"Just without the windows." Mai added. She then focused on the portioned off area. "But what's that?"
"Oh, that's for gravity training." Tatsuo said casually. "That's one thing I didn't add any of my magic circles to. I don't know how Alfonzo did it, but apparently, the augmented gravity in there only affects the body of the person training in it. Meaning, you don't' have to worry about collapsing your lungs from the air being too heavy."
"That's quite impressive." Sumire said, clear praise in her tone. "But we can talk about that later. For now, we've got plans. So, let's get going! Shopping waits for no man or woman!"