Chapter 59: Marisa's Mobile Game Addiction.
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"Agh... Curse it! Why can't I connect to the alternative world's network over here?! I haven't cleared my daily quests in my mobile game yet!"
Inside her alchemy cottage filled with strange mushrooms, Marisa lay on the floor holding her phone, rolling back and forth in pure frustration. After sneaking over to the alternative world to steal drinks of Kihara's milk to satisfy her cravings, she had originally assumed she could settle her heart and resume her magical research upon returning.
Yet after coming back this time, she had contracted a symptom far more terrifying than milk addiction—mobile game addiction.
Whenever Marisa thought about the daily quests left undone, her stamina capping out and being wasted without being used in time, and the free gacha resources she was losing out on for nothing, intense anxiety consumed her heart.
Out of nowhere, the thought that "if she didn't log in to clear her dailies, she was making a massive loss" haunted her. Not to mention falling behind other players in progress; if she couldn't score enough points during the upcoming Guild War, she would lose out on another massive pile of rewards.
The anxiety left her with zero mind for experiments, her brain completely filled with game affairs. Yet Kaguya didn't allow frequent trips between Gensokyo and the alternative world; the earliest she could head back over would be a full day later.
Tossing her phone—which was basically equivalent to a glowing brick back in Gensokyo—to the side, Marisa slapped her cheeks hard: "No way! I can't keep wasting time so meaningless like this! I'll take a bath first, then head to the Human Village to buy some beef to stew with these mushrooms!"
As she departed, she failed to notice that the phone tossed into the mushroom pile was picked up by a girl surrounded by floating tubes and a closed eye. The girl slid her fingers across the screen out of curiosity.
Discovering that this glowing brick could actually shift its images, she stood right where she was and began playing with immense enthusiasm.
After finishing her bath, Marisa recalled that her phone had no way to charge over here anyway, planning to tuck it away temporarily and bring it along when she visited the alternative world tomorrow. Strangely, no matter how thoroughly she searched the cottage, she couldn't catch a single trace of the phone.
"Strange... Did I throw it so hard that it bounced into some invisible blind spot?"
Muttering in confusion, she didn't force herself to keep searching, turning around to mount her magic broom and fly off to the Human Village for grocery shopping.
Throughout the entire process, the green-curly-haired girl holding the phone had been standing right there from start to finish, yet Marisa treated her and the phone in her hands as pure air.
"What an interesting stone. Could this be a product of the alternative world?" The girl's soft, ethereal voice drifted out from her cherry lips. Before she could play with it further, the screen fell dark as the battery completely drained. "Eek? Did it break? Hmm... Let's put it back. We'll just pretend Marisa broke this stone herself."
After casually strolling out of Marisa's house, the girl hadn't walked far before being stopped by a girl who looked almost identical to her, except her hair was pink.
"Koishi! Why did you run off without saying a word again?!"
"Sorry, Big Sister. I just wanted to see what Marisa was up to."
"Honestly..." Satori Komeiji walked up with a helpless sigh to take her younger sister's hand, offering a gentle smile: "Don't do it again, okay?"
"Mmhmm."
"Let's go check if Yukari Yakumo approved our alternative world tourism application yet. If she didn't, I'll rely on you to use your ability to sneak us over~"
"The alternative world... Is it really that fun?"
"That's what all the light novels say! Plus, I happen to be writing an alternative-world-themed novel right now, so consider it tagging along to help your big sister do some on-site research!"
Koishi Komeiji's eyelids drooped slightly, revealing a smile that blended natural innocence with laziness: "Sure! I haven't played together with Big Sister in a long time anyway."
...
"Brother-in-law! We didn't clear yesterday's game yet; shall we continue today?"
"Sure..."
Right at the microsecond before Kihara agreed to Nana's request, Anna Yanami suddenly clasped her hands behind her back, shuffling up in front of him with a beaming smile: "Blockhead-kun, did you forget that you have a long-awaited club activity scheduled with me and Lala today?"
He froze for a second, offering an apologetic smile: "Sorry, Nana. Anna and your big sister had a prior arrangement with me. How about you ask Momo to play with you instead?"
"Why would I look for her... It's not like she likes rubbing feet..." Nana grumbled under her breath, placing the controller back on the stand before stomping her feet in heavy thud-thud-thud steps back up to the second floor.
After all the deliberation yesterday, she had ultimately chosen the "let Kihara rub her feet" method. However, she certainly wasn't going to proactively stick her foot out and say "you can rub it now."
How would that be any different from a scheming fox spirit seducing a guy? She was merely offering a thank-you gift to her savior, not doing anything weird.
Thus, Nana had cooked up a brilliant plan: wouldn't it be fine as long as she was passively—rather than actively—having her feet rubbed by Kihara, just like what happened in the kitchen earlier?
Since the two sat pretty close while playing video games anyway, she could claim she was tired mid-game, lie down, and rest her legs over his lap. Her feet would then "coincidentally" land right where his hands could reach to rub them, making it completely natural.
The plan was solid, yet she hadn't expected to fail right at the very starting gate. She had no choice but to tiptoe back downstairs, pressing her ear against the entryway wall to listen to Kihara and Anna Yanami chatting inside.
"What delicious food do you want to make today?"
"I want to eat brownies! As for what Lala wants to eat, I don't know!"
"How can you say 'I don't know' so proudly? Where is she?"
"I went upstairs to call her earlier, but she seems to be tinkering with a new invention again."
Hearing the words "new invention," the corner of Kihara's mouth twitched slightly. He was genuinely worried that Lala might carelessly trigger a malfunction and blow up the house.
Although she didn't create things while yelling "Explosions are art!", every single gadget she invented possessed the inherent possibility of going haywire without exception. Even the food machine—which had been double-checked a hundred times by both of them—carried the exact same flaw.
As long as it cooked over a hundred dishes continuously within a single day, the food machine would instantly produce meals loaded with various side effects. On the surface, these dishes looked completely normal, their aroma even richer than usual. Yet the moment someone carelessly ate them into their stomach, the attached side effects would instantly teach them a lesson.
Side effects included, but were not limited to: making a person let out a hundred smelly farts in a row, making the soles of one's feet as sensitive as ticklish spots, emitting a salted-fish body odor...
"I'd better head upstairs to take a look. Wait for me downstairs."
"Mmhmm."
Hearing footsteps approaching the entryway hallway, Nana hurriedly ducked into the restroom.
Kihara walked unhurriedly up to the attic, the natural, faint fragrance belonging to the three sisters wafting toward his nose.
The delicate, elegant scent of flowers and grass belonged to Momo.
The fragrance of milk mixed with fruit belonged to Nana; looks like she had secretly drunk papaya milk again yesterday.
Lala's scent was the most unique. Even though she spent her days dealing with machines and parts, she carried zero cold, metallic odor, feeling instead as soft and gentle as lily-of-the-valley blossoms.
Knock! Knock!
"Lala, can I come in?"
"Mmhmm." Her voice—devoid of a single trace of emotional rise or fall—drifted out from behind the door.
Puzzled, Kihara turned the door handle. Taking in the sight inside the room, his eyes widened in sheer astonishment: "Lala, what are you..."
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Thank you for reading.