Chapter 7.5: An Unexpected Visitor

“Why do you have that look on your face? Never seen a fairy before?” asked Tsubaki.

“No, well, not outside of anime or anything like that. What are you doing here anyway?” Akira responded, still confused.

“I had to wait for her to be somewhere I could put her to sleep so I could leave.”

Akira looked over at the bed and noticed that Sakura had passed out. She had a peaceful look about her.

“Hellooo, I’m talking to you. Like I said, you two are so difficult.”

“Yeah, I heard that. What exactly do you mean?” Akira said, still watching Sakura.

“The two of you have so much tension between you. I mean, it’s clear that you both like each other, so just date already! I’m tired of sitting back and watching you fumble about and not making any moves. To be fair though, you had the guts to kiss her in front of all your friends, so I’ll give you props for that.” Tsubaki explained.

“Uh huh. So, did her headache knock her out?” asked Akira, worried about Sakura.

“Did you even listen to what I just said?! Ugh, whatever. Her headache didn’t knock her out. Well, that’s not exactly true. It did, but so did I. I was the source of her headache. You know all those sketchy things she’s done? Those were also things done, courtesy of yours truly.” Tsubaki said in a prideful manner.

“Wait, what sketchy things did she do?” asked Akira in a bit of a panic.

“Oh, right. You don’t know about that. Well, don’t worry, those don’t matter anymore anyway. So, let’s see… your princess should be waking up in about three… two… one.”

Sakura grumbled a bit and her eyes opened slowly.

“Whew, my headache is gone. Oh hey Mas-” Sakura started tiredly, before gaining a burst of adrenaline. “What or who is that?” she asked, pointing at Tsubaki.

“Fairy.” Akira said duly.

“Oi, you can’t just say ‘fairy’ and act like that clears everything up. I am a fairy, yes, but I have a name, and that would be Tsubaki. Now, I’ll tell you like I told him, you two are being difficult and should just confess your feelings already!”

“W-what?! What feelings?” Sakura stumbled, trying to hide her face that was turning a brighter shade of red than Rose’s hair.

“You know what, I’m not putting up with this.”

“Hey, so, can we eat now? I’m hungry.” asked Akira.

“Sure, I’m not stopping you. I am gonna steal a few fries though.”

“Thank you for picking up food for me, Master.”

The three ate food together before Akira spoke up.

“So wait, you never explained why you’re here or where you came from.”

“Oh, that. Well let’s see… I was brought into existence by my mother, I was told to come to Earth and look after you or something, and I tried my best to push you two closer.” Tsubaki briefly explained.

“Hold on, what do you mean by pushing us closer?” Sakura asked.

“Listen, everyone knows you two like each other. I put myself in your head so I could get you two idiots to date each other. You would not believe the things I had to do to even get you two to kiss. Anyway, I had to give you an intense headache so you’d fall asleep and I could confront you both in person.”

“Yeah, ok then. If you say so.” Akira said before taking a sip of soda.

“Alright then, don’t listen to me.”

“Hey, Tsubaki? Who’s your mother?” asked Sakura.

“Huh? Why does it matter?”

“I never got to know my mother, so I guess I just wanted you and your mother to have a good relationship or something.”

“Dang, that’s rough. Don’t worry about me, I’m pretty close to my mom. I can even make a fairy portal to visit her if I want. As the name suggests, only fairies can use them.”

“Ok, I think I’ve had enough time to process this. So, your mom sent you to look after me, you got invested in my non existent relationship with Sakura, and you hid in her head to push us together?” Akira said.

“Took you long enough. Yeah, that’s exactly what happened. Got a problem with it?”

“It doesn’t make any sense. Why would you care about us getting together or not?”

“Well, you two obviously weren’t going to make any moves on each other. I couldn’t just sit back and watch you two look like complete idiots. Well, I could, but it would have been a lot more painful for me.”

“So, does this mean I now have my own personal fairy like some sort of video game character?” Akira asked with slight enthusiasm.

“I guess so. I don’t mind at all, but don’t expect me to call you Master too, got it?” Tsubaki replied with her arms crossed.

“Alright! Time to go on a fantastical adventure!” Akira cheered.

“Oh? Where exactly do you plan on going, an anime convention?” snarked Tsubaki.

“Don’t ruin my moment.” replied Akira dryly.

“Dinner was good. Thank you Akira.” Sakura said.

“You’re very welcome.” he replied, laughing at his dumb response.

“You idiots are so annoying.”

Akira’s phone started ringing. It was the phone he left with the other maids.

“Hello?” Akira asked.

“Hi hi! How’s everything going Master?” asked Amari from the other side.

“Oh, everything’s been fine, if a bit strange. Would you believe me if I said I have a personal fairy now?”

“Seriously?! Just like some sort of video game character?” Amari asked enthusiastically.

“Yeah, for real! That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Akira shouted.

“Hey! Shut it already! You too, otaku maid.” shouted Tsubaki into the phone.

“Was that her?! Woah, she sounds so cool! Hey, stop pulling!”

“Master, is that you?!” shouted Lysia through the phone.

“Lysia, you don’t need to shout.” Willow said, her voice sounding farther away from the phone.

“Yeah, it’s me. How’s BunBun?”

“He’s doing just fine. We went to the park today with Miss Rose and Miss Yuri. It was a lot of fun!”

“Lysia dear, may I please speak now?”

“Sure! Here’s Miss Willow! Bye!”

“Pardon my asking Master Akira, but may I please speak to Miss Sakura?” asked Willow.

“Sure, one second.” Akira said before handing the phone to Sakura. “It’s Willow.”

“Hello? Is everything alright?” Sakura asked.

“So, what’s your deal?” Tsubaki asked.

“What do you mean?” Akira asked.

“Well, a loner loser otaku like you had some cute girls come into your life and you just what, let them live with you out of the kindness in your heart? Or was there perhaps some other reason you did so? Perhaps you thought you could take advantage of them with no consequences?” Tsubaki questioned.

“Of course not!” Akira shouted in defense. “Well, ok, I’ll tell you the truth. At first, I thought maybe I could finally have a cute girlfriend who’d love me all day every day, and that would somehow solve all of my problems. Now though, I just want the girls to have a safe place to live so they can be happy.”

“How honorable of you. Doesn’t mean you didn’t have some horrible intentions to start though. Seriously though, you want a cute girlfriend? She’s literally right in front of you!”

“Oh, so you want to be my girlfriend then?” Akira said jokingly.

Tsubaki turned red in embarrassment.

“No, of course not! Well, I mean, I’m not a tsundere like Rose, so I’ll admit, I wouldn’t mind dating you. We’re total opposites though. I mean, you’re human sized and I’m what, fifteen centimeters tall? That would never work. Ok, I lied, we could totally make it work, and fairy bodies are extremely stretchy, so…”

“Woah, stop! No more! Stop speaking, we are NOT going there. I’ll stick to human girls, thanks. I’ll be fair too and say I’m not against it, but it won’t work. I don’t care how much explaining you do, I’d rather date BunBun!”

“Hey now, there’s an interesting idea.” Tsubaki laughed.

“You know what I meant!”

“Ok, I see. Goodbye then.” Sakura said, hanging up the phone. “Master? Would it be too much to ask for us to return to Japan soon?”

“Of course not, why? Nothing bad happened, did it?!” Akira asked worriedly.

“No, nothing bad happened. I knew we’d probably have to deal with this sooner or later.” Sakura replied.

“Ooo, now things are getting interesting.” Tsubaki said, leaning over Akira’s straw to take a sip of his soda. “Wow, this stuff is STRONG to fairies. I like it.”

“Well, our flight isn’t until noon tomorrow, so we don’t really have any choice but to wait.”

“Wait, you only came back home for one day and you’re already leaving? Then what was the point in coming back?” Tsubaki asked before drinking more soda.

“You know why I came back, for my club reunion. I also may or may not have wanted this.” Akira said holding up a white handheld game system.

“Really? Couldn’t you have had your parents send that in the mail?”

“I don’t trust the mail here. Too many packages got messed up in the mail when I was growing up here.”

“Alright, we should get some sleep if we’re going to be getting up early tomorrow.” said Sakura.

“Where are you gonna sleep fairy girl?” asked Akira.

“I’m gonna sleep on your face.” replied Tsubaki in a dull tone.

“Great, I love it. Just don’t get crushed when I roll over.” Akira joked.

“As if. I’m gonna wrap myself in one of the Strawberry Princess’ pairs of panties.” Tsubaki said as she flew over to Sakura’s open suitcase.

“Wait, don’t mess with those!” shouted Sakura.

“Too late. Let’s see… ooo, black lace with a cute pink bow, how cute.” teased Tsubaki.

“Stop it! Master, please look away!”

“Come on, you know he’s staring over here with those pervy eyes of his.”

Akira looked away quickly as both girls turned to look at him.

“I didn't look. Totally didn’t see anything. I didn’t even see her matching bra.” laughed Akira.

“My life is over! My Master saw my underwear and we aren’t even in a relationship! How can I ever face the other girls after this?”

“Oh quit being so dramatic, Strawberry Princess. Go get some sleep, and don’t bother me until we’re leaving.”

Sakura got into bed nervously and put a pillow over her head in embarrassment.

“Oh come on now, I don’t want you suffocating by accident.” Akira said.

Sakura quickly sat up and whacked Akira with her pillow.

“Idiot! I told you not to look.” Sakura said pouting.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Anyway, I’m gonna turn the light off now. Goodnight Sakura, goodnight Tsubaki.”

“Night.” grumbled Tsubaki.

“Goodnight Master.”

The next morning, Akira was woken up by his alarm. Sakura also woke up at the same time.

Akira walked over to the window to open the curtains and saw Tsubaki sprawled out on top of Sakura’s panties.

“Hey, fairy, get up, it’s morning.”

“Shut it, lemme sleep in a bit longer.” muttered Tsubaki.

Akira grabbed her by the wings and picked her up.

“Hey! You do NOT grab a girl by the wings!” shouted Tsubaki.

“You’re awake now aren’t you?” Akira asked.

“No kidding, how could I not?” complained Tsubaki.

“Good, then it worked. We’re leaving as soon as we’ve gotten everything packed away.”

Akira and Sakura packed what few things they had laying around in their suitcases and started heading towards the lobby.

“Wait a minute, Tsubaki, you need to be somewhere people can’t see you.” Akira said.

“No problem boss.”

Tsubaki flew into the large pocket on the front of Akira’s hoodie and laid down.

“Hey, it’s like a big hammock in here. I could totally take a nap right now.”

“Go ahead. We’re about to go on a long flight back home, so sleep all you want.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

Akira checked out of the hotel room while Sakura waited outside for their ride. After a twenty minute drive through the neighboring city, they made it to the airport and boarded their flight.

Akira and Sakura fell asleep on each other's shoulders, while Tsubaki slept inside Akira’s hoodie.

Upon arriving back in Japan and taking a train to the station near Akira’s apartment, they had arrived back home.

“Quit moving around so much, you’re giving me a headache.” Tsubaki grumbled as she stuck her head out of the pocket.

“I’m just getting my key.”

Akira fumbled around for a bit before opening the door to the apartment.

“Hey everyone, we’re back.” announced Akira.

“Shut up! My head is killing me!” shouted Rose.

“Well aren’t you pleasant as always.” Akira muttered.

Lysia and Amari were in the kitchen cooking soup together.

“You two are cooking? What happened to Rose and Willow?” Akira asked.

“Everyone else is sick.” said Lysia sadly.

“They all have the equivalent of mana sickness in video games. They haven’t used their powers in so long that it’s caused a backup and made them sick.” Amari explained.

“Oh, so can’t we just fix it by having them use their powers?” Akira asked.

“It doesn’t work that way, sadly.” Sakura said.

“In order for them to get better, they do need to use their powers, but we also need to treat them like we would if they had the common cold. Using their powers in this state would weaken them even more, and cause more fatigue, so we need to supply them with energy. To do that…” Amari paused.

“We made them all some yummy miso soup!” cheered Lysia.

“Oh yeah, they’re all gonna have really tensed up muscles too, so we have to massage them before they use their powers too.” added Sakura.

“So we have to take care of them? For how long?” Akira asked.

“All day at least. Otherwise, it’ll take them a whole week to recover on their own.” Amari answered.

“Great, just as we get off a plane and are jet lagged.”

“Hah, looks like you’re gonna be in for a long day today, ‘ey Specs?” teased Tsubaki.