Chapter 1884: Special Episode: Pajama Party (Part 1)

"It’s only in virtual worlds that you see a harem of women surrounding one man."

"Aren’t there quite a few men in real life surrounded by women too?"

"But those men’s sexual orientation usually isn’t towards women."

"Wait, what about Aunt Bokin?"

"I’ve actually done some research with Igula’s blood and found that even though he’s not a Meiwa, his endocrine system is heavily influenced by being half Meiwa, creating a physiological mechanism completely different yet similar to Meiwa’s. For example, Meiwa are always in heat, but once they like someone, they lock their heart away with cement, only their lover can ignite their desires; Igula, however, has no procreation desires and doesn’t belong to any gender or species in terms of sexual orientation, which means no race or gender can trigger his dopamine secretion—in simple terms, he doesn’t go into heat, unless he falls in love with someone."

"So that means they wouldn’t react to romantic dramas or suggestive images!?"

"Unless they can imagine themselves and their lover in the script."

"Sounds like soul enslavement... If we use Meiwa blood as a base, maybe we could research a Wonder like ’Love Enslavement’..."

"Think it through, any Wonder you research, Ash would have it too."

"Then forget it."

When Sonia just crossed the world line and returned home, she heard some leisurely chatting inside.

She pushed open the door, sat on the shoe bench at the entrance, and took off her long boots that shimmered with a dark golden glow. She started to roll down her black over-the-knee stockings from her thighs, the nylon material bunching up like a small black doughnut.

Sonia stared at it for two seconds, resisting the strong desire to take a sniff, then freed her feet from socks, stepping barefoot onto the wool carpet. She walked into the living room and saw three Six-winged Divine Lords watching a show together.

The witch turned her head to glance at her, her expression rather subtle, with a mix of pity, schadenfreude, and a bit of shared misery: "You’re back today too?"

"Yeah." Sonia waved at Silver Lamp and Vishi, greeting them, "Did everyone decide to take a day off today?"

"After all, today is April 10th." Yooran Weiser smiled, "If we can come back, we certainly should."

"I just finished my tasks and bought a cake to treat myself." Vishi crossed her legs, arms folded in front of her, eyes fixed on the screen, "If you want to celebrate his birthday, count me out."

Only then did Sonia notice the three big cakes on the dining table, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good thing you guys prepared the cakes. I was wondering if I should rush out to buy one when I came back. After all, last year’s cake fight was quite fun, eating and playing at the same time, even though the sheets were ruined... hmm?"

Recalling last year’s scene, Sonia’s cheeks flushed slightly, gently biting her lip, her brows and eyes full of smiles. However, when she glanced down, she found everyone looked a bit dejected, with no signs of anticipation for a big party later, even though they bought the cakes. Could it be...

"...Ash isn’t home?"

"It seems there’s a situation in the Apocalypse World Line. He left a message saying he’d gone there and would be back as soon as possible, but he wasn’t sure when exactly, and advised us not to go looking for him." Weiser gestured with her hands, unable to help but grumble, "Can’t he handle it a day later?"

"Can’t help it, he’s the Master of Void Realm after all," Vishi said leisurely, "the world doesn’t turn without him."

"All my long-awaited anticipation for today gone to waste." Diya hugged her pillow, looking downcast, "I came back and couldn’t find him, thinking he’d gone off messing around, but turns out he went to work..."

No wonder they were so bitter, as this day was meant to be exclusive to Ash and his queens. Although Hanna and the others had asked Ash about his birthday before, he always shrugged it off. Only Sonia and her companions would sneak back on April 10th each year to celebrate with Ash.

Other than having cake, there wouldn’t really be any extra celebration, but for them, it was a day marking their official intimate relationship with Ash, a little secret they shared with him. They all worked overtime to quickly finish their tasks just to be on time, yet Ash ended up ditching them for work... anyone would be upset.

"No wonder you’re all gathered here watching shows, waiting for him to come back..."

Sonia leaned against the back of Vishi’s sofa, pointing to the marshmallows on the coffee table. Vishi glanced at her and unwrapped a marshmallow to feed the Sword Maiden. While chewing, she said, "How long have you guys been waiting?"

"I got back three hours ago, Vishi two, and Silver Lamp one and a half hours ago." Diya counted on her fingers, "We’ve watched eight episodes of ’Otherworldly Elite Soldier’s Slave,’ the next should be the hot spring episode... want to watch together?"

"Sure." Sonia readily agreed, sitting down and leaning against the witch, her legs propped on Silver Lamp’s lap, lounging lazily. The witch took out a bag of chips, and Vishi sat down to munch with them.

After Diya flattened the chip bag, Sonia licked her fingers, stretched her feet until they arched, then reclined to use the witch’s lap as a pillow, staring idly at the ceiling.

"Witch, what are you planning to do later?" she suddenly asked.

"Waiting for Ash to come back, of course," Diya replied matter-of-factly.

"And after he comes back?"

Diya looked at Sonia with a strange expression, reaching to feel her forehead, "Of course I’ll share my latest research in the field of time with Ash, or do you think I plan to have the birthday cake smeared on me for Ash to lick off cleanly?"