1 Power Out!
[...
Kogoro was struck silent! His back was sweating, he did not dare to look his daughter in the eyes, opting to stare at the floor instead. A part of that was from how terrifying Ran was being, but another part came from the fact that he was feeling a little bit aroused from his daughter's scolding!
Kogoro could only curse his past self again.
'This comrade, who the hell was this auntie!? And what the hell did you do for the money? Furthermore, when did my daughter become so sexy!?'
~TBC~
…]
"Fuuuhhh…" Yoru Mane sighed, annoyed that the fanfiction he was reading ended so shortly after he just started reading it. Although he was not a fast reader, seven chapters with a thousand words each could only occupy his attention for about half an hour before he needed to search for another one.
Fortunately, Yoru was quite an otaku. He didn't even hesitate sacrificing his time with his friends to read web fiction. Well, not that he had that many friends to begin with, but it's the thought that counted!
Yoru checked the time on his smartphone, and decided to cook some dinner first. He still lived with his two mothers, but he was alone most nights, because they worked the night shift at the sugar factory nearby.
Having two moms gave him perks other teenagers with a dad and a mom didn't have. One of them was two nice cops for parents. Yoru's mothers never questioned his hobby even though other parents would be concerned because of the negative stereotype an otaku might get from society. As long as he behaved like a good kid, they would accommodate his small requests every now and then.
'Well, that, and as a lesbian couple, they probably has faced all kinds of mistreatment before.' Yoru thought, his mouth was busy munching the omelette fried rice he just made. As he was scooping the last bit of food from his plate, his phone rang from his bedroom.
Yoru quickly finished his food, and ran to his room to pick up the call. He swiped the screen, and his first mother ID popped up.
"Mama?"
"Hey honey, have you eaten dinner yet?"
His first mother's voice was velvety even over the phone. While she grew up in Los Andreas, almost everything about her screamed Latina woman, except for one thing: her name. No latina woman in the world would ever turn around if you shouted 'Kourai Mane'. Apparently, his grandpa from her side was also an otaku like Yoru.
"Just finished it. How about you and Mommy?"
"Not yet. We are on the way home right now."
Huh?
"Did something happen at work?"
Kourai laughed lightly, and he could tell from the noise that his second mother beside her was also chuckling.
"Well, you remember the monkey that escaped from the LA Zoo? It was actually hiding in the farm!"
Yoru shared their amusement when he heard that. The Los Andreas Zoo was something of a joke according to the citizens. You could compare it to other zoos in the United States of Bohemia, and you would be surprised at how far the quality gap of their security actually was.
"Was there really a monkey? It didn't bite you, right?"
"Nah, we didn't see them in person, you know? The monkey didn't get to enter the office. You wanna say something to Mommy before we hang up? The train is already here."
"No need, I'll talk to Mommy later when you are home. I'mma hang up, Mama. Safe trip!"
"Thanks honey"
He ended the call before it turned to that neverending one where people didn't want to be the one stopping the conversation.
Feeling parched from talking so much, Yoru went back to the kitchen. He opened the drawer above the stove, and took out a bottle of tea.
Yoru gulped the whole thing down, before he unlocked his phone once more. He opened the webnovel app in case the stories he was following were updated.
Still nothing. Yoru opened his inbox, and he saw a comment he made two days ago had been replied to by someone named Wahhey. His words went like this:
[You said before that someone who chose some type of system over an overpowered reality bending item sucks, what made you say that?]
Huh. Yoru didn't know what to say. In fact, he didn't think that he phrased his comment that way at all! He wasn't a confrontational guy, and that particular comment was made just for that story called 'September Eleven' alone.
It used to be a great piece, and was based on the 9/11 Islington CT tragedy. It contained a good amount of sarcasm, some time traveling shenanigans, and just a dash of sex, well mixed. Of course the author had to ruin it with an AI character introduced late into the story. While he didn't mind it at first, the novel slowly turned into a generic novel with a pushover MC because of that AI character!
Now, Yoru was not a confrontational guy, but that didn't mean he would say nice things even when he felt awful. So he commented his opinion politely. But who would have guessed his comment would be interpreted as a curse? Implying that he hated the genre? What on terra was this Wahhey guy talking about?
Ignoring the fact that he loved more than sixty percent of the novels with the system tag that he had read; there's still the fact that his comment didn't have any profanity in them at all!
'Should I answer?'
Yoru pondered, before tapping the reply button.
[I didn't say that, but in this particular story, the main character made a big mistake by choosing the AI! He was already a meticulous character, so why would he choose a glorified talking notebook instead of the power stone? All the troubles he faced afterwards can be solved easily. I know it was for the sake of the plot, but that means that the author didn't do a good job, and broke the reader's suspension of disbelief.]
After Yoru reviewed his comment, he pressed the send button. He put his phone in his pocket, but before he even took a step, his phone gave a notification sound.
'Fast!'
That's right. It was the Wahhey guy.
He just replied with a question.
[So you'd take the Power Stone instead?]
Yoru typed a one word answer.
[Yes]
And everything turned dark-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-except for his phone screen.
"What the- a power outage at this hour?"
Yoru turned on the flash on his phone, and walked straight to the switch box, but tripped on something on the floor!
"Shi-"
Thud!!
He fell on his back; his head was spinning from the hit.
Yoru tried to prop himself up off the floor, but his empty right hand ended up grabbing the ball-like thing that tripped him. He flashed the light to his right hand, and the moment it hit the thing he was holding, everything turned bright-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-before Yoru lost his consciousness.
