Gray was lying in bed with Yurika snuggled up next to him; he had the giant cat head on for some reason or another since he liked to act like a dork every now and then. Gray also wanted to see Yurika's expression when she woke up next to him wearing it.
Gray was still thinking about Yurika and how he was going to help her get out of her force marriage.
"I think what I really need to determine is why Yurika was picked. I mean, that guy could honestly pick any woman he wanted probably, so why Yurika?" Gray thought to himself.
Gray was racking his brain trying to figure out what could even possibly be the reason for it.
"Ok, what if I put myself in Stephen Seegall's shoes, why would I want her specifically?"
Gray looked down at Yurika's beautiful body that was only covered with a thin sheet as she slept on his chest and he could understand why immediately, but at the same time, he felt that to single her out specifically it would have to be for something less superficial.
"Does he know her already? Did he fall for her after meeting her despite the huge age gap? Could it possibly even be payback of sorts for something a relative of Yurika's did to him?"
Too much information was missing; Gray could not answer a lot of his own questions. Gray thought he should enlist some help, but was not exactly sure who could help.
"Hmm, I think I need to look at the Alterra Corporation first. Maybe find out how Alterra Corp formed and see if I can talk to some of the other founders, if they are still alive of course."
Gray remembered the conversation he had earlier with Yurika how she had said that Stephen Seegall worked with Doctor Sara Watts at one point and wondered if he could talk with her.
"I know she's an AI now, so I can probably only interact with her in the virtual world. She's gorgeous though so it's a shame that her physical body is gone"
"Damn it Gray, first you wake me up by talking to yourself, then you start talking about another woman even!" Yurika said angrily and looked up at Gray.
Yurika looked at the giant cat head Gray was wearing and blinked twice in confusion.
Gray stayed silent for a few seconds while Yurika stared at him then finally said "Meow"
"Pffft…. Ba ha ha ha ha ha!" Yurika could hardly contain her laughter at the stupidity of it.
After laughing at Gray while he just laid there as if everything was normal, Yurika scooted up and kissed the nose of the giant cat head.
"So who were you talking about, I was half asleep so I didn't quite understand what you were saying."
"You remember Dr. Sara Watts, right?" Gray asked Yurika
"A little bit, I do remember that she was gorgeous though!" Yurika said slightly mischievously.
"Oh, so I'm not allowed to talk about women but you are?" Gray teased Yurika.
"Duh, I'm a woman! You should know that I'm allowed to call other women beautiful!"
"So does that mean I can call other men handsome or hot?"
"Be my guest..."
Gray shook his head at her, then pulled off the giant cat head, plopped it on her head and started tickling her mercilessly, leading Yurika to shriek loudly.
A few seconds later, Gray's door swung open and Geoff burst through it.
"Everything Okay? I heard a woman scream and thought it might be you Gray!"
Gray and Yurika were sitting up on Gray's bed still tickle fighting when Geoff burst in and they both stared blankly at Geoff even with the giant cat head still on Yurika.
Geoff felt very awkward suddenly "Uhhh… I don't know what you two are doing but that giant cat head freaks me out a little bit."
Yurika picked up one of her boots and threw it at Geoff while covering herself with the bed sheet. Geoff managed to dodge the boot and then ran out of the room and closed the door behind him.
"We should probably get up now I guess." Gray said while scratching the back of his head.
"I guess so… my boot is in the hall anyways…"
Gray and Yurika both got out of bed and cleaned themselves up to begin the day, Gray kept the giant cat head of course…
__________
Princess Bang-gwi was progressing steadily with her training; she found the slow and lumbering Hegemony mechs to be surprisingly easy to control and the physical training became easier as time went on.
Princess Bang-gwi got up as usual and felt good enough this morning that she was able to start stretching on her own without Chuhan Jwi pulling her out of bed. Princess Bang-gwi started to become more serious and had kept all of her pretty and frilly clothes packed, opting instead to wear a sports bra, spats shorts, and military issued jumpsuit.
Princess Bang-gwi found herself admiring her own body in the mirror while she was stretching in just her sports bra and spats shorts. Her diet was always good so she did not have much extra fat, but she noticed that her body as a whole felt lighter and looked leaner.
She only felt a little depressed when she peeked at her sports bra and felt that she was not filling it out as much as she used to.
"I guess those are the first things to go…" Princess Bang-gwi said dejectedly.
A knock came from the Princess's door and the Princess heard Chuhan Jwi say, "Are you awake Princess?"
Princess Bang-gwi used to feel irritated by that question because she felt that if she wasn't awake she wouldn't be able to respond to it until Chuhan Jwi shouted it loud enough that she did wake up. She stopped being irritated by it because when she had questioned it once a glass of cold water was splashed on her face instead.
"Yes, just stretching Jwi!"
Chuhan Jwi walked in with Xiǎng Pigu behind her.
The Princess just finished stretching so she energetically stood up after she was done, grabbed on to Xiǎng Pigu and said, "I'm hungry! Let's get some breakfast!"
Chuhan Jwi coughed and said "Ahem, Princess, your clothes?"
Princess Bang-gwi looked down at herself to see that she was still wearing her spat shorts and sports bra. She probably would have gone as is had nobody said anything, but since she was reminded about it she grabbed her jumpsuit and slipped into it, tying the sleeves around her waist and just wearing a sports bra on top as most of the other girls did this in the summer to keep cool. Once the actual training commenced for the day, they would untie the sleeves and wear it normally to absorb all of the sweat.
Princess Bang-gwi and Xiǎng Pigu walked arm in arm like best friends towards the cafeteria while chatting away, Chuhan Jwi was a short distance behind them. Chuhan Jwi admitted that she missed chatting with the Princess like that, but she also was glad for her to make friends her own age as well.
Once they reached the cafeteria, a few people noticed the Princess and Xiǎng Pigu enter, but the initial sensation of it had finally let up after a few days so she could enjoy a more peaceful meal.
"Vinnie was going to introduce to his friends, right?" the Princess asked Xiǎng Pigu.
"Yes, we should look for him!"
They spotted Vincent at the same small table as before with his friends he had motioned towards a few days ago. Spotting them as well, Vincent waved to the 3 of them.
Looking at their small table, they only had two empty seats. The Princess did not hesitate to take one of them and this caused Xiǎng Pigu to get flustered again because she wanted to sit next to the Princess, but since she was a commoner and Chuhan Jwi was a noble, she would naturally give up her seat for her.
Chuhan Jwi smiled at Xiǎng Pigu and said "It's ok, take it."
Seeing Chuhan Jwi offering the seat to Xiǎng Pigu, Vincent felt the need to stand up and offered his chair to Chuhan Jwi. "Lady Chuhan, please, you may use this seat!" Vincent said while bowing slightly.
Seeing Vincent so respectful of Chuhan Jwi surprised Vincent's 3 friends because of his usual contempt for the nobility, but they assumed it was a good thing anyways that showed Vincent was growing up as well.
"Hey, you going to introduce us?" one of Vincent's friends finally spoke up.
"I'm sorry, Lady Chuhan, Princess, and Xiǎng Pigu; these 3 are my closest friends from my home town, Brian, Alexander, and Sabrina."
Brian and Alexander appeared to be brothers and even twins at that so the Princess said "So you two are brothers, right?"
Brian and Alexander looked at each other, frowned and then turned away quickly while Sabrina and Vincent started to laugh.
Vincent finally calmed down after the Princess, Xiǎng Pigu, and Chuhan Jwi exchanged curious looks with each other. "They're not brothers, they just happen to look alike, and they HATE it!"
"That's a bunch of crap, I'm much better looking than Alex!"
"At least we agree that it is crap, but I am the better looking one obviously!"
Both of them looked at each again and looked away suddenly with a loud "Hmmph!"
Everyone laughed together again watching them, seeing this warmed Chuhan Jwi's heart and she hoped these sort of days could last.