Theresa finished wiping her hands clean, tossing the tissue into the trash bin.
But they still felt sticky. Even after licking them clean, there was still a lingering stickiness. Only after washing thoroughly with alcohol did it feel somewhat better.
Meanwhile, Jun An had reached his own conclusions. When it came to lap pillows, Himeko was actually more comfortable. Although the height difference made it uncomfortable after sleeping for a long time, the advantage was that the moment he opened his mouth, he could feel Mom.
Theresa, on the other hand, was more suited to being a dakimakura. Petite, soft, light, easy to handle, and cooperative.
And so, after a two-hour "nap" that involved no actual napping, the two began their date for the day.
Jun An changed into some comfortable clothes, and Theresa put on the nun-like habit she used to favor long ago.
But walking down the street, Jun An still let out a yawn. "That was a really comfortable sleep. If only I could have slept longer."
"It's already afternoon. Wait until tonight to sleep more." Theresa looked at Jun An helplessly. His fatigue had indeed lessened considerably; he'd gone from being so sleepy he wanted to pass out, to simply feeling like he couldn't get out of bed in the morning and wanted to go back for a second sleep.
Theresa couldn't help but tease, "Clearly, back when the Captain was human, you worked twenty-five hours a day. Now, Captain, you really can't keep up anymore."
"Yeah, I obviously have more rest time than before, but I feel even more tired." Jun An sighed helplessly. He figured he probably hadn't transitioned back from his easy life on Earth yet. Thinking about it, it made sense – who wouldn't be exhausted after suddenly being squeezed eight or nine times a day by two MANTISes with a shotacon complex?
Not only did females recover faster than males, but their frequency was almost unlimited. Jun An felt he was already quite strong; the weakness lay in the useless body this trash system had created for him.
[Protest! The Host's body strength is determined by instance difficulty and Host's points, it has nothing to do with this System.]
[Seconded! If you do not wish to continue this development, you can absolutely express your protest to them, instead of slandering this System's performance.]
—I was just saying. Right now, Theresa and Himeko are still in that phase of feverish excitement. Let's just indulge them for another two days.
—Once their heads cool down, I can use this stuff to laugh at them later.
[Then you'll just get fucked over again.]
Jun An naturally ignored the system. It only popped up when assigning missions or when he cursed at it; it was completely useless as a conversation partner.
"Anyway, since rest time is over, it's time for the date. Where are you planning to go? Or are we just wandering aimlessly?"
Because the date was a suddenly added clause, Jun An had almost zero preparation before Theresa forcibly changed his clothes and brought him to Nagazora City.
Unlike the original storyline, Nagazora City hadn't been completely destroyed by the Honkai thanks to Jun An's efforts. Although the Honkai outbreak still occurred, Jun An managed to stabilize the situation, turning the tide.
Because the impact of the Honkai disaster was lessened, the reconstruction here was exceptionally fast. In just one year, it had regained its former prosperity.
Jun An and Theresa strolled through the city together. The towering buildings looked similar to the metropolises back on his original Earth, just with more common sights like AI and robot restaurants.
Theresa hadn't been able to go out and play for a long time either. Holding the [Herrscher Manual/Playbook - implied power/role], she wasn't quite sure where to go for a moment.
"Should we follow a normal person's route, then?" Theresa asked for Jun An's opinion. "Amusement park, aquarium, movie theater, and love hotel."
"Scratch the last one." Seeing Theresa had no plan either, Jun An decided to just head straight for KFC.
"Hiss... why are there so many people?" Jun An looked at the queue on the commercial street. The entire KFC restaurant was almost packed, and more importantly, it wasn't even peak hours.
Theresa was also curious. "They're probably holding an event. Captain, let's go take a look."
Just as Jun An and Theresa approached, they immediately heard a shout: "Might of An-Utu, unsheathed!"
It instantly baffled Jun An. "What the hell?"
Theresa craned her neck to see, quickly pulling out her phone to check. "Ah, found it. It's the collaboration Susannah and the others mentioned the day before yesterday..."
Theresa showed her phone to Jun An. It turned out to be a collaboration between Schicksal and KFC. The subject of the collab was... the Hyperion. And Jun An, as the Hyperion's sole Captain, had become the representative printed on the posters.
However, the image on it was undoubtedly beautified. Even Jun An doubted if it was really him.
"Wait, they can collab with anything?" Jun An's eyes showed immense confusion. "My death anniversary just passed?!"
"Err..." Theresa's gaze darted around evasively, her small hand holding Jun An's starting to sweat a little. "Actually, this was supposed to happen on the day of your anniversary, but because of my work delays, it got pushed to today."
"And Captain, please don't be angry. We absolutely had no intention of partying on your death anniversary. It's just that your anniversary is the commemoration day of our victory over the Honkai, so..."
Jun An understood instantly. It was like how soldiers might die on National Day in the military – some rejoice, some mourn. It was normal.
Moreover, on that day, Theresa had indeed gone to his grave and shed tears for him.
But even so, Jun An put on a deeply hurt expression. "Right, right. It's only natural that the sacrifice of a small fry like me isn't remembered. But to think, as a great hero, my portrait rights would be sold for money by my closest kin even after death, and on my anniversary no less. How heartbreaking~"
Even though the Captain's acting was so clumsy, Theresa couldn't help but feel guilty. Purely from the perspective of portrait rights, it really was her fault, since she was the one who had Amber sign off on it.
Theresa sighed helplessly. "I apologize for this matter. What must I do for the Captain to forgive me?"
"Moonlight battlesuit."
"Hm?"
"Tonight. Blood Knight: Moonlight. Theresa, you understand, right?" Jun An's face was serious.
"But that's for combat..." Theresa blushed instantly upon understanding Jun An's intention, but after a moment's thought, she nodded slightly.
Afterward, the two had lunch nearby. Of course, with plenty of cosplayers around, nobody realized Jun An and Theresa were the real deal.
But for Jun An, seeing people cosplaying anime characters within an anime world felt a bit strange. Especially when someone, holding a handmade replica of Shamash for the sake of KFC collab merchandise, shouted "Might of An-Utu, unsheathed!", Jun An felt all sorts of cringe.
Theresa was snickering beside him, sipping the special collab drink – bitter melon juice – to suppress her laughter.
"Go ahead and laugh. Wait until someone picks up Judah and shouts 'Divine Prayer barrier!' Let's see if you're still laughing then."
Later, they heard that alongside the collab, there was a Schicksal-partnered anime convention nearby, hosting a cosplay competition. Jun An immediately wanted to drag Theresa to check out the con, and while they were at it, have Theresa sign up for the cosplay contest too.
Theresa was a bit worried. "If the actual person goes up, wouldn't that count as cheating?"
"Then you can cosplay Kiana, Kallen, or Cecilia. You're all white-haired with blue eyes anyway." Jun An didn't care. Right now, unless Theresa herself demonstrated her power, nobody would likely believe the Director of the Far East Branch would show up in person.
"Then Captain, will you cosplay yourself?" Theresa proposed. "If the Captain goes, I'll go."
In the end, because of Theresa's suggestion, Jun An had no choice but to casually change into an outfit and go on stage with Theresa.
The judge seemed to be a Valkyrie from Schicksal who had once observed Jun An in battle. Naturally, she didn't recognize the smaller Jun An. So, when Jun An cosplayed himself, he got sixth place, not even second.
Theresa, on her end, got third place.
The reasoning given was that although the portrayal was very similar, even the Oath of Judah being identical, the current Lord Theresa was already the Overseer of Schicksal and should be more mature. For instance, her bust circumference was visually a size smaller than Lord Theresa's in the official guidebook.
After getting off stage, Jun An stifled his laughter. "Theresa, let me ask you something, don't get mad. When you appear in public normally, don't tell me you... pad?"
"Captain, you don't believe me either?!" Theresa was instantly furious upon hearing this and was about to go find that judge and demand to know which bastard wrote that official guidebook!
Fake! It had to be fake!