The True Endgame

He gulps, stares at the number inputted on his phone, and calls it.

"Ryouta!" an older man"s voice booms from Ryouta"s phone.

"Y-yeah, uhhh, is this… William?" Ryouta asks. He wasn"t expecting them to know his number already.

"Ah, pardon my manners. Yes, this is Alice"s father. Please, feel free to just call me Will."

"Alright, Will."

"I"ve been looking forward to talking to you! Ever since Alice first told me about what you were doing for her in that game you two play, I have been hoping for the opportunity to talk with you!"

"You – you have been?"

"Of course! My daughter has been nothing but smiles since you two met. She told me all about how you promised to save her, fought for her and freed her, and won the day! It was a magnificent tale that she told me. I know that she is very attached to her character and loves talking about everything she can do with it, so for you to save her and give her the freedom that I want for her, you have earned my respect."

Ryouta"s heart feels like it"s about to beat out of his chest from the high praise he is getting. A could-be king respects him? "She"s worth fighting for," he says.

"Ah! If only I could knight you! The hero who saves the princess deserves to be knighted! And then, just imagine after being knighted, you corrupt her against me and take over my kingdom! The hero-turned-evil-lord using the royal daughter against her own family! Alas, no matter how many of my forces I would send against you, they would all be obliterated and—"

Ryouta understands more and more where Alice gets her eccentric fantasies from.

"Ah, excuse me. I was getting ahead of myself. I suppose I should at least wait until you two are married before thinking of being plotted against and dying in a heroic, final cavalry charge," Will says.

"It"s alright. I"m used to Alice"s fantasies already. Anyways, I wanted to call and thank you for allowing me to use this card you gave her. I"ve uhh, got some money problems myself here, and it seems like – has she told you about Serra and Ca.s.sandra?" Ryouta asks.

"The short and deaf girl and the blonde one with the large chest?"

"Yeah, that pretty much sums them up. Anyways, they"re going to be staying as well, and my bank account has been running pretty low, so I appreciate this. Seriously."

"Worry not, Ryouta! Ah, wait. Am I p.r.o.nouncing your name correctly? I apologize, for I have always been poor at p.r.o.nouncing Asian names."

"You"ve got it fine."

"Wonderful! Now, please do not worry about your financial situation. Keep my daughter happy and I will ensure that money is not an issue. Our family may no longer be in charge, but we do still own plenty of valuable property, businesses, and stocks. My wife and I have far too much money – we have no idea what to do with it all! If the money can be spent on making two young lovers smile, then that may be the most n.o.ble use of it."

Ryouta wipes his eyes. He wasn"t expecting to get emotional from this, but Will"s kind voice and gesture are too much for his emotions. A could-be king not only respects him but is doing one of the kindest things that anybody has ever done for him. At the same time… he misses his parents. This is his first interaction with parents since his pa.s.sed away.

"Are you alright?" Will asks after hearing Ryouta sniffling.

"Yeah! Yeah, I"m alright. I"m just uhh, really grateful. Thank you. I just uhh, don"t really know what to say other than that. Kind of overwhelmed if I"m being honest. Never talked to a girl"s parents before and you"re doing all this for me despite not even really knowing me," Ryouta explains.

"I may not know you well, but I do know my daughter and I know that she is an excellent judge of character. If she admires you then that means you are a man worthy of admiration. Many have tried to earn that admiration from her, but only you have succeeded."

"You"re going to make me choke up even more," Ryouta says followed by a chuckle and sniffle.

"Just make sure that you come visit us sometime! My wife and I would love to meet you in person, and the beds here are very large."
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"The beds are large?"

"There are four of you, are there not? A large bed is required to comfortably fit four lovers. I can hardly imagine how such an arrangement would work on a smaller bed. Producing heirs would be even more difficult."

This is when Ryouta decides that it might be time to hang up. "I"m sure I"ll meet you someday. Maybe after these six months, I"ll go back over with her."

"Then I shall begin preparing for your arrival! My wife will likely wish to contact you to ascertain any food allergies or medical concerns that you may have. I know, she likes to plan a bit earlier than she needs to. By the way, do you have a preferred material for sheets and pillows? Is there a particular color you would like your room to be?"

His wife isn"t the only one preparing too early. "I"ll – I"ll think about it. Anyways, sorry to cut this off, but we"re about to go out and eat. I just wanted to thank you for letting me use the card."

"You are most welcome, Ryouta. Just ensure that my daughter is smiling and you will have naught to worry about. If, however, she stops smiling… I am sure you would never allow that to happen, yes? Because, if you were to allow that…"

Even if Ryouta can only hear Will"s voice, he can tell that the aura surrounding him has completely changed. He no longer sounds like some goofy and lovable dad, instead sounding like an authoritative king willing to wage war for his daughter.

Ryouta gulps and nods, "I won"t allow that. Promise."

"Wonderful!" Will says, sounding like his previous self. "Now, please go and enjoy your dinner date. Ah, one last thing. Please do not mind it if you see men following and watching you while you are out. You see, we may no longer be in power, but we still have security that accompanies all members of the royal family."

Ryouta"s first thought is that he can p.i.s.s people off as much as he wants to now in online games and not have to worry about crazy stalkers wanting to kill him for it. He"s got free security now! Though, knowing that he"s always being watched and followed does make him uneasy. It"s not like the government doesn"t already do that to everybody, though. "Got it, thanks for letting me know."

"Any activities you do in private will, of course, stay private. Please do not let the concern of being observed take away your desire to produce heirs for the family."

Ryouta stands speechless with a reddened face. How is he supposed to react to something like that?

"You see, my wife and I have been longing for grandchildren for some time now."

"I"ll – I"ll, uhh, see what I can do?"

"Perfect. Well, I suppose I should leave you to get to it! Goodbye, Ryouta!"

The call ends.

Ryouta stares at his phone and thinks about what he just said about seeing what he could do.

He turns around and sees a man in plain clothes and sungla.s.ses looking at his phone.

The man looks at Ryouta, nods, and then goes back to pretending to look at his phone.

Alright, maybe the whole being followed and protected thing is more uncomforting than he thought it would be.

At least he has official experience now in talking to his girlfriends" parents.

Ryouta returns to his apartment and sees both Alice and Aiko tied up with Serra standing behind them, rope in her hands and a smug smile on her face. "Uhhh."

Serra sets down her rope and signs "practice" to him and then lets him know that her mother is waiting in the lobby with Serra"s stuff for her to stay over.

"I"ll go get those," Ryouta signs back. He might as well just meet everybody"s parents at this rate.

"I"ll come with you," Ca.s.sandra says, jumping out from behind his couch.

"Why – why were you back there?"

"I was hiding from Serra. She said she wanted to practice on me next."

"You should experience the pleasure of being tied up and left helpless!" Alice says.

"Yeah! Being tied up is way better than doing the tying!" Aiko agrees.

Serra picks the rope back up and looks at Ryouta and Ca.s.sandra.

"Let"s go," Ryouta tells Ca.s.sandra.