Chapter 178: He actually came.

After arranging the final details of what versions they would tell the authorities, All Might left the mansion’s garden at high speed. In the sky, the sun could be seen rising little by little, at which point Keiko turned to look at Nemuri and asked in a calm tone.

“Are you going to U.A. today, Nemuri?”

“…I guess so. I can’t let the students down, and staying here doesn’t really help much. Kai won’t wake up for at least a couple of days, if what Sage said is correct…”

With her arms crossed beneath her enormous bust, Nemuri commented with a somewhat resigned expression, gazing at the distant sunrise. Shino, who was standing beside her, then spoke in a similar tone.

“I really would like to take the day off today, even though I know it won’t change anything. I’d rather stay with Kai, at least for today…”

“I feel the same way. I’m still very uneasy, and just remembering the state Kai was in when he arrived makes my nerves stand on end, so I’ll stay in the medical room for the rest of the day.” Yumiko remarked in a slightly tired voice. Hearing that, Keiko nodded and added in a similar tone.

“Yes… that image was so shocking that I feel it will become part of my nightmares…”

While the three beautiful women nodded with dark expressions at Keiko’s words, suddenly a notification sound echoed from Yumiko’s pants pocket. She quickly took out her phone to check it, and her expression immediately soured, as if she had just seen something unpleasant.

“Is it him again?” Seeing Yumiko’s expression, Keiko asked in a slightly disgusted tone, to which the beautiful blue-haired woman nodded with a look full of revulsion.

“… Yes, he’s using another disposable number. This is the third one this week…”

“Haruto is trying to contact you?”

Somewhat curious, Shino asked while looking at Yumiko, who nodded her head as she manipulated her phone to block the number. She then explained in a tone filled with genuine disdain.

“Yes. For the past few days, he’s been calling and messaging me nonstop, trying to convince me that he doesn’t have a mistress—asking if I’ve had enough time to calm down so we can talk. That bastard is so shameless…”

“But why do you think he’s being so insistent? Could he suspect that we’ve found him out?” Nemuri couldn’t help but ask, a bit intrigued. Yumiko shook her head and replied, her voice brimming with scorn and mockery.

“With how cowardly he is, if he suspected we’d caught on, he’d be too busy covering his tracks to try to contact me. It’s more likely he’s nervous because the next collection’s deadline is coming up, and I still haven’t sent him the designs.”

“Do you think he’d dare to show up…?” Keiko asked in an irritated tone, to which Yumiko replied mockingly.

“He’s a coward, and he’s always been afraid of Kai, so it’s unlikely. Though he might send someone else.”

“That would be troublesome. Better give the guards the order not to let anyone in.” Nemuri said seriously, and Yumiko nodded calmly.

“That’s best. I don’t want to receive any of his ridiculous gifts, especially that stupid bouquet of 99 red roses and one white rose. Just remembering it makes me nauseous. I don’t know how I fell for that nonsense in my youth…”

“… By the way, Yumiko, are you planning on delaying your company’s next collection?”

Choosing not to comment on Yumiko’s relationship, Shino asked in a calm tone, feeling a bit tired and missing Kai’s revitalizing massages. The blue-haired beauty answered in a relaxed voice as she stretched.

“The truth is, no. The designs are already finished—I completed them a month ago; I just never sent them. I've already been in touch with a public relations friend of mine, and we more or less have the launch figured out. Also, I’ve been thinking about renting a small office to rehearse the choreography with the models and everything else, so that as soon as we regain control of the company, all that’s left is to acquire the raw materials, start production, and launch the collection on time.”

“I have a few properties not too far from here. If you’d like, I could lend you a good space where you can work in peace. Though I’ll be sad to say goodbye to my fellow retiree, fufu.” Keiko teased playfully, which made Yumiko smile in amusement as she replied.

“Fufu, then I appreciate it in advance, Keiko. And don’t worry—the retired life is too good to miss out on. Once we get everything sorted with this next collection, I’ll hire some good designers to help me and take most of the workload off my shoulders so I can enjoy myself the way I deserve.”

“Well then, you pair of retired mothers, I’m off to do some exercise before I head to work. I’ll see you two in the afternoon, and don’t worry—I’ll let them know that Nejire and Momo will be absent.” Nemuri commented casually as she stretched lazily. Keiko and Yumiko both nodded calmly.

“We’ll leave it to you,” Keiko said, then covered her mouth with her hand to hide the tired yawn she let out. At that moment, Yumiko quietly added.

“In that case, I’ll call Ryukyu’s agency, although first I’ll ask Nejire if she wants to skip today…”

“Well, then let’s go inside. I really need a coffee…”

While Nemuri walked off toward the gym, Shino remarked, visibly tired. Yumiko and Keiko agreed casually, and the three entered the house together, finding Chatora coming out of the kitchen with several cups of coffee. He had sent Mrs. Yoshiko to rest several hours ago, and Eva was sitting in one of the chairs, lost in thought.

…

…

…

Three days passed quickly, and Kai still hadn’t woken up, which inevitably caused great concern among the girls. They took advantage of Dr. Tsunashi’s visit—he had come to check on Oliver, who woke up on the second day—to have him examine Kai again. However, there were no significant changes in his condition, only that the malnutrition and dehydration he had been suffering from had finally been brought under control.

“It really feels so strange coming back without Kai…”

Standing at the imposing gates of U.A., Nejire commented in a complicated, somewhat sad voice. Momo, who was at her side, could only nod with a melancholy expression, still wondering if she had made the right decision coming back without Kai.

“Certainly… I still feel uncomfortable with all of this… What would Kai think if he wakes up and doesn’t see us by his side…?”

“I feel the same… but Ryuko’s right—being pro-heroes is our dream, and not even Kai wanted us to give that up for him. So at least we have to try. If he wakes up and realizes we’ve been missing classes just to watch him sleep, I’m sure he’d feel super guilty. Even the Pussycats went back to work…” Nejire commented somewhat resignedly. Momo could only nod again.

“That’s true as well…”

After exchanging complicated looks, both Momo and Nejire sighed heavily, then took a step forward into the impressive educational institution, soon parting ways to head to their respective classrooms. Momo walked slowly toward Class 1-A.

“““Yao Momo!!”””

The moment Momo entered the classroom, she was greeted by the collective shout of Mina, Jiro, and Toru, the Invisible Girl, who ran over to the black-haired girl, quickly noticing two incredibly strange things: first, Momo’s melancholy expression, and second, the absence of the handsome blue-eyed boy.

“What happened, Yao Momo? Is it true that Saito got sick?”

Visibly worried, Mina asked hurriedly, since even though she had kept in constant contact with her black-haired friend, for some reason, Momo had been absent from class for the past three days and hadn’t replied to her messages—or anyone else’s. Midnight had only told them that Saito was sick and that Momo had stayed behind to take care of him. At that moment, Momo sighed sadly and nodded, then spoke in a subdued voice.

“Yes… Kai is in bed and hasn’t woken up yet…”

“What happened to Saito? How is it even possible for someone like him to get sick?”

Kirishima, who had also come over along with Sero and Ojiro, the boy with the tail, asked in surprise. Momo could only reply softly, wearing an incredibly bitter smile as she felt the gazes of almost every student on her—especially Bakugo, Todoroki, and Midoriya.

“Even Kai can get sick…”

Not satisfied with the vague answer, the others were about to start a thorough interrogation, but at that moment Aizawa entered the classroom looking visibly tired, forcing the students to return to their seats. The homeroom teacher then spoke in his usual unenthusiastic tone.

“Yaoyorozu, it’s good to have you back. The principal asked me to tell you he wants to see you at lunchtime.”

“Alright.” Momo replied calmly, while the other students looked at her worriedly. Aizawa then announced to the entire class.

“And for everyone wondering, Saito is fine; although it’s likely, he won’t rejoin classes for a couple of weeks. That’s all that will be said on the matter.”

Although the students were visibly dissatisfied by his announcement, Aizawa ignored them completely and began to go over the usual updates, forcing everyone to swallow their complaints and pay attention.

…

…

…

In the medical room of the Saito mansion, Keiko and Yumiko were in Kai’s room. Keiko was seated at the foot of the bed, massaging Kai’s legs—he was only wearing a pair of short shorts—while intently watching an instructional video on a holographic screen in front of her. Yumiko was doing something similar with the boy’s left arm, also watching an instructional video on a holographic screen.

“By the way, Yumiko, your office will be ready this afternoon. They’ve already installed the runway, the necessary furniture, and everything else. They called me last night to let me know, but I forgot to tell you.”

Massaging Kai’s legs rhythmically, Keiko spoke in a calm yet slightly laborious tone, as Kai’s muscles were incredibly strong and resistant yet strangely flexible—almost as if they were made of vulcanized rubber—which made massaging them properly a bit of a challenge.

“Oh, that’s fine. I’ll swing by this afternoon to check everything out and start calling the models so we can begin rehearsals and fittings as soon as possible. The collection has to be perfect.”

Still focused on massaging Kai’s arm, Yumiko responded with a calm voice, her gaze fixed on the video made specifically for them. They hadn’t wanted to leave Kai’s care to ordinary nurses, so they decided to do it themselves, which required the creation of all kinds of explanatory documents and tutorials to ensure they wouldn’t accidentally cause any harm.

Not to mention the follow-up evaluations by the three full-time doctors they had hired to monitor both Kai’s and Oliver’s condition—Oliver was currently doing therapy in the adjacent room with his mother and two nurses.

“Speaking of that, where are you planning to present the collection?”

While wiping the sweat from her forehead, Keiko asked casually, then moved on to massage Kai’s other leg. This caused her simple red spaghetti-strap dress to shift slightly, making one of the straps fall over her smooth shoulder and reveal a sexy black bra—something the beautiful woman didn’t mind at all as she continued her work.

“I was thinking of Ginza Six. I know a few people there.”

Yumiko replied in a calm tone as she stood up from the bed to stretch her tired arms, causing her oversized white cotton T-shirt—despite its size—to look a bit tight around her chest. Paired with her cream-colored leggings that hugged her legs and accentuated her round hips, she looked quite alluring.

“Don’t you think it would be more interesting to do it at the Mori Art Museum? I have ways to get you an entire pavilion.” Keiko commented calmly, still fully focused on her massage. Yumiko answered in the same relaxed tone as she sat down on the right side of the bed and took Kai’s other arm.

“That sounds really interesting. I could even tweak a few of my designs so they fit better with the colorful atmosphere of the place…”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll make a couple of calls later to arrange everything… Huh?”

Keiko spoke calmly, but suddenly a holographic screen appeared in front of her, showing a live video feed of a middle-aged man with gray hair, dressed in an elegant black business suit. He was holding a huge bouquet of red roses with a striking white rose in the center, along with what appeared to be an elegant black box of chocolates with a prominent duck logo on top.

“He actually came…”

***

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