“Whoooosh…”
The hair dryer blew out warm air.
Broly could feel the heat brushing over his head as his hair gradually became fluffy and dry.
“It’s sticking up a little.
Looks like I shouldn’t dry it too much.”
Wrapped in a bath towel, Taiga Fujimura said this while picking up a bottle of hair treatment and spraying it over Broly’s head.
The pleasant fragrance made Broly raise his head, sniffing curiously at the bottle in her hand.
“This isn’t food either.”
Taiga quickly put the hair treatment back, picked up a comb, and made Broly face forward.
Then she began combing through his long, fluffy hair.
“Your hair quality is actually really nice!”
After being washed, Broly’s hair felt incredibly smooth to the touch.
Taiga couldn’t help feeling a little envious.
“Let me style it for you.”
Soon, a boy with twin tails appeared in the mirror.
“Haha, this hairstyle is so cute!
You look just like a little girl.”
Broly frowned.
After Taiga’s very personal explanation earlier, he already knew the difference between himself and girls.
“I’m not a little girl.
I have a little brother.”
He argued while thrusting his hips forward slightly, as if presenting evidence to the girl behind him.
“Stop showing off your elephant, you shameless little brat!”
Taiga clicked her tongue, her face turning a little red.
This kid was actually developing pretty well.
No—rather, he was developing far more than someone his age should.
“Shame?”
Broly looked puzzled, but before he could turn into a question machine again, Taiga hurriedly undid his twin tails.
“Fine, fine.
I’ll give you another hairstyle.”
She was honestly starting to fear this child’s endless questions.
“How about a ponytail?
Fresh and neat.”
Broly didn’t really understand whether a hairstyle was good or bad, but seeing Taiga’s satisfied expression, he nodded.
“Mm.”
“Bring your tail over too.
I’ll dry it for you, otherwise it’ll soak your clothes.”
Broly was very obedient.
He didn’t refuse the girl’s instruction and calmly placed his tail into her hands.
The hair dryer sounded again.
The warm air brought a slight coolness to Broly’s tail, and soon, it became as fluffy as his hair.
The soft, furry feeling made Taiga unable to resist stroking it in a rather indecent motion.
Only when Broly’s body trembled did she quickly let go.
“Sorry.
I got a little carried away.”
“It’s fine.”
Broly didn’t mind.
His body had only reacted instinctively because of the strange way she had stroked his tail.
“Mm… do you want to stroke it too?”
Seeing young Sakura, now dressed, staring at his tail, Broly thought for a moment and asked.
“Can I?”
Stroking his tail wouldn’t make him lose any fur, so Broly didn’t say anything.
He simply moved closer and placed his tail into the girl’s hands.
Young Sakura held the tail with both hands and touched it carefully, afraid of using too much strength.
Instead, the light touch made Broly feel itchy, and his tail began swaying in her hands.
“Did I hurt you?”
Sakura immediately stopped and asked.
“No.
It’s just that you can use a little more strength.
If it’s too light, it tickles.”
Under Broly’s encouraging gaze, Sakura began trying to find the right way to stroke his tail.
“Is this amount of strength okay?”
“Still a little itchy.”
“What about this?”
“A little numb.”
After several attempts, Broly’s tail gradually became accustomed to Sakura’s small hands.
It no longer felt unfamiliar with her touch and slowly entered a state of desensitization.
To describe it with an analogy, it was like a wary cat that had finally become comfortable enough to show someone its chin.
“Hey, hey, stop touching his tail over there.
Hurry up and come put on your clothes, or you’ll catch a cold.”
Taiga, already dressed, called out.
In truth, she was a little envious of Sakura being able to stroke the tail.
“Do you need me to cut a hole in your pants?”
Taiga asked.
“No.
I usually wrap my tail around my waist.
My father said doing that reduces the chances of my tail getting hurt.”
Most Saiyan warriors carried their tails this way.
As for Saiyans who cut off their tails, they were a minority, since the tail was tied to the trump card of transforming into a Great Ape.
Though under normal circumstances, almost no Saiyan liked turning into an irrational Great Ape.
Broly was simply explaining how his father had taught him to keep his tail, but to Taiga’s ears, it became an entirely different story.
A child with a fluffy tail had always suffered discrimination and bullying from others.
To keep him from being looked down on and hurt, his father had taught him from a young age to hide his unique tail.
Although that father was no longer in this world, his love for his child was reflected in those tiny details.
What a great father’s love!
Big Sister will protect you from now on.”
Overcome with sudden maternal instinct, Taiga hugged Broly into her arms.
She was already quite well-developed.
Although she had not yet reached the broad-hearted proportions she would have in the future, she was still soft and full enough to wrap Broly’s entire face in her embrace, leaving the boy completely stunned and unsure what had just happened.
However, smelling the pleasant scent of soap on her body, Broly did not resist much.
He simply let Taiga hold him, his nose sniffing the fragrance on her.
Fortunately, Broly did not eat humans, so he did not try to bite the soft flesh hidden beneath the fabric in front of him.
That night, Broly and young Sakura were arranged by Taiga to sleep in a guest room.
Originally, Taiga had wanted to let the two little ones sleep in her own room, but her grandfather, Raiga Fujimura, rejected the idea.
“A host must maintain a host’s dignity.
If you become too close, there will be no distinction between superior and subordinate.
It will make people difficult to manage in the future.”
“Grandpa, I already told you!
I’m not raising loyal subordinates!”
No matter how Taiga explained, it was useless.
This household was still ruled by Raiga Fujimura.
Under someone else’s roof, even his biological granddaughter had to lower her head.
“Then, you two get some good rest.”
After saying this, Taiga left.
Only Broly and young Sakura remained in the room.
“What do we do now?”
Young Sakura was a little nervous.
In the end, she had only met Broly today.
“Didn’t she say we should sleep?”
Broly found it strange.
He walked to the corner, leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes.
“You sleep like that?”
“How else would I sleep?”
“Don’t you spread out the futon and lie under the blanket?”
Young Sakura pointed at the bedding and blankets Taiga had brought for them to use.
But seeing the confusion on Broly’s face, she quickly realized that he had probably never slept on a futon before.
“You’re supposed to use it like this.”
Although young Sakura had never slept on a futon herself, she had at least seen enough to understand the idea.
She quickly pushed open the rolled-up bedding, spread it neatly across the tatami, crawled inside, and poked her head out toward Broly.
“So this is how you people sleep.
My father and I used to sleep leaning against rocks.”
“Eh?
Why?”
“Because there were many dangers on Planet Vampa.
Some came from monsters, and some came from Vampa’s natural environment.
Sleeping while leaning against a rock keeps you more alert than lying down on one.
That’s what my father told me.”
The main reason was actually Broly’s bad temper when waking up.
Paragus had once woken him and been attacked by his own son because of it, so he taught Broly how to sleep lightly.
“Planet Vampa?”
Young Sakura couldn’t fully understand Broly’s words, but she could be certain of one thing: he had once lived in an extremely dangerous place.
Perhaps… just like she had in the Matou family.
“It’s okay.
This place should be safe, so you don’t have to sleep leaning against a rock.”
Broly thought about it.
From what he had seen in this world, that seemed to be true.
Everywhere was full of weak lifeforms.
So he walked over and crawled into young Sakura’s futon.
“Eh?”
Young Sakura looked at the other futon, still rolled up and unused, then looked at Broly lying in her bedding.
For a moment, she didn’t know what to say.
“Aren’t you sleeping?”
Broly asked from inside the futon his wife had prepared.
“I am.
This is a pillow.
You can rest your head on it.”
In the end, Sakura didn’t say anything else.
She simply pushed the pillow over and let Broly sleep like a normal person.
The light was turned off, and Sakura crawled into the same futon.
The room was quiet.
But before long, a soft sobbing sound filled the darkness.
“What’s wrong?”
Broly turned his head and looked at the girl making the sound.
“I miss home,” young Sakura whispered.
Home?
What is that?
[Home is a place where family exists.
For example, the cave where you and your father lived.]
The Crystal Palace offered an explanation, and Broly understood.
“If you miss home, then just go home.”
He said it plainly.
“But I don’t have a home anymore.
Father and Mother don’t want me.”
In the quiet darkness, people’s vulnerabilities were always easiest to draw out.
Sakura hadn’t cried before.
But lying in an unfamiliar futon, in an unfamiliar room, her low emotions finally overwhelmed her.
[Notice: Matou Sakura’s mood remains low.
Her happiness value is decreasing.]
Broly: “…”
He didn’t know what to say to the girl beside him.
[Please note: if the happiness value becomes too low, it will affect the conversion rate of happiness points when the target successfully becomes a member of the Crystal Palace. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
Note: Happiness points can be used to exchange for items the host has previously experienced, including but not limited to daily necessities and food items.]
Broly scratched his head.
That didn’t seem to affect him much.
He had already learned how to survive in this strange world—he could exchange work for food.
[Reminder: the host has not permanently transmigrated into this world.
You will return to your original world in five days.
Return countdown: 5 days, 6 hours, 38 minutes, 33 seconds.
Now 32, 31…]
Broly: “?!”
I have to go back to Planet Vampa?
Back to my own “home”?
[Correct.
Once spacetime energy is exhausted, you must return.]
Although he had been in this world for less than half a day, Broly had already fallen deeply in love with it.
The food here wasn’t bitter or astringent.
It was delicious.
Yet this happiness had barely lasted before the Crystal Palace informed him he would soon have to return home.
Thinking about the days of eating bitter spider eggs on Planet Vampa, Broly’s mood instantly sank.
How can I stay?
Unlike young Sakura, Broly didn’t want to go home at all.
[Please provide more spacetime energy.]
The Crystal Palace answered.
What is spacetime energy?
How do I provide it?
[Spacetime energy is the energy of time and space.
After the host returns to your own world, you may accumulate it through the passage of time.
You may also increase the collection speed by moving through more space.]
So I can’t stay in this world?
[If you wish to remain in a different spacetime world, please provide more spacetime energy.]
To gather spacetime energy, he had to return to his world.
To stay in this world, he had to provide more spacetime energy.
In other words, a dead end.
Listening to Sakura crying beside him, Broly somehow learned by imitation and began crying as well.
“Wuu… wuu…”
Hearing the sound behind her, young Sakura froze.
She turned around and saw the boy in the same futon crying too.
“Wait… why are you crying?”
“I’m crying because in a few days, I have to go home.”
“Uh… isn’t that a good thing?”
“But I don’t want to go back.
If I go back, I won’t be able to eat all the delicious food from this world anymore.
Where I live, there are only Vampa spiders and Vampa spider eggs.
They taste so bitter, so astringent, and so awful.
Compared to the cake, pudding, fruit, Happy Water, and pork cutlet rice bowls you gave me…”
Broly listed several foods, then reached a conclusion.
“There’s no comparison at all.
I don’t want to go back.
I want to stay here, but I can’t.
Wuu… wuu…”
Young Sakura: “…”
She couldn’t go home even though she wanted to.
He could go home, but didn’t want to.
The completely opposite contrast only made her feel worse.
Sakura had wanted to keep crying along with him, but after sobbing a couple of times, she realized Broly was crying even more miserably than she was—as if both his parents had died.
So she stopped.
“Can you stop crying?”
Sakura tried to comfort him.
“Cake… pudding…”
But Broly cried even harder.
Just thinking about those foods leaving him in a few days made him unbearably sad.
“Wait, you’re only losing delicious food!
Compared to me, at least you still have a home to go back to!”
Sakura said.
“If I had never seen the light, I could have endured the darkness.
But now that I have seen the light, how can you expect me to endure the darkness again?”
The information that surfaced in his mind was used directly by Broly to question her.
Young Sakura: “…”
She understood that feeling deeply.
Back in the Tohsaka family, she had once been so carefree and happy.
But after being sent to the Matou family as an adopted daughter and thrown into the worm pit to be transformed, life had become so dark and hopeless that she could no longer endure it.
[Reminder: Matou Sakura’s mood remains low.
Her happiness value is decreasing further.
A value that is too low will affect the conversion rate of happiness points when the target is successfully invited as a Crystal Palace member.
Note: Happiness points can be used to exchange for items the host has previously experienced, including but not limited to daily necessities and food items.]
Eh?!
After returning to Planet Vampa, can I exchange for food from this world too?
[Yes.]
Broly stopped crying.
“Wuu…”
Young Sakura was about to continue crying.
“Stop crying.”
Broly interrupted her spellcasting.
Young Sakura: “???”