Chapter 272 – The Fluff Strikes Back 4 – Admitting

Momo slammed into his side. Busy making bubbles, he had been unprepared for this sudden assault. The two of them rolled over the ground, a bundle of limbs and confusion, for a few moments before coming to a halt at the edge of the training grounds.

The support shook her head, sitting up. Panicked, she made sure that her most precious thing was still intact. That wasn’t John, of course, but the book she was reading right now. “Sorry, thought I was higher,” Momo apologized after seeing that her reading material was indeed unharmed.

“You know what they say, Momo, don’t read and fly,” John groaned, getting back on his feet.

Interested in what had her this absorbed, or how she could even read while flying at this pace, he looked for the book she had been reading. An inkling confirmed, he smirked when he saw the e-reader.

“Oooh?” he made a satisfied, slightly mocking sound; “What happened to your ‘paper is superior’ stance, mhm?”

“N-nothing happened to that!” Momo stumbled over her own words as she pressed the black-cased contraption to her chest; “It’s just… it only takes up one inventory slot, and I can buy books on the fly… and read them while flying and…”

Her words became quieter with every word until she mumbled something John couldn’t quite make out. Eyes downcast and largely hidden behind the bangs of her hair, the only thing he was sure to see was a slight flushing of her cheeks. He easily discerned what she was saying through their mental connection, but he wasn’t going to let the opportunity to tease this brat slip. She did it to him all the time, it was only proper he returned in kind.

“What was that?” he therefore asked and put a hand behind his ear.

“You… ight…” she mumbled, still super quiet.

“Mhhhhm?” John made an intrigued sound and inched closer.

“YOU WERE RIGHT, OKAY?!” Momo shouted, blasting his ear drums with complete overload. “You were right, this thing is more convenient than normal books, you happy?”

“Very much so,” John grinned, massaging his ear until the whistling noise went away. Thankfully, this was also within Gamer’s Body’s capabilities, so it fixed itself rather quickly. “I like being right.”

“Yeah, you sure do. I, on the other hand, hate being wrong, so can we please not talk about it too much,” Momo requested, her cross-armed stance indicating that this was actually more of an order.

“Mhm, I will think about it,” John teased. A dangerous glint awaked in Momo’s eyes in response, and she put her e-reader into her inventory. ‘I may have overdone it now,’ he thought.

When her hand came back out of her pocket space, she was holding a smartphone. “Since when do you have one of those?” John wondered.

“Since I got myself one,” Momo rolled her eyes. “Unlike the rest of your cabinet of girls, I have a functioning brain. Getting a phone is not rocket science.”

John was fairly certain that Momo also could have figured out rocket science if she wanted to, but that was beside the point. He followed her going through no less than 12 extra security steps (trumping his own 3) that she had installed on top of the aura check. Then she opened a browser and held the resulting page in John’s face.

‘The John Newman Meme Factory’ subreddit. “Oh no,” John mumbled as his shocked expression now let a smile bloom on Momo’s pink lips.

“This is what you get for making fun of me, John!” she exclaimed. A certain elder sister of the supporter cleared her throat at the side and gave Momo a warning glare. “…master,” she then added with a sarcastic rolling of her eyes. The way she said it was inherently less reverent.

John pulled out his own phone to look at this subreddit. There was one picture of him that was generally used as the template, which was a shot of the moment after Alexej had forfeited. He did have the most dumbfounded expression at that time. Jack almost fell off his slumped shoulders and the fedora and the suit combined made him look… well he didn’t look ugly or anything, his mediocre looks and somewhat stylish outfit prevented that, but overall, he was appearing pretty goofy in that picture.

“Why did you do this to me?” John wanted to know as he went over the captions. The amount of hate he was getting was surprisingly balanced out with a number of positive memes. For every picture where his head was replaced with that off Shia LeBeouf saying “When you just want do it with all the girls in your team, but can’t” (a completely uninformed and wrong opinion), there was a “When you get to look at the butt of a princess on a daily basis” (Which was probably not meant as a compliment, but at least it was true).

“I did not start anything,” Momo smirked. “I just poured oil in the fire by spreading baseless rumours.”

“What?!” John was feeling like he had just been punched in the gut.

“Nothing that would harm anyone, of course,” the support continued. “I am not stupid, you know? You should, you pressed the buttons on making it so.” She shot him a sassy smile, while checking out other entries. “I know not to make Lydia angry.”

“What about making me angry!”

“Meh,” Momo waved off; “That’s fun; I file it under ‘revenge against a stupid creator’.”

John crossed his arms, his patience was running thin, “You know you are insufferable sometimes.”

“Yes, I do know that,” Momo said and put her phone away, “but what about it? I am under no obligation to please you.” That was, of course, right. He had made her with free will specifically because he did not want a sycophant.

That being said, he could pay her back by doing his best to make her meme even more popular, or he could do something that she didn’t expect. He gently put index finger and thumb on her chin. “Ah, I forgive you. Such a fragile little flower as you needs to be guarded, after all,” he said in the creepiest, gentleman tone imaginable.

He could see the cold shivers running up Momo’s spine at that moment.

“What is it?” John continued, bringing his lips closer to hers, “Are you not feeling well? I assure you, I’ll do all it takes to keep you safe and happy.”

“Stop being this nice, this is super creepy!” the support asked of him.

“But why would it be creepy, m’lady?” John asked, equipping his fedora just to tip it.

“What is this! We are supposed to banter, not…” she gave him a headbutt as he was now way too close for comfort. He stumbled back. “…this!”

“Okay, okay,” John laughed, rubbing his forehead. Strength aside, she was still 90% metal (she did not share her sister’s view about needing to be soft), so that had hurt quite a bit. Still, being equipped with Undine meant that his health was topped off again a moment later. Gamer’s Body took care of the rest.

“I swear to myself, you are a weirdo,” Momo mumbled. “Ah, how I will love the day when I don’t have to share all thoughts with you anymore!”

“I have had enough of this disrespect!” Aclysia stepped in and picked Momo up. Literally, the guardian went over and raised Momo off the ground.

“Sister, what are you doing!” Momo yelped as she was now helplessly hanging in the air. No amount of fluttering of her wings (not that they needed to flutter, as she was being propelled by pure energy) managed to get her out of the guardian’s grasp.

“You have been mean to my Master for long enough, and your dishonesty is getting on my nerves,” Aclysia explained in clear terms that made John snicker a bit. The guardian was prone to giving very precise life advice once someone managed to get her to the point of mild anger. Her wrath when her kitchen was threatened was also impressive but another matter entirely. “You must be aware that…”

“All I did was tease him a bit!” Momo spoke out in her defence.

“…we all know what is going on in that head of yours,” Aclysia’s old habit of finishing her sentences before acknowledging that someone else even said something got the better of her; “Your teasing is not appreciated, cease or be punished.”

“It’s all good, Aclysia, you can put her down,” John tried to calm his artificial guardian.

“I ask you to allow me to refuse that order,” Aclysia requested and, with a straight face, started shaking Momo like she was some sort of cocktail mix; “I need to get some sense into the younger maid.”

“Heeeeelp!” Momo asked, and John was left blinking in confusion for a few moments.

“And that is the way to do it?” he questioned her methods.

“It is a way to do something,” Aclysia reasoned, now whirling Momo around like a staff.

“What did I ever do to deserve this?” Momo requested when the motion stopped. As an artificial spirit, she was immune to nausea, which robbed John of watching a dizzy Momo. Which was a bit saddening.

“You not only continuously refuse Master’s love but also tease him like a spoiled brat. While I cannot force you to love him and I respect your decision that you don’t -even though you are wrong- I cannot forgive such mean-spirited behaviour towards the man I adore,” Aclysia declared.

After this she put Momo down. The support looked thoroughly scolded. Aclysia patted the sassy support on her head. “I greatly enjoy it when Master pats my head, perhaps this cheers you up?” she said.

“You enjoy pretty much every way he touches you,” Momo mumbled and leered at John in an envious way. That look soon melted away under the ceaseless pats of Aclysia. “I like this,” Momo said and attempted to step closer to Aclysia to hug her. The guardian stopped the patting and put her index finger on Momo’s forehead, keeping her from moving forwards. The Strength difference between these two was too enormous for Momo to overcome, no matter how much she waved her arms in Aclysia’s direction.

“If you want to cuddle, you will heed my request to apologize to Master,” Aclysia informed her fellow servant.

“Fine,” Momo pouted and turned to John. Wings folded behind her back, hands in front of her hips, Momo did a deep bow and said, “Maybe the rumour spreading was a bit too much, should have just rubbed the meme itself in your face. I am sorry.”

“…That doesn’t sound very genuine,” John remarked.

“It totally is,” Momo promised him.

“I don’t believe you,” Aclysia crossed her arms.

“Okay, it isn’t,” the support threw her arms into the air; “What do you want from me?”

“To accept John as your lover,” Aclysia stated.

That caused a bit of awkward silence. The Gamer himself scratched the back of his head.

“You know I don’t love him… I like him, as my creator and sort of as a person, but that’s about it,” Momo said. The artificial guardian sighed and stepped closer to Momo, then she kissed her. Completely out of the blue. Momo, expectedly, didn’t struggle, however, instead leaning in to make the kiss even more intimate.

Aclysia eventually broke it, and a disappointed look appeared in Momo’s eyes. The two had their hands folded behind each other’s back, breasts and foreheads touching. “You misunderstand,” Aclysia mumbled; “I know that, despite all of your talks of wanting to leave, that you will never forsake us. You will come back to us, won’t you?”

“Yes…” Momo admitted, her white eyes concentrating on Aclysia’s.

“I will never leave John’s side. I am not asking you to love him, even though you should since he is our kind Master, but you should make your peace with the thought of accepting him as your lover, even if it is only physical,” Aclysia explained and gave Momo another short kiss.

“Wait, that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever; I have been sleeping with him as well… just less!” Momo said, confused. “I have already done that!”

“I suppose, but I do not feel satisfied with your current commitment to Master. If you are going to tease him that much, you will need to be nicer to him on other occasions,” Aclysia stated.

“But… I… uhh,” Momo racked her brain; “Sister, your logic is lacklustre! You don’t want me to accept him as my lover, you want me to just be less mean to him!”

“This is also a correct assumption, yes, but I want you to say ‘I am your lover’ to Master,” Aclysia stood on her point.

“Why though?” the support wanted to know.

“Because you are uncomfortable with saying it and I am not happy with that,” Aclysia said. “Say it with me if that makes you more comfortable.”

Aclysia linked her mind to Momo’s as the support sighed, “I just can’t argue with you, Aclysia.”

They turned their heads as one and spoke in unity, “”We love you, in different ways. One of us with complete devotion, the other as a creator and a friend. You are our lover and creator, and even if you don’t always do what we wish, we couldn’t ask for more than you.”

John wasn’t quite sure what to make of the scene at large, but that pledge he accepted with a happy hug.