No matter how accustomed I am to fighting and overusing my body, it’s not like my "current" body can keep up with me.

After eight hours of straight gaming, followed by intense battles and consecutive use of Moon Waltz in the real world, my body was literally crying for rest. Especially due to the latter.

The game was already bleeding its effects into the real world, but its grip on it wasn’t so ironclad just yet. Meaning, I was literally forcing the system to bend to my will earlier—strong-arming something that hadn’t quite finished settling into existence.

Thus, as a side effect, each use of Moon Waltz put a heavy toll on my body.

My muscles were aching, my head was pinging with pain, and my vision kept tilting at the edges from overexertion.

Thankfully, I managed to get back to my room, lock the door, and collapse into bed before passing out entirely. If not, I might’ve ended up lying somewhere on the stairs of the complex, churning out z’s for the whole neighborhood to find.

Retaliation?

I wasn’t worried.

Ares just lost their "acting" boss, after all. Even if they scrambled to regroup, they should only be able to act again by tomorrow at the earliest. So I could sleep peacefully until I’d recovered fully.

...And even if they tried pulling something off ahead of schedule, with my perception and passive vigilance, I’d wake up automatically before they could even get close.

There was even Ram and Gwen—virtual androids, now present in the real world—who would give me a heads-up if something "truly" did happen.

As such, I managed to take a good, uninterrupted nap from five until... twelve noon.

Just as my consciousness returned to present.

"Good noon, Master."

To my right, Ram greeted me in her usual subdued, perfectly level, emotionless voice.

"I detect muscle soreness in 32 sections and fractured bones across 5 joints. I highly suggest visiting a hospital at your earliest convenience."

Boing~!

"...?"

Wait, something’s weird.

"Gwen greets Master. I report that during your sleep, nobody dared to interfere with your flat. However, all current residents have canceled their leases within the few hours following the morning’s fiasco."

This time it was Gwen, speaking from my left side.

Squish~!

And as expected, something was equally weird on that side.

My mind was slowly clawing its way toward wakefulness, still foggy enough that I was working purely off sensation. My hand, driven by some half-asleep curiosity, continued touching both sides, gathering more tactile data in a bid to make some kind of judgment.

Boing, Boing~!

Squish, Squish~!

I could feel that something was wrong—extremely, fundamentally wrong—but my hands simply refused to stop. My muddled mind was just about fully surfaced when—

"Master, is my chest unit unit up to your liking?"

"Gwen asks if Master would like to continue touching my back section."

When I finally opened my eyes, mind snapping fully awake, I took in the scene around me in one sweeping glance.

The usual chaotic room, barely held together in a state that could charitably be called "clean." The familiar ceiling, dark from the absence of any lights, curtains pulled firmly shut against the afternoon outside.

The bed, blanket kicked all the way down to the foot of it.

And finally—a beautiful, blue-eyed, silver-haired woman to my right, and an almost carbon-copy of her with gold eyes to my left. Both in their birthday suit—wearing absolutely nothing.

I also noticed that my right arm was wound around the one on the right, boldly squeezing the mound right there from behind with a grip that suggested I’d been at it for a while.

My left, in nearly the same configuration, had found its way around and was thoroughly occupied with the other’s plush peaches.

"..."

Cold sweat ran down the side of my face as my brain scrambled to piece together what was happening.

From their appearances alone, even half-asleep and barely functional, I could identify them—Ram and Gwen. The two beautiful female-model androids I’d summoned, unmistakably.

No doubt about it whatsoever.

But...

"What’s going on?" I whispered, voice low and thoroughly bewildered. "Ram, Gwen... Why do you two have bodies...?"

Right.

When I’d gone to sleep, they were the same as always—floating holograms, unable to interact with the real world in any physical sense. But now... the sensation in my hands, the warmth radiating off their skin, the faint firmness hiding just beneath the surface. All of it felt devastatingly real.

"This isn’t a dream... is it?"

"Allow me to explain, Master."

Ram murmured, shifting closer and using my arm as a pillow with the calm efficiency of someone who had already decided this was perfectly reasonable. A faint, pleasant scent drifted up from her hair—something clean and soft—and my heart did something embarrassing in response.

"Earlier, at 4:28 A.M., you received an earning of 2 million dollars. As a result, the system triggered the next phase and initiated the physical descent of our bodies into the real world. They arrived at 9 A.M. following processing and regulation checks."

"Huh...?"

Arrived? Like, a delivery? That sounded convoluted, but stripped to its essentials: I’d gotten more money, so I’d unlocked their physical bodies ahead of schedule. Was that it?

I supposed it made sense, in its own strange way.

Similar to how inventory, equipment, skills, and everything else would get summoned from the game the moment it bled far enough into reality.

Boing~!

Squish~!

Yeah. Definitely that.

Since these two were part of my class, they probably counted as equipment too. And given that I’d reached level 30, with several of my stats cracking 100 points including equipment bonuses...

Boing, Boing~!

Squish, Squish~!

Right, right. I see.

So the problem now was...

"Gwen notifies Master."

Gwen spoke up suddenly, her tone carrying the same matter-of-fact serenity as always.

"We came equipped with the essentials. If you want us to warm your bed, just give the order, Master. Gwen is ready."

"...Master’s arousal level has reached 50%. Switching to—"

"ARGH!"

Only then did I realize my hands had never stopped.

I vaulted upright, stumbled toward the wardrobe across the room, and yanked out the first acceptable pieces of clothing I could find—hurling them in the general direction of the two.

"First, wear something properly!" I managed, voice coming out slightly more strained than intended.

Almost fifty years of living, and the first women I’d ever groped were my own summoned androids.

How utterly, profoundly sad.

---

After that whole ordeal, I canceled everything on my schedule for the day and instead dragged the two androids—now dressed in my spare shirt and trousers—out to go shopping.

The inventory hadn’t descended into the real world yet, after all.

I didn’t have a single piece of women’s clothing on hand either. So spending money to rectify that was the only option available to me.

Still...

Even dressed in my old, mismatched things, every man we passed by turned red and followed them with eyes like a compass finding north.

Literal head-turners, the both of them—enough that one man walked face-first into a pole, another stumbled into a sign, and one particularly unfortunate soul tumbled straight into a ditch.

Under normal circumstances, I’m sure at least a few of them would’ve worked up the nerve to approach, knowing full well they were punching several weight classes above themselves. That’s the kind of irrational confidence these beauties tend to inspire.

But since there was a guard dog walking between them—a man with both arms linked through theirs, quietly leaking killing intent like a slow gas leak as basic pest control—none of them dared.

"Here. Choose whatever you want. Just ask if you don’t know something."

Thankfully, we made it to Unicorn—a decent clothing store within reasonable walking distance—in one piece. Though arriving with my mental reserves half-drained from sustaining killing intent the whole way there wasn’t exactly what I’d call a relaxing commute.

I dropped onto the bench nearby with all the grace of a man twice my age, watching the two androids move through the racks with methodical precision. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

They wore flat expressions, whispering quiet consultations with each other, and an occasional tilt of the head.

Something in my chest gave a small, involuntary twinge watching them.

Was this what going on a date felt like, maybe?

Well—probably not.

For one thing, the other parties involved weren’t even human. They were androids.

Ones that looked "completely" human on the outside, down to every last detail, which was frankly more dangerous than the alternative.

If anyone I knew happened to walk by right now, I’d have a very difficult time talking my way out of this.

"Huh? Kamishiro?"

"..."

My heart nearly stopped.

I turned my head slowly, with the careful, measured energy of a man hoping that moving gently might somehow change what he was about to see.

It didn’t.

Standing roughly ten meters away, drink in one hand and phone in the other, was the last person I wanted to run into today. And behind her, another familiar face, sporting a curious expression.

Miyabi.

And Eri.

"M-Miyabi... and you’re with Eri today too...?" I whispered, trying to produce something resembling a normal smile.

It came out disgustingly stiff. I could feel it.

I’d heard they’d exchanged contact details before logging out last night, but to think they’d already made plans to meet up in real life—on their break, no less—was well beyond anything I’d anticipated. Clearly my read on the situation had been catastrophically off.

What made it worse was the timing.

Specifically, this timing. Of all the timings available in the entire afternoon.

"Gwen asks for Master’s assistance. I cannot determine the correct method of wearing these as no instruction manuals were provided."

"Master, which of these is more to your liking? This one, or this one?"

And as if the universe had decided subtlety was overrated, Gwen chose that exact moment to emerge from the fitting room with a half-worn bra hanging from one shoulder.

Ram, standing beside her with perfect composure, was holding up two options of frankly risqué underwear for my input—the kind where choosing either one would land me in equally catastrophic territory.

I closed my eyes.

Tilted my head back.

Smiled at the ceiling with the peaceful expression of a man who had fully accepted his fate.

’I’m dead.’