Just as Agung was beginning to drift into a blissful, "Android-secured" slumber, the shoji screen didn't just slide—it practically exploded open.
"Oh, no you don't!"
Before Agung could even process the blur of pink and black, Nico Yazawa was across the tatami mats. With the terrifying, wiry strength of a mother who had spent years wrangling toddlers and idol schedules, she grabbed Agung by the collar of his manifested white shirt.
"Hey! What—Nico! I have a wall! I'll manifest a wall!" Agung yelped, his "infinite stamina" doing absolutely nothing to stop the momentum of a determined Number One Idol.
"Manifest all the masonry you want on the way down, Mr. Software Update!" Nico hissed, her eyes sparkling with a mix of mischief and "Nico-Nico-Ni" brand fury. "You think you can just drop a 'Number System' and go to sleep? You've got fourteen kids downstairs who are going to wake up in five hours, and you're going to help us prep the breakfast station and explain yourself to the rest of the moms!"
"But the schedule! Umi is number one tomorrow!" Agung protested, his feet skidding across the polished wood of the hallway as he was dragged out of Room 4 like a giant, expensive plushie.
"Change of plans, 'Panda'!" Nico chirped, not slowing down as she rounded the corner toward the stairs. "Nico is Number Zero! And Number Zero says you're coming to the kitchen. If you have infinite stamina, you can chop vegetables for twenty people without getting tired!"
The other girls, who were still lingering in the hallway, parted like the Red Sea. They watched in stunned silence as the tiny Nico Yazawa successfully abducted the billionaire-god-glitch.
"Is... is she allowed to do that?" Chika asked, holding her Swiss chocolate.
"She's Nico," Maki sighed, though a small, satisfied smirk played on her lips. "Once she decides someone is part of her 'production,' there's no escaping. Magic or not, he's doomed."
Agung looked back at the group, reaching out a hand as he disappeared down the stairs. "Someone call the operator! This wasn't in the reincarnation package! I want a refund! I want—"
"You want to shut up and peel some onions!" Nico's voice echoed from the floor below.
Down in the communal kitchen of the Takami Ryokan, Agung was unceremoniously dumped onto a wooden stool. Nico tossed an apron at his chest—one that had a giant, cartoonish orange Mikan on the front.
"There," Nico said, planting her hands on her hips. "You want to talk about being 'frugal' and 'Android caring'? Great. Use that quadrillion-dollar brain to figure out how to make miso soup for thirty people before the sun comes up. Consider this 'Number Zero's' private consultation."
Agung stared at the pile of green onions and the Mikan apron. He looked at Nico, who was staring him down with a challenge that surpassed even the power of the "brat operator."
"I hate this timeline," Agung whispered, slowly reaching for the apron. "I really, really hate this timeline."