Rentaro did the full circuit.
“Hmm…”
Initially, Nano Two had been jumping about in excitement—a rare sight indeed for any Nano—but at this point, the alien looked rather glum. There seemed to be a dilemma.
“Although it certainly is a lot of energy, this is not enough to distribute across my entire mother planet… If only I could reliably extract an even higher level of energy. I have observed record highs from this location countless times…”
In other words, something more romantic than a hug. Rentaro had an idea or two, but before he could verbalize it…
“Ah!” Nano Two exclaimed, as if she had just remembered something. “Speaking of which, I detected the highest energy levels the very day I arrived on this planet. Perhaps you could obtain the same results if you replicated the actions you took at that time. If I recall, you and your lovers did something like this.”
All of a sudden, Nano Two drew her head close to Rentaro’s. Without a hint of hesitation, Nano’s lips went straight to Rentaro’s for a kiss—only for Rentaro to gently stop her with the palm of his hand.
“I can’t do that.”
At Rentaro’s firm rejection, Nano Two tilted her head so far to the side that it was almost horizontal. “Was there some kind of prerequisite activity required? I can oblige…”
“Yeah. The prerequisite is…you have to be my girlfriend.”
“Hmm?” Nano Two looked up, meditating on Rentaro’s words. After a few seconds, however, she tilted her head again, this time in the opposite direction. “Were the individuals known as Aijo Rentaro and Eiai Nano not in a romantic relationship?”
“She is one hundred percent, without a doubt, the most beloved person in my entire world!” yelled Rentaro.
Nano’s emotions seemed to react to this, because Nano Two’s cheeks turned slightly red. “So then, if there are no issues…”
“You’re mistaken.” Rentaro shook his head slowly. “Even if every cell in your body is identical to Nano’s, you’re still not her. I still love Nano, even with you in charge, but all of my love is for her, not you.”
“Is that so?”
Nano Two closed her eyes. She still didn’t look like she quite understood, but she seemed to have at least guessed at what Rentaro was trying to say. Before long, her eyelids fluttered back open.
“Have you swi—”
Before Rentarao could finish his sentence, Nano’s lips covered his.
“Mmf…”
For a short while, the two of them gazed at each other as if they were the only two people in the world. Eventually, Nano pulled away slowly, as if ruing the fact that they had to part.
“The switch is done.” She responded to the previous question. One could detect a hint of smug satisfaction in her tone.
“That came across loud and clear.”
Despite the blush that had conquered Rentaro’s face, he still poured all his love and affection into his smile. The next moment, however…
“Whoooooooooooooooa!” Nano Two abruptly shattered the romantic atmosphere with her most excited squeal yet. It was enough to make Rentaro jump a bit in shock.
“This is it! The sheer amount of energy… Please keep this up, my good sir!” she shouted gleefully.
“Weren’t you supposed to be an alien who doesn’t exhibit much emotion? You just gonna retcon that?” Kurumi pointed out sarcastically.
In any case, Rentaro didn’t need Nano Two to tell him what to do. He went ahead and kissed all of his girlfriends until they were weak in the knees.
✦ ✦ ✦
After returning to Nano’s level of constraint, Nano Two bowed her head deeply at Rentaro and his girlfriends. “Thank you very, very much. You are the saviors of my planet.”
“I’m glad we could help you out,” Rentaro responded, his smile one of unadulterated goodwill.
“I-it’s not like we did it for you, Nano Two!” said Karane.
“Then what on earth were we doing for this entire chapter?” Hakari shot back.
‹’Twas not so different from peacetime.›
“Aye, take this Endlessly Expand Energy In Your Body Medicine as a souvenir, Nano Two!” said Kusuri.
“Isn’t that the sorta thing you use to implode energy-absorbing monsters?” Kurumi pointed out.
“I certainly enjoyed seeing a much more expressive Nano-chan,” Hahari remarked.
“I have recorded everything in 4K,” said Mei.
And thus, the girls uttered their teary(?) parting words to Nano Two. At that moment, however…
“Then this shall be where we part ways.”
The humans blinked in shock as the alien creature crawled out of Nano’s ear. They were all at a loss for words, despite it being the second time they’d seen the eerie sight. Once Nano Two had finished emerging, it slipped its way down Nano’s body and then tottered toward the rooftop door.
Everyone shared the same thought: No UFO? You’re just walking all the way home?
On the other hand…
“Goodbye,” they whispered.
Though they had only spent a short time together, Nano Two felt a bit like a comrade-in-arms.
As she watched the alien go, Nano’s expression might have contained a faint hint of loneliness.
✦ ✦ ✦
At last, their interplanetary cultural exchange with the alien envoy came to an end. Or so they had thought.
A few days later…
“Aijo Rentaro.”
Rentaro gaped in surprise the moment Nano—no, Nano Two—spoke to him. “Whoa, Nano Two?! What brings you here?!”
“I am impressed.” Nano Two had an ironic smile on her face. “You immediately perceived me, despite my adjusting for the previous error.”
“Well, yeah. I’m Nano’s boyfriend!” With this less-than-coherent explanation, Rentaro smiled and gave a thumbs-up. “So why are you in Nano again? Didn’t you return to your home planet?”
“I returned briefly several days ago. However, I must periodically distribute more energy—such is the nature of the task. My planet has set up a machine to receive the transmissions, so I will be sending energy from Earth at regular intervals.”
“Uh, cool.”
That doesn’t explain why you’d need to take over Nano’s body, Rentaro thought.
“The individual known as Eiai Nano has agreed to lend her assistance because…” Nano Two paused and blinked. “It is an efficient means of using my body when I am sleeping or wish to concentrate on something else.”
“Wouldn’t you want sleep time to be for sleeping, Nano?! It’s still your body, no matter who’s in charge!”
It was impossible to tell whether Nano was joking or not with such a straight face, but her lips might have turned ever so slightly upward.