Nanos Two and Three extended their tentacle-like limbs from their host’s body to pilot the Rentaro Robot. They didn’t even need to use the control panel—they were able to manipulate the robot directly. Given that the two aliens had provided the tech in the first place, it stood to reason that their lack of opposable thumbs was no impediment.
Meanwhile…
“Mmf…”
Hakari pressed her lips against Rentaro’s passionately. The instant he felt the sweetness of her peach-like lips, his brain filled with endorphins. It was a unique feeling, one totally distinct from touching any other part of her. They’d both closed their eyes to kiss, but when he cracked them open, he saw that she was staring at him. It was strangely embarrassing for their eyes to meet under these circumstances. She looked as if she was melting from the pleasure. Watching her, Rentaro was filled with unsurpassable happiness.
“Hmph…”
Karane’s harrumph was weaker than usual as she waited expectantly for her kiss. Rentaro pressed his lips against hers gently. When they touched, her shoulders jolted adorably. Their lips merely brushed against one another’s at first, but she gradually deepened the kiss. At the same time, her frown melted away, her breath caught in her throat, and she seemed to secretly relish the whole experience. It was all so very characteristic of her; Rentaro thought that this was very adorable.
‹Mwah.›
Shizuka’s smartphone read out the kissing sound effect the moment Rentaro’s lips met hers. With her eyes closed and her cheeks flushed, her expression seemed somehow more adult than usual. Rentaro’s heart pounded even more frantically than it normally did around her. He was keenly aware that, despite her small stature, she was just as old as Hakari and Karane. Nevertheless, it was still cute to see her trembling slightly. It was a very wholesome display.
“It’s Kusuri’s turn, aye!”
With a gentle tenderness, he let Kusuri throw her arms around his neck and accepted her kiss. Although it was cute how she pecked his face all over with her smooches, there was also something vaguely sensual about her, which got his heart pounding. Despite all this, she had the small lips of a child, which made it all feel somewhat immoral. But this was quickly washed away by the pleasure of the kiss.
“Mwah.”
Whether she was copying Shizuka or evoking memories of the time when she was a kiss zombie, Nano quietly enunciated the kissing sound effect as she held Rentaro’s chin and covered his lips with hers. Now that Rentaro was so close, he saw that her face was a little redder than usual. The sight made him turn bright red in turn. The softness and warmth of her lips reaffirmed once more that she was very much a human being. (Not that this wasn’t already obvious.)
“Mmm…”
Hahari grasped Rentaro’s hand tightly and let out a sweet, lascivious sigh when he brought their lips together. Their faces were so close; he marveled at how similar the smell of her breath was to Hakari’s. Despite the similarities, however, Hahari’s lips certainly felt different from her daughter’s (although they were equally entrancing). When he opened his eyes slightly, he saw the expression of a young girl. It was enough to make his heart pound intensely.
“Rentaro-senpai…”
Kurumi looked up at him, blushing deeply. Her lips were firmly shut tight as he went to her. When he drew near, her lips parted ever so slightly, revealing the tip of her tongue. It briefly stroked his lips before retreating back into her mouth. Kissing Kurumi always made him feel a bit ticklish. It was also cute and very much like her to keep moving her tongue around from time to time, as if to confirm the taste of his lips.
“Please excuse me.”
Mei spoke up after a slightly longer pause than usual. He wrapped his arms around her gingerly in return and captured her lips. Although she was generally the type to show restraint, she accepted him thoroughly, displaying a level of affection that she normally kept close to her chest. When they kissed, she put enough strength into her hug that he felt as if she were holding him up. That, too, he found adorable.
✦ ✦ ✦
Fast forward some vague amount of time.
“Rentaro Robot, enter hyper mode!” roared Rentaro as he took the controls once more.
On cue, the Rentaro Robot purged a number of its parts. There was a raucous whirring noise, and a storm of smoke escaped the exhaust port. It was clearly a larger amount than anything it had produced before.
By the way, Hahari had gone ahead and changed the name of this mode, given that “kamikaze mode” was a bit much.
“Here we go! One more time!” Rentaro manipulated the controls, and the Rentaro Robot broke into a run. It was faster than it had ever been by an order of magnitude. “Incredible! Now we can fight toe to toe with the vice principal!”
“Hey, hold on a sec there, Rentaro! Won’t you lose control if you go too fast?!” Karane yelled.
“Not to worry! My blood’s pumping through my veins harder than ever, thanks to you all kissing me. I’ve got so much energy, I might explode!”
“Unless you were a rubber man or something, that would totally blow your heart to bits,” said Kurumi.
Gear Two reference aside, Rentaro actually was succeeding in reining the out-of-control horse—er, robot.
The vice principal readied herself as the Rentaro Robot approached, more cautious than ever.
“Huh? It’s moving differently now.”
“This is where it ends, Vice Principal!”
The vice principal got on all fours and hissed loudly. Then, they clashed.
“Whoa! Even when we were going all out, our strength never matched up,” said Hakari. “But this is incredible!”
‹His strength is like that of a mythical ogre.›
Far from losing to the vice principal, the Rentaro Robot even started to overpower her, bit by bit.
“In this position, knocking her off balance by targeting the back of her knee would be most efficient,” Nano remarked.
“Aye! Pick her up and throw her, Rentaro!” Kusuri called out.
Rentaro grabbed the vice principal by the back of her legs, throwing her majorly off-balance.
“This is the final blow, Rentaro-chan! You can do it!” Hahari cheered.
“You have used thirty percent of our remaining energy,” said Mei. “You have three minutes of activity remaining.”
The vice principal let go of the Rentaro Robot, perhaps in order to prioritize preventing herself from falling over, and planted her feet firmly on the ground. This turned out to be a fatal mistake.
“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Without a moment of hesitation, the Rentaro Robot grabbed both of the vice principal’s arms and used the momentum to spin her around. She instantly lifted off the ground—even the vice principal’s new form was helpless without any proper footing. He kept spinning her around, the centrifugal force mounting…
“Let ’er riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!” Rentaro’s girlfriends screamed in unison.
The Rentaro Robot finally flung the vice principal into the air. She shot off into the distance at ferocious speed, now no more than a glint in the horizon.
“We won!” Rentaro beamed in satisfaction.
Although the Rentaro Robot was roughed up all over, it folded its arms and struck a cool and formidable pose.
“Yippee! You did it, Rentaro-kun! I’m so impressed!” cheered Hakari.
“It’s not like I thought…that you were cool or anything!” Karane insisted. Then, after a pause, she added, “Well, maybe a tiny bit.”
‹A splendid throw, my good sir.›
“Impressive,” said Nano. “You sent her flying at the most efficient trajectory.”
“Not bad, Rentaro-senpai,” Kurumi said begrudgingly after a moment of pause.
“Your hard work paid off, Rentaro-chan!” Hahari squealed. “Theeeere’s a good widdle boy!”
“I have prepared a victory toast for us all,” Mei announced.
And thus, the mood in the cockpit turned festive. But then…
“Wait a minute. We sent her flying instead of giving her Medicine-Reversing Medicine.” Kusuri pointed out. Sweat rolled down her cheek. “Kusuri said to throw her, thinking she would hit the ground and then take medicine…”
There was a long moment of silence.
“Oh.”
Everyone winced. “We screwed up” was written all over their faces.
“Don’t mess this up, Rentaro Roboooooooooooooooot!”
The rest of their adventure was brief. Rentaro sprinted after the vice principal and caught her just in time (i.e. before she hit the ground and the robot ran out of fuel). After they administered the Medicine-Reversing Medicine, the vice principal returned to normal, her eyes rolling around in her head.
It was kind of a sloppy ending to the chapter, all things said and done.