April Fools' Shenanigans

...

Mysterious opened his eyes.

It was like that corny joke: "What's the first thing you do when you wake up?" Well, after waking, the first thing was opening your eyes.

The familiar ceiling belonged to Mysterious's own room.

His room was sparsely decorated. To the right of the entrance, against the wall, sat a bed with a nightstand beside it. At the foot of the bed stood a wardrobe holding few clothes. Further ahead, in the corner, was a drawer that looked oddly out of place.

On the other side of the entrance sat a computer desk. On it rested a computer untouched for years, plus an extra photo frame—the only unnecessary item in the room, its glass blank.

Add the game pod beside the desk, and that was all the furniture. After all, it was Mysterious's room, perfectly reflecting his style.

After glancing around, Mysterious sat up in bed and looked beside him—Isabella lay there naked, sound asleep.

When Mysterious suddenly sat up, a draft hit her back, making her squirm slightly.

"... " Mysterious glanced at Isabella, then moved to get out of bed.

"Eep! Master, seeing this scene, don't you have anything to say?" Isabella, who had been sleeping, abruptly sat up and spoke to him.

"... " Too many flaws left Mysterious speechless.

"If I were Master, I'd definitely say, 'Let's go again!'" Isabella chirped, grinning. "But it's this late already—no time."

"Hmm?"

Before Mysterious could check the time, a familiar voice came from outside the door.

"Master, breakfast is ready."

The door opened, and Victoria poked half her body in.

Victoria had no dragon horns on her head, and the scar on her forehead was gone. She wore a green nightgown under a pink apron.

Spotting the two naked figures on the bed, Victoria's face flushed red. Her voice turned flustered: "Um... everyone's waiting downstairs. Master and Bella, please come down soon."

With that, she pulled back, leaving behind the tap-tap-tap of slippered feet running away.

"See? Let's eat breakfast, Master~" Isabella purred like a cat, crawling over Mysterious to grab her clothes from the floor. "Lia and the others prepared it specially. You can't skip it."

"... Okay." Mysterious nodded. After dressing, he followed Isabella downstairs to the dining room.

The once-quiet house buzzed with chatter and laughter as a crowd gathered around the table.

"Good morning, Nameless, Bella." A silver-haired, tomboyish girl greeted them.

"Gladys?" Mysterious eyed her, confirming—though her voice and face matched Gladys exactly, without armor and in homewear, she looked very different from the Heroic Spirit king he remembered.

"... You don't recognize me here?" Gladys frowned, displeased.

"Then I'll let you have Master tonight to teach him a lesson!" Isabella chimed in.

"Hey! Today was supposed to be mine!" Nanming rushed over, her vibrant red gown unchanged from Mysterious's memory.

"You could both come together?" Isabella smirked behind her hand. "Master's stamina is great. No problem."

"No way!"

"... "

"Nameless, good morning~" Jiyue stumbled down the stairs, yawning sleepily.

"Morning... Did you get shorter?" Mysterious studied her.

"Gah?!" His words wounded Jiyue deeply. "I... I'll still grow taller!"

The little fox subtly stood on tiptoe to appear taller—oh right, Jiyue's fox ears and tail were gone too. Without those big ears, she did look much shorter.

"Don't just stand there. Come sit." All Beings carried two plates to the table. "Jiyue, did you brush your teeth?"

All Beings looked unchanged, his colorful hair now shorter but otherwise the same.

"Yes!" Jiyue grabbed Mysterious's hand and pulled him toward the table.

Most were already seated, but Mysterious's gaze landed on a corner of the long table. "Roz?"

"Yep." Isabella nodded.

Roz had changed the most—her signature purple skin and black eyes were now human-like. Her antennae and tail vanished, making her look like an ordinary girl.

Also catching Mysterious's eye was the purple-haired little girl beside Roz. She sat obediently, watching Roz closely—though Mysterious didn't recognize her.

Roz stared at the donuts on the table, swallowed hard, and reached out.

"Breakfast hasn't started yet! Wait for everyone!" the little girl scolded, her voice unfamiliar to Mysterious.

"Ugh..." Roz withdrew her hand sadly, then looked up at Mysterious, eyes sparkling. "Ming, eat!"

"It's Amethyst," Isabella corrected.

Mysterious glanced at the girl again—linking her to Amethyst felt tricky.

"Is that Little Ink and... Queen Ant?" Mysterious guessed, spotting two figures squeezed on one chair.

"Right."

Little Ink and Queen Ant were unrecognizable—Little Ink looked like a normal 17- or 18-year-old girl, while Queen Ant, more mature, held her like an older sister.

Ningyue, like Jiyue, had lost her tail and ears but looked mostly unchanged, as did Amery. The golden-haired girl in white helping Amery in the kitchen was likely Xiaoguang.

"... Selena? What happened to her?" Mysterious frowned slightly, looking toward a corner.

Ael and Selena approached—Selena sat in a wheelchair, Ael pushing her from behind.

"Selena hasn't gotten used to human legs yet. She can't walk well... it's inconvenient," Isabella explained. "Our main task lately is helping them practice walking."

"Them... and Lolo too?" Mysterious recalled another who struggled to walk.

"Yep! Master, go carry Lolo over~"

Mysterious followed Isabella toward Lolo's room. Halfway there, a thud sounded—they found Lolo fallen at the doorway.

"I... I'm fine," Lolo stammered, scrambling up clumsily when she saw Mysterious.

As Medusa, Lolo faced bigger challenges than Selena—her snake tail had become human legs, her snake hair gone, and her petrifying eyes replaced with ordinary ones. Adapting to human vision without her snake hair's aid wasn't easy.

"Are you okay?" Mysterious rushed over and lifted her up.

"Sorry... I thought I could make it." Lolo bit her lip. Unlike Selena, she had no close friend like Ael, and her red-and-blue snakes were gone. She hated troubling others.

"Take it slow," Mysterious comforted her.

"... "

Breakfast was tailored to everyone's habits—Roz and Amethyst, the Void pair who couldn't use chopsticks or forks, got hand-held foods like bread and donuts. Xiaoguang had vegetarian dishes. Ael's meal was a specially made red nutrient solution.

After eating, Jiyue took Jasmine and Qiyuan to wash dishes—Jasmine looked unchanged, while Qiyuan, now without dragon horns or tail, seemed like a normal girl.

Next came walking practice for Selena and Lolo—like rehab therapy.

As Mysterious and Ael helped them train, others gathered in the living room, chatting or playing. It gave Mysterious a strange, wonderful feeling—like stepping into the Pet Space.

"By the way, Master, want to check the game?" Isabella asked that afternoon. "Since everyone arrived here, you've been offline a while, busy taking care of us."

"... I see." Mysterious met Isabella's gaze, understood quickly, and nodded.

"Oh, staring at me won't help," Isabella shrugged with a laugh. "This mini-program lacks the adult module. No nighttime fun for Master, sorry."

"... "

Mysterious opened his eyes.

"Well? This mini-program~" Isabella grinned beside him.

"... Why make this suddenly?" Mysterious asked casually—even as a simulation using the EndlessHorizon engine, it couldn't have been easy.

"Boredom," Isabella replied. "The game's under maintenance, so I made it for fun. Simple, really. If everyone came to the real world... it'd be like this, right~"

"... "