The Tanaka gate slid open with smooth obedience, as if the entire estate already sensed exactly who had arrived and knew better than to make him wait.
The sleek black beast purred up the long driveway like a predator that had already claimed the property as its own.
Golden afternoon light exploded across the windshield in liquid fire, streaking past the tinted glass like fireworks that refused to die. Inside the car, Phei kept one hand on the wheel while the other drummed an impatient rhythm on the gear selector.
The fire from earlier still burned hot in his veins.
If
anything,
the promise of what came next only made the engine growl louder beneath him.
Save Roxanne. Break Jonathan.
Then enjoy the rest of this ridiculously overpowered day.
Yuki Tanaka stood glued to her bedroom window, palm pressed flat against the cool glass as though sheer willpower could pull the car closer.
Her heart
hammered
against her ribs with wild anticipation.
She had changed outfits four times already.
The fifth and final choice hugged every dangerous curve of her body like a second skināelegant silk that clung to her full breasts and tiny waist before flaring teasingly over her hips and toned thighs.
The neckline dipped just enough to promise
heaven,
while the hem whispered
sinful
secrets with every shift of her long, smooth legs.
She looked like pure forbidden temptation wrapped in designer perfection, the kind of beauty that made men forget their own names and women question their beauty products choices.
Exactly the kind of look she hoped Phei would peel off her slowly over the coming days.
Her parents had already given full
approval.
They had not simply said yes.
They had wrapped her in blessings and launched her toward Phei with sparkling eyes and
zero restrictions
.
No curfew, no check-ins, or the panicked messages every thirty minutes.
Among Paradise Legacy circles, the
Tanaka
parentsāalong with
Elenaās, Jadeās,
and
Maddieāsā
stood legendary as the
chillest
and most dangerously trusting adults alive letting their daughters do what they wanted and supported them for it too.
And yet their daughters somehow remained good kids despite the insane freedom handed to them.
This time her parents had been even more
thrilled
. The moment they learned Melissa and the rest of the Ryujin Tiamat inner circle would be involved, they had practically packed Yukiās
emotional
bags
themselves.
Yuki still did not fully understand the deeper currents.
Since childhood she had watched her parents
bow
quietly and
respectfully
whenever Melissa appeared without other eyes watching. They had instructed her to treat Phei as an equal and to grow closer to
Delilah, Victoria
, and even
Sienna
ā
ā
though befriending that Sienna was akin to
hugging
a live
chainsaw.
Other kids assumed it was simply Japanese tradition.
Yuki knew the truth ran much deeper.
It had never been about culture or business.
The Tanakas already wielded stupid levels of power back in Japan. This was
elder-of-the-clan
reverence.
Bloodline-deep
respect for someone who could erase your entire world with one phone call and a smile.
Just days ago, the
Matriarch
herself had sold them
Maxton Tech
for
five hundred billion
on a company truly worth seven hundredāa
so-called
business deal that carried the unmistakable scent of a
lavish gift
wrapped in corporate language.
None of that political weight mattered to Yuki right now. Only one thing did:
the black car had arrived, and he was stepping out of it.
Phei moved like the world owed him a debt and feared being late on payment. He popped the trunk and began loading Yukiās frankly criminal number of bags without a word. Amber leaned against the car, hair still deliciously wind-swept and glowing from their earlier chaos, watching the growing mountain of luggage with open amusement.
"Why the many bags?" Amber asked, one perfect eyebrow arched.
Yukiās eyes ignited with tactical nerd energy.
"Oh!
So,
the thing is, when preparing for an
indeterminate
multi-day
temporal window with fluctuating micro-climates, unknown
formal-to-casual
event ratios, and potential spontaneous activity vectors, you must optimize the garment-to-day coefficient while applying redundancy multipliers for spillage, weather warfare, wardrobe malfunctions, andā"
Amber clapped both hands over her ears.
"Nope.
Nope
nope nopeā
abort mission
!"
She sprinted away. Heels clacked across the polished foyer like rapid gunfire as she weaved desperately past minimalist furniture worth more than small countries, fleeing for her life.
Yuki burst into bright, delighted laughter and gave chase like an adorable terminator wrapped in designer silk.
"But I havenāt even reached the shoe matrix yet! Thereās an entire algorithmic decision tree for heel height versus locomotion distance versus terrain variability, blister probability, and aesthetic durability underā"
"STAY AWAY FROM ME YOU BEAUTIFUL WALKING
EXCEL
SHEET
!"
The chase detonated through the living room, swirling around priceless decorative plants and nearly sacrificing a vase that cost more than most luxury cars.
Gianna
and
Natasha
would have been rolling on the floor if they were here. Only Natasha could survive full
Yukiās Tech Mode
.
Everyone else treated it like a
biohazard
and ran.
Phei stepped back into the foyer just in time to witness Amber using a very confused potted fern as tactical cover while Yuki cornered her with sparkling predatory glee.
"Yuki. Amber."
Both girls froze mid-breath, faces flushed.
He offered them that slow, dangerously charming half-smile that short-circuited brains on contact.
"Can you two wait here for a few minutes? I need to take a call in the back. Iāll be right back."
Yuki nodded sweetly, the picture of innocent obedience. Then her smile sharpened into pure devilish delight.
"Perfect. That gives me plenty of time to explain the garment-to-day coefficient to Amber. With detailed examples."
Amberās face collapsed into theatrical horror. "Phei. Phei, please. Donāt abandon me with this unhinged
humanoid AI
. Iām begging you. I have rights."
Yuki gasped in mock outrage. "Inaccurate terminology! A humanoid AI implies
synthetic anthropomorphicā"
Amber screamed and bolted again, arms flailing.
"āwhereas I am clearly one hundred percent biological with superior neural integration andā"
"
LA LA LA LA
I CANāT HEAR YOUR SPREADSHEET DEMON!"
Yuki pursued at full speed, still explaining at maximum velocity. Her voice echoed beautifully through the Tanaka mansion like the worldās cutest weapon of mass confusion.
Phei watched them vanish around the corner, a low dark chuckle rumbling deep in his chestāpure velvet mischief edged with razor hunger.
The playful mask dropped the instant he turned away.
[Emergency Mission: Damsel in Distress ā Phase One Active]
Eiraās voice slid into his mind like warm silk wrapped around cold steel.
"Jonathan just parked. Heās radiating that special brand of cowardly rage. Roxanne is upstairs... and she already knows exactly what kind of day this was going to be."
Pheiās eyes flashed with cold cosmic fire. His jaw tightened until it creaked.
"Time?"
"Three minutes before he reaches her bedroom. Four if the universe decides to be generous and lets him enjoy the walk."
A slow, predatory grin carved itself across his face, sharp enough to cut glass.
More than enough.
He cracked his neck once. Power surged beneath his skin like liquid starlight hungry for violence. The Cosmic Dragon Face Manifest hovered in his system rewards menu, pulsing with dark promiseāready to shove Jonathan head-first into the deepest jails of his own pathetic demons.
"Letās go make a wife-beating coward piss himself for the next forty-eight hours straight."
Out in the foyer, Yukiās excited technical assault and Amberās desperate laughter continued to bounce off the walls like the happiest chaos in all of Paradise.
Phei did not come back once he turned to make a call.