Well, the world sprung a new tenant on me in the form of an alraune spawned from the very ground. As the caretaker of this dorm, the duty to ensure their needs were met and well being taken care of were a given. Which was why I was currently watering Isla with the hose on the mist setting in the backyard.

Isla rooted her legs to the soil and stretched her short arms to the sky, swaying like she was dancing as water rained down on her. Unbeknownst to her blissful shower, the state of California was undergoing a drought. But she didn't need to know that, and neither would she even know what that meant. All that mattered was the big, bright smile as droplets of water trickled down her leaves, petals, and face.

"How's that? Are you full yet?" I asked, loosening my grip on the trigger to cut the water.

"Hmm… Akira!" Isla exclaimed after a pause.

It didn't seem as though Isla knew any other word except for our names and 'play'. Her language was infantile, but she was definitely a lot smarter than the childlike appearance and demeanor let on. Unfortunately, because she had only been around for a week and a half now, I hadn't yet deciphered the nuances of her speech unlike with Rakka.

"I'm sorry, Isla. I don't know what you're trying to tell me," I said apologetically.

The flowers on her hair began to sag.

At least I knew that meant she was either disappointed or sad. 

"Isla is saying thank you," Val said, strutting up to us with as much haughty arrogance her royal countenance could muster. "It is all in her body language."

"Akira!" Isla flailed her arms at me.

"In that case, you're very—"

A wave of dizziness blurred my vision. I had the greatest urge to sit down for fear of falling as everything started spinning. Isla and Val were calling my name, but their words distorted with an echoey bass.

I must have hit the ground, because the last thing I saw was the sky and their worried faces.

"Look who's awake," Ines said from my bedside.

"Akira? Oh, thank goodness." Ange sighed, squeezing my hand.

I was in my room, gazing up at the ceiling. Instead of Isla and Val, it was Ines and Ange in my vision now.

"What happened?" I tried to sit up, only to have them both push me back down onto the bed.

"You passed out," Ines began. "Running a fever at 104. One more degree higher tand we're calling the ambulance."

"Wait… I got sick?"

"Hell, I'm surprised you didn't get sick sooner. I've been telling you to get some R&R. Looks like all that stress finally caught up to you," she said.

I couldn't recall the last time I got sick. Even eating junk food and living lethargically for most of my life, I could only count the number of times I became ill on one hand. That was just how uncommon it was for me to get sick.

My body was burning like a furnace. If someone had turned up the heater and encased the house in a sauna, I would have believed them. Just trying to breathe was difficult, stifling even.

When I saw the alarm clock, my body moved on its own.

"Holy shit, it's already five? I have to get started on dinner. Someone help me up." I extended a hand to them, but neither of them were budging.

"You are not getting up from that bed. I will mind control you to stay still if that's what it takes," Ange said, folding her arms.

"But it's getting late! I have to cook something for you guys to eat. How about I prepare something easy? Uhh, like pasta. All it takes is half an hour—"

"No!" they shouted in my face.

"Is banding against me what I have to look forward to from now on?" I asked, trading glances between both of them.

"I've already made a call for sushi delivery. We'll be fine. You need to get some rest," Ines urged before leaving Ange and I alone in my room.

Sick, huh? There was a time when I would fake being sick just to skip school for a day. Lying around and doing nothing felt like blasphemy to me now.

"Are you going to scold me, too?" I asked Ange.

The succubus flashed an impish smile and stroked my hair.

"Why would I? Your being sick is quite the opportunity. My little Akira is ill and in need of care. Don't worry. I'll nurse you back to health. Anything you need, just ask." Ange cooed.

"Hmm… Maybe this isn't so bad… Can I lay on your thighs? I feel like that will help speed up my recovery," I said.

Ange climbed onto bed and positioned herself behind me so that I could lie down on her plump thighs. They were so much better than pillows. No stuffing compared to the cloudy bliss that was also emanating warmth to the back of my head like a heat pack. She dunked a small towel into a bowl, wrung out the excess water, and placed it over my forehead and eyes.

The treatment was made better by Ange lightly brushing my cheeks with the back of her nails. Tingles traveled up and down my body more satisfying than any massage could achieve.

"See? Being taken care of in return isn't so bad. If you're a good boy, I'll continue to pamper you as much as you'd like," Ange whispered.

"Yes, please. I'm a good boy…" I eagerly replied.

Muffled giggling made me tense up. The towel fell away as I lifted my head. Cresta, Tamara, and Ivory were peeking through the door, shit-eating grins on their faces.

"What a good little boy!" Cresta teased.

"You laugh, yet I'm the one on the verge of tranquility. You cannot shame me!" I taunted back.

With a flick of her wrist, Ange shut the door with a magical gust so that we wouldn't be interrupted. I dozed off at some point to her humming me to sleep. By the time I came to, Ange was gone. In her place lying on top of my chest was a blob of blue slime.

"Remmy?" I sat up in the bed, causing her to roll off to the side.

"I heard you're stuck in bed. Being alone isn't fun… so I thought we could play something together." Remmy picked up a Nintendo Switch from the nightstand and handed me one of the joy-con controllers.

With the controller in hand and trying to hold back a goofy smile, I said, "Sure. But I hope you don't plan on going easy on me just because I'm sick."

We played a whole number of games like Mario Kart, Smash, Sports, Clubhouse, and more that Remmy, for a lack of a more humiliating way to describe it, outright slaughtered me in. The gaming god Remmy Rampage struck again, even using me to set new records for herself.

"Okay, well… You really didn't hold back." I frowned at being last place Mario Kart again.

"You're losing your edge," Remmy said.

"You're just too sharp!" I retorted, drawing a laugh from the ball of slime.  "About what you did for Isla the other day, you feeling alright? The marble in your chest is a little cracked."

"I'm okay. It's going to heal slowly… on its own," she assured me, but a hint of doubt in her just barely trembling voice caught my attention.

If a slime core was essentially the heart, then Remmy was anything but okay. I needed to keep an eye on her and look for information pertaining to how we might properly repair it. The issue with Isla hadn't been resolved yet, just delayed. She still needed to drain magic to survive, and if we didn't find another source for her, using Remmy again and risking shattering the core was out of the question.

Remmy looked at the clock.

"It's almost eight, which means back to the grind… I'll leave the switch with you… in case you want to play. Want me to leave a clone?" Remmy asked.

"No, you don't have to do that." I chuckled. "Thanks for checking in on me, Remmy. And thanks for helping Isla."

The slime girl took on a shade of pink and flattened a little, then transformed into her humanoid form to hurry out of the room.

I booted up the Switch figuring I could score a win when Irapesha and Cresta barged into my room, carrying in a tray of food.

"Rejoice, Akira. We're here to feed you," Irapesha said.

"Why don't I like the sound of that? Ange, where are you? Help!" I shouted for my life while eyeing the suspicious bowls.

"Hey, don't go calling for help!" Cresta pouted. "Ange and Ines went to buy groceries anyway. Besides, we put our blood, sweat, and tears into making these for you! Look, Ines even taught me some porridge recipes. I think it turned out great!" Cresta exclaimed.

They put the tray on the bed, which had side legs that elevated it over my body so that I could eat without getting up. There were two bowls. One of them was a savory congee, garnished with chopped green onions and chives, a pickled plum, and small chunks of a fish grilled to a crispy finish that were quickly getting soggy.

"This… actually looks pretty good. You made this, Cresta?" I asked.

"What do you mean actually? Of course, I did! Just because I flip patties doesn't mean I don't know how to cook other things," Cresta said.

"What about this?" I pointed to a steaming, deep red liquid that looked to have a thick consistency at a glance. "Is it tomato soup? Looks a little too red though…"

When I scooped a spoonful, it dripped down with the viscosity of oil and made my stomach churn.

"That is dragon's blood," Irapesha proudly stated.

I gave her a thousand-yard stare.

"Oh, no! It isn't my blood if that's what you're thinking," she added.

"Yeah, like that totally makes this any better! How did you get your hands on dragon's blood?!" I asked.

"As soon as we heard you had gotten sick, Cresta and I went straight back to Weyera and hunted down a pakarian wyvern. Their blood doesn't coagulate or thicken into a solid when cooked. It can be drunk like a smoothie," the dragonewt said.

Did they went… WHERE?!

"Y-You just waltzed into the portal and back?" I asked.

"It's not like they can stop us." Cresta shrugged as if it was no big deal.

I reached for my phone. There were ten missed calls and texts from Professor Markel. It hadn't rung or buzzed because the notifications were set on silent.

Oh, hell. That was going to be a miserable phone call later. A strongly-worded letter was already likely waiting for me once I checked my emails.

"Wait… you two hunted a pakarian wyvern… does that mean…" I gazed out the window, and sure enough, a giant headless and featherless poultry as tall as the second floor was sitting in the backyard.

And we also had another pakarian wyvern that needed eating before it spoiled.

"Should we… not have?" Cresta asked, ears going flat and pressing her index fingers together.

"I really appreciate it, but you guys can't be traveling between words on a whim. One, it's dangerous. And two, we risk you losing residency at the dorm. Don't let there be a next time, okay?" I looked them both in the eyes until they agreed.

"Our deepest apologies, Akira. We only wanted to try and help you. It was my idea, so don't be too angry with Cresta," Irapesha said.

It hadn't escaped my notice that they were trying to show me they could be independent. Just in all the wrong ways. If anything, this just proved to me they needed a lot more guidance. 

"The intentions were good. Let's just restrict how you help within the means of this world, alright?"

"Roger that!" Cresta saluted, then pointed at the blood soup. "You gonna drink that?"

"That is for our caretaker." Irapesha slapped her hand away. "Don't you want him healed in no time?"

"Oh, god… am I really going to have to drink this?"

Much later at night, I emerged from the bathroom feeling better and my fever on the downtrend. Irapesha's dragon blood soup was miserable going in as much as it was going out, but I was a lot less sluggish than before.

As I climbed into bed next to Ange, my door creaked open. Tamara came in with Isla in her arms.

"What's the matter? You two couldn't sleep?" I asked.

"I went downstairs because Rakka was banging on the door, and Isla looked like she wanted to come in. She kept calling for your name, so I brought her up here," Tamara explained, then trotted over to deposit Isla into my hands.

"Akira!" The little alraune girl stretched her roots and attached to me like a koala to a tree.

"Can I sleep with you guys tonight, too?" Tamara asked with puppy eyes.

"Looks like I'm not getting rid of any of you so easily, huh? Okay, fine." 

Tamara climbed into the gap between me and Ange to snuggle in. Immediately, her motherly instincts turned to face inwards, embracing the sheep girl from behind. In no time at all, the three of them fell right to sleep. I pulled the sheets over their shoulders and closed my eyes to join them.