I checked the thickness of the walls first, before making a phonecall. Luckily this room should allow for a modicum of privacy.

"...Sudden change. Base is lost, no remainders."

I could hear some noises in the background, it seems he put me on speaker. I could hear his heavy breating as he realized what I just said.

"Getting a new one is going to cost you."

"Should be alright, for now I have some saved up."

"...Always prepared. I'll call you later on it."

"That's fine, goodbye."

I hung up. Our conversations are always quite short. Even though we are 'friends', most of our conversations are rigid like this.

I planted myself on the bed.

So bothersome.

I scanned the view from the window. The streets were pretty silent, and it seemed to be a well off neighborhood.

It would be best to move my base outside of this area, so I might have to take Tatsu up on his offer.

10000 yen rent a month should be doable, maybe mom will give me some extra money if I ask her nicely.

Probably not.

I wish my creations would sell better. I need a bigger clientele in the future.

After plopping down a small bag of materials I brought with me, I went back downstairs. Mom was there too.

She was standing in an apron, cleaning up the dishes.

"Need help?"

"Yes, thank you." She said.

So I helped dry them, while she was scrubbing them. Don't know why she doesn't have a dishwasher, probably one of those technophobes.

'Back in my day, we had to do this with pure manual labor, not this sissy technology do-nothing-and-sit-around crap.' I could hear my dead grandfather shouting from his grave.

While I was absentmindedly drying, my mom suddenly started talking. I commend the effort to make conversation, but she should know her limits.

"I found a book on research a little while ago, come read it later with me, okay?"

"Okay."

"... and maybe there are some other books I can find about it."

"I'll give them a try if you do."

"...... I didn't think I would have any, but I do have them, strangely enough. I don't buy them or anything."

"Because you like romance novels more."

"Well, yeah. But I do buy other books from time to time."

"Mhm."

After that we silently kept cleaning up. It was apparent she had a pile stacked from before I came here.

Luckily I have a bit of an open schedule now that I need to rebuild the lab, unless Gou is going to call me sooner than expected.

Little chance of that happening, should be no issue.

But something happened.

First our hands touched, no issue. Then she bumped into me, still understandable. Then she touched my shoulder.

I'll take note of it.

"Sorry, I'm being a little clumsy today."

If you say so.

It's clear she wants something from me, the question remains what that is.

I don't think she would be a person interested in what I can offer.

I took a good look at her expression, but she gave little to work with. Her face was stern, unlike what you would expect. She could become a superstar in the dominatrix industry if she wanted, but her personality didn't show the same strength, at least not to me.

We finished up in silence, and I was led to her room, to read.

For some reason.