For real?! She follows me 'til here?! Does her justice get the better of her judgment and guide her into this mess?!
Or… am I that horrible?
"You are…?"
"…"
While he was still deep in his own thoughts, Lala stepped up asking for the new addition in the place. And just when Lala tried to ask her identity, Yui slowly shook while expressing a complicated look.
Hm…? She's… being afraid?
So she does know what they have done around here, which is not that hard to understand unless you're both blind and deaf…
… Does she care about me or something? If not, then I don't really know why she's even bothering to arrive here at all.
But still, to say that she CARE about ME out of all people is less believable than we landing on Mars in the next decade…
"… Answer my question first. Who the heck are you guys?"
Finally gaining some ground over all this weird thing, he thought so based on the way she suddenly gained her stance leer back at Lala, Yui asked Lala with a trembling yet determined voice.
"We are—"
"This is the first princess of the Deviluke Empire, Lala Satalin Deviluke! Don't ever use such insolent words on her!"
Before Lala can answer Yui question, Zastin have already arrive before her and speak up with a threatened demeanor, one that make Yui fall behind shaking with a terrified face.
"Now answer Milady's question, who are you?!"
"I…"
She stuttle a bit before Zastin questions, and he can wear on his life that her gaze has slightly changed in him for a moment, but only for that brief moment.
"I… am Saruyama's classmate."
"Saruyama…?"
Zastin tilted his head mumbling in confusion against Yui's trembling answer. But in between the confrontation, Lala suddenly kicked Zastin from behind which earned him a short fly into the ground.
"Be nice, Zastin. You don't want to stack up your crime don't you?"
Lala looked down at him with an innocent smile, but Zastin instead started trembling under her gaze, emphasized by her shadow now shrouded over his.
"I–I understand…"
With that, he slowly stood up again under Lala gaze and quickly approached him, if not wanting to say "teleported" right before him, with a stern expression.
"So… your name is Saruyama?"
"Y–Yeah, the name Saruyama… Kenichi."
He quickly answered Zastin's question with a fast paced voice, as if he didn't want to waste anymore of his time, which earned a doubtful frown from the skull-armored man.
"Well then… I'm sorry!"
Just as he started praying for his nine generation ancestor and saying sorry for letting them down with his pervert self, Zastin suddenly bowed before him which evoked a surprised reaction from everyone, obviously apart from the pink hair.
"Eh… W–What the…?!"
"I'm truly sorry, Saruyama-san! I've been careless!"
Zastin apologized to him with a sincere manner, to the point that everyone might start doubting he's the one bullying Zastin instead of the other way around.
"Pl-Please stand up, uh, Zastin-san. D-Don't bow before me like this…"
He pleased a bowing Zastin with a confusing yet fearful voice, convincing him not to express such dishonor manner before a lowly human like him.
Although his action is quite unforgettable, as he dared to attack an unarmed yet useless civilian like him without further inspection of his action after he saved Zastin from the train just in time…
Dang it, is there anything to savor this guy dignity, he frowned in conflict.
Well, his actions are inexcusable in any way, and his actions just now aren't even enough to take back a fraction of his own guilt for the past minutes.
But still, considering that he did tackle him out of nowhere, and he's the bodyguard to the first princess of a powerful empire, who also has to babysit such carefree princess, it's quite understandable for him to get hostile like that…
And that's why, after knowing the basics about Zastin's future, he couldn't bear to see him getting railed away just for the sake of the story progression… just like himself.
Dang it, why do I feel pity even after almost getting killed by this guy, he growls deep inside.
"If you truly wanted to apologize to me…"
He slightly dazed at Lala, now totally focusing on Zastin with a mischievous look, and silently let out a sigh before asking him for something.
This isn't what he envisioned at first, or ever in his life, but he couldn't help to think that… this situation could be in his favor.
He isn't some mastermind that can manipulate anyone with his word, but getting involved with a space royalty could be his chance to change himself… probably.
Also, just maybe, maybe… he could get himself a different role than in the original timeline that the man, Jouno Tsukami, had told him…
He wasn't involved in any trouble in the original work, which made him sigh in relief at that time, but the further Jouno re-telling the story at that time, the more despair he became.
The world that he lives in, the very society that provided him with everything, is now at the mercy of Rito, or to be exact Lala and her sisters, and could be wiped out at any given moment.
Frankly, his world did survive until the end of the manga series… But still, the fact that he already knew this would have affected the story in a major way.
Like mentioned earlier, he's not a fool in any given matters that are not related to girls, and he clearly understood his fragile position right now.
The world that was supposed to happen may have disappeared already the moment he got the chat group, and his future could possibly end in countless asteroids at any time…
So, if everything has screwed anyway, why not he doing what it takes to drive it back on track?!
"… then please, let me watch over Lala-sama in your place!"
Zastin and Lala both immediately leer at him with a surprising look, but he can't bear himself to look at them anymore at this point.
" … What do you mean by that?"
Zastin tilted his head with a doubtful yet confusing look, and he slowly explained it all to Zastin.
"Well, I'm just thinking… if Lala doesn't want to go home, then why not give her some time to think this through…"
"Impossible! Milady never thought about this at all! All Lala-sama ever done is goofing around, as embarrassed as it is…"
Zastin frowned in disbelief, which earned a dissatisfied look from the pink hair and a confusing look from Yui.
"What is he talking about…"
"Oh right, you didn't know yet. So…"
Realizing Yui's lack of intel about all of this, Lala started to explain it all to Yui while he continued pleading with Zastin.
"Then that's even worse, Zastin-sama. If she wanted, I doubt that she would actually be here for you to follow around. She could just hop to another planet entirely, which ended your mission in utterly failure.:
"Also, from the look of it, you must be stressed from this thing right, and she has the tendency to run away with her… inventions?"
Recalling the octopus-like machine that Lala built a few days ago, he frowned in concern. If she can make a machine like that, who knows what more she can do to avoid Zastin efforts in the future?
Also, like he said, if Lala continues this chasing game, Zastin and his bodyguard would surely be distracted and stressed from all of this, which could lead to terribles situations once "others" know about her appearance on this planet…
Worst of all, a galactic war may occur with the starting of this very dirty ball, he shuddered…
Zastin also seemingly realizes what he tries to convey, as he also falls into deep thought with what he just says right now.
He could try to persuade her further, but there is a fat chance that she'll just run away again, and this time he may not be able to track her down as easily as this time. Knowing of Lala intellect, that would likely happen in any given time.
"But I can try to persuade her to go with you, albeit with a little more time. I also can help you monitor her around and report back to you, without her knowledge about this."
"…"
He leaned his head closer to Zastin ear and whispered that, while carefully observing back at Lala now explaining things to Yui to make sure she didn't hear his words. After some more minute thinking, and to let Yui fully get on with Lala's story, Zastin made his final decision.
"Fine, I'll trust you with this then. It's not like I have other efficient choices…"
With a sorrowful sigh, he takes out a weird device attached to a crystal and puts it on his hand, whispering something to him and then walks away, not bat an eye to the princess in the process.
"Eh?"
Lala looks at Zastin back with a dumbfounded look and then looks back at Saruyama with a surprising gaze, while Yui just glances at him with a suspicious yet complicated look…