"Chirp—Chirp—"

The morning sun pierced through the heavy curtains, casting mottled patches of light on the round coffee table, the single sofa, and the wooden floor. The incessant chirping of cicadas outside wove a web of summer sound in the morning tranquility.

Ryohei Tanaka awoke from his sleep. He reached for his phone on the nightstand and checked the time—5:01 AM. No wonder he hadn't heard his alarm. He had woken up a bit early today.

Not planning to laze around, Ryohei decided to get up. But as he sat up, he felt something roll off his chest. He instinctively looked down.

"What is this?" Ryohei raised his eyebrows in surprise, picking the object up to examine it. It was a lamp, shaped much like the one from Aladdin's story. The entire thing was gilded, with a slender body and an intricately carved handle and spout featuring vine patterns. Several dark red gems were embedded in its side, giving it an expensive look.

'Did Lucoa bring this?' Ryohei's first thought was of the goddess. She was fabulously wealthy, with a treasure collection that was likely countless, so pulling out something like this would be no surprise. Besides, she often came into his room, especially in the mornings—his room was practically her spawn point.

Feeling the lamp had some collectible value, Ryohei decided to keep it. Because it looked so much like Aladdin's lamp, on a whim, he gave it a rub.

And then—

The lamp suddenly grew scorching hot, and a plume of white smoke billowed from its slender spout, swirling in the air before coalescing into a column.

Lucoa's upper body materialized within the smoke.

She had a new look today—a gorgeous gilded headdress adorned her hair, with a ruby dangling on her forehead like a drop of cinnabar, adding a bewitching touch to her fair skin. Her delicate earlobes were graced with large, vintage gold earrings, and layers of gilded chokers, each engraved with intricate patterns, were wrapped around her snow-white neck. She was dazzlingly radiant.

"Ta-da—!" Lucoa raised her hands, which were adorned with gold bracers, and made a V-sign. "I am the Genie Lucoa!" she announced with a grin. "And now, you must grant me three wishes, or I'll haunt you forever!"

"...That's not right," Ryohei said, completely deadpan. When the genie first appeared, for a split second, he had thought it was real. He had clearly been too naive. He hadn't expected what came next to be even more absurd.

Despite the tempting scene before him, Ryohei was more exasperated than anything. He narrowed his eyes and retorted, "Don't think I haven't seen Aladdin. It's you who is supposed to grant my wishes, right?"

"Nope, nope, nope," Lucoa said, waving her hand dismissively. She puffed out her chest, placing a hand on her world-class bust, and declared with a straight face, "The final interpretation of the rules belongs to this genie. You know how it is!"

"That's just being a shameless bully! In every sense of the word!" Ryohei exclaimed, leaning back. The scene reminded him of a comedy sketch he'd seen before. Fine, he'd play along.

Ryohei propped himself up with his left hand and raised his right, looking at Lucoa. "Alright, tell me your wishes. Let's hear them."

"Oh?" Seeing Ryohei being so cooperative, Lucoa immediately got into character. She held up one long, slender finger and looked down at him with a grin. "My first wish is to treat my friends to a meal. I'd like you to host them, Tanaka-kun!"

"Friends?" Ryohei tilted his head, immediately thinking of Tohru and the others. Lucoa only had a few friends around here.

"That's right!" The Genie Lucoa floated down into Ryohei's lap with a fragrant breeze, wrapping her snow-white arms affectionately around his neck. "It's Tohru and the others," she whispered, her breath like orchids. "I've been freeloading at their place for a while now, so I figured it's time I treated them in return."

"They happen to be very interested in your glowing cuisine. Kobayashi has even tried to book a small private room a few times but never managed to get one."

Originally, Lucoa had planned to wait until she was more settled in before inviting people over. But yesterday, Tohru and the others had accidentally found out about her relationship with Ryohei, and the conversation had naturally shifted to his glowing cuisine. Kobayashi mentioned her failed booking attempts, and Lucoa had casually offered to arrange it, promising to treat them to dinner in a couple of days. The most excited one had been Kanna, who immediately threw her hands up in a silent cheer.

"No problem," Ryohei agreed. Setting aside the fact that they were characters from a series he knew and liked, it was only right to return the favor after his own dependant had been eating at their place. He nodded, his hands naturally finding their way to Lucoa's body to practice his dough-kneading technique.

After all, he was no saint. Ryohei had tried to resist at first, but he couldn't hold out against Lucoa's constant, shameless advances. Some things, once you do them, you do them again. Once you cross a line, the lines start to disappear.

As for Yurine... it seemed that as long as he didn't do anything in front of her, she wouldn't interfere. This was a conclusion he'd drawn after one time he couldn't hold back and got to third base with Lucoa, only to be discovered by Yurine, who didn't seem to mind...

"..."

"So, dinner tonight for your friends? Or another day?" Ryohei was a man of action. Having agreed, he immediately started making plans.

"Let's make it in a couple of days... Kobayashi gets off early on Fridays. She usually has to work overtime," Lucoa said, thinking for a moment while her arms were still looped around his neck.

In the next room, Yurine suddenly had a dream. She was standing in a vast green prairie... and she felt quite good about it. The green was easy on the eyes, and the air was fresh. It was a refreshing feeling.

"Alright," Ryohei said. He looked down for a moment, then asked, "How many people in total? Do they want seats at the counter, or should I arrange a private room for them?" He paused, then added, "Ask them and let me know before Friday... And tell them they can take their time and enjoy the meal, there's no rush." Since he was hosting, he planned to do it properly.

"Mmm." Lucoa was extremely pleased with his arrangements, a wide smile spreading across her face. She released her hold on his neck and floated up, cupping his face in her hands. She leaned down and said with a grin, "Although my wish hasn't been fulfilled yet, this genie is very satisfied. So I've decided on the spot to grant you one wish, Tanaka-kun."

"Do you have a wish?"

"Hmm..." Ryohei's face was tilted up. He looked at Lucoa and thought for a moment. "I'd like to see you do the splits."

"..." Lucoa froze, then looked at him, speechless. That was truly not what she had expected.

"Are you sure? Once you decide, you can't change it!"

"I'm absolutely, positively, one-hundred-percent sure!"

~~~

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