I still think this chapter is peak comedy for me. I don't think I'll ever be able to top it.
PREVIOUSLY ON BM: The rest of the wives are tired of waiting, so they kidnap Honoka and get with the baby making! They receive more than they bargained for.
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Chapter 45: The Bill Is Due
Honoka slowly woke to beeping. Scrunching her face, the groggy architect decided to call in sick today, idly moving an arm to flip the alarm off. She'd left the most wonderful dream about walking down a brick road and the drowsy woman wanted to return there.
Stupid Steve can CAD his own Goblin Bank,
Honoka blankly thought through the muddle of a sleepy head.
"Mommy?"
Honoka started, her addled mind throwing off lingering fog while eyes flew open, though they quickly shut again when the light blinded her. Then like a one two punch, she groaned when universal soreness throbbed throughout. Past those sensation, something heavy and warm rested on top of her . While this might have restricted her breathing a bit, Honoka felt the instinct to hold tighter, weakly hugging around a scaled girl.
"...Jaya?" Honoka asked past a throat frog, her eyes adjusting enough to squint a bright green outline hovering over her head and snuggling against her. "Wh...why are you here?"
"Because Jaya was worried," Diane said from to Honoka's left. "We all were."
Honoka finally became fully awake and rubbed her eyes, scanning around the room. She wasn't in her own bed, someone cobbled together a twin into the hosting room where Uncle Aki's medical equipment glowed and hummed. The beeping came from a laptop program connected to wires and nodes stuck to Honoka, the sound matching her heartbeat. There was an IV in one arm, Honoka dressed in too-small flannel PJs which pinched in places. Rather than pushed to the side, through her daze Honoka realized she lay in the center of the room; more alarming, her whole family was present, dealing with their worry in different ways.
Jaya, believing Honoka would be alright, already snuggled back into place in Honoka's embrace and fell asleep, softly hissing as her snake body relaxed past the bed and along the floor. She wore a rumpled long pink sleeping shirt with teddy bears on it. It would have been adorable at another time. However, the large damp spot on Honoka's shoulder broke the injured woman's heart. Jaya must have lied atop her new mother through the night, sobbing and dreading if Honoka would leave the seven-year-old like her father did.
Diane was an absolute wreck. Seated directly on the floor, her head and arms draped over the quilt covering Honoka's legs. The ground nearby was littered with plates, bags and wrappers. Clothing stains and crumbs were other testaments the pregnant woman took stress eating to new levels. Her usually gorgeous fiery red hair was a birds nest atop green horns, sweats and tank top worn since yesterday ripe from both spilled food and using them as tissues.
Using Jaya's body as a pillow, Aruna slept in his cloths, a throw blanket keeping him warm.
At the nearby wall, mother bear Shilo was awake and smiling towards Honoka, both her children curled in her arms and snoring soundly. Ken and Miu were dressed in pajamas and appeared woken in the middle of the night to join a vigil. They didn't have blankets, but the plush white fur of their mother was warm and inviting, Honoka knowing from experience.
Sitting cross legged beside to the door, Miaka frantically disassembling and cleaned all the guns the family owned, two piles of armament rather dauntingly stacked around her. When Honoka glanced towards Miaka, the owl shot a brief smile before returning to her nervous cleaning. Honoka wasn't sure if her mind played tricks, something was off with the fierce woman. Honoka decided to put a pin in that for now and moved to the next person in line.
Dolly fussed in the kitchen area, hunching over Quinn. The otter lay atop a counter with a blanket over her. At first, Honoka idly wondered if the two were up to sexy-time, Dolly's hands working under the covers. Then Honoka grew concerned when Dolly's hands pulled bandages blotted in blood and worked replacing them with fresh wraps. Quinn stared into Honoka's eyes for a brief moment before turning her head the other way.
Next to them, Banda and Padmava crouched and ate breakfast, both eating like their dog just got hit by a truck. They wouldn't meet Honoka's gaze.
Eve crouched around the other side of the room, her computer monitor displaying online university class homework, lots of spreadsheets and a muted classroom. She turned her head briefly for a quick smile and thumbs up, but even the unflappable goblin looked morose and hesitant.
"Did someone die?" Honoka asked softly, shifting slowly to extricate from under Jaya without waking the young mamba. Honoka's voice sounded a touch frustrated, many in the room flinching at that tone.
"You almost did," Diane replied, gripping Honoka's leg, her face ready to spit fire. Spreading this glare around the room made it clear Diane was out of food and would happily eat the next person to step out of line.
"Not really, but we were all concerned."
Akisame, walking into the room holding two bowls of steaming
okayu
with egg, casually checked the numbers on his laptop, every bit the doctor looking over his patient. "I'd like to hear your Status before I tell any more, System numbers will be more accurate than my measurements."
Honoka did , surprised with the results as she read out loud.
"That is...unhealthy," Honoka stated with trepidation when she finished, pulling back the covers to view her stomach and waist. With a bit of interest Honoka realized her voice was deeper, enough to sound like a different person. Also, because she still allocated thirty-one Endurance, ten Strength and ten Health, her current state told a horrific story of what could have been if she hadn't allocated through her sleep.
Diane pursed lips when Honoka moved about, Irish temper rising on her face enough to force any wife she gazed upon to flinch away. It was clear the fanatically protective succubus didn't like what she saw either and wanted to blame someone.
Honoka looked like a weird caricature of a person underneath ill fitting flannel PJs. Finally gaining enough muscle definition to thrust Honoka into fitness model range, all of the fat in her body had been sucked away except for boobs and butt and hips. Those extra three inches grown last night stretched the formerly small woman into a longer body, her proportions now thin and lanky instead of small and shapeless. With detached surprise, Honoka's face felt different when she reach up, narrow rather than wide and cheekbones more pronounced. Touching downward again, she traced something bordering anorexia over her abdomen. Overall, with hips flaring abnormally outward, Honoka resembled a Barbie doll more than a person.
"I did some calculations: you lost a fifth of your bodyweight," Akisame said, handing Honoka the bowl of rice porridge. "Frankly, if you weren't allocating, you would have suffered organ failure."
"That..." Honoka paused, thinking over the implications and nodding. "Yeah, ok." She carefully raised the spoon to her mouth and winced, stomach a roiling sea of pain and upheaval when it received the food.
"Take it slow, the IV is a mana potion," Diane urged, reaching out and helping keep Honoka from spilling. "We weren't sure about your MP levels. I...we couldn't risk you running out. You are probably over the tolerance limit for potions and everything will hurt. Until you recover, grab another thirty Health and twenty Wisdom from everyone. That should allow you to eat and regenerate mana faster than you're spending it."
Honoka nodded through her pain, agreeing with the assessment and pushing dials over. Within moments, agony diminished and her ability to comprehend increased. She also grew ravenously hungry and attacked the bowl as if she hadn't eaten in a month. While licking it clean she found another steaming bowl appearing. That one she took slower, even if her hunger hadn't abated.
"I have something to say," Honoka announced between bites, grabbing everyone's attention. "Last night was my fault."
The room immediately erupted in denials as wives talked over each other to explain how Honoka was wrong. Children woke with yelps and groans, Shilo glaring at everyone unused to dealing with sleeping kids. Akisame was the only one unperturbed, calmly studying Honoka's vitals and nodding to himself.
Honoka let them vent for a few seconds before she held up her spoon like a sword and chopped sharply through the air, everyone getting the message to shut up. Honoka took the opportunity to snuggle closer to Jaya, awake again and still adorable. "No more talking. This isn't a game to see who can feel the most guilty. Whether you think you are the one to blame, I didn't stop any of you. None of you did anything different than what we've done for the last month; the reality of the situation is I knew better. Four years ago, my uncle and I performed comprehensive tests to find out what my limits were. While allocation and leveling lets me move the goalposts, it hasn't changed my body's natural limits. We have had a lot of...fun in the last month, yet each time we tried something new it was like sprinting across a tightrope over lava."
Staring into the worried and trusting eyes of Jaya, Honoka smiled and finished her bowl. "I can't risk everything when I have so much to lose. But...we also can't stop, either. We can't stop because I believe everyone will lose just as much if we do nothing." Taking a deep breath, Honoka bowed her head in apology. "I'm sorry, please forgive me."
The only noise in the room was the faint, slow beeping of Honoka's heart from the monitor. Diane was still angry, though now more petulant than anything. Others were ashamed, even if they shouldn't be. The one to break the silence was Jaya as she slithered out of the bed and stretched big.
"I'll get a double breakfast ready for you so you can feel better," the energetic naga girl announced with a solid matter of fact attitude. "Miu can help. Loves!" With a sloppy snaky tongue kiss to a bemused Honoka, the green scaled girl picked up Miu and placed her on her back and tail, both girls laughing as they sped out the door.
"And you two can help me clean up the kitchen," Shilo said, standing up and herding two teenage boys out the door. The polar bear aunt slyly winked before exiting, pushing surly teenagers to move faster than they wanted too.
A spell broke over the room, though the remaining women still hurt emotionally. Honoka determined nothing would get done if everyone stayed in mope mode. Pushing off covers, yanking out various wires and tubes, Honoka instantly regretted her decision to stand when the room wobbled and shook. Gritting teeth, she teetered over to Banda and peered into the light brown and orange mixed irises above Banda's bovine face, currently drooped in sadness.
"You," Honoka said, jabbing her finger deep into a massive boob, eliciting a damp spot on the white and red checkered shirt the holstaur barely fit into. "I can hear you blaming yourself from across the room."
