"It's like something out of a manga". Yes, Yuuki, it is. The Meet Cute, Returning the Handerchief, and the Accidental Pervert scene complete with Unprovoked Pervert Revenge Mode. But that's part of what makes it fun.
Yuuki makes for a darling big-sister-figure for these kids.

Irene and Saitou's flirting is both cute and funny, as their age and experience clashes with their much younger bodies. I imagine Saitou doesn't have much experience flirting in all his decades.

The follow-up with Yui was excellent. Showing development and being serious while also quite sweet.

It's Yuuki! Yay!
I had a feeling it would be her when a bright and cheerful violet haired Imp appeared. Leaving the confirmation to the end was a great cliffhanger (of sorts).
Now that I think about it, both of them were spared from death by The Transition but by different means. It is an interesting contrast.

Ruto, compared to Santa Claus, HAHAHA. That is also an interesting contrast.

Saito is Out-Of-Time, yes he is. A lot of ticks and habits and side-effects that I didn't consider. His backstory sounds both happy and tragic; human in its faults and successes.

It's great to see more of these two. Their side-story was fun. The greater depth here and the peak into the Fae's budding medical field and infrastructure was interesting. It also ties in parts of the V2.0 epilogue, which makes it even better.

Yui is absolutely darling here.

Very good story. Now, to go finally get started on Halko 3!

As suspected.

The Halkegenians would freak if they saw that globe. Whole continents they have never even imagined.

He really should have waited outside the room while Yuki went in. Oops. Still, not so May/December as I thought.

Yui is all heart. It could even be said that she was Cardinal's heart.

Yui's resemblance to Mutsumi can't be an accident if it is that close. So, either Yui is based on an engram of Mutsumi, or, since she does look like her parents, Mutsumi is a close relative of either Asuna or Kirito. Or both. Hmm.

SaitouxIrene. May/December, but stranger things have happened.

Yuki is another that had to grow up too fast. Good to see she is handling it well.

Good to see this arc getting attention.

You call it "generic and predictable". I call it "familiar groundwork". People over value originality because they think it's the only thing that matters. A mediocre idea executed competently is more valuable than a brilliant idea executed horribly. Oh sure, a terrible idea will create negative value no matter how well it's executed. Point is, execution matters a lot.

Now before I focus on the execution, I must mention: this idea is not generic. You're shipping two elders who both find themselves in the throes of raging adolescent hormones again. This is something that deserves to be polished.

So, at the end of last chapter you've thrown really obvious hints of what you're trying to do. This is good, readers like feeling they know what'll come next - good storytelling involves a lot of rules and tropes for the sake of Expectations Engineering. You efficiently dish out a lot of worldbuilding (oh hello Yuuki) while you lead the readers on with the "Incoming Ship!" carrot. The characters enter Irene's residence without permission. At this point the readers will be impatiently expecting ignition very soon. Instead, you go into about 5 paragraphs describing the interior decoration. Not good. Very little of that was immediately relevant. There's better places to put that description.

After the ignition point, there are 3 moments where the characters are in various states of awkward silence: Takai-sensei's interrogation, Yuuki setting up her escape and then the two realising they've been left alone. The latter two have very little narrative spacing between the start and end of those moments of silence. That space can be naturally expanded by putting in descriptions of the interior decor. Bonus points if you then add the characters' opinions, memories and insights from those observations of furniture and personal items.

When the two are making arrangements for Follow-up, you basically make it look like two teenagers fumbling around. That is not the case here, you have two re-youthed elders who know what's going on and can read the signs. This section deserves more detail: either the elders embrace what their hormones want and try to do it with finesse or the elders are fighting their hormones and well aware they are losing. In both cases, spelling out their thoughts would be valuable.

That was a sweet side story. And now I'm already pairing ShouichixIrene in my head. I actually hope that there'll be a sequel to this.

This was a great story, and I really hope you'll continue it. All of the characters introduced here are so vibrant, with such personality! Shoichi Saito's backstory even got me to tear up a bit. Thank you for a truly great read, and I hope you'll gift the world with more in the future!

Thank you very much!

Thanks! :)

It wasn't quite what I expected, but it was a nice breather after the Halkegenia Online (1 & 2) marathon I've gotten myself into.
again; thanks!

Very very good work

d(_)b Great story! *warm fuzzy feelings*

Seriously, how are you able to pump out chapters this quickly?