What the hell was that whole “I can’t let him get caught up in our tangled history” act? Seriously, he even said it with that smug little smirk.
As long as their enemy could launch attacks from a distance, running away somewhere else wouldn’t make much difference anyway.
Apparently Suika thought the same thing.
“Even if we separate Yoshito-sama from ourselves, there is still a possibility that he may be targeted.”
“Don’t worry. I have plenty of reliable allies I can count on.”
“…Have you contacted them, by any chance?”
“Exactly. All five of them agreed without hesitation.”
Who on earth is he talking about?
Five people…
Could they be the same women who had been candidates for my mother?
“There are some people in this world you should never pick a fight with. I’m one of them. Ishirogi Naoki.”
The expression on Old Man’s face was one I hadn’t seen even once during the past six months.
“I’m sure that bastard thinks I’m nothing more than some useless exorcist. But he’s going to learn the hard way. My women will be coming to collect what he owes me soon. Serves you right! Hahahahaha!”
He burst into laughter, openly mocking someone who wasn’t even there.
Man…
My old man was getting seriously vindictive.
Can I hit him with another Baby Bottle Rocket Punch?
And on top of all that grandstanding, it sounded like he was going to leave the actual fighting to the women.
That part was almost even worse…
“…Excuse me.”
Suika spoke up, looking somewhat exasperated.
“If the matter concerning the curse user is going to be resolved like this, I don’t believe there’s any need to separate Yoshito-sama from this household.”
“No, no, it’s not that simple. There’s always a possibility that some kind of organization is backing him. Yoshito needs to be evacuated. You too, Suika.”
“Me?”
“You’re not like me or those five. You have less resistance to things like this. Yoshito happened to save you this time, but there’s no telling what might happen next. —Go back to the village.”
“So I’m no longer needed.”
“I care deeply about you, Suika. That’s why I want you to stay somewhere safe. Please, try to understand.”
Old Man proceeded to pile on one embarrassingly smooth line after another before giving her a cool, handsome smile.
If this were an anime, the heroine would undoubtedly be blushing right about now. It was that kind of sweet, heart-melting smile.
But Suika didn’t seem moved in the slightest.
“If that is what my master has decided, then I have no choice.”
Her voice was almost cold enough to push him away.
“When will Yoshito-sama be leaving this house?”
“We’re waiting for their reply, but if everything goes quickly, three days. A week at the latest, I think.”
“So, at least not tonight.”
“Right. Stay by Yoshito’s side for me. I seem to be rather disliked by him….”
Old Man deliberately let his shoulders droop, putting on an exaggeratedly dejected expression.
Suika muttered under her breath,
“—Perhaps it’s because he’s already seen just how rotten you are inside.”
“Hm? Did you say something?”
“I believe it was merely the sound of the wind.”
＊＊＊
Once their conversation was over, Old Man headed off somewhere. He’d been muttering things like, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen the five of them,” and, “I wonder if I’m in for the getting-drained-dry-until-morning course.”
At that point, I honestly hoped the bastard would just explode. Mom was probably crying at her grave, too.
That left just the two of us in the living room: Suika and me. Suika let out a quiet sigh before speaking.
“—Yoshito-sama, you’re awake, aren’t you?”
So she knew. I slowly opened my eyes and found Suika peering down at me with a gentle expression.
“As I thought. You can understand what we’re saying, can’t you?”
How should I respond to that?
I thought about it for a moment, then activated a certain spell.
“《Telepathy》”
Just as its name suggested, it allowed me to directly speak into another person’s mind. Establishing the pathway required some magical energy, but I’d recovered enough to manage even that much.
『Sorry, can you hear me?』
“Yo…Yoshito-sama?”
『Yes. It’s me. Yoshito Ishirogi.』
I met Suika’s eyes and slowly nodded.
『This is a mental communication, but could you listen to me for a little while?』
If I let her continue thinking I was some kind of genius, I might end up dealing with all sorts of unexpected trouble down the road. Better to have at least one person close to me who understood what was really going on.
And so, I spent the better part of an hour giving her the abridged version of my previous life.
“Reincarnation…? I never imagined such a thing truly existed…”
Suika’s reaction was not what I’d expected. Considering that this world had youkai and exorcists, I had assumed reincarnation wouldn’t be all that unusual.
Apparently, I was wrong.
“The same applies to other worlds. If you were to ask the exorcists or magicians of this world—or even a youkai like myself—they would tell you that other worlds exist only in fiction.”
『Oh….』
The modern world is surprisingly fantastical. And yet, strangely enough, it wasn’t fantastical at all.
Maybe it was lacking in fictional elements. Or perhaps it was simply halfway realistic.
Wait. This isreality, isn’t it?
If so, calling it “realistic” didn’t really make sense.
What even is reality?
“But…”
Suika’s voice pulled me back from the maze of my own thoughts.
“I think I’m willing to believe what you’ve told me, Yoshito-sama. You are my savior, after all.”
Thank goodness. That worked out.
If she hadn’t believed me here, I would’ve been in a bit of a bind. I was deeply grateful for how open-minded Suika was.
“By the way, what did you look like in your previous life, Yoshito-sama?”
『Well…. something roughly like this.』
I sent her an image of my former appearance through Telepathy.
One convenient thing about the spell was that it could transmit not only words, but images and even video.
“.…!”
For some reason, Suika suddenly lowered her head, looking rather embarrassed.
『What’s wrong?』
Had I accidentally sent her some weird image or something?
“No, it’s just… about something that happened before.”
Suika fidgeted, seemingly unsure how to phrase it. Her cheeks had turned so red they looked like they might start steaming.
“I was just thinking about how much you must have seen of me back then…”
She pressed a hand to her chest.
Oh.
A memory from a little while ago flashed through my mind. That embarrassing incident where Suika had completely misunderstood the situation and treated me like an ordinary baby. Back then, she had no idea that the person inside this baby’s body possessed memories from another life.
But now that she knew the truth….
『O-oh, uh—S-Suika-san! I’m so, so sorry! Really, I apologize!』
I desperately apologized through Telepathy, my mental voice practically screaming. As I desperately apologized, I couldn’t help praising my past self. Long live my cowardice.
If I’d simply followed my instincts back then, who knew what kind of looks I’d be getting from Suika now?
“N-No! Please, don’t worry about it! I was the one who did it of my own accord, and besides, your appearance in your previous life was… well, rather handsome, I suppose, and you were so adorable back then, and when I think about that now, it’s just…”
She trailed off, her face growing redder and redder.
How much of that was sincere?
How much was flattery?
Or was she simply panicking and blurting out whatever came to mind?
“My apologies.”
As I stood there wondering how to respond, Suika eventually seemed to regain her composure. She cleared her throat and continued.
“Please, don’t give any further thought to what happened in the past. Uhm… that said, I do owe you a great deal, and if that is what you wish, Yoshito-sama, I would gladly—”
『S-Suika-san, I’m fine! Please calm down! More importantly, let’s talk about what happens from here on out. Yes. The future. Let’s talk about the future.』
Continuing down that road was far too dangerous. Especially for my sanity.
『There is one thing about my previous life I’d prefer to keep hidden from Old Man, if possible.』
“Understood. I believe that would be for the best as well. Naoki-sama is, well, how should I put it…”
『Like he’s giving off an evil aura?』
“…I won’t deny that.”
Suika lowered her eyes. It was a more unmistakable confirmation than any words could have been.
“However, I am bound by this contract. I cannot rule out the possibility that Naoki-sama might use it to forcibly extract the truth from me.”
『Oh, that’s not a problem.』
While maintaining our telepathic conversation, I had been analyzing the contract placed on Suika. As far as spellcraft went, it was about as crude as you could get.
Rewriting it would be easy.
『《Invasion Formula》・《Thy Binding Chain Shall Pass Into My Hands》(Invaidly N T R)』
The ‘R’ in the original incantation is pronounced “ri”, not “ra-re”. If you don’t get it, look up NTR.
I disguised the alterations I had made to the contract, leaving Old Man as the apparent contractor on the surface. In reality, however, I had taken complete control of its actual authority.
『You’re safe now. Old Man can’t interfere with you through the contract anymore. But, I’d rather keep this hidden as much as possible, so unless something truly serious happens, please continue pretending to obey him.』
Strange.
There was no response.
『.…Suika-san?』
Suika simply stared at me in stunned silence, blinking repeatedly.
『Suika?』
“My apologies. I was rather surprised.”
『Could it be that this contract is considered a particularly high-level one in this world?』
At my question, Suika nodded deeply.
“It is known as a formula that cannot be rewritten.”
Well, that explained why she was so shocked. And honestly, I was pretty shocked myself.
Could it be that this world’s magical technology was somewhat underdeveloped because its scientific technology had advanced so far?
In any case, we’d finally reached the end of the personal-history portion of our conversation.
Now came the important part. I decided to have Suika teach me the basics of this world’s common knowledge. I had lived in this world for a while during my previous life, but when it came to exorcists and all the other supernatural stuff, I was completely clueless.
I didn’t want to step on some unexpected landmine, so gathering information was essential. One thing in particular caught my interest: how a “normal exorcist” would be expected to react upon seeing me.
“Once or twice every fifty years, someone appears who can truly be called a genius. I believe Naoki-sama views Yoshito-sama as someone of that caliber.”
『So they wouldn’t consider the possibility that I’m reincarnated?』
“No. Most exorcists believe reincarnation and the cycle of rebirth are nothing more than fiction.”
I see. As long as I didn’t make any stupid mistakes, there was little chance anyone would discover that I was reincarnated.
There were a few other important things to discuss, too…
Oh, right.
Old Man’s women.
Apparently, every single one of them was among the most formidable people in the country.
According to Suika:
A woman who was Old Man’s blood-unrelated younger sister and carried a wolf god within her body—Yue Ishirogi.
A prototype created by a certain magical society as an experimental model for the “greatest mage in human history”—Aria El Samaria.
A girl born into an illustrious family of exorcists, but raised to become an assassin—Miya Azhiro.
Old Man’s childhood friend and a practitioner of an ancient sword style specializing in the purification of supernatural evil—Makina Kaminagi.
And finally, a demon princess who devotes her love to one person alone—Manya Rafild.
What the hell was this?
It was one ridiculous setup after another, the kind that made me want to scream, “SENG—what is this, some kind of eroge?!”
And every single one of them was after Old Man, and they were all in their late twenties.
Ugh. This was painful.
Who was this even supposed to appeal to? If this were a game, it would be getting absolutely roasted online.
So Old Man was probably off somewhere right now, having a grand old time with all five of them. Even as his own son, I am seriously creeped out.
How the hell did someone like that end up being so popular with women?
“Naoki-sama possesses a power that is difficult to comprehend.”
Perhaps Suika had sensed my doubts, because she spoke up.
“He calls it the ‘Sign of Womanly Misfortune’ but it is something far more sinister and horrifying than that. I nearly fell under its influence myself.”
Was she talking about what had happened six months ago?
Back when I had first arrived at this house—the incident where Old Man had nearly managed to set a flag with Suika.
But after taking a step back and looking at things calmly, I came to understand.
“In Naoki-sama’s eyes, there is only himself. No matter how deeply a woman may fall for him, in the end, she will simply be used and discarded at his convenience. Even his desire to raise Yoshito-sama as an ordinary human may be part of some ulterior motive.”
＊＊＊
Five days later, one morning, Old Man came home looking suspiciously refreshed.
“Looks like they’ve got everything arranged on their end. I’m taking Yoshito with me now. —Suika. By the authority of our contract, I command you: return to the village.”
“…Understood.”
Suika left the house carrying a suitcase packed with her belongings. Without Old Man noticing, the two of us exchanged a few words through Telepathy.
『I hope we meet again someday, Yoshito-sama.』
『When I’m older—middle school, high school, well, whenever I’m old enough—I’ll come find you.』
『Yes.』
Then Suika gave me a faint, alluring smile and she quietly added through telepathy,
『I’ll always be waiting for the day when I can see Yoshito-sama again.』
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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