Author: Yume Neiji

Ever since coming to the Kirasawa household, Mia and I had spent most of our days training to increase our magical power. Thanks to that, there was quite a lot we could do now.

“Kyaaa!?”

“Keep quiet, or you’ll bite your tongue.”

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Holding Mia in my arms, I leaped from rooftop to rooftop.

I felt like a ninja. Or maybe an assassin.

According to the information coming from my familiar, Manya Rafild is staying at a business hotel near the station. Although “laying low” might be a more accurate way of putting it.

Apparently, after being taken to the police station, she’d charmed every officer she could get her hands on—except Sasagawa-san, the twenty-eight-year-old single idol otaku—and escaped.

Originally, I’d planned to just leave Manya alone for the time being. I wanted to see whether the people known as exorcists would make a move against her for defying the power of the state.

That was what I’d intended to observe, but… well, never mind. Mia’s feelings were far, far more important to me than my personal curiosity. I have to make sure whether or not she actually knew this woman.

We arrived in front of the business hotel.

We walked straight through the lobby and headed for the elevator.

Since I am using a supernatural technique called “On-gyo”—which Suika had taught me—no one stopped me. It had the effect of rendering my form invisible. I could’ve just used an invisibility spell, but I’d gone to the trouble of learning this technique, so I might as well put it to use. Comparing the two, eh, I could worry about that later.

The elevator reached the eighth floor.

Manya should be in Room 803 on this floor.

“Um, Oniisan…”

Mia spoke up hesitantly.

“I think I can walk from here by myself…”

“Oh. Sorry.”

I stopped carrying her princess-style and set her down.

“That was so sudden, you know. You could’ve at least given me some time to prepare myself mentally.”

“Sorry. I just kind of did it without thinking.”

“You don’t feel sorry at all, do you?”

How did she know?

I guess after living together for three years, you really did start to understand each other without even having to say anything.

We stopped in front of Room 803.

“Should we ring the doorbell?”

“Nah. I’ll open it with magic.”

“Won’t that cause a commotion?”

“It’ll be fine. Manya’s unconscious anyway.”

When I’d hacked Ghost Eye earlier, I’d selected a few particularly nasty images and blasted them directly into her mind. According to the information coming from the familiar I’d planted on Manya, she’d lost consciousness after about ten seconds.

Still, I had to wonder…Why had she gone to the trouble of using a monster just to keep an eye on me?

Well, I could ask her now.

We entered the hotel room. Manya was sprawled unconscious on the bed. She’s still wearing the same wine-red dress as she had that afternoon.

“Uuugh… W-Wally… Wally…”

Apparently, the shock had been considerable. Even while unconscious, she’s tossing and moaning in a nightmare.

“Mia?”

I turned around.

Mia’s still standing in the doorway. Half-hidden behind the door, she peeked into the room with only half her face showing. She’s being way too cautious.

“It’s okay. Manya’s asleep.”

“O-Okay…”

Mia cautiously made her way over to me.

“Are you scared?”

“It’s not that I’m scared… Though, I guess maybe I am.”

Mia murmured uneasily.

“It’s been three years since I was reincarnated, but I still haven’t gotten used to having a human body. Compared to a demon, I’m so much weaker, and even small wounds take forever to heal. It feels like I could die from the tiniest thing. It’s just so different from my previous life… It scares me.”

“Yeah. I guess that makes sense.”

The basic specs were just too different. It was like switching from a Gundam to a Zaku. Actually, considering she was the Demon Lord’s daughter, maybe it’d be more accurate to say she’d gone from an Ideon to a Zaku. She really had been the vessel of an evil god, after all, so it wasn’t exactly a bad analogy.

In any case—

“I’ll protect you, Mia. So feel free to get all clingy and spoiled with me—you know, like, ‘Oniichan~ ♥’.”

“Ugh…”

She was visibly repulsed.

Ouch. That hurt. Maybe I should turn this whole area into a crater just to vent my frustration.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Sorry. …Then I’ll lean on you just a little.”

Mia grabbed the hem of my pajamas and gave it a little tug.

Then she looked over at Manya’s face.

“Yeah. There’s no mistaking it.”

She gave a small nod.

“She looks a bit older, but I’ve seen her before—back at the Demon Lord’s castle.”

“Okay. In that case, let’s wake her up and hear what she has to say.”

“Hey, Oniisan? Can I do the talking? If she finds out I’m Papa’s daughter, she might feel a little more at ease.”

That makes sense. I have a tendency to go a bit overboard in situations like this, so it might be best to leave it to Mia.

　＊ ＊ ＊

I cast a healing spell on Manya, then stayed out of sight and watched her.

Naturally, I completely suppressed my presence.

“Ugh… Wally’s eating me alive… uh-Huh!?”

“I’m glad you’re awake.”

Perhaps because Manya was older than her despite being a mere concubine, Mia addressed her politely.

“Is anything hurting? Or does anything feel strange?”

“Ah? Oh, no. I’m fine.”

Manya answered hesitantly, then brushed back her wavy brown hair.

“You’re the girl who was with Yoshito-kun, aren’t you?”

“I’m Yoshito’s adoptive little sister, Kirasawa Mia—Mia Gransfield. It’s been a long time, Aunt Manya.”

“…Huh?”

“I know it may be hard to believe, but I was reincarnated in this world. I still have the ‘Mark,’ though.”

Mia raised her right hand. Etched into her palm was the emblem of a rose engulfed in flames.

I’d seen it before. The Mark bestowed only upon the Demon Lord and their successor. If she hadn’t been sacrificed to the evil god, she would have become the next Demon Lord.

The fact that the Mark had remained even after reincarnation was probably based on the same principle as me retaining the powers I’d acquired in that other world.

“How did you come to this world, Aunt Manya?”

“Well, to tell you the truth…”

“I’m not the next Demon Lord anymore. I’m just an ordinary human now, so you don’t have to speak so formally.”

“But—”

“It’s fine. Let’s just relax and talk to each other normally, okay?”

“Y-Yes. I understa— I mean, okay. Actually…”

According to Manya’s story—

About twenty years ago, an experiment involving magic was conducted in this world. The details were unclear, but apparently, the experiment created a tiny “connection” between this world and the other one. Manya was caught up in that connection and ended up being transported here.

“I have a daughter back there, so I desperately searched for a way to return.”

But she couldn’t find any way to cross between worlds. And just when she was at her wit’s end, she met my Old Man.

Manya had been vulnerable, he treated her kindly, and she fell for him hook, line, and sinker. She became another member of his harem, and that’s how things had continued ever since.

Ehm… Can I just point something out here?

She has a daughter!? And despite that, she went and got herself a local husband—or rather, a local lover—and even ended up in the mistress position!?

The succubus clan seriously has zero standards when it comes to chastity.

Ah, wait. They’re succubi. So maybe that actually *is* normal for them?

『Nah. Even for a succubus, doing this with a married man who has kids is a bit much…』

Mia’s inner bewilderment came through clearly via telepathy.

『Still, since she can’t go back to her own world, I suppose she has no choice. And I think Papa would understand, too…』

Seriously?

That Demon Lord really is a broad-minded guy… Come to think of it, he just laughed it off when his own aide betrayed him. I do think he’s a pretty great guy, but I’d really appreciate it if he stopped eyeing my backside.

Well, I’ve been reincarnated now, so I should be safe.

…Right?

Even as I felt a chill run down my backside, Manya continued speaking.

“I gave up on returning to that other world ages ago. As long as Naoki-sama loves me, that’s all I need.”

She was head-over-heels in love. That said, I couldn’t imagine the Old Man reciprocating those feelings at all.

“But lately, the number of nights I spend with him has dropped compared to the other four… That’s why I reached out to Yoshito-kun.”

“What were you planning to do with my brother?”

“It’s not like I was going to hurt him or anything. I thought if I got close to him and worked my way in from the outside—softened the ground, so to speak—I might be able to marry Naoki-sama.”

Yeah, that’s never going to work. The Old Man intends to raise me as an ordinary human. Wouldn’t Manya making careless contact actually count against her? Did she lose her mind out of desperation, or is someone tricking her?

Either way, Manya’s future looks bleak.

“What was the reason for keeping an eye on the room with Ghost Eye?”

Mia asked.

“I intended to speak to you in your dreams. But suddenly, the connection went haywire… Huh? I wonder what happened after that.”

It seemed she had a lapse in memory. The shock of seeing those gruesome images must have been too much for her.

Manya tilted her head in puzzlement.

Hmm. How should I handle her from here on out?

Just as I started to ponder this…

“Please, tell me something.”

Mia spoke to Manya in a voice more serious than usual.

“Manya-san, do you really love this Naoki-san?”

“Isn’t that obvious? We’ve been together for fifteen years, after all.”

“Isn’t it the other way around? You’ve invested fifteen years, so you can’t back out now—aren’t you just being stubborn?”

Whoa. Mia really went straight for the jugular there.

“Naoki Ishirogi—was that his name? That man has five lovers, including you, doesn’t he? Does he truly cherish each and every one of you?”

“That’s…”

There was no way she could say yes. It was precisely because she was worried about the way Naoki treated her now that Manya had gone off on her own like this in the first place.

“Even if you do the simple math, that means you only get one-fifth of his affection.”

“I don’t mind. You’re young, so you probably don’t understand, but there’s such a thing as loving someone by giving everything of yourself. Besides, isn’t it perfectly natural for an attractive man to have several women around him? The Demon Lord was the same way.”

Manya argued back.

But Mia calmly replied—

“—You’re lying, Aunt Manya.”

She cut her down without mercy.

“Did you already forget what you said a moment ago? ‘All I need is for Naoki-sama to love me.’ And yet now you’re talking about selfless love. Honestly, it just sounds like an argument you came up with because you needed something to say back. Besides, if all you wanted was to devote yourself to him, you wouldn’t need to pursue marriage in the first place, would you?”

“……!”

It must have hit a nerve.

Manya wore an expression that suggested she wanted to say something, yet she remained silent.

“For starters, polygamy only works when there are underlying economic or political reasons for it. Is this Naoki Ishirogi guy some kind of king? A mega-millionaire? If not, there’s no reason to settle for just one-fifth of a man’s affection. I know it’s none of my business, but I think you ought to look for someone better, Manya.”

Amazing.

I am witnessing someone boldly speak the unvarnished truth right before my eyes. As expected of the Demon Lord’s daughter—she certainly lived up to her upbringing as a sheltered heir-apparent.

Even though her sensibilities were slightly skewed from those of humans due to her past life as a demon, I found her straightforwardness admirable.

“…Shut up.”

Manya muttered the words under her breath.

“…What do you know… anyway?”

A menacing aura suddenly flared up.

And then…

“Don’t you dare preach to an adult like that, you little brat!”

Enraged, Manya lunged at Mia. She shifted from her human guise back to her true demonic form and swung down with her razor-sharp claws.

Well, I wouldn’t say Mia was entirely blameless. She had cornered Manya with a bit too much ruthlessness. Still, it was just the rambling of a “little brat”—someone who hadn’t even lived twenty years, counting her past life.

If Manya claimed to be an “adult,” she really ought to have had the composure to just brush it off.

Regardless. The biggest mistake this succubus made was failing to notice my presence entirely. Besides, an older brother always takes his little sister’s side—and I, in particular, had just promised to protect Mia.

I activated a few of the spells I had set up in advance.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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Manya was quietly taken away by the police, still in her human form.

And apparently, she had actually tried to use some sort of charm skill on the officer, but considering the officer’s stats were what they were…

Humans really are amazing. At least, that was what I thought.

Sasayama-san must have called for backup, because just as he left, a female police officer in uniform arrived. She’s a slightly plump, kind-looking middle-aged woman.

She bent down at the knees until she was eye level with us, then asked,

“All right, now. Why don’t you tell Auntie what happened?”

So I explained everything from start to finish.

How, after getting off the kindergarten bus, I’d been approached by a woman asking, “Wouldn’t you like to meet your real Papa?” And how, since it was obviously starting to look like an attempted kidnapping, I had called out to Sasayama-san when he happened to be passing nearby.

“I see, I see. And you’re only three years old, but you’re such a sensible little boy!”

She gave my head a gentle pat. I have to admit, it felt pretty good.

While we were talking, Yuko-san arrived.

“What!? Something like that happened…?”

“But your little boy wasn’t fooled at all. What a good, clever child.

“If only my own son were this dependable… (sigh).”

The policewoman explained the situation to Yuko-san, but by the end, the two of them had somehow devolved into the kind of casual housewife small talk you’d hear between neighbors.

After that, we went home and had dinner.

Shuji-san, who had come home unusually early, listened to the story with a troubled expression.

“Your real Papa, huh…”

For now, I’m being raised as a child of the Kirasawa family. Once I reach a certain age, I suppose they’ll finally tell me, “You have a real father.” Well, when that day comes, I’m planning to bring the house down with an emotional line like, “The only father I need is Shuji-tousan.”

But that’s a story for another day.

“There are a lot of strange people around in spring. Yoshito, Mia, you two be careful.”

Breaking news: apparently, the whole “real Papa” business has been brushed aside. That succubus lady has officially been classified as “a strange person.”

Well, objectively speaking, that’s fair.

I imagine she’d been going for some sort of mysterious-beauty vibe, but she was seriously lacking in what you might call common sense. Those cryptic, suggestive remarks of hers might sound meaningful to someone who knows the circumstances, but to an outsider, they were nothing more than the ramblings of a lunatic.

And more than anything, wearing a frilly dress to a park in broad daylight was just ridiculous. Dressing appropriately for the time, place, and occasion is the absolute foundation of communication, after all.

“Yuko, just to be safe, let’s make sure we lock everything up properly tonight.”

“I’ll put a message in the neighborhood association’s LINE group, too.”

“Yeah. Please do.”

So that’s how things work these days, huh?

Even neighborhood relationships involve the internet now. We’ve already stepped one foot into the world of science fiction, haven’t we? And somehow, it’s just our everyday reality.

After dinner, we watched a DVD Shuji-san had rented. It is the live-action Rurouni Kenshin. The first movie.

Shuji-san is the faculty advisor for the high school kendo club, so he had a habit of renting anything and everything involving swords. Maybe he actually wanted either me or Mia to take up kendo, and was trying to brainwash us into it from early childhood.

In any case, all I could do was pray that he wouldn’t rent some kendo anime featuring a whole bunch of girls. You know, the one where the weapon translates to “bamboo sword” in Japanese. Or that one about the F-ranked knight who defeats the strongest despite being the weakest.

Non-otaku adults can sometimes do things without realizing what they’re getting themselves into. That’s what worries me. Watching that kind of thing in front of your parents would be seriously awkward, at least from my perspective.

Maybe a historical samurai drama would be safer. I do like The Swordmaster’s Business. Ah, but that one has some pretty risqué scenes of its own.

Dammit. What kind of era are we living in really!?

And so, while my thoughts wandered into completely unnecessary territory, I am nevertheless enjoying the movie well enough.

Mia, on the other hand…

“……—”

Mia merely stared at the TV with a faintly dissatisfied look on her face.

Normally, her eyes would be sparkling, especially during scenes where people were cutting each other to ribbons.

Even Shuji-san noticed her reaction.

“Maybe I shouldn’t rent the second one…?”

He looked troubled.

Personally, I am dying to know what happened next, so I really hoped he’d rent it. Of course, I’d already read all the manga back in my previous life. I avoided the live-action movies because I’d had a bad feeling about them.

Looking back now, maybe I’d been missing out.

So, please, give me the sequel.

The movie ended with the protagonist—the guy with the cross-shaped scar on his cheek and the reverse-blade sword—defeating the manslayer who used a hypnotic technique known as Shin no Ippo. As far as the original story went, it was a pretty good place to stop, too.

The clock had already passed nine.

Time for a kindergartener to go to bed.

As for sleeping arrangements—

“I can sleep by myself as long as Oniisan is here.”

Thanks to that thoroughly contradictory statement from Mia, we’d already started sleeping separately from our parents. We had a bunk bed, with me on top and Mia on the bottom.

Once we were both tucked into our respective futons, I sent her a telepathic message.

『Mia, can I ask you something?』

『What is it, Oniisan?』

『Haven’t you been acting a little strange today?』

『Have I…?』

『Yeah. Ever since that succubus, Manya, approached you. Is it bothering you because there’s something demon-like in this world too?』

For the record, Mia also had the [Appraisal] skill. So she should have known that woman wasn’t human.

『Um… it’s not really that. It’s just… hmm.』

Mia seemed to be lost in thought.

『But I don’t want to confuse Oniisan by making him worry over something that’s probably just my own speculation…』

『Don’t worry about that. I’m your big brother, and I’m the Hero, remember? You should rely on me more.』

Mia had a tendency to hold back and be overly considerate.

If anything, I wanted her to lean on me more.

『Could that Manya woman be someone you knew in your previous life?』

『No way!? How did you know that?』

It was just a shot in the dark, but I decided to play it cool.

『I’m always keeping an eye on you, you know. Something like this is a piece of cake.』

『Uu…』

『What’s wrong?』

『C-could you say that one more time?』

『I’m always keeping an eye on you, you know. Something like this is a piece of cake.』

I could sense Mia trembling on the bed below.

『Ehehe… Oniisan, you really are looking out for me, aren’t you?』

『Of course I am. So, what’s your relationship with Manya?』

『Um… an aunt I’m not related to by blood, I guess? She’s one of Papa’s concubines.』

The “Papa” she’s referring to here must be her parent from her previous life—in other words, the Demon Lord.

『I might be mistaken, but she is a succubus, and the name matches, too…』

I wonder if it’s okay to bring up something completely unrelated.

This is a huge discovery. Hearing the word “succubus” spoken in a cute girl’s voice is incredibly erotic.

I’d love to keep replaying that sound in my head for a while, but…

“Hii…!”

…that thought is cut short by a small squeak of alarm from Mia.

『What is it, Mia? Hiccups?』

『N-n-n-no! T-the window… look at the window!』

What? What is it? Is something out there?

I open my eyes and look toward the room’s window.

There it was. Something translucent—looking a bit like a crumpled jellyfish—was floating outside. It had a single, bulging eye and was peering in at me from beyond the curtain I’d forgotten to close.

A Ghost Eye.

It’s a type of scouting familiar I often saw in the other world. I suppose it makes sense for the Demon Lord’s daughter to be afraid of it.

Well, she is human right now, so I guess it can’t be helped.

In any case, let’s use [Appraisal] on it.

It really is Manya after all.

What the hell was that woman trying to do?

And while we’re at it, her naming sense is absolutely atrocious.

“Kawakime”? What kind of name is “Kawakime”?

Someone ought to give her some eye drops!

Ahem. Anyway, I might as well hack this familiar of hers. Something at this level didn’t even require an incantation.

I’ll just sent some bogus information… and there we go. Since I am at it, I figured I might as well connect it to the internet and make it watch some really gore videos. If you’re curious, search for “Don’t Search for Wally.” But don’t come crying to me afterward. You’ve been warned.

Now then.

『Mia, wanna head out?』

『Um… where?』

『Manya might be one of your relatives, right?』

Just as I’d been summoned to that other world in my previous life, there was a chance someone—or something—could be summoned from there into this world.

For all we knew, my Old Man might have performed some suspicious ritual and dragged Manya over here.

『I already know where she’s staying over there. Let’s go meet her in person. Might as well do so, right?』

『Oniisan, when did you…?』

『That woman was completely rattled when the police showed up, remember? She left herself wide open, so I planted a familiar on her.』

It wasn’t some big, intimidating brute like Ghost Eye, all size and no subtlety.

This however, is an insect-shaped familiar, crafted personally by the Hero and no bigger than a grain of rice. Since I’d prioritized stealth, it didn’t have many functions, but besides transmitting its location, I’d also equipped it with an alarm that would sound if someone tried to attack it. Oh, and a curse that makes people more likely to trip over pebbles.

The downside is that it stops functioning if it got too far away from me, but hey, I could improve that part later.

Anyway.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

I jumped down from the bunk bed and scooped Mia up into my arms. I’d boosted my strength with magic, so it was easy.

“Eeh? Hyaa!?”

“Don’t make so much noise. Mom and Dad will hear us.”

I put a finger over Mia’s mouth. Then I planted one foot on the windowsill and leaped outside.

Now then… was this all at my Old Man’s behest? Or was it something Manya had decided to do on her own, completely going off the rails?

Either way, I wanted to get to the bottom of that.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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Private Matsuki Academy-affiliated Oomichi Kindergarten.

That’s the kindergarten Mia and I would be attending. Being a private school, the grounds were ridiculously spacious. The playground was big enough for a baseball game, and all the playground equipment had this oddly luxurious, wooden look to it. The “activity room” was practically the size of a gymnasium, while the classrooms were equipped with air conditioners featuring Plasma Cluster technology. There’s even a library absolutely packed with picture books.

What is this, bourgeois heaven?

Despite all that, the children themselves weren’t particularly stuck-up, and fitting in is surprisingly easy. Kids weren’t all that different from the fairy folk I’d known in the other world. If you started doing something that looked fun, they’d naturally come running.

We dig up the sandbox and build enormous tunnels, or make robots out of cardboard boxes.

I am thoroughly enjoying what you might call “childhood.”

My little sister Mia, however, was not.

“Mia, got a minute?”

“What is it, Oniisan?”

“We’re all going to play hide-and-seek. Want to come with us?”

“I appreciate the invitation, but I’m not very good with children.”

Mia had become completely isolated at kindergarten.

She’d cast cold looks at the other kids as they ran around squealing and shouting, and whenever someone invited her to play, she would simply give them the same answer,

“I’m not interested.”

During free time, she holed herself up in the library and spent every day reading picture books. Apparently, even the kindergarten teachers were at a loss over what to do with their “quiet little problem child.”

“Uh, you’re a child too, you know? At this rate, are you planning to spend the whole time until graduation as the library’s resident librarian?”

“I can’t help it. My mental age is just way too far ahead of everyone else’s.”

Mia sighed and closed her picture book.

Apparently, she had been searching for Wally today.

Oh, I see—so this is what they call “You Can’t Escape the Demon Lord(or His Daughter)!”

In that case, I had a response of my own.

“Too bad. The Demon Lord can’t escape the Hero either. …Come on, let’s go.”

“Nooo! I don’t wanna!”

Mia threw a full-blown tantrum like an actual child. I dragged her out of the library anyway.

“Who wants to play hide-and-seek? Grab my finger!”

I put out the call for players. Fortunately, I am already some kind of a celebrity at kindergarten, so we had a group together in no time.

“I said I didn’t want to…”

Mia grumbled under her breath, but by the end, she was having a perfectly good time.

After I dragged her into our games a few more times, she gradually began opening up to the other children, too.

Thank goodness.

It’s all good now.

—Or so I thought. Until one day,

“You two are always all over each other!”

One of the boys came over and started teasing us.

His name is Kousuke Orise, one of the boys in our Rose class. He had considered me his rival ever since we first entered kindergarten, and he’ll find any excuse he could to pick a fight with me.

“You’re like a married couple! Married couple! Hahaha!”

Wow. Now that was a painfully cliché taunt.

Personally, I figured it was best to just ignore him and let it slide.

But—

“W-wha—whaaaaa…?!”

Mia’s ears turned bright red as she completely lost her composure.

“Come on, say something! Husband and wife! Husband and wife!”

“Uuugh…”

I wanted to give him some leeway. He was just a kid, after all. But Mia already had tears welling up in her eyes.

Okay. This had crossed the line.

“Hey. That’s enough.”

I put just a little force behind my movements and closed the distance to Orise in an instant.

“W-what the heck?!”

“You’re just jealous, aren’t you?”

“I-I am not!”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You’re jealous of Mia, right?”

I reached out with my right hand and lightly caught Orise by the chin.

Then I declared, at the top of my lungs—

“ORISE! IS! ABSOLUTELY! CRAAAAAAZY! ABOUT! MEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

For the record, this was during free time in the Rose class. Almost all the boys were outside playing, leaving mostly girls in the classroom. There were also the kindergarten teachers, along with several female college students who were there for their teaching practicum.

In other words, the female-to-male ratio is very much in my favor.

Feeling all those eyes turning toward us, I continued.

“Sorry about that, Orise. From now on, I’ll make sure to give you plenty of attention too, okay?”

I grabbed Orise around the waist with my left hand, shifted his center of gravity, and sent him tumbling down. Then I leaned in close.

From the outside, it probably looked exactly like some sort of “bridal carry and kiss” scene.

“Senpai, that’s amazing!”

“W-we have to get a picture!”

“So precious…”

Apparently, both the teachers and the student teachers at this kindergarten were hopelessly rotten.

“Woooow…!”

“Orise-kun, you’re so lucky!”

“So precious…”

And apparently, a few of the kindergarten kids were already beyond saving, too.

The world has truly come to an end.

No, wait.

The world is truly doomed.

Although, when you consider the phrase’s origins in the Buddhist concept of the Latter Days of the Dharma, maybe “the world has come to an end” actually would be more etymologically accurate. Whatever. Who cares?

“Wah—w-wait, whaaaaaaat?!”

Orise was even more flustered than Mia had been.

His cheeks were bright red, not just his ears.

I win.

I had probably just given Orise a trauma that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

And, just to finish him off, I threw out a line I used to rely on back when I was the Hero.

“—Never forget what happened today. I’m always watching you.”

Orise bolted. He ran away at absolutely top speed.

　＊ ＊ ＊

 “Oniisan… do you, by any chance, have that kind of preference?”

“No. I like girls, perfectly normally.”

“Really? My dad—well, my father from my previous life, anyway—kept not only women around him, but men too.”

“The Demon Lord was really something else…”

And, frankly, that was something I really could have lived without knowing.

Every now and then, I’d noticed the Demon Lord giving me some rather suspicious looks.

Was he actually trying to get at me from behind? Not in battle. But in the sexual sense.

Hiiiiiiiiiie! Nope. I was not thinking about that.

Still shaken with terror, I made it through the rest of the day. Then, toward evening, Mia and I boarded the bus home. As usual, we got off at the park near our house.

…Huh?

“Yuko-san isn’t here.”

She was supposed to be waiting for us. I wondered what had happened.

“Should we just go home by ourselves?”

“If we miss each other, that’ll be a problem. Let’s play on the swings for a while.”

It was while I was talking to Mia that—

“Hey there, Yoshito-kun.”

A brown-haired woman suddenly called out to me. Her features were Western-looking, but her Japanese pronunciation was perfectly fluent.

She was wearing a thin dress with a plunging neckline. The contours of her curvaceous figure were clearly visible through the fabric. She looked incredibly provocative—but it certainly wasn’t the sort of outfit one should be flaunting in front of children.

What the hell is with this woman?

Is she some kind of pervert?

A kidnapper maybe?

Keeping my guard up, I stepped forward and positioned myself protectively in front of Mia.

“Fufu. There’s no need to be so scared, you know.”

With a syrupy, coaxing voice, the woman gave me a quick little wink.

She looked like she was in her mid-twenties, but every single one of her gestures somehow had this unmistakably old-fashioned, Showa-era feel to them.

“I’m an acquaintance of your papa’s. Well… perhaps ‘acquaintance’ isn’t quite the right word. We’re a little closer than that you see.”

“Shuji-tousan?”

“No, no. You have a real papa, Yoshito-kun. Wouldn’t you like to meet him?”

I said nothing. Keeping my silence, I stared at her suspiciously.

At the same time, I activated my [Appraisal] skill.

Manya Rafild, huh. I vaguely remembered her coming up in my previous conversation with Suika before. She was Old Man’s mistress. I never expected her to actually come looking for me.

So I—

“Help! Police officer!”

—I ran crying to the police officer who always patrolled the park around this time of day.

“There’s a weird lady trying to take me away!”

(With the pure, innocent eyes unique to children.)

“W-Whaaat!? Hey, you there! Why don’t you come down to the station with me for a little chat?”

“W-wait! I really am one of Naoki-sama’s lovers—”

“She’s lying! If you really know my real papa, then why don’t you come to our house and talk it over with Shuji-tousan!?”

“We’ll hear the details at the station. All right?”

“Ah, a-aah…”

With nothing left she could do, Manya was escorted away by the police.

Mia and I watched her go with warm, sympathetic smiles.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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『You don’t have to force yourself to come to terms with what happened in the previous life. I’m sorry I forgot about it, but I’ll take responsibility for what I did.

…Once we’re both grown up, let’s get married, just like we promised.』

That was what I told her.

As I said it, I couldn’t help but think, “This really isn’t a conversation a six-month-old baby should be having, is it?”

From Suika and now this, my second life is getting way too eventful.

『Um, so…』

Mia squeezed the hand she’s holding a little tighter.

『I’m really happy to hear how you feel, Hero. My heart’s pounding right now. But… I think I’d like to put things like being lovers or getting married on hold for now.』

『Why?』

『I might change my mind after all. And even if it’s only by name, we’re still brother and sister…』

『If your feelings change, we can talk about it then. I’m only being entrusted to the Kirasawa family, after all. There’s nothing stopping us from getting married.』

Come to think of it, what happens to my last name?

Am I really being adopted? Or am I still going to be an Ishirogi?

『But, um…』

『What is it?』

『Well, you see… I, uh…』

Mia faltered, unable to get the words out.

What was it?

I was about to tell her that if it was something difficult to say, she could always tell me tomorrow—or some other day. But before I could get the words out—

『—Ah, forget it!』

Mia snapped.

『If you’re going to figure things out on your own, then figure it out properly, you half-baked hero!』

『Ow! Ow, ow, ow—wait a sec, calm down! Don’t dig your nails in—seriously, that actually hurts you know!』

『Shut up! I like you, Hero!  And because I like you, I don’t want you to be with me just because you feel obligated or because you think it’s your responsibility!』

Her telepathic voice was blasting through my head at full volume.

This is bad. I’m starting to feel a little dizzy.

『Like me! For REAL! Really really like me! And then confess to me! Propose to me! Idiot! Stupid hero!』

I’m sorry. I sincerely apologize.

So, could you please let go of my left hand?

Because somehow, I’ve suddenly found myself trapped in an arm lock, and it hurts. It hurts so much. I’m going to die. I’m seriously going to die. For a baby, she sure knows an impressive number of joint locks. Although, I suppose this is quite literally a case of twisting a baby’s arm…

Anyway, it hurts like hell and I’m genuinely in danger here, so please, for the love of God, let me go.

Seriously.

『It’s on hold! Listen, I said it’s on hold—so it’s on hold! Until the Hero falls for me, we are absolutely nothing more than brother and sister! Get it!?』

Oh…oh… I understand.

No wait, aren’t I already being bossed around by her?

＊ ＊ ＊

And so, after everything that had happened, we eventually settled into the role of “siblings”—at least for the time being. Mia, in particular, seemed very conscious of keeping that boundary in place, so she never got overly clingy or affectionate with me.

Well, I suppose it would be pretty creepy for our parents if two babies, barely one or two years old, were already acting lovey-dovey with each other.

『Ho-holding hands while we sleep is normal, right?』

Still, we might have been a little closer than the average brother and sister.

And so, the days passed by in the Kirasawa household.

Mia picked up Japanese in no time at all, and by the time she turned one, she’s already capable of reading ordinary novels. She also watched a lot of television. Apparently, she was especially fond of a show about a hero with a face shaped like a certain red bean-paste bun.

『Just by replacing his face, he makes a full recovery… Humanity really has developed some terrifying undead creatures…』

『No, that’s fiction.』

Apparently, Mia had mistaken 『Sore ike! Anpanman』 for reality. Well, I suppose it wasn’t entirely impossible. She did come from a fantasy world, after all.

『Then that little black one isn’t a demon?』

『It’s just a germ.』

『So that means he’s one of Pazuzu’s minions.』

Pazuzu? The father who dies protecting the protagonist in the fifth installment of that famous national RPG series, right?

Sorry. That’s a lie. The name that came to mind just now really was Pazuzu. One of the Four Great Commanders of the Demon Lord’s army, he possessed the power to manipulate plagues. At some point, he disguised himself as a human and approached me, so, in an attempt to deepen our friendship, I took him to a public bath.

He died there.

I scrubbed his back nice and thoroughly with soap, and he immediately started foaming at the mouth before breathing his last. Well, what a way to go.

I wasn’t trying to kill him though. Seriously, I wasn’t.

In any case, it seems like I have to teach Mia the common sense and general rules of this world. You could say that’s simply part of a parent’s job, but I also owed a great deal to the people who were raising me.

On top of that, we decided to start training our magic. We had these powers, after all. It would be a waste not to develop them, right?

So, what exactly did our training involve?

『Go get him, Hikone-nyan! Beat up Oniisan!』

『Don’t lose, Capybara-kun-san! Knock him flying with a body slam!』

We each used our magic power to control stuffed animals, making them fight each other with little “bonk-bonk” noises.

It’s a rather pastoral, fairy-tale sort of scene, but it’s actually perfect for honing our magical control.

We would use precise movements to dodge each other’s attacks—

『Now, Capybara-kun-san! Flamethrower!』

『The house is going to burn down, you idiot!』

My apologies. For the record, we were also extremely careful to make sure neither Shuji-san nor Yuko-san ever found out about any of this.

I turned two. Mia and I had the same birthday, so our family celebrated the two of us together.

Our presents were Recoblocks. Yep! I used to love these too.

『Oniisan, look! I made the Demon Lord’s castle!』

『That’s actually pretty close…』

Between the two of us, we never ran out of things to build or ways to recreate the structures from the world we had come from.

『But these blocks are way too sturdy.』

『What’s wrong with that?』

『Hmm… If they were real buildings, they’d collapse when something hit them, right? Isn’t that kind of beautiful?』

—Destruction is my joy. Those who are doomed to die are the beautiful ones.

…That was something the Great Demon Lord said in the third installment of a certain beloved national RPG, but I am starting to sense a similar aesthetic in Mia. I suppose that was what you got when the Demon Lord’s daughter had a say in things.

Come to think of it, lately Mia had been watching almost nothing but anime and tokusatsu aimed at boys. Last Friday’s movie on Friday Roadshow had been Gamera 3, and she’d practically lit up when she saw the scene where Kyoto Station was destroyed.

＊ ＊ ＊

Another year passed, and we started kindergarten.

The day before the entrance ceremony, I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. As I walked down the hall, I heard Shuji-san’s voice coming from the living room.

Apparently, he was on the phone with someone.

“…I told you about this a long time ago. The least you could do is come see them all dressed up for their entrance ceremony.”

His tone was as calm and matter-of-fact as ever. But there was something helpless about it, as though he didn’t know what else he could do.

“If tomorrow doesn’t work, then come another day. Just once, meet Yoshito and—hey, Naoki, wait. Don’t hang up. I’m not finished talking—”

Apparently, Shuji-san had been trying to invite my Old Man to our entrance ceremony.

It wasn’t as though I particularly wanted to see that man’s face, but I appreciated the thought.

Shuji-san really is a good guy. I honestly really couldn’t understand why someone like him is friends with my Old Man.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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About a week had passed since I was taken in by the Kirasawa family.

Just as I’d been told beforehand, they had absolutely nothing to do with yokai or exorcists. The head of the household, Shuji-san, is a high school teacher and also served as the advisor for the school’s kendo club. Apparently, he’d known my Old Man since middle school, and Old Man had been dumping one troublesome matter after another on him ever since.

Still, I doubt he ever expected to end up taking care of someone else’s kid.

I’m truly sorry. Seriously.

Someday, I’m going to make Old Man pay for this.

Yep. I definitely am.

His wife, Yuko-san, is a housewife. Apparently, she and Shuji-san had known each other since they were children.

So childhood-friend endings really do exist…

You really can’t underestimate reality.

And finally, their daughter, Mia.

Apparently, she’s the reincarnation of Mia Granzfield.

When we first met, Mia had casually dropped the bombshell that she was “the Hero’s lover”—or should I say, a telepathic bombshell?—but I had absolutely no memory of it.

Did I simply forgot? Or was she mistaken about something?

I wanted to get to the bottom of that as soon as possible, but—

『L-Let’s just say the past is the past, okay? Besides, look! It’s a new picture book!』

No matter how I approached the subject, she somehow managed to dodge the question.

『Oniisan, will you read it with me? I want to learn this country’s language as quickly as I can.』

Mia is surprisingly serious about learning Japanese. Hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

With all three mixed together, Japanese was considered one of the more difficult languages in the world to learn. Maybe that complexity only fueled Mia’s competitive spirit. Whenever she had a spare moment, she was reading a book.

Now, the picture book she’d brought over this time is—Whoa. Seriously?

『Mia, you’re really sure you want this one?』

『What’s wrong, Hero— I mean, Oniisan. Dad went all the way out and bought it for me, so it’d be a waste not to read it.』

『All right… Well, you are the Demon Lord’s daughter, so I guess you’ll be fine.』

The picture book was probably a pretty famous one. I imagined plenty of people knew it. Some might even have childhood trauma associated with it.

I read the title aloud.

『—Who’s the One Who Won’t Go to Sleep?』

A child who stayed awake too late would be taken away to the land of ghosts, never to return.

It was a simple story, but there was something strangely realistic about it—enough to make you think, “What if something like this really could happen…?”

Heh. Even a Hero like me broke out in a cold sweat.

Mia, on the other hand…

“Uu…”

She was trembling. She clung to one of the cushions in the living room, shaking so violently that her whole body was quivering.

『You really were scared, huh?』

『I-I wasn’t!』

Mia was putting on the most blatantly obvious brave face imaginable.

『B-because I’m the Demon Lord’s daughter, you know? I’ve seen skeletons and zombies plenty of times. I’m fine. Yeah, I’m fine.』

Despite her words, her face had gone deathly pale.

I’d been planning to ask her about our previous lives again after we finished the picture book, but it seemed like that was the last thing on her mind right now.

That night.

As expected, or perhaps inevitably, Mia couldn’t seem to fall asleep. We’d been laid side by side in a crib made for twins, with a wooden railing separating us down the middle.

I was on the left. Mia was on the right. Mia tossed and turned restlessly, occasionally darting her eyes around the room as if checking every corner.

『Looking for ghosts?』

『Eek!?』

The moment I sent the telepathic message her way, I got an adorable little shriek in response.

『You scared me… Don’t just talk to me out of nowhere, Oniisan.』

『Sorry, sorry. Is it because of that picture book? Can’t you sleep because of it?』

『N-No! My eyes are just wide awake, that’s all. There’s no way the Demon Lord’s daughter would be scared of ghosts.』

『Wow, impressive. —Oh, wait, Mia. Behind you. Behind you!』

I put on an expression of utter shock. The idea was to look like Victim Number One in a horror movie who’d just spotted the monster.

『Huh? What? What!?』

Mia shuddered violently, then slowly turned around, as though terrified of what she might find behind her.

And there—

『Well, there’s nothing there.』

『Thank goodness…』

Mia breathed a huge sigh of relief, patting her chest.

『Stop it, Oniisan. I’m already scared enough because of that picture book…』

『Oh? Because of the picture book?』

『Ah! Wait, forget I said that! Forget it! It just slipped out. It doesn’t mean that’s how I really feel or anything—』

『Okay, okay. You’re the Demon Lord’s daughter, after all. Ghosts don’t scare you, right?』

As I said that, I reached my hand through the gap in the wooden railing toward Mia.

『Actually, I’m kind of a scaredy-cat myself. Just until we fall asleep, okay? Could you hold my hand?』

『Um…』

Mia seemed to hesitate for a while. But eventually—

『I-If you’re scared, Oniisan, then I guess I have no choice.』

Reluctantly, she reached over and took my hand.

『Oniisan, your hand is really warm.』

『I circulate magic through my body to raise its temperature. Feels nice, doesn’t it?』

『Wow.』

Mia nodded, looking genuinely fascinated.

『So magic can be used like that, too.』

『Very handy in winter. You can even sleep naked.』

『Even though you’re the Hero, you’re a pervert…』

『I’m a pervert before I’m a Hero—wait, no! I’m not a pervert! I’m perfectly normal. Totally normal.』

『Are you really?』

Mia gave a small, quiet giggle.

It seemed she was finally starting to relax.

『So, Mia…』

『Yeah?』

『If a ghost shows up, I’ll blast it away with magic. I’ll protect you, no matter what, so you can relax, okay?』

『Hehe. What happened to you? You were scared yourself just a little while ago… But, thanks. You really are kind, Hero.』

Mia looked away from me.

There was something lonely about her profile—something I couldn’t just ignore.

『Will you tell me about our previous lives?』

So I steeled myself and finally stepped into the subject I’d been avoiding.

『For some reason, my memories just stop. The last thing I remember is holding your hand, just like we are now.』

『That’s fine, then. I said this earlier, but the past is the past. We should just leave it behind and move on—』

『—Have you really moved on, Mia?』

I interrupted her, pressing on before she could finish.

『If you’ve really moved on, then why do you look like you’re in so much pain? You look like you’re about to cry. Tell me, okay? Talk to me about it. …I’m worried about you.』

I stared straight into Mia’s eyes.

For a long time, she didn’t answer.

Silence filled the room.

The only sound in the bedroom was the quiet breathing of her parents as they slept.

Eventually—

『Can I… really tell you?』

Mia asked hesitantly, as though testing the waters.

『If I tell you, I’ll probably become a burden to you, Hero.』

『That’s fine.』

『You might start seeing me as a nuisance.』

『It’ll be okay. I’m sure we’ll figure something out.』

I had absolutely no evidence to back that up, nor did I have the slightest idea how we were going to manage it. But confidence? I had plenty of that. After all, I’d managed to thwart the Evil God’s schemes through sheer lack of planning.

—If only you possessed a little more capacity for thought, my plan would have succeeded…

Huh? Now that I think about it, that line from the Evil God was basically a roundabout way of calling me an idiot, wasn’t it?

Damn it. I’ll destroy him. Oh, wait. I already did.

Sorry.

『…You really are pretty carefree, aren’t you, Hero?』

『People work better when they know how to relax and not take everything so seriously.』

『So tell me. Did we, by any chance, promise to get married?』

『Yes.』

『But surely even I wouldn’t have been reckless enough to go that far—』

Wait.

『For reaaal!?』

Mia nodded vigorously.

She must have been embarrassed, because her face was bright red.

『If it’s not too much trouble, would you perhaps be so kind as to enlighten me as to the circumstances that led us to that point?』

The revelation had been so utterly shocking that my Japanese had completely abandoned me.

＊ ＊ ＊

 A little while before the dungeon completely collapsed,

—Actually… I’d liked you for a long time, Hero.

Apparently, Mia had confessed her feelings to me, and I’d promised her, “When we’re reincarnated, let’s get married.”

Hmm. I didn’t remember any of that.

Apparently, right up until we were crushed beneath the rubble, we’d been absorbed in activities somewhere around an R-15 rating. Somehow, that entire portion of my memory had gone missing.

Sorry, Mia. Please forgive your faithless older brother.

『B-But, you know… if you don’t remember it, Hero, then maybe it was just something I imagined, right? They say people see all sorts of things right before they die.』

Mia hurriedly tried to soften the blow.

『So I thought maybe you don’t have to take it so seriously…』

It was heavy. The very kindness with which she was trying so hard not to burden me somehow made it feel even heavier.

『I’m really sorry. It’s awkward being hit with something like this out of the blue, isn’t it? Honestly, feel free to just ignore it. 』

What was I supposed to say?

I agonized over it. Actually, there was no need to.

The way Mia had reacted the moment we met. The way she felt about me was painfully, unmistakably obvious.

So I decided to answer her.

『Mia, you said that the past is the past, and that we should just leave it as that. —But I don’t think that way.』

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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“〇〇〇〇~~♪ 〇〇〇~〇〇〇〇~~♪”

We drove to my relative’s house, but the entire trip was basically Old Man’s personal karaoke concert.

I’ve censored the lyrics to avoid copyright issues.

You know the one—something about a robot that can’t cry tears, doing some kind of scramble dash. If you know what I’m talking about, feel free to leave a comment in the reviews.

“〇〇~〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇♪ 〇〇~〇〇〇〇〇〇♪ 〇〇〇〇〇~♪”

He sang all sorts of other songs, too, but every single one was either from a robot anime or a tokusatsu superhero show. I’m pretty knowledgeable about that stuff myself, but I had absolutely no intention of singing along.

If anything—

“〇〇〇~〇〇~〇~♪ 〇・〇・〇・〇—”

“Waaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Right when he was really getting into it, I’d scream my lungs out and completely ruin the part where he was supposed to get fired up.

“…Yoshito, do you hate me?”

“Giggle giggle♪ Giggle giggle♪”

Pretend to be a baby. Pretend to be a baby.

I’m an innocent little baby, Old Man! I wasn’t trying to mess up your singing or anything!

I kept up my little acts of harassment as we got onto the expressway, eventually got off, and drove for another two hours.

The car finally entered a provincial city along the coast. We stopped in front of a beautiful detached house in a quiet residential neighborhood. A two-story home with its own garden. It had a pretty middle-class vibe to it.

“…It’s been a long time, Naoki.”

The man who came out to greet us was tall and well-built, with a lean, disciplined physique.

Judging by his build, he probably practiced some kind of martial art. He’s a man of few words, with a stoic air about him.

“Hey, Shuji. Well then, I’ll leave this kid in your care.”

Old Man handed me over to the other party and promptly left without so much as a proper thank-you.

Even if he’s only asking them to raise his own son, wasn’t that attitude a little much? It was downright inconsiderate. Or maybe just plain lacking in common sense.

Sorry about my Old Man.

When I’m old enough, I’ll repay this family for their kindness—not him.

“Come on.”

The man called Shuji didn’t seem offended in the slightest. He simply carried me inside.

The entrance was spotlessly tidy. There was probably some kind of air freshener around, because the place was filled with a pleasant, citrusy floral scent.

“Oh, Shuji, what happened to the boy’s father?”

In the living room, a kind-looking woman is gently soothing a baby. Probably their child.

“Naoki said he was busy. Well, nothing new there.”

“Oh, what a shame. I made extra food for lunch, too.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll eat all of it myself.”

“Hehe. Just don’t eat so much that you upset your stomach.”

The two of them exchanged warm smiles.

They seemed to be a very happy couple.

“Yuu! Yuu!”

The voice didn’t come from me. It belonged to the other baby in the room.

“Oh, my. It looks like Mia’s interested in Yoshito-kun.”

Mia. Judging by the name, I guessed the baby’s a girl.

“Good for you, Mia. You’re getting a big brother. …Or would he be your little brother?”

“Shuji, didn’t you ask Yoshito-kun when his birthday is?”

“I believe it’s in October.”

“Mia’s birthday is in October, too.”

“Hmm…”

Shuji frowned, looking troubled.

“Give me a moment. I’ll call Naoki and ask.”

He sat me down on the living room sofa, then took out his smartphone and stepped into the hallway.

“My goodness, Shuji can be so clueless about the important details.”

The woman giggled softly. Then she bent down a little until we were at eye level.

“Nice to meet you, Yoshito-kun. I’m Yuko Kirasawa. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She smiled warmly and introduced herself.

“And this is Mia, Kirasawa Mia. Be nice to her, okay?”

“Yuu! Yuu!”

It happened in an instant.

Mia squirmed free from her mother’s grasp and—

“Yuuu!”

—suddenly launched herself straight at me.

Could this be some kind of rite of passage for newcomers in the baby world?

Or so I thought.

Nope. That wasn’t it at all.

『Hey, are you the Hero? You’re the Hero, right?!』

A telepathic connection suddenly opened between us.

I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

How could a baby who’d only been alive for a few months use magic?

『I never thought I’d meet you in a place like this! Ehehe… Hero, Hero, Hero…』

Mia hugged me tightly, a radiant smile blooming across her face.

Apparently, she knew me from my previous life.

Could it be that one of my former party members had been reincarnated as well?

『Hey, do you remember me? I look so different now that you probably can’t recognize me.

It’s me, Mia. Mia Granzfield. The Demon Lord’s daughter, and, um… well… the Hero’s—』

Huh? W-what?

Your voice was too small. I couldn’t quite hear you. Could you say it again?

…Just kidding. At least with telepathy, there was no such thing as being hard of hearing.

What Mia had said was—the Hero’s lover.

What was that supposed to mean?

Even after searching through my memories of my previous life, I couldn’t think of a single thing that would explain it. As far as I remembered, the most I’d ever done was hold Mia’s hand at the very end.

Could it be that I was missing some memories, and I’d actually said something ridiculously romantic to her?

『Hero?』

Noticing my confusion, Mia peered into my eyes with her big, round eyes.

『Maybe… you don’t remember me?』

I couldn’t bring myself to answer. If I told her the truth, I would hurt her.

And that frightened me.

For a while, neither of us said anything. Eventually, Mia slowly pulled away.

『Uhm… I-I’m sorry, okay? You don’t have to worry about it, Hero. I just got carried away on my own. That’s all. Yeah. 』

She hurriedly tried to cover up her embarrassment.

『I’m not going to pretend to be your girlfriend when you don’t even remember me. And, well… we’re siblings, anyway. So, uhm… I’d be happy if you could just get along with me as family. Hehe… 』

＊ ＊ ＊

I was born at 5:00 a.m. on October 18th. Mia was born at 1:00 p.m. on October 18th.

By the narrowest of margins, that made me the older brother.

Apparently, Old Man hadn’t even remembered the exact time of my birth, so Shuji-san had called the hospital to find out.

Talk about being meticulous.

Anyway, that’s not important.

I need some advice.

HELP WANTED. My lover (presumably) from my previous life has become my little sister. How the hell am I supposed to act around her?

The fact that she’s being way too considerate and keeping her distance only makes it hurt even more.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com

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