Category: Gendai mo angai fantajidattanode, suki-houdai ni ikiyou to omou

“Phyllis… s-stop… aah… mmph…”

“Mia, you’re quite vocal, aren’t you? How does this spot feel?”

“Nngh… Oniisan, please don’t look…”

Let me state this upfront. This isn’t R-18 content.

There’s probably no demand for that sort of thing involving a four-year-old, after all. Mia is currently receiving what Phyllis calls a “massage to expand her magical capacity”.

“N-no…”

“Shall I stop, then?”

“N-no. Please continue. Please keep going…”

I’m not a lolicon. I am absolutely not a lolicon—but I can’t help feeling a strange sensation rising within me. I turned my gaze toward the window, trying to shake off the distracting thoughts.

It’s Friday today. Since tomorrow is a day off, staying up a little late is fine. Mia and I visited Phyllis’s apartment. Of course, we didn’t walk there. We used the gate under the bed.

The visit was originally meant for my check-up, but somehow, things had taken a turn into this yuri-esque situation.

Honestly, what is the world coming to these days?

“Haa…”

I let out a sigh—mimicking the motion of smoking a cigarette—and pondered the future of Japan. The consumption tax had quietly risen to 8%, and the fiscal deficit showed no signs of improvement.

“This is one problem even a hero can’t solve…”

I muttered with a look of profound enlightenment.

Heh. Nailed it.

For good measure, I even gave the room an unnecessary sidelong glance.

That was exactly when it happened. Suddenly, the window flew open.

And then—

“Sorry to barge in!”

Something came flying through it.

A long black coat resembling a military uniform. Beneath it was a red plaid skirt, and before I could even register what I was seeing, a powerful kick slammed straight into me.

“Gwah!?”

Crap! I’d been caught completely off guard and was too slow to activate my defensive magic. The impact sent me flying with a spectacular *CRASH-BANG* worthy of a manga sound effect.

I slammed into the wall. And, damn, it hurts!

Enough already. Get a grip, me.

Just because it was the first time I’d ever been caught off guard like that—even counting my previous life—didn’t mean I should let it completely scramble my thoughts.

“M-Master!? S-s-s-sorry!!!!”

I heard hurried footsteps approaching.

That voice… Shizuku?

When I opened my eyes, sure enough, it was her. The girl was peering down at me with an apologetic expression, a completely unnecessary bandage wrapped from her right eye up across her forehead.

“I was planning to make a cool entrance, but I never imagined I’d actually hurt you, Master… Ah! Please, insult me! Punish me!”

Shizuku was as over-the-top as ever. I really couldn’t keep up with this level of enthusiasm.

Couldn’t someone else take her off my hands?

There had to be a market for the whole Chūnibyō thing, right?

“…Oniisan.”

Before I knew it, Mia was staring at me with an icy expression.

“Who’s that? And what does she mean by ‘Master’?”

There was no smile in her eyes. An aura of bone-chilling intimidation hung in the air.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t actually explained what Shizuku was like to her.

Damn it. What the hell was past-me thinking, putting this problem off for so long? If I could turn back time, I’d punch myself in the face.

“Uhm…”

Shizuku’s eyes darted around the room.

“This girl is wearing the same ring as you, Master.”

I’d once given Mia a toy ring as a present. They were a matching pair with the same design. For some reason, Mia had insisted on wearing hers when we went to visit Phyllis’s apartment.

“I see. The mystery has been completely solved.”

Shizuku spoke in the grandiose manner of some high-school detective famous for casually putting his grandfather’s reputation on the line.

“In other words, she is Master’s wife—his young bride!”

What the heck was that supposed to mean?

I’d never heard such an outrageously bad deduction in my life. All I could do was stare at her blankly.

But then—

“Y-young bride…? Hehe… Ehehe…”

Mia looked, well… actually, she looked really happy.

“C-could you say that one more time?”

“My name is Shizuku Aitori. Please command me as you wish, Young Mistress.”

Shizuku kneels right there on the spot.

Her movements are just like those of a butler from a grand estate.

“O-oh, I see. I look forward to working with you, Shizuku-san.”

“Understood. I shall serve you with the utmost sincerity, Young Mistress.”

“Hau…”

All the murderous aura (and no, that’s not a pun) from moments ago has vanished; Mia has completely melted.

I see—so this is what they call a “pushover” when it comes to romance.

“If Mia-chan is the ‘Young Mistress,’ then what does that make me?”

Phyllis suddenly mutters beside me.

Shizuku thinks for a moment, then replies,

“Perhaps a grandmother who, despite her age, is trying to snag a man to marry into the family?”

“Hey, you little brat—I’m gonna kill you.”

＊ ＊ ＊

“Would you care for some tea, Young Mistress?”

“Thank you, Shizuku-san.”

“And Phyllis-sama, please have some as well.”

“Oh my, how thoughtful of you.”

What’s with this atmosphere?

By playing along with Shizuku’s butler routine, the three girls had somehow created the mood of a bizarre little tea party. I am the only one left out.

One guy and three girls. Well, a harem was just a pipe dream, wasn’t it? In reality, the guy was the odd one out. That was just how things worked.

Damn it.

“By the way, Shizuku, did you properly pass along the information about my disciple?”

Phyllis asked as she munched on a rice cracker.

We were sitting in a tiny four-and-a-half-tatami Japanese-style room. Despite the cozy, lived-in surroundings, everything about Phyllis’s movements remained as graceful as ever.

“Ah, yes. Actually, well…”

Shizuku began to explain.

The organization she belonged to—the so-called Imperial Household Agency, Department of Divinities’ Afffairs—had completely failed to get a handle on the incident. To make matters worse, everyone was busy trying to shift the blame onto someone else, so the investigation had barely made any progress.

The only thing they had managed to confirm was that one of Phyllis’s disciples had kidnapped a young girl. Her name was Ayano Matsuki. Apparently, the incident had taken place last Sunday, while she was out on a family trip.

“Matsuki, huh?”

“Matsuki…”

Phyllis murmured the name as though it carried some deeper significance.

“Could it be ‘that’ Matsuki, by any chance?”

What was she talking about?

I glanced over at Mia, but she merely tilted her head in confusion as well.

Seeing that, Shizuku added an explanation.

“The Matsuki family was involved in the establishment of the Department of Divinities’ Affairs. They aren’t an exorcist family, but—”

“They’re an important sponsor who has continued to provide considerable financial support, aren’t they?”

Phyllis picked up where she left off.

“And yet, the daughter of such a generous family has been kidnapped, and the Department of Divinities’ Affairs is still busy squabbling among themselves?”

“Yes. I’m afraid so….”

Shizuku lowered her head apologetically.

“They’re more concerned with fighting among themselves than conducting an investigation. That’s the unfortunate state of affairs in this country right now.”

What a mess.

Sure, a bunch of important people had died all at once, but they’d really gone completely off the rails. 

No, wait…. could someone be deliberately stirring up all this chaos behind the scenes?

Well, there was far too little information to say for sure. It’s only speculation.

“However, there is at least one faction that is actively working toward resolving the situation.”

That should have been good news. And yet Shizuku wore an extremely bitter expression.

“It’s a letter from Yujiro Kijima-sama, head of the Kijima family…”

She pulled a thick white envelope from her pocket and presented it to Phyllis with an especially reverent gesture.

“A request for my cooperation, perhaps? Well, depending on the contents, I suppose I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to considering it—”

Froze. Phyllis’s expression stiffened the moment she began reading the document.

It must have contained something truly awful.

“Hey, Shizuku.”

“Y-yes?”

“…The Japanese is too difficult. I can’t read this.”

Ah. Well, I suppose that made sense. Phyllis spoke Japanese fluently, but she was obviously foreign-born. And bureaucratic documents had a bizarre language all their own. It was only natural that she’d have trouble understanding one.

Wait.

What the hell is this?

> The realm of Hinomoto is now divided, and the people languish in hardship. Truly, this is a time of grave peril, when the fate of the nation hangs in the balance.

> Nevertheless, we shall not neglect our duties, but instead devote ourselves to bearing the burden of concern for our country.

The letter continued in this pseudo-classical Japanese style, as though someone had taken a Chinese-style classical text and rewritten it into Japanese.

The overall impression was like a Chūnibyō who had awakened to the allure of traditional Japanese aesthetics. Every now and then, modern expressions were mixed in, making the whole thing feel horribly disjointed.

“Did you write this, Shizuku?”

“N-no! Kijima-sama is just… uhm, rather fond of the past, you could say. His sensibilities have, uhm, regressed a few generations…”

I see. So Yujiro Kijima is apparently a different variety of “that kind” of person altogether.

“Isn’t there an English translation or something?”

This was a document addressed to Phyllis, after all. You’d think they’d at least write it in another language so the recipient could actually read it.

But—

“Lord Kijima said, [This is Japan. If you can’t read Japanese, then you can die.]”

Yikes. I was beginning to get a seriously bad feeling about this.

When I heard there was a faction actively working to resolve the situation, I had thought, “Thank goodness. At least there are some reasonable exorcists out there.”

But… hmm. I had a feeling this was only going to make things even more complicated.

“A-anyway, I’ll summarize the contents and explain them to you.”

What Shizuku told us was, well, pretty awful.

In short:

—All Western mages are agents of demons. Therefore, Phyllis and her disciples will be killed.

—However, if Phyllis hands over all of her research and findings to the Kijima family, they might be willing to let her live.

—A master is responsible for the misconduct of their disciple. If Phyllis refuses these terms, she will be deemed no better than a beast and eliminated immediately.

It was an unbelievably idiotic declaration of war. If it had at least been, “A master is responsible for the misconduct of their disciple—therefore, you will cooperate with us”, I could have understood the logic. But starting off with a death threat was a bit much.

Ah. I get it.

They were trying to intimidate her right out of the gate, figuring they could scare her into doing what they wanted. Pretty much the same tactic a yakuza thug would use.

And demanding her research, too? What did that have to do with the incident?

They obviously wanted to get one over on the other factions.

That much was painfully obvious.

“That’s such a worthless ultimatum, I almost want to put it on display in a museum.”

Phyllis shrugged in exasperation.

“Poor Shizuku. You must have had a hard time being made to deliver a bizarre letter like this. Here, would you like a rice cracker?”

For some reason, she reached into the nearby snack box and pulled out an Onigiri Senbei.

“Oh, sure.”

Crunch, crunch.

The oddly mundane sound echoed through the room.

And then—

“—WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, AITORI!?”

BANG! The locked front door was kicked clean off its hinges, and a large man barged inside.

Honestly, between Shizuku and this guy, was dramatically barging into people’s homes without knocking some kind of new trend among exorcists?

“This is what you get from the people of the Aitori family! Dabbling in Western magic has made you soft!”

The man shouting at us was dressed in an astonishingly old-fashioned outfit.

Purple hakama worn beneath layers of white robes. On his head sat a black hat that stuck straight up. I believe it was called eboshi.

He looked exactly like what you’d expect an onmyoji to look like. His greasy face was heavily lined, making him look somewhere in his forties or fifties.

“I am Yujiro Kijima, thirty-eighth head of the Kijima family. Phyllis Iris, as stated in the document, I would have you submit to our authority.”

Kijima said it with an expression of pure arrogance.

“No. If you want me to cooperate with the investigation, that’s one thing. But don’t drag me into your factional squabbling.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

Kijima nodded as though he had expected precisely that answer.

“If you have nothing to hide, then you should have no problem providing us with your research. By refusing, you are effectively admitting that you, too, were involved in the kidnapping of Ayano Matsuki.”

Oi. That was an awfully forced bit of logic.

“Well, the pretext doesn’t really matter.”

And just like that, he threw the whole argument out the window.

“You may have lived for hundreds of years, for all I know, but in the end, you’re nothing more than a researcher who’s spent all that time safely playing with little fires. Don’t think you can defeat someone like me, who has spent more than forty years fighting on the front lines. I’ll crush you in no time.”

Kijima pulled a long, narrow strip of paper from inside his robes. It was covered in all sorts of tiny writing, and I could sense magical power emanating from each and every character.

Talisman. I remembered Suika telling me about them before. Most exorcists studied onmyoji-style techniques, apparently, and they channeled their power through talismans inscribed with incantations.

“Rest assured. The Kijima family will use the fruits of your research as a stepping stone to greatness. You can return to hell with peace of mind.”

A sinister presence gradually began to fill the room.

By the way. There was someone else here with us. Aitori Shizuku. She’s a member of the Department of Divinities’ Affairs, too.

So naturally, I assumed she would side against Phyllis. Except she didn’t move. She was frozen in place, an Onigiri Senbei still stuck to the corner of her mouth.

“What are you waiting for, Aitori? Negotiations have broken down. Get into combat position.”

Kijima barked the order.

“I told you, didn’t I? When I become head of the Department of Divinities’ Affairs, I’ll consider what to do about the heretical Aitori family.”

He spoke with an almost disturbingly familiar tone as he reached out to put a hand on Shizuku’s shoulder.

But—

“—Stop sexually harassing me. I’ll sue you.”

Shizuku stood up and slapped his hand away with considerable force.

“What do you think you’re doing, Aitori?”

“I know this is a little late, but I’ve finally made up my mind.”

Shizuku turned her back on Phyllis. Then she glared straight at Kijima.

“Oh? So you’re betraying the Department?”

“This has nothing to do with betrayal. Kijima-sama, this is your own personal crusade, isn’t it?”

As she spoke, Shizuku raised her right hand. A blue sphere floated above her palm.

Was this the so-called magic wand she’d been talking about?

“As head of the Aitori family, I don’t think it’s wise to make an enemy of Phyllis-san here. This is nothing more than one act of personal recklessness colliding with another. In other words, just another factional squabble. Happens all the time lately.”

Shizuku continued.

“Besides, Kijima-sama, what do you think of my outfit?”

“Huh?”

The abrupt change of subject seemed to catch Kijima completely off guard. His eyes narrowed suspiciously for a moment.

“Your clothes perfectly embody your own shallowness. They are the very definition of frivolous and superficial. I have nothing else to say.”

“Then I suppose you’re my enemy after all. After all, Phyllis-san told me my outfit was fashionable.”

And then Shizuku faced toward Phyllis.

“I’ll buy you some time here. Please take Master and the young mistress and escape.”

She declared this with a resolute expression.

And yet—

“Huh?”

Apparently, it was only now that Shizuku realized something.

“Uhm… where exactly are Master and the young mistress?”

Right here.

I reached around from behind and placed a hand on Yujiro Kijima’s back.

“—《Thunderbolt Spell》—《Thy Limbs Are No Longer Thine Own, So Just Stay Still, Will You?》”

“Gngh!?”

Kijima’s entire body jerked violently with a thoroughly undignified sound.

The moment this man entered the room, Mia and I had both activated [Concealment]. Then, while Kijima was distracted by Phyllis and Shizuku, we had quietly slipped around behind him.

There’s a saying about how nothing good ever comes from standing around chatting when there’s an enemy right in front of you. This was one of those times.

Kijima collapsed to the floor, his eyes rolling white. The battle was over in an instant.

“Uh…”

Shizuku scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“You know, this is usually the part where things get really exciting in anime and manga, right? Someone fights with a tragic determination, gets pushed to the brink, and then awakens a new power or something.”

“Sorry, Shizuku. This is real life.”

For starters, a showdown between a young Chūnibyō and an elderly Chūnibyō was far too terrifying. It was such a dream matchup that I wanted it to stay a dream.

Besides—

“Even if you strike a dramatic pose with an Onigiri Senbei stuck to the corner of your mouth, honestly, it just looks like a gag scene.”

“Wha—?! W-where? Where is it?”

“Right here.”

I stretched up a little and removed the piece of Onigiri Senbei that was still clinging to the corner of Shizuku’s mouth.

In a romantic comedy, this would probably be the moment for the classic “pluck → pop it into their own mouth” indirect-kiss routine. But doing that in real life would pretty much qualify as sexual harassment. So I wrapped it in a tissue and threw it in the trash.

“Ah…”

Shizuku let out a faint, slightly disappointed sound.

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

---

Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next

---

It was four in the morning when I finally made it home, at an hour when the sky was still barely clinging to the darkness of night.

“Ugh… I have to cut out the middle of the donuts properly… Everyone at the Demon Lord’s castle…”

Mia was muttering some mysterious nonsense in her sleep as I climbed the ladder to the top bunk.

Staying up late on top of fighting the Black Knight… apparently, I’d been more exhausted than even I realized. The moment I closed my eyes, I slipped straight into sleep.

The next morning, I woke up at seven as usual, but—

“Oniisan, are you feeling sick?”

“No… I’m fine…”

I was unbelievably sleepy.

Well, I’d only gotten three hours of sleep after all. I planned to eat breakfast and then go right back to bed, but even that might be asking too much.

Right in front of me was a plate with a perfectly toasted slice of bread.

Munch, munch, munch—BONK!

“Ow, ow, ow…”

Crap. I’d done it. The moment my consciousness slipped away, I somehow headbutted the toast sitting on my plate. Fortunately, it didn’t look like I was bleeding. For some reason, though, my forehead felt strangely slippery.

“Oniisan, a-are you oka—pfft… pfffft… hahahahaha!”

The moment Mia looked at me, she burst out laughing.

What the heck? What was so funny?

Was there something on my face?

I left the living room and headed for the bathroom. When I looked into the mirror, I found an idiot staring back at me, a lump of margarine stuck to his forehead like some kind of third eye.

Who the hell is this guy?

…Oh. It’s me.

“Yoshi-kun, you couldn’t sleep last night?”

When I returned to the living room, Yuko-san had just brought out a fresh slice of toast.

“Yeah. I was kind of cold.”

I felt bad about lying, but there was no way I could tell her, “I snuck out of the house and fought a black monster.”

Sorry, Yuuko-san.

“Then I’ll put an extra blanket on your bed, okay?”

Ouch. Her concern really hit me right in the heart.

After breakfast.

I couldn’t even bring myself to climb the stairs back to my room, so I stretched out on the sofa in the living room instead. Fortunately, it’s a Saturday, so there was no kindergarten today.

I could take it easy at home.

…

………

………………

How long had I been asleep?

I suddenly heard a bizarre cry—

“GYAAAGHOOO!”

What the?

I opened my eyes to find a monster rampaging across the television screen.

Oh… Was this the DVD Shuji-san had rented?

It was one of those old-school science-fiction fantasy series, starring that red-and-silver Ultra-style hero. One of Mia’s favorite shows.

“Hyaa!”

The giant crossed his arms into a perfect X. A beam of light shot forth.

And at almost exactly the same moment—

“Hyaa!”

Mia struck the exact same pose.

Hey, hey, watch it.

In our case, that really could make a beam shoot out. Magic is all about visualization, after all. There was even a hero who’d accidentally burned an entire inn to the ground and ended up buried under a mountain of debt.

While I was reminiscing about my days of abject poverty, the battle on the television had already come to an end. The monster exploded into a thousand pieces from the hero’s finishing beam.

Good grief.

“Yesss!”

Mia pumped her fist triumphantly.

Then, as she turned around—

“Oniisan, you’re awake…?”

Our eyes met.

“Th-this is, um… I was just practicing magic. Yeah. Magic visualization training. Training.”

Mia turned bright red as she frantically tried to come up with an excuse.

Yeah, right. It looked to me like she was just having a blast.

“A-anyway, Oniisan, why are you so sleepy today?”

Come to think of it, I still needed to explain what had happened yesterday.

Just as I was thinking that, Mia suddenly leaned closer to me for some reason.

“Sniff, sniff…”

She started sniffing around my neck.

“What are you doing?”

“Oniisan, you met some women yesterday, didn’t you? Probably two of them.”

“You can tell that easily?”

“Hmm… I dunno. Just a feeling?”

I hadn’t exactly been pressed up against either of them, and quite a bit of time had passed since I’d met them. Even so… she had an incredible sense of smell. Honestly impressed.

So, I went on to explain what had happened yesterday. How I’d rescued a girl named Shizuku Aitori from a bunch of thugs. How an armored knight who looked exactly like me from my previous life had appeared, and how that had inevitably led to a fight. And how, afterward, I’d met a woman named Phyllis. I also told her about absorbing the “Faceless Mud” and how [Charm Reversal] had activated against Phyllis.

It was better to be upfront about things like this. If I deliberately kept something hidden, it would only come back to cause trouble sooner or later.

That said… I couldn’t bring myself to mention that Shizuku calls me “Master”, or that she suffers from—well—a rather distinctive brand of Chūnibyō delusion involving a persecution complex.

I mean, how would I even explain that? Stating it plainly would likely lead to misunderstandings, yet I couldn’t think of a tactful way to put it.

Oh, screw it—I’ll just put a pin in this for now.

I’ll leave it to my future self.

Good luck, future me.

After I finished telling her everything, Mia fell silent for a while. She was probably taking some time to digest everything in her own way.

I wondered what kind of reaction I was going to get.

Prediction #1: She’d scold me for going somewhere dangerous.

Prediction #2: She’d lecture me with something along the lines of, “Going around picking up girls when I’m not there to keep an eye on you…”

As it turned out, neither was the answer.

“I’m sorry Oniisan. When you were having such a hard time, I was just sleeping like a log the whole time.”

She murmured the words in a small voice.

“Are you okay physically? Does anything hurt? You’ve looked exhausted since this morning. Are you really just sleepy?”

She was surprisingly worried about me.

“You’re not mad?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Um… about me fighting that armored knight without telling you, or about the [Charm] effect activating on Phyllis…”

“Who cares about that stuff right now? What matters is that you’re okay. Come on. If you’re going to sleep, at least sleep in bed. I’ll stay right beside you.”

“Y-yeah…”

Mia took me by the hand and led me toward the bedroom. Before I knew what was happening, she had me lying down on the bed, then climbed in beside me. Sharing a bed with her in the middle of the night would be one thing, but doing it while it was still bright outside made me feel a little self-conscious.

“Want a lullaby?”

“N-No, I’m fine—”

“Oh, come on. Don’t say no. Just relax. Relax alright.”

Ignoring my protests, Mia began to sing softly. It wasn’t in Japanese. It wasn’t in English, either. It was a language from the other world. As I listened to her clear, lilting voice, I found myself being gently drawn into a deep, peaceful sleep.

The next time I opened my eyes, it was lunchtime, and the fatigue weighing down my entire body had completely vanished.

“You look a lot better, too. I’m relieved.”

“Maybe it’s thanks to your lullaby, Mia.”

“Want me to sing for you again from now on?”

“I’ll think about it.”

As we chatted on our way down to the living room, the smell of curry greeted us.

“Fufu. You two really were fast asleep, weren’t you?”

Apparently, Yuko-san had caught us sleeping together. A little embarrassed, we finished our meal faster. Incidentally, Shuji-san wasn’t home. He was away on a kendo club trip and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow evening.

After lunch, we returned to our room.

We started discussing what to do next, and eventually Mia said,

“If we could go out by ourselves, I’d like to meet that Phyllis-san…”

In the Kirasawa household, we weren’t allowed to go out without one of our parents accompanying us. It probably had something to do with the time I’d been approached by the kidnapper Manya.

“We could make a fake with a familiar, but it wouldn’t be able to handle anything too complicated.”

For example, if Yuko-san happened to come into the room, we’d be in trouble. There was no telling whether a fake could convincingly deal with her.

“So what are we supposed to do?”

The moment I voiced my concern—

“—Don’t worry. There’s no problem.”

Someone answered.

It wasn’t Mia. The voice belonged to a woman who sounded older than us, with an unmistakable air of elegance.

“Hello, Yoshito. How have you been?”

I looked around the room. There was no one here besides Mia and me.

What was going on?

“O-Oniisan, look…”

Mia was pointing underneath the bed. A figure was smoothly emerging from beneath it.

She’s a tall, beautiful woman. She had silver hair and radiant, pearl-like skin. Dressed in an extravagant white gown, she carried herself with the unmistakable air of royalty.

—It was Phyllis.

Once she stood before us, she spread the hem of her skirt and gave us an elegant curtsy.

“Sorry for dropping in so suddenly. It seems a teleportation gate to this place appeared in a rather strange location.”

No kidding. Having a person crawl out from underneath your bed was the kind of thing you’d expect to hear in an urban legend.

“Is that adorable little girl your younger sister? She has quite a strong magical presence, too. I suppose she’s one of the people on ‘this side’ as well?”

By “this side”, she presumably meant the world of mages, exorcists, and the like.

I nodded, and Phyllis turned her attention fully toward Mia.

“I am Phyllis Iris F. Clacia. Just call me Phyllis.”

“I’m Mia Kirasawa. It’s nice to meet you, Phyllis-san.”

“Hoh~”

Phyllis looked Mia over with obvious interest.

“Just like Yoshito, you have an aura that hardly seems fitting for a child.”

That made sense. Both Mia and I had experienced a previous life, after all. Our mental ages didn’t exactly match our physical bodies. I wondered if Phyllis found that suspicious, too.

But then—

“Well, no matter. It’s not particularly unusual on ‘this side’.”

She accepted it as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world. Suika had reacted similarly, so perhaps there were actually quite a few people who had gotten a second chance at life.

“By the way, Mia, can I ask you something?”

Phyllis asked in a casual tone.

“Has Yoshito told you about [Charm Reversal]?”

At those words, Mia showed a slight flicker of unease.

“…I see.”

Phyllis, meanwhile, nodded as though something had clicked into place.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to take your brother away from you.”

She suddenly dropped that bombshell out of nowhere.

“After all, I’m five-hundred-year-old, good as your grandmother already. There’s no way I could possibly be a match for him, right?”

“Five hundred years old…?”

Mia murmured the number in a trembling voice, clearly stunned by the unexpected figure.

“Still, until now, I’d never had anything to do with romance. And since I’ve just experienced [Charm Reversal] myself, I’m enjoying the feeling while I can.”

She smiled gently.

“So I have no intention of tearing you and Yoshito apart. I’d be happy if the two of us could get along.”

I recalled what Shizuku had said.

—Phyllis-Iris would use even herself as a test subject to satisfy her intellectual curiosity.

To her, [Charm] might just be another fascinating phenomenon.

＊ ＊ ＊

After explaining the situation with my body to Mia, Phyllis returned to her own place. She crawled back under the bed with a rustling sound, which made the whole thing rather less dignified than it could have been.

If only the gate had been in a desk drawer like Doraemon’s, it would’ve looked a lot cooler.

“.…Now that I think about it, isn’t this trespassing?”

Mia muttered that under her breath.

She had a point. What would have happened if Yuko-san had caught her? Next time, we’d be the ones visiting Phyllis.

Fortunately, it seemed the gate beneath the bed would remain there for the foreseeable future.

“Phyllis-san was certainly an interesting person.”

Don’t worry, Mia. Aitori Shizuku is even more eccentric. Yeah, definitely.

Oh, right. Speaking of Shizuku, I remembered something.

Wasn’t one of Phyllis’s disciples plotting something sinister? She said she was going to report it to her superiors and ask for further instructions, but I wonder what happened with that?

＊ ＊ ＊

Days passed without any word.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday—

The only unusual thing happening around me was that Ayano Matsuki had been absent from kindergarten. 

Just to clarify, she was the girl I played house with back in the fall, only for things to somehow end in a yandere route. She had an idol-like appearance and plenty of admirers, so her absence had become quite the topic of conversation.

Well, she probably had the flu or something. There were quite a few absences in several classes, after all. It wasn’t anything particularly unusual.

At least, that’s what I thought—

It was only then that I heard from Shizuku.

“……Do you know a girl named Ayano Mazuki?”

Of course I do.

No—What happened to her?

“She’s been kidnapped by Phyllis’s apprentice and is currently missing.”

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

---

Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next

---

The tar-like substance and the pitch-black armor that had contained it had both vanished. Even the wound in my right side, which should have been torn open, had somehow healed completely.

“Amazing…”

Shizuku stared at me in disbelief.

“To absorb the one who was invading you instead… That was incredible, Master.”

“…Could you please stop calling me ‘Master’?”

The battle was over, and my head was starting to cool down. With it, my chūnibyō circuitry had switched off as well.

And seriously, what was wrong with this girl?

Calling a kindergartener “Master” was a bit much, you know.

“T-then… how about Paper Airplane Boy?”

What the hell kind of name was that?

“Ishi-, no it’s Kirasawa Yoshito.”

I nearly gave my old surname by reflex.

“Could you just call me by either my first or last name?”

“Then it’ll be Yoshito-sama!”

“Wait. Why are you so determined to put me above you? I’m only four years old, you know.”

“Fourteen minus four is ten, so… hoh~, to think I’m being ordered around by someone that much younger…”

Shizuku’s face took on an ecstatic expression. She’s a pervert.

There’s a pervert standing right here.

How did no one notice she’d gotten this bad?

I seem to remember her status saying something about her being the “head of the Aitori family”. I’m seriously worried about where that family is headed. Between her and my Old Man, are exorcists all just a bunch of people with a few screws loose?

Honestly. I’m the only normal one here.

“I’m sure after this, you’ll lecture me at the inn for being useless, and then… hyaaah…”

Leaving Shizuku to her pink-colored fantasies, I turned my attention to the barrier surrounding the park.

Time to break it.

“—《Break Spell: No One May Bind Me, for I Have Already Returned》.”

The spell activated, and a sharp crack sound rang through the air.

“Wow, it’s beautiful…!”

The shattered barrier dissolved into sparkling motes of light, raining down over the park.

The surrounding scene was a complete mess. The ground had been gouged up in countless places, while the playground equipment and streetlights had all been bent out of shape. It would be a real pain if someone happened to witness this.

I should get home as quickly as possible—

Or at least, that was what I was thinking.

“You’re an interesting little one.”

“…!”

I immediately tensed.

A woman was standing right beside me. Her silver hair fluttered in the night breeze. Her arms and legs were slender and graceful. She wore an elegant white dress, making her look like some kind of princess. There was an unmistakable air of refinement about her features. “Beautiful” suited her far better than “cute.”

Honestly—

I found myself staring for several seconds.

『Master!』

Shizuku’s telepathic voice snapped me back to reality.

『That’s her! She’s the researcher I’ve been pursuing—the one known as Kaguya Moon Princess, Phyllis Iris F. Clacia!』

『What the hell is “Kaguya Moon Princess ”?』

『The title I came up with!』

You made it up yourself!?

What an absolute menace. I nearly mistook it for her official title.

“The fact that 『Faceless Mud』 went berserk was well within my expectations, but I never imagined it would be absorbed. Just who are you?”

“…I have no name to give you.”

Maybe it was a lingering side effect from having my chūnibyō circuitry running at full throttle until just moments ago, but I found myself spouting a rather pretentious line.

“Oh? How cold. …Well, no matter. I’ll have plenty of time to thoroughly investigate you from here on out.”

“And what if I said no?”

“That’s impossible. Because from this moment on, you’re going to follow me of your own free will. 『Isn’t that right?』”

“!”

In that instant—

The woman’s—Phyllis’s—golden eyes glowed eerily. It felt as though someone had dripped something sweet directly into my mind.

Charm.

I immediately began constructing a counter-formula, but before I could, the back of my right hand suddenly grew hot.

The protective crest Manya had carved into me six months ago activated.

“No…”

Phyllis was bewildered. She clearly hadn’t expected her [Charm] to be repelled. She seemed so shaken that her gaze wandered wildly, unable to settle on anything. Her cheeks were even flushed.

Was it humiliation?

Eventually—

“Hey. What do you think about… older women?”

She asked me that out of the blue.

Huh?

Now it was my turn to be confused.

＊ ＊ ＊

—Repel the Charm.

Thinking back, that was how Manya had described her blessing. Not [Charm Immunity] but [Charm Reflection]. And the result was—

“Ah, um, that’s not what I meant just now… I’m sorry. Of course you’d hate an older woman like me.”

Somehow, the situation had begun veering wildly off course at an alarming speed.

Phyllis lowered her head, tracing little circles in the dirt with the tip of her shoe.

“F-for now, would you come with me to my hideout? I want to explain the situation, and I’m also worried about how that mud might have affected you…”

Her expression was completely different from before. She genuinely seemed concerned about my well-being. I could tell she sincerely meant it, which made it rather difficult to refuse.

I glanced at Shizuku.

“Let’s go, Master. Phyllis doesn’t seem to have any hostile intentions, either.”

Shizuku had said she was pursuing Phyllis, but apparently it wasn’t because Phyllis had committed some kind of crime.

“In other words, it’s just recruitment. Things are pretty chaotic in our line of work right now…”

“Everywhere is short on personnel, aren’t they? That’s why I’ve been getting scouted from all over the place. It’s becoming quite a hassle.”

And so we followed Phyllis.

We are now in an apartment a short distance from Shinmatsuki Station. The room was barely big enough for a four-and-a-half-tatami-mat floor, with a low round table in the middle. The people gathered around it made for a rather bizarre sight.

A kindergartener—namely, me.

A chūnibyō girl in a long black coat—Shizuku Aitori.

And a silver-haired beauty in a dress—Phyllis F. Clacia.

Putting together everything they’d told me, the situation went something like this:

* The airplane crash six months ago had a hidden truth behind it.

* A large number of prominent exorcists and mages from around the world had been aboard that plane.

* Their simultaneous deaths in the crash had thrown the entire “underworld” into chaos.

* Conflicts between organizations, as well as internal power struggles, had begun surfacing, and everyone was desperate for new talent.

* In the midst of all this, Phyllis—a highly accomplished researcher—had been singled out for recruitment.

Apparently, Shizuku belonged to one of Japan’s largest exorcist organizations, an institution known as the “Imperial Household Agency, Department of Divinities’ Afffairs.”

But, whoever had decided to use her as a recruiter had made one hell of a personnel mistake, hadn’t they?

…Or at least, that’s what I thought.

Until—

“Your long coat has great style. Can I use that ‘Broken Cross’ emblem too?”

“Go right ahead. Phyllis-san, that dress of yours is gorgeous. I’d love to try wearing one myself.”

“Shall I have one made for you?”

“Really!?”

“Of course. Dressing cute girls in cute clothes is such a joy.”

Somehow, the two of them had gotten along remarkably well. They were practically best friends already.

“Anyway, about the recruitment…”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve decided not to get involved with any organizations.”

Phyllis turned her down without hesitation.

“Besides, I’m worried about his condition…”

She cast a concerned glance in my direction.

I supposed that was another side effect of having her [Charm] reflected back at her. She is giving off the aura of a kind, gentle older sister who just happened to be much older than me.

“What was that black monster?”

Shizuku’s question was exactly what I had been wanting to ask myself.

Phyllis lowered her eyes for a moment before answering.

“It was something that was accidentally created during an experiment. I call it Faceless Mud.”

Faceless Mud. Apparently, it was an amorphous creature—a mass of potential capable of transforming into virtually anything. And by feeding it information about “a hero from another world”, she had created that black knight.

“I had adjusted it so that it would obey my commands, but all of a sudden it went berserk tonight. I’m sorry for the trouble I caused you.”

Phyllis bowed her head deeply.

I heard she was a magical researcher, but she didn’t seem to have the usual mad-scientist personality.

“Especially Yoshito-kun… I did something to you that can never be undone. I don’t know how I could possibly make it up to you…”

Phyllis hung her head, her expression filled with genuine remorse.

I was wondering what I could possibly say to comfort her when—

『She’s nothing like the Kaguya Moon Princess  I know.』

Shizuku’s telepathic voice reached me.

『Is that so?』

『She just tried to use [Charm] to take you away, didn’t she? That’s the real her. Satisfying her own curiosity comes first, and human experimentation doesn’t bother her in the slightest. She has even modified her own body in all sorts of ways. This woman is a witch who’s been alive for several hundred years.』

『Several hundred years?』

I couldn’t help staring at Phyllis. Her skin was youthful and completely free of wrinkles. If I had to guess her age from appearances alone, I’d say eighteen at the youngest—twenty-two at the oldest.

“What is it, Yoshito?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking how youthful you look.”

“D-don’t tease me. I’m already a several-hundred-year-old hag…”

Despite saying that, she didn’t seem entirely displeased. In fact, the corners of her mouth were curled up in obvious delight.

“So, what’s going on with my body right now?”

That was the main reason I had come all the way to this apartment.

Apparently, she intended to run some tests on me. I was wondering if that meant she’ll have to draw blood or something, when—

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m almost finished.”

Huh? When did she even start?

“I’ve converted this entire room into my laboratory. I started analyzing you the moment you stepped inside.”

That was some seriously impressive technology, but… wasn’t the landlord going to have something to say about this? Then again, I doubt the lease specifically said, “No magical modifications to the apartment.”

So maybe she was in the clear.

“…And done.”

Ding!

With a sound suspiciously like a microwave, a book suddenly materialized out of thin air. Apparently, all the data had been recorded inside it.

“Hm. I see…”

Phyllis read through it, nodding thoughtfully as she went.

I leaned over to take a look myself, but it was written in a language I’d never seen before.

『Shizuku, can you read it?』

『This is…!』

Shizuku audibly swallowed.

『C-can I really read it? If I do, things are going to get very serious, you know.』

『Just tell me already.』

『…Unfortunately, I don’t have enough MP to read it.』

If you don’t know, just say you don’t know from the start.

Wait, was that a reference to the Ion○n Guidelines or something? That was a meme that was popular in Japan back when I lived there in my previous life. How does she even know about it?

『Ahh, I love that cold look you’re giving me, Master…』

I can’t with this girl.

Where exactly did I go wrong? Was it when I carried her away in a princess carry? Or was it when I went all-in on the chūnibyō act and talked to her like that?

I wish life came with a save-and-load function.

While Shizuku squirmed and writhed beside me, Phyllis finished reading the book.

As for the results—

“Compatibility rate: one hundred percent. It looks like the Mud has completely assimilated with Yoshito-kun.”

“So there’s no danger?”

“I think you’ll be fine in the short term. But I can’t say anything about the long-term effects, so—”

“Meaning I’ll need to be examined from time to time?”

“Yes. I’m truly sorry…”

“It’s fine. Besides, I’ve gotten to know you now, Phyllis.”

I had a major problem on my hands right now. Finding a way to send Manya back to her original world. I am in the middle of deciphering the materials my Old Man had left behind, but… honestly, they were way beyond my ability to understand. Phyllis is a researcher, so having her help would be a huge advantage—

“I’m glad I met you, too, Yoshito-kun.”

For some reason, she gazed at me with moist, glistening eyes.

“Phyllis Iris is a bit long, isn’t it? Just call me Phyllis.”

“O-okay.”

Overcome by the unmistakable sense that there was no room for argument, I nodded.

“Then… Phyllis.”

“Y-yes…”

Phyllis drew herself inward bashfully. Restlessly, she pressed the tips of her index fingers together.

“Speaking of which, Yoshito-kun…”

Maybe she was trying to hide her embarrassment, because Phyllis suddenly changed the subject.

“Your name is the same as the hero I used as the model for the Mud, isn’t it? I wonder if that’s related to the compatibility rate.”

“…Who knows?”

I wasn’t about to start talking about my previous life here. I could discuss that with Mia tomorrow though.

“For another thing, this is still just a theory, but…”

I wondered what she meant.

“It seems that the conceptual information of the Black Knight has been stored inside you.”

“Sorry, could you put that in simpler terms?”

“I don’t know how yet, but there’s a possibility that you’ll be able to use the Black Knight’s powers—”

“Oh!”

For some reason, Shizuku’s eyes lit up as she exclaimed,

“So basically, it’s like transforming! A transformation!”

With an oddly sharp movement, she thrust her right arm diagonally upward. It was the pose from Kamen Ra○der.

“…It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll transform into the Black Knight physically, but I suppose that’s a fairly close way of imagining it.”

Phyllis nodded with an amused smile.

“In any case, I’ll have my hands full with Yoshito-kun for a while. As for the matter of my disciple, perhaps I’ll leave that to the Japanese exorcist organizations.”

The matter of her disciple?

What was that supposed to mean?

I glanced at Shizuku, only to receive a wink in response.

When I ignored her, she started breathing heavily. I really thought she should see a doctor.

Watching the two of us, Phyllis spoke up.

“…Don’t tell me you weren’t aware of this.”

“Of what?”

“The reason I came to Japan. One of my disciples stole the results of my research and seems to be trying to summon some kind of demon or something. I was pursuing them so I could punish them, but—”

At Phyllis’s words, Shizuku shook her head.

“Japan’s ‘underworld’ is in complete disarray right now. Even the Bureau of Divinities I belong to is a complete mess because of factional infighting…”

“Which is precisely why they may have chosen Japan as the site for the ritual. —For now, could you report this to your superiors? I have no intention of joining your organization, but I’m willing to lend a hand as an outside collaborator.”

“You would…?”

“Yes. After all, this is the country where Yoshito-kun lives.”

And so, we called it a night, with Shizuku tasked with reporting everything and awaiting further instructions.

…Am I getting dragged into something this insane already?

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

---

Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next

---

I still remember it perfectly. My master’s words.

“It’s not like I was interested in you or anything… I just didn’t want to give you the wrong idea. Sorry.”

Three months after being summoned to another world as its hero, and after everything that had happened, I finally began learning the sword under my master’s tutelage.

Then, on the day I was finally set to depart on my journey, I suffered the bitterest heartbreak of my life. Overcome with grief, I set off wearing a suit of pitch-black full-body armor. I began my career as a hero by hunting down handsome high-ranking demons who looked like they spent their days flirting with their subordinates.

The death of happy couples is inevitable.

Looking back, I was motivated by approximately one hundred percent personal resentment.

—CLANG. CLANG.

One step. Then another.

The Black Knight drew closer. Its silhouette was exactly the same as mine had once been.

There were only a few possibilities I could think of:

1. By sheer coincidence, armor with the exact same design existed in this world.

2. There was another person transported from my old world besides Manya, and they had recreated that armor.

3. Somehow, the version of me from back then had been summoned here.

Realistically, the first two were the only possibilities that made any sense, but… the wavelength of the magic emanating from the armored knight was an exact match for mine. I genuinely had no idea what was going on.

Could this be one of those doppelgängers you always hear about in urban legends?

—CLANG.

—CLANG.

The metallic sound of the armor rang out with mechanical regularity. It was like a countdown to an execution—

“Eek! Ah—w-wait, whaa—WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“M-Masaru-san!? W-Wait for me! Don’t leave me heeeeeeeeeere!”

The two punks screamed and fled. The Black Knight didn’t pursue them.

“Apparently, I’m the one it’s after.”

Shizuku brushed back her shoulder-length hair.

And sure enough, she was right. The Black Knight came to a stop, raised its sword, and pointed the tip straight at us.

The tension in the air intensified.

『Hey. What the hell is that thing?』

I asked Shizuku through telepathy.

『I’d be more than happy to tell you, but I have one condition. I’m powerless without my magic wand. I need you to buy me some time.』

『…That’s going to be pretty difficult. Very difficult, actually.』

『What are you talking about? We have this paper airplane of yours. If you send them all charging in like you did before—』

『That was it. Sorry.』

The paper airplanes had nearly exhausted all their magic when I sent them on their kamikaze attack against that Masaru guy. They couldn’t fly anymore, let alone be controlled. At most, I could probably still manage the one Shizuku was holding.

『Y-You’re kidding… right?』

The words slipped out in an unmistakably Kansai-style accent.

Was this what she was really like underneath all that edgy posturing?

『No. I’m serious.』

Almost at the exact same moment I answered—

“――――――――――!”

The Black Knight let out a bestial roar. The air shook violently, and the park’s streetlights shattered.

And then—

“—!”

The knight lunged forward at bullet-like speed, swinging its sword.

『《False Dragon Sword: Wyvern Slash.》』

That was what I had named the technique back then.

Ugh… Just remembering it dealt massive psychological damage.

Not bad. A Black Knight using the same techniques as me.

Black Knight, black history. Get it?

…Anyway, enough with the jokes.

The blade was closing in on Shizuku.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

She screamed.

At this rate, we’d have a dead girl on our hands.

But—

“…So you can make cute noises too.”

It was a close call.

I scooped Shizuku up in my arms and immediately put some distance between us and the Black Knight.

Wondering what the hell I’ve been doing this whole time?

It’s simple. I am not just having a pleasant little telepathic chat with Shizuku. I had slipped out of the house and sprinted all the way to the park. And so, by the skin of my teeth, I had arrived just in time.

For the record, Mia was asleep at home. It was already eleven at night, after all. I felt bad about waking her, and I had no intention of bringing her anywhere near a dangerous situation.

More importantly—I wasn’t exactly eager for her to witness my “dark history”, you know?

“You… who are you…?”

“I am the master of the paper airplanes. I’ve come to save you.”

I knew full well that a line like that wasn’t exactly going to land when delivered by a four-year-old. But I said it anyway.

It was embarrassing. Painfully so. But right now, I needed to deliberately contract a severe case of chūnibyō.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to look directly at the Black Knight—the living embodiment of my darkest, most embarrassing past.

My mental strength would give out long before I ever had the chance to cross swords with it. Fortunately, Shizuku seemed to be one of those people herself, so I probably wouldn’t get too much of a horrified reaction.

“…Wonderful.”

Huh? Shizuku-san, why are you looking at me with those sparkling eyes?

And, uh, we’re currently in a princess carry here. Could you get down? It’s kind of hard to fight like this.

O-oi, why are you wrapping your arms around my neck like that—

…Whoa.

She’s actually pretty well-endowed.

“――――――――――!”

The Black Knight’s roar snapped me back to reality.

It wasn’t really a sound that could be put into words, but the intent behind it came through loud and clear.

“—Quit flirting in front of me, or I’ll fucking kill you.”

Okay, look, this was an accident. A completely unavoidable accident. Can’t you just let it slide?

Apparently not.

“—!”

The Black Knight hefted its sword onto its shoulder and charged straight at me.

“Tch!”

I leapt backward once more.

“Shizuku-san, I’ll handle things here. Hurry up and find your magic wand.”

“Y-Yes! …He ordered me around. Hehe.”

Shizuku happily dashed out of the park.

However—

“T-There’s a barrier! A barrier’s been put up, Master! We can’t leave the park!”

Who the hell is your “Master”? And what’s with the sudden personality change? You were way more arrogant before. Why are you suddenly speaking so politely?

More importantly, a barrier, huh?

Did the Black Knight put it up?

Well, whatever. I can investigate that later. As far as barriers went, this one was moderately strong. I could probably break it in ten seconds. But under the current circumstances, leaving myself exposed for that long would be far too risky.

Which meant—

“I guess I’ll have to settle this first.”

I muttered under my breath, then sent Shizuku a telepathic message.

『Shizuku-san, tell me everything you know about this knight.』

『Hyaaah!? Master’s voice is inside my head…!』

『Forget that. Just hurry up and tell me.』

『Even that cold side of you makes my heart flutter…!』

Maybe I should just suck the information directly out of her head. If it turned her into a vegetable, well… so be it.

『Um, we don’t have much time, so I’ll keep this brief.』

『Just spit it out.』

『This knight was created by the magical researcher I’ve been pursuing. Apparently, they can access records from another world and copy legendary heroes at the peak of their power, or something like that…』

『Do you know the hero’s name?』

『Umm…』

There was a pause of several seconds.

Then—

『Yoshiton. The Hero Yoshiton.』

Who the hell is that?

『Apparently, he was the only hero ever to defeat an evil god. Ah, maybe it was Yoshito? But there’s no way someone with such a Japanese-sounding name could exist in another world, so it must be Yoshiton.』

Uhh…I’m pretty sure it was Yoshito.

In other words, it’s me in my previous life. Well, I did defeat an evil god, so I suppose it makes sense that my name would be remembered.

Hmm. The people in that world were actually pretty similar to Japanese people in certain ways. They had a tendency to turn everything into cute girls, or perhaps I should say they had a particularly deep-seated brand of degeneracy. I could totally see them making a game a thousand years from now called “The Hero Yoshito Was Actually a Beautiful Girl!”

Not that I wasn’t curious. But right now, I had more important things to worry about.

The Black Knight standing before me.

Me. At the peak of my power.

I had mixed feelings about the fact that the period when I had gone berserk after getting dumped by my master was being regarded as my “prime”, but I supposed I’d be magnanimous about it.

『Master, is there anything I can do to help?』

『You can’t use magic, right? Then stay over in a corner and be a cute little decoration.』

『C-Cute? You called me cute again…!』

『Can’t help it. It’s the truth.』

Ahh. Yeah. That was definitely the kind of line I’d remember later and want to crawl into a hole and die over.

Another page added to my dark history.

Damn it.

Once I dealt with this Black Knight, I am going to beat the hell out of this so-called magical researcher who’d caused all this, too.

＊ ＊ ＊

Now then. Let’s put the joking aside for a moment.

First, I’ll present the results of the [Appraisal] skill.

[Name] Black Knight Yoshito [Gender] Male [Race] Chūnibyō [Age] 18 [Title] Hero [Stats] ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Level: 34 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Attack Power: 244(-100) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Defense Power: 231(-100) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Vitality: 211(-100) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Magic Power: 234(-100) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Mental Strength: 221(-100)(-50) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Agility: 253(-100) [Abilities] Unknown [Skills] Unknown [Magic] Unknown [Status Ailment] Degraded Summoning ・ Heartbreak

As you’d expect from a hero, the stats were absurdly high even at such a low level.

Nostalgic.

Back when I was the Black Knight, I relied almost entirely on brute force, letting my ridiculous stats do the work. Then, after everything that happened, my stats were reduced to one-hundredth of what they had been. That’s when I switched to a fighting style centered around technique instead.

If you looked at the numbers alone, then sure, my Black Knight days really were my “prime.”

But—

Numbers like that could be overturned in all sorts of ways, depending on how you chose to fight.

For the sake of comparison, I suppose I should pull up Shizuku’s stats too.

[Name] Shizuku Aitori [Gender] Female [Race] Chūnibyō [Age] 14 [Title] 8th Head of the Aitori Family (Prospective) [Stats] ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Level: 52 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Attack Power: 54(-30) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Defense Power: 51(-30) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Vitality: 40(-30) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Magic Power: 82(-70) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Mental Strength: 35 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Agility: 56(-30) [Abilities] Unknown [Skills] Unknown [Magic] Unknown [Status Ailment] Forgotten Item: Unable to use a magic wand, making magic usage difficult. Negative modifiers applied to stats.

It’s a bit late to realize this, but Shizuku wasn’t just some girl with Chūnibyō delusions after all.

Apparently, she really can use magic. That said, right now, she’s still just a glorified ornament.

Make sure not to leave anything behind. Seriously.

＊ ＊ ＊

“――――――!”

The Black Knight’s blade flashed.

A horizontal sweep. A diagonal slash. An upward cut—

Every one of those sword strokes was familiar.

Of course they were. This guy was me, after all.

“Amazing…!”

Shizuku let out an awed sigh, but from my perspective, there wasn’t anything particularly impressive about it.

I knew exactly what the Black Knight was capable of, and I could instinctively predict his thought patterns. In a sense, this was a battle between identical characters. Which meant, naturally, that I knew this guy’s weaknesses too. The me back then had been a simple-minded idiot, and unexpected situations were his Achilles’ heel.

So how about something like this?

An extraordinary power that the me of my previous life could never have known about.

“Earth nurtures metal, and metal gives rise to gold—《Golden Escape: Illusion Technique.》”

Put simply, it was a clone technique. I created copies of myself out of clumps of earth, then used the refraction of light to make them appear indistinguishable from real, living people.

It was one of the supernatural arts passed down among the nekomata.

Suika-san had taught me this technique.

“――――! ――! ―――――――!”

Judging by the way he was opening his mouth, I assumed he was saying something along the lines of “Fight fair, you coward!”

The Black Knight proceeded to cut down my illusions one after another.

One of his strikes caught a panda-shaped playground structure in its path and cleaved it cleanly in two.

A park bench was smashed to pieces. Then the sheer force of the blow gouged a crater into the ground.

What ridiculous strength. If one of those attacks landed cleanly, it would be all over.

I’d been fighting the Black Knight for several minutes now. It wasn’t long, but in that short span of time, the park had already been reduced to a miserable wreck. Every piece of playground equipment had been mangled, and even the paved walkways had been torn apart.

They aren’t going to send me the repair bill, are they?

I really think the guy who summoned the Black Knight should be the one paying for all this.

“I’d better finish this quickly and catch the real culprit…!”

Now then.

I hadn’t spent all this time doing nothing but running away.

“—《Binding Spell: Gravity Bind.》”

I linked together the magic circles I’d drawn throughout the park and activated the spell.

It was an extremely high-level binding spell. Even the me at my peak would have needed some time to break free of it. Of course, stopping him wasn’t the real objective.

While running all over the park, I’d been collecting the paper airplanes that had run out of magic. Now I had replenished them and floated them into the air.

Every one of them was fully charged with magic—and then some were overloaded. The slightest stimulus would be enough to trigger a massive explosion.

I brought my right hand down. In perfect synchronization with the motion, the paper airplanes all swarmed toward the Black Knight at once.

With a deafening roar, a blast of hot air sent clouds of dust billowing into the air. My entire field of vision was engulfed in flames.

They say that asking, “Did I get him!?” at a time like this is basically a guaranteed failure flag.

『You got him… right!?』

Shizuku, please don’t send me ominous telepathy like that. Adding polite speech to it doesn’t make it any less ominous. What are you going to do if he’s still alive after this?

Eventually, the flames died down, and the dust began to settle.

And beyond it—

“――――――――――――!”

The Black Knight isstill standing.

『The Thunder Bird: Falling to Earth Like a Stoner Sun—didn’t work…!?』

Shizuku, could you please stop making up names for my attacks?

“――! …! ………!”

Hmm. Apparently, that attack hadn’t been a complete waste after all. The Black Knight’s left arm hung limply at his side. His legs didn’t seem to have much strength left in them, either. He could barely remain standing, looking as though he might collapse at any moment.

“Good thing I brought these along, just in case.”

I reached into my clothes and pulled out a shuriken made from origami.

I infused it with magic and hurled it.

CLINK!

It bounced off the Black Knight’s helmet—but it had more than enough force to shatter the already crack-riddled thing.

The helmet broke apart, exposing the face beneath. I had expected to find someone who looked exactly like me in my previous life.

But—

“What the hell is this…?”

I was speechless.

What had been hiding beneath the armor was something that could hardly be called human. Something pitch-black, viscous, and tar-like. It writhed and squirmed, stretching out tendrils—

Wait, that’s dangerous!

“M-Master!?”

The Tar Guy (temporary designation) tried to impale Shizuku with one of its tendrils.

I managed to shield her at the last second, but…

This is bad. It had gouged into my right side.

“Guh… ah…!”

Agonizing pain. Cold sweat beaded across my forehead. The tendril had wormed its way into my body through the wound. It felt like something was fiddling with my organs from the inside—a nauseating, deeply unpleasant sensation.

And the invasion wasn’t limited to my body. It was spreading into my mind as well.

—The sorrow of being rejected by my master.

—Jealousy toward all the couples in the world.

—Hatred for handsome guys.

One emotion after another flooded my mind, trying to paint over everything that made me who I was. Apparently, the Tar Guy was trying to absorb my very existence.

But, you know…these were emotions I had in the first place. What happens when you add black paint to black paint?

Simple. Nothing changes.

And compared to the me I was back then, my mental strength was far greater now. I had lived through many more years after all.

Besides—Mia is waiting for me at home. Who the hell cared about some old heartbreak anymore?

I took a deep breath.

Instead of letting the Tar Guy’s consciousness take me over, I invaded it in return.

“Going on a rampage just because you got rejected? Seriously, how pathetic.”

“And calling yourself the Black Knight? That’s so painfully cringe. Seriously, so cringe.”

“You actually thought that would make girls like you?”

“Don’t worry, past me. You’re going to stay a virgin until the day you die.”

Every time I drove my own old wounds deeper with another insult, the Tar Guy’s will grew weaker and weaker. And after about five minutes of relentlessly tearing into myself—

“………………!”

With a voiceless scream, the Tar Guy vanished.

It was a dangerously close victory. If I had to keep it up for another minute, I don’t think my own sanity would’ve held out.

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

---

Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next

---

Fold a paper airplane, then pour some magic into it.

Connect your vision and hearing to it, and voila—you’ve got yourself a familiar.

See? Easy, right? Why don’t you all give it a try?

Just kidding.

Though, as a toy, this thing is ridiculously fun. Since it’s being kept aloft by magic, it basically never falls. You can just sit back and enjoy a leisurely stroll through the night sky.

The city where I live, Matsuki City, is a regional city with a fair amount of bustle. The area around New Matsuki Station, in particular, is lined with department stores, large bookstores, fast-food joints, and the like. Even late at night, you can still spot the occasional young person wandering around. Watching them go about their business can be surprisingly entertaining.

Like the four blond guys with piercings playing a hunting game at McDonald’s. Or the woman walking around in nothing but a coat, trying her best not to attract attention.

Well, I guess you can find weird people even when it isn’t spring.

It’s while I am gentlemanly keeping an eye on the coat woman from high above that I heard an intriguing conversation coming from the direction of the park.

“Talking to you two is a waste of calories and oxygen. For the sake of the planet, why don’t you disappear already?”

“Huh? What the hell did you just say? You looking for a fight, punk?”

“Hehe. Masaru-san here used to train at a boxing gym, you know. He even took the pro test once. He failed though.”

“Shut the hell up! Don’t go saying unnecessary crap!”

“Ow! Why’d you hit me, Masaru-san?”

There’s one girl and two men.

I am not sure if it is a good idea for a girl to be wandering around alone at this hour, but it looks like she’s being hassled by some troublesome guys.

“Impulsive and violent. Put mildly, you’re both a scum. I was wrong to think I could gather information from monkeys like you.”

“You called Masaru-san a monkey because his name is Masaru, right?”

“Saburo, I’m killing you later.”

Both men had that distinctly Shibuya sort of look to them—the kind of guys who seemed like they might have whispered to Gaia at some point.

Faded-colored jackets. Ripped jeans. The jeans were oddly short, leaving their ankles completely exposed.

Is that actually fashionable these days?

I really didn’t understand young people. Still, compared to the girl’s fashion, the two men’s outfits were downright normal.

A bandage was wound around her head, covering everything from her forehead to her right eye, and she wore fingerless gloves on both hands. She was dressed in a black overcoat resembling a military uniform, with a “Cracked Inverted Cross” embroidered across the back.

It was an excruciatingly edgy outfit. Just looking at her was enough to shave years off my soul. The only saving grace was that the girl herself was quite beautiful.

With a fearless smile on her face, she turned to the intimidating men and said,

“I’ve lost interest in you. Go somewhere far away and live your utterly unproductive lives.”

If she wasn’t actively picking a fight, I didn’t know what was.

“Damn it, this bitch thinks she can look down on us! We went easy on her ’cause she’s just a kid, and now she’s gotten all cocky!”

“Masaru-san, let’s beat her up and drag her into the bushes. We can show her what a truly productive activity looks like.”

“Oh? You intend to defy me? Very well. Then let us have a little warm-up. —No one who has laid eyes upon my magic wand has ever lived to return home.”

The girl slipped a hand into her coat pocket, exuding the kind of presence you’d expect from a final boss.

And then—

“…Huh?”

She tilted her head.

“What’s going on? I swear I put it in my coat before I left the inn…”

All the dignity she had been projecting moments ago vanished. She frantically patted herself down, searching every inch of her body. But apparently, this so-called magic wand was nowhere to be found.

“Well, that’s unfortunate. It seems the stars aren’t in my favor today.”

She spun around and tried to make a run for it.

“Oh, no you don’t.”

“Anyone who tells me to wait should know that I— Gugyaaah!?”

Thud!

The fact that her overcoat covered her legs all the way to her ankles had come back to bite her. Her feet tangled in the hem, and she went sprawling face-first onto the ground.

“Heh. That’s what you get for making a fool of us.”

“Man, she really ate dirt there.”

“Well then, how about we have some fun? Saburo, make sure you get all of this on camera.”

“Of course!”

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

At some point, this had started to feel like I was watching a comedy skit, but wasn’t this actually a pretty serious situation? The man called Masaru reached down toward the fallen girl.

In a situation like this, there was only one thing I could do. I couldn’t just stand by and abandon a girl in trouble.

And, more importantly, she was about to meet her doom because she had forgotten something. I couldn’t help but feel a profound sense of kinship with her.

So, yeah. Time to move out.

Paper Airplane Squadron—charge!

“Come on, kid. Put up at least a little resistance—Gaaaaah!”

“Oh no! A paper airplane has flown out of nowhere and struck Masaru-san, who prides himself on having 20/20 vision, right in the left eye!”

“W-what the hell is this—GAAAAAAAAAH!”

“Whoa! Another paper airplane just hit him in the right eye!”

“What the hell is going on—NGAHHHHHHHHHH!”

“Paper airplanes are diving in one after another! It’s a kamikaze attack! Hooray!”

I’ll set aside the henchman and his bizarre habit of narrating everything.

The paper airplane I was controlling wasn’t the only one. Thanks to practicing parallel control a little every night, I could now operate around twenty of them simultaneously. So I gathered them all up and sent them charging straight at this Masaru guy.

Oh, and I didn’t actually hit his eyeballs. It’d be a shame if his precious 20/20 vision got ruined.

“…Hoh?”

Suddenly, the girl picked up one of the paper airplanes lying on the ground.

『A rather unusual familiar. Whoever you are, you have my thanks.』

Eh!?

A voice echoed inside my head.

Telepathy. No way.

Could this girl actually be a real magician?

『My name is Shizuku Aitori. And you?』

Should I give her my name?

Nah. Better not. Keeping your identity a secret in situations like this is the height of coolness.

『I’m hardly important enough to give you my name, lovely young lady.』

『L-lovely!? M-Me? You think I’m….?』

Was she just not used to receiving compliments? Her face instantly turned bright red, like someone had flipped a switch. Though, I suppose in the world I came from, a compliment like that was practically a form of greeting.

『This is no time to get embarrassed. Hurry up and r—』

Run. I was just about to tell her that when—

『…!?』

An ominous presence made me catch my breath.

Shizuku Aitori, as she had introduced herself, sensed it too.

『Of all the times for us to run into it…』

Her mutter carried even a hint of despair.

—Clang. Clang.

From somewhere in the distance came the sound of metal striking metal.

—CLANG. CLANG.

Closer. Whatever it was, it was steadily making its way toward us, approaching the park.

“W-What…?”

“Masaru-san, this is seriously bad.”

The two men must have sensed it too. Their faces had gone deathly pale, and they were trembling.

—CLANG. CLANG.

And then. On a moonless night, beneath the feeble glow of a streetlamp barely illuminating the ground, it appeared. It was a sight you simply wouldn’t encounter in an ordinary provincial Japanese city.

A suit of pitch-black full plate armor. Its shape was deeply sinister, resembling some snarling beast baring its fangs. A blood-red scarf was wrapped around its neck. An oppressive killing intent radiated from it, dominating the entire area. Violent, overwhelming magic churned beneath the armor.

I stood there, dumbfounded.

Fight or run?

My mind was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t even make that decision.

Because—

I knew this thing. I had never met it in person. I had never spoken to it. Never fought it. But I had seen it before.

What the hell was going on?

I genuinely couldn’t make sense of any of this.

The figure standing before me was exactly the same as I had once looked, back when I was suffering from Chūnibyō in another world, in my previous life.

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

---

Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next

---

I had neither a grandfather nor a grandmother, and the only relatives I really had were the Kirasawa family. So after the plane crash, custody of me was transferred to Shuji-san. It wasn’t an adoption, but something about becoming a legal guardian for a minor, blah blah blah.

I don’t really understand the finer points of the law, but I currently go by the name Yoshito Kirasawa. Incidentally, it seems my Old Man had left behind some sort of will, in which he had apparently told Shuji-san to keep his existence a secret. Specifically, he wanted Shuji-san to conceal his existence until I turned fifteen.

So, officially, I know nothing about my real father.

Six months passed, and Mia and I turned four. It was autumn, the season when the chilly air makes you long for the company of others. At Omichi Kindergarten’s Rose class, an unprecedented “playing house” craze had broken out.

“I’m home! Oh, Kousuke, you’re back already?”

“Yeah. I got off work early today. Here, I made dinner. Be grateful.”

“Looks delicious. Man, if only you were a girl.”

“D-Don’t say stupid things like that. B-But… if that’s really how you feel, Yoshito, then I…”

Kousuke lowered his head. His cheeks were bright red.

Some of you may have forgotten, so let me introduce him again. This is Kousuke Orise, one of the boys in my Rose class. He has a fairly androgynous face, and he could probably pull off a skirt surprisingly well.

The scenario we were acting out was: “Two male roommates, one of whom has romantic feelings for the other.” The girls clustered around us were the ones who had requested it. Every single one of them was drooling with expressions that were utterly unbecoming of respectable young ladies.

“What’s up, Kousuke? Are you serious about becoming my wife?”

“B-but, we’re both guys—”

“That doesn’t matter, does it? Tell me. What do you want to be to me?”

“W-what the hell?!”

Ah, Kousuke’s pissed.

“It’s just pretend play, why are we doing it with only guys?! It’s weird! Ugh…!”

He pleaded tearfully to the girls around him.

However.

“Kousuke-kun, you have to finish it properly!”

“That’s right, everyone’s looking forward to it!”

“There’s not enough preciousness, not enough preciousness!”

The response he received was a heartless chorus of boos. The number of fujoshi (female fans of boys’ love) in the Rose Class is steadily increasing.

Faced with this grave situation,

“Uwaaaa! I hate women!”

Kousuke ran away!

“I won’t let you get away.”

“Wait right there!”

“It’s not over until you kiss!”

Women are strong in every era.

I’m having a decent enough time, but I wonder if Kousuke is okay. I’m worried he might develop a trauma regarding the opposite sex.

Just for the record, it’s not all twisted situations like this, you know? There are plenty of groups where “Mommy” and “Daddy” live in peace. Well, the fact that mine is the biggest group… I suppose that just goes to show there isn’t a single girl who dislikes gay men.

On the other hand… there are also girls who couldn’t care less about the trend.

“Hmph.”

That’s my Mia.

She used to try to fit in at kindergarten, but she regressed once the “playing house” craze hit. Radiating an aura that screams “don’t talk to me,” she spends all her time reading picture books in the corner of the classroom.

Well, I suppose it’s better than her holing up in the library. Still, the way she occasionally sneaks a peek this way makes me think she isn’t entirely uninterested in playing house.

“Kousuke-kun escaped out the window!”

“Corner him in the animal shed! Do it just like always!”

“Hehehe… catching a boy, and keeping him as a pet…”

Oh? It looks like Kousuke is really giving it his all.

Now then, whose side should I take today? Betraying someone at the last minute might be fun, too.

Just as I was thinking that…

“Hey, Yoshito-kun.”

A girl called out to me.

She had big, round eyes and a very cute face. Her soft hair was styled into “princess-like” pigtails. Her name is Ayano Matsuki, I think. She is from the class next door—the Sakura Class.

“Want to play house with me?”

Hmm, what should I do?

The girls from the Rose Class had all chased after Kousuke and gone outside. That left me all alone. I didn’t have anything else to do, so playing with Matsuki-san seemed like a fine idea.

But first…

“Is it okay if I invite Mia, too?”

“Yeah, sure. I wanted to be friends with Mia-chan, too.”

Matsuki-san responds with a beaming, angelic smile.

Her expression is dazzling, just like an idol’s.

I go to call out to Mia, but…

Huh? Where’d she go?

She doesn’t have a book with her. Maybe she went to the library to borrow a new one? I guess I’ll just talk to her when she gets back.

“Let’s get started for now. What role do you want, Matsuki-san?”

“I’ll be Ayano. And I’ll call you Yoshito.”

“Alright, Ayano.”

“What is it, Yoshito?”

Matsuki-san—or rather, Ayano—replies in a voice full of sweet affection.

“Hehe, dinner will be ready soon, so just wait a bit.”

Whoa. It seems the make-believe game has already begun. No discussion about roles or the scenario beforehand? This is advanced-level stuff.

Fine by me.

Challenge accepted.

I’ll show her the improvisational skills of the man who once saved the world!

＊ ＊ ＊

After spending tens of minutes piling up random, improvised plot points, Ayano and I found our little role-playing game reaching an unexpected climax.

“I’ve figured it out—I know your true identity…!”

“Oh well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag.”

Ayano offered a smile of resignation.

“I’m the reincarnation of the girl you killed, Yoshito.”

“Did you get close to me for revenge?”

“Nope, that’s not it. …I actually fell in love with you the moment I was killed.”

Let me just sort out the premise here.

In this story, I’m supposed to be a serial killer. By day, I act like a decent salaryman, but at night, I stalk women with a knife in hand. A modern-day Jack the Ripper, essentially. Ayano is a woman who forced her way into my life—and turns out to be the reincarnation of one of my victims. Yet, she holds no grudge against me. In fact, she’s head over heels in love.

Talk about a psycho-horror scenario.

“You kill people because you’re afraid of them, don’t you, Yoshito? But that’s okay—from now on, I’ll protect you forever.”

In the end, the serial killer gets drugged into unconsciousness and locked away in a basement. An unexpected yandere ending.

It was a truly shocking turn of events.

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

Before I knew it, a crowd of kindergarteners was watching our little game of make-believe. Thunderous applause filled the air. Quite a few of them were even shedding tears of emotion.

Is this kindergarten actually okay?

“What a touching story.”

“It’s enough to make the whole country cry.”

“It would’ve been even better if Kousuke-kun had been the one playing the partner role, though.”

I worry about the future of Japan. Before long, it was time to go home, and I boarded the shuttle bus.

Naturally, Mia was with me, but…

“I wonder what’s for dinner tonight.”

“Beats me.”

She’s in an incredibly foul mood.

“You know, the house next door put up a new fence.”

“Yeah.”

“No, see, that’s the moment where you’re supposed to say, ‘Oh, really?’”

“Shut it.”

She had gone beyond tsundere—she was in a full-blown “tsundora” state. No matter what topic I brought up, she’d cut me off with a single, curt phrase.

I thought things might improve once we got home, but…

“Good night. Wake me up when dinner’s ready.”

She hurriedly burrowed into the futon.

What on earth is going on? I don’t get it. Someone explain!

Kidding. I actually have a pretty good idea of the cause.

“Is this about Matsuki-san?”

I sat down next to Mia and asked her that.

“Did it bother you that I was hanging out with her?”

No reply.

Instead, Mia inched a little closer to me. She reached her right hand out from the gap in the futon and grabbed the hem of my jacket. I suppose that means “yes.”

“In that case, I won’t have anything to do with Matsuki-san anymore. I promise.”

“.…It’s fine, really.”

Oh, looks like we might actually have a conversation now.

“I mean, you looked like you were having a lot of fun with Matsuki-san, Oniisan. You should just keep getting along with her.”

“Calm down, Mia. Aren’t you misunderstanding something?”

“I’m not. I’m just sulking and getting jealous all on my own.”

Mia let go of my hem and then gave my back a firm shove.

“I’m being a really annoying girl right now. Oniisan, I don’t want you to see me like this. So, go away.”

Push, push.

For me, the pressure on my lower back actually felt like a nice massage, but for Mia, it was clearly a desperate plea.

“I can put up with you playing house with Orise-kun. But I hate the idea of you doing that kind of thing with another girl.”

“Then I’ll be careful about that, t—”

“You don’t have to!”

Mia cut me off.

“After all, I don’t have the right to tie you down, Oniisan.”

“It’s not about tying you down or anything like that. I just don’t want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable, Mia.”

“Why?”

Just like that, the pressure pushing against my back eased.

“This is just a hysterical fit. You could have just ignored it.”

“It’s obviously because you’re important to me.”

When I said that, Mia’s hands fell away from my back completely.

A room with just the two of us.

The setting sun was streaming in through the window.

After a moment…

“…I’m hopeless, aren’t I?”

“What’s wrong?”

Mia didn’t answer.

She stood up in silence, and then—

“Hyaaah!!”

“Whoa!?”

She clung to me, still wrapped in her blanket.

“Uga—! Waaah! Kya!”

“Hey, Mia, pull yourself together! Snap out of it!”

“Shut up! Just spoil me! Uwa!”

A tight squeeze, a good rub, and another tight squeeze.

Even through the blanket, Mia’s pressing her whole body against my back.

“I’m the kind of girl who’ll forgive you in a heartbeat if you’re just a little nice to me, damn it! Say that line again!”

“Hey, Mia, pull yourself together! Snap out of it!”

“You idiot!”

Whack!

I got smacked with a pillow. It actually stung a bit.

“A little further back!”

“Uhm.. ‘Because you’re important to me, obviously’?”

“Put more love into it!”

“Because you’re the most important girl in the world to me, obviously.”

“Tsu…!”

Thud. Mia collapsed down the bed. It seems that was a bit too intense for her.

Heh. I win.

While I’m at it, let me share a few inner thoughts. I don’t harbor any clear romantic feelings for Mia just yet.

That said…

The way she showed such straightforwardness—almost to the point of clumsiness—regarding the whole thing with Matsuki, I find that quality appealing. And the way she sometimes mutters, “You can sleep in the bottom bunk tonight, you know”, while looking all bashful… that’s incredibly cute.

—If we keep being together like this, I’ll probably end up falling for Mia.

I have a feeling that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

Well, it’s far too embarrassing to actually say something like that to Mia, though. Anyway. For the time being, as a way to look after Mia…

“Mia, hold out your hand.”

“Like this?”

“Yeah, that’s it… Here, a present.”

What I handed her was a toy ring. It was something I’d won in a summer festival lottery a while back. A set of two—matching rings.

“You can wear that at kindergarten, too.”

And then, the next day.

“Hey, hey, Yoshito-kun. Won’t you play with me?”

It seemed she had enjoyed yesterday so much that Matsuki-san called out to me again. We were in the Rose Class classroom. Mia was right there beside me, so I figured I might as well make a statement.

“Sorry, Matsuki-san. I’m playing house with Mia right now.”

I held up my left hand. Mia hesitantly did the same. Shining on our ring fingers were the matching rings.

“Does that mean you’re married to Mia-chan?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded.

Before I knew it, the Rose Class classroom had gone completely silent. The girls around us were whispering things like, “It’s a love triangle showdown”, and “This is like a suspense drama.”

The atmosphere was heavy. I didn’t want to leave things on such an awkward note, so I grabbed a boy nearby—Kousuke Orise—who was blinking in wide-eyed confusion.

Sorry, buddy, but you’re going to have to be the sacrificial lamb here.

“So anyway, I’ve got myself a wife.”

I flashed a roguish, bad-boy grin. “Kousuke, you and I were just having a fling. See ya.”

I knew it was a pretty lousy thing to say. Still, it worked exactly as intended: the attention of the girls in the Rose Class shifted toward Kousuke.

“A bittersweet ending, huh?”

“Kousuke-kun is going to let his life fall apart because he can’t forget Yoshito-kun.”

“So precious… truly precious.”

Sorry, Kousuke.

I’ll share some caramel with you someday, so please forgive me.

“Hmm.”

Now then. As for Mitsuki-san, she was smiling brightly for some reason.

“So, Mia-chan… that’s how it is, after all.”

Her smile was angelic, yet for some reason, a strange chill ran down my spine.

“It’s fine. I’ll leave Yoshito-kun in your care for now… but I will be taking him back someday.”

“What are you talking about?”

Mia retorted coolly.

“My brother never had any interest in you to begin with.”

Uh… Can I make a run for it?

While the other girls got excited talking about Kousuke, Mia and Mitsuki-san were glaring straight at each other. The tension between them mounted, and then…

“…Just kidding.”

Matsuki-san let out a soft, amused smile.

“Hahaha, just a joke, just a joke. I’ll get out of your hair now—see ya.”

Turning her back on us, she left the classroom with a light step.

Phew. I guess that settles things for now.

A few days later, the playing-house craze finally came to an end. Apparently, me turning Kousuke down had served as a sort of turning point, and now origami was all the rage.

“Good for you, Kousuke. You don’t have to play house anymore.”

“Yeah… right.”

“What’s wrong? You look kind of out of it.”

Maybe he had a fever. Winter is approaching after all, and colds were going around too.

I reached out and placed a hand against Kousuke’s forehead. He’s burning up. His face was bright red, too.

“Kousuke, shouldn’t you go to the nurse’s office?”

“T-The n-nurse’s office!?”

For some reason, Kousuke completely freaked out. Maybe he had some unpleasant memories associated with the place.

“I-I’m fine! Just leave me alone!”

Smack!

Kousuke knocked my hand away, then climbed straight out the window and ran off.

What was up with him?

Well, whatever. Since I had the chance, I might as well try making various things out of origami. They could even come in handy for some magic experiments later.

＊ ＊ ＊

And so, several more months passed.

One winter night, while I am playing around by flying a paper-airplane-shaped familiar, I happened to witness a little incident.

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

---

Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next

---

True to her nature as a succubus, Manya’s appearance was incredibly lewd. She wore black leather bondage gear that cupped her bountiful breasts from both sides. The center was held together by nothing but a round ring, leaving her cleavage shamelessly exposed. Her tightly cinched waist was bare to the air, and a skimpy scrap of underwear dug deep into her buttocks.

The reason I’m going out of my way to describe all this is that I want you to understand my state of mind.

The moment Manya lunged at Mia, I cast a binding spell.

Magic is all about visualization.

Faced with a body that oozes such sex appeal, what kind of things would a man imagine? I mean, you can’t really blame me for having a few stray thoughts about bondage play, right? Right?

“Nn… Ah…!”

A rope of light materialized from thin air and instantly bound Manya tight. The rope crossed over her chest, deliberately accentuating the size of her bosom. It then secured her hands behind her back, threaded between her legs, and looped around her neck.

The more she struggled, the tighter it cinched, rubbing against her skin as it did so.

A moist, breathless gasp escaped Manya’s lips.

If a scene like this were uploaded to the internet, it would put even the biggest YouTubers to shame.

“Oniisan, this is a bit…”

Mia shot me a skeptical, narrow-eyed look.

N-No, wait. It’s a misunderstanding.

It’s not like I have a thing for BDSM or anything. It’s just… well, I sort of got carried away.

“Please switch back to a normal binding method.”

That’s a shame—I mean, understood.

I reconfigured the spell formula. Since casting it without an incantation might result in something lewd, I focused intently on the chant.

“—《Binding Spell: Bindry》・《I bind your limbs fast in shackles.》”

A rope of light slithered forward and wrapped tightly around only Manya’s hands and feet.

“Haa…”

Manya let out a sigh that sounded almost wistful, then turned her gaze toward me.

“Y-Yoshito-kun…?”

It seemed she had realized who I was.

“How could this be…? 《Binding Spell》 is magic from the other world…”

“Strange isn’t it?”

There was no reason for me to reveal my hand, so I decided to bury her in a rapid-fire explanation and leave her thoroughly confused.

“By the way, do you know the roots of the word ‘fushigi’—mystery? It’s actually a Buddhist term, *fukashigi*, representing the number 10 to the power of 80. The world is overflowing with mysteries on that scale, so whatever magic I might be using… it’s really no big deal, is it? Right?”

“Eh? Ah… yeah?”

“More importantly, there’s something I’m curious about. Even if you raise your favorability with me, that isn’t going to help you marry my old man. I mean, he’s going out of his way to keep me at arm’s length, isn’t he?”

“B-but everyone said it was ‘actually kind of a good idea’…”

“Everyone? Who, exactly?”

When I asked that, Manya listed four names.

Yue Ishirogi.

Aria El Samaria.

Miya Azhiro.

Makina Kaminagi.

In other words, they were all of my Old Man’s lovers except Manya herself.

Which led me to one rather obvious conclusion—

“Manya-san, are you being played?”

It was hardly a sophisticated scheme, but had the other lovers banded together to try to drive her out?

“…I knew that from the very beginning.”

Manya answered in a dark voice.

Then she glared sharply at me.

“But I had no other choice!”

She let out a hysterical scream.

“If I turned down everyone’s suggestion, it would’ve put me in an even worse position! There was nothing else I could do! —Ugh… uuuuh, waaahhhhhhh…”

And finally, she buried her face in the bedding and started crying.

I’d already put up a soundproof barrier, so at least we wouldn’t be disturbing the other guests. More importantly, though… What the hell was I supposed to do about this woman’s emotional instability?

『Hey, Oniisan.』

As I sat there deep in thought, Mia sent me a telepathic message.

『Check Manya-san’s stats for a second. Her mental state is in really bad shape.』

The last time I’d checked, it had been “[Mental] 80 (-65),” if I remembered correctly. It was probably the result of all the stress from being part of a harem, but…

Had it actually gotten worse?

I decided to use [Appraisal].

[Name] Manya Rafild [Gender] Female [Race] Succubus [Age] 33 years old [Title] Drifter [Contractor] Naoki Ishirogi [Stats] ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Level: 42 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Attack Power: 46 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Defense Power: 34 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Vitality: 75 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Magic Power: 105 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Mental Strength: 80(-65)(-15) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Agility: 54 [Abilities] Unknown [Skills] Unknown [Magic] Unknown [Status Ailment]  Derangement *The initial “-65” was due to her own stress, but that gruesome image from earlier seems to have been the final straw. “Hey lady, I don’t think going overboard is a good idea. Hmph!” (By Goddess Alcapa)

It’s been a long time since I last saw Alcapa’s name. Seeing it again gave me a strangely nostalgic feeling, but… “puffing with anger”? Really?

Anyway. My grotesque images really were that powerful, huh…

If they were responsible for Manya losing chunks of her memory and suddenly attacking Mia, then, uh…

『Am I actually the one at fault here?』

『I don’t think so.』

Mia immediately shot that down.

『The root cause was her putting herself in a harem in the first place, right? That wore down her mental strength by 65 points, and then the other members took advantage of her weakened state. Honestly, I think it’d be better to isolate her from her current relationships for a while.』

『Well, yeah. I suppose so.』

The question was whether we really had any obligation to go that far for her. After all, we were the victims here…

…Hmm?

Come to think of it, we hadn’t really suffered all that much.

Approached in the park → Called the police.

Spied on in our room → Drove her to a mental breakdown with grotesque images.

In retrospect, I might have overreacted a little because I was so wary of her. But considering how she’d been set up by the other members of the harem, I am starting to feel a little sorry for Manya.

Let’s see…

Right. It’s the fault of the old man who couldn’t keep his woman on a leash. Let’s just leave it at that.

Being a guy really sucks, doesn’t it?

Now, that brings me to the next point. How should I handle this woman, Manya Rafild?

The trouble is, she’s nothing but a walking problem. Suppose I separate her from the harem, just as Mia suggested. Where, then, could I possibly hide her?

We’re still just kindergarteners, we don’t have any connections. On the other hand, sending her back to the old man would be cruel—and besides, she knows far too much. She knows that I can use magic from the other world. That Mia is the Demon Lord’s daughter in her past life.

I want to keep both of those facts under wraps as much as possible.

A cool solution that satisfies every condition… Damn, I can only think of one. Killing her.

If she died, she’d be free of her troubles, and our secrets would remain safe. A perfect solution.

Yeah, right. The aftertaste of that would be absolutely horrible. I’m living this life for the sheer fun of it, so I’d like to find a slightly less awful option.

『Mia, got any good ideas?』

『Hmm… What about sending her back to the other world? But we don’t have any way to do that.』

『…Actually, I wonder about that.』

Manya-san had said earlier that she’d “failed to find a way back to her original world.” Which, if you looked at it another way, meant she had at least tried searching for one. Maybe there was some useful information buried in what she’d found.

It’s worth asking.

“Excuse me, can I ask you something?”

“Uuuh… What is it…? Just leave me alone…”

Ignoring her as she sulked like a child, I continued.

“Could you tell me everything you investigated while trying to get back to your original world? Maybe there’s something I can do to help.”

＊ ＊ ＊ 

Now, for one rather shocking revelation.

“Back then, I was researching a way to travel to the other world together with Naoki-sama and the others.”

I wondered if they had been doing it so they could send Manya back home. If that was the case, maybe the old man wasn’t quite the scumbag I’d thought he was.

“But ten years ago, Naoki-sama suddenly called the whole thing off. He told me, ‘Stay by my side forever,’ and I got so carried away… I was such an idiot. I should have kept researching it on my own, at the very least.”

I take back what I said.

He told her to stay by his side, and this is how things ended up? He left Manya to fend for herself even as she was being driven into a mental and emotional breakdown, and now the fallout had reached me. What kind of man does that?

If you’re going to take responsibility for someone, then see it through to the end.

“Apparently, everyone’s researching something else together now, but somewhere along the way, I was left out… Heh. I suppose that means I’m no longer needed. I already gave up every last scrap of knowledge I had about the other world, after all.”

Manya muttered bitterly, almost mocking herself.

“Maybe it’s because I had that huge cry just now, but I feel strangely refreshed. And now I can finally see it clearly. I was just being used.”

The way she spoke reminded me somewhat of Suika after the flag between her and my Old Man had been broken. 

Suika had described the old man as “the possessor of something utterly horrifying that draws members of the opposite sex into his orbit.” As his son, I supposedly had the power to cancel out that “something”…or maybe I didn’t. 

Surely I am overthinking things.

“So, Yoshito-kun, do you think you can find a way to send me back to the other world?”

“.…I don’t think we can do it right away.”

At the time, I am staring intently at the laptop I’d found among Manya’s belongings. The old man and the others’ research. A method for traveling to another world.

If I combined that with the knowledge from the other side, I thought we could probably bring it up to a practical level.

“Manya-san, would you mind if I made a copy of these materials?”

“In that case, I’ll just give you the whole laptop. It’s nothing but extra baggage for me now.”

“All right. I’ll take good care of it. I promise I’ll find a formula that can get you home, so please wait for me.”

“Do you think I can trust you?”

“I’m not like the old man. …Oh, right. If you’re leaving the harem, we should probably cancel the contract formula too, shouldn’t we?”

I reached out and placed a hand on Manya’s shoulder. I let my magic seep in through my fingertips, penetrating into her body.

“Nn, ngh… suddenly, inside… ah—”

Banish worldly desires.

Just like with Suika, why does she make such a sultry sound?

Oh well. I’ll keep the contract with the Old Man as it is on the surface, but set it up so Manya can cancel it whenever she wants. I could just cancel it right now, but that might make me look suspicious.

Alright.

Mission complete.

“Nn… is it over already…?”

It’s awkward when she looks at me with such longing eyes. Plus, I can feel Mia’s gaze piercing into my back. Looks like I’m in for a lecture later.

“To think you’d change the contract so easily… Yoshito-kun, just who are you?”

“It’s a mystery. By the way, the etymology of the word ‘mystery’ is—”

“So, you’re telling me not to pry. Understood.”

I’m glad you understand.

“Also, please keep Mia’s situation a secret, too.”

“Obviously. Even though I’ve been reborn, I’d never do anything to harm the Demon Lord’s daughter.”

“If you do spill the beans, this is what will happen to your body.”

I clenched my right hand into a fist, then opened it. Boom. I made a little explosion gesture.

“.…When you say it, Yoshito-kun, it doesn’t exactly sound like a joke.”

“Want to find out?”

“I think I’ll pass. I finally have a chance to get back to the other world, and I don’t intend to throw my life away.”

Please do. If Manya died, Mia would be sad too.

“Well then, I’ll be leaving a little earlier than planned.”

“Wouldn’t it be fine to leave tomorrow morning?”

“No. I can’t afford to take my time. Someone from the harem will probably come to eliminate me.”

What kind of lawless wasteland was this harem?

Talk about a battlefield…

Oh, enough with the jokes.

“Shall I lend you a hand?”

“No, I’m fine. I’m good at running away. I’ll just lie low somewhere and wait for the spell to finish… Oh, but that would mean I’m the only one benefiting, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s fine by me. Being kind to women is my hobby, after all.”

“No. I wouldn’t feel right about that.”

Manya stated this firmly.

“When you grow up, Yoshito-kun, you can do whatever you want with this body for a whole night—no, maybe even a whole week… Eek!?”

The reason she screamed wasn’t because an assassin had arrived—not at all.

“It’s quite alright, Aunt Manya.”

It was Mia. Mia was smiling, yet an aura of overwhelming intimidation radiated from her entire being.

“My brother is offering out of the kindness of his heart, so please just accept it. Okay?”

An aura of killing intent as cold as absolute zero. The air was thick with an atmosphere that could only be described as the majestic presence of a Demon Lord.

“Y-yes.”

Manya shrank back, cowering, and gave an awkward reply… or so it seemed.

Swish. Seizing a split-second opening, she quickly traced a pattern onto my left hand.

Then, she whispered.

“I’ve bestowed my protection upon you. There are succubi in this world, too, but you should be able to repel their charms.”

＊ ＊ ＊

That very night, the woman dressed in black bondage gear left the city. 

She headed north, running, running, running.

But then—

“Stop right there, Manya Rafild.”

A black-haired woman intercepted her along the way.

“Not only did you approach Yoshito-sama without permission, you even caused trouble with the police. Even Oniisama is appalled by your stupidity.”

She looked to be in her late twenties. She was somewhat tall for a woman, dressed in traditional white Japanese clothing.

I remembered seeing photographs of her back when I was living at home. She’s my Old Man’s younger sister, Ishirogi Yue.

“I have a message from Oniisama. ―『Honestly, I never thought much of the idea of having a non-virgin woman who’d already borne another man’s child around.』

I happen to agree. Any woman who has known a man other than Oniisama has no business being at his side.”

Yue brandished that utterly self-serving logic without the slightest hesitation, and then—

“Fall into the underworld, you whore. If you have anyone to blame, blame yourself for being foolish enough to fall for our smooth talk.”

It happened in an instant. Yue swung her right arm down, and the woman in bondage was torn into three pieces. Her head, upper body, and lower body. Each piece turned into red particles and dissolved into the air.

“.…How anticlimactic. I didn’t even need to use my power.”

After watching it happen, Yue left with a satisfied look on her face.

Now then. Time for the big reveal.

The person who was just killed wasn’t actually Manya. It was a high-quality fake. And, of course, I was the one who made it. I had been broadcasting everything through its eyes and ears this whole time.

In other words, Ishirogi Yue had been completely fooled.

Someday, I’d love to bring Manya right in front of her and tease her with, “So, how does it feel!?”

The real Manya is still hiding somewhere in the city, and she is supposed to leave for somewhere else tomorrow morning. I hastily crafted and given her a magic item that would help conceal her identity, so she’d probably be fine.

I used [Appraisal] on her just before we parted ways, and the negative modifier on her mental state was gone.

After we finished talking with Manya, we quietly made our way home.

It was already past midnight.

“Well then, Mia. Good night.”

I put one foot on the ladder of the bunk bed.

“Wait, Oniisan.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Today… um, thanks.”

“For researching the return formula? It’s no big deal. Besides, it sounds interesting.”

“That too, but… Oniisan, you said you’d protect me, right? And when Aunt Manya actually attacked me, you really did come to my rescue.”

Mia’s voice gradually trailed off until she was mumbling so quietly that I could barely make out what she was saying.

A long silence followed. Then, as though she had finally made up her mind—

“Oniisan, you can sleep down here tonight.”

She said it.

“Then you’ll sleep up here?”

“No. I’ll sleep down here too.”

What did she mean by that?

I suddenly found myself confused.

And then Mia—

“It’s a reward for all your hard work—your cute little sister is going to sleep right next to you. …You wouldn’t mind that, would you?”

She asked with a hint of uncertainty.

Naturally, my answer was already decided. That night, we slept side by side.

Perhaps Mia felt a sense of rivalry toward Manya.

　＊ ＊ ＊

A few days later.

A certain airplane crashed somewhere in the mountains of Europe. More than two hundred passengers and crew members were all listed as dead or missing.

Among the names on that list were Naoki Ishirogi and Yue Ishirogi. However, no bodies were ever found.

Just to be clear, I wasn’t the one who did it.

Seriously. I am not.

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

---

Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next

---

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

---

Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next

---

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…

[Name] Takahiro Sasayama [Gender] Male [Race] Human [Age] 28 years old [Occupation] Police Officer [Rank] Police Sergeant [Title] Idol Worshipper [Stats] ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Level: 6 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Attack Power: 6 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Defense Power: 6 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Vitality: 7 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Magic Power: 0 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Mental Strength: 10 (+30)(+30) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Agility: 8 [Abilities] ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Idol Worship VIII (His obsession with idols has reached the level of religious devotion. A significant bonus to Mental Strength. Also grants an additional bonus when making resistance checks against charm-type skills.) [Skills] ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Karate VI, Judo IV, Kendo IV, others unknown

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.

[Name] Kawakime [Gender] Male [Race] Ghost Eye [Age] 3 hours [Master] Manya Rafild [Rank] Police Sergeant [Title] None [Stats] ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Level: 1 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Attack Power: 1 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Defense Power: 1 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Vitality: 2 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Magic Power: 10 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Mental Strength: 5(-1) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Agility: 10 [Abilities] ∙∙∙∙Information Gathering I: Transmits auditory and visual information to the master [Skills] Concealment III, Levitation III [Status Ailment] Dry Eye: Negative modifier to mental strength

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

---

Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next

---

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.

[Name] Manya Rafild [Gender] Female [Race] Succubus [Age] 33 years old [Title] Drifter [Contractor] Naoki Ishirogi [Stats] ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Level: 42 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Attack Power: 46 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Defense Power: 34 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Vitality: 75 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Magic Power: 105 ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Mental Strength: 80(-65) ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ Agility: 54 [Abilities] Unknown [Skills] Unknown [Magic] Unknown [Status Ailment] Unknown

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

---

Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next

---