“Okay, it’s time for cla.s.s,” lazily said Torii Mitsuko, a teacher. “Isn’t it great that nothing really happened even though that meteor hit?”

She laughed and the students laughed loudly along with her.

“That demon king sure summoned something terrible.”

“And Brave died keeping it from doing too much damage, right?”

The cla.s.sroom filled with various voices.

“But when I saw the meteor hit, I thought I was dead for sure,” carelessly said Mitsuko. “I don’t know when exactly everything recovered, though.”

It seemed everything was as it was a few days after Akuto had transferred in.

Akuto and Junko had started attending cla.s.ses partway through, but Mitsuko-sensei’s att.i.tude and the curious looks turned Akuto’s way told them what everyone thought had happened.

It seemed a lot of them were not aware they had died. Some things likely felt out of place to them, but the world had not changed and there was no threat of war. Their lives were no different than when they had been alive, so there may not have been any point in realizing they were dead.

More importantly, Akuto was completely surprised by how his cla.s.smates treated him. His magical skill had not weakened any, but they did not fear him as the demon king.

The magical cla.s.ses and standard cla.s.ses were easy for him. The looks of envy his cla.s.smates gave him were nice, but that was nothing compared to how wonderful it felt to be treated like a human.

“That transfer student is amazing.”

“I can see why the cla.s.s rep has fallen for him. Aren’t you his fiancée? Way to go.”

“H-hey! Stop that!”

Junko blushed and argued back, but when she hid her face in embarra.s.sment, she did so in the shirt on Akuto’s chest. Their experiences together that went beyond mere battlefields seemed to have added to her love for Akuto because she had begun honestly expressing her feelings for him. This was of course not a bad thing for Akuto.

“Maybe we should get a little more used to being together,” he said with a smile.

When their cla.s.smates whistled with no intention of making fun, he could only shrug with a satisfied expression.

“How could I ever get used to being with someone as dangerous as you?” spat back Junko to hide her embarra.s.sment.

The others gasped and backed away.

Once cla.s.s ended, Etou Fujiko ran in with frightening speed and leaped toward Akuto because she had heard what had happened.

“Akuto-samaaaa! I missed yoooouuuu!”

Fujiko was usually graceful, so this great energy sent a stir through the students. To her, this was a reunion after much hardship and thus crying or weeping would only be natural, but it looked like a sudden madness to the students.

“W-wait, Fujiko-san.”

Akuto grew fl.u.s.tered and she seemed to regain some of her calm. She adjusted her disheveled uniform and cleared her throat toward the surrounding students.

“Ahem. I apologize. You see, Akuto-sama is my childhood friend. We were neighbors and we would often move between each other’s second story windows.”

The secret wink she gave Akuto made it clear she was making this up on the spot.

—This is just like when Keena reverted the world before.

He now accepted the truth of Lily’s words. Those deeply involved in the situation had not lost their memories and the others had their memories missing or altered. Also, Fujiko had arrived in this world ahead of him and she had noticed the difference in what the people who came later said.

“Um, Fujiko-san?”

“Oh, come on, Akuto-sama. …Oh, I use ‘-sama’ because he is the man who should lead this empire. When we were together, he would refer to me as his sister and I would simply call him Akuto.”

Fujiko raised her voice so the surrounding people could hear, but this was the first Akuto had heard of this too. Both boys and girls let out cries and they could not hide their jealousy toward Akuto.

“W-wait. Stop clinging to him like that! Etou-san!”

Junko charged out of the crowd and it was obvious the situation was about to grow even more complicated, but Fujiko calmly wrapped her arm around Akuto’s and spoke in an obviously teasing tone of voice.

“Oh, Hattori-san…no, Junko-chan. You need to try to get along. After all, polygamy is normal in this world. Akuto-sama can have four or five wives without issue!”

“Give it a rest, Etou-san.”

Junko frowned in displeasure and brought a hand to the wooden sword at her waist, but she froze in place when she noticed her cla.s.smates’ reaction.

“I had a feeling that would happen.”

“I don’t like it, but I could see Sai marrying both Etou-san and the cla.s.s rep.”

“Maybe I should be Sai-kun’s wife too.”

All of them were making similar comments.

“You have to be kidding me,” said Junko blankly.

Akuto also turned toward Fujiko.

Fujiko embraced his head and whispered to him.

“It’s true. Polygamy has been conveniently allowed for our sake. You only need to marry us and we will truly be husband and wives. Then we can live together with no one getting in our way.”

Her s.e.xual tone of voice told him just how long Fujiko had been waiting for this.

“Students are only allowed a proper and moral married life,” cut in a sudden voice.

It belonged to Yoshie who had cut through the ring of students. She wore a lab coat over a suit, so it was obvious she had been in the middle of work. In her normal life, she was a genius who had graduated school early and already worked as a priest.

“Kita-san.”

Akuto was thankful to her for slowing Fujiko down because he had no idea what Fujiko would have done otherwise, but Yoshie waved her hand.

“ ‘Kita-san’? Don’t be so formal. We’re about to get married, after all.”

Yoshie gave a mischievous smile. The other day, she had said there were “a lot of differences”, but she had been hiding that this was the largest one.

Hearing that, Akuto and Junko completely forgot it was safest to hide the fact that their memories differed from everyone else’s.

“Married!?”

“Ha ha. Did you forget the date, Akuto-kun? You already have all the credits you need here, so hurry up and pa.s.s the exam so you can graduate. Any temple would be willing to take you. They’ve been trying to create a position for you since you aren’t bound to any specific sect.”

Yoshie quickly provided several new facts for Akuto.

He had difficulty handling all the new information, but he began to realize his former dream was being granted here. It still did not feel real, but he felt it would be easier to preserve this happiness by fulfilling the job he was being given here than doing anything from his previous experiences.

—This was my dream before transferring to this school and before being told I was a demon king.

An enrapturing possibility lay before him. He could help others, he had more than enough power to do so, and he had three girls who truly understood him and loved him. What more could he ask for?

“Is this really okay?” he said to no one in particular.

“Of course it is.”

“It is.”

Yoshie and Fujiko nodded with large smiles covering their faces.

Seeing that, Junko’s stiff expression gradually loosened up.

“I-I am not sure what to say… Could you all stop this? It is kind of embarra.s.sing.”

She covered her face with her arms and began to tremble.

“Don’t cry. You look like you only just now learned what happiness is,” cruelly teased Yoshie.

“There’s nothing I can really say,” said Akuto with an embarra.s.sed smile.

One of the surrounding cla.s.smates began clapping and the applause eventually spread out into the hallway. It sounded like a popular singer was on stage.

“Oh, right. My new home was just finished, so I came to invite you all.”

Yoshie waved her raised thumb to say to head outside.

The crowd parted to form a path and they saw Akuto and the girls off with a smile. If they had not been in school, they would have scattered flowers overhead.

The four of them pa.s.sed through the human arch and arrived on the schoolyard. Yoshie walked toward a land car stopped behind the school and a group called out to them from a seldom-used pa.s.sageway.

The group of male students did not wear their uniforms properly and they had eccentric hairstyles that seemed intended to threaten those around them.

—I guess it isn’t all happiness.

Akuto looked toward the largest boy who appeared to be the leader.

All of them could only be described as delinquents and that large boy with the most brutal-looking face walked toward him.

“I don’t like it. I just don’t. People like us have nothing and then there’s people like you who have everything.”

Akuto recalled the name of this boy who had a deep voice.

—Takeshi. That takes me back.

On Fujiko’s instructions, he had been the first one to pick a fight with Akuto when they had been alive.

Akuto turned to Fujiko, but she shook her head and whispered that he had nothing to do with her.

“I see. A fight, is it? Yeah, you want a fight. Now, how should I handle this?”

Akuto smiled from the bottom of his heart. He felt oddly relieved that someone was willing to oppose him even here. If everything went too well, it made him worry. However, this meant he would still experience conflict and not everything would go his way. That was certainly a part of being happy.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ve seen a h.e.l.l that a sheltered boy like you couldn’t even imagine. You can’t stand up to us in a neat and tidy way.”

Takeshi did not seem to consider losing a possibility and a s.a.d.i.s.tic smile appeared on his face.

—Oh, he’s hiding a special baton and an incantation gun. And the rest of them are planning to attack on his signal. Two have knives and the rest have bats or crowbars.

Akuto instantly saw through their intentions and what they hid underneath their clothes and he understood how skilled they were at magic. Knowing all that, he smiled toward Takeshi.

“I don’t feel like getting into the details, but I suggest you stop this. You won’t gain anything from this.”

“Heh heh heh.” Takeshi laughed while ignoring the warning and approaching with a swaying gait. “Oh, I’ll gain from this. You’ll be the one that loses something here.”

Takeshi’s followers laughed out loud and he threw a punch without warning.

It was a surprise attack, but Akuto dodged it simply by tilting his head.

“That’s dangerous, you know?”

His complete lack of fear angered Takeshi.

“Looks like you’re a fast little b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”

He jerked his chin toward his followers and they formed a large circle around Akuto and the girls. They were planning to rush in all at once.

“Cowards,” said Junko with a grimace.

The followers gave perverted grins when they saw Junko’s att.i.tude.

“Oh, oh. You’re a cute one.”

“Don’t be scared. We don’t hit girls. We just make sure they have a good time.”

Their vulgar laughs changed the look on Junko’s face. She looked on the verge of reaching for her real sword rather than the wooden one.

“Don’t kill them.” Akuto shook his head. “Leave it to me.”

In her current state, Junko could defeat the entire group, but she might kill them while she was at it.

“But…” she mumbled.

“Don’t worry. I have plenty of experience and I know defeating them would only leave a grudge. Which means…”

Takeshi seemed unable to resist as Akuto talked on and on.

“Shut the h.e.l.l up!” he shouted with a swing of his right hand.

It was a large hook that would be easy to dodge.

But there was a trick to it. The punch was just for show and the real attack was the special baton hidden up his sleeve. If Akuto dodged the hook by tilting his head like before, the baton would hit him when it protruded from the sleeve.

Akuto caught on from the beginning, so he stepped forward, grabbed Takeshi’s arm, lightly twisted, and tossed him into the air. Rather than tearing off the boy’s arm, he threw his entire body through the air.

“Hyah?”

He let out a questioning cry as he flew. Flight techniques were some of the more difficult ones even for students of a magic school, so a delinquent who did not take his studies seriously could not use them when taken by surprise. Takeshi seemed to be swallowed up by the blue sky much like the beach ball in a dolphin show.

“Eh?”

The instant of surprise created a fatal opening in the followers.

Akuto instantly moved in front of them and lightly jabbed his fist into their solar plexuses. He had held back quite a bit, but they still collapsed from pain as he appeared in front of them.

In the end, all eight of them were rolling or groaning on the ground before Takeshi fell back down.

When Takeshi finally fell, Akuto grabbed the nape of his neck with one hand and flicked his forehead with his other index finger. Takeshi’s head rotated halfway around on his thick neck and his harshly shaken brain ceased functioning for just an instant. In other words, he had pa.s.sed out.

Akuto casually placed Takeshi next to the other delinquents and nodded in satisfaction.

“Not killing them is fine…but won’t they still hold a grudge?” asked Junko in exasperation.

“They’ll at least think twice about picking a fight with me again. And I have an idea about how to deal with this afterwards.”

“What’s that?”

“A religion…I guess. I just have to bring back a traditional one,” he explained with extreme indifference. “They lack empathy for others and don’t think about the consequences. I just have to give people like that something to live for. As long as they have that, this kind of person will blindly follow it. Those traditional religions existed for those who didn’t think about anything and could not accept suffering as their own responsibility.”

“Will that really work?”

Junko was taken aback by Akuto’s att.i.tude. She was still not used to how terribly cruel he could be.

“People blindly followed the current system, but now they should be able to believe in the existence of something closer to being a real G.o.d, right? After all, nothing makes sense unless we a.s.sume someone created this world of the afterlife. They just have to start studying theology.”

He pulled out his student handbook and contacted Student Council President Lily.

Lily’s father was a high priest, so he had the authority. Based on the past data and the current governance, recreating a traditional religion would be easy.

Akuto nodded in satisfaction at finding a job for himself.

“I don’t know what has happened to the concept of time here, but the education will take several years.”

He spoke it like a prophecy. It was actually a prediction, but he knew he was not wrong in this.

“Several years? Won’t you graduate before then?” asked Junko.

“Oh? Akuto-sama is already about to graduate. And once he does, our new life begins. We have a new home prepared, don’t we?”

Fujiko turned toward Yoshie as if to urge her to speak.

“That’s right. How about we get going?”

Yoshie began walking.

They boarded a train at the academy station and travelled two stations away. Yoshie entered a high-rise building not far from the center of the capital. The security on the ground floor was strict and the automatic door had a lock that only allowed those with a certain level of conduct to enter. The building contained living s.p.a.ces for only a select few.

“The sixtieth floor is our home. That’s the very top floor,” explained Yoshie as she pressed the elevator b.u.t.ton.

Akuto looked around the ground floor and saw a shopping mall with quite a few tenants such as a boutique, a café, and a jewelry store. A single floor was quite large.

“The entire floor?”

“It doesn’t stand out as much as a mansion and we don’t have to worry about stairs in the living s.p.a.ce. The yard is artificial, but it has fish tanks and flower beds. It would be a nice place for pets.”

The b.u.t.ton for the top floor was locked so only Akuto and the girls could press it. Yoshie took the lead and opened the door. It led to a modernistic s.p.a.ce filled with straight lines which was what they were most used to as a living s.p.a.ce.

“Our individual rooms and Akuto-kun’s room are separate. Each room has its own closet and bathroom, so they have everything we need. There’s of course a living room and there’s a courtyard, large bath, and pool as well, so we can spend our time there. That just leaves…”

As Yoshie explained the different rooms, she gained a mischievous smile and placed her hand on the door to the final room.

“The bedroom.”

It contained a luxurious rococo-style double bed with a canopy. Further in were a gla.s.s-walled shower room and a sauna. A mirror covered the ceiling and the indirect lighting caused everything to shine orange.

“What is…this?” muttered Junko while blushing.

“Not bad!” exclaimed Fujiko in a high-pitched and emotional voice. “This bedroom will belong to Akuto-sama and me, won’t it!?”

But Yoshie immediately rejected that idea.

“We all share this room.”

“We share it?”

“Yeah. We’ll all use it.”

“As in a foursome?”

“If that’s what everyone is into. I would be…fine with it I suppose. Yeah, I’m up for it.”

“I am not into that,” replied Fujiko. “I must take Akuto-sama for myself.”

“In that case, we can divide it up by time…or take turns.”

As Fujiko and Yoshie began that questionable discussion, Junko cut in while completely fl.u.s.tered.

“H-hey! What are you talking about!?”

“You can’t tell? We’re trying to decide our policy on reproductive activities,” answered Yoshie. “This isn’t exactly a normal situation, so we need to come to an agreement ahead of time.”

“Stop trying to act so pure,” added Fujiko. “You want him to make love to you too, don’t you?”

Both girls let out an irritated snort.

“B-but…”

Junko could not find anything to say, but she let out a shout when she noticed Akuto trying to sneak away.

“This is only happening because you are so worthless! We need to hold a proper marriage ceremony between all of us! Once we do that, I will not complain!”

That changed the look on Yoshie and Fujiko’s faces. The neon pink aura surrounding them transformed into the rose-colored aura of a maiden.

“Marriage!

“A wedding!”

“And the consummation thereof!”

“Call it a marriage ceremony!”

Spurred on by Junko, the girls headed for the living room without Akuto. Wondering what this sudden change meant, he followed, but he only found the three girls lying on the living room sofa together and watching a guide to nearby wedding halls on a mana screen. He simply could not understand what was going on, so he shrugged, returned to the bedroom, and closed the door.

That evening, a strange but (to Akuto) relaxing new life began.

During the day, he worked on his studies and on establishing the new religion he was tentatively calling the “Church of Purity”. At night, he was taken care of by the three girls who returned home at about the same time as him.

Even if he already knew them quite well, living with them meant learning of the more unexpected sides of them.

Yoshie was more sociable than he had expected and she had a habit of clinging to Fujiko and Junko as well as him. She could also be selfish and do things on a whim. When she was lost in the research she performed on the computer installed in her room, she would not come out no matter who called for her. When Fujiko had jokingly tickled the back of her neck to draw her attention, she had grown seriously angry.

Fujiko was just about what he had expected, but she also had a way of being too open with someone she trusted and it could reach the point of laziness. If she was in a good mood, she would do the cooking, laundry, cleaning, and other ch.o.r.es, but if she was not in the mood, she would leave it all to Junko. She would also leave snack bags and uneaten food sitting around. Not only that, she would grow angry and insist she was still planning to eat it if someone threw it away. Nevertheless, she wanted Akuto to be the perfect man and he was the type to live up to her expectations, so it was always Yoshie and Junko who got angry at her.

Junko was Junko, so her clean-freak side showed itself almost immediately. She would complain about doing all the housework herself, but she was the first to grow fed up with anything being untidy. She also could not relax unless she personally cleaned the areas they had hired people to handle, so she always ended up doing the cleaning and laundry before the hired service’s next cycle had arrived. She hated eating out and she insisted on buying ingredients herself to ensure their food was nutritionally balanced. However, she did not like opening up to others, so she would always tear Fujiko and Yoshie away from Akuto when they clung to him and yet she would not take that place herself. On occasion, however, she would keep a set distance from him and breathe heavily while giving heated looks in his direction. She was something like an in-house stalker. Fujiko found this creepy and even tried to get the two of them to embrace, but she was always left sighing in exasperation when Junko would struggle and run away.

Despite the problems, Akuto enjoyed this life. After all, he could improve it by putting some effort into it. By helping Junko with the ch.o.r.es, he could increase his contact with her without her feeling uncomfortable, he gave Fujiko work to do beyond her studies which added order into her daily life, and he held late-night conversations with Yoshie that the other girls could not keep up with in order to distance them from s.e.xual topics.

Normally, all this activity would have drained a man of energy, but Akuto could manage it. This allowed the days to fly by peacefully.

Their wedding was a grand event. They had argued over which religion’s style to use, so they had ultimately decided to do all of them.

They rented out an event hall and the three girls appeared in wedding dresses and backed by a live orchestra. The guests were limited to friends and family, but the guest seats were still completely filled. The beauty of the three brides was enough to take Akuto’s breath away.

The most excitement naturally came at the kiss of their vows. Yoshie and Fujiko gave him a smooth kiss and an enthusiastic kiss respectively, but Junko seemed to have hesitated up to that very last moment.

“I-in front of all these people?” she asked.

Fujiko said it was only natural and even Akuto told her to she should have been prepared for this.

What ultimately allowed her to make up her mind was what Akuto said next.

“I know this is your first kiss, so don’t you want it to be in the best possible place?”

After that, Junko closed her eyes and quietly accepted his lips.

They finished the ceremony that used traditional eastern wedding garb and the reception went well. By the time they left by car, the sun was setting. They had no honeymoon, but they all felt on top of the world once they arrived home that night.

They had everything they could want.

They had a never-ending supply of whatever money could buy.

Even the weather was nice.

Akuto even had the love and adventure that all the rich wanted but that could not be bought.

These were golden days.

They ate, drank, laughed, grew angry, and loved each other.

The nights were the most stimulating part for someone as young as Akuto.

The three girls took turns sharing the bed with him for a night. They had drawn lots and decided on the order of Junko, Fujiko, and Yoshie.

On the first night, Junko hid her face behind her hands. They had been naked in a bed together once before, but that had been a bizarre situation in which they were forced to recreate the events of a novel in a virtual alternate dimension.

Akuto began by mentioning that.

“I poked at your flower petals with my finger, didn’t I?”

Junko laughed and finally took her hands from her face.

After exchanging a glance and smiling, an awkward silence fell.

“Are we really doing this?” asked Junko.

“I want to,” said Akuto.

With an embarra.s.sed smile, he held her tightly in his arms.

From there, they were too preoccupied to speak. She lay below him, they tightly wrapped their arms and legs around each other, and they pressed their bodies together to the point that they could not see each other’s faces. Akuto could do nothing but feel the wetness grow on their lower parts and he wondered if he needed to perform the actions he had seen in p.o.r.n. However, Junko said nothing as the tips of their mucous membranes touched, so he began to lower his hips.

But then Junko squirmed and slid up the bed. He felt holding her head would be too forceful, so he moved up along with her. When the tip touched Junko again, the slimy sensation sent a tingling down his spine.

She let out a quick, sharp breath and squirmed up the bed again. He followed once more and that wordless process repeated several times.

It finally came to an end when Junko’s head struck the headboard.

“Ow…” she said as she came back to her senses.

Akuto laughed and she gave a bitter smile.

“I-it isn’t that I’m unwilling,” she said.

She let go of his body, spread out the shifted blanket and sheets, and returned to their original position. Akuto also crawled back to his original position.

They embraced each other again and Junko gave a quick shriek. Their lower parts touched and the coldness surprised Akuto as well.

“S-so this is what it feels like. I had never thought about it.”

Their surprising wetness bewildered Junko and Akuto nodded in agreement.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

This time, she gave a small nod.

He lowered his hips and felt as if his entire body was being enveloped, but then he felt some resistance.

She let out a small moan and her arms and legs tightened around him.

He stopped moving, but she whispered to him.

“Keep going.”

He wrapped his arms around her head, let her wrap her legs around his waist, and lowered his body down.

Junko arched her back as if showing him her throat.

The theory behind time travel was one thing, but actually doing it was not difficult. Once the Brave suit’s mode was changed, he only needed to enter a number and a place and he would be taken there.

However, that proved this time travel had been used many times already and that meant it was highly likely Bouichirou was telling the truth.

—His methods were the problem.

As his first target, Hiroshi chose the laboratory Fujiko had found. That was the birthplace of the modern mana civilization. With all the doc.u.ments they had, determining the date was easy. It also told him what doc.u.ments and data he could destroy to prevent the research from advancing. Mana research had found it difficult to receive funding back then, so they could not afford even a small delay.

He entered the laboratory while still wearing the Brave suit. It had a security guard, but he had not been armed with a gun. Hiroshi knocked out the guard with a laser set to the lowest power setting.

He searched for the doc.u.ments and the computer with the corresponding data on it. In this age, data was always printed out and filed, so his only option was to burn down the entire room.

There was nothing explosive in the room, so piling up the computers and doc.u.ments and setting the latter alight was the most efficient method.

Hiroshi stacked up the doc.u.ments and roughly placed the computers on top. He destroyed the fire alarm sensors with his monomolecular cutter before using a laser to set fire to the doc.u.ments, melt the plastic computer cases, and ensure the fire was spreading.

It turned out he had to burn the remaining three rooms as well, but someone must have noticed the fire and reported it because policemen with weapons arrived while he was working on the final room.

—Is it possible I’ll have to kill them?

He was worried, but it turned out to be a needless fear. The police were only armed with revolvers using physical bullets, so he easily handled them. He could not use a mana screen, but he set the lasers to auto and had them vaporize the bullets.

This frightened the police and they fortunately did not resist any further.

—I don’t want to go so far as to kill them.

But then another thought came to him.

—Wasn’t I supposed to be saving mankind?

That made him shudder.

His actions here were a crime even by his own standards. He was opposing the police and burning doc.u.ments and computers. He felt these actions were not as far removed from murder as he would like to think.

—Bouichirou probably went as far as murder.

Sacrificing a minority would save the majority. It was a simple calculation.

However, that was a decision that was never approved of in a story.

It was possible this world was someone’s story. Even so…no, for that very reason, the decision made with a simple calculation could not be approved of. That was how ethics worked. The world was filled with stories of people weighing their lover against all mankind and choosing to save their lover, but that was originally not something that should be allowed to spread.

But because the people had accepted that story, what he was doing would never be accepted by them.

Guilt brought a chill to his spine and his feeling of isolation accelerated it.

He completed his work as the police watched on and he immediately had the Brave suit return him to his original location.

“I have to give you up for a whole two days in a row!”

Fujiko clung to Akuto while speaking as if it were torture.

“Can’t you think of it as ‘only two days’?”

“No, it is a whole two days,” she complained.

She lay on the bed wearing the black lingerie she had prepared for this day and she spread her arms toward him with sparkles in her eyes.

She acted like someone who was perfectly accustomed to it all, but he knew she had grilled Junko after her turn.

“What did it feel like when he made love to you?” she had asked.

“His you-know-what had to have been pretty formidable,” Yoshie had added.

“How long did the pain last? …No, this is not about my experience. I am only asking because Akuto-sama’s is special.”

Junko had of course not been able to answer them and their questioning had eventually become something akin to torture.

And if Fujiko had done that, she was clearly not as experienced as she pretended to be.

However, that did not mean Akuto could relax. When he had done it with Junko, both of them had been too overwhelmed to do anything extra and they had not even considered it, but this time was different. He was worried about putting too much of an unnecessary burden on Fujiko.

His hands crept along her body as they embraced and he spoke up unexpectedly.

“There are a surprising number of differences between different people’s bodies.”

“What?” protested Fujiko. “P-please do not mention other girls right now!”

“S-sorry. I just felt you…um…have a much more feminine body.”

Fujiko had a unique softness to her that made him feel like he could sink down into it forever. This contrasted the resilience of Junko’s body that seemed to press back out from within. He decided he needed to use different methods when touching their bodies.

He was unsure if his comment had been effective or if he should have kept his mouth shut, but Fujiko did not resist any further.

He leaned his body weight on her large body and his upper body was enveloped by the sensation of plunging into water and being covered in lukewarm oil.

He touched every part of Fujiko’s body and his touches were more of a groping than a caress. He focused on the parts of her that produced lovely cries from her and she soon brought her hands to his body.

Her fingers traced from his side to his hips. She extremely awkwardly held his lower part in her hand and moved it in order to guide it to its rightful place. After he adjusted his body’s position and lowered his hips, he felt a strange new sensation as if his entire body were tightly enveloped by mucous membranes.

The two of them trembled in ecstasy, but it was Fujiko who began moving first.

With a suggestive smile, she thrust up from below.

He had supposedly eliminated the source of the mana civilization, but the past had not changed.

No, it technically had changed.

“The origin of the mana civilization changed?” asked Hiroshi.

“It is not that the laboratory’s data was salvaged,” answered Bouichirou. “A researcher who was off duty received some data by email and managed to use that to develop mana on his own. That is now the moving tale told in history books.”

Bouichirou gave a thin smile. It looked like a devilish smile yet it also looked kind. Either way, the smile showed he had known this would happen.

That enraged Hiroshi.

“The security should have made it impossible for that researcher to receive the data by email!”

Bouichirou shrugged.

“Yes. I am well aware of that. But no one has any way of knowing that now. That’s how history works.”

“Do you really have to act like the story was fabricated?’

“But it was fabricated. It really was.”

“Really?”

That unexpected statement caused Hiroshi’s eyes to open wide.

“Yes. Only those involved can truly know history. We were not there, so all we can know is the historical information that someone could have forcibly rewritten.”

“That means anything could be made into the truth!” shouted Hiroshi.

“There is no such thing as truth. At least, there isn’t if this world really is a story.”

“Then does relate to the theory of time you explained to me before?”

“Yes. If you change something, something else is inserted at an appropriate point somewhere else. It is changed by someone.”

It was hard to believe, but Bouichirou had no reason to lie as Hiroshi would be able to confirm for himself whether it was true or not.

If that “someone” was the Law of Ident.i.ty, she was being quite cruel. If her intent was to prevent the world from being changed, she would be sending the world toward destruction. If her intent was to prevent the world from being destroyed, it would be best for her to support Hiroshi’s attempts.

While thinking on that, Hiroshi felt a dark emotion welling up within him.

If he killed someone or changed history in an important and definitive way, it was possible not even the Law of Ident.i.ty could prevent it. He was reluctant to kill, but it would not be a problem if this truly was the afterlife. (He had no proof it was, though.) He would only be changing the timing in which that person arrived and it made murder feel less definitive. Also, if he could end it all with a single sacrifice…

“By the way, did you ever succeed in killing an important individual?” asked Hiroshi as a challenge.

Bouichirou understood what he meant and gave a strange smile.

However, the two of them did not exchange any more words.

When Yoshie’s turn came, she had to have been quite nervous, but it seemed her curiosity won out.

She stared intently at and touched Akuto’s body. She especially enjoyed the way that one specific part of him reacted.

“I already had all the knowledge, but seeing it in person really is different.”

She was wrapped in a blanket with only her hands and head sticking out while Akuto sat naked on the bed and she toyed with the front of his body.

“Do you really have to toy with it like that?” complained Akuto.

“But I have to know all about it,” she calmly answered.

Hearing that, he could not help but grow a bit mean.

“In that case, we should both get to know all about each other.”

He reached around to her back and pulled away the blanket.

“Hyah.”

With her white skin exposed, she squirmed and tried to hide herself, but he pulled the blanket around himself such that it pulled her forward to embrace him.

“I expected you to be the type who wouldn’t get embarra.s.sed when she’s naked.”

“Of course I’m going to be embarra.s.sed given the situation. …Try to be more sensitive.”

She blushed, but he did not hold back. He placed the blanket over both of their heads and held down her legs.

“I already had all the knowledge, but seeing it in person really is different.”

He repeated her line as he placed his hand on her corresponding body part.

“Fine, I’m sorry for saying that.”

She squirmed, but she could not hope to match his strength.

“All I’m doing is rubbing between your toes.”

“Are you going to claim that’s between my two big toes?”

“It’s an old joke, I know. But I’m surprised how ready you are down here.”

He laughed and embraced her face-to-face.

“You’re just plain mean,” she said.

“Mean? I’ve been called pure evil.”

Without giving her time to prepare, he lowered his body down.

She let out a wordless cry that was a mixture of surprise and a different feeling.

Hiroshi shot down the black magician woman who was fleeing with a baby named Akuto.

After making sure Akuto was dead, he averted his gaze from the corpse of the infant that had been crushed by the fall.