Baka-Tsuki - User contributions [en]

File:ZnT17-085.jpg

2018-04-19T04:01:50Z

Mard: Mard uploaded a new version of File:ZnT17-085.jpg

User talk:J2270A

2015-08-18T08:05:10Z

Mard: /* Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha */

==Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha==

Hello! I think you visited my page before, so I came by to say hello! Let me know if you are going to translate Volume 3, I'll make way for the epilogue because I have my exams right now and it's restricting my tl-ing speed! I wish you all the best! [[User:Rozenbach|Rozenbach]] ([[User talk:Rozenbach|talk]]) 04:12, 19 April 2015 (CDT)

will be doing bits and pieces at a time.[[User:Zexth|Zexth]] ([[User talk:Zexth|talk]]) 05:57, May 18, 2015 (GMT-6)

I jus want to say I really appreciate your work translating this series. I'm just curious as to why you decided to translate parts of other volumes instead of finishing one whole volume at a time? -([[User:Omegalock|Omegalock]] ([[User talk:Omegalock|talk]]) 16:38, 11 June 2015 (UTC))

Since season of the anime is coming out soon, and my speed will be slowing down a lot, I'm mainly doing the parts that will most likely be cut short or simplified first, hence the 'not in order' work. [[User:J2270A|J2270A]] ([[User talk:J2270A#top|talk]]) 18:31, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

Ooh ok that makes sense now. That is pretty cool. -([[User:Omegalock|Omegalock]] ([[User talk:Omegalock|talk]]) 07:52, 16 June 2015 (UTC))

Hi there! Looking to join as a translator for Shinmai Maou and wanted to know if there were any parts you were planning to do. You've done a few parts here and there so I was wondering whether I should start from V4 or V5? - [[User:Zxzxzx|zxzxzxz]] ([[User talk:Zxzxzx|talk]]) 14:16, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

Hi. I'm looking to join as an editor for Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha and thought I should mention it.[[User:Mard|Mard]] ([[User talk:Mard|talk]]) 08:05, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

User talk:J2270A

2015-08-18T06:55:59Z

Mard: /* Question on translation of "Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 4 Prologue" */

User talk:J2270A

2015-08-18T06:52:00Z

Mard: /* Question on translation of "Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 4 Prologue" */ new section

==Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha==

Hello! I think you visited my page before, so I came by to say hello! Let me know if you are going to translate Volume 3, I'll make way for the epilogue because I have my exams right now and it's restricting my tl-ing speed! I wish you all the best! [[User:Rozenbach|Rozenbach]] ([[User talk:Rozenbach|talk]]) 04:12, 19 April 2015 (CDT)

will be doing bits and pieces at a time.[[User:Zexth|Zexth]] ([[User talk:Zexth|talk]]) 05:57, May 18, 2015 (GMT-6)

I jus want to say I really appreciate your work translating this series. I'm just curious as to why you decided to translate parts of other volumes instead of finishing one whole volume at a time? -([[User:Omegalock|Omegalock]] ([[User talk:Omegalock|talk]]) 16:38, 11 June 2015 (UTC))

Since season of the anime is coming out soon, and my speed will be slowing down a lot, I'm mainly doing the parts that will most likely be cut short or simplified first, hence the 'not in order' work. [[User:J2270A|J2270A]] ([[User talk:J2270A#top|talk]]) 18:31, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

Ooh ok that makes sense now. That is pretty cool. -([[User:Omegalock|Omegalock]] ([[User talk:Omegalock|talk]]) 07:52, 16 June 2015 (UTC))

Hi there! Looking to join as a translator for Shinmai Maou and wanted to know if there were any parts you were planning to do. You've done a few parts here and there so I was wondering whether I should start from V4 or V5? - [[User:Zxzxzx|zxzxzxz]] ([[User talk:Zxzxzx|talk]]) 14:16, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

== Question on translation of "Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 4 Prologue" ==

The most effective way to stop this, would be to shake the trust of the demons in the new demon lord's ability and charisma, creating doubts in the subordinates. And this is the reason why Jin chose the atrium, which was teeming with normal soldiers onlooking, to have a 'meeting' with Leohart. {"Just now, Leohart's assault, the the meaning of power was shown to the surrounding people," but then he had instead received Jin's counter-attack.}

The last sentence as it is does not make sense. It seems as though it is trying to imply that Leohart's assault failed to show his power due to Leohart recieving Jin's counter-attack, and instead showed him as weak. I could very well be wrong though.

Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 4 Prologue

2015-08-18T06:23:03Z

Mard: /* Crossing War of two Great Men */

==Crossing War of two Great Men==

Demon Lord Leohart.

After the death of the previous demon lord, dominating at the peak of the demon realm was the new young lord.

Although Wilbert, who was part of the moderates, had the reputation as the strongest, he had chosen to evacuate from the human realm in the previous war, choosing to have a stable and peaceful life. After the war ended sixteen years later, loyal to their basic instincts, both the moderates faction and the radicals faction in the demon realm had a desire for revenge against god, harbouring strong resentment.

-Until about a year before Wilbert's death, when the state of affairs in the demon realm had a big change.

With Wilbert rallying huge support, the moderates faction quickly collapsed, and the momentum for the Radical faction and the Conservative faction rose.

At the end, the two factions merged into a single force, and crowned the new demon lord, Leohart.

Him having the blood of the immediate family of the duke house which has produced generations of demon lords since ancient times, and also with his display of valour in the last war, was the reason that he was chosen. Back then, Leohart was different from Wilbert, who was better than him at controlling the situation of the demon realm. He had led the elite forces in the forefront of the front lines, and has achieved excellent military exploits. Although there was another demon on the front lines with a similarly splendid record, however, contact with that demon was lost in the war. Hence, the honour of a war hero was given to only Leohart. And it was with this honour, that had gained him the support of the Moderate faction and the Radical Faction, and hence letting him gain the seat of the demon lord. Still, Leohart was very young, and since he was hailed as the successor of the strongest demon lord Wilbert, it just isn't so awesome. Hence for the symbol of the authority of the throne, he specially chose the biggest, grandest, and the most stately palace in existence in the demon realm for his use.

-But right now, Leohart's palace had suddenly received an intense shock. No, that's not a metaphor. It was an intense vibration that had originated from the throne chamber, literally shocking the whole palace. Then -

"-"

Leohart escaped from the chamber from a hole made in the wall by the attack, and landed lightly in the the atrium. Looking up, he saw a shadow coming after him, jumping from the collapsing wall. The hem of the jacket flapped in the wind, and with the strike of a sword aimed at Leohart, this was the strongest man, the 'God of War' from the last war from the hero tribe.

Toujo Jin.

Leohart immediately raised the cursed blade in his hand, barely managing to block Jin's strike. ''Thung!...'' The sound of their swords clashing instantly sounded out. Due to the strength of the strike, there will in after-effects, and so with a boom, the aftermath from the attack spread out in all directions, instantly destroying the floor of the atrium and the other facilities in the palace, like the fountain and the pool. Presently, -

"Hahahahaha!..."

Leohart then separated, brandishing the cursed blade, causing Jin to quickly move back with an "Oh!" and a flip over Leohart, and with his sword on his right sword, he said with a giggle:

"Ah~ It has dulled a little... Seems like imagining the actions and actually doing it are really indeed different..."

And even patting his shoulder with the ridge of his sword. Just then, -

"- Your majesty Leohart!"

"Are you all right your majesty!?"

Guardsmen hurried to Leohart's side, raising their magic weapons at Jin, at the ready to fire.

"Stand down. You are not a match for him."

But they were ordered to stop by Leohart calm judgement. The elite troops guarding the throne chamber would all be paralysed, and if the normal soldiers were to fight him, their aftermath could range from never being able to fight again, to being a worthless sacrifice. However, when Jin looked around, -

"..Really? Apart from you, there seems to be quite a few fitting the role of a hunter..."

Said that like he has seen through the situation.

''...Even his analytical surveying of the situation is so keen, this really is troublesome.''

Right now, Balthier was Leohart's trusted vassal, and should be awaiting orders, hiding in either the crowd of the normal soldiers or the nearby buildings. Following that, -

"Your majesty Leohart, may I ask what would be the best action to take right now?"

Balthier, unsure, asked for orders.

"- None of you make any moves. I shall be the one to take care of him."

-After all, he was the Toujo Jin, known as the strongest hero.

In this year, Leohart who was crowned at a young age, it was him himself who eliminated part of those who had desires for creating puppets for their own means. But there were still many like Zolgear, who were still not yet eliminated.

However,

Whether was it sympathy, or that he had a chivalrous heart, he didn't know. Jin had taken in Naruse Mio, letting her live together with his son. As for the reason, Leohart couldn't understand why from the one responsible for observations, Lars's, report. ''Wait, could it be that -''

"… Could it be that the reason for protecting your son and Wilbert's daughter, was for you to come here directly to settle your score with me, Toujo Jin?"

"Nope, I've had no such intentions. The reason that I came to the demon realm, was to personally witness the changes that had taken place after Wilbert's death, and to just take a rest at your place on the way... Fine, fine, this is a warning to you guys, to not get anyone to bully and take advantage of my son's intentions."

Even while talking, Jin's eyes was focused intensely on Leohart.

"And here I was thinking that after taking Wilbert's position, you would be reluctant to have the orphaned girl who has inherited his power. The one who doesn't know that she has the blood of the demon lord, been raised as a normal girl, and could possibly have been a potential demon lord, must have been played around with very well. And for the other party to be a rather chivalrous young male hero?"

"… - Shut up."

Leohart rushed towards the Jin who had a wry smile, and increased his speed with his body lowered reaching high speeds in just a moment, slashing at Jin.

-In the war, Leohart's skill with his blade had taken the lives of many from the hero tribe.

However, every strike of his blade was being blocked by Jin. What's even more surprising, was that with the way Jin was moving his blade, there wasn't even any sign of swordsmanship.

It was just purely reflexive brandishing of his blade that was nullifying Leohart's relentless swordsmanship, producing countless amounts of time their swords clashed.

"To have this much skill, it is possible for you, who is still this young, to be on the demon lord's throne... And not to mention that you still have a pair of eyes. Ah... If that's the case, you really are something noteworthy."

Jin gave a smile, like he had just understood the truth. Even if he was from the hero tribe, one had to wonder whether or not he was a human; normally a human was weaker than a demon by several levels. And for a human, he was past his prime.

Yet Jin's body condition was able to match up with the current demon lord, and possibly surpassing him.

''...This is really unbelievable... So this is Toujo Jin?''

Amazing... He really was worthy of having the name as the God of War. Although having participated in the wars that lasted until sixteen years ago, Leohart had never had the chance to fight with Jin, -

To think that he had such power...

In that war, the demons of a calibre similarly as good as Leohart, had suddenly disappeared. And it was very likely that like the rumours, they had really crossed paths with Jin. In the sixteen years that had followed, Leohart had studied to reach the even more advanced levels in martial arts. But still, it was likely that he was only able to barely stand a chance against Jin.

After the war... No. Even during the war, he had never met such an opponent.

"So what!?"

Leohart then rushed forward at a speed and angle that was even faster and sharper than before, releasing a shockwave that was different from before. Leohart's cursed sword, then clashed with Jin's blade.

"Oh oh...!"

Leohart had swung his blade from Jin's back, but he had jumped aside. Following that, Jin watched the cursed blade in Leohart's hand let out a black aura, and after being impressed and letting out a ''ho~'', he discarded his broken blade.

"I knew that wasn't just a normal cursed sword... But, I guess it indeed had to be like that just to be the demon lord's weapon?"

Leohart's cursed sword Loki, was the currently known most powerful magical sword. Since their combat prowess was at a similar level, their weapon would probably the the deciding factor between victory or defeat.

"Devour him, Loki."

When Leohart said that quietly with a low voice, -

"-"

The cursed blade seemed to emit a dark glow in response. The agglomerate and influence earned from the feat of defeating the strongest hero, was one that Leohart was willing to gain at all costs, even if he had to level the city.

Hence, Leohart has let the cursed blade Loki's powers increase to its limit.

A loud sound, was accompanied with a disruption. The space distorted in where the darkness surged out wildly.

This darkness could devour Jin whole, with the potential of leaving no traces of his body or spirit. That was the attack.

The battle has ended, at least, that was how it was. Demon lord Leohart instead saw an image of unbelievable confidence.

Before Toujo Jin was devoured by the darkness, he let out an impertinent smile, and following that, -

"Wowowowowowowowowowowowowowo!"

With a roar, a green aura appeared on Jin's body, and then concentrated it on his right fist.

With exaggerated movements, he used his right fist to ram into the darkness with seemingly brute force, shaking the area with a heavy bass sound, and rebounded the dark energy back to Leohart. Faced with the dark energy rebounding back to him at a much faster speed, -

"-"

Deciding quickly, Leohart used his cursed sword to sweep upwards to the right, cutting into that darkness and splitting it.

In next moment, an earth-shaking shock and 'boom' sound resounded.

The deflected and cut dark energy, totally obliterated the giant south wall of the palace.

The impact was so strong, that it forced the atmosphere in the atrium into a frenzy, with confusion and screaming everywhere. Just then, -

"All right... This should probably be enough."

It seems that Toujo Basara's purpose for his visit was already accomplished.

No matter how ambitious Leohart was, or how dense the evil intentions and dark desires are in the surroundings, the currently expansion of the currently former demon lord's faction would not stop, and would eventually dissolve the state of the moderates faction.

The most effective way to stop this, would be to shake the trust of the demons in the new demon lord's ability and charisma, creating doubts in the subordinates. And this is the reason why Jin chose the atrium, which was teeming with normal soldiers onlooking, to have a 'meeting' with Leohart. Just now, Leohart's assault, the the meaning of power was shown to the surrounding people, but then he had instead received Jin's counter-attack.

Not only had Jin rebounded Leohart's attack back to him, he had shown his existence of being a very big threat part of the demons in the city.

This would probably enough to deter the current demon lord from deploying the higher ups, and to create doubt and unrest in lower subordinates

This would probably be enough to give them a scare...

Just was the Toujo Jin who was thinking this was about to decide to slip away, something caught his eye.

"- !"

The next moment, he moved his body, in a way, and creating a thunder-like shockwave.

In the explosive impact creating a confusion maelstrom, demon lord Leohart personally saw 'that'.

Running across the atrium in an instant, and rushing into the falling rubble.

Hoping to escape in the mess...?

Beyond the city wall was a cliff, and under the cliff was a moat. Jumping from the whole in the wall, it was likely that the water would ease the impact of the fall, and the chances of making it out safely was quite high. However, that was not accounting for the huge weight of the falling rubble, with quite a few large pieces of the city wall mixed into it. Based on his abilities, to scale the city walls was probably effortless for him, so why did he chose a rougher path? Just as he was thinking this, he saw it.

Jin, who was leaping into the air, reached out towards a small body in the falling rubble, and brought it into his arms. Wearing light body armour, it was probably one of the soldiers on the city wall. But rather, it seems like that he had taken Leohart's attack, and Jin who was an enemy had no obligation to help him. But, -

...That was?

What Jin was hugging, was obviously a child. This caused Leohart to think,in the palace, there was a young soldier, who although was quite young, due to the power possessed, was highly praised and employed.

Though young, he was still a demon, and since he was quite powerful, a mere moat couldn't possibly kill him.

But, if he was knocked unconscious from the large amount of falling rubble or from the shock from the explosion, then it was likely that he would die if he landed in the moat. Hence, the Jin who was in the air immediately took action.

"Woaaaaaaaaaaaahhh...!"

In the condition that Jin are holding in boy in, he kicked towards just above.

From above, the huge pieces of the city walls then burst into smaller debris. With the explosion that had already echoed, Leohart was still in shock, unable to comprehend just what had happened, and then the Jin who was in the air met his eyes.

"-"

Leohart was looking at Jin, who had sprouted a winner's smile. And with this emotion, huge amounts of debris fell from the cliff.

"Shall pursuing be your order, your majesty Leohart?"

Seeing the situation, Balthier asked this question from his side.

"Don't bother... There isn't the need. Continuing the fight with him would be just a waste of energy."

But Leohart shaked his head, and just ordered Balthier to to check on the injuries of the soldiers and clear the debris.

Giving the direction Jin and the young boy fell a last look, he turned and headed back into the palace.

2

Naruse Mio had woken up deep in the night.

Because in the dream that she had tonight, its contents were just too stimulating for her.

" How irritating... Why did I have that dream again...!"

Mio couldn't help but to let her face become flushed, feeling embarrassment. Under the blanket, there was an incredible amount of heat,s due to her dream giving her a hot body. And she trembling while releasing quite the amount of body heat. But, this wasn't something she could control, since in her dream, she had came across something which would've caused her body to become hot, and the other party in her dream was none other than her master, Toujo Basara.

The contents of that dream, was something that took place after the fight with Zolgear. It was the events that happened after Basara had force a kiss upon her in Basara's room.

The Mio in the dream, had been on the receiving end of ecstasy and pleasure on the bed in Basara's room, and had continuously climaxed one time after another. But, that was something that Mio already had experience in. The thing that was the main source of her embarrassment, was in fact, -

...The fact that Yuki, Maria, Zest and Sheera was there!

Just Basara himself was enough to make Mio yield, but then, even Yuki and the others had joined in on the fun. It was namely the shirtless Basara, and the remaining four that was wearing lewd underwear, that had slowly stripped Mio, piece by piece, and had unscrupulously played with her breasts, butt, thighs and her other sensitive spots. Experiencing overwhelming amounts of pleasure, Mio had already lost control to the unthinkable extent, and had kept on shouting'Brother! Brother!'in her high times.

At the end, just as the lower portion of her underwear was about to be taken off, Mio had opened her eyes. Now, what if she hadn't woken up, what exactly would've happened? When thinking of the dream, -

" ! . Fuuuaaaaaahhhhhhhh! Eh... Wh-Why...!?"

A sudden sensation that had come from her left breast had caused Mo to raise her blanket to take a look, only to find Maria, who had sneaked under her blanket while she slept, sucking on her left breast like a baby. Being able to undo the buttons on her sleepwear without her noticing, one should probably say that she was indeed worthy of being called a succubus...

Having caught the culprit responsible for her having that dream, Mio silently raised her hand to deliver a blow.

" Mama..."

Maria's mouth then just released Mio's breast, muttering in her sleep. Thus...

" …"

Mio released a small sigh, and then cautiously got up her bed so as to not wake Maria up, properly buttoned up her sleepwear, and after tucking n Maria, she quietly left her room.

-Her footsteps, was heading towards the bathroom on the first floor. Having just had a terrible dream, she had let out quite the amount of sweat. When she reached the first floor, she saw some light coming out from under the door shining into the hallway from the dressing room. Did someone forget to switch off the lights? While thinking this, Mio opened the door, only to realise that someone was already there. With only a bathrobe on her, standing beyond the door, was a girl possessing some sort of transparent beauty, Nonaka Yuki. Probably having just finished taking a bath, her hair was still wet, and there was still some sort of steam-like moisture emanating from her body.

" Oh... Please."

Upon seeing Yuki, Mio said that, unexcited. She wasn't unhappy with her for taking a bath in the middle of the night, since she had come to do the same thing. Hence, she proceeded to ask, -

" When taking a bath, at least lock the door..."

After the fight with Zolgear, Mio who was unable to sleep probably due to receiving a blow from Basara forcing a kiss in the bed in his room, couldn't ever trust her own rationality again, had gotten locks installed for the bathrooms on the very next day. Just to prevent Maria or Basara barging in while she was bathing, and prevent any misunderstandings caused by Basara.

In the end, Yuki hadn't lock the door, and didn't even hang the'Bathroom in use'sign.

" You're lucky that it was me. What if the one who had barged in was Basara?"

" If it was Basara, him seeing it isn't a problem... Or rather, I had hoped that it would be Basara..."

" We hadn't taken a bath together in a long time, so I was hoping that it would be Basara."

" Didn't we have a bath together four days ago?!"

And if the fight with Zolgear was not counted in, then it would have been only three days. Mio gave a helpless sigh when faced with the scene where Yuki was undoing the knot on her bathrobe, and with her hand reaching towards the basket hold the blue -

" Hold on for a moment."

" Now what...?"

Mio couldn't help but to stop the Yuki who was holding onto a blue T-shirt, and with that the other party have a reaction like that she didn't know what she had did wrong.

" Why did you take Basara's shirt from the basket containing dirty laundry?"

" If I don't wear something quickly after coming out from a bath, I'll catch a cold."

" Then wear your own shirt! Don't you have anything else?"

" Fine..."

Yuki gave an apologetic reply.

" I'll let you wear this shirt that Basara was wearing."

" Why would I want to wear that!?"

Mio snatched Basara's laundry from Yuki's hand, and then proceeded to throw it back into the laundry basket. She then took off the only clothes she was wearing, her sleepwear, together with her legs leaving her pants, and also threw them into the laundry basket.

" If you say that you want Basara's to-be-washed shirt, at least get his permission first before coming to get it! Humph!"

And then after that, she stepped into the bathroom.

" I can't stand it any more..."

Firstly, Mio began to wash away the sweat on her body, before checking the water's temperature. Fortunately, Yuki didn't forget to refill the warm water just now, so the water's temperature was pretty comfortable. Just like that, Mio lowered her entire body into the bathtub.

Just when Mio was about to let out a relaxed sigh, -

Ah... She can't be...

Could the reason that Yuki came to take a bath right in the middle of the night, was that like Mio, she had released a lot of sweat, dreaming the same dream she had? Just as she was thinking this, -

''"Eh...!?"''

Suddenly she felt uneasy in the bath with a chill running through her, with her body quivering. The contents of the dream she just had, with everyone drowning her in pleasure, that flashback still being fresh in her mind.

That dream... It couldn't possibly have happened in real life... Right?"

Her doubt showing, was due to when the aphrodisiac curse activates, the sweet hotness would always blur her consciousness, and her rationality and sense of shame would always be eclipsed by the pleasure that Basara gave her, causing her sense of the line between reality and dreams to blurred. Hence, even if that was just a dream, it wouldn't be strange.

However, Naruse Mio denied such a possibility, because, Zest who was left behind by Zolgear and Maria's mother had already left the Toujo residence, returning to the demon realm.

" ..."

After getting up from the bathtub, Mio washed her body, and thought about what had happened on that day.

Two days ago, on the day of the fight with Zolgear, Mio had immediately contacted the Moderates faction of the demons.

Yesterday, coming to the Toujo residence to fetch Zest and Sheera, was the demon claiming to be Maria's elder sister, and an accompanying demon, Yahiro Takigawa.

Lars... Was it?

At that time, Mio and Yuki had heard him introduce himself. The reason they had calmly accepted the facts, was that Basara had told them that Takigawa was actually a demon beforehand, and had also let them know of the cooperation they had before.

But...

The female demon that had come to fetch Zest and Sheera, had started a miniature war with Mio, Basara and Yuki. Even if it was for protecting her mother, Maria still had betrayed Mio, the demon lord and the moderates faction, hence it was likely that they would want them to hand over Maria.

They had decided to reject that demand when it was made, and the female demon with the higher-ups orders had to unconsciously let it slide, and the final demand that was made for, was Maria's mother Sheera.

It really was amazing...

The situation was resolved by just a smile. Even though Sheera's outer appearance was even more immature than Maria, when she had said that she would return just with Zest this time, the female demon had reluctantly and let it slide, and showed signs that she would ask for further orders from the leader of the moderates faction for his judgement, the former demon lord Wilbert's brother Ramsas.

Also, after Zest returned to the demon realm, there was no objections from the Moderates faction for assistance similar to an observer for protection, just like that she was taken away by the female demon. However, in the few days Zest spent in the house before she returned to the demon realm, she was very obedient to Basara; although they hadn't made a master-servant contract, it was like she had decided that Basara was to be her new master.

Not only was Zest very beautiful, her figure was also first class, and she also had the charm of maturity that Mio and Yuki didn't have. In addition, before Zest was taken back to the demon realm, Basara had told her: " If anything happens, you are welcome in this house any time." Right then she was looking at Basara with emotional tearful eyes. If they were left alone, it was likely that she would've immediately kissed him. If they really lived together, then nothing good would've happened.

But, speaking of maturity charms, there was a even bigger threat.

To think that an adult Maria would be so beautiful...

Mio had seen the appearance of a transformed Maria in the fight with Zolgear, and she couldn't believe that that beautiful thing couldn't possibly be Maria. Recently it seems that the chances of Basara losing his rationality was getting higher, and if he was cornered by such a Maria, it wouldn't be weird if something bad happened. Having said that, to transform into that appearance, the amount of power consumed wasn't small, it would be fine if there weren't any chances in the short period of time.

"What a perilous situation it has turned into, I can't stand it any more..."

After washing her whole body, she washed away the foam produced before leaving the bathroom. Not seeing Yuki anywhere in the dressing room, Mio took a bathrobe from the cabinet to put on, and then, -

" ..."

Only to realise that shirt that belongs to Basara was missing.

" That idiot...!"

It appears that Yuki really went to ask Basara. If so, she can't dawdle here any longer. Entering Basara's room in the middle of the night, no matter if it was her wearing only a towel or Yuki wearing his shirt, what could happen after that, was something that no one knew.

But seeing Yuki ramp up her competitiveness, this had somewhat put Mio's heart at ease. That was because, -

A jealous Yuki that wasn't that great was something good...

Harbouring ill feelings towards one's master will activate the curse of the master-servant contract, basically not making any allowance for any jealously. But, now that they had made the master-servant contract with the same master, it wouldn't be like in the past any more, having a jealous Yuki triggering the curse. The chances of having envy or jealously from seeing someone other than themselves receiving praise from their master or from watching others being spoilt, was the smallest of the smallest. But if having such jealously will activate the curse, then for the two of them serving under their master, to deepen their mutual relationship, would be difficult, and this would drag down a master if there were many subordinates. Therefore, for such situations, in order to deepen the relationship between a master and servant, the magic that was born, had naturally considered avoiding such a problem.

However, even if the curse does not activate, she couldn't just let Yuki do as she pleases.

And hence Mio hurriedly chased after Yuki. But yet suddenly stopped her movements the next moment. Because she then realised, that Basara's shirt was still in the laundry basket.

" …!"

The liquids that was in Mio's mouth suddenly spurted out. Thinking that she had thought that Yuki had taken away Basara's shirt, she then began to undo the knot on her bathrobe, and then brought that shirt into her chest, and, -

I-Idiot... Why was hugging Basara's shirt so comfortable?

She was different from Yuki, having secret access to Basara's laundry, and this brought a tiny bit of guilt into her heart. And so, this caused the curse to activate at a shallow level, causing Mio to experience pleasure from rubbing on Basara's shirt.

With her breathing becoming heavy and her heart beating faster, she then couldn't stop herself from putting on Basara's shirt. Just as the lower half of Mio's body began to shake due to the pleasure, -

" Mio-sama~ Are you all right?"

And the room's door was then opened suddenly. In the next moment, Mio and Maria's sight connected, and, -

" - "

Frozen. When Yuki left the room, the door wasn't locked. And right now, the one who realised the blunder was Mio, whose mind had just then went blank...

" Ah~........."

Maria put on a wry benevolent smile, and then closed the door.

Right after that, the sound of panting and steps rushing up to the second floor could be heard through the door.

" Wh-What's wrong...?!"

The sound of running up the stairs with her full strength caused Basara to be shocked into wariness. He hadn't awoke from that alone, as he was woken not too long ago by the bathrobe-wearing Yuki who had wanted to ask to let her wear his shirt. Just before, the Basara had sleepily nodded his head without knowing what he was agreeing to, which had prompted Yuki to immediately untie the knot to immediate change into the shirt, to let Basara dominate her with an invitation in her room. And it was the noise which meant that something had happened that put him into a sudden mood to prepare for battle. Just then, from behind the door, a voice was in the hallway:

" Brotherbasarabrotherbasarabrotherbasarabrotherbasara! Listen to me, Brother Basara! Mio-sama just had a wet dream! And not only that! She also kept babbling and letting out high-pitched sounds!And after she left the bed at a time that I didn't know, seemingly wash off her sweat, and ended up doing unbecoming things in the bathroom!Mio-sama, right after her bath, had taken Basara's shirt that was in the laundry and was letting out lewd sounds!"

….....................................................................

" Uh... Oi, what's with you, Maria?"

Just as he quietly left his bed at the sudden visit, there was a flustered answer from behind the door:

" No-Nothing.... Basara."

" Really... It seems that you had a strange dream, and that you had already slept yourself silly..."

Umm... But... I think I'm still hearing some strange muffled sounds..."

" Is something wrong with your hearing? There's still classes tomorrow, don't go to sleep too late. I'll return to my room too. Maria should probably get some quality sleep, or you'll be sleepy again."

Good night... With Mio leaving these words, the sound of her footsteps towing a great weight faded into the distance.

Although curious as to what was the scene behind the door, the sound of dripping water beyond the door brought about the mood from a horror film, causing Basara to not dare to open the door.

Maria often made many jokes, and Mio had often habitually meted out punishments to him.

" Well... Everything's probably fine, I guess?"

No one would probably notice the sea of blood on the hallway when they open their doors next morning, right?

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| Forward to [[Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 4 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
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Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 4 Prologue

2015-08-18T06:19:23Z

Mard: /* Crossing War of two Great Men */

==Crossing War of two Great Men==

Demon Lord Leohart.

After the death of the previous demon lord, dominating at the peak of the demon realm was the new young lord.

Although Wilbert, who was part of the moderates, had the reputation as the strongest, he had chosen to evacuate from the human realm in the previous war, choosing to have a stable and peaceful life. After the war ended sixteen years later, loyal to their basic instincts, both the moderates faction and the radicals faction in the demon realm had a desire for revenge against god, harbouring strong resentment.

-Until about a year before Wilbert's death, when the state of affairs in the demon realm had a big change.

With Wilbert rallying huge support, the moderates faction quickly collapsed, and the momentum for the Radical faction and the Conservative faction rose.

At the end, the two factions merged into a single force, and crowned the new demon lord, Leohart.

Him having the blood of the immediate family of the duke house which has produced generations of demon lords since ancient times, and also with his display of valour in the last war, was the reason that he was chosen. Back then, Leohart was different from Wilbert, who was better than him at controlling the situation of the demon realm. He had led the elite forces in the forefront of the front lines, and has achieved excellent military exploits. Although there was another demon on the front lines with a similarly splendid record, however, contact with that demon was lost in the war. Hence, the honour of a war hero was given to only Leohart. And it was with this honour, that had gained him the support of the Moderate faction and the Radical Faction, and hence letting him gain the seat of the demon lord. Still, Leohart was very young, and since he was hailed as the successor of the strongest demon lord Wilbert, it just isn't so awesome. Hence for the symbol of the authority of the throne, he specially chose the biggest, grandest, and the most stately palace in existence in the demon realm for his use.

-But right now, Leohart's palace had suddenly received an intense shock. No, that's not a metaphor. It was an intense vibration that had originated from the throne chamber, literally shocking the whole palace. Then -

"-"

Leohart escaped from the chamber from a hole made in the wall by the attack, and landed lightly in the the atrium. Looking up, he saw a shadow coming after him, jumping from the collapsing wall. The hem of the jacket flapped in the wind, and with the strike of a sword aimed at Leohart, this was the strongest man, the 'God of War' from the last war from the hero tribe.

Toujo Jin.

Leohart immediately raised the cursed blade in his hand, barely managing to block Jin's strike. ''Thung!...'' The sound of their swords clashing instantly sounded out. Due to the strength of the strike, there will in after-effects, and so with a boom, the aftermath from the attack spread out in all directions, instantly destroying the floor of the atrium and the other facilities in the palace, like the fountain and the pool. Presently, -

"Hahahahaha!..."

Leohart then separated, brandishing the cursed blade, causing Jin to quickly move back with a"Oh!"and a flip over Leohart, and with his sword on his right sword, he said with a giggle:

"Ah~ It has dulled a little... Seems like imagining the actions and actually doing it are really indeed different..."

And even patting his shoulder with the ridge of his sword. Just then, -

"- Your majesty Leohart!"

"Are you all right your majesty!?"

Guardsmen hurried to Leohart's side, raising their magic weapons at Jin, at the ready to fire.

"Stand down. You are not a match for him."

But they were ordered to stop by Leohart calm judgement. The elite troops guarding the throne chamber would all be paralysed, and if the normal soldiers were to fight him, their aftermath could range from never being able to fight again, to being a worthless sacrifice. However, when Jin looked around, -

"..Really? Apart from you, there seems to be quite a few fitting the role of a hunter..."

Said that like he has seen through the situation.

''...Even his analytical surveying of the situation is so keen, this really is troublesome.''

Right now, Balthier was Leohart's trusted vassal, and should be awaiting orders, hiding in either the crowd of the normal soldiers or the nearby buildings. Following that, -

"Your majesty Leohart, may I ask what would be the best action to take right now?"

Balthier, unsure, asked for orders.

"- None of you make any moves. I shall be the one to take care of him."

-After all, he was the Toujo Jin, known as the strongest hero.

In this year, Leohart who was crowned at a young age, it was him himself who eliminated part of those who had desires for creating puppets for their own means. But there were still many like Zolgear, who were still not yet eliminated.

However,

Whether was it sympathy, or that he had a chivalrous heart, he didn't know. Jin had taken in Naruse Mio, letting her live together with his son. As for the reason, Leohart couldn't understand why from the one responsible for observations, Lars's, report. ''Wait, could it be that -''

"… Could it be that the reason for protecting your son and Wilbert's daughter, was for you to come here directly to settle your score with me, Toujo Jin?"

"Nope, I've had no such intentions. The reason that I came to the demon realm, was to personally witness the changes that had taken place after Wilbert's death, and to just take a rest at your place on the way... Fine, fine, this is a warning to you guys, to not get anyone to bully and take advantage of my son's intentions."

Even while talking, Jin's eyes was focused intensely on Leohart.

"And here I was thinking that after taking Wilbert's position, you would be reluctant to have the orphaned girl who has inherited his power. The one who doesn't know that she has the blood of the demon lord, been raised as a normal girl, and could possibly have been a potential demon lord, must have been played around with very well. And for the other party to be a rather chivalrous young male hero?"

"… - Shut up."

Leohart rushed towards the Jin who had a wry smile, and increased his speed with his body lowered reaching high speeds in just a moment, slashing at Jin.

-In the war, Leohart's skill with his blade had taken the lives of many from the hero tribe.

However, every strike of his blade was being blocked by Jin. What's even more surprising, was that with the way Jin was moving his blade, there wasn't even any sign of swordsmanship.

It was just purely reflexive brandishing of his blade that was nullifying Leohart's relentless swordsmanship, producing countless amounts of time their swords clashed.

"To have this much skill, it is possible for you, who is still this young, to be on the demon lord's throne... And not to mention that you still have a pair of eyes. Ah... If that's the case, you really are something noteworthy."

Jin gave a smile, like he had just understood the truth. Even if he was from the hero tribe, one had to wonder whether or not he was a human; normally a human was weaker than a demon by several levels. And for a human, he was past his prime.

Yet Jin's body condition was able to match up with the current demon lord, and possibly surpassing him.

''...This is really unbelievable... So this is Toujo Jin?''

Amazing... He really was worthy of having the name as the God of War. Although having participated in the wars that lasted until sixteen years ago, Leohart had never had the chance to fight with Jin, -

To think that he had such power...

In that war, the demons of a calibre similarly as good as Leohart, had suddenly disappeared. And it was very likely that like the rumours, they had really crossed paths with Jin. In the sixteen years that had followed, Leohart had studied to reach the even more advanced levels in martial arts. But still, it was likely that he was only able to barely stand a chance against Jin.

After the war... No. Even during the war, he had never met such an opponent.

"So what!?"

Leohart then rushed forward at a speed and angle that was even faster and sharper than before, releasing a shockwave that was different from before. Leohart's cursed sword, then clashed with Jin's blade.

"Oh oh...!"

Leohart had swung his blade from Jin's back, but he had jumped aside. Following that, Jin watched the cursed blade in Leohart's hand let out a black aura, and after being impressed and letting out a ''ho~'', he discarded his broken blade.

"I knew that wasn't just a normal cursed sword... But, I guess it indeed had to be like that just to be the demon lord's weapon?"

Leohart's cursed sword Loki, was the currently known most powerful magical sword. Since their combat prowess was at a similar level, their weapon would probably the the deciding factor between victory or defeat.

"Devour him, Loki."

When Leohart said that quietly with a low voice, -

"-"

The cursed blade seemed to emit a dark glow in response. The agglomerate and influence earned from the feat of defeating the strongest hero, was one that Leohart was willing to gain at all costs, even if he had to level the city.

Hence, Leohart has let the cursed blade Loki's powers increase to its limit.

A loud sound, was accompanied with a disruption. The space distorted in where the darkness surged out wildly.

This darkness could devour Jin whole, with the potential of leaving no traces of his body or spirit. That was the attack.

The battle has ended, at least, that was how it was. Demon lord Leohart instead saw an image of unbelievable confidence.

Before Toujo Jin was devoured by the darkness, he let out an impertinent smile, and following that, -

"Wowowowowowowowowowowowowowo!"

With a roar, a green aura appeared on Jin's body, and then concentrated it on his right fist.

With exaggerated movements, he used his right fist to ram into the darkness with seemingly brute force, shaking the area with a heavy bass sound, and rebounded the dark energy back to Leohart. Faced with the dark energy rebounding back to him at a much faster speed, -

"-"

Deciding quickly, Leohart used his cursed sword to sweep upwards to the right, cutting into that darkness and splitting it.

In next moment, an earth-shaking shock and 'boom' sound resounded.

The deflected and cut dark energy, totally obliterated the giant south wall of the palace.

The impact was so strong, that it forced the atmosphere in the atrium into a frenzy, with confusion and screaming everywhere. Just then, -

All right... This should probably be enough.

It seems that Toujo Basara's purpose for his visit was already accomplished.

No matter how ambitious Leohart was, or how dense the evil intentions and dark desires are in the surroundings, the currently expansion of the currently former demon lord's faction would not stop, and would eventually dissolve the state of the moderates faction.

The most effective way to stop this, would be to shake the trust of the demons in the new demon lord's ability and charisma, creating doubts in the subordinates. And this is the reason why Jin chose the atrium, which was teeming with normal soldiers onlooking, to have a 'meeting' with Leohart. Just now, Leohart's assault, the the meaning of power was shown to the surrounding people, but then he had instead received Jin's counter-attack.

Not only had Jin rebounded Leohart's attack back to him, he had shown his existence of being a very big threat part of the demons in the city.

This would probably enough to deter the current demon lord from deploying the higher ups, and to create doubt and unrest in lower subordinates

This would probably be enough to give them a scare...

Just was the Toujo Jin who was thinking this was about to decide to slip away, something caught his eye.

"- !"

The next moment, he moved his body, in a way, and creating a thunder-like shockwave.

In the explosive impact creating a confusion maelstrom, demon lord Leohart personally saw 'that'.

Running across the atrium in an instant, and rushing into the falling rubble.

Hoping to escape in the mess...?

Beyond the city wall was a cliff, and under the cliff was a moat. Jumping from the whole in the wall, it was likely that the water would ease the impact of the fall, and the chances of making it out safely was quite high. However, that was not accounting for the huge weight of the falling rubble, with quite a few large pieces of the city wall mixed into it. Based on his abilities, to scale the city walls was probably effortless for him, so why did he chose a rougher path? Just as he was thinking this, he saw it.

Jin, who was leaping into the air, reached out towards a small body in the falling rubble, and brought it into his arms. Wearing light body armour, it was probably one of the soldiers on the city wall. But rather, it seems like that he had taken Leohart's attack, and Jin who was an enemy had no obligation to help him. But, -

...That was?

What Jin was hugging, was obviously a child. This caused Leohart to think,in the palace, there was a young soldier, who although was quite young, due to the power possessed, was highly praised and employed.

Though young, he was still a demon, and since he was quite powerful, a mere moat couldn't possibly kill him.

But, if he was knocked unconscious from the large amount of falling rubble or from the shock from the explosion, then it was likely that he would die if he landed in the moat. Hence, the Jin who was in the air immediately took action.

"Woaaaaaaaaaaaahhh...!"

In the condition that Jin are holding in boy in, he kicked towards just above.

From above, the huge pieces of the city walls then burst into smaller debris. With the explosion that had already echoed, Leohart was still in shock, unable to comprehend just what had happened, and then the Jin who was in the air met his eyes.

"-"

Leohart was looking at Jin, who had sprouted a winner's smile. And with this emotion, huge amounts of debris fell from the cliff.

"Shall pursuing be your order, your majesty Leohart?"

Seeing the situation, Balthier asked this question from his side.

"Don't bother... There isn't the need. Continuing the fight with him would be just a waste of energy."

But Leohart shaked his head, and just ordered Balthier to to check on the injuries of the soldiers and clear the debris.

Giving the direction Jin and the young boy fell a last look, he turned and headed back into the palace.

2

Naruse Mio had woken up deep in the night.

Because in the dream that she had tonight, its contents were just too stimulating for her.

" How irritating... Why did I have that dream again...!"

Mio couldn't help but to let her face become flushed, feeling embarrassment. Under the blanket, there was an incredible amount of heat,s due to her dream giving her a hot body. And she trembling while releasing quite the amount of body heat. But, this wasn't something she could control, since in her dream, she had came across something which would've caused her body to become hot, and the other party in her dream was none other than her master, Toujo Basara.

The contents of that dream, was something that took place after the fight with Zolgear. It was the events that happened after Basara had force a kiss upon her in Basara's room.

The Mio in the dream, had been on the receiving end of ecstasy and pleasure on the bed in Basara's room, and had continuously climaxed one time after another. But, that was something that Mio already had experience in. The thing that was the main source of her embarrassment, was in fact, -

...The fact that Yuki, Maria, Zest and Sheera was there!

Just Basara himself was enough to make Mio yield, but then, even Yuki and the others had joined in on the fun. It was namely the shirtless Basara, and the remaining four that was wearing lewd underwear, that had slowly stripped Mio, piece by piece, and had unscrupulously played with her breasts, butt, thighs and her other sensitive spots. Experiencing overwhelming amounts of pleasure, Mio had already lost control to the unthinkable extent, and had kept on shouting'Brother! Brother!'in her high times.

At the end, just as the lower portion of her underwear was about to be taken off, Mio had opened her eyes. Now, what if she hadn't woken up, what exactly would've happened? When thinking of the dream, -

" ! . Fuuuaaaaaahhhhhhhh! Eh... Wh-Why...!?"

A sudden sensation that had come from her left breast had caused Mo to raise her blanket to take a look, only to find Maria, who had sneaked under her blanket while she slept, sucking on her left breast like a baby. Being able to undo the buttons on her sleepwear without her noticing, one should probably say that she was indeed worthy of being called a succubus...

Having caught the culprit responsible for her having that dream, Mio silently raised her hand to deliver a blow.

" Mama..."

Maria's mouth then just released Mio's breast, muttering in her sleep. Thus...

" …"

Mio released a small sigh, and then cautiously got up her bed so as to not wake Maria up, properly buttoned up her sleepwear, and after tucking n Maria, she quietly left her room.

-Her footsteps, was heading towards the bathroom on the first floor. Having just had a terrible dream, she had let out quite the amount of sweat. When she reached the first floor, she saw some light coming out from under the door shining into the hallway from the dressing room. Did someone forget to switch off the lights? While thinking this, Mio opened the door, only to realise that someone was already there. With only a bathrobe on her, standing beyond the door, was a girl possessing some sort of transparent beauty, Nonaka Yuki. Probably having just finished taking a bath, her hair was still wet, and there was still some sort of steam-like moisture emanating from her body.

" Oh... Please."

Upon seeing Yuki, Mio said that, unexcited. She wasn't unhappy with her for taking a bath in the middle of the night, since she had come to do the same thing. Hence, she proceeded to ask, -

" When taking a bath, at least lock the door..."

After the fight with Zolgear, Mio who was unable to sleep probably due to receiving a blow from Basara forcing a kiss in the bed in his room, couldn't ever trust her own rationality again, had gotten locks installed for the bathrooms on the very next day. Just to prevent Maria or Basara barging in while she was bathing, and prevent any misunderstandings caused by Basara.

In the end, Yuki hadn't lock the door, and didn't even hang the'Bathroom in use'sign.

" You're lucky that it was me. What if the one who had barged in was Basara?"

" If it was Basara, him seeing it isn't a problem... Or rather, I had hoped that it would be Basara..."

" We hadn't taken a bath together in a long time, so I was hoping that it would be Basara."

" Didn't we have a bath together four days ago?!"

And if the fight with Zolgear was not counted in, then it would have been only three days. Mio gave a helpless sigh when faced with the scene where Yuki was undoing the knot on her bathrobe, and with her hand reaching towards the basket hold the blue -

" Hold on for a moment."

" Now what...?"

Mio couldn't help but to stop the Yuki who was holding onto a blue T-shirt, and with that the other party have a reaction like that she didn't know what she had did wrong.

" Why did you take Basara's shirt from the basket containing dirty laundry?"

" If I don't wear something quickly after coming out from a bath, I'll catch a cold."

" Then wear your own shirt! Don't you have anything else?"

" Fine..."

Yuki gave an apologetic reply.

" I'll let you wear this shirt that Basara was wearing."

" Why would I want to wear that!?"

Mio snatched Basara's laundry from Yuki's hand, and then proceeded to throw it back into the laundry basket. She then took off the only clothes she was wearing, her sleepwear, together with her legs leaving her pants, and also threw them into the laundry basket.

" If you say that you want Basara's to-be-washed shirt, at least get his permission first before coming to get it! Humph!"

And then after that, she stepped into the bathroom.

" I can't stand it any more..."

Firstly, Mio began to wash away the sweat on her body, before checking the water's temperature. Fortunately, Yuki didn't forget to refill the warm water just now, so the water's temperature was pretty comfortable. Just like that, Mio lowered her entire body into the bathtub.

Just when Mio was about to let out a relaxed sigh, -

Ah... She can't be...

Could the reason that Yuki came to take a bath right in the middle of the night, was that like Mio, she had released a lot of sweat, dreaming the same dream she had? Just as she was thinking this, -

''"Eh...!?"''

Suddenly she felt uneasy in the bath with a chill running through her, with her body quivering. The contents of the dream she just had, with everyone drowning her in pleasure, that flashback still being fresh in her mind.

That dream... It couldn't possibly have happened in real life... Right?"

Her doubt showing, was due to when the aphrodisiac curse activates, the sweet hotness would always blur her consciousness, and her rationality and sense of shame would always be eclipsed by the pleasure that Basara gave her, causing her sense of the line between reality and dreams to blurred. Hence, even if that was just a dream, it wouldn't be strange.

However, Naruse Mio denied such a possibility, because, Zest who was left behind by Zolgear and Maria's mother had already left the Toujo residence, returning to the demon realm.

" ..."

After getting up from the bathtub, Mio washed her body, and thought about what had happened on that day.

Two days ago, on the day of the fight with Zolgear, Mio had immediately contacted the Moderates faction of the demons.

Yesterday, coming to the Toujo residence to fetch Zest and Sheera, was the demon claiming to be Maria's elder sister, and an accompanying demon, Yahiro Takigawa.

Lars... Was it?

At that time, Mio and Yuki had heard him introduce himself. The reason they had calmly accepted the facts, was that Basara had told them that Takigawa was actually a demon beforehand, and had also let them know of the cooperation they had before.

But...

The female demon that had come to fetch Zest and Sheera, had started a miniature war with Mio, Basara and Yuki. Even if it was for protecting her mother, Maria still had betrayed Mio, the demon lord and the moderates faction, hence it was likely that they would want them to hand over Maria.

They had decided to reject that demand when it was made, and the female demon with the higher-ups orders had to unconsciously let it slide, and the final demand that was made for, was Maria's mother Sheera.

It really was amazing...

The situation was resolved by just a smile. Even though Sheera's outer appearance was even more immature than Maria, when she had said that she would return just with Zest this time, the female demon had reluctantly and let it slide, and showed signs that she would ask for further orders from the leader of the moderates faction for his judgement, the former demon lord Wilbert's brother Ramsas.

Also, after Zest returned to the demon realm, there was no objections from the Moderates faction for assistance similar to an observer for protection, just like that she was taken away by the female demon. However, in the few days Zest spent in the house before she returned to the demon realm, she was very obedient to Basara; although they hadn't made a master-servant contract, it was like she had decided that Basara was to be her new master.

Not only was Zest very beautiful, her figure was also first class, and she also had the charm of maturity that Mio and Yuki didn't have. In addition, before Zest was taken back to the demon realm, Basara had told her: " If anything happens, you are welcome in this house any time." Right then she was looking at Basara with emotional tearful eyes. If they were left alone, it was likely that she would've immediately kissed him. If they really lived together, then nothing good would've happened.

But, speaking of maturity charms, there was a even bigger threat.

To think that an adult Maria would be so beautiful...

Mio had seen the appearance of a transformed Maria in the fight with Zolgear, and she couldn't believe that that beautiful thing couldn't possibly be Maria. Recently it seems that the chances of Basara losing his rationality was getting higher, and if he was cornered by such a Maria, it wouldn't be weird if something bad happened. Having said that, to transform into that appearance, the amount of power consumed wasn't small, it would be fine if there weren't any chances in the short period of time.

"What a perilous situation it has turned into, I can't stand it any more..."

After washing her whole body, she washed away the foam produced before leaving the bathroom. Not seeing Yuki anywhere in the dressing room, Mio took a bathrobe from the cabinet to put on, and then, -

" ..."

Only to realise that shirt that belongs to Basara was missing.

" That idiot...!"

It appears that Yuki really went to ask Basara. If so, she can't dawdle here any longer. Entering Basara's room in the middle of the night, no matter if it was her wearing only a towel or Yuki wearing his shirt, what could happen after that, was something that no one knew.

But seeing Yuki ramp up her competitiveness, this had somewhat put Mio's heart at ease. That was because, -

A jealous Yuki that wasn't that great was something good...

Harbouring ill feelings towards one's master will activate the curse of the master-servant contract, basically not making any allowance for any jealously. But, now that they had made the master-servant contract with the same master, it wouldn't be like in the past any more, having a jealous Yuki triggering the curse. The chances of having envy or jealously from seeing someone other than themselves receiving praise from their master or from watching others being spoilt, was the smallest of the smallest. But if having such jealously will activate the curse, then for the two of them serving under their master, to deepen their mutual relationship, would be difficult, and this would drag down a master if there were many subordinates. Therefore, for such situations, in order to deepen the relationship between a master and servant, the magic that was born, had naturally considered avoiding such a problem.

However, even if the curse does not activate, she couldn't just let Yuki do as she pleases.

And hence Mio hurriedly chased after Yuki. But yet suddenly stopped her movements the next moment. Because she then realised, that Basara's shirt was still in the laundry basket.

" …!"

The liquids that was in Mio's mouth suddenly spurted out. Thinking that she had thought that Yuki had taken away Basara's shirt, she then began to undo the knot on her bathrobe, and then brought that shirt into her chest, and, -

I-Idiot... Why was hugging Basara's shirt so comfortable?

She was different from Yuki, having secret access to Basara's laundry, and this brought a tiny bit of guilt into her heart. And so, this caused the curse to activate at a shallow level, causing Mio to experience pleasure from rubbing on Basara's shirt.

With her breathing becoming heavy and her heart beating faster, she then couldn't stop herself from putting on Basara's shirt. Just as the lower half of Mio's body began to shake due to the pleasure, -

" Mio-sama~ Are you all right?"

And the room's door was then opened suddenly. In the next moment, Mio and Maria's sight connected, and, -

" - "

Frozen. When Yuki left the room, the door wasn't locked. And right now, the one who realised the blunder was Mio, whose mind had just then went blank...

" Ah~........."

Maria put on a wry benevolent smile, and then closed the door.

Right after that, the sound of panting and steps rushing up to the second floor could be heard through the door.

" Wh-What's wrong...?!"

The sound of running up the stairs with her full strength caused Basara to be shocked into wariness. He hadn't awoke from that alone, as he was woken not too long ago by the bathrobe-wearing Yuki who had wanted to ask to let her wear his shirt. Just before, the Basara had sleepily nodded his head without knowing what he was agreeing to, which had prompted Yuki to immediately untie the knot to immediate change into the shirt, to let Basara dominate her with an invitation in her room. And it was the noise which meant that something had happened that put him into a sudden mood to prepare for battle. Just then, from behind the door, a voice was in the hallway:

" Brotherbasarabrotherbasarabrotherbasarabrotherbasara! Listen to me, Brother Basara! Mio-sama just had a wet dream! And not only that! She also kept babbling and letting out high-pitched sounds!And after she left the bed at a time that I didn't know, seemingly wash off her sweat, and ended up doing unbecoming things in the bathroom!Mio-sama, right after her bath, had taken Basara's shirt that was in the laundry and was letting out lewd sounds!"

….....................................................................

" Uh... Oi, what's with you, Maria?"

Just as he quietly left his bed at the sudden visit, there was a flustered answer from behind the door:

" No-Nothing.... Basara."

" Really... It seems that you had a strange dream, and that you had already slept yourself silly..."

Umm... But... I think I'm still hearing some strange muffled sounds..."

" Is something wrong with your hearing? There's still classes tomorrow, don't go to sleep too late. I'll return to my room too. Maria should probably get some quality sleep, or you'll be sleepy again."

Good night... With Mio leaving these words, the sound of her footsteps towing a great weight faded into the distance.

Although curious as to what was the scene behind the door, the sound of dripping water beyond the door brought about the mood from a horror film, causing Basara to not dare to open the door.

Maria often made many jokes, and Mio had often habitually meted out punishments to him.

" Well... Everything's probably fine, I guess?"

No one would probably notice the sea of blood on the hallway when they open their doors next morning, right?

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Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 4 Prologue

2015-08-18T06:00:11Z

Mard: /* Crossing War of two Great Men */

==Crossing War of two Great Men==

Demon Lord Leohart.

After the death of the previous demon lord, dominating at the peak of the demon realm was the new young lord.

Although Wilbert, who was part of the moderates, had the reputation as the strongest, he had chosen to evacuate from the human realm in the previous war, choosing to have a stable and peaceful life. After the war ended sixteen years later, loyal to their basic instincts, both the moderates faction and the radicals faction in the demon realm had a desire for revenge against god, harbouring strong resentment.

-Until about a year before Wilbert's death, when the state of affairs in the demon realm had a big change.

With Wilbert rallying huge support, the moderates faction quickly collapsed., and the momentum for the Radical faction and the Conservative faction rose.

At the end, the two factions merged into a single force, and crowned the new demon lord, Leohart.

Him having the blood of the immediate family of the duke house which has produced generations of demon lords since ancient times, and also with his display of valour in the last war, was the reason that he was chosen. Back then, Leohart was different from Wilbert, who was better than him at controlling the situation of the demon realm. He had led the elite forces in the forefront of the front lines, and has achieved excellent military exploits. Although there was another demon on the front lines with a similarly splendid record, however, contact with that demon was lost in the war. Hence, the honour of a war hero was given to only Leohart. And it was with this honour, that had gained him the support of the Moderate faction and the Radical Faction, and hence letting him gain the seat of the demon lord. Still, Leohart was very young, and since he was hailed as the successor of the strongest demon lord Wilbert, it just isn't so awesome. Hence for the symbol of the authority of the throne, he specially chose the biggest, grandest, and the most stately palace in existence in the demon realm for his use.

-But right now, Leohart's palace had suddenly received an intense shock. No, that's not a metaphor. It was an intense vibration that had originated from the throne chamber, literally shocking the whole palace. Then -

"-"

Leohart escaped from the chamber from a hole made in the wall by the attack, and landed lightly in the the atrium. Looking up, he saw a shadow coming after him, jumping from the collapsing wall. The hem of the jacket flapped in the wind, and with the strike of a sword aimed at Leohart, this was the strongest man, the 'God of War' from the last war from the hero tribe.

Toujo Jin.

Leohart immediately raised the cursed blade in his hand, barely managing to block Jin's strike. ''Thung!...'' The sound of their swords clashing instantly sounded out. Due to the strength of the strike, there will in after-effects, and so with a boom, the aftermath from the attack spread out in all directions, instantly destroying the floor of the atrium and the other facilities in the palace, like the fountain and the pool. Presently, -

"Hahahahaha!..."

Leohart then separated, brandishing the cursed blade, causing Jin to quickly move back with a"Oh!"and a flip over Leohart, and with his sword on his right sword, he said with a giggle:

"Ah~ It has dulled a little... Seems like imagining the actions and actually doing it are really indeed different..."

And even patting his shoulder with the ridge of his sword. Just then, -

"- Your majesty Leohart!"

"Are you all right your majesty!?"

Guardsmen hurried to Leohart's side, raising their magic weapons at Jin, at the ready to fire.

"Stand down. You are not a match for him."

But they were ordered to stop by Leohart calm judgement. The elite troops guarding the throne chamber would all be paralysed, and if the normal soldiers were to fight him, their aftermath could range from never being able to fight again, to being a worthless sacrifice. However, when Jin looked around, -

"..Really? Apart from you, there seems to be quite a few fitting the role of a hunter..."

Said that like he has seen through the situation.

''...Even his analytical surveying of the situation is so keen, this really is troublesome.''

Right now, Balthier was Leohart's trusted vassal, and should be awaiting orders, hiding in either the crowd of the normal soldiers or the nearby buildings. Following that, -

"Your majesty Leohart, may I ask what would be the best action to take right now?"

Balthier, unsure, asked for orders.

"- None of you make any moves. I shall be the one to take care of him."

-After all, he was the Toujo Jin, known as the strongest hero.

In this year, Leohart who was crowned at a young age, it was him himself who eliminated part of those who had desires for creating puppets for their own means. But there were still many like Zolgear, who were still not yet eliminated.

However,

Whether was it sympathy, or that he had a chivalrous heart, he didn't know. Jin had taken in Naruse Mio, letting her live together with his son. As for the reason, Leohart couldn't understand why from the one responsible for observations, Lars's, report. ''Wait, could it be that -''

"… Could it be that the reason for protecting your son and Wilbert's daughter, was for you to come here directly to settle your score with me, Toujo Jin?"

"Nope, I've had no such intentions. The reason that I came to the demon realm, was to personally witness the changes that had taken place after Wilbert's death, and to just take a rest at your place on the way... Fine, fine, this is a warning to you guys, to not get anyone to bully and take advantage of my son's intentions."

Even while talking, Jin's eyes was focused intensely on Leohart.

"And here I was thinking that after taking Wilbert's position, you would be reluctant to have the orphaned girl who has inherited his power. The one who doesn't know that she has the blood of the demon lord, been raised as a normal girl, and could possibly have been a potential demon lord, must have been played around with very well. And for the other party to be a rather chivalrous young male hero?"

"… - Shut up."

Leohart rushed towards the Jin who had a wry smile, and increased his speed with his body lowered reaching high speeds in just a moment, slashing at Jin.

-In the war, Leohart's skill with his blade had taken the lives of many from the hero tribe.

However, every strike of his blade was being blocked by Jin. What's even more surprising, was that with the way Jin was moving his blade, there wasn't even any sign of swordsmanship.

It was just purely reflexive brandishing of his blade that was nullifying Leohart's relentless swordsmanship, producing countless amounts of time their swords clashed.

"To have this much skill, it is possible for you, who is still this young, to be on the demon lord's throne... And not to mention that you still have a pair of eyes. Ah... If that's the case, you really are something noteworthy."

Jin gave a smile, like he had just understood the truth. Even if he was from the hero tribe, one had to wonder whether or not he was a human; normally a human was weaker than a demon by several levels. And for a human, he was past his prime.

Yet Jin's body condition was able to match up with the current demon lord, and possibly surpassing him.

''...This is really unbelievable... So this is Toujo Jin?''

Amazing... He really was worthy of having the name as the God of War. Although having participated in the wars that lasted until sixteen years ago, Leohart had never had the chance to fight with Jin, -

To think that he had such power...

In that war, the demons of a calibre similarly as good as Leohart, had suddenly disappeared. And it was very likely that like the rumours, they had really crossed paths with Jin. In the sixteen years that had followed, Leohart had studied to reach the even more advanced levels in martial arts. But still, it was likely that he was only able to barely stand a chance against Jin.

After the war... No. Even during the war, he had never met such an opponent.

"So what!?"

Leohart then rushed forward at a speed and angle that was even faster and sharper than before, releasing a shockwave that was different from before. Leohart's cursed sword, then clashed with Jin's blade.

"Oh oh...!"

Leohart had swung his blade from Jin's back, but he had jumped aside. Following that, Jin watched the cursed blade in Leohart's hand let out a black aura, and after being impressed and letting out a ''ho~'', he discarded his broken blade.

"I knew that wasn't just a normal cursed sword... But, I guess it indeed had to be like that just to be the demon lord's weapon?"

Leohart's cursed sword Loki, was the currently known most powerful magical sword. Since their combat prowess was at a similar level, their weapon would probably the the deciding factor between victory or defeat.

"Devour him, Loki."

When Leohart said that quietly with a low voice, -

"-"

The cursed blade seemed to emit a dark glow in response. The agglomerate and influence earned from the feat of defeating the strongest hero, was one that Leohart was willing to gain at all costs, even if he had to level the city.

Hence, Leohart has let the cursed blade Loki's powers increase to its limit.

A loud sound, was accompanied with a disruption. The space distorted in where the darkness surged out wildly.

This darkness could devour Jin whole, with the potential of leaving no traces of his body or spirit. That was the attack.

The battle has ended, at least, that was how it was. Demon lord Leohart instead saw an image of unbelievable confidence.

Before Toujo Jin was devoured by the darkness, he let out an impertinent smile, and following that, -

"Wowowowowowowowowowowowowowo!"

With a roar, a green aura appeared on Jin's body, and then concentrated it on his right fist.

With exaggerated movements, he used his right fist to ram into the darkness with seemingly brute force, shaking the area with a heavy bass sound, and rebounded the dark energy back to Leohart. Faced with the dark energy rebounding back to him at a much faster speed, -

"-"

Deciding quickly, Leohart used his cursed sword to sweep upwards to the right, cutting into that darkness and splitting it.

In next moment, an earth-shaking shock and 'boom' sound resounded.

The deflected and cut dark energy, totally obliterated the giant south wall of the palace.

The impact was so strong, that it forced the atmosphere in the atrium into a frenzy, with confusion and screaming everywhere. Just then, -

All right... This should probably be enough.

It seems that Toujo Basara's purpose for his visit was already accomplished.

No matter how ambitious Leohart was, or how dense the evil intentions and dark desires are in the surroundings, the currently expansion of the currently former demon lord's faction would not stop, and would eventually dissolve the state of the moderates faction.

The most effective way to stop this, would be to shake the trust of the demons in the new demon lord's ability and charisma, creating doubts in the subordinates. And this is the reason why Jin chose the atrium, which was teeming with normal soldiers onlooking, to have a 'meeting' with Leohart. Just now, Leohart's assault, the the meaning of power was shown to the surrounding people, but then he had instead received Jin's counter-attack.

Not only had Jin rebounded Leohart's attack back to him, he had shown his existence of being a very big threat part of the demons in the city.

This would probably enough to deter the current demon lord from deploying the higher ups, and to create doubt and unrest in lower subordinates

This would probably be enough to give them a scare...

Just was the Toujo Jin who was thinking this was about to decide to slip away, something caught his eye.

"- !"

The next moment, he moved his body, in a way, and creating a thunder-like shockwave.

In the explosive impact creating a confusion maelstrom, demon lord Leohart personally saw 'that'.

Running across the atrium in an instant, and rushing into the falling rubble.

Hoping to escape in the mess...?

Beyond the city wall was a cliff, and under the cliff was a moat. Jumping from the whole in the wall, it was likely that the water would ease the impact of the fall, and the chances of making it out safely was quite high. However, that was not accounting for the huge weight of the falling rubble, with quite a few large pieces of the city wall mixed into it. Based on his abilities, to scale the city walls was probably effortless for him, so why did he chose a rougher path? Just as he was thinking this, he saw it.

Jin, who was leaping into the air, reached out towards a small body in the falling rubble, and brought it into his arms. Wearing light body armour, it was probably one of the soldiers on the city wall. But rather, it seems like that he had taken Leohart's attack, and Jin who was an enemy had no obligation to help him. But, -

...That was?

What Jin was hugging, was obviously a child. This caused Leohart to think,in the palace, there was a young soldier, who although was quite young, due to the power possessed, was highly praised and employed.

Though young, he was still a demon, and since he was quite powerful, a mere moat couldn't possibly kill him.

But, if he was knocked unconscious from the large amount of falling rubble or from the shock from the explosion, then it was likely that he would die if he landed in the moat. Hence, the Jin who was in the air immediately took action.

"Woaaaaaaaaaaaahhh...!"

In the condition that Jin are holding in boy in, he kicked towards just above.

From above, the huge pieces of the city walls then burst into smaller debris. With the explosion that had already echoed, Leohart was still in shock, unable to comprehend just what had happened, and then the Jin who was in the air met his eyes.

"-"

Leohart was looking at Jin, who had sprouted a winner's smile. And with this emotion, huge amounts of debris fell from the cliff.

"Shall pursuing be your order, your majesty Leohart?"

Seeing the situation, Balthier asked this question from his side.

"Don't bother... There isn't the need. Continuing the fight with him would be just a waste of energy."

But Leohart shaked his head, and just ordered Balthier to to check on the injuries of the soldiers and clear the debris.

Giving the direction Jin and the young boy fell a last look, he turned and headed back into the palace.

2

Naruse Mio had woken up deep in the night.

Because in the dream that she had tonight, its contents were just too stimulating for her.

" How irritating... Why did I have that dream again...!"

Mio couldn't help but to let her face become flushed, feeling embarrassment. Under the blanket, there was an incredible amount of heat,s due to her dream giving her a hot body. And she trembling while releasing quite the amount of body heat. But, this wasn't something she could control, since in her dream, she had came across something which would've caused her body to become hot, and the other party in her dream was none other than her master, Toujo Basara.

The contents of that dream, was something that took place after the fight with Zolgear. It was the events that happened after Basara had force a kiss upon her in Basara's room.

The Mio in the dream, had been on the receiving end of ecstasy and pleasure on the bed in Basara's room, and had continuously climaxed one time after another. But, that was something that Mio already had experience in. The thing that was the main source of her embarrassment, was in fact, -

...The fact that Yuki, Maria, Zest and Sheera was there!

Just Basara himself was enough to make Mio yield, but then, even Yuki and the others had joined in on the fun. It was namely the shirtless Basara, and the remaining four that was wearing lewd underwear, that had slowly stripped Mio, piece by piece, and had unscrupulously played with her breasts, butt, thighs and her other sensitive spots. Experiencing overwhelming amounts of pleasure, Mio had already lost control to the unthinkable extent, and had kept on shouting'Brother! Brother!'in her high times.

At the end, just as the lower portion of her underwear was about to be taken off, Mio had opened her eyes. Now, what if she hadn't woken up, what exactly would've happened? When thinking of the dream, -

" ! . Fuuuaaaaaahhhhhhhh! Eh... Wh-Why...!?"

A sudden sensation that had come from her left breast had caused Mo to raise her blanket to take a look, only to find Maria, who had sneaked under her blanket while she slept, sucking on her left breast like a baby. Being able to undo the buttons on her sleepwear without her noticing, one should probably say that she was indeed worthy of being called a succubus...

Having caught the culprit responsible for her having that dream, Mio silently raised her hand to deliver a blow.

" Mama..."

Maria's mouth then just released Mio's breast, muttering in her sleep. Thus...

" …"

Mio released a small sigh, and then cautiously got up her bed so as to not wake Maria up, properly buttoned up her sleepwear, and after tucking n Maria, she quietly left her room.

-Her footsteps, was heading towards the bathroom on the first floor. Having just had a terrible dream, she had let out quite the amount of sweat. When she reached the first floor, she saw some light coming out from under the door shining into the hallway from the dressing room. Did someone forget to switch off the lights? While thinking this, Mio opened the door, only to realise that someone was already there. With only a bathrobe on her, standing beyond the door, was a girl possessing some sort of transparent beauty, Nonaka Yuki. Probably having just finished taking a bath, her hair was still wet, and there was still some sort of steam-like moisture emanating from her body.

" Oh... Please."

Upon seeing Yuki, Mio said that, unexcited. She wasn't unhappy with her for taking a bath in the middle of the night, since she had come to do the same thing. Hence, she proceeded to ask, -

" When taking a bath, at least lock the door..."

After the fight with Zolgear, Mio who was unable to sleep probably due to receiving a blow from Basara forcing a kiss in the bed in his room, couldn't ever trust her own rationality again, had gotten locks installed for the bathrooms on the very next day. Just to prevent Maria or Basara barging in while she was bathing, and prevent any misunderstandings caused by Basara.

In the end, Yuki hadn't lock the door, and didn't even hang the'Bathroom in use'sign.

" You're lucky that it was me. What if the one who had barged in was Basara?"

" If it was Basara, him seeing it isn't a problem... Or rather, I had hoped that it would be Basara..."

" We hadn't taken a bath together in a long time, so I was hoping that it would be Basara."

" Didn't we have a bath together four days ago?!"

And if the fight with Zolgear was not counted in, then it would have been only three days. Mio gave a helpless sigh when faced with the scene where Yuki was undoing the knot on her bathrobe, and with her hand reaching towards the basket hold the blue -

" Hold on for a moment."

" Now what...?"

Mio couldn't help but to stop the Yuki who was holding onto a blue T-shirt, and with that the other party have a reaction like that she didn't know what she had did wrong.

" Why did you take Basara's shirt from the basket containing dirty laundry?"

" If I don't wear something quickly after coming out from a bath, I'll catch a cold."

" Then wear your own shirt! Don't you have anything else?"

" Fine..."

Yuki gave an apologetic reply.

" I'll let you wear this shirt that Basara was wearing."

" Why would I want to wear that!?"

Mio snatched Basara's laundry from Yuki's hand, and then proceeded to throw it back into the laundry basket. She then took off the only clothes she was wearing, her sleepwear, together with her legs leaving her pants, and also threw them into the laundry basket.

" If you say that you want Basara's to-be-washed shirt, at least get his permission first before coming to get it! Humph!"

And then after that, she stepped into the bathroom.

" I can't stand it any more..."

Firstly, Mio began to wash away the sweat on her body, before checking the water's temperature. Fortunately, Yuki didn't forget to refill the warm water just now, so the water's temperature was pretty comfortable. Just like that, Mio lowered her entire body into the bathtub.

Just when Mio was about to let out a relaxed sigh, -

Ah... She can't be...

Could the reason that Yuki came to take a bath right in the middle of the night, was that like Mio, she had released a lot of sweat, dreaming the same dream she had? Just as she was thinking this, -

''"Eh...!?"''

Suddenly she felt uneasy in the bath with a chill running through her, with her body quivering. The contents of the dream she just had, with everyone drowning her in pleasure, that flashback still being fresh in her mind.

That dream... It couldn't possibly have happened in real life... Right?"

Her doubt showing, was due to when the aphrodisiac curse activates, the sweet hotness would always blur her consciousness, and her rationality and sense of shame would always be eclipsed by the pleasure that Basara gave her, causing her sense of the line between reality and dreams to blurred. Hence, even if that was just a dream, it wouldn't be strange.

However, Naruse Mio denied such a possibility, because, Zest who was left behind by Zolgear and Maria's mother had already left the Toujo residence, returning to the demon realm.

" ..."

After getting up from the bathtub, Mio washed her body, and thought about what had happened on that day.

Two days ago, on the day of the fight with Zolgear, Mio had immediately contacted the Moderates faction of the demons.

Yesterday, coming to the Toujo residence to fetch Zest and Sheera, was the demon claiming to be Maria's elder sister, and an accompanying demon, Yahiro Takigawa.

Lars... Was it?

At that time, Mio and Yuki had heard him introduce himself. The reason they had calmly accepted the facts, was that Basara had told them that Takigawa was actually a demon beforehand, and had also let them know of the cooperation they had before.

But...

The female demon that had come to fetch Zest and Sheera, had started a miniature war with Mio, Basara and Yuki. Even if it was for protecting her mother, Maria still had betrayed Mio, the demon lord and the moderates faction, hence it was likely that they would want them to hand over Maria.

They had decided to reject that demand when it was made, and the female demon with the higher-ups orders had to unconsciously let it slide, and the final demand that was made for, was Maria's mother Sheera.

It really was amazing...

The situation was resolved by just a smile. Even though Sheera's outer appearance was even more immature than Maria, when she had said that she would return just with Zest this time, the female demon had reluctantly and let it slide, and showed signs that she would ask for further orders from the leader of the moderates faction for his judgement, the former demon lord Wilbert's brother Ramsas.

Also, after Zest returned to the demon realm, there was no objections from the Moderates faction for assistance similar to an observer for protection, just like that she was taken away by the female demon. However, in the few days Zest spent in the house before she returned to the demon realm, she was very obedient to Basara; although they hadn't made a master-servant contract, it was like she had decided that Basara was to be her new master.

Not only was Zest very beautiful, her figure was also first class, and she also had the charm of maturity that Mio and Yuki didn't have. In addition, before Zest was taken back to the demon realm, Basara had told her: " If anything happens, you are welcome in this house any time." Right then she was looking at Basara with emotional tearful eyes. If they were left alone, it was likely that she would've immediately kissed him. If they really lived together, then nothing good would've happened.

But, speaking of maturity charms, there was a even bigger threat.

To think that an adult Maria would be so beautiful...

Mio had seen the appearance of a transformed Maria in the fight with Zolgear, and she couldn't believe that that beautiful thing couldn't possibly be Maria. Recently it seems that the chances of Basara losing his rationality was getting higher, and if he was cornered by such a Maria, it wouldn't be weird if something bad happened. Having said that, to transform into that appearance, the amount of power consumed wasn't small, it would be fine if there weren't any chances in the short period of time.

"What a perilous situation it has turned into, I can't stand it any more..."

After washing her whole body, she washed away the foam produced before leaving the bathroom. Not seeing Yuki anywhere in the dressing room, Mio took a bathrobe from the cabinet to put on, and then, -

" ..."

Only to realise that shirt that belongs to Basara was missing.

" That idiot...!"

It appears that Yuki really went to ask Basara. If so, she can't dawdle here any longer. Entering Basara's room in the middle of the night, no matter if it was her wearing only a towel or Yuki wearing his shirt, what could happen after that, was something that no one knew.

But seeing Yuki ramp up her competitiveness, this had somewhat put Mio's heart at ease. That was because, -

A jealous Yuki that wasn't that great was something good...

Harbouring ill feelings towards one's master will activate the curse of the master-servant contract, basically not making any allowance for any jealously. But, now that they had made the master-servant contract with the same master, it wouldn't be like in the past any more, having a jealous Yuki triggering the curse. The chances of having envy or jealously from seeing someone other than themselves receiving praise from their master or from watching others being spoilt, was the smallest of the smallest. But if having such jealously will activate the curse, then for the two of them serving under their master, to deepen their mutual relationship, would be difficult, and this would drag down a master if there were many subordinates. Therefore, for such situations, in order to deepen the relationship between a master and servant, the magic that was born, had naturally considered avoiding such a problem.

However, even if the curse does not activate, she couldn't just let Yuki do as she pleases.

And hence Mio hurriedly chased after Yuki. But yet suddenly stopped her movements the next moment. Because she then realised, that Basara's shirt was still in the laundry basket.

" …!"

The liquids that was in Mio's mouth suddenly spurted out. Thinking that she had thought that Yuki had taken away Basara's shirt, she then began to undo the knot on her bathrobe, and then brought that shirt into her chest, and, -

I-Idiot... Why was hugging Basara's shirt so comfortable?

She was different from Yuki, having secret access to Basara's laundry, and this brought a tiny bit of guilt into her heart. And so, this caused the curse to activate at a shallow level, causing Mio to experience pleasure from rubbing on Basara's shirt.

With her breathing becoming heavy and her heart beating faster, she then couldn't stop herself from putting on Basara's shirt. Just as the lower half of Mio's body began to shake due to the pleasure, -

" Mio-sama~ Are you all right?"

And the room's door was then opened suddenly. In the next moment, Mio and Maria's sight connected, and, -

" - "

Frozen. When Yuki left the room, the door wasn't locked. And right now, the one who realised the blunder was Mio, whose mind had just then went blank...

" Ah~........."

Maria put on a wry benevolent smile, and then closed the door.

Right after that, the sound of panting and steps rushing up to the second floor could be heard through the door.

" Wh-What's wrong...?!"

The sound of running up the stairs with her full strength caused Basara to be shocked into wariness. He hadn't awoke from that alone, as he was woken not too long ago by the bathrobe-wearing Yuki who had wanted to ask to let her wear his shirt. Just before, the Basara had sleepily nodded his head without knowing what he was agreeing to, which had prompted Yuki to immediately untie the knot to immediate change into the shirt, to let Basara dominate her with an invitation in her room. And it was the noise which meant that something had happened that put him into a sudden mood to prepare for battle. Just then, from behind the door, a voice was in the hallway:

" Brotherbasarabrotherbasarabrotherbasarabrotherbasara! Listen to me, Brother Basara! Mio-sama just had a wet dream! And not only that! She also kept babbling and letting out high-pitched sounds!And after she left the bed at a time that I didn't know, seemingly wash off her sweat, and ended up doing unbecoming things in the bathroom!Mio-sama, right after her bath, had taken Basara's shirt that was in the laundry and was letting out lewd sounds!"

….....................................................................

" Uh... Oi, what's with you, Maria?"

Just as he quietly left his bed at the sudden visit, there was a flustered answer from behind the door:

" No-Nothing.... Basara."

" Really... It seems that you had a strange dream, and that you had already slept yourself silly..."

Umm... But... I think I'm still hearing some strange muffled sounds..."

" Is something wrong with your hearing? There's still classes tomorrow, don't go to sleep too late. I'll return to my room too. Maria should probably get some quality sleep, or you'll be sleepy again."

Good night... With Mio leaving these words, the sound of her footsteps towing a great weight faded into the distance.

Although curious as to what was the scene behind the door, the sound of dripping water beyond the door brought about the mood from a horror film, causing Basara to not dare to open the door.

Maria often made many jokes, and Mio had often habitually meted out punishments to him.

" Well... Everything's probably fine, I guess?"

No one would probably notice the sea of blood on the hallway when they open their doors next morning, right?

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Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 1 Chapter 3

2015-08-18T04:28:27Z

Mard: /* Part 7 */

==At the Threshold of Trust and Reunion==

===Part 1===

The Master and Servant Contract immediately activated the curse when the Servant betrayed the Master.

After almost a month--- On the next full moon, it was possible to annul it.

At first they believed it to be hopeless, but they somehow managed to overcome the first week.

---Regardless of how it came to be, the contract was bound, so they had to deal with the situation.

To successfully avoid the curse from activating, they persuaded Mio now and little by little they confirmed the activation conditions for the curse and other effects.

And as of now, they had a good understanding about the contract magic.

First--- The servant wasn't forced into absolute obedience and could defy an unreasonable order. Apparently it was done, so that the contract wouldn't be used one-sided, but interactive.

Consequently, the master needed to reward his servant with an adequate attitude as a master. It was close to the "Reward & Service" relationship between the Shogun and Samurai, which takes it origin during the Kamakura period.

That said, even if the Master makes an unreasonable order, the curse will not activate for him due to the superior stance in the contract. Still, the fact that the servant could disobey a strange order was a salvation for Basara and Mio.

---Then what determined a betrayal from the servant, leading to the activation to the curse?

It was a bit complicated, as the condition for the curse's activation was "a mental betrayal".

That said, the servant wasn't forced into absolute obedience. He had the right to "oppose" an unreasonable order.

Also, actions that appeared like a "rebellion" or "betrayal", but were for example to "correct" a mistake, meaning an action for the sake of the master, were apparently forgiven.

But on the other hand, if the Servant disobeyed a legit order or took an unreasonable attitude, the curse activated without mercy.

And it seemed that the power of the curse was determined on the Servant's feeling of "guilt"--- in other words, his "mental betrayal".

When the curse activated, a mark appeared on Mio's neck like a collar as proof.

But--- Basically the curse wouldn't activate as long as she trusted and believed him.

Because the contract between Basara and Mio was conducted uncommonly, there had been confusion in the beginning, but originally it was a magic that strengthened the trust between Master and Servant, allowing them to keep track of each other's positions.

Therefore there was no problem. A week passed while desperately convincing themselves like that.

And then--- summer vacation came to an end.

That said, even with summer vacation ending, it was not the end of summer.

On sunny days, the temperature easily crossed 30°C.

A day with boiling heat from the morning on. Toujou Basara walked the street to school for the first time.

The second term from today onward. The start of his new school life.

"Aw, so hot… Damn."

He was wearing the summer uniform, but that didn't mean that his trousers were shorts. Additionally the surroundings were full of students with the same uniform. He hated crowds.

"Girls have it good… They get to wear short skirts."

"---Hey, could you stop being so egoistic? In exchange for that, it's cold in the winter."

A cold voice beside him answered the grumbling Basara. It was Mio wearing the same school uniform.

Since they mostly made sure of the activation boundaries of the curse, making an impudent remark in the middle of a normal conversation was no problem.

Malice or a guilty conscious were the problematic ones.

"But, in winter you can easily wear shorts or at worst tracksuits pants under your skirt, right."

Each of them cold-blooded spoiled a boy's pure heart. Upon that,

"That goes without saying. What's the point of letting yourself freeze."

"Then in the end, you're warm in winter!"

Not good. He inadvertently retorted, but what good was it to even get hot-blooded himself. There,

"Right, please calm down, Basara-san."

A young voice from behind. When he turned around, Maria was following behind them.

Needless to say she didn't wear a school uniform, but a refreshing dress.

"It is hot, because you think it is hot. At time like these, just look at me."

Saying so, Maria searched rustling in the convenience store bag in her hand.

Then she pulled out a pet bottle, drinking it with big gulps.

Next she ripped open a popsicle wrapping, taking a mouthful. Narrowing her eyes pleased, she faced him with a smile.

"How is it? When watching a refreshing scenery, you feel refreshing yourself, right?"

"As if!"

"Muh, I just wanted to cheer you up a bit, since I am asking you to guard Mio-sama at school."

While feeling despondent, Maria licked her ice. That appearance looked unnecessarily erotic.

In casual moments like this, he was reminded that she was a succubus.

"…I'll just be grateful for the idea."

Basara wearily faced frontward again. Upon that, his gaze fell on the wave of students with the same school uniform that flowing through the gate. Shortly thereafter, Basara and the girls arrived there as well.

"Oh, so this is it."

Basara stopped in front of the gate and looked up the big building.

Private [Hijirigasaka Academy]. That was the school Mio attended and which Basara would attend from today onward.

"Well then, Mio-sama, I will be on standby nearby."

"Yeah, thanks."

On the night of the screwed up Master and Servant contract, she had been filled with rage, but after a week, Mio's anger certainly had subdued. Mio and Maria had returned to their quite close sister relationship.

When Maria showed a smile on Mio's "Yes", she suddenly looked up to Basara.

"Okay, Basara-san, I leave Mio-sama to you. Though I doubt there will be any troubles in a place with so many people."

"Yeah, if anything comes up, I'll let you know right away."

However, suddenly doubt arose in him.

"But… You said you would be on standby nearby, but it's a weekday, you know? Won't it be troublesome if the police finds you loitering around here?"

Upon that, "Fufufu. Do not worry. It will be completely fine."

Maria laughed with Fufufu and pulled out a single card from the pouch she was carrying over her shoulder.

"Look, in preparation for such cases, I have a fake ID that testifies me as 18 years old. 18 years, you hear? With that I can loiter around during noon all I want."

"Oh really…"

Basara lost his strength. Just because she was 18 didn't mean she could loiter around all she wanted.

Or rather, normally anyone would doubt that age from her appearance--- even when she was smiling so radiant.

===Part 2===

Upon entering the school grounds, the flood of students got to it's peak and the hallways were crowded with students.

Basara, a transfer student, parted from Mio and headed to the staff room first. When he told them at the door that he was the new transfer student today, he was told to wait for a bit in the waiting room next door. And after the chime rang a few times, a young male teacher came to pick him up with a class register in his hands. He held out his hand with a brilliant smile.

"I'm Sakasaki Mamoru, your homeroom teacher. Nice to meet you, Toujou."

"Yes, hello…"

Even while being overwhelmed by the unnecessary refreshing aura, Basara replied to the handshake.

Since the morning home room followed right after the staff meeting, they moved to the class room right away.

"Well, we often get transfers due to family circumstances, but your case seems a bit more complicated, Toujou."

"Yes, kind of…"

Nothing would come from hiding the fact that he was living with Mio. Therefore Basara told just the school that they were currently living together to see if they could be a family before the remarriage, when he was asked at the beginning. That said, he wouldn't announce that to the classmates though.

"But making a trial period like that shows that your parents are good people, who properly consider the feelings of their children."

Basara replied with the vague answer "Sure". He couldn't tell him that all of that was made up.

Although, it all happened from Jin's considerations, so Sakasaki's words weren't wrong.

''…Ah, reminds me.''

Basara asked Sakasaki what he suddenly remembered.

"Uhm… I heard that a friend of my father is at this school, but do you know anything of it?"

Jin might have received a favor from that person when he took care of the transfer papers.

Then it would be better to express gratitude to that person. However,

"Is that so? Well, I haven't heard anything in particular about that. Should I look into it later?"

"Ah, no, thank you."

If the homeroom teacher Sakasaki didn't hear about it, it might be better not to pry into it.

When he politely turned him down, they arrived in front of the classroom.

"This is our class. A new family and new school might bring various hardships, but you'll get used to it in no time. Besides, we have Naruse in our class."

Ohh, Basara was a bit surprised. It was rare that siblings or relatives were put in the same class. He thought for sure he would end up in a different class than Mio. They must have been considerate.

"Moreover there is our serious class rep and me as your homeroom teacher. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask without reservation. Okay, let's go in."

Saying so, Sakasaki moved into the classroom and Basara followed after him. The news of a transfer student coming must have spread already. When he stood in front of the blackboard, he could look over the whole class.

''…Geez.''

Basara made a sigh at heart. All gazes in the classroom were focused on him and all at once they started to evaluate Basara. That was the unavoidable fate of a transfer student.

First of all, he saw everyone get discouraged, boys and girls alike, just by the fact that he was a boy. He was prepared for it, but before his self-introduction it already felt like a lost battle, which truly depressed him. He believed his looks to be average, but there were still a few girls that hadn't lost interest in Basara yet.

''…Ah.''

Amongst them was Mio sitting at the window in the back.

''…She really stands out after all.''

Seeing her like that, he once more realized Mio's cuteness. In the classroom space, everyone wore the same uniform and sat at the systematic ordered desks. The conditions were the same. Due to that, one's characteristic stood out excessively. When he stared at her, she averted her eyes towards the window.

He lost another interested one. Who remained was,

''…Mh?''

In the same window-row as Mio--- the girl at the very front was looking at him.

It was a pretty girl. Contrary to her vivid presence, similar to Mio's, she had an aura like clear water.

Their types were different, but she was a beautiful girl on par with Mio.

Seeing as the desk next to her was empty, it most likely was going to be Basara's.

Indeed, it was understandable that she was interested in him when he was going to sit next to her. But,

''…Ehm, what to do about this?''

He considered her a cute girl, but if she stared at him so directly it certainly was a bit awkward.

At that time, Sakasaki, standing besides the teacher's desk, eloquently wrote his name on the blackboard,

"Okay, as you can see, we have a transfer student. ---Toujou, introduce yourself."

"Ah, yes…"

coming to his aid in the silence.

"Ehm, I'm Toujou Basara. My name is a bit showy, but as you can see, I'm an average guy. Please take care of me."

Since they would inquire about it anyway, he made a self-deriding introduction, whereupon the expressions of the guys softened a bit. The atmosphere became somewhat welcome and Basara made a sigh of relief.

Then it was time for questions and with the silly questions and answers repeating numerous times, the chime tolled the end of the homeroom soon enough. Sakasaki clapped his hands together.

"---Okay, that's it for now. Save the rest for after the opening ceremony. Toujou, your desk is the empty one over there. Nonaka, you're the class rep, so look after Toujou."

"…Yes."

The beautiful girl from earlier stood up and nodded short. Apparently she was the class representative.

"Well then, everyone line up in the hallway. We're going to the gym."

On Sakasaki's words, everyone started to stand up from their seats.

"He tells us to line up… but in what order?"

Amidst the students pouring out of the classroom, Basara just stood there with no idea what to do, whereupon

"---Basara."

Suddenly his name was called, and Basara faced it startled.

"Ehm, what is it, class rep…?"

Before he had noticed it, the girl had stood right besides him. He was surprised by suddenly being called by name, but for Basara, the transfer student, she was the one to take care of him. Therefore,

"I hope we get along, class rep. I'll try not to cause any---"

troubles… was what he wanted to say, but couldn't. Because she suddenly hugged him.

"Eh---?"

For a moment, he didn't understand what was happening.

But the soft touch of a girl and the faint, sweet fragrance told him that it was reality.

"W- Wh- What are you two doing!"

Mio, who noticed the two of them before anyone else, pushed the dumbfounded classmates aside and came over with a bright red face. Her eyes were lightly bloodshot.

"Ohh!? Class rep, can you get away? Otherwise I think it'll be dangerous!"

Mostly for my own body though.

"Moreover, you call me by my first name and hug me, could it be you lived overseas?"

"…No."

On the question, Nonaka raised her face while still hugging onto Basara.

"Basara… have you really forgotten?"

Then she showed him a little sulking expression.

"Mh? Reminds me, the name Nonaka… Don't tell me,"

Basara remembered the last name of the class rep, which the homeroom teacher had called, very well.

"You're… Yuki?"

Upon saying the name of his childhood friend after a few years, the girl in front of his eyes nodded short with "Mm".

"Basara, it's been a while…"

[[Image:Shinmai Vol1 0086.jpg|thumb]]

Saying so happily, Nonaka Yuki showed a smile. Then,

"Get off him already!"

Mio forcefully got between them. When she pulled Basara and Yuki apart,

"H- Hugging him out of nowhere… A- Are you nuts?"

She flared up at Yuki with a bright red face. However Yuki stayed composed.

"Not really. This is normal between Basara and me."

"N- Normal…? H- Hey, Basara, what does she mean?"

Basara was troubled by Mio's ogre-like glare.

"Well, Yuki's my childhood friend… She was quite attached to me."

"Attached… You aren't a dog or cat!"

"Well yeah…"

But the fact remained that it was true. They were of the same age and lived nearby, so they grew up like siblings. Actually, it hurt. The gazes of his classmates, Mio's included, that is. Specially the ones from the boys.

Well, obviously. For a bystander it only looked like Mio and Yuki were fighting over Basara.

''…Not good. At this rate, the friendly atmosphere I created with my introduction will…''

But, how to explain it? While he was like that, the situation kept getting worse.

"…It doesn't concern you, Naruse-san."

At last, Yuki declared coldly--- But it provoked Mio's emotions.

"It, It does concern me!"

Before Basara could stop her, Mio shouted with a voice that reached down the hallway. The all decisive sentence.

"I'm… living together with him after all!"

===Part 3===

The opening ceremony ended and it became lunch break after a couple of classes.

A happy lunch-time atmosphere spread over the school.

Basara sat bored and alone at his own seat in the classroom. Inadvertently he mumbled.

"……For real?"

Wow. This was beyond his expectations. Could a person on his first day of transfer become this isolated?

First of all, it seemed like he made an enemy out of every boy. Just getting hugged by Yuki was bad enough, but Mio's declaration of their living together totally ruined everything.

For example, the girls showered Basara with question without mercy once they returned to the classroom from the opening ceremony. He got information about Mio or Yuki, but they sucked out all the information from him they wanted, then left satisfied and never spoke to him again.

Therefore Basara had no longer anyone to speak with, except Mio and Yuki.

---However these last two rays of hope weren't here either right now. Yuki left after being called by the teacher for some class representative work. When he then invited Mio to eat lunch together, she said "You finally reunited with your childhood friend, so eat with her for all I care" and left with the girls from class to somewhere. Probably because it was a suggestion that was considerate to him in a way, the curse of the Master and Servant contract didn't activate in particular.

And this--- led to his current solitude. Basara sighed wearily.

"Guess I should get going…"

There was no point in staying here. As he didn't have a lunch box with him, his choices were either the cafeteria or the school store. And when he stood up from his seat and left the classroom, Basara was suddenly called out to.

"Yo. Making most of the boys in class your enemy in an instant, you have some tough luck, Mr. Transfer Student."

When he turned around, there stood a boy, showing a friendly smile. One of his classmates.

"Ehm… Takigawa, was it?"

"Oh, you could tell? Have we met before somewhere or what?"

Takigawa made a puzzled face. Only Basara had introduced himself in front of the class. Needless to say, the other classmates,

Takigawa included, didn't name themselves.

"Well, it's thanks to this from Sakasaki-sensei."

Basara pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and held it out. It was a copy of the seating chart that his homeroom teacher Sakasaki prepared from him, so that he could memorize his classmates' names as fast as possible.

"Hee, Sakasaki is perceptive as ever."

Takigawa nodded once he told his understanding, then placed his hand over-familiar onto Basara's shoulder.

"For that reason, let's grab a bite together, Mr. Transfer Student. You didn't have lunch yet, right?"

"Yeah… but how do you get to 'For that reason' from our conversation?"

"Because the transfer student, who's all alone after making an enemy out of all the guys in class on his first day, was hanging his head super depressed. It was just too pitiful, so I inadvertently had to call out to you. Besides, I moved near here just last year. So I can understand a bit the troubles and melancholy of a transfer."

He appreciated the concern, but couldn't he have said it better?

Well, he didn't seem like a bad guy.

"Just call me Basara then… I'll call you Takigawa too."

"Kay. So Basara, cafeteria or school store?"

"Let's see… The school store today, I guess."

Not to forget the incident during class break. It was unlikely he could calm down in the crowded cafeteria.

He wanted to buy something at random and eat at an isolated place.

"Then we better hurry. If we don't, there won't be anything decent left."

Saying so, Takigawa started walking. When Basara caught up next to him,

"Still, to be the brother-in-law with our Princess Mio and childhood friends with our Princess Yuki… Raising flags with both idols that our school is so proud of, that's one damn King position."

"Princess…? They are called like that?"

He thought that their appearances certainly stood out.

"Yeah, that's why I think you made other classes and seniors your enemy too. I mean, these two are really popular here and they seem to have a lot of passionate fans."

Takigawa shrugged his shoulders while smiling.

"Surprisingly a man's jealously is even greater than a woman's. And to be honest, it's quite lasting."

Indeed. No wonder then that the boys of the other classes glared at him with hostility when he left the classroom to go drink some water and that he felt a vague killing intent in the toilet.

"Aw, we're too late after all."

When they arrived at the school store, there was already a long line before the food.

Along with Takigawa, whose expression had turned bitter, Basara lined up at the end of the line, where he casually probed.

"Hey… About these passionate fans, ''has there ever been some kind of incident so far with them involved?''"

"Woah, creepy… So, for example like what?"

Said Takigawa while looking at the beginning of the line. "Let's see" said Basara as a prelude.

"For example, someone tried to aggressively get at them… Or contrary, a girl, jealous of their popularity, did some kind of harassment?"

"No way. To begin with, the other fans wouldn't keep quiet if anyone tried to steal a march. Even the girls know of Naruse and Nonaka's popularity. They're aware that they would make the boys angry if they were to pull some kind of careless harassment."

"I see…"

In other words, Mio was the center of attention to some kind of extent at school.

There had been a risk of an enemy being mixed in the school, but it was unlikely that any flashy measures would be taken in that situation.

''…Well, the first term actually did go by normally.''

Of course it couldn't be asserted that the school was perfectly safe because of that, but at least it narrowed down the places and times, where they had to be wary.

When Basara pondered like that, Takigawa, next to him, suddenly showed a nasty smile.

"Well, there was once a sophomore boy that tried to steal a march, but was put through the mill by a couple of seniors… Going by that, you're probably in the most danger."

"Guess so…"

He got the feeling that it was true. After all, ever since he showed up at the school store, some guys had been glaring at him. It was good that Mio was relatively safe, but it made him worry about his school life.

"But are you going to be fine, Takigawa? Won't the passionate fans have an eye on you too when you hang out with me?"

On Basara's question, Takigawa smiled.

"Don't fret it. I have fast legs. If it comes down to it, I'll abandon you and run away."

Such a reliable classmate. Then Takigawa added "Besides" happily.

"Raising flags with our school's two beauties is quite the feast. The so called protagonist potential? If I hang out with a guy that has such 'luck' or 'invisible power', I think my school life will get quite lively. Let's get along from now on."

"Same here. But… I'm afraid I don't have such luck or power."

Basara made a wry smile. He already--- lost his qualifications to be a hero and was nothing more than a side-character.

===Part 4===

After school.

Mio, who had been silent ever since leaving the classroom, finally opened her mouth when they left the entrance hall.

"…Why are you following me?"

"Well, I'm just trying to go home…"

A sullen voice. Apparently the incident from after this morning's homeroom still had after-effects.

Well, it had certainly surprised him too.

---However, couldn't she fix her mood already? He had already been at the verge to be all alone at school, yet even on the way home it seemed that he wouldn't get a proper conversation.

In his opinion, it was time to remind her again about idea behind the Kanji 人.<ref>''Hito'', the kanji for person</ref>

Supporting each other.

"Hey Mio… What do you think about the Kanji '人'?"

"It looks like Nonaka and you hugging."

Not good. Impossible. He couldn't count on her. Like this, he could only hope for the meddling of a third person.

Walking towards the school gate, Basara shifted his gaze to the far in front. Upon that,

"Mio-chaan, Basara-saan."

Maria, waiting outside the gate, waved her hand greatly. Apparently she was carrying out their setting as sisters in public. Well, it certainly would be weird when she called her "Mio-sama".

"Good job on sitting out your time… you two."

"Thanks for waiting for us, but your remark is a bit wrong."

Don't make it sound like we came out of prison. The counselling teacher is looking.

There Maria noticed Mio's bad mood and alternating looked at Mio and Basara's expression, then

"Basara-san, Basara-san…"

Pulling on his sleeve and taking a bit of a distance from Mio, she whispered into his ear.

"What is up with Mio-sama? It appears that her mood is kind of foul."

"Well, stuff happened…"

"? …Ah, I see. So that is how it is. That is not good, you have to use contraception."

"Hey… what did you think of in these mere seconds just now?"

Seemed it wasn't good to rely on someone else. He should do something about it himself. At that time,

''…Mh?''

Suddenly he noticed that Mio across of him looked at him.

"……….."

Her expression looked like she was waiting for Basara's words.

''…Figures.''

Of course it worried her when the one, who promised to protect her, showed an expression she didn't know.

It was nothing to be surprised about. A trust between Mio and him hadn't been properly established yet.

Neither as a family--- nor as comrades.

''…Worrying my little sister, I fail as a big brother…''

When he thought so self-instructing, Basara returned to Mio's side.

"…….What?"

Mio faced sideways sulking and gave him a side-glance.

At the time he tried to find words to reassure her then.

"---Basara."

A quiet voice called his name from the side interrupting. Before he had noticed, Nonaka Yuki had stood right beside him. And ignoring Mio, whose expression instantly turned sour, she declared.

"I have something important to discuss… just between us two."

===Part 5===

Basara decided to accept Yuki's request to talk with just the two of them.

As expected, the bad-tempered Mio had left Basara behind and went home, but she had Maria with her.

Befitting the season, the sun was still up high and there were a lot of students, since it was time to go home.

It should be safe to leave the two of them alone for a bit.

Basara and Yuki moved to a café in front of the station. It was all fine up to the point where they got guided to an empty table at the back, but

"…Hey, Yuki. We're sitting at a table, not at the counter, so wouldn't you normally sit down across?"

Regardless of the table for four people, Yuki sat down besides Basara for some reason. Upon that,

"No. It's better when no one hears what we're discussing now."

There wasn't much of a distance to begin with, yet Yuki shifted her chair even closer to Basara.

A thin distance, where their arms could touch. The soft sensation from smooth bare skin and the sweet fragrance of a girl coming from Yuki.

''…Ugh. This is bad…''

During the time they had been apart, their intimacy had vanished and Basara was strangely conscious of the gap to his feminine-matured childhood friend. But in regards, Yuki took the menu card with a cool face and looked at it.

Then they both simply ordered drinks and when they dampened their dry throats,

"…Thanks, for coming."

Yuki slowly opened her mouth.

"No prob. I wanted to talk to you too anyway."

The glares at school were so heavy that he couldn't get a decent conversation going in the end.

"Good…"

Yuki made a sigh of relief.

"I thought for sure, you were angry, Basara."

"Mh? Why?"

"I mean… You didn't look all that happy, even though I hugged you."

"No, I just didn't realize it was you at that time…"

It had been already five years since he met Yuki last at the age of ten. They were both in their growing periods right now. It was understandable he wouldn't recognize her at once. And anyone would be troubled if a girl on the supposed first meeting hugged onto one. Besides,

"…You sure have changed."

What he first thought was, how surprisingly pretty she got. The Yuki Basara knew had the smallest and childish body amongst their old playmates, but now she looked more mature than her age.

Yuki said that it might be due to the change of her hairstyle. Surely, the old Yuki had grown out her hair.

But--- That wasn't the reason Basara didn't notice it right away that it was Yuki on their reunion.

He thought back.

''…She wasn't the type to make such a face…''

She had been sparing with words since forever, but had a great variety of expressions. But, Yuki's face, as she was looking at him awaiting from besides, looked completely inexpressive.

''…Five years, huh.''

Most likely she had changed in Basara's absence. The current Yuki might be no longer the Yuki he used to know. Just like the current Basara was different from his self five years ago now.

"…Actually, did I look happy in the past?"

Basara felt his thoughts going into a bad direction, so he got back on the previous topic.

Upon that, Yuki nodded a "Mm".

"When I hugged you, you would tightly hug me back."

"Mhm, is that so…"

"---Also, you often took advantage of the situation to touch my butt."

"Eh, seriously!?"

He didn't remember at all, but he was just a perverted kid then. What was his younger self doing?

''…Ah.''

Looking at his flustered self, Yuki finally brightened her expression.

That faint smile matched the Yuki in his memories.

It finally felt real to him--- That he reunited with his childhood friend Nonaka Yuki.

He was quite happy about that. But, that specially was the reason why he couldn't avert his eyes now.

"…So? What do you want to talk about?"

Yuki didn't answer Basara's question right away.

And the faint smile she was showing reverted back to the cold expression.

"…It's about Naruse Mio."

She said whispering. Those were words he had expected.

"Basara… Don't get involved with her any more."

"So it's you after all… ''Her observer sent by the village''."

Yes. Originally, it was strange for Yuki to be here.

For Basara's childhood friend--- a girl from the Hero tribe to be here, away from the village.

"Well she did get a surveillance rank S-…"

"…You knew?"

"My dad told me. I believe I know most of their circumstances too."

"Then I'll cut to the chase. Leave Naruse Mio at once."

Yuki overlapped her hand with Basara's, which rested on the table.

Then she softly leaned over and looked at him.

"She's being sought by the current Devil Lord--- At this rate you and Jin-san will be dragged into it."

---There were two people secretly watching Basara and Yuki from a few seats afar.

They were Mio and Maria. They wanted to go home ahead of him, but followed him after all because they were worried. They could barely hear their conversation.

"…It seems she is from the Hero Tribe just like Basara-san after all."

"Y- Yes… Looks like it."

On Maria's words, Mio nodded so a bit awkward.

…

She was Basara's childhood friend. With a bit of thought she could have figured it out, but agitated by the hug in front of her eyes this morning, where she ended up blowing up and revealing their living together, she just couldn't muster any sober thoughts.

Even now, she had thought for sure that they were having a date.

But--- Now that she thought back on it, she got the feeling that Nonaka Yuki had always kind of avoided her.

Of course everyone had own interests. If she was avoiding her, there was no need for Mio to forcefully befriend her, so she had kept her distance, but

''…So that's the reason I felt her look on me despite that.''

That said, there was no need for Mio to act as long as she wasn't challenged.

At any rate, her enemies were the ones, who killed her parents. Making an enemy out of the Hero Tribe could really foil her plans.

"Mio-sama, what do we do? It seems she is trying to separate Basara-san from us…"

"…Mhm, let's watch a bit longer."

If all went well, they might get to know about the intentions of the Hero Tribe.

''…Besides, it could be that…''
She might get to hear Basara's true feelings. How he, who said he would protect her, felt at heart. It was an unforeseen chance, but the perfect one for Naruse Mio to make sure of the boy called Toujou Basara. Therefore Mio tried to perk up her ears to the conversation between them.

"---Mm."

The eaves-dropping behaviour probably made her feel a bit guilty. Due to that, Mio trembled her body with a shiver on the sweet sensation that arose from inside her body. The curse of the Master and Servant Contract.

"…Mio-sama?"

Maria, next to her, was puzzled, whereas Mio repeated "I'm not eavesdropping" in her heart while turning red. Convincing herself that she wasn't betraying her master, but only worrying about him. Upon that, the sweet sensation faded soon enough and Mio made a sigh of relief.

While observing Basara and Yuki again,

''…Still,''

Suddenly hugging onto him regardless of the place and now even leaning over and holding his hand, this girl--- even for a childhood friend, she was being way too clingy.

Don't get involved with Mio any more--- To these words from Yuki that resembled a request,

"Too late… I'm afraid I'm already dragged into it."

Basara slowly shook his head and declared his resolve.

"Both my dad and I have already decided to protect them."

"---But!"

Yuki raised an unusual loud voice. After gulping briefly, she squeezed out.

"In the incident five years ago, you…"

"……Yeah."

He knew what Yuki wanted to say. Due to the incident five years ago, Basara had to leave the village. Toujou Basara hadn't forgotten what he did back then, nor what he had lost. But,

"Still… I want to protect Mio. Mio doesn't wish for the power she holds. She just wants to live as a normal human, a normal girl. It led to the death of her parents by the ulterior motives of devils and right now--- she herself is in danger of being killed for her power."

He couldn't overlook that. He had a reason not to.

"She's innocent. If you guys, the village is willing to protect her---"

"…That alone is impossible. You should know that."

"Yeah…"

Basara gave Yuki, who darkened her expression, a wry smile.

The Hero Tribe existed to protect the peace in the human world from the devils.

That doctrine took priority over everything else--- Even at the cost of whatever sacrifices.

---The Heroes of this world weren't the kind of fantasy heroes that protected everyone.

Keeping their own existence secret, they only protected the world itself. For that sake sacrifices were necessary. Basara understood that as well--- That precisely was the reason for the happenings after the incident five years ago.

Basara had lost his qualification as a Hero and since Jin couldn't keep protecting him as a Hero, he quit too--- both of them leaving the village.

And Mio's life being in danger was at best an internal quarrel between devils. The Heroes had no reason to help her.

Therefore. Basara and Jin were the only ones who could protect Mio.

"I understand your worry, Yuki. Five years ago, I couldn't undertake the consequences of my actions to the last."

"No. That wasn't your fault… I mean,"

Basara cut into the words Yuki wanted to say now by shaking his head with "No".

"Still, it doesn't undo what I have done."

Upon that, there was a change in Yuki, who stayed silent so far. Looking down, her face still looked like she was close to tears.

"…'Dat ain't true."

She said so with a dialect. It was her bad habit that showed up when she couldn't control her emotions anymore.

"Wha'ever anyone says, ya saved me, Basara…"

"…Yeah, thanks."

It was a little salvation for him to have Yuki say that to him, even though what he did was unforgivable.

For him, who had committed a huge mistake and lost a great deal of people, to have protected someone despite all that.

"But I couldn't bear the responsibility for my actions… and still can't even now. I have no idea how to face it yet."

But, said Basara and declared.

Like addressing Toujou Basara's unwavering feelings to Yuki and himself.

"But Mio is… She's different from me. Facing her sad past, she still desperately tries to live on provident. She's trying to fight. And then we happened to meet. Of course there's the stuff with my dad's scheme and my initial anger about getting deceived. But--- The moment I came to know everything about it, I wanted to protect her. It's not just sympathy or a whim. I seriously want to protect her. Like you said, I certainly don't have the same power I had in the past anymore. And given my five years without training, I don't know how much of a help I can be. But you know, if the Heroes still can't protect her, can't fight for her, then I believe it's my role to do so. You see, therefore---"

At the time he got this far. A loud noise echoed through the café.

When Basara and Yuki looked it's way curious,

"M- My apologies."

Near the entrance of the café, a flustered waitress crouched on the floor.

Most likely she bumped into a customer and dropped her stainless tray with the cups.

As the customer hastily left the café, the door was still open.

Mio, who had rushed out of the café, desperately continued to run.

Running, running and running until she was out of breathe. Before long she suddenly rushed into a back alley. Right afterwards, Maria came after her hastily.

"M- Mio-samaa, do not run away so suddenly. It is dangerous to separate outsi--- Mio-sama?"

Maria rebuked while being out of breathe, but Mio didn't hear her voice.

Who could blame her. She had been at her limit.

If she had heard any more of Basara's words--- Mio would have cried without doubt.

She could tell that her face was red. It wasn't due to the curse of the Master and Servant Contract, nor due her full-power sprint.

"What now, Maria… How should I act towards Basara from now on?"

Her body trembled from agitation. She couldn't suppress her soaring emotions. Even though Mio was kind of a burden to Basara, he had made such a strong resolve.

She hadn't known. That Basara--- tried to protect her with such strong feelings.

"It is a good thing… Now we know that Basara-san is truly a kind person."

"But…"

Like this, she felt uneasy about involving Basara. But Maria shook her head.

"You do not need to worry. Basara-san's feelings are his own. What you need to do, Mio-sama, is not to show a strange reservation, but properly respond to Basara-san's feelings."

"Respond to… But how?"

"That is obvious. Open up your heart to him and trust him."

"J- Just that? Only something so simple?"

"Yes, indeed. Also, if you feel like doing something for him, I believe it is appropriate to do it."

"Me, doing something for him…"

What would it be? As expected, it was better to somehow express gratitude in such a case?

If so, what could she do? Inadvertently Mio lapsed into deep thoughts.

"---Ah, but"

Suddenly knitting her eyebrows as she remembered something, Maria brooded.

"His childhood friend at least could be a bit troublesome… We do not know what happened after we left the café, but Basara-san is generally a good person. Earlier they were holding hands and looking each other into the eyes. If she cries, or approaches him a bit more daring, Basara-san might unexpectedly fall under her spell…"

"M- More daring, she couldn't be… They're in public."

She tried to deny that possibility, but Mio remembered the incident from this morning in class.

Right. Thinking back on it, Yuki was the kind of girl that would openly hug him in public. Her greeting on their reunion. It wouldn't be strange for her to do even more to keep Basara.

''…M- More than just hugging him… N- No way.''

Not good. That didn't leave room for many possibilities.

"O, Oh no… What do we do, Maria?"

When Mio asked with her wanton imagination, Maria showed an over-confident expression again.

"Mio-sama, do not be intimidated. You have to go on the attack."

"H- How?"

Maria laughed a Fufu to Mio's question for a solution.

"Please leave it to me--- I know a very good method!"

===Part 6===

In the end, Basara and Yuki never got on the same wavelength afterwards.

No matter what Basara said, Yuki wouldn't accept it. No matter how much Yuki persuaded him, Basara wouldn't back off from his standpoint. The sun had completely set when they left the café and a last quarter moon hung in the sky. Just like the other people hurrying home, Basara and Yuki started walking too.

"…I hope this cheers her up even a bit."

Basara mumbled while dropping his gaze on the cake that he bought at the café as a present.

Later, when he gets home, he would have to explain to Mio and Maria without doubt. He likely would get a lecture too. When he inadvertently felt dejected, the figure that should be next to him had suddenly vanished.

"…Mh? What's up, Yuki?"

When he turned around, Yuki had stopped a few steps behind. And,

"…It's no use. Both Jin-san and you are no longer part of the village… I don't think you can win against the current Devil Lord faction by yourself."

"Might be… But we're fine as long as we don't lose. The enemy isn't after Mio's life, but after the power sleeping inside of her."

"Besides," said Basara.

"They're currently keeping it an internal struggle, since they don't want things to go out of hands. Thus my dad and I become Jokers. We certainly might no longer be Heroes, but we still have power to fight. I imagine the enemy will think twice before acting. It's possible that they think the Hero Tribe would act for revenge once they laid hands on us."

If so, then it was more than likely that they could manage by themselves.

"But…"

"Yeah, of course that won't actually happen. The village treats my dad and me as non-existent after chasing us out."

For the village, his dad and him were no longer comrades, nor humans worth of their protection. Even if they were to die, the village would surely just keep observing.

"But I don't really care. I don't intend to drag you or the village into our fight."

Either way, he had to protect Mio right now. Even if it was only temporarily or buying time.

Meanwhile Jin would have to stop the enemy. And if that wasn't possible, then he would group up with Jin and think of a new plan. ---But.

"…That's impossible."

Yuki's quiet voice denied Basara's words. Why--- was what Basara wanted to ask, but before that Basara saw the brimming aura around Yuki's body that appeared when a Hero released his power.

And then, a shrill noise echoed. Yuki had instantly quick-drawn her materialized spirit sword. Just like Basara's magic sword Brynhildr, the spirit sword armoured Yuki's arm up to her elbow. Using the spirit sword, which couldn't be seen by normal eyes, Yuki brought forth an invisible slashing blade.

Basara saw it cutting through "something" that was hidden in empty space.

"Just now…"

"A low-class stray devil. You haven't noticed it, Basara, but the Devil Lord's power in Naruse Mio slowly attracts them more and more. Currently it's not grave, but in time it might attract ones that hurt people."

While Yuki quietly cancelled her aura and spirit sword,

"If Naruse Mio's existence brings harm to those around her--- the village will immediately make her an termination target. I believe, it won't be that far off."

"Yuki…"

Basara inadvertently reached out his hand, but Yuki softly avoided it.

Her sad-looking eyes looked straight at Basara.

"If that happens, I won't hold back--- Even if you'll hate me for it."

Then Yuki turned on her heels and went away like that.

Leaving Basara behind, who just stood there saying nothing.

===Part 7===

When Basara returned home, he called for Mio and Maria right away and explained his relation to Yuki.

From Yuki being a Hero and their reunion after five years to the fact that he turned down her request of leaving Mio at the café, he told them everything thoroughly.

He was worried if she would listen to him due to her bad mood, but surprisingly Mio, as well as Maria, listened obediently to him. And then ten-odd minutes passed with only Basara telling the story in order.

"Ehm… so, this is a cake that I bought at the café."

Basara, finishing his explanation faster than he had thought, timidly examining their expressions.

"…………………." "…………………."

The two girls remained silent in regards.

''…Aw- Awkward…''

The silence was too oppressive. Just like back then when they revealed their true identities and told Basara to leave the house.

"Uh- Uhm…"

Unable to withstand the silent pressure, Basara tried to get a reaction from them, whereupon

"…… Yes, I understand."

Finally Maria opened her mouth. Basara made a sigh of relief.

Mio next to him still stayed quiet, but he wouldn't ask for more.

"Y- You do? Good. Then let's have dinn---"

"---No, can you spare some time before that?"

With that, Maria cut into Basara's words.

"Actually, while you were talking with Nonaka-san, Mio-sama and myself were extremely worried. We thought you might get persuaded by Nonaka-san and abandon us… Right, Mio-sama?"

"---Eh? Yes, right."

When the conversation suddenly turned to her, Mio, who had remained silent so far, hastily nodded.

"My bad… But, I properly came back, see?"

"Indeed. But, when the date lasts until this late, I get worried if you maybe have been convinced by her… What about you, Mio-sama?"

"Y- Yes… right."

Mio agreed.

"No, it wasn't a date, but just a normal conversation…"

"---Can you prove it?"

"? Proof… what?"

"You need to ask? Proof that you have not betrayed us."

Don't ask for the impossible with a smug face. As if there's such a thing.

"You can only believe in me for that…"

"Please do not misunderstand. We do trust you, Basara-san. Yes, indeed we do."

said Maria with a slightly exaggerated tone.

"The thing is, we would like to have more faith in you, Basara-san. As comrades in arms, we would like to deepen our bonds of trust. That is all… Right, Mio-sama?"

"Y- Yes… As she said."

Really? For a while now, it sounded like a third-rate play though.

''…Still.''

Over the course of things, they had formed a Master and Servant Contract, but Basara too was concerned about their mutual trust. With Jin out of the house, he would like to reduce possible worries as much as possible with regard to the future. It seemed Mio and Maria wanted Basara to do something for them. The absurd request of showing proof that he didn't betray them was most likely leading up to that.

''…Mhm.''

It would be favorable if something he did could reassure them. Then,

"I somehow get your point. ---So? What do you want me to do?"

Upon that, Maria smiled. And then she slowly beckoned Basara.

"I am glad you say that. Well then, Basara-san, please come over here."

"…How did it come to this?"

At the place Maria took him to, Basara mumbled in pure incomprehension.

Right now, Basara was in a space with white steam--- The bath. With only a towel around his waist, Basara was sitting on the plastic chair with his elbows on his lap while resting his chin on his hands. There,

"Is that not obvious?"

A bright voice came from the bathtub. It was Maria, the mastermind behind this, while she looked at him with her chin resting on her hands that were on the edge of the bathtub.

"The only way to deepen one's bonds in this world is to get naked together."

"That's only for the same gender. Why would you do it co-ed?"

When the opposites sexes got naked together, it was just an erotic situation.

"What is the problem? Cramped together nearly completely naked in a small room--- sharing the same shame will bring results even if you are against it. You can treat another person kindly once you know his pain."

"What's with this licking each other's wounds mentality! Or rather, there's no point in forced results!"

"Not quite, Basara-san. A girl's 'No' means 'Yes'."

Or, said Maria.

"Could it be you dislike taking a bath with a girl?"

"No, I wouldn't say dislike…"

There was no way he would dislike it as a healthy high school boy. Still, even boys needed to mentally prepare themselves at times.

---Earlier, Maria had taken Basara to the anteroom of the bath.

There she had taken off her clothes and said to the bewildered Basara.

"---Now then, let us all take a bath together."

He had no clue what was going on. It was just too out of context. Basara instantly tried to decline, but she told him "I cannot trust you when we do not take a bath together". Moreover, he had thought for sure that Mio would oppose, but she locked the door of the anteroom and sealed his escape route, telling him "…Please, go in with us". It looked like they would strip him down, so Basara resigned. He agreed to go in with them and reluctantly took off his clothes by himself.

Back-to-back and the towel covering his precious part, he had thought they wouldn't see it, but the shame of it still wasn't to be underestimated. His accelerated heartbeat surely wasn't just from the hot air in the bath. And opposite to the composed Maria, Mio seemed to be feeling the same as Basara.

"…….."

In the bathtub--- next to Maria, she flushed her cheeks in shame. A natural reaction.

She was still clad in a bath towel, but her big breasts would surely float in the water. The knot of the towel had been on the verge to come untied right away, so she had held up the towel with her hands at first, but in time she had given up and rested her breasts on the edge of the bathtub. In a posture that emphasized the volume of her breasts to the limit.

''…That was foul play…''

Even under normal circumstances it was already a trial for the reasoning of a boy in his teens to take a bath together with a girl, yet these breasts were tempting him even more. After all, Basara had already felt them up directly.

''---The incredible soft sensation that drove a boy crazy.''

Not to forget her embarrassed expression of biting down on her lips and her skin colored in a faint pink. Everything about Mio right now was erotic. Against his will, Basara ended up remembering the night when the contract was formed.

"Now then--- How about you wash Basara-san's back, Mio-sama?"

Maria, in the bathtub, suggested the unbelievable.

"---Eh? No need. I can wash myself."

"That will not do. It would defy the meaning of taking a bath together."

Basara tried to decline, but Maria declared decisively.

"Of course you can wash your back by yourself. However, here you should dare to openly expose your back to us--- That is precisely what trust is about, just like entrusting your backs to each other in a fight."

[[Image:Shinmai Vol1 0104.jpg|thumb]]

And then,

"Mio-sama and myself will properly wash your back for you--- But not only will we wash it, we will also respond to the trust of exposing your back to us. You can only trust someone, who openly exposes his back. Getting naked together in the bath, precisely a situation where you defenselessly bare your lives to each other builds up a mutual trust, would you not agree?"

"Uhh…"

After being told something reasonable, Basara was at a loss for words and sighed a 'HAH' before long.

"…Okay. If it makes you trust me, go ahead."

He was already sitting on the chair anyway. When he agreed and left his back to them,

"Y- Yeah… Got it."

Mio slowly got out of the bathtub and moved behind Basara.

After moving behind Basara, Mio sat down on the bath floor with her knees bent, her legs neatly side by side.

Then she soaked the sponge with the body soap.

"I, I'll start now…"

With a nervous expression, she started to wash Basara's back. It was her first time washing a boy's back. She already thought so to herself when she rode the bicycle behind him, but

''…This is what a boy's back feels like.''

It was broader than her own and more than anything it was sturdy from the muscles. Basara's body, which could still bring out incredible fighting skills in actual combat as he was a Hero in the past, was scarred all over. He most likely got them from training and actual combats. Each of the wounds were old.

Even Mio's eyes, inexperienced in that prospect, could tell that this body of his was well trained. Therefore she could comprehend that he cut down the enemy with one swing of his huge magic sword.

Naruse Mio realized once more. That she was saved by this person without doubt.

"…What's up?"

"Eh? N- No, nothing."

Asked by Basara doubtfully, Mio hastily started to move her stopped hand.

---Upon that, there suddenly was something in the edge of Mio's vision. It was Maria's expression as she was looking over from the bathtub. That expression clearly was criticizing her.

''…I, I get it…''

Mio remembered the words that Maria had told her before Basara came home.

It was an idea so that Yuki wouldn't steal Basara--- Maria's secret plan.

---At the café, Basara declared strongly that he would protect Mio. that surely were his true feelings.

And even now, he was openly entrusting his back to Mio. This showed that Basara trusted Mio. Then, she herself had to respond to that.

"…."

Mio cleared her throat with a gulp and unravelled the knot of the towel she was wearing. What if he turned around now--- While thinking like that, Mio got completely naked and brought her body closer to Basara's back. What first touched it was the part of Mio's body that inevitably stood out the most.

Her breasts.

"? H- Hey!?"

"---D- Don't move!!"

Basara raised a surprised voice and tried to get away, whereas Mio stopped him with an even louder voice.

"Please, stay like that… If you move, I'll kill you a hundred times."

Mio declared with a frail voice to the completely petrified Basara.

It was incredible embarrassing for her as well. Still, if this prevented Yuki from stealing Basara, then she could somehow withstand this level of embarrassment.

---Mio was told by Maria that her breasts were an effective weapon against Basara.

And indeed. Compared to girls her age, Mio's breasts were rather--- no, quite big.

At school or on the streets, she often felt the gazes of men not only to her face, but on her breasts too.

She never thought of that as a happy circumstance, but at least now it was different.

These breasts certainly were a weapon that Yuki lacked.

''…Basara…''

Mio looked. At the petrified Basara's upper body, which had become bright red from a rush of blood.

Basara was conscious of her--- For some reason that made her incredible happy. Mio took the body soap bottle, poured the contents amply onto her breasts and made it foam.

"…."

She pressed her breasts determined onto him again, then started to sliding wash his back.

Upon that, Mio's voluminous breasts filled the muscle cavities on Basara's back with their movements, surprisingly lewdly changing shape. Gaining an unexpected shame, soon enough there started to be a change in Mio's body. What slowly welled up from inside her body was a sweet tickling heat.

''…Mm, Ah…''

Suddenly Mio noticed that the tip of her breasts were tense. She ended up feeling it herself.

That embarrassment flared up Mio's whole body with heat, colouring her body in a bright red very fast.

---But, Mio didn't remove her breasts from Basara's back. Because Basara was behaving embarrassed. Albeit not voicing it out, his body was clearly hot. Without doubt, Basara was only feeling conscious of Mio right now. That fact made Mio feel unsurpassable bliss.

''…Basara…Basaraa…''

Was this an effect from the Master and Servant Contract too? Normally, she absolutely wouldn't do something so indecent. Yet she was proud of herself of going this far for Basara--- for her Master.

"Mm… Fuh, Ah… Mm"

At some point, Mio entwined her arms around Basara's front and pressed onto him from behind as much as possible, immersing herself in sliding her breasts on the back in front of her eyes. Each time Mio moved, the foaming bubbles made a lewd and sticky sound. And when Mio's breasts had went all over Basara's back,

"…I, I think it's all clean now…"

Basara said flustered at his limits. Mio raised her drowsy face.

"W- Well… I just got a bit hungry. We hadn't had dinner yet. And I bought the cake and all."

So it's about time we go out--- was what Basara was trying to say.

"---Ah, no problem. I thought this might happen, so I brought your cake with me."

Wherever she pulled it out from, Maria held up the white paper box with the cake in it.

Then she swiftly opened the box, took a short cake and got out of the bathtub.

"Here, Basara-san… Say 'Ah'."

"W- Wait! Why did you bring the cake into the bath!?"

That's too novel, screamed Basara to stop Maria and their hands collided.

"Aw…"

The cake fell from Maria's hand onto Basara's shoulder, then dropped down from his upper arm to his elbow, lastly landing on the floor. The white fresh cream and sponge cake stained Basara's skin sticky.

"S- See, eating cake in the bath is too high level!"

So let's wash up quickly and get out, said Basara.

"---No, please wait. This is the cake you specially bought for us."

Maria stopped Basara and sat down on the floor next to him. Then,

"Wh- What are you doing?"

"You need to ask? ---I will gladly eat it up."

Maria told the bewildered Basara so without hesitation and started to lick up the fresh cream on his arm.

"UWAAAAH!?"

"Please stay still. I have to at least eat the portion that did not drop to the floor, or I would feel sorry for the cake."

Maria said nonchalant and licked over her lips like saying "Well done". Then,

"It is delicious, Mio-sama--- If you like, could you take care of the portion on his shoulder?"

"Eh…?"

Being told that, Mio looked at Basara's shoulder in front of her. It was the first place the cake fell onto, so it had plenty of fresh cream on it. Mio stared at it, like sucking it in.

"Hey, Mio… Don't tell me, you too…"

Basara was saying something, but it didn't reach Mio's ears right now.

---Before she noticed it, Mio had brought her lips closer to Basara and let her tongue roam.

The fresh cream with Basara's body temperature was surprisingly sweet. After tasting it plentiful on her tongue, she mixed it with accumulated thick saliva in her mouth and swallowed it down at once.

When she cleared her throat with gulp, she felt bewitching sensation slowly slipping down in her body. It was like tickling her body from the inside. Mio let her body tremble in a shiver to this pleasure and soon enough leaked a passionate "Ahh…" moan.

---And then, she couldn't stop herself anymore.

Entering a delirium, Mio continued to lick up the fresh cream on Basara. It was delicious. Above all, while she licked Basara, her skin pressed onto him, making everything, her breasts, her stomach and her arms even more sensitive than before.

[[Image:Shinmai Vol1 0007.jpg|326px]]

Even after all the fresh cream was gone, Mio licked Basara's body and rubbed her own body against his.

A switch had completely been switched inside of Mio and she called Basara "Brother, Brother" numerous times.

At that time--- Basara suddenly stood up there and then.

"…You two."

Toujou Basara said with a low voice while looking down on Mio and Maria, who sat on the floor of the bath.

He didn't know if they were teasing him or testing his trust, but--- Mio and Maria were cute girls while Basara was a boy. Even under normal circumstances he often ended up seeing them as normal girls instead of family members while living together and had suppressed his feelings so far. Yet when they pulled a stunt like this that completely ignored his troubles, he certainly hit his limit.

Along with anger, his reasoning blew away.

"Fine… If that's what you want, then don't come crying to me later."

As soon as declaring so, Basara hung over Mio and Maria.

"Yahn… Basara, Broth-, Noo." "B- Basara-san, c- calm down."

Both of them hastily raised flustered voice, but it was too late. While holding them down, Basara squashed the remaining cakes in his hands and besmeared it over their bodies. Starting with their soft breasts, bottoms and thighs, he smeared the fresh cream, chocolate and strawberry mousse all over their bodies, then started to taste their sweet-painted skin with his tongue. Mio and Maria protest with damp voices, but Basara paid it no mind. In the bath, which was filled with a suffocating sweet fragrance, he licked Maria's body while fondling Mio's breasts or fiercely sucked on Mio's whole body while grabbing Maria's bottom.

Upon that, they initially showed a bit of resistance, but after a while they accepted Basara and raised alluring voices. Naturally. Basara was Mio's Master and Maria was Mio's subordinate. When Basara felt like doing so, the two of them had no right to protest.

And then--- laying the two of them with completely spellbound expressions next to each other on the floor,

"So that you never do such lascivious things again, I'll subjugate you thoroughly."

Basara reached out his hand slowly and tried to perfectly make them his.

There--- He awakened.

It was not like he returned to his senses. He simply woke up from a dream now.

He wasn't in the bath, but on his bed.

"Eh? It… was a… dream…?"

Basara was inadvertently dumbfounded and made a big sigh before long.

Good. If that had been reality, Basara would have been a real brute.

"Ahh… Good. It was all a dream."

Saying so, he made a sigh of relief. At that time.

"No, Basara-san--- It was reality until halfway."

Basara was startled by that voice. Then he finally realized that he was laying while embracing Maria. But, it was softer and warmer than any hugging pillow.

"Eh…? That just now, was reality until halfway?"

On his nervous question, Maria laughed with Fufu.

"Have you forgotten it? It really surprised me, when you suddenly stood up and then collapsed with an incredible nosebleed. The CSI would get an unbelievable luminal reaction in our bath."

"…I, I see."

That it was only reality halfway was a bit nagging in itself, but it meant that Basara didn't really do anything to Mio and Maria. Apparently he escaped from the worst case.

"Uhm--- By the way, Basara-san."

Maria said with a renewed tone.

"Could you remove your hand from my bottom now?"

"Eh? …--- Uwaah!?"

Basara's hands entwined around Maria's back and grabbing her cute bottom. Moreover, when he hastily tried to remove his hands, he noticed that his hands were touching her bottom directly under her underwear. Basara hastily pulled out his hands from her shorts, then took a distance by leaping back on the bed.

"S- Sorry…"

"No, it was my fault for crawling into your bed, Basara-san."

After Maria said so to the flustered Basara, she showed a roguish smile.

"But, unconsciously putting your hands into a girl's underwear while you sleep… This assertive side of you surprised me. But well, you were having such a dream after all."

"Eh… That earlier dream wasn't your doing?"

A succubus was a female devil that trapped males in a cage of pleasure by showing them lewd dream.

She seemed to know the contents of it and even said that she crawled into his bed by herself. So he had thought for sure that dream was shown to him by her magic, but

"By no means. That was your own dream, Basara-san. I only took a little peek at it. Besides, if it had been a dream from my magic power, you would not have subjugated Mio-sama and myself, but would have been made to listen to our every word by seducing you mercilessly."

"Ugh… Right."

"No, no, I was surprised as well. Dreams represent one's desire or deep psyche, but to think your dream would look like that… You might have a surprisingly brutish sadist side to you."

"As if…"

He didn't even want to imagine it. Basara became weary, then

"…Reminds me, where's Mio?"

"She was worried about you after your collapse, but she has already gone to bed by now."

On his question, Maria told him outright. When he suddenly looked at the clock on the wall, it was already the middle of the night, 2 a.m.. Apparently quite some time had passed since he collapsed in the bath.

"I see… But good timing, I guess."

He was concerned about what had been reality and what a dream earlier, but Basara decided to ignore that for now. Because there was something he wanted to talk about with Maria without Mio hearing it.

"Maria… There's something I want to discuss with you."

"? What is the matter?"

Maria asked back puzzled, whereas Basara slowly opened his mouth.

It was the matter that he skipped when he told the two the whole story about Yuki after his return home.

A matter he didn't want Mio to hear. While talking to Maria, Basara ended up clenching his fists at some point.

He remembered Yuki's words on their separation.

''…Like hell will I let that happen.''

The Devils after the Devil Lord power sleeping inside of Mio were plenty enough for enemies.

To make an enemy even out of Yuki--- out of the Hero Tribe, he wouldn't let that happen.

===Part 8===

On the school grounds of Hijirigasaka Academy, the bell chimed, ending of the fourth period.

On her seat by the window, Mio sighed in relief.

''…Now it's lunch break.''

Just a bit longer, she said to herself. When she got through today, a Friday, tomorrow would be Saturday, a holiday. Thinking so, she felt a bit better.

---The curse of the Master and Servant Contract activates from guilty feelings towards the Master. However, the condition for it's activation were rather disadvantage for Mio. She knew that Basara seriously tried to protect her, but despite that, some part of Mio still couldn't be honest with him.

Moreover, she unbelievably acted out character in front of Basara the other day in the bath.

Together with the shame from that, she sometimes ended up behaving cranky on reflex.

''…Still.''

At home, it was not a problem. Because the three of them knew the circumstances and could act with not activating the curse in mind.

---However, it was different for the school, where there were others that didn't know of their circumstances.

If she carelessly acted unnatural or awkward, others would doubt her. Ideally it would be best to not get involved with Basara at school, but that said, when it looked like she was unnaturally avoiding him or cold to him, it just so happened that she would get a guilty consciousness.

And in that moment--- the curse would already activate. The mark that appeared on her neck then was magical and thus couldn't be seen by normal humans, but she couldn't count the times she nevertheless hid in the toilet or infirmary in the last few days anymore. The sole ray of hope would be that her dishonest behaviour didn't activate such a strong curse. If she patiently waited for the surges to pass, it would cease after a few minutes.

"---Hey Basacchi~ Let's go grab some food."

Suddenly she saw her classmate Takigawa approach Basara in her field of vision.

"Sure, gimme a sec."

Basara gave a reply, then put away his textbook and notebook inside his deck and stood up.

"Where to today?" "Cafeteria, I say. The A-Set will be richer than usual since it's the end of week."

While having a natural talk, Basara and Takigawa left the classroom.

On the first day of his transfer, Basara didn't make an enemy out of just his classmates, but out of half of the boys in school. Mio was partly responsibility for that, so she was a bit worried, but apparently he managed to make a friend just fine.

Well--- That nickname was dubious though

''…The problem is.''

Mio shifted her gaze to the other reason of Basara's isolation. The foremost seat in the same window row as Mio. The girl sitting there watched Basara leaving the classroom.

A beautiful girl with a cold aura. It was Nonaka Yuki, Basara's childhood friend and a Hero.

Yuki, watching Basara's back with longing eyes, suddenly noticed Mio's look.

"------"

Turning her expression into a cold one without emotions, she left the classroom like that.

''…Completely opposite from before.''

On Basara's transfer, Yuki had hugged onto Basara on their reunion. A bold action that surprised anyone nearby. Even doing something like that, Yuki stayed composed. Therefore--- She had thought for sure that Yuki would make more passes at Basara the next day, but against her expectations, Yuki didn't get involved with Basara anymore. Their seats were next to each other, but they hardly ever talked.

---She heard that Basara and Yuki didn't reach an agreement on their discussion at the café the other day.

That surely was the reason. The clueless others were confused by the sudden change.

''…It's my fault, isn't it.''

Basara, who tried to protect Mio, and Yuki, an outsider. The opinions of the close childhood friends stood in direct opposition to each other, which resulted in their current affair.

But. As her seat was behind theirs, Mio ended up seeing it. Even if Yuki didn't talk to him, even if she seemed to be cold. She was thinking of Basara. Occasionally, she looked at him.

And--- It was the same for Basara. Basara too was concerned about Yuki in some way.

''…I wonder why it is.''

That when she watched these two, it kind of hurt around her chest.

It was painful. Mio suddenly dropped her gaze to her desk.

"Naruse-san~ Let's have lunch." "If we don't hurry, all seats will be taken."

Bright voices called out to her. Therefore.

"…Yeah, I'm coming."

Mio stopped pondering further and slowly stood up from her seat.

In the end, school ended without the curse activating even once that day.

When Mio made a sigh of relief, Basara came over right after picking up his bag.

"Okay, let's go home." "Y- Yeah…"

Mio mumbled and stood up. At that time.

"---Nonaka, and Toujou, got a minute?"

Their homeroom teacher Sakasaki called the two to a stop. Basara asked "What is it, Sensei?" by turning around.

"Sorry, but I want you two to help me organize the summer vacation assignments."

said Sakasaki with a refreshing smile.

"Wh- Why Basara too? That stuff is the class rep, Nonaka… -san's responsibility."

Mio uttered objection.

"Well, you have a point, but Toujou's transfer spared him from the assignment. So when he helps out with some odd jobs, it'll make it fair to the other students."

said Sakasaki. Basara scratched his head.

"Mhm… Yeah, guess so."

Therefore,

"---So, Mio, will you wait until we're done? Or…"

Call Maria and go home with her, huh.

Basara's words were reasonable. But--- the second choice somehow gave Mio a bitter feeling in her heart. The restless feeling from the lunch break when she saw Basara and Yuki resurfaced.

After all. ''Either way, it didn't change the fact that Basara would help out Yuki.''

Waiting for them to finish would mean that she took a backseat to helping Yuki. And going home with Maria would look like Basara chose helping Yuki over her. She didn't want that.

"---Mio?"

Mio looked at Basara, who looked at her inquiring.

Originally there were only two choices. But if she were to propose going home alone.

Instead of Yuki, Basara would choose---

''….No! What am I thinking…''

Not good. She had a nasty idea just now.

This is just like--- I'm not trusting Basara. The moment she thought so,

""Ah---…"

The curse of the Master and Servant Contract activated. ''Self-loathing from jealousy.'' It was one of the most extreme guilty feelings. Feeling the heat raising inside her body--- Mio could no longer stand.

Like that she suddenly was about to collapse.

"Don't tell me--- Whoops!"

Basara, noticing her state, hastily supported Mio's body. With just that,

"----!"

Mio trembled her body with a shiver. Right after, her breathing got rough.

"H- Hey, are you okay, Naruse…? Are you anemic or something?"

"Yeah--- Excuse me, I'll take her to the infirmary."

Basara replied to Takigawa, then he lifted up Mio and said with a voice only she could hear.

"…Bear with it for a bit."

After mumbling so, he rushed out of the classroom at once.

Basara took Mio to the infirmary, but apparently the nurse was absent.

No helper was there either and all the beds were empty. It was completely deserted.

But that was convenient for Basara and he laid Mio onto one of the three beds.

"…Are you okay?"

On the curtained off bed, Mio replied by just nodding while seemingly having a hard time.

''…Geez.''

Something must have activated the curse, but at this point she could only endure it for a few minutes until the effect ceased. But,

"Ah… Mm, Fuh… Mmg…"

While enduring the riling up sensation, Mio bit down on her lips to prevent her moaning. Her cheeks got red and dampened. Her breasts, so big that they were recognizable over her clothes, moved up and down many times over.

''…This is…''

Not good. If he were to keep watching, he would get truly nasty thoughts.

"…Ehm, I'll go outside for a bit. It must be embarrassing for you to have me stay here."

Saying so, he turned his back to her, whereupon

"…P- Please… Don't leave… me…"

"No, but… …Okay. I'll stay. So stop looking at me like that."

'Cause it made him feel weird. It looked like the curse was stronger than usually. But,

"But sorry… At least let me keep my back to you."

If he were to look at the current Mio, it seemed that his reasoning would be blown away.

Without saying anything, Mio tightly grabbed Basara's clothes--- the sleeve of his left arm.

Basara, taking that as a sign of her approval, sat down on a chair besides the bed with his back to her.

In the infirmary with just the two of them, only Mio's erotic moaning sounded.

Then, Mio's breathing calm down before long. The effect of the curse seemed to be fading.

"…How's it? Feel better now?"

When he turned around, Mio let go of his sleeve she was grabbing and placed the back of her hand on her forehead.

"Mm… I think, it calmed down… a bit."

Saying so, she slowly straightened up her body.

"Still, how did this happen…?"

He recalled the conversation in the classroom earlier, but there was nothing that would make Mio have a guilty consciousness towards him. The curse was supposed to not activate as long as she didn't think bad of him. However, if there were other conditions for the curse activating,

''…Then we need to think of a counter-measure.''

When Basara was present like this time, he could back her up, but if the curse were to activate while Mio was alone or rather in the middle of a battle, Basara and Maria couldn't help her even if they were with her.

But on Basara's question,

"…Wh- Who knows. I suddenly got irritated by you… that's all."

Mio said so and averted her gaze pouting.

"What the…"

Basara inadvertently lost his strength. There was nothing he could do about that.

That reason was too unreasonable. Of course the curse would activate strongly then. Basara made a sigh.

"If it has calmed down, you're alright now…? Then I'll go back first."

Since it was an emergency, he had abandoned the task from Sakasaki.

"Eh---…?"

Instantly, Mio made a surprised face. Then,

"…You're leaving?"

Mio's eyes, flickering with unrest, looked up to Basara.

Basara scratched his cheek with "Ehm" on the unexpected upturned gaze.

"Well… You know, I can't let Yuki do… the task from the teacher all by herself."

Besides,

"The curse has calmed down for now, right? Then---"

"…..Not yet."

Mio mumbled isolated.

"---Eh? Is that so?"

Not yet… but didn't she say it calmed down a bit a moment ago?

Ah, but the mark certainly was still on her neck. Though quite some time had already passed.

"…Hey, Basara. I'm… having a hard time."

She jerkily pulled on his sleeve again to check his intentions.

"Well… If you say so…"

Basara inadvertently turned red and spoke evasively. After all, he knew what Mio wanted to say.

---Truth be told, there was just one way to cancel the curse at once.

The curse of the Master and Servant Contract was activated from the Servant's mental betrayal of his Master.

In that case, if she was forcefully made to remember her loyalty--- if she was to be subjugated, the curse would lift.

In other words, he had to do the same thing he did as back then when he saved Mio, who rejected the contract at first.

"But, you don't want that again, right? Much less in the infirmary at school…"

"….Yeah. B- But… if you, Basara… ''Brother'' wants to do it, I'm… fine with it."

"Eh---?"

Basara inadvertently asked back. It shouldn't be his place to decide, since it was Mio, who was in pain.

He tried to say that, yet Mio called Basara "Brother" with wet eyes.

It was ''the sign that Mio wanted Basara to do a certain thing''. Basara couldn't say anything more.

Mio thought for sure she would avert her eyes. Actually, her cheeks were red. She was embarrassed.

She clearly understood what she had said.

But--- despite that, Mio did not avert her eyes from Basara. Her engulfing eyes. Before she noticed it, Basara had slowly reached out his hand. When he softly touched her cheek,

"…..Mm."

Mio reacted with a shiver and closed her eyes. But, she brought her cheek closer like that to lean it into Basara's palm. When he felt Mio's warmth through his palm, Mio softly opened her eyes.

Even without words, her eyes were speaking volumes. Therefore he had to make his resolve.

"…Okay."

Basara said just that, then loosened the ribbon on Mio's uniform.

"Ah…"

Mio's voice filled with a bit of happiness in all the embarrassment.

"---I'll set you at ease right away."

Saying so to her, Basara reached out his hand for her body.

At the same time his fingertips touched her--- the door of the infirmary suddenly opened clattering.

""---!?""
Hastily jumping back, Basara and Mio took a distance from each other.

"…Mh? What are you guys doing?"

A woman in a white robe looked at them from the entrance. And then, she suddenly noticed Mio.

"Oh, Naruse… Anemic again?"

"Y- Yes, Hasegawa-sensei…"

While hastily covering her chest, Mio nodded, whereupon the woman came over. Apparently she was the nurse. He knew of the infirmary, but as he had never used it, it was his first meeting with her. Still,

''…What a beauty.''

Beautiful features, a good figure and a nice aura. A stunning beauty in all aspects. Her breasts were even bigger than Mio's and matched her sexy voice, albeit with a manly tone, her feminine charm stood out alluring. Her appearance of walking with her robe fluttering looked quite stunning as well.

"…Your chaperon? Though he isn't a first aid helper."

Upon that, the merciless gaze of the nurse called Hasegawa pierced Basara.

"No, I'm…" "Sensei, he's…"

Right away, Basara and Mio raised their voices in harmony.

"I know. Toujou, right? You transferred here just recently."

"You know me?"

Hasegawa nodded a "Yeah" to the surprised Basara, then pointed with her chin towards Mio.

"She and Nonaka in your class are quite popular with the boys… So I have heard a few rumours about you. How does it feel to make all boys your enemy on your first day, Mr. Lady-killer?"

"I knew it, such rumours were spreading…"

Like that, it would take quite some time to make friends besides Takigawa. There Hasegawa laughed.

"Be careful. Intentionally or not, when you stand out more than others, it naturally makes you a target. And not necessarily one of affection. People hate those who are greatly different from them or have what they lack. Also, different from physiologically neighbor-hate, instinctive feelings like jealousy or fear have an amplitude. Simple on one hand, but troublesome when compounding."

"….Right."

On Hasegawa's words, Basara nodded with a depressed tone. Basara painfully understood what she meant from experiences in the past. And right now, Hasegawa's words applied to Mio as well.

Because she was chased by the current Devil Lord for the Devil Lord's power that she inherited from her father.

"…What am I supposed to do when I make enemies unwanted?"

When he said so, along with a bitter smile that resembled self derision, Hasegawa said "It's easy" readily.

"If you made enemies, you just have to make even more allies. Then you can win against them and naturally the other party will avoid a conflict with you."

"Well… But all the boys in the school seem to be my enemy."

"The 'amount' isn't important for enemies or allies. The 'quality' is."

"Well, that might be true…"

Currently, the only one speaking to Basara was Takigawa. No matter how good his quality was, it certainly couldn't cover the overwhelming difference in numbers.

''…Well, I don't care.''

The problem was the situation involving Mio. Yuki also warned him about it, but it was difficult for them alone to oppose the current Devil Lord faction. According to Jin, there was a chance for Mio not getting chased, but there was no guarantee it would work out well.

Quality over quantity. That was certainly true, but at times it was just a mere consolation.

Right now, the enemy refrained from doing anything flashy to prevent the Hero Tribe from interfering, so they could manage a resistance for now. However, if they forcefully outnumbered them without thinking of the consequences, they couldn't hope to win. Even though he--- decided to protect her.

"---Don't misunderstand the meaning of 'quality',"

A voice that saw through his doubts sounded. When he raised his head,

"You don't get it? I'm saying you can't weigh the odds of 'amount' and 'quality'."

Saying so, Hasegawa laughed. But, then suddenly the school broadcast sounded.

"Hasegawa-sensei, please come to the staff room at once. I repeat---"

"…Oh, right."

Hasegawa said so wearily and headed for her own desk on the opposite wall from the beds.

Then she took out documents from the drawer.

"Sorry, I have to attend a meeting for a while. Naruse, I can't look after you, but if you want, you can rest here a bit longer--- Also, Toujou,"

Saying so, she threw something silver to him. Basara promptly caught it.

"It's the key for the infirmary. I'll tell the teachers about it, so lock the door and return the key later."

After saying so, Hasegawa left the room as gallant as she had come.

Then she suddenly stopped at the door with "Ah, I forgot…".

"You might not know since you transferred here, so I'll tell you--- I hate idiots, Toujou. I don't care if you can't study, but I don't like cleaning up after idiots. ''You're at that age, so I won't tell you to not screw around'', but that's a sickbed. At least do it somewhere where we teachers don't see it. There are various spots around like behind the school building or the gym storeroom."

""Wha---""

They thought they had hid it, but it was completely exposed. Basara and Mio inadvertently turned red.

"Teachers aren't gods. There are things we can do, and things we can't. But you know, when you, our students, at least abide by the school rules to a minimum, then I'll properly protect you. I know you want to have a merry youth, but… don't do anything that makes us turn against you."

Saying so, Hasegawa left the room this time for sure.

"…….." "…….."

Basara and Mio were dumbfounded for a while, then Basara's cell phone suddenly rang.

The name displayed on the screen was Takigawa. When he pressed the call button,

"Yo, Basacchi, still in the infirmary?"

He could hear a bright voice through the phone near his ear. When Basara replied with "Yeah",

"Really? The broadcast called for Hasegawa, but are you guys fine?"

"No problem. She lent us the key."

"I see. Good then… Ah, don't worry about Sakasaki's request. Nonaka and I will do it."

"Wait, that's my---"

Basara started to talk, when he suddenly met Mio's eyes. And then,

"-------"

He saw Mio cast down her eyes. With an expression of giving up on something.

Therefore, Basara turned his back to Mio.

"….Never mind. Sorry, can I ask you to do it?"

"---Eh?"

While hearing a voice filled with surprise behind him, Basara told Takigawa over the phone.

"Thanks… I'll treat you to whatever you want next time."

To the positive reply,
"Thanks a bunch. Tell Yuki and the teacher my apologies too…. Yeah, thanks."

Basara said so and hung up.

"…Are you sure?"

Mio said with a voice that she still couldn't believe it, whereas Basara turned around with "What else can I do".

"You said you're still in pain. Still, we can't continue from earlier, but I can't leave you alone now either. So I'll stay with you until you're all better."

"…Really?"

Mio asked worried.

"Yeah. The nurse lent us the key, so take the chance to get a good rest."

In addition to always being careful of an enemy attack, she also had to concentrate of not letting the curse activate here. The stress must have built up. Thus the symptoms were stronger too.

"Here, lie down… I'll call Maria and tell her that we'll come home a bit later."

"O- Okay…"

Obeying his words, Mio laid down on the bed. While pulling the blanket over her,

"I'll stay by your side, so don't get irritated for no reason anymore."

"I, I get it!"

When Basara told her so, Mio turned red and pulled the blanket over her face.

===Part 9===

The atmosphere in the infirmary was unique. A soft, pleasant and most comfortable atmosphere in the school.

Next to Mio sleeping on the bed, Basara dozed off too at some point.

"….Mm."

When Basara suddenly woke up, the sun had already set and it was night. When he checked the time,

"8 o'clock… I slept quite a while."

He scratched his cheek. However, on a look, Mio was still sleeping soundly on the bed.

…A bit longer shouldn't hurt.

Hasegawa said she would tell the teachers about it. Seeing as no teacher came to look for them so far, it wasn't a problem that they still stayed on the school grounds.

Thus, Basara quietly left the infirmary as not to wake up Mio. Then he took out his cell phone and called Maria, where he told her that they would be coming home late. Upon that,

"---I understand. Then I will come to pick you up in a while."

She would come pick them up in an hour.

"Now then…"

Basara twisted his neck that was stiff from the sleep, then slowly walked down the hallway.

The school building at a summer night--- Amidst the tepid atmosphere, he headed for the school store. A human's body consumed water even when just sleeping. Specially in this season, it was easy to get a heatstroke or dehydration. Basara got thirsty, so he decided to buy some drinks, including for Mio for when she woke up.

When he arrived at the store, it had already closed long ago. Needless to say, there was no one around. But the lights were on. The lights of the vending machines in the corner faintly illuminated the dark store.

"That works…"

They must have been set up for the teachers that stayed behind until late in the night. Basara bought two sport drinks at the operational vending machines. At the moment he tried to drink his own.

"---Oh? That you, Basacchi?"

Suddenly his nickname was called from behind. There was only one person who called Basara like that. Therefore,

"Takigawa… you're still here?"

When Basara turned around, Takigawa entered the store by saying "Right back at you".

"I was doing the task from Sakasaki. We finished just a moment ago."

"It took you till now?"

If that was true, it occupied him for more than four hours.

Though Sakasaki said they would finish before it got dark with two people.

"No, the work itself was done pretty quick. After all, Nonaka worked without saying a single word. The silence was so awkward that I regret offering my help a bit."

Takigawa said.

"But when we finished the work, Sakasaki said he would treat us to some food, so we ordered without reservation, but it was unexpectedly much. You can't underestimate Rairaiken.<ref>A restaurant chain http://www.rairaiken.com.ph/</ref> So, then I took a digestion nap."

So that how it was. Basara made a wry smile.

"Sorry, Takigawa. You really helped me out."

"No prob… Speaking of, was Naruse fine afterwards?"

"Well, kind of… She's still sleeping in the infirmary, but she's completely calmed down now."

"Glad to hear. It really surprised me that she suddenly collapsed."

But, said Takigawa.

"She looked a bit embarrassed with her cheeks red."

Ah, said Basara vaguely.

Her red face was due to the aphrodisiac effect, but she was embarrassed without doubt.

That said, he couldn't really tell Takigawa about that.

"Anyway, thank you. Like promised, I'll treat you next time--- Will Rairaiken be fine?"

"Ugh… Anything but that."
Takigawa said with a grimace.

"---Reminds me, Basacchi, have you seen Nonaka?"

"Yuki…? No, I haven't."

Takigawa stayed at school until now because he ate too much. Yuki wouldn't do something like that. Therefore he had thought for sure she had gone home already, but

"Huh? Strange… She was going to check up on you guys."

"Really?"

At least while Basara was in the infirmary, Yuki didn't come by… probably.

There was a possibility that she left without calling out to them out of consideration to their sleep, but--- No, even when Basara was sleeping, he wasn't so insensitive that he would keep sleeping soundly when someone entered the room. If so, then they missed each other on his way here?

But, he got the feeling that it wasn't a good idea to leave the two--- Mio and Yuki all alone at this point.

"Sorry, Takigawa. I gotta go back---"

Saying so, he started walking. At that time--- He suddenly couldn't see anything anymore due to the darkness of the night.

The light of the vending machines had vanished all of the sudden.

"---Uah? What, a blackout?"

Next to Takigawa, who made a bewildered voice, Basara darkened his expression. Don't tell me--- That feeling became reality. The faint emergency light showed Basara five shadows emerging from the darkness. Amongst them, one had a clearly non-human beast silhouette.

A devil.

"----"

To think the enemy would attack at school, a place that could easily into a scandal. Moreover,

''"Wh- What are these…"''

[[Image:Shinmai Vol1 0123.jpg|thumb]]

Basara heard Takigawa's dumbfounded voice. Yes--- The enemy had exposed themselves to Takigawa, a normal human. But, Basara panicked over something other than that fact. That the enemy made a forceful move like this meant that the current situation was favorable to them.

After all--- Mio was sleeping all alone in the infirmary right now.

''…What now!?''

The enemy was undoubtedly after Mio. The enemies in front of him came to stall him. Them showing themselves in front of Takigawa just meant that they had to kill him off later. Unlike the moderate faction, average devils just considered humans as nothing but living trash.

---Of course a normal human couldn't see Basara's magic sword Brynhildr.

Even if he materialized it now, Takigawa wouldn't notice. But, even if he defeated the enemy with it here, Takigawa would witness the moment the "shadows" disappeared. That would drag him into their circumstances. And Takigawa would surely ask Basara. ---What's this?

He could ask Maria to erase his memories later. However, it would still take some time until she would be here. Right now he had to hurry over to Mio as fast as possible, but it was too dangerous to leave Takigawa alone with his confusion. He believed the enemy wouldn't do anything assertive against Takigawa to avoid letting things go out of hand, but on the hectic developing battlefield an unforeseen happening couldn't be ruled out.

''…Then, what do I do?''

Basara instantly came up with the answer to that. Then,

"---Sorry, Takigawa." "Eh…?"

Takigawa raised a puzzled voice--- And into his very torso, Basara suddenly slammed his elbow.

A blow to a vital point. It was a violent method, but most likely the least dangerous and fastest one.

Takigawa groaned a short "Ugh", then lost consciousness. Then Basara rested him on the floor.

"-----"

At the same time, the five shadows launched their attack at Basara.

---But Toujou Basara didn't panic. He immediately materialized Brynhildr.

Like that, he made a vertical slash, cutting the foremost human "shadow" into half. Then,

"Sorry, but I'm not playing along with your time-buying--- I'll make my way through."

At the same time he said so, he leaped forward at once.

<noinclude>

==Translator notes and References==
<references/>

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| Forward to [[Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
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</noinclude>

Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 1 Chapter 1

2015-08-17T14:26:57Z

Mard: /* Part 3 */

==The way to conquer your little stepsister==

===Part 1===

---Again a dream about that time.
With just his consciousness floating in the scenery of the past, Basara realized that he was dreaming. Deep crimson. The crazy eyes with that colour had looked down on Basara in the past.

The angry voices of a large crowd. The crying voice of a precious friend in the background.

Amidst that, a black silhouette slowly came closer.

"------"

Oblivious of all around. He had to do something--- that was all he thought.

But Basara's mind neared it's limit on this tragedy happening before his eyes.

And in the next moment--- Basara's vision was coloured white.

His consciousness slowly faded away. He didn't know if he was saved or not.

Just--- Basara had heard someone's shout at the end.

Toujou Basara hadn't forgotten these words even now. The crying shout of a female repeated endlessly. Just like a curse--- It said, please give back that child.

===Part 2===

"---! Hah…. Hah….---"

Basara opened his eyes and at the same time made a rough gasp. In a situation, where he looked up to the ceiling, he realized that he had woken up. Taking a deep breath, he calmed down his chaotic
heartbeat.

''…No matter how often I see that dream, I just can't get used to it…''

Laying on his bed face up, Basara stared at his own right hand that he had brought up to his face.

"…Huh? Somehow, it's still hard to breathe…"

Even though he woke up from his dream, he still couldn't breathe properly. There,

"Ah---You're finally awake."

A sudden voice. When he lowered his gaze, on top of his summer blanket that he used instead of the normal bedspread--- a girl was mounting Basara around his hips with him pinched between her thighs. She had placed both her hands on his chest and showed an impish expression. That girl--- Naruse Mio looked down on Basara.

"Morning." "….Morning."
Basara returned the morning greeting on reflex. Either Mio was just too light or it was because of the blanket, but he couldn't really feel that much of a weight. Still, this realistic feeling made Basara remember his current situation.

--- That he and she had started living together from yesterday on.

The movers had been requested to do everything from packing and sending the things over, for some extra pay.

And their work was good and speedy. It has been one week since they first met at the family restaurant.

The Toujou and Naruse Families safely started their living together after renting a single house. But,

"Ehm… What are you doing?"

"What you ask, waking you up of course. I thought boys would be happy about that."

On Basara's unmeant question, Mio smiled with "It's a service".

Most likely, Mio herself had intended for it, but--- this certainly was a ''service''.

Usually in such cases, one would get on top of the stomach. But maybe she couldn't tell his posture due to the blanket, as Mio was sitting on Basara's hips. This was just like the cow-girl position.
[[Image:Shinmai Vol1 0026.jpg|thumb]]

Furthermore, the current season was midsummer. The season where a girl's clothes at the highest exposure rate of the year. In short, lightly dressed. Mio's attire this morning was a camisole-type brassiere top and hot pants. Her exposed thighs were dazzling his eyes and the feeling of her mounting him was the best as well.

But more importantly--- Basara's eyes were inadvertently attracted to some other spot.

''….They sure are huge.''

It had been on his mind ever since he saw her in the family restaurant. Mio's breasts were rather voluminous. Her corpulent swellings stretched out the highly elastic brassiere top all the way. The cleavage, where multiple fingers would fit in, wasn't to be ignored either, but sideline of her too big breasts--- a skin-coloured curve completely showed out from the side of the brassiere top.

"Hey, stop with the dumb face and get up already."

"Y- Yeah…"
What to do. She herself didn't seem to have noticed, but every time Mio's hands pressed on Basara's chest, her breasts shook and gave an all too superb sight. Inadvertently, Basara didn't move, whereupon-

"Hey, get up already or… Eh?"

As she suddenly noticed something, her expression changed into a doubtful one. And then, while confirming a sensation with her hand,

"…H- Hey, somehow… I feel something hard?"

Oh my? Basara tilted his head. Could it be, the effect of having her sit on his hips backfired?

"Ehm…is this the physiological phenomenon unique only to boys?"

"N- No! I wonder what it is… Maybe my cell?"

Yeah, Basara remembered. Last night he couldn't fall asleep, so he played on the portable game console. At some point he had had fallen asleep, but that had to be it. Actually,

"I'm grateful that you came to wake me up, but you're not sitting on my stomach, but my hips. When a girls sits there and a real ''physiological phenomenon'' happens, I can't be held responsible."

On Basara's words, Mio instantly turned bright red. She must have finally noticed her own defencelessness. He thought for sure that she would jump off and step on him in a panic.

"Y- Yeah…I can't deny that. Y- You're a boy after all."

Surprisingly enough, she withstood it. Most likely she wanted to stay emotionally superior to Basara. But it was quite obvious that she was agitated. Apparently she was fine when the things went the way she wanted, but was weak in unexpected situations. So to test it, Basara decided to tease her a bit.

"…Now then, guess I'll get up."

"Fueh!? Y- You're getting up?"

Basara said a "Yeah" to Mio, who immediately started to be restless.

"I can't really laze around here forever, can I. And you took the trouble of coming to wake me up."

"R- Right…. B- But"

Basara gave a wry smile to the flustered Mio. While looking up to Mio from below,

"If it's that troubling for you, wake me up normally next time. Not sitting on my hips."

It was meant as a gentle warning. But, Mio made a frustrated, red face.

"I, I'm not really troubled…. It, it's just a simple physiological phenomenon."

She was obstinate on a strange orientation. Basara had no time to stop her.

"C- C'mon, get up already!"

She grabbed Basara's blanket and pulled it off.

Upon that, something instantly shot up from under the blanket into the air--- into Mio's direction.

"Eh….?"

Inadvertently letting go of the blanket, Mio caught it. It was neither a cell phone nor a gaming console. Of course, it wasn't a physiological phenomenon either. It was a remarkable something that came from between his groin and shot up into the air. Then what was it? Basara's eyes fell onto the plastic case. It was something often used for games or an image editor software---or rather, a kind of software itself. The back of the package was facing his way, so Basara could read its title.

The name of the product with a cute girl on the cover was:

"Youth Special Edition: My real little stepsister and I"

It was a game about a little sister.

"Hi….Kya--!?"

Mio threw the software onto Basara's stomach and fell from the bed, as she lost her balance in that very moment.

"H- Hey, are you oka---Mh?"

Upon that, the package had turned upside down. Now Mio was looking at the backside with the summary written on it. The game screenshots of the cute girl were full of naked skin and mosaics.

---In short, it was an erotic game. Moreover, it was a training style game, betraying the light title.

The supposedly fresh morning atmosphere turned into the most awkward scene in the world for a moment.

"Wh- Why is such a thing in my bed…?"

Basara was fifteen years old. He didn't remember buying such a thing. However, while Mio was shivering on the floor,

"Y- Yo- You…You were playing such a game on the night where we started to live together? I knew it… you want to do the stuff from the game to us as well, right?"

"What do you mean you knew it! Actually, there's no way I have--- Oh?"

"Yah, hey….Kyaa!?"
When Basara hastily denied it while trying to get off the bed, he also lost his balance and fell onto the floor. His lower body must have been numb due to Mio sitting on it. At once, he was hanging over.

"Ah…."

Just like being pushed down. At a distance where the breath could be felt, their faces were close to each other.

So close that it made you hesitate to speak. The sweet aroma of a girl.

The moment he had collapsed, both straps of Mio's brassiere top slipped down her arms and her big breasts were about to spill out. It had slipped down so much that the tip was nearly visible.

Furthermore, one of Basara's knees was between her charming thighs that appeared out from her hot pants and if he were to move even just one millimetre, he would touch a place that he wasn't supposed to touch by
all means.

And in a silence of a few seconds, which felt like an eternity, unable to make even a quiver,

"Y…." "…Y?"

Mio finally uttered a voice and Basara repeated it.

"You perveeeeert!"

"Guaaaaaaah!?"

Mio's raised knee hit right into Basara's solar plexus. And while Basara's body floated a tiny bit, Mio escaped from the spot. At the door, she turned around to the writhing Basara on the floor,

"N- Next time you do anything weird to me, I'll kill you a hundred times!"

After saying so shouting, she left the room. Only Basara was left behind, writhing on the floor.

"Wait, it's a misunderstanding…"

Reaching out his hand, he mumbled moaning, but no one heard it.

From atop of his bed, the adorable illustration girl looked at him like she was sneering at him. The heroine of "Youth Special Edition: My little stepsister and I"--- made a gentle smile.

"Damn you… Dad. To plant such a crude thing into my bed."

As it was summer vacation, Basara headed down the stairs to the first floor, still in his pyjamas.

Actually, Jin would be troubled if Basara was hated. Did he not care if the remarriage blew up? Well, regardless of how the remarriage went, he wouldn't stand for having his character doubted on a misunderstanding.

"For starters, I have to properly clear up the misunderstanding later…"

When he opened the door to the living room, a delicious smell instantly tickled his nasal cavities.

Especially the aroma of roasted bread made his stomach react.

"Ah, Basara-san. Good morning."

At the end of his line of sight, Maria, cooking in the kitchen across, noticed him.

"Ah, yeah… Morning."

Basara lowered his head a bit. Apparently Mio hadn't talked about the earlier misunderstanding yet.

Jin and Mio weren't in the living room. They must be either at the toilet or in the bath, readying themselves. Making a sigh of relief, Basara headed for the kitchen.

"Mh~ Hop…"

There he could see Maria perfectly handling a big fry pan with her small body.

Even while being the youngest, Maria had taken on all house chores, partly due to the fact that she didn't go to school. Either way, she had been boasting how she had taken care of the chores before their living together as well.

Maria wore a white apron with frills, like a newly-wed wife would wear. Equipped on the young-looking Maria it actually gave off a rather erotic feeling, which troubled him.

Basara opened the refrigerator with a cup, which he had taken out of the cupboard, in one hand and poured milk from a pack in it.

"Please wait just a bit longer. I'll be done real soon!"

"Yeah, than---PFFT!?" 

Inadvertently Basara snorted out the milk from his mouth, which gave birth to a little rainbow in the air.

Because he got a full look at Maria, who had turned around to face him, from the front.

"Oh my, you spilled it. You're so mischievous in the morning already, Basara-san."

Maria showed a calm smile and came closer trotting.

"H- Hey! Wait, Maria-chan!"

Basara hastily put up both of his hands in front to stop her.

"Eh? What's the matter?"

Maria tilted her head. It was a cute behaviour like from a penguin. It made you inadvertently incline your body as well. But, more importantly,

"Right back at you, what's with that outfit in the morning…?"

Basara pointed out. After all, she was naked in an apron--- A real naked apron. Even though it was already the 21th century. Not good, he had to calm down. It was a penguin. If he thought about it as a naked penguin in an apron, it somehow should--- as if!

"Ehm… Something wrong with it?"

Without time for Basara to stop her, Maria spun around on the spot once more. However,
"….H- Huh?"

Maria was properly wearing clothes. Because she wore a combination of a camisole and miniskirt underneath, it only looked like she was naked under the apron from the front. Then Maria,

"…Hohoho~n, I see."

When she looked down on her own attire, she smirked, as she had noticed what Basara had gotten so flustered about.

"You are an adolescent boy after all, Basara-san… Was it too stimulating for you? Did it arouse you?"

It certainly was quite stimulating. In a mainly pathetic way.

"…Did you have any weird thoughts?" "No, no." "Please get excited." "Haha."

Basara wondered if this conversation wasn't a bit strange for siblings.

"Oh right. Earlier, Mio-chan went to wake you up, but how did it go?"

"….Thanks to that I'm fully awake now."

He couldn't really tell her that he received a knee kick before breakfast. However,

"No, no, that's not what I meant."

Maria shook her hand with that and with a serious expression,

"That software like thing that I smuggled into your bed--- Did Mio-chan see it?"

"SO IT WAS YOUUUUUUUUU!"

Basara screamed at once. Culprit found. To think that it would be Maria.

"Just what for did you place such a crude thing there…"

"What for..? Because you seemed to be unfamiliar with training your little stepsister."

"I don't even want to be familiar with it! Besides, why do I have to train her anyway!"

"Eh? B- But…"

There Maria was suddenly bewildered.

"Except for training, there are no other usages for a little stepsister, are there?"

"THERE ARE! Actually, what do you mean with ''usages''!"

Oh god. He knew that middle schoolers these days couldn't be underestimated, but what exactly did this loli little sister take her older sister for? There Maria shook her clenched fists wildly up and down.

"B- But… that game seems rather great? In the end, your little stepsister becomes your complete slave and just with verbal abuse, she makes a stupid lustful expression and squirts all over. So you should learn from it, Basara-san."

"I don't care! Why do I have to learn from something like that!"

"I, I mean… Except for making a stupid lustful expression and squirting all over, a little stepsister has no raison d'être---"

"She has! A lot of them!"

Apologize to all 3D and 2D little stepsisters! No, more importantly,

"Ehm, Maria-san…?"

While using a respectful calling, Basara started to ask her. He didn't want to believe--- but on the possibility,

"That game… could it be yours?"

What should he do if it was hers? Basara gulped.

"Oh please, Basara-san, how could that be? I am still in middle school."

Maria shook her hand while laughing an Ahaha.

"You are going to take care of us now, Basara-san, so it's a kind of moving in gift."

"That's the worst for a moving in gift. Make it something more decent."

"…In other words, you're saying 'The game isn't satisfying, give me a decent body'?"

"Eh…?"

"I, I understand. It's embarrassing, but if that's what you desire, Basara-san…"

In front of Basara, whose eyes were on fire, Maria took off her apron. Shyly, she reached her hand into her miniskirt and when she rolled it up, she fidgeted around purposefully.

"Uh- Uhm… I'm not that familiar with training, but starting with it in the bright morning is a rather high level, isn't it?"

"Like hell I'm doing it! Besides, training itself is already something unmanageable for a middle/high schooler!"

"Mhm, what's the ruckus about?"
There was a voice from the door of the living room. It was Jin in pyjamas and the newspaper pinched under his arm. Basara hastily tried to make an excuse, but Maria reddened her cheeks before that.

"Ehm… Actually, I'm going to get my first training from Basara now."

"I already told you, I'm not going to---"

"---Hee, is that so."

Following, Mio came into the living room and sent Basara a glance like she was looking at a beast.

"Earlier… you pushed me down and now you're having a Youth Special Edition with Maria. Hee."

"Don't make me out to be the bad guy. My legs were just numb!"

And then Basara remembered with "Oh right".

"Listen, about the earlier software, Maria had---"

"Eh? What are you talking about?"

Instantly she played dumb.

"I have no idea what you mean. Basara-san, please do not push the responsibilities of your hobbies onto me."

"Kuh… Making an innocent face only now."

Even though she had put her hand into her skirt and was ready for training before, just to tease him.

"Dad…say something."

Father and son had lived together for years. His thoughts should be conveyed. Upon that, Jin, who had sat down at the table earlier, raised his head from the newspaper with a "Huh?", then rested his chin on his hand with a "Mhm".

"I understand that you're in high spirits over getting two cute little sisters--- but please, no crimes."

"It didn't convey at all!"

So unreasonable, Basara thought. This was supposed to be his home, yet why did he feel so away?

===Part 3===

When starting a new living together, there were absolutely necessary things.

That day. While cleaning up the remaining luggage from the moving in that morning, they all went to the furniture store in the afternoon and bought newly needed things like curtains or sheets. Just looking around once in the broad store took a surprising amount of time. When they returned home, the sun was already setting.

---And presently. Toujou Basara was pedalling his bicycle.

To get to know the new city they moved to even a little better, he went around the neighbourhood.

"The evening is a bit more relaxing."

His muttered words were not a monologue. On the luggage carrier behind him sat Mio.

"Why do I have to…"

She mumbled dissatisfied while twining her arms around his waist. Riding a bicycle together with a girl. Moreover, one with huge breasts. A heart-pounding event for a man, yet the atmosphere was really strained.

"Don't say that… I don't know my way around here, but ''you come here often''."

The high school Mio attended was close to the house they moved in to. Therefore when he went out, he had asked Mio if she could show him around the city. It seemed like she had understood that the software from this morning was a prank from Maria, but the awkwardness wouldn't disappear so easily. Mio had openly made a displeased expression and complained, but in the end she accepted to show him around.

"Hey… Basara, are you really attending the same school as me?"

"Seems so."

In response to the question from behind, Basara spoke words of affirmation.

---The school transfer was suggested by Jin. He could have commuted to his old school from the new house, but Mio's high school was in the walking distance. It also had a good tradition, so he decided to transfer.

He merely spent one term as a high schooler yet. Of course it wasn't like he hadn't gotten along with his classmates, but he had no regrets about leaving that school.

…Besides.

There was the stuff about Mio getting attacked previously. If Basara could ward off such a thing or risk even a little bit by attending the same school, a transfer was standing for reason.

Behind Mio just said "Mhm", not stating if she was against it or not. Basara and Mio slowly advanced on the bicycle in the madder red coloured city.

"…Hey. Can I ask what kind of dream you had this morning?"

"….Aw."

Suddenly asked with a casual tone, Basara scratched his cheek. Before Mio came to wake up him, he should have had a fierce nightmare. From Mio's viewpoint, it was an obvious question.

…I made her be anxious about me.

Basara ruminated what to do in an atmosphere, where Mio wouldn't urge him to answer.

Unfortunately, ''he couldn't tell an ordinary person like Mio'' about his circumstances. Therefore,

"In the past… when I lived in the country-side, lots of stuff happened. You could call it a trauma… Even now I sometimes dream of that time."

"…I see."

Mio said so shortly and didn't question any further. Still, for a little bit, he felt the atmosphere between them soften up. This must have been Mio's consideration.

Thanks.

If Basara were to tell her everything--- he would most likely be unable to live together with Mio and Maria any longer.

Since they were asked to buy some ingredients along with their touring, Basara and Mio headed for the supermarket.

"We bought a lot…"

As they had just moved, they ended up not just buying ingredients, but also all kinds of seasonings.

"I'll go get the bicycle first. The stuff here is heavy, so just come to the exit with the cart."

"Mm, okay."

Leaving the nodding Mio behind, Basara left the store first.

He arrived at the parking lot for the bicycles and unlocked his bicycle lock, whereupon

"---Can I ask what kind of dream you had this morning?"

He remembered Mio's words and the bad dream from this morning flashbacked in his mind. Instantly,

"……---!"

Basara forgot how to breath for a moment and pressed onto his chest as his heartbeat jumped up.

---How better would it be, if he could just forget. But, he couldn't afford to forget.

The incident five years ago. Basara was the victim and at the same time also the assailant.

Therefore, Toujou Basara was going to shoulder this pain for the rest of his life.

"…Aw, not good."

Remembering that Mio was waiting for him, Basara pushed his bicycle to the store's doorway. Upon that, he immediately spotted Mio crowded by people.

Geh, Basara grimaced. Mio was surrounded by four obviously bad guys.

And, Mio was shaking off the arm that was over-familiar put on her shoulder and glared at the guys fiercely.

"---Don't touch me. I'll kill you a hundred times, if you touch me! Hey, Basara!"

Such aggressiveness. An average high school boy might have gotten frightened by it. But unfortunately it had no real effect on these four guys. With a smirk on their faces, they didn't leave Mio alone.

"…Ehm, do you have any business with my companion?"

So for now, Basara tried to call out to them peacefully.

"---Huh? Who are you?"

"Well, her companion."

"Mhm… So what?"

Huh? Wouldn't one normally back off when realizing the girl had a guy with her?

In this kind of tense atmosphere, Mio looked at him with a stiff expression.

''…Well, what now?''

When Basara was pondering, the closest guy came closer with his head inclined diagonally while chewing messily on his gum. It was unknown if it was to threat or to provoke, either way he was good at making a pissed face.

"Basara, huh? What a lame name---"

"---Not so much as your face."

Saying so displeased, Basara pulled on the handlebar of his bicycle to raise it up. Letting the front wheel floating on the spot, the bicycle made a wheelie.

"Huh---?"

The guy looked up to it attracted and into his very face, Basara drove down the tire.

A direct hit. "Gueh", raising a short voice, the guy was knocked over to the back.

---On this sudden happening, everyone present there was dumbfounded.

Basara naturally made his bicycle stand again, then passed through the remaining three guys to reach Mio. There he grabbed the cloth bag with the purchased goods in the cart's basket.

"Bastard---!"

With an eye for the situation, Basara quickly opened the cap of the newly bought small bottle of seasoning and threw the contents at the guys that came to attack him.

"Guah!?" "Ass, hole… Acchoo!" "My, My eyes, it hurts…. Acchoo!"

Well, of course. It was 298 yen priced, plain old pepper.

"---Hey, stop standing there dumbfounded and run!" "Eh? Eh?"

Grabbing the hand of the confused Mio and the cloth bag from the cart's basket, he ran off.

Right now, getting away from here as quickly as possible took priority. Basara rashly pushed the cloth bag into the bicycle front basket.

"Hold on, we're gonna drive!"
Letting Mio sit on behind, he took off at full speed. At the same time.
"Guah----!?"

The bicycle treaded on something. Most likely, it was the guy that was still laying on the ground after being hit with the tire. However, there was no time to feel sorry.

Basara pedalled standing up, retreating from the place at full speed.

And then--- they roared down the main road together on the bicycle for a while.

They shouldn't chase after them anymore, just with that timing, the traffic light turned red.

"Fuh, we should be safe here…"

His breathing was a bit out of order from the dash in midsummer and sweat gradually spread over his forehead. There,

"…Sorry. It's my fault."

Suddenly, Mio's voice from behind became audible. Mio placed her forehead on Basara's back and leaned her body a bit against him. Basara turned around over his shoulder and looked at Mio. As she was fretting over having Basara involved in her own troubles, Mio had cast down her eyes and was looking down with a bitter expression.

''…So she can make a face like this too…''

A new expression on Mio was before his eyes. But, Basara didn't want her to keep that expression. He couldn't find any suitable words to say---Still,

"Ehm--- How about we take a little detour home?"

At the same time the traffic light turned green, Basara turned the handlebar, which had started to let the bicycle run.

"…Eh?"

Mio raised a surprised voice on the change of course away from their house.

But Basara didn't stop. It was evening. If they went now, they should arrive at a perfect time.

The place Basara took Mio to was a park, proud of it's broad ground.

There existed also a scenic outpost called the setting sun hill, but since it was famous with the locals, Mio, who attended school here, must have known about it. Therefore, Basara dared to take her to a rarely visited place.

It wasn't a public viewing platform, but a point where you could get an entire view of the city.

"Waah…!"

Mio, looking down on the cityscape, raised a voice of surprised and delight. Just like Basara had predicted, they had arrived at the perfect timing. The world was equivalently coloured in a gentle madder red, a spanning sunset scenery.

"So pretty… But you just moved here, so how did you know of this place?"

"When my dad decided on the house, I was with him and I heard that the park was famous, so I came here alone while dad signed the contract. And then I found this place by chance."

Basara lined up besides Mio.

"Quite the splendid view, isn't it."

"Yeah. I never knew… that there was a place like this here."

"Let's come at night next time. The night scenery at the park is famous as well. I'm sure it'll be pretty from here as well."

He suggested a little promise for the future. Upon that,

"Yeah… You're right. …Next time then."

Suddenly Mio's expression clouded. From their position they could see the earlier supermarket as well. She might have remembered about the quarrel with the guys. Basara scratched his cheek with his finger and an

"Ehm".

"Today… This morning, you came to wake me up."

On these words, Mio looked at him. So, Basara spoke with a slow tone.

"A family, you see--- is probably something where any troubles or bothers for each other can be forgiven."

"Eh…?"

"To you, I'm a somewhat favourable existence, on the level of coming to wake me up, right now, correct? Of course it's not completely settled yet if our parents will marry… But we're going to live together anyway. By helping each other out with trivial things and acknowledging each other, I believe we're slowly becoming a family."

Because

"At least, I think that what I did at the supermarket was a natural thing to do. I'm sure, it's the same for my dad. If you or Maria-chan would get into that kind of trouble again, my dad or me will help you anytime. But, that's not something you should worry or feel reluctant about. I mean, it's the same natural thing as coming to wake me up in the morning."

For now, he had tried to somehow put his feelings into words.

"…….."

However, Mio shut her mouth and stayed quiet. Maybe he was too roundabout?

''…I'm not good with words after all.''

At times like this, Jin would have been able to convey it with more plain and simple words, but to his regret, Basara couldn't speak as confident as his father.

"Ehm, what I mean is."

Dropping his gaze to the ground, he tried to somehow consolidate his words, whereupon,

"…So cheeky."

Mio suddenly mumbled, to which Basara raised his head. Besides him, Mio wore a smile.

"Right now, you might have a been a bit like a big brother."

"…Really?"

"Yeah. Just a bit though."

Ohh. Kind of a good mood.

"Then how about we forgive and forget the incidents at---" "Not yet."

Said coldly, Mio's voice was yet bright. The earlier tense atmosphere seemed like a lie. So Basara thought. Their way to becoming a real family might still be long though.

But right now, Mio and he might have shortened the distance by a step. Therefore,

"Now then, about time we go back. I'm getting hungry anyways."

Back to the same house--- like a family. Basara turned on his heels and headed for the parked bicycle.

"…Yeah. Maria and Jin-san are also waiting."

He heard Mio's calm voice from behind, then her footsteps followed.
Their two shadows slowly advanced in the same direction.

---But,

"------"

With his back to her and only seeing her shadow, Basara couldn't see Mio's expression at that time.

Mio's bitter expression that was filled with an even greater sadness than before.

===Part 4===

A week had passed, since they started to live together.

All the same, they still hadn't got away from the "More than acquaintances, less than family" stage.

Still, compared to the beginning, a lot of the awkwardness had disappeared--- At that time,

"---It turns out I'm going overseas for work tomorrow for a while."

"Eh…?"

Upon coming home, Basara inadvertently asked in return on Jin's sudden words at the front door.

Mio and Maria couldn't hear it. Right now, the two of them were preparing dinner in the kitchen.

"An Italian customer wants a picture of Arabia. So I'm making a quick visit to Dubai."

Jin's job was a freelancer photographer. A professional that lived on taking pictures.

For that, he sometimes had to go overseas to take pictures, but

"H- Hold your horses!"

Basara hastily chased after Jin, who was slowly going up the stairs after giving him a light clap on the shoulder.

"What do you suddenly mean with Dubai!"

Following after Jin into his room, Basara asked. However, Jin said shortly.

"It's a well trusted customer, so I have no choice."

Preparing for tomorrow's job, Jin started to put the lens on his camera.

Jin was a renowned photographer with customers all over the world. The name [JIN] was rather famous in part of the business and his pictures itself were evaluated to have an artistic nature, like paintings. He had a lot of fans and his annual income was one or two digits higher than an average photographer in the business.

"I know that clients are important, but… can't you turn it down?"

Presently it was an important and delicate period as they just had started to live together with Mio and Maria.

If the only adult left the house now, the mental support would be gone.

"We already have enough savings to make a decent living…"

"Trust is the most important thing in freelancing. When I turn him down once, he won't come requesting me anymore."

"But… you're the head of our family. It's your job to protect the family."

"''That's precisely why I'm going''. Listen, while I'm gone, it's your job as the eldest son to protect the family."

"That's…"

Told convincing like that, Basara had no words to argue back. Jin lightly rested his hand on Basara's shoulder.

He smiled.

"Don't worry. You can do it--- After all, you're the son I'm so proud of."

---And then the night of the next day.

"Okay, take care of the house."

With these short words, Jin left in a taxi.

"Geez…"

Basara dropped his gaze onto the object in his hands--- A single picture that Jin handed him. It was the commemorative picture of the four of them in front of the house, taken yesterday. Like expected, Basara's expression was stiff on it.

"…Mh?"

However, Basara suddenly felt something amiss with the picture.

In the picture, Mio and Maria were certainly showing a smile. Yet,

''…Just my imagination?''

Probably due to the effect of the light, Mio's face looked somewhat sad. She indeed might feel worried with the adult, Jin, out of the house.

"---Okay."

Basara left his room determined. While going down the stairs, he thought about ordering Sushi or Eel today. Jin had given him the credit card and eating delicious food was the best way to cheer up at such times.

So Basara opened the door of the living room

"Hey girls, about tonight's dinner---"

He could only say that much. As he then noticed the heavy atmosphere in the room.

"…….." "…….."

Mio, sitting on the sofa, and Maria, sitting on a chair at the dining table, stayed quiet on Basara calling. But there was a reaction. They gave him a freezing cold glare.

---That was why Basara sighed wearily.

Aww, here it was. At last. He thought it was definitely strange to suddenly get two cute little sisters, even if there was a slight problem with their personalities.

It had finally come, ''the backlash of all the good luck so far''.

Understandable. Not only did the only adult leave, but the young girls and boy were going to live under the same roof all by themselves now. Of course they would get cautious upon being suddenly thrown into such a situation. Still,

"……………….." "……………….."

wasn't this silence a bit too long? It was just like with a complete outage of TV or radio.

"Uhm, how about we order something… Like Sushi or Eel."

Even the high-grade one is acceptable, was what he suggested with a subtle polite tone. Upon that,

"…You know, Basara, I have a favor to ask."

Mio finally opened her tight-lipped mouth.

"Yeah, sure, what's it? If there's something you want, just say it."

Basara immediately closed in to Mio.

She wanted a favor. That trivial matter alone made him quite happy.

And then--- Toujou Basara heard Mio's "favor". It was said with a marrow and bone piercing cold voice.

"---Get out of this house."

Basara froze up for a moment and searched for words to say.

"Ehm…"

Yeah. Kind of shocking. He was a bit surprised. After all she asked him to leave the house without any pretext.

There was a limit to talking past each other.

"…Sorry, but can you say that again?"

For now, Basara wished that he misheard her--- though there was little hope.

"------"

Upon that, Maria raised her hand lightly in his direction. The hand was raised for a proposal--- No, not really. The palm of the small hand was held up towards Basara.

"Eh---?"

Maria's hand glowed--- At that moment.

''Basara was suddenly hit by a kind of gust and blown against the wall.''

"Guah---!?"

An impact on his back. Losing his breath for a moment, he inadvertently coughed violently. There,

"---Basara-san, did you not hear what ''Mio-sama'' said?"

Who knows when she got there, but Maria was standing right before him.

She showed a ruthless expression, which made her appear like a different person from until now.

"Just now… what was that. Who are you…?"

On Basara's sudden--- no, inevitable question,

"Hee… You are staying rather calm."

Maria said a bit surprised. The decisive words that would change Toujou Basara's life.

"''Humans, who see magic for the first time, usually fall into a panic.''"

"''Magic…?''"

Maria affirmed the frowning Basara with a "Yes".

"Did you believe it to be a product of fiction or fantasy? Magic actually exists--- No, not just magic. Races apart from humans do as well."

At the same time she said that, something spread on Maria's back with a blue radiance. Something that humans absolutely didn't possess---''Black wings''. Her ears also changed into a pointed shape unlike before.

Not human. Even if they didn't believe in their existence, everyone knew their name.

"So you were a devil?"

"Exactly."

The moment he mumbled it, there came an instant reply without pause.

An affirmation. At once he didn't want to believe it, but it seemed to be true.

"And we will have you leave, Basara-san. Mio-sama will take this house."

Maria said with her chest puffed up, whereas Mio stayed silent ever since her "Get out".

''…Mio-sama, huh…''

Maria had changed her way of calling Mio, so Basara understood their relationship. Therefore he asked.

"…What's going on, Mio? Is this your doing?"

"Watch your tongue, Basara-san. You, a mere human, are being too disrespectful to the future Devil Lord."

Maria replied to Basara's question from the side.

"Devil Lord…. she?"

"There is a race called Devils. It is only natural to have someone rule over them. Just like our archenemies, the God Tribe, has a high-ranking God as a ruler.

By the way, your so called Heroes do exist as well, though they are basically living in an isolated village to hide their existence, so normal humans do not know about them."

"…………"

Basara replied with silence to the calmly told story. Even when he was suddenly told all that, he still couldn't believe the situation he was in.

[[Image:Shinmai Vol1 0044.jpg|thumb]]

"…What does the Devil Lord want with my house? I'm sure a Lord will have a huge mansion in the Demon Realm."

"There are all kind of circumstances to it. I have no obligation to tell you about it. Anyway. Mio-sama and I will take this house--- To make it our base in the human world."

It was all a scheme to get a base of operation in the human world. Then,

"Then the remarriage between our parents---"

"''Now that is something non-existent''. We met Jin-san by coincidence on the street. He looked like a generous good person, really… So I altered his memories with my succubus magic."

Succubus. A seductive devil that takes the form of a female and appears in dreams. If that was what Maria truly was, she would have no trouble to make a dream appear as reality.

"So you tricked my dad with magic by creating false memories of meeting your mother, which doesn't even exist, and even remarrying her…"

"Yes. And you are the next one, Basara-san."

Saying so, Maria held up her hand towards Basara.

"Basara-san leaves the house until Jin-san comes back, because he couldn't adapt to living with two girls after Jin-san left--- That kind of memory should do."

In regards to that, Basara still stayed silent and watched at Maria, then at Mio.

Upon that, Mio quietly stood up from the sofa and finally returned Basara's gaze.

"Sorry, but--- We'll take this house."

She declared coldly. With the same look in the eyes as at the incident with the delinquents the other day.

"Obediently receive Maria's magic and get out of the house already. Otherwise I'll scream and give you a memory about how you used violence against us and that you have to turn yourself in. Then I'll call the police. You don't really want to go into the brig for violence against your sisters, do you?"

"…….I see."

Basara looked downward on Mio's words and just looked short and isolated.

Upon that, Maria's hand facing him glowed.

"What will it be, Mio-sama? It might be summer, but I do feel a bit sorry for letting him sleep outside. Returning to the countryside, where he was born, and living with his relatives…. how does that sound?"

"…Yeah, that's good."

Mio said.

"Bye, bye, ''Brother''…It was not for long, but it was kind of fun."

With these words as a signal, the light in Maria's hand was released towards Basara.

What Maria had set free was a succubus magic that manipulated memories by showing a dream.

Because of that, Basara's memories got altered and he left his own house--- or so it was supposed to be. However,

"….Oh?"

The memory manipulation magic certainly affected Basara--- yet, he didn't move.

''…How strange.''

While tilting her head, she was about to release another memory manipulation magic towards Basara.

"Eh…?"

Maria suddenly blinked her eyes. Basara, who was supposed to be in front of her, had disappeared.

On the small possibility, Maria turned around right away--- to her blind spot.

Upon that, in the middle of the living room--- there stood Basara.

For a moment he had gotten behind her. Maria gulped on that fact.

"A- Are you resisting? …Then it will be painful."

She sent Basara a fierce glare. She didn't want to hurt him, but now there was no other choice. Maria chanted the wind magic that had blown away Basara earlier and released it. The produced wind went straight for Basara--- At that moment. KEEEK, with a shrill roar, ''the wind magic was erased.''

"Wha….?"

For a moment, she thought that she saw a white line coming from the side--- And in the next moment, her magic was erased. Maria looked in surprise. Basara in front of her eyes was suddenly holding a huge sword in his hands. That his arm was covered in armor up to the elbow was mostly due to a contract with the sword.

The power of a contracted weapon feed back even onto the user's body.

"…What are you surprised for?"

Basara slowly raised his head. He glared at her with a sharp glance, almost like a different person.

"You said it yourself. That Devils like you and the God Tribe, your enemies, exist."

A breath.

"And also---''that a tribe of Heroes exists.''"

"No way… How?"

Next to him, Mio raised a voice dumbfounded.

"I mean, the Heroes are in hiding… Why are you here, living like a normal human…"

"Now I don't have any obligation to tell you that."

Maria gave Basara, who coldly disregarded her, a surprised glance.

''…How could this be…''

No wonder the memory manipulation magic didn't work. Succubus could only manipulate memories by dreams on someone with weaker magical power--- Namely, normal humans, who were defenseless against magical power. It didn't work on anti-devil experts like Heroes.

But--- Maria was more confused about a different surprise than this fact.

Impossible, she thought. Namely, Basara's action just now.

Sure enough Maria didn't use an offence wind magic. She wanted to give him a bit of pain by sending him flying, so she just hit him with aviation magic. It wasn't harmful, nor powerful. So it wasn't all that strange that a Hero repelled or cut it off.

---Still, Basara had erased Maria's magic by swinging his sword. No, not just that. Once magic was activated, it generated some kind of magical remains, no matter the protection against it. Despite that, ''there was not a single trace left'' of the magic that Basara had cut off. It was completely erased. As if it had never existed to begin with.

"I no longer… have any ties to Heroes or Devils."

Basara slowly took a step forward.

"But unfortunately for you, I have no plans to go down silently."

Saying so, Basara moved flicking.

A Godspeed that closed the distance between them in an instant as if it had never been there.

"------!"

Not good. Maria stood before Mio right away to cover her. At the same time.

Basara's sword swung down on Maria and Mio.

<br/>
<br/>

"------"

Toujou Basara looked at the two girls, who were tightly shutting their eyes, that he tried to slash.

The sword in his hand--- stopped a paper-length away from them.

"….Ah."

Maria and Mio, realizing that they were safe, sunk down on the floor.

Their legs had given in. That was why Basara undid the incarnation of his magic sword--- Brynhildr.

"Why…"

On Mio's dumbfounded question, Basara turned his back to them wordless.

He felt a fierce rage towards them. Something that could never be forgiven. Yet,

"…Get out."

Basara muttered isolated.

"I don't care if you're Devils or the Devil Lord. But, our household hasn't the time to sustain folks that deceive me and more importantly my dad. I'll let you off for now. I'll send your luggage after you later, so---hurry up and get out."

<br/>
<br/>

Then, after a few minutes---the living room of the Toujou Household was enveloped in silence.

After regaining their strength in their legs, Mio and Maria had left the house.

Basara, turning his magic sword Brynhildr back into it's stand-by form, a pendant-chain, and sat on the sofa.

"……"

Grinding his teeth, he held down his right hand, which wouldn't stop shaking.

''…It's okay.''

Basara desperately persuaded himself. He hadn't fought in a long time. His flair for it hadn't returned yet. That was why it was a complete
coincidence that he activated ''that skill.''

---Five years ago, when he was at the village of the Hero Tribe, Toujou Basara caused a grave problem.

[A certain incident] made his own power go out of control.

Originally it caused so much damage that it wouldn't allow him to live like he was now.

Still, as a result of all kinds of circumstances, it turned into him leaving the village together with Jin. In other words, he was chased out. And coming to Tokyo, father and son started to live in the unfamiliar city lifestyle.

"…..Damn."

Basara muttered loathsome. But, it wasn't directed at Mio or Maria.

Of course, Toujou Basara had no intention to forgive them. It was an inevitable fact that they tried to deceive Jin and him. But there was another one, who he couldn't stand.

---It was the guy, who was once called the strongest of all Heroes.

It was a Hero with an even greater power than himself, his father---Jin.

''There was no way that this man didn't catch up on Mio and Maria's scheme.'' Maria had said that she manipulated his memories with magic, but Jin should have fended that off without doubt.

That was why Basara took the phone and dialed Jin's cell phone number.

"---Hello. What's up?"

After a few seconds of ringing, an all too familiar voice spilled out of the phone and Basara replied with a low voice.

"Dad…Do you have a minute?"

"Sure. The taxi driver is kind of tight-lipped anyway, so I'm bored."

Mixed in Jin's casual tone, he could faintly hear the sound of a low wind blowing. Most likely, the taxi Jin was in was currently driving on the highway. The driver would get to hear their conversation, but Jin would surely come up with some kind of excuses. Therefore,

"---''What's the idea''?"

Basara asked. Even as he tried to stay calm, anger resonated in his voice. Upon that,

"That was quick… You already noticed it? I expected you to take a bit longer."

Jin said freely without any sign of shame.

"I knew it. You were aware that they were devils---Since when?"

Tightly clenching the phone, Basara asked impassive.

"''Right from the beginning.'' I knew them before they found me in the city."

"…''Found?'' What do you mean…?"

On Jin's words, Basara frowned. Maria had said "We met Jin by chance in the city".

"Well, I'm sure those two thought it was just a coincidence."

Jin said in a nonchalant tone, then continued with "But".

"A while ago, I got some news that the [village] was secretly on the move. It's been close to five years that we left the village. It didn't seem like they were going to bother with us after all this time, so I just kept an eye on things for a while….but then the situation took a sudden change not long ago. It was relatively close by, so I decided to check out who it was, just in case."

A breath.

"After all---The elders gave them the surveillance rank S-."

"Surveillance rank S-? Those two?"

Basara's Tribe gave devils a ranking according to the threat they posed. And the Rank S- was one of the highest. Only S and S+ were higher.

''….For real?''

The devils usually lived in a different world from the human world--- called the Demon Realm. Of course some of them came over to the human world and caused some trouble at times, but it had been only low-ranked devils. Basically they didn't leave their own world.

Because presently, there was a truce between the devils and the Heroes.

---The fight between Heroes and Devils in this world had gone on for so long that neither side knew how long exactly it had lasted. But that was a thing from before Basara's birth--- His father's generation had put an end to it. The new Devil Lord had put a hold on the fight with the Heroes and God Tribe and withdrawn all devils from the human world.

So the devils that came to the human worlds were all rogue devils with low surveillance ranks, like E or D, or termination targets.

"These two are S-…"

Basara mumbled in disbelief. And then he looked at the palm of his right hand.

Even if they were just -, he had never believed to meet two S ranks in his life.

"To be more precise, Mio got the surveillance rank S-. Maria is only under watch as someone by her side."

"Mio…"

There Basara suddenly remembered Maria's words. The earlier battle in the living room. Even if they let their guard down as they didn't know that he was a Hero, as far as he could tell, Mio didn't pose that much of a danger. Therefore he had taken Maria's words as a made-up threat, but

"So she… really is the future Devil Lord?"

Saying so, Basara still denied that possibility. That couldn't be. After all,

"I mean, the Devil Lord has always been a man…. Even presently."

Wilbert--- the name of the current Devil Lord that had withdrawn the devils from the human world and was known for his moderate policy. Originally the devils' enemy was the God Tribe, "archenemy" as Maria had called it. So the devils only thought of humans as insects and merely tried to overthrow the human world for the sake of launching an attack on Heaven. From all these devils, Wilbert was the first moderate one that abstained from revenge against the Gods and was laying the path for a peaceful living in the Demon Realm. Above all, it should have been forbidden for them to hurt humans recklessly.

That precisely was the reason that the human world was so peaceful in the last six years.

However. Jin's voice through the phone overturned Basara's thoughts.

"The Devil Lord Wilbert died--- Roughly one year ago, it seems."

"Eh---?"

Basara couldn't comprehend the reported shocking truth at first.

"I, never heard of…"

"Because we cut all ties with the [village]. I only learned about it quite recently."

Besides, Jin added.

"If I had told you carelessly--- You would just have ''had that nightmare again.''"

"That's…"

Basara paused inadvertently. After all, he just had that nightmare the other day.

"But… that means, Mio is the next Devil Lord?"

"No. Apparently some other high-class Devil currently reigns in Wilbert's stead over the Demon Realm. And he seems to be quite the hardliner… He's after Mio, as she's Wilbert's only daughter and the successor of his power."

The Devil Lord Wilbert was known for his moderate politics, but his power stood out in the history of previous Devil Lords. That precisely was the reason as to why he could convince the combative devils to stop the fights and withdraw from the human world. If Mio had inherited that power of the strongest Devil Lord,

Then she was indispensable for someone that wanted to rule as the new Devil Lord. But,

"Wait a sec…"

There was still something he didn't understand. It was,

"I get the gist of things…. But, ''why did you take in these two then?''"

That was--- beyond him by all means. By doing so, not just the Devils, but even the village would turn against him. It also contradicted the fact that he hid the previous Devil Lord's death to Basara just out of consideration.

"I told you that I have to check on things, right?"

Then, with the same casual tone like before, Jin's words were filled with seriousness.

"The moderate Wilbert had a lot of enemies amongst the Devils. For these guys the daughter of their hated Devil Lord would make a perfect hostage. Wilbert himself surely understood that the best. I heard that as soon as his daughter was born, he sent her to the human world and let her be raised as a human in absolutely secrecy by subordinates that played the parents…."

Even if it meant being apart from her--- he did it for the happiness of his beloved daughter.

That surely must have been a heart-breaking decision.

"But ironically, after Wilbert's death--- His enormous power was transferred to Naruse Mio, who he had sent away to keep her away from the dispute. She was a normal girl in middle school at that time… I'm sure you know what happened afterwards."

The new Devil Lord couldn't ignore Mio's existence. Nor the subordinates that played her parents. ''And right now, the parents that raised her were gone.'' It wasn't hard to guess what tragedy had befallen Mio.

"How… How can that be."

Basara said by squeezing out his voice.

"Our tribe and Devils can use supernatural powers because we know of the laws beyond the human world. Half a year ago, she was just an average girl, not knowing of it. Right now she mostly knows how to use her power, but she only inherited the Devil Lord's power itself and it's still not fully awakened. That's why the village set her as a surveillance target instead of a termination one."

Moreover, Jin added.

"The moderate faction lost a lot of power after Wilbert's death. That fact that Maria is her only guard is proof enough of that. Unfortunately, I don't believe that these two alone can oppose the current Devil Lord's faction. If left alone, they will lose their lives sooner or later."

"So, you pretended to be manipulated…"

He finally understood Jin's intention.

Basara sighed and shouted his words into the phone in the next moment.

"You damn imbecile--- Tell me this earlier!"

Then Basara could have helped.

"Sorry. I had decided from the beginning that you three would stand on equal grounds."

Jin said with a laugh.

"I hid the fact that they were devils and we had been Heroes. If one side were to know the truth about the other, they would think they had been deceived and all trust would be gone. But if both hid something, then it's a shared pain, right? Both sides had been deceived, giving you guys room for compromising---''with me, aware of everything, as the bad guy.''"

"…That means that job offer also was a lie?"

If it was just to protect Mio and Maria, staying with them would be best. That Jin left the house despite that meant that he had a reason for doing so.

"Well, guess so. Sorry, but I have to check upon a few things---''so I'm off to the Demon Realm for a bit.''"

That meant getting behind the enemy's line. Of course, Jin had once been heralded as the strongest Hero. And amidst the great battles, he apparently had went numerous times into the Demon Realm, but

"Is that… safe?"

"Yeah, don't worry. I can't tell you any details, but I just want to get in touch with someone. If all goes well, Mio might not be chased anymore."

Aha. So he would do something about the source. Then,

"Okay… Leave things here to me. I'll do something about it."

"I'm counting on you, my son. So? How are the girls? Well, from the look of it, I guess---"

Jin was still saying something, but Basara put down the phone, ending the call.

And then, he was already running in the next moment--- towards the front door.

<noinclude>

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|-
| Back to [[Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 1 Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Kenshin no Keishousha:Volume 1 Chapter1

2015-08-16T21:09:51Z

Mard: /* Chapter 1 - The Sword Academy */

==Chapter 1 - The Sword Academy==

Tokyo Swordia————

Formerly this city was known as the Tokyo metropolis, but currently in the 21st century, the otherworldly Swordies have ruled over the city since the Great War seventy years ago.

Tokyo Swordia was divided into two regions. In other words, the Swordies resided within the Specialized Central Region while humans inhabited the Outer Human Region.

Being the dominant social class, the Specialized Central Region where all the Swordies lived controlled all political and economic functions. To everyone else in the world, they had the most elegant districts. In contrast, the Outer Human Region felt quite unbalanced with the quality among the districts being starkly different.

It was already past ten in the evening, yet it was quite rambunctious on this particular bustling street in the Outer Human Region which had rows upon rows of bars lined up for construction.

Slightly away from the ruckus within the corner of this region sits an old-fashioned hotel.

Located underneath the hotel was a parking garage. Parked within its depths was a van with its engine running and the shadows of multiple figures gathered around the vehicle. There were five of them in total, and all of them were wearing what appeared to be white robes.

One of the members, who was currently breathing heavily, appears to have been wounded. Although medical aid was being received from a friend, it seems the bleeding could not be stopped.

"Looks like I’ve already caught up."

For some reason, these words startled the others as they turned towards the sound of the approaching footsteps.

These robe wearing people all reacted in unison, directing their gaze towards the figure that showed up.

"If you want to escape you should be giving it everything you have, not dilly-dallying around in this sort of place."

A young teenager wearing a red long coat appeared within the parking garage.

From the opening in the front of the long coat, one could see that the somewhat short teenager possessed a slender figure.

Along with his disheveled black hair, there remained a childish facial complexion. However, under the fringe of his hair, his eyes carried an exceptionally sharp expression.

"Well, if you guys were to scatter in disarray you would all be interrogated. That said, you guys also killed four police officers which is quite unacceptable to be honest. You bastards, I'm pretty strict when it comes to losing my comrades. I will keep on pursuing you all even if you were to run to the ends of the earth."

"Are you one of the Sabers?"

One of the robed members shouted in a sharp tone. Unwavered, the teenager wryly smiled in response.

"As you can see."

The teenager————Kurou, pointed to the silver sword insignia on his long coat with his index finger.

The so-called Sabers were Tokyo Swordia's public security force. They were a separate entity from the police force.

"I'd appreciate it if you guys would allow me to make a peaceful arrest. However, if there is any resistance————"

Kurou placed his hand on the hilt of the katana strapped to his waist. Just by looking at its composition, one could tell it was definitely not an ornament or a counterfeit. Instead, it was a thoroughly used and authentic blade.

"This is the end for all of you, followers of the sun."

Even without inquiring, Kurou already knew their true identity.

The so-called Sun Cult was just as its name indicated. The religious organization was comprised of followers who worshipped the teachings of the sun.

In the last couple of years, these thugs would frequently engage in terrorist activities. The number of victims from these terrorist activities have already reached triple digits. These Sabers, who were part of the public security force, have made the Sun Cult their number one priority.

Because the van of the Sun Cult followers arrived at a police checkpoint tonight, they decided to forcefully break through. During their escape, they killed four police officers and are currently still fleeing.

Since the Sabers sent out a dispatch request, Kurou, being a member, caught up to them here.

"Hey——, what is this, it hasn't started yet? Fortunately I leisurely walked over here."

Unexpectedly, an extremely clear voice sounded.

Behind Kurou came another guy that entered the parking garage. He too kept a sword by his waist and also wore the exact same long coat marked with the silver insignia.

"Are you an idiot? You’re currently on the job, you better get over here quickly Lars."

"Yeah yeah, you're so stringent as usual Kurou."

He elatedly smiled. Lars was also a member of the Sabers.

Within the Sabers, he and Kurou worked together as a pair. Although he was about five centimeters taller than the short-statured Kurou, his face also seems to have retained a puerile complexion. In fact, he was only a teenager who was fifteen years of age.

His appearance was well-kept and his hair was practically white. However, he claims the color was “platinum”.

Even though Lars followed an alternate path when chasing the criminals, the two pretty much found them at the same time.

"Despite being Sabers, there are only two of you against the five of us! We have complete control here!"

One of the cultists, who was tending to a comrade of his, spoke up in an acute voice. In response, the other cultists all whipped out their katanas.

In Japan, it was to be expected that ordinary people were prohibited from carrying firearms. In fact, the Sabers, police, and even the military's main weaponry was the sword. Likewise, the weapons of the terrorists were no exception.

It was very hard to see clearly into the shadow of the van, but it was without a doubt the voice of a female cultist————she was a very young teenage girl. Upon closer inspection, she was the only one who wasn't wearing a robe. Instead, she wore a white veil along with a blue nun getup.

Her eyes were filled with tears, yet she unyieldingly glared at Lars.

"Hey Kurou, is this the opponent you’re responsible for?"

"It's not really a responsibility......"

Kurou wryly smiled and advanced forward.

He knew this girl, her name was Kido Akari.

She was a member of the Sun Cult's combat forces. However, for some reason they encountered each other numerous times during Kurou's missions. Even though those encounters have all been due to chance, it was true that there did exist some underlying reason for this.

"Akari, every time......we seem to encounter each other. Gradually I'm starting to believe this isn't an ill-fated relationship but rather destiny at work here."

"That seems to be the case. Why does it have to turn out like this......"

Akari lowered her gaze as she spoke————

"Hmm? What's wrong? You seem to have some deeply mixed emotions."

"There's no such thing!"

Inadvertently, her piercing glare fixated on Kurou.

"If it is destiny, then that destiny would also include me slaughtering you, you Swordie dog!"

"A dog......"

"Plus, you Swordies are not even part of this world, how could we accept a nation inhabited with you people!"

Akari pulled out her katana and got into her stance. Despite having a bit of flair to it, Kurou understood Akari's strength. Based on her technique, she was probably incapable of defeating any of the Sabers.

"Akari, you can choose to fight, however if this wounded person is left unattended to like this then he will die. This kind of emergency care right now is just prolonging his pain."

"Guh......!"

Akari tightly bit her lips.

Perhaps she realized that Kurou wasn’t just trying to complicate matters.

"Hey, you guys can withdraw. Sorry for arriving late."

"Hmm......?"

Kurou slightly tilted his head at the sound of this sudden voice.

With her presence pretty much undetected, at some point a female figure appeared alongside the followers of the sun.

She wasn't wearing the white robe of the Sun Cult. Instead, her attire consisted of a skimpy mini-skirt, a tightly fitted suit, and there was a bizarre sword suspended along her waist.

"Allowing me to deal with these Sabers idiots should be fine. Let me take care of the cargo and that one other thing in the van. The streets are filled with police checkpoints so you'll be instantly caught if you escape by car."

"......Understood, we are counting on you."

After Akari finished speaking, the rest of the Sun Cultists nodded. From the looks of it, they had no intention to continue causing trouble. Akari and the others glanced back at the van every so often before running away.

Both Kurou and Lars had already lost interest in the Sun Cultists who already fled.

Kurou once again inspected the woman.

The woman's age was probably between twenty and twenty-five years old. She had gleaming short brown hair and although she was quite an attractive person, this was not the appropriate time to be taking note of these sort of things.

"Are you a Swordie?"

"Just like the ones you've seen."

The woman nodded in response to Kurou's question. She then retrieved the sword by her waist in one swift motion.

It was a slender double-edged longsword. The sight of this type of sword wasn’t rare, but————

"Ho, is this the light blade?"

Kurou muttered in admiration.

Known as the light blade, the drawn out sword was enveloped by a faint white light. When the light blade was activated, the sword becomes incredibly hard to bend, break, and furthermore it was very keen-edged.

"Ah so you are a Swordie, and a pretty powerful one as well."

Kurou once again muttered.

The Swordies are considered to be residents from the mystifying world of Swordia.

These otherworldly people and earth's human beings practically look the same. Even though many of them possessed hair and eye colors not found in normal humans, but other than that they were essentially alike.

Despite Swordies and humans having nearly identical physique, the Swordies' physical capabilities were quite outstanding. Their strength and speed were both exceptional.

Furthermore, the most frightening thing was their overwhelming natural disposition to the ways of the sword. Hence, all Swordies were inherently sword specialists.

To add to that, if one becomes a first-class user they could engage in battle with a light blade empowered sword like this woman.

"It ends right here wanted criminal number FZ405333!"

Suddenly a voice rang.

Just like Kurou and Lars, these guys were also wearing red long coats. There were six of them and each held a sword in their hands.

They were all Swordies and members of the Sabers————in other words, they were also Kurou's colleagues. Presumably they too arrived by tracking the followers of the sun.

"This woman is a wanted criminal. In the past she killed two of our members. Clearly a Swordie, she's actually a lunatic for helping out the Sun Cult."

The one member with the beard spoke up. Kurou also recognized this man. He was one of the older members of the Sabers and possessed excellent finesse.

"You guys can step down. It's too much of a burden for newcomers to face a light blade user."

The man with the beard stated without even looking at Kurou. He then raised his sword and the other five members followed suit.

From the looks of it, they wanted to steal all the glory. Whether it was the bearded man or the other members, it seemed none of them could utilize the light blade. Even so, with it being six to one perhaps they could win.

"Well, it doesn't matter to me how many people I face. Bring it on."

The Swordie woman brazenly smiled as she replied.

Haa——. The bearded man yelled out and charged towards the Swordie woman with the other five members.

The majority of the Sabers members were adept at fighting. The bearded man and the other members probably had numerous experiences fighting enemies with swords. The six of them stormed in simultaneously and while doing so, they had to avoid slicing their own allies in battle.

No one should ever take the enemy lightly due to superiority in numbers. For the sake of killing this one woman, the six men all risked their lives in the attack.

"Haha."

However, the woman was unfazed.

After the woman had seen through the incoming attack from the group of six, she slashed at the bearded man who led the attack, cutting his head off with just one swing of the sword. In quick succession, her sword sliced through a person's torso and then the face of another person.

From the perspective of a normal person, the three of them would seem to have been simultaneously killed. It would be hard for anyone to discern such a high caliber technique.

There was blood vigorously spraying out of the bodies of the men. The part of the body that suffered the violent hit had been greatly carved out.

The woman hardly stopped there. She then slashed at two others diagonally from the shoulders and pierced the last person in the heart————the group of six were now all dead.

Her abilities were indeed extremely impeccable.

"What was that? That was way too easy. Battling against men isn't fun after all."

The woman muttered with an ennui expression. Actually, she probably felt extremely bored. Even though six people attacked her, she still eliminated them instantly. It really was way too easy for her. The difference in their abilities was profoundly visible.

"Hey, that's pretty impressive."

Lars apathetically spoke. At some point in time he retrieved his cellphone in order to look something up.

"Hmm, that woman has a very high bounty, it's at one million. If we were to consider the six members of our group that were killed, the bounty will probably continue to rise."

"Lars, you should have said something earlier!"

"What are you getting all tensed up over. You don't need to worry about anyone stealing your glory now. Oh, by the way, the million is only if you capture her alive. If you captured her dead you would only get three hundred thousand. Well then, good luck."

Lars wryly smiled as he turned off his cellphone.

"Understood. Hence, let me be your opponent. I'll be in your care."

Kurou joyously spoke and proceeded to swiftly pull out the katana by his waist.

"......A katana? You rascal, you're clearly one of the Sabers, why would you still use that kind of thing?"

Having said that, the criminal ringleader’s eyes opened widely, staring intently at Kurou.

"You bastard......could it be, you are a human?"

"Even if I were to say 'just like the ones you’ve seen', you probably wouldn't understand. Well, I guess only humans would use katanas anyways."

Kurou calmly stated as he motioned his katana.

"Hahaha! Originally I had thought the Sabers were just a group of idiotic men. I never would've thought that a human would also be accepted as a member. Has the lack of talent already reached this extent?"

"Jeez, it really annoys me that you would call it a group of idiotic men. I really can't tolerate this abuse towards humans like me."

The Sabers included non-combative members as well. This tiny organization didn't even have a thousand members yet.

The composition of the Sabers consisted entirely of Swordies except for Kurou. On the flip side, the police were practically all humans. It probably would have been more natural if Kurou were part of the police.

There was some reason behind Kurou's recruitment into the Sabers. It wasn't because of a lack of talent, however Kurou wasn't about to kindly explain to that extent.

"Nevertheless, from the looks of it you are clearly a Swordie assisting these humans."

"If I were to be on the Swordies' side, most likely I’d only be able to face the boring swordsmanship of the humans. I want to battle the powerful Swordies. Is that white-haired boy a Swordie? If you don't battle, this human is going to die."

"I'll consider it, but I'm not too worried over my financial situation."

Lars pretended to joke around, even deliberately shrugging while he was at it.

"......Well, forget it. In the end, both of you will die. Before that happens though, please entertain me for a bit."

"Oh trust me you won’t be bored at all."

Kurou faintly smiled and prepared his stance. Although it was rather mundane, the sword was held straight and centered in his stance.

The criminal ringleader also smiled in the same manner. It was a smile of mockery. She never thought she would ever have to battle against a human.

Kurou inched around trying to maintain his distance. He would never underestimate his opponent. From now on, it will be the relentless pursuit of survive and kill.

"Hey human, I got something to say first. You better not bring your human values into this."

"You mean just because you're a woman? Haha, of course I won’t."

This was the monster who instantly killed six people. Even so, this human boy was still able to think in such a manner.

These sorts of things were only humanity's fallacious logic after all.

From the Swordies' point of view, it was considered utter nonsense.

Basically for the Swordies, when comparing the athletic abilities of men to women, women were vastly superior, even in swordsmanship.

From the perspective of the swordswomen, Swordie males were existences of a lower class. Although the Sabers members who were easily eliminated by her had received training and had numerous combat experiences, for this outstanding swordswoman who was also the criminal ringleader, it could hardly be called a fight against the six of them.

Stored within the Swordies was something known as light energy. In terms of physical strength, light was a more superior energy source than what humans were capable of using.

In general, a woman's light quantity was vastly plentiful. The greater the quantity, the more physical power one possessed. Precisely due to this, Swordie women were able to utilize far greater combat strength.

Members of the Sabers were practically all male Swordies. If they were up against human terrorists, the male members would be enough to deal with them. However, if the criminal was a female Swordie, many times the situation would develop into a grim battle.

Humans wouldn't even stand a chance. Regardless of gender, it was impossible to overcome a female Swordie. This knowledge was one that everyone knew. Because of this, the male members didn't want the Sabers to delegate this task to Kurou, a diminutive human.

"I am knowledgeable in some matters regarding the Swordies. You don't need to worry."

"Well then, try to put on a frightened expression as best as you can, human."

The criminal ringleader calmly waved around the sword with her hand, perhaps to add psychological pressure. The intensity of the light blade appeared to have increased. The so-called light blade technique was the emittance of light out of the body and transferring it to the sword. If a person didn't have the appropriate levels of light, it would be impossible to use this move.

The criminal ringleader casually walked towards Kurou. Even though this was underestimating her enemy, she still did not leave any openings exposed. Her eyes were brimming with murderous intent as the tip of her sword flashed by.

A gust of wind blew over————causing a roaring sound.

The criminal ringleader’s wielding of the sword violently stirred up the air————which caused a nearby concrete pillar to be splendidly sliced into two chunks.

Cutting this pillar, whose girth needed two arms to wrap around it, could never be accomplished by humans. She used superlative force, demonstrating the power and skill of the Swordies.

The criminal ringleader smiled. By deliberately chopping down the pillar, she probably wanted Kurou to coward in fear.

"......"

However, Kurou didn't flinch at all. He still maintained his sword in an upright position and never even moved his body.

"Hmph, what a grotesque little kid you are."

The criminal ringleader then shot out like an arrow, raising her sword once again.

Simply put, the Swordie's sword was both swift and thunderous as it came down at him. This blazing attack could slash apart anyone involved in the organization, crushing them into pieces. Then in a gruesome scene, that corpse would be turned into fine powder.

A Swordie's sword literally meant a one hit kill.

However, that was only if————they hit.

"......!?"

An impatient expression was clearly visible on the face of the criminal ringleader.

From the very first attempt, the criminal ringleader’s one hit killer sword strikes were completely evaded by Kurou.

In rapid succession, the blade, which was so sharp it easily cut through the air, came at Kurou's neck and chest at full force.

He did not initiate an attack, he only kept continuously dodging her attacks. Their blades never clashed either.

If a Swordie's sword were to clash with that of a human's, the human’s sword would be sent flying or perhaps the blade would be sundered. Which would it be......

However, to be capable of continuously evading a Swordie's sword strikes and such, this was practically unbelievable for a human. Human eyes were unable to capture a Swordie's sword maneuvers, thus being unable to completely elude the strikes.

"What the heck you bastard! Just how can a human evade my sword!"

"Hehe, I'm not an alien though. Don't be holding any doubts during battle."

Kurou even wryly smiled. Even though the swings barely brushed past, to be able to see through those strikes that could cut through his entire flesh numerous times without giving off even a single drop of sweat was really quite exceptional.

"I think it's about time......to make my move!"

For the first time Kurou took the initiative. Even though he went at blinding speed from a human's perspective, to a Swordie's dynamic strength it was ridiculously slow.

"Idiot......!"

A smile even surfaced on the face of the criminal ringleader. Regardless if he were to cock the blade over his head or slash downwards, in her eyes it would all seem like a slow motion reflection.

However————

"What......!?"

The moment Kurou swung his sword with all his might————

“W-What......!?”

Her right hand was cut off from the base and blood began spurting out everywhere. The hand which had held the sword, fell to the ground. The shine of the light blade also vanished.

From the looks of it, her shock seemed to have surpassed her pain. She stared at Kurou without even covering her hand which was spraying out blood.

Compared to humans, a Swordie's physical capabilities were vastly superior. Even an injury of this extent wouldn't kill them. As long as a competent medic diagnosed them, the hand could be reattached.

"How could a human's sword......I, that sword, what in the world was that!?"

"Starting from now, you'll have plenty of time to contemplate over this."

This criminal ringleader had slaughtered numerous Sabers and police members. Whether or not she should ever be allowed to step foot in this world again was questionable. There was probably plenty of time to ponder over this later.

"Eh?"

Kurou inadvertently tilted his head.

The right cuff of his long coat was severed. His expression indicated that this must have been the first time he failed in such a manner.

"Haha, this long coat is quite expensive. If they have to replace this long coat again, the boss will surely take a dig at me."

"......You bastard, that bracelet is——"

Due to Kurou's shirt cuffs being cut, the criminal ringleader directed her vision towards his wrist. Looped on there was a white metallic bracelet.

Engraved on the bracelet was an emblem consisting of a sword and the markings of a plant's vines.

"A Sword God's engraving! That's right, you are——it was mentioned that the Sword Saint accepted a disciple, that person is......!"

"Sounds like you have a pretty good understanding. Well, this thing is just a decoration."

Kurou lightly stroked the bracelet.

Blademaster Hyouka————was the Swordie's strongest swordswoman and the mentor who taught Kurou his sword skills.

To Kurou, the fact that he will become the successor wasn't really a big deal.

"Kurou, it isn't over yet. This criminal ringleader is an extremely important battle asset to the Sun Cult. Since the Sun Cult intentionally sent her here, that must mean......"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Perhaps they even have a lot of accumulated treasure on them."

Kurou directed his vision to the van which still had its engine running. If only he had heard the conversation between the Sun Cult followers and the criminal ringleader, then he would have known what was stowed away in the van.

"Hey, one-million, what kind of cargo is in the van?"

"Do you think I'd give a damn about that?"

"I suppose so."

Even if the van was stuffed with suitcases full of money, the criminal ringleader probably couldn't care less. She was a being who only showed interest in a sword fight against Swordies.

Lars slowly approached the van.

Gripping the hilt of his sword, he suddenly pulled out his sword in a surprise attack. The sword struck countless times, leaving the backdoor of the van in pieces which were carried away by the wind. Even though he was a boy, a maneuver of this caliber was still extremely simple for any Swordie.

"Goodness gracious, can't you open it through normal means?"

"You never know what might be inside......eh?"

Lars replied to Kurou's frustrated tone while gazing suspiciously at the inside of the van.

"What the heck, there's a person inside. Hey, please come out, we'll just let you go."

Lars stated something beyond expectations. It appears not only was there luggage, there seemed to be a Sun Cult follower sitting there as well. In actuality, tonight's results with just the one criminal ringleader was more than enough.

"Hey, are you listening? You wouldn't want to be slaughtered by him."

In that instant————

The back of the van overflowed with a radiant light, blocking Kurou's vision.

This was different compared to the white light rays from a Swordie's light blade. What was emitted was a glorious golden color————

"Lars!"

When Kurou yelled out, Lars had already backed off from the van by a couple of meters. Since he was a Swordie and a member of the Sabers, he was extremely agile when dealing with abnormal situations.

Kurou redirected his gaze from Lars back to the van. Because the light pouring from the van was so overwhelming, it was impossible to keep your eyes open. Despite this, having not felt any degree of heat was rather strange.

"What in the world......?"

Under the glare, Kurou saw something unbelievable.

Coming out of the blinding light was a girl.

No wait, the girl was enveloped by the rays of light————

She was about the same age as Kurou, somewhere between fifteen or sixteen years old.

She had long black hair, thoroughly pale skin, and a thin white dress.

Was she not wearing any undergarments? Those ample mounds that was her chest shook substantially with every step she took.

Furthermore, there was an awfully tacky set of handcuffs worn around those snappable looking thin hands.
[[File:Kenshin v01 032.jpg|thumbnail|right]]
The girl walked in front of Kurou without even a second thought.

"......"

The girl remained silent, extended her hands which were handcuffed, and unwaveringly stared into Kurou's eyes. Her expression never changed.

Without warning, the light vanished.

As he recovered his vision, the girl————gradually revealed a smile.

Kurou pretty much reflexively swung down with the sword he had drawn out from before.

A snapping sound was produced when the handcuffs lock got cut by the blade and was sent flying. Her arms, which now have regained their freedom, powerlessly drooped down.

"Ah......"

Just when the girl was about to say something, she trembled and collapsed. It happened so abruptly, like the severing of a thread.

Kurou instantly reacted by supporting her fallen over body. He carried her by her surprisingly skinny shoulders and hips which felt like they could be broken with the slightest impact.

What in the world was going on? What is the best course of action to take? Who is this teenage girl?

At his wit's end while holding on to the girl, Kurou was at a loss over what to do————

The Sabers' headquarters was constructed near the center of Tokyo Swordia within the Specialized Central Region.

In this center region, there were rows upon rows of towering ministry buildings and large businesses.

Situated within that area was the plainly designed ten-story building that was the Sabers' headquarters. The Sabers was established five years ago when the terrorist activities of the Sun Cult started. Since the organization had not been around for that long, unfortunately the headquarters could only be constructed in this unadorned style due to the insufficient budget assigned.

A teenage figure showed up at the headquarter's entrance early in the morning. It was Kurou.

Only a few hours had passed since battling against the criminal ringleader. After the mission was over and the report documents were submitted, he went to a certain office in the Outer Human Region. Just when he was about to take a nap there, he was called over by headquarters.

As Kurou suppressed a yawn, he entered through the front doors.

Located in the main hall was the front desk with a female receptionist sitting idly by. There were also employees holding books while conversing and the cleaning staff tidying up.

Everyone in here was a Swordie. Not every Swordie made a living off wielding a sword. In fact, far more of them took on normal jobs instead.

Kurou, who was the only human within the building, was currently taking the elevator to the highest floor.

After Kurou stepped out of the elevator, he took a detour to the lounge before going to his destination. Inside there were numerous benches set side by side and a vending machine that dispenses drinks.

Once Kurou bought some juice from the vending machine, he stood in front of a window. All of the walls within the lounge were made into windows, allowing him to clearly see the situation outside the building. He was really fond of the scenery here.

Tokyo Swordia was established seventy years ago by the Swordies after the Great War.

The place was integrated as district 23 after the war——and was one of the eight districts of the Chiyoda ward. It was then changed once again into its current Specialized Central Region, a place that encompassed all political and economic functions.

There were also high-rise building areas within the Outer Human Region, but here the greenery was in copious amounts. It even felt like regardless where you were, there would be an obsession to grow greenery in any bit of space that was present.

What could be considered as a thirst for forestation, appears to be some sort of homesickness.

The lush, beautiful, and vast world that was Swordia, was located in another world, one different from Earth. It was the homeworld of the Swordies.

It happened during the Second World War on Earth seventy years ago. At the time of the deadlock, right when each country's military strength began to dwindle————the door was opened.

Within this world, who knows how many of those massive, bizarre doors, or portals rather, linking Earth and Swordia were opened. Swordia's massive army rushed through with one goal in mind and that was to invade.

Following that, the Great War changed in a way that humanity could never have predicted.

For the Swordies whose main weapon was the sword, everyone thought for sure they would be instantly slaughtered by the firearm equipped infantry, tanks, battleships, and aircraft.

However————that wasn't the case.

An abnormal atmosphere arose due to the influence of the massive portals. The earth's environment immediately turned chaotic as the skies and seas became turbulent. Not only were aircraft and battleships unable to move, each individual nation's front lines collapsed since sea, air, and ground transportation abilities were lost.

The Swordies were able to receive supplies from Swordia using their portals which spanned all over the world. Moreover, the elite Swordie troops were unfazed by this abnormal atmosphere.

What ensued was a wondrous sight————

The Swordie army achieved victory and every nation had no choice but to retreat their deployed armies.

The unthinkable had finally become a reality after the conclusion of the war. Although the reasons were quite unclear, after the Swordies claimed victory they instantly shut down all of their portals. Despite inhibiting the disruptive climate, the Swordies did lose their means of returning home.

The place that the Swordies then decided to settle on was————Japan.

When Swordie troops first appeared, it was during the end of the Great War. However, in the past there would be an extremely few number of Swordies who would occasionally arrive in Japan through tiny portals and associate with the people there.

They wanted to turn this country which they were familiar with into their new homeworld.

Following that, the Swordies were successful in placing Japan under their control after the country was weakened by the Great War. The Swordies then implemented a sweeping reform of the government structure and gained a foothold within the country.

Of course, it was an extremely chaotic period throughout this. The Japanese would revolt from time to time. There was even civil strife among the Swordies before the new government was established. However, this was quickly resolved within a short time frame————

Upon achieving dominance over the country, the Swordies added the name of their already forsaken homeworld as their capital.

That was how Tokyo Swordia came to be.

Nevertheless, these facts were quite irrelevant to Kurou who was born in a distant time period from the war.

"Alright, time to go."

He left the lounge after he finished drinking his juice. Standing in front of the door that had the "head director" office sign hanging on it, he casually knocked on the door and stepped in without even waiting for a response.

"Pardon me."

There was already a guest in the head director's office.

Kurou apparently noticed the young female member as well. While sitting in front of the director's desk by the window, she was holding on to the report records while discussing some matters.

Kurou instantly noticed something.

The woman's hand was slightly shaking as she held on to the report. A dreaded look clearly surfaced on her face and even the sword by her waist was clattering. It was truly a pitiful sight.

In addition, leaning against the director's desk was a young woman. She was the boss of the public security force, although that title of hers didn't really match her ten year-old or so complexion. She continued to listen to the report without interrupting.

"————That's all for my report, Director."

"Very well, thank you."

The female member was startled upon hearing the director speak. She proceeded to deeply lower her head and rushed out of the room as if she was trying to escape. Moreover, she ran right past Kurou like she didn't even notice him.

"......What's going on."

"Ah, you're here Kurou-kun, please come this way."

"Alright."

Kurou replied as such and stood in front of the desk.

At this time, a huge wave of pressure assaulted him.

It was as if his body was about to collapse from this sensation that seemed to be binded to his body. He was under the false perception that if this were to continue, his body would probably be crushed into pieces.

If the user was powerful, a Swordie's light could manifest in other physical forms instead of just the light blade.

The woman in front of him possessed light that had overwhelming power. The force could be felt just by standing around her. No one would blame them for being petrified in front of this female member.

Kurou gritted his teeth, stood up straight, and braced himself in face of this impalpable strength.

"You seem to have calmed down. Are you able to speak?"

Kurou lightly nodded.

Whenever anyone stood in front of the director it always turned out like this. For Kurou, as long as he readied himself he could retract the intimidation to a more manageable level.

"Anyhow, it's like people make me out to be a demonic boss considering how I cause everyone to tremble."

The director of the Sabers, Manaka, wryly smiled.

Manaka was a young woman who was twenty-four years-old.

Although the life span of a Swordie was quite similar to that of a human, they were able to delay the effects of aging since they were existences of light. There were many individuals capable of continuously maintaining a youthful appearance of around the age of twenty or so despite being already fifty years-old. Manaka looked like she was only a teenager. This was most likely due to her powerful light force.

Her long blue hair was a rare occurrence even as a Swordie. Tied on both sides of her head were two delicate and inconspicuous ribbons, which suited her quite nicely.

She was wearing the female uniform of the Sabers. It was a black shirt paired with a tight-fitting mini-skirt and a simple suit. Under the suit, her white blouse stuck out at the chest region. As it turns out, her ample bosom was quite noticeable.

A strong willpower could be felt in her green eyes, neat appearance, and her well-proportioned stature. It would be fitting to say that Manaka was a splendid beauty.

However, if you were to judge her based on her appearance it could end up to be quite catastrophic.

Among the Swordies, there exists the Seven Swords who were deemed to be the strongest sword users.

Headed by the Sword Saint, the titles of the other members were the Sword Emperor, Kingsbrand, Dragonblade, Sword General, Sword of Heaven, and Absolute Blade. The Swordies possessed these seven individuals.

Manaka was the director of the Sabers as well as the one who held the title of the Sword General out of the Seven Swords.

The overwhelming combat strength of the Seven Swords was capable of matching an entire army. In fact, the activity displayed by the Seven Swords during the Great War was incomparable. Even until now with the Seven Swords symbolizing the Swordie race, they were also authoritative figures reigning over all swordsmen.

"That said, there wasn't really anything that needed reporting early in the morning besides that tsujigiri<ref> Tsujigiri (辻斬り): is a Japanese term for a practice when a samurai, after receiving a new katana sword or developing a new fighting style or weapon, tests its effectiveness by attacking a human opponent, usually a random defenseless passer-by, in many cases during nighttime.</ref> incident from before in the Outer Human Region."

"Yeah, I heard the rumors. It appears five or six people were already murdered."

Those murdered from the tsujigiri incident were all humans, therefore the criminal was most likely a Swordie. The Sabers had to take care of this incident, which was classified under terrorist activities. From the looks of it, they have already dispatched many female members who were highly skilled in using a sword.

"Yes, that's exactly the incident's report. However, the full story still isn't clear to me————well that seems to be it. It's really troublesome to have made no progress in the middle of a case."

Manaka stated as such. She leaned her entire body against the back of a chair and remained silent.

"......Ummm Director, was there something you needed me to do?"

Kurou reluctantly spoke. To have called over someone specifically and then not say a word, this would be quite troubling to any recipient.

"You don't need to speak in such a reserved manner. It's quite displeasing."

"Even if you say so, you are still my superior."

"No need to worry. To me, you are just the disciple of my older sister."

"......"

Kurou's master was the Sword Saint and the Sword General was her younger sister.

In other words, the sisters ascended to the pinnacle of swordsmanship. Even though they were among Swordies, it was an exceedingly rare occurrence to see such an extraordinary sister pair.

"Kurou-kun, how's the job treating you? Have you already gotten the hang of things around here?"

"Just barely. It's still the same as before, just me working individually."

Kurou nonchalantly stated.

Just a moment ago, the female member's attitude exemplified Kurou's position within the Sabers.

What should be constituted as a Swordie-only public security force had a foreigner mixed in. Clearly a human, they felt awkward battling alongside someone like him, plus they were highly pretentious.

It wouldn't be wrong for Kurou to assume that all Sabers members were like this.

"Other than during a mission, no one will even talk to me except Lars."

"Well, Lars is the same. He would be perceived as unusual within this organization as well."

Manaka wryly smiled and shrugged.

"Even though it has been over a year, you still feel the same. Well, there are many Swordies with big egos around here."

Aren't you one of those Swordies too? Kurou snarkily thought to himself.

However, Manaka was also a pretty bizarre individual among the Swordies. She would have an indifferent expression in regards to her delicate position when dealing with Kurou. It was mainly due to her informal attitude, not just because she was his master's sister.

"That said, it's been a year......starting from when my sister left here, a year has already passed."

"......"

Sword Saint Hyouka————her whereabouts became unknown a year ago.

Manaka became Kurou's new guardian after the Sword Saint left. Although he was within Swordie society, a minor still needed a guardian.

Except, Kurou never easily accepted having another person being his guardian. He decided to join the Sabers with Manaka for the sake of earning money to buy food.

No matter how capable a person was, there would be many obstacles for a human entering a Swordie organization. Because the Sabers was a young organization, there was enough flexibility to let Kurou enter the team. Of course, Manaka's mediation played a huge role as well.

"Well, regardless of what's going on with my sister, if it's her, she wouldn't lose her life to any accidents or things of that nature. Aside from that, let's get right to the main issue at hand."

"There's an issue?"

Kurou had just begun to think Manaka had called him over just to converse.

"Ah right, does it have anything to do with the girl from yesterday's situation?"

"Girl? What are you talking about?"

"......You should read the report once more. Although it's a hassle, I clearly documented it in there."

Yesterday night, a peculiar girl appeared from the Sun Cult's van.

After that, she was handed off to the other Sabers members that came over. Once the criminal ringleader was handed over as well, there was probably going to be a not so pleasant interrogation session awaiting her after she received treatment. However, the Sabers probably wouldn't do anything rash towards a defenseless girl.

"There was no way I was going to read the report that was just submitted yesterday. It's not my duty. Furthermore, I'm speaking to you as your guardian rather than as your superior. In other words, it's about your Dagger."

"The Dagger!"

The so-called Dagger was another name for a Swordie's ID. On the hilt, a special household emblem would be engraved on it. Until a Swordie was ready to assume personal responsibility, the Dagger would be entrusted to a guardian for the time being.

Out of Tokyo Swordia's ten million population, Swordies only make up ten percent of it. Although there was a degree of discrepancy among the Swordies, anyone could attain "nobility". This meant an increase in various privileges with respect to status and property. The Dagger symbolized this privileged social class.

"Kurou-kun is a Sabers member who records these incidents. Moreover, you possess the mark of being the Sword Saint's successor, something no one could have ever imagined. I would think the prerequisites for receiving the Dagger are more than fulfilled......"

"Is there still a problem then?"

Despite being a human, there was still the possibility of him obtaining a Swordie ID. Many decide to pay the huge sum of money to those who oversee the handling of Daggers at the Emblem Management Institution, however there were exceptions.

Kurou, who displayed his mastery in swordsmanship and submitted an ID application form, was currently one of the exceptions.

"After all Kurou-kun, you haven't even received any formal compulsory education. For you to have received the basic rights of a city resident is already quite the accomplishment."

"......I suppose so."

It was pretty much a given that his master Hyouka's abilities in swordsmanship carried safeguards. Even within the Sword Saint's history, she was particularly outstanding.

However, her temperament was a bit of an issue. "Speaking of practice, we should live in seclusion deep in the mountains", she harbored these types of outdated methods. Just like that, she took her pupil away from the village and into the mountains to train. During that time, Kurou couldn't attend primary school or middle school.

"I understand where you're coming from......ultimately, this is the course of action they want me to take."

"The Emblem Management Institution's verdict was very simple. They just want you to attain a Swordie's education."

"What!?"

"Today is April 25th. Even though the new school year has already begun, it should be no problem for the institution to turn a blind eye towards something of this magnitude. Starting today you'll be enrolled in a Swordie academy to attain your diploma."

"......!"

"Well, that's all I have to say. Good luck!"

Looks like there won't be any room for rebuttals.

However, Kurou had always aspired to attain his Dagger.

The nation was under Swordie control, that was the reality.

If he were to continue living here, Kurou would want to live a comfortable lifestyle.

Because of this, he decided to resume life among the Swordies.

The Sword Academy————

Although it was an academy for Swordie children, it had received much praise as a higher education institution by prestigious individuals.

Despite humans and Swordies being segregated into separate schools, the difference in their education system was quite minimal.

The Sword Academy was the equivalent of a high school in human society.

However, only those who were highly adaptable with a sword could enroll in the academy since there was more to the school than just academics.

For the sake of honing their swordsmanship, an optimal environment was created. This environment was known as the Sword Academy.

The academy was situated in the northwest section of Tokyo Swordia's Specialized Central Region, near the border to the Outer Human Region. There was a forest and numerous parks and such nearby. Plus, it was an extremely tranquil location.

The students were walking along the road to school quietly as they headed towards the school gates.

"Haa......"

Kurou sighed deeply as he arrived at the school gates.

Today he was not wearing his intimidating Sabers long coat, instead he was wearing a school uniform.

He wore a red tie at the collar of his beige suit.

Along with that, he also carried a heavy backpack filled with textbooks.

The tie hung all the way down to his waist and he also kept the scabbard to his sword suspended from his belt. However, there were no other students who carried a katana on them.

On the second day when Manaka called him over to headquarters, Kurou woke up early in the morning and hurriedly made his way to school.

Ever since yesterday, the days of fighting off terrorists were long gone. Now he was just a student. Although it was for obtaining his Dagger, to the working civilian, it did feel like a step backwards.

It was quite beyond expectations to be forced to enroll in the prestigious Sword Academy for his studies.

Even though Kurou felt he was being made a fool of by the people around him, there was no escape.

“Come on Kurou, put away that gloomy expression. Let’s get a move on.”

“......Jeez.”

Kurou couldn’t help but direct his focus onto Lars who patted him on the shoulders.

He was also the same, wearing the same Sword Academy uniform as Kurou. What was he thinking enrolling into the academy as well.

However, both of them were teenagers who would turn sixteen this year. It could be said that compared to getting in street fights every night, it would be more ordinary to go to school.

“The Sabers work wasn’t so bad, but for it to be filled with so much killing is really quite a bummer————, if we’re here, at least there are plenty of girls. You must actively look towards the future Kurou.”

The Sword Academy was the Swordies' highest educational system standard. There were many outstanding fledgling swordswomen. A female becoming a swordswoman would of course be more outstanding so the student body was practically all girls. Despite there being a small population of guys studying there, they haven’t seen a trace of their existence yet.

“You’re right......we should monopolize all the girls.”

“You’re getting way too ahead of yourself!”

Lars habitually replied with a snark remark towards Kurou’s statement which completely revealed his desires. However, this portion of the conversation was clearly heard by the girls passing by.

The girls whispered amongst each other while coldly eyeing Kurou and Lars as they walked past them.

“Kurou, looks like we’re not really welcomed here.”

“That’s always been the case for me.”

Kurou referred to himself in this manner. It was true though, it has always been like this for him. Because of that, there was no point in minding such matters.

Moreover, it was just as Lars said, it probably felt pretty exciting to be in an environment filled with cute girls.

A commonly passed around rumor in Tokyo Swordia was that the female students of the Sword Academy were all beautiful individuals. Although Kurou had never put in any effort to confirm this, it would seem the rumor was true.

The uniforms for the girls were the same as the guys in terms of the suit and tie. There was a discrepancy between grades though. The ties were split into three colors, red, green, and blue.

There were also some people who chose to wear a belt. However, since their swords were all kept away, none of the students carried a sword on them. It seems that even though it was a prestigious sword academy, most of the times the students would avoid carrying their sword within the school.

Kurou had visited other Swordie schools before. Seeing these otherworldly girls wear a tie to school was quite intriguing.

It was said that the other world where Swordies lived resembled medieval Europe.

The people would live in wood constructed houses and wear clothes made out of silk and linen. Their diet was comprised of bread and soup and their means of transportation consisted of walking and horseback riding. Those in the upper class would ride in carriages.

Compared to earth, this kind of civilization lagged way behind.

However, after the Great War and gaining control of Japan, the Swordies adapted to and absorbed the cultures of earth at an alarming pace. In a sense, there was no moral integrity in the way they handled things.

The Swordies now live in reinforced concrete houses and wear clothes woven from chemical fibres. Whether it was Western food, Chinese food, or sushi, they would eat it all. Of course, they now drive cars, fly planes, and shop at convenience stores as well.

The girls at the Sword Academy wore beautiful ties. Their fair, succulent thighs were moderately exposed from the miniskirt.

Ignoring the rights or wrongs of the drastic cultural changes to the Swordies for now, to Kurou, he had no reason to shun Swordie girls.

“Alright Kurou, stop gazing and let’s go. There will be countless girls for you to gaze at in the future.”

“Alright.”

Kurou nodded and walked through the school gates alongside Lars.

At the same time he offered a prayer in hopes that there will be much exhilaration awaiting him.

The classroom was silent.

“My name is Kurou. Although I transferred into this class at an odd time, please take good care of me.”

In front of the blackboard, Kurou did his best to maintain a smile as he greeted the other students.

“......”

There was no response. All the students within the classroom remained quiet.

Kurou was not disheartened either. He sustained his smile and proceeded towards the designated seat the teacher assigned.

How troublesome, Kurou was seated in the middle of the classroom.

There were only girls around him. Furthermore, all the girls within his line of sight did not wish to even look in his direction. Rather, it felt as if the surrounding area was saturated with a subtle sense of tension.

Judging from the looks of it, everyone held a firm resolve to ignore Kurou.

Class immediately started as soon as the extracurricular activities ended.

The first period was mathematics. Even though Kurou had not gone to school before, he had at least learned basic math skills and such from his master. Despite this, he lacked confidence in himself when it came to understanding any mathematics related topics.

With this kind of tense environment, how could anyone even consider going to class.

“Haa——......”

In order to prevent anyone from hearing him sigh, he suddenly turned towards his side. Sitting alongside the window was the other male student, Lars.

Lars introduced himself in front of Kurou and the others. He did not receive any reactions either but he completely brushed that matter aside. Even right now he maintained that apathetic expression of his during this tense atmosphere as he looked out the window.

There was nothing Kurou could do about it. He could only try to bear through this sort of abnormal atmosphere.

Kurou understood that within the Sword Academy, which was comprised of many capable swordswomen, the other students would definitely not be receptive to the idea of a human being weaved in. That was because they already find Swordie men to be intolerable, yet Kurou was actually a notch lower than that————a human.

However, Kurou was already used to this type of response. He had been treated similarly while he was with the Sabers. That was why he showed hardly any interest for this current predicament.

With that said......

“Ah.”

The girl sitting in front of him dropped her eraser and the eraser bounced towards Kurou’s seat.

“Hey, you dropped your————”

The moment Kurou was about to bend over to pick up the eraser, the girl sitting in front of him moved at a blinding speed. After she swiftly picked up her eraser, she returned her attention to the blackboard as if nothing happened.

“......”

Typical of Swordie girls————from the moment she took action to her expressionless demeanor, it was all done with breakneck speed.

Although Kurou was quite accepting of things up until now, he did feel a bit crestfallen.

To be openly rejected by girls of the same age clearly vexed him a great deal.

Moreover, the Sabers female members were practically all older than Kurou. Since he held little interest in older women, he was callous towards being ignored by them.

However, his interest spiked when it came to girls around his age. Plus, the girls in his class were all beauties. If possible, he wished to improve relations with them.

In spite of that, seeing the attitude the girl sitting in front of him had, he knew his chances of improving relations were slim.

Kurou once again heaved a sigh as he pondered.

At the very least, he felt that living a type of school life where he would not be shunned was pretty much out of the question.

“Haa~Haa”

Kurou had already lost count of how many times he sighed today.

Currently it was period three, sword class, during the first day of his transfer.

During the morning, the extracurricular activities along with period one mathematics and period two language class all came to a stagnant end. At the end of it all, Kurou became thoroughly isolated by the girls around him.

The Swordie students wouldn’t even look him in the eye, even the teachers would only engage in formal conversations with him the entire time. Of course, the teachers were all Swordies.

All the girls would evade him as he walked along the hallways. Regardless of where he was, he always heard derisive words being spoken behind his back.

Apparently there was a large barrier between Swordies and humans.

“Oh my god.”

As for his options, he could do nothing besides bemoan to himself as such. Since the class did not involve lectures, he figured there might be a change of pace during sword training. However, nothing exciting really came to fruition.

Sword training took place in a special classroom that differed from a gymnasium.

The girls wore an ordinary yet easily maneuverable attire that consisted of a t-shirt along with tight purple ballet pants while the guys wore t-shirts and shorts.

“However, the equipment we use is surprisingly rough.”

Kurou calmly waved the wooden blade around.

Sword training utilized wooden blades instead of the safer bamboo blades. It was known as a wooden sword to the Swordies.

A Swordie’s physique wasn’t as hard as iron but their light reinforced bodies practically received no damage from bamboo swords. It seemed that wooden swords were incapable of delivering a fatal wound to them as well.

As a result, the students would use wooden swords in class......

“I really wish they would step in the shoes of a human and rethink this. If I were to be struck by a heavy blow with a wooden sword I’d be dead.”

“Well, isn’t this for the sake of your goals? You can probably just endure that kind of thing for now.”

Lars, who had his wooden sword rested on his shoulders, laughed as he spoke. He was unlike Kurou. Being a Swordie, he probably would not die from an attack by a wooden sword. Because of that, he appeared to be completely carefree.

“However, having this number of people wielding swords at once is really quite a sight.”

Lars commented while looking at his surroundings.

Sword training comprised of two conjoined classes with about sixty students in total. The teacher who was instructing everyone only occasionally stepped in. This training appeared to be just letting the students find their own mistakes while at the same time honing their own techniques. Besides Kurou and Lars, the other students found suitable sparring partners as they engaged in practice.

There was no one who feared practicing with a wooden sword. Every student gradually became well-versed in swordsmanship. This was quite understandable considering how outstanding the students who gathered at this school were.

“Hey, that kid doesn’t seem to have a sparring partner.”

“......!”

He searched left and right amongst the girls walking by. As soon as the girl realizes the person she was about to greet was Kurou, she would definitely make a lightning fast escape.

“......That’s quite hurtful of you. That being said, do you think I’d be easily thrashed by her?”

“I’m not quite sure myself. However, your situation seems to have been spread around the school.”

“What are you talking about? Where did you hear this news?”

Kurou sharply glared at Lars. Lars was always like this, doing this kind of stuff behind his back.

“From an active Sabers member. That’s all that needs to be said right? However, these overconfident Swordie girls would probably hesitate as well if they knew you were the Sword Saint’s pupil......”

“So you’re saying there’s no way they’d underestimate me.”

Kurou directed his vision towards the Sword Saint’s successor marking carved onto his bracelet.

Well, that was to be expected. Although he was a student, a human would just be seen as a weak existence in the eyes of the other students. However, if he was the Sword Saint’s disciple, then it would be uncertain as to what his strength would be. Even if he were to lose, there would be nothing shameful about that.

“Even if you have no partners, as long as you come to class you will certainly find one eventually. Furthermore, the top five ranked first year students have the same Swordsman title as us. As for the upperclassmen, there seems to be a Sword Princess. Additionally, there appears to be classes where we combine with the upperclassmen. Perhaps we may get a chance to battle against the Sword Princess.”

“The Sword Princess......”

As soon as a Swordie could assume responsibility in taking care of certain things, they would be able to attain the title of Swordsman. This was on record and was a qualification acknowledged by the country. It was pretty much all given at the discretion of the school teachers or mentors. There were many who attained the title by the age of 18. As long as you were a Swordie, this title was pretty much a given. With just the swordsman qualification, you could enlist in the army, become part of the Sabers, or qualify for any position that required wielding a sword.

The rank above a Swordsman was a Sword Princess. Only one out of ten thousand people could attain this title. They were guaranteed to be powerful. If it were one of them, perhaps the Sword Saint’s disciple would not instill any fear at all.

“That’s right, it’d be pretty interesting if we could battle someone with the rank of Sword Princess!”

“I apologize for not being a Sword Princess, but if you’d be willing, I would like to be your opponent.”

The class hushed down immediately.

A girl who wasn’t in Kurou’s classroom walked straight towards him. It must have been someone from a nearby class.

Her long and glamorous blonde hair was tied towards the left of her head, resembling what was known as a ponytail. Her facial features were extremely well-kept and those substantial eyes of hers exuded a fearsome willpower. The color of her eyes was sort of a blend between blue and emerald green————which formed a very lovely halcyon green hue.

This unimaginably cute and slender beauty was practically fairy-like.

The swells on her chest were enormous and their shape was quite satisfactory. She was snappily thin at the waist. Those legs of hers that were encased by those tight ballet pants were extremely soft, also her feet seemed pretty tiny......

“Alright, very nice.”

“What are you talking about?”

Towards Kurou thinking aloud to himself, the blonde girl sharply snapped back.

The girl’s speech patterns possessed boy-like qualities.

“Ah, it’s nothing. You want to be my opponent? In that case————

“P-Please hold a sec Sefi-sama.”

Between the girl known as Sefi and Kurou, another girl came between them.

With an audaciously short haircut that practically left her forehead exposed, she was a truly vivacious girl.

“To think Sefi-sama would actually consider this thing as her opponent! This guy is a male human you know!”

“Referring to me as “this thing” is really disrespectful! I even feel like I’d turn into a coddling father!”

“As if I would care over such a thing!”

Kurou’s rebuttal was instantly shot down by her one line.

“Y-Yeah that’s right, no good will come out of this if your opponent is him......”

Another girl came forward and spoke with a weak voice. For Swordies, it was uncommon to see them wearing glasses like she was, plus she also kept her hair free flowing. However, this girl seemed to be a very well-behaved person.

“Let me take care of my own business. The two of you are to stay back.”

“B-But Sefi-sama......for the princess of the four generals and a human......”

“Quit your squabbling Neena. I won’t forgive anyone who interferes, even if it’s you.”

Once she had reached this point, the one known as Neena finally backed off. At the same time, the girl with the short hair also parted a step back.

The so-called four generals referred to the four that commanded the Swordie army back during the Great War as well as their descendants.

These people became the ones with the most power within the Swordie government. Their positions only alternated with hereditary supercedings.

To sum it all up————Sefi, who was known as the princess of the four generals, could be considered as the one closest to the nation’s highest status. Although she was only a student, her position did not allow her to play around with humans.

“I believe you said your name was Kurou. For now, I’m a Swordsman just like you. Perhaps it may be inadequate, but would you accept my battle invitation?”

“I’d be honored Princess-sama.”

Kurou smiled as he nodded.

He placed his wooden sword in an upright position as he faced Sefi.

Sefi did the same and centered her sword upright as she attentively gazed at Kurou’s eyes.

As soon as their sights were locked on to each other————

Sefi suddenly made the first move. Without any hesitation, she ferociously charged in.

During a Swordie competition, there did not exist a starting signal such as “ready, set, go”. As soon as both felt the other was prepared, the competition would start right away. Before then, neither side would make a surprise attack.

Sefi swung her wooden sword straight down from above her head. Woosh, the sound of ruffled winds could be heard. The wooden sword winded forth with enormous momentum. Kurou only slightly stepped aside to avoid Sefi’s threatening first strike. That strike appeared to have enough power to blow someone away with just the ensuing wind pressure.

Sefi once again slightly readjusted the hilt of the sword, this time for a horizontal slice. Even this maneuver was dodged by Kurou as he leaned back. A fierce gale violently blew towards Kurou, kicking his hair up.

“Tch......!”

A click of the tongue came from the girl’s cute lips.

Sefi’s sword once again whizzed by. Faced with this diagonal attack to his right, Kurou evaded with dance-esque movements. Afterwards, he readjusted his sword upright as if nothing happened.

"You're very capable Princess-sama."

"Are you taunting me?"

Sefi ruthlessly glanced over. Even that menacing expression was captivatingly cute. It was said that Swordie women were at the peak of their beauty during combat. The situation right now made that saying quite understandable.

"......!"

Confronted with another one of Sefi's attacks, Kurou once again dodged it.

There was already no leeway to be leisurely admiring her. Although he could maneuver around the lithe wooden sword like he had learned from practice, if a Swordie's force happened to impact him in the head for example, his skull would probably be shattered.

"How scary."

Kurou slightly grinned.

The sound of whispering by the other students around them could be heard.

"What do you think will happen?" "Sefi-sama is really giving it her all......" "That person would never take it easy on anyone." "Is that guy really a human?"

How frightening, Sefi’s abilities must be among the highest here yet she was unable to score a direct hit on a diminutive human. The students being at a loss for words was to be expected.

“......Hey, why aren’t you attacking?”

Sefi muttered her obvious suspicion.

“I’m not looking down on you. As for my methods————I don’t think I’m required to say.”

Kurou had positioned both his hands on the wooden sword before, but now he only had his right hand hold on to it.

Using an unhurried pace, he shifted around as he closed in on Sefi.

“......!”

Sefi shuffled back as if she was a little kid startled by the bark of a dog.

Regardless of that, once Kurou was at the appropriate distance, he firmly gripped the wooden sword and swung downwards. The people around him could clearly see the path of the sword.

However————

“Guah!”

Sefi’s wooden sword met Kurou’s on impact————snap, the portion of the wooden sword that came apart fell on the ground following that snapping sound.

“......I guess that’s it. Thank you for your time Princess-sama.”

“Wait, please wait a sec!”

Kurou did not respond to Sefi’s holler. He turned around and marched off.

In front of him, Lars folded his arms and silently smiled. He saw through the whole thing.

“Princess-sama.”

“W-What?”

Kurou suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around.

Sefi was still holding on to the broken wooden sword, but for some reason her face was completely flushed red.

“Please battle with me again next time. No one else is willing to battle me.”

“......I don't want to.”

Sefi suddenly turned around. Her attitude was different compared to her threatening demeanor from before. This time she displayed a rather cute expression.

From the looks of things, regardless if she was the princess of the four generals or a wielder of a sword, she was still just a fifteen or sixteen year-old girl.

Kurou once again smiled as he walked off.

Within the showers, the sound of running water could be heard.

The scalding water ran down Sefi’s fair skin.

This was one of the girls dormitories within the Sword Academy. All of the dorms within the Sword Academy’s grounds were outfitted with showers, bathrooms, and even kitchens.

At the end of every day, Sefi would take a shower within the immaculate shower room. She seemed to enjoy the temperature of the burning hot water greatly.

However, despite taking a hot shower at the moment, she was not in the least jubilant. She was really down in the dumps right now.

“......”

As the warm water trickled down Sefi’s head, she tightly bit her lips.

Everyone must have noticed————

Sefi recalled today’s sword training.

“There’s nothing you can do about the wooden swords breaking occasionally”, her friends responded in this fashion.

However, despite everyone being a student, she was one of the select Swordie girls. There was no way she could have miscomprehended the situation.

The break in Sefi’s wooden sword was definitely not by chance. It was purposefully fractured by that transfer student named Kurou.

But that wasn’t all.

Sefi gave it her all in each of her sword maneuvers. The way she wielded her sword could have even killed Kurou. However, he completely dodged her moves with little difficulty————furthermore, she spared no effort in using her wooden sword to defend against a human’s exceedingly torpid attack.

There was no doubt that the surrounding spectators viewed it like this.

Can’t I win against him, it looks like————

Sefi clenched her first. She wanted to forcefully punch the wall within the shower room......but she stopped herself right there.

Even if she destroyed the wall, the facts would still stay the same.

The fact that she had already lost.

“Haha, really now.”

Sefi turned off the running water and walked out of the shower. Her long blonde hair swayed as she moved.

She boorishly wiped her hair and body with a towel and after putting on her white colored panties, she walked out of the shower room.

Despite the beads of water dripping onto the ground, Sefi did not mind in the least bit. She hurriedly marched off with just a towel wrapped around her shoulders. Due to her wealthy background, she would have servants waiting upon her at home. As a result, she wasn’t too concerned with what she did.

Oh right, I guess I should do that.

Sefi suddenly recalled something.

Sefi had a routine of reading books for an hour before she went to sleep every day. Today should be no different. If there was the leisure time for it, her mood will most certainly improve. It would be best to go to sleep with a better state of mind.

With that said, time to make the preparations————

“Eh......?”

After opening the door at the end of the hallway and entering the living room————Sefi became speechless.

“Oh......Eh?”

“W-W-W-W-W-Wh......Why are you......”

Kurou, who was sitting on the living room couch nonchalantly, caught sight of Sefi.
[[File:Kenshin v01 002.jpg|thumbnail|right|400px]]
His mouth was wide open and his eyes were locked in a stare. He seemed to be completely in shock.

As Sefi was rendered speechless, her eyes flickered as she gazed at Kurou————suddenly, she realized the current state of her body.

Other than the towel wrapped around her shoulders and her panties, she wasn’t wearing anything else. Her naked appearance was completely exposed right in front of a boy————

“Kya————”

She wanted to lament but Sefi tried her best to endure this. She was absolutely prohibited from screaming at this time of day.

Sefi used her two hands to cover her body as she glared at the completely rigid Kurou.

“P-Please turn away! Can’t you at least do that Rou!”

After Sefi walked out of the living room to change into her clothes in another room, she immediately came back.

This girl’s dorm was pretty much like a high-scale apartment with additional rooms in it. It was very luxurious.

Sefi took a seat next to Kurou on the couch.

“Well Rou, what are you doing?”

“Trying to sneak into a girl’s dorm!”

“Don’t be so arrogant you pervert!”

Sefi glared at Kurou with an indignant expression. Kurou on the other hand merely spoke honestly knowing that whatever he was going to say couldn’t distort the truth.

“Haa......jeez, someone like you ought to……”

Sefi heavily sighed.

Her hair was tied into a ponytail. She wore a light pink sweater along with a black miniskirt.

“Why weren’t you in your sleepwear? Then you wouldn’t be all exposed.”

“I don’t have anything of the sort. Even if I did, I wouldn’t wear it in front of outsiders!”

It was quite regrettable. Who would have thought that after taking a shower, someone would change back into daily attire and have people expect this sort of development.

“After seeing me like that......you still wish to humiliate me!?”

“Wasn’t it Princess-sama who provided me with this fanservice without my permission when I came here by chance?"

“It wasn’t by chance! You clearly went overboard and snuck in, yet you’re still saying things like that! Furthermore, please don’t call me ‘Princess-sama.’”

“......Understood, Sefi.”

Kurou smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

After glaring at Kurou for a bit————Sefi chuckled.

“How many years has it been......the last time we met was two years ago right?”

“It was 1 year, 311 days ago.”

“That’s way too accurately remembered! How despicable!”

Kurou thought to himself, “With that said, Sefi isn’t the type to joke around with.”

“You’re always messing with people......you were like this in the past as well.”

“No, I’d say this aspect has taken a turn for the worse.”

“Up to no good as usual!”

What Sefi had said was accurate.

Despite being the princess of the four generals, she was also a prestigious swordswoman————in fact, she was Kurou’s friend from quite some time ago as well.

Ever since Kurou was a child, he would follow the Sword Saint deep into the mountains for days upon days of training. At times there would be guests visiting and Sefi was one of them.

More accurately, the one who had business with the Sword Saint was actually her sister. Sefi’s sister, Silfi, was a friend of the Sword Saint and Sefi would follow her sister into the mountains in order to battle against Kurou.

Although there would only be a few encounters between them each year, Kurou and Sefi could be described as childhood friends. She probably felt the same way as well.

People would address the princess by honorific only. However, Kurou felt that their relationship was quite close considering she would call him by a pet name.

Even though someone had snuck into her room and despite being seen completely naked, she didn’t alert anyone. From this vantage, the friendship between him and Sefi was clearly visible. A friendship that hasn’t withered away even with the two year separation.

Of course, the two of them pretended not to know each other during class, but this was because they took each others’ standing into consideration.

“Ha, I have so many things I want to say. However, you are really quite capable to be able to sneak in here. Tentatively, this dorm has security installations.”

“I came in properly through the entrance as well as came into this room through the door. However, things like security cameras and locks don’t really count as safety features to me. Sneaking into a dorm filled with fledgling Swordie swordswomen isn’t really that hard.”

“That’s because you came to my place......other than swordsmanship, you still have this despicable skill.”

Confronted with Sefi, who was at wit’s end, Kurou only lightly chuckled and then stayed silent.

Sneaking into buildings was something taught to him while he was with the Sabers. Because that wasn’t an ability to be proud of, Kurou wished to put an end to this topic.

“Anyways, why did you come to our school Rou————”

“Umm.”

As Sefi underwent a change of mood when she asked, Kurou’s tummy growled.

“Ah hehe, it’s because I needed to test my intrusion plan. That’s why I haven’t eaten anything today.”

“......You’re really a handful. What am I supposed to do with you.”

With a hopeless expression, Sefi shook her head. Ever since just a moment ago, she had maintained a despairing look.

“Oh yeah, now is the perfect time to do that.”

“That?”

“Yup, doing this for just one person isn’t really feasible but if it’s Rou then it’d be perfect. After sneaking inside a girl’s room, you don’t really have the right to complain."

“H-Ha......”

That, what was she referring to?

While Kurou was distressing over this, there was nothing he could do against Sefi inching her face closer to him, perhaps due to his fear.

“Ah Sefi......surely it isn’t, who would have thought you could do this kind of thing.”

Kurou sighed.

Although it was said that girls could undergo drastic changes within a short time frame, who would have known that Sefi had reached techniques of this magnitude.

“Oh it’s nothing really, but I suppose it isn’t too shabby right? Oh, what’s with that gratified expression of yours......”

Sefi revealed a flirtatious smile.

Even though that typical stern expression of hers was quite nice, the expression just now really suited Sefi. Normally, there would definitely be somewhat of a childish complexion on her but right now she possessed the look of a mature adult. Women were really quite intimidating because of this.

“But you’re really capable......Sefi. For it to be this tasty, it really is quite unbelieveable.”

“Oh really, the ingredients are of the highest quality.”

“Haha, highest quality eh.”

Kurou smiled as he stuffed two onigiris into his mouth.

There was a table by the couch where the two were sitting. On top of it were some onigiris, a full bowl of minced meat soup made out of pork and vegetables, soft and sweet scrambled eggs, as well as cold vegetables topped with dressing.

These were all prepared by Sefi. Ever since she was young, she had always shown interest in cooking. Kurou couldn’t even keep count of how many times she would treat him to her cooking. Compared to two years ago, her technique had improved substantially.

“However, I’d be screwed if people here found out that I was cooking. People associated with the four generals shouldn’t be cooking and such. This is supposedly a servant’s task————getting taught in these matters was particularly troublesome. In my old house, although I would secretly discuss cooking topics with the maids I had good relations with, we would never touch upon actual cooking. Rather, we would use “that” as a secret signal for substituting out words.”

So this secret signal really did have some sort of profound meaning behind it. Kurou snarked to himself.

“Hmm? In that case, you didn’t bring any servants with you? If it’s just one person living within a dorm, you should be permitted to bring servants right?”

The children of many prestigious households were within the Sword Academy. As a result, there was this rule in place.

The people who worked the kitchens here were most likely servants brought along from the student’s household.

“It’d be much more peaceful if I stayed here by myself. I’d only have the household maids bring over some ingredients since I can’t even go out to buy that kind of stuff.”

“What a troublesome life.”

The life of the princess of the four generals seems to be filled with hardship.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do about this. You can’t change a person’s background no matter what you do. With that said, what about you Kurou? Let me hear about the details of your circumstance.”

“I have already mentioned it before though.”

Kurou gulped down some of the minced meat soup.

When Sefi was preparing her dishes, Kurou practically recounted the entire process of enrolling into the Sword Academy. However, beyond that he didn’t give much of an explanation for it.

“During this two year period I haven’t heard anything about you. Although I do know that the Sword Saint’s whereabouts became unknown......you holding up ok?”

“It’s been fine for the most part. Even though master was a strange person, she is very famous. To have accepted a human as a disciple and along with her disappearance, no one should be too surprised.”

“Ah, I see......”

“I don’t have a problem with it either. The training was pretty much over anyways.”

Kuro gently rubbed the bracelet under the cuff of his uniform. Since the continual training, he had received the mark of a successor after being confirmed as one of the candidates to be the next Sword Saint.

“However, is that fine with you? As long as Kurou still has the successor’s mark, there probably aren’t many people who can take responsibility for you.”

“To become one of the symbolic Seven Swords of the Swordies, and having the most powerful throne being passed down to a human? Most of those with power would find it inconceivable. If only I could carefully request my master once she comes back to remove the successor’s mark.”

“Does Rou feel as if this is the best solution?”

“There’s nothing good or bad about it.”

Kurou revealed an anguished smile.

“My hope is to receive my Dagger after graduation and work for the Sabers or some place like that. Then I want to construct my own house and settle down with a family. That’s all there is to it.”

“.......Kurou, you haven’t changed one bit. Always so down-to-earth.”

Sefi revealed an unspeakably subtle expression.

She understood Kurou didn’t have any wild ambitions. She also knew he wasn’t really obsessed with swords. Although that wasn’t really a positive thing in her opinion......

“However, I can’t say for sure that is my path either.”

“......”

Once again, Sefi clearly revealed a dejected expression.

The so-called princess of the four generals was Tokyo Swordia’s highest position, which belonged to Sefi.

Despite being a human, Kurou decided to live among the Swordies.

Therefore the two of them being depressed was sort of understandable. However, at least Sefi had a decent amount of freedom and she seemed to feel guilty about this.

“I’m sorry Sefi.”

“Eh?”

Sefi was surprised at what Kurou said.

“I shouldn’t be going easy during sword training anymore. However, I can’t really say I was just playing around but perhaps there was the intention to mess around for a bit at the time. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten the chance to fight against Sefi, I almost didn’t want it to end. No wait, this description doesn’t quite suit it either......”

“......You——idiot, I know I can’t win against Kurou. We battled together countless times before, I already knew there was no way to catch up to you during that two year gap.”

Sefi was very strong, but she was also quite straightforward.

Although she wasn’t willing to admit defeat, she did possess an objective reasoning in understanding the truth. Regardless of it being from a swordsman or a normal person, this was a positive quality to have. Kurou really liked this about her.

“Could it be that you came here just to talk about this? Even after you teased me like that, you still wish to disgrace me......”

“Based on your attitude, you must be extremely angry right?”

“Of course. In my mind, I’ve already killed Kurou ten times.”

“At the very least control that number.”

“However, the wooden sword broke because I was weaker than Rou. I’m angry mostly at myself having easily lost like that.”

Sefi tightly clenched her fist.

Seeing her like this, Kurou suddenly got in front of her.

When Kurou and Sefi first met, they were only ten years-old. By that time Kurou had already been training with the Sword Saint for four years.

If it was a Swordie girl of the same age, there was no way he would lose. Due to the Sword Saint’s nightmarish training, he had already attained such finesse.

Every time Sefi lost to Kurou, she would clench her fists and pound the ground. Despite being just a kid, attacking the ground with the arm strength of a Swordie resulted in the ground caving in which led to Kurou shaking in fear. As a human, if he was hit with that kind of force then he would probably die with one hit.

Kurou would put his life at stake during training and the primary reason for that was probably because of Sefi.

“......What are you doing staring at me with such a stupid expression?”

“Ah, no......”

Kurou dubiously smiled and extended his hand towards Sefi————

“Sefi has grown up quite a bit.”

“......!?”
[[File:Kenshin v01 070.jpg|thumbnail|right]]
Sefi, whose breasts were suddenly groped by Kurou, trembled all over. Following that she scooted to the edge of the couch.

“W-What are you trying to do......!?”

“W-What’s going on......!?”

Due to the soft texture coming from within the sweater, Kurou could not help but feel astonished.

No way, this kind of thing was......

“Why would Rou be surprised!? What the heck are you trying to do to me!?”

“It’s just that it felt bigger than it looked......perhaps it’s because the way I touch them is different from before.”

“What in the world are you calmly analysing!?”

Sefi shouted as she used her hands to cover her chest.

“However, it appears that you are wearing something underneath your sweater. If you were to wear even less, that’d be much more exciting.”

“You’ve already felt a girl’s chest, yet you still complain!”

“Didn’t Sefi mention this before? ‘If there is a weakness then go all out fufufu.’”

“That’s something I said when I was young! There was no intention to have my body felt! And what’s with the “fufufu”, no way I would’ve said something like that.”

“No, you did say it before.”

“Eh, really?”

Sefi was dumbfounded.

Her tone actually felt quite languid. At times she would even speak in a frivolous manner but she would never notice it herself. Perhaps the latter might have influenced Kurou.

“Nevertheless, Sefi’s all grown up. Perhaps your figure will turn out to be quite splendid.”

“This conversation is quite obscene, please stop. Although, that means Kurou hasn’t matured yet......this kind of sexual harassment.....we aren’t at the age where we can just joke around like that anymore.”

“Yes I know.”

Kurou smiled as he nodded. He ate an onigiri, finished up the minced meat soup, and after he finished up the rest of the cooked dishes, he lifted Sefi’s skirt.

“Didn’t I just say this before? What are you trying to do now!?”

Kurou nimbly ran away from Sefi who stood up in anger. The glimpse of her white panties was now deeply ingrained in his mind.

“Ah, I’m sorry. It’s just that when I see Sefi I start boiling with lust.”

“Eh, um, so it’s like that. If that’s the case then I guess it can’t be helped......”

“......”

Quite an unexpected reaction.

Of course, Kurou had planned on joking around a bit but who would have thought that this would become a reason for forgiveness......it was probably because he showed admiration towards her charms by saying it excited him.

“Eh, hold on a sec! I had just told you to stop openly engaging in sexual harassment! That said, your insanity is already on another level!”

Sefi seems to have finally caught on to Kurou’s false reasoning. If that wasn’t the case then perhaps even Kurou would have felt there was a bit of wrongdoing.

“If it’s here then it doesn’t matter, just don’t do this type of thing outside. As the number three ranked student in swordsmanship, if my skirt were to be lifted in front of everyone then————”

“Haha, compared to your family history, Sefi is even more into swords.....eh, did you say number three?”

“Yup, but that’s just my placement during the entrance exam. There are still two students placed above me.”

“Ah.”

He had guessed that among the people he saw during sword training, none of them possessed swordsmanship that surpassed Sefi’s. Although two classes were conjoined, since there were only ten class groups for year one students they must have been in the other grades.

“However, for Sefi’s abilities to only be placed as third!”

“For the time being......”

Kurou tilted his head slightly.

Sefi’s tone of voice was a bit ambiguous as if she harbored some sort of grudge.

“What’s wrong? Was there some favoritism during the examination?”

“N-No it’s not like that. To lose means I was weak. Since next time there will be an elimination tournament for the school, I’ll avenge myself then.”

“Hoho, an elimination tournament?”

Having heard some explanations regarding the school activities from the schoolteachers, there seems to be multiple elimination tournaments held to determine the standings for the Sword Academy.

“So what you’re saying is I have to participate as well?”

“Of course. All of the students are forced to participate. Even though there is a test, a poor result in the elimination tournament will get you removed from school.”

This was probably Sefi warning him not to take it easy. Because Kurou only wanted to graduate, he wasn’t really too focused on earning a high grade.

“However, Rou will probably win. At the very least, I can’t beat you.”

“......”

Sefi displayed a subtle sign of dispiritedness.

“Even though you are just joking around, other than you, no other boy would be able to sexually harass me since I’d be able to snap their arms off before they could even touch me.”

“That sounds quite scary.”

“Humans seem to think that all Swordies can do is just put their strength behind wielding a sword, but that isn’t the case. The sword is a much finer piece of equipment.”

Sefi swiftly extended out her right hand.

“The enemy’s vision along with the minute quivering of their body, their breathing motion, and the sound of their joints, all of the five senses must be used to respond to the enemy and judge their movements. However, I can’t predict Rou’s movements. By the time I notice them, I’ve already been sexually harassed.”

“Very powerful words there.”

“There’s probably no other way to put it. For now, Rou can do whatever he wants since I can’t stop you. From lifting up my skirt to wielding that wooden sword against me, it’s almost as if you could do it in your sleep.”

“These are old-school techniques, haven’t you already seen them multiple times?”

“No matter how many times I see them, even after having you explain to me I still can’t prevent it from happening. It’s really quite unbelievable.”

Sefi did not seem to be reprimanding Kurou, nor was she unwilling.

She simply believed that Kurou was an inconceivable person.

“......No, there’s no point in even interrogating Rou in regards to this aspect. Oh well.”

Sefi wryly smiled as she shook her head.

“It would be really helpful if you could manage that. Well then, I should probably get going. Thanks for your hospitality, the taste was delicious.”

“Umm, Rou.”

Just as Kurou was about to step out of the window, he stopped.

“Be careful. There’s going to be a lot of trouble awaiting you in the future since there are maniacs encamped here who put their lives on the line wielding their swords. Even though you are prohibited from pulling out your sword within the school————everyone still carries their sword regardless.”

Other than sword training, there was no need to carry a sword within school. However, since there was also class practice with real swords, the students would leave their swords in their rooms or a cabinet within school. If a sword was required, it seems they would carry their swords on them.

“No matter what, in here you are considered an outsider Rou. Although no one would blindly attack you, within this blood boiling age group, there will be times where you’ll be rendered helpless in some situations if it’s just you by yourself regardless of how strong you are.”

“Well, I’ll keep that in mind.”

He already clearly understood that his own school completely rejected him. There were many who were spiteful towards him just because he was a human and thus it’s understandable that some of them might try to do something provocative.

“Then I guess I’ll have to try my best to protect my life during these three years. As compensation, I’ll have to take Sefi’s bra or panties......would that be alright......”

“No......”

“Is that so......”

Although they were childhood friends, there appear to be limits as to how far one can go.

From another person’s perspective, this kind of conversation would probably seem way too puerile.

“Goodnight Sefi.”

“Goodnight.”

Sefi gently smiled after replying to Kurou.

Kurou exited through the window. Even though Sefi’s room was on the third floor, it was easy to descend from for someone as capable as Kurou.

He climbed down the walls in a manner akin to that of a ninja and having witnessed Sefi’s gentle smile, he felt a warm feeling in his chest.

It was currently the early morning of the next day.

Kurou yawned as he passed through the school gates.

By the way, the academy did not require all students to live within the dormitories. As a result, Kurou came to school from his house.

Although it was mentioned as his house, it was actually just the Sabers’s lounge that he had moved into without permission. Since the head director was his guardian, there were no complaints over this. He only had a bed within the narrow room, but at least the time it takes for him to walk from his workplace did not even add up to a minute. In addition, he saves himself from paying for room and board which made Kurou extremely jubilant.

Actually, Kurou kept himself as a Sabers member even up till now. Despite his pay being reduced, he was at least making money. Manaka did let Kurou go to school, however she probably didn’t plan on him continuing to work. Although Kurou did need to pay for living expenses, he was rarely seen staying with the group.

Kurou paid no heed to his surroundings as he leisurely entered the campus.

“Let me help you carry your backpack.”

“Haha, there’s no need.”

Just as he was about to head to the stair entrance on his way to class after putting away his backpack......

“......Hold on!”

“Hmmm?”

The girl tilted her head slightly.

The girl who offered to help carry Kurou’s backpack closely tailed him.

“What’s wrong with you? Why did you suddenly take my backpack!?”

“It’s because this is my job.”

The girl was expressionless in her reply.

She wore a black and green maid outfit along with a white katyusha on her long hair. Even though her outfit was extremely gorgeous, she did give off an impression of being very delicate.

“Hey, are you.....”

“Hmm?”

“Aren’t you the girl who appeared from the back of the Sun Cult’s vehicle.....?

“That’s right. What about it?”

The girl still showed no expression at all.

“What do you mean what about it! This can’t be right, why are you here!?”

“Haha, I forgot. I should have said this from the start.”
[[File:Kenshin v01 079.jpg|thumbnail|right]]
The girl remained stoic as she spoke and when she was done speaking, she kneeled down.

Kurou didn’t even have time to stop her. The girl placed both her hands on the floor and deeply bowed her head.

“My name is Sakurai Hinako. Starting today————I’ll be serving you.”

Since she lowered her head so deeply, her expression wasn’t visible.

However, if she was joking around, this would be quite over the top. For a girl to be wearing such an eye-catching outfit, there was no way she should have been permitted to enter school grounds.

Kurou gazed intently at the black hair of the girl who still had her head lowered like this.

It appears that she wasn’t going to lift her head up unless Kurou told her to. The girl remained motionless.

Turning a blind eye towards this would seem optimal, even Kurou was contemplating this unfavorable course of action.

However, Kurou already realized that there was no way he could brush aside this girl. He also recognized that this was just the beginning of his troubles.

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==Translator's Notes and References==
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