The forest went silent.
For a moment—
It felt like time had stopped.
Erika froze.
She looked at Akira—
And her soul left her body.
Akira looked back at her—
And froze as well.
Even his high-speed mind failed to process what he was seeing.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
Then—
Nakiri Erina slowly opened her eyes.
She looked at them.
Then—
Down at herself.
She blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Her mind caught up.
And then—
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—!!!"
And with that, time started to flow again.
"Where are my clothes?!"
Erika came back to her senses too.
In her panic, she grabbed the first thing she could find to cover herself.
But unfortunately—
That was Akira's bare arms.
The moment she realized she was pressing her body against him, she yelped again.
"Get away—!!"
With dhampir strength, she yeeted him sideways.
Akira, still in his dazed state, went flying.
"Wha—?!"
And crashed straight into Nakiri Erina.
They tumbled to the ground in a tangled heap.
Akira landed right on top of her, his hand instinctively shooting out to brace himself—
…and landing on something incredibly soft and warm.
Erina's breath hitched.
Akira's mind blanked for a split second, then snapped back online.
He looked down.
There was Nakiri Erina, pinned beneath him, her blonde hair fanned out on the dirt, purple eyes blazing with pure anger and embarrassment, her face flushed deep red.
"Uhh… oh hai…" Akira said with a smile.
His gaze drifted down to where his hand was resting—
a place where it shouldn't have been.
"Oh… sorry about that. It was an accident."
Erina's face somehow turned an even deeper shade of red.
"Y-YOU PERVERT—!!"
THWACK!
Her knee shot up with deadly accuracy and slammed straight into his most sensitive area.
"GUAAAAAHHHH—!!"
Akira let out a high-pitched, dramatic wail, as if thousands of alpacas were screaming at the same time.
He immediately rolled off her, curling into a ball on the ground while clutching himself.
"My future children…" he groaned, rolling around in exaggerated pain.
Erika quickly summoned her ribbons.
Red ribbons covered her, then strips swirled around Erina, wrapping her in an improvised cover.
She looked at Akira but didn't know how to help him.
He was still not dressed.
Then Selena's voice came in.
"Brother, fix their clothes, now."
Akira, still on the ground, groaned pathetically.
"Mother never trained me for this kind of pain…!"
Selena replied evenly,
"You can shrug off pain, remember? Just do it."
With a whimper, Akira forced himself to sit up.
He raised his hand—
A magic circle appeared—
And all their destroyed clothes reformed near them.
Erika took both her and Erina's clothes and formed a dome with her ribbons around them.
Meanwhile—
Akira finally used healing magic to help himself recover—
While his mind was still a complete mess.
After healing himself, Akira stood up slowly.
He stored his reformed tuxedo in his inventory—it wasn't suitable for this situation.
A black sphere formed around him—
Then disappeared.
In its place, he now wore his Star Chaser uniform.
Just then—
Selena's voice echoed in his mind.
"So, brother… did you like what you saw?"
Akira immediately replied,
"Shut up."
Selena chuckled.
"But you're still thinking about it, right?"
Akira paused.
"…I'm not."
That was a lie.
His mind was still replaying everything.
He shook his head hard.
"…I need to distract myself."
He opened his system interface immediately.
"…First, I need to fix this."
As he started working through magic formulas—
The ribbon dome behind him dissolved.
Erika and Erina stepped out.
Both now dressed in Erika's Star Chaser uniforms.
Both still red.
Then Nakiri Erina, her face still flushed, finally spoke.
She pointed at Akira.
"YOU. Forget everything that happened. Immediately."
Akira, noticing Erika, turned his face away.
"That's not possible. I have perfect memory."
Erina snapped,
"You—"
Erika stepped in, her face also flushed.
"Don't worry. I'll erase his memories."
Akira stepped back.
"What—no—why? It's not like I haven't seen—"
Erika shouted, face red,
"Shut up! I don't care about before, but now you've seen Erina too. You have to erase it!"
Akira raised his hands slightly.
"Wait—don't. Your magic won't even work on me. I have resistance to that kind of spell."
Erika wrapped him in her ribbons and demanded,
"Then how am I supposed to erase your memories?!"
Akira tried to reason with her.
"Listen. I've seen you, and you've seen me, too. Fair is fair, right?"
Both girls shouted at the same time, faces red,
"Of course not!"
Then Selena's voice cut in.
"Fine, fine. Everyone, calm down. Whatever happened, happened. But we have a mission, remember?"
Both girls protested,
"But—"
Selena continued,
"Besides, you need to move if you don't want to attract something… or someone."
Erika frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Selena replied,
"Look around you. You'll understand."
Both Erika and Erina looked around the forest—
Only to realize—
All the trees lost their leaves.
Erika blinked.
"…What happened?"
Akira answered,
"Her ability is too powerful. Not just our clothes… even the trees were stripped bare."
Erika looked around at the stripped forest—
Then back at Akira.
"…What exactly was that?"
Akira crossed his arms slightly.
"…If I had to guess…"
He glanced at Erina.
"…It's probably your family's ability. Endowment, right?"
Erika looked at Erina in shock.
"Your family has a weird ability like this?"
Erina, a little flustered, replied,
"…Don't misunderstand. It's not a weird ability."
She straightened herself and explained,
"When a member of the Nakiri family eats something delicious, they spontaneously disrobe. The more delicious the food, the stronger the effect of the Endowment."
She continued. "It can even cause clothing to rip apart if the food is good enough. A particularly strong Endowment can affect nearby people as well."
She looked down and sighed. "But it never happened to me before."
Akira nodded.
"So… you think my food is delicious, right?"
Erina froze.
"…W-What?! I did NOT say that!"
Akira gestured around.
"Look around you. You even disrobed the trees. That must mean my food is extremely delicious, right?"
Erina crossed her arms.
"That's not because of your cooking—it's the ingredient. If it were me, I could make something even more delicious."
Akira tilted his head.
"…So you admit it tasted good."
"I DID NOT—!" Erina screamed.
Selena's voice cut in.
"Alright, you two can argue later… but if you don't move soon, something strong is going to notice you."
Both of them paused.
Akira let out a small breath.
"…Right."
He stepped forward.
"…Give me your ring."
Erina blinked and pulled her hand back slightly.
"…Why?"
Akira explained,
"I'm going to add an enchantment to that ring to stop your Endowment from activating. I'd rather not have you explode everyone's clothes every time you eat something in this world."
Erina protested,
"It won't activate that often."
Akira shook his head.
"That Flyer Duck you ate isn't even mid-tier in this world. Believe me—you… no, the world needs this."
Erina looked between him and Erika.
Then sighed.
"…Fine. But why this ring?"
Akira replied,
"Because that ring is perfect as a magic artifact."
Erina hesitated, then handed it over.
Akira took it and immediately used his magic, installing a prepared enchantment into it.
Then he handed it back.
"Now you won't explode everyone's clothes. Good luck."
Erina muttered,
"As I said, it's not like that…"
Akira turned to Erika.
"Can you give me that necklace?"
Erika nodded.
"Sure."
She handed it to him.
Akira applied the same enchantment.
Erika tilted her head.
"Why mine too?"
Akira replied casually,
"So your clothes won't explode from… perverted attacks like this."
Erina snapped,
"It's not like that!"
Akira ignored her.
"This enchantment uses concept magic. As long as you wear it, no one can force your clothes off. It also has other functions."
Erika nodded slowly.
"That's… good, I guess…"
Selena's voice echoed, only for Akira.
"You made this a long time ago, right? This conceptual magic?"
Akira replied,
"Yeah. Ever since I learned our world has DxD characters, I made it to stop that perverted Oppai Dragon."
Selena asked,
"But why conceptual magic?"
Akira answered,
"So not even Ddraig's Penetrate works on it."
Selena paused.
"…Makes sense."
Then she added,
"I think you guys should leave soon."
Akira frowned slightly.
"…Something's coming?"
Selena replied calmly—
"…You could say that, so… leave. Now."
Akira turned to the girls.
"…We should move."
Erika nodded.
"…How?"
Akira thought for a moment.
"…We could fly."
Erika immediately shook her head.
"…What about Erina?"
Akira replied,
"I can carry her."
"NO."
Both girls answered at the same time.
Akira blinked.
"…Then you carry her?"
"I don't want to be carried by anyone!" Erina snapped.
Akira sighed.
"…Then what do you want me to do?"
Erika crossed her arms.
"…What about vehicles?"
Akira replied,
"Most of the ones I made are motorcycles—two-seaters—, and they make a lot of noise, so they're not suitable if we want to stay unnoticed."
Erika frowned.
"Why make them like that?"
Akira shrugged.
"Well… silent vehicles are boring. They need to make some sound."
Erika sighed.
"…Then what should we do?"
Akira thought for a moment.
"…I might have an idea."
A magic circle unfolded beneath him.
Light wrapped around his body—
And expanded.
In the next moment—
A massive direwolf stood in his place.
Snow-white fur.
Glowing purple eyes.
Like his puppy form—
But enormous.
Easily the size of a horse.
No—
Bigger.
"…What do you think?" his voice echoed telepathically.
Erika froze.
Then immediately rushed forward.
She hugged him tightly.
"So fluffy… big and fluffy… why didn't you show this to me before?"
Akira paused.
"…I thought you preferred my puppy form."
"I do," Erika said, burying her face into his fur.
"…But this is good too… I could stay like this forever."
Akira, in a happy voice, replied,
"…Me too."
"STOP FLIRTING!" Erina snapped. "I told you already!"
Erika didn't even look at her.
"I'm not flirting, but… look at him… he's perfect."
Selena cut in dryly,
"Guys, just leave. You can fluff later."
Erika sighed.
"…Fine…"
Akira suddenly paused.
"…Wait …The Flyer Duck."
Erika nodded and stored it in her inventory.
"…Got it."
Akira lowered himself slightly.
"…Get on."
Erika climbed up without hesitation.
Erina hesitated.
"…I can't believe I'm doing this…"
Then she climbed on as well.
Akira looked ahead.
The forest.
Unknown.
"…Hold tight."
And then—
He leapt.
The massive wolf vanished into the forest—
Silent.
Fast.
Their journey had just begun.