Chapter 37: Oni Chichi I - First Meeting
"What the heck just happened? Does the princess have some kind of Mystic Eyes too?"
Takumi Hoshino finally shook off Aoki Haruto's clingy nonsense and was heading toward the school cafeteria when he threw the question at the Demon Imprint. The imprint promptly replied:
[That one might be a descendant of a witch.]
"A witch descendant? Do those actually exist?"
[Earth has been full of legends about witches and demons since ancient times. You yourself possess magical power, don't you? Though you're completely different from them. Back in the old days, if a man made a contract with a demon, his soul would get devoured after death. Women, on the other hand, could sacrifice something precious—lifespan, beauty, voice, love, that sort of beautiful thing—and change class into a witch. The one who contracted with you is the Mother of Myriad Demons, the supreme archdemon of the Gaia system. She's on the same level as the 'Supreme Lord' of the Alaya system. She won't eat your soul or demand anything from you. All she asks is that after you die, your soul becomes a high-ranking demon and keeps her company.]
"Gaia? Isn't that basically the will of the planet itself? And Alaya is the collective unconscious of humanity's eighth sense? Just like in Fate?"
[Details differ, but yeah, pretty much. Here you could think of Gaia as the Heavenly Dao and Alaya as the Human Dao. In modern society the Human Dao is thriving while the Heavenly Dao has declined. Magical power has almost completely vanished—even an important fragment of the Mother of Myriad Demons got sealed. Fortunately your constitution was just right to free her, so the great Mother gave you this huge preferential treatment. Do your best, young man.]
"Does that mean I'll end up an enemy of humanity? Like, hunted down as a witch or something?"
[How could you? You're not a witch. As long as you don't go around abusing magical power to commit evil in the real world, you can live as flamboyantly as you want and eventually become one of the strong.]
"I see… That's a relief. I really don't want to randomly become the villain in the real world. My roots are here, after all. In the 2D worlds I don't mind being the Great Demon King or whatever. As for what happens after death—who cares?"
Takumi let out a relieved breath and started humming "Chiisana Tenohira" as he walked toward the cafeteria. Then he suddenly stopped.
"Wait, I think I missed something important. Right—the Golden Sparkling Ojou-sama is a witch descendant? So does she have magical power too? Can she use magic?"
[No way. Being a descendant only leaves her with some basic magical capacity. Unless she signs a new contract with a demon. But here the Human Dao's fortune is way too strong—demons can barely get through. She'd have to leave the country and go to Europe, the birthplace of demon culture, for any real chance. Don't worry about her, though. Demons are practically extinct anyway. Even if someone managed to summon one, the second they saw your Demon Imprint they'd run for the hills. No demon would dare mess with your normal life.]
"Interesting… The real world is pretty exciting too, huh? Guess after class I should go meet that blonde princess. I'm super curious about her now."
ding ding ding
Takumi's phone buzzed. He was using his magical LINE app—only one contact was saved there: his girlfriend. So messages could only be from Nao. He opened it and froze.
In his "My Girlfriend" tab, besides Nao's profile picture, a new avatar had appeared: Kitamoto Maya from Interact Play VR. Thanks to the Demon Imprint's explanation, even though Takumi couldn't actually enter that world anymore, he could still observe and contact her through LINE.
"Kouichi-kun, are you free? I got two tickets to the swimming pool. Want to go together? You can see my swimsuit ♡"
Attached was a colorful photo. Nao—with her golden hair and crimson crescent-moon eyes—was posing in a swimsuit that showed off her slender figure perfectly.
Takumi swallowed hard. 'She's getting way too good at reading my mind… What a little succubus.'
He typed back instantly: "I'm coming right now."
Forgetting all about lunch, he ducked into a quiet corner and crossed over to the 2D world with Nao as the coordinate. The transfer let him appear anywhere within a hundred-square-meter radius of her.
Nao received his message and beamed, humming happily as she started to change out of her swimsuit. Right then, a pair of hands reached from behind and wrapped around her, groping her chest. Who else could it be but Takumi? Nao's body had already grown used to his touch—she instantly knew it was him, didn't resist at all, and melted back into his arms.
Five minutes later. Nao was panting heavily, collapsed weakly on the floor, cheeks flushed, breathing ragged. She bit her lower lip, her red crescent-moon eyes shimmering with emotion as she murmured:
"Why do you always appear out of nowhere like that…? It's almost like you've been right beside me the whole time."
"Haha, that's the magic of love. Whenever Nao needs me, I can cross space itself to be by your side."
Takumi gently lifted her limp body and lovingly ran his fingers through her messy golden hair. Nao squinted happily. After a moment of sweet closeness, she asked:
"Did you bring swim trunks for the pool?"
Takumi blinked. He hadn't even thought of that. Nao saw his expression and giggled.
"Never mind then. We can just buy disposable ones at the pool—they're cheap."
"Sounds good. Are you good at swimming, Nao? I can only do the doggy paddle."
"Hmm, I'm not amazing at it. I'm only really good at tennis when it comes to sports… but I can do freestyle, at least."
Carrying the bag with Nao's swimsuit, Takumi walked beside her as she locked the door and linked arms with him. Under the blazing sun the streets were mostly empty. This was actually the first time Takumi had walked openly with Nao in broad daylight. Unlike the crowded county towns back home, Nao's town was neatly planned—most homes were standalone houses, no big apartment complexes. Takumi couldn't help feeling a little envious.
"Oh! Isn't that Nao-chan? You actually got yourself a boyfriend?"
A friendly middle-aged lady waved in pleasant surprise. Nao smiled brightly and answered:
"Aki-obaasan, this is my boyfriend, Kouichi-kun."
"Hehe, you sure kept it secret! Even as your neighbor I'm only seeing him now. Must've been dating for a while, huh?"
"Yeah, we met quite a long time ago."
"Is Kouichi the family name or the given name?"
"It's the given name. My family name is Hoshino."
For the first time Takumi used his real name out loud. From now on, in any 2D world based on real-life Japan, he'd go by Kouichi.
Along the way they ran into a few more people who knew Nao—mostly older ladies like that. Takumi knew Nao had been inserted as a replacement character into the Oni Chichi I world, so all these memories were fabricated… but to them, it was completely real.
The swimming pool wasn't in the residential area—they had to take the bus. The two soon reached a small bus stop. Just then, someone called out:
"Nao-chan!"
Nao turned and waved excitedly.
"Marina!"
Takumi's ears perked up at the name. He looked over—and there she was: Akizuki Marina, the main heroine of Oni Chichi I, standing not far away. And clinging intimately to her arm was a blonde girl with twin-tails tied by a red ribbon—very different from Nao's style. The second heroine of Oni Chichi I, Akizuki Marina's little sister: Akizuki Airi. She belonged to the girlspop club and was the academy's singing idol. She always spoke in a rather prickly way, but she respected her big sister deeply.
And just like that, completely by chance, Takumi had come face-to-face with both heroines of Oni Chichi I.
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