Bonus Short Stories

Arifureta Magic Academy Field Trip

A delicious scent wafted through a sunlit clearing in a forest.

“Daddy, that looks really tasty!”

“That’s because curry’s my specialty.”

Myu, the new dagon student, inhaled deeply and Hajime, her de facto father and also a student at the same academy, smiled at her. The clearing was dotted with other groups of students who were all making their own curry. Today was the magic academy’s field trip, the once-a-year excuse for students of all grades to mingle.

Aiko, the teacher on duty, surveyed the clearing. Everyone seemed to be having fun. But all the students were also pointedly doing their best to ignore Hajime’s group as much as possible.

“U-Umm Hajime... isn’t it about time...?”

“Waaah! This is so embarrassing. I’m sorry, Hajime-kun. I won’t do it again, so please let me rest.”

“I can’t believe I made such a rookie mistake. How pathetic.”

Yue, Kaori, and Shea were all sitting on their knees in front of Hajime, and each of them had a stack of super-dense metal plates resting on their laps. There were also metal plates affixed to their heads, and each of those plates had the words, “I’m a bad kid who wasted food. This is my punishment, so don’t talk to me” engraved on them.

It wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened. Each of them had wanted to be the one to cook curry for Hajime, and a fight had broken out. During their scuffle, they’d overturned all of their pots, including the one Myu had been using to make her own curry. Naturally, Hajime had been incensed, and so he’d punished the three girls accordingly. Incidentally, Tio, the principal of the academy, had been strung up to a nearby tree and left alone. A few of the newer underclassmen had tried to ask whether it was okay for the principal to be treated like that, but their seniors had all shushed them and explained that no one asked such questions.

“How are things going, everyone? Are you almost done with your curries? It’s almost time for—”

Unlike Yue, who was an absolute failure of an educator, Aiko did her best to make sure everyone’s activities were going smoothly. But before she could finish, three female students suddenly ran up to her.

“Ai-chan-sensei! What do we do!? Tamai’s group has gone missing!”

They were Yuka, Nana, and Taeko, all students who’d volunteered to keep watch around the forest.

“Calm down, Sonobe-san. Start from the beginning.”

“Well... Tamai, Aikawa, and Nimura were all getting bored of patrolling, so they all went into the obstacle cavern to have some fun. But no matter how long we waited for them, they didn’t come back out!”

The obstacle cavern was a man-made cavern built by the owner of the forest. It was meant to serve as an enjoyable obstacle course that should have been easily clearable, even by a child. There was no way Tamai and the others, who were all upperclassmen, should have gotten stuck in there. And knowing that, Aiko’s expression suddenly grew grim, as did Hajime’s.

“I-I’ll go take a look!” Aiko shouted hesitantly. It appeared dinner would have to be postponed.

“Ah. Daddy, shouldn’t you let Yue-sensei—”

“Those people aren’t there, Myu. Understood?”

“Oh, okay.”

Yue and the others stared at Hajime in shock. He gave them one threatening glance, promising vicious retribution if they dared to move. Then, after seeing that they’d been sufficiently cowed, he dashed over to the obstacle cavern. When they reached it they saw a sign that read, “Welcome one and all to Miledi’s wonderful obstacle course! For a limited time only, student entry is free!”

Hajime couldn’t quite put his finger on why, that sign irked him to no end.

“Sensei, Miledi’s the name of the forest owner, right?” Hajime asked pensively.

“That’s what I was told. But I didn’t hear anything about this special student deal. There certainly wasn’t any such deal last year. At any rate, everyone else stays here. I’ll go take a look inside!”

Aiko took a deep breath, then resolutely stepped forward. But before she could enter the cavern, there was a loud metallic clank. A second later, there were three loud screams and the floor around Aiko and the students parted to either side like a pair of double doors. Hajime instantly grabbed Myu and tried to flee to safety by using the heads of other students as stepping stones. Unfortunately—

“Wha!? Gravity magic!?”

He felt a massive pressure forcing him down, and Myu let out a panicked squeal. In the end, Hajime was forced into the hole along with all the other students.

“Huh? I’m not hurt? Oh, there’s a cushion here,” Aiko muttered, looking blankly down at her feet. However, after a few seconds she returned to her senses and shouted, “Is anyone hurt!?”

Looking around, she saw that all the students had landed on cushions as well, and that everyone was unharmed. Though they were all very confused, much like Aiko.

“H-Hey, there’s a light up ahead!”

“Is that the exit? Shit, I’m totally suing the owner of this place!”

Hiyama, Saitou, Kondou, and Nakano all dashed forward without stopping to take stock of the situation. A second later, the floor beneath them shot upward, launching them toward the ceiling. As they screamed in terror, it opened up to let them through. And once they passed through, the ceiling closed up again and their screams faded away.

“......”

An oppressive silence filled the room in their absence. Eventually, it was broken when someone gulped.

“Aiko-sensei, is this how the obstacle course is supposed to be? Was it like this last year?”

“Definitely not!”

It seemed someone had switched out the obstacle cavern for something different. Before anyone could ask anything else, shining letters appeared on one of the cavern’s walls. They spelled out, “Welcome to Miledi’s wonderful obstacle course! I remodeled it just for you guys! Now it’s as dangerous as a labyrinth! I worked hard to make this, so you all better enjoy it to the fullest! Oh, some of you may end up buried here permanently but... that’s just part of the fun!”

“......”

Cold sweat poured down the students’ foreheads. The fun, easy obstacle course had been replaced by a deadly labyrinth, of all things.

“Y-You’ve gotta be kidding me! I can’t stay here! I’m going home!” Suzu shouted, then tried to go down a different route than the one Hiyama and his friends had chosen.

“Wait, Suzu!” Eri yelled as she ran after her. Before Aiko could stop either of them, another trap activated.

“Bwah!?”

“Fwaaaah!?”

White webbing fell from the ceiling. And in their haste to escape from it, they tripped over the fine threads and the web easily bagged the two girls, dragging them up to the ceiling. Like before, it opened to receive both of them.

“Noooooooooooooooooo, I hate spideeeeeeeeeeeeeeers!” Suzu wailed.

“Ugh, get this disgusting shit off of me! I’m gonna fucking kill you vermin!” Eri shouted.

Hang on, was Eri’s personality always like this? the students thought to themselves. But there wasn’t time to dwell on the matter.

“P-Pull yourselves together, guys! Ryutarou, Kouki, we have to save Suzu and Eri!”

Ryutarou was the first to react. He leaped forward, planning on using the nearby wall as a foothold to jump off of toward the ceiling. But the moment his foot touched the wall, it flipped around. Without even time to scream, he barreled into the room on the other side. And, at the same time, the wall emitted a cloud of gas that put Shizuku and Kouki to sleep. As they collapsed to the ground, the floor beneath them turned to quicksand, sucking them under.

“Sh-Shit....”

“Daddy...”

This obstacle course of Miledi’s was dangerous enough to make even Hajime sweat. And that made Myu very worried. Just then, more shining letters appeared on the wall.

“Oh come on! You guys are still at the starting line and you’ve already lost this many students? This year’s class sure is a disappointment. Bahahaha!”

The students’ worry instantly transformed into anger.

“Well, if you’re having this much trouble, I guess I could let you give up. But you have to admit defeat if you want out! I wonder how it’ll feel, begging for mercy with your pride in tatters? Do tell me if you decide to back out!”

Bang! Hajime’s bullet slammed into the wall, blasting it and its blasted letters to pieces.

“You guys know what to do, right?” Hajime said coldly, turning to the other students.

“Yeah,” they all muttered resolutely.

“Let’s go. We’ll show this bitch just how good our class really is.”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

And so, Hajime led his army of enraged students into the cavern’s depths. One hour later, Yue and the others grew tired of waiting, so they went to see what was taking Hajime so long. Upon reaching the cavern, they found a disheveled Hajime by the entrance. He was facing the other students and shouting, “Find Miledi! Make sure you drag her out here alive! We’re not gonna let her die until she’s experienced true hell!”

Remia’s True Intentions

“Oh? What’s that, Nagumo-kun?” Shizuku asked, pointing to a black, square lump of metal sitting on the living room table. The group would soon be leaving the Frost Caverns, so Hajime had emptied his pack to reorganize it.

“Oh that’s... a good luck charm,” Hajime’s expression softened as he spoke. Hearing that, Suzu’s eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together.

“Ah, it’s one of those, isn’t it? You keep it in your breast pocket at all times, so when someone tries to stab you, you can pull it out and say, ‘This thing saved my life!’”

“Do I look that cringe to you?” Hajime replied, flicking Suzu on the forehead. She flew backward, and Kaori quickly cast healing magic on her with an apologetic smile.

“The metal thing is just a puzzle box, actually. The good luck charm is inside,” the healer explained.

“You... really treasure whatever’s in there, huh?”

“Well, it was something he got from Myu-chan, so it makes sense,” Shea chimed in. “I got one, too!” she said excitedly and started rummaging through her Treasure Trove. After a few seconds. she pulled out a glittering white seashell pendant. Yue, Kaori, and Tio had all received similar seashell pendants, and they proudly took theirs out. Hajime reached for his box, deciding to unveil his charm as well.

“Transmute.”

The azantium lid split apart, revealing a smaller box nestled inside. This box had a small indent in one corner; a slide puzzle. Hajime dexterously moved the tiles around into the correct configuration, and the front of the box fell open with a satisfying click. Within lay yet another box.

“What are these, matryoshka dolls?” Shizuku asked incredulously.

Hajime ignored her and entered the correct combination to the dial lock that protected this box, then opened the box inside that as well. That one shot out a barrage of poison darts, which he dodged. The box after that blasted lightning at him, and the one after that required fingerprint authentication, and the one after that needed a voice-activated password, and so on and so forth.

“How many boxes are there!?”

“Just how important is that charm to you!?”

Eventually, Shizuku and Suzu couldn’t hide their exasperation any longer. Fortunately, Hajime was finally on the last box.

“Oh? You have two? A white one and a peach-colored one?”

“Yeah, but this one’s from Remia. She probably just made it because Myu asked her to.”

Technically, Remia had helped make the charms Yue and the others had, too. She’d asked a craftsman friend of hers to make the chains for the seashell pendants, so every one of the charms were a joint Remia-Myu production. However, the fact that Hajime had two charms meant his were special in some way. Even if he tried to play it off, Yue and the others knew his second charm hadn’t just been an afterthought.

“Is that really the only reason? No, I can say with certainty that it is not!” Yue said definitively.

“Why are you talking like that, Yue? Anyway, she probably just wanted to thank me for bringing her daughter back to her. She’s a lot like Myu in that regard—”

“You don’t understand a thing, Hajime-kun!”

This time it was Kaori who objected. She pointed at Hajime, mimicking the pose of a certain great detective. As Hajime opened his mouth to argue, Shea and Tio piled on him as well.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a reason other than gratitude!”

“Indeed. Though even my discerning eye cannot see through her docile facade, my woman’s intuition is telling me that there is definitely something more to that charm she gave you!”

“Wait, hang on. Are you telling me there’s something between Nagumo-kun and Myu-chan’s mother?” Shizuku asked as she shot Hajime a look of disbelief and he sighed in exasperation.

“Like hell there’s anything between us. Sure, she calls me ‘darling,’ but she only does that for Myu’s sake. Besides, you can tell she’s joking, since her attitude’s been like that from the start and—”

“Five days after we arrived, she seemed to be more bashful around you...” Yue interjected quietly. Shea and the others nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, that’s true. She was always nice to Hajime-san, but it didn’t feel like she saw him as a man until then.”

“Yep. I guess it’s because she’s an adult? It definitely felt like she was trying to be considerate of us and not take the whole married couple act too far.”

“Indeed. Whenever she deflected our questions about whether she was serious about Master, she seemed quite composed.”

“However!” Yue, Kaori, Shea, and Tio said simultaneously.

“After the fifth day, she didn’t have that composure anymore!”

“When we made fun of her relationship with Hajime-san after that, she actually got flustered!”

“Yeah! Before, when Myu said things like, ‘I wanna sleep together with Mommy and Daddy!’ she’d just say, ‘Of course’ without batting an eye. But after that day, she started inviting everyone to sleep together!”

“Indeed, she started keeping her distance from you after the fifth day onward, Master. But the fact that she felt the need to do that proves there is more to her feelings!”

One after another, the girls started giving their testimony. Shizuku glared coldly at Hajime.

“Nagumo-kun, I can’t believe you!”

“Whoa, you really are a playboy, Nagumo-kun. I didn’t think you’d manage to make even a widow fall for you!” Suzu whistled.

“Calm down, Yaegashi. It’s not what you think. We didn’t do anything... Well, I guess something happened on the fourth night that I can’t really remember, but at the very least we didn’t do anything improper that I remember.”

His excuses were starting to get flimsy. Shizuku’s glare grew colder, and Hajime took out his anger on Suzu with another forehead flick.

“Our memories of that night are missing too, so Hajime-kun isn’t to blame for that, but still, the fact remains that something changed after that night. And that’s a problem.”

“Why, you ask? Because Remia-san is Myu-chan’s mom! Meaning...”

“If Remia-san’s really after Hajime-kun, she’ll easily be able to steal the wife spot away!”

“While we will be relegated to mere concubines!”

“I never said anything about making you a concubine,” Hajime replied with an exasperated sigh, then took a thick book out of his Treasure Trove.

Still glaring, Shizuku asked, “what’s that?”

“It’s an accessory encyclopedia. I filched— I mean, borrowed— it from the royal library.”

“You just said ‘filched,’ didn’t you!? I can’t believe you’re just stealing the kingdom’s stuff!”

“Now, that’s just unfair. I did ask the princess for permission to borrow it, you know. Though, I didn’t tell her I’d be borrowing it for life.”

“That’s called stealing! Poor Lily!”

Hajime ignored Shizuku and opened up the encyclopedia.

“I’m pretty sure different ornaments have different meanings, kinda like how flowers do back home.”

Hajime was hoping he’d be able to find the seashell Remia had given him in the encyclopedia so he could prove once and for all that there was no romantic intent hidden within the gift.

“Hmm... Here it is. In the language of seashells it means, ‘I wish you luck in your travels and pray for your safe return.’ Heh, Myu sure picked out a good shell for Remia...”

Hajime grinned to himself as he skimmed through the encyclopedia.

“Anyway, that proves the shells were just platonic gifts,” Hajime said with finality. But Yue and the others weren’t convinced. They snatched the encyclopedia and read through the entry for themselves. “It can also mean, ‘I hope to see you again’...” Yue muttered.

Shea turned the page and said flatly, “And ‘May fortune smile upon you.’”

Kaori added, “Also, ‘I’ll never forget you.’”

“The peach-colored seashell is similar to the white seashell in that they both represent affection. However, the peach shell has a more romantic nuance to the affection than the white one.”

The girls all glared at Hajime again.

“Seriously, you guys are overthinking this. Besides, I’m not even interested in Remia.”

Suzu, who’d finally recovered from the forehead flick, said, “You say that now, but I bet she’ll be all over you in a few more months, just like all the other girls!”

“Taniguchi, outside, now. It’s time I taught you a lesson.”

“Huh!? Wait, stooooooooooooooooooooop! Shizushizu, save meeeeee!”

Hajime grabbed Suzu by the scruff of her neck and started dragging her out of the room. But while he’d tried to sound imposing, it had looked more like he was fleeing the stares of the other girls.

The remaining girls exchanged glances.

“So we’re agreed that Remia goes on the blacklist?” Yue asked quietly.

“Absolutely!” Everyone else said in unison.

Remia’s gentle smile flashed through all of their minds.

Arifureta Fairy Tales: Little Mermaid

Deep under the sea lay a village of mermaids, hidden from human eyes. Within that village lived a mermaid princess. Though she was called a princess, she wasn’t actually royalty. She was just cute. Incidentally, her mother was an extremely beautiful single lady. At any rate, this mermaid princess was a source of great joy to the people of the village. Especially the men of the village who wanted to treat her to snacks and have her call them Daddy. One day, when the princess was playing tag with these men of rather suspicious motivations, she ended up swimming pretty far away from the village.

“Th-That was close... They’re trying really hard today...”

The mermaid princess would never call any of them Daddy. She was determined to protect Mommy from them at all costs. Suddenly, she heard a huge splash from the surface of the ocean.

“Wh-What happened!?”

Looking up, she saw there was a fierce fight going on close to the water’s surface. The ancient creature of the deep, the Hell Eater, was locked in mortal combat with a human. Normally, the Hell Eater wouldn’t have had any trouble with a lone human. But this one was different. It pumped the Hell Eater full of black tar, then blew the giant jellyfish up. As the jellyfish turned into a rather ugly fireworks display, the human who’d been fighting it fell into the sea.

“Oh no!”

The mermaid princess quickly swam toward where the human was falling. Then, she grabbed hold of him and made a beeline for the surface. Eventually, she poked her head out of the water and saw that the boat the man had been fighting on had been severely damaged during the explosion. And so, she placed the man on the remains of the boat and shouted, “Are you okay!? Hang on, I’ll—”

The mermaid princess suddenly trailed off when she got a good look at the human she’d rescued. He had white hair and wore an eye patch. But most importantly, she could tell at once that he had the strength of a great white shark and the kindness of a whale. He was a true prince. It was love at first sight. Myu knew that this was the man she would call Daddy. She’d been growing tired of the lecherous men who’d been chasing her day after day, but at the same time, she had been longing for a father figure. Still, she wouldn’t just let any random guy be Mommy’s husband. But this man... Well, he was clearly her fated father.

But first, she needed to save him. She grabbed hold of the man once more and started swimming to shore. Once he was safely on land, she slapped his cheeks a few times, but he didn’t respond. Thinking he might have swallowed seawater, she elbowed his stomach in the hopes that it’d get him to throw it up. As she was attempting various other lifesaving maneuvers, she sensed someone nearby. She couldn’t let humans see her, or Mommy would scold her! The mermaid princess hurriedly dived back into the water and poked just a little bit of her head out to see what was going on. If anyone tried to steal her prince away from her, she’d fight them tooth and nail, regardless of what the rules said.

“A-Are you alright!? Don’t worry, I’ll cast healing magic on you right— Oh my, you’re so handsome!”

A woman dressed in a priestess’ robe had arrived. Though she looked saintly, the mermaid princess could tell she was the kind of woman who’d chase the man she desired to the ends of the earth. The woman cast healing magic on the mermaid’s prince, and he slowly opened his eyes.

“Huh? Where am I? Did you rescue me?”

“That’s right! You washed up here and I healed you! So now, you have to marry me!”

“Like hell I do. Anyway, come to the castle, I’ll give you your reward there.”

“I don’t need money, all I want is your hand in marriage!”

“Oh great. Figures I’d get saved by one of the crazy ones...”

In the end, the prince ended up going back to the castle with the priestess without ever learning it was the mermaid princess who’d actually saved him.

“I’m not letting you have Daddy!” the princess swore to herself as she made a temporary, tactical retreat. She was going to visit the witch who was squatting in the mermaid village.

“Miss Witch, Miss Witch! Please make me into the prince’s daughter!”

“Mmm!? The prince, you say? Hmm, this might just be my chance...”

After a few seconds, the witch smiled at the mermaid princess.

“Very well, I shall use metamorphosis magic to make you appear to be his daughter. However...”

“I know, you want something! What is it?”

The mermaid princess was wise. She knew there was no such thing as a free lunch. As she stared into the mermaid’s resolute gaze, the witch fidgeted bashfully.

“Once you’ve become the prince’s daughter, can you call me Mommy?”

“No way!”

The witch was taken aback by the mermaid princess’ blunt refusal.

“P-Please, can’t you at least consider it?”

“I’m sorry, but I already have a mommy!”

But despite the mermaid princess’ clear refusal, the witch was undaunted. After all, she was in love with the prince. However, the world believed she was evil, which was why she was hiding out at the bottom of the sea. Meaning this was her only shot at making the prince hers.

“I’m fine with being your unofficial second Mo—”

“Not happening!”

The whole time she was shooting the witch down, the mermaid princess was smiling brightly.

“Ah, alright... I’m sorry I asked for the impossible...”

The witch slumped to her knees, defeated at last. She looked so forlorn that it wouldn’t have been surprising if she let the current just sweep her away.

“U-Umm, Miss Witch! I can’t call you Mommy, but I can try to ship you with the prince! Will that work?”

“It most certainly will.”

The witch recovered almost instantly, her mermaid disguise melting away. Meanwhile, the mermaid princess returned home to leave her beloved Mommy a letter. It read, “I’ve found the perfect Daddy. I need to convince him to let you live with him, so I’ll be gone for a while.”

And with that, the witch and the mermaid were ready to set off.

Since this mermaid princess was perfectly capable of speech once she found the prince, all she had to do was tell him that she was the one who’d carried him to shore and he happily took her in as his daughter. After that, she spent her days in the castle, living with her newfound Daddy. Of course, she didn’t forget to pester him about Mommy.

“Daddy, Daddy, can Mommy live in the castle too?”

“Hm? Of course she can. If she’s grown up, she’ll have to work, but there’s plenty of work here to do. I’m sure I can find her a job in the castle.”

“Thank you Daddy! I knew I could count on your harsh but realistic methods!”

“Oh, stop it, you’re making me blush!”

“By the way, what do you say to marrying Mommy?”

“Well, uh, I’ll have to think about that...”

The mermaid princess was in no rush. She’d already gotten Daddy to promise to bring Mommy here. Once they started living together, Mommy’s natural charm would captivate him in no time. The mermaid princess was confident no one was as beautiful as her Mommy. Oh, but there was one last matter she still needed to settle.

“Also, can the witch who helped me live here, too?”

“A witch, you say? Are you sure she can be trusted?”

“I owe her my life! Plus, she’s really nice and cute!”

As promised, the mermaid princess did her best to ship the witch with the prince. She would never go back on her word because she was such a good girl. And thus, the witch and the mermaid princess’ mother were brought to the castle.

“Oh my, it really is a castle... That girl sure is something.”

Despite her attempt to smile gently like usual, the mermaid princess’ mother couldn’t hide her shock. Honestly, her daughter’s assertiveness was rather worrying. On the other hand, the witch was extremely nervous. At long last, she’d be meeting the prince of her dreams. A few minutes later, the prince came down to greet the two of them.

“H-Hello... I’m the witch.”

“Greetings, witch. I’m the prince. Now, I realize this is rather sudden, but I’ve fallen in love with you at first sight. Please marry me.”

Though the prince’s sudden proposal came as a surprise, the mermaid princess was quite happy about the sudden development. It meant she’d fulfilled her end of the bargain already. All that was left was to let her mother work her charms, and the mermaid princess’ life would be perfect. Unfortunately, life never went as smoothly as people wanted it to.

“I’ll never hand the prince over to some witch!”

The priestess everyone had forgotten about suddenly burst back onto the scene. Things were getting heated.

“Choose! Either give up on the prince... or I’ll stab you with this knife and throw you to the bottom of the sea!”

The priestess held her hand out and a knife— no, a sword, suddenly appeared within it. In fact, there was another sword in her other hand as well. It appeared this priestess was a master of dual-wielding as well.

“You’ll be the one swimming with the fishes!”

“Bring it on! Just sit there and watch, Prince! I’ll take care of this dirty witch!”

There was a series of resounding explosions as the priestess and the witch began fighting over the prince. The prince watched on as his castle was destroyed by the two women.

“M-My Mommy is a much gentler person,” the mermaid princess said timidly.

“I see... That’s reassuring.”

The prince looked kindly down at the mermaid princess’ mother. She blushed slightly, seemingly pleased with the attention.

In the end, the mermaid princess’ mother, the witch, and the priestess all lived happily ever after with the prince. At some point, an overpowered bunny girl and a perverted dragon joined his harem as well. Still, while their life was quite crazy, the mermaid princess was happy to be surrounded by so many people.

(Forced) Metamorphosis

Some time after clearing the Frost Caverns, Hajime and the other men went into a separate room to prepare for their upcoming departure. Meanwhile, the girls all relaxed in the living room. Shea, who was lying on a sofa, stretched languidly, making her massive boobs rise up prominently. A short distance away, Tio and Shizuku were chatting. While they weren’t doing anything to emphasize their own assets, they were quite large as well.

“Tch...” Yue clicked her tongue in irritation. Kaori, who was sitting next to her, turned around in surprise.

“Wh-What is it, Yue?”

“It’s nothing... I’m not thinking about the time Shea called me washboard flat or anything,” Yue replied in a low voice.

She obviously was. Wow Shea... I can’t believe you had the courage to actually say that, Kaori thought to herself. Her expression stiff, she tried her best to cheer Yue up by changing the topic.

“O-Oh yeah! I still need to practice metamorphosis magic some more! Do you think you could show me some pointers, Yue? I want to know how you managed to change your hair color—”

Suddenly, Yue turned to Kaori, who flinched. Ignoring her reaction, Yue stared intently at Kaori.

“Kaori!”

“Eeeek!? Wh-What is it, Yue? You don’t have to get that close, you know!?”

Yue cupped Kaori’s cheeks in her hands and brought her face close enough that they could kiss.

“You’re a genius! I never thought of that! I could kiss you right now!”

“Please don’t! And can you let go of me?”

Yue carelessly flung Kaori away from her and started concentrating. She seemed unaware that everyone else was watching her.

“Mrrrrr... Like this? No, that won’t work. How about this? Still no good! Dang it, I need to focus here! I’m the strongest vampire in history, I can do this! Hnnnnnnnnnnnngh!”

Golden mana swirled around Yue, who seemed to be concentrating even harder than when she’d helped Hajime make the Crystal Key. What the heck is she trying to do? everyone else thought.

“Y-Yue, what are you doing?” Kaori asked timidly, spurred on by Shizuku’s pleading gaze.

“Kaori... I’ve finally discovered the true essence of metamorphosis magic.”

“Umm... I thought you did that a while back?”

“Fool!”

Controlling her rising anger, Kaori patiently asked, “Okay, but what do you mean?”

Yue, who was massaging her boobs said with a completely deadpan expression, “Listen... metamorphosis magic is capable of transforming one’s appearance.”

“I know. That’s why I asked you to show me how you changed your hair color earlier...”

“And that means I can make my boobs bigger, too!”

“What did you just say!? Yue-oneesama, please teach meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Suzu roared as she ran up to Yue like she was the only oasis in a vast desert. Kaori gave the two of them a sad look.

“You know Hajime-kun doesn’t care about boob size, right Yue?”

“That’s right! And Suzu-san, you’re already cute enough as it is, you don’t need to change how you look!” Shea added.

“Calm yourselves, you two. Larger breasts bring more cons than pros, so there’s no reason to waste your time trying to—”

“You can use it to make your skin smoother, too...”

“Please teach me!” the girls shouted simultaneously. All their previous warnings and misgivings had been thrown out the window.

Yue smiled at them and shouted, “Do you guys want to be pretty!?”

“We do!”

“Do you all want perfect figures you can maintain without having to exercise or diet!?”

“We do!”

Metamorphosis magic had the power to achieve all that and more. Having understood that, the girls started concentrating harder than they ever had in their lives.

Ten minutes later, Hajime came to check up on them.

“Hm? It’s pretty noisy in there. Hey guys, what’s all the fuss ab—?”

The moment Hajime opened the door, Suzu lost her concentration and her mana spiraled out of control. That, in turn, caused Yue and the others to lose control of their mana as well, creating an unstoppable chain reaction.

“What the hell is thiiiiiiiiis!?”

Their mana converged on Hajime, enveloping him in light. Yue and the others turned guiltily toward him, wondering what effect their magic would have. Eventually, the light faded, revealing Hajime’s transformation.

“I-It’s been a while since something scared me that bad. Hm? How come my clothes feel tight?”

Hajime suddenly realized that he’d both grown taller, and more muscular. He unbuttoned his shirt to give him room to breathe and brushed his hair out of his eyes. Though he didn’t know it, those gestures highlighted his transformed figure, which was that of an extremely attractive, middle-aged man. It seemed the combination of the girls’ magic had aged him up a few decades. They stared blankly at him, their eyes wide open.

“Hm? Hang on, my voice has changed too... and my eyesight feels different... Hey, what’d you guys do to me?”

No one answered. They were still too stunned. Though everyone except Suzu also seemed to be blushing. Seeing as he wasn’t going to get a reply, Hajime grabbed a mirror to look for himself.

“What the hell!? I’m an old geezer! Seriously, what did you guys do!?”

Hajime glared at Yue and the others. However, his glare had the opposite of the intended effect.

“Adult Hajime is... good...”

“Awawawawah! Being that sexy is cheating, Hajime-san!”

“E-Ehehehe. I see. So this is what Hajime-kun is going to be like in the future. After we get married, this is what I have to look forward to... Ehehehehe.”

“Y-You mustn’t look at me like that, Master. If you do, I’ll be unable to control my— Haaah... Haaah...”

“Hajime... D-Don’t look at me. You’re making me feel weird...”

Naturally, Hajime smacked them all upside the head.

“You could stay like that a while longer, you know...” Yue muttered despondently.

“Just hurry up and undo this.”

Yue begrudgingly started casting something to fix the situation. Unfortunately, she still wasn’t used to metamorphosis magic, and she overdid it a little. This time Hajime came out looking like—

“The fuck!? Now I’m a little kid!”

His five-year-old self. His pants and underwear slipped off, leaving him wearing just his shirt. Yue and the others were stunned again, but this time because he was too cute, not too sexy.

“You’re so cute, Hajime!”

“Hey, that’s not fair! I want to hug him too, Yue!”

“There, there, Hajime-san. Or should I say, Hajime-kun? Come here and give Shea-oneesan a hug!”

“A toddler Master! What a feast for the eyes!”

“H-Hajime, come to Shizuku-oneesan.”

The girls started fighting over mini-Hajime, so his patience ran out.

“Cut it out!”

Hajime blew them all away with a burst of mana and reached down to grab Donner, which had fallen to the floor. Just as he was about to hit them all with a few rubber bullets to vent his anger, a horrific realization dawned on him.

“Hm? Shit, my fingers can’t reach the trigger!”

Yue and the others’ eyes lit up. He can’t resist? He can’t resist! they all thought simultaneously. They were past the point of reasoning already. Hajime’s cuteness had poisoned their minds. Realizing he was in a bad spot, Hajime decided to flee, but the moment he turned to run, he tripped over his new, much stubbier legs.

“Dammit...” he muttered weakly, tears springing to his eyes. Unfortunately, that just made him look even cuter to Yue and the others. He looked around desperately, searching for anything that might save him. After a few seconds, he found it.

“Taniguchi, put up a barrier!”

He crawled over to Suzu, who was the only person present that looked just shocked instead of crazed. Still a little surprised, Suzu nevertheless put up a barrier to block out Yue and the others.

“Thank you, Taniguchi! I knew you were a good person all along!”

Hajime looked gratefully up at Suzu, the tears now spilling down his cheeks. Suzu couldn’t believe the same merciless guy who gave everyone the cold shoulder and had not an iota of compassion for most people was looking up to her like that.

“H-Hehehe.”

“Taniguchi?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you, Hajihaji. You can count on me!”

“Oh no, not you too!”

Suzu stepped closer to Hajime, then started beckoning him forward. Around thirty minutes later, Kouki and Ryutarou returned to the living room. There, they saw a half-naked toddler Hajime with dead eyes being fondled by a group of cuteness-obsessed girls. Naturally, they quietly left and closed the door behind them.

Myu Remodeling Project

Hajime was fervently transmuting something while sequestered within one of the rooms in the palace at the depths of the Frost Caverns,

“Hm? What’re you doing, Nagumo-kun?” Shizuku, who happened to be passing by, poked her head into the room and asked that question.

Hajime looked over his shoulder and said, “I’m trying to make an artifact that can alter appearances.”

“Shouldn’t you just turn yourself in instead? I’ll go to the police station with you if you want,” Shizuku replied with a straight face, then continued, “Don’t worry, I’m willing to wait for you until you get discharged from prison.”

“What do you take me for? This isn’t for me, anyway. It’s for Myu.”

Hajime unclenched his fist, showing Shizuku the earring resting in his hand. She cocked her head and asked, “Why for her?”

“Think about it, her ears would stand out back home. Shea’s would too, now that I think about it. If the regulars in Akiba found out what she really looked like, they’d all go crazy.”

“I don’t think Akiba’s quite that bad... but well, I get what you’re trying to say.” Shizuku nodded in understanding. Beastmen wouldn’t be able to live peacefully in Japan unless they had some way to hide their true appearance.

“Yeah, basically. Besides, I want to let Myu go to kindergarten and elementary school in Japan if that’s what she wants. And if Remia’s gonna join us in Japan, I need to make sure she can go out in public without attracting a bunch of attention...”

“Hehehe. Oh Nagumo-kun...” Shizuku chuckled. She thought it was extremely cute that Hajime was willing to go so far for the adopted daughter he’d run into accidentally. In fact, it was this side of Hajime that had made her fall for him in the first place.

“Is there any way I can help? I’ll do anything in my power,” Shizuku asked with a smile. She was willing to do anything for the man she loved.

“Really? In that case, could you be my test subject?”

“Hang on a second.”

“First, I want you to take a look at this silver pen. It’s supposed to erase your memories when it flashes.”

“Hang on a second.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll only erase a few seconds’ worth of memories. And it won’t replace them with fake ones like the memory devices used by agents of a certain alien-fighting agency. But it does have this nifty brainwashing— err, I mean, hypnotic suggestion ability that—”

“Someone, help me! We’ve got a mad scientist on the loose!” Shizuku screamed. She was no longer willing to do anything for the man she loved. In fact, she was quite scared of him. She wanted to run away from him as fast as possible.

“It’s fine, really. Even if something goes wrong, we’ve got restoration magic! I promise it won’t be that bad! I just want to run a few tests! Please, just a few tests!” Hajime said with bloodshot eyes as he slowly stepped toward Shizuku. She took a few steps back, holding her hands protectively in front of her eyes. She’d seen those movies too, so she knew what might happen to her. A few seconds later, Yue and the others dashed into the room.

“Hajime-kun!? What are you trying to do to Shizuku-chan!?” Kaori yelled.

“Just a few memory experiments.”

“He’s become a mad scientist! No, a mad Synergist!”

“Come back to your senses, Hajime! Heavensfall!”

“Should I cast spirit magic on him as well? I only hope that proves sufficient...” Tio asked. Then, her spirit magic illuminated Hajime’s body, which had been crushed into the ground by Yue’s gravity magic. Shizuku ran to Kaori and clung to her for comfort.

“Kaorin, how did you and Shizushizu fall in love with Nagumo-kun in the first place?” Suzu asked in disbelief.

“Seriously, how did that happen!?” Kouki and Ryutarou shouted, nodding in agreement with Suzu.

Some time later, Hajime was sitting on the ground before Yue and the others.

“Have you reflected on your actions, Hajime-kun?” Kaori asked, a hard edge in her voice.

Hajime nodded meekly, then said, “I realize I shouldn’t have tried to use Yaegashi as a test subject.”

“That sounds a bit too much like a rehearsed response for my tastes, but if you’ve really have reflected on—”

“I promise I’ll choose my test subjects more carefully in the future.”

“That’s not the part you’re supposed to be reflecting on!” Kaori shouted exasperatedly. However, Hajime simply ignored her and turned to look at Kouki.

“Hold on, why’re you looking at me!?” Kouki asked as he took a few steps back.

“I was just thinking that of all the people here, you’re the one who might want to have his most recent memories erased.”

“...W-Well you’re wrong.”

“You wavered for a second there, Kouki,” Ryutarou pointed out, which made Kouki awkwardly avert his gaze. “So, why did you make something like that?” Yue asked, curious.

“To help me deal with government officials back in Japan. If you guys want to live in Japanese society, you’ll need to have birth certificates and the like.”

Documents like those were necessary to get health insurance, obtain driver’s licenses and IDs, enroll at a school, and pretty much anything else someone might want to do.

“We’re going to have to forge a lot of data, and I’m an amateur at that kind of stuff, so it’ll be better to make a pro do it and erase their memories afterward.”

“Th-That’s why you made a brainwashing and memory altering device?”

Shizuku wasn’t the only one who looked horrified by that realization. Everyone else did, too. Hajime didn’t seem concerned at all though, and he replied happily, “Yep. And just in case someone tries to kidnap Myu, I’ve made a few weapons for her.”

Hajime pulled out a miniature revolver, a small rocket launcher, a sword, a hammer, a whip, steel threads, a few cross bits, a personalized warp gate, the list went on.

“Are you planning on sending Myu-chan to war!?”

A young girl doesn’t need all that to live peacefully in our society! In fact, giving her all that will make peace impossible! I need to get Myu-chan away from Nagumo-kun before he raises her into a monster! Shizuku thought to herself.

“You don’t get it! A cute girl like Myu’s gonna be targeted all the time! I can’t let her get hurt!” Hajime argued hotly.

At that, everyone, even Yue, gave Hajime a disgusted look. Wondering why they couldn’t understand something so simple, Hajime shrugged his shoulders and added, “Look. We already know for a fact there’s at least one organization that’ll be out to get Myu.”

There’s no way that’s true... Yue thought to herself.

“The Soul Sisters.”

Shizuku, Kaori, Suzu, Kouki, and Ryutarou all stiffened up upon hearing that name. The sad thing was, they knew Hajime was right. Yue, Shea, and the Tortus crew only knew of the Soul Sisters that existed in Heiligh, so they were all confused by Hajime’s proclamation. They couldn’t fathom what that Soul Sisters had to do with Myu.

“Those bastards don’t let any men approach Yaegashi, but they also won’t allow any one person to act like her younger sister. They believe Yaegashi belongs to everyone, which makes her everyone’s older sister.”

“Hajime... I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Hajime ignored Yue’s question, keeping his gaze focused on Shizuku.

“Yaegashi. Do you really think you’d be able to treat Myu like any other kid when she calls you Shizuku-oneechan?”

Shizuku bit her lip. Not only was she a sucker for cute things, but Myu was also Hajime’s adopted daughter. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from giving Myu special treatment.

“Who knows what those fanatics might do once they get jealous... I’m not willing to risk an incident happening.”

Hajime’s argument was starting to win the girls over. But just in case, he flashed his silver pen while their attention was all on him.

A second later, Yue and the others exchanged glances and muttered, “You have a point...”

“Plus, what if someone discovers she’s a dagon? Who knows what government organizations will go after her if that happens. Aren’t you scared of what they might do? Don’t you care about Myu at all!?” Hajime shouted.

This time, he shot a flash of red light out of his pen. Yue and the others’ eyes glazed over this time.

“We do care about her!” they shouted in unison.

Firing off one last flash of light, Hajime finished by asking, “Then shouldn’t you all help teach Myu how to defend herself too!?”

“Mmm... I’ll think of a way to make it possible for Myu to use magic!”

“I’ll teach her hand-to-hand combat!”

“I’ll show her how to dual wield swords!”

“I’ll teach her the Yaegashi style!”

“And I shall teach her how to turn pain into power!”

“Maybe I can teach her barrier magic!”

“Let’s write all this down, guys!”

“Leave it to me, Ryutarou! I’ll record it all!”

Yue and the others’ eyes were spinning now. Hajime, however, simply nodded in approval and muttered, “Hmm, there’s still room for improvement, but this is definitely usable.”

No one could stop mad Synergist Hajime now. By the time Kouki was done writing down everyone’s ideas, he had nearly a phone book’s worth of pages. When Myu-chan reached earth, she would be a force to be reckoned with.