5 - A Transfer Student From Overseas

—Now, it’s time to begin a new life.

Akuto woke up. He’d checked yesterday, and found that most of the students — that is, everyone but Junko, Hiroshi, Keena, and the others — had forgotten he was the Demon King. He was free from his old life.

—My goal in life has changed, but I still want to study and change society from within. Anyway, it’s so nice not to have anything weird happen this morning...

“Good morning.”

He heard a voice from the shelf above. Korone was lying there, in her usual position.

“Morning. Wait, what’s going on with your mission to watch me?”

“Well, the order itself doesn’t exist. I’m afraid that I’m about to become a stray Liradan. I could ask my god, but if I did that, unfortunately, I might be truly separated from you this time,” Korone said flatly.

—I see. So not everything has worked out, then.

“...Tell me when you’re going to do that. I don’t want have to say goodbye suddenly.”

“Of course. I intend to stay here for a while. I’m the only Liradan aware of the large scale memory-alteration that’s taken place, and I want to investigate that.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Akuto looked out the window.

“Uwah!” He couldn’t help but gasp. The school building was half-destroyed, and there were holes everywhere in the yard. And the remains of the carrier were still lying there, too.

“...Well, at least I know that battle wasn’t a dream.”

He called up a mana screen and looked through the news. Of course, there were tons of stories about what had happened.

“Demon King fights fierce battle at Constant Magical Academy, destroys divine tree of Suhara...”

There were stories about the damage to the school, the errors in the system that had resulted from the god’s death, and the serious effects they’d had, but more than anything...

“The Demon King perished in the battle...”

—So I guess that’s what everybody thinks, huh? It looks like it’s over, then.

With a little bit of sorrow, and a lot of relief, Akuto finished changing into his uniform. He went outside, and Keena ran up to him right away.

“Ackie! Good morning!”

“Good morning.” Akuto nodded and looked back at her. Keena was acting the same as ever.

—There’s no… way...

He’d been wondering if maybe she was behind this. No, not wondering. He was almost sure.

“Hey, about yesterday...”

“Yeah, it was really rough, huh?” Keena laughed innocently.

“No... I mean it was, but... did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Alter everyone’s memories...”

“It wasn’t me. It was me, though.”

Keena was speaking words that made no sense. Akuto blinked several times in confusion.

“Huh? What...?”

“Who cares? It all worked out. I haven’t seen Boichiro since then either, but I’m sure he’s fine.”

Keena laughed, and when he saw her laughing, Akuto felt his worries slip away.

“You’re right. It worked out, and that’s what matters. Well, I guess it’s not worth overthinking...”

And then he heard a voice.

“Hey, what are you standing there for? After what happened yesterday, all the dorm students are getting a physical.”

It was Junko.

“Oh, Junko, about yesterday...”

“You dummy! Forget about yesterday! And why are you calling me by first name now? After all that’s happened...” She started to mumble to herself as she walked, keeping her distance from Akuto.

“I’m sorry, Hattori.” Akuto apologized as he followed her to the nurse’s office.

“No, um... If you want to call me by my first name, that’s okay. Yeah,” she said, without turning around.

“Th-Thank you,” Akuto said earnestly.

“D-Dummy. Anyway, if you’re not the Demon King, then I can be more honest with myself around you. S-So from now on...” She trailed off.

“From now on?”

“D-Don’t make me say it!” she shouted.

Before long, they arrived at the nurse’s office.

—That’s right. If I’m not the Demon King, there’s a lot of things I can do now. I don’t know about marriage, but I can learn from Hattori’s family...

As Akuto thought to himself, his turn for the physical came around. All he had to do was sit in a chair and listen to the voice of an artificial spirit, so he kept thinking to himself as it went on.

—I won’t be using My Demon King powers in class, either. It’s sad, but Peterhausen is gone now, too...

“...Demon King.”

—That’s right. The Demon King. If my Demon King powers are gone, I can start studying again...

“...Demon King.”

—That’s right. I’m thinking about the Demon King... Huh?

Akuto looked up as he realized the people around him were murmuring something. All of them were looking at his face.

“He’s been prophesied to be the Demon King. There’s no doubt about it. We missed it during his entrance physical, but this time, that’s what it says.”

Yatagarasu, the artificial spirit in the nurse’s office, raised its voice and spoke loudly.

“D-Demon King...!”

“Was a new one reborn just after yesterday?’

“No, he must’ve been the Demon King from the start...”

“That’s right. We were friends until yesterday, but come to think of it, he always had a cruel streak about him...!”

—W-Wait!

Akuto jumped up out of his chair, knocking it back with a loud noise. The only one who was looking at him the same as usual was Keena. Even Junko, who knew what was going on, looked ready to attack him.

“H-How many times are you going to betray me!” she screamed. “If you weren’t the Demon King, I was going to tell you that you could make me your lover!”

She was so riled up that she was screaming her true thoughts again. Of course, the people around her began to murmur more.

“Unbelievable! He even toyed with that stuffy student class president!”

“Just what you’d expect from a Demon King! He’s terrible!

—Wait, guys, it’s not like that!

“N-No... Wait, everyone!” Akuto yelled.

“We know now that the words ‘Demon King’ refer to somebody who’s going to destroy the system. You could say it’s another name for someone who kills gods, too. Now that we know that, it’s meaningless to say that any individual is the Demon King. Don’t you agree?”

Akuto’s voice was clear and steady. But because his words were so clear, everyone was forced to listen, and because they were so steady, everyone understood exactly what he’d been trying to say. One of his classmates spoke up.

“Does that mean that you’ve got a problem with the decisions the gods make?”

“Wait... No... That’s not it. The gods are only a system, and that system can be abused. But I still think that we need to keep that system going, for the future’s sake. I do think we need to support gradually reducing the number of people who can operate that system, and make it more flexible, though,” Akuto hurriedly added. But...

“That’s what the black mages say, isn’t it?”

“It’s meaningless for the Demon King to be an individual... So that’s it. Now that the Demon King’s dead, they’re going to resort to being a terrorist group.”

That was when Akuto really started to panic.

“No! You don’t know what the Demon King is, that’s why you’re just making things up. The Demon King is a human being, made by the gods through mana alteration in order to commit suicide. That’s why they’re forced to rise up against the gods, but at their core they aren’t evil, and they don’t really want to destroy the system!”

“He’s starting to contradict himself...”

“Doesn’t he know a little too much about the Demon King?”

—Crap. That stuff wasn’t public knowledge...

“Wait! What I’m trying to say here is that the last Demon King proved the gods are an illusion. Which means that the Demon King is an illusion as well. Look at reality! The gods are a system, and I, the person telling you this, am real, and right here!”

Akuto puffed out his chest.

There was a moment of silence. But it wasn’t because everyone was so impressed with Akuto’s words.

—H-Huh?

He looked around. His classmates were all completely terrified of him now.

“So that’s it... He’s saying that the Demon King isn’t dead...?”

“The Demon King we saw yesterday was an illusion... in other words, he isn’t really dead!”

—D-Didn’t this happen to me before?

Akuto began to sweat.

And then...

“Akuto! You always talk too much!”

Junko drew the Sohaya no Tsurugi. It was no longer under Suhara’s influence, but it was still an item of incredible power. The blade shone with a rainbow light as she slashed at Akuto with the blunt side of the blade.

“Uwah!” Akuto blocked it with an arm, then concentrated the mana in his arm. It was something he could’ve easily done yesterday. But...

“Aah!”

“Huh... W-Wah?!”

He couldn’t control the mana, and so it leaked out of his arm and exploded.

○

—N-No... Something’s not right.

The way the other students were looking at him hurt. He’d done serious damage to the nurse’s office, and now the whole school knew about him. He’d managed to make it to class, but even the teacher in charge of the nurse’s office, Miss Mitsuko, had been looking at him coldly.

“I’m sure you’re all confused to have a Demon King in our class,” she said in a heavy voice. “But since he hasn’t actually done anything bad yet, it’s been decided that he can stay...”

“I am a Liradan, sent to observe him,” Korone said, as she stood next to the lectern wearing her uniform. “Please call me Korone. You may feel I’ve been here before. If so, you’re mistaken.”

By now Akuto didn’t have the energy left to say anything at all. He just let his head drop to the desk.

But Mitsuko continued.

“Um... I know you’re all surprised to have a new friend, but I’m actually going to introduce you to another transfer student. She’s been specially invited from overseas. Please be good to her... Okay, Keina, come in.”

—All this chaos, and now a transfer student? I hope she’s not too scared of me... Huh? Keena?

Akuto looked up. A girl with pretty blond hair and an innocent smile came into the room.

Akuto couldn’t take his eyes off her. It wasn’t because of her face; she was wearing a hairpiece with a bird design in her hair.

—Oh, that’s the one I gave to Keena when I left the orphanage...

He stood up in shock, and she turned to look at him.

“It’s you!” And the she ran from the lectern all the way to his seat in the back row, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Do you remember the pu-ramise we made at the or-fan-ege? It’s me! Keina! I missed you so much!”

Her Japanese was unsteady and halting.

—Huh? Two Keenas?

Akuto turned towards the red-haired Keena. She was looking at him and Keina in surprise.

“Oh, I’m never letting you go again, my daa-rling!” Keina said.