1 - Dating Disaster

“She’s been specially invited from overseas. Please be good to her...” The class teacher, Miss Mitsuko Torii, trailed off. She was a tall woman with curly hair and round glasses, who normally had an easygoing air about her. She only seemed upset now because of the problem child she already had in her class, and now there was a strange exchange student on top of that.

The problem child’s name was Akuto Sai. He was the student with the mean glare in the back row. He was handsome, but he was born with a mean-looking face, one that made people misunderstand him often. But that wasn’t the problem.

A prophecy (that was never wrong) had said that he was going to become the Demon King, and he’d already done so once. Of course, after the last time, there had been a long and complex series of events that had led to him losing that title, but his classmates didn’t care about that. They were in the same class with the boy who was going to destroy the world. There was a constant look of tension on their faces.

But Akuto himself was an introverted, hard-working young boy. He was very upset that his classmates feared him.

—A transfer student, huh? I hope she’s not too scared of me...

He meant it, too.

“Alright, Keina, come in.” A girl walked into the classroom. She was blonde with blue eyes, and had a cheerfully innocent smile.

Akuto couldn’t take his eyes off her. It wasn’t because of her looks — it was because of a bird-shaped hairpiece that was flashing in the lights from the classroom.

—Th-That’s the one I gave Keena before I left the orphanage...

Akuto stood up in shock, and the girl saw him. Her eyes went wide.

“Y-You’re...!” the girl gasped. She ran all the way from the front of the classroom to the back row, and then threw her arms around him.

“Do you remember the pu-ramise we made at the or-fan-ege? It’s me! Keina! I missed you so much!” she said in heavily accented Japanese.

—Huh? There’s two Keenas?

Akuto turned towards the red-haired Keena. She was sitting there, looking at both of them in surprise.

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

○

At this point, we need to remember what happened to Akuto in the past.

Akuto grew up in an orphanage. When he left, he spent all his money buying a hairpiece for a girl that he’d only seen for an instant, and she and he both swore that they’d meet again.

The girl with the hairpiece was supposed to be Keena Soga, his classmate. If you wanted to be nice, you could say she was “easygoing.” If you didn’t, you could say she was an airhead. She always looked like she was on the verge of falling asleep. She loved rice, and she had only two spells she was any good at: flying, and turning invisible.

But now there were two hairpieces.

○

“H-How do you have the same hairpiece? And how do you remember the orphanage?”

Akuto looked at Keena and Keina in confusion. Both of them had the same bird-design hairpiece in their hair. The hairpiece had been expensive, but it was something he’d bought, not made. So it shouldn’t have been that surprising that there were two of them, but...

—Why does she remember the orphanage? Then is she my...

“Aaah!” Keena stood up and pointed at Keina. Akuto looked at her nervously.

—Did Keena remember something? Or is there something wrong with what this girl just said...?

“You’ve got the same name as me!” Keena broke into a grin.

The rest of the class, who knew about Akuto and Keena’s past, slid off their chairs in shock. Akuto sighed to himself.

—That’s right. Keena kept saying she doesn’t remember meeting me in the orphanage...

“Hey darling, who’s that girl? She’s awfully pushy, isn’t she?” Keina said.

“Pushy? She’s your classmate, right? And if anybody’s being pushy here, it’s you, isn’t it? We’ve never met, have we?” Akuto said. Keina suddenly looked sad.

“Oh no! You don’t remember? That makes me so sad! That hay-er-peece you gave me at the or-fan-ege has been the only thing that’s kept me going my whole life!”

“At the orphanage? The way I remember it, the girl was red-haired.”

“Sometimes blonde hair looks red when you’re young! See? We both have the same memories! You’re my darling!” Keina rubbed her head up against Akuto’s chest.

“S-Stop that. Class is about to start...”

Akuto was interrupted by another voice.

“What are you doing? This is a classroom! Transfer student or not, now that you’re here, you’re a classmate. And you have to follow the rules!” It was the class rep, Junko Hattori, who yelled as she stood up. She was a beautiful girl with a reserved, prim and proper nature, but the harsh light in her eyes showed the stubbornness in her personality.

Keina glanced over at her. There was a frustration — no, an anger — in her eyes.

“Darling, she’s jealous of me because she loves you so much, right? Jealousy! That has to be it!”

“I’m not jealous! I’m just telling you to finish your introduction!” Junko yelled, her face red.

“So it is jealousy.” Keina glanced at Junko out of the corner of her eye, and then wrapped her arms around Akuto’s neck, making sure Junko could see.

“I-I told you, it’s not...!” Junko’s face turned even brighter red.

Akuto gently removed her arms and spoke sternly.

“That’s right. Hattori isn’t jealous at all.”

“Th-That’s right. B-But... No... When you say it so firmly, it’s kind of like...” Junko fidgeted.

“Come on, get back to the front of the class and introduce yourself,” Akuto said. Keina nodded. She ran back up to the front and spread out both hands cheerfully.

“Hello, people of the Empire! I’m Keina Doronz, and I’m from the Union! I was told that the Empire was a bunch of grumpy jerks who loved to fight, but it looks like you’re not all bad people, so I think we can be friends!”

Keina gave the class the strangest introduction they’d ever heard.

○

“So do you know her, then?” Hiroshi Miwa asked. He was one of Akuto’s few friends, a small, mischievous boy who called Akuto ‘Boss.’

“Maybe...? I’m not sure, honestly.” Akuto said as they sat next to each other in the cafeteria eating lunch.

“What do you mean you’re not sure?”

“Honestly, even if she is the girl from back then, we only talked for a moment. At this point, we barely know each other. So I can’t really tell if she’s telling the truth...”

“That makes sense, yeah.”

“Yeah. And there’s something strange about her.”

“Something strange?”

“I don’t know how to say it. It’s like she’s just a little off.”

Just then, they heard a shout from the corner of the cafeteria.

“Oh! So I have to line up here, huh? And I have to pay for it, too? School food isn’t free?!” Keina shouted.

Akuto felt like he couldn’t just sit there and watch, so he stood up. Keina saw him and waved.

“Darling! Help me! I can’t figure out how the caf-ay-ter-iya works!”

“Are you having trouble?” Akuto walked over to her.

The whole cafeteria started to murmur. Everyone in the school knew his face and name. Of course, they had a bad impression of him.

The students surrounding her, who had been angry that Keina had cut in line all backed off quickly, opening an easy path to her.

—I’d really prefer you guys weren’t that scared of me.

But Akuto had a bad habit of trying to show off when he was in public. He chose his words carefully, trying to be as polite as possible, as he waved at them.

“I’m sorry. She’s an exchange student, and she doesn’t know how things work here. She doesn’t have any money either, it looks like.”

When he said that, several of the students quickly took out their wallets and offered her money.

—Th-That’s not what I meant...

But Keina cheerfully took one of the bills she was offered.

“Thank you! You should’ve just done that to begin with! Oh, I’ll take the lunch su-pe-shal of the day!”

“Uhm...” Akuto tried to stop her, but she’d already ordered.

—That’s not right.

Akuto began to frown without realizing it, and in response, tension ran through the people around him. Nobody moved an inch. On the other side of the cafeteria, people were already starting to run away.

Akuto walked up to the student who’d given money to Keina. The poor boy was shaking and his face was twitching.

“Y-Yes?! Wh-What do you need?”

“I wasn’t asking for money, so I’ll just pay you back. I intended to pay for her anyway, so don’t worry about it.” He offered the student some money. The student took it with trembling hands.

“The guy who paid was an idiot. The Demon King’s famous for trying to hit on every girl he sees. So that kid just interrupted him when he was trying to show off.”

“Oh, so that’s why he was glaring at him. The poor guy’s gonna be the first to die, I bet.”

The students around him were whispering to each other.

—That’s not what I meant, though...

Akuto sighed to himself, but then Keina grabbed his hand. Her other hand was holding a tray with the lunch special.

“Darling, let’s go sit down and eat! You know, the Empire’s food comes with so many little dishes! I couldn’t believe it! There’s not enough food for a classy girl like me, though!”

The students began to whisper again as Akuto led Keina across the cafeteria.

“Hmm... Why do all the cute girls go for him?”

“Well, he’s the Demon King. He’s probably really amazing, in a lot of different ways.”

“I’m kind of jealous...”

“And kind of not...”

He listened to the other students comments as he walked across the cafeteria. When he got back to where Hiroshi was sitting, Keena was there too.

“Hi Ackie! And Keina.. Hmm, that’s kind of weird to say, so Doronz... Doro, maybe? Doro’s with you too?” Keena said as she wolfed down her lunch.

At her special request, the school had made her her own unique lunch. There was white rice, deep-fried rice (rice fried in a rice-based batter), rice salad, rice paper spring rolls, and rice vermicelli soup. Essentially, it was a meal of nothing but white rice. This special “K Lunch,” as they called it, was in theory something anybody could order. But nobody but her had ever finished it.

“She was making a fuss over there, so I brought her here.”

“I don’t understand how this caf-ay-ter-iya’s system works! It’s very unkind of them not to explain it!” Keina said as she sat down and began to eat. She’d ordered the daily “A Lunch,” which was very normal. But after she took a bite of the fried shrimp, she tried some rice, she shook her head in disgust.

“Oh! What is this ‘rice’ stuff? It’s completely inedible! It’s not fit food for a classy girl like me!”

Then for once, Keena got angry.

“That’s not true! Rice is delicious!”

“You might think so, but I think it’s awful. That’s all there is to it!” Keina said, but Keena refused to back down.

“It doesn’t matter if tastes good or not. It’s nutritious, and that’s what counts. It’s nutritionally complete! People can survive off nothing else!”

—No, you’d get sick from lack of vitamins...

Akuto thought to himself.

But Keina began to shake her head violently.

“Nutritious or not, you can’t eat just one thing! And who gave you the right to boss me around, anyway? I’m going to have bread instead!”

Keina stood up and used the rest of the money she had to buy a sandwich, which she brought back to the table. She put it down on the table and declared in a loud voice, “Man can live by bread alone!”

—I don’t know if that’s right...

But Keena began to shake her head violently.

“It takes 88 steps to make rice, you know!”

The two of them began to argue, as one ate her rice and the other ate her sandwich.

“Boss, nobody’s eating that A Lunch, are they?” Hiroshi pointed to Keina’s tray. Only one bite had been taken out of the fried shrimp. The rest was untouched.

“...Let’s split it.”

While Keena and Keina argued, Hiroshi and Akuto finished not only their own meals, but the A Lunch as well. By the time they were done, the two girls had moved to arguing over Akuto.

“You know, the first time I saw you, I really, REALLY, didn’t like you! You’re jealous of me and my darling too, aren’t you?” Keina grabbed Akuto’s arm.

“I’m not jealous! Ackie and I are friends! We made a promise!” Keena slammed her fists down on the table.

Keina looked down at her with a smirk.

“Hehe. Friends. So you can just sit back and watch as we go on a date then!”

“A date?” Keena looked surprised.

Keina pressed her body up against Akuto.

“Don’t you know what a date is? It’s when you want to see if you can be boyfriend and girlfriend, so you go to a classy, relaxing, eco-friendly café and eat fancy sweets! You have some tea there and if you like each other, you’re boyfriend and girlfriend!”

—Is that how a date works? Maybe that’s just a Union thing?

Akuto frowned.

“If you like each other, you become boyfriend and girlfriend...?”

“That’s right. It’s up to the individual exactly how you say it, but after the tea, the boy confesses his love to the girl. And then she either accepts it, or doesn’t. That is the turning point of their fate,” Keina said confidently.

Then she turned to Akuto and said, “Let’s go on a date after school, the day after tomorrow! You pick the spot! That’s the boy’s job! I want a place where you can eat elegant, classy sweets! An eco-friendly place that’s perfect for a date to accelerate our love!”

○

“And somehow I ended up agreeing to this...” Akuto said to the beautiful girl on his bed after he got home from school.

Soft green hair. A perfectly beautiful face, like a doll. She looked like some sculptor’s interpretation of the ideal young girl. But she was lying on the bed reading a magazine, eating ningyo-yaki snacks out of a bag next to her. Despite her beautiful appearance, she was acting like a middle-aged housewife or an unemployed young teen.

“I see,” Korone said. She was a Liradan who’d been sent by the government to be Akuto’s observer.

“I see...? Is that all you have to say?”

“My job isn’t to tell you how to run your personal life. And anyway, why are you telling me this, exactly?”

“Oh, right. Supposedly it’s after this that you decide if you want to be boyfriend and girlfriend, so I’m just going to tell her no, then.”

There was no doubt in his voice.

“That’s awfully sudden,” Korone said as she looked up from her magazine.

“I don’t really know her, is the thing. Of course, if I wanted to be her boyfriend it would be after we’d been friends for a while first. I don’t want to rush this,” Akuto said, sounding very serious. His straight-laced personality was both an asset and a flaw.

“Why not just tell her?”

“She’s insistent that she won’t hear my answer until after this date.”

“That’s a very strange thing for a human to say. It’s as if she’s insistent on following a series of steps,” Korone said thoughtfully.

“So anyway, it looks like I just have to play along with her steps. I was hoping you could tell me where I can find a place that you can eat elegant, classy sweets, at an eco-friendly place that’s perfect for a date to accelerate love,” Akuto said. His memory was impressive.

Korone sat up on the bed and looked at him.

“Couldn’t you look that up online?”

“Of course, I tried. But none of the places felt quite right.”

Akuto took out his student handbook and called up a mana screen to display the cafés he’d found. All of them were aimed at a much older clientele. There was a café that converted to a bar in the evenings, a café that served exclusively cold-brew coffee, one with tatami mats and green tea that was members only, one that was decorated in the style of an obscure foreign ethnic group, etc.

“None of these are right for a high school date, no. How did you get these?”

“I searched for places with elegant classy sweets that were also eco-friendly, and perfect for accelerating love. This is what I ended up with. No, the part about accelerating love was too abstract for me to really understand,” Akuto’s face was dead-serious.

Korone looked back at him with a serious expression as well.

“I’ve been thinking for a while that you are an idiot.”

“It’s something I feel bad about. But this is also a place where I have no knowledge or experience.” Akuto’s face became even more serious.

Korone looked back at him with an even more serious expression.

“I’ll give you some advice. A good place for a date is a couple’s café.”

“A couple’s café?” Akuto didn’t seem to understand, so Korone began to explain carefully.

“A couple’s café is a place you can only go to as a couple. The booths are divided and very cramped, so you have to sit next to each other. Many of them have self-service drink bars, and no waiters. The light is as low as possible, and it’s set up so nobody around you can see what you’re doing.”

“Do you mean...”

“Even if some kind of sexual act is performed there, the café owners will not ask you to stop. There’s also cafés devoted to exhibitionism, where the lights are lit up brightly and the drink corner and play rooms are separated. Many people at these cafés prefer to go as two sets of husband and wife, and enjoy watching each other as they swap partners. There are also cafés where men can go alone, where events called ‘happenings’ will occur, where a naked woman will suddenly come up and offer to have sex with you. Whether you accept or not is up to you.”

Korone suddenly stuck a finger out at Akuto. He sighed.

“I see. You’re not going to give me a real answer, are you?”

“Correct. Why would I want to help someone else fall in love? Especially with the boy I like,” she said.

“Huh?” Akuto looked at her in surprise.

Korone pressed her lips together tightly, and then slowly stuck out her tongue like a sheet of fax paper. She made an “akanbe” motion, pulling down on one eyelid, all with a flat expression.

“Just kidding.”

“...You tease me often enough that I’d like to think I’m used to it, but those expressionless jokes of yours always get to me...” Akuto’s head slumped.

Korone made it worse by raising up both hands behind her head to give herself bunny ears. She remained completely expressionless.

“Just kidding.”

○

The next morning, Akuto continued to struggle with his choice of café. And Keina Doronz was only making matters worse.

“Did you find the perfect classy, relaxing, eco-friendly café where you can go and eat fancy sweets?”

“No, not quite yet. But I’m working on it.”

“I expected more from you, my darling. But I know you’re up to the task! No, if you can’t do it, just order the lower classes around you to help!”

Keina pointed to the other students. Of course, none of them looked happy. None of them were willing to say anything in front of Akuto, though.

“You shouldn’t say things like that.” Akuto said, but Keina just ignored him.

“Oh, darling! You’re so kind to the commoners, aren’t you?”

“That’s not what I meant...”

—I’m not sure if she’s a selfish person, or just young and childish...

As he thought about it, he suddenly heard a voice.

“Today’s class is a practical exercise.”

It was Junko.

“Oh, Hattori. I see. It’s practicals today. Doronz, what do you want to do?” Akuto asked. Junko frowned.

“Do you have time to worry about the exchange student? I’m the only one who can face you, so I need you focused on me.”

The Academy’s main goal was to teach magic, so the primary classes were magical practicals. These classes included learning to control destructive magic, so they could be quite dangerous. Akuto was always causing trouble in them because he had more magic than he could control.

“Alright. I’ll do my best not to hurt you.”

If somebody else had said those words, they might’ve sounded arrogant. But in Akuto’s case, it was just his bad habit again. Junko blushed.

“Y-You dummy. Don’t be weird.”

Then Keina, who had been listening in on their conversation, interrupted them.

“Hah! Don’t make me laugh! You’re no match for my darling!”

“What’s with you and this ‘darling’ stuff? You’re an exchange student, so I was willing to cut you some slack, but I can’t do that when it comes to magic class. Magic is Imperial technology. If you don’t take this seriously, you’ll really get hurt.”

Junko and Keina glared at one another.

“There’s nothing wrong with my magic. If my darling and I pair up, we’ll be just fine!”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Imperial technology is...”

“They told me this country is a bunch of nationalists who hate foreigners, and I guess they were right, huh?!”

“What? Fine, then pair up with him and get blasted flat on your butt! Then you’ll regret how stupid you’re being!” With that, Junko left angrily.

—Well, jeez...

Akuto didn’t know what to do, but it was still time for class. Today they were practicing the use of telekinesis to do detailed work. They were going to learn to use magic to move tiny parts with millimeter accuracy.

“There’s only a few micrometer gauges and sets of materials, so pair up. Once you can do it on your own, practice working together,” Miss Mitsuko said. And then she added, “Sai, make sure you’re far away from everyone else. You don’t need to work with anyone else, either.”

The other students were sitting in front of sets of differently-sized blocks on their classroom desks, but Miss Mitsuko was pointing to a desk placed out in the middle of the schoolyard.

“Well, I know the reason for it, at least,” Akuto said as he obediently went out into the yard. But Keina followed behind him.

“Darling, let’s do our best, okay?”

“Huh? The teacher told me to do it on my own. You don’t need to risk doing this. I know that you might be bothered by what the class rep said, but...”

“Don’t worry. We can do this together!” Keina ran ahead and then brought him out into the yard.

“It’s not that easy. This delicate stuff is what I’m worst at. It sound stupid, but it’s like trying to open a can with a missile. See? Everybody’s telling you to go back to your seat.” He turned back towards the classroom window. Miss Mitsuko and their classmates were motioning her to come back.

But Keina just laughed.

“Ahaha, it’s fine. Let’s just show them how it’s done. Let’s show them how strong the bond between us is!” Keena grabbed Akuto’s hand and moved it towards the blocks on the desk.

“Listen, this is a bad idea...” Akuto trailed off as he felt a warmth in his arm where Keina held it.

—What? I feel power...

“See? It’s just fine.” Keina smiled at him.

Of course, Akuto had no intention of using his power. But the hand on his arm was covered with a faint flow of mana.

Most mana was dispersed into the air. To use magic, you linked it with the mana in your body. The more powerful the mana, the more difficult it was to control. And controlling the mana in someone else’s body was extremely difficult. Everyone’s mana had a unique frequency that could only be produced by their own brainwaves.

—It’s resonating with my unique frequency?

That was the only explanation he could come up with. Keina was perfectly controlling the mana within his body.

Akuto’s surprise spread to the other classmates. Miss Mitsuko was displaying a mana screen for them that showed Akuto and Keina. The blocks on the desk were being manipulated exactly how they were supposed to be. The smallest of them, practically the size of powder, were kept inside a box of transparent plastic. Akuto lifted these out to form a wall.

“Th-That’s impossible!”

Junko couldn’t help but raise her voice in shock.

○

“An exchange student?” Fujiko Eto asked.

Fujiko was the girl’s dorm mother, a beautiful girl with the best grades in school who was loved by everyone. But she was secretly a black mage who worshiped Akuto.

One of the few people who knew about her secret identity, Lily Shiraishi, was sitting in front of her. Fujiko had been summoned to the student council room.

“Yes. That’s what the paperwork says. But the fact is, nobody knows anything about her.” Lily rubbed the brim of her fancy hat with her fingers while she spoke.

“Well, that’s certainly unnerving. How is it possible for someone in the Empire to be a complete unknown? If you’ve brought me here to tell me ghost stories, I’m afraid we’ll have to do this another time.” said Fujiko, looking a little bored.

Lily brought up a mana screen on the desk that showed video of Akuto’s classroom from earlier.

“As you can see from this, it seems that this involves Akuto, somehow.”

The screen showed Keina helping Akuto with his mana control practice.

“Th-This is...!” Fujiko gasped.

“Correct. I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to get control of Akuto Sai’s mana. Which means...” Lily tried to say more, but Fujiko cut her off.

“How dare she touch my Akuto?!” She slammed her fists down on Lily’s desk in rage. Lily winced a little.

“...No, that’s not what’s important here.”

“Ha—! Haha... Hahaha...! It was a joke, of course! Yes, this is fascinating!” Fujiko was laughing, but she seemed to have understood the seriousness of the situation. She looked Lily in the eyes with a serious expression.

“You said we don’t know who she is, correct?”

“Correct. She seems to have just appeared out of nowhere. And to make matters worse, she was found in the crater left behind after that battle.”

By “that battle,” she was referring to the fight that had taken place earlier, where Akuto had turned into the Demon King and destroyed the god Suhara. But after that fight, almost everyone had lost their memories of Akuto, and instead believed that a different Demon King had killed Suhara, instead.

“Which means that she might have something to do with whatever it was that erased everyone’s memories.” Fujiko crossed her arms.

“Correct. The being known as the Law of Identity... it seems to be some kind of mysterious will that manifests through the body of Keena Soga.”

“And you called me here to find out who this exchange student is?” Fujiko asked. But Lily shook her head.

“No, I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere with that. There’s nowhere to even begin. I just wanted to make sure that this wasn’t some new trick of yours, that’s all.” Lily looked at Fujiko, a challenge in her gaze.

Fujiko’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t happy, but she knew what Lily was getting at.

“I understand why you’d suspect me, but the cells of Akuto’s that I was cultivating, and the research I did into his unique waveform, have nothing to do with this. Just before the battle ended, the pot I had was stolen, I’m embarrassed to say.”

“By that rubber man?” Lily looked surprised.

Fujiko nodded.

Lily grimaced.

“Then they used it to... No, the timeline doesn’t match up,” Lily mumbled to herself, and then waved a hand. “Okay, got it. Thanks. Sorry for making you come all this way.”

“No, it was worth it to see that exchange student with my own eyes.”

“Are you going to look into her? Well, just don’t make too much of a mess.”

“No, I’m just spoiling for a fight now, that’s all.” Fujiko started to laugh with a cruel look on her face.

○

After school, Junko heard someone call out to her.

“Hattori, there was something I wanted you to tell me.”

“To tell you?” Junko repeated, and then she saw who it was who’d stopped her.

It was Akuto. Keina had been following him around everywhere since yesterday, but now she was nowhere to be found. Maybe she’d gone back to the dorms.

“You want me to tell you something? That’s rare.” Junko coughed. She’d realized they were alone and suddenly felt nervous.

It was just the two of them in the hallway at twilight. And come to think of it, during the war she’d loudly declared that she’d give up her family to be with Akuto, but she hadn’t actually told him that yet.

“S-So, um... what is it?” She turned her face towards the sunset so he couldn’t see how red she was.

“I was wondering if you knew of any cafés I could use for a date,” Akuto said, his voice calm and natural.

“A-A date?” Junko’s voice quivered in shock.

“Yeah. I can’t find anything myself. I asked Korone, but she just started acting strange.”

“I-I-I-I... see...” Junko began to panic violently.

“Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine. A-Anyway... Hmm... The place in front of the station... No, that’s not good for a date. Take a right out of the station and then head down the street. Once you’re out of the shopping area and into the suburb, keep going and you’ll find a café with an open terrace. The owner’s a pastry chef, and you can buy little cakes at the store next door,” she said. Akuto nodded, satisfied.

“That should work fine.”

“It’s best to make reservations a day in advance if you can. B-By the way, when are you going to go?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Oh, tomorrow. I see.”

—This is so sudden. What should I do? Buy new clothes? No, it’d feel weird to go that far. I need to be subtle. But if he’s inviting me on a date, that means things are almost certainly going to be fine. I just need to act natural and it will all work out.

...But if I agree to it too soon, he might think I’m easy. It doesn’t seem right to give him that much control over the relationship. That’s right. Why not say I’m busy and act a little hesitant? It might be nice to see him get a little upset...

When she was done thinking, she began to speak, still turning away from him.

“I’ve actually got some plans for tomorrow... No, it’s nothing important. My sister has an event she invited me to. But if this is really that important, I can go with you instead. I mean, my sister does those events all the time. Haha... Hahaha...”

But she was speaking so softly that Akuto didn’t hear her.

“This is a huge help. Doronz insists she wants a place where you can eat elegant, classy sweets, an eco-friendly place that’s perfect for a date to accelerate our love, and I had no idea what to tell her.” Akuto smiled, completely oblivious.

In an instant, a chill ran down Junko’s spine like she’d been dumped into the arctic wastes.

“...Wait a second. You’re going on a date? With that exchange student?”

Akuto nodded innocently.

“Yeah. Well, I’m just going to go hang out with her, since she asked.”

“No... Wait... You’re going on a date? With the exchange student? Just because she asked you to?”

“Well, she did ask, so it would be rude to turn her down. Am I wrong? Also, it looks like people from the Union don’t think of dates the same way we do. It’s much less of a big deal to them.”

“I-I see... That’s right. Haha... hahahaha...”

“A-Are you okay? You just went pale,” Akuto said, worried, but Junko was already staggering away in shock.

—I-I see... Why did I never think of that? All I have to do is ask, and he’ll go on a date with me. That’s right. Of course. That’s just the kind of guy he is...

○

“The observation target’s made reservations at a café? What’s its name? Café Bakhtin? What time?”

There was a look of tension on the local Knight Captain’s face as he received the telepathic call. He immediately began to take down notes in his book.

The air in the knight garrison suddenly became tense. Twenty veteran knights were in the room, busy at their duties, but all of them stood up to watch the expression on the Captain’s face.

“...Roger. We’ll do everything we can to secure the area.”

The Captain ended the call. There was a mix of fear and anticipation on everyone’s face as he spoke to them.

“The Cabinet just called. The potential Demon King will be at Café Bakhtin tomorrow at 3:00 PM, on second avenue. Our job is to protect any civilians in the area!”

“Yes sir!” his men answered him with a shout.

Korone may have looked lazy, but she wasn’t slacking off. She was constantly reporting on Akuto’s actions to the government. And whenever he did something, the reports went immediately to the knight garrison of the town where Constant Magical Academy was located.

But Akuto was an orphan who lived in a dorm, so he almost never left the school grounds. For this reason, this would be the knights’ first large-scale operation.

“Contact Café Bakhtin! Have one of our female knights infiltrate as a waitress, and tell her to get her waitress training out of the way in the morning! We’ll use security plan 1-B! Don’t bring any weapons that would frighten the local populace! And don’t forget to contact the surrounding garrisons for help! And what’s more important than anything: don’t let the citizens get hurt!” the Captain yelled.

The knights in the room began to add red dots onto the mana screen map in the middle of the garrison.

And the next day became the longest day of the Captain’s life.

○

“Um... you really didn’t need to do this...”

Akuto seemed uneasy. He was looking at himself in a mirror, dressed in casual clothes. The clothes were carefully coordinated, something he’d never have thought to do on his own, and he’d even been given some accessories to wear.

Fujiko was the one who had dressed him. He hadn’t owned a lot of clothing to begin with, but she’d told him what to wear, and it had paid off.

“No, you need have confidence in your appearance at all times. You’re the Demon King I worship, after all!” Fujiko laughed as she adjusted his collar, then ran a comb through his carefully-waxed hair.

Fujiko had taken over the Academy’s Home-Ec room to help Akuto change out of his uniform. The two of them together, in their personal clothes, looked like something out of a magazine.

Outside the window there were many girls, and a few boys, trying to peer in.

“Miss Fujiko is so beautiful!”

“But why is she helping the Demon King?”

“I hate to say it, but he’s good looking. If only he wasn’t the Demon King...”

“No, even if he wasn’t the Demon King, I still wouldn’t like him!”

“That’s right! He’s taken our Fujiko away... But we couldn’t beat him a fight, could we?”

The students were talking amongst themselves.

Fujiko watched them out of the corner of her eye as she saw Akuto off.

“Alright,” she said, “You’re all set. Have fun.”

She smiled gently at Akuto as he bowed a little and left the room, but inside he was suspicious about the way she was behaving. There was no way, he thought, that Fujiko would let him be friends with another girl.

Of course, he was right. As soon as she saw him round the corner, Fujiko quickly cleaned up the Home-Ec room and began to tail him.

“I’m not letting her have a date with him! If it was anybody but that mysterious exchange student, I would’ve already sent her to hell.”

As soon as she saw that there were no students around her, Fujiko’s face took on an evil smile.

“That’s right. I’d like to solve the mystery of the exchange student as well,” a voice said out of nowhere.

At some point, Korone had come up behind Fujiko.

“W-When did you get behind me...?”

“It wasn’t particularly difficult. Also, as an observer, it’s natural for me to follow my target.”

Korone seemed intent on going into town as well. For once, she wasn’t wearing her uniform.

“Gaah... This is going to make things more difficult, but fine,” Fujiko sighed, and she let Korone follow her as she trailed after Akuto.

Once Akuto was outside the school gates, Fujiko ran into another pursuer.

“F-Fujiko...! What are you doing here?” Junko stammered as soon as she saw them.

“...That’s my question. No, I suppose there’s no point in asking.”

Of course, Junko was in her personal clothes as well. Three girls were now tailing Akuto.

Akuto was waiting for Keina Doronz in front of the school gate. She was dressed in a perky, feminine outfit that seemed just like what a girl from the Union would wear.

“I see. If she’s going for sporty, maybe I should’ve gone a little lighter on the fancy aspect?”

Fujiko was starting to question her own fashion choices. Junko frowned.

“Fujiko, why aren’t you more worried? Normally, you don’t act like this at all.”

“Hahaha... I’m not letting her have that date easily. The necklace I lent to Akuto has a magic spell on it. When anyone in the vicinity consumes caffeine, they lose self-control in the same way they would if they were drunk. Actually, it functions more like a truth serum to be precise... We’ll learn exactly what that exchange student is up to!” Fujiko chuckled, and Junko took a step away from her.

“Th-That’s terrifying... That means in the worst case, she might get drunk and make Akuto hate her... And if it goes well, we might even learn who she really is...”

“That’s right. And Akuto’s bracelet has a spell cast on it to protect him from it. Akuto won’t be affected by the necklace at all!” Fujiko said, satisfied, but Korone mumbled to herself.

“There’s no way this ends in anything but insanity. That’s what happens when you rely on secret magic items. Everyone knows that, don’t you?”

“Everyone does NOT know that!” Fujiko yelled.

Junko put her head in her hands.

“Oh, why did I come along with this... I should’ve just gone to Yuko’s event.”

Meanwhile, Junko’s little sister, Yuko, was announcing her new song under the name ‘Yuri Hoshino’ at a nearby department store. She would have nothing to do with the events that followed.

○

(The target has passed by the station.)

A man in a suit, who looked to be waiting for someone, sent a telepathic message as soon as he saw Akuto and Keina pass. He was a knight in disguise.

There were others as well: a housewife, a deliveryman, and a man walking his dog. All of them reported when Akuto passed by.

But it wasn’t just the knights who were nervous.

“I-Is that...”

“The student at the Academy who everybody’s talking about...”

The townspeople knew Akuto’s face from the students at Constant Magical Academy. Since the knights hadn’t warned them, they suddenly found the Demon King in their midst without warning.

The shutters started to come down on the shopping street, and mothers quickly led their children away. The only people still outside were the knights in disguise.

(We made a mistake. The people in town know more about the Demon King than we expected!)

(Is that why this is happening? We just got another report! Followers of the Demon King are entering the city to make contact with the target!)

(Can we stop them?)

(We can set up a cordon, but the followers are civilians! If they break through we’ll need a plan!)

The knights began to murmur among themselves.

Of course, Akuto noticed something was wrong.

—Oh jeez... Do they even know me in town...? From now on, I’ll just stay indoors.

Akuto felt sad as he watched the shutters close.

“Why is every place closing? I was going to have you buy me things!” Keina pouted.

“Well, you know, they’ve got their reasons. I don’t have any money, anyway. I couldn’t buy you anything expensive even if you asked me to.”

“Well, there’s a bank right there! Banks have money, right?”

“Banks have money, but I don’t.” Akuto’s shoulders slumped.

“Then go get some!”

(The targets are plotting a bank robbery!)

(Send some knights to the bank, now!)

(Hurry! If they enter the bank, you are permitted to use your weapons!)

“You shouldn’t talk about doing things like that. It’s not right.” Akuto shook his head.

“Then how are you going to get money?” Keina asked, confused.

—It looks like she really doesn’t know, huh?

Akuto was surprised. He felt like he should explain.

“You’re supposed to work for it. If you don’t work, you need starting principal. You can use it to buy stocks, and then sell them... Basically, you buy ownership in a company, do a good job of running it, and then when it grows you sell the company, something like that. Basically, those are the only ways.”

“Oh! I don’t really understand, but it sounds complicated!” Keina put her hands up to her head.

“That’s right. But someday, I want to participate in society by helping run a company.”

(There’s a possibility the Demon King has already bought stock! Have the people at the Fund do a full search! See if anybody’s customer list has the Demon King on it!)

(The girl next to him is from the Union! Check to see if foreign money laundering is involved!)

Oblivious to the chaos they were causing behind them, Akuto and Keina arrived at their goal: Café Bakhtin.

“Welcome,” the manager bowed.

The manager really worked there, but all the other waitresses and customers were knights in disguise.

“Good, this place is still open.”

Akuto motioned for Keina to sit down first as he looked around. There was an odd atmosphere of tension in the café.

—Looks like they’re keeping an eye on me, yeah.

No matter what happened, he would be on his best behavior today, he swore to himself.

Meanwhile, the three pursuers were hiding across the street, drinking from juice cans while they watched them.

“This is pathetic, isn’t it? Staking out somebody else’s date.”

“All we get is juice cans, too. But just you wait. You’re about to see a true nightmare unfold. Hehehe...”

Junko and Fujiko were whispering to each other. The two of them both seemed sad, somehow, but Korone was taking it easy.

“Looks like their date is going well,” Korone said. She was expressionless, but still seemed excited somehow as she took out a bag of ningyo-yaki and started to chow down. She was clearly in the mood to watch.

“You’re not very concerned about this, are you?” Fujiko asked.

“Is watching someone else’s date that much fun?”

Korone nodded and replied, “A little, yeah.”

Korone had said that the date was going well, and indeed, from the outside the two of them looked like the perfect couple. Akuto had sworn to stay on his best behavior, and he’d done his best to keep to that promise towards both Keina and the surrounding customers.

Since he was an orphan, Akuto had worked to save up the money to get into the Academy, and he knew how to behave around other people. He had Keina decide what to order, being careful to hide the fact that she knew so little about everything when talking with the waitress.

Since he’d worked in a place that served food, he knew what items would make life particularly difficult for the cooks if they were ordered, and he deliberately ordered something that would be easy. Of course, he didn’t let Keina know what he was doing, either.

Akuto was capable of being considerate if he wanted to be. The reason he wasn’t, usually, was that he was incredibly dense around women. But, when he tried, sometimes he could cause misunderstandings. Even now, Keina’s cheeks were beginning to get a little flushed.

He’d ordered them the perfect selection of sweets, and then given her an explanation of what tea would go best with them. He was polite towards the waitress, and even careful to keep the menus clean. And after he ordered, he laughed as he explained to her how Imperial customs worked. It would be stranger if Keina didn’t get the wrong idea.

“H-He’s never been that nice to me!” Fujiko bit down on her handkerchief.

“N-No, if you get the wrong idea there, you’re in for a world of hurt later! That’s just who he is! I know this from experience!” Junko had seen this scene play out too many times before.

“I can’t wait to see what happens when the coffee gets here. Heheheheheh,” Korone laughed with an expressionless mouth.

The waitress was trying her best to act normal, but she was clearly nervous as she brought the tray of tea and sweets to the table.

(The target is on his best behavior. Is it possible that he just wants to eat at the café?)

She sent a telepathic message out in secret. But the Captain told her to focus.

(Don’t let your guard down. It’s said that the Demon Kings have always been gentlemen. We can’t be sure he doesn’t have some kind of plan...)

“Here’s the blueberry pie you ordered...” The waitress put down the sweets and tea in front of Akuto and Keina.

“That’s my darling! You picked the perfect sweets for a classy, lug-jur-y-us, and eco-friendly place like this!” Keina was in a good mood.

“No, I actually wasn’t the one who picked this place.”

“That’s just fine! Anyway, darling, you’re the best!” Keina’s mood improved even more as she took a bite of the cake. “They’re using really good wheat for this!”

“I’m glad you like it. I can’t tell if the wheat is good, but it’s definitely delicious.” Akuto nodded and took a sip of the tea.

The necklace and bracelet began to give off a dull light. Then, Keina took a sip out of her teacup.

“There we go!”

“Yes!”

“She drank it, huh?”

Fujiko, Junko, and Korone all yelled at once.

If the magic took effect, Akuto should have been unaffected, while Keina should be under the effects of a truth serum. The three of them watched to see what would happen next.

“Hey, darling, there’s something I haven’t told you.” Keina put down her cup. Her tone was much gloomier than it had been a moment ago. She looked down and put her hands on her knees. Akuto could tell something was wrong, and he didn’t know what to do.

“W-What’s wrong?”

“Actually, I don’t have any memories.”

Akuto had no idea what to say to this sudden confession, so for now he just said, “Huh?”

“I don’t know when I was born, or how I got here...” She covered her face with her hands and began to cry.

“Wait a second. What are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry, it’s silly to just start crying like this. But it’s true, and when I think about how it’s true, I just get so sad...”

“You don’t have any memories? Like you have amnesia?” Akuto asked. Keina shook her head.

“No, that’s not what I mean. I think... I was just born a little while ago. I can tell.”

“Huh...? Then your memory of me at the orphanage...”

Keina shook her head harder.

“No, those are real! That’s a real memory! But it’s all I have. It’s the only memory I have!”

Akuto may have been dense, but he even he could tell that either his own magic, or the Law of Identity, was probably involved. But what was more important than that was that the girl in front of him was crying.

“That’s why I was so scared until I met you... I was all alone in a world where I knew nothing... And then someone from the government took me in and brought me to you.”

Keina continued her confession as she sobbed, and her words weighed heavily on his heart. Akuto was an orphan too, and thought he understood what it was like to not know your own past.

“It’ll be okay. If you don’t know about anything but me, then I’ll teach you all kinds of things,” Akuto said.

“I-Is she crying deliberately to get that reaction out of him? This isn’t going the way I’d hoped...” Junko panicked.

“Aaah! Akuto is so kind...! But that kindness belongs to me, not to her!” Fujiko ripped the handkerchief in half.

“It seems like Keina Doronz’s big revelation is what’s important here...” Korone said, but the other two weren’t listening.

“Akuto, do you like me?” Keina looked up at him with wet eyes.

“Um...” Akuto froze. It seemed wrong to give a thoughtless answer. From the way Keina had behaved so far, it was clear that she was like an innocent child.

“I think that if I’m all you remember, it’s natural for you to spend a lot of time thinking about me.”

“That’s not the answer I want! Tell me...”

She started to sob again. And then the mana around Akuto started to stir. His own hand moved without him telling it to.

—Huh?

Akuto couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want it to, but his hand was moving slowly forward.

—My hand’s moving on its own?

His hand was placed gently on her head. Keina looked up in surprise.

—Is Doronz not controlling this herself?

He was surprised at her behavior, but his hand was definitely doing what Keina would have wanted it to do. It went down to stroke her face and wipe away her tears. In that instant, the two of them looked like lovers who’d promised their futures to one another.

“Th-This is going too far! I-I’ll kill him! I’ll kill him, and then I’ll die!” Junko moved to pull out a hidden dagger.

Korone, for her part, had taken a back scratcher out from somewhere, and was using it to keep Junko’s hand away from the dagger while she tilted her head in confusion.

“There’s a strange mana flow coming out of Keina Doronz... Wait, you two aren’t listening at all.”

Fujiko’s hairs were all standing on end, and she had the face of a demon.

“Gaaah! This wasn’t the plan! This wasn’t supposed to happen! But just in case, I put a booster on that necklace! If I set it to full power, Doronz will pass out drunk! She’ll humiliate herself, and then hopefully piss her pants and humiliate herself even more! Hahaha... Gwahahaha...!”

“At this point, I’m not even sure what’s going on,” Korone said, but she didn’t try to stop Fujiko.

“Take this!” Fujiko yelled, as she took out a control device and turned the dial to maximum.

The effects appeared instantly.

(Something’s going on with the target. The girl is crying! Should we assume the Demon King threatened her?)

(No, from the contents of their conversation, it seems like an internal dispute...)

But suddenly, the knights’ telepathic call was disrupted.

(I’m sorry... I know I’m on a mission, but I don’t feel well...)

(No, wait. Me too. Is this some kind of magic...)

The other knights who were pretending to be customers all started to feel sick, as well. They started to slump in their chairs, like they couldn’t take it anymore. Some fell flat onto the table.

The “customers” had been there long enough that they’d ordered several cups of coffee, so they were affected by Fujiko’s magic, as well.

I’m sorry, there’s something I need to tell you,” one of the knights said, not telepathically, but directly. “I’m actually sleeping with your wife!”

It was a shocking confession, particularly when delivered in a voice loud enough to hear throughout the whole café.

Of course, this was the power of the necklace’s magic.

The knight he was talking to was almost passed out drunk, but his mouth had gone wide open in shock. But what he said was even more shocking.

“I’ve been selling off garrison equipment on the black market for the past five years, and I’ve made several million off of it! And I’ve spent it all on Miss Takayanagi, the girl at the front desk!”

“Well, now you’ve done it,” Korone said, strangely calm.

“O-Oh no! This thing wasn’t supposed to be that powerful... They must have all had a lot of caffeine...” Fujiko quickly tried to turn down the dial.

But...

Snap

“Oops.”

“Well, I saw that coming. I think we all knew that was going to happen, in fact,” Korone said in the calm tone of an observer.

Fujiko stared down in shock at the broken equipment in her hands.

“Fujiko, let’s just watch and see what happens. We can tell ourselves that we did a good thing by revealing corruption within the knights’ ranks,” Junko said optimistically. Perhaps, at this point, she was beyond caring.

“Th-That’s right. Anyway, at least we knocked out Doronz.” Fujiko seemed to have decided that she would take no responsibility for this at all.

“We created a lot of chaos in doing so, though. Ha,” Korone said with an emotionless laugh.

The café’s open terrace was in an uproar.

“You bastard! How dare you sleep with my wife?”

“Katsuko said you were too much of a wimp to please her! She was crying, you asshole!”

“Stay out of my family problems! I’ll blow you away! Knight Garrison Special Attack: Volcano Eruption!”

“Stop making so much noise and just lie down and cry! Sword Tornado!”

Part of the terrace was blown away. The knights’ magic had collided.

Of course, the Captain was listening via telepathy, and he began to give orders.

(Calm down! We’re on a mission right now! Until it’s over, forget what anybody says!)

“But are we supposed to just ignore the fact that he’s robbing us blind?”

One of the other knights, his face bright red, was storming up to the knight who’d confessed to stealing from the garrison.

“It’s that greedy bitch’s fault! All she ever talks about is money!”

“That’s because you’re willing to give it to her!”

The two of them took out the electromagnetic blades they used for city patrols and began to hack at each other. The tables around them were knocked back and began to fall apart.

“Uwah!” Akuto jumped on top of Keina to protect her.

A chair hit him hard in the back, but it wasn’t enough to bother him.

—But... What am I supposed to do in this situation?

Akuto wasn’t sure. This was probably because of something Fujiko had done, but since he didn’t know the details, there was nothing he could do to stop it.

—I should run... but if I do, the knights will follow me. Maybe it’s safer to stay put.

He looked around, and saw that while the drunk knights were fighting, the sober ones were gathering and...

Keeping their distance.

—Why aren’t they putting a stop to this?

(They caught us off guard! The Demon King’s followers broke through our cordon!”

(Fool! How did that happen?!)

(Hearing about the thefts and other things distracted us!)

The Captain groaned to himself.

(Who cares if somebody’s cheating on somebody else? The Captain has a bastard kid!)

(The way the Lieutenant’s crimes were covered up was way worse than that!)

Shocking truths were being revealed every minute at Café Bakhtin. Unless it violated the rules of your religion, magical powers couldn’t be stopped. And looking at someone’s life log without evidence of a crime was forbidden for privacy reasons. But still, the Captain was shocked to see how many crimes, or almost-crimes, were going on in his unit. Of course, the fact that his own secret had been revealed didn’t help.

(I-I told them about that kid because I trusted them... Gah! It doesn’t matter! Capture the Demon King’s followers!)

(N-No, well you see...)

(What’s wrong?)

(The citizens heard the noise and are gathering around the café to protest!)

(Stop them! Get them away from here!)

The Captain was on the verge of tears.

The scene before Akuto was something straight out of hell. Keina was crying like a little girl in his arms. And next to him, drunken knights were revealing their deepest secrets as they battled each other with magic.

On the edge of the terrace, the manager of Café Bakhtin was trying his hardest to keep his café from being destroyed. And past that, the sober knights were running out of the café as angry citizens started to swarm the building.

—I thought I just came here for a date...

Beyond them, he could hear strange sounds, and saw a dust cloud approaching him.

—What’s going on here? The war almost seemed better than this...

Akuto sighed to himself.

“Wh-What’s this strange sound?” Junko looked around her.

It was hard to see anything. The three of them were already surrounded by a crowd of townspeople who’d gathered to protest the Knights’ lewdness and corruption. Of course, a lot of them were just there to watch, but still, the space around the café was jam-packed.

A strange sound was echoing from the back of the crowd. It was a mixture of loud music and what sounded like static screeching.

“Wave pattern analysis shows it to be musical instruments,” Korone said, her hands around her ears.

“Who would bring a musical instrument to something like this?” Junko asked in surprise, and then turned to look.

The sound suddenly got louder.

GYAAAN!

There was an ear-splitting roar as the crowd of people around them split in two. The townspeople were covering their ears as they tried to flee from the sound.

“Wh-What is that?” Junko’s jaw dropped open.

There were men in strange outfits at the back of the crowd — five men in total, all wearing black leather. They were all wearing either leather belts strapped over bare skin, or black shirts. They’d decked themselves out with silver skull jewelry and steel spikes all over their clothing.

But that wasn’t the weird part. Their faces were all painted with white and black makeup. The area around their lips and eyes had been colored black, giving them an eerie, intimidating look. And there were incantations in the language of magic written on their faces, as well.

All five of them had instruments. They were a twin guitar band, it seemed. The vocalist, a man with long black hair, howled:

“You are in the presence of the Demon King! Bow before him, weaklings!”

“What...?” Junko was so surprised that she turned to look at Korone.

“Those are some of the Demon King’s followers. A type of band called black metal. They write extreme lyrics about worshiping the Demon King. Of course, I think they dress up that way just for fashion’s sake...”

Her explanation was cut off by Fujiko’s shout.

“Th-That’s the extreme black metal band ‘Black Demon King’!”

“You know them? ... Do you really hang out with people who’d call themselves something like that?” Junko asked, a little shocked. Fujiko shook her head.

“No, don’t let the name fool you. Black Demon King isn’t just playing dress-up. They’re all members of real black magic circles, who’ve given up their divine baptism. Their leader has an arrest record. They’re a real black metal band, and the only times they switch members is when one’s been arrested or assassinated by another black mage!”

“Ugh... Is that true?”

“Yes... I haven’t abandoned my baptism, because I still need to use magic. But the most fanatical black mages are so eager for the arrival of the Demon King that they’ll abandon their baptisms, even if it means giving up the ability to use magic!”

“So you’re saying...”

“That’s right. Ever since the Demon King War, Black Mages have been able to use magic. After the death of the god Suhara, their faith in the Demon King has reached its MAX!” Fujiko declared.

“Max!”

Peterhausen had functioned as a god for the black mages. He’d died, but before he’d gone to sleep he must have activated some subsystem. It was still providing magic to the unbaptized black mages.

“So that means they’ve come to see the Demon King...”

The band members forced their way through the crowd as they approached the café.

Their mana-powered instruments were in top form, and their hit song, “Triumphant Return of the Demon King,” was echoing loudly.

The knights tried to stop them, but they couldn’t use any magic that would hurt the townspeople. As they hesitated, they soon found themselves swarmed by goth-loli girls, fans of the band.

“Stop them!” the Captain ordered, but he may as well not have said anything.

Black Demon King’s members arranged themselves out in front of the café. The drummer set up his drum set, and when they were all ready, the vocalist bowed deeply to Akuto and declared, “We are honored to be in the presence of the Demon King.”

As he spoke, Akuto was sitting on a chair in the center of the open terrace, with Keina resting on his lap. From a distance, it looked like he was watching the chaos with a dispassionate and uninterested expression.

But Akuto was actually too busy to pay any attention to what was going on around him; something strange was happening to Keina. She seemed like she was drunk, but her body was incredibly cold, like it might freeze your fingers if you touched it. Akuto wasn’t sure what to do, but he’d managed to get her up on his lap.

“A-Are you okay?” Akuto asked.

“I’m okay,” Keina said in a thin voice. “It doesn’t hurt... But... you know...”

Then she turned to look up at him. She seemed very sad.

“What’s wrong?”

“I want you to fall in love with me.”

Her words were so honest and pure that they drove deep into Akuto’s heart. But before he could answer her, his hand moved on its own.

—I’m not doing this... Is she doing it?

He felt the same mana flow in his body that he’d felt before in class.

His hand ignored his commands and gently stroked her hair, as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Don’t try to control me like that,” he said, but Keina just looked confused.

“What are you talking about?”

She didn’t seem like she was lying. But his body gradually moved closer to hers, as his face was drawn towards her cheeks.

Keina looked genuinely surprised; he didn’t think she could fake that expression.

—Is she doing it unconsciously?

Akuto wondered to himself as he tried to get his body back under his control. But despite his efforts, he couldn’t do anything to stop its movements.

—This isn’t good. Not for her, either.

To try and make his voice heard by her unconscious mind, Akuto said loudly, “Get away from me!”

“Get away? How cold! If we’ve done something wrong, please forgive us!”

The members of Black Demon King got on their knees and begged.

“Please! Please forgive us! We’ll do anything!”

The band members thought that Akuto was talking to them, but of course, Akuto didn’t hear them.

“Get... away? But you’re getting closer to me!”

“You’re controlling me unconsciously!”

“Everyone, abandon your hopes! Your hopes for the Demon King only serve as a burden to him! But this means that he has heard our wishes!”

“What do I do...? I don’t know...”

“The loneliness you felt is burdening your heart. An unconscious power is trying to get that back.”

“The Demon King was lonely! Imprisoned within the Academy! Humiliated! But fear not, for he is about to get his power back!”

“Lonely...? Me?”

“You only cared about me. You thought that the only way you could be happy was for me to love you.”

“That’s right! You are everything to us, Demon King!”

“Oooooh! What an honor! The Demon King himself knows of us!”

“But... that’s because I love you...”

“I know that. But that’s not right. You don’t know who I really am yet.”

“Wonderful! The Demon King is going to show us his true power!”

“He says that even when he killed a god, that wasn’t his true power! Show us your true power! Show us your true power!”

“The real... you?”

“There’s no need to hurry. You can make new memories from now on, little by little. I’ll be watching you.”

“That’s right! It’s about to begin! The legend is about to begin!”

“A nightmare that will remain in the people’s memories! An unforgettable nightmare! The Demon King is watching! He’s watching the whole world!”

“You’ll... be watching me?”

“That’s right. So grant me my wish. Don’t try to force everything around you to be under your control. Your feelings are tying me down.”

“The Demon King demands you grant him all you have! Grant him your money! Grant him your lives! Abandon all you have and worship the Demon King!”

“Yes! For the world to come! For the world to come!”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying... It’s too complicated...”

“Don’t worry. I’m about to begin. First, stay calm.”

Only when he said that did Keina stop controlling Akuto’s body. And at the same time, she passed out. It was only then that Akuto looked up and saw what was around him.

“The Demon King commands you to remain calm!”

“We shall make this land our own, and make of it a bridge to the future world!”

“This open terrace now belongs to Black Demon King! We shall remodel it into a concert hall! Out of the way, cowardly knights! Listen to this hymn of praise for our King, and sink into the abyss of despair!”

The band began to play what sounded like a black magic song.

“Uh... I’m sorry?” Akuto said, but by the time he had realized that things had gotten even worse, it was too late.

“Take them down! Ignore the knights who are drunk! Blow them away too if you have to!” the Captain’s order echoed.

The knights fired their attack magic, but their spells were stopped by a throat-crushing death metal scream from the vocalist.

“We are in the presence of the Demon King, and we must fight to prove ourselves!”

“Hang in there! Just keep fighting until reinforcements get here!”

And then, the quiet café in a residential street became a battlefield.

Explosions. Shouts. Guitar distortions. More embarrassing confessions from the knights. More insults and fighting. Screams. Shouts from the demonstrators.

The hatred and the smoke from the explosions was forming a spiral, with Akuto at its center. He was sitting there calmly with Keina resting on his lap. Of course, he actually just had no idea what to do, but to an outside observer he seemed to be calmly watching the chaos around him.

“How terrifying...”

“So that’s the power of the Demon King...”

“His mere presence is enough to cause confusion in the knights’ ranks, and bring chaos down around him!”

Junko could hear the townspeople whispering amongst themselves.

“This is awful...” she whispered as she looked around.

The knights seemed intent on blaming everything on the Demon King to cover up their own misdeeds. Some of them weren’t joining the battle. Instead, they were going around among the townspeople and trying their best to make things worse.

“How shameless...” Junko’s hand went for her blade, but Korone stopped her again.

“No, for now, we need to get them out of here. If we can do something to distract everyone, I can get them out of here and back to the Academy.”

“Distract them? Can’t I do that by going on the attack?” Junko frowned. But then it was Fujiko’s turn to interrupt. And in a strangely calm voice, too.

“If you need a distraction, I’ve got one.”

“What?” When Junko turned around, Fujiko almost seemed to be blushing.

“The necklace has overloaded. It’s about to go out of control and explode. How embarrassing... Hahaha...”

“You gave him something dangerous without thinking about the consequences, didn’t you...?” Junko sighed.

“No, I believed that Akuto would be just fine. Hahaha...”

As soon as her voice trailed off, smoke began to rise from where Akuto had been sitting .

“Now!” Korone raised a hand high, showing off a transparent sheet in her hand.

“The invisible cover! Anyone under it will become invisible.”

“You don’t need to explain how it works.”

“Get out of here. We’re running away.”

And then, Akuto and Keina vanished.

After they’d left, the chaos remained. There were no deaths, but the price tag of the damage repairs had a lot of zeros.

The café became famous as the spot where the Demon King had made an appearance, and ended up as a haven for Demon King worshipers. Unable to attract paying customers, it went out of business and the owner vanished.

Afterwards, it became a concert hall for black metal bands.

○

“I thought I was just going on a date,” Akuto sighed to himself.

Three people were kneeling on the floor in front of him: Junko, Fujiko, and Korone. Junko had felt guilty and decided to explain what had happened.

“I’m sorry, I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t.” Junko bowed her head, but Fujiko looked upset.

“You did NOT try to stop it! Don’t pretend you’re the only good girl here.”

“This is mostly your fault, though!” Junko yelled, but Fujiko looked up at Akuto with pleading eyes.

“I only wanted to help you... you understand that, right?”

“No one is at fault here. Except Akuto, for not picking someplace sexier,” Korone whispered.

“Don’t be stupid! If you’re an observer, you should’ve done something...”

“An observer’s job isn’t to get involved.”

“Well, you should have anyway! You were clearly having a good time! I could tell!”

“All three of you, shut up!” Akuto yelled, which was very rare for him.

And yet, the apologies continued late into the night.