Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou

After becoming empress, Soga Keena was supposed to quietly perform her imperial duties, but she would occasionally…no, constantly run off and cause trouble for those around her.

“My only real duties are praying and signing things. Doing that boring stuff for so long is hard work.”

Keena was sitting on Akuto’s bed and talking on and on. She had torn Akuto’s blanket from him and wrapped it around herself, she had her beloved rice cooker in front of her, and she was scooping white rice into her mouth using a wooden spoon.

Akuto sat up in bed and listened to her speak for a while, but then he checked the time.

It was currently 5:30 in the morning and he had about half an hour until he had to get up.

That meant one thing: this young empress, who had red tufts of hair on the top of her head, a round face, a stomach that acted as a black hole for white rice, and a mysterious side that occasionally showed itself, had snuck into his dorm room at dawn and begun munching on rice.

“Isn’t that going to give you a stomachache?”

Akuto pointed at the rice cooker.

“Did you know that the palace only allows me two bowls of rice?”

He was unsure if that qualified as an answer or not.

“Maybe, but no other guy has to worry about a rice cooker’s chime going off at five in the morning,” he complained.

“It’s not my fault. The imperial guards have gotten used to me, so they stop me from taking off my clothes when I try to disappear. If I don’t slip away early in the morning, I can’t escape.”

Keena had the special ability to use invisibility magic and she would use that ability to escape.

“I’m glad the imperial guards are normal people.”

Akuto yawned in his bed and Keena pouted her lips.

“A-chan, you don’t get to talk about people being normal.”

She had a point. It had been said that Sai Akuto would become the demon king in the future and he had already done so. He was far from normal.

But on the inside, he was a diligent person. While still wearing his pajamas, he began cleaning up the room Keena had messed up searching for the rice cooker.

“I’ve had enough excitement. I know I won’t be able to live a normal life, so I want to remain as secluded from the world as possible. My dream of being a priest seems even further off now. Not just that. It’s impossible. But I still want to live a proper life. And to do that, I need you to be a proper empress. If you take your job seriously, it might be possible to reform the political system from the inside,” said Akuto while returning his scattered clothing to the closet.

Despite being a living combat machine, he had returned to a normal school life. This was thanks to the empress’s ability to control the demon king. That meant he had to live his life while under Keena’s control. His life was reliant on Keena, so it was natural for him to want to lecture here at times.

And it seemed his words actually reached Keena.

“You’re right. I need to focus on being empress!”

After that resolute statement, she licked some rice off of the spoon, returned it to the rice cooker, and stood up.

“First, I need to reform the school! Yes, I need to make sure everyone understands how great rice is!”

With a determined look on her face, Keena vigorously clenched her fist and took the pose of a G.o.ddess standing up in revolution.

However, she was currently naked.

The blanket wrapped around her fell and exposed her rather stumpy body.

“Keena!”

Akuto closed his eyes when he noticed.

“Eh? What? …Hyah!”

Once she looked down at her own body and finally caught on, Keena frantically picked up the blanket.

“A-chan, you perv. I’m still the same as when I disappeared.”

“You did all that on your own. I need to get you some clothes.”

He started to leave the room, but someone called out to stop him.

“That will not be necessary.”

A shelf near the ceiling opened and a girl with doll-like beauty appeared from within. She skillfully bent her body to slip out of the thin shelf door. Despite falling from higher than the average adult’s height, she rotated her body like a cat and splendidly landed in the center of the room.

She could make these inhuman actions because she was an artificial human known as a L’Isle-Adam. She was Akuto and Keena’s observer and her name was Korone.

“I am one of the empress’s maids, after all. Now, here are your clothes.”

Korone stuck a hand into the bag hanging from her shoulder and she pulled out a school uniform. It was a small bag, but most anything could fit inside because the interior was a virtual alternate dimension.

“Yay! Thanks.”

Keena cheerfully took the clothes. Korone immediately circled behind Akuto and covered his eyes with her hands.

“I wasn’t going to try to watch her change.”

“But a teenage boy’s desire for female nudity is quite powerful. It is enough to drive you to bike through the night to reach a vending machine the next town over.”

“I don’t have that much willpower,” argued Akuto.

But Korone silently continued to cover his eyes.

After changing into the uniform, Keena made an announcement.

“As empress, I will start by reforming the school. I will reform it with the power of rice. By reminding everyone of the forgotten appeal of rice, I will change the students’ state of mind! I call it the Rice Renaissance! I will bring back the mindset of the ancient empire that loved rice so that our youths can grow up healthy! And I will ultimately change all of the empire’s land into a giant rice field!”

“That’s crazy,” said Akuto, but Korone drowned him out with applause.

“What a wonderful idea! Long live the empress!”

“Y’know…”

Akuto turned toward Korone, but her expressionless look made it impossible to tell what she was thinking. Even so, she started egging Korone on.

“I, Korone, shall do whatever I can to aid your majesty. All glory to the empress!”

“No, Korone-chan. All glory should go to rice!” said Keena while almost looking like a saint.

“Seriously…?” complained Akuto.

Keena’s statements had been so ridiculous that he had thought her ideas would never be carried out.

But Keena’s Rice Renaissance began as soon as midday.

The dining hall was always crowded during the lunch break, but it was even busier than usual today.

The line of students stretched outside of the dining hall and showed no sign of moving. The problem existed at the front of the line.

“Spaghetti and meat sauce please.”

The person at the front was Etou Fujiko. She used her supple and slender fingers to elegantly place her meal ticket on the counter.

She had the elegance of a refined, black-haired girl. She was so popular among the girls that they practically idolized her. However, she had an outer and inner personality. Deep down, she was truly a bad person. She worshiped Akuto from the bottom of her heart. She did not hide that, but the other girls thought she had been brainwashed by the demon king.

“We have no spaghetti.”

Fujiko looked over the counter in shock.

She had recognized the voice.

Korone was standing behind the dining hall counter.

“What are you doing, Korone? And what do you mean you do not have spaghetti?”

“On the empress’s orders, I am in charge of the dining hall today,” explained Korone with an emotionless voice. “As for the spaghetti, I apologize, but we do not have what we do not have. You can use the same meal ticket, but please change your order.”

“I suppose I have no choice. Udon would be nice. I will have a kitsune udon,” said Fujiko with a kind smile.

“We do not have any,” replied Korone immediately.

“What? You do not have udon either?” asked Fujiko in surprise.

“Correct. Please give your order.”

Fujiko now understood why the line was so long, but she could not comprehend anything beyond that. With a doubtful look, she changed her order once more.

“Tempura soba would be fine.”

“We do not have any.”

The response was immediate once more.

“Ramen.”

“None of that either.”

“Yakisoba?”

“My apologies.”

“Kishimen?”

“Of course not.”

“Fine, hiyashi chuuka!”

“Why would we have that?’

“I am in the mood for noodles today! Surely you have some kind of noodle!”

Fujiko raised her voice, but Korone’s voice was as calm as ever.

“Noodles? We do have rice noodles.”

“What? Rice noodles?”

“Yes. Even that was a compromise.”

At that point, Fujiko realized what was happening.

“That’s right. Soga Keena is now the empress.”

“Precisely. She wishes to convey the wonders of rice, so we are serving a menu of nothing but rice. Meal K is recommended.”

“Meal K…” fearfully muttered Fujiko.

Meal K was a frightening meal put together specifically for Keena. Even the fried foods and the soup used rice, so no normal person could finish eating it. The main side dish was rice croquettes.

“So that is what caused this disaster.”

Fujiko looked around. The line was so long because the others had argued just as Fujiko had. Some students had received food and sat down, but they had all stopped eating with looks of despair covering their faces. A close inspection showed all of them had Meal K sitting in front of them.

“Why are you doing this?’ asked Fujiko in a low voice.

She gave the most frightening expression she allowed herself in front of the other students.

But Korone’s expression did not change.

“I was ordered to spread rice around.”

“I do not understand any of this, but I demand the menu be changed back!”

Fujiko’s loud announcement received agreement from the students lined up behind her. They had remained silent so far, but Fujiko led them to shout in agreement.

“That’s right, that’s right!”

“This is imperial tyranny!”

“Give us bread! Give us noodles!”

The students broke the line and began pressing in against the counter.

“The students want noodles? Let them eat rice.”

Korone stood before the rioting students, boldly folded her arms, and made that announcement.

This only made the students more furious.

“What!?”

“Just because you’re cute doesn’t mean you get to act like an empress!”

“It may be Korone-chan saying it, but she has a real empress backing her.”

“At any rate, just return the menu to normal!”

The dining hall was not exactly small, but one had to vacate their seat as soon as they finished eating on a normal day. The students soon began to fill every inch around the counter.

And amid it all, Korone responded calmly…or rather, expressionlessly.

“You leave me no choice. Let us negotiate. I will add curry rice to the menu.”

Korone’s concession caused the students’ emotions to explode.

“You mean curry was off limits before!?”

“So was Meal K and white rice really all that was on the menu?”

“Screw that! We’re not going to negotiate! Either give us the full menu or it’s war!”

“That’s right! We want normal food!”

“This is our rice riot!”

The students’ expressions had grown violent. The academy had been filled with belligerent students from the beginning, but none of them would lose their cool easily. Nevertheless, a full-blown riot was breaking out. Grudges over food were frightening.

“I have a feeling this is not quite the same as a rice riot, but I must interpret your statements as threats of violence against me,” said Korone.

The students’ expressions grew nervous and a stir spread through them like a wave.

Would they do it or not? That dangerous atmosphere filled the dining hall. Everyone there was well aware of Korone’s combat ability, but the crowd was too hungry and enraged to leave their combat stances.

“We demand food! Return the menu!”

“We are not afraid to fight!”

“Isn’t that right, Etou-san?”

The students right in front of the counter sought agreement from Fujiko who had started this riot.

But she had vanished from the front of the line.

“Huh?”

The students in front of the counter found it odd that Fujiko was missing after stirring up the riot, but they did not have time to think on it.

The next thing they knew, a dangerous voice came from behind Korone.

“What’s going on out there?”

It was a casual question. In other words, it was not the words or the voice that were dangerous. It was Sai Akuto who poked his head out that was dangerous.

The students all moved away from the counter.

“N-no fair! You can’t use someone that dangerous in your negotiations!”

“You’re trying to threaten us, aren’t you!?”

“Let’s keep this peaceful! Let’s drink some tea and calmly discuss it!”

All of them began speaking fearfully. This was not surprising. This was the person who had fought in a great battle which had brought great disaster to the imperial capital. The current empress had sided with him, so he had not been blamed, but he was still the demon king.

“K-Korone-chan, why is the demon king there?” asked the student in the lead with a trembling voice.

“He is helping,” answered Korone.

She was not lying. Akuto was cooking rice in a large pot and dividing it into rice bowls.

But the students did not interpret her words so simply.

“H-helping!?”

“The demon king would never help cook. He must be a bodyguard!”

Akuto’s expression stiffened when he heard that.

—I’m actually a pretty good cook.

But despite thinking that, he did not say it out loud. And that resulted in frightening the students further.

“H-he’s mad!”

“He’s ready to fight!”

“Eeeee! How frightening!”

Something could be heard collapsing within the crowd. It seemed someone had fainted.

—Is it just me or has this gotten even worse than before?

Akuto was inwardly confused, but he more or less grasped the situation. He turned to Korone with an even harsher expression.

“Korone, care to explain this?”

Korone answered without changing her expression in the slightest.

“I tried feeding them rice and they rioted.”

It was a simple explanation.

Akuto brought a hand to his forehead.

“Did you not do what I told you to do? Even if you’re going to feed them rice, there’s a better way to do it. What are you going to do now? You’ve clearly failed here.”

Despite his scolding, Korone’s expression remained unchanged, but the students could not remain calm.

They had interpreted his words differently.

“She didn’t do what he told her to? I see. So this was all on the demon king’s instructions!”

“He was trying to make us eat only rice so we’d be vitamin deficient and get beriberi!”

“What a terrifying plan!”

“And he even used the empress’s love of rice! He was trying to place the blame on the empress!”

“That’s right! Keena-chan and our cute Korone-chan would never do something like this!”

“He used them and now he’s rebuking Korone-chan for the failure of his own plan!”

—I don’t entirely understand, but why does this always have to happen?

Akuto despaired in his heart.

But he still gathered his strength and faced the students.

“Well, let’s set aside that pile of misunderstandings. How about we sit down and talk about this?”

He smiled.

The smile may not have been the best, but he had a beautiful yet villainous face. When he smiled asked them to talk, it brought only fear to those before him.

Screams filled the dining hall and students rushed for the exit.

—Ah…

By the time Akuto realized his error, the dining hall was deserted.

The only motion in the empty s.p.a.ce was the fallen meal tickets blowing in the wind.

“It appears the problem has been resolved,” said Korone calmly.

“Y’know, this was definitely caused by you changing the menu to nothing but rice,” complained Akuto after checking the menu and realizing what had happened.

“I was following my orders from the empress.”

“She only told you to try to get them to eat more rice.”

“Yes, but I decided to take a more forceful route.”

“More forceful?” asked Akuto.

“Very forceful,” said Korone with a nod.

“Doesn’t that make this your fault?”

“You could look at it that way.”

“You started a riot for no reason, didn’t you?”

“Some might say so.”

“You were enjoying it, weren’t you?”

“A bit.”

“…………………Eh?”

“A bit,” repeated Korone.

Akuto cleared his throat a bit.

“Ahem… I-I see.”

“Do not worry. A bit means that was not the only reason. You could even interpret it to mean I meant no harm and merely enjoyed what accidentally happened,” she said with a serious expression.

“You don’t have to explain it.”

“Really? Then I will excuse myself as I clean up. I will call in the empress and have her announce that foods other than rice will be made available. Fortunately, the students have mistakenly concluded that this was the demon king’s doing.”

Korone bowed, but her comment made it seem like she had predicted all of this.

“Did you know it would turn out this way from the beginning?”

“You could say that,” she said without turning around.

—Well, it isn’t too surprising. And I’m all for using my position to improve Keena’s popularity as empress.

Akuto accepted it that way, but he could not suppress the increased desire to start living a reclusive life of doing nothing but read all day.

The new janitor named Sasahara Nozomi walked through Constant Magic Academy’s schoolyard. She was free to choose her own clothing but had been told to wear something she could get dirty, so she wore the maid uniform she used as a uniform at home. She was poor, so that was her only option.

Her first job was to inspect the sensors on the school buildings. If one was broken, the manufacturer would repair it, but the janitor was the one to check them daily.

She finished the job quickly. Either her run-down home had finally come in handy or she was showing off her skill as a natural born janitor because she completed the job with several times the skill of a normal person. She was currently on her way to the final inspection.

That was when loud voices reached her ears.

“Long live the empress!”

Her ears twitched and light reflected off her exposed forehead.

“The empress?”

She ran toward the voices and found Keena surrounded by cheering students. She was not aware of this, but these cheers were for returning the dining hall to normal.

—That’s her!

Her eyes were fixed on Keena. She had not noticed on the broadcast, but Keena’s face was quite foolish-looking in addition to looking like a commoner.

—Wh-why does she look so foolish?

Nozomi’s eyes began to spin around and her thoughts fell into chaos.

—An idiot like that can become empress?

—Is bloodline really all that matters?

—That means I can become empress too!

—But there already is an empress.

She finally reached an incorrect conclusion.

“I know! I can talk with her and have her give me the position of empress!”

She had arrived at the school with no plan, so it was only natural that she came up with a reckless answer. However, she turned back toward Keena while convinced that her idea was brilliant.

—Now, how can I get a chance to talk with her?

Keena was surrounded by students, so she could never get close.

—I need to wait for a good opportunity.

She hid behind a cleaning supplies locker at the back of the school building.

Finally, the students started back toward the newly freed dining hall. Only Keena and Korone remained and they began walking while discussing something.

—Th-they’re coming this way!

Nozomi felt her pulse quicken as the two girls approached.

—Th-this is no time to be nervous. O-oh, no…

Despite what she told herself, she was nervous.

She had always been timid.

—E-ee! H-here they come!

The two girls were almost to her now.

“I had the new palace’s yard made into a rice paddy.”

“I figured you would do that.”

“Eh!? How did you know?”

She could hear their conversation now.

—Okay, let’s do this.

—No, once they’re a little closer.

—Okay, now.

—No, maybe it would be better to start from behind after they pa.s.s by.

She hesitated.

And unsurprisingly, Keena and Korone pa.s.sed by right in front of her while she hesitated.

By the time she made up her mind and jumped out, they were long gone.

—Wh-why? How?

In her confusion, her eyes started spinning around again and her thoughts started in an incorrect direction. To make a long story short, she ultimately reached a completely wrong conclusion.

—My only option is to set a trap to stop her and talk to her!

She decided to use her special authority as janitor to check on Keena’s daily schedule, so she quickly finished her work and then checked the cla.s.s schedule using the shared terminal in the janitorial room.

“According to the empress’s cla.s.s schedule, she’ll move between cla.s.ses here!”

She knew where to set her trap: the path between cla.s.ses.

—What kind of trap should I use? Should I put birdlime on the ground? No, birdlime is hard to use and it would stick to other people as they pa.s.sed by. But I want to use birdlime in the end. Then I need to put it somewhere other people won’t go. I know! I can put it on the wall. Real high up on the wall. Up where even someone with flight magic wouldn’t normally go. That means I need something to lead her up there.

Her thoughts had reached a point that it was needless to mention that they were wrong.

Ultimately, her plan was as follows:

She would place banana peel on the path Keena would walk down. Keena would slip and face upwards. A flyer for a sale on rice would be placed up above. When she walked in the direction indicated by the flyer, she would reach an empty pa.s.sageway. A bag of rice would be placed on the ground there. When she grabbed it, a metal washtub would fall from above. It would hit her head and make her stagger to the side where she would fall on a trampoline. The trampoline would send her flying upwards where she would stick to the birdlime placed high on the wall.

—And I’ll be waiting at the window next to her where I can casually talk to her. It’s perfect! Simply perfect! I’m so brilliant it scares me!

It certainly took a type of brilliance to think that would work. At any rate, Nozomi began setting up the trap. After doing so, she waited for Keena to arrive. According to the schedule, Keena would travel alone after the other cla.s.smates had pa.s.sed by.

After watching Keena’s cla.s.smates walk by while excitedly talking, Nozomi placed a banana peel in the center of the hallway and quickly hid behind a column.

“Heh heh heh. Now she’ll trip.”

Nozomi snickered.

But it was not Keena who appeared. It was the beautiful L’Isle-Adam who had accompanied her.

—Did she send her servant on ahead?

Nozomi gasped, but she was even more shocked when the L’Isle-Adam – Korone – walked forward and tossed the banana peel in a trashcan.

“My perfect plan…”

It was unclear what about the plan was perfect, but Nozomi seemed to turn to white ashes.

Just as she was about to collapse, a voice suddenly called out to her.

“Excuse me.”

“…………Eh?”

She came back to her senses and looked over. To her surprise, Korone’s face was directly in front of her.

“Hyaaah!”

She tried to run away, but Korone calmly grabbed her arm.

“Please wait.”

“Eeee! Forgive me! Show mercy! I only did it on a whim!”

“What are you talking about? I only called out to you because you were staring off into the distance.”

“Eh? Then you don’t know I set a trap?”

“A trap? You set a trap?’

“Oh, no! How did you find out!?”

Completely forgetting that Korone held her arm, Nozomi tried to run away, but that was of course impossible. She merely tugged on her arm and fell forward.

“Are you perhaps an idiot?” expressionlessly asked Korone.

“Uuh… I don’t want to be called an idiot…but I was a huge idiot just now.”

She readily gave in, fell to her knees, and began to sob.

“Crying will not help. Now, confess your crimes. What is this trap? Why did you set it?”

Korone looked down at her as she asked these questions.

Nozomi wiped away the tears and began to honestly confess what she had done. She confessed that she had set up birdlime in order to capture the empress, that she had wanted to speak with the empress, and that she had imperial blood.

“I see. So that is why you set up this ridiculous trap.”

“That’s right. But I wasn’t trying to hurt her.”

“I cannot believe you tried to capture her with this trap.”

“I said I was sorry. I really am.”

“Yes. It was quite naïve to think this trap would work.”

“Eh?”

Nozomi looked up.

Korone nodded expressionlessly.

“You cannot take the empress’s place with this trap. You need to think more realistically.”

“Eh? Eh? Eh? What?”

Korone went on to teach Nozomi her mistake.

“Think about it. You will not become empress if you merely capture her and speak with her.”

“Y-you’re right. Capturing her and speaking with her isn’t enough…”

“Yes. A peaceful talk will accomplish nothing.”

“Eh?”

“In a negotiation, you must find a way to get your opponent to accept your terms. In other words, your odds of success are much higher if you negotiate with them while they are in some type of predicament,” calmly explained Korone.

“W-wait. Then…”

Noticing something was odd, Nozomi hesitantly spoke up, but the look on Korone’s face remained perfectly serious. In fact, her expression did not change in the slightest. Even so, Nozomi understood what it was Korone was saying.

“You mean I should threaten her?”

Korone shook her head.

“Of course not. It is a negotiation. Some may view it as a threat, though.”

“I can’t! I can’t do that! I just can’t! …But just for reference, how exactly would I threa- negotiate with her?”

Nozomi squeezed her eyes shut while firmly grabbing Korone’s hand.

“First, you must make the trap something harmless. However, you still must have room for negotiation. In other words, you should corner her mentally,” said Korone.

Nozomi appeared to be thinking and she finally clapped her hands together.

“So for example, I could make her naked in front of everyone if she was caught by the trap?”

“That would be one method,” agreed Korone.

“Ahh! Thanks! You’re really nice!”

Nozomi thanked her while crying. She let go of Korone’s hand to begin working on the trap, but she quickly realized she did not know what to do.

“Um, what should I do for a trap?”

“I see. Allow me to give you some advice. With you, something complex would be a bad idea. The simpler, the better. You should follow two general rules: it should not use mana and it should accomplish its goal in a single step,” calmly explained Korone. “It should not use mana because that will delay the detection of the trap by the students who are skilled at magic. And it should accomplish its goal in a single step because more quickly shaming them will obstruct the mental focus needed to use magic and lengthen the span of the shaming.”

“I see. This is very useful.”

Nozomi began taking notes.

“In that case, there are only a few effective types of traps. Here are the diagrams.”

Korone opened a mana screen and displayed detailed information on the traps.

“Why do you have this stuff saved?”

Korone pointed at the screen without answering Nozomi’s question.

“The trick here is this rope. It activates once the rope is pulled.”

“I see, I see.”

Nozomi was easily convinced and she began nodding.

“A trap that catches their feet in a rope and hangs them upside down is effective, but it is dangerous and should be avoided. I suggest dumping a special chemical on their head.”

“A chemical?”

“Use this.”

Korone pulled a bottle from the bag she carried and held it above her head.

“Clothmeltium!”

“Cl-cloth-what?”

“Clothmeltium. This frightening potion melts only clothing.”

“That’s a very straightforward name.”

“Blame the one who named it. It uses bacteria to melt the synthetic fibers.”

“So it’ll leave them in their underwear right away! Or naked if their underwear has synthetic fibers!”

“Exactly.”

Korone nodded and held the bottle out toward Nozomi.

“Dilute it thirty times before using it. This bottle is enough for three buckets’ worth.”

“B-but…” Nozomi hesitated. “Isn’t this going a bit too far?”

“Is it? You are merely making her naked to negotiate with her. I fail to see the problem.”

Korone tried to force the bottle into her hands.

“Th-there isn’t a problem, but…um… E-eeee!”

Nozomi cowered down.

She had always been timid, so she naturally grew afraid when someone talked about this plan so excitedly. In her eyes, Korone looked like Mephistopheles. She was quite the expressionless demon.

The small girl’s trembling fingers reached for the bottle.

And then…

“Korone, who is that?”

A male voice suddenly approached.

“Hyaaaaah!”

Nozomi screamed and ran away.

“Wait…”

The boy, Akuto, spoke up in confusion, but Nozomi did not hear him. She ran around in complete confusion and finally settled down behind a thicket somewhere. She caught her breath and realized she held the bottle in her hands.

“I-I have it.”

She gulped.

And…

“Ah, why is there a copy of the design on my terminal mana screen!?”

“Korone, who was that?”

Akuto tilted his head as he watched Nozomi run away.

“The janitor,” said Korone casually.

“Then why was she dressed like a maid? No, that isn’t the issue. What were you two doing?”

“She appeared to be a pitiful person with strange delusions, so I was speaking with her.”

“What?”

Akuto tilted his head again.

“She was trying to capture the empress with a bizarre trap. She planned to leave this banana peel here.”

Korone returned the banana peel to its original spot.

“I don’t follow.”

“You don’t? That simply shows how bizarre the situation was. The empress was safe because she was skipping her cla.s.s, but I was trying to determine what that janitor had done and possibly arrest her. However, you showed up and let her escape,” declared Korone.

Akuto was troubled.

“You mean it was my fault?”

“I did not say that.”

“But if you were trying to capture her…”

“She had not committed enough of a crime to be arrested, so I was technically setting things up for that.”

“I still don’t understand. You weren’t making the situation more complicated just for the fun of it, were you?”

“A bit.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Do not worry. I was 80% serious.”

“Y’know…”

Akuto gave up on that confusing conversation and decided to pursue the maid janitor. He left Korone behind and jogged in the direction Nozomi had disappeared in.

—Um, I think she went this way.

He travelled to the side of the school building and found Nozomi in a narrow pa.s.sageway students would travel along between cla.s.ses.

The short janitor in a maid uniform was in the middle of setting up a primitive trap.

She was leaning over in a thicket to the side and rummaging around with some rope.

“Excuse me,” he called out.

He received a scream in response.

“Hyaaaah!”

And in the next instant, Nozomi was already running away.

“Wait!”

He tried to stop her, but she disappeared around the corner of the building in no time.

He tried to pursue her but stopped once he noticed Nozomi’s trap at his feet.

—That was close. This must be the trap Korone mentioned.

He had only noticed because he had looked down where she had been working, but a narrow piece of fishing line was stretched across at his feet. If he had walked normally, he would have tripped it. And a bucket was set up to dump a liquid on him if he did. The bucket was cleverly hidden behind a tree branch, so no one would notice it if they were not looking for it.

“I need to get that out of the way first.”

He followed the fishing line, found the contraption hidden on the tree trunk, and thought about how to dismantle the trap without causing the bucket to fall.

—If I remove this rope, the bucket will fall, so maybe I should just let it happen while no one is here.

He then started to remove the contraption created from a branch and a stone weight.

“What are you doing over there?”

But then he heard a voice.

“Wah! Don’t move!” he frantically shouted.

Hattori Junko had arrived. The girl was the cla.s.s representative and had a deep connection with Akuto. She had a dignified presence, a straightforward personality, and popularity with her comrades, but Akuto alone knew she could actually be quite careless.

And he had a bad feeling about what it meant that someone as careless as her was here.

“What do you mean ‘don’t move’? What are you hiding over there!?”

Junko began walking over with long strides.

“I said stop!”

He tried to stop her, but she only lengthened her strides.

“You are acting quite suspicious! What are you…ah!”

Her foot had hit the fishing line.

“Ah!”

Akuto frantically tried to grab the rope supporting the bucket, but the impact of Junko’s foot had caused the stone weight to fall more quickly than expected. The rope slipped straight through his fingers.

“Wah!”

She almost tripped, but just barely managed to keep her balance.

But that had been a mistake.

The bucket’s contents splashed over her entire body.

“Bh…! What is this!?”

As she looked up and shook her head to throw the moisture from her hair, Akuto walked over.

“Um, well…”

He waved his hands back and forth.

She did not know what that meant, so she walked forward.

“Do not try to trick me! Why would you pull this childish prank?”

In her anger, she pointed at Akuto. However, the sleeve covering that outstretched arm was falling to pieces.

“Wh-what is… Ehhhhhh!?”

Her eyes opened wide in surprise and her entire uniform began to fall from her body.

“Eeee!”

She covered herself with her arms and crouched down. Fortunately, she wore cloth bandages and a loincloth for underwear, so they did not melt away.

“A-are you okay?”

He hurried over to her, removed his jacket, and placed it over her.

She pulled the jacket tightly around herself and glared sharply up at him with tears in her eyes.

“H-how dare you. I thought it was just a childish prank, but this is truly cruel. Did you really go to so much trouble just to remove my clothes?”

“No, I wasn’t trying to remove your clothes.”

“I see. So the trap was meant to remove the clothes of whoever walked by. I-if you had wanted to see me naked, I could have forgiven you, but…”

She bit her lips and stood up. She put her arms through the jacket’s sleeves to cover her body and gathered mana light in her hand.

“Wait a second! That isn’t it either.”

“I do not believe you. You felt like pulling a prank on the normal students now that your power is sealed, didn’t you!?”

“No, that isn’t it.”

“Fortunately, I can punish you as you are now. And I know it takes a lot to kill you.”

She approached him with a fierce look.

The normal students were mistaken due to their limited knowledge of the situation, but he did not have the ridiculous power he had gained after awakening. His body was st.u.r.dy, but his mana control was still imperfect. In other words, he would feel pain when punched.

“No, um…”

He slowly stepped backwards.

“Trying to run shows you have not learned your lesson! Prepare yourself!”

Junko fired a mana sphere. Akuto dodged it and fled.

“Wah!”

“Argh! Get back here!”

“If I stop, you’ll hit me!”

“Of course I will!”

Junko and Akuto ran around while shouting angrily.

This commotion was noticed by Fujiko who had been the first to escape from the commotion in the dining hall. She had been in a quiet spot behind the school building eating a pasta lunch she had bought outside the school.

“Oh? What is this commotion?”

She looked up while sitting on a bench, realized Junko was chasing Akuto around, and frantically stood up.

“Hold it! What do you think you are doing!?”

She shouted angrily and began pursuing Junko.

“You may be an uppercla.s.sman, but I will not let you stop this punishment!” shouted Junko to Fujiko.

“I do not know what happened, but you must obey Akuto-sama! That is our duty!” she shouted angrily back.

“What do you mean ‘our’!? When did I become a part of your group!?”

“That is not what I meant! All of humanity must obey him!”

“Do not be ridiculous!”

The two girls shouted back and forth while continuing to run.

“Either way, please stop chasing me!”

Akuto shouted behind him, but he stopped in surprise when he looked ahead once more.

“Ah! Wait! That’s dangerous!”

He had seen Nozomi running from behind something and hiding. And that meant she had prepared a trap nearby.

“Dangerous? You cannot trick me!”

Junko jumped into the air to attack him.

“Hold it!”

Fujiko ran forward to stop her.

And…

Her foot hit something and she tripped.

“Ah!”

“Eh?”

Akuto and Junko watched as Fujiko fell forward and stopped moving.

A liquid poured on her from above.

“Wait. What is this?”

She stood up and her clothes melted away. Without noticing, she struck a grand pose while in her underwear.

“Ahh…”

Akuto covered his face with a hand.

“Etou-san!”

Junko frantically waved her hand.

“Wh-what is it? …Oh? H-hyaaaah!”

She covered herself with her arms, blushed, and looked to Akuto.

“If you wished to see me naked, you only had to ask. …And this is hardly the time!”

Her tone of voice changed partway through and she suddenly swiped Akuto’s jacket that Junko was wearing.

“W-wah Hyah! Wh-what are you doing!?”

Junko covered her body and crouched down.

“Oh ho ho ho ho! I was wondering why you were wearing Akuto-sama’s jacket, but now I understand. And his jacket is wasted on you!”

She placed the jacket over her shoulders and adoringly rubbed her cheek against the collar.

“Y-you may be an uppercla.s.sman, but I cannot let you treat me like this.

Junko ground her teeth and glared at Fujiko, but she could not move from her crouched position.

“I’m not sure what to say…”

Akuto removed his shirt and placed it over Junko.

“Ah! I think I would rather have that…” muttered Fujiko as she looked down at Junko putting on and b.u.t.toning up the shir.t

“D-do not be ridiculous.” Junko blushed. “Who would want this sweat-stained shirt?”

“That is what makes it such a prize!”

Fujiko’s eyes were sparkling.

“Um… I’ll just ignore that argument,” interrupted Akuto. “Anyway, you know I didn’t do it now, right?”

“I did see something strange run away.”

Junko looked away awkwardly.

“So you are saying someone thought up this ridiculous contraption?” asked Fujiko. She looked around and opened her eyes a bit. “Oh?”

“What is it?” asked Akuto, but he did not have to wait for an answer.

He quickly realized a large number of students were watching from a distance.

“What’s this? Exhibitionism?”

“Ah, the demon king is toying with Fujiko-sama again.”

“Fujiko-sama is one thing, but the cla.s.s rep is only wearing a shirt.”

“I can’t believe they would do this at the school.”

Akuto heard people muttering.

“It appears a crowd has formed. Well, I have no problem letting them see.”

Fujiko seemed calm, but Junko quickly paled.

“Wah, wah, wah! Why must you humiliate me like this!?”

“I already told you it wasn’t me,” complained Akuto.

However, Junko was not listening due to her embarra.s.sment.

“Shut up! This has to be your fault! Argh, I’ve had enough! I can think about it after I punish you!”

She finally pulled a sword from somewhere and charged toward Akuto.

“Please try to think about it now!”

As she pursued him, he had no choice but to run.

“Wait! Stop trying to attack Akuto-sama!”

Fujiko began pursuing Junko once more.

“Ah, this is just going to make it harder to find that girl,” complained Akuto.

He looked around for Nozomi as he ran and a look of shock filled his face.

“I can’t let him embarra.s.s girls like this!”

“But he’s the demon king. What if you anger him?”

“He can’t use his full strength right now. Let’s surround him and insult him so he can’t recover!”

“This is getting interesting.”

“We might get to see something s.e.xy.”

“Yeah, I want to see more of the cla.s.s rep in just a shirt.”

“Boys, we told you to stop that!”

While loudly speaking and arguing, a large group of students began to move. Akuto was of course at the lead. Most of the students following him did not understand the situation and some were simply following the crowd.

“What the h.e.l.l is going on!?” he shouted as he began searching for Nozomi all the more desperately.

—Ah! I did it without thinking again!

Nozomi held her head in her hands.

Akuto, Junko, and Fujiko were currently running after each other. Nozomi had set up the trap that stripped Fujiko without even thinking about it.

“How did this get so far out of hand?”

She regretfully fled on unsteady feet. After a bit, she noticed something odd: a rumbling noise.

“Wh-what is this?”

She looked around and noticed a distant cloud of dust.

—Wh-wh-what? No one told me all this would happen.

The cloud gradually approached. Once she realized it was a stampede of over one hundred students, she completely lost her senses in fear.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

Her eyes rolled around in her head and she reached a mistaken and incredible conclusion.

—I-I have no choice but to do it. No one can stop it now.

“Why must I be humiliated so!?”

“A proper lady transforms it into pleasure!”

Junko and Fujiko both shouted out.

“Either way, can you two stop chasing me? …No, I suppose not,” complained Akuto.

The other students were pressing in from behind. If the two girls stopped, they would be overwhelmed by that surging wave.

—At any rate, I need to find that tiny maid… Ah!

In that moment, he spotted Nozomi and began moving toward her. She seemed to be on her way to the gym.

—If I grab her and have her explain the situation, I should be able to resolve this.

Nozomi had apparently entered the gym. It had multiple exits, but they were not easy to find. With any luck, he could corner her here.

“This might just work.”

He charged into the gym and spotted Nozomi climbing up onto the stage at the very back of the gym.

“Hold it right there!”

He shouted toward her, but she swiftly fled to the side of the stage.

“Oh, c’mon…”

He pursued her, but Junko and Fujiko were of course approaching from behind him. And all the other students were behind them.

“Ah, I’m going to be trapped in the gym. Well, it should be fine since that girl doesn’t have anywhere to escape to.”

As he muttered to himself, Akuto ran up onto the stage. He looked up and spotted Nozomi standing in front of the gym’s lights and curtain control panel on the second floor behind the stage.

“Ah! Hey, don’t be afraid! I’m not going to hurt you!”

He called out to her, but perfect spirals had appeared in her eyes.

“Liar! You’re going to capture me and do all sorts of things to me, aren’t you? Yes, I already know the truth. That’s what you’re going to do.”

“No, it isn’t!”

“If not, then what are all those people for?”

She pointed behind him.

He turned around and found the gym packed full of students.

“That just kind of happened…”

Despite Akuto’s argument, Nozomi shook her head.

“Even so, it still means I can’t escape! That’s right. I have no choice but do this.”

She reached for the control panel.

“Do what?” frantically asked Akuto.

“Hmph.” Nozomi struck the control panel. “Do this!”

Behind Akuto, rain began to fall all throughout the gym. The cold rain audibly fell.

“That isn’t rain. Is it the sprinklers?”

Sure enough, the sprinklers on the roof had activated. Water poured down over every inch of the gym.

“That’s cold!”

“What is this?”

“Don’t think you can escape.”

The students began to grow louder. After all, they were crammed inside the gym.

“Water? …It can’t be!”

Akuto looked up at Nozomi in surprise.

She was in a complete state of confusion, so she shouted back.

“I told you I had no choice but to do this!”

The angry cries of the students filling the gym finally changed to screams.

“Hyaaaaaaaaah!”

“Gyaaaaaaaaah!”

“Waaaaaaaaaah!”

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

The gym shook from both male and female screams and it began to fill with the color of flesh.

Everyone was either naked or in their underwear. In other words, they had all lost their uniforms.

The girls began using magic to knock back the boys and the boys tried to fly away to escape, but everyone simultaneously using magic in that confined s.p.a.ce quickly used up all the surrounding mana. The students. .h.i.t the walls, tripped, or fell on a nearby person and accidentally pulled off their underwear. It was a truly h.e.l.lish scene.

“This is…horrible,” muttered Akuto as he watched from the stage.

“Come to think of it, an old artist painted h.e.l.l like this,” casually commented Fujiko after escaping onto the stage.

“I understand the situation now, but what should we do about it?” asked Junko as she looked back and forth between Akuto and Nozomi.

Akuto looked up at Nozomi with a truly troubled look.

“If we explain the situation…”

Nozomi was trembling because she had nowhere to escape to. It was unclear if she was still confused or if she had come to her senses, but he saw a pitiful and frightened girl there. The way she shrank down in fear made it hard to watch.

“It looks like she won’t be able to explain the situation for us,” he muttered quietly.

He then hesitantly looked down. The naked boys and girls had realized it was not so embarra.s.sing when everyone was naked, so they had stopped fighting their embarra.s.sment and were instead glaring angrily up at the stage. The red eyes of wild beasts glowed with the dark color of flesh in the background.

“How are we supposed to settle this?” asked Junko because she had no ideas.

“Well…” The darkness of resignation filled his eyes. “We can say it was my fault.”

He stepped forward.

“Wait.”

Junko tried to stop him, but there was nothing she could do.

But then Fujiko cut in.

“If the two of us demonstrate our love here, no one can touch us.”

“Please spare me that.”

Akuto immediately rejected the idea, but he could not find any solution other than silently letting the students pummel him. He was not currently powerful enough to stop them all without injuring them.

“Well, I’ve made up my mind. My body is st.u.r.dy, after all.”

With that light comment, he stood before the ferocious students.

They rushed for the stage with so much force it looked like they were going to jump up onto it.

Akuto showed no fear and closed his eyes as he prepared himself for the onslaught.

But then a voice filled the gym.

“Wait!”

The voice could be heard over all the angry shouts.

Everyone stopped and turned toward the voice. It came from above where Keena flew in through a window near the roof. She held a megaphone in one hand and Korone was riding on her back. With the outside light shining behind her, she looked somehow divine.

“Keena...” muttered Akuto as he opened his eyes.

The students stopped moving and began muttering.

“I apologize for this. My control was lacking,” she said. “I apologize for the trouble I have caused. I will officially provide you with new uniforms.”

She continued speaking without pause and the students obediently listened.

But Akuto alone noticed that she would occasionally glance toward Korone’s hand. The L’Isle-Adam likely held a cue card.

“But that alone is not enough of an apology. I would like to punish the demon king here!” declared Keena loudly.

A stir ran through the students.

“Eh? Punish?”

Akuto was surprised as well. It seemed she was controlling his power, but he had heard nothing about that ability.

Keena then floated down in front of him.

And she looked up at him angrily.

“A-chan!”

“Y-yes?” he mumbled.

“A-chan! The rice got all hard because of you!” she rebuked while pointing at him.

“Eh? Rice? Hard?”

He was confused and she called Korone over.

Korone approached and pulled a giant plastic bucket from her bag. It was the type of bucket that could be used as a trash can.

“There was extra rice being cooked in the dining hall. At this rate, it will need to be thrown out,” explained Korone expressionlessly.

“It’s because you cooked so much, A-chan! It’s dried out and gotten hard, but you have to eat it all as punishment!”

Keena opened the bucket’s lid and it was full of dry rice.

“Eh? Wait…”

Even Akuto backed away at that.

When Korone stuck a wooden spoon in the rice, it made a crunching noise.

“It’s dry!” cried Akuto.

“I already told you it is! Now, eat all of it so it doesn’t go to waste!”

Keena took the spoon from Korone, held down Akuto, and began stuffing hard rice in his mouth.

“S-stop…mgh! It’s hard… My teeth!”

“Don’t worry! You can eat it if you try! If I work really heard, I can eat this much! So if you put up with how hard it is, it won’t be a problem!”

Despite how ridiculous her demand was, Keena climbed on top of Akuto and continued stuffing rice in his mouth.

“He has to eat hard rice?”

“Without recooking it?”

“And that much of it?”

“This has just gotten silly.”

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”

This pacified the angry students. As they watched on in a daze, Akuto was forced to swallow the dried rice.

Meanwhile, Korone stepped forward and opened her bag.

“Please form a line. Tell me your size and type and I will provide a replacement uniform.”

The students obediently formed a line.

And thus, the commotion came to an end with only one major sacrifice.

All alone now, Akuto lay on his bed. Not even he was sure how he managed to consume all that rice, but the entire contents of the giant bucket had vanished into his stomach. He was now suffering a horrible stomachache in exchange.

“Ahh… This is nowhere near a peaceful life…” he lamented while staring up at the ceiling.

A face suddenly appeared in the edge of his vision. It was looking down at him as he lay on the bed.

“What is it?” he asked.

He received an immediate and unclear answer from Korone.

“I was just wondering if you were mad.”

“Mad?” he asked.

For once, she paused before responding.

“You must know who brought about this situation. Even if some unexpected coincidences were involved.”

“Yeah…” he spat out while shaking his head. “This is that girl’s fault. And whether I’m mad or not is another issue. I am lamenting, though.”

“In that case, I wish to make amends.”

“Make amends?”

“Yes. I thought I would comfort you.”

“You aren’t teasing me again, are you?”

“Do you not trust me?”

She was expressionless, but there was a horribly sad ring to her voice.

“Th-that isn’t what I said.”

He grew a bit fl.u.s.tered.

“Good.”

She smiled kindly at him. If his memory was accurate, this was the second time he had seen her smile.

She then leaned over him.

“You said you weren’t teasing me, so don’t try to do anything indecent,” he said hesitantly.

“Do not worry. I am merely doing what I think you would want me to do. I simply wish to comfort you. Fortunately, I was given an appearance that is pleasing to humans, so I thought I would lie next to you and sing a love song.”

She slipped into his bed and into his arms.

“…Hey.”

“You won’t let me do this?”

She looked up at him with upturned eyes.

Seeing her eyes shine like precious jewels, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders without thinking.

“Um…I…didn’t say that…”

“Do you have an erection?”

“Eh?”

“I asked if you have an erection.”

Akuto looked back at her face.

She was staring at him with her usual expressionless look.

“You tricked me again, didn’t you?”

The corner of Korone’s mouth rose in a grin.

“I should tell the other girls that they need to deceive you like this. Now, time to check if you have an erection.”

“Don’t!” he shouted while brushing away her outstretched hand.

While still lying next to him, she spoke in her usual tone of voice.

“Would you really not be angry if I did something like this again?”

Akuto looked her in the eye, saw she did not seem to be putting on an odd act this time, and sighed in resignation.

“As long as no one is harmed and you make sure it helps Keena. But please keep it to a minimum.”

“As you wish,” she agreed.

“Okay then.”

He closed his eyes.

“Um…”

“Hm?”

He opened his eyes when she spoke again.

“I notice you did not force me out of the bed,” she said teasingly.

“I just wanted to get to sleep because my stomach hurts!”

“I will include in my records that boys use that excuse. Now, you will be forced to eat more dried rice if the empress sees us like this, so I will return to my shelf.”

She got up from the bed.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Keena since that.”

“She said she would return the bucket to the dining hall. I wonder what happened.”

“Waaaahh! It’s all sticky and I can’t get out! Help me, A-chan, Korone-chan!”

Keena shouted while stuck to the birdlime on the wall of the school building’s second floor.

“I was only trying to go to the rice sale I learned about when I slipped on a banana peel, but when I picked up the bag of rice, a metal washtub fell on me, I staggered over onto a trampoline, and was launched up here where I stuck!”

She was crying.

But Nozomi, the one who had laid the trap, was currently trembling inside a futon in the janitorial room.

“This is dangerous! This academy is dangerous!”

In the end, Keena was not rescued until about an hour later.