Chapter 105: Until You Become Accustomed to This World

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【Saturday,17th December at 7:30 】

Everyone, this might sound abrupt but what’s everyone’s favourite food? As for me, the first thing that came to my mind is chocolate. I love chocolate so much that I even willing to dive into the stormy seas of women in February to buy that 20.000 yen chocolate that was sold at a chocolate event. 

(Well to be honest I didn’t really join the raging waves physically per se. I went and bought that chocolate using an online service.)

But the point still stands, it’s not an exaggeration to say that I LOVE chocolate. 

Now… You must be wondering why am I asking an irrelevant question like that out of the blue. 

To put it bluntly, this is escapism.

The owner of this beautiful face, one who was so beautiful it made me think this was but a supreme sculpture made by the master of beauty itself, was now existing right before my eyes. 

No,no,no,no, uwahhh! I mean it’s nice to see such a beautiful face the moment you wake up but!! That’s not my main problem right now!!

First and foremost, I’m supposed to be sleeping in a futon on the floor. You know, with the futon I had in case someone came for a sleepover. But! The next thing I knew, I’m already sleeping in the arms of this beautiful man.  No,no! This warmth, this softness, I’m certain this sensation I’m feeling right now comes from someone else’s body heat. But how did I end up using someone else’s arms as a pillow?

And my second problem… This beautiful man is boring holes straight into me. Have you ever felt the fear and pure panic of having someone’s eyes popping right in front of your eyes the moment you wake up??? How long has he been watching me?!

“E-excuse me, Velke-san…”

I blinked quickly in succession. 

Oh crap. I don’t even know what I look like when I just woke up from sleep. 

Unexpectedly, Velke-san was staring at me with an extremely mysterious expression on his face. When I rubbed my eyes, he suddenly let out a sigh, looking very relieved for some reason. 

『My apologies. I just couldn’t stop feeling concerned during the night… I thought the floor might be too hard to sleep on so I moved you to the bed. 』

Even though a semi-double bed is too cramped for two grown men… (Not to mention one of them is as tall as a Westerner. Velke-san must be feeling very cramped.)

『And then… You were sleeping so soundly, I’m starting to feel a little bit worried that you won’t wake up…』

Huh? I guess he has some sort of trauma related to someone sleeping?

“Excuse me… Velke-san…”

『Yes.』

“That… I mean… I’m a man.”

『I’m aware.』

“Well, I mean, no. I guess it’d be a bigger problem if I were a woman but anyway, what I’m saying is…”

『…? Does my arm feel too stiff for you? 』

“It’s a little stiff but rather than that, the warmth of someone’s body actually feels very comforting… No! I mean, that’s not it!!”

『…?』

Ah. Scrap it. That face. He looks like he has absolutely no idea what’s the problem right now. I want to tell him,”Well Velke-san, normally men don’t sleep together under the same bed” but I’m sure he’s only going to stare dumbfoundedly at me when I say that. 

I put all the problems on hand in my imaginary shelf. 

I’m going back to sleep.

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……………..No. I knew it the moment my alarm, that I had set for the weekend, woke me up 30 minutes later. What I’m doing right now is called escapism.

Our earlier conversation seemed to relieve the tension from Velke-san. He was starting to fall asleep again. And also, he was holding my body more tightly than before. 

Whoa… When his eyes are closed like this, his eyelashes look so long, they’re fluttering… How beautiful… I mean. Oh. My consciousness is doing the escapism thing again.

No. Wait. Stop escaping. Think. Think, my dearest brain. Think. In the first place, I shouldn’t have let a stranger into my house, right? Hey, my dear tipsy self from yesterday! No, but he was vomiting blood and he looked so cold, I felt so bad for him. I’m sure he doesn’t have any ID on him anyway so he wouldn’t be able to go to the police or the hospital. 

…… And now I’m arguing with myself.

Let’s say I give him the benefit of doubt and let him stay in my house but… I still don’t think I can believe it when he told me things like the soul of Maou from the previous generation or my memories from my past life or magic or demons or anything like that really. Well to be fair, I do like watching those physics ghost story shows or urban legend investigation shows on TV. 

Still, the story he told me lined up with the dream I had told Aoki about and I never told anyone else about that dream yet. Besides, I keep having this fleeting image about someone with blue hair. Can this kind of coincidence keep on happening?

Yesterday, when Velke-san looked into my knowledge with his magic, I was scared shitless but we were able to converse after that. I mean, when you were shown something so unrealistic like that, you just can’t help but to believe in it. 

….. Wow. Aren’t I being relatively too calm about this? 

I don’t know if everything is real or which part is false or if this magic thing is real or not but I know one thing for sure.

Yesterday, when he said 『I’ve been wanting to meet you…』, the pure joy in his voice and the tears he shed… That part… It was real.

…. Even if I really have the same soul as his Maou, the two of us are an entirely different entity… I think rather than saying 『I’ve been wanting to meet you…』, 『Nice to meet you…』would be more accurate.

I’m certain there’s no lie in his words. And so… I think…

I will accept this extraordinary thing and… Might as well have some fun while I’m at it, right?

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I carefully slipped out of Velke-san’s embrace so as not to wake him since he had finally fallen asleep. Though to be precise, I had to struggle free since he was practically crushing me under his hold. 

I had only brushed my teeth yesterday, I hadn’t taken any bath or anything since I had thought 『Ah well, let’s just do it tomorrow!』. I had completely thrown all of the responsibilities to my future self. 

And so, I went to take a quick shower. I returned to the room after drying hair but Velke-san was still deep asleep. 

I wonder what I should get for breakfast? I had been neglecting my health recently because my work had been so hectic. There were only the bare minimum necessities in my apartment,only enough to support my life so I wouldn’t die. My last ray of hope, the bread I had bought a few days ago, I had already eaten the last loaf yesterday’s morning too.

I opened the refrigerator and saw a row of ten jello-based nutritional supplements. Ah, right. I bought 30 packs of them. But… These were all I had left… 

No, no, no. If I gave this to him, Velke-san would be like,”Oh, so this is the food from Earth…?”

Taking a once-over of my apartment, I saw that Velke-san was still sleeping like a log. Without further delay, I decided to go to a convenience store near my apartment to get some food while I had the opportunity to. 

When I stepped outside, my breath came out in a puffy white cloud from the cold but unfortunately,last night’s snow didn’t accumulate yet. I could only see some frozen puddles of water but other than that, there was no other trace of last night’s snow. 

I walked to the convenience store 5 minutes away to buy some food and daily necessities. Rather than onigiri, maybe bread or pastries would be better. Western style seemed to suit his palate better. 

But… Isn’t this the moment where I introduce foreigners to how good the rice in Japan tastes? 

Feeling torn between buying onigiri or bread, I ended up buying both since I’d eat them anyway. 

While we’re at it… Let’s toss in some chocolate and sweets in the bag too. I just can’t imagine that beautiful man eating this cheap stick-shaped snack but I heard this snack was even able to make foreigners say some high praises like ‘excellent!’ so okay, let’s try to feed him this cheap snack. 

Right. I needed to buy some essentials for Velke-san too, like a new pair of underwear and a toothbrush.

Can L-size fit him? Or rather, I think the people in that world also wear the same underwear as us, right? Underwear can’t be that different. I don’t know. I should throw in some inner-shirts for him too. But… Since Velke-san came to this world looking for something, I’d feel bad if he had to go look for it wearing a sweatshirt…  When he’s feeling better enough to move, I should go take him for a shopping spree…

Oh no. What should I do…

It turned out I had gone a little bit carried away with this unusual situation I was stuck in. When I was thinking about this and that for him, it made this shopping trip in the convenience store a fun thing to do. 

With both of my hands full of a large grocery bag, I hurried home. 

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When I got home, I saw my bed was already empty. While I was wondering to myself whether Velke-san had woken up already, I heard a sound coming from the bathroom. It appeared that although Velke-san hadn’t completely recovered yet, he still strained his body and dragged himself to the bathroom. He was even paler and I could see sweats forming between his creased eyebrows. It was clear to see his body was still in a bad condition and not ready for any physical activities no matter how minor it was. 

『!!!』

Velke-san immediately rushed over to me in panic the moment he saw me. 

“Ugh-”

He hugged me so tight. 

Ugh, it seems this guy forgot to control his power. 

He was pressing me so hard, it felt like my organs were about to get crushed! 

『I….. I thought you had disappeared.』

Anxiety, fear and feeling of loss. 

Velke-san’s chaotic emotions were being transmitted to me. 

“Umm.. Sorry. I was going shopping for a little bit…”

I wonder if he immediately tried to search for me in panic after he couldn’t find me in my apartment. 

How do I say this…. How do I say this hmm… It might be a little strange saying this to such a beautiful and obviously adult man like him but… 

H-He really brings my desire to protect… I just… Want to rub his back and tell him everything will be alright now. 

As I patted his back, the arms wrapped around me suddenly loosened. Huh? The sense of anxiety that had been transmitted to me also disappeared. Which reminded me, I didn’t feel any emotion being transmitted from Velke-san even though I found myself being hugged by him when I woke up this morning. 

『Yesterday, my emotion was in too much turmoil when I meet you so I couldn’t conceal them properly but now, I’m able to control them so they wouldn’t leak out. 』

“Ah… I see… Umm… I’m sorry I left without saying anything to you. You were sleeping so soundly so I….”

『No, it was my fault for not noticing your presence the moment you left earlier…』

Velke-san cupped my face with both of his hands and stared at me right into my eyes. 

『I’m so glad…. When I couldn’t see you anywhere…. I was immediately filled with anxiety and despair… It felt like my vision went dark….』

Of course he’d feel this way… In this world, I’m the only one Velke-san can rely on as of now… 

Seeing him looking like a chick who had lost its parent, really made the barometer for ’desire to protect’ in me shoot through the roof. 

“I was buying some food and other necessities. Would you like to eat breakfast? Oh, or would you rather wipe your body a little? I knew you already changed into clean clothes last night but you haven’t taken a bath yet.”

『After sleeping for a while, it seems my body has grown accustomed to this world a little bit. May I borrow your bathroom?』

I guided Velke-san to the bathroom and explained how to use the shower. As for the bathtub… He could get into the bathtub just fine but… The bathtub was too small for him to soak in. 

『…..?』

“What’s wrong?”

『No, I mean, is this the bathtub….? I thought this was an emergency water tank….』

“…. I’m sorry it’s a little small… This is a 1LDK apartment after all….”

『No… Maou-sama was very particular and attentive when it comes to soaking in hot water. He regards it with utmost importance so I thought a bathtub would be bigger than this….  』

“Are you talking about your parents’ house? Or your own house? What did the bathtub situation look like over there?”

『In Maou’s Castle, the hot water for the bathtub was taken directly from the volcano with magic. So you’ll be able to enjoy freshly drawn hot water at all times. The bathtub over there was about 10 times the size of this bathroom…. 』

I completely lost in the bathtub category to the one in Maou’s Castle in a far away land. 

Of course I also feel jealous since I love taking a bath. THEY HAVE A HOT SPRING WITH RUNNING FRESH HOT WATER!! HOW NICE!!! 

He said he was only going to take a shower and so I handed him the new underwear I had bought before I went back to the living room to put all the food I had just bought into the fridge. 

A short time later, Velke-san returned from the bath while still wiping his wet hair. 

Uuugh… He’s still wet and slightly flushed from the shower. He’s practically exuding with sexual appeal. The sight is way too exquisite. Thank you for the sight. Or… Should I say this is a poison for my eyes instead?

He looked better than before though after the bath. He had looked so pale before but now I could feel some colour returning to his skin. 

“Let’s eat!”

I invited him to eat with me and he took a seat in the living room while saying,”My apologies.” Somehow Velke-san… He always apologised whenever I took care of him…. 

For the time being, I took out a folding table and laid it out in the living room. I spread out all of the ongiri and bread I had bought along with some deep-fried foods from the convenience store. Velke-san picked up the onigiri and examined it curiously. 

“Are you okay with fish? That one is tuna mayonnaise.”

『How do I unfasten this transparent thing…. 』

“You pull it like this, here.”

『!!!』

When I took out the onigiri’s wrapping in one smooth motion, Velke-san’s eyes widened in surprise. 

Ah, he’s really a fun guy for sure. I want to show more Japanese technology to him. I really want him to experience more new things. 

He was fidgeting nervously so I gave him the pickled plum I was about to eat. He pinched the red vinyl with nimble fingers and pulled it until there was only a little bit of the wrapper intact. He was now able to properly wrap the onigiri with the nori by himself. 

『Amazing. I don’t know how you guys made this thing but in this way, you can eat your meal hygienically…  』

“Besides this, we also have microwave food… Umm… Basically it’s a type of food that you only need to heat up inside a box and retort curry. For retort curry, you only need to put it in boiling watert…. Oh and a ready-to-eat meal in a bag!”

I-It’s hard explaining it to him…! I don’t know to what extent I should explain the mechanism to him!

『….. Aaah… I see. Fill the container with hot water and wait for 3 minutes… Or so it was according to your cooking knowledge.』

“Huh? Have I mentioned cup noodles to you before?”

『The information about cup noodles is part of the knowledge I was allowed to see last night. But I’m only able to ‘read’ about the knowledge, not the ‘memory’ itself so there are some difference in ‘reading the knowledge’ and touching it myself.』

Velke-san then continued in a small murmur. 

『The information about onigiri is also there but still, actually seeing it myself feels different indeed.』

It seemed Velke-san was comparing various things with the knowledge he acquired from me. I was glad I didn’t need to explain things from scratch because it’d be difficult on me but… I still felt a little bit disappointed. 

“How does it feel like, having the knowledge but no ‘memory’ about it?”

『Well… Let’s take apple for an example. You know the apple is red but you don’t know what it tastes like, what it feels like to touch it or what will happen when you eat it.』

I-I see…?

『Well… Maybe it’s better if I put it this way. You have the information but no memory of it. You only have the knowledge but you don’t have any memory to base that knowledge on… 』

Velke-san’s voice grew smaller into small murmurs, as if he was recalling a distant memory.

“Even though you have the knowledge, you still don’t know how to apply it in real life so things are still inconvenient for you. Velke-san, please don’t hesitate to ask me anything you want to know.”

『Yes.』

We then continued eating. Apparently the tuna mayonnaise onigiri really suits his palate. In just two, three bites, the onigiri completely disappeared from his hands. We also ate some bread and deep fried foods together but it seemed he still liked onigiri the best. 

“Thank you for the food. Now, we only have to clean up the trash. Let me take it over from here.”

『Sorry about that.』

“How are you feeling now?”

『Better than last night. But still, this world is really lacking in magic power….It might take me some time to get accustomed to this world.』

Velke-san said while opening and closing up his palm. It seemed he was trying to check his own magic power in this way. 

….. Yeah, in the first place….

“Does this world even have any magic?”

『Of course there is. The magic in the air is thin but there is some magic in the human’s body and.. In that cactus as well. I can feel a miniscule amount of magic in the vegetation.』

“Huh? So does that mean there’s some in my body too?!”

『Yes. The magic power in your body is by far, the smallest I’ve ever seen in any living creature back in my old world but it is there. I was able to read through your knowledge last night because there is magic in you.』

“So that means I can someday use magic too?!”

I imagined a flame coming out the moment I snapped my fingers.

Ah, what a sight to behold. Then my nickname will be ‘the flame’. 

『However, since there’s almost no magic in the air, I think it’s going to be difficult to produce a physical magic like fire and ice magic like what Mahiro-sama visioned. 』

“Oh, I see…”

『As for the kind of magic that you can use in this world… Maybe some mental intervention magic that can affect someone’s magic power….』

“Mental intervention magic….”

『In this world, is there someone with some sort of ability that let them read someone’s mind or something like clairvoyance…?』

“I think we have telepaths…. And maybe psychics here… I’ve seen them on TV before…”

『Most probably, they’re interfering with their opponent’s magic power. These kind of abilities are often not too prominent. Like somehow understanding what the animals are thinking of having sharp intuition. Those kind of things are part of mental intervention magic.』

Ah, now I can understand what he’s talking about.

My grandmother was someone with a sharp intuition too. When she told us not to go a certain road, it turned out the road was blocked due to construction or when she gave us some warning, her warning often hit the nails accurately. 

….. Perhaps…. If it’s the ability to “know something for certain”, I don’t think there’s many people with this ability but if it’s just something small like having a sharp intuition, I think there are more people with special ability than I expected. 

『Demons need magic power to stay alive, moreso than humans…. I was chosen because my ability to produce magic power is better than the others. It’s going to take me some time but in due time, I’m sure my body will be completely healed. 』

“Ah, I see. After you find the things you’re looking for, you will need magic power to bring it back to your old world, right?”

『…. That’s our plan, yes.』

“Or can you just send them over like with some sort of package?”

『That’s…The thing I’m looking for is a bit fragile so…』

He said that he had spent an extreme amount of magic just to cross to this world and his lifespan also got reduced because of it… 

Huh?

“AHHHH!! LIFESPAN!! That means you’re on a tight time limit!! How much in a rush are you?!”

『That’s right. I’ve spent a great amount of my lifespan for this… I think I have about 60 years left.』

“Huh?”

60 years… SIXTY YEARS…?? Maybe for demons, 60 years is very short but for humans, 60 years is pretty long.

『It is short but I think I’ll be fine.』

“I see…So demons like Velke-san have a very long lifespan… I see….”

『It seems you have a complicated expression on your face…』

“No, it’s just… The difference in sense of time between humans and demons… I’m already 26 years old and if it’s 60 years…. I don’t think I’ll still be alive at that time.”

『?! ….. Mahiro-sama… What a short life…』

Surprised, Velke-san suddenly seemed to worry about my well-being. 

“It’s alright! I’m just a corporate slave but I’m still perfectly healthy!”

『I see….? Oh…. So the lifespan of human in this world is the same as the human in that world…』

“Now then, Velke-san you’re still not completely healed yet, right? Go back to sleep, go back to sleep. Even if you just lay down, it will make a huge difference to your health. You still have quite a lot of time before your time limit and you need to recover your magic power too.”

『Understood.』

Velke-san obediently laid down on the bed. As I pulled the blanket to cover him with, he suddenly grabbed my arm. 

“Mahiro-sama.”

He only called out my name but I could clearly hear him with my own ears since he wasn’t speaking through his ‘translation magic’. 

『I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to say this for a while… My name is Velke. You don’t need to use any honorifics with me. You don’t need to speak politely with me. Please just talk to me like how you normally talk.』

“Huh?! B-But…”

『Please. Honorifics are simply unnecessary. Speaking to me politely also makes me uncomfortable, as if you’re putting a wall between us.』

“Ugh… I-I understand… No, I get it. Just… Speak… Talk normally… Then in exchange, I can also have one request?”

『Yes, I don’t mind.』

“You also don’t need to attach any honorifics to my name.”

『………』

“Please. I will accept your request so… Velke.”

『By your will….』

He looked very unwilling but in the end, Velke… Accepted my request. 

“Sleep tight, Velke.”

『Good night…』

“Mahiro.”

Velke once again called out my name slowly. The sound of my name coming out of his mouth felt so sweet. 

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T/N: Man I don’t know what to feel. On one side I want them to live forever, on the other side I’m happy because they get to die together??? I don’t know man. I just want them to be happy together. (╥﹏╥)