—So, Korone has a tail... and if I pull it, she’ll turn off...?
Akuto inevitably ended up shifting his gaze towards Korone’s butt.
Seeing that Korone wasn’t human, her body was probably created to suit her creator’s fancies. It seemed her creator had a preference for smaller butts, and the tight bulge that Akuto could glimpse from her skirt had a beauty to it that even those who didn’t have a preference for petite women would be able to appreciate.
—I have to get the two of us alone somehow... Of course we’d be alone at night, but what if Eto is just messing with me about the tail thing? No, even if she’s telling the truth, Korone is a Liradan dispatched by the government. She’s probably a specially-made model. I need to confirm what Eto wrote somehow before tonight. I’d like to try it where there aren’t any other people around... It would be bad if I have to tell Eto that I can’t make it.
“Boss? What’s wrong?” Hiroshi’s words jolted Akuto back to reality.
“Nothing... Just thinking about something...”
“About what? Please tell me if there’s anything worrying you!”
“It’s nothing.”
There was no way he could tell him that he was thinking about how to shut down Korone. But Hiroshi’s expression reflected his skepticism at Akuto’s denial.
“No way, I can tell by your face that something’s on your mind. We’ve been together a long time, so I can figure out that much, you know!”
“I don’t think even two days have gone by yet, but... Anyway, if you’re able to tell me, then I’d like to know.”
“Tell you what?!”
Akuto wanted to ask a random question to try and change the subject, but Hiroshi held onto things too well. Because of that, he accidentally mentioned something that was really on his mind.
“What type of person is Soga?”
“Are you interested in her?” Hiroshi said, looking like it was an unexpected thing to ask.
“I’m not interested in her, exactly, but she’s just always absent, right?”
“Boss, you really are something! You don’t want to leave any of the girls out! You’ll make them all yours, right?”
“Just stop with that stuff, okay... So, what type of person is she?” Akuto asked again, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Part of that was because talking about being interested in a girl was embarrassing. But it was more than that. Whenever he thought about Keena, he was bothered by an insistent wave of nostalgia.
“Well, she’s a strange one. She’s not someone that boss should waste his time on. She’s not a bad girl, but she’s completely hopeless with magic, and can’t do anything besides flying. She has no talent. Because of that, she doesn’t have any friends, and she’s always off reading a book somewhere with her head in the clouds.”
“If that’s the case, how was she able to come here?”
“She’s good at regular studying. It’s just, if you can’t use magic here, you get left by the wayside.”
“Oh so that’s it, huh...” Akuto felt an affinity with Keena. Their positions were different, but they both had problems at this school, and had trouble making friends. Akuto was deep in thought when Hiroshi said something out of the blue.
“By the way, boss.”
“Hm?”
“You were looking at Korone just now, weren’t you? So you really are trying to make all the girls yours, aren’t you?! That must mean you also made a plan on how to make an observer Liradan yours as well, right?!” Hiroshi became excited and started raising his voice in the cafeteria. Naturally this drew the attention of the other students, and they glared at Akuto as if to say, “Again with this...?” and “Ugh, that guy is such a pig...”
—That’s not... But even if I tell him, it won’t change anything, will it?
Akuto bit his lip and then, having heard Hiroshi’s remarks, Korone suddenly spoke up.
“As an observer, even if I have sexual intercourse with my observation target, my emotions will not be swayed. Do you still wish to pursue this matter?” The bare frankness of her words sent the cafeteria into an uproar, and Akuto’s face turned bright red.
“It’s nothing! Cut it out with those kinds of jokes!” Akuto shouted.
“I am unable to cut it out with these jokes, and so I believe they will continue from here on out. Please just laugh at them and forgive me.” Korone was composed.
“Wow! I don’t really get it, but you’re super cool, boss!” Hiroshi was all worked up now.
Akuto thought he’d already resigned himself to every imaginable thing, and yet here he was, resigning himself to something else once more.
“...Incidentally,” Akuto asked Hiroshi as he started to eat his curry.
“Yeah?”
“Is there anywhere you can be alone here? No matter where I go it’s unbearably noisy.”
“Hmm, somewhere to be alone...” Hiroshi sunk into thought with his chopsticks in his mouth. “...Not many people head into the mountain behind the main building. It’s a little dangerous, but it shouldn’t be any trouble for you, boss.”
“Dangerous?”
“People don’t go back there because sometimes there are demons prowling around. They rarely show up, and you’re basically free to go back there, at your own risk.”
“I see...” Akuto looked at the clock. Lunch break was still only halfway over. He gulped down the rest of his curry all at once and stood up.
“Okay then, I’m going to go check it out.”
“I will accompany you, boss!”
“No, don’t. It’s dangerous, isn’t it?”
“But I made my decision to go along with you wherever you go.”
“I just want to relax, that’s all.”
“However, I will be following you, so no matter what, you’ll never be alone, right?” Korone interrupted the conversation.
After she said this, Hiroshi clapped his hands as if he had suddenly become aware of something.
“Forgive me for being insensitive.” Hiroshi bowed his head repeatedly with a vulgar smile on his face.
Akuto had little trouble in guessing what Hiroshi was thinking.
“I’m telling you, it’s not like that!”
“Say no more, say no more.” Hiroshi pushed their backs and tried to force Korone and Akuto out of the cafeteria.
“W-Wait a sec—”
“Don’t be shy, don’t be shy.”
After Hiroshi had gotten them out of the cafeteria, he took out a handkerchief and waved it after them, yelling at them to take their time.
“It’s not like that, oka—!” Akuto still tried to resist what Hiroshi was suggesting, but Korone grabbed the sleeve of his shirt before he could. On top of that, she made her cheeks blush.
“It’s my first time, so be gentle, okay?”
“I’ve told you, cut it out with those jokes already!” Akuto shouted out, but the onlooking students had already made up their mind, saying things like, “I guess becoming the Demon King means you can’t keep it in your pants...” and, “So observer Liradans are also required to cater to the Demon King’s sexual urges. Even though she’s an android, that’s kinda sad,” and “I’m so jealous of the Demon Ki... I’m gonna hurl.” It had already gone too far for him to even try and correct his behavior.
“Fine, whatever...” Akuto began to walk off.
○
“I don’t know what your intentions are, but it seems everything you do ends up backfiring on you, doesn’t it?” Korone calmly declared, following behind Akuto.
“You... You say that you’re just an observer, but you’re having quite an impact on my life, aren’t you?”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is...” Akuto grumbled as they made their way towards the mountain behind the school. As they went, the number of students they passed began to dwindle.
—I see, it’s just like Hiroshi said.
As he continued down the walkway in between the trees, the voices of the other students began to fade. Even if de
mons could show up at any moment, to Akuto it just felt like he was taking a walk along a footpath through a park.
“Man, this is great. It’s so quiet.” Akuto sat down against a tree next to the path.
“Is that so? That’s good.” Korone spoke as if it didn’t concern her and stood next to Akuto.
“It’s been noisy ever since you showed up,” Akuto said, and looked up at Korone. Korone’s gaze seemed to be somewhere far away, but Akuto wasn’t paying attention to her. From his low angle, he could almost look up her short skirt.
—This might be my chance to see if she has a tail or not.
Akuto slowly began reclining his body down against the tree. His viewing angle gradually changed, and from behind Korone’s skirt, he started getting glimpses of her panties. However, he still couldn’t see the upper part of her butt, so he had to sink his body down a fair bit more in order to see if she had a tail or not.
—Just a little bit...
Akuto slid down until his body was almost completely flat on the ground. He wasn’t aware of it himself, but from the outside he looked like an absolute pervert.
—After a little...
Then, at that moment.
Whack!
“Ow!”
Something had hit the top of Akuto’s head. His body completely slid onto the ground from the impact. Now at this angle, his head was right underneath Korone’s butt.
—What was that?
Akuto was confused. He looked around the area, but no one was around.
“Did something happen?” Korone asked.
“S-Someone hit me... But...” Akuto blinked his eyes, not understanding what happened.
“There is no one around.”
“That’s strange...”
“I would say what’s strange is your appearance right now,” Korone said to Akuto, sounding puzzled.
Korone’s face was in Akuto’s line of sight. In front of it were her well-shaped legs and butt. Akuto had completely stuck his head in between her legs.
“Oh...”
“You’re a total pervert, aren’t you,” Korone spoke calmly, but she moved from her position quickly. She did say that she has emotions, so she was probably embarrassed. But at that moment, her skirt flipped up, and Akuto definitely saw it. Right above her low-riding panties, there was a small rabbit-like tail growing out of her.
—Oh, it’s a tail. She really has one.
Without saying a word, Akuto marveled at the tail.
“Did you come out here just to look at my panties? You’re a very strange person, aren’t you?” Korone’s words embarrassed Akuto, and he stood up. Now, he shifted his focus to who had hit him in the head just a second ago. He looked around, but there still wasn’t anyone there
“Never mind that for now... Is there really no one else here?” Akuto asked.
“You’re just dodging the question... No, I suppose there isn’t. Was someone here? The mana hasn’t been agitated at all.” Korone scanned the surrounding area with glowing eyes as she spoke.
“Okay... I guess it’s fine, then.” Akuto tilted his head in confusion. Then, Korone corrected herself.
“No, there is a disturbance in the mana. There is a life form approaching. It doesn’t seem to be human,” Korone shifted her gaze towards the inner parts of the forest.
Suddenly, a demon popped its head out from the trees. Korone explained,
“It’s a demon dog. A dog that has been deformed from absorbing mana into its body. This is probably its breeding ground.”
The demon was twice as large as a normal dog. It had long fangs, its drool leaking out between them as it breathed violently. Its eyes had a ferocious sheen to them, and they were fixated on Akuto.
“I do not require governmental authority to eliminate demons. I will exterminate it.” Korone thrust her hands into the purse that always hung at her side. A proper and stately-looking gun could be seen sitting in her purse, the size of which made it hard to believe it actually managed to fit in there. Judging from the size of the weapon, it looked like a single shot could blow the demon dog’s head clean off.
Looking at the gun, Akuto panicked.
“W-Wait a second. If that’s a demon dog, that means it used to be an actual dog, right? Can’t we get rid of it without killing it?”
“You do realize it is quite ferocious, yes?”
“If it’s been deformed by mana, we just have to find some way to pull the mana out, right?”
“There has never been a magician who has disposed of something in that way.”
“No one’s ever done it before? In that case, doesn’t that mean it’s worth giving it a shot?” Akuto spread out both of his arms and walked towards the demon.
“It is dangerous,” Korone warned him.
“Nah, I feel like I can do it. Don’t ask me why. Besides, I learned the theory behind controlling mana in class today.” Akuto took a step, and then another, slowly approaching the demon dog.
“If knowing the theory was all it took, the world would be full of magicians. As soon as I sense danger, I will eliminate it.” Korone turned her gun on the demon.
The demon dog arched its body and looked ready to pounce at Akuto. Just when the tension in the demon dog’s leg muscles was let loose, before Korone could even fire at it, a white light emitted from Akuto’s extended hand.
—I did it!
In his innermost thoughts, even Akuto was surprised it had worked. Nevertheless, he was successfully controlling the outside mana with the mana he was emitting from his palms. The demon dog began emitting the same shade of white light, spilling out from inside its body.
“The mana is being pulled out of its body. Ninety percent... Eighty percent...” Korone reported.
As she counted down, the amount of light coming from the demon dog’s body decreased. Along with the light, the viciousness on its face disappeared.
“There’s never been any magician who extracted mana from a demon as a way to deal with them. They said it couldn’t be done. I will record this and report it,” Korone told Akuto, and put the gun back in her purse.
“Just in case people wanna know what I did, right? It wasn’t a big deal, though...” Akuto looked back at Korone.
The demon had returned to a regular dog. It was a shaggy dog with long fur. It sneezed as if it had been startled, and then started running around, wagging its tail.
“Since you haven’t broken any laws, I will not punish you. However, this data will be studied. Even still... This is surprising.” In a rare occurrence, Korone’s words actually had emotion to them. Nevertheless, her face was still just as expressionless as always.
“Surprised?”
“I’m surprised that you saved the dog. Your behavior up until now has included hurting women, stealing their underwear, and looking up skirts. I’d pegged you as a lowlife...”
“You’re just arbitrarily picking things out...” Exasperated, Akuto encouragingly patted the dog’s side as it ran around. Now that the dog was nothing more than a stray, someone should pick it up if it went towards the school. As it seemingly began to head for the school, it suddenly stopped in its tracks and changed directions. For some reason it faced up towards the empty sky and ran towards whatever it had saw.
“Huh?”
Akuto watched, suspicious at the dog’s actions. Then he suddenly heard a scream rise up from and echo through the forest.
“Kyaaaaahhh! A dog! Don’t come near meee!”
Akuto couldn’t see anything, but he knew what he’d heard. The dog was playfully chasing after something.
The voice was familiar to Akuto.
—Keena... Soga?
Then, a girl’s figure appeared where the dog’s chase had come to an end. Red hair softly spread out in the air. White skin could be seen through the red hair. It seemed that Keena was completely naked.
—Huh?
Keena’s figure flickered and disappeared in front of Akuto’s startled eyes. But the dog kept chasing som
ething around the same as it had before. In other words...
“I didn’t think it was possible, but it seems that she can make herself disappear after all,” Akuto said, trying to confirm with Korone.
“So it seems. I also received visual confirmation. When she disappears, it becomes impossible to trace her mana. If a Liradan such as myself is unable to trace her, then it means that she is completely invisible,” Korone said with a nod.
“But if a dog is chasing her around, that means...”
“A small amount of her scent is still left behind. That and her clothes...”
“So she can’t turn stuff on her body invisible?” Akuto tried to follow the dog’s tracks with his eyes.
—If that’s the case, why is she following me when she has to go to the trouble of getting naked to become invisible?
As his eyes followed the dog, he could glimpse a momentary flash of light. It was the same light he had seen the day before. In that moment, something clicked within Akuto.
It was Keena’s hair ornament... The nostalgic feeling of something long past from his dream the night before... A memory of the ornament itself...
“Ah!” Akuto suddenly remembered something.
The jewelry that he had spent all of his money on. At the time, it had been proof of his determination to earn his own money from then on out. But as Akuto thought back on it, he had to admit that he hoped that she would remember him.
—In that case, I understand the reason behind her following me.
With a start, Akuto began to run. Keena was running straight ahead. The dog showed no sign of stopping, and chased after her towards the school.
Akuto followed the small floating light. It would’ve been easy to lose track of her, but as long as he followed behind the dog, he could keep that shining hair ornament of hers in sight.
The dog rushed into the school building, where everyone was still in the middle of lunch period. The students were startled and confused as they made way for the dog and Akuto. Keena didn’t seem to know where she was going, as she was rushing up and down the stairs, haphazardly racing around the school. She let out a scream now and then, but it got drowned out by the onlooking students who didn’t realize that she was there.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 1 Page 9