Skirt…?
Hearing her barely audible whisper, Yazuki glanced at Yukinoshita's trembling form.
For a moment, he wanted to laugh.
Oh, he was probably already smiling.
Judging by the deadly glare she was now giving him, he definitely was.
[Beg Me]—A mischievous glance from Yazuki.
Yukinoshita bit her lip, her eyebrows forming an inverted "八" shape as she displayed a trace of anger. After shooting him a resentful glare, she carefully moved her hands, preparing to handle the situation herself. Judging from the position she leaned towards, it seemed like a small dark shadow was on the right side of her skirt near her knee. As her slender hand barely touched the fabric—
"Eeek—!"
She let out an unexpectedly cute sound, and her body trembled as if a shiver had run through her. Her delicate, smooth skin was covered in goosebumps.
It seemed she really had no resistance to that kind of creature, too scared to even move.
Seeing Yukinoshita like this, though her face remained indifferent, Yazuki had a feeling she was on the verge of tears, she looked quite pitiful.
"I'll help you~"
"Help me? Just an excuse to sneak a peek? To touch my smooth, tender skin?"
Without hesitation, she assumed the worst about his intentions.
In the next moment, Yazuki flashed a devilish grin and suddenly lifted her skirt, just kidding!
He wasn't that much of a scumbag.
Besides, even though she verbally rejected his help, her angry glare was clearly urging him to hurry up, warning him not to do anything unnecessary, or he'd be dead meat.
With one swift motion, before she could react—
He grabbed the dark shadow and quickly pulled it away.
In that instant—
"Rip—!"
With the sound of fabric tearing, the white skirt ripped from where the shadow had been, all the way down to the hem. The large tear revealed a pair of exquisitely smooth, porcelain-like legs—along with her panties.
A cute cat-print design?
For such a cool beauty, she was wearing such childish underwear? That was quite the unexpected contrast.
Wait, what exactly had he grabbed to cause this?
Opening his palm, he found a black hair accessory. Apparently, Yukinoshita had mistaken it for something else. It must have gotten stuck in her skirt at some point, and in her panic, she overreacted.
"I'm heading back."
Saying this, Yazuki was already at the door. He suspected that if he stayed even a second longer, he'd be stabbed to death—especially considering that Yukinoshita had already picked up a kitchen knife and was smiling at him.
That wasn't a normal smile, that was the look of someone ready to kill!
Before she could charge at him, he made a swift escape.
Back in his own apartment, just as he was about to tidy up the living room, the doorbell rang.
It wasn't a normal ring, it was being pressed frantically.
Was Yukinoshita coming to kill him?
Better check through the peephole first, he didn't want to open the door only to be stabbed.
Peeking outside, he saw Yukinoshita fully geared up, wrapped head to toe like she was about to enter a biohazard zone.
She didn't seem to be carrying any weapons. That should be safe enough…
After opening the door, she ignored him and started cleaning his apartment as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Was she being nice? No, she was probably just making sure no more "terrifying creatures" would invade her home from his.
"Smack—!"
Yazuki's eye twitched as Yukinoshita discovered one of those "terrifying creatures" and mercilessly crushed it with a swatter.
Just because it was his apartment, did she think she could do whatever she wanted? Now there was bug guts smeared all over his floor!
Speaking of which, where did that thing even come from?
Oh… he remembered now.
The day he went missing, he forgot to take out the trash, which must have led to this situation. Normally, he wasn't the type to leave his place a mess.
"Are you an elementary schooler?"
Yukinoshita shot him a pitying look as she noticed the large sheet of white paper on the floor—on which a blood-red magic circle was drawn.
Her eyes practically screamed, "You're in high school, and you're still this deep into chuunibyou? Your brain is beyond saving."
She only cleaned the living room and kitchen, his bedroom was off-limits. That was his personal domain, and of course, Yukinoshita had no intention of stepping in either. She didn't want to risk seeing something disgusting that would scar her for life.
Now, he was signing a transfer agreement.
So unnecessary.
He was just giving her that huge stuffed toy, Mr. Pan, which had been sitting in one of his rooms. Did they really need to make it this official?
It was a prize he had won in a lottery ages ago. It took up too much space, and since Yukinoshita seemed to like plushies, he figured he'd give it to her as thanks for cleaning his place.
She hesitated for a moment before accepting it.
Then she said, "Did you think I'd refuse, so you could say, 'If you don't want it, I'll just throw it away,' and make me accept it? Were you trying to win my favor by acting like you didn't care? Sorry, but I hate people like that."
She looked at him as if she had completely seen through his "schemes."
Seriously? What kind of outdated mind games did she think he was playing?
He glanced at the now-clean living room. The air smelled faintly of an air freshener and maybe, just maybe, a hint of a young girl's fragrance?
Now alone, he slumped onto the sofa.
"So… what should I try next?"
Resting his chin on his hand, Yazuki muttered to himself.
It seemed he still wasn't ready to give up.
Time passed…
After experimenting until midnight, Yazuki finally admitted defeat—this body was nothing more than an ordinary human body.
His tests all failed, proving that this world was just a normal, mundane world. Supernatural powers? They were nothing but fantasy here.
Why force this world to be something it wasn't?
Might as well enjoy an ordinary life.
And when this body reached its natural end…
"Ahhh—"
He yawned and stretched, feeling drowsy.
Hmm? A faint glow?
Oh, it was just the light reflecting off the Demon King's Ring on his left ring finger.
The ring's design resembled a creature biting its own tail—an Ouroboros!
As he stared at it, lost in thought—
"Ugh—"
A sudden wave of dizziness hit him. It felt like his spirit was being drained, a massive sleepiness washing over him.
But—
He had connected with the Demon King's Ring.
Then, from the ring, a swirling vortex about the size of a bowl appeared in the air.
And the next moment—
Countless small blue crystal bottles, about the size of perfume containers, poured out and rained down on him.
Bonk.
Dazed, he blacked out.
What exactly happened?
He had exhausted almost all of his mental energy to establish a faint connection with the Demon King's Ring. However, this amount of mental energy wasn't enough to fully activate it.
What he could manage was opening a tiny passageway in the ring, allowing some stored items to spill out.
Unfortunately, the limited mental energy only allowed access to the very edge of the storage space within the Demon King's Ring—an area piled with an enormous quantity of potions. Moreover, the passage only remained open for a few seconds.
The spilled potions were essentially the equivalent of MP-restoring blue potions in a game.
Without noticing, amidst the pile of MP potions, there was also an egg?
If he had been fully conscious and had pressed his ear against the egg, he might have faintly heard a sound resembling a cat's meow.