The next day.
Before the first rays of morning sunlight had fully driven away the night's chill, inside the high-end apartment near Private Jonan Academy, Kusanagi Shizuka's long lashes trembled a few times before she slowly opened her eyes.
Last night had gone a little too far, but after Akuto had strengthened her through the bloodline infusion method countless times, Shizuka's body had already reached a level comparable to a demigod's. So when her usual time to wake for school arrived, her biological clock still roused her.
Shizuka felt a strange heaviness in her body, accompanied by a languid satisfaction and a subtle sense of fullness.
The next second, she turned her head slightly, and Akuto's sleeping profile came into view. His face alone was enough to put her at ease, but what made her heart beat faster was the fact that she could clearly feel his pulse through the points where they were touching. Even now, she was still leaning against him.
Realizing that her own behavior was a little embarrassing, Shizuka's pale cheeks flushed faintly. Yet her clear eyes held no shame or discomfort, only a helpless, indulgent softness. After all, she had merely followed Akuto's request. If anyone was truly improper, then Akuto was the more improper one.
She carefully adjusted her posture, afraid of disturbing his sleep. Her fingertips brushed gently over the black hair scattered across his forehead, the motion as delicate as if she were touching a priceless treasure. Her Akuto-nii was powerful enough to slay gods, yet right now, he nestled against her without the slightest guard, like a child. That contrast touched the softest place in her heart.
"Grrr~"
Shizuka's stomach, already slightly rounded, suddenly let out a faint sound.
"Honestly... even asleep, you still won't behave..." Shizuka murmured in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, carrying a trace of sweet complaint. Her gaze fell on Akuto's sleeping face, and the doting look in her eyes nearly overflowed.
She lay there quietly for a while, enjoying the warmth and calm that belonged only to the early morning.
It was not until the sunlight outside grew brighter and the faint clamor of the city drifted up from below that Shizuka finally moved again. Very slowly and gently, she separated herself from Akuto bit by bit. During the process, she held her breath, afraid that the slightest movement would wake him.
After climbing out of bed, Shizuka quietly walked toward the kitchen.
On the bed, Akuto, who had seemed asleep in Shizuka's eyes, opened his eyes and watched her tiptoe away with a smile. As expected, Shizuka was a woman who could become his mother.
Speaking of becoming a mother...
The image of Kusanagi Mayo appeared in Akuto's mind. Shizuka's mother, Mayo, was clearly no ordinary person.
Mayo was known as a naturally bewitching woman. She also possessed the talent "Calling: Her Majesty the Queen," making her an absolutely unique existence.
From a certain perspective, Mayo was extremely similar to Kudo Yukiko from the world of Detective Conan. Both were skilled in makeup, possessing disguise techniques on the level of divine craft. Both had an almost magical charm, and both quite enjoyed pranks.
In Akuto's memory, Mayo was someone who loved attending parties.
However, for some reason, as Akuto grew older, Mayo, whose contact with home had never been especially frequent to begin with, contacted them even less.
Since Shizuka is already mine, it is about time I considered the matter of Aunt Mayo.
Akuto closed his eyes again. As for those complicated family ties, he had always liked them. And this time, layered on top of that ordinary appeal was the additional relationship of mother, or perhaps adoptive mother. That made it even harder for him to give up.
Breakfast was prepared by Shizuka. Simple, but made with care.
Akuto enjoyed the girl's thoughtfulness. From time to time, his gaze landed on her slender waist and the gentle domestic charm she carried in an apron.
After breakfast, Akuto said goodbye to Shizuka and set off for Private Jonan Academy.
Private Jonan Academy. Monday morning. Akuto officially declared his return.
Before he even entered the classroom, merely walking along the road to school turned Akuto into the focus of countless gazes.
At this moment, Akuto was still wearing his well-tailored dark school uniform, his posture straight as a pine.
But on closer inspection, his skin seemed even clearer than before, and his features appeared deeper and more defined beneath the morning light. Especially his eyes. They were black as ink, yet seemed to contain a sea of stars. When they swept over someone by chance, they carried an indescribable allure.
"Look! It's Akuto-kun!"
"Wow... did he get cosmetic surgery? He feels way more handsome than before!"
"No, not surgery. I have old photos of Akuto-kun here. If you only look at his face, it's almost exactly the same as before!"
"So... his aura changed?"
"His aura really did change. Can a person's aura actually affect their looks this much?"
"He took a week off. Did he go train somewhere? This change is ridiculous!"
The students of Private Jonan Academy chattered among themselves. Most of the male students looked at Akuto once and then no longer wanted to meet his gaze, while most of the female students openly admired his transcendent aura and top-tier appearance.
Although he was somewhat unused to it, Akuto still calmly accepted everyone's gazes.
Originally, he had thought he should already be used to this kind of attention.
But the red-grade succubus bloodline's attraction to the opposite sex seemed to be genuinely strong.
Before he even reached the school gate, a petite girl with twin tails, wearing a knee-length skirt, white lace ankle socks, and small leather shoes, lowered her head with a flushed face and mustered the courage to step in front of him.
"A-Akuto-senpai!"
The girl's voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz. Her head was almost buried against her chest, and a captivating blush spread across her pale neck.
"I-I've always admired you, senpai! Please... please accept this!"
The girl thrust out a pink envelope with both hands, her shoulders rising and falling slightly from nervous breathing.
Akuto looked at the girl with her head lowered, smiled gently, and accepted the pink envelope.
"Thank you for your feelings. But I'm sorry. I'm not planning to date anyone right now." Akuto's refusal was direct and clean, without any hesitation.
The light in the twin-tailed girl's eyes dimmed instantly. She bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes, then finally bowed and ran off.
But... that was only the beginning.
At the school gate, a tall, stylish gyaru blocked Akuto's way. She wore black over-knee socks and loafers.
The blonde gyaru's makeup was carefully done, her gaze bold and heated. Her long legs were wrapped tightly in black over-knee socks, outlining graceful lines, while the space beneath her skirt gave her a fashionable, eye-catching charm.
"Hey, Akuto, did you do some kind of ima-chan over break? I feel like you're way more attractive than before."
"So... want to try going out with me? I promise I won't let you get bored~" The blonde gyaru put one hand on her hip and casually brushed her long hair back with the other.
Akuto raised an eyebrow slightly. He had not expected the frequency of confessions to rise this much.
Only a few minutes had passed, and two girls had already taken the initiative to confess. In the past, that would have been three days' worth of work.
"I appreciate it, but I'll pass. My definition of 'won't get bored' might be different from yours." Akuto shook his head and refused.
Hearing that, the gyaru clicked her tongue, seeming a little unwilling, but she did not persist. With a small huff, she walked away.
Before entering the classroom, while passing the library, Akuto was stopped again by a quiet literary girl wearing glasses, an ankle-length skirt, and white cotton socks.
She handed him a poem she had carefully copied out. Her pale fingers trembled slightly from nervousness, and the eyes behind her lenses were full of expectation.
"Akuto-kun, I... I've liked you for a long time. This is a poem I wrote for you... Please... please read it and understand my feelings."
The literary girl's voice was soft and bookish, carrying a youthful charm of its own.
Akuto accepted the manuscript and quickly skimmed it. Her writing really was quite good.
However, in the next second, Akuto still politely handed the manuscript back.
"It is very well written. Thank you. But when it comes to feelings, I think it is better to think things through more carefully."
The literary girl silently took the manuscript back, looked deeply at Akuto, then turned and left. Her steps seemed somewhat heavy.
In a single morning, during only the ten minutes before entering the school gate, Akuto was confessed to several times in a row by girls of completely different styles.
"Looks like the effect of a red-grade succubus bloodline really is too strong."
"In that case..."
With a sigh, Akuto activated Vāmana's Authority.
Aside from teleportation, Vāmana's Authority also had the ability to alter his image and aura.
Divine Incarnation effects:
Effect One: He could disguise himself as another existence and was almost impossible to see through.
Effect Two: He could freely change the size of his body. After shrinking, his consumption decreased. After enlarging, his consumption increased, and his specific combat strength would also change subtly according to body size.
Effect Three: The power of contract...
Effect Four: He could cross all spatial restrictions...
Under Akuto's control, his aura was reduced to a level that looked no different from before he had left.
Although he was still quite attractive, at least he would no longer make people unable to resist confessing to him.
Even so, the red-grade succubus bloodline's root-level attraction to the opposite sex had not changed.
Moreover, the news that "Akuto became even more handsome after coming back" had already begun spreading through Private Jonan Academy at astonishing speed.
...
"Hmph! That idiot! I haven't seen him for only a week, and now he's attracting attention everywhere!"
Tokugawa Asuka lay angrily on her desk, stabbing the tip of her pen into her notebook with a series of dull taps.
The girl named Tokugawa Asuka wore the standard girls' uniform. Beneath her short skirt were her signature pure white socks with delicate black trim. The cuffs wrapped neatly around her slender ankles, revealing a small stretch of pale calf.
The reason Asuka called Akuto an idiot was because she was his childhood friend.
However, she also understood that Akuto had changed far too much. Never mind other people. Even she, his childhood friend who had grown up with him, was having trouble resisting it.
Because of that, Asuka, who had always had feelings for Akuto, felt a powerful sense of crisis welling up in her heart.
...
"Oh my, Asuka-chan looks so cute when she's jealous~"
Sitting to her left, Sawa covered her mouth and giggled.
Asuka had two close friends, Sawa and Miyama.
In the original plot, Asuka and her two close friends were in different classes, but after the plot changed, all three of them were now classmates with Akuto.
Sawa had straight black hair that fell to her shoulders. Beneath her side-swept bangs was a pair of almond-shaped eyes filled with a sly smile. Her aura seemed a bit more mature than Asuka's, and her figure was taller and fuller. Her uniform shirt curved over her well-developed chest, while her legs beneath her skirt were likewise wrapped in white socks with black trim, their lines even and graceful.
"Still, Akuto-kun really has become super charming. Even I can't help looking at him a few more times."
"Asuka, if I said Akuto-kun was my type, would you get jealous?"
Sawa licked her lips, her gaze following Akuto's retreating figure outside the corridor. Her eyes flashed with undisguised interest.
"Sawa! Wh-what are you talking about?! Who... who would be jealous?!" Asuka's cheeks instantly turned bright red, like a ripe apple. She abruptly sat up straight and refuted her in flustered embarrassment.
"All right, all right~ Sawa, stop teasing Asuka."
"If I'm not wrong, Sawa, you only said you were going to confess to Akuto-kun because you wanted to tease Asuka, right? You really are wicked~"
Sitting to Asuka's right, Miyama hurriedly smoothed things over, her voice sounding very gentle.
Miyama had soft waist-length hair, its ends naturally curled like fine silk. Her features were as delicate as a doll's, her skin pale enough to seem almost translucent. Beneath her long lashes was a pair of watery eyes that now shone with complex light.
Miyama was the smallest of the three, but her proportions were excellent. Her waist was slender enough to be held in one hand, and her figure had a soft, cute charm. She also wore white socks with black trim, and a stretch of pale leg showed above the cuffs.
Her sitting posture was the most proper. Her legs were together and angled slightly to the side, her hands obediently resting on her knees. The toes of her black leather shoes turned slightly inward, making her seem quiet and ladylike.
However, Miyama's heart was far less calm than she appeared.
The reason she had stopped Sawa and Asuka from continuing was because she herself planned to confess to Akuto.
Taking a deep breath, Miyama seemed to make up her mind. She carefully took a pale blue envelope from her arms.
"Asuka... Unlike Sawa's teasing... I'm serious."
"Could... could I trouble you to give this... to Akuto-kun?"
Miyama held the envelope out in front of Asuka. Two red clouds rose on her pale cheeks, and her long lashes lowered as she dared not look her friend in the eye.
Asuka looked at the exquisite confession letter before her, and an indescribably complicated emotion surged into her heart all at once, as if someone had overturned a tray of mixed flavors.
Miyama, one of her best friends... was going to confess to Akuto too?!
"Mi... Miyama? Are you... serious?" Asuka's voice was a little dry.
"Mm!"
Miyama nodded firmly. Her long hair swayed gently with the motion, and even her pale neck was dyed pink.
"I... I've liked Akuto-kun for a long time... since middle school... I just never had the courage to say it before. Now that he has become so wonderful, and so many people are confessing to him, I... I don't want to miss my chance anymore."
"Even if I'll probably be rejected, I still want to express my feelings!"
At this point, Miyama mustered her courage and raised her head. Her moist eyes were filled with pleading.
"Asuka, you grew up with Akuto-kun, didn't you...? Please, help me give this confession letter to him, okay?"
Asuka looked at the envelope Miyama held out to her. In her eyes, that pale blue envelope seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.
She liked Akuto. That feeling had become clearer and stronger with time. And yet... she had never had the courage to confess to him.
Because... they were too familiar. So familiar she did not know how to say it. So familiar she feared that once she said it, even their current relationship might no longer be maintained. She was used to staying by his side as his childhood friend, and she did not dare imagine what would happen after breaking through that layer between childhood friends.
And now, her best friend wanted her to personally deliver those feelings to the person she also liked?
"Asuka?" Seeing Asuka remain silent, merely staring blankly at the envelope with an unreadable, complicated look in her eyes, Miyama called softly again. Her voice carried a trace of unease and confusion.
Asuka suddenly came back to herself and met Miyama's deliberately puzzled gaze.
She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed the churning emotions in her heart, and managed to squeeze out a smile, even though that smile looked somewhat forced.
Slowly, Asuka reached out and accepted the confession letter that still carried Miyama's warmth and faint fragrance.
"Okay... I understand. I... I'll give it to Akuto-kun for you."
Asuka lowered her head, avoiding Miyama's delighted gaze and also avoiding Sawa's meaningful eyes.
Sawa seemed to have noticed something, but she only observed the two of them with interest and had no intention of speaking up.
"Thank you! Asuka! I knew you were the best!" Miyama immediately sighed in relief, and a bright, moved, yet slightly sorrowful smile bloomed on her face.
The brightness and emotion were because Asuka had truly agreed to help deliver the confession letter.
The sorrow was because Miyama felt she was being despicable.
Although her confession to Akuto did indeed come from her heart, she also knew that because of her confession, Asuka's own feelings might become even more troubled.
However, she truly did not want to keep waiting.
Even knowing that, she still intended to confess to Akuto.
Perhaps... this was what people called youth.
...
Meanwhile, on Akuto's side.
The moment the classroom door was pushed open, the air seemed to freeze for an instant.
The male and female students all raised their heads in unison, their gazes like iron filings drawn to a magnet, fixing firmly on the figure at the door. Akuto had returned.
Akuto calmly walked into the classroom as if he did not see the dozens of heated stares that seemed ready to burn holes into him.
Even so, Akuto's appearance and aura, both of which had risen another level compared to before he left, made several girls in the front rows blush instantly.
"A-Akuto-kun! Please... please accept this!" A ponytailed girl abruptly stood, her voice trembling slightly with excitement. She held a pink envelope in both hands and nearly thrust it against Akuto's chest.
"Mine too!" Another short-haired girl squeezed forward, refusing to lose.
"Akuto-kun, this is a bento I made myself!"
"Akuto-kun, after school, could we... could we walk home together?"
A small commotion quickly spread. Akuto became the center of the storm, surrounded by passionate confessions and gifts. His face showed no particular expression. He neither looked annoyed nor showed any smug delight at being admired. He simply refused each person politely.
Fortunately, the number of students in the class was limited, and some of the girls had already confessed to Akuto before. So after refusing fewer than ten people, Akuto soon regained his peace.
...
After dealing with all the trouble, Akuto turned and looked at Kusanagi Godou behind him. That was right. Godou's seat was behind Akuto.
If Akuto sat in the second-to-last row by the window, then Godou was seated right in the classroom corner.
"Yo, Godou. I heard you were the one who dealt with the storm that hit Tokyo?" Akuto abruptly looked toward Godou.
The smile on Godou's face stiffened. He subconsciously raised a hand and scratched his hedgehog-like short hair, his eyes drifting slightly as if he were weighing his words.
"Ah~ that?"
"It did... have something to do with me."
Godou licked his somewhat dry lips and glanced around, confirming that the nearest students were still caught up in the aftershock of Akuto's return and that no one was paying attention to their corner.
Of course, in truth, even if those students noticed Akuto and Godou talking, they would not be able to hear them. Or rather, they would not even be able to perceive the fact that the two were having a conversation.
At least for now, Akuto had no intention of involving ordinary people in the supernatural world.
After confirming that no one nearby was paying attention to him and Akuto, Godou began organizing his words.
(End of Chapter)
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