75. Does He Think He's Some Harem Lord?
75. Does He Think He's Some Harem Lord?
It was a refreshing morning, the kind I hadn't felt in a long while.
I felt a slight awkwardness about being in the dormitory instead of the infirmary, but I changed my clothes right away and prepared to head out.
".......?"
"You sleep more."
Mai stirred sleepily on the bed, raising her body.
Her eyes were half-closed; it seemed best to just leave her be.
I finished getting ready by pulling clothes out of the wardrobe, changing into them, and preparing to go outside.
"Ready."
"What. You're coming too?"
Mai was already up before I knew it.
When I removed the sleep from one of her eyes, her face trembled softly.
"Trait, Wise Mother and Good Wife. I will follow wherever Big Brother goes."
"....Even the bathroom?"
"You may use me instead of the bathroom."
"............"
"That's a joke, right?"
"I am the Heavenly Demon. Most poisons don't affect me!"
".....Right."
Please, let's not go down the scat route.
Genre diversity is already making a lot of people suffer as it is.
For instance, you open something thinking it's a woman but it's not quite...
You go in expecting big breasts but both parts are attached...
Or you set out to deliberately find otokonoko content but it turns out to be just a little girl and the FBI almost comes knocking...
"Trait, Wise Mother and Good Wife. Sensing Big Brother's simmering anger. To relieve emotions──"
"──Don't."
".........."
I don't know what it is, but don't do it.
"Just once─"
"─No."
"........."
Uh-uh.
Nope.
No way.
I did my absolute best to stop Mai.
"....Not even singing?"
"Ah."
And in an instant, I became trash.
I mean, normally you spout nothing but all sorts of weird stuff.
Why did you suddenly offer to sing right now?
Were you deliberately trying to make me out to be trash?
"I wanted to sing [Heavenly Demon☆Punch]......"
"............"
A dejected expression.
She usually aimed for a blank expression, so it didn't show much, but her whole mood drooped.
'....Was this my fault?'
Brushing it off as 'well, you should have behaved properly then'—the kid looked too gloomy for that.
The wings behind her back drooped too, shedding a feather here and there.
At this rate, were her wings going to start balding? I hurriedly changed my words.
"Ah...well, singing should be fine...?"
"....Really?"
*Fwaaah*, wings unfurling out to the sides.
I raised my voice a little, boosting Mai's mood.
"It's fine to keep singing verse 1, verse 2."
"If, that's...if thaaat's so....."
Mai's steps slowed a little.
Soon she tugged on my hand gently and asked.
"Will Big Brother... also sing it with me.....?"
".......Tch."
I didn't want to.
I felt hung up on my slip of the tongue from earlier.
'But still, this is a bit much...'
Running around the field shouting [Heavenly Demon☆Punch]?
Even humiliation play had its limits. I subtly spoke to Mai.
"I'm a patient who just recovered. Would it be alright for me to sing too?"
"Does a patient come out to exercise?"
"...Rehabilitation therapy?"
"Singing is also rehabilitation therapy."
"............"
I wanted to say no, but it was oddly convincing.
"Heavenly Demon☆Punch! Heavenly Demon☆Punch!"
"The Heavenly Demon, he is a Goooooood!!!"
Ultimately, led by Mai's will, I fervently did [Heavenly Demon☆Punch].
"Hm, spirit! I can't just stand by and watch either!"
"Eh?"
"Youth☆Punch! Youth☆Punch!"
"............"
Midway through, Eve joined in.
"Heavenly Demon☆Punch! Heavenly Demon☆Punch!"
"Youth☆Punch! Youth☆Punch!"
"Keuh....geugh....heuheop!"
The two of them began syncing their breathing and pressing the attack before I knew it.
""Heavenly Demon/Youth──he is a Goooooood!!!""
"......Ha."
A god was a god, I suppose.
One with the prefix 'nut-' attached to it.
****************
"I'm dyinggg......"
Morning exercise after a long while.
The price was needless to say.
A sensation of tightness deep in my lungs and bile churning up from within.
To make it worse, summer was approaching, my skin felt clammy, and breathing was stuffy.
'..But why did I even come out for morning exercise?'
A thought that belatedly struck me after I came out.
After a long time, I checked my status window.
Name: Chrono (Class B)
Rank: 1
Strength: 31
Stamina: 41
Agility: 59
Intelligence: 26
Divinity: 40
"Oh...!"
Compared to the early days, my stats had more than doubled.
Especially the growth rates for Stamina and Agility were peerless.
On top of that, the point was that Divinity had also roughly doubled.
At this level, I'd probably reached stats on par with most heroines──or so I thought....
"...Oho?"
What happened to my brain stat?
As they say, you gain some, you lose some—while other stats nearly doubled, Intelligence nearly halved.
Anyway, since I wasn't going to be a mage, Intelligence wasn't a big issue, but I oddly felt like I was getting roasted from the 3rd world.
"Should I go to the library...."
Since I wasn't a mage, Intelligence didn't carry that much weight.
However, since it affected things like MP and casting speed, not having it was troublesome in its own way.
'Since things turned out this way, let's just hit the library during summer vacation.'
If I read books and cultivated my mind, my lacking Intelligence would probably go up a bit.
I steadied my now-ragged breathing and looked around.
Where was Mai now?
"....Heavenly Demon!"
"....Youth!"
"....What?"
While everyone else had collapsed sprawled out,
two people stood facing each other in the middle of the field.
""The Strongest!""
Well, it looked like they had taken a liking to each other.
"...Satisfied?"
"Sat──is──fied."
Mai approached me with a bouncy feeling.
Mai reached out a hand to me where I sat and pulled me up.
"Ggeueu.... it's tough."
From tomorrow onward, I was definitely not coming.
I loosened my aching body and let out a sigh.
Then, Mai tugged firmly on my hand and said.
"Tomorrow, let's come again."
"............"
"....No?"
"No."
Spare me.
"Really?"
"...Are you threatening me right now?"
Her pulling force grew stronger.
But no matter how strong, Ultimately, she couldn't hurt me.
Have you ever seen a Wise Mother and Good Wife beat up her own dad?
"If you want to go in the first place, you can just go alone."
"...Trait, Wise Mother and Good Wife. Must not stay far away from Big Brother."
"Well, look at that."
Ultimately, it meant that if she wanted to come, I absolutely had to go.
'The thing is, I'm the one who doesn't want to go.'
An inconclusive impasse.
At that, Mai spoke to me.
"Requesting a deal."
"A deal?"
A deal, huh.
I wonder what she intended to place on the scale.
I looked at Mai.
"What Mai requires from Big Brother. To come out for morning exercise."
"Okay, and what are you putting up?"
"What 'Mai' gives is...."
What she gives, is....
"............."
"What? Don't have anything?"
"...Come to think of it, Mai has nothing. Can't even ask Big Brother for a deal."
Despair at the harsh reality.
Mai kept her mouth shut, her head hung low.
Both hands hanging down were clenched into tight fists.
"....! Thought of it! Something Mai can do for Big Brother."
Oh.
What could it be?
Since it was 'doing' rather than giving, it was probably an action rather than an object.
'....Wait.'
An action rather than an object.
An action Mai did to me.
The instant my thoughts reached that point, I covered Mai's mouth.
"Every morning a blow──eup, ppeup...?"
"Shut up."
I suspected, and as expected.
The thought I feared came true as expected.
"Haaa.... Why do you always talk only in that direction?"
"What Mai has. Only her body. Therefore conclusion. The only thing I can give is 'my body'."
"....Ggeueung."
At times she was oddly cute,
and at others, strangely adult-like.
An adult child.
Wait, or a child adult?
A figure that seemed to have skipped some intermediate steps.
I stroked Mai's head and said.
"After exercise, just give my shoulders a bit of a massage."
"...That's enough?"
"If I told you to go out and earn money, I'd be total trash, wouldn't I?"
"Mai can earn money."
".....Just in case, I'm asking,"
Like, earning money using your body?
"Hm? Mai only has her body. She can't earn money except with her body."
"So you've decided you really want to make me into trash?"
This was totally that, wasn't it.
A trash husband who slaps his wife on the back telling her to go earn money, telling her to bring money using that lewd body of hers.
Startled to experience that position firsthand in an instant, I blinked as Mai continued speaking.
"Manual labor, possible. Mai is strong."
".............."
"Trait, Wise Mother and Good Wife. Sensing Big Brother's dumbfoundedness. Why are you dumbfounded?"
"No...."
I mean, usually when someone says 'go earn money with your body,' people generally imagine 'that' side of things, right?
As if grasping my intention in my eyes, Mai narrowed her eyes and scolded.
"Trait, Wise Mother and Good Wife. Giving her body is solely to Big Brother."
".....Right."
Come to think of it,
that made sense.
What crazy bastard would tell you to sell your body to earn money?
"Let's head back now."
I took Mai and headed straight for the dormitory.
Now I needed to wash up, eat, and go to class.
"Ah, wait a moment, will you?"
"Eh?"
Just as I was about to turn around, Eve caught me.
She came up to me and immediately pulled an envelope from her chest and handed it over.
"It's the application form for the Bodybuilding Competition."
"..........?"
Pardon?
What did you say?
"There was a bit of talk... but the teacher took care of that part, so don't worry!"
".....Uh, Coach"
I stared at the competition application form.
"Ah, is it because it's your first time? Don't worry. The aim isn't to win a prize but to 'participate' in the competition, so you don't need to feel too pressured!"
"No, that's not it."
Coach,
I'm asking just in case but....
"There are two gym teachers here at the Academy, right? The other one besides you."
"Yeah. What about it?"
"...Did something happen with that teacher?"
"Huh? Ah.... It's nothing much! He just asked me for a small favor, you see?"
"..........."
To my memory, that small favor was definitely not a small favor.
I stood still, gazing at the Bodybuilding application form in my hands.
'This is, that.'
A branching point.
If I took the form and entered the competition, my Bond Rank would go up by one, and a skill would unlock.
But in exchange, Eve would raise her NTR Rank with the other gym teacher and eventually tie the knot with him.
In truth, strictly speaking, this wasn't even NTR.
It was only NTR from the point of view of the Protagonist. On the surface, it was simply a relationship between two lovers who were drawn to each other and got married.
So, all I had to do was clap and bless their marriage──or that's how it should go....
"...Coach."
"Yes?"
I spoke toward the teacher.
"No matter how small a favor it is, if someone brings it up out of the blue and asks you to do it instead, that guy's a pervert or a brain-dead son of a bitch, so make sure to report him."
"......Euhng...?"
A flustered expression.
I continued speaking.
"Don't get swept up by the mood. Don't mistake your feelings. Don't let your guard down just because you got a few compliments."
"Uh...Chrono. That teacher is absolutely not that kind of pers──"
"─Coach."
"Huep...?!"
I grabbed her hands and spoke.
"Men, every single one of them, are wolves."
".....Ch...rono...?"
Eve looked flustered.
At a loss regarding what to do.
I didn't quite know why I was acting like this either.
But my body had already moved, and my mouth had already started running.
"If you want recognition, I'll recognize you."
"Uh.....uhmmmm....."
The disciple you raised took down a troll all by himself.
All the recognition I got from that, I'll give it all to you, Coach.
"If you want compliments, I'll compliment you."
"....Eueu....."
The neat short hair resting on your shoulders is glossy every single day—it really shows how much care you put into it.
You paid attention to your cosmetics too. The kind that doesn't melt in sweat. Subtle, as if you're not wearing any.
Your clothes are washed fresh each time, without a single trace of sweat smell.
You made an effort to look pretty, and you are as pretty as the effort you made.
"And if you ask whether I find you sexually attractive──"
"──Euk?!...I...is this, could it be.....?"
Without a word, I pulled the teacher into an embrace.
She stayed still in my arms for a moment, then slowly looked up at me.
"....No, is it...?"
".............."
I didn't answer.
"...So it is...."
"..............."
I didn't answer.
"Alright, I get it, so can you let me go?"
".....Nep."
I let her out of my embrace.
I pulled my waist back slightly.
Fortunately, everyone had already gone back, so no one was watching this way.
"Dugeun-dugeun."
"Ah."
....Except for Mai, who was a Wise Mother and Good Wife and had been watching from the side.
"Chrono. No matter how urgent it was, you can't do that to your teacher, especially your master. As punishment, come to club activities today without skipping."
"Neeeeep...."
Eve finished scolding me and sent me back.
"...Thanks for worrying about me."
"............"
Did she think I wouldn't hear?
Returning to the dormitory, I slowly organized my thoughts.
"Huuuuu....."
Alright,
so, let's see.
First, I could sum it up in a sentence.
"Crazy bastard."
Does he think he's some kind of harem master or something?
What made you do that, you crazy bastaaaard....!!!