Please Stop the Food Violence
"Hera. How would you feel if someone forced themselves on you?"
"Cough."
The food I'd been eating caught in my throat and choked me.
Athena quietly held out a glass of water. I snatched it up at once and drank, forcing the blockage down.
What had I just heard?
Someone... was going to do... what to me?
I must have misheard.
There was no way something like that would suddenly come out of her mouth.
"Sorry... I didn't catch that. What did you say?"
"I asked how you'd feel if someone forced you down and took you."
"Cough! Cough!"
This time I hadn't even eaten anything, and my throat still felt like it was closing up.
I took another swallow of water and tried to steady the chaos in my chest.
...What kind of question was this supposed to be?
Someone... taking me...?
Why on earth would something like that come up in the middle of a meal?
I couldn't begin to grasp her intent.
"...I don't understand what you mean."
But Athena was looking at me with an endlessly serious expression.
"I mean exactly what I said."
Faced with that grave look, I found myself briefly considering her absurd question.
If someone tried to rape me...?
"...I'd kill them, wouldn't I?"
Back in Drax, after all, everyone who'd tried anything with me had been sent straight up to the sky.
But Athena's face was not the face of someone who'd received a satisfying answer.
"And if it were someone you could never beat with strength alone?"
Maybe this was some kind of psychological test.
Maybe she was asking because she wanted to know even a little more about me.
If that were the case, it wouldn't be so strange...
"Mm... if it were someone I couldn't handle with strength..."
I tried to picture it.
A man stronger than me pinning me down.
Tearing my clothes to shreds.
And then putting his... thing...
Ugh...
A wave of nausea rolled through me.
Even if I had a woman's body now, I had not the slightest intention of taking a man into my arms.
The memories of once being a man were still sitting plain as day in my head. The sight of a male body would set off a violent rejection response through my entire system.
...Then I was probably going to live alone for the rest of my life.
I had no desire to accept a man.
And I couldn't exactly date another woman either.
I didn't particularly want to go back to my original world either, so... it looked like I'd just live alone here forever.
No. Athena's here.
She had said she would take care of me for the rest of my life.
Even if she married someone someday, she would still be responsible for me. She had promised it with her own mouth.
Thinking that made my heart feel a little lighter.
I looked at Athena, who was waiting for my answer, and spoke.
"I'd bite my tongue and die. And even after I died, I'd curse that person for the rest of eternity."
"..."
At my answer, her expression darkened another shade.
"What's wrong...?"
"It's nothing."
After that, for a while, the only sound was the clink of utensils.
Hmm...
It wasn't that the food tasted bad...
Maybe because it had been so long since I'd had a proper meal, it just wouldn't go down easily.
I'd gotten used to taking one bite and clearing my plate; trying to keep putting food in my mouth now made my stomach push back.
You're the one who yelled for food... Eat.
Scolding my stomach didn't change a thing.
In the end I couldn't manage any more and started poking at my chopsticks. Athena picked up a bowl heaped with meat and sat down beside me.
She neatly sliced the meat, speared a piece with a fork, and held it out.
"Hera. Say ah~."
She offered the food to my mouth.
"Uh... uh?"
I was briefly flustered by her unfamiliar kindness, but the way she gestured for me to eat right now left me no choice. I opened my mouth.
"Ahp."
The moment I took the food, Athena immediately speared another piece and held it out again.
"...Athena...?"
"You've gotten far too thin. I'll feed you."
"..."
In the end I let her words push another bite into my mouth.
"Here. Open."
Meat appeared in front of my face again.
"I... I'm full now..."
"Open. Your mouth."
"Nngh."
Under her coercive command, I reluctantly opened up.
I chewed the meat slowly and swallowed—only for another piece to be thrust in front of me again.
"I... I really can't eat any more..."
"Hera. Mouth."
"I mean it— mmph?!"
The moment I refused, she forced my mouth open and shoved the food in.
"Come on. Say ah~ again."
"W-wait..."
And so it went on for quite some time.
"I... I haven't even swallowed yet...!— mmph!!"
"It's fine."
"I said I can't eat any more!! Mph—"
"Open your mouth, Hera."
"D-did I... do something wrong?? Hmph!"
"You can think about that yourself."
"I'm going to burst!! My stomach's going to explode!!"
"You're not moving until you finish all of this."
"Nooooo!"
Until the bowl was completely empty, Athena inflicted violence upon me.
The heinous, unforgivable violence known as food assault.
"Urgh..."
"Drink, Hera."
Athena held out water to me.
I shot her one resentful glare, then drained the entire glass in one go.
"I only did it because I was worried about you. You're far too skinny."
She spoke while gently stroking my stomach, packed tight with food.
"..."
If she'd done it for my sake, there wasn't much I could say.
When I'd looked at myself in the mirror, I really had looked like I could collapse at any moment without it being surprising.
She must have been bothered by that and forced the food on me.
Well. Thanks to her, I had managed to eat a lot.
"...Don't do that next time."
When I snapped at her a little sulkily, she raised one eyebrow.
"Hmm... giving orders to your master?"
"Hey...!"
She snorted a quiet laugh at my timid irritation.
"All right, Hera. So make sure you eat properly from now on."
".....Yeah."
Still, it didn't feel bad.
A full, abundant meal that felt like the first one in ages.
It was the first time since entering this mansion that I'd eaten in the dining room with any real peace of mind.
I hoped every meal from now on could be like this.
I hadn't known that simply being with someone could be such a source of strength.
This, too, was thanks to Athena.
Feeling grateful toward her made me want to give her something in return.
Something that would make her happy.
I started thinking carefully about what I could do for her.
Affection... I've probably been giving her way too much of that lately...
In truth, I'd been kissing her so often that her saliva barely had a chance to dry in my mouth.
I wanted to do something a little different.
I glanced quietly at the table where we'd eaten.
A meal that had come with all kinds of dishes.
...Would she be happy if I cooked for her...?
I had five years of living alone under my belt. I'd always been interested in cooking, so I'd tried my hand at just about every kind of dish.
The skill I'd built up that way.
I was fairly proud of it myself.
But would someone who ate delicious food prepared by skilled chefs every single day even like my cooking?
There go the negative thoughts again.
I caught my mind before it could spiral in a bad direction.
No.
Cooking is sincerity and heart.
If I put everything I had into it, she would like it. I was sure of it.
In the end I firmly resolved to cook for her, and casually asked,
"Athena... is there any food you especially like?"
"Hm?"
She tilted her head at my words.
"I-I was just curious...!"
"Well. I'm not really the type who particularly enjoys meals."
"R-really...?"
So cooking was out after all?
A faint awkwardness settled in my chest—then she spoke again.
"But if I had to pick something I like... spicy food and meat, I suppose."
"Really?!"
My sudden shout made her eyes go wide. Her face looked like it had What's wrong with this girl? written all over it.
Her reaction made me a little embarrassed, but that wasn't what mattered.
"Ahem... ahem. Athena. Do you have anything to do this evening?"
"....No, I don't?"
She looked at me with a faintly wary expression.
"Th-then let's have dinner together too."
"...I was planning to anyway."
She answered as if stating the obvious.
Perfect.
All the groundwork was done.
Now I just had to decide what to cook for her.
A luxurious mansion like this was bound to have a good kitchen.
Athena had said I could do whatever I wanted here, so using the kitchen wouldn't be a problem at all.
"Are you all right, Hera?"
I must have looked strange somehow.
Athena was watching me with a suspicious expression.
Had it shown on my face?
I wanted to surprise her with the cooking if I could, so I decided to change the subject.
"Th-that reminds me—why did you suddenly ask that weird question earlier?"
At my question, Athena's body gave a small jolt.
She covered her mouth with one hand and—
My patience has been running thin these days, you see.
—muttered in a voice too soft to hear.
"Hm?"
"It's nothing. Just... be careful how you carry yourself. Someone might get strange ideas about you."
Mm...
Well. It might sound like I was bragging, but honestly—
this body's face was absurdly beautiful.
Even I, who'd been living in it this whole time, thought it was pretty every time I looked in the mirror.
There might well be people who harbored dangerous fantasies about me.
But I could probably stop most of them myself.
Unless they were main-boss-level villains from the original story, they wouldn't be able to overpower me easily. And even if they were, I wouldn't just roll over and take it.
And if, like Athena said, someone I truly couldn't handle with strength appeared...
I looked quietly at Athena.
Then I smiled softly toward her.
"Then you'd just protect me, wouldn't you?"
She'd said she'd treasure me for life, so the least she could do was guarantee my safety.
Otherwise the cost-benefit analysis just didn't add up.
CRAAASH—
"Eek?!!"
A grotesque sound rang out without warning.
When I managed to get my eyes open properly, the table we'd been peacefully eating at moments ago had been smashed to pieces.
And on top of the wreckage—
Athena's fist, wreathed in golden mana, was planted there.
When I looked at her, eyes blazing as if they might burst into flame were boring straight through me.
"Hic."
"Didn't I... just tell you to be careful how you carry yourself?"
She spoke to me in a low, growling voice, like some kind of beast.
Under the weight of that overwhelming gaze, I couldn't move a muscle.
"Uh... uh...?"
Strange...?
Had I said something wrong...?
Somewhere in the Empire, far from Einhat.
There stood a mountain of beautiful scenery.
And in a cabin nestled in the heart of that mountain—
a middle-aged man with a mysterious air about him stepped outside.
"That will be enough for today, my disciple. You should head down as well."
"....I'll train a little longer on my own."
"Haha... stubborn little thing. What on earth made you so relentless?"
A man with a rough ponytail and a face marked by small scars.
This peculiar man, who somehow called to mind a swordsman from some far eastern land, was none other than—
the Empire's sole Grandmaster.
The Sword Saint, Carlos.
He brushed the dust from a straw hat lying on the ground and set it on his head.
"But... where are you going?"
"To meet an old friend."
"You're taking your sword too?"
At the girl's words, Carlos's face broke into a bright grin.
"She's a rather violent friend, you see."
Though she does look quite lovely, he thought.