Eyes in the Dark

"Nngh..."

I heaved sigh after sigh as I pulled my coat from the closet and shrugged it on.

The time was 7:30 PM. Half an hour had passed since I'd come back from dinner at Alice's place.

"Goddaaamn it~!"

No matter how I turned it over in my head, I couldn't get over the loss. Grief. Despair. Oh Lord, why have You seen fit to visit this trial upon me?

Just thirty minutes ago, after happily devouring the dinner Alice had prepared, I'd been taking a short rest at her place when she looked up at me with those slightly upturned, catlike eyes, sending glance after glance loaded with meaning.

Yeah. A ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠man of my keen instincts caught on immediately.

That look meant sex.

I would have staked everything I owned that those eyes meant exactly that, Dragon Eyes or no Dragon Eyes. On any other day I would have charged at Alice like a man possessed. But tonight I had an appointment I couldn't get out of, so I swallowed my tears, offered a thanks for the meal, and made to leave.

As if to ask whether I was really going to walk away, Alice slipped her body onto the bed with a languid rustle, her clothes already coming undone, and looked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up at me.

"A-are you actually leaving?"

For a moment I nearly lost all reason and lunged. But with superhuman patience and legs that wouldn't stop shaking, I managed to say goodbye and retreat to my own room.

If Alice had been even a little more direct — if she'd just said let's do it — I wouldn't have held out. I'd been secretly hoping for it, too! Damn it!

"Do these girls even know how hard I work?"

I picked up my beloved dedicated weapon — my iron sword, laid carefully in the closet — and strapped it firmly at my waist.

"I know, Player!"

Angel fluttered beside me, beating her little wings as she cheered me on. Cute little thing.

I gave her fluffy blonde hair a tousle with my fingers, then turned and looked myself over in the full-length mirror.

Okay. Perfect. The black coat really sold the look of a romantic swordsman.

"Shall we go?"

"Yes!"

My destination was the Great Demon Subjugation Academy. And the person I was meeting was Bianca.

The reason I was seeing Bianca at this ungodly hour of the evening was to find the "condition" for entering the Otherworld — the first requirement she had told me about. I didn't honestly expect the condition to just conveniently present itself, but you never know, right? Time was of the essence, so it couldn't hurt to try.

The method was simple. Bianca would open those broken-tier Dragon Eyes of hers and patrol the campus. Ridiculously straightforward, and yet devastatingly effective. The only real drawback was that using Dragon Eyes out in the open was only possible during evening hours like these, when there were no students around.

Still, that much was nothing. Getting Bianca on my side this early had been the best decision I'd ever made.

"Well. I'll just have to think of this as a late-night date instead of sex."

I slid the living room window wide open. I was on the sixth floor — more than high enough to jump from. Taking the front door and riding the elevator down would mean catching Alice's eye, so slipping out this way sat a lot better with me.

"Spirit Step."

A refreshing wind unfurled through my entire body, and I leapt from the window. I nudged the wind gathered at the tips of my feet, and with a soft rebound my body was buoyed up. Hop, hop — a few light footsteps, and I touched down on the ground in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an instant.

The more I used this Spirit Step skill, the more it hit the spot.

"Man! No matter how you look at it, this Spirit Step is brilliantly designed, Angel!"

"Hehehe! That's because you use it so well, Player!"

Bantering back and forth with Angel, I set off toward the academy — completely unaware that from the sixth-floor balcony across the way, a pair of scarlet eyes was watching me go.

As I stepped into an intersection lined with shops a short distance from the Great Demon Subjugation Academy, a soft, beautiful voice called out.

"Over here!"

Even in the pitch-black dark, that rippling golden hair and those sparkling blue eyes stood out at once. Bianca waved her hand again and again with a beaming smile, and I smiled back, waving as I hurried over to her.

"Have you been waiting long?"

"Nooo? I just got here, you know?"

Ah. That formal yet warm reply was far too sweet.

"She's been waiting about ten minutes."

A figure popped out from beside Bianca — short blue hair, an elegant silhouette.

"The Vice President came too?"

"Were you hoping I wouldn't be here?"

Rebecca stared straight at me as she spoke. The words themselves seemed to carry a note of being hurt, but her deadpan face and flat delivery made it hard to tell.

"No, absolutely not. This is overtime, you know. Overtime."

"...."

This time Rebecca looked at me with an expression so plainly sulky that even I couldn't miss it.

"Wh-why?"

I stammered the question back at her, flustered, and Rebecca answered.

"The Savior and the President are working hard for the sake of the world, and you're telling me to rest? Or are you saying I lack the ability — that a 'dead weight' like me isn't needed?"

"Hey~! Absolutely not! That's—"

I waved both hands in vigorous denial. She might fall a bit short compared to Bianca and me, but Rebecca was absolutely not dead weight. The gap between a first-year and a third-year at this academy was enormous. And Rebecca ranked among the very top of those third-years. Calling her dead weight? What kind of nonsense was that?

"That's right, Rebecca. If the second-ranked third-year is dead weight, then our entire academy is dead weight."

Bianca soothed her gently.

"Understood."

Rebecca's sulky expression snapped back to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a blank face in an instant. For her expressions to change that fast — she really was a unique person.

"Savior, thank you so much as well. To go to such lengths for our academy again..."

Bianca looked up at me, her blue eyes sparkling with emotion.

"Hahaha! It's nothing~ This is all my destiny. If anything, you're the one working harder, President."

Whether she'd fallen for that cool line or not, Bianca trotted over and threw herself into my arms. I could feel those savage breasts being crushed against my body in real time.

Ah. This was heaven.

"That's our Savior!"

The President nuzzled her cheek against my chest, rub after rub. With her eyes slightly drooped and happiness written across her entire face, she looked just like a puppy rubbing its head against its owner. I reached out without thinking and stroked that luscious golden hair, and she nuzzled even harder, as if it pleased her.

Ah, what an adorable creature. Just this afternoon she'd been the picture of maternal affection, letting me suckle her breasts while she jerked me off — and now here she was, acting spoiled like this. That gap was truly precious.

After nuzzling against my chest for a while, Bianca pulled away with a satisfied, beaming smile.

"Well then. Shall we head into the academy?"

"Yes!"

"Yes."

The moment I finished speaking, Bianca naturally linked her arm through mine on the right, while Rebecca fell into step on the left, keeping a slight distance.

Hmm. Flowers on both sides. This really did feel like a nighttime date.

After we'd walked a while, the academy's iconic front gate came into view — a massive black iron grate. Seeing it at night, those black bars swallowed by pitch darkness looked even more eerie.

"This way."

Bianca took my hand and led me to the far left end of the grate.

"Ohh!"

The bars, which hadn't shown so much as a gap, groaned with a metallic creak the moment Bianca touched them, opening into a doorway just wide enough for a person to pass through.

"It's a passage I had made just in case we ever needed to re-enter the academy. If you contact the academy security guard in advance, you can use it."

Hmm. Of course going through a proper door like this was the normal way — not hopping the grate because you were late, the way I did.

We passed through the door and entered the academy. In the distance, a black silhouette flickered as it approached us.

"Who's that?"

The moment I muttered the question to myself—

A burst of light flared in front of the dark figure, revealing them at last. A gentle-looking middle-aged man with a face full of wrinkles, a slightly crushed blue cap on his head. No matter how you looked at it, he was the security guard.

"Oh my! Miss, you've arrived?"

He bowed his head and hurriedly dimmed the flashlight.

"Yes! As I mentioned, I'll be patrolling the academy grounds tonight with this gentleman."

Bianca answered with a bright smile, bowing her head in greeting just as sociably.

"Then you'll be needing this."

The guard politely held out a flashlight to Bianca.

"Ah! Thank you so much!"

As Bianca carefully accepted it, the guard grinned with a sly, easygoing smile.

"Miss, you mustn't get too passionate with your boyfriend on academy grounds, alright?"

"Oh, come on!"

Bianca let out a string of girlish squeals and pressed her breasts even harder against my right arm.

Nice one, security uncle!

"Well then, I'll be off."

Looking at the delighted Bianca, the guard offered a smile that said ah, to be young, then trudged off into a small building behind the front gate. We started walking into the campus ourselves.

"We would've been in real trouble if we hadn't gotten this flashlight."

The academy interior at night was draped in a pitch-black veil. The only spaces the flashlight's beam touched revealed pale dust motes drifting lazily through the air, exposing colors that had been hidden by the dark.

"Now that we're on campus, I'll turn on Dragon Eyes."

Bianca blinked her eyes shut, then open — and her right blue eye instantly transformed into a blazing golden one. It shone even more brilliantly in the darkness.

"Shall we start from the right side and take it slow?"

Bianca asked with a bright smile, looking between Rebecca and me.

"Yes."

"Yes."

Our answers rang out at the same time through the silent campus, and we began to move.

The campus was laid out in a U-shape and rose five stories high. What we needed to do now was work through it floor by floor, starting from the first, while Bianca used her Dragon Eyes to pick out anything abnormal. There was nothing in particular for me to do.

Click. Click. Click.

Unable to speak to Bianca, who was concentrating as she looked this way and that, we naturally fell into silence, and the sound of our footsteps echoing down the hallway rang unnecessarily loud in our ears. The red letters reading FIRE HYDRANT, spaced along the corridor, and the round red indicator lights beneath them, blinked in the pitch-black dark.

This would've been genuinely scary if I'd come alone.

"Hmm... There doesn't seem to be anything unusual on the first floor. Shall we go up to the second?"

I'd been spacing out sightseeing the academy at night, and before I knew it we'd already finished covering the first floor. Bianca was asking me.

"Are you okay? You're not pushing yourself, are you?"

"Yes. I'm regulating the output as I go."

"If it gets even a little hard, please tell me you want to rest."

"Yeees~"

She smiled brightly, then focused again, scanning every inch with those golden eyes. The way Bianca furrowed her brow as she surveyed the academy was incredibly sexy. Working women really were sexy.

I flinched. Suddenly, an unsettling gaze prickled at my back. I whipped my head around to check behind me — nothing but darkness. Not even a silhouette in sight.

"Is something the matter?"

Rebecca asked from beside me, seeming puzzled by the movement, but I brushed it off.

"It's nothing."

Yeah. Must've been my imagination.

That's what I thought — until, not long after, the gaze was felt again.

A shiver. An eerie stare pressed against my back once more. The second time was absolutely not a coincidence. There was no way the latent ability given to me — Gigan — would malfunction.

This meant something behind us was definitely watching. That same gaze from earlier today, when I'd met Kim Subin and he'd used his psychometry on me. That same unpleasant stare slithered stickily over us.

I clenched my left hand tight around the scabbard.

Someone.

Someone knew about our patrol.