“Um, Fujiko...”
Junko unhappily went to draw her sword, before freezing when she saw how the classmates reacted.
“I knew it.”
“I hate to say it, but he can marry both Fujiko and the class rep if he wants...”
“I wonder if I could marry Sai, too.”
The students were all talking amongst themselves.
“That’s ridiculous...” Junko’s mouth fell open.
Akuto looked at Fujiko. She just wrapped her arms around him and whispered into his ear.
“This is true. You’ve been given permission to marry more than one person, which is very fortunate for us. As long as you’re willing to marry me, we can be truly husband and wife. We can live together with nobody bothering us.” Her voice was husky and seductive, and made it clear how much she’d been waiting for him.
“Students need to live a very dignified married life, you know.” A voice interrupted.
It was Yoshie, pushing past the other students. She wore a lab coat over her suit, and it was plain that she’d been busy working. The other students thought that she was a genius who’d skipped grades to graduate, and was already working as a priest.
“Kita,” Akuto said, grateful for an opportunity to distract Fujiko. He waved at her.
“Don’t call me that, it’s so formal. We’re about to get married, you know,” she grinned.
When she’d said “Things were different” the other day, this was probably the biggest thing that she’d meant. Akuto and Junko were caught so off guard that they forgot they were supposed to be keeping their unique memories a secret from the other students. They both yelled.
“MARRIAGE?”
“Did you forget the date? Haha. Akuto’s only here to get what he needs to graduate, anyway. Just take the test and be done with it. Any of the temples would be glad to have you. They’re also looking into making a special position for you that’s not restricted by faction,” Yoshie said, catching him even further off guard.
Akuto couldn’t keep up with it all, but he realized that this was everything he’d ever dreamed of. It still didn’t feel real, but compared to everything that he’d gone through, doing the job he was given and maintaining the happiness he had seemed very simple.
—This was my dream from before I came here... from before I was told I was the Demon King...
Everything he ever wanted was in front of him. He could be of service to others, too. He had more than enough power to do it. And he had three girls who truly understood him and loved him... What more could he want?
“Is this really... okay?” Akuto said, to no one in particular.
“It is.”
“It is, of course,”
Yoshie and Fujiko smiled and nodded. When she saw this, Junko’s frown gradually started to turn into a smile.
“H-How do I say this... Stop it, guys. It’s kind of embarrassing.”
Junko buried her face in her arms. She was shaking a little.
“Don’t cry. You look like you’ve just found happiness,” Yoshie said, grinning mischievously.
“W-Well, I don’t think there’s anything I can say about this either...” Akuto said with a blush.
One of the classmates surrounding them started to clap, and the clapping spread out into the hallway. It was like he was a popular singer who’d just stepped out on stage.
“Oh, that’s right. I came to tell you that our new home is ready.” Yoshie motioned with her thumb for them to leave the room. The crowd parted to let them pass, and smiled as they walked by. If this wasn’t a school, they’d be tossing flowers at them.
They passed through the arch of people, and headed out into the courtyard. There was a surface car waiting for them there. As they walked over to it, a gang called out to them. “Gang” was the only word that could describe it. Their uniforms were breaking the dress code in all sorts of ways, and they had haircuts that could only have been intended to try and frighten the other students. They were all male.
—So I guess it’s not all happiness, huh? Akuto thought to himself as he looked at the biggest of them, who seemed to be their leader.
The leader stepped forward, walking out in front of his gang of thugs.
“You know, we don’t like people like you. We just don’t. People like us don’t have anything. And we don’t like people like you, who have everything.”
Akuto remembered the man whose gruff voice he was hearing.
—It’s Takeshi... I remember him.
He was one of Fujiko’s servants. The first person to ever pick a fight with Akuto.
Akuto looked at Fujiko.
“We’ve got no connection at all here,” she whispered to him.
“I see. You want to fight, huh? I bet you do,” Akuto said, with a gleeful smile.
“Now, do I remember how to hold back?”
It felt good, strangely, to know that he had enemies here. Things were going so well he was getting uneasy. There were probably all kinds of fights waiting for him, and setbacks too. But that, he knew, was something he should feel happy about.
“The hell are you talking about? We’ve gone through a hell that spoiled rich brats like you can’t imagine. You won’t beat us by trying to have a stand-up fight.”
Takeshi didn’t seem to think it was possible for him to lose. He wore a cruel smile.
—Oh, he’s got a special nightstick and an incantation gun. The others are ready to jump me on his signal, huh? Two have knives, and the rest all have bats and wrenches...
In a single instant, he’d seen through their clothing and read their minds, and also knew exactly how powerful their magic was, too.
He smiled at Takeshi.
“I don’t want to go into details, but let’s not fight. It won’t do either of us any good.”
Takeshi just laughed and began to slowly walk towards him.
“It’ll do me good. But it’ll be all bad for you.”
The rest of the gang laughed. And then Takeshi jumped on him without warning. It was a surprise attack, but Akuto managed to dodge just by tilting his head.
“That’s dangerous, you know.”
His lack of fear just made Takeshi angrier.
“Maybe you’re not as wimpy as I thought...”
He jerked his head in the direction of his gang. The rest of them began to form a circle to surround him. They were all going to jump him.
“How cowardly!” Junko shouted.
The thugs looked at her and got nasty grins on their faces.
“Oh, hey, you’re cute!”
“Don’t be scared. We don’t hit girls, we make them feel good.”
Junko’s face turned bright red as they laughed. She looked like she might reach for her real sword, not her wooden one. Akuto shook his head.
“Don’t hurt them. Leave it to me.”
From the look on her face, not only would she beat them all, she might kill them.
“But...” she mumbled.
“It’s fine. I’ve learned a few things. Even if you beat them up, they’ll just hate you more. Which means...”
As Akuto kept talking, Takeshi seemed to reach the limits of his patience.
“Stop talking so damn much!”
He yelled and swung his right fist. It was an easily-dodged hook. But it was a trap. The punch was a feint. The real weapon was the nightstick hidden up his sleeve. If Akuto tried to dodge by moving his head again, the nightstick would slip out and strike him head on.
Akuto knew this from the start, however, so he just took a step forward and grabbed Takeshi’s arm, and then easily flung him into the air.
Not just his arm.
He flung Takeshi’s whole body into the sky.
“Hyah?”
Takeshi let out a strange scream as he flew through the air. Flight was one of the more difficult skills for students at the academy to master. And a thug like him, who never paid attention in class, would have no way of dealing with something so unexpected. Takeshi’s body flew off into the sky, like a beach ball tossed up during a dolphin performance.
“Huh?”
His abrupt flight distracted his flunkies for an instant, and that one instant was all it took. Akuto was on them immediately, striking them each firmly in the solar plexus. He’d held back quite a bit, but it was still enough to make all of them scream in pain.