Two years had passed since that fateful day.
I, Asako Ishikura, was now living in Azami with my father—Jin Ishikura, aka Vritra.
I woke up after everything was over, and my father filled me in.
It was all rather hard to believe—
Yet somehow, I wasn’t surprised.
I’d been watching the whole time, although that was through the eyes of President Eva/Eve Profen, who’d taken control of my body.
My conscious mind was asleep the whole time, so it’s like…my body remembered for me? Like how you don’t remember things that happened when you were a kid, but when someone tells the story, you go, “Oh yeah. That feels right.”
Anyway, I quickly caught on to the whole fantasy world thing, and I took a job in the Azami castle to get myself back up to speed.
You gotta work to eat—well, that was just my excuse. Secretly, I wanted to be close to him.
But not too close, or Azami’s scariest stalker would manifest out of nowhere and give me the stink eye. Best to employ some moderation.
I’m not that worried, though. Just a matter of what happens first: Do I learn to control my demon lord powers, or does she get arrested and thrown in Hell’s Lock?
“But she’s technically an Azami City Guard…like how law enforcement used to recruit potentially dangerous individuals back in my old world?”
I grumbled, but I was also getting ready to push my luck.
Then—
“You’re up, Asako?”
That deep voice made me flinch.
“Dad! I said knock!” I snapped, not hiding my frustration.
The key here was to frown just a smidgen. That always made him squirm.
“Oops, sorry. You’ll receive an apology in writing!”
A former scientist, my father was now the snake demon lord—Vritra. He was now working as an aide to Rinko, the queen of Azami.
He’d worked hard to negotiate peace during the civil war in the former Jiou Empire—now a kingdom—and settle the unrest in Profen. Now he was researching how to employ runes to improve everyone’s lives.
Back in our world, he’d been such a workaholic, it had put a strain on our relationship, but these days, we get along great.
…My mother in heaven would roll her eyes if she found out that it had taken us centuries.
“Plans for the day?” my father asked over breakfast. “You’re dressed to go out…”
With my mouth full of toast lathered in tomato dipping sauce, I said, “Mm-hmm.”
“Hey, swallow first.”
“Gulp. I told you! Research.” I washed the toast down with some coffee.
“You’re still working on that?” he said, scratching his cheek. His tone suggested I shouldn’t be.
“You bet!” I said, indignant. “I’m barely getting started!”
“You’ve been saying that for a year now. Shouldn’t you have something to show for it?”
“I’m immortal. A year is nothing.”
“Too much time can rob us of our sense of urgency,” my father scolded. Guess he had strong feelings on this subject. “A man named Seta always got same-day jobs in, but if I gave him a week, they’d never materialize.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m outta here!”
“H-hey! Don’t forget our afternoon plans.”
“Never! Bye!”
As I left, I heard him mutter, “Writing novels… You’ve gotta finish a draft at least…”
His voice was just quiet enough, I wasn’t sure if he meant for me to hear…but it was still obnoxious!
I spun around and leaned back in the doorway.
“I know being a perfectionist is delaying the completion, but it’s worth the effort!”
“Aren’t you doing too much research a bit too often? Losing track of your real goal?”
“Firsthand accounts are vital!”
And the evidence of my own eyes, too.
Nothing’s better than being there myself in person. There’s nothing wrong with looking at scenic footage online, but the videographer’s POV is always present.
And moving a finger just enough to click is never as good as walking there and looking, turning your head to whatever angle you like, inhaling the scents, feeling the air on your skin. Even the sounds are far more real than any 5.1 surround system.
And paying your own way adds to the experience, too. You don’t want to waste that, right? Or is that just me?
But my father just doesn’t get the pain of creation.
“You’ve never finished a draft, but you’ve got a title! And it’s unnecessarily long and filled with game jargon—who’s going to understand that? Make it short!”
“I’ll be publishing it in our old world, so it’s fine. Long titles are all the rage back there!”
“It’s still unintelligible! And centuries have passed back there; the trends are—”
“Argh! I’m leaving!”
Pouting a bit, I pulled a crystal from my pocket and used the teleportation rune that Akizuki—Alka—had taught me to use in order to leave Azami behind.
Psshtt.
And there I was, before the imposing exterior and gorgeous entrance of Hotel Reiyoukaku.
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