—Just who is Keena, anyway?
He’d tried to ask her before, but whenever you talked to Keena, you always found yourself talking about something different than you intended to.
As Akuto stood there in thought, he was suddenly struck from behind.
“Oww!”
“You were looking at her with lust in your eyes. You’re not allowed to look at girls like that, okay?”
The speaker’s words were in a flat monotone. He turned around and saw Korone. For some reason, she was wearing the uniform of another school. She was posing with her hand on her hips, but because she was expressionless, it was hard to tell exactly what she was doing.
“Um... what?”
Korone’s neck dropped to the side once again.
“Can’t you tell? I’m trying to be a classmate who’s jealous of other girls even though she’s not your girlfriend. Doesn’t it turn you on?”
“...No. Not really.”
“Unfortunate. Regardless, stop looking at Keena with lust in your eyes.”
“I am not!” Akuto denied.
“Good. I can’t have the two of you getting two close.”
Korone stood between Akuto and Keena. Peterhausen spoke up, sounding confused.
“What are you doing? This doesn’t seem like what I’d expect from a conversation between a Liradan observer and the Demon King.”
Korone’s answer was immediate.
“Leave us alone. This is our problem, not yours. It’s a problem between a man and a woman.”
“Would you just stop...?” Akuto said. But Peterhausen only laughed.
“The Demon King is always popular with the ladies. I’m quite jealous.”
“You may have Keena then, Peterhausen.” Korone said. She was serious.
Peterhausen nodded. He was serious too.
“A splendid idea. I’ve taken a liking to her. She’s the one who made this bed for me, after all. Surely that means she intends to make a family for me.”
“What is wrong with you two?! Stop that!” Akuto interjected.
Both Peterhausen and Korone instantly turned towards him. Korone was expressionless, but Peterhausen seemed slightly surprised. Akuto wondered if maybe he’d shouted a little too loud.
“...N-No, I mean you can’t do that without taking Keena’s feelings into account.”
Akuto began to fidget and wave his hands in denial.
“It was a joke, obviously,” Peterhausen said, a little bothered.
Akuto laughed awkwardly.
“Y-Yeah. I’m sure it was. I’m just saying it’s inappropriate. Hahaha...”
“May I interpret your actions to mean you’re in love with Keena?” Korone leaned in towards Akuto questioningly. Akuto flinched.
“Wh-What kind of question is that?”
“Just what I said. Perhaps you wish to begin a sexual relationship followed by marriage, or simply live a life of debauchery with her.”
“L-Listen, don’t be stupid...”
“No, I’m quite serious. I’m not asking whether you actually intend to do it. I’m asking if, in your heart, you would like to.”
Korone’s face got closer.
“Wh-Why do I have to tell you what’s in my heart?”
“I wish to know your sexual proclivities, so that I can provide those services myself.”
“Wha...” Akuto was speechless.
—I need to do something...
He could feel the sweat pouring out from every pore on his body. But then the goddess of salvation appeared.
“What...? It’s kind of noisy...” Keena had woken up. “Oh, Ackie, Korone, you’re here. Stop making so much noise, okay? Petey’s sleeping too.”
Keena smiled and patted Peterhausen on the head. Evidently she was now calling him Petey. It wasn’t the best name for a terrifying dragon, but Peterhausen seemed to like it. Not only was he letting her pat him on the head, his eyes had narrowed like a contented cat’s.
Even if it was possible to speak with him, he was still a 15-meter-long beast. No, in Peterhausen’s case, the fact that you could speak with him only made it worse. He was prideful and violent, so he would probably be less terrifying if you couldn’t understand him. Akuto was forced to realize that whether he liked it or not, Keena seemed to live on a different planet than everyone else.
“Sorry for waking you up,” Akuto said. “Oh, right. I’m going to the seaside retreat with you.”
Keena’s expression brightened.
“Really? Great. If you weren’t going, I wasn’t going to go either. But if you are, I can go with you! I can’t wait!” Keena said, grinning.
“Y-Yeah...”
Akuto nodded. Normally he would’ve been just as happy as she was, but after what Korone had said, it was hard to look directly into Keena’s smile.
“What are you grinning at?”
Korone poked him in the back with her elbow.
“H-Hey, hold on. You’ve been weird ever since yesterday, Korone.”
But Korone just shook her head.
“I am, as always, carrying out my mission. There is no problem at all.”
“..........”
There was nothing he could say to that, but Akuto was starting to get worried that Korone might have really gone off the deep end.
—This is getting a little too weird. I hope it’s not a sign of something bad to come...
Akuto was already getting worried about the school trip, but then Keena pointed out one more headache.
“Hey, but if we go, then Petey’s gonna be all by himself for a while.”
“Ahh, that’s right...”
Akuto hadn’t really thought about it, but the only ones who could spend time with Peterhausen were Akuto and Keena. Given how he’d behaved so far, he was unlikely to go out and do anything that would cause trouble for Akuto. However, if someone were to approach his lair, he would probably kill them and destroy anything else in the vicinity without hesitation.
“We need to make it so nobody else can get in here, at least,” Akuto said.
The palace was deep under the Academy, but it was also connected to the dorms. It would be difficult, but not impossible, for someone to come through the underground labyrinth and make it here.
“Don’t worry! I’ve got a great idea!” Keena said in a voice full of confidence.
“Really?”
“Yup. It’ll be fine! Leave it to me!” She thumped her hands against her chest.
Akuto saw her confidence and decided to leave Peterhausen in her care. If anything, Keena could probably do a better job taking care of him than he would.
But he found out later that Keena’s “idea” was an extremely simple one.
She simply asked Fujiko Eto to watch the place while they were gone. Fujiko was in an upper class, so she wasn’t going on the trip. And after what had just happened, she’d fallen in love with Akuto so much that she swore undying loyalty to him and kept going out of her way to find ways to help him.
That wasn’t a problem on its own, but in the same incident, she’d also almost been killed by Peterhausen.
“Hyaaaaah!” Fujiko collapsed to the ground in terror in front of Peterhausen. She’d received a letter from Keena saying simply, “Akuto needs your help. Please come see me.” When she’d stepped inside the enclosed magical circle, she’d suddenly found herself face to face with the black dragon.
“I heard someone would be sent to attend to my needs. Is that you, girl?”
Peterhausen sounded upset. He liked Keena, and it seemed that a raven-haired beauty like Fujiko wasn’t his type.
For her part, Fujiko was too terrified to move. It wasn’t often that she encountered a situation where she genuinely would’ve preferred to be stuck in a cage with a wild animal.
“Kyaaah! Nooo!”
She was flailing around uselessly on the ground like an overturned beetle. But a single sentence from Peterhausen stopped her.
“...Annoying girl. Any more fuss and I’
ll kill you.”
“I... I understand...” Fujiko began to back away, still unable to stand up. “I-I’ll be leaving then...”
“Wait. Who told you that you could leave?” Peterhausen said. “You were sent by Akuto and Keena to provide me some minimum of amusement, right?”
A frozen smile formed on Fujiko’s face as she began to stammer.
“U-Um... Nobody told me anything about this... What, exactly, would you like me to do?”
“An excellent question. Keena would take naps with me, and tell me stories. You can do that too, right?”
“What?!”
This was a completely unexpected request for Fujiko. Peterhausen continued, oblivious to her stunned expression.
“But I don’t particularly want to take a nap with you. Tell me a funny story.”
“A-Alright...” In other words, he just wanted someone to talk to. But for a proud girl like Fujiko, this was a serious insult.
—Someday I’ll get you for this...
Fujiko secretly wrote something in her “Notebook of Malice,” being careful not to let Peterhausen see.
“Hey. Where’s my story?”
“R-Right! Um... The phrase ‘If winter comes, can spring be far behind?’ is a Japanese saying, but actually finds its origin in a phrase from the English poet Shelley...”
“You’re boring me already.”
“R-Right! That was just a digression, the real story is about a hedgehog who went to a psychiatrist to talk about his marital difficulties...”
—I’ll kill you. Someday I will kill you for this!
Fujiko hid the bloody tears streaming down her face. With no regard to her plight, Akuto and company left for the seaside retreat the next day.
2 - Seaside Album
The air bus was filled with tension. The bus was smaller than the classroom, only just big enough to hold Miss Mitsuko and Akuto’s class. So when a few people started acting nervous, everyone else would immediately pick up on it.
As always, Akuto was the cause of this tension.
“I-I’m telling you to stop being so lewd!”
The one yelling was Junko Hattori, the class representative. She was a beautiful, elegant girl. However, her face was now bright red as she screamed at Korone. It was clear from the way she was trying to hide her blushing that the redness came from embarrassment, not anger.
Korone was sitting on Akuto’s lap. Akuto, Hiroshi, Keena, Junko, and Korone were all sitting in a four-person box seat. There was one person too many because Korone was on Akuto’s lap, but only she was enjoying it. She was clinging to him like the mistress of a villain in a movie.
Korone was wearing a swimsuit today. And it was a tiny bikini. And the bottom was mostly string above the hips, and below it was little more material than a band-aid. The tail that was unique to Liradans was brushing against Akuto’s thighs. As for the top, given Korone’s slender frame it just looked like two cloth triangles pasted to her chest.
Korone answered Junko in her usual calm demeanor.
“You’re jealous, aren’t you? I understand. But don’t worry. You can wear the same thing, and Akuto will be yours instantly.”
Korone took another swimsuit out from the bag at her side and waved it in front of Junko’s face. It was nothing but a single string in a Y shape, and anyone who wore it would be almost literally naked.
Of course, this only made Junko’s face flush deeper red. She stood up with crazed eyes and put her hand on her dagger.
“No way in hell am I wearing this! Why would I want to seduce him with a swimsuit anyway? I’d rather just kill him! Yes, that’s exactly what I’ll do! I’ll kill him, and then I’ll die too!”
Junko tried to lunge at Akuto with her dagger. Akuto, meanwhile, was completely perplexed.
“J-Just calm down! Hattori, calm down! And Korone, you’re the one at fault here, so apologize!”
Akuto turned towards Korone as he tried to grab at the hand with the dagger.
Korone bowed expressionlessly.
“I am sorry. But I was only recommending it out of kindness to you. If you wear a swimsuit and sit on his lap, I guarantee you he’ll instantly get hard as a rock.”
Now it was Akuto’s turn to freak out.
“Wh-What are you talking about? It would take a lot more than that...”
And then Junko started to scream more.
“That’s so nasty!”
But Korone was unperturbed.
“I simply meant that you seem to be nervous. Did you misunderstand me?”
“Wh-Wha...!”
Both Akuto and Junko froze for a second.
And then Korone made things worse.
“If simply imagining it was sufficient to cause this panic, then Junko, you must be a very innocent girl. But don’t worry. Akuto and I will instruct you in the ways of sexuality.” The tension in the bus grew even thicker, and their classmates started to murmur.
“He said a girl in a swimsuit sitting on his lap isn’t enough to get him hard...”
“And the two of them are going to instruct the class rep on how to have sex...”
“That’s going too far, even for the Demon King...”
“The seaside retreat will probably turn into an orgy...”
Akuto decided he had to do something. He stood up to speak to his classmates, but he was so flustered he forgot that he had Korone on his lap. She grabbed onto him before she could fall to the ground, and acting on pure reflex, he grabbed her too.
The knot on her swimsuit came undone, and now it only served as a thin barrier between her crotch and Akuto’s.
By standing up, he’d ended up making her look more sexual than if she were simply naked. However, he still managed to get some words out.
“Everyone, please settle down. This isn’t a big deal. This kind of thing happens all the time. The class rep isn’t actually upset, so don’t worry.”
Akuto sat back down in his chair so that he could fix Korone’s swimsuit, but when he heard the whispers around him and saw the look on Junko’s face, he realized what he’d implied.
“So that’s it... they do this stuff every day, so this isn’t a big deal to them.”
“The class rep’s just jealous, huh? I guess they’re getting off on doing it in public...”
Akuto didn’t know what he could say to remedy the situation, so he just stayed silent.
—Ah crap. I was looking forward to having fun at the retreat... Man, why do I always do this to myself.
He glanced at Junko, who had turned to look out the window and was sitting still as a statue.
Then he glanced at Hiroshi. He wasn’t expecting him to offer any help. Usually Hiroshi was the one who just made things worse. But today he was strangely silent.
Hiroshi seemed lost in thought, and wasn’t looking at Akuto.
—He must be thinking about that legend... I wonder what will happen when we get to the island.
The only person who didn’t seem down was Keena.
“Ackie, don’t be so mean to girls, okay?” she said as she offered him a snack. He couldn’t tell if she knew what was going on at all.
“These senbei crackers are made from specially selected rice, and each cracker is made individually by hand.”
“That’s cool.”
Akuto didn’t really care about the senbei crackers, but since nobody else was going to talk to him, he decided to take one and eat it.
But before he could put it in his mouth, Korone grabbed it. She stuffed it in her mouth and started to chew.
—Wh-What is she thinking?
Akuto couldn’t help but think that her strange behavior pointed to some deeper mystery.
But eventually the time came for him to escape this painful situation.
“I see the island!” somebody said.
Akuto looked out the window.
He could see a green-ish circle floating in the cobalt-colored sea. It was a coral reef. In the center of it was a tiny island with whit
e beaches around its edge. It was like a picture from an encyclopedia entry on tropical islands.
“It’s pretty, huh?” Junko said. She must have forgotten how mad she was earlier.
“It really is,” Akuto said. He meant it. He’d lived a hard life, and had never had the chance to see a tropical island up close.
But Hiroshi didn’t even bother looking out the window. He just sounded bored.
“The island showed up about a century ago after an earthquake. The coral and the forests are both transplants. The whole stupid thing is artificial.”
This effectively killed the mood.
“You don’t need to put it like that.”
Akuto spoke softly, so he wouldn’t come across as mad. Hiroshi shook his head as if startled.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
Hiroshi apologized, but that only made it harder for Akuto talk to him.
Only the people in Akuto’s seat could hear Hiroshi, so the rest of the class was chattering with excitement.
The air bus soon landed on the island’s beach. Miss Mitsuko gave out instructions, and Akuto’s classmates raced out when the door opened.
Akuto was the last one out. The bright sunlight made for a scene filled with vivid contrasts. Coconut trees cast long shadows on the beach, while the waves quietly rolled up to it. Unlike the view from above, seeing it up close made him realize how different this was from any place he’d ever been.
—This place may be artificial, but it’s nice.
He looked towards Hiroshi, who still looked depressed. It wasn’t that Akuto was upset with him. He just felt disappointed that they couldn’t enjoy the scenery together. Keena was excited, of course, and Junko was smiling. It was sad that Hiroshi couldn’t join in the fun.
“Hey...”
He started trying to say something to Hiroshi, but stopped when he got the prickly feeling that someone was looking at him. It was a feeling of dread, like that person felt hatred for him.
He turned to look for the source. It had seemed to be coming from the woods behind the beach, but no one was there.
—I guess I imagined it. I mean, surely the people here will welcome us... The seaside retreat happens every year.
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 3 Page 3
