He was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. Which was why he had decided to at least accept Kaori’s goodwill, and had taken her up on her offer. All he really remembered of the time was cold sweat pouring down his forehead as he hurried to eat Kaori’s lunch as fast as possible. That, and how she’d smiled as she watched him eat.
Suddenly, chills ran down Hajime’s spine. He awoke from his flashbacks and realized that Yue was staring at him with a very complicated expression on her face.
“...Hajime, who was that girl?”
“......”
He wanted to know how she knew, but he also realized asking that now would be a terrible faux pas. A woman’s intuition was one of the seven great mysteries of this world, and all excuses were worthless before it. They would easily be seen through. Without a doubt. Seen through for the flimsy lies they were.
“She’s one of the classmates I told you about before.”
“...Is she the reason you fell down here, Hajime?”
“Well, I guess she is in a way.”
Hajime wasn’t sure how to react to Yue’s question, but Yue ignored Hajime’s confusion and muttered softly, almost as if she were speaking to herself.
“...Have you eaten her cooking?”
“Kind of have, yeah.”
“Was it delicious?”
“I honestly don’t remember that well... I guess it was? She was known for her cooking.”
“...I see.”
Yue stared long and hard at Hajime. She then slowly started leaning forward, her gaze still fixed on him.
“Yue?”
“...She knows a part of Hajime that I don’t. And she’s even fed you her cooking. Plus, you know her well enough to think of her right away when cooking comes up... I’m jealous.”
“W-Wow, you’re rather honest about that. Wait, hold up. What does that have to do with you leaning in to me like that?” Hajime said, feeling cautious, and grabbed Yue by the shoulders to stop her from pouncing on him. But Yue wouldn’t be stopped.
“...Everything. I need to fill your mind with nothing but me, Hajime.”
“No no no, Shirasaki just popped into my head because of the topic, we’re not really—”
“It’s okay. It won’t hurt. We’ll just be taking a little break.”
“How many times do I have to tell you!? Those lines are the guy’s lines! And if a guy does say that, then you know they’re trouble. Restrain yourself a little, you stupid sexy vampire princess! Don’t think things’ll always just go your way! I’m a Japanese man that knows how to assert himself and say no!”
Hajime spouted incomprehensible babble while Yue bore down on him, trying to kiss him. He continued putting up his feeble resistance for the sake of pointless things like his pride or dignity, but in the end it was all meaningless. Somewhere deep down, there might have been a brooding edgy Hajime that was stoic enough to refuse her advances, but even if there was, he would never let it surface. Because he himself had already decided to accept Yue, body and soul, so he knew his complaints were all just for show.
As proof, ever since that night in the bath, he had never once been able to actually refuse Yue. Every time she had come to him this past month, he had always grudgingly ended up giving in. Even when he had been training his Hide Presence and Sense Presence skills, he hadn’t been able to escape from Yue.
The one time he had seriously tried to hide from her, Yue had spent hours wandering the darkness of the abyss looking for him, crying from loneliness.
“Hajimeeee, where are youuuu,” she had cried like a child, rubbing her eyes. Hajime, who was surprisingly firm when it came to training at least, had still stopped their impromptu game of hide and seek almost instantly.
Technically he hadn’t lost, but he might as well have. Especially considering what had come after.
Once he’d canceled that training, Yue had stuck especially close to him for the next few days. The amount of times she’d pushed him down at night those days were far more than usual too.
Her mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of Hajime. When he was busy transmuting new weapons and bullets, she was sitting next to him sewing clothes from the cloth Oscar had left behind and the monster hides they had harvested. And she made sure, regardless of whether they were his clothes or hers, to make them conform completely to his tastes.
She made a point of dressing up in all of the outfits she made to show off to him too. At first her sewing skills had been crude and she’d had a hard time making clothes the right size, but before long she had become very skilled with her fingers. With her skills so greatly improved, she had started making very adult underwear to wear at night too.
She would give Hajime peep shows, blushing shyly while wearing the clothes she’d made herself, and those situations always ended in Hajime losing his will to resist her advances. His will thus broken, Yue’s next course of action was without fail to then push him down.
There was another time that they went to catch fish in the river together, and Yue’s swimsuit had charmed Hajime so thoroughly that she seduced him then and there.
Ever since that first night in the bath, it had become an unspoken agreement that they would always bathe together too. Hajime was never able to resist Yue’s pleadings, and always ended up letting her wash his back. She didn’t stop at just his back though, and soon enough she ended up pushing him down every night in the bath.
Also, she grew aroused every time she sucked Hajime’s blood, and unable to restrain her instincts, she would invariably always push him down every time she drank it.
He would try and refuse, of course, but... Lately he wasn’t sure why he was even bothering to resist, and had stopped even putting up the appearance of rebuffing her advances.
Tonight, once again, Hajime’s almost nonexistent pride and reason were overwhelmed by Yue’s boundless lust and passion. Her next words were the final nail in the coffin that finally killed his will to resist. Yue said, with flushed cheeks:
“...I just want to kiss you. Please.”
“Ah.”
When his lover looked at him with wet eyes and begged so earnestly, Hajime couldn’t do anything to resist. Like a robot with its battery removed, all the power drained from his body. For a moment, his body was afflicted by the charm status, and Yue wasn’t going to miss an opening like that.
“C-Crap—”
“You’re mine.”
A man’s screams of pleasure echoed throughout the stone house.
The monster born in the abyss had no chance of ever winning this battle.
Hajime walked out to the terrace and flopped onto the couch sitting outside. He mulled over today’s defeat while basking in the rays of the artificial moon. Naturally, there was a little vampire girl nestled snugly within his arms.
Yue shifted a little in his arms so she was looking up at him. Hajime was breathing softly with his eyes closed. Though he wasn’t yet in dreamland, he was quite close to it.
She felt something warm blossom within her chest as she watched him rest peacefully. The warmth grew into a burning heat, but rather than being painful, it felt wonderful. Yue let out an enamored sigh as she continued gazing up at Hajime.
As far as she was concerned, his very existence was like a miracle. The sight of him glowing scarlet with mana when he had freed her from her stone prison was carved permanently into her heart. Her three hundred years of despair were nothing compared to her meeting with Hajime. When she thought of how wonderful their current life was, and how much more happiness surely awaited her, she felt it was worth suffering all those years of torment if it meant she could be together with him.
Perhaps to another’s eyes she might seem nothing more than overly clingy or simply dependent on him. They might have thought she was simply exaggerating how much Hajime had done for her. But anyone who had seen the pair’s meeting would have agreed it was enough to justify her behavior.
However, regardless of what others might say, Yue would never c
hange her mind. Their opinions meant nothing to her. At that time, he had been willing to die for her, a girl he had just met. During that fight with the scorpion, Yue had decided that she would give herself to this man, the one who had willingly joined his fate to hers.
It was obvious, considering Hajime’s circumstances and the situation he was in, that the way forward would be fraught with peril. But something deep inside her still told her he was the one. He wasn’t someone who would use her as bait to escape his own predicament, nor was he someone who would end up as just a simple friend.
It was too cliched for her to ever say it out loud, but if she had to put it into words... she would have said their meeting was fate. To her, at least, it was a fated meeting.
Which was why she wasn’t going to stop. She was going to keep showing just how much she loved him. She was going to keep cherishing him. And without hesitation, she was going to offer all of herself to him. To the boy she had met after three hundred years of imprisonment.
Even if Hajime truly loved someone else, even if he made the entire world his enemy, even if he came to hate Yue, she would never stop.
“...Fufu, you’ll never be able to escape from this vampire.” If one were to sum her feelings up into one sentence, that would be it.
“Hm? Did you say something?” Hajime’s eyes fluttered open as he heard Yue mumble something. She was half-straddling him as she gazed up at his face. Hajime gently brushed a few stray strands of hair off her mouth.
He trailed his fingers across her lips and rested them against her cheek. As he did so, Yue’s neck shivered a little.
“Nope, nothing,” she replied.
Finding her reaction entertaining, Hajime started tickling the back of her cheek and the nape of her neck. Her moans slowly grew more and more passionate. Hajime was about to take his hand away, but her eyes begged him to continue. He cast his gaze around the room, looking for some way to escape, but he still gave in eventually. She sidled up to him like a cat, and before he knew it, he was caressing the beautiful girl lying on his chest.
Once again, Hajime had lost. No matter how much stronger the monster of the abyss grew, he would never be able to win against the beautiful vampire princess
Though if the saying “the one who falls in love first loses” really was true, then Yue was the one who’d actually lost the most.
They were both losers, but at the same time they were both victors. Such was the relationship between the monster of the abyss and the vampire princess.
Afterword
To those of you who picked this up when it became a novel, nice to meet you. To those of you who’ve been following me since my Syosetsu days, hello again. Author of Arifureta, Ryo Shirakome, here.
Let me first start by saying that... this is a work of fiction. Any relation to real people, groups, etc. is purely coincidental. Humans of Earth cannot use magic (I think), and they definitely can’t turn themselves into living railguns (probably).
Alright, now that those stuffy formalities are out of the way, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for picking up this book.
I’m not sure if this book betrayed your expectations or fulfilled them, but I’ll be glad so long as you derived some amount of enjoyment from it.
I mentioned this earlier too, but this story was originally something I put up on the novel website Syosetsuka ni Narou under the pseudonym Chuuni Lover. It’s something that’s been steadily edited and refined before appearing in the form you’re reading now.
I’m still very much a beginner when it comes to writing, so forgive me for the half-assed setting, overall lack of plot, and general randomness. I added things as they popped into my mind, and wrote a story that was more for myself than anything. Even now, I’m still enjoying writing this story more than anything else as Ryo Shirakome... which is why I’m truly thankful to my fans at Narou for supporting this fanfiction-tier story all the way until it got published officially. It’s not every day that an isekai author gets published out of the sea of isekai stories on there.
Once again, I’d like to thank my readers for letting me enjoy myself all the way through. To those of you following the web version, I still plan on posting updates there. We’re reaching the end now, so things are going to start getting more and more heated. I would love it if you continue to follow the web series along with the published novel.
As I’m sure those of you can already tell by my Syosetsu pen name, I’m a huge chuuni lover. Enough of one that I wrote an entire novel based on it. Enough of one that I’m going to write an entire second novel about it too.
And I’m not the only chuuni out there. I’m sure all Japanese boys, no, boys all over the world, no, every human alive, has a bit of chuuni hidden somewhere inside them. So, to all of you chuuni lovers who have to hide away because of common sense, or your age, or how embarrassing it is, or how society sees you, if this book has helped unleash your burning soul just a little... then I consider my work complete.
Ah, but please don’t go around unleashing it in public. You’ll cause an uproar.
Now then, I think I finally understand all those authors who resort to rambling for their afterword because they don’t know what to write... Yeah. Because that’s me right now. I’m out of things to write. Not good. This is just like that time I went to a job interview and blanked when they told me to write my strengths.
Anyway, before I start spouting something stupid (though I think I’ve already spouted quite a few stupid things in this book) allow me to once more thank everyone who made this possible.
First, allow me to thank Takayaki for his wonderful illustrations. I’ve been moved by his drawings ever since he sent me his first rough drafts. To have my work illustrated by someone so skilled is truly a great honor. Thank you so very much.
Next, I would like to thank my editor, S, who fought to get the publication of this novel approved against all odds because of his own personal interest in it. I would also like to thank the rest of the editing department at Overlap for all the help you’ve given me.
Lastly, I would like to thank you, the reader who’s picked up this book. Thank you so very, very much.
Many thanks to both readers of the published edition and of the web edition. I look forward to seeing where this tale goes together with you.
May we meet again in the next volume.
Bonus Short Stories
A Man’s Dream
“To me, research is whatever I can pour the most of my passion and enthusiasm into.”
Those were the words written at the beginning of his research notebook. The faded gray binding and peeling yellow pages spoke of the book’s age, while the numerous smudges and ink blots spoke of its extensive use. Such wear and tear spoke just as much about its owner’s passion as the words written down in it.
Every single page was crammed to the margins with neat, slender handwriting. Research results, hypothesis, experiments, they were all recorded between the dull gray covers. But at the very end was a footnote whose very letters seemed steeped in frustration with the way they were written. It told of how the owner of this notebook had been unable to complete his research.
“Unfortunately, I was unable to achieve the ideal that I sought. I suspect most of it is that guy’s fault. Actually no, I’m sure of it. It’s all that damn bastard’s fault.”
Halfway through the note went from being solemnly written to a grade schooler’s whining. But if one has the forbearance to ignore such childish writing and turn the page, this is how it continues.
“To whoever ends up finding my notebook. I pray that you, like me, are one who chases after the truth. I leave all of my research behind in the hopes that you will complete what I could not. That you will be able to achieve the ideals I sought. I beg of you, don’t let my research end in vain.”
A faint “Hmmm” broke the silence as the boy reading the notebook finished the last sentence. He closed the book with a slight thump and gazed up at the ceiling, lost in
thought.
“Don’t worry, I’ll clear up any lingering regrets you have. I’ll inherit your will and finish what you started.”
The boy’s whispered mutterings were soon swallowed up by the vast silence of the room, but the determination behind them lingered. From the corner of the room, a pair of lifeless, mechanical eyes quietly watched over the boy.
Clanking noises echoed throughout the room. Hajime Nagumo was currently engrossed in putting together a plethora of newly crafted mechanical parts. He was sitting in Oscar Orcus’ workshop, located at the very bottom of the Great Orcus Labyrinth.
Gouts of crimson mana illuminated the room at odd intervals as he continued transmuting. There was a golden-haired beauty sitting next to him watching the whole spectacle. At the same time, her slender fingers were skillfully sewing something. Said beauty was none other than Yue— the vampire princess Hajime had rescued in the depths of hell.
While Hajime was busy checking over his new equipment, Yue was putting the finishing touches on their wardrobe. She had sewed them some sturdy travel clothes, some more comfortable everyday wear, and even some more suggestive outfits for their night adventures. Sewing had become like second nature to her after so many days spent practicing.
“...Perfect, it’s done.”
Hajime’s satisfied voice echoed throughout the quiet room. Yue stopped what she was doing to look over at him, and saw that he was experimentally flexing his artificial arm.
“You finished your arm upgrades?”
“Yeah. I’m gonna give it a test run. Wanna watch?”
“Okay.”
The artifact Hajime had created combined his knowledge of modern weaponry with his game sense and the magic of this world to create something truly fearsome. Because it all used knowledge from another world, Yue found each and every one of his inventions to be fascinating. It had been even more exciting recently as ever since Hajime had finished transmuting all the necessities they’d need for their journey, he’d been spending a long time thinking about what else to add to his arm to make life simpler.
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