Monday: back to school again.
Unexpectedly, the one who got back into "school mode" the fastest was Lala. Early in the morning she couldn't wait to see her classmates.
Yami's expression was as calm as ever, impossible to read, but she clearly wasn't the type to reminisce over a two-day island trip.
The one who couldn't let go at all was Frieren.
While eating breakfast, she kept muttering about how happy the island had been, how good it felt to lie down for half a day, how wonderful the food was.
But Shichen felt she wasn't really nostalgic for the island itself so much as just being too lazy to go out—too lazy to go to school, too lazy to sit in class.
Which was extremely normal. After all, Shichen had been through the same thing himself.
As someone who'd had those exact thoughts, of course he had to drag Frieren to school. After finally earning his own freedom, how could he not go watch someone else suffer?
Plus, having to go to class and follow a timetable would help her actually register time passing, so her life wouldn't feel like the same day on repeat for ten years straight.
After breakfast, Shichen used magic to clean the dishes, then brought everyone to school.
Magic really was convenient; a mix of water magic and telekinesis made washing dishes effortless.
Way better than a dishwasher.
You could literally separate out material at the molecular level.
This world didn't have dishwashers yet; he could let Lala invent one, but Shichen didn't exactly trust her inventions.
So he just developed a dish-washing spell instead.
School might not be a place that made students feel happy every minute, but as long as you weren't a student, soaking in the youth and energy of everyone else actually lightened your mood.
That was the main reason why, even as principal with nothing to do, Shichen was still happy to hang around campus.
Tagging along with Lala and the others was actually secondary; they had class from morning to afternoon and didn't really need him there.
They only went home together at lunchtime to eat.
Shichen stayed in the office for a while; there wasn't anything he needed to deal with. Seeing it was almost time for class, he left and headed toward the classroom building.
He wanted to check on Kotegawa Yui.
He'd "eaten the little girl up" and hadn't stayed with her very long afterward, just sent her home alone. He was a bit uneasy about that.
He'd thought about bringing Yui to live at his place, but that wasn't really practical; her family would never agree to let their still-in-high-school daughter move out that fast.
The class bell rang as Shichen reached the classroom wing, passing by the corridor outside Lala's class.
His appearance drew everyone's attention inside, even though the teacher had already walked in.
"Shichen~" Lala shouted loudly.
The moment she called out, the whole class turned toward him. Kotegawa Yui, who had been mentally preparing to listen carefully, also looked over.
She looked a little embarrassed as she gazed at him; her eyes rippled with shyness and affection.
Having just become a woman, her heart and mind were full of Shichen's face and voice—her head completely occupied by him. She'd even dreamed about him the night before, about being alone and intimate with him.
Now that she was seeing him again, her heart stirred uncontrollably.
Shichen had no intention of disrupting class. Seeing Yui's expression wasn't lonely, he simply waved and smiled a greeting, then walked on.
Her gaze followed his back as it receded down the corridor until he disappeared from sight, and her heart was still pounding.
There was no way she was concentrating on lessons today.
"Isn't this Principal Shichen?"
"Mikado-sensei, long time no see." Running into Mikado Ryōko, Shichen stopped.
"Principal Shichen, long time no see," Mikado smiled back.
It had been the first week of school, and this was actually Shichen's first time seeing her; she hadn't even shown up on opening day.
Even though Mikado was "only" the school nurse, Shichen was extremely lenient with her.
Not because she was pretty. Nor because her ahem "breadth" was impressive. Just her peerless, galaxy-level skill alone was enough.
Mikado's medical skills were probably unmatched in this world: as long as someone wasn't dead, she could fix them.
Of course she couldn't compete with healing magic or skills, but this was a world where such things didn't exist.
Anyone that amazing deserved to be treated well—and on top of that, she had a god-fragment in her. Naturally, Shichen gave her the maximum amount of leeway.
"Mikado-sensei, how come I didn't see you at the opening ceremony?"
"I had a couple of urgent matters right then and couldn't get away. I'm terribly sorry," Mikado apologized.
"No need to apologize. You're so exceptional, Mikado-sensei—on campus you can pretty much do what you like. If you run into any trouble, you can always come to me," Shichen waved it off casually.
"Really? I can?" Her face brightened.
"Of course." Shichen nodded.
"That's wonderful. Having the future ruler of the universe as backup really puts my mind at ease," Mikado teased.
She knew Lala's identity and had already come clean about herself previously.
"What 'future ruler of the universe,' you're joking," Shichen shook his head.
"Don't you want to marry Lala?" she asked.
"It's not that. I like Lala a lot."
"Then what's the problem?"
"Being 'ruler' doesn't mean much. I doubt many people would recognize it," Shichen sighed.
"Well, that just means you'll have to work harder, Principal Shichen~" Mikado smiled.
"I'll borrow your blessing then… oh, and no need to be so formal—just call me by my name."
"Is that so? Then, Shichen?"
"Mm, Ryōko," Shichen replied, satisfied.
"...You're really just going straight to first-name basis," Mikado blinked.
"Doesn't it make us feel closer?"
"That's true enough…" She shook her head, amused.
"Hehe, I'll leave you to it then. I should get back to the office and rest."
"Rest, huh? That's very you… Oh right, do you want to stop by my nurse's office and take a look at something?"
"The nurse's office?"
"Remember I said I had some important business at the start of term? That's all sorted out now. Want to see?" Mikado invited.
"Can I?"
"Of course. It has something to do with you, too."
"Has to do with me? Then I have to see."
Shichen followed her to the nurse's office. At this time of day there shouldn't have been any students there, but he could sense another presence inside.
When Mikado opened the door, Shichen took in the scene.
"Mikado-sensei, you're back… Ah, it's you!" a soft, slightly rustling voice rang out, and its owner revealed herself.
A very cute girl with long straight blue hair and a princess-cut fringe, dressed in the school uniform.
But she wasn't a student here.
"It's you—Shizu, right?" Shichen smiled at her—Murasame Shizu.
"It's me. Thank you for your help before," Shizu bowed quickly.
"It was nothing," Shichen waved, then turned to Mikado.
"What you mentioned… it's about her, isn't it?"
Murasame Shizu was the ghost he'd met in the old school building, who'd been around for over four hundred years before Mikado took her away.
Now she had a body—but not a natural one. Shichen could tell at a glance it was artificially created.
And there was only one person he knew who could build a human body like that: the unbeatable doctor, Mikado Ryōko.
"Yes. I made her a body," Mikado admitted.
"I see."
Shichen walked into the room and up to Shizu, then, without ceremony, set his hand on her shoulder and gave it a feel.
The texture was incredibly convincing; it was almost indistinguishable from a normal human shoulder.
"Eh—?" Shizu froze at his touch.
Ignoring it, he continued, testing her cheek between his fingers, running his hand through her blue hair, then taking her hand to feel it—also no different from a real person.
The muscle, the skin, everything felt completely authentic—and very good.
Mikado really was terrifyingly skilled. If Shichen ever mastered soul-manipulation, and Mikado made the bodies, he'd never have to worry about people dying.
His vampiric "turn them into vassals" ability meant anyone he bound would essentially stop aging, but not everyone was suitable to be turned.
Mikado's ability would still be extremely useful.
"Um…" Shizu's timid voice sounded.
"Mm? What is it?" Shichen asked, still pinching her cheek, only now noticing she seemed a little flushed.
That real?
"No…"
"No?"
"Noooooo!" Shizu suddenly screamed, and the entire nurse's office exploded into chaos.
Telekinesis whipped through the room like a storm, raising invisible gusts; curtains billowed wildly, desks and chairs floated into the air.
The psychic wave continued to surge outward; it didn't affect Shichen, but Mikado was another story.
Before she could react, the telekinesis wrapped around her and then—
Riiip!
Her white lab coat shredded, followed in quick succession by the pink blouse and pants underneath, and finally her pink underwear.
Two huge rabbits bounced free, catching everyone's eye.