On Friday, when Shichen opened his eyes, the ceiling above him was slightly unfamiliar.
He turned his head. Beside him lay a pink-haired girl, delicate features, a tiny canine peeking out when she breathed, brows faintly knitted, bright and vivid even in sleep.
Just looking at her filled him with tenderness. He rolled onto his side to face her, reached out, and stroked her cheek, then smoothed her furrowed brows.
"Mm..."
She wasn't sleeping very deeply. His touch startled her a little, and she slowly woke up.
With a flutter of long lashes, a pair of beautiful violet eyes appeared.
"Nana, did I wake you?" Shichen asked softly, sounding a little apologetic.
The girl sleeping beside him was Nana. She and Momo had the same eye color—probably because they were twins.
Lala's eyes, in contrast, were green.
The three sisters' eyes really were like jewels.
"Mmm... I was just waking up anyway," Nana murmured, closing her eyes again and shaking her head lightly.
Her memories were still a bit muddled, but as her mind cleared, last night's images came flooding back.
Those scenes she didn't dare look back on spun through her head, refusing to leave, freezing her in place.
Last night, she and Shichen had finally become one.
With her own brother-in-law.
Even though it had been of her own free will, now that she was fully awake, she still felt like everything was unreal.
Ridiculous… and yet somehow not.
Still, last night had definitely been ridiculous.
"What's wrong? Your face is so red," Shichen teased when he saw the color rising clearly in her cheeks.
"You still have the nerve to ask! This is all your fault!" Nana swatted him in embarrassment.
"You're the one who invited me last night," Shichen said, shamelessly shifting the blame with a laugh.
The first time they had "done it" through Momo's body, it had never sat quite right with either of them. After a steady stream of coaxing from Shichen, Nana had finally agreed to do it for real—but the timing was up to her.
She'd chosen last night.
The room they were sleeping in now was Nana's room. The bed was a mess.
After all, they'd just fallen asleep in each other's arms when it was over.
"What do you mean I invited..." Nana's voice dropped to a mumble, too embarrassed to admit it.
"Hehe~ Last night's Nana was very cute," Shichen said, fingers sliding over her cheek as he praised her gently.
"Cute... You were way too much last night! How could you make me do something that shameful?" Nana flared up again, flustered and annoyed.
Just thinking about those scenes from last night made her feel hot all over and deeply, deeply shy.
"Eh? That counts as shameful?"
"Of course it does!"
"But... wasn't it basically the same when you switched bodies with Momo?"
"How is that the same! Last night it was the real me. I'd never done anything like that before..."
"Alright, alright, I'll take the blame, okay? You were just too cute last night; I couldn't hold back," Shichen admitted immediately.
Now that Nana had completely given herself to him, naturally he had to go along with her a bit.
"Mm..." Nana flushed even harder. This guy—he really didn't hesitate at all when he said sweet things.
He must just be used to it!
"Are you still going to class today?" Shichen asked.
"Of course! If I don't, Momo will definitely start suspecting something."
"No wonder you picked last night... but she already knows, you know. Did you forget you used her body?"
"That's different."
"She's been through it; she'll definitely notice."
"I'll make sure she doesn't," Nana said confidently.
"Will you now? But are you really sure you can make it through class today?"
"Of course I can... ah—" Nana tried to move and immediately winced, brows furrowing.
"Hehe~ Let me heal you."
"Heal me?"
"Yup. Get you back to normal... well, ninety-nine percent of normal," Shichen said as his hand slipped under the covers.
"W-wait—what are you doing... You're not going to do it again, are you?" Nana tensed up, nervous and a bit scared.
She absolutely could not handle being "bullied" by him again right now.
"What are you imagining? I know what I'm doing. I'm just going to touch where it hurts—Heal."
"Is that really... mm~" Nana bit down on one finger and couldn't say another word.
Once he was done healing her, Shichen got out of bed to leave.
"It really did go back to normal!" Nana jumped up and bounced on the bed in disbelief.
For the record, she wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. Even though she was petite, she was as soft and lovely as blossoming cherry petals.
Normally her hair was tied into two bunches, but right now it was all loose: a thick, floating curtain of pink falling down her back, giving her an unexpectedly gentle, feminine aura.
Shichen didn't hurry out. He stayed a moment, taking his time to admire the view.
"It's not completely back to normal," he reminded her.
"Huh? It feels totally fine to me." Nana stretched her arms and legs, clearly pleased.
"Next time, there won't be any blood," he said casually.
"Any... You—go die!" Nana exploded, mortified.
"Hehe~ You're letting me look this openly; what's a little talk compared to that?"
"I am not 'letting' you look! Go make breakfast already!" Nana yelped, diving back into the blankets and wrapping herself up from head to toe.
"Aren't you worried it's dirty?"
"It's all my own sweat, what's dirty about it?"
"Really?"
"Ugh... It's already dry anyway, I'll take a bath later!"
"Alright, alright, I'll go cook. Anything you feel like eating?"
"Grilled king crab!"
"Where am I supposed to find that right now?"
"I don't care! That's what I want!"
"...Fine, fine. You're in charge today; I'll make it happen."
"Hehe~ That's more like it." Nana's smile was radiant.
Shichen looked at her for a second, then went back to the bed, leaned down, and gave her a quick kiss before leaving.
Nana stared up at the ceiling blankly for a good long while before she finally "rebooted," her face flushing bright red as the corners of her mouth curved up, impossible to suppress.
...
Catching king crab wasn't exactly hard. And Nana had given him a great idea—what about later, if they ever wanted king crab again?
So he went all-out and caught nearly a hundred, froze them solid, and stored them in his Treasury.
Not just king crab, either—he stocked up on most of the seafood they'd eaten recently.
You could get this stuff any time in the modern world, but many of his girls had never tasted it—like Emilia, Megumin, and all the others from different worlds.
Shichen planned to let them try it someday.
After spending some time stocking the pantry, he finally started on breakfast.
It wasn't exactly "early" by his usual standards, but he'd woken up later than normal anyway.
Nana really was queen for the day. He even made seafood congee, simmered gently over sacred fire to drive out every trace of cold.
At breakfast she behaved just like usual, and no one noticed anything off.
No one except Momo, anyway.
She'd snuck out looking for Shichen last night and found he wasn't around. That left only one explanation.
Under her careful observation, the subtle changes in Nana's expression were impossible to hide—but she didn't say anything.
After they ate, Shichen took everyone to school, then headed back to his office alone.
He lounged in his swivel chair for a while, eyes half-closed, until he suddenly opened them again and called softly:
"Nemesis."
The office stayed silent.
"I know you're here. No need to hide."
"How did you notice me?" A puff of black smoke gathered in the room, slowly condensing into a small figure.
Long black hair tied into twin braids with red ties on either side of her head, dark skin, a black yukata draped over a petite frame. She was about the same size as Golden Darkness, with golden eyes set in an exquisitely cute face, lips curled in a smirk.
"This is my turf. Of course I know when someone shows up."
"Your turf?"
"Like this." Shichen raised his hand, palm aimed at Nemesis.
"Mm?" Nemesis suddenly couldn't move—and then her body lifted off the ground as if yanked by invisible strings.
Shichen pulled her over to sit on his lap and casually slid a hand over her.
"So you are commando under there."
"Mm~ Y-you... how are you doing this?" Nemesis bit her lip, but didn't actually stop him.
"If I want to do it, I do it. Honestly, I didn't expect you to deliver yourself to my door. Missed me?" Shichen drew his hand back and hooked two fingers under her lips.
"Mm... You—!" Nemesis's cheeks flushed a mix of shame and anger.
"Now that you're here, you're not getting away."
"Is that so?" Nemesis smirked—but nothing happened.
"How...?"
"I told you. This is my turf." Shichen chuckled, then stood up with her in his arms and walked toward the secret room.
"What are you planning?"
"You came all this way... Don't tell me you forgot what I said last time?"
"So impatient? I didn't come here for this!" Nemesis started struggling, but it was no use. In Shichen's hands, her tiny body might as well have been weightless.
"I know what you're after. Relax—once we're done, I'll let you watch as much as you like."
"Wait—! I'm not ready yet! Something's going to break! I'm this small..."
"Can't you just change your shape?"
"I'll revert halfway through!"
"Even better, then."
"You... Don't—!"
"Scream all you like; no one will hear you~" Shichen smiled like a proper villain.