Izumi had no idea that his little fangirl was already off in her own world, daydreaming with a lovestruck expression. Right now, he was completely focused on turning a pile of materials into a full set of Dark Magician Girl cosplay gear.
Hat, skirt, shoes… Hm. Should he pair it with black stockings? Or maybe white ones?
Izumi chuckled to himself.
He could add that—just for the second transformation stage.
Of course, the outfit needed to be more than cute. The clothes needed boosted magic resistance, the shoes needed movement speed enhancements, and he even embedded a flight magic circle.
The hat also needed enchantments. Oh, and for the skirt… absolutely must add safety shorts. No way could he let anyone see something they shouldn't.
Muttering endlessly in his mind, Izumi slowly constructed the entire magical-girl outfit piece by piece.
Before he knew it, an entire night had passed. Only after feeling he'd done enough did Izumi finally stop and stretch.
That was when he noticed—somewhere along the way, Leffie and the others had fallen asleep.
The girls were scattered across the sofas, peacefully dozing. The only one still awake was Ophis, who sat quietly like a shadow unmoving.
A little speechless, Izumi sighed and carried each girl one by one back to her room. Then he looked at Ophis.
"Ophis, tonight you sleep with Asia, alright?"
Hearing that, Ophis didn't object.
She simply nodded, stood up, and headed toward Asia's room.
She could feel exactly where Asia was. That was all she needed.
After sending Ophis off, Izumi finally returned to his own room and collapsed onto the bed.
While he rested, on the other side of things—Saikai Academy and Kuoh Academy's higher-ups had gathered for an emergency meeting.
Saikai Academy's owner was tied to the government, making it essentially a national high school.
Kuoh Academy, however, was privately owned—funded by the demon faction.
Saikai Academy had been destroyed by Izumi, while Kuoh Academy had lost a large number of first-year students from the earlier otherworld invasion.
And since the two schools were located right next to each other, rebuilding both separately was practically impossible.
So… the higher-ups discussed. And discussed.
Eventually, they reached a conclusion:
Combine both schools into one.
Kuoh Academy was already huge—and now severely lacking students.
Saikai Academy didn't even have a classroom building left.
All they had was a massive empty field.
The merger would also combine their teaching staff, which—frankly—was terrifyingly powerful.
Their new generation of students would receive a far higher level of education.
Kuoh Academy had plenty of money to spare, so they simply bought Saikai Academy's land and its students outright.
With that, the merger was settled.
The administrators spent the entire night discussing class restructuring. There were simply too many high school students after combining both schools.
Eventually, a plan took shape:
Create an Elite Class, and place all the strongest students into it.
Especially a certain someone named… Izumi.
The homeroom teachers would be none other than Minamiya Natsuki and Hiratsuka Shizuka, two teachers whose strength was far beyond normal.
Once the decision was finalized, they agreed to make the announcement the next day.
Saikai Academy immediately gave all remaining students a short break so teachers could reorganize the classes.
And so, Izumi's school life was about to undergo an enormous transformation.
Even his familiar classmates were being shuffled around.
The next day, when Izumi heard the announcement while relaxing at home, he froze.
"…It actually turned out like this?"
"The two schools… merged?"
"Why didn't anyone tell me!?"
He was genuinely confused. How did he not know about this?
Was he… out of the loop?
Kato Megumi rolled her eyes at him and sighed.
"Where's your phone?"
"You didn't check it, did you?"
With that reminder, Izumi almost smacked his forehead.
Right—when he was making the magical-girl transformation device, he had tossed his phone into the system space.
He hurriedly pulled it out.
As soon as the screen lit up, a school announcement popped up:
[Notice] From tomorrow onward, Kuoh Academy and Saikai Academy will merge into a single school. All classes will be reassigned. Classes will officially resume in three days. Please inform your fellow students.
...
Izumi was speechless.
Megumi was right. The schools really were merging.
Kuoh had lost many students. Saikai had been blown up—by him.
So the entire merger… might actually be his fault?
When that realization hit, Izumi felt a wave of depression.
Still… merging with Saikai Academy?
The first name that popped into his mind was—
Aiba Asagi.
The Electronic Empress.
Thinking of her made his eyes light up. If it were her… that might not be so bad.
This world had no Cain, and she wasn't the "Witch of Cain" here.
Maybe he could even recruit her into his team?
Her hacking abilities were incredibly valuable.
Especially when fighting enemies from the EXE world—most of their cannon fodder troops were robot-based.
Networked units.
With Asagi around, they could all be turned into scrap in an instant.
Train her properly and she would become a devastating asset.
With that thought, Izumi quickly messaged Rias, asking for a favor.
He didn't know how the class assignments would turn out, but he wanted Rias to pull some strings and put Aiba Asagi in the same class as him.
And also Megumi, Eriri, and the others.
He'd also heard that the merged Kuoh Academy would soon receive representatives from the Three Factions.
Both devils and angels would attend.
Which meant Gabriel and Vignette would be coming too.
Izumi's mood improved immediately.
And that fallen angel—if he offered her money for gacha pulls, would she maybe warm his bed?
…Emm.
After wandering through various questionable thoughts, Izumi sent the message out.
Rias replied quickly with a simple OK.
For her, it was trivial.
Though she didn't know why Izumi insisted on Aiba Asagi…
she didn't question it.
With that done, Izumi tossed his phone aside and resumed working on the magical-girl transformation device.
Seeing him fiddling with some strange-looking gear, Kato Megumi tilted her head.
"Are you making… a cosplay outfit?"
Izumi grinned.
"Nope. This is a magical-girl transformation device. It lets someone use actual magic."
Then, with a mischievous look, he leaned closer to Megumi.
"Megumin~ would you like to form a contract with me and become… a mahō shōjo?"