"So this is the reality of Japanese men in the so-called 'cultural superpower.' Quite the unexpected rival you've got there."
Is she misunderstanding Japanese culture or what?!
"Besides, Issei-kun was already a hero of the Underworld back then. If I were going to date someone, he seemed like the obvious choice."
"A hero, huh? Were you drawn to him because of your Valkyrie instincts—to be with one who bears the soul of a warrior? So, how long have you two been together?"
"Th-three months," Rossweisse answered, blushing furiously.
That's basically love at first sight followed by an immediate relationship, isn't it?
"Then… may I assume you've already formed a physical relationship?"
Rossweisse's face flushed redder than ever at the question… Well, if we're talking purely in terms of time, Ravel and I have only been together for about two months.
And when it comes to Shirone… well, drawing the line on when "things started" is kind of tricky.
"We're not married yet or anything! And—wait—you're the one who taught me those old-fashioned values in the first place, Grandma!"
"I never said you shouldn't be intimate before marriage. What I said was: Don't go giving yourself to just any guy who sweet-talks you!"
"I—I want to do naughty things with a guy too!"
"Then hurry up and make it official already!"
Whoa. They're getting so heated, they've slipped into their dialects.
Thanks to translation magic and language enchantments, we all hear each other's words in a language we understand—but hearing these two Nordic-looking women argue in what sounds like rural Japanese dialect? Yeah, that's really surreal in person.
"Ahem... Very well. I approve of the relationship."
"…Huh!?"
"Why are you so surprised? There seemed to be a miscommunication about your ideas on relationships, but now that's been cleared up, hasn't it? I'm saying it's perfectly fine to become intimate. Go out on a proper date. Share a kiss or two. I'll be checking back on your progress after the mage conference."
And just like that, Göndul gave a polite "Now if you'll excuse me" and left the room.
Apparently, she'll be staying at a facility President Sona arranged for the school staff until the conference begins.
"Um, Issei-kun… would you go on a date with me sometime soon? I, um… can't really back out of this anymore."
"U-uh, sure. If you're okay with me…"
Rossweisse tugged shyly on Issei's sleeve and looked up at him with big, pleading eyes. He stammered but agreed.
Meanwhile, Rias and the other girls took several more minutes to "reboot" from shock, leaving Rossweisse frantically apologizing the whole time.
========
After Issei and Rossweisse's date was confirmed, the girls who had been sulking suddenly regained their spirits—probably because Issei promised to go on mini-dates with each of them. Whether it was shopping or spending time together, everyone got a turn.
Their date was scheduled for the next day after school. It seemed sudden, but the weekend wasn't far off, and it didn't need to be an all-day affair just for appearances.
Rossweisse apparently had a place in Tokyo she'd always wanted to visit… though odds are it's some ¥100 store or ultra-discount supermarket.
From what I remember, today's the day that Euclid Lucifuge is supposed to make contact with Rossweisse. Not that I have to do anything about it…
Why not? Because among the Qlippoth members, Euclid is the least impactful—the weakest of the "Great Satan" class, both in threat and strategic value.
Honestly, even if we captured him, it wouldn't slow down their plan to resurrect Trihexa.
The risk just doesn't justify the reward.
Now, if it were that violet-haired witch with the Holy Cross—then it might be worth trailing the couple on their date to look for an opening to take her down safely.
But with so many civilians around, it's just too risky to provoke a fight.
So today, I'm on standby at home—ready to act if Issei sends out an emergency signal, but otherwise laying low.
And what am I doing now?
Fighting an all-out war with Le Fay, Ophis, and Ravel in a chaotic video game showdown!
To be specific: my character is a cosmic mercenary who absorbs and mimics anything. Ophis is controlling a green dragon from Eden. Le Fay has a flame-spewing turtle with spiked armor. And Ravel's avatar is a speedster wielding a Phoenix Punch as her finishing move.
It's a four-player free-for-all. Kuroka and Shirone are sitting this round out and watching the match.
"Fuhahaha! Secret move—'Mutual Destruction by Midair Absorption!'"
As I leap from the edge of the stage, I suck in Le Fay's turtle boss mid-air, knocking her out of the game.
"Ahh! That's not fair, Arima-san! That was my last life!"
"But it's not over yet! The Cosmic Mercenary has great recovery skills!"
Just before I fall completely off the stage, I spit out the absorbed enemy, use a midair jump, and follow up with a Final Sword slash to barely land back on the platform!
"Avenging Le Fay," Ophis said.
Before I could fully recover, Ophis drops a bomber unit—her signature self-destruct terror tactic—on my head.
Both Le Fay and I were knocked out.
"…V for victory," she said softly, flashing Le Fay a peace sign.
Overwhelmed by emotion, Le Fay hugged Ophis.
In the final showdown between dragon and phoenix, Ravel's punch decided the match.
"Hmph! Even a Phoenix can beat a Dragon sometimes!"
After that, we played a round of Mario Party and even broke out some regular playing cards. It was evening when we received a sudden emergency call from President Rias.
As I expected, Euclid made contact with Issei and Rossweisse during their date.
"…That's the situation. It seems Qlippoth discovered that I once wrote a paper on Trihexa back in my student days. Even though I never submitted it—just talked about it casually with a former roommate—they still tracked down the memory and used that as an excuse to make contact… and they even took civilians hostage to do it."
We were all gathered in the Hyoudou house conference room, listening to Rossweisse's report.
The fact that Euclid had approached her in broad daylight in the human world had everyone wearing grim expressions.
"They're not like your typical terrorist group, are they?" Irina muttered. "They don't care if innocent people get caught in the crossfire."
"Exactly," Xenovia added. "Normally, attacking the human world—the foundation of divine faith—would get the gods of every pantheon after you. But Qlippoth's already made enemies of the entire world. At this point, they've got nothing to lose."
Right. If they've already declared war on the world's gods, then getting more enemies won't change anything.
"That said, most major cities have strengthened their supernatural defenses behind the scenes. Sure, someone as powerful as Euclid might still break in, but once they do, the city's security measures get even tighter. Taking that risk just to contact Rossweisse means… that paper she wrote must be more valuable than even she realized," Ravel speculated.
Rossweisse frowned. She didn't seem to believe a half-finished student paper could possibly be that important.
"Well, it's about time for our scheduled check-in with Azazel. Let's loop him in," Rias said.
[…So, Rossweisse was their target this time.]
Azazel's voice came through the communication crystal. He had been away the past few days at a strategy meeting with Grigori regarding Qlippoth and Trihexa.
[You all know about the recent disappearances of prominent magic users, right?]
We nodded.
[Here's the thing—those people all had something else in common beyond forbidden and ancient magic. Every one of them had researched Trihexa. Not just any research, either. They were investigating it from… unorthodox angles. Rossweisse, I need to ask—how did you approach the study of Trihexa?]
"…I started with the alternate theory that the Number of the Beast is actually 616. From that basis, I tried to cross-reference Biblical and mythological events tied to the number, looking for correlations."
[I see. I had a feeling… We at Grigori have already predicted up to Seal Formula Twenty-Three—the very ones Qlippoth is likely trying to break. We were using those to calculate how long we had before Trihexa's resurrection. But if they're making this kind of move… maybe the original God used the '616' model for the seal. If so, we'll need to rebuild our entire predictive model from scratch.]
He paused.
[Stopping Trihexa's revival is our first priority. But… we also need to prepare for the worst.]
The worst-case scenario. The end of the world.
Everyone's face tensed at those words—but Azazel gave a reassuring smile through the crystal.