Although she hadn't been in this world for very long, Jahy had already come to understand its rules—at least a little.
That was: no matter what you wanted, you needed money.
And with not a single coin to her name, even eating was a problem, let alone finding a place to sleep.
She absolutely did not want to end up homeless, exposed to the elements.
So she had already made up her mind—no matter what, she was going to latch onto Tanaka Masao.
As for Jahy's shameless freeloading, Tanaka Masao had been mentally prepared for it for a while now.
After spending some time together, he'd realized that Jahy was a remarkably thick-skinned demon.
No—more accurately, as someone who had held a high position for a long time, Jahy naturally put herself at the center of everything when dealing with anyone other than the Demon King.
"I never agreed to let my house become your new base."
"What's the big deal? Worst case, I'll just satisfy one more of your conditions."
Jahy perfectly embodied the saying 'debts don't weigh on those who owe too many'—empty promises were handed out freely.
"You haven't even fulfilled the condition you promised me earlier."
Even so, Tanaka Masao still let Jahy come home with him.
Well… he did have just a tiny bit of expectation regarding that condition she mentioned.
Of course, just a teeny bit.
Besides that, there was another reason.
Taking in a beautiful demon girl somehow felt very… that kind of thing—
Ahem. More like something that only happens to anime protagonists.
Surely, it would bring him all sorts of opportunities down the line.
·····
Jahy followed Tanaka Masao to the front of his house.
Looking at the standard two-story home in front of her, she couldn't help but sneer.
"This is your house? How shabby."
Back in the day, she lived in castles and palaces—lavishly decorated and enormous in size.
There was no comparison at all.
Tanaka Masao took out his keys and opened the door, replying calmly,
"If you don't like it, you're free to go somewhere else."
Jahy had no intention of sleeping on the streets. She squeezed past him into the house and said,
"Fine. This is a special situation anyway. I'll treat this place as a temporary base."
Watching her dart inside without hesitation, Tanaka Masao called out,
"Hey! You didn't even change into slippers!"
By the time Tanaka Masao finished changing his shoes and went inside, he found Jahy already lounging comfortably on the living room sofa.
She practically melted into it, legs crossed, issuing commands like royalty.
"Get me a glass of water."
Seeing how relaxed she was—on top of ordering him around—Tanaka Masao was at a loss for words.
"You really don't hold back at all, do you?"
He went to the fridge and poured her a glass of juice.
Just as he was walking back, a sharp scream rang out from the living room.
"What happened?!"
Tanaka Masao hurried over.
When he arrived, the beautiful girl sitting on the sofa was gone—in her place was a small loli.
Looking at her shrunken body, Jahy clutched her head with both hands, on the verge of collapse.
"I turned back into a child again!"
Seeing this, Tanaka Masao let out a sigh of relief. For a moment, he thought a magical girl had come knocking.
He placed the juice on the coffee table and asked,
"What happened? Why did you turn back into a kid again?"
Looking dejected, Jahy lifted the magic stone necklace around her neck.
"This magic stone is too small. The mana inside it is too little—it's not enough to let me maintain my normal form."
"So when the magic stone runs out of mana, that means you have to stay in child form?"
"Not exactly." Jahy shook her head.
"The mana in the magic stone slowly recovers. Based on my calculations, this stone only allows me to maintain my adult form for about three to four hours per day."
"Looks like I'll need to find a larger magic stone as soon as possible."
"Only able to maintain adult form for a limited time each day, and shrinking once the mana runs out…"
Tanaka Masao rubbed his chin, thinking. This setup felt strangely familiar.
Incidents like this could get pretty interesting in certain situations.
Jahy picked up the juice on the coffee table and took a big gulp.
"Ahh~ delicious. Alright, we should discuss how to search for magic stones."
"No—there's something more important than that right now."
Tanaka Masao cut in.
Jahy tilted her head, completely puzzled. "What could be more important than finding magic stones?"
"My parents will be home from work soon. If we can't come up with a reason for you to stay, you'll be kicked out."
Hearing that, Jahy's expression turned serious as well. She nodded.
"That is more important. I need to secure food and lodging first so I can focus on finding magic stones."
She looked up at Tanaka Masao and asked,
"What should I do?"
Looking at the small, cute Jahy, Tanaka Masao nodded. This version was much easier to handle than her adult form.
"Just follow my arrangements."
"O… okay."
After hesitating for a moment, Jahy finally agreed.
[Ding, Corruption +10]
Tanaka Masao: ?
Since the release of his doujin, Tanaka Masao didn't want to be constantly bothered by system notifications.
So he'd set a limit—if the corruption value didn't exceed ten points, there would be no alert.
Most people only provided one or two points of corruption at a time.
Only when Sawamura Spencer Eriri's yuri power hit its peak had he ever received a full ten points at once.
He hadn't expected Jahy to casually provide ten points so easily.
It seemed he could farm corruption quite efficiently with Jahy.
But why had she fallen into corruption in the first place?
Why had Jahy-sama fallen?
Obviously because, in order to secure stable food and lodging, she had no choice but to bow her head to Tanaka Masao—the man she saw as nothing more than a wallet and a subordinate—and obey his arrangements.
The great Jahy-sama had ultimately lowered her noble head to reality.
·····
"We're home."
A little past six in the evening, the Tanaka couple returned home.
"Welcome back, Father. Mother."
"?"
Seeing Tanaka Masao come out to greet them, the Tanaka couple were both confused.
The previous Masao never did this—and since transmigrating, Tanaka Masao usually came home later than them anyway.
Tanaka's mother paused for a moment, then spoke first.
"Masao, you're home already? How was Tokyo yesterday?"
"It was pretty good."
Just as the Tanaka couple bent down to change their shoes, a lively, unfamiliar child's voice suddenly rang out.
"Hello."