Otto woke leisurely. Looking at the ceiling, which was no longer unfamiliar, he stretched carefully on the bed.
And why carefully? Because on this bed, big enough for several people to lie on, Otto was not the only one sleeping there.
Bronya was sleeping at Otto's side, her spiral gray twin-tails undone and left loose, an eye mask over her eyes.
But though she was sleeping at his side, there were still several body-widths of space between the two of them.
Bronya was sleeping very soundly. This wasn't an act. If she wanted to gain Otto's trust, she had to make herself look completely harmless.
So she cast aside her other thoughts, hid the instincts of an assassin, and left only the happiness of having a chance to see Seele again.
Two years had already passed. At last, she would be able to see Seele again.
Bronya let her heart hold on to nothing but happiness, and slept the easiest sleep she'd had in years.
Bronya still hadn't woken. Otto turned his head and looked at her, sharing the bed with him. Both of them still had all their clothes on.
Bronya was wearing a rabbit-like set of sleepwear. Amber had prepared it. As expected of his secretary.
Even if Amber was the secretary of his future self, Otto found that he still couldn't do without her help.
Amber really was just too useful.
Smiling faintly, Otto thought that his secretary still didn't seem to have noticed that, inwardly, he'd become more than five hundred years younger. Hopefully she never would.
Otto looked at Bronya's slightly parted lips. He could see a little bit of white teeth. Her cherry-colored lips had a dewy glow to them, and it gave Otto the urge to bite them once.
But Otto still restrained that impulse.
Little Otto had no worldly desires.
"Don't lie to yourself."
Void Archives' voice suddenly sounded in his mind, startling Otto so badly that he twitched.
Void Archives could talk to Otto directly inside his head — no words needed, just thought to thought.
Resting his head on the pillow, Otto replied to Void Archives without speaking aloud.
"How am I lying to myself?"
Otto asked, but Void Archives only let out a sly little laugh.
"I know. You're very interested in that girl."
"There's no need to be shy. A young boy longing for a girl is an entirely normal thing."
"And you are the Overseer of Schicksal. Even if you sentenced her to punishment right here on the spot, no one would say a thing. For someone of your status, that sort of thing would be treated as only natural."
"Not just Bronya. Even Amber, Rita, or Kiana — if you only opened your mouth, any of them could be made to receive that sort of favor at any time."
"And that feeling would be far better than just lying beside her."
Void Archives' words carried a note of temptation, as if she were trying to lure Otto down into an abyss.
That was exactly what she wanted: for Otto to fall into that abyss.
That Otto — the one who had seen Kallen — had not the slightest interest in that sort of thing between men and women.
But this Otto was different. A boy still ignorant of desire — once that gate was opened, he would drown in it.
Void Archives wanted Otto to drown in desire.
Because desire would corrupt a person, and an Otto blinded by desire could be manipulated however she pleased.
But this Otto did not indulge her. Otto answered, "I only feel a little comfortable when I'm with her. That's all."
Void Archives let out a scornful little laugh.
"That's only the most primitive human desire at work. I know it. You're not only interested in this girl. You're interested in that maid too, your secretary too, even that white-haired girl too."
"Think carefully, little Otto. When you're around them, doesn't it feel like there's a fire burning inside your chest?"
Void Archives was trying to lure Otto into wrongdoing. Young Otto had suddenly arrived in an environment made up almost entirely of women, and on top of that, Schicksal's uniforms were rather revealing, so it would be easy for him to be dazzled.
"An appetizing girl — one you could reach just by stretching out an arm. And I imagine she wouldn't reject you either."
"Because you're holding her by her weak point. If you only opened your mouth, she would kneel in front of you."
"And go — woof, woof, woof — for you."
When Void Archives had been in group-chat form, she'd had no perception of the outside world. But once she changed back, she could watch the exchange between Otto and Bronya from the outside.
She'd nearly died laughing.
The two of them had been talking past each other completely. They hadn't been on the same wavelength at all.
But in the end, both of them had somehow gotten the result they wanted. That was the one outcome Void Archives hadn't expected.
Bronya had smoothly ended up staying at Otto's side, and had even agreed to sleep in the same bed as Otto.
That gave Void Archives an opening. As long as she could get Otto to devour Bronya, she could destroy his self-restraint.
"Actually—" Otto didn't know what Void Archives was planning, but he'd always known she meant no good. "When little Bronya barked at me, I really was very happy."
"Actually, 'happy' probably isn't the right word. It should be 'it felt really good.'"
"A girl barking at me — I really did think it felt good."
"I know that was a little wrong. But it still felt really good, and I really did think about making little Bronya bark a few more times."
Otto admitted it openly. He said it in a perfectly straightforward way. "At that time I had a reaction. That should be what you called getting hard, Void Archives."
"Not just Bronya. When I'm with Amber, Rita, Kiana, or Anna too, my eyes really do get drawn toward them."
"I think they're very pretty, and I want to have more contact with them."
"But I think there are some things both people have to agree to first before they can be done."
"For example, the kind of thing you want me to do with little Bronya."
She really had underestimated him.
Void Archives fell briefly silent. She'd thought Otto would sink into desire very quickly. After all, a young boy had suddenly become the Overseer of Schicksal, held great power in his hands, and was surrounded on all sides by beautiful women.
"With your status, as long as you say the word, the people you want will offer themselves up to you."
Void Archives still said it, a little unwilling to give up.
"My status really is very high. Being the Overseer really does feel good, and I do want more contact with girls. But I don't want girls to come near me only because of my status and power."
"I hope that one day, relying only on my own ability — or my own charm — I can make them want to come near me. To be my secretary, my maid, my family."
At the thought, Otto's lips curved into a faint smile. "To make them willingly go woof woof woof at me. To go woof woof woof happily."
Young Otto did not want to board the bus first and buy the ticket later.
Void Archives said nothing more. She knew one conversation alone wouldn't be enough to make Otto drown in desire. There was still time. She would have plenty of chances yet.
Otto, go on and play your little pure-love game first.
Once you taste that kind of thing more often, will you still think the same way?
Void Archives fell silent. With no one left to talk to, Otto closed his eyes and prepared to lie there a while longer.
But just then, there came a knock at the door.
"Dad!"