Chapter 37 - Divided
"I'm the first one there—!"
Angelica shot out like a bullet, dashing down the stairs.
She hadn't been outside in a while, so her excitement was understandable.
For various reasons, I made sure not to let Angelica go out alone.
That was because the identification papers I'd requested from Gondo hadn't arrived yet.
If a visa-less foreigner got stopped for a field interrogation, it'd definitely become a hassle.
Then she'd begged me to cast Concealment Magic on her so her figure would become invisible.
But if I did that and she acted alone, the problem of "it'd be disastrous if she got lost" would arise.
A concealed state meant becoming an invisible person whose voice couldn't be heard.
In other words, asking people for directions became impossible. She'd end up wandering a city she had no familiarity with, half in tears.
So I could only let her out when I was able to be by her side.
And lately, I was busy.
Angelica's canned-food lifestyle was about to enter its first week.
She was probably reaching her limit.
Catching up to Angelica, I cast Concealment Magic on her fur-wrapped back.
Ayako-chan was looking at my hands with curious eyes.
From an outsider's perspective, I was just some weirdo sending mysterious psychic power into a girl's back.
It probably looked like, "What the hell is this guy doing?"
"Are you... close with Angelica-san?"
"You're worrying about that? No, this girl's like a homestay student. I'm her guardian."
"...Well, she does call you 'Oyaji.' Are you like a substitute father?"
Then, Angelica, perhaps thinking something of that conversation between Ayako-chan and me, joined in.
"But Oyaji is my husband, you know?"
Saying that, Angelica linked arms with me with practiced ease.
She nonchalantly pressed her breasts against me, transmitting a soft sensation to my elbow.
Ayako-chan's gaze was terrifying, so I wanted her to stop.
"...You two seem... close..."
"We sure are! I'm loved with overprotectiveness, after all. Even though I keep asking to go outside, Oyaji just won't listen. I can't help but think he wants to keep me all to himself."
Don't use phrasing that invites misunderstanding.
That meant "let me outside the apartment," okay? I tried to explain to Ayako-chan, but I heard a snap, the sound of something breaking.
"I see..."br>
Ignoring Ayako-chan whose shoulders were trembling with rage, Angelica clung even tighter to me.
This was far too ominous a start.
Bathed in the streetlight glow, I blankly looked up at the sky.
Almost no stars were visible. In the place where the moon should have been, there was only a blurred patch of light.
It was cold.
As they were saying something about a record-breaking cold wave, the chill was extraordinary.
If even I, a man, felt this way, then Angelica and Ayako-chan must be feeling it even more.
I had to finish our business quickly and go home.
Just as I started walking, to-to-to, Ayako-chan approached me.
And what did she do?
"It's cold."
Giiu.
She clung to my other free arm.
...Hmm? Was she perhaps bigger than Angelica?
Shaking off the irrelevant thought that briefly surfaced, I spoke.
"It's hard to walk, you know."
But it's a record-breaking cold wave, isn't it warmer if we stick together? Ayako-chan replied as if it were nothing.
A man in his thirties waddling along, flanked on both sides by teenage girls.
The visual was compensated dating.
Silently, I cast Concealment Magic on myself and Ayako-chan as well.
This was definitely not a state to show to the public.
More than that, I should stop moving on foot.
I didn't care whether I showed up on security cameras or not. My nerves couldn't take it.
"Wow."
"Ah."
Pulling my arms free from the two clinging to me, I scooped Angelica under my left arm and Ayako-chan under my right.
Without giving them any say, I leaped, jumping from one building to another.
"No way! I wanted a nice, slow date! Don't skip the traveling!"
Angelica protested. She was energetic.
Ayako-chan, on the other hand, couldn't hide her surprise.
I'd demonstrated jumping stunts on TV a few times, but this might be the first time I'd shown the superhuman strength to easily lift two people.
"...Is this... a magic trick...? It's not, is it...?"
The world was already a chaotic mess with people appearing out of nowhere, so I figured it might be okay to tell her.
"I am, you see, the Hero."
"...?"
I could use magic too, lift a truck with one finger, and even regenerate if my limbs were cut off.
Probably, I wasn't human anymore. Ayako-chan was a human, but I wasn't.
I didn't know how much of this explanation she understood, but Ayako-chan fell completely silent.
"...But, you're cooler than an ordinary person, you know."
[Party Member Ayako Otsuki's Affection Level has increased by 9999]
[Ayako Otsuki's Sexual Arousal has reached 70%]
[This value allows for consensual sexual intercourse. Will you proceed?]
My vision was obstructed by the dizzying stream of text messages as I leaped.
From my lower left, I heard Angelica's displeased voice.
"Hey, hey! What's with getting along with another girl like that? That's prohibited, you know. Oyaji is mine, after all."
[Party Member Holy Maiden Angelica's Possessiveness has increased by 600]
[Angelica's Sexual Arousal has reached 70%]
[This value allows for consensual sexual intercourse. Will you proceed?]
Was it telling me to bed them both?
Feeling exasperated that this was where the bottom of morality lay, I landed in front of a family restaurant.
I didn't really know what kind of flavors young people liked, but I figured a place like this would have a bit of everything.
I deactivated the Concealment Magic on everyone and stepped toward the entrance.
The automatic doors opened, and a staff member greeted us with, "Welcome."
Choosing a seat near the restroom, I dropped myself heavily onto the seat.
"I'm here," Angelica said, sitting down next to me. It was her usual spot.
Ayako-chan shot a brief, intense look before sitting in the seat across from us.
"...Aren't you a bit close?"
I jabbed at Angelica, who had placed her hand on my knee as if it were only natural.
"'Cause I want you to feed me."
"...You're not a child."
"I'm Oyaji's child, duh~" she said, completely ignoring me.
She always seemed like this, but I felt like she was clinging to me even more than usual.
Maybe she was feeling competitive with Ayako-chan.
It was hard to eat, the staff's eyes bothered me—what was I supposed to do?
I opened the menu and held it up to hide my face.
"...I'll have the pizza and carbonara. Ange?"
"I'll have the hamburger steak set."
I flipped the menu over so Ayako-chan could see it.
I still kept my face hidden.
"...I'll have the gratin."
"Is that enough?"
"...I'm not that hungry."
I wondered if she'd eaten something while I had her cooped up in the internet cafe.
I'd set her up with the unlimited drink course, and I'd given her some pocket money.
I rang the call button and summoned a staff member.
Hoping to be interpreted as just a family group, I quickly placed our orders.
"I wonder how the staff sees me and Oyaji. They must think we're a couple, right?"
"No way. They should see you as some expat's daughter and me as her interpreter."
Praying that's how it looked, I waited for the food.
It should arrive within ten minutes.
I was bored, and thinking of finally fiddling with my phone to play a rhythm game, I noticed Angelica was stroking my thigh.
The atmosphere instantly turned lewd.
This made it look like I'd picked up a girl from a foreigner-hostess bar.
...Angelica had been like this since the day I met her, hadn't she?
Despite being a virgin, why was everything she did so reminiscent of a working girl?
"Hey, how were you taught about men back in your world?"
"What's with the sudden question?"
"It's just... your approach to me is strangely aggressive. It feels like a nightclub. Where the hell did you learn all this?"
"'Cause I came here to marry Oyaji. I read all sorts of books and studied up."
"...What kind of books, specifically?"
"『The Complete Compendium of Magic Cabaret Clubs』 or 『True Stories! Elf-Only Girls' Bars』..."
"So they had cabaret clubs in the other world too!?"
No wonder her actions seemed so much like the nightlife trade.
Maybe she was misunderstanding something, or perhaps she'd only acquired some very extreme knowledge.
"When you go out to eat with a man you like, you sit next to him, stroke his thigh, and hand him a hot towel, right?"
"Before even the common sense of this world, don't you know that much about the common sense of your own world either?"
I was stunned by the sheer absurdity of it.
"...I mean, if you're only clinging to me like this because those books influenced you, you don't have to do it."
"Ehh~"
"If you're forcing yourself to act like that... well, I guess you weren't forcing yourself after all."
Every time Angelica touched my body, her Affection Level and Sexual Arousal went up.
According to Mr. System Message, she was enjoying physical contact with me.
What a terrifying creature.
If I threw her into some foreigner bar out there, she'd definitely become their number one.
Her looks were genuinely Eastern European, after all.
Those types were becoming rarer these days.
There were too many places that advertised "We have gathered European beauties!" while actually employing women from South America.
It was a sign of a condescending management policy that thought, "Japanese people can't tell the difference between white and Hispanic anyway, right?"
Unfortunately, after spending seventeen years in a world full of foreigners, they couldn't fool my eyes.
Don't claim to be a Russian beauty with brown skin.
That seriously pissed me off.
Let me justify myself: it wasn't like I wanted to go to those kinds of places.
I was dragged there against my will by the people from the TV station.
Despite the fact that I couldn't even drink alcohol, being shown a bunch of fake white women had me, as someone who could tell the difference, absolutely furious.
When I got home and saw Angelica, I nodded to myself, thinking, "Yeah, the real deal is like this."
In other words, I was the worst kind of old man.
Even if it was for work, I went to a bar full of young girls...
And today, even if it was unavoidable, I brought girls home...
I... I...
"Ange, you can order more. You eat sweets too, right?"
"? Oyaji, you get strangely kind sometimes, don't you?"
"I'm always kind, aren't I?"
"Hmm? No, it's not that. It's more like you get abnormally kind. Like you're trying to cover something up with sweetness..."
"Wh-what are you talking about? I just think you're so cute I can't stand it. That's what it means to be an Oyaji, right?"
As we chatted about maybe ordering an after-dinner parfait, time passed.
And as I fooled around with Angelica, a few minutes went by.
"Oh, here it comes."
The food arrived.
It was the hamburger steak set Angelica had ordered.
The staff member hurriedly placed the plate down and quickly left.
It seemed my and Ayako-chan's orders hadn't come yet.
"It's piping hot."
Angelica picked up her knife and stabbed it bushily into the steaming hamburger steak.
Making a kiki-kiki sound, she cut it right down the middle.
Evenly, into two halves.
She cut those pieces into even smaller, bite-sized morsels and stabbed one with her fork.
I expected her to bring it to her own mouth, but instead, she brought it close to my face.
"Here, say 'ahh~'"
"...I'm fine."
"Then, in exchange, please share half of yours with me, Oyaji."
That way, you can enjoy double the flavor, right? Angelica said with a seductive look.
For someone who'd only learned from books, it was impressive she could make an expression like that.
...Even though she was supposedly known as the ultimate virgin.
I looked at the bisected hamburger steak.
Despite her demeanor, Angelica was skilled, and she'd cut it cleanly.
Cleanly, into two.
"Ah."
A voice slipped out involuntarily.
"I think I might know how you turned Ayako-chan into two people. ...If I wanted to, I could probably do it myself."