LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 12 - Movements of both sides!
[WuYue and YouYu’s Home]
After the great ordeal, the two of them end up sharing their feelings or expressing their inner thoughts… Something like this didn’t happen.
In reality, it went like this:
“Sorry! I still want to sleep a bit more! Let’s talk about it tomorrow!”
“Eh—?! But…”
Before WuYue could finish, YouYu quickly retreated into his room and shut the door.
Inside the room, YouYu listened as WuYue’s voice gradually faded away until her final remark of “Hmph, I won’t cook for YouYu tonight!” allowed him to finally calm down, relax, and let out a long sigh.
“Wow, seriously… this is even harder than the acting earlier…”
It’s not strange that YouYu was acting this way.
Because just after they got home, WuYue seemed to have transformed into a different person…
Well, it should be said that her personality was magnified, making her appear as if she had become someone else entirely.
In short… after they returned, WuYue’s enthusiasm for him became… unusually high?
If we were to use levels as a comparison, it would be like moving from the previous “fairly okay” level to a much higher, “dangerous” level!
What made it dangerous was that… after getting home, WuYue’s concern for him was extremely, excessively “intense.”
In every possible way.
…Even surpassing how it used to be.
How intense was her concern, you ask?
Let’s take a recent example:
“You’ve just recovered. It’s not convenient for you to bathe alone. If you really need to take a shower, please let me help you!”
When he was about to take a bath, she said this.
And at that moment… her tone was so resolute!
Her gaze was just as earnest!
Startled, YouYu quickly abandoned the idea of taking a bath.
To this day, he never wants to remember how WuYue looked when she said that.
It was just… too shocking and ‘dangerous’.
“Uh… is it really that outrageous, YouYu?”
Mamba inside him suddenly spoke up.
“It’s a normal phenomenon for them after becoming magical girls… I’ve studied it. It usually relates to their thoughts and feelings.”
“So, it must be because of your influence that she’s become like this.”
“…Do you think I don’t know?”
After hearing the Mamba’s words, YouYu replied with exasperation:
“I can tell she’s been influenced by me… but the change happened so suddenly.”
“Well, doesn’t that just mean your plan has been effective? You should be happy.”
“And thanks to that, your power has probably increased quite a bit, right?”
“While I was inside you, I saw how those negative emotions surged into your body.”
“…You still don’t understand.”
Negative emotions aside, there was only one thing on his mind right now:
After everything that happened, how would WuYue’s feelings for him evolve in the future?
He wasn’t dumb. From how WuYue was acting towards him now, he could already sense something was amiss.
“Related to one’s own thoughts, huh…”
He clearly remembered that it was right after she said, “Then I’ll lock you by my side until you admit your mistakes. Even if you are dead, you can’t leave…” that she transformed into a magical girl.
“……”
If, as Manba said, the birth of a magical girl is related to one’s own thoughts…
Well, then there’s another problem.
What exactly did she mean by “mistakes”?
“Ugh! The more I think about it, the more dangerous it feels…”
Anyway, he now understood one thing.
If he continued with his plan, it would definitely lead to a huge mess later on.
What exactly that mess would be… he had no idea.
“……”
It seemed that he had celebrated too soon; the so-called “eternal regret” approach wasn’t going to go as smoothly as he had hoped.
The hidden risks… he probably hadn’t fully grasped yet.
“…Never mind, let’s not dwell on that. It’s better to shift our focus to the topic of ‘combat’.”
Sighing, feeling that the situation was only getting worse the more he thought about it, YouYu chose to avoid the subject and redirect the conversation.
He felt that continuing this line of thought would only lead to more trouble.
“Well? Have you figured out your approach to combat?”
Manba asked, hearing his change of topic.
“Yes.”
Aside from WuYue transforming into a magical girl and providing him with a significant amount of negative emotions, YouYu gained an unexpected benefit from the ordeal.
After all, the encounter with the “negative beast” sparked some new ideas in him.
The giant bat had reminded him of a certain tokusatsu show he’d seen in his previous world.
Drawing on that inspiration, he came up with a brilliant idea—
“Manba, from now on, you’ll be my ‘Contract Monster.'”
“? Contract Monster… what’s that?”
“Hmm, let me explain the concept.”
“To put it simply… you’ll be like a creature from the ‘Mirror World,’ akin to the demons in human legends, who trick people into signing contracts—an absolute monster!”
(TL: Kamen Rider Ryuki reference)
“Then, by chance, I signed a contract with you and gained power.”
“But the price is… to do things I’d rather not do, which can be summarized as evil.”
“Then, wielding this power, I inevitably encountered those magical girls.”
“And finally, through repeated battles, ‘I’ and the magical girls began to understand each other, but by then, it was already too late…”
“So, ‘I’ once again died before their eyes.”
“……Why does it seem like you’ve skipped over a lot, YouYu? Also, this doesn’t seem to be related to the contract or fighting. Is this your plan moving forward?”
“Ahem! You’re right. Anyway, what I want to say is…”
Getting up, YouYu walked to the mirror and pointed at his reflection, saying:
“I also want to—‘transform(Henshin).'”
“For that, I need your help.”
“To play the role of a Contract Monster?”
“Yes… At that time, we’ll start acting under a second identity and, as a third-party force, intervene in the conflict between your ‘colleagues’ and the magic girls.”
“As for the name…”
“Let’s go with… Snake Rider!”
(Tl: I know it sounds stupid, but that’s what the author named it, ‘蛇骑士’, also can be translated as Snake Knight. If you guys like this better, I’ll change it.)
“And as for the other settings, I will add them later…”
————
“……”
At the same time.
“Boom!”
Thunder rumbled through the air.
In a dark, unknown, mysterious place.
The very place where Mamba once existed—
“The Dark Tower”
At this moment, following the first “attack on the positive realm,” all the “inhabitants” of the tower had gathered together.
Like Mamba, most of them had an animal-like appearance.
And among them… there were also creatures that only existed in legends.
In total, there were about seven of them.
But that was not the main point.
The reason they had come here was to heed the instructions of the one who initiated this attack—the “Tower Master.”
The Tower Master had been leading them ever since Mamba’s expulsion.
Although they rarely saw It and It remained extremely mysterious, it was said that the Master resided at the very top of the tower.
What would Its instructions be this time?
“……”
“This time… the attack has failed.”
The Tower Master spoke in a calm yet broken voice.
“You must not… let that traitor and the magical girl… succeed.”
“…So,”
“Night Demon…”
“You must continue… your mission…”
“Until, until… you succeed.”
“……”
“Yes.”
“Now… now… all of you, disappear…”
After the Tower Master finished speaking, there was no further sound.
Accustomed to such moments, they slowly made their way out of the Dark Tower.
The day continued with the usual calm.
“……”
“It seems that our previous approach was correct.”
Night Demon murmured,
“Removing ‘Mamba,’ the most dangerous threat…”
“Will be more beneficial for us to succeed…”
Gazing at the deep, black “orb” in its hand,
Night Demon became even more convinced of this.