Ch.124Chapter 124

The long day at the amusement park had finally ended. The sun was still shining brightly on our way back. Maybe it was because of summer, but the day felt exceptionally long.

I hummed as we returned home. Though not much time had actually passed, I could still feel the lingering sensation of the rides we’d been on. I was already missing that sense of speed I couldn’t experience in everyday life.

It had been a fun day. It would be a lie to say I wasn’t disappointed it was over, but since we couldn’t live in places like that every day, I decided to accept it and headed home with the Professor via a warp point.

I watched as the scenery changed in an instant. A fast transportation method available to anyone willing to pay.

Being able to return home instantly just by paying money was incredibly convenient. Though being a Demon God meant I didn’t really get tired or sleepy, I still appreciated anything that made life easier.

Ouro still seemed caught up in the excitement, carrying around the fluffy demon trident she’d bought at the souvenir shop. She looked like she might torment something with it at any moment.

But she didn’t poke either the Professor or me with it. She seemed satisfied just holding it.

“Do you like that?”

“Yes.”

She answered with just her voice, barely opening her mouth. Then she slightly raised and lowered the trident clutched in her left hand to show me.

It’s natural to have lingering attachments after visiting an amusement park, but for Ouro, who had never even imagined such a place, the impact seemed much greater.

Whether it’s a bad experience or a good one, it seems you need some kind of warning to prepare yourself mentally.

The Professor chuckled while looking at Ouro. Though Ouro’s expressions didn’t show much change, like Aria’s, her actions clearly revealed whether she was in a good mood or not, which made her interesting to watch.

Emotions revealed through attitude. That’s why I found myself observing Ouro closely.

“Umm, can I stay here until the semester starts?”

After watching for a moment, I remembered something and casually asked the Professor. She blinked and asked me a question.

“Why? Is it going to be difficult to go to the Academy with Ouro?”

I nodded silently. The Professor, leaning against the sofa’s backrest, placed her hand near her lips as if thinking. With her gaze fixed on empty space, she nodded her head slightly for a while before finally giving a firm nod.

“Can’t be helped. Then while you’re attending the Academy, Ourr and Ouro will wait here at home.”

“Will Ouro go to the Academy when school starts?”

“That’s something I’ll have to ask about.”

The Professor smiled bitterly.

It seemed uncertain whether Ouro could enter the Academy right away. I thought the Professor might go ask during this summer break.

Staying at home all the time would be boring, but that’s only when you’re alone with nothing but your bloated stomach to hold.

Since I wouldn’t be alone and Ouro would be with me, I thought staying at home could be comfortable. It seemed like it would be nice to study reading together with Ouro and chat about various things.

“I’ll study reading with Ouro at home.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you!”

Ouro, responding to her name being called, turned her head to look at me. So I immediately confirmed it.

Her expression was unreadable—I couldn’t tell if she was reluctant or if she simply didn’t care. It would be nice if she showed some reaction through her attitude, but without that, it was hard to know what she was thinking.

I hesitated for a moment before taking out my phone.

“You need to know how to read to use things like this. If you only want to have simple conversations, you can live as you are now, but that’s not all there is, right? Think about it—when ordering pizza, you need to look at the menu, but how will you live not knowing what’s on it?”

When I mentioned pizza, her favorite food, as bait, she finally started to react.

It wasn’t a big reaction, but I saw her flinch slightly, which meant she’d taken the bait. I continued speaking, trying to lure her to my side.

“And you can keep in touch with friends like this.”

As I said that and turned on the screen, there were too many notifications.

Since I’m not someone who uses my phone a lot, even though I try to reply diligently each day, they pile up like this if I don’t check for just one day. I realized that making friends is easy, but maintaining friendships is difficult.

Just being acquaintances would be comfortable. But trying to maintain closer relationships made me hesitate a bit.

Leaving Ouro tilting her head behind me, I organized my chats for a moment before speaking again.

“Anyway, you need to know how to use these things so you won’t look like a fool at the Academy later. You’ll need to read a lot of books and use many devices.”

Ouro stared at me silently with her red eyes, then looked down at her trident. She started fiddling with the spongy tip of the weapon.

“…Alright. New things are good.”

Ouro showed an attitude suggesting she liked anything new.

It was a bit peculiar when she said it like that. She probably just thought it was necessary, but I wondered if fun and novelty were at the core of Ouro’s behavioral principles.

“Then it’s decided! I don’t know that much myself, but I’ll teach you as best I can.”

As I spoke proudly, the Professor, who had been watching from behind, asked me a question.

“Has Ourr already become smart enough to teach Ouro? That’s incredibly precocious!”

“…This is, well, thanks to my friends… hehe.”

I scratched the back of my head sheepishly.

The Professor sent me a gentle smile, seemingly pleased.

Summer vacation was racing toward its end. But September was still summer too. That strange season between summer and autumn. It was still just as hot.

It would be a few more days after the semester started before it would cool down. Thinking about that made me not want to go outside. If I opened the window slightly for ventilation, the cicada sounds were incredibly loud.

Buzz, buzz, chirp. Once, Ouro got so irritated by the ear-splitting cicada songs that she said she would kill them all.

That would have been nice, but her proposed solution was to emit an aura to sweep them away, so I had to stop her immediately.

No one knew if the newly-living Ouro would return to being twenty-five if she died. Honestly, since she had never actually been twenty-five before, it was questionable whether “returning” to that age even made sense.

“There, if we close it like this, it’s not noisy anymore, right?”

“……”

After struggling to stop Ouro, I sighed in relief and checked the air conditioner temperature.

Now that we’d finished ventilating, it was time to cool down the house. While tapping the remote control, I glanced at Ouro.

“Look at this. Each button has letters on it, see? By looking at these, you can tell which one increases the temperature and which one decreases it.”

“…This?”

“Yes. It says ‘temperature.’ This is the word for temperature.”

I explained the name of the button I had just pressed.

“What about this?”

“That’s the power button. Press this and the air conditioner turns off and on. When it’s on, it turns off, and when it’s off, it turns on.”

Ouro remained still for a moment, then nodded.

“I’ll try using it when I’m alone.”

“I don’t think we’ll be apart much?”

During summer vacation, we’d be at home together, and after the semester starts, we’d go to the Academy together and follow the Professor around. When would she be alone?

She seemed to be planning to use it when she was alone, but unfortunately, that probably wouldn’t happen as she thought.

Despite her age, Ouro was like a child who didn’t properly understand social life or the things that needed to be maintained in a home.

Not running inside the apartment. Not making too much noise. She naturally followed these rules thanks to her personality, but on the other hand, things like fire safety or not leaving water running made me worried about leaving her alone.

So if the Professor wasn’t around, I needed to stay by Ouro’s side. It was more about protecting the Professor’s home than protecting Ouro, but still.

“Would you like to try turning it off and on?”

“Alright.”

When I handed Ouro the remote, she hesitated for a moment before pressing the red button in the middle. The air conditioner responded with a beep and turned off.

The cool air stopped, and the air conditioner went to sleep. Knowing it would be hot without it, Ouro pressed the button again to turn the power back on.

Afterward, she nodded once. It seemed like a satisfactory learning experience.

But I was worried that she had only memorized the color of the switch rather than the actual power button text, so I immediately moved on to the next lesson.

“Now, I’m going to write down the words, and you tell me which one is temperature and which one is power!”

“This is power.”

“You really did just memorize the button color…!”

When my concern became reality, I couldn’t help but hold my head in my hands.