Ch.132Chapter 132

I had a name tag hanging around my neck. With this, I could move around the Academy freely. It was possible because the Academy had granted me permission to roam freely.

Originally, I could have wandered around alone with this, but because of that person who swung a knife at me out of resentment toward the Demon God, going around alone became impossible.

Of course, if my friends offered to take me to the Research Building or Research Lab, they would probably say it’s fine.

Still, I didn’t feel like leaving my spot right now. Before, I had no doubt that Professor would welcome me back even if I stepped out briefly, but now that Ouro was occupying that place, I couldn’t be completely at ease.

Coming back to find Professor playing alone with Ouro? That wouldn’t do.

I thought we should play together. I believed no one should monopolize Professor. After thinking about it several times, I nodded to myself.

“Why are you nodding like that?”

“You startled me.”

I flinched. Somehow Ouro had approached and was staring at me.

After finishing the day at the Academy and returning home, I sat on the sofa and looked at Ouro. Ouro, who had already claimed the seat next to me, was looking at the TV that was on.

“Why aren’t you clinging to Professor?”

“…Professor is cooking. Said it’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous?”

I tilted my head.

It’s not like she would get hurt or die, so what danger? That thought crossed my mind, but considering how Professor cares about us, it wasn’t completely strange, so I let it go.

That makes sense. If she says it’s dangerous, then it’s dangerous. Getting hurt wouldn’t be a big deal, but it would probably break Professor’s heart.

“I see.”

“That’s right.”

Ouro affirmed my words and leaned over. She flopped down on the opposite side and closed her eyes.

“Going to sleep?”

“Yeah.”

Demon Gods don’t sleep, but when they have to wait for something or want to pass time quickly when bored, they use sleep as a means.

Ouro seemed to be planning to wake up just as Professor finished cooking. She probably wanted to open her eyes the moment Professor called.

As I was quietly watching Ouro, I reached out my hand.

Slap. I lightly hit the leg that had come up toward my thigh and pushed it away. Ouro opened her eyes and blinked blankly. She stared at me for a while, as if being hit once was that unpleasant.

“Move your feet. There’s plenty of space by your head.”

“Hmph.”

Ouro confirmed that there was indeed a lot of space above her and crawled away. I sat at the left end of the sofa, and Ouro occupied most of the right side, lying down.

Seeing that made me want to lie down too, so I slipped off the sofa.

“What? If you were going to get off the sofa anyway, why did you hit my foot?”

“…It’s because you lay down first. I just wanted to lie down too.”

After pointedly responding to Ouro’s words, I surrendered my body to the living room floor.

Since it had just become September, summer’s heat hadn’t completely faded. So we still needed to use the air conditioner. It felt good lying in the living room enjoying the cool breeze.

Rolling around, I quietly watched the broadcast on TV. People were laughing and trying various things that looked fun to anyone watching.

Solving quizzes and resolving things physically made me think I wanted to try something like that.

What would I have done? That kind of play looks fun. Many thoughts crossed my mind, but after all, TV is just TV. When I thought about actually doing it, it seemed vague from the start, and I ran out of things to say.

As I was staring blankly at the TV, I soon lost interest and turned my head. Professor, thinking we couldn’t always eat takeout, was busy flipping the frying pan to show off her skills, and judging by the large amount, it was quite substantial.

Even from this distance, it looked like a mountain of food—I wondered how much she was planning to feed us. Probably because of Ouro?

Anyway, Professor looked busy, and Ouro was really sleeping on the sofa. I watched them quietly, sniffled, and then lowered my body. After getting into a proper position and closing my eyes, this place felt like paradise and heaven.

Heh, I grinned and fell into sleep.

“Ourr, Ouro! Wake up and let’s eat~”

“Food!”

I opened my eyes with a start and raised my body. Reflexively sitting up, I turned my head toward Professor’s voice. The same was true for Ouro, who opened her eyes wide and began looking for where Professor was.

“Professor made food!”

Ouro immediately jumped off the sofa and ran toward where Professor was. She approached Professor, who was setting out side dish bowls and rice bowls, and lingered nearby, checking what Professor had made.

“Oh my, Ouro, were you hungry? Sit here.”

“What’s this?”

“It’s rolled eggs. I made a lot because I thought Ouro would like it. You can eat it with ketchup too.”

“What’s this?”

“That’s octopus sausage. It’s sausage cut into cute octopus shapes… I didn’t have time to make the eyes.”

Professor smiled bitterly.

Ouro seemed fine with that and picked up the ketchup Professor mentioned, tilting her head and examining it.

“Professoooor.”

“Ourr, come sit here too.”

Watching Ouro, I also trotted over to where Professor was. I sat at the kitchen table. Across from me, Ouro was holding the ketchup, pondering how to use it.

Her brow furrowed as she pressed the cap and only air came out.

I reached out toward Ouro.

“Give it here.”

“…Okay.”

Ouro, seemingly thinking there was no solution, handed it to me.

I closed the cap, turned it upside down, and shook it vigorously. The ketchup that had been clumped at the bottom quickly turned the seemingly transparent plastic completely red.

After confirming that the ketchup had moved toward the cap, I popped the lid open. I squeezed a line of ketchup onto the corner of the rolled eggs dish in front of Ouro.

When the ketchup that wouldn’t come out no matter how hard Ouro tried came out smoothly at once, Ouro looked at me with wide eyes.

“It comes out if you shake it like that?”

“Yep. If you close the cap and shake it up and down like this, tada. Oh, and you have to hold the cap tightly like this. That’s how it gets pushed down.”

“…I want to try too.”

“It’s already like this, so nothing will change.”

I shrugged and handed it to Ouro. Ouro tried to shake it exactly as I had said, but since I had already shaken it, there wasn’t anything particularly different.

Still, there was enough left to squeeze out smoothly, so Ouro was satisfied. She seemed to think it was fine as long as ketchup came out when she squeezed it.

“Delicious. Delicious.”

“Is it good?”

“Delicious.”

Ouro covered the rolled eggs with so much ketchup that they turned red. Then she put them in her mouth and munched away.

Professor seemed to smile naturally just watching Ouro enjoying the food she made. Ouro cut the large rolled eggs haphazardly and stuffed them into her mouth.

After glancing at Professor’s eyes, I also carefully reached out. I neatly cut pieces using a fork and spoon and ate them with ketchup.

It felt like a point was added to the rolled eggs that might have been a bit bland if eaten plain. It was delicious, and I found myself nodding. It was tasty. I also took a bite of the sausage next to it.

I don’t know if it was because she was planning to make a lot, but occasionally there were sausages without legs. They were called octopus sausages, but since they were all the same sausage anyway, there didn’t seem to be anything special to mention.

It was delicious.

“It’s delicious.”

“Really? That’s good. I was originally going to make an omelet, but I made a mistake, so I switched to rolled eggs. It also takes less time to make each one.”

“Eh.”

Professor is good at cooking. Still, it seems she makes mistakes sometimes. But if it had been an omelet, she might still be making it, so maybe it’s fortunate it changed to rolled eggs.

“Professor, when will Ouro get that? The name tag?”

“Ah, I’m applying for it.”

“Name tag?”

When I spoke to Professor, Ouro perked up her ears, wondering what we were talking about.

It would be strange not to pay attention when the conversation was about her.

“I originally received a name tag so I could go around the Academy alone, but with that, you could also stay at the library when Professor is busy later.”

“…When Professor is busy?”

“Yes. She also goes on business trips apart from the Academy.”

“Business trips?”

Ouro tilted her head and looked at Professor. Professor smiled wryly at the blank expression looking at her.

“Yes, besides Academy work, Professor needs to travel a lot for academic conferences and such. I was told to move around freely during those times, but if you’re with Ouro, wouldn’t it be fine to just stay in the Research Lab?”

“Really?”

Going to the library would be better than just being in the Research Lab with nothing else. But if I had a friend to be with, there was no need for that.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head. As I was groaning and pondering something, Professor stroked my head.

“You’ll be able to manage when that time comes, right?”

“Yes.”

“Professor, me too.”

Meanwhile, Ouro stopped eating and pushed her head toward Professor.