Ch.153Chapter 153

The midterm exams continued for a week. During that time, I ended up spending a lot more time alone with Ouro.

Even when it was just the two of us, we didn’t have much to talk about.

Ouro had nothing to say since her daily life had just been being holed up in the mountains, and I would end up keeping my mouth shut because of Ouro’s disinterested attitude toward whatever I brought up.

But even between the two of us, there were definitely things to discuss. For example, the differences between us.

“By the way, when I use magic, would that magical power be dangerous to you?”

Unlike other times, when we talked about these kinds of things, some conversation was possible. Even the usually indifferent Ouro would respond to some extent in these moments.

Perhaps because she thought she knew magic best?

Honestly, I wondered if it was right to put the Professor’s magic and Ouro’s sorcery on the same level.

Humans needed magic formulas and magic circles, but Ouro and all other Demon Gods didn’t need such things, so I could only say they were fundamentally different.

Ouro seemed to ponder my question for a moment before tilting her head.

“I’m still a Demon God, so it probably wouldn’t affect me.”

“Then couldn’t I practice magic next to you?”

“I’m not sure about that. But since I won’t die anyway, does it really matter?”

Her answer was surprisingly straightforward.

Come to think of it, both of us had somewhat similar attitudes toward life. This fearless approach—what’s there to be afraid of if you can’t die anyway?—seemed like a virtue that came naturally to immortals.

Right, if I can’t die anyway, what’s there to be afraid of?

I don’t like pain, but if I can endure it, I can always try again.

“Then let me try a little.”

Having heard Ouro’s answer that it was okay, I was just going to try what I wanted to do.

There were things I had learned from following the Professor around.

How to formulate magic, and how to activate it.

The Demon God Research Department and Magic Formulation Department were right next to each other, and since my friends were distributed between those two departments, it was easy to access information.

I groaned as I recalled what I had seen and heard back then. This time, I was determined to try using magic while in this young body, so I put my hands together.

The sensation of using magical power was still vivid in my memory. When I had a larger body, the vessel was bigger, allowing me to pour out magic freely.

Now it was difficult because the vessel was smaller, but since I hadn’t stopped being a Demon God, there was no reason I couldn’t use it.

I just needed to think about what I wanted. Imagination was power. It helped to think of it as constructing magical power according to my thoughts.

I felt something gathering at my fingertips. I knew it was magical power, but it would take considerable effort to actually create a phenomenon.

I furrowed my brow. I could feel my expression contorting as I exerted more effort.

“…Nnngh.”

It didn’t seem to be working properly. No matter how much strength I used, I only felt blood rushing to my face. After groaning for a while, I just gave up and dropped my hands.

“Pfft.”

“Did you just laugh at me?”

Ouro was snickering at me from the side.

I had put my hands down thinking I should give up on something that wasn’t working, but being laughed at changed things. I twitched my eyebrows and pointed my finger at Ouro.

“Well, how much better do you think you could do? We have identical bodies, so there shouldn’t be any difference, right?”

This person who looked exactly like me.

Though the essence of our magical power might be slightly different, our appearance and voice were so identical they might as well be the same. We probably even had the same number of hairs.

That meant the capacity of our vessels to hold magical power must be identical too.

So if we were both at the same age, there was no point in arguing who was better or worse. We were the same anyway.

When I made my confident statement, Ouro just stared at me silently. Her expression suggested I was making a fuss over nothing.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one filled with confidence. When Ouro showed her confident expression, my own confidence faltered.

“…What, can you do it?”

“It’s nothing special.”

Ouro said that and put her hands together. She took the same pose I had when I tried to use magic. She brought her fingertips together and gently closed her eyes.

I gulped. Wondering what she was up to, I couldn’t help but fix my gaze on her.

Ouro remained still for a moment, then slowly spread her hands. Between her hands, which opened in an arc like an accordion being pulled apart, fire flared up and disappeared.

“Oh.”

Ouro had an expression that said, “See, it’s nothing special.” I bit my lip as I held my breath.

I had thought that since I couldn’t use magic, Ouro wouldn’t be able to either, but the fact that Ouro could freely use magic unlike me gave me a sense of deprivation.

Not a big one, just a tiny bit.

“You and I are different.”

“…I guess I did give you a good body after all.”

At Ouro’s smug voice, I crossed my arms and closed my eyes. Leaning back in my chair, I put on an even smugger expression.

After waiting quietly for Ouro’s reaction, I slightly opened my eyes to see her furrowing her brow.

“What?”

She looked like she’d been hit by my words. I felt like I’d scored a point, but I was also slightly worried about how Ouro might react.

I twitched my hand, wondering if this was another moment where we’d end up grabbing each other’s hair and fighting.

But nothing like that happened; Ouro’s eyebrows just twitched. It was Ouro who broke the ensuing silence.

“…Come to think of it, it is strange. That I can do it when Ourr can’t.”

“Isn’t it weird? How did you manage when you were alone?”

Creating Ouro’s body wasn’t just my power alone. It was possible thanks to the Professor’s help. The fact that Ouro’s magic doesn’t harm people is probably because her body was formed with the Professor’s magical power.

Then normally, originally, not being able to do it like me should be the norm.

If being able to use magic now is thanks to the Professor, then shouldn’t the original Ouro have been unable to use magic at this age?

Then how did she survive when she was first born and living in the mountains?

“What do you mean, how did I manage?”

“If you started at this young age, you wouldn’t have been able to use magic, so how did you survive?”

“I don’t even remember that time. I never had to go back to being that young again.”

When she said that, I had nothing to say.

Come to think of it, all I knew was that Ouro’s age was so old it couldn’t be easily estimated. That made it difficult to just ask outright.

Being too young is very inconvenient for survival. That’s something everyone knows without being told. You’d know it instinctively.

So it must have been a period that just briefly passed in the very beginning. It made sense that she wouldn’t remember it, so I let it go.

“So in the end, you originally couldn’t do it either.”

I pouted.

I realized anew that being a Demon God didn’t mean everything was good from the start.

No one protects you. Even animals usually take care of their offspring, but Demon Gods had none of that.

Everyone was just born and flowed with the world’s current. Even awakening oneself and establishing self-identity was entirely up to the individual.

Thinking about that, it was really fascinating. Did Ouro survive in the beginning because she didn’t encounter anyone, or was she still an immortal who just couldn’t use magic?

“Well, when I grow bigger, I’ll be able to learn it.”

Ouro’s words sounded natural, but there was something smug about them that made me feel strange. It seemed like she was gloating again, like earlier.

I stared at Ouro with narrowed eyes. After a while, Ouro began to stare back at me in exactly the same way.

“By the way, you really do seem very different from me.”

“Why?”

I flinched, wondering if she thought I was strange.

“Maybe it’s because I’ve lived most of my life that way. Well, I’ve faced the world alone, so that could be it. Maybe that’s why you feel so different to me. Or…”

What was she trying to say? Did she want to show me that she’d noticed something? Whatever it was, my heart felt tight, and my eyes couldn’t stay still.

With my heart pounding, I finally managed to open my stammering mouth.

“You know, they say people are naturally uncomfortable around beings that look exactly like them. Maybe that awkwardness is because of that?”

“Is that a thing?”

“Yeah, doppelganger? I think that’s what it’s called.”

I continued talking, rambling a bit.

I kept thinking, “What if I seem strange?” but I couldn’t just stay silent.

“Doppelganger?”

“That’s right!”

“What is that?”

As Ouro’s interest shifted, I let out a deep sigh of relief.