Ch.170Chapter 170

Ouro is sleeping.

It wasn’t a problem that she was sleeping. Though Demon Gods were said to be beings that don’t feel fatigue, they could still choose to sleep when they had nothing else to do to pass the time.

Being able to fall asleep and wake up voluntarily was definitely an ability far removed from humans.

Sometimes people would say they couldn’t fall asleep even when they wanted to, or they couldn’t wake up as they wished and had to rely on external factors like alarms.

In the case of Demon Gods, they transcended all that and could fall asleep and wake up at will through their own abilities.

Because of this, when others were around, she would observe their actions and follow their lead—sleeping when they said they would sleep, going along with the atmosphere rather than sleeping because she was actually tired.

It was simply because it would be boring and dull to be the only one awake while everyone else was sleeping. That was the reason, but Ouro was now nodding off while I was washing her hair, without any such considerations.

“…Eh.”

I grabbed Ouro’s head, which was covered in shampoo.

I checked her condition again as she let out a small moan. I couldn’t help but be shocked at the sight of her drifting off to dreamland, apparently lulled by having her head touched.

I wasn’t strong enough to easily move someone of Ouro’s build, so I was at a loss for what to do if she fell asleep here.

Not knowing what to do, I scratched Ouro’s head with my fingertips. As I wiggled my fingers to massage her scalp, Ouro’s shoulders trembled as if she was enjoying it.

Even unconsciously, she could show such signs of pleasure. I made a subtle expression at that thought.

Drowsiness. Tiredness. Fatigue. Sleepiness washing over her.

Words that had nothing to do with me. Sensations I didn’t feel seemed to have overtaken Ouro. If she fell asleep like this, it would probably be difficult to wake her when needed.

I struggled to turn on the shower to wash her hair. I held her firmly while washing, worried that Ouro might collapse.

She seemed to maintain her balance on her own since she was dozing while sitting, but even that was unstable and kept making me nervous.

Eventually, after making sure Ouro was well-balanced, I had no choice but to call for the Professor who was working outside the bathroom.

“Professor!! Professor!!”

Even with the bathroom door open, there was a changing room with a washing machine in between. Since I didn’t want to walk around with a wet body, I raised my voice to call the Professor.

After shouting at the top of my lungs, the Professor, thinking something serious had happened, rushed over and opened the door.

“What’s wrong, Ourr?!”

“H-help me, please!”

Separated from the Professor by two doors, I waved my arms urgently.

“I thought you two would manage washing well…”

“I’m sorry to bother you when you’re busy. Ouro started dozing off and fell asleep…”

It was unfortunate for the Professor who seemed worried about interrupting the flow of her paper writing, but given Ouro’s condition, I had no choice but to ask for help as I couldn’t handle it alone.

The Professor, who had been glancing toward her paper, heard the rest of what I said and opened her eyes wide.

Then, as if the paper was now secondary, she came straight in and looked at where Ouro was.

“Good heavens.”

The Professor, who peeked into the bathroom, was shocked to see Ouro’s back as she nodded off.

She rolled up her pants and stepped onto the wet tile floor with splashing sounds. When she grabbed Ouro’s small shoulders and looked at her face, she truly saw her dozing off.

“…This can’t be happening. Is she sick?”

“No, she’s not sick…”

“Did this happen at the hot springs yesterday too?”

“No, not that either. I think she was fine yesterday?”

I tilted my head, trying to recall yesterday’s events.

What happened yesterday? Was there anything unusual? As I tilted my head wondering about this, the Professor looked at Ouro with a serious expression.

If she wanted to sleep, she could just fall completely asleep. But Ouro was now standing at the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness, in the concept of dozing.

A state possible for humans but impossible for Demon Gods.

The Professor couldn’t help but be shocked at the sight.

I could see how perplexed she was, not knowing what to do now that she had witnessed Ouro actually nodding off.

“…Professor?”

“Let’s finish washing first and think about it later. Ourr needs to wash too, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

As the Professor said, I still hadn’t properly washed myself because I was trying to help Ouro. Since we’d gotten this far, I sat down next to her, figuring it would be faster to wash together.

It took some time, but we somehow managed to finish showering. I felt a bit tired.

The Professor couldn’t take her eyes off the sleeping Ouro. Seeing her quietly moaning as if she had witnessed something unbelievable, I carefully lay down while watching the Professor’s reaction.

As I closed my eyes, feeling the comfort of the blanket wrapping around my body, the Professor gently spoke to me.

“Are you going to sleep too, Ourr?”

“Since Ouro is sleeping too…”

“Yes, you worked hard looking after Ouro. Good night.”

“Yes, hehehe.”

I told her I was going to sleep, worried I might interrupt her thinking time, and the Professor seemed to understand my feelings and praised me.

I smiled at the feeling of her patting my head and immediately closed my eyes.

**

Ouro is sleeping.

When I first heard those words from Ourr, it was right to assume she was just seeking sleep because she was bored. But that didn’t explain Ourr’s reaction.

When I saw it directly, I realized it was different from what I had thought.

It was definitely different from a Demon God seeking sleep.

It didn’t feel like “I sleep because others are sleeping.” It strongly felt like “I sleep because I’m sleepy.” Even now, she was so drowsy that she couldn’t properly control her body and was sleeping soundly.

I witnessed a Demon God dozing off—a concept that shouldn’t exist for them.

“…How is this possible?”

Ourr didn’t show such behavior.

Ourr merely closed her eyes so as not to disturb me, not because she was sleepy like Ouro. If that was the case, then Ourr had no issues.

Something Ouro has but Ourr doesn’t.

Something Ourr has but Ouro doesn’t.

What could that difference be?

I pondered for a long time, and pondered some more. I formed hypotheses and continued thinking. The paper I had been writing was no longer on my mind.

I couldn’t think of anything else when faced with such an unprecedented event.

If I were to identify where the problem lies, there’s only one thing that could be considered a difference between Ourr and Ouro.

“The Demon God’s magical power?”

Ouro is Ouroboros. A Demon God. The original Demon God. Ourr of Ouro was a dual personality, an entity from a single body. Ouro’s current body was created to give each entity their own life.

It was a creation made by manipulating the part responsible for the Demon God’s genes. I was also writing a paper on this, but I had discovered an even greater subject.

Demon Gods typically use “unrefined magical power” that is fatal to humans.

Humans use “refined magical power” that is stable for humans.

What if the Demon God’s unusual physiological activities and their incredibly long lifespan, plus their absurd methods of extending life, were all problems stemming from the “unrefined magical power” that humans cannot use?

The birth of Demon Gods may be hypothetical, but I could now define their existence.

Designed from birth to use unrefined magical power, and using that power to live eternally, Demon Gods begin to have physiological activities similar to ordinary humans when they start using the refined magical power that humans use.

When that thought occurred to me, I got goosebumps all over my body.

The sensation of reaching a truth that others hadn’t was thrilling. It was also why I couldn’t stop researching.

“…Quickly, something else…”

I organized the files.

The principles of Demon God birth, Demon God genes, creation of Demon God bodies, and so on. Another task had been given to me, who was already working on various papers.

Ouro was born about half a year ago. If reactions were starting to appear in Ouro as she became more accustomed to that magical power, this was just the beginning, and it would be right to think there would be more changes in the future.

I would have to monitor the progress, but for now, I needed to record it.

What if this repeats and Ouro eventually changes completely to be like a human?

It would be difficult to experiment recklessly by capturing all Demon Gods, as Ourr and Ouro’s case was special. Even Ourr was currently a Demon God herself, so I would have to continue observing the experimental results.

If Ouro increasingly feels drowsiness and needs to sleep, what else might happen?

Since her body itself is that of a Demon God, would she not feel that much? Should I say it’s slightly different because sleep is controlled by the brain or fatigue accumulated in the body? Or is it progressing in stages, and will she eventually live completely like a human, eating and sleeping?

The questions continued to multiply, but thinking that I would eventually see the results made me feel that my joy was growing as much as my questions.

Before I knew it, I found myself smiling.

I felt even better at the thought that I could prove that they were truly not threatening to people.