Ch.181Chapter 181

The Academy was buzzing with excitement. To be precise, it wasn’t the entire Academy that was lively, but only the building housing the Demon God Research and Magic Composition departments.

Originally, they had planned to proceed with just the first-year students, but after the first-year class, rumors must have spread because second and third-year students also requested to participate, causing the event to grow larger.

Since the study groups were primarily formed for students attending our Professor’s lectures, those who couldn’t attend expressed their disappointment.

Their disappointment was even greater because they wanted to participate in the process of joining the study group, not just be part of it.

“Muya… uweee.”

Ouro was surrounded by students, being observed from all angles. This was the result of offering her delicious treats and fun things. Ouro, who probably hadn’t expected this situation, floundered at the hands reaching out to her.

Activity as a fixture. The Professor’s reason for allowing this was largely meaningful in using the power of collective intelligence since things had already come to this point. It seemed like a good idea to collect ideas through brainstorming first, and then filter out the plausible ones.

A topic related to department research. Simultaneously recruiting members for study groups. Being able to gain multiple benefits from a single activity was an efficient endeavor difficult to find elsewhere.

“What does Ouro usually like?”

“Do you have any favorites? Would you like amusement parks?”

First-year students each asked Ouro about her interests. Such questions would seem meaningless to Ouro, who didn’t particularly have likes or dislikes.

Since most things were neither liked nor disliked but rather indifferent to her, it would be difficult to get answers about anything other than food. Even her answers about favorite foods wouldn’t be particularly nutritious.

“I like pizza. Eating. Yes.”

After regaining her composure, Ouro began answering one by one.

I smiled contentedly.

After about two hours, the lecture ended, and students who had only observed Ouro from a distance during the lecture gathered around to examine her again. They wanted to see what she looked like, what her hobbies were, what she liked, and what she responded well to.

It might have been disruptive during the lecture, but I had piled up mountains of snacks to see if anyone would quickly notice Ouro’s characteristics. When one student noticed that the amount had barely decreased, they casually struck up a conversation.

“Ouro, would you like more snacks?”

Ouro shook her head at those words.

“Are you tired of them? Don’t they taste good?”

“I’m full.”

Ouro replied nonchalantly and stared at me. Since I needed to follow the Professor and take care of Ouro, I stared at her until she could break free and come out. Of course, I was also lingering by the door to subtly hurry her along.

“I, I’m coming too.”

Ouro groaned as she pushed through the crowd. She hugged the snack basket from the table and waddled like a penguin, which made me laugh. Her footsteps seemed like they would make popping sounds.

“That was hard.”

As soon as we returned to the lab, Ouro grumbled about what she didn’t like. This must have been her first time attending an Academy lecture, and being the center of attention from other students from the start seemed too much for her to handle.

She pouted while preciously clutching the snacks she hadn’t finished.

The Professor smiled gently at Ouro’s behavior. She seemed to find Ouro’s reaction cute, as this was her first time attending a lecture.

As someone who had witnessed Ouro’s debut alongside the Professor, I agreed with that thought. I nodded.

“It’s good that the other students like Ouro too. If they attend lectures with Ouro from now on, don’t you think they’ll all try harder?”

It’s unclear if everyone wants to join the study group. Even if not for the study group, some students might try to get to know Ouro thinking it would help with their Demon God studies.

Thinking about it that way, it was better to consider it somewhat fruitful. The study group members were somewhat recruited, and the Professor could get what she wanted—killing two birds with one stone.

Ouro had a blank expression as if she didn’t care about any of that. She still seemed to be suffering from the aftermath of too many people crowding around her at once.

“Tired.”

Her voice, thrown out casually, looked weak to anyone. Now that she was becoming more human-like, I could understand her fatigue to some extent. I get tired when I exert a lot of energy too, so it must feel like that.

As long as it’s not drowsiness or something like that, I can feel and empathize normally too.

“You have so many lectures to attend, how can you be tired already? Tomorrow, the day after, there are so many friends to meet from each grade.”

I said, raising one finger. Ouro groaned and pressed her cheek against the desk. Her squished cheek slightly wrinkled her face, making me want to touch her squishy cheeks.

Of course, touching my own cheeks would give a similar feeling, but the sensation of touching someone else’s cheeks is different from touching my own, so my desire welled up toward where Ouro was.

“Eung? What?”

When I poked her squished cheek with my finger, Ouro raised her head abruptly as if startled. It seemed like a stimulus she couldn’t help but react to. I just wanted to touch it once with my finger and fiddle with it more, but the opportunity disappeared quickly, leaving me with lingering regret.

Tsk. As I smacked my lips and fiddled with my fingers, Ouro saw that and tilted her head before extending her hand to me. I recalled a similar incident before.

“Ah.”

“Me too.”

Ouro tries to return exactly what she receives. This time too, since I poked her cheek, she reached out her finger to poke mine in return.

Before I could say “Ah,” my cheek was already pressed. Ouro stared blankly and then, as if she liked it, pressed my cheek once more like pushing a button. It felt strange to be touched when I was the one who wanted to touch.

“…Professor, so next time we’ll be attending lectures with Ouro, right?”

She must have liked my cheeks because she positioned herself behind me and started touching my cheeks. Initially, I wanted to touch her, but once I started being touched properly, I felt satisfied and left her be.

Feeling Ouro’s touch, I asked the Professor, who nodded.

“That’s the plan from now on. This way, when students later submit reports on Ouro’s characteristics, we’ll know what more they observed. We haven’t told them yet, right? That Ouro is becoming more human-like.”

The Professor stopped typing on the keyboard and stared at me. Her gaze seemed directed at me but also at Ouro behind me.

“Don’t you think they’ll figure it out soon, Ourr? If they conclude that she’s a Demon God similar to humans, it might not be bad to suggest the academy later.”

The Professor smiled. She seemed to like the idea of bringing in academy students. Even though she said that, the overall number of academy students wasn’t that high; the Professor seemed to want to bring in people while not increasing the numbers too much.

I was curious about how this would turn out.

“Ouro gets sleepy and sleeps, and also knows how to eat until she’s full, but I don’t know much beyond that.”

But can they reach that conclusion with just those two traits?

The Professor and I started guessing the reason for the sudden change because Ouro wasn’t originally like this, but the students are meeting this version of Ouro for the first time.

That means it’s enough for them to conclude: “This is the kind of Demon God that exists.” While it’s not unreasonable to reach such an answer without a point of comparison, the Professor thought differently.

“So if they can find other evidence, add it, verify it, and then derive that result, wouldn’t they become better students? A student with good insight would make a good friend. Aria has a solid foundation but lacks application, Sera is excellent at handling basics and applications but weak with exceptions—everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. And we’re looking for students with good insight.”

The Professor said that and stood up. She picked up a study group poster from the table and read it carefully.

“…There’s still so much we don’t know about Demon Gods. But what’s clear is that creating a Demon God’s body, making them change into humans—as such things increasingly exist, coexistence with Demon Gods might not be entirely impossible.”

“Professor.”

“Hmm? Oh, I was too absorbed. I think I got too serious. Here, want a snack?”

The Professor relaxed her serious expression and smiled. When she offered me a snack, I shook my head. I wasn’t particularly hungry.

“No, I was just wondering if you want to live with Demon Gods.”

“I’m not sure about other Demon Gods. What I want to be with isn’t all Demon Gods, but you two, Ourr and Ouro, who are Demon Gods.”

The Professor said that and fluttered the poster.

The Professor had piled up a lot of materials in one corner, probably planning to write a paper today as well.