Ch.185Chapter 185

Ouro sent me a look as if she wanted something from me. I turned my head away, trying to read the situation as she stared at me intently.

“You seem to know what I want.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Ouro.”

“You promised to buy me something delicious. Why aren’t you doing it?”

Ouro spoke shamelessly. Even with such demands, I couldn’t give her what I couldn’t give.

“How can I buy you anything when you haven’t done anything! I just… that… what was it… I wanted to help Iris but ended up not helping her…”

“But I came here for that reason, so shouldn’t you buy me something… It’s nothing to me either way.”

“If it’s nothing to you, then just do it for free!”

“No way. It’s an opportunity to get something delicious.”

Ouro seemed to be revealing her true intentions more blatantly. While I understood that she might see everything as a transaction, I still felt she was being too cold-hearted.

I was at a loss for how to handle this situation.

“Professor, please tell me what I should do!”

“…what a predicament.”

“I think you need to be clear about these things… Otherwise, Ouro will become someone who won’t move at all unless you buy her something. Even though she can’t eat much anymore.”

When I glanced at her with narrowed eyes, Ouro snorted and turned her head away sharply.

Her face showed no sign of guilt, which made me feel annoyed for no reason.

“Hmph.”

“I can do fine by myself without Ouro.”

After saying this while wiggling my fingers, I turned toward where the Professor was.

“Professor, do we really need to do research to find results?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I think it would be faster if I used magic and showed it through a magic circle… Should we try that?”

“Then later, when Ouro can’t fully use the Demon God’s power, would I be able to accomplish that much on my own? That’s what worries me, making it complicated.”

The Professor gave a different rejection than Iris had. When she put it that way, I had nothing to say and started sweating profusely. After looking around nervously while groaning, I let out a deep sigh.

The Professor immersed herself in research, and I followed her around, going back and forth between the newly formed study group and the Professor’s research lab, greeting friends I had become close with.

Then the time came. The time to become younger.

“…ugh.”

“I’m sorry, it’s because the Professor is inadequate.”

“It’s okay.”

Well, I understand wanting to see how far one can go with just human power. The Professor wasn’t the only one who wanted to confirm how far she could go with her own strength, without anyone’s help.

It wasn’t exactly a farewell. It didn’t hurt, so I didn’t feel any particular emotion.

To the Professor, it might look like I was dying, but to me, it was just a brief procedure that would pass in the blink of an eye.

Literally, when I blinked and opened my eyes, the same scenery appeared before me.

“See, it’s really fine, right?”

“We haven’t done it yet.”

“Oh, really? …Well, it felt like this normally too.”

I made a joke out of embarrassment. This should reassure the Professor.

This level of quick thinking was worthy of being called the god of improvisation.

However, the Professor couldn’t erase her apologetic expression. I wanted to let her know that I had a different way of thinking than humans, but no matter how much I said it, she wouldn’t listen, which made me feel a bit sad.

Being too sorry is an emotion that doesn’t resonate with me. I don’t die. Therefore, death was a subtle concept that wasn’t considered that important.

What people call jewels are like grains of sand on a beach to me, unable to find value beyond just stepping on them.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

The sensation of something wrapping around my body gave me a moment of peaceful sleep. My body, which seemed to become heavy for an instant, became light again.

It felt like sleeping for one second. When I narrowly opened my eyes, I saw the Professor’s face.

“Ourr, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

I nodded and smoothed my hair. The long hair covering my forehead greeted me. Everything I had trimmed at the salon was restored.

It seemed that since there was already a record of my original appearance by age, this is what happened when I died and came back. It was a shame that I didn’t know exactly how it was recorded.

I got up from my seat and walked with my legs spread as wide as possible. After walking in circles a few times, I could gauge my stride length.

There wasn’t much difference in eye level or stride length. As expected, a one-year age difference doesn’t create a sense of disparity. At this rate, doing this once a year would be fine.

What about Ouro? I hoped the physical age difference between Ouro and me wouldn’t be too great. The fact that it was already one year filled me with a bit of despair.

I had been acting like an adult, and I didn’t want to be overtaken because of physical age.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s just… if there’s too much difference between me and Ouro, people might say I’m copying her.”

As I pouted and revealed my true feelings, the Professor stroked my head and said:

“Since you have a completely Demon God body, they’ll recognize that Ourr is the adult.”

“Really? Then that’s fine. I’ll wait until you can achieve your research.”

“…Thank you. I feel like I’m always causing you trouble. I wonder if anything I do for you is ever enough.”

“I’m happy with how things are now.”

Living together like a family in a spacious house. I thought that alone was happiness.

**

I glanced at Ouro. I thought the difference would be subtle, but the one-year gap was a bit bigger than I expected. Ouro’s red eyes, which I used to be able to meet when looking straight ahead, were now positioned a bit higher.

Her stride was also wider than mine, so she would get ahead of me with each step. Every time I faced these differences, I felt perplexed.

“Heh.”

I could tolerate everything else, but Ouro’s smug expression was unbearable.

“Professor!! Make Ouro younger too!!”

I clung to the Professor’s white lab coat, pleading. The Professor made a troubled expression.

“No, there’s no reason to mess with Ouro. And it could be dangerous. Although the Demon God’s personality hasn’t completely disappeared, we don’t know if the powers that the Demon God possessed are still valid…”

“Ugh.”

The Professor was absolutely right.

I was saying this because my sense of crisis had diminished, but I didn’t actually want Ouro to die and not come back, so I gently let go of the lab coat I was holding. As I lowered my whining voice, Ouro, who had been quietly watching from beginning to end, carefully opened her mouth.

“My power probably hasn’t disappeared. The only difference is whether the magical power is refined or raw. So I’ll probably get one year younger if I die too.”

“Ouro.”

The Professor called out to Ouro, surprised by her calm response.

Ouro turned her gaze to the Professor nonchalantly.

“But I like being bigger than Ourr. As long as Ourr doesn’t use shortcuts, I’ll continue aging normally.”

Shortcuts. It would be nice to use them, but in my case, such shortcuts shouldn’t work. The biggest problem was that when a Demon God’s physical age exceeds a certain point, they start emitting an aura.

This meant I could never beat Ouro. That fact made me so frustrated that I trembled my small fists before dropping them.

With my fists powerlessly against my thighs, I hung my head low and trudged to my seat.

“Hmph.”

“No, Ourr, it’s okay. When the Professor makes it safe quickly, we’ll do everything we want and play then.”

The Professor tried to comfort me.

In the end, I thought only the Professor cared about me, and tears welled up. What does it matter if we came from the same body? Blood is supposed to be thicker than water, but it didn’t seem that thick between Ouro and me.

As I pouted, Ouro’s lips twitched at the side, which I didn’t like. I also thought maybe I should have endured a little longer before becoming younger, and my heart ached.

“Then I should continue with the research…”

The Professor said that and immersed herself in research again today.

Even though I knew it was something that could be finished in an instant if I helped, watching her try to solve it with her own strength looked more impressive than anyone else.

I watched the scene with an excited heart, truly believing she could solve it on her own without me using magic.

“Ah…! Finally!”

The Professor stood up and raised her clenched fist high in the sky.

She must not have slept for days, as dark circles hung heavily under her eyes. But her happy expression seemed like it would erase those circles, and I felt happy along with her.

I thought the sight of the Professor’s body swaying with happiness was worth capturing.

“Professor, is it over now?”

“No, not yet… but we’re halfway there.”

Still, already halfway. The fact that we had come further than expected made my heart race continuously.

I wondered who came up with the idea of gathering scattered pieces together. I was curious, but there seemed to be no one who could answer that curiosity.