Ch.188Chapter 188

A circle is circulation, a starting point, and eternity.

It was a shape with no end, one that could move forward endlessly as long as power remained. That’s why the circle was the first shape introduced in the fundamentals of magic.

A framework for circulating magical power everywhere. The virtue of the circle’s power was that magic could be sustained by continuously supplying magical power.

This applied not only to magic but to us as well.

We don’t die but circulate. When we feel we’ve gone too far, we return to live ordinary lives. Unlike other Demon Gods, we overcome death through circulation.

That’s why we were eternal, and why we gave ourselves the name Ouroboros.

But now a detour has appeared in that circle. Grand words like circulation and eternity no longer suit us, and Ouroboros has ended up splitting into Ourr and Ouro.

Ouro lost her eternity by reconstructing her body to become closer to human form.

I lost my eternity by changing my magical power, as if replacing all the blood flowing through my body.

Now we both have lifespans. Going forward, dying won’t make us younger, nor will we regain the prime physical body of a twenty-five-year-old if we die again.

Though no one can confirm it, I’ve now developed a genuine fear of death.

I still sometimes felt death was trivial due to habits formed during my years as a Demon God, but after reminding myself of the fear that I might never wake up again if I fell off a cliff, I became more cautious.

Now I’m human.

It’s no longer possible to keep my physical age wherever I want it.

“…Let go.”

That’s why it hurt a little.

In the process of becoming human, I may have died a couple of times, resulting in the small build of a fourteen-year-old. The problem was the size difference between me and Ouro, who seemed to be heading toward sixteen.

No, how could there be such a big height difference with just a two-year age gap during puberty?

With her limbs gradually lengthening, I had no physical advantage over Ouro. Even when I was embraced like this, being relatively weaker, all I could do was tremble and tell her to let go.

“You’re like a doll. It might be cute that another me is in such a small form.”

“There’s nothing stranger than calling yourself cute.”

“I think it’s fine to say something like, ‘I was cute when I was younger.'”

Ouro answered nonchalantly.

It seemed that Ouro, who showed no progress in social training, spoke fluently when she wanted to get one over on me.

I glared at her with narrowed eyes and pouted, making the Professor, who had been watching from the side, fidget uncomfortably before finally speaking.

“Ourr, Professor is sorry… for not making you bigger.”

“Did you know this would happen…?”

It’s not the Professor’s fault.

Still, if I had known this would happen, I might have asked the Professor to attempt it at the most adult physical age. That was how I felt now.

Anything would be better than being held in Ouro’s arms and having my head patted!

“Let me go.”

I tried to shake off Ouro’s touch by jerking my head from side to side.

Watching this, the Professor blinked at an alarm and checked her phone. Then, as if something had come up, she hurriedly went into her room, making rustling sounds.

Ouro and I, frozen in place, stared as the Professor emerged from the room.

“Professor suddenly has something to attend to, are you two having fun?”

“Huh?”

Before I could say anything, the Professor gathered her things and rushed out of the house.

Unable to hide my bewilderment, I stared at the entrance with a sour expression.

While scheduled plans changing due to sudden matters wasn’t uncommon, I wondered why it had to happen in this particular situation, leaving me with complicated feelings.

Like hugging a doll, Ouro held me tightly in a sitting position and wouldn’t let go. I struggled, unable to escape her arms. After groaning and twisting my waist from side to side, I eventually tired and tried my best to turn my head to look behind me.

“Why won’t you let go?”

“It feels good like this. Because you’re small.”

Small, she says.

The difference between a body just entering puberty and one that had already gone through some growth was quite significant.

Despite being the same person, the physical age difference meant I was overwhelmingly weaker. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remove even one of Ouro’s arms, and that was the reason.

It felt even more unfair because I hadn’t chosen to be small—it had happened due to an unfortunate incident. Ouro could be quite stubborn, and I had no idea what would make her let me go in this situation.

“Hup! Mmph! Argh!”

I tried to escape as quickly as possible by lifting my hips. I thought if I used my strength suddenly, Ouro might let go of me in her moment of distraction.

However, as if finding it laughable, she slightly tightened her arm around my waist.

Like being caught in a seatbelt, my body jerked and then returned to Ouro’s embrace.

I didn’t want to admit I was small, but Ouro was definitely bigger than me. When I leaned back in exhaustion, it felt as comfortable as sitting in a chair.

“…How long are you going to keep this up?”

“Until the Professor returns?”

“You’ll get bored.”

“Ourr keeps it entertaining.”

Could she possibly think of this as some kind of game?

That I was playing the role of escaping, and she was playing the role of capturing?

I don’t like games that use so much energy. Besides, this game doesn’t reflect my wishes at all.

“Urrrgh.”

I leaned my upper body forward as much as possible. Then, as I struggled to free my hips, Ouro seemed slow to respond to my sudden change in tactics, and her body rose along with mine.

I ended up in a prone position, but the fact that Ouro had raised her body while trying to hold onto me was a significant gain.

The problem was that my pelvis was still caught, making it difficult to escape further…

As I tried to crawl forward, Ouro grabbed my hips and pulled me back. My buttocks bumped against Ouro’s body. Escape seemed difficult, but seeing Ouro’s somewhat unstable grip, I felt there might be a chance, so I didn’t stop trying.

Thump, thump.

“Stay still.”

“Would you stay still if you were me?”

After bumping my buttocks against Ouro’s body several times, she expressed her displeasure. Thinking she might finally let me go if she got tired of it, I kept moving vigorously.

After doing this a few times, I felt strange and stopped moving.

“……”

Looking at it now, the position was awkward, and the thumping sounds kept echoing in my ears, making me hesitate. It was fortunate the Professor wasn’t here—if someone had been watching, they would have definitely given us strange looks.

I swallowed hard and glanced at Ouro.

Ouro seemed to be holding my waist without any particular thoughts, but somehow her expression also appeared slightly stiff.

“…Why are you making that face?”

Though I felt strange too, I was curious about what Ouro was thinking and asked first.

Ouro mumbled for a moment, then lowered her head slightly.

“Somehow, this… looks like animals mating.”

“You know about that?”

“Despite appearances, I lived in the mountains for a very long time.”

Ouro stared at me with narrowed eyes.

Unlike her gaze, her momentum seemed to have subsided slightly, and the strength in her hands holding my waist completely disappeared.

Finally free, I crawled away and quickly turned to sit on the floor. I still felt as if my waist was being held. It also felt like something was repeatedly bumping against my buttocks.

I knew it was because of the intense sensation I had felt earlier, but it was still bothering me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“……”

“……”

Ouro and I became awkward and closed our mouths without saying anything. Just as we seemed to be spending a long time in silence, Ouro suddenly made an expression as if she had remembered something.

I was already feeling uneasy.

“Come to think of it, my body. You said the Professor and Ourr made it, right?”

She placed her hand on her chest and spoke solemnly. I already had a feeling about what she was going to say.

“Like this?”

“It seems like it might be… but also might not be…”

I avoided Ouro’s gaze.

I regretted having claimed to be her mother. I tried to avoid eye contact by shifting my gaze sideways, but Ouro approached with an attitude suggesting she had a question and needed to resolve it.

Suddenly she stood up and stepped forward.

Feeling threatened, I backed away while sitting, then quickly rolled to the side.

Sure enough, Ouro lunged at where I had been. If I hadn’t rolled away, I would certainly have been caught.

“Stay still!”

“Would you stay still if you were me?!”

I quickly got up and jumped onto the sofa to avoid Ouro’s hands. Perhaps because my body was smaller, the sofa didn’t sink much when I jumped on it, making it easy to run across.

Ouro, being slightly bigger than me, seemed to feel unstable as the sofa sank deeply whenever she climbed on it, making her hesitant to approach recklessly.

“How annoying.”

Nevertheless, driven by her determination to catch me, she lunged forward, so this time I jumped off the sofa and fled to the bedroom.