Ch.96Chapter 96

I died. I died again.

That’s how I could return. Perhaps because I came back after thinking rationally, I was able to have mature thoughts when I tried.

“Good,” I smiled and gently nestled against the Professor. Though I didn’t feel tired or exhausted, I didn’t want to think about anything right now, so I closed my eyes while being held by the Professor.

I knew I was being childish, but I clung to her stubbornly, hoping she would indulge my neediness just this once.

The Professor smiled as if she couldn’t help it and embraced me. It became a princess carry, but it felt as stable and comfortable as lying in a hammock—perfect for falling asleep.

When I woke up, I was in the Professor’s house. I didn’t feel awkward or like it had been a long time. I did feel a disconnect knowing that a week had actually passed.

Still, it wasn’t bad to think of today and tomorrow as just the same day.

Alright, let’s live today to the fullest too.

I clenched my fist as I stepped into the house.

Despite my determination, there wasn’t much for me to do. Since I wasn’t going to the Academy, I had nothing to study and no lectures from the Professor to listen to like stories.

As a result, my floating determination guided me to the sofa. With a blank expression, I walked with familiar steps and threw myself onto the sofa.

With a plop, the leather embraced me, feeling incredibly comfortable. The research lab with just one chair was too bleak, so I only practiced magic in the corner, but now I gained comfort instead of being able to practice magic.

Comfort is nice, but there’s still nothing to do. When there’s nothing to do, time seems to drag and everything feels boring.

“…Professor, what are you doing?”

“The usual.”

“Research?”

“Yes.”

The Professor smiled slightly and showed me the papers in front of her. Those weren’t written by her but excerpts from other papers. Just for reference.

Based on those, she was trying to prove something. I wasn’t sure what paper she was writing, but seeing her wracking her brain and rolling her pen around made it clear.

I didn’t want to bother the Professor just because I had nothing to do. Since she had to return with me yesterday because of my insistence, and I made her come to the White Laboratory once more today, I wanted to be considerate this time.

I worried that I might have caused her to waste a meaningless day. The Professor didn’t say anything to me about it.

She didn’t blame me or scold me for anything. She just spent the day as usual.

“…Professor, Professor.”

“Yes?”

“Is there anything I can help with?”

When I had an adult body, I seemed to be able to think about more things, but now I just had the desire to play and such. I don’t know if this is a penalty for having a child’s body, but anyway, that’s how it was.

As I quietly took a seat next to the Professor, she thought for a moment with a “Hmm.”

“Is our Ourr bored?”

“…That’s part of it.”

When I answered honestly, the Professor chuckled. Then she gently placed her hand on my head and stroked it.

As I surrendered to her touch, I suddenly recalled what we had talked about earlier.

If I could quickly bring back the original owner of this body, I thought it would be okay for that child to live their original life again. I had no desire whatsoever to steal someone else’s life and continue my own.

Yes, I didn’t want to steal it.

But that wasn’t just about someone else’s life, but also about others’ choices. Surprisingly, despite living like this—acting childish and throwing tantrums—I was still loved by others.

If I selfishly chose to say goodbye again this time, wouldn’t that be tearing apart the hearts of the Professor and my friends?

If asked whether I had built such strong bonds, I couldn’t nod with confidence.

“Professor, what about that child called Ouroboros?”

“…Hmm, I’m thinking about it.”

When I asked, the Professor made an expression as if she was troubled. It seemed like she didn’t have anything proper to tell me about this yet.

I hesitated for a moment.

I had no way of knowing what she was thinking. It would be nice to find out something, but not being able to left me feeling regretful.

A method flashed through my mind, but that was a way to talk to Ouroboros, not a way to coexist.

It might feel different if we left videos or letters. But for that, we would have to die several times. It was too inefficient to recognize each other and have a conversation, and it would only torment the person beside us.

Since I had no intention of doing that, I moved on to another thought. How could I live my life without stealing the life of Ouroboros, the owner of this body?

I believed there must be a way somewhere.

“What if there were two bodies…? Or could we switch back and forth? I wonder if our minds would get all mixed up.”

I couldn’t properly explain what kind of sensation it would be, but what was certain was having two bodies. Then we could each live our own lives without any problems.

If that’s not possible, then maybe consciousness could change at will, allowing us to do what we want. But that had some ambiguous aspects.

For that to happen, one would need to know how to use magic, but the flaw was that this young body couldn’t handle magic. With an adult body, I wouldn’t be able to come out into society, so there would be no point in coming out.

“Hmmmm, hmmmm. Hmmmm…”

Sitting slightly attached to the Professor’s side, I grabbed my head and groaned. No matter how much I pondered, no good ideas came to mind.

Having two bodies would be the best thing, but since a human body isn’t something you can just create with a “poof,” it felt like a distant dream.

I didn’t want to give up.

“Two bodies?”

The Professor seemed to recall something, as if she had found a keyword associated with what I said, and fell silent for a moment. With her lips tightly closed and her gaze fixed on empty space, she looked somewhat cool.

Those eyes looked like they were searching through a library in her mind. I was curious about what content she was skimming through.

The minds of professors were always something I was curious about.

“Two bodies… I haven’t seen research on cloning Demon Gods. There’s no reason to artificially create such disasters in the first place.”

The Professor’s fingers tapped on the table. Her nails created a light yet distinct sound that caught my attention. My gaze fixed on the Professor’s fingers, then slowly traveled up to look at her face.

As I stared intently, the Professor’s head turned toward me.

It felt like she was looking at me, but her consciousness was elsewhere. I could tell just from the atmosphere that the Professor was racking her brain.

“Can Ouroboros be created? …I wonder how far we can go using Demon God magic. No, in the first place, um…”

“What is it?”

Her eyes regained focus. I could now clearly tell she was looking at me. As we maintained eye contact, the Professor’s lips quivered.

“I want to know how far Demon God magic can go. But to do that, I need to return to the body of a Demon God who can handle magic… it’s strange. Why, if a Demon God is supposed to be immortal, is death indispensable…”

The Professor said this while firmly holding my hand.

In a daze, I stared blankly at the Professor’s two hands in bewilderment. Seeing the Professor trembling while gripping my hand, I didn’t know what to say and just opened and closed my mouth in confusion.

“…Professor?”

“Yes.”

“Since I won’t die anyway, it’s okay. If it’s something we have to do eventually, wouldn’t it be better to do it quickly…?”

When I said that, the Professor pondered for a long time. Then she nodded.

Her expression was bitter. In the end, to learn about me, we had to keep using the element of death. It troubled her, but I didn’t want the Professor to blame herself.

Wanting to tell her it wasn’t her fault, I freed one of my hands from her grip and patted her shoulder.

Pat, pat. There wasn’t much comfort in it, but the Professor smiled. She seemed to like being patted like this.

“Thanks to you, Professor, I was able to stay here. I made friends at the Academy, ate delicious food, and wasn’t lonely. Waiting for night to come and day to come while doing nothing in the forest was hell. Thinking was the only way I could pass time.”

It was my impression from the short time I had spent doing nothing and entrusting my body to a very small place. It was more painful than dying.

Of course, dying is more painful and terrible, but when considering time, there was nothing I disliked as much.

That’s why I liked the Professor. Even if I died, I don’t remember it well now, so it doesn’t matter. I have no feelings of resentment.

I am grateful.

“I’m always grateful to you, Professor.”

I responded to the Professor with a smile.