Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
Seiji felt that her smile was rather subtle.
Looking at her like this, she was doubtlessly a wonderfully beautiful girl. Her faint smile was quite moving. But, when Seiji thought about how she was basically another personality of Kazufuru Ooike, he felt an indescribable feeling well up within him.
"How is Ooike-san's personality right now?" Seiji asked.
"In a deep sleep. It will take him a minimum of one week to wake up."
"One week?"
"Yes. Due to that experiment, my birth, and the burden of using so much power on his body… his personality is going to sleep for one week, or perhaps even longer," the brown-haired girl stated.
"That sounds rather bad." Seiji furrowed his eyebrows.
"Indeed. I was just considering how I should explain things to the Ooike Family so that they will accept me. Otherwise, I would have been sleeping on the streets tonight."
"That is indeed an important problem. But, more important is Ooike-san himself, right? What if he never wakes up?"
"I don't think that will happen… but it's indeed possible."
"Isn't that quite bad!?"
"If he is really unable to wake up, I shall properly live on for his sake."
"Shouldn't you try waking him up before that!"
"I have no particular feelings towards him. I hope that he can rest in peace."
"Please at least have some feelings for him! Don't just let him rest in peace like that! Besides, isn't he supposed to be the main personality!!"
"No, I have an equal relationship with him… no, wait, I have the power, so I'm stronger. That makes me the main personality!" The brown-haired girl's eyeglasses flashed.
"You were just born!!" Seiji commented energetically.
The girl chuckled upon hearing this.
"Harano-san is truly such an interesting individual. It was quite foolish of him not to become friends with you," she said as she laughed. "Kazufuru Ooike is an idiot, but I'm different from him. I'd be more than happy to… no, I wish to become good friends with Harano-kun. I'd even be willing to be your girlfriend."
Seiji was rendered speechless.
While he didn't know how to respond to this, Natsuya had a subtle expression while something flashed in Shika's eyes.
The brown-haired girl glanced over at the other two girls and smiled even bigger.
"Heehee, just joking. Harano-kun doesn't lack in the girlfriend department. I'm not arrogant enough to believe that I can become your girlfriend. Still, I was telling the truth about wanting to be friends with you."
"…Thank you for your interest, although I still don't really understand you." Seiji sighed. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Name… I don't have one yet." The brown-haired girl tilted her head slightly. "Harano-kun, help come up with one for me."
"Why me?"
"Because you're the first person who spoke to me after I was born… so you're basically the first witness to learn about my existence." The girl smiled with a serious expression in her eyes.
Seiji fell silent for a moment.
"Kazuko… how about that?" Seiji tried asking.
"Kazuko?"
"Yes, as you're Kazufuru Ooike's new personality, which is why I borrowed part of his name to make Kazuko. Your full name will be Kazuko Ooike."
"Kazuko… very nice." The girl nodded. "From this moment onwards, my name shall be Kazuko Ooike."
Seiji felt a rather subtle sensation from seeing her agree to the name that he came up with.
"Ooike-san…"
"Call me Kazuko. I like this name that you gave me. Just address me directly by name."
"…Alright, Kazuko-san, is there any method to wake up Ooike-san's personality?"
"You'd rather see him instead of me?"
"That's not what I mean. I just think that continuing like this won't be good."
"There's nothing bad for me at all. If he continues sleeping, I can continue having this body to myself." Kazuko adjusted her eyeglasses.
Something flashed in Seiji's eyes as he observed her.
"Just joking. If he doesn't wake up for a long time, it'll affect me as well." Kazuko flashed a smile. "There's a method to wake him up. However, I can't do it by myself, and need someone to help me."
"What type of help?"
"There's danger involved."
"Could you please explain first?" Seiji folded his arms.
"My power over my Domain is connected to our soul, which is why I'm able to open up a path to Kazufuru Ooike's Domain. But, I can't access it by myself, and someone needs to clear the path," Kazuko explained. "There are rampaging demons within the Domain. I can only control them to a certain extent, but can't completely control them. I'm also unable to eliminate them, so whoever enters the Domain needs to deal with these demons. It's impossible to simply avoid the demons and go directly to Kazufuru Ooike's soul within his section of the Domain. Only by eliminating all the demons and cleansing the entire Domain will he be able to wake up. Otherwise, he won't wake up no matter what. In summary, someone needs to enter my Domain and kill off a large number of demons in order to wake him up."
Seiji fell silent once again.
"There's no need for you to take this risk and help out. Perhaps he'll wake up automatically by himself in one week's time." Kazuko smiled.
"Kazuko-san… how exactly do you view Ooike-san?"
"To me, he's the person who contracted me, an equal existence who signed a contract of coexistence."
"The two of you share a body and soul… In my opinion, this is an even more intimate relationship than twin brother and sister," Seiji spoke seriously as he looked directly at her. "Perhaps I'm thinking too much into things. But, I feel that since the two of you have such an intimate relationship, you should try to get along well with each other. You're just like a younger sister, and he's like an older brother. If the older brother is asleep for a week or even longer, the younger sister should naturally be worried. Perhaps you'll be annoyed and might not even like him being awake, but he's still your older brother. Just letting him sleep like this… is that really alright?"
Kazuko slightly widened her eyes.
"He's my older brother…?" Something flashed in her eyes as she muttered to herself. "I didn't think like that, as the two of us should be equal. Still, I have power, so I'm actually the stronger one. But… this type of feeling isn't bad at all. After signing the contract, he fell into a deep sleep, so I never really talked to him at all. Letting him wake up early and having a chat seems nice as well."
Kazuko smiled as she said this. "Are you willing to help, Harano-kun?"
Seiji smiled as well.
"It would be my pleasure."
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Kazuko led them to a nearby apartment where the kidnapper's research laboratory was located.
Thick smoke was rising out of the apartment complex. According to the bystanders, there had been an explosion. The police and firefighters had already arrived on the scene.
"Most likely, an emergency self-destruction spell activated on the apartment to erase all the evidence," Natsuya concluded after observing the scene. "I doubt that anything of use would be left behind."
Everyone then took a car to the student council president's residence.
Kazuko recognized the maid Mai through Kazufuru's memories as the former student council president. Kazuko was both surprised and interested in this.
"Does Harano-kun like maids?"
"If I have to say like or dislike, of course like."
"What's the truth in your heart?"
"I love them! Maid attire is one of the best types of attire in the world." Something flashed in Seiji's eyes.
Mai smiled faintly. Natsuya and Shika were rendered speechless.
"Such an honest and direct answer." Kazuko chuckled in delight.
She then twirled around lightly as a red light covered her body. Her school uniform suddenly changed to maid attire!
And, this maid uniform was a miniskirt type! Combined with black silk stockings, there was a mesmerizing absolute territory!!
"How is it, Master?" The brown-haired girl slightly lifted her skirt and curtsied elegantly.
Seiji received a gigantic impact from this unexpected scene!
Natsuya was astonished as well. Mai widened her eyes, while Shika narrowed her eyes.
"Your clothes…" Seiji's gaze was somewhat vacant.
"I'm capable of changing my clothes at will. No matter what Harano-kun likes, I can wear it just for you." Kazuko's mouth arced upwards in delight.