Q: What happened while you were unconscious?
A: Someone called Black pummeled them and, by forcing them to burn through energy, stripped away the power that sustained their rage entirely. So now they can maintain their sanity. As a precaution — and to verify that the fury truly isn't activating — I've isolated them in a safe extra-dimensional space.
Q: What is this Black?
A: This world's god. But a wishy-washy pushover of one.
Q: What's your relationship with White?
A: An ally, for now. They're technically working under the Demon King for convenience's sake.
Q: The Demon King?
A: The Demon King.
Q: So, being the Demon King means they're the king of the Demon race?
A: Strictly speaking, no, but that understanding works fine for now.
Q: The girl who was fighting me?
A: A vampire. Currently living in the Demon race's country. Also, she's a reincarnator.
Q: What was her name in her previous life?
A: Akiko Negishi.
Q: Her image must have changed quite a bit.
A: A lot happened.
Q: Is Negishi all right?
A: She's fine. She went a bit overboard in her fight with you, so I punished her.
Q: I-I see. Was I wrong to do that?
A: Not at all. No need to worry about it.
Q: How are the other reincarnators getting along?
A: Most of them are under the teacher's protection with the elves. Some others are attending human race academies. Yamada and Oshima are in the academy group.
Q: Is the human race academy far from here?
A: Far.
Q: What's going to happen to me after this?
A: Nothing. Since you've regained your sanity, you're free to do as you please.
That concludes our Q&A session.
I worked hard. Super hard.
Incidentally, I won't mention how long it took.
Yeah, I got hungry partway through and stepped out once to grab some food, but it really didn't take that long.
Not at all.
That's the story I'm going with.
Oni-kun looked troubled by my words telling him he could do whatever he pleased, and sat there deep in thought about something.
Well, I guess being told "do whatever you want" and then getting dumped like that would leave anyone at a loss.
Should I throw him a lifeline here?
We're both reincarnators, so I wouldn't mind helping him out.
"If you have nowhere to go, how about staying at my place for a while?"
When I say "my place," I mean Balt's mansion, of course.
I could even lend out this extra-dimensional space as-is if it came to that.
Oh wait — but without me, getting in and out would be impossible, so he'd starve to death.
"Yeah… Honestly, even I don't know what I should do from here."
And so, I took in not a lost lamb, but a lost oni-kun.
For starters, having him stay half-naked was a bit much, so I brought him back to Balt's mansion and had a servant pick out some men's clothing for him to try on.
Oni-kun had been in nothing but his underwear, like a fairy-tale oni, because the rage had stripped him of his reason.
Maybe the fact that he'd at least kept his pants on was the last stubborn holdout of his remaining sanity.
So when I put the clothes on him, an unmistakable "this isn't it" vibe wafted off him.
Oni-kun's face was the same as in his previous life — a Japanese face.
And his race was oni, making him the very picture of traditional Japanese aesthetics.
If it were a kimono or, taking a hundred steps back, some Chinese-style armor, it might've worked, but putting Western clothes on him was jarring beyond belief.
For me — which was rare — I ended up muttering "doesn't suit you" out loud without thinking.
It seems Oni-kun quietly took that comment to heart, though.
Hmm…
Something just doesn't click.
I mean, just picture a pure Japanese-faced oni holding a katana in Western noble attire.
Oh, Balt wasn't just some average demon — he was upper crust among the Demon race, the kind that gets a "super-" prefix. So all the clothes in his mansion were gentleman's outfits fit for nobility.
An oni in gentleman's attire.
I mean, some people might find it amusing, but it doesn't work for me.
Oni-kun's face was reasonably well-proportioned to begin with, and becoming an oni had apparently made him taller, so it wasn't like he looked ugly.
It's not that he looked ugly — it's the dissonance.
Yeah.
This calls for a kimono, obviously.
But there are no kimonos.
On the journey to reach the Demon King's castle, I'd visited quite a few places, but not a single kimono.
More precisely, Japanese culture itself doesn't exist here.
Which is obvious, since this is another world.
I figured if it were D, she might have forcibly established some fake Japanese culture or other, but nope — nothing.
If they don't exist, I'll just have to make some.
Fufufu.
There's no garment my threads can't create!
I wonder what kind of kimono would suit him…
Oh, but first I need to clear things with Balt.
For now, I'll have Oni-kun wait in the room I normally use.
When I asked the servant who'd brought the clothes whether there were any vacant rooms, apparently most of the mansion was empty.
Well, yeah — it's huge but barely anyone lives here.
Its master Balt hardly ever comes back.
Space-wise, there's no issue with Oni-kun living here.
All that's left is getting the okay from the mansion's owner.
I teleport to the Demon King's castle and knock on the door to Balt's usual office.
I do have a modicum of common sense.
Teleporting directly into someone's room isn't something I never do, but I can't say I make a habit of it.
"Come in."
Permission granted, so I open the door.
This was, after all, the Demon King's castle where the pinnacle of the Demon race resided. Normally, one would probably be mindful of how one opens the door, but unfortunately, I don't know those kinds of fine manners.
I open it with as much courtesy as I can muster.
Besides, once it comes down to opening my mouth — my tone, my word count — those are beyond manners and squarely in the "it is what it is" territory.
With those thoughts in mind, I step through the open door, and there he is — my target, Balt, locked in combat with a mountain of paperwork.
That was expected.
Balt being buried in documents and on the verge of death was nothing new.
But seeing his younger brother at the meeting table in the office, poring over documents alongside him, was unexpected.
"What do you want?"
The delinquent shot me a glare!
The spider guarded the door!
"Hey! Don't you dare leave without stating your business!"
Ugh…
Why is this guy here?
I let my guard down.
I'd knocked on the door right after teleporting, so I hadn't bothered to sense whether anyone else was around.
If I'd known he was here, I would've picked a different time.
Ugh, what a pain.