Chapter 21 – People Call This Kind of Situation a Bloodbath

Ah, yep. Here comes another bloodbath.

Just as I predicted, the moment their eyes met, sparks flew between them.

“You again? You really are a pain in the ass!”

Aku-nee said it like the final boss of some masked-clone anime and clung to me even tighter.

“His side belongs to me. Hand him over.”

Ignoring her completely, Okunihama-san walked straight up to me and wrapped her arm around mine.

“Aah, it’s been so long. This feeling… How many years has it been…?”

She gazed at me with an entranced voice while pressing her chest against me.

…It didn’t feel bad at all.

“…You just thought something dirty, didn’t you?”

“…No I didn’t.”

“Liar. You’re making the exact same face you made when I hugged you earlier.”

Aku-nee openly displayed her jealousy and tried to pry Okunihama-san away from me.

“Get off! Shiro-chan is going to be my husband!”

“Too bad. Byakuto is my Master. We already finished 【self-censorship】 and 【self-censorship】 in our previous life!”

She casually dropped the “Master” bomb. Wait, did she just say something insane?

“…Even I’m a little grossed out by that level of play?!”

“Byakuto… No, for Sid, I’d do at least that much. Heck, I can do the 【self-censorship】 right here and now if you want!”

Exactly as expected—she really was a dangerous woman! I had never been in that kind of relationship with her.

Also, who the hell is Sid?! Me?!

“By the way, Sid was your name in our previous life… Yep, you’re definitely creeped out. Well, that’s fine. Sooner or later you’ll remember our relationship. Oh, and you can call me ‘Hime-sama’ if you want?”

Hime-sama… Yeah, her name really is like Kaguya-hime. In that one shooting game, Kaguya-hime and Inaba’s white rabbit got along great, but… could this weirdo and the white rabbit actually become friends?

“…Nope, impossible.”

I reached that conclusion pretty quickly. Between Aku-nee and Sui-nee-chan, I was already dealing with daily fights over which one to choose. I had zero room to let a third person in. Plus, I personally didn’t believe in platonic friendship between men and women anyway.

“Okunihama-san.”

“O・Hime・Sama. Call me that.”

“…………Hime-sama. Sorry, but I can’t go out with you.”

The moment I said it and physically stepped away, the highlights vanished from her eyes.

“…You’re rejecting me? Byakuto… No, Sid?”

“Well, obviously? Anyone would be wary of someone who starts talking about previous lives the second we meet.”

“How pitiful… We loved each other so deeply, yet losing your memories lets you be this cold…”

Yoooyoooyooo… She covered her eyes and started fake-crying. Oh man, please don’t cry in the middle of the street where other students can see. This is going to cause a huge misunderstanding.

“…Fake tears, right? That’s what people call being sneaky, you know?”

Meanwhile, Aku-nee instantly saw through the crocodile tears.

“Busted, huh.”

“As expected, Aku-nee.”

“I deal with that troublesome aunt every day, after all. I’ve learned all the dirty tricks women use.”

She clung to me even harder, now on full alert.

“Shiro-chan belongs to me, his big sister. I’m not handing him over.”

“Master~ I’ve been madly in love with you since our previous life, you know? You wouldn’t fall for some random stepsister who just showed up, right?”

Aku-nee and Okunihama-san glared at each other with completely lifeless eyes. Now what?

“Anyway, Okunihama… I mean, Hime-sama. Why did you suddenly start talking about previous lives? Even I get confused when someone drops that on me out of nowhere. Can you explain?”

“Fufu… I’m so glad you asked! Allow me to tell you everything!”

“You don’t have to.”

Aku-nee flipped her off while threatening her. Okunihama-san ignored it and began speaking.

Chapter 22 – The Story of How Action-Oriented Noble People Are Troublesome

“First, do you know the concept of the multiverse?”

“It’s the idea that besides this world, there are many parallel worlds existing at the same time, right?”

“Correct. In one of those parallel worlds, I was a princess.”

“Like a villainess? If you posted that as a novel on ‘Let’s Become a Writer,’ it’d probably get popular.”

Aku-nee tried to mock her, but Okunihama-san continued without missing a beat.

“That world was your classic swords-and-magic setting—in other words, a fantasy RPG world… though science was partially more advanced than here. The multiverse theory had actually been proven.”

She then told us about the various worlds that had been observed there. Apparently one fantasy world had fighter jets flying around. The whole thing felt so absurd I was starting to doubt reality.

“Byakuto—no, Sid and I originally lived in that world.”

“There are a ton of things I want to retort to, but basically you’re saying I and Okunihama-san were residents of some isekai world…?”

“Exactly. I was the princess of the small kingdom of Reoi. Sid was the attendant who served me!”

“A weird setting just sprouted out of nowhere.”

“Don’t call it a setting.”

Aku-nee looked at the unhappy Okunihama-san with pitying eyes.

“Did you hear that, Shiro-chan? She’s saying painful previous-life stuff. This girl is a total menhera.”

“How rude. This random stepsister. Whatever. Let me continue the story.”

As if nothing had happened, she kept going.

“Sid and I were childhood friends. My wet nurse was actually Sid’s real mother, so we’d always been close.”

“Like milk siblings, huh.”

“Exactly. Being that close inevitably made us conscious of each other. Plus he was just as handsome as the current Byakuto. Even with the status difference, I took the initiative and we became lovers.”

“I thought noble families like that usually have parents decide the marriage partner…”

Aku-nee voiced the obvious question. In these isekai romance stories, royals always have fiancés, right?

“Indeed. Of course my father tried to tear us apart. So I started a coup and took over the country!”

““Ehh……””

“While I was at it, my fiancé was the son of a domestic noble—his personality was garbage and he was secretly colluding with the enemy nation, selling secrets and doing smuggling. The moment I seized power I purged his entire clan. Blood purges are a dictator’s special privilege, after all.”

““Ehh……””

This girl was surprisingly scary.

“Sid supported me both publicly and privately. Our compatibility in bed was also outstanding. He understood my extreme masochistic tastes and went along with all sorts of perverted acts. Officially I was above him, but in private I was completely his female slave… Calling my own attendant ‘Master’ was so twisted it gave me chills.”

Okunihama-san’s cheeks flushed as she spoke.

So that’s what she meant by “Master”… Between Mom and everyone around me, why does everyone have such dangerous fetishes…?

“Anyway, after the coup we lived peacefully for a while, but the end of peaceful days always comes suddenly. One day our peace was shattered. The barbaric neighboring country of Ranodakōru Kingdom that we’d been enemies with for years invaded. The nation fell into crisis.”

“…………Every world really is the same. Human stupidity never changes.”

Japan might be peaceful right now, but if you look at the world there are still horrific conflicts everywhere. Even in another world it was no different—I felt sick.

“They’d been hostile for years, formed an alliance with the Nosurepu Republic, fought over border lands, used schemes to steal territory, and pulled countless other harassments and provocations, yet they still attacked. How awful.”

“…Isn’t that at least partly your fault too?”