I Was Nearly Killed by My Fellow A-Rank Party, but Now I Fed a Nine-Tailed Fox Deep in the Dungeon. ~ “My Master, I Shall Never Leave Your Side for All Eternity,” the Legendary Monsters Said While Doting on Me. Before I Knew It, I Had Become the World’s Strongest Lord of the Demon Realm~ - Chapter 43

Getting Revenge on That Toxic Workplace

—Rewind to last night.

I was totally at the mercy of a wasted Mike.

“Heyyy, Kuon-kuuun~ Can I kiss you? Like, I’ve always dreamed of kissing a boy…”

“Uh!? Y-yeah, sure, I guess…”

“You said yes!? You just said it’s okay!? You’re really gonna let me!?”

“If you’re not gonna hate it…”

“Why would I hate it!? I’d even get on my knees and beg, y’know!? Hehehe, f-finally I get to be with such a cute boy…!”

Mike’s breathing got all heavy as her face came closer and closer.

Right when our lips were about to touch, she just kinda collapsed onto me and passed out cold.

“Mike!? You okay!?”

“Zzz… zzz…”

“She’s… asleep…?”

Tamamo, who’d been watching the whole thing, let out a big sigh.

“Looks like she hit her limit. Come to think of it, I heard she barely slept at all yesterday either.”

“Right… then let’s just let her sleep like this.”

“Indeed. But Kuon, mind giving me a hand for a sec?”

Next thing I knew, Tamamo had me slip into the same futon as sleeping Mike.

She even told me to keep my sleepwear all messed up and wrinkled like I’d been wearing it while moving around.

I didn’t really get why, but Tamamo clearly had some kind of plan.

I figured I’d be too nervous sleeping right next to Mike to actually rest, but turns out I was wiped out too—hit my own fatigue wall—and I was lights-out almost instantly…

◇◇◇

—and then, the next morning.

I woke up to some weird vibes and saw Mike looking pale as a ghost while Tamamo was wearing this straight-up devilish grin.

“Mike dear, sounds like you had quite the wild night, hmm?”

“W-w-w-w-what…? What did… what did I do…?”

“You got drunk, sexually harassed poor Kuon nonstop, then dragged him into the bedroom and went wild with all your pent-up desires… Honestly, I warned you so many times about drinking too much.”

Tamamo—who’d been the one cheerfully pouring drinks the whole night—said that while dramatically sighing.

Mike took every word as gospel truth and immediately dropped into a full dogeza right on the tatami in front of me.

“Kuon-kun, I know sorry isn’t enough, but I’m really, really sorry…! I’ve always been alone… never even gotten close with a boy before, so all that bottled-up desire just… exploded, I guess! I’ll do anything, just please forgive me!”

Tamamo’s fox ears twitched once, and she gave this sly little smirk.

“Fufufu, you just said it yourself… ‘anything,’ right? Poor Kuon here, who’s never been with a woman, got forcefully come onto by you and suffered deep emotional wounds. That kind of trauma might never heal… how pitiful…”

“Ugh… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…!”

Tears started rolling down Mike’s cheeks.

(Tamamo… you’re trying to make her feel so guilty she joins us!? Taking advantage of how serious she is like this…)

I straightened my messed-up sleepwear and sighed.

“Tamamo, this kinda trick isn’t cool. Mike, relax. You passed out right away so you didn’t actually do anything bad to me.”

“…Huh? R-really!? It didn’t… go all the way!?”

“Yeah. Sorry for scaring you.”

“Phewww~ I was sure I’d done some super-pervy stuff to you!”

“Well… you did do a little bit, maybe…”

“—Eh?”

I cleared my throat with a loud “ahem.”

“Mike, I’m asking again—come with us, please. We really need your power to take down Ryomen Sukuna!”

“…Huh?”

“I know you’ve got a life here right now! But if possible… I want you to come with me!”

“W-wait wait wait! That’s what you wanted to ask!?”

Mike started frantically waving her hands around.

“I was already planning to go with you guys! I wanna protect you too, Kuon-kun!”

“Huh? You were…?”

“…I used to live thinking ‘as long as I’m okay, that’s fine.’ So I didn’t wanna fight, just wanted to stay safe somewhere and live an okay life.”

Mike glanced over at me.

“But that felt kinda… empty. There was always this hollow feeling in my chest. The moment I could actually help you, Kuon-kun, my heart finally felt full. Sure the food and hot springs and fluffy futons were amazing, but fighting for you… that made me happiest.”

She bowed her head deeply.

“Please let me join you guys. Unlike Tamamo-sama or Yukime, I’m just a low-ranking youkai, and I can’t use handy spells like Nurarihyon… but I’ll do my very best!”

“There we gooo, problem solved~”

Tamamo crossed her arms looking super smug like she’d done it all herself.

I shot her a deadpan stare.

“Tamamo. Apologize to Mike.”

“Ugh… sorry about that. I really, really wanted you to join us.”

“I-it’s okay. In the end I didn’t actually… do anything wrong to Kuon-kun… Yeah, sadly I didn’t get to do anything wrong…”

For some reason Mike looked a tiny bit disappointed.

“So you’re quitting your guild receptionist job too?”

“Yup! I already ditched work to come here anyway… If I go back today they’ll probably yell at me forever and then fire me.”

“Mike…! You were so worried about us you threw away your important job and rushed over…!”

“What loyalty! Mike really is essential to our group!”

“…Huh? Oh—uh, yeah, sure, I guess that was part of it? I was super worried about you guys… couldn’t sit still, y’know…?”

Mike looked away like she was trying to dodge something.

“Honestly, just thinking about finally escaping that garbage workplace makes me feel so refreshed. Barely enough pay to survive, almost no days off, forced overtime every single day, getting yelled at constantly but never thanked once. Everyone there treated me like crap and bullied me.”

“Haha, you can crash at Mayohiga and rest for a while if you want. Just helping protect this place is already a huge help.”

“This is literally heaven…! You’re gonna ruin me, Kuon-kun…!”

Mike suddenly clapped her hands together like she’d just had the best idea ever.

“Oh right! Since I’m quitting anyway, why don’t I quit with a bang? Let’s make those awful people at work super jealous before I walk out! Tamamo-sama, Kuon-kun—can you help me get revenge!?”

As she said it, Mike broke into this wicked grin, like she was finally ready to let out all the pent-up anger she’d been holding in toward that awful job.