Non-Human Girls Are Fighting Over Me ~ Do I Get to Refuse? “Nope!” “No Way!” “Not a Chance!” “Absolutely Not!” - Chapter 48 & 49

Chapter 48: Sorry

“There’s a way. It’s up to you, Izo-chan.”

With a faint smile, tilting her glass, the woman—Agrat Bat Mahalat, aka Aki Umahara—spoke.

Her voice, quiet yet resonant, made the dim air of the snack bar tremble.

“H-How… what should I do…?”

Izolde, eyes wet with tears, pleaded desperately, clinging to hope.

Aki narrowed her eyes, swirling her glass with melting ice, and answered.

“I’ll handle the two of them. Meanwhile—you unseal Samael.”

“What…? But if I do that… the world…!”

Izolde’s voice quavered, caught between fear, guilt, and a flicker of hope.

“And what’s that ‘world’ ever done for you?”

Aki’s gaze sharpened, her words piling on.

“Nothing, right? Just forced a burden on you. ‘Fight in place of the hero’—what a joke.”

Izolde bit her lip.

“But… there’s no way I could…”

“You can.”

Aki said firmly.

Her eyes burned with unyielding resolve.

“If your moves are detected beforehand, the contract sigil activates. But if they think you’re ‘approaching to kill Kazuto,’ you’ll have time to unseal Samael. Once he’s free—victory’s ours.”

“Samael… really…” Izolde murmured.

“I’d bet on it, Izo-chan.”

Aki continued, her voice earnest.

“Samael will take your side. He’ll absolutely break that contract sigil. And he’ll protect you, no matter what.”

“He’s not like the ones who abandoned you!”

Her powerful words struck Izolde’s heart deeply.

—Then, Aki pulled a bracelet from her pocket.

“…Take this.”

“Huh?”

“My little sister-in-law used to have it. It’s got a buff effect, boosts your magic’s power… should be useful. It’s yours.”

Izolde, stunned, accepted the dimly glowing bracelet. Its warmth spread from her fingertips to her heart.

“Aki-chan…”

Aki gave a soft laugh, picking up the remote.

“Mama, one song okay?”

“Go for it.”

The chosen song—Mariko Takahashi’s “Gomenne” (Sorry).

The faintly trembling voice filled the bar with aching melancholy.

After singing, Aki set the mic down gently and smiled softly at Izolde.

“Well, Izo-chan. …Think it over.”

With that, she rang the doorbell with a chime and vanished into the night.

Izolde, left behind, stared at the bracelet.

Its faint glow seemed to speak to her.

Chapter 49: His Shadow

The film club room after school had somehow turned into a battlefield.

“You guys! Cut it out already!!”

Bursting through the entrance was the transfer student, Aki Umahara, her red hairband swaying with her uniform.

Her voice carried fury, her eyes glinting sharply.

Her gaze locked onto Towa, Mio, and Riri.

Riri shrugged with her usual innocent smile.

“But~ everyone’s being unfair~ So Riri had to, you know~”

Aki pressed a hand to her forehead, barely hiding her exasperation.

“So you called Kazuto to your classroom and ate lunch together!?”

“Yup. Changed everyone’s perception in the classroom. We ate curry together.

I bragged about having a high school boyfriend~

They called me a love master, and I kinda didn’t want to erase their memories.”

Riri showed no remorse.

“No way, Kazuto just vanished from the bench, and I freaked out.

What if he’d been in a high school classroom?” Aki’s voice trembled.

“It’d work out somehow,” Riri said lightly, spiking Aki’s blood pressure further.

Aki’s gaze was cold, yet tinged with sorrow.

“Ugh… fine, you’re whatever. But you, vampire—what the hell did you do!? Now I can’t even make bentos!!”

Towa shrugged, replying calmly.

“Huh? I just made a bento and fed him with an ‘ahh,’ that’s all.”

—The air froze. The color drained from Aki’s face.

A small spark of anger slipped through the silence.

Mio observed coolly.

“Oh~… you messed up.”

“Yup, she’s done for,” Riri chimed in.

Aki exhaled heavily.

Narrowing her eyes, she stared at the remnants on the desk.

“That’s a bento? Looks like industrial waste. I wanna know how you even made that.

It was giving off some kind of smoke… You don’t have taste buds, do you?”

Towa replied nonchalantly.

“Nope, don’t have ‘em. Vampire, you know.”

“So you didn’t think, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t make it’? What’d you put in there?”

Aki’s eyes were serious, her curiosity ignoring all decorum.

Towa answered with pride.

“Yup. I figured I’d lose on a normal playing field, so I used demon realm ingredients!! Chimera and arachne, maybe? Chimera’s got all kinds of meat mixed in—tastes great!! They cook and eat it in manga, right?”

Aki, half-stunned, half-shaking, said,

“And that’s why Samael collapsed foaming at the mouth… He’s still out in the infirmary…”

In that moment, a sharp glint flashed in Mio’s eyes.

A deeper question and answer swirled in her mind.

“So, who the hell are you?” Mio demanded.

Aki’s explanation carried a hint of pride.

She stood tall, right hand on her chest, left hand lifting her skirt’s hem, bowing formally before declaring,

“My name is Agrat Bat Mahalat,

Succubus, ‘Queen of Witches,’

And Samael’s wife.” She smirked smugly.

“I’m his current wife!!

Unlike you self-proclaimed wives, I’m the real deal!! Know your place!!”

Her introduction was flashy, almost comical.

But beneath it, a razor-sharp sincerity bled through.

Riri, with a cold glance, said,

“That’s past life stuff, right?”

Towa and Mio nodded curtly.

“Yup.”

“Exactly, old news.”

Aki’s face stiffened slightly.

“You’re saying that when you’ve carved possession sigils on his soul to bind him across lifetimes?”

Aki protested, exasperated.

Towa shrugged, chuckling low.

“That’s that, this is this!!” A bizarrely brazen logic.

Mio said quietly,

“Yup, you died once, so it’s null.”

Riri added with a carefree expression,

“Doesn’t matter either way. I’ve got a contract.”

Aki clenched her fists.

“Anyway, stop messing with my husband!” she snapped.

Towa shot back sharply,

“But you love Samael, not Kazuto, right?”

Aki faltered slightly at the words.

“Well, yeah. Kazuto’s not bad. I can love him because he’s part of Samael.”

Her words slipped, carried away by the wind.

Mio narrowed her eyes, speaking directly.

“That feels… off somehow.”

“Yup,” Riri agreed.

Mio’s voice, earnest, shook the room’s air.

“I love Kazuto’s kindness. His thoughtfulness.”

“Right,” Riri nodded.

“Yeah, and his warmth. He laughs it off no matter how crazy things get. I love that face. Most people wouldn’t accept non-humans, but he… he accepts me as I am,” Towa said.

Riri continued softly.

“Onii-chan, no matter what you do, he’s like, ‘Ugh, stop it~,’ but he laughs it off. Yet when it counts, he faces it head-on, never running.”

“Yup,” Towa nodded. Mio, too.

“Uh-huh.”

Mio locked eyes with Aki, her words cold but piercing.

“Aki, you’re just in love with the Samael inside him. You’re chasing a ghost that’s not there anymore. You don’t know Kazuto at all. You’re not even seeing the current him.”

Her words hit Aki like a bucket of ice water.

Her pride dissolved, and she caught her breath.

“Hmph, fine. Talking to you guys is pointless.”

Aki spat, turning and storming out of the room.

In the hallway, she muttered softly,

“Samael, you’re all I need. As long as I have you…”