Returned from Another World, Earth Turned Out to Be Quite the Fantasy Too. Also, Losing Heroines, Stop Looking This Way. - V5 Chapter 14: “Wait, Is Yusuke-Kun… Jealous?”

Chapter 14: “Wait, Is Yusuke-Kun… Jealous?”

The moment the group started pointing fingers at Ibaraki Doji, the one who panicked the most was none other than Shinonome Abe.

“She’s not like that, okay!?”

“…Wait, why are you defending her?”

“Iba-chan’s got the kindest heart you’ll ever see!”

“Iba-chan? Seriously?”

“I’m tellin’ you—I’ve never met anyone, human or oni, with a heart that pure. She’s just… beautiful, inside and out!”

As Shinonome kept passionately defending her like a man possessed,

Natsuki suddenly pointed at him and shouted:

“THIS MAN HAS BEEN SEDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCED!!”

“No, no! It’s not like that! I mean, okay—sure, we did talk about starting a couple’s YouTube channel… but then Madoka caught wind of it and I had to put it on hold.”

“…You were about to launch a couple’s channel with the oni that traumatized your brother!?”

Natsuki couldn’t help but feel bad for poor En, still stuck back in Kyoto.

“I get that it’d rub Madoka the wrong way. But c’mon—not all oni are bad, y’know.”

“And what exactly are you basing that on?”

“Iba-chan—Ibaraki Doji—saved Madoka’s life. She betrayed Shuten Doji to give us intel. She’s been risking everything for us. At first, I just thought I could use her… but somewhere along the way, I started falling for her.”

Shinonome clenched his fists, looking like he was this close to bursting into a full-on enka ballad about his love for Ibaraki Doji.

Natsuki gave Kazuto and the others a desperate look like, “Come on, someone help me out here! What are we even supposed to do with this guy!?”

But Kazuto just gave him the universal I got nothin’ face.

Senju didn’t even pretend to care anymore—he just mumbled, “Yeah, I’m out.”

Seishiro cautiously raised a hand.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m in any position to give advice on romance…”

Even Yoshimasa suddenly played the child card.

“I-I’m just a kid! I don’t get any of this!”

Useless. Every single one of them.

And then—

“Ibaraki Doji! One of the strongest oni out there—supposedly on par with Shuten Doji himself! And she’s not only a girl, but also your girlfriend!?”

Yusuke exploded.

“I’M SO JEALOUS I COULD DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!”

Tears of pure blood practically streamed down his face as he trembled on the verge of falling headfirst into the dark side.

(Lilith-san! Please—hurry up and introduce a demon girl to Yusuke-kun already!)

Koume screamed internally, silently begging her mom, Lilith, to come through.

Lilith had promised to find Yusuke the perfect demon girl to soothe his lonely soul—

But it had only been a few days, and she was still deep in the candidate vetting process.

No updates yet.

Even though Yusuke had kind of calmed down lately thanks to his visit to the yokai village in Tono…

Here he was again—spiraling back into darkness, this time fueled by pure, unfiltered jealousy.

“It’s not like that! Me and Iba-chan… we’ve got a purely platonic relationship!”

“OH LOOK AT MISTER WINNING AT LIFE OVER HEEEEEREEEEEEE!!”

“Calm down, Yusuke! Stay! Stay! Dude, if you start going berserk too, we’re never gonna get this back on track! Can we please—just once—have a serious talk like serious people!?”

“Kyuuupegh!?”

Yusuke lunged at Shinonome like a rabid fangirl charging the stage at a boy band concert—

Only to be expertly caught in a rear chokehold by Senju.

With one smooth motion, Senju brought him down and gently laid him out on a floor cushion like it was bedtime.

“…Should I maybe introduce him to a classmate or something?”

Mio Minazuki raised her hand timidly, clearly feeling sorry for Yusuke.

But Natsuki and Senju just gave her a slow, solemn shake of their heads.

“Thanks, Mio-san. Really. But… Yusuke-kun’s only into non-human girls.”

“He’s fully committed to the monster girl route.”

“…O-Oh. I see. That… must be tough.”

Yeah.

Once someone had fallen that deep into the non-human waifu zone…

There was no coming back.

So Natsuki and Senju politely handled the explanation on Yusuke’s behalf.

“Yusuke Sado-kun, right? This kid’s a riot. He really gets the appeal of oni girls—we’d totally hit it off. Hey, let him know I’ll introduce him to a nice oni girl once he wakes up.”

“Don’t you dare! Just shut your mouth already!”

Shinonome beamed warmly at Yusuke like he’d just discovered a kindred spirit.

Natsuki’s response?

He chucked a floor cushion straight at Shinonome’s face.

〜〜Afterword〜〜
Shinonome-san’s also a monster girl lover!?