Returned from Another World, Earth Turned Out to Be Quite the Fantasy Too. Also, Losing Heroines, Stop Looking This Way. - V5 Chapter 48: “Shinonome Abe’s Reason, Right?” ②

Chapter 48: “Shinonome Abe’s Reason, Right?” ②

“…What do you mean?”

At Natsuki’s low voice, Shinonome shook his head.

“I don’t know the reason. I asked Tamamo-no-Mae-dono to help lift Madoka’s curse, but it didn’t work. She even introduced me to Shuten Doji-dono, but that didn’t work either.”

“Yeah, and from my side, I wasn’t about to just volunteer to die. But if the kid could kill me, I told him to go ahead and try. I don’t know why Ibaraki cursed him either. From what I remember, she wasn’t the type of oni who could even pull something like that off—so I gave him my two cents on the matter.”

“That’s why I told the oni—if they wanted to live in peace alongside humans, hand over the one who harmed Madoka. I didn’t think Ibaraki Doji would answer, but maybe, just maybe, the oni who cast the curse would show up. …But nope.”

“Ugh, what a pain!”

At Koume’s comment, Shinonome just nodded.

“Yeah, I know.”

He was probably the one most frustrated about it.

“So why did you end up getting along with your little brother’s attacker?”

“—Wait, don’t tell me… Shinonome-san, did you develop a thing for non-humans?”

“No, I did not!”

Senju voiced the question, and Yusuke immediately jumped to what he thought was a brilliant deduction—only to be shot down by Shinonome himself.

Yusuke slumped, looking genuinely disappointed that he hadn’t found a fellow comrade.

“I decided to work on two things—finding a way to kill Ibaraki Doji, and finding a way to kill Shuten Doji-dono. If I could manage either, Madoka’s curse would be broken.”

“But you couldn’t do either.”

“Exactly. And personally, I don’t actually want to kill Shuten Doji-dono. I was just stirring up the hardliners, using the ones among the moderates who also wanted him dead… but if I made one miscalculation—it’s that my own sisters joined the hardliners and started causing trouble.”

“Ahh, yeah…”

“And I couldn’t tell anyone about Madoka’s curse. Especially since Madoka himself doesn’t even realize it—if something went wrong, it’d be bad.”

That much made sense.

But one thing still didn’t sit right—his relationship with Ibaraki Doji.

“So why are you pretending to be interested in Ibaraki Doji?”

“Not totally sure, but… she seems to be interested in me. I just took advantage of that.”

Turns out, to get on Ibaraki Doji’s good side, Shinonome actually became an apprentice to a Kyoto host and worked his way up from the bottom.

They talked as “moderates” about wanting to improve relations between humans and oni, and bit by bit, he worked his way deeper into Ibaraki Doji’s inner circle.

“I can’t beat Ibaraki Doji right now, but I figured if I had enough time, I could make it happen. I’ve been digging for her weak points, waiting for the moment she slips. But now… Madoka’s reaching his limit. Maybe it’s because he accidentally ran into you, Natsuki-kun… or maybe his time’s just about up. Either way, I started to panic.”

“I see, so when the legendary Galaxy Kappa Hero Natsuki Yura and his heroic party showed up, you saw it as your big chance. Got it?”

“Wrong! I had all these careful plans in place, and then you show up looking like you’re about to blow everything up just ‘cause you feel like it!”

“…Huh?”

“I told you not to come to Kyoto, remember? Granted, I didn’t exactly show my sincerity by telling you the full story—but still, you came way too early.”

“Uh… sorry, I guess?”

Natsuki had been expecting a warm welcome.

Turns out… he’d basically bulldozed Shinonome’s entire plan.

Not that our isekai-returned hero was actually sorry—he said it, but there wasn’t a shred of regret behind it.

“Forget the apology. At this point, I want to use you, Natsuki-kun.”

“You mean to help kill Ibaraki Doji? Heck yeah!”

“—That was way too quick of an answer!?”

The mission hadn’t changed.

If anything, having Shinonome as backup would make the fight way easier—

And it’d save Natsuki the trouble of having to hunt Ibaraki Doji down himself.

“Uh, sorry to kinda interrupt here, but… time out.”

Yusuke raised his hand nervously.

“What’s up?”

“First, can the Mukaijima Gang huddle up for a sec? Like, right now—emergency.”

Following Yusuke’s beckoning, Natsuki, Senju, and Koume moved to the corner of the room, forming the sacred Circle.

“What is it, Yusuke? I told you, the oni girl introductions can wait.”

“Yeah, Yusuke-kun, maybe have a little self-control.”

“Listen, Sado—you can’t just go charging in all the time.”

As Koume, Natsuki, and Senju scolded him, Yusuke shook his head hard.

“No, no, that’s not it! I will take that oni girl intro later, but that’s not what I mean.”

He cleared his throat dramatically.

“You heard them say Ibaraki Doji suddenly got stronger than Shuten Doji-san, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And they don’t know why.

But… we might have a pretty good guess, right?”

“…Do we?”

Natsuki tilted his head—

And Yusuke dropped the bomb.

“The one responsible is you, Natsuki-kun! Think about it—Perfect Bloodline! If your blood and flesh can power up gods and demons, then of course it’d work on oni too!”

“… ”

“… ”

“… ”

A heavy silence fell over them—

Then, all at once, they shouted:

“THAT’S ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!”

〜〜Afterword〜〜

As you’ve probably guessed… yep, Ibaraki Doji got ridiculously powered up thanks to Nacchan’s blood and flesh!