The Reincarnated Demon King Can’t Escape~ When I Reincarnated 1000 Years Later, My Yandere Heroines Were Waiting for Me~ - Chapter 5

Reunion

First period. Big Sister As’s class started.

The subject was Basic Magic Theory. Standing in front of the podium, Big Sister As first presented the basic concept, then gave concrete examples, and finally linked it to applications. The structure was logical, and her skill in adjusting the pace while watching the reactions of the students was brilliant too.

It reminds me of our strategy meetings from a thousand years ago. Back then, Big Sister As used to do the exact same thing while rearranging division placements in front of a battlefield map. Figuring out the training level of each unit and changing the detail of instructions based on the war situation. That skill has been transplanted straight onto the teacher’s podium.

Her way of being a teacher was perfect. It makes total sense that the students trust her so much.

But there is a faint bias only toward me.

The number of times she calls on me for questions is clearly higher than for the other students.
The steps of her patrol get just a little bit slower only in front of my seat. The angle she peeks down at my notebook is close. At a distance where her black hair practically brushes my cheek, she calls out, “Eldi, are you doing okay with this part?” Only her tone of voice is subtly different from the one she points toward the other students.

You’re totally giving it away, Big Sister As.

But the students around us don’t notice. The precision of her mask as a teacher is too high, so the strange feeling is kept down to a level where it can be passed off as just their imagination.

It looks like this cleverness doesn’t change even after a thousand years pass.

—

Second and third periods were classes with different teachers.
The content barely entered my head at all.
No, it’s not like the classes are hard. For a demon king who lived for a thousand years, the basic curriculum of a school is just like a lullaby. The problem is that my awareness is getting taken away somewhere else.

The homeroom teacher is Asmeia. A classmate is Lycolegis.
With the existence of those two occupying my head, there is no way I could focus.

And there is one more person.

During break time, I went out into the hallway. I wanted to cool my head down a bit.

From up ahead, a group is walking over.
A few students wearing armbands. They must be officers of the student council. Moving down the hallway with orderly steps, inside that group, there was a single student who had a completely different presence.

Golden hair.
Her back is stretched, her stride is steady, and her stare is pointing straight ahead.

We passed each other.

She didn’t look over here. Without showing a single bit of a reaction, she just passed right by as if absolutely nothing happened while continuing her conversation with the student next to her.

But my feet had stopped.

That way of walking. That way of stretching her back.
It’s the exact same as when she used to walk next to me on the battlefield one thousand years ago.

With Big Sister As and Lyco, my threshold for certainty has already gone down. There was only one person even a thousand years ago who had that way of walking.

I turn around. It was almost at the exact same time.

It’s like she was timing this exact moment.

An index finger stretches out.

Poke.

My cheek got poked.

After pulling her index finger back, the golden-haired girl lifts up the corner of her lips in a smooth movement.
A triumphant face. A face that says, “I got you.” The exact same as that proud smile she used to show when she caught the enemy off guard on the battlefield one thousand years ago.

I tried to say something. But before the words could take shape, she is already turning her back. Flipping her golden hair, she starts walking away as if absolutely nothing happened. A perfect posture. A perfect stride. With her very next step, she completely hides the mischievousness she showed for just a split second.

“Miss Clarissa, what’s wrong?”

The members of the student council are turning around a few steps ahead. They must have noticed she fell behind the group.

“It’s nothing at all. I just said a quick hello to an acquaintance.”

A cool voice. A reply that sounds like there is absolutely no emotion packed inside it.

Clarissa. That name that I used to call Clara.

While keeping my fingers pressed against the cheek that got poked, I watch the retreating golden-haired back.

“Are you kidding me, everyone is here?”

The homeroom teacher is Asmeia. A classmate is Lycolegis. In the student council is Clarissa.
The three of them are slipping into the school using their own respective positions.

During the remaining classes, my mind was totally somewhere else. It makes it even worse that Big Sister As cheerfully calls out, “Eldi, please focus, okay?” I want to say, “It’s all your guys’ fault,” but there is no way I can say that.

—

After school.

When I headed toward the school gate, Big Sister As was standing in front of the gate wearing an armband for “after-school guidance.” She is cheerfully sending off the students. But the exact moment I came out, the quality of her smile changed. From a business smile as a teacher to a much softer, private smile. For just a mere instant.

Outside the school gate. Underneath the street trees, Clara is standing with a book open. She is acting like she is reading, but there is no sign of her flipping the pages, and she is looking over here restlessly. The open page gets whipped around by the wind, but she doesn’t even show a sign of caring.

Feeling a presence behind my back, I turned around, and Lyco was standing a few steps behind me. Since when did she get there? Her silver hair is shaking in the wind, and her eyes are looking straight over here.

The three of them are gathered in front of the school gate.
A placement where I can’t think of it as anything other than them planning it together. Big Sister As in the front. Clara on the left hand. Lyco behind my back.

There is no way to escape.

We have had enough of this fake show already.

“I think it’s about time you guys give me an explanation.”

The stares of the three girls focus on me.
A single beat of silence.

The first one to move was Lyco.
Her expressionless face breaks into a smile.

“It’s been a long time, Master. I’m happy to see you again.”

Her tail is wagging left and right so violently it looks like it might snap off, scattering the leaves of the street trees behind her. The person herself isn’t even trying to stop it. She probably can’t stop it.

And Big Sister As’s mask as a teacher quietly came off.
Her eyes get wet with tears and her lips tremble, but she still doesn’t let her smile crumble.

“Welcome back, Lord Erdrain. We have been waiting for you for a thousand years.”

With a short pause, her voice suddenly gets soft.

“Gosh, I guess that was a little bit too stiff. Little brother.”

The exact same way of calling me as a thousand years ago. It’s the voice of Big Sister As that I know.

Only Clara doesn’t move. Holding the book tightly in front of her chest, she is turning her look away. After a few seconds of silence, she finally opened her mouth.

“You’re late. You sure made us wait a long time, Demon King Erdrain.”

While keeping her eyes turned away. Whether she is scolding me or acting spoiled, the person herself probably doesn’t even know.

The three of them are smiling.
But something that can’t be fully held back by just a smile is oozing from the depths of their eyes. A look packed with a whole thousand years of feelings is pouring onto me.

Lyco’s wagging tail. Big Sister As’s wet eyes. Clara’s turned-away look.
The faces of the three girls that I saw at the very end in the throne room one thousand years ago overlapped.
Back then, everyone was a grown-up woman. Now, everyone has the appearance of a young girl from their teens to their twenties. But the inside hasn’t changed. Even after a thousand years pass, not a single thing has changed.

I didn’t ask “Why did you come?” or “How did you come?”
There is no need to ask.

“Let’s meet again at the edge of dimensions.”

The line I spat out with a light feeling back then, these guys spent a thousand years seriously making it happen.

“Let’s change locations. We’ll stand out here.”

The moment I started to leave the school gate, Big Sister As gently stopped her feet.

“Let’s talk about things past this slowly starting tomorrow. It’s already late today, and besides, little brother needs some time to organize things too, right?”

Controlling the situation while making it look like a judgment as a teacher. But that her true meaning was somewhere else became clear with her next words.

“Also, there is just one thing that I want to settle beforehand.”

Lyco’s ears gave a twitch. Clara’s eyes narrow.

“All three of us have tons of stories piled up to tell little brother, right? But if all three of us push our way in at the exact same time, little brother will get crushed.”

A single beat.

“So, turns.”

Her voice is soft. But there is a pressure inside that single word that leaves no room for negotiation.

“One person at a time, we face little brother. A rotation. That’s fair, right?”

Lyco reacted instantly.

“I’m first.”

Short. Low. With absolute confidence.

Clara snaps her book shut.

“If we are deciding turns, we should do a fair lottery—”

“Miss Lyco was together with little brother the longest, after all. I don’t mind letting her have that part.”

Big Sister As cut her off. Cheerfully.

“I’m second. Miss Clara is the very last one, so you’re third, okay?”

“What? Isn’t that a difference of just a few years? That’s unreasonable!”

“Even though you always say you hate Master.”

Lyco’s single sentence accurately pierced her weak point.

“Th-that’s, well, um.”

Clara’s face turns red right before my eyes. Underneath her golden hair, all the way to the tips of her ears.

“Now, now, fighting is no good, you two. You have to get along. If you fight, big sister is going to take little brother for herself while you’re at it, okay?”

“No way!”
“Absolutely not!”

Their voices matched beautifully. The two who were arguing just a moment ago are completely matching on this single point alone.

There was no gap for me to chip in. The “turns” are getting set up as an established fact among the three of them.

I want to say, “What about my will?” but I feel like I never had a right to refuse since a thousand years ago anyway. Even though I’m the demon king.