"Fuguu."

It was all over and Ayumi, my zombie little sister, was puffing out her cheeks like a blowfish.

"I don't care about that world crisis or evil demon lord or whatever. When you get down to it, this was you being selfish, Onii-chan. Make sure you make up with mom."

She was blunt but right. And I did not need Ayumi to tell me that while she dived onto the sofa and kicked her legs around. The kitchen trash was full of empty cup noodle containers. Erika could do housework, but the house seemed to fall apart without my stepmom.

Erika sighed while wearing an adult negligee.

"Well, I bet mom will forgive you for everything once she knows you're back. …Our family doesn't have anyone willing to do the thankless task of lecturing you."

"…Um, Erika? I'm not sitting on the floor here because I'm waiting for a reward. I'm simply afraid of that 'my, my, eh heh heh' aura coming from you."

"But, Onee-chan, you sure came back to life once you knew Onii-chan was coming home. You suddenly took a bath and got dressed up. And after sitting by the wall with your arms around your knees the whole time he was gone."

As they threw dubious information back and forth, my ordinary life was returning.

The Remora-infected people had been quickly released. They had gone to the police about the small creatures filling their bodies and the flooded battlefield, but the glowing ocean had apparently been especially problematic. Everyone a.s.sumed it was a hallucination after taking some kind of drug. Feeling like you have small bugs crawling under your skin is apparently a standard hallucination.

Thanks to that, no one was spreading the story much. Since drug use was viewed so harshly, they were apparently afraid that talking it up too much would actually lead to more people trying it.

No.

According to Minaki-san the Siren, she had been targeting people connected to Absolute Noah who had infiltrated the city. In that case, they may have been afraid of making waves and revealing the existence of their ark.

"…Mom."

The next day, I visited the hospital afterschool.

My stepmom had been injured on the stomach, but the doctor said she would not have a scar. Perhaps that was thanks to being a great demon lord.

"Here's some fruit."

"Couldn't you bring something with more charm? And my stomach is healing, so eating that would only make it hurt worse."

What else was I supposed to do? It would look pretty weird if I brought flowers for my extremely young-looking stepmom.

"But since you're visiting, can I a.s.sume our little civil war is over? Are you ready to come back home?"

"No." I shook my head. "You still haven't scolded me for it."

"Silly boy. You're safe and that's all I need."

…That was probably all it had been for her throughout. To a sad extent. To the point that she would make an enemy of 7 billion people.

So I had to say it.

Our ridiculous family fight was over. I was sick of running away from home so I didn't have to see her anymore. But that did not mean we had resolved our differences.

I would face her.

As someone I had decided was family.

"Mom, I cannot accept what you're doing."

"I suppose not. …Who would have thought you could raise your kid too well? It kind of makes me happy, which makes this all the more complicated."

"And I defeated the Leviathan this time. I've proven that even a demon lord in charge of deadly sin can be defeated using the right method."

"Wait, Satori. What did you do to the Leviathan…?"

We could discuss the details later. There were enough of them to fill a whole novel. But my conclusion had to come first.

"Let's fight, mom."

I was irreverent.

This was the result of a shameless human who got in one lucky punch and let it go to his head.

But it had to be here.

Now was the only time. If I didn't go with it, things would only get worse until it was all over.

"I won't run from you anymore. I won't run from Absolute Noah. I won't run from the Calamity. I'll give this serious thought and find an answer different from yours. So let's fight. And I'm not talking about a mere fistfight. I mean a more intellectual, higher level, and - most importantly - more meaningful fight. …To put it simply, let's fight over who has the best method of overcoming the Calamity."

My stepmom sighed on the bed. She looked at me like I was a stubborn child.

"…Do you have any idea how many calculations I've run?"

"I don't."

"…Do you have any idea how much I've wished for something else?"

"I have no way of knowing something you haven't told me."

Finding an easy happy ending would mean a complete rejection of the path my stepmom had taken, of her rough life, and of the personality created by it. It would be the same as pointing at her and laughing while proving how stupid she was to run headlong toward tragedy when there was such a simple alternative.

So this was a battle.

My stepmom had always prayed for something like this, but she had pa.s.sed the point of no return by now. It was a choice on another level altogether. Finding that would do far more painful damage than breaking her nose with a fist to the face.

I had to understand that.

And then I had to challenge her to a battle with all due respect.

I had to do it earnestly.

My victory would come with intense pain but I had to believe it would also free her from what bound her.

"…You really are a silly child."

"I know that."

"This is going to a th.o.r.n.y road. The more you challenge me, the more you will experience the same pain and suffering as me. And you are a sensitive and fragile human. Are you prepared to be skewered by the same agony that a demon lord could not bear?"

"If it will save my family."

My stepmom said nothing.

But her face crumpled up.

The Leviathan was the demon lord of envy. That was why it had challenged my stepmom, Lilith of Sloth.

But I feel like this was what the Leviathan could not forgive above all else.

No matter how great an organization it created and no matter how many allies it gathered, it was still a giant shark that was feared by everyone around it.

No matter how hard it tried, it could not create a family.

The Leviathan probably never even considered the possibility that the more it worked at being a demon lord, the more it pushed away what it wanted most. If it had wanted the love of a family, it only had to slothfully abandon its job as a demon lord.

That was why it had gone mad with envy.

My stepmom had done nothing at all and yet had what the Leviathan had failed to obtain after all that effort. That would have created unbearable jealousy.

I had known all that, so I was pretty awful myself for trapping that lonely shark in eternal loneliness.

"…I don't know what exactly the Calamity is. I only know it's something frightening that guides humanity to destruction. Everything else has been hidden from me."

I had to say it myself.

I had to harden my heart, tug on the hand of this person who had stopped moving, and bring them back to the sunlit world.

"So tell me. What is the Calamity? What is this great disaster from which even your group feels the need to flee?"

"Well."

Finally, my stepmom started to speak.

At long last, she slowly produced the words I most wanted to hear.

We were not mother and son here. We were rivals who saw each other as equals.

"The Calamity is…"

And.

And.

And.

I learned of the despair that would kill the world.

This may have been the true starting line.