In the end, that incident ended without any of it leaking outside.

Well, of course. A demon appearing will inevitably cause chaos. If things went badly, then there's no guarantee that it wouldn't lead to new demons being called in.

Because Tezuka Hirosei was being controlled by Agatsuma Suguru's mental manipulation, he managed to avoid a large punishment. For a while he was made to do volunteer work at the Magic department's building, and appears to have calmed down after that.

As for me, though I certainly felt that the sparkling glances from Kasamiya-san were painful, she really was tight-lipped. Thanks to her, my peaceful teacher life was protected.

If she wasn't such a good child, then I was ready to perform some memory modifications to prevent any after effects, but……no, I guess it's pointless.

Somehow or another, my normal life returned, and I was finally able to rest. Thus, I went to that bar to report about the demon as well as to have some drinks with my hero comrade, Kujou s.h.i.+dou, who unexpectedly had some free time.

"Ahahahahaha! You let her see?! Let a student see that!"

"You're laughing too much. Unuu……"

"So? What? You planning on taking her in as a disciple?"

"I won't and I can't. In the first place, we're already teacher and student, so our relations.h.i.+p wouldn't change."

But, even so.

As always, this man is so rude. At the reunion that made my older sister-like figure cry, the one who laughed so hard to the point where he hyperventilated was also this man.

While his, as usual, pointlessly ikemen face slackened, he tilted his beer mug like an old man.

"Why are you making such a glum face? Come on, drink drink!"

"I'll drink, oh I will. Geez, it just makes me want to make a glum face. Because in the end, we never figured out the whereabouts of the demon that gave him the 'Seed'."

Indeed.

It seems that the demon that contracted Agatsuma and handed him the Seed was quite fast at running away. By the time I returned to my senses and used detection, there was not a shadow nor shape in sight.

"Although I don't want to say it, but is it even capable of being able to run away from my 'Magical Girl mode'?"

"Well of course you couldn't find it. Cause I erased it."

"I see, so it ran to h.e.l.l. No wonder I couldn't fi——wait, wha–?!"

Oi, wait a second.

Just now…what…did this man say?

"Well, you see. I felt a weird presence, so I went to Tokusen, and, like this, I came flying in. When I did that, the demon just happened to be running towards me. So I just went, bam, like this."

"Don't just go 'bam'! Why didn't you tell me? Jeez, you made me waste effort trying to look for it!"

"Ain't it fine? It'll prevent you from going senile…"

"If you treat me like an old lady, I'll kill you."

"Gu-……so-sorry. But it's like that, honestly, until I heard the story from you, I wouldn't have known where the demon was from and who it was involved with, you know?"

"Mugu-……I see. That's true……"

As I gave a bitter smile while feeling a bit exasperated, s.h.i.+dou placed his hand on my head.

Thinking about it, this guy has been like this since a long time ago. He had chuunibyou, was rough, and was a show-off. But, when it came down to it, he'd take the lead, standing in front while enduring the brunt of the blow, and laugh while patting my head.

He was a man who was strangely good at giving people a peace of mind. Really, to the point where it made you want to laugh.

"You're not allow to be so adult-like only at times like these."

"You're also just as drunk, aren't you? You're becoming childish, Michi."

I wonder if it's because I became relieved after drinking.

Somehow I'm starting to feel a bit sleepy.

"Shaddup~, chuunibyou."

"No matter what age a man becomes, he'll always be chuunibyou."

"Useless ikemen."

"What do ya mean by use-……less?"

My eyelids gradually began to fall lower and lower.

Say, s.h.i.+dou. No matter when, even if I'm extolled as something like a hero, I have, you know, always thought of you, my "comrades", as people I could depend on the most.

That's why, you know.

"Taxi~…I'll leave it to you."

"Geez……alright, you may leave it to me, Ojou-sama."

His joking phrasing somehow rubbed me the wrong way.

My raised fist slowly fell on s.h.i.+dou's chest as he caught me in his arms.

"Geez, such a troublesome girl you are."

s.h.i.+dou said that with a relieved face as he tenderly patted the head of the sleeping Michi.

That he is being trusted meant that he could not betray her. s.h.i.+dou watched Michi's sleeping face with the eyes of someone looking at a loved one.

"Like this, it's fine if you only let me spoil you. Like before, like when you were a little girl, let me hold you, Michi."

——as a matter of fact, s.h.i.+dou had understood where the demon he shot down came from, and what it had done.

It could be said that the remaining fragrance of "power" that had hit the demon's body, was enough to blow away s.h.i.+dou's rationality.

"You don't understand your own value. One day that could bare its fangs towards you. If that happens, I will——"

s.h.i.+dou recalled the reunion that occurred several years ago.

The banquet of only 7 people that gathered the fellow heroes was, truthfully, supposed to be the prelude to ruin. The heroes would all meet in a single building, and talk about their own circ.u.mstances in close proximity. A number of them planned on revealing their intention to rise in revolt against humans.

They were set up as heroes, became tied up by trivial politics, and as time pa.s.sed, as if to say that they were done using them, the countries began to treat them as parasites. That being the case, as ones worthy of being called  "superheroes", they were faltering as to whether they should create a paradise for the chosen people. The ones saying that in the shadows, also included s.h.i.+dou.

Michi would probably be against it. However, every one of their comrades liked her. That was why even if she opposed it and became hostile, Michi alone, they could not hurt.

That, was the promise they exchanged.

One was smashed into pieces by the "transformation" on that day.

The violent torrent of power one could understand from experience.

The overwhelming fear that made it feel as if your blood was boiling.

As the years and months pa.s.sed, everyone's powers grew, and she alone managed to progress to the point where she had reached "G.o.d's Domain".

All they could do was laugh.

s.h.i.+dou, and everyone who was going to rise in revolt, were made to realize just how arrogant they had been, and from the despair, all they could do was laugh.

Michi's older sister figure, felt pity at the destiny that had been pushed onto her (Michi), and cried.

Michi's younger brother figure, bit his lips and shook at the chagrin he felt at the cruel fate that she had been made to carry.

And s.h.i.+dou felt delight from the bottom of his heart.

Happiness from finding a woman who would be willing to risk her entire life to continue loving, and a woman who he would be unable to betray for his entire life.

"To me, you're not my little sister figure anymore. That's why, it's fine if you take it slow, but trust me more, embrace me——fall for me."

Saying that, s.h.i.+dou dropped a kiss on the sleeping Michi's forehead.

He just wanted to wrap her in silk floss, binding her until she becomes immobile——.

Translator Comments:

Well, that’s the end of the first arc of AtE! I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did, and if I may ask, what was everyone’s favourite part? I quite enjoyed the transformation scene, though this epilogue was kind of cute (albeit maybe a bit yandere on s.h.i.+dou’s part…). It was interesting seeing the ‘reunion’ from another perspective. Maybe Michi’s transformation isn’t as bad as she thinks it is……or maybe she’s just too powerful that the other’s don’t even notice how strange it is? Who knows~