Chapter 25: A Heart-to-Heart With This Tsundere!

Part 1

I looked at the unopened Random Loot Box that we got for beating the third floor boss.

"Alright, Aqua, make sure to give me yours now instead of opening it."

She looked at me reluctantly.

"Hmm… It kind of takes away the thrill of the gamble if I let Kazuma open it for me, though."

"How is there any thrill when you know you'll get something crappy again?"

She ended up giving me her box, Megumin and Darkness giving me theirs as well.

I opened them one by one. When I opened Megumin's box, we saw a ring inside.

"Here, Megumin."

I said, holding out the ring to her.

Darkness gasped and squealed.

"W-Wow… It almost seems like you're proposing to Megumin, Kazuma!"

"Do you see me on one knee? Ah…"

While I was distracted talking to Darkness, the ring slipped out of my hand and fell on the ground.

"..." x 4.

We all stared at the ring.

Megumin smirked and pointed at it.

"Well, Kazuma? Are you gonna get the ring for me? You dropped it after all."

Aqua smirked as well, relishing in my embarrassment.

"Are you gonna go down on one knee, Kazuma?"

"[Steal]."

I used [Steal] to make the ring appear in my hand.

"Tch. You're no fun."

Megumin said, as I dropped the ring in her hand.

"...Hmm… Doesn't Kazuma seem really embarrassed about this?"

Darkness said, observing the blush I failed to hide in my face.

Aqua peered closer to look at me.

"Yeah, now that you mention it. Hm? I expected you to be embarrassed, but you're totally blushing right now, Kazuma!"

That was because I couldn't forget what Vanir said about me and Megumin, that she was usually the one I ended up with in other universes.

In other universes, I was the type who didn't seek out harems and resolved to be faithful to one girl. And usually, that girl ended up being Megumin.

Thinking about that, I couldn't help but feel really embarrassed when they started teasing me about her.

"Hm, what does this ring do, anyway?"

Megumin said, looking at the ring before she put it on.

"Let me check…"

I used [Lore Reading] on it.

Demon Eye Ring (Very Rare)

Gives the user shining, red eyes. Also increases magic power.

"Ohh…! This is the perfect magic item for me! No need to wear those contact lenses!"

So she admitted that they were contact lenses.

Even though she gave Yunyun such a hard time before for saying they were contact lenses.

She put on the ring and took off her lenses. After a few moments, her eyes started shining bright red.

"I am Megumin! The number one genius of the Crimson Demon clan!"

She did a dramatic pose as her eyes shone red.

Aqua clapped and produced some fans out of nowhere.

"Let me provide some smoke for you with my party trick skills!"

Don't tell me she was using all her Skill Points on party trick skills…

Megumin and Aqua were playing around, with Megumin posing and saying a bunch of chuuni lines while Aqua released smoke from out of nowhere.

Darkness and I stared at them for a while, but we weren't interested in their nonsense.

"Please open my box next, Kazuma."

"Sure thing."

I opened her box and we saw a vial inside. I instantly recognized it.

"Oh, it's a Skill-Up potion…"

"Why are you saying it so quietly, Kazuma?"

I glanced over at Megumin who was still distracted by Aqua.

"Listen, if Megumin hears that you got this, she'll snatch it from you and drink it, so she can upgrade her explosion magic."

"...You have a point."

"So hurry up and drink it."

"Right…"

She drank from the vial and crushed it to get rid of the evidence.

"What should I spend the Skill Point on? Should I improve my [Two-handed Sword] skill, so I can land attacks?"

"No, because your 'Dexterity' is so low that any upgrades to the skill won't do anything."

It was like a drop in the bucket.

"...I guess I'll upgrade [Heat Resistance, then, since it seems like a useful skill."

She upgraded the skill we all learned from eating that awful curry.

It was my turn to open the box, since Aqua was busy with Megumin.

Inside the box, there was another box.

"Oh… I recognize this…!"

It was the Storage Box that Chris showed me before. It was a box that could store items inside it, yet only counted as one item in the inventory.

Storage Box - Very Rare

You can store 10 items inside the box. This box only counts as one item in your inventory.

Sells for: 50,000 Yen

"I got a really good one."

I held the box in my hands. It had a smooth, green surface and felt cool to touch. I opened it and saw the darkness of the pocket dimension within.

Aqua came back from goofing off with Megumin and pointed to her box.

"Alright, open mine next!"

I opened the box for her and we saw an egg inside.

Mystery Egg - Very Rare

This egg will hatch if given mana everyday. The creature that will hatch from the egg is random and determined by the luck of whoever is feeding it mana. The hatchling could be a mighty dragon or a weak goblin.

Sells for: 50,000 Yen

An outrageous item just appeared!

"Humu. If I, who has insane luck, feeds this thing my mana, then it'll grow into a legendary dragon, right? We might not even have to fight the Demon King army directly if we can raise it into a powerful dragon!"

I said, while reaching for the egg.

Only to have Aqua swat my hand away.

"...Oi, what are you doing?"

I looked up at her, blank faced.

"It's my egg, so I should be the one to hatch it, right? I'm the mama, after all."

She was already getting maternal feelings for this thing.

"...Is your reading comprehension that bad? You can clearly see here it says the creature that hatches depends on the luck of whoever feeds it mana. Did you already forget all those failed popsicle sticks you got?"

"This is different this time! Rather than pure luck, I'm sure that the outcome will depend on the quality of the mana! If I, as a divine being, were to pour my holy mana into this egg, then surely a pure and sacred golden dragon will hatch from the egg!"

I decided to ask Appuri-chan to clarify and set things straight for Aqua.

"...Mama has a point! Her holy aura might affect the outcome!"

"Are you sure you're not just saying that because you want to side with your mama?"

"I-I'm not sure what you're implying at all!"

How fishy.

"It's Aqua's box, so she should have a say on what to do with the egg."

Megumin said, which made Aqua give her a side hug.

"Aw, thanks for the support, Megumin!"

"Anytime!"

These two sure got close recently.

Maybe because they shared one brain cell.

I didn't have a choice in the matter since it was Aqua's item, even though I opened it, so I just gave her the box.

Part 2

The next time we set out to kill a Flashing Princess Runner, Darkness and I separated ourselves from the others. I had a rope in my hands, while Darkness stood a fair distance away from me. Megumin and Aqua waited with their Green Onions in hand.

Once the evolved Lizard Runners gained on the Flashing Princess, Darkness used [Taunt] to lead the Lizard Runners away. Then, I threw the rope at the cornered Princess to capture her.

"Sorry about this…"

"Kreee!"

The Princess let out a mournful cry before I swiftly finished it off.

Then I used [Escape] to run away from the Lizard Runners who would be angry once they found out their Princess died.

"And with that, we've all killed a Flashing Princess… Megumin, go ahead and do your thing."

"Roger!"

I let Megumin skin the Princess I just captured and killed.

We didn't want to go too crazy hunting every Flashing Princess, so we moved on through the desert area to find the door leading to the next floor.

"Hah… Walking through this heat was harder than hunting the boss of this floor."

Aqua said, as she poured water on herself using her own spells.

There was still a fairly long stretch of desert we had to cross before reaching the door. The boss areas got progressively larger after the first grass area.

Not only that, but aside from the Lizard Runners, there were other threats in the desert.

"Watch out!"

I yelled out in warning as I sensed an enemy.

The ground shook and the sand shifted in front of us. The surface of the sand broke like a crumbling pastry and a large worm about the size of a railroad car emerged from it. It opened its mouth, and we saw rows of sharp, bloodstained teeth within, extending down in deadly, circular rows down to its throat.

"What the hell is that thing?!"

In terms of appearance, it was probably the scariest monster I had seen so far.

It whipped its head back then surged forward, its vast shadow covering us and the surrounding area.

We dispersed, scrambling to get away from the impact zone. Sand sprayed in all directions as it landed, its teeth tearing through the sand, as it burrowed its way within the sand once more.

"Aqua, cast buffs on us!"

"We're too far apart! You need to come a bit closer!"

"Darkness! Use [Taunt] and buy some time!"

"Got it!"

As soon as the worm emerged once more, Darkness drew its attention with [Taunt]. It attacked her next and she was able to use her sword to stop it from consuming her.

"T-These teeth look awfully sharp…"

"Don't even think about it, you freak!"

I said, as Darkness looked to be contemplating something.

I made my way to regroup with Aqua and Megumin, and Aqua casted a series of buffs on us.

"...Megumin, it's your time to shine."

"...! It's time to debut these Demon Eyes of mine!"

Her eyes glowed from the excitement.

"I'll steer it away from Darkness. Get ready to fire [Explosion] when I give you the signal!"

With that, I ran off in the opposite direction.

"Darkness, undo your [Taunt]!"

As soon as she deactivated it, I took out my Elven Shortbow and created an ice arrow.

"[Snipe]!"

The ice arrow pierced through the worm's body, digging deep and drawing blood. Even if it had a tough looking skin, [Magic Archery] gave me armor penetration to pierce through it. Not to mention that the ice arrow trick just does a lot of damage in general, which was crazy considering how cost efficient it was.

I shot several more ice arrows, getting the attention of the worm. It went for me next, burrowing in the ground.

"Kazuma! I can't hit it if it's burrowing!"

Whether it was on purpose or not, the worm found a way to hide itself from Megumin's explosion.

"...I'm gonna let it swallow me!"

"Say what?!"

"Just trust me! Oi, Aqua, you can create a lot of water, right?!"

"Y-Yeah! Enough to flood a town, I reckon!"

"Do it! Send a flood my way!"

"If you say so… [Sacred Create Water]!"

With a twirl of her staff, Aqua conjured a tidal wave that she guided into my direction.

Then, I waited for the worm to appear.

It broke through the sand and the water as it appeared below me, its agape mouth ready to swallow me whole.

"[Smithing]! [Freeze] x 6!"

I shaped the water into a protective sphere around me, then froze it multiple times just as the worm tried to swallow me.

I heard the worm let out a low groan as it attempted to swallow me. Its teeth couldn't dig through the ice sphere I made around myself.

"[Tinder]! [Smithing]!"

I pressed my finger into the ice and shot a bolt of fire out of the sphere. The fire would change shape into the word 'Go!' from my use of [Smithing].

Megumin recognized the signal and unleashed the full-powered explosion she had been charging. If I wasn't inside the sphere and also inside the worm's mouth, I would have been incinerated beyond repair.

I felt an impact as the worm fell down. The ice sphere was also melting. I carefully removed myself from the worm's mouth, seeing its body parts scattered all over the wet sand.

"You OK, Kazuma?"

Aqua and the others ran over to me as I stood in the middle of the carnage.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get out of this area already."

"I suppose there's no use looting this thing now…"

"Well, we had no choice but to blow it up."

We continued on to find the door, being wary of any more monsters that might impede us.

Soon, we found the door in the distance.

"Hah… I never thought I'd miss the endless stone tunnels…"

Megumin said, as we entered through the door and found ourselves back in the familiar stone walls of the dungeon. We enjoyed the cool air after suffering through the sweltering heat of the desert.

"Let's not go there again if we don't have to."

I looked at Aqua who was wiping the sweat off her forehead and said,

"We'll have to go through there the next time we wanna come up to the fourth floor, right?"

"Nope! Look at this thing here!"

She pointed at a circular object on the ground. It had a dim, blue glow and seemed to be made out of glass. I went over and tapped my foot on it.

"You have discovered a teleportation point! You can now see and access the teleportation point on the first floor, beside the dungeon entrance of your choice! You can freely teleport to and from the first and fourth floor points as you wish!"

"Oh…! This dungeon isn't as cruel as I thought!"

I thought there would be an insane amount of distance we'd have to travel just to get out.

"Maybe we should have Mary relocate to the fourth floor now, so we don't have to go back to the third floor."

Darkness had a good suggestion for once.

"Can we even relocate her? Her roots are attached to the wall behind her."

"Well, she's a plant, we can find a pot of soil for her to transfer… I guess…"

We had no clue about Tranquility Girl biology and could only make guesses.

"For now, let's go back to the entrance. We did a lot today. Also, Megumin, don't forget that you need to split the earnings for the Lizard Runner scales you gathered."

"Urp…"

She froze in place once I showed her that I didn't forget that at all.

"Oi… Were you planning on keeping it all to yourself?"

"As if you didn't try to do the same thing before, Kazuma."

She was referring to the Kobold Hero's magic sword that I tried to keep for myself.

She eventually gave us the money, which ended up being 60,000 Yen each.

Part 3

We teleported to the first floor and I was prepared to come back home with Aqua.

However, I soon felt a strong grip on my shoulder.

"Hold on. Are you forgetting something? You told me that you found a good spot for my explosions."

Nothing ever slipped past Megumin, huh?

The others all went away, content on ditching me with Megumin.

"...Fine. Just promise me you won't go crazy."

"When do I ever go crazy?"

Was her self-awareness just nonexistent at this point?

With that said, I didn't know where to take her. I was just lying about knowing a good place for her explosions. I guess this is my punishment for being a pathological liar.

Just when I was thinking of a suitable place, I remembered something from my childhood.

My childhood friend and I would often go to the mountains to play. We lived in a rural area, so there was lots of wilderness to play around in. Our parents would often scold us when we came home with a bunch of bruises and cuts on our body.

…In fact, while we were playing around there, we found a grassy field with a bunch of flowers, where we promised to get married when we got older.

I ended up seeing her in the back of a delinquent senpai's bike in middle school, though, so I guess that promise was for nothing.

That event was one of the reasons why I ended up as a NEET. I guess I kind of lost faith in people for a while.

"I think I know a place. It takes a while to get there, though. Won't your parents get mad if you stay out too late?"

"It's fine. If they see how much money I made today, they won't care or even ask where I got the money."

"Oi, oi, hold up. I heard something terrible there."

"Well, let's go, then."

"You can't just brush it off."

We went out of the dungeon and out into the streets. I pointed to a nearby conbini.

"Hold on. It's quite a long trip, so let's buy some food."

"You're paying, right?"

"Yeah, sure."

I didn't even bother arguing this time.

I bought two bento boxes and two drinks for us, everything costing me 2,000 Yen. Megumin reached her hands out to take her bag from me, but I held it out from her reach.

"Oi… What's the deal, Kazuma?"

"...I've been kind of overlooking your family situation up until now, but minding my own business has its limits. I want you to elaborate on what you said about how your parents won't ask questions about you getting a crazy amount of money out of nowhere!"

She glanced away and crossed her arms.

"It's just like I said. The family finances are in such a state that even if their eldest daughter stayed up all night and suddenly came back home with 60,000 Yen from an unknown source, my parents would just quietly accept the money, thank me for my hard work and start preparing the bath for me to soak in."

"What's with that awfully specific scenario?! Don't tell me that happened before?!"

"Yeah, when I gave them the money we got from the Kobolds."

I rubbed the bridge of my nose from the stress. Aqua and Darkness were a handful, but this girl was on a league of her own when it came to problems, it wasn't even funny.

"So are you gonna give me my bento or what?"

I handed her the bag and she snatched it from me.

From there, we went on a train and headed back to the small town I lived in.

It took a while to lead her to the mountains. It was already dark by then. Aside from using the flashlights on our phones, I also had the [Night Vision] skill, which helped me lead Megumin in the darkness. For safety, I held her hand as I guided her through the trees and bushes.

"Here's the spot. Be careful."

I said, pointing to a cliff that overlooked the rest of the forest. In the distance, we could see the lights of the city.

"Whoa. You're right, this is the perfect place for explosion!"

I took out my bento to eat while Megumin held out her staff.

"Explosion!"

She marked the dark sky with a brilliant explosion. I clapped as I watched the fire and smoke expand within the backdrop of the moon and stars.

I went over to her and helped her up as she collapsed on the ground, sitting her beside me as we leaned against a tree. When she regained use of her hands, I handed her the bento box and she wolfed it down. She turned to me with rice stuck all over her cheeks.

"What score would you give, Kazuma?"

"Considering the rice all over your face, I'd say you deserve points taken away."

"I'm not asking you to grade my dining manners. The explosion, grade my explosion!"

"...Hmm… I'd give that one a 90."

"Oh, that's pretty high! Heh… I knew you'd make a good explosion sommelier."

"I still don't know what it means."

"It means you appreciate everything and anything related to explosions! You can tell, can't you? It's not just the destructive nature that makes explosion beautiful. There's also the brightness of the flames and the puffiness of the smoke. There's also how the explosion mixes with the backdrop. It's pure art, I tell you!"

Rather than just dismiss her rant as silly, I tried to consider it from Megumin's point of view. She was a poor girl from a struggling family. One day, she discovered the dungeon and fell in love with explosion magic. It was easy to dismiss her chuunibyou as the typical delusions of an attention-seeking teenage girl, but I could tell that explosion magic represented something deeper to her than that.

"Yeah, I can kinda see what you mean. I do find myself admiring your explosions occasionally."

I noticed that her eyes glowed brighter, red twinkles in the dark that left a crimson trail as she turned her gaze away. That ring made it really easy to read her emotional state, not like she wasn't an open-book before.

"Kazuma, you should be more like this from now on."

"Like what?"

"I like it when you're nice. Well, it's not like I mind it when you're a bit mean. It's actually fun, in a way, to bicker with you sometimes. But I can tell that you're a really good guy deep inside! It's better to just be honest, you know?"

I gave her a mild glare, before poking her head.

"Ow! That's not fair! Attacking me while I can't move!"

"You should stay over at my place tonight. I don't feel comfortable sending you home at this hour. Or if you'd like, I can call a taxi for you."

"...I know I asked you to be nicer, but I didn't expect you to actually listen."

"It's not like I'm being especially nice, or anything. It's just normal to at least offer this much. Mitsurugi would probably book a five star hotel room for you to stay at. I wouldn't go that far."

Megumin stared at me for a while. I said,

"...What are you looking at me like that for?"

"I can't tell if Kazuma is just a tsundere, or if you're just incapable of admitting that you care for your friends."

"Hah? What makes you say that?"

She chuckled and leaned back on the tree, watching the starry night above.

"I mean, a normal person would just accept the compliment and move on. But then you brought up how that Katsuragi fellow would have treated me better. Why is that?"

A flash of my childhood friend on the delinquent senpai's bike appeared in my mind again. Boy, that memory sure kept coming back, recently.

"If we're gonna have a therapy session here, you're the one who needs it the most. I mean, the more I hear about your home situation, the more concerned I get."

"Tsk… Turning this on me, huh?"

I wasn't just bringing it up to evade Megumin's questions. I was legitimately concerned.

Although changing the topic was also an objective of mine, admittedly.

"I'm not being neglected or abused, or anything. We just don't have a lot of money, that's all."

"...But your father has enough funds to make those grenades?"

"Why do you think we're poor?"

Megumin proceeded to tell me a bit about her parents. Her father, who she called Hyoizaburo… I wasn't sure if that was his real name, probably not… was a big military otaku and had an expensive hobby of developing military equipment, like those grenades. I already knew this much, but what Megumin didn't tell us before was that this wasn't just a hobby, he actually tried to make money from it.

"...My dad will try to sell his inventions to the military. Of course, none of them have ever sold."

"Those grenades worked, though?"

"That was because I fixed it."

Megumin's intelligence was high enough that she unlocked an advanced class right at the very start. If it was the same 90s requirement that a swordmaster needed, then that meant that Megumin was on a genius level without any stat training.

"...I guess Megumin wasn't just bragging about being a genius and all."

"Did you doubt me before?"

A little bit.

"And that's really how he makes his money?"

"Well, he has other gigs going on, but it's not really enough to make for a comfortable lifestyle."

"And your mother?"

"She does odd jobs around town, but it's mostly all part-time work."

"I see."

She nudged me with her elbow.

"Well, I told Kazuma about my family. It's your turn to share."

"Share what?"

"Don't play dumb. I'm talking about how you always deflect compliments about how nice you are. It seems like you're being oddly defensive about it, especially when it comes to showing your true feelings about people."

I gave her a disapproving stare.

"It's not like Megumin is honest at all about how you feel…"

It was written plain and simple in the bond descriptions that she was growing a crush on me, after all. Yet, she never said anything about it.

"...This is why I wanted to see those bond descriptions."

I stood up as she tried to snatch my phone from me.

"You've been really obsessed about trying to read our bond description…"

She was even chasing me around all night during the sleepover.

"Hah… Whatever, I can kinda guess what it says, anyway."

She blushed as she gave up on trying to take the phone away from me.

"Hmm… What does it say, I wonder?"

I tried to play dumb, but Megumin looked at me head on.

"...It probably says that I have a crush on you, right? Or at least, I have such growing feelings for you. Something like that…"

I didn't expect her to go ahead and just bring it up.

"Well, um…"

"What's the matter, Kazuma? I'm the one who confessed, so why are you the one panicking?"

She chuckled, maintaining her calm despite how red her face was. Her eyes were also glowing a lot.

"...Yeah, it does say that."

"I had a suspicion. That's why I'm always asking to read it."

She patted the place beside her and I went back to it, no longer having a need to evade her. To my surprise, she placed her hand on top of mine and she looked back up at the stars again.

"So, yeah, I do like you, Kazuma."

"I know."

"...Are you really gonna say it like that?"

What else could I say? It wasn't really a surprise to me at this point.

That app had a lot of advantages, but it really wasn't ideal when it came to forming sincere human relationships all the time. It kind of numbed me from the whole romance aspect with these girls a bit, because I knew how they felt about me before they could even confess. Some of them might not even know they had a crush on me yet. The app just rendered their emotions into data and summarized the depths of their psyche with a couple sentences. There was a cold element to it all.

With that said, I couldn't just complain about it, since I would have never known what to do without the app cluing me in to how these girls felt about me.

Deciding to be more sincere, I looked at Megumin in the eyes and said,

"For what it's worth, it made me happy to learn how you felt about me. And it makes me even happier to hear a direct confession."

She smiled and leaned her head against my shoulder.

"I really do like this kind side of yours, Kazuma."

"With that said…"

I didn't just want to lead her on or delay having to say this, so I took a deep breath and just said it.

"...Um, I'm actually seeing two girls right now. Tee-hee!"

"What's with that 'tee-hee'? Do you think you can just drop that bomb on me and try to act cute to get out of it?"

I must have picked that up from Aqua.

"Kazuma… I knew you were trash, but to think you'd be a womanizer…"

"In my defense, they're both fine with it… Well…"

I wasn't sure if they were fine with it based on what they truly felt, or if it was because of Kazuto's scummy bond reward. I could always ask Appuri-chan, but I was a bit afraid to find out the answer.

"Come on, just spit it out."

I told Megumin about the bond reward, how it allowed me to have 2 girlfriends at the same time.

"...Well, their feelings existed for you even before you got that reward, right? It's not like the app is mind-controlling them."

"But it kind of implies that they wouldn't be fine with this if the bond reward didn't exist, right?"

She pointed at herself.

"Well, I don't count towards that 'two person limit', but I'm kind of considering the idea of joining in."

"...Wait, seriously?"

When I stared at her in shock, she just nodded.

"I mean, I want you all to myself, but I came late to the party. It's not like I can just steal you away from the other two."

Kazuto's stupid advice was actually working, and I kind of hated that.

"...I don't want the reason to be as flimsy as that. Unless Megumin is the kind of girl who thinks that it's fine to do whatever we want since we're young."

"No, not really. I think that there should be strict rules and boundaries in any relationship. If my dad were to cheat on my mom, I'd stop talking to him."

"...So why are you OK with this?!"

"Because I like you. Isn't that enough of an explanation?"

Now it was my turn to blush. It was even more embarrassing with how she was leaning against my shoulder, how I could feel her warmth and her soft breathing patterns.

"...It's not really much of an explanation."

"Let me put it this way. My mom is a beautiful woman who still looks like she's in her twenties despite being much older. Yet she puts up with my irresponsible father. Why do you think that is?"

"...Because of a twisted sense of parental obligation to you and your sister?"

"Wait… Is that really all it is?"

She was trying to convince me of something, but it looked like she was starting to view her mother's loyalty in a different light.

She ended up shaking her head.

"No, I think it's because she wants to stay with him, despite the hard times and all his flaws."

I looked over at her and placed my hand on top of her head, giving it a pat.

"...You should think about it some more, Megumin. It might seem like I'm eager to create some kind of harem, but… Um, you're right, I really do care about you girls. Even Darkness. I don't want to break any hearts here, so please think about it some more instead of just saying 'I wanna join you guys'."

She blinked at me.

"Wow, that's really surprising. I thought Kazuma would take advantage of the situation and try to do lewd things with me?"

"...Do I really seem like the type to do that?"

"No, not really."

She giggled as I put my hand away after giving her a few pats.

"So, who are the other girls?"

"Aqua and a kouhai of mine."

"Wait, Aqua? Wow, that's surprising, considering how much you two argue."

"The fact that we argue so much during the day makes it hotter when I'm balls deep in her at night."

"...That's way too much information, Kazuma."

I couldn't help myself and leaked some rather intimate information.

"By the way… You can't just keep changing the topic forever."

She was still on about that. How persistent.

Well, I guess I might as well just talk about it, seeing how much she talked about herself. It was only fair.

"...Fine. I think I know the reason why. Or, I guess, I remembered the reason why."

Why I'm always putting walls around myself. Why I can't properly express my feelings as easily as other people can.

"Go ahead, I'm listening."

"Well… There was this childhood friend I had, a girl, and we promised to marry each other when we were older."

"That's pretty cute."

"Yeah, until I saw her riding in the back of a delinquent senpai's bike in middle school."

"Ah… So it's something like that."

Megumin was already starting to piece it together, but I went on anyway.

"I actually didn't attend many classes in my first year of highschool because of that trauma. I was a NEET until recently, believe it or not."

"No, I can believe it."

She didn't even hesitate to say that.

"I guess… If you're wondering why I have this emotional block, I think it's because I was rejected like that in the past."

I suppose that was why I acted with a fake personality around Rin. A part of me didn't think that any girl could actually become attracted to my real self. After all, even my childhood friend who I promised to marry rejected me. And that was the main reason why I found myself being attracted to Aqua, because there was no pretense around us. Right now, I felt the same with Megumin, especially after we told each other about ourselves.

"Thanks for telling me that, Kazuma. So I really was right about you. Underneath all the perversion, the braggadocious attitude, you're just a really good guy who cares about his friends."

I was about to underplay her words again, or come up with a joke to avoid having to give a sincere answer. But now that I was aware of this trauma of mine, I caught myself before I instinctively raised a wall around myself again.

"Thanks… I… I do care a lot about you girls."

I felt my face go hot, and my neck started getting moist with sweat. For some reason, I expected Megumin to mock me for admitting that, but she just interlaced her fingers with mine.

"I think I can safely say that the app is not responsible for why so many girls wanna be with you. I can see why Aqua and that other girl are fine with it."

"...Then, what's the point of that bond reward, then?"

"Maybe rather than influencing us, it influences how society will accept you having multiple lovers?"

"That's an interesting idea."

Rin wanted to enjoy this arrangement while we were still young and didn't have to worry about the social implications. But if this app really gave us a pass regarding that, then that would be the ideal scenario.

"Still, I'll take Kazuma's advice and I won't rush into things. It's not like you're desperate for more girls at this point, right? After all… You did say that you… With Aqua, everynight…"

Perhaps I really did share too much information.

Part 4

My parents didn't mind when I asked them if it was fine to let Megumin stay over. Kazuto was enthralled with Megumin as soon as he saw her. After dinner, he pulled me aside and said,

"Hey… Is Megumi-san single?"

"You mean Megumin?"

"I'd prefer to use her real name."

He assumed that she introduced herself as 'Megumin' either as a joke or a nickname, but she sincerely tried to make people think that was her real name.

"...She is technically single."

"Yes!"

"...But she just confessed to me earlier."

"You bastard! Why are you so good with girls?! I don't get it! What do they see in you?! I shouldn't have given you all those lessons! I made you too powerful!"

Those lessons did nothing for me.

In fact, all of the girls who were interested in me saw past the scummy side and saw me for who I was. If anything, those lessons just held me back.

"Wait, nii-san, if she's still single and she confessed to you… Did you reject her?"

He was still clinging to some hope.

"I just told her to give it some time and not rush into things."

"Wow… That's surprisingly mature of you, nii-san."

"I know, right?"

Kazuto needed to do his homework so he went up to his room. Meanwhile, Aqua and Megumin were watching a movie with my parents.

"S-Such high quality! And the screen is so big! You have a state of the art TV here!"

Megumin was thoroughly impressed by our TV.

"Um, thank you, but… This is actually an old model."

"Well, the one we have back home has an antenna and only has 2 channels, including a propaganda channel from some other country."

"E-Eh…? Ah… Surely you're joking, right?"

I sighed and went over to them. It was a tough subject to bring up, but I wanted to help Megumin in any way I could.

"...Megumin, can I tell them about your family?"

Megumin took a while to answer, but she eventually nodded.

"Yeah, go ahead."

Sensing that this was a serious discussion, they turned off the TV as I explained to them what Megumin told me earlier.

"I see… Well, thanks for telling us, you two."

"Yeah, it takes a lot of bravery to tell adults outside of your family about this."

Aqua looked at both of my parents and said,

"...You're not gonna tell the cops and send Megumin and her sis to an orphanage, are you?"

"Of course not, Aqua-chan!"

My parents immediately corrected Aqua's dumbass suggestion.

My mom rubbed her chin in thought before she said,

"...I don't want to meddle in another family's business, but we can support them in discreet ways."

My dad nodded to her.

"Yeah, we can invite them for dinner every night to help with their food expenses. We're not exactly well-off, but we do well enough to buy extra for groceries."

"...And it's not really suitable for a girl's taste, but if Megumin's sister is young, then it's fine if she wears some unisex hand-me-downs from Kazuto, right? We can pretend like we're throwing those out and offer it to them."

I raised my hand.

"I'm also working a part-time job, so I can help out with food expenses, too."

Well, I hadn't been showing up for the last week due to everything, and most of my money came from dungeon activities, but I could use the part-time job as a front.

…Does this technically count as money laundering?

Megumin looked touched by all of our suggestions. She smiled at all of us.

"...Thank you very much, everyone."

Despite the wholesome atmosphere, Aqua looked pretty nervous.

"Um… Is my allowance gonna go down because of this?"

Leave it to Aqua to make the whole thing about herself.

Your bond with Megumin has deepened!

Megumin (Explosion Mage), Bond Rank: 6

At Rank 6, Megumin sees you as a pervert with a heart of gold. You are truly kind and caring deep down, even if you pretend like you aren't. You exposed a lot of your true selves to each other and as a result, she's even more sure of her feelings towards you now. Can you become Megumin's hero? Do your best!

Bond Reward: 20 Magic Power

You have unlocked the 'Wizard' class!

"Kazuma… Let me see your bond description about me."

Since Megumin received a notification at the same time, she demanded to see her bond description again.

I had to play keep away from her all night once more.

Part 5

"Senpai… Has that door always been in front of our school?"

Rin said, when we were walking to school the next morning. She pointed to a floating door right at the school's entrance. It was the same door I went to when I met Aqua.

"I guess it's there for you."

Since Rin recently unlocked the app, the door to the heavenly realm appeared once more.

"Can you come with me, senpai?"

"I'm not sure if they'll allow me in, but we can try."

We went inside the door, with Rin following behind me as she was nervous, and I had been through this scenario before.

Instead of an obnoxious blue-haired goddess eating potato chips, we were met with a demure and gently smiling angel.

"Welcome, Himanori Rin-sama… Ah, um… What are you doing here, Satou Kazuma-sama? We don't accept returns…"

She panicked when she thought I came there to give Aqua back. Seeing how Aqua was previously her superior, I understood why she'd panic. She'd also lose out on her promotion.

"Don't worry, I'm just here to assist Rin. You're gonna offer her a cheat item, right?"

The angel nodded and turned her attention back to Rin.

"Indeed… I suppose I don't need to explain the dungeon system to you, since you're already familiar with it. Please go ahead and choose an artifact from this book."

She held a book out to Rin, which floated over to her. Rin excitedly accepted the book and opened it.

"Whoa… There's lots of cool items here!"

I was ready to help Rin pick one out, since she didn't really have the kind of gamer knowledge I did, but she suddenly got excited and pointed at something.

"Wait… What's this doing here?! A 'Magic Tanuki Girl' tail?!"

The angel explained as I peeked over Rin's shoulder to look at the item.

"A lot of our artifacts are based on legends and famous stories. For example, the demon sword Muramasa and the holy sword Durandal. As such, we also have an item that relates to the famous story of the 'Magic Tanuki Girl'."

It was a tail accessory that could be attached to clothing.

"It's not a butt plug, huh?"

"...Why would you assume that, senpai?"

Aside from it being a tail, it also unlocked a new set of spells associated with 'light magic', which was the Magic Tanuki Girl's specialty.

"I'm gonna get this one, for sure!"

Rin said excitedly. This was probably the happiest I had ever seen her.

"Excellent choice! Now, brave hero, I wish you good luck in your battle against the demon king army! If you are able to slay the demon king, you will be granted any wish from heaven!"

"Ohh! That sounds cool!"

Soon, we were teleported out of the heavenly realm and the door disappeared.

"I can't wait to wear this!"

"Probably not a good idea to wear it in class."

"Oh, right…"

"But we can definitely try it out in the dungeon."

"You're the best, senpai!"

I enjoyed watching the bubbly and cute Rin who was happily skipping around.

I was planning on training Rin some more in the dungeon, anyway, so it worked out that she was excited to try out her cheat item.

Plus, I wanted to level up again, so I could try out the wizard class I unlocked after my bond with Megumin ranked up.