Chapter 387: Who Is She?

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Her hair was lustrous blonde, with two cat ears of the same color wiggling on her head. Her eyes were closed, but it wouldn’t be surprising if they were blue in color. She was wearing a black pencil skirt, with a white shirt that tightly hugged her bosom.

Lastly, if her unnatural beauty and ears didn’t give away her non-human status, her cat tail that was slipping out of a gap in the chair she was sleeping in, was the final nail.

If anybody from the devil groups saw her, they would recognize her as a ‘Yokai’ right away. However, that wasn’t the first thought Neji had. In his head, her features were too similar to a person he loved.

“Hey, Kimi.”

Neji ran to the chair, grabbed her by the shoulder very gently, and shook her body. Her head that was resting to the side, covered by her hair, came to full view, as Neji stared at it with a large smile.

A smile that soon vanished as her face became clear, her eyes fluttering open, as two distinct… golden eyes stared at him.

For a second, the pair of eyes stared at one another, a small blush forming on the woman’s sweet face, until her eyes widened and she screeched.

“Eep-!”

She pushed him back, the force lethal enough to send him flying since he was not resisting, and he hit the wall. He didn’t flinch, nor did he groan, as he stood back up, while the shaken woman stood up from her chair too, taking a battle stance with an expression that screamed ‘Dammit, I fucked up!’.

Broken out of his delusion, Neji’s eyes finally focused on the text hovering over her head.

[Yuhei Kotazaki – Cat Yokai – Mid Tier 4]

Turns out, in the hypothetical scenario that the devils were the ones to find this situation, their guess to assume she was a Yokai would have been correct. When Neji’s expectations were shattered, his INT and WIS formulating possibilities, he recognized this woman to be a spy.

This woman was someone weak enough to not be any threat to the devils playing students here, so if she got caught then the Yokai Queen could make some excuses, but she was certainly strong enough to mess with any unsuspecting student if they figured out her identity.

Some Yokai could control normal humans’ minds, erase their memories and such. Perhaps this woman was someone like that, given how frantically she was chanting spells and throwing them at him, all to naught as they clashed with his [Gamer’s Mind] and were simply obliterated.

“Dammit, why isn’t it working?!”

The cat woman yelled while Neji gave her an… he didn’t know what sort of expression he was making right now. If he had to explain, he felt like missing the lottery with only one missed number

In just under a few hours, he had mistaken two people for Kimi. Heck, this one certainly looked like her too, and her flustered behavior was a creepy imitation of Kimi as well. If someone told him this woman and Kimi were related, maybe sisters even, he wouldn’t doubt it. Their facial features were different, yet very similar, enough that he mistook her for Kimi from afar.

“Stop.”

When the woman was about to cast another spell, Neji snapped his finger, waving his mana to wave over her and break her spell.

“I am sure the devils have noticed you barraging spells by now. Leave. I am not their ally, so I won’t reveal the Yokai Faction had a spy here, don’t worry. Just get away from my field of vision.”

He used his authority as a Dragon, an apex predator, to give this spiritual catgirl a warning glare.

Yuhei Kotazaki had thought he was a normal human, given she couldn’t sense any mana from him, that’s why she was trying to make him forget ever seeing her. But under the gaze of his gorgeous blue eyes that went slit, she paused. She slipped her hand in her pockets, took out a piece of paper – with a magic circle drawn on it – and tore it apart.

In a flash of light, Yuhei’s body, which was disturbingly similar to whom Neji was searching for, vanished and reappeared somewhere far.

“….”

Neji clenched his fist, unintendedly calling forth his most instinctual power, the power of vibrations, as space itself shattered near his fist.

“What in fuck’s sake.”

* * *

“What in fuck’s sake just happened, who the hell is that guy?” Yuhei shivered as she appeared in a garden, falling to her knees due to the fast and large mana loss she just went through.

Today was a bad day. She had just joined this school as a teacher a week ago, as per the order of her Queen, to keep track of some hyper-privileged devil kids who were spoiled enough to play a student in a human world. She always had a bad mood in that school anyway, since the devil girls acted so fucking privileged, acting oblivious to the grander scheme of things, and playing human. Yet, today it has been exceptionally annoying.

This morning, Yuhei noticed Rias Gremory walking to school with Issei Hyuudo, a guy she had put her eyes on due to the Sacred Gear she had sensed from him. She hadn’t even reported him to her Queen yet, but she was sure she would have liked it. Yet, the devil had already made him dance in her palm.

Out of sheer spite, later on, she went to bump into that Issei brat in the hallways. Sadly, it didn’t go as planned. He accidentally called forth his Gear the split second before the hit, and her head hit his gauntlet. She got injured and lost consciousness. Sadly, the nurse in the infirmary was on a break, so when she woke up, she was lying on the bed in the infirmary without having received any medical help.

Later, she just went back to the teacher’s office and wasn’t sure when she fell asleep. She needed that nap, but who would have guessed her disguise would have come off midway through? That’s why she panicked when she saw that random guy she hadn’t seen before waking her up, calling her a weird name.

Seriously, who the fuck was Kimi Sugihara?”

“Huh? Sugihara?”

When did he mention the last name? She could have sworn he only said Kimi…

“Hey, you!”

Suddenly, a call came from far before Yuhei could figure out what was going on. She looked to the side, as Yokai Guards were rushing towards her carefully.

With a sigh, she stood up from her knees, deciding to just ignore this, and go report to her Queen about what had just happened. About some new third party who was entering this fat game of luck and misfortune.

* * *

As Neji had expected, the Devils had noticed the use of mana. If their senses usually didn’t allow such a thing, it allowed them to notice it here, within this school that was covered by a sphere of magic.

Though he did expect Sona Sitri to come, instead it was someone he would have least expected. It was a girl with black hair that was almost purple in color, the same color as her eyes. Wearing the usual outfit of this school, albeit a little bolder, as it was tighter and her skirt was shorter, she stood by the door, one of her hands under her chin, as she looked in, smiling amusingly.

Oh, and she was being accompanied by a blonde guy with gentle blue eyes.

[Akeno Himejima – Fallen Angel-Devil – High Tier 8]

[Kiba Yuuto – Devil – Low Tier 7]

“Ara, looks like the culprit is already gone.”

“Looks like our Sensei here was attacked, too… Are you injured?”

Kiba walked over to Neji, seeing his messy hair and dirtied white shirt due to the impact of the wall, causing some stuff to fall on him earlier.

“I am all right,”

Neji said shortly, not feeling like talking too much. While Kiba sighed in relief, the fallen angel walked over to him and stood close, looking up at his eyes with a smile.

“Can you tell us what you saw?”

“I don’t remember. I remember walking into the office… and then nothing. I was suddenly standing with dirt on my body.”

“Ah-huh? Interesting…”

Akeno Himejima, the Queen of Rias Gremory, gave him a narrowed-eyed look, observing him carefully. Her hand raised, gently prickling his cheeks, as he stared down at her, unflinching and giving her an expressionless look.

“You are the most handsome sensei I met, just saying.” She withdrew her hand. “And I apologize, I heard you were in the States for a while. Perhaps the country’s air caused you to black out for a few minutes, we should have cleaned the office better. I will let the student council know of this matter. Kiba, let’s go.”

Akeno said, and walked away, followed by Kiba who told Neji to take care of himself before leaving.

Neji stared at the flirty way Akeno walked away, her hips swaying. His face stayed cold, his emotions further so, as he failed to feel anything.

Though he would come to know later that, Akeno however, did feel something. Even though his assimilation of ‘GOD’ was at a low percentage now, as somewhat an angel, she felt an unexplainable attraction towards him. Perhaps it was her fallen side, or the fact that the assimilation wasn’t high, the ‘attraction’ was indeed purely sexual.

Whatever the case, Neji spent the rest of his day in silence, not picking on the kids, and not doing anything at all. By now, he was fully doubtful if Kimi was truly all right or not.

So Neji spent his day dazed, walking back home with Sisty and Asia, unbeknown to the extreme dangers that awaited him just days in the future.

* * *

In the Prime Omniverse, in a secluded multiverse, scared to be approached even by the strongest of Gods, a planet of multiple seasons existed. Yet strangely, on the galaxy-sized planet, only night existed, there was no daylight.

In an unpopulated part of this planet, surrounded by a corn farm, a single old hut existed. There was an old wooden chair outside the hut, occupied by an old wrinkly woman, wearing a white saree that complimented her white hair.

Basking under the moonlight, she was sewing a sweater, her lips that were clad with red lipstick resting in a gentle smile. Her glasses were sharp, with strings connected to them, as she was humming a tune.

For how many hours, years, centuries, or perhaps eons she continued doing this? Nobody knew as she kept sewing. She didn’t even glance up when the figure of a yellow-skinned man, with horns on his head, and tusks sticking out of his mouth came right before her, out of thin air. The creature kneeled down, lowered his head, and spoke.

“Mother. The Creator Goddess is hiring criminals, Gods and Demons alike. From what I have gathered, she is sending them to the CUBE, with the goal to hunt the Gamer.”

“Oh?”

The old woman didn’t raise her head as she inquired in a curious tone, still sewing.

“Has a new Gamer finally appeared?”

“Yes, Mother. The 2nd Gamer has appeared. He should have been almost 17 years old, if not for his… special situation.”

The creature replied obediently, as the old woman, being referred to as a mother, just nodded slowly.

“Hm, hm. Anything else?”

She didn’t sound very interested, to say the least. The creature who was planning to ask ‘Should we demons accept the recruitment?’ quickly changed his mind. His “mother” didn’t want to hear it, he noticed.

Instead, he mentioned the other thing.

“The Director of the Last Act has sent you a letter.”

“Ho?”

This time, the old woman sounded surprised, pleasantly so. She raised her head for the first time, her uninteresting black irises locking with the entirely black sclera of the yellow demon creature.

“Yes, mother. She says hi,”

“Haha, that lass finally contacted me after so long, and that’s all she wrote?”

“Well, no, she did add something else too. But it’s… I don’t know what it means.”

The old granny looked a little confused at that, frowning. She was still humming the same tune she had been humming for so long, but his next words made her pause.

“It just says, ‘It’s time.’ And nothing else.”

The old woman stopped humming. Yet, in response, the entire world began to sing. The shadows of the night flickered, and the cornfield hummed due to the wind.

~Immortal She…~

The woman’s smile had dropped, and her expression had paused.

~Return to Me…~

Gently, the old woman stood up. The creature with yellow skin shook at that, speechless seeing her finally move, as he lowered his head further.

“Welcome back, Mother.”

“As it is time.”

She supposed the 2nd Gamer must be in a world with a lot of demons and devils if it was time. So she was supposed to help him ascend a Demon King, just like the 1st, so that they are aligned together, as required for the Director’s plan.

“Huh, it’s like a misty memory...”

The old woman, the Godmother of All Demons, smiled, as the planet trembled. Then she vanished, along with her faithful one.

She traversed, going to the correct path somehow, as she followed the scent of ~A Misty Memory~.

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Master4thWall Note: “Who Is She?” the song somehow fits with the Godmother well, as it does with the entire chapter’s theme.

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