At that moment, my head started spinning at a rate of 500,000 km per second.
—
Let’s recap the situation.
A suspicious-looking adult novel that anyone would find questionable.
Me hastily shoving it into Reeti’s pocket.
Reeti wearing an expression of utter bewilderment.
And Lily who’s staring at this whole scenario intently.
Shortly, my brain spat out the result.
-No answer.
“Ah, shit.”
My brain gave up on thinking altogether.
—
When I regained my composure, class had already ended.
My memory cut off as if my brain had overloaded and blown a fuse.
“See you tomorrow, Arthur!”
Reeti quickly gathered her textbook and stood up, but I couldn’t move a muscle… all because Lily was staring at me intently.
“…”
“…”
The prolonged silence suffocated me. Just when I was about to pass out from lack of oxygen in the now-empty classroom where only the two of us remained, a voice broke the silence.
“…Is that your thing?”
Lily’s crimson eyes narrowed.
“No!? Absolutely not! Reeti just brought it without consulting me. It is NOT my taste!”
“Hmm~”
“Lily, please…”
Watching me desperately rub my hands together in apology, Lily looked at me drowsily.
“Alright.”
“Phew…”
Finally, I was able to exhale the breath I’d been holding.
“Let’s go eat!”
As I was about to get up with Lily jumping into my arms, she suddenly said:
“Tentacle lover.”
And that was enough to make me sit right back down.
Ah, I’m going insane.
—
Cold. I felt my chest pierced by a gaze.
“Hmm~”
“What? What is it?”
“Not really, just~”
I was about to lose my mind from the awkwardness.
Even the gentlest Old One stew and the sweetest golden honey wine tasted like chewing dirt while drinking river water because of Lily watching me with that meaningful glance from across the table and throwing in strange comments once in a while.
Damn it, Reeti! You’ll get yours tomorrow!
“Hey~”
“…”
Ah, I might even throw up…
Just as I felt tears threatening to fall,
“Arthur.”
Lily, who had been sitting across from me until now, was suddenly next to me.
“Who do I treasure most?”
“…You.”
“Therefore, I’m willing to accept whatever your taste is—”
But there was no way I could stomach hearing the rest of what Lily was about to say. I quickly swallowed the food in my mouth and silenced her by kissing her lips.
“Mmph… Mmmph!”
Though she seemed to protest at first, shaking her lips, after a moment, she started responding as well.
As the silver thread slipped away, we found ourselves looking deeply into each other’s eyes.
“I’ll do it again if you say that again.”
She smirked at my bold declaration.
“So if I keep talking, you’ll keep kissing me?”
“…Yes?”
What do you mean, interpret it that way?
“Tentacle lover.”
After saying this, Lily closed her eyes and waited.
Driven crazy because I couldn’t help but stare at her, I noticed her eyes flicker as she tapped her lips.
“Why? Didn’t you say you’d block it? Tentacle—”
Damn it, forget it.
I couldn’t help myself; I dove in and covered Lily’s lips with mine again.
-Clack
“Pervert-”
-Clack
“Tentacle-”
-Clack
“Paraphilia-”
-Clack
Each time the gap between our lips widened, she dropped another word, and I had no choice but to keep covering her mouth.
—
When I finally came to my senses, we had finished her dinner and were already in bed together.
“Hehe, we did quite a lot.”
“Please stop saying things that can be easily misunderstood.”
“It’s not completely wrong, though, right?”
“Lily, please…”
How many times have I said that today?
“Alright. I’ll stop teasing you… if you answer one question.”
“…What is it?”
I could feel nothing but anxiety.
Lily continued with a mischievous smile.
“To avoid any misunderstandings, the best thing is to know the truth, right?”
“Right?”
“So tell me, what your real preference is.”
“…Huh?”
Isn’t this kind of sudden?
“Come on, is it something embarrassing?”
Isn’t it obvious?
Confessing your preferences to family or someone you like?
“Okay, you don’t have to say it if it’s embarrassing, but I’ll keep calling you a tentacle lover until you do.”
Grr… there’s no way out.
Do I confess my preferences, or stay a tentacle lover?
Finally,
“My preference is…”
I slowly opened my trembling lips and told Lily,
“…Black hair.”
“…Uh?”
“And red lips.”
“…”
“White skin… and a straight nose is nice too.”
“Also, warmth is great.”
“And a gentle embrace is nice.”
“Slender fingers and pointy nails—everything is attractive.”
—
Lily’s expression slowly changed. The twinkle of mischief faded, replaced by faint embarrassment.
“Night-like black eyes… ah! Ruby-red eyes are beautiful too.”
—
Of course, by this point, I was describing Lily. I scanned her in real-time as we lay together under the same blanket, describing her appearance.
And finally…
“Kind and warm-hearted nature; shy but playful personality; seductive yet cute actions—I like it all.”
I concluded my confession of preferences by describing her inner qualities, filling out the features I mentioned earlier.
Even though her name wasn’t mentioned, it was obvious to anyone who she was.
Lily seemed to be trying to look calm, but…
“One more thing, the way your ears turn red when you’re embarrassed, I like that too.”
Lily quickly covered her ears.
Look, isn’t she adorable? Who wouldn’t fall for her?
“…Is it true?”
After hearing everything, that’s her first line.
Do you want a negative answer?
If so, let me crush that hope immediately.
“Completely true.”
“Ugh…”
—
Ah, she’s embarrassed.
Lily turned away, covering her face with her hands like last time.
“Ugh…”
It feels like something’s about to happen if I push her further. Let me give her some time to calm down.
—
“Are you calm now?”
“Yeah.”
Though her earlobes were still slightly red, I decided to overlook it.
“I have something I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Was the beam you showed me today the strongest you could do?”
Lily quickly snapped out of it when the topic changed.
“Hmm… Not exactly. It’s hard to make it stronger than that for now though.”
“You haven’t fully recovered your strength?”
“Partially. But also, if someone sees it, it’s not supposed to be shown.”
Hmm… Several restrictions.
I shouldn’t unleash it carelessly—
“Ah, but even so, you can use the beam you showed me to your heart’s content.”
…To your heart’s content?
The academy destruction scenario that Lily mumbled about wasn’t a lie.
‘This… is an Outsider?’
This is the moment the gap between Outsiders and humans hits home.
However…
‘If people find out about this, they’ll confiscate you immediately. Then the academy destruction scenario starts.’
“Lily, don’t you have any other abilities… maybe something less aggressive?”
“You mean you need me to control my power? Protective barrier, magic, black magic, curses, teleportation—pick something?”
—
I blankly stared at Lily as she listed off these terms.
…How many are there?
“First, when dealing with humans, keep it to a level that won’t kill them.”
At the mention of the beam, a distant boom resonated in my head. Just thinking about it made my ears hurt.
“And preferably something quieter.”
“Hmm… in that case, curses would be the best.”
“…Curses?”
The name alone already made me uneasy.
Lily brightly smiled after reading my expression.
“Don’t worry. Curses usually focus more on torment rather than killing.”
“For example…?”
“For example… a curse that prevents hair from growing permanently?”
Isn’t that an even more cruel curse than murder?!
“Oh, there’s also a curse that turns men into women—”
“Lily.”
“Alright, I’ll stop. I was joking around, but the curse is the most recommended. The biggest advantage of a curse is its subtlety.”
“Then, I’ll tell the professor about the beam and the curse. Let’s agree not to use the other powers in front of people.”
“Add a protective barrier too. If I can’t protect you because I’m worried about other people noticing, then that’s a problem, right?”
“Yes, let’s add the protective barrier.”
Honest to say, with just these abilities, we’ve already surpassed the level of an ordinary summoned creature.
Shooting planetary-scale destruction beams, while also casting subtle curses and protective barriers…
Even the master of summoning magic wouldn’t be able to handle such a creature.
“By the way, Lily… weren’t you called the ‘Goddess of Night’?”
Judging by your abilities, you could almost be mistaken for the ‘Goddess of War’.
“Oh, ‘Goddess of Night’ is just a title given by humans. Those who truly understand me call me the ‘Queen of Night.'”
Titles don’t necessarily match the abilities, huh.
Indeed, Outer Gods seem to differ from other deities in some aspects.
“We Outer Gods are a class above what humans define as gods. If I had all my power, I could easily destroy planets.”
…Such a different scale. Thinking I was merely dealing with the capability to destroy a nation made me seem naive.
“But the Outer Gods who have come here haven’t shown that much power, right?”
“Ah, they’re Great Old Ones. They don’t even qualify as Outer Gods.”
But… they destroyed entire cities in an instant!
“For your information, though it doesn’t really mean much among Outer Gods, if I had to rank myself, I’d be mid-upper tier.”
This got me curious.
“How strong is the strongest Outer God?”
Ranking arguments are always fun.
“Hmm… Measuring that person’s power is itself a stupid thing. Besides, the concept of fighting doesn’t even exist.”
How strong could that be?
Lily briefly smiled after noticing my astounded expression.
“Hehe, that person is sleeping at the center of the universe. No one knows when they’ll wake up.”
“What happens if they do wake up?”
For a fleeting moment, I caught a glimpse of fear in Lily’s eyes.
“Hmm… We can only pray they never wake up.”
Even Outer Gods seem to fear that being… It’s unimaginable.
My curiosity was piqued about that being, but as usual, I started to feel my eyelids getting heavy.
Finally, after Lily’s beautiful goodnight kiss, my last thought before falling asleep was:
‘…Does the Necronomicon mention anything about that Outer God?’
I’ll have to check it someday… Hmm…
