Time passed quickly. After spending a day resting in the Demon King’s castle, Misako and the others had now arrived at the afternoon.

  "...It seems like Miss Lucilliane has been busy, and Miss Zilliane as well."

  Farkonia sat on the sofa, p the events of the day.

  "I guess they’re preparing some kind of surprise. Let’s just go along with it."

  Misako didn’t seem overly ed. In fact, she khe more she thought about it, the more curious she became, and the more that would nag at her. It was best not to dwell on it.

  "By the way, Aris, did you finally ge back?"

  Lying ba the sofa, Misako rested her head in her hands as she gazed at Aris, who had returo her usual expressionless self. The sight of her bare legs, with only a mini skirt c her, was in full view of everyone.

  "...Mm."

  Aris had been awake for some time but had stayed in a shallow state of sciousness, allowing Arymm more time to get aced to the world. She silently watched the developments during that period. Had it not been for Arymm growing impatient and knog on the door to demand she wake up, Aris would have likely stayed in this state for even longer.

  Of course, the 'knog' here was merely a metaphor. The events in her subscious were highly abstrad vastly different from the physical world.

  "Poof!"

  Perhaps it was because she hadn't seen Aris for a while, but Pupu crawled from Veridith's arms into Aris's p and made a delighted sound.

  When Arymm had been trolling the body, Pupu had seemed somewhat anxious, despite their iion calming over time. Yet, Pupu rarely sought out Arymm, and even when hungry, she only sipped on juice or simir substitutes.

  "It's been a while since I've seen Pupu like this. When she was with me, she still respoo the outside world and my mood, but for her to make such a cheerful sound, this is the first time in a few days."

  [So, you’re saying I’m not wele, huh?!]

  Suddenly, a loud yell echoed in Aris’s shallow sciousness, and even though Aris was still trolling the body, she heard it clearly.

  ‘...You haven’t spent much time with Pupu, so it's normal for her to act this way.’

  [Heh! Wouldn’t you act the same way?]

  Before Arymm had acquired her name and was still a mere shadow in Aris’s mind, she had seen Pupu’s apparent ck of resistaoward Aris from the very beginning.

  ‘Everyone is different. Just try again. I’m sure they’ll realize you’re not bad at heart.’

  [!?]

  Suddenly, Arymm’s face flushed bright red, though Aris, not in the subscious space, couldn’t see it.

  [I… I don’t want to talk to you anymore!]

  With a loud ‘sm,’ Arymm vanished from the shallow sciousness, leaving only Aris, who was still trolling the body with a bnk expression but a fused mind.

  "Sis?"

  Veridith, notig Aris had been silent, spoke up.

  "...It's nothing. Arymm seems a bit angry."

  "Ah... If possible, could you apologize to Arymm for me? I didn’t mean to say anything bad about her..."

  Veridith paused for a moment, thinking it might have been something she said that upset Arymm.

  "...It’s probably irely your fault. I think it has something to do with me too."

  Based oiming of Arymm’s ‘sm,’ Aris deduced her own words had beerigger.

  "Mppf..."

  "...Misako, why are you ughing?"

  Aris g Misako, who had broken into ughter.

  "You... mppf! You’re so alike. No wonder you're both from the same mold..." Misako’s ughter burst out, as she found the amusing synizatioween Aris and Arymm.

  "Hah... Ow!"

  "Alright, stop ughing."

  Farkonia promptly flicked Misako on the forehead with her finger.

  Just then, there was a knock at the door.

  "e in."

  "…Everyone, Lady Lucilliane..."

  The maid, whose head sported two horns, stepped into the room, but upon catg sight of Misako lying on the sofa, still not sitting up, her bare legs elegantly revealed, and a glimpse of a certain forbidden area partially covered by the extremely short skirt, she faltered in her speech.

  "Misako."

  "Cough, fine."

  Realizing the situation, Misako sat upright at Farkonia’s prompting and quickly used a mental spell t the maid back to her senses.

  "Uh... Ah! What happeo me?"

  "Nothing, tinue speaking."

  As a fox yokai, Misako possessed an innate charm that could even rival the renowned succubi, so it was necessary for the maid tet the se she had just witnessed.

  "Ah... Lady Lucilliane asked me to pass on a message to you all. The preparations are plete, and now she’s inviting you to the square outside the Demon King’s castle."

  The maid regained her posure and reyed her message.

  "The square? Ah... now that you mention it, there is a rge open space outside," Misako recalled. Yesterday, while flying over the Demon King’s castle aboard Lucilliane's ‘White Crow,’ she had seen the full view of the Demon City. A rge open area y in front of the castle, with a raised ptform in a small se. There were no buildings or passing demons, which seemed suspicious.

  "Well... I guess we’ll find out whe there."

  The group stood up and followed the demon maid as she led them out of the room and down a hallway.

  "...This doesn’t seem like the path to the Demon King’s mairance," Misako observed, eyeing the windowless passageway illuminated only by magically crafted lights.

  "Mm? That’s right. Lady Lucilliane instructed us to take this route. It would be troublesome otherwise, and the element of surprise would be lost," the maid expined, tinuing down the hall. The group had no choice but to follow.

  After a while, they finally saw light that was different from the magical mps. However, the glow was unusual—unlike sunlight or ordinary lighting, it was multicolored!

  "...Oh, and here, everyoake these."

  The maid turned bad pulled several rods from her bag. They seemed to have a trigger meism at the grip.

  "Whe outside, hold one in each hand and press the swit top... but don’t press it yet!"

  She quickly stopped Veridith, who had been curious and was about to press the switch.

  "...Let’s go. Once we’re outside, you’ll uand what’s going on."

  The maid said, leading the group forward slowly.