Erika slowly opened her eyes, and the first thing she noticed was the familiar room around her, soft curtains, warm light, and an entire army of plush dolls staring back at her from every corner. She smiled faintly. It was a good thing this room still had all of them. After all, this was her room in Akira's mansion, the same one she used to stay in whenever she stayed over. Back then, she started bringing plush dolls to sleep better, and it seemed Akira's family had left the room exactly the same when they left, and after all these years, it didn't change.
"Feels… nostalgic," she whispered, hugging one of the stuffed bears.
Then, her thoughts drifted back to the previous night, which was seriously something else.
Last night, Selena had told her more about the Demon Slayer world and the true nature of the demons that lived there. Erika still wasn't sure if she could actually kill them. Akira was right; she had never taken another life before. She didn't know how she would handle it… But she knew she had to.
Selena's voice from last night echoed in her mind. "Don't worry, Erika-chan. Knowing my brother, he'll probably kill all of them before you even get the chance."
But Erika had shaken her head. "That's not it… I want to stand by his side. I feel like if I don't, he'll go somewhere far away from me. Akira already has new people around him; there is that cat girl, and maybe more. I'm just afraid… that one day he'll forget about me."
Selena had smiled softly. "Erika-chan, what do you think of my brother? What kind of person do you think he is?"
"Well… Akira is Akira," Erika replied, unsure. "He's an overpowered idiot who does whatever he wants. But he's also… a kind-hearted person."
Selena had smiled faintly. "My brother isn't a kind-hearted person, Erika-chan. He doesn't even have a heart, literally. He simply does whatever he wants."
"But he's always been kind to me," Erika had protested.
"He is," Selena admitted. "But that's just a part of him, the part he only shows to people he truly cares about. You haven't seen his other side yet. Maybe you will, during this mission. Then you'll understand what kind of person he really is."
Now, lying there in silence, Erika sighed softly. Selena was right; she didn't know Akira as well as she thought. And that realization scared her a little.
Still, this was the path she had chosen. She would see it through to the end.
Just then, a familiar cheerful voice echoed in her head.
"Good morning, Erika-chan! Did you sleep well?"
Erika blinked and smiled faintly. "Morning, Selena… Do you even sleep?"
"Not really," Selena replied with a giggle. "Though I could if I wanted to. Oh! By the way, I kept my promise, I made you some new clothes!"
Before Erika could even respond, a small pile of neatly folded clothes appeared out of thin air before her.
Most of them looked like modern sci-fi combat uniforms, white and crimson in color, with faint glowing patterns; the cloths themselves reminded her of her winter school uniform. Each outfit bore the Starlight family's insignia, a sword planted before a radiant tree.
"What are these? I thought you said you'd just get me some clothes, not… combat gear." Erika asked in confusion.
"These are both!" Selena said proudly. "They look cute, but they're real combat uniforms, durable, comfortable, and mission-ready. Oh, and I made a lot for Brother too!"
Erika picked up one of the uniforms and examined it. It looked cool… though, in her opinion, a bit like cosplay. "Selena, did Akira wake up yet?"
"He's awake, but he never slept, so technically he didn't 'wake up.' He's in the kitchen right now." Selena said.
Erika got ready quickly and headed downstairs.
But the sight that greeted her in the kitchen made her stop in her tracks. "…What in the world?"
Akira was sitting at the table, surrounded by an absurd mountain of empty instant ramen cups. Several more were already boiling on the counter.
"Akira," she said flatly, "what are you doing?"
He looked up, expression perfectly calm. "Eating."
"I can see that. But why this much? This is even more than yesterday!" she asked in exasperation.
Akira sighed. "Well, I got some new powers recently, right? I wanted to test them out. But… let's just say things didn't go exactly as planned."
"...What did you do this time?" Erika asked, already bracing herself.
"I created a new Noble Art," he said proudly. "It's called Rewrite. Its power is to induce rapid evolution in a specific trait. Like, if I drink poison and use Rewrite on myself, my body evolves immunity to that poison. It takes time, but it works."
"That… sounds strong," Erika admitted. "So, what went wrong?"
"I wanted Wolverine's healing ability," Akira explained. "So I tried evolving my body's natural healing by enhancing my stem cells. It worked actually. I've got a solid healing factor now. But… it came with a side effect."
Erika sighed. "Of course it did. What is it this time?"
"See, healing needs energy," Akira said. "And since this is biological regeneration, not magic, the energy has to come from food. When my cells evolved, my digestive system evolved too. Now, I need to eat a lot more to maintain function. Basically, I have to eat twice as much as before."
"Twice as much…?" Erika groaned. "Wasn't your power supposed to improve you? Why does it always give you problems?"
"Because evolution doesn't just mean gaining new traits," Selena chimed in. "Sometimes when a creature evolves, it also loses something, like how cave animals lose their sight but gain better hearing."
"Exactly," Akira nodded. "Like how fish evolved to live on land and became mammals, but now can't breathe underwater anymore. Rewrite forces evolution, so the side effects are stronger too."
Erika stared at him in disbelief. "So now you need to eat mountains of ramen just to function? Do you even have the money to maintain this?"
"Pretty much. Don't worry about the money, though, my parents basically left me infinite money, so I can afford it, though it's kinda irritating to eat this much food," Akira said casually.
Erika groaned. "Unbelievable. Can't you just reverse it?"
"Nope. Evolution doesn't work that way. I'd have to evolve again, in a different direction, like how whales went back into the sea but didn't become fish again."
"I have no idea what I'm going to do with you," Erika muttered, massaging her temple.
Just then, they heard a sound, ding-dong!
Both of them froze. The sound of the mansion's doorbell echoed through the hall.
"Wait… someone's actually ringing?" Erika blinked. "That's a first."
"Yeah," Akira said. "Usually, people just walk in. The barrier keeps out anyone bad, so…"
"I'll check," Erika said, heading toward the door.
When she opened it, she froze again.
Standing there with a stupid smile was her older brother, Sendo Iori, and the Togi siblings, Seichiro and Shiro.
Iori grinned. "Oh, Erika-chan~ Long time no see! You disappeared for days, so we decided to see you ourselves. Hope we didn't interrupt your little fun time. You did have two whole days all to yourse…"
WHAM!
Iori was sent flying by Erika's punch before he could finish.
Erika sighed, rubbing her temple. "Great… another chaotic day begins."