Teito Television, Conference Room No. 3.

Outside the window, the concrete jungle of Tokyo stretched out in a vast cityscape.

However, inside the conference room, an atmosphere far more desolate than that flowed through the air.

“—And that’s why!”

Across the table.

A middle-aged woman with a greasy forehead slick with cold sweat—the program producer—looked up at me while rubbing her hands together.

“We will proceed with the program concept, structure and script…everything exactly as Akutsu-sama says!”

“Huh?”

I frowned.

Today, I was supposed to receive an explanation of a carefully prepared project.

But once the lid was opened, it turned out I was being handed a blank check.

“Hey, Producer. You’re the one in charge, aren’t you. At least decide on a direction.”

“N-n-not at all!”

The producer shook her head so hard she looked like she might jump.

“Someone like me! To offer opinions to that ‘Demon King-sama’ is far beyond my station! Please use the budget, broadcast slot and equipment however you like! All the staff are fans of Akutsu-sama…no, believers!”

Her eyes darted around and her legs trembled in tiny steps.

It seemed that what I did in the previous special, ‘The Empress’s Box Garden’—silencing a sharp-tongued comedian, throwing a former pro wrestler and lecturing an idol—had spread through the station with embellishments and turned into a legend.

I was being treated entirely as ‘better not touch the god lest you be cursed.’

“W-well then! I’ll go do some groundwork with upper management… also known as running away! Please take your time, you young ones and nurture your love!”

The producer bowed deeply and fled the conference room at a speed like a startled rabbit.

The sound of the door closing echoed emptily.

Left behind were three people.

Me.

A petite girl in a frilly outfit sitting across from me.

And behind her, a woman with glasses standing imposingly.

An awkward silence fell.

“U-um…”

The one who broke the silence was the girl.

Himemiya Alice.

A national top idol and the ‘former sadistic queen’ who had been thoroughly scolded by me in the previous special.

She fidgeted, touching her fingertips together and looked up at me with upturned eyes.

“Long time no see… b-big brother♡”

“…”

A chill ran down my spine.

What was with that obviously forced, cloying baby talk.

“Alice wants big brother to teach her lots of cooking from now on☆ …Ehehe, I’m worried if I can do it well, but I’ll try my best, okay?”

Alice tilted her head cutely and struck a pose overflowing with calculated charm.

But her eyes were not smiling.

If anything, they were twitching.

It was painfully obvious she was forcing herself.

“…Hey.”

I spoke in a low voice.

“Don’t push yourself. Watching this gives me indigestion.”

“Hig!?”

A strange sound escaped Alice’s throat.

“I told you last time, didn’t I. ‘Stop making up a character.’ You quit the sadistic character and now you’re going with a ‘pure little sister character’? Stop flailing around already.”

At my merciless criticism, cracks spread across Alice’s mask.

Her eyes welled with tears and she began to tremble.

That was when it happened.

Bang!

The woman with glasses behind her slammed both hands onto the table.

“That’s enough, you barbarian!”

“Huh?”

I lifted my gaze.

The woman who claimed to be Alice’s manager wore a perfectly tailored suit with her hair tightly pulled back.

She had the look of a typical career woman, but there was a crazed gleam in her eyes.

Her name was Himemiya Maria.

Alice’s biological older sister and a highly capable manager, or so I had heard.

“How dare you speak like that to a lady you just met! My precious Alice-chan is greeting you properly while working hard on her role!”

Maria glared at me and fired off words like a machine gun.

“Alice-chan is aiming for a re-break as the ‘Nation’s Little Sister’ under agency policy! That’s why she’s changing her character! And you say it gives you ‘indigestion’!? Are your eyes just decorative!? If you can’t understand this angelic cuteness, isn’t your brain rotting!?”

“…Ah, you’re loud.”

So this was the culprit forcing the character change on her sister.

“First of all, it’s a cooking show. Characters don’t matter. Hold a knife, use fire and make something tasty. That’s all.”

When I stated the obvious, Maria became even more enraged.

“Hah!? A knife!? Fire!?”

She screamed hysterically.

“There’s no way that’s allowed! There’s no way I’d let Alice-chan hold something so dangerous!”

“Huh?”

“Alice-chan’s fingers are national treasures! What if, by some chance, she cuts her finger with a knife and even a single drop of blood comes out!? That’s a loss for the world! Can you pay the compensation!?”

“It’s a cooking show. Of course you use a knife.”

“We will not!”

Maria declared flatly.

“All vegetables will be pre-cut vegetables! Or the staff will cut them beforehand! Meat will be minced only! Fire is dangerous so it’s banned! Everything will be microwave cooking or things that can be done with a hot-water bath!”

“…Hey.”

I sighed in disbelief.

This was overprotective to an absurd degree.

At this point, it wasn’t a cooking show, just playing house.

“That’s not cooking. Besides, she’s already a high schooler, right? What’s she going to do if she can’t even use a knife.”

“Alice-chan is eternally fourteen! And at home, I do everything for her, so Alice-chan doesn’t need to do anything! Putting on socks, washing her body in the bath, her big sister does it all!”

“…”

I was completely taken aback.

This was beyond simple sister obsession.

They were a dangerously codependent pair.

I looked at Alice, as if asking for help.

I almost felt sorry for her, being managed by such a crazy sister—

“Fah…ah…”

Alice’s cheeks were flushed and she stared at me with feverish eyes.

“Alice?”

“It’s fine…more…say more…”

“Huh?”

Alice hugged her own body and writhed in rapture.

“A puppet who only follows her sister’s words… Jō-san cut me off and said I was ‘flailing’… that cold gaze… a gaze like you’re looking at trash… it makes me shiver…♡”

“…You too, huh.”

I held my head.

The older sister was a severely overprotective monster.

The younger sister got pleasure from being scolded by me, a masochistic daddy-complex case.

Hell.

In this conference room, I was the only sane human being.

“Anyway!”

Maria stepped in front of me and pointed her finger.

“I will decide the program content! Alice-chan will just smile sweetly and say ‘It’s delicious♡’ at the end! You’ll cook everything and just let Alice-chan hold the finished dish!”

“That’s not a cooking show, that’s my promotional video.”

“Don’t talk back! You’re just a cook, aren’t you!? This is a national idol! We’re on different levels, different levels!”

Maria’s tirade showed no sign of stopping.

Her love for protecting Alice had run wild and become completely warped.

At this rate, there was no way a program would work.

More than that—

“…How boring.”

I muttered quietly and slowly stood up.

Zuzuz…

When my 192-centimeter frame rose, the air in the conference room changed.

I looked down at Maria.

That alone made her hysterical voice stop dead.

“Hih…”

Maria stepped back and I took one step forward.

The sound of my leather shoes striking the floor echoed heavily.

“Hey, big sister.”

I spoke in a voice full of menace.

Even without a microphone, it was the voice of the ‘Demon King’ that resonated to the marrow.

“You got it mixed up and think your little sister is some kind of pet, don’t you?”

“W-what… I love Alice-chan!”

“Love?”

I snorted.

“Putting her socks on, making her meals, keeping everything dangerous away from her… you call that love?”

I leaned in close to Maria’s face.

Point-blank range.

My shadow swallowed her whole.

“That’s not ‘love.’ That’s ‘raising livestock.’”

Maria’s face went pale.

“How long are you going to keep your hands on the steering wheel of your sister’s life? When she’s alone, making her into a useless person who can’t do anything, is that what you call ‘love’?”

“T-that’s… I just want Alice-chan to be happy…”

“There’s no way someone who can’t be independent can ever grab happiness.”

Bang!

I slammed my fist onto the table and the conference room shook.

“It’s not an adult’s job to spoil a kid. Hammering in the skills to live and making them stand on their own two feet—that’s real ‘education,’ isn’t it.”

Silence fell.

Only the sound of the air conditioning remained.

Maria had lost all strength in her legs and collapsed into a chair.

Her eyes trembled slightly.

Fear?

No.

“…S-so strict…”

Maria adjusted her glasses with a trembling hand.

“Rough… and barbaric… and an unreasonable sense of oppression… but… what you’re saying… is right…”

A faint blush crept onto her cheeks.

“No man has ever… denied me so directly… until now…”

…Hey.

I have a bad feeling about this.

“Haa… haa… Jō-san…♡”

Beside her, Alice was completely melted, slumped over the table with a dazed expression.

“The best… scolding even my big sister like that… you really are Papa! Educate me! Train me strictly!”

“…”

No good.

Both of these sisters were beyond saving.

“…Alright, it’s decided.”

I declared.

“I’m taking full control of the program. We’ll use knives, we’ll use fire. I’ll make you eat green peppers and carrots and if you fail, I’ll scold you.”

I pointed at Alice.

“I’ll hammer ‘the power to live’ into you from scratch. Come prepared to lose a finger or two.”

Alice nodded repeatedly with an ecstatic expression.

“Yes! Yes! I’m prepared♡”

Then I looked at Maria.

“If you’ve got complaints, quit. But if you want your sister to become a real human being, shut up and watch.”

Maria looked up at me with moist eyes and then shyly lowered her gaze.

“…Alright. I’ll leave her to you. But if anything happens to Alice-chan… then you’ll take responsibility.”

She said something ominous at the end, but I decided not to hear it.

“Negotiation settled.”

I picked up the proposal the producer had left behind.

Together with the Demon King.

It was a ridiculous title, but the content looked like it would become a ‘human rehabilitation documentary.’

“Follow me. The hellish cooking classroom begins now.”

When I smiled fearlessly, the sisters looked at me with burning gazes, each filled with their own twisted emotions.