Sunday morning.

In the vast living room of the Akutsu household, an anything-but-calm atmosphere hung in the air.

On the large wall-mounted monitor was the fifth broadcast of Together with the Demon King, a show that was quickly becoming Teito Television’s flagship program.

“Here, Papa! Is this how I squeeze the air out of the meat?”

On the screen.

Himemiya Alice, wearing an apron, slapped the hamburger patty mixture between her hands as she beamed a full smile.

“...I told you I’m not your papa, but that’s not a bad technique.”

“Hehe~, I practiced a lot at home! Praise me, praise me~!”

Alice clung to my arm and acted spoiled.

I didn’t coldly shake her off, instead I gave her head a light pat.

It was a complete ‘close father and daughter’ picture.

“.........”

From the two beauties sitting on the living room sofa, Tennoji Karen and Sumeragi Reiko, subzero killing intent was pouring out.

“...Hey, Jō.”

Karen said as she crunched ice with a grinding sound.

“Hasn’t that kid been getting way too close lately, what’s with ‘Papa,’ it’s way too calculated.”

I agreed as I sipped coffee from the edge of the sofa.

“No matter how many times I tell her, she won’t stop, well, her knife skills have improved, the early-day's clumsiness is gone.”

“That is not the issue, Akutsu-sama.”

Reiko set her teacup onto its saucer like she was slamming it down.

Her eyes were those of a cold, hard executive.

“This is a grave situation, under the ‘harem agreement,’ we established positions for Karen-san, Hibiki-san and myself, however...”

Reiko pointed at Alice on the screen.

“The ‘daughter’ position was a blind spot, for a father, a daughter is a special existence he wants to spoil unconditionally... that little girl Alice is instinctively trying to slip into that ‘sanctuary.’”

“Huh!? Then what, you’re saying she’s after Jō too!?”

Karen leaned forward.

“Nine times out of ten, yes, and using the get-out-of-jail-free card of being a ‘high-maintenance child,’ she’s able to enter his inner circle more defenselessly and more deeply than we can... she is not to be underestimated.”

“Kiii! Unforgivable! Jō is mine! I won’t acknowledge some random girl as my daughter!”

Karen started punching a cushion.

Good grief.

Noisy for a Sunday morning.

To me, every last one of them was still just a ‘high-maintenance problem child.’

That was when it happened.

Giiiii...

The heavy door in the corner of the living room, the one leading down to the basement, opened.

Crawling out from it was a small figure with messy hair and dark circles under her eyes.

Kujō Hibiki.

The film master who had shut herself in the underground editing studio for days and hadn’t even come out to eat.

She drifted toward the kitchen with ghostlike steps, opened the fridge, grabbed a carton of milk and chugged it straight.

Gulp, gulp, gulp, puhaa!

“...Hibiki, are you still alive?”

When I called out, Hibiki slowly turned around.

Her eyes were shining strangely.

They should’ve been bloodshot from sleep deprivation, yet it looked like a pale blue flame was roaring in their depths, a crazed gaze.

“...It came down.”

“It came down?”

“Yeah... I saw it, it all connected.”

Hibiki wobbled as she walked closer to me.

Then she compared the Alice on the monitor and my face back and forth and grinned.

“Alice’s change, the public’s frenzy and the distortion you, that ‘monster,’ brought into this world... a scenario that shoves all of it in has been completed.”

A chill ran through me.

I knew that face.

It was the face she showed right before filming her previous work Requiem of Iron and Blood, the face she made when the creator switch flipped on.

“I’m filming, Jō.”

Hibiki declared loudly.

“My ‘masterpiece’ that will turn the world upside down!”

The air in the living room changed.

Karen and Reiko also stopped their lovers’ quarrel and stared at Hibiki.

“Masterpiece... Hibiki, don’t tell me you’re going to make another movie?”

Karen asked cautiously.

“Of course, I live for it.”

With blazing eyes, Hibiki pointed at me.

“This time the theme is grand, education, family and the violence called ‘love’... I’m going to burn every image rampaging in my head onto film.”

“...Hey, wait.”

I took a step back.

I have nothing but a bad feeling about this.

Last time, I got forced into starring in a gangster movie and turned the set into a battlefield.

Don’t threaten my peaceful weekend any more than you already have.

“I’m passing, I’ve got my hands full with the cooking show.”

“You don’t have the right to refuse.”

Hibiki stepped in and grabbed my collar, well not my lapels, my T-shirt collar, with a hard grip.

“No time like the present! I already summoned the main staff! We’re having an emergency kickoff meeting right now!”

“Hah? Right now?”

“Yeah, strike while the iron is hot, we lock in the framework before my heat cools!”

Tug!

Hibiki yanked her arm.

It was unbelievable strength for such a small body, sheer adrenaline-fueled brute force.

My body started getting dragged along.

“Hey, let go! I haven’t even eaten lunch yet!”

“Put up with the boxed lunches in the conference room! We can’t start without the lead!”

Hibiki wouldn’t listen.

She was completely in the zone.

No one in this world can stop Kujō Hibiki once she’s like this.

“H-hey, Hibiki! Where do you think you’re going!?”

Karen sprang up in a panic.

“The big conference room at Teito Television! I already cleared it with Satsuki too! Saotome!”

When Hibiki shouted, a tall figure appeared behind her without a sound.

It was Saotome.

“Yes, I am here.”

Saotome stood there with a cool expression.

In her hand were already the car keys.

“Bring the car around, the destination is Teito Television... at top speed.”

“As you command.”

Saotome bowed, then looked at me with a gaze that felt like pity—no, like she was amused.

“Master, I will accompany you... it seems things are going to get busy again.”

“Don’t enjoy it like it’s none of your business!”

With my collar tightened in Hibiki’s grip, I tried to resist.

But Hibiki’s obsessive grip was as firm as a vise, and I was dragged out of the living room without any way to fight back.

“Have a good day, Akutsu-sama... as for the film sponsorship, I will speak with you later.”

Reiko waved elegantly, while Karen wailed, “Aah, Jō’s getting taken again!”

As I was dragged down the hallway, I looked up at the ceiling.

I educate kids with a cooking show.

At home, I’m managed by three fierce women.

And now, I’m about to be made into a mad film director’s toy.

Where did my dignity as the ‘Demon King’ go?

At this point I’m just a guy who always gets dragged into things.

“Prepare yourself, Jō... this shoot will show you ‘hell’ even more than last time.”

Hibiki’s fearless grin.

The front door that Saotome opened.

Beyond it, a black luxury car waited, its engine revving.

My weekend ended, forcibly terminated like this.

The next battlefield was the film set.

“...Tch, fine by me, if you’re selling a fight, I’ll buy it.”

I resigned myself and got into the car by my own choice.

If I’m doing it, I hate half measures.

This ‘masterpiece’ that’s going to turn the world upside down, I’ll see it through to the end.

The car started moving.

Carrying the omen of a new storm, we headed out into the capital’s streets.