“Manifest.”

The moment she said that, the atmosphere changed all at once.

Then a black shadow suddenly sprang out, swept across around her face and covered her whole body.

It probably wasn’t my imagination that she looked like she was holding her head before she was completely hidden.

‘Misora. Be careful. Something’s wrong.’

Hawkin, my partner monster, warned me. Even I can tell that much.

Even so, I’m not planning to hold back.

‘…Yeah, that’s right. You’re that kind of person. That’s why you’re interesting.’

“Shut up! …Anyway! No matter what it is, I’m going to win.”

I spread a net of vigilance around me so I could respond to any attack and watched for what she’d do.

* * *

Looks like my ear is getting eaten this time. Is it tasty?

It’s like cartilage, so maybe it’s surprisingly doable, I was thinking, when she went in silently and took it in one go.

It hurts... but it’s not as bad as last time, so I act calm.

No, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!!

I hear a swallowing sound and when I look ahead, Aruka is there, having finished eating quickly, probably because it’s a smaller part than my right hand.

Right now we’re at the final stage of transformation and something like a veil is covering me, so no one would notice her presence.

She was there in her humanoid form from the mental world, not the orca.

…Huh? Aren’t her eyes a different color?

They’re different from usual, with some kind of pattern in them… I think and I try to speak, but she immediately returns to her usual beautiful amber-like eyes and—

‘…Huh?… Ah… what did I just do?’

She spoke in a trembling voice with a dazed expression.

‘Ahhh~~♪ Nn… ah, okay.’

Her expression was so extreme that I almost let out a gross voice.

She can’t believe what she did, but what happened right in front of her is the truth and her face is gradually falling apart!!!!!!!!

That’s way too cute!

Keeping that in my heart, I stare at Aruka. Don’t forget a gentle look too!

I act like I’m staying strong and talk Aruka through it.

“It’s fine! …It regenerates, right?”

Not even acting, it genuinely hurts right now so I’m enduring it.

I heard somewhere that quoting the words they used hits their heart, so I used it as-is.

Oh, the effect was immediate.

Her face turned into one where all sorts of emotions overlapped.

Also, there’s blood flowing down the side of her face, it’s an insane amount.

From the front you probably can’t see it, but behind the hidden side it’s probably already dripping and making a puddle.

Wait, then can the protagonist see it?

Oh, I’ve got a feeling something new is about to happen!!

“…Hyu.”

From deeper inside, I hear the sound of air slipping into a tightened throat.

Nice! I’ve got a really good feeling that Aruka is bonding with me~

Putting the fun aside for later, for now let’s fight the tsundere sorcerer.

I try to face her head-on and peel away the clinging film so I can fight, but—

Before I can remove the shadow covering me, Aruka suddenly grabs my face with both hands and pulls me close.

Huh, am I getting kissed in this situation!!??

My heart pounds and confusion spins around in my head, but Aruka’s action goes way beyond what I expected.

Her mouth doesn’t go to my mouth— instead it slides to the side and she licks the blood dripping from my missing right ear down my neck.

—!?

I got chills all over!!

She dragged her tongue up to where the blood was coming from, opened her mouth like she was going to leave bite marks on the cross-section again, then sucked up all the blood flowing out and swallowed it.

Still too shocked to speak, I look at Aruka.

Her lips are red like she’s wearing bright red lipstick.

Without acting like she cared at all, she strokes my cheek and returns into me.

What was that….

It felt really weird, but this is also… maybe… okay.

Focus again.

My appearance changes.

Misora-chan looks startled at my appearance, but she quickly regains her stance and stays on guard so she can respond no matter how I move.

Now, let’s show our strength!! It’s Aruka-chan’s, but still.

Basically, when using a contracted monster’s power, there are mainly three ways to use it.

The first is making part of the monster’s body grow and being able to use it. That’s what the protagonist did before when she grew wings.

The second is having equipment infused with the monster’s ability get equipped.

Misora-chan in front of me is the prime example. She’s holding a rapier shaped like a unicorn horn.

That thing is already strong as a normal sword and it also has magical support effects, so it’s completely stacked.

The third is summoning the contracted monster and having it fight. Not many people use only this. Most of the time, you use 3 while in the state of using 1 and 2 and that becomes your maximum combat power.

Considering Misora-chan isn’t summoning her monster, I figured she really wants a pure one-on-one fight.

Then I’ll answer those expectations.

Maybe she couldn’t hold back, because Misora-chan rushes in with her sword.

Come on, don’t be so impatient, you’ve got to enjoy this slowly.

I lightly dodge to the side and take distance.

Come to think of it, what kind of weapon does Aruka have?

When I pull it out, there’s a black-and-white cube small enough to fit in my palm.

Huh? …Ah, I see.

So this means…

My imagination is getting tested!!

I spin my brain at full speed and think what kind of weapon would be good if I were using it as Aruka.

A sword… feels too common, a gun… no.

But then a hammer or something like that isn’t appealing either.

If Aruka is going to hold it— right.

I can picture it clearly.

The cube in my hand glows fluorescently.

Misora looks suspicious and backs away.

Then the cube begins to disperse, shaping into a large weapon, forming something with just the right weight for my hands and about one and a half times my height.

Amazing. It came out exactly like I imagined.

What I imagined was pruning shears. Basically like scissors with a single blade, that kind of thing.

It turned out bigger than I imagined, but a pretty girl with a huge weapon is a vibe, isn’t it! You get it~!!

I’m in a good mood, so even though I was going to lose, I’ll just beat her!!

When I hold the shears and take my stance, Misora-chan goes into a defensive posture. She doesn’t know what’s coming.

The moment I held this big thing, I learned how to use it.

I grip the handle and swing it in a horizontal sweep.

The name is… hmm, whatever, anything is fine.

“Sea Crossing.”

How is it? For something improvised, it’s pretty good, right!?

Her rapier clashes into the blade I swung and—

“…Hawkin!! Guard!!!”

She shouts and then she gets blown far away.

Ah, ah, ah, ah…

This weapon is way too strong…

I look apologetically toward Kaede-chan, the referee.

When she meets my gaze, whatever she thought—

“Match decided! That’s enough!!”

She said that.

Huh, it’s already over?

That’s what I think, but maybe Misora is even less satisfied than I am, because I hear a protesting voice from far away.

“Hey!!? It’s not over yet!”

“But Misora-chan, your mana is already about to run out. If you keep going, you’ll just get hurt.”

Kaede says. So that’s how it is.

Maybe it hit the mark, because Misora’s face turns red and she looks like she’s about to say something, but she can’t refute it, so—

“…I’m going home today. …Sorry for the interruption. Later.”

And she heads straight back.

Ahaha… the protagonist gives a wry smile and looks at me.

This must be her everyday life.

“I’m sorry… Misora-chan is really…”

“Ah, also, I saw blood earlier… it wasn’t actually healed yet, was it—”

She apologizes again in Misora’s place.

No, it’s not your fault and I’m the one causing you trouble again, so honestly I should be the one apologizing! But I won’t apologize!

“…It’s fine.”

I say that and release the state change.

When I return to normal, the shears I was holding vanish and instead intense pain hits me again.

It’s back— it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!!

“Mah… u a h… i”

Looks like I let my voice leak out, but I can’t hear any outside sound at all.

When I press my hand to my right ear, it really is gone and this time it’s still in the exact eaten state, the wound is rounded off and a lukewarm sensation runs down my cheek again and falls.

It hurts less than the hand, but it still hurts way more than when I got eaten!!!!

Ah, I can kind of tell I’m about to lose consciousness again.

The last thing I saw was the protagonist’s mouth moving like she was saying something, panic showing on her face again.

“□□□!?□□□□□□□□□!!!!”