In the Star Productions office.
While Kanade Utamori, a very popular artist, was resting in her office room, Miu Midou, another very popular model, came in.
"Huh? Kanade-san?"
"Oh, Miu-chan! It's been a while."
Although they were both in the same office, the singer and the model rarely had a chance to see each other.
"Is your work going well?"
"Yes. I was recently asked to be on the cover of a new magazine… and I'm very grateful."
"That's great!"
"What about you, Kanade-san?"
When Miu asked this, Kanade put on a happy expression.
"Well, I'm working on new songs and stuff, but I had an interesting job the other day."
"An interesting job, you say?"
"Yes! Do you remember when I was invited to the school festival of the Ousei Academy?"
"Yes."
"Somehow, I got another offer from Ousei Academy."
"Is that so?"
Miu was surprised by the unexpected words.
Then Kanade continued.
"I was surprised too, but they asked me to prepare a song for them."
"Could it be a request for a school song or a cheer for the school?"
"Normally you would think so, wouldn't you? But it wasn't!"
"Eh?"
While Miu was surprised, Kanade grinned.
"It was kind of… a request for a song for school idols."
"S-school idol?"
"That's right! I didn't think that Ousei Academy would plan a school idol project, you know? And the President even asked me to accept this request."
"The President is so involved… Could it have something to do with Yuuya-san again?"
Kanade also knew Yuuya because she had performed on stage with him at the school festival.
"I thought so too at first, but the school idol seems to be a group of girls, you know?"
"I-is that so?"
"Yeah. I also wrote a cute and energetic song for them. I heard that the first stage was a big success."
Having said that, Kanade leaned back on the sofa.
"But what in the world is Ousei Gakuen up to suddenly planning a school idol event? The President seemed to know something about it… Miu-chan, do you know anything about it?"
"No, I just heard about it for the first time."
"I see. Well, if there's a chance that I can perform with Yuuya-kun again, I'm a little excited."
While Kanade smiled happily, Miu also thought about Yuuya.
"…I might be able to work with Yuuya-san again…"
Although she did not know what was going on between the President and the Ousei Academy, Miu prayed that she would be able to meet Yuuya again.
＊＊＊
After the battle with "me" from the parallel world and the attack by the masked man, I managed to return home.
Then, not only Lexia-san and the others who had returned earlier but also Night and the others came all the way to the front door to greet me.
"Yuuya-sama, welcome home! What took you so long?"
"I-I'm back. Well, there was a lot going on…"
"Yuuya, Meiko is preparing dinner for us, so we can eat right away."
"Oh, is that so?"
When I was surprised by Luna's words, Meiko laughed in embarrassment.
"U-um… I could only make something simple…"
"I'm glad you made it. Thank you."
"Yes, that's right. If Meiko didn't cook, Lexia might say she'll cook for you again…"
"Wait, what does that mean?"
"Hungry. I just want to eat whatever I can find as soon as possible."
As usual, when Luna and Lexia-san started to argue, Yuti nonchalantly told us.
At the same time, a beautiful sound of hunger could be heard coming from the bellies of Luna and Lexia-san.
"T-That's also true…"
"Oh… We're tired today too…"
They laughed to cover the blush on their cheeks and went straight to the dining table.
"Preparation. Quickly, quickly."
"Yes, you're right. Well, Master. When you are ready, please join us at the table…"
Yuti urged Meiko and the others to go to the table.
Then Ouma-san, who had been silently watching our exchange, opened his mouth.
"You're very late; what's going on?"
"Huh?"
"You may think you're hiding it, but it shows on your face. And your spiritual power had increased to an incredible degree compared to what it was before you went out."
Not only Ouma-san, but even Kuuya-san said that to me.
I had no intention of hiding it, but I still did not fully understand the situation and did not know how to explain it.
Then Kuuya-san's eyes flashed with a purple light, and looked at me.
"! …This is another troublesome situation…"
"Oh… you saw my memories with sorcery?"
"Well, yes. Now it seems that what I feared has happened."
"What is it? Just speak without hiding anything."
Ouma-san, who looked a bit irritated, rushed Kuuya-san, who had a serious expression on his face.
"Well… As Ouma-dono knows, the boundary between the Underworld and this world disappeared due to the influence of the false god that Yuuya defeated. But that is not the only boundary between worlds that has disappeared. Even the boundary that separates the dimensions has been erased."
"Hmph. The more I think about it, the more I realize how annoying that is."
"Yes, that's right. The boundary between the Underworld and this world was restored by the Lord of the Underworld, Reimei-sama. But the boundary between dimensions is still gone. As a result… Yuuya, you fought against your other self, didn't you?"
"Wha!?"
"Woof?"
In response to Ouma-san's voice of surprise, Night and the others look at each other and tilt their heads, perhaps still not understanding.
"T-The other him? That kind of thing…"
"I was surprised too. I had no idea that he would be a greater user of spiritual power than this Yuuya, and that he would even use his spiritual power. But it's more trouble than that."
"What? I think it's already a big problem to say that another lord has appeared, but there's even more trouble than that?"
"Yes. I don't know the details, but according to… that other Yuuya, there are strange people going around conquering all kinds of worlds, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Conquer the world? Hmph, that's ridiculous…"
"I agree, but I don't know what they're capable of. And from what the other Yuuya said, they're not going to conquer the planet; they're going to literally take over the world… and its whole dimension. And their next target is… this world."
"…Hmm. Why does the Lord always get noticed by such strange people…?"
"I don't want it either…"
Even I don't like getting into all kinds of trouble…
"More importantly, what do you think we should do from now on…?"
"Well… it would be difficult for us to initiate an attack on a dimension-spanning being like them…"
"I guess we have to train ourselves to be ready for the attack…"
"Yes… It is hard to say yet since the strength of the opponent is uncertain, but it is better to be stronger. The other Yuuya I saw with my sorcery was not a bad fighter. In fact, he was no worse than me when it came to mastering sorcery. But even the other Yuuya was just a pawn of these mysterious beings… and I wonder how good they really are…"
The air was dark and gloomy, and I made another decision.
"Kuuya-san. Please teach me more about sorcery. Because… the other me asked me to."
The other me asked me to protect this world.
And while he was disappearing, he entrusted me with the sorcery power he possessed.
Although he came from a parallel world, we are the same being, so receiving an enormous amount of spiritual power from him did not seem to affect me in any particular way.
I was entrusted with his will and power.
Most importantly, I had no intention of letting them have their way in this world.
Kuuya-san nodded in response to my decision.
"…Of course. We don't even know when the opponent will come, but I'll give you a little bit of my sorcery, Yuuya."
"Thank you very much!"
"And… I'll try to work with 'me' as well."
"Eh?"
"I can't do anything on my own, but maybe Reimei-sama will know how to handle this situation."
"I see…"
Surely, Reimei-sama, the Lord of the Underworld, might know who the mysterious attacker is.
If it were just me, it would be impossible to contact Reimei-sama, but since Kuuya-san's main body was in the underworld, he should be able to contact Reimei-sama somehow.
So we started preparing for the mysterious attacker.