"Stop doing that! Hey, I'm talking to you!"
"Shut up fly, just keep flying."
"What are you doing?" Kaito asked, appearing beside King and grabbing the hammer that was about to hit him.
"W-what? The fly caught my hammer?" Diane was surprised, but then she saw Kaito. "Oh, it's Kaito, then it's fine."
"Don't underestimate me. I could have caught it too if I wanted to" King snapped after noticing the disdain in Diane's voice.
"Then why didn't you?" Diane looked at him arrogantly.
"Forget it, I don't care." King shrugged, pretending to be uninterested.
"So? What are you doing?" Kaito asked again.
"I'm trying to overcome my weakness, small and fast people" Diane explained. "The fl... King is helping me."
"I'm not helping you! You started chasing me out of nowhere!" King shouted irritably.
"Kaito, I'm leaving your girlfriend to you, I'm out of here" he finally said, not wanting to argue anymore, taking off as fast as he could.
"So, what's the point really?" Kaito asked while looking at Diane.
"He was making fun of me, saying I'm a brute who only thinks about fighting, so I wanted to teach him a lesson, hehe" Diane laughed.
"I knew it." Kaito sighed. "Anyway, if it's about the size problem, you can use Lala's device."
"Ah, is that okay?" Diane asked, pointing at her bracelet. "Lala said this only lasts about twelve hours, enough to sleep inside the mansion, and that it shouldn't be used in fights because of rules or something, right?"
"Yeah, her father's rules. She can't use his resources for Gaia" Kaito said, not taking it too seriously. "Don't worry about it. Even if she says that, if Lala made it and gave it to you, she actually expects you to use it and doesn't care about her father's rules. Trust me, when it comes to following rules, she's the last person who should talk."
"I see, then..." Diane smiled before her size started shrinking at an absurd speed until she became human-sized, transforming into a girl slightly shorter than average, around 1.65 meters tall, although since Kaito was around 1.85 meters, the difference was noticeable.
Because of the sudden size difference, Diane ended up naked, something Kaito was honestly pretty sure Lala could fix but hadn't bothered to because of pure disinterest, considering she usually didn't care about her own nudity either.
And while giant Diane already looked pretty good, her normal-sized body was quite impressive. Her somewhat short height combined with her large proportions created a very sexy contrast.
A short girl with twin tails, big boobs, and a big ass, the kind you couldn't decide whether to protect or tease.
"Hey, you're looking at me pervertedly again!" Diane complained when she noticed Kaito. She quickly took a smaller version of her outfit that Kaito handed her and got dressed.
"Alright, let's settle this!" she said, pointing at him with determination.
"Settle what?" Kaito asked.
"That's right, let's fight. If I win, you'll apologize to me. If you win, well, I wouldn't mind giving you a reward" she said while hooking her index finger into the fabric over her chest and pulling it down slightly.
"Weren't you supposed to dislike fighting?" Kaito asked.
"Maybe I just don't like losing?" Diane smiled.
"What a sore loser." Kaito laughed. "I hope you don't regret it when I beat you."
Instantly, Kaito disappeared and appeared behind Diane.
Diane jumped forward to avoid him and spun around one hundred and eighty degrees while gripping her hammer with both hands and swinging it upward in an arc, raising massive earth spikes toward Kaito.
...
Around noon, Kaito and Diane finished fighting.
To make it more fun, Kaito didn't use his full speed and instead tried to beat her through skill and close combat. It also served as practice for him.
"That's my victory, right?" Kaito smiled.
"Tsk, it was close" Diane muttered with a pout.
"Well then? Where's my reward?"
"Y-you... tonight, wait until tonight" Diane said before running away with a blush on her face.
"Hey, where are you going? It's already noon!" Kaito shouted after her.
"I'll keep training, I'll eat later! And... I hope you feel better!" she shouted from afar before returning to her outfit and growing large again.
'She clearly knows how not to be seen' Kaito smiled as he watched how the outfit fit her perfectly as if she knew exactly where it was, while also hiding behind a few trees.
Of course, they were in the private training grounds that only Lords or their chosen individuals could use, along with various simulation and camouflage technologies from Lala, so it didn't really matter.
The only reason Kaito had seen them practicing earlier was actually because of his special eyes.
"Feel better?" he suddenly wondered after hearing that last part.
...
While eating in a random nearby garden and observing his territory, Kaito received visitors.
"Kaito!" an energetic voice called out.
"Chika?... and Mio."
"Why the surprise at my name?" Mio asked with a hint of complaint in her voice.
"It's nothing. I just thought you were still angry with me. You know, last night you said all that stuff about 'You kidnapped me, I hate you, I won't talk to you again, idiot, pervert!'"
"T-that, well, I was a little angry" Mio said, looking away awkwardly. "But I think I can forgive you after thinking about it a bit."
While talking, both girls sat beside him and started eating.
Thanks to Kaito's cooking skill, even though he was only making meat and vegetable skewers over a campfire, they still tasted delicious.
"This is so good!" Mio said in surprise. "How is this possible? It's just meat and vegetables?"
"Yeah, Kaito cooks delicious food" Chika said like an experienced senior while watching Mio's reaction.
"So, Kaito, Mio wanted to know how you killed Zalgear" Chika said after swallowing a bite.
"Why do you want to know that?"
"Of course, that guy wanted to kidnap me and... you know. I want to hear about the fierce battle and the agony in his eyes when he realized he lost" Mio said as if expecting an epic story.
"I appeared behind him and pierced his chest, pulling out his heart" Kaito said casually. Actually, he had first considered simply vibrating through him like always, but he thought his regeneration might allow him to survive that, so he made sure he wouldn't be able to regenerate.
In most stories, regeneration is more like an enhanced version of the body's natural healing than an actual ability. It can heal organs even if they're nearly destroyed, but it can't create entirely new ones.
Kaito's gamble worked, and he saved himself the trouble of finding other methods.
"A-and that's it? He didn't defend himself? He didn't use his powerful magic? You didn't fight all his subordinates?" Mio said, unable to believe it had been that easy.
"I see, Mio, you still don't know how strong Kaito is" Chika said as if she were looking at her past self.
"Are you really that strong?" Mio asked while looking at him.
"I see." Mio sighed and decided to simply accept it, eating quietly for a while.
"And that... how did it make you feel?" she asked after some time.
"What?" Kaito asked in confusion.
"M-Mio? Aren't you being too obvious?" Chika said from the other side.
Mio immediately became nervous as if she had made a mistake and started waving her hands.
"I-I don't mean anything by that, okay? I just mean, he was a bad person. Even if he wasn't, since I'm yours and he wanted to have me anyway, that still justifies killing him, so don't feel guilty. Or, well, you can feel guilty if you want, just don't stay stuck in the middle without knowing what to decide."
"I see" Kaito murmured.
"Y-you see?" Chika asked.
"Yeah. I was wondering why everyone was acting a little strange today, so that was it."
"T-this... sorry?" Mio said, not knowing what else to say.
"It's fine. You were just trying to make me feel better" Kaito brushed it off. "Did Diane tell you?"
"It was Megumi, but I think Diane told her" Chika replied.
"I see. You really don't have to worry too much about that" Kaito said honestly.
Realizing a problem exists is the first step toward overcoming it, and honestly, after thinking about it, Kaito didn't believe it was something that important or difficult to overcome. He would simply get used to it eventually and his indecision would disappear.
"Changing the subject, Mio, did you say you were mine?" Kaito asked with an amused smile.
"N-no, I didn't say that. I just need you to help with the curse."
"So anyone can help you with that curse?" Kaito pretended to be hurt.
"N-no, of course not, only you! I mean, even if I wanted to, it's not like there's anyone better than you, right? So... ah! I... Megumi, your turn!"
Not knowing what else to say, Mio ran away. More precisely, she didn't leave herself, she moved Kaito away.
The next second, Kaito was inside Megumi's void, having been brought there by her.
"Megumi, so you've been telling everyone that I have mental problems? That's in poor taste."
"Diane told me first, it's her fault," Megumi said with a face of absolute innocence.
"I see. I'll punish her tonight," Kaito nodded.
"Please don't talk about those things here, you'll corrupt my pure void," Megumi said with an expression that made it impossible to tell whether she was serious or joking.
"So it's your turn, right? How do you plan to help cure me?"
"My intention isn't to cure you" Megumi denied. "I think all people are different, and I don't think you have an illness. I simply want you to accept yourself."
"How profound." Kaito smiled. "And how are you going to do that?"
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)