I CUT MY HAIR TOO SHORT
“Your hair is so long, Azusa.”
I was at Momma Yufufu’s house to hang out when she made this remark to me.
“Huh, you think so? I don’t really pay attention to it.”
“Yes, it’s gotten a bit longer. I can really tell when you lie on the couch like that.”
Oh… I was lazing around on the couch now. This was embarrassing.
“Then I’ll go get it cut soon. I didn’t know it was that long…”
“Oh, I’ve got a great idea! ” It sounded like her voice went an octave higher. “Yes. I’ll cut your hair. I have scissors. Hee-hee-hee~”
Momma Yufufu went straight to a small drawer and began searching for her scissors.
“Wait, hold on! I didn’t say you could cut it just yet!”
“Don’t worry. I’ve been a droplet spirit for a long time. Cutting hair is the least I can do.”
“That has absolutely nothing to do with cutting hair.”
It wasn’t like I was doubting Momma Yufufu, but I didn’t know what she’d do to my hair; I wasn’t sure if I should let her near it.
“I cut my own hair, see.” Momma Yufufu brushed her fingers through her hair.
“I see. Then I guess you’re okay…”
She was generally fashionable. In my opinion, she was one of the fanciest spirits I’d seen.
But given the aesthetics of Curalina, the wandering artist, spirit fashion was still a mystery to me.
Even when we went to the World Spirit Summit, there were a certain number of male spirits walking around shirtless, showing off their muscles. If they empathized their physique over fashion, then hairstyles wouldn’t mean much…
“I’ve always dreamed of cutting my own daughter’s hair~” Momma Yufufu said dreamily.
Oh no, look at her face! A daughter just can’t say no to that!
“Fine. Cut my hair, Momma Yufufu! Just hack it all off!” I replied with a thumbs-up. Time to bring a smile to my momma’s face!
“Oh, no~ I won’t hack it off. I’ll be a little more careful than that.”
And so Momma Yufufu was getting ready to give me a haircut.
I sat in a chair, and she wrapped a cloth around my front. I looked like a little rain charm.
This was just a regular house, not a beauty salon, so there was no mirror. It made me nervous, but as long as Momma Yufufu could see, this would probably turn out okay.
“All right, I’m getting started. First, I’ll have to wet your hair. There, I just have to touch it.”
Maybe she really was cut out for hairdressing work.
“All right, here we go!”
Snip! Snap! Kshrt!
For such a gentle spirit, Momma Yufufu sure was going ham with those scissors.
Kshnap! Snap! Fzzzt!
The more violent the noises got, the more anxious I became.
“Hey, Momma? Could you be just a little more, y’know, gentle…?”
“It’s all right. I decided to be a little bold— Oh dear. I may have cut off a little too much.”
“What?! It’s been, like, ten seconds since you started! You’re freaking me out…”
“Don’t worry. I may have cut too much, but this is level-one overcutting. I can easily recover from this. A drop of jelly cake!”
I guess that was the expression for a piece of cake in this world.
“Fine. I trust you, Momma.”
“Yes, leave it to me. I won’t make any more mistakes.”
“Did you just say mistakes…?”
Snip, snip, snap!
Ahhh, the cutting noises are more measured than they were earlier.
“Oh my, I’ve cut too much again~”
“Momma Yufufu?! Are you sure you’re okay with this?! Are you sure things aren’t getting worse?!”
“Yes, it’s all right. You look very chic.”
“That’s what friends say when you have a bad haircut! Are you seriously, seriously okay with this?!”
“Trust me, Azusa. I can’t turn back now. If we stop here, you’ll look very strange. This is about a level-fifty-three overcut.”
“That’s quite a level up!”
How many experience points did it get in that short of a time?!
“Well, if I had to say whether we were in the safe zone or danger zone, I’d say we are safe, but leaning toward danger.”
That would probably rank in a list of top five things you never want to hear at a salon.
“All I need to do now is not make any more errors. Yes, I can do this! …Oh dear, it’s level fifty-six.”
My overcut level shot up by three!
“I can do this. I can do this. Here, and here. All right. This, and this… Yes, this is certainly the danger zone, but we’re still a little safe yet.”
“We’re in danger now?!”
I want to see a mirror! No, actually, I don’t!
“Trust your momma, Azusa. A mother’s love is genuine.”
“Momma Yufufu, the problem right now is my hair. You know that, right? This has nothing to do with love or any spiritual concepts.”
I was starting to wonder if this was her way of sweeping her mistakes under the rug.
“Well, I said it’s in the danger zone, but it’s really only level-thirty-one danger. I can get this down to a level fifteen.”
“What were you saying about level fifty-three earlier, then?”
“That was the overcut level; this is the danger level.”
“Level thirty-one is kind of high. That’s the level of an experienced adventurer.”
“That’s what I mean; I’m going to get it down to level fifteen. Like an adventurer who has been relatively active for about three years.”
“It’s still bad either way!”
—The entire time afterward, I was in a state of terror.
I kept hearing disturbing snippets like, “Level-sixty-three danger,” “Midlevel overcut,” “This isn’t my fault; it’s the scissors’,” “Don’t worry about it, don’t worry about it,” but I started shutting it out.
“There, finished! I’m just going to say it’s finished!”
Just say it’s done!
“Here you go, Azusa. This is what it looks like.”
Momma Yufufu brought me a looking glass.
My hair was much shorter, and I now had my hair in a bob cut.
“It’s not not cute, right? I think it looks nice. It’s stylish.”
“It might be stylish, but I wanted something a little more conservative…”
I definitely remember women having hairstyles like this in my past life. This would work well for super-stylish people.
But if I had to define it, then I’d say this look went better with shorter girls. I wasn’t exactly sure if this was meant for me…
“Azusa, I have short hair, so I could only cut to shorter hairstyles. It’s only now that I realize this.”
Hold on, Momma—your hair is plenty long!
Well, it was too late now.
There was no point in complaining to Momma Yufufu now, so I went home to the house in the highlands.
In her defense (well, in my own defense; let’s be honest), it was trendy enough. It wasn’t deathly unnatural. If I saw someone walking around with this haircut, I’d probably think it was cute.
Just compared with my previous hairstyle, it was a whole lot shorter now.
If I insisted it was a makeover, then it would probably work out somehow. And my hair would grow back anyway. Yeah, this was fine. If I thought about the no-problem level of the whole thing, it was probably a level 3.
When I got home, the first one I came across was Sandra. Well, she was in the vegetable garden right outside the house, so strictly speaking, it was right before coming home.
“Oh, Azusa. You cut a lot of hair off. Did you break up with someone?”
“No.”
That assumption was completely unnecessary.
“Well, that’s good. You look really fashionable and confident with that style. If you changed your clothes to something lighter, I think you could really own it.”
She gave me better advice than I was expecting. I guess she had been alive for a long time, after all, and only looked like a child. But didn’t she live in a dormant state for a long time? Could she say anything at all about fashion…?
I see. If I changed my hair dramatically but wore the same clothes, it would just make it seem even more out of place.
The clothes I’d been wearing so far were for witches, so some of them were fairly dramatic and only kind of chic.
Now that my hair was short, I could probably seem like I was at the cutting edge of fashion if I also lightened up my clothes a bit. Wa’evah, dunna, innit (to quote Her Ghostly Majesty, Queen Muu).
My determination only grew when I opened the door to my house and formally returned home.
Falfa was in the dining room reading another difficult book. It looked like there were more math formulas in it than letters.
“Oh, Mommy! Wow, Mommy! Amazing!” Falfa’s eyes were glittering. My new haircut sure was going over well!
“You think so? Do I look good? Oh, I’m so glad to hear it.”
I’m a simple girl; the moment my daughter approved, that was enough to send my excitement through the roof. All thanks to Momma Yufufu~
But an even more important piece of information came out of Falfa’s mouth.
“Mommy, you have the same hairstyle as Falfa and Shalsha now!”
Say what?! I hadn’t thought about that.
I looked in the mirror again, and—
“Hey, you’re right. It’s really similar to both of yours…”
Obviously, we didn’t look exactly the same—and good thing, because the height difference would make it a little strange if our hair really was identical. At most, we looked similar now.
But still, compared with the hairstyle I used to have, there was no doubt that my current one was a lot closer to theirs.
Then Shalsha came in.
“Sis, it’s almost time for our stroll of the— Oh, Mom…”
Shalsha looked at me, and it seemed she was quite nonplussed at this unusual new sight.
“Mom, what did you do? You…you are cuter.”
I internally took a victory pose. My daughter said I was cute!
Yay, yay! I’m so happy! Today is a good day!
“Man, you’re super cute now, Big Sis.”
Then Rosalie appeared from the wall, which would have been pretty spooky if it didn’t happen to us every day. When she pops out of the floor, though—that’ll give you a fright.
“When you three and your similar hairstyles stand together like that, you look less like a mom and her kids, and more like sisters. You could honestly pass as siblings.”
There came another important statement. Almost as though it were underlined in pink marker, like a keyword phrase in a textbook.
“Say that again, Rosalie.”
“Huh? Say what again? That you look less like a mom and her kids, and more like sisters?”
“Yes, that!”
Thinking back on it, I’d lived as Falfa and Shalsha’s mother figure up until now. There was absolutely no problem with that. It’s been a wonderful thing.
But in terms of looks, Falfa, Shalsha, and I naturally looked more like sisters.
I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if we acted like sisters every once in a while. Yeah, not bad.
Actually, I wanted to.
“Falfa, Shalsha, why don’t we go travel to another town sometime soon?”
“Okay! Falfa will come along!”
“Traveling offers perspective on things one paid little mind to previously,” said Shalsha. “It is through the past that we learn new things. By looking outward, we take notice of what is inward.”
I didn’t really need all that complicated logic myself—I just wanted to spend time with the two as sisters.
By the way, my new haircut was generally well received by the rest of the family—except their comments were all a little strange.
“Oh, that looks great, Mistress. Your hair won’t get in the way when you’re sparring with someone!” Flatorte was thinking of battle above everything else.
“Does this mean long hair gets in the way of training, Lady Azusa? I believe you look wonderful with short hair!” I had a feeling that Laika’s thoughts were very close to Flatorte’s. Must be a dragon thing.
“Madam Teacher, did someone break your heart? When did you even give your heart away?” Halkara was thinking about romance. “Who dumped you?! Where is she?!”
“Please explain why I can only date women.”
“Because I’ve never seen a man anywhere near you, Madam Teacher~”
I dunno, I was getting irritated… She wasn’t saying anything particularly odd to me, but it was rubbing me the wrong way…
But it was all good in general. I had to let Momma Yufufu know that she hadn’t totally failed me with her haircut.
The only problem was that the more romantic-minded people saw my short hair and assumed I’d been through a rough breakup…
Once I hit the town with my daughters—no, my little sisters, I was going to find clothes that matched my hair.
On a particularly sunny day, I took Falfa and Shalsha to the provincial capital of Vitamei.
Laika took us partway there. I felt bad having her escort us on a day she had cooking duty, but apparently to her, flying over to Vitamei was just a quick stop.
And so the three of us walked through town.
“It’s so lively~ Falfa is more excited than usual! Falfa hopes they sell candy!”
“Ah, the hustle and bustle of a capital city. Those who gain enlightenment while surrounded by distractions are true sages. Those who say they reached nirvana in secluded lands, devoid of everything but the sound of deer and bugs, are not truly worthy of the title.”
I had a feeling their differences were clearer for every mile we traveled.
“We’ll of course visit any stores you want to go to. But first, I want to pick out some clothes, so do you mind waiting?”
“Okay!”
“Shalsha will wait three years upon a stone, nine years facing a wall.”
That might be a little too long.
Oh, and there was another important rule here.
“And listen, you two: Today, I don’t want you to call me Mommy. Call me Big Sis, okay?”
It was kind of embarrassing saying it myself, but I had to speak with confidence so it wouldn’t be awkward.
“Okay! Big Sis! Big Sis Azusa!”
“Well done, Falfa!”
I sure brought up an obedient kid!
Wait, no. That was a maternal train of thought. No breaking character!
“B-Big Sis Azusa… That makes me somewhat uncomfortable…,” Shalsha said, hiding her mouth with her hand. It looked like she was more opposed to it.
“I know it might be a little weird, Shalsha, but just for today, okay?”
“Okay, Mo… Big Sis Azusa…”
I didn’t mind that she was a little shy about it.
Honestly, my daughters were so cute, they could say it however they wanted.
Well, now that I had my daughters’—er, sisters’ approval, it was time to buy some clothes.
I went on a little adventure (and not the dungeon-crawling type).
I bought rather luxurious clothes and changed in the store.
I decided to go with a skirt a little on the shorter side. I even bought a scrunchie as an accent.
I think I’ve unconsciously leaned more toward subtle, unobtrusive clothing thus far, possibly because I’m a mom and head of the household and whatnot. And a witch by trade.
Actually, even when I lived alone, my life really only consisted of going back and forth between my house and Flatta, so I never really paid much attention to fashion.
Even in my past life, someone wearing Harajuku-style clothes in a bear-riddled countryside would absolutely get some weird looks. But if you wore gaudy clothes, then you were less at risk of getting shot by a hunter…
Well, past-life talk aside…
I’ve looked like a seventeen-year-old—a high school girl, basically—for a long time, but I never dressed like one. Had my looks been wasted on me?
Today, I was going to be more like a high school girl!
“Well? What do you think of your big sis’s clothes?!”
“Wooow, they’re so pretty, Mommy… Er, Big Sis Azusa!”
“You’re radiant, Big Sis Mom. Like an angel.”
They weren’t quite seeing me as a big sister yet… Shalsha was even calling me Big Sis Mom. It made me think of a somber household, where the real mom was no longer around, and the big sister had to play the part.
I guess we’d just have to get used to it, little by little.
In any event, I was ready. It was time for us sisters to go out on the town!
First, at Falfa’s request, we went to a candy store.
“If there’s anything you want, your big sis’ll buy it for you!”
“Ooh, I want this, and that! And that one, too!”
“Shalsha will have the same as Sis Falfa.”
“C’mon, be a little more independent… You can get anything you want for yourself, Shalsha.”
“The grass is greener on the other side. Shalsha will undoubtedly regret choosing something different. As such, I will simply choose the same to start with.”
Sure…I guess.
“Your little sisters are adorable,” said one of the staff members. “Are they twins?”
Yes, they thought we were sisters! Mission success.
What kind of mission is it? I’m not quite sure, but it’s a success in my mind.
We walked around town eating our candy.
To my left was Falfa, and on my right was Shalsha.
“Big Sis Azusa, this candy is delicious!”
“Right? But this whole day out is way more delicious for me~”
On my other side, Shalsha was quietly nibbling at her sweets. Probably because it was good manners to stay silent while eating.
I could hear little comments as we passed by: “They’re so cute~ Look at the twins!”
Right? Aren’t they adorable?
Someone else said, “They’re twins. They look exactly the same!”
They sure do. Their personalities are totally different, though.
But everyone was paying attention to the twins, and not me. I guess twin sisters had a much bigger impact.
That might’ve been a miscalculation on my part… I underestimated the power of twins.
Well, now I just have to walk around town until I get a reaction!
I heard a voice that said, “Hey, look at those sisters all walking together!”
Yes, yes! We are a lovely trio of sisters!
“You’re right, look at the twins~” came a voice afterward…
Just Falfa and Shalsha again? Include me please! I look like their big sister, right?! We’re three peas in a pod!
“Mo— Big Sis Azusa, there’s a shop Shalsha wants to go to.”
“Sure, where is it? We’ll go anywhere you want~”
“The used bookstore.” Shalsha pointed to an aged, delicate-looking building.
The sign out front read VITAMEI SPRING OF WISDOM BOOKSTORE.
That sure was a sober place… Not really a hangout for sisters to spend a day on the town…
I guess that was because despite how cute Shalsha was, her hobbies didn’t really lend themselves to showing off our sisterly bond… But I was going to do all I could for them. If they had requests, I’d do my best to fulfill them.
“Sure. Let’s go into the bookstore together.”
“There aren’t any shops like this around the house in the highlands. Shalsha is happy.”
Shalsha jogged off toward the store.
Then Falfa also seemed to show some interest—“I hope they have some essays on heavenly bodies~!”—and rushed after her.
Hmm, I was the odd one out here!
I wanted us to behave more like sisters would, but I had a feeling we were just acting like we normally did!
But then a voice of salvation came to me.
“That young lady must have her hands full with two little sisters.”
“Caring for two little ones is always difficult, even for a big sister.”
Hey, people were talking about us as a trio of siblings!
That’s right! We are three beautiful sisters!
Wait, they didn’t say beautiful? Oh, don’t mind that part.
Now that I felt better, I bought several grimoires at the used bookstore.
As we walked, I heard some more comments:
“All three of those sisters have the same hairstyle~”
“They look so good!”
You might think I was hearing a lot about us, but I wasn’t hallucinating or anything. They really were saying these things about us.
With my stats, I could hear a whole ton if I concentrated on listening. That’s why I could catch snippets of conversations that most people wouldn’t be able to.
Right, don’t we look good? A beautiful trio of sisters, we are!
“Big Sis Azusa, I’m having fun! ”
“You can tell, Falfa? You can, right? Yes, I’m having a lot of fun, too~”
I felt more energetic than usual, probably because my hair and clothes were new.
Fashion didn’t just change how someone looked—it was the starting point for a change in action.
“Oh, Shalsha, reading while walking isn’t very safe… You might run into someone…”
She looked kind of like the philosopher Kinjiro Ninomiya like that…
“I couldn’t help myself. I will read it over thoroughly when we get home.”
“Falfa, is there anywhere you want to go to next?”
“Hmm…the library!”
The twins sure loved to study, huh?!
That said, it wasn’t like there were amusement parks in this world, and we could still see plenty of wildflowers growing around the house in the highlands, even if we didn’t have a large flower garden. Of course, if we came to a big enough city, they’d go after the books…
This library, however, wasn’t like Japan’s public libraries; it was a private one where we paid an entry fee. That’s how it goes in the provincial capital.
“Sure. We’ll go to the library…”
“Yay! I love you, Big Sis Mommy!”
“Big Sis Mom, you care so much about your little sisters’ education. You’re setting a good example.”
I just can’t escape the mom part of me, can I…?
Wandering around in the library in my fashionable clothes was kind of pointless, but that’s exactly what I did.
As I perused books on herbs with my brightly colored clothes, some more witchy types came by. I was so out of place…
—And before I knew it, an hour and a half had passed.
Hanging out with the bookworm twins had made the day go by super fast. It was almost a waste.
“Um…if possible, I want to go somewhere else… Got any other ideas?”
“Shalsha wants to go to the harbor and watch the boats come in.”
“Boats, eh? Not a bad idea.”
Kids sure did love their modes of transport.
This harbor was not by the sea, but by the river that flowed through Vitamei.
Nanterre Province didn’t connect to the ocean at all. But there was a river, thin and narrow though it was, that served as a channel for cargo ships. Smaller ones, at least—there were some spots where people had to forcibly pull the boat along.
We went to a spot that had a good view of the boats coming and going and sat down on a set of rough-hewn steps.
“Shalsha, look, a boat’s coming in. Look~”
Shalsha had her nose stuck in a book. She wasn’t watching at all.
“A boat’s coming, look!”
“Oh…yes, a boat. A harbor bustling with the sounds of unloading cargo and sailors calling. Some are accented with the dialects of far-off lands. People from so many places mix together here. How fascinating.”
“You really have glum ways of having fun…”
“And as I listen to the sounds, I read at my leisure. This is a splendid way to use my time.”
She was just going to read anyway!
Dammit… I want to run around, play, have fun more like sisters, but Shalsha is too elderly…
Falfa’s probably getting excited about the boats, though, right?
That’s what I thought, but Falfa’s eyes were glittering as she read the book she’d just bought.
I guess the vessels couldn’t win out against the excitement of reading.
“Boy, I guess I’m happy to have daughters so interested in studying…” I sighed in defeat.
I was putting an end to my plan to act like sisters.
And that’s when it hit me again.
It wasn’t just my own fault that they were so used to me as a mother.
They really were well-raised girls, so when I forgot myself and started acting childish, it was hard to tell who the adult was here.
At the very least, Falfa and Shalsha were more adultlike than any random seventeen-year-old. Of course, they were still childlike in some ways—they did chase grasshoppers around sometimes—but they were mature enough to seek out books they couldn’t get in Flatta.
Ah well. I was going to make sure I stayed a good mother to them from now on.
“Oh, another boat,” Shalsha murmured as she looked over the harbor.
Sure enough, people were disembarking from the newest arrival.
“It really is lively down there.”
But this boat was somehow unlike all the others, and alarm bells were going off in my mind.
“Your Majesty, why did you decide to go out of your way to take a boat here…?”
“To see if the trade ships are in operation, Miss Beelzebub. This is part of my work, too, you know. I am not here for fun.”
Two of the people who stepped out of the boat were Beelzebub and Pecora!
Why are they here?! Wait, I just overheard their reasons why.
They were probably going to start selling goods from the demon lands or something. Even though the kingdom and the demons didn’t have any formal relations, trade was still an option.
But seeing these two here today was not a good thing.
They would definitely laugh at me if they saw me with almost the same haircut as Falfa and Shalsha…
I could already see how it’d go in my mind.
Pecora would say something like I see you have a playful side, Elder Sister~ Please match my hairstyle next time, okay~? She always tries to mess with me somehow…
Beelzebub would say something like You may have a similar hairstyle to the girls, but I am not interested in adopting you. I can already hear her now. I didn’t want her to adopt me anyway.
I was just going to let them pass.
Beelzebub could very well show up at the house in the highlands tonight, but…the most important thing now was getting through this.
“Your Majesty, there is nothing here. Let us return home.”
Yes, go home. Now. No need to do any overtime here.
“But we are considerably closer to Elder Sister’s house~ Miss Beelzebub, why don’t we drop by since we’ve made it this far?”
“Then I will have to purchase some gifts for the girls.”
They were both planning on going to the house in the highlands.
Okay, change of plans.
I would spend time here in Vitamei. So when they went to my house, we’d be like, Oh no, we just missed each other.
They wouldn’t be coming to stay the night, I didn’t think, so we’d be in good shape.
—But then.
At the worst possible moment, there came the comments I’d been hoping for.
“Omigosh, those three girls sitting there are so cute!”
“Gorgeous sisters!”
“The big sister and little sisters all have the same haircut. They must be close.”
The boat passengers were talking about us.
“That lady really has an eye for fashion. She looks like a city girl.”
“Well, this is the provincial capital.”
“What a lovely picture those three sisters make together.”
I’m really happy about this, but please don’t be too loud about it! They’ll notice!
“Oh? Three beautiful sisters?” Beelzebub said. “Where are they? I doubt they are anywhere near as gorgeous as I am.”
“I am more on the cuter side, so I suppose I’d be outclassed in your category~” Pecora added.
Well, crap.
Pecora looked straight at me.
I bet she had a sixth sense for my panic, specifically.
“Oh my, oh my~ If it isn’t my elder sister~ And she seems to have had herself a little makeover~” Pecora came right at us with the speed of a predator chasing its prey. “How lovely, Elder Sister. What a nice thing to do. How wonderful it is to try out the fashions you like and try to keep them secret from me!”
“Are you sure that’s what’s going on…?”
“Then perhaps I, too, shall get my hair cut the same way as yours. And then why don’t we walk the town together? Oh yes, what a wonderful idea! What days are you free next week?”
“Stop making plans up on your own!”
Of course the demon king would force us into something…
“Well, if it isn’t Azusa and the girls. Fancy meeting you here. What happened to you, by the way? Have you gone mad…?”
“Rude! It doesn’t look that bad on me!”
Have some tact, Beelzebub!
“No, it’s not that it looks bad on you, but you are trying to force yourself to match the age you appear to be. It’s upsetting. Your mental age is not that young…”
“Don’t just stand there and analyze me!”
“Inside, you are quite old. ’Tis why this looks so strange. Your garish outfit is like a costume.”
“Please stop saying such hurtful things. And if we’re talking mental age, then Falfa and Shalsha aren’t exactly young, either!”
Why was the one dressed as an evil executive saying this stuff to me? She was way cringier than me with that outfit.
Yes, yes, I was a corporate slave on the inside. I was living as these two girls’ mothers.
But it didn’t seem like I would be the only victim here. We were with Pecora, after all.
You’re next, Beelzebub.
My predictions were correct.
Pecora’s eyes glinted devilishly, and a wicked smile crossed her lips.
I knew what she was thinking: It is time for a scheme worthy of my title as the demon king.
“Well, since we’re all here, why don’t you have a bit of a makeover yourself, Miss Beelzebub?” Pecora shoved Beelzebub from behind.
“Eep! I quite like my hairstyle, so I have no intentions of changing it!”
“Oh, you can keep your hairstyle~ But wearing clothes that make you look like a proper young lady might not be so terrible from time to time~”
“No, no such outfit would look good on… Er, where are we going…?”
“Oh, it’s all right~ Please leave it to me, just leave it to me~ ”
Pecora steered Beelzebub away from the harbor and to the city center.
It was hard to tell just by looking, but Pecora was pushing with unbelievable force, fitting for the demon king. Beelzebub could scarcely fight back.
“Heh-heh-heh. Oh, this is funny. Should we follow them? Are you two coming along?”
“Big Sis Mom, I would describe you as guileful.”
“Big Sis Mommy, you look like a villain~”
Well, I’m not just a pure saint, you know. And you don’t have to tack Big Sis on there anymore.
Both of them were just calling me Mom anyway…
I had nothing to lose now.
I guess it was time to get a good look as Beelzebub got turned into Pecora’s plaything.
I followed after Pecora and a very panicked demon minister.
Beelzebub had been brought to a shop that was selling really expensive dresses.
She probably could have escaped on her own, but given the glint in the demon king’s eyes, that wouldn’t be possible. (Not that her eyes ever weren’t glinting.)
“Yes, now I will pick out some clothes for you, Miss Beelzebub, to turn you into a proper young lady. Get changed in the dressing room, please~”
“Er, Your Majesty, I’m afraid this might not have anything to do with work…”
“I am the demon king. And you should follow what your sovereign says, okay?”
She was abusing her power—and it was hilarious. I wanted her to do it.
“Look, little Falfa and Shalsha want to watch, too.”
“I wonder what Miss Beelzebub will look like!”
“Indeed, I am intrigued,” Shalsha said without looking up from her book.
She really likes that book, huh…?
“Fine! I shall wear it! I shall wear whatever you want!”
I wasn’t sure if she should have said whatever you want in front of Pecora. Beelzebub was getting desperate. Even though this was a losing fight, she had to put in the effort to minimize the damages.
Thus began the Beelzebub fashion show.
“All right, first, we have a dress for a lady!”
Pecora was the MC, and she pulled back the dressing-room curtain.
Beelzebub emerged wearing a glamorous dress studded with jewels.
“Ooh…this is embarrassing…”
Embarrassing? I personally thought her normal outfit was way more embarrassing, but maybe she was more used to wearing that.
Falfa and Shalsha both cooed in amazement. Beelzebub could pull this off surprisingly well.
“You look good, but you seem like you’re plotting to give me a poisoned apple…”
“You did not have to say that!”
“All right, why don’t you try on the next dress? Black is the basic theme of the next piece. It is truly chic—you could wear it to a funeral~” Pecora explained preemptively.
And so Beelzebub showed off this black dress. “Yes, this one is much more comfortable. ’Tis not as odd.” She didn’t seem all that dissatisfied with it, but—
“Elder Sister, your thoughts?”
“You totally look like a boss character. If there was a cabal of ten superpowerful demons, you’d be one of them.”
“That was not a compliment, I presume?”
Nope. I’m here to enjoy the show.
“Indeed~ She looks as though she would be the seventh defeated out of a group of ten~ She deals quite a lot of damage to her opponent but ultimately loses when she leaves herself open for one fateful moment.”
“Please stop thinking about my defeat! You too, Your Majesty!”
Pecora’s mischief accelerated with the next outfit. “This is my personal recommendation! Here we go!”
When the dressing-room curtain opened…Beelzebub was wearing a pink dress covered in frills and frippery from head to toe. She even had a hood on that made her look like Little Red Riding Hood.
The look was so intense, I felt like we’d suddenly warped to Harajuku…
“Your Majesty… A demon should not be wearing this…”
Beelzebub’s face was bright red; she knew this was weird.
“What? Yes, they should! I love it!”
“This would be another one of the ten demons. One who’s super girly. And eating candy the whole time or something.”
“I do not want to hear any compliments from you, either, Azusa!”
Wow, this is so relaxing when it’s happening to someone else. I want Beelzebub to show up at the house in the highlands dressed like that sometime.
But I had made a grave miscalculation.
Misery loves company.
I was in no position to be laughing at the misery of someone else…
As this whole thing was going on, misery had sneaked up on me…
“You’re next, Elder Sister. ”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well, now that your hair is short, I picked out an outfit to match! Come now, get changed!”
So the fire wasn’t on the opposite shore, huh? It sparked on my side…
I got shoved into the dressing room next to Beelzebub.
With no other choice, I changed into the clothes Pecora prepared for me.
What she had brought was…a white suit for guys… A princely outfit…
I wore that and stood next to Beelzebub in her Lolita outfit.
“Oh yes! When the two of you are standing together, your power levels double!”
“What power levels?!”
“What do you mean by power levels?!”
Both Beelzebub and I were complaining. This is grueling! What series are we cosplaying from anyway?!
But Falfa and Shalsha were clearly happy about this.
“Wow, Mommy, you look so cool!”
“You look more gallant than ever before, Mom.”
Hey, that was more complimentary than I expected…
“Miss Beelzebub is pretty, too!”
“These sorts of clothes draw out the secrets of the wearer.”
“Oh, you think so? You two have quite sharp eyes, but I knew that already. I suppose I’ve now shown you another facet of myself.” Beelzebub always immediately played along the second my daughters flattered her.
“Could you two perhaps strike some poses for me? Like a prince protecting a princess. Here we go!” Pecora really sounded like she was making a request to some cosplayers.
But I could also tell that Falfa and Shalsha were looking forward to this. As their mother, I couldn’t betray their hopes.
“We’re doing this, Beelzebub.”
“I shall do anything for my girls.”
“They’re not your girls.”
“I shall do anything for my adorable girls.”
She was stubbornly adding adjectives.
Afterward, Beelzebub and I spent a little while striking some fitting poses.
• The knight protecting the noble young lady
• The knight vowing loyalty to the noble young lady
• And the knight carrying the noble young lady, bridal-style
Oh, come on, anyone can see this is too much!
“Wonderful, wonderful! I of course love it when you carry me bridal-style, Elder Sister, but it is just as well to toy with you like this every so often~ ”
“If you’re going to be so spiteful, you could at least have the decency not to grin at me the whole time.”
But there was no doubt that Falfa and Shalsha’s smiles were the brightest they had been the whole day at that moment.
“You’re super cool, Mommy!”
“We have not seen this from you before, but it is an excellent quality. I almost wish to emulate you.”
Right. I felt like I’d done the right thing as a mother.
“I suppose I shall let you carry me if it will make the girls happy,” said Beelzebub.
Something about that irritated me.
“Yeah, I can carry you to make my girls happy, too.”
I suppose opportunities like this weren’t so bad every once in a while.
But…no more than that, please.
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