8 Naturally we're here.

Golden beads of lights flew into the room from my hand.

[What is th-] She exclaimed while looking up at the illusion of orbs I was transmitting to her head.

[Shhh… I'll get disturbed. I can't control this illusion for very long, so pay attention to what I'm about to say.] I arranged the four orbs into a rectangle.

[In my past life, I'd been to the underworld for various reasons... Ah... The underworld is the place you humans consider hell. There, I met the god who governs over death, Deathos.] The orbs started circling around each other.

[That's a lame name.]

[Just shut up for a minute, will you? Anyway, Deathos taught me that there aren't and will never be an infinite amount of individual souls.] The orbs multiplied to fill the entirety of the room. The scene resembles that of our land's lantern festival.

[Every single existence is a reincarnation. Every single birth uses a recycled soul. The person who died fifty years ago would get reincarnated into the body of a baby sometime in the future, with his memory wiped of course. If not then, you know, everything would turn into a convoluted mess and it would be hard to manage and stuff. The point is no one wants that. The soul carries on even after death.] I was an exception to that rule, but I was an exceptional being so it was only natural. Moreover, I think her brain would overload and explode if I were to explain that to her.

[What are you on about, the population grows every year. I need you to check your facts before trying to fool me.]

[Why do you think I'm trying to fool you? There's no merit in that for me.]

[I think you'd be over the moon with the fact that you fooled me and wear it as a trophy for the rest of your life.]

[That's true and it would actually be pretty hilarious... But just trust me this time. In essence, what happens is that a soul changes bodies. The soul that belonged to a cat could in its next incarnation reside in a human, a human's soul could reincarnate as a dog, a dog's as an ant, so on and so forth. Plus our world is one that has and supports life, there are other ones that do have life but don't support it. But that's beside the point right now.]

Two orbs lit up brighter than any other and arranged themselves in a line.

[What my reincarnation spell did is use your ability to send the memories we had back then to the body of a self-conscious being who would house our soul in the future. I didn't know it would take this long though.] One of the two highlighted orbs runs into the other one and they combine.

[…] She doesn't get this, does she?

[What I mean is, if we didn't use the spell, our soul would've reincarnated in this body without our intervention. All I did was send our memories from back then along with our souls. You aren't taking anyone else's space. You were bound to be reborn right now in that exact body with those exact parents. The only difference is that I sent your memories over from your previous life.] I took all the other orbs out leaving only two behind. Why? Because they were pleasant to look at.

[But then how does that explain us getting reborn in the same era? You make it sound like reincarnation is random. But us two being together can't be random.]

[No, it really is random. The reason why we're together is that it's just a coincidence.]

I say coincidence, but a word more accurate to describe this would be fate. A coincidence forced by law. Law being an intervening force. The only people who could interfere with something on this scale are the gods... I think. What concerns me is their motive.

The little sprout of doubt in the back of my mind was constantly, but slowly eating away at me.

The orbs started circling each other until they disappeared. Transmitting visual thoughts took a toll on you.

[So is it fine for me to be here?]

[Oh, come on. I gave you such a brilliant explanation a second ago. Yes, you being here is fine! It's only natural.]

I heard the sound of a sigh resonating next to me. She was relieved, huh?

[…nk u…]

[Huh? What did you say?]

[…ank you.]

[I didn't quite catch that.]

[Ugh! Thank you, okay? It's not like you took a weight off my chest or anything, but I suddenly feel really refreshed and it's because of you. SO THANKS!]

'Why does her gratitude sound so aggressive?

Either way, I'll take it since it'll probably be even rarer in the future.'

We spent the rest of the weekend on my bed, sleeping around. That was all babies are good for, it seems.

###

I've picked up a rather embarrassing hobby to fill my empty schedule. One so embarrassing that I would rather die (again) than have it exposed to any subordinate who has known or worshipped me in the past.

The modern world had an object that lets you view stories visually. My parents called it the 'TV'.

Look, I didn't have a lot to do. I was admittedly bored witless. And while there were a lot of great 'TV' stories available right now, my parents chose to make me watch stories aimed at children as anything mature would cause mental retardation in a child.

"Hola! Soy D*ra!" The 'TV' pronounced a sound in front of me as a little girl came on the 'screen'.

This woman was the most infuriating person to ever exist. I wanted to switch the television off as soon as I could, but I doubted that's something a two-week-old was capable of.

"Can you see the mountains in the background?"

'What do you mean you dumb cow?! They're right friggin behind you. Turn around you nut brained little piece of trash!' Are all the things I wanted to shout out but-

The room remained silent.

"Where?"

Silence.

"Here they are!"

'Good job. Blind, attention-seeking, low IQed, jobless prick.'

If anything, this show was more likely to cause mental retardation than the mature shows my parents are so keen about not letting me watch.

Well, this wasn't the hobby I was talking about, so let's get back onto the main centre of discussion. The hobby that I was vexed about developing is-

"Ah, it's eight already." My father came in with Sadou Jii and picked me up on his lap.

"The girls are out, right?" Sadou Jii asked as he sits down next to us.

"Yep." He then grabbed the remote and turned the channel to fifteen.

"Then let's do it."

'Let's do this indeed.' I thought to myself.

"Welcome to another episode of 'THE HOUSE OF WHITERED!'" There were four girls on the TV screen. Each one of them was as cute as cute can get. A sight for sore eyes. "In today's episode, Rennie and Risa are going to cook a meal for the rest!"

Yes. The new hobby I've picked up was watching idol reality shows.

But can you blame me? As a mature thirteen year old on the inside, watching cute girls do cute stuff just calmed my soul. And the two most powerful men in this country seemed to agree with me there.

"Ah, it's song time!" Sadou Jii exclaimed.

"Quick, grab the sticks!"

Idol reality shows ended with a performance every episode. And what a performance called for was intimate viewer engagement. Honestly, it wasn't my thing but-

"Bu bu…"

"Does little Mao want one too?" He held out a small wand to me. "Here you go. We don't gatekeep around here." And yet you hide this from your wives. Poor men.

"Get ready for today's performance of LoveHungry Ladies." Rosee on the TV said.

"WooHoo!" We shouted.

What followed was an idol sequence, and two adult men cheering and swinging their glowsticks in a brightly lit afternoon room. Yes, these two were the most influential men in the country. And yes, they were dancing to some cute idols. But this meant nothing because I- the former demon lord, the most feared being in all of existence, was also doing it along with them.

"Argh, I forgot my purse-" The door swung open and we became the centre of attention of three women and a little girl.

Well, shit.

"Ara~ What do we have here? Weren't you two supposed to be at an important meeting?" Sadou Jou said as LoveHungry Ladies played in the background.

"Honey, about this…" Sadou Jii tried to explain.

"Ara Ara~" UUUU. We were totally getting looked down on. With cold eyes. This was truly disheartening... for them that is! Sike! I'm a baby right now! They couldn't judge me even if they wanted to.

I truly pitied these two.

Being a baby sure has its advantages.

[Trash…]

-or maybe not so much.

The little girl in my mother's arm transmitted her thought to my brain in the most heart-wrenching manner possible.

[Demon lord, my ass. You're just a perverted loser.]

"Uncle we brought the- Crap, mom's here." Sounds first rang from outside the door then entered inside.

Let's just say it was a busy afternoon.