The First Pretender Part 3 (Final)

*Kenichi's POV*

I was standing looking at one of Lala's suitors, his name was Ghi Bree, he had an appearance quite similar to that of a reptile, he has a dark blue skin and yellow eyes with purple pupils, he also had big and pointed ears that have two ends, he has sharp teeth and a quite long tongue (It's the appearance he has in the manga).

Well, his actual appearance doesn't matter, in the end this isn't his true form either, his true form is practically the same but he is much smaller and instead of having an intimidating appearance he looks more like a stuffed animal.

I have to admit that I made a mistake in letting this guy walk around the school loose....

Part of me was hoping that Rito would show up and save Sairenji....

But I was wrong, from the moment I became Lala's fiancé it's like I took the leading role from Rito....

In the end, this was the result of my doubts, even if she was only held for a few minutes, it is undeniable that Sairenji was about to be raped, and all because of my stupid doubts...

What nerve do I have to call myself his friend, even though I had knowledge that this was going to happen, I simply looked away without doing anything to stop it. I am no different from Rito, who even though he knew from the beginning of the story that he was going to be attacked by Lala's suitors and just kept living his life normally until the end without making any effort to become stronger.

But in the end these are nothing but excuses, if I want to free myself from the control of the world and be truly free, I don't have to follow the path of the protagonist, I simply should have treated this guy like the Stray Devil's, the moment I knew he had malicious intentions I simply should have eliminated him.

Watching the manga and anime, it's very different from real life, with danger sensor I can easily tell if everything he says is true or lie, that's why I know that when he said he was going to do that to Lala he was serious...

I just learned a very valuable lesson...

I'm not going to let this happen again...

Not caring that Ghi Bree took on her supposed real form, I simply started walking directly in her direction with slow steps. Seeing that her appearance didn't intimidate me one bit, she started to get nervous and move in a weird way.

Ghi Bree: "A-Are you stupid Saruyama Kenichi.... W-When I return to my original form I am hundreds of times stronger than when I was transformed into Sasuga.... A-A weak and insignificant earthling like you doesn't stand a chance against me..."

Kenichi: "..."

Receiving no response he began to feel increasingly nervous and his act of playing strong was beginning to crumble.

Ghi Bree: "N-NO UNDERESTIMATE ME!!! THIS IS NOT ALL MY POWER!!! GET READY TO SEE MY SERIOUS MODE!!!"

As he finished speaking his body began to expand as it filled with muscles and horns also began to grow on his shoulders, elbows, knees and back.

Ghi Bree: "Kekeke~ Now I went into my serious mode you don't stand a chance-"

Kenichi: "You're really stupid, you didn't realize that from the beginning I knew your name and your ability to transform, so obviously I also know that this serious mode is nothing more than a transformation to pretend that you're strong.... I know perfectly well that no matter what you transform into you're just a weakling!"

Ghi Bree: "!"

Hearing me her arrogant form immediately collapsed and in her nervousness she adopted her original form while trembling and crying in fear.

Ghi Bree: "HIEK!!! I'M SORRY!! P-PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!! I SWEAR I WILL NOT DO IT AGAIN!!!"

The moment the truth came out, he didn't hesitate to plead pathetically for his life, but from beginning to end I just kept on simply looking at him without any reaction.

Kenichi: "You know~ I asked Zastin something when he handed me the message from Lala's father.... Apparently, the same way you guys can make plans and hire dangerous assassins to hurt me, I'm also allowed to do whatever I want to you guys after defeating you!"

Ghi Bree: "E-Eh!?"

Kenichi: "In the words of Gid Lucione Deviluke himself, the moment they became Lala's suitors they had to be prepared to discard their position and status, That's why I was assured that even if I kill them, I will not receive any repercussions"

Understanding the implication of my words, Ghi Bree started shouting desperately.

Ghi Bree: "WAIT IF YOU KILL ME-!!!"

Without giving him a chance to finish speaking, I simply threw a common blow without any special force, and to my surprise his head exploded like a watermelon filling the whole place with a purple colored blood, it was as disgusting as tar.

Kenichi: "He was really weak, he died with a single blow, I bet if he hadn't taken her by surprise even Sairenji could have easily taken care of him."

As I removed that disgusting blood from my hand, I activated my Root of Origin, and in just a second Ghi Bree was as if she had never taken any damage, plus there was no trace of her blood left.

Ghi Bree: "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

But apparently the memory and pain of his head being destroyed remained.

Having had enough of hearing his outrageous scream, I held his head with both hands and slowly began to apply force, if I had to give an example, it was like when Omniman exploded Red Rush's head, although in my case I had to restrain myself much more from exploding his head too fast.

Ghi Bree: "N-No... D-Stop... Ugh... HAAAAAA!"

In a matter of seconds his eyes had already popped out of their sockets as he screamed and winced in pain, but I nonchalantly crushed his head without any hesitation and in a matter of seconds brought him back to life.

Sensing the presence of some students who were walking around I decided to transport myself to the Baron Archipelago.

Ghi Bree: "UGH! AGHGHHH! HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! W-What is.... T-This place!!!?"

Although she was still screaming while crying, that didn't stop her from being surprised by the sudden change in surroundings, I guess she must be thinking that no kind of teleportation device should be able to teleport someone so easily.

Kenichi: "You don't need to know, I only brought you here because you were so noisy."

Ghi Bree: "Huh?"

This time, with nothing getting in my way I began to launch a powerful rain of blows, each blow killed him, but instantly revived him, I kept doing it for several minutes, the impact of my blows destroyed more and more of the ground, I could even feel everything shaking slightly, by the time I was done there was nothing left of Ghi Bree's body, at this point it was just blood.

But I didn't feel like letting him die alone with this.

Ghi Bree: "HYAAAAAAA!!! P-PLEASE!!! STOP IT!!!"

Ignoring his pleas, I grabbed him by the leg and began to shake him like a dirty rag, slamming him against the ground, rocks and trees, in no time all his organs and bones were scattered all over the place.

I don't think this is just because he's not a human, to be honest I'm not even enjoying this, it feels disgusting, it's like he's just bullying the weak.... But I have no regrets, this guy completely forgot his place in the food chain, he thought his shapeshifting ability was always going to be there to help him and he got so arrogant as to think he could subdue Lala and become the King of Deviluke.

I wonder what Lala would think if she saw this side of me? In To Love-Ru's story, whenever they defeated a suitor she would just send them away comically or make them disappear with her inventions and they would never appear in the story again. The same thing happened with Ghi Bree, she only took out a toilet-shaped invention called Slosh Slosh Warp, which had the ability to teleport objects into space, she threw it inside and it was transported to the bathtub where Zastin was bathing in his spaceship, it never appeared again, it is unknown what happened to him after that.

But seeing how Lala's father told me that he could kill the suitors if he wanted to and also that Zastin was quite indifferent when he told me, I can already get an idea of what happened to him.

Although I would like to follow Lala's way of thinking, this guy had definitely already taken advantage of other women in the same way he planned to take advantage of Sairenji, hitting him and sending him away doesn't solve the problem.

I revived him again, but this time he couldn't resist the pain and fainted.

Kenichi: "Kirara, I'm going back to school to take Sairenji to the infirmary, would you do me a favor and keep an eye on this guy while I'm gone?"

Kirara: "GRGRGRGRGR..."

Kenichi: "By the way... I don't want you to do anything to defend him when he gets attacked by dangerous beasts, I'm going to temporarily lend you Root of Origin to bring him back to life every time he gets killed"

Kirara: "GRGRGRGRGR.... GRGRGRGRGRGR..."

Something interesting that I realized when I was training my skills with Kirara, is that since we are linked by our souls I can temporarily lend him some of my skills, although the effect of the skill is minor, we already tested it and Kirara was able to easily revive several dangerous beasts with Root of Origin, also being a Youkai he has never had a problem with taking lives and since our souls are linked he also has a great hatred for Ghi Bree.

With Root of Origin, as long as there is any body part or even blood left, I can bring a person back as many times as I want, this is one of the most useful parts of this ability.

After that I went back to the warehouse, only a few seconds had passed since I left, so Sairenji was still unconscious, luckily before I lent Root of Origin to Kirara I managed to fix her clothes and return her body to the condition before Ghi Bree started touching her with those tentacles.

Come to think of it, what is this tentacle crap, they look like they have a life of their own but they move with a remote control, I just froze them and they were easily destroyed, most likely Sairenji won't remember anything about this experience when she wakes up, but at some point I'm going to have to apologize to her for putting her through something like this.

Slowly I took her in my arms and carried her gently to the infirmary, luckily since classes had already started there were no students in the halls, so I could carry her quietly without anyone starting strange rumors, I sent a quick message to the cell phone I bought a few days ago for Lala, so I should have already explained the whole situation of why I won't be attending the afternoon class.

When I arrived at the infirmary to my surprise there was no one there, so I laid Sairenji down on a stretcher and put the sheets over her while I sat in the chair next to the stretcher, as I put her back to the moment when she was put to sleep it should take her a while to wake up.

In the end, as expected, Sairenji slept for about an hour, and it wasn't long before the bell rang to signal the end of the school day.

Until she finally began to slowly open her eyes.

Haruna: "Ugh... Nmmm..."

Kenichi: "I see you woke up already Sairenji."

Haruna: "Huh? S-Saruyama-kun?"

Sairenji opened her eyes fully when she saw me sitting next to her, but she was still a bit groggy, so I offered her a glass of water to freshen up a bit.

Kenichi: "Sairenji, what's the last thing you remember?"

Haruna: "The last thing I remember."

Kenichi: "Yes, I was walking around the courtyard, when I found you collapsed on the ground near the tennis courts, I was already getting a little worried because you wouldn't wake up."

Haruna: "Huh, I collapsed? The last thing I remember... Hmm... I just remember that when the physical education class ended.... Sasuga-sensei asked me the favor of arranging some things in the storeroom.... I remember that I finished without much trouble and when I was about to go back... I'm sorry... I don't remember anything else."

Kenichi: "No need to worry so much, although I'm not an expert it seems that you got an intense heat stroke, so it was nothing serious."

Haruna: "I see... I feel a little better now... But my body is still a bit numb."

I started talking to Sairenji for a while until the doorbell rang, a few minutes later Lala appeared along with everyone else.

Lala: "Haruna, are you okay?"

Haruna: "Lala-san."

Momioka: "Haruna, what happened to you?"

Sawada: "We came as fast as we could, Saruyama didn't do anything weird to you did he?"

Kenichi: "Knowing you and Momioka, I would be more worried about leaving her alone with you two, I can't even imagine the kind of shameless things you would do to her"

Momioka: "That I can't deny~"

Shuu: "But what happened to you Kenichi? How did a simple walk end up with you picking up a fragile rose that was lying on the ground? Damn~ You don't know how envious I am of you, you already have Lala-chan but not content you're also targeting Haruna-chan!"

Haruna: "Shuu-kun!"

When Shuu finished speaking he received a powerful punch from Miyamoto that sent him flying quite far away.

Miyamoto: "Don't say unnecessary things."

Onodera: "Are you feeling better now Sairenji-san?"

Haruna: "Yes, I'm feeling much better already thanks to Saruyama-kun, thank you for caring about me Onodera-san"

Raku: "Hey, Kenichi, there is no one in charge of the infirmary."

Kenichi: "No, from what I saw it looks like they had to go out to take care of some business, but luckily it was nothing serious, it looks like it was just heat stroke."

Kato: "Good to hear that it was nothing serious."

We were talking for quite a while animatedly, when Sairenji finally recovered we all walked together, as Sairenji's house is quite close to mine, Lala and I accompanied her together until the end.

Lala: "I am so happy that you are feeling well Haruna!"

The moment we arrived at Sairenji's house, Lala hugged Sairenji with a rather happy expression.

Haruna: "Yes... I'm sorry for making you worry Lala-san... and thank you for taking me to the infirmary Saruyama-kun!"

When I heard her thank me so sincerely I couldn't help but feel a little guilty, good thing I got there before anything more serious happened, from what I saw in the manga and anime, that bastard Ghi Bree was going to take even more advantage of her.

We were talking for a few more minutes until we said goodbye, the whole way Lala was clinging to my arm.

Come to think of it, what happened to Rito, one of the reasons why I only moved when I got the call from Ghi Bree, was because I felt Rito in the vicinity of the school, but after seeing how he didn't move from his place I decided to take action, when we left the school he was all the time looking at us behind a bush.

Lala: "Kenichi, what really happened?"

As expected from Lala, she already realized that her suitor had something to do with what happened to Sairenji.

Kenichi: "The suitor who infiltrated the school was a guy named Ghi Bree."

Lala: "Ghi Bree?!? who was he?"

Lala was thinking for a while but apparently she had completely forgotten who he was, and I can't blame her either, from what I heard the line of her suitors was in the thousands, even with her great genius it's understandable that she doesn't remember them all.

Peke: "Lala-sama, it was that nasty Balkean who transformed into different kinds of people and was always trying to trick her into getting engaged to him."

Lala: "Ah~ Now I remember him, he always gave me the creeps the way he looked at me."

Kenichi: "Yeah, he had an appearance similar to an earth reptile, plus he kidnapped Sasuga-sensei and pretended to be him since yesterday"

Lala: "Now I understand why I was uncomfortable with that teacher's gaze since yesterday."

I was a little hesitant about telling Lala that I killed Ghi Bree, but in the end I decided to tell her, of course I didn't tell her that I already knew that Sairenji was going to be attacked, if I tell her that at some point I would also have to tell her that this world was made based on a manga, for the moment I only told her that I can see other worlds and also receive skills and weapons from them, but the information that they are all from anime and manga is something I prefer to keep to myself.

Kenichi: "The truth Lala, is that Ghi Bree kidnapped Sairenji and held her with some kind of strange tentacles, you could tell that besides holding her hostage he wanted to do lewd things to her."

Lala: "He wanted to do that to Haruna! That's unforgivable! You gave him a good beating, right!"

Kenichi: "Luckily when I arrived he only held her down with those tentacles, he didn't get to do anything to her.... At first he had planned to give her a good beating, but then he started saying that you were going to become his wife.... He also said that he was going to have fun playing with your body and that he was going to train you to become a woman that would suit his tastes.... In the end... I got so angry... That I ended up killing him."

Lala: "..."

At first Lala didn't say anything, if I'm honest that worried me a lot, but to my surprise she suddenly hugged me and started to caress my head like I do with her when she rests her head on my lap.

Lala: "Since I live with Kenichi I've learned a lot of things that I didn't know before, and I think I know perfectly well what's bothering you~ But I can assure you that I'm not going to hate you or stay away from you for doing that to him Ghi Bree, I know you and I know you're not the kind of person who did that for fun, so don't worry, that's not going to make me stop loving you."

After saying that, Lala began to kiss me while hugging me, it was as if she was comforting me.

Peke: "That's right Saruyama-sama, you have nothing to worry about, the Deviluke race is a race of warriors who are used to battle, although Lala-sama being a princess has not had the need to take lives, her father the King of Deviluke to maintain peace in the galaxy sacrificed an innumerable amount of lives. Besides Ghi Bree was one of the worst husband candidates for Lala-sama, in fact even Zastin himself came close to murdering him several times for trying to deceive Lala-sama."

It's true, now that I remember Lala's father even went so far as to destroy planets, To Love-Ru just like most anime that have humor always try to lighten up a bit the dark parts of their stories, like One Piece which had slavery and gun and drug trafficking but because of the funny drawings there were people who tended not to take the disturbing situations that appeared so seriously.

After talking a little more with Lala, we arrived at the house and I told her to go take a bath while I prepared dinner, but first I took the opportunity to return to the Baron Archipelago, it had already been three hours since I left Ghi Bree in this place, that means that three whole days had already passed here.

Kenichi: "Thank you for helping me Kirara, where is Ghi Bree?

Kirara: "GRGRGRGRGRGRGR..."

When I asked Kirara that question, she pointed me in the direction of a tree where a little Ghi Bree stood completely emaciated, his skin was now grey in color and he was much more wrinkled than any grandfather, when I took a good look at him I noticed that there was no life in his eyes anymore, this was a clear sign that he was broken.

I can't blame him either, he practically experimented to revive several times when I killed him, besides the dangerous beasts of this Archipelago must have killed him several times in these three days, the experience of being dismembered and chewed alive must not be pleasant at all.

I decided that I had punished him enough, there was no longer any reason to continue torturing him, I simply turned him into an ice sculpture with my Ice Devil Slayer Magic and shattered him with one last blow.

That marked the end of Ghi Bree's life....