Overlord of High School (14)

After saying his goodbye to the trio, of which his sort-of-son was now involuntarily a member, Momonga walked out of Kuoh Academy. He walked in a great arc, to bypass the two girls he had previously met, whose response to his previously demonstrated inhuman abilities he could not think of. Putting that thought aside for the moment, he walked slowly through the streets of the city, looking around thoughtfully while occasionally raising his eyes to the sky. Looking up at the sun of this world setting, he periodically stopped whenever he saw a hedge, birds flying by, cats lying lazily on rooftops, or even just dogs in collars being walked by their owner.

It was only now that he could peacefully appreciate the various things that he missed, things that are beyond him in the future he had left behind.

Yesterday, Momonga was unable to, arriving at the academy by car and leaving it the same way, he had no time to appreciate his surroundings then. And according to Miki's many protests, he had broken a lot of traffic rules in the process. Fortunately, no one had made an issue out of it, though Momonga's suspect that it's by design.

Momonga's main assumption at the moment was that Rias or Serafall had somehow influenced the powers that be in this town. If they were not the powers that be already – Demons doing demonic things have to break a law or two, right?

Anyway, today, having met Serafall and dealt with his rapidly declining social reputation, at least hopefully, Momonga could afford to waste time walking home a bit slower, enjoying his surroundings.

In his past world, Momonga spent most of his time at home or at work, and each time in between either in YGGDRASIL or walking as fast as possible as to not get himself radiation poisoning. Even if he had the time to waste, what would he enjoy seeing? Run down streets, old half-destroyed houses due to lack of repair and constant acid rain, and a roadway completely flooded with gray and black, asphalt, concrete and the occasional poisonous neon light. Those were the things that could be made out from behind the visor of the plastic mask protecting his face and respiratory organs.

That Earth's air was completely unbreathable, ash, poisonous gases and radioactive particles could easily make their way into the human body. All of it leading to diseases in a matter of weeks, maybe even days if the person themselves were unfortunate. Momonga had heard that some rich people could afford a modified breathing system that could work as a respirator.

But, it was such an expensive thing that those who possessed it, from Momonga's perspective, were practically gods that he might see only in news stories.

Any greenery or living creatures existed so far away from Momonga that he only encountered them on the rare occasions when he went to any of the arcologies or was allowed on the doorstep of a rich person's house. And even these rich people could not afford to see the Sun again, it being completely obscured by a multi-kilometer layer of dust and ash in the sky.

In other words, the view that Momonga now enjoyed in this world was better than anything he had seen before… other than in his beloved game, that is.

In YGGDRASIL, of course, Momonga could see whole forests and rivers and the Sun and other fantastic landscapes, like floating continents or asteroids in space. But it all existed only in the game, and with the limitations of sensation in place, Momonga would never mistake something like that for reality. The same thing he saw now was real, his senses told him so.

Momonga stopped several times, touching the budding green leaves of the slowly growing spring trees, looking at the animals and birds quietly existing among humans and not arousing their interest, smiling inwardly a little. All the little things that were irreplaceable treasures in the future, in the palms of his hands. 'Friends… You would love it here. Blue Planet, what you always dreamed of – right here.'

A moment later, that peaceful serenity was ruined when a man crashed into Momonga, and almost instantly, that warm feeling inside Momonga was gone, replaced by irritated anger.

'What's wrong with this place! First Katase, then this blond guy, would someone else come to complete the trifecta!? Have the demons decided to defeat me by throwing random irritants at me, or was it the norm on Earth in the past, for people to always try to do things to random passersby?!'

Momonga turned around, looking at a young boy who had a look of surprise on his face, and judging by his young appearance, also a schoolboy, and quite possibly also from Kuoh Academy judging by his uniform.

Momonga felt irritation blooming within him as the young man rudely interrupted his peaceful walk. His emotion had already almost gotten the better of him, handling the Pervert Trio, minus Pandora's Actor, of course. In fact, it was only the memory of Touch Me that stayed his hand when one of the duo tried to argue for his continued harassment of the girls! Remembering the tired appearance of Herohero whose body was wracked by stress, Momonga was even tempted to 'remove' the duo from the equation permanently.

He was so irritated that he had almost shown off a part of his ability to possible enemies! Sure, it would be just his heightened physical abilities… One that the demons probably already knew off, and an ability that is easily disguised or reasoned away – but it was the principle of things!

Luckily for Momonga, and the perverts, his heightened emotion was dampened enough to let them live after passing on his ultimatum. This new irritant, however, one that had interrupted his reminiscing of his past, made Momonga almost rethink that line of action, at the very least the one about stealing money from random pedestrians.

"I'm sorry," The guy who fell to the ground was at least aware of the need to apologize. But since Momonga was no longer in demon territory, and wasn't planning on using this random encounter as a possible card in case of negotiations, he didn't bother with niceties. He didn;t bother lending a hand to the fallen man, letting the guy rise on his own and shake himself off as Momonga took that time to look him over.

He was a short, trim-looking guy with short disheveled blond hair and gray eyes, wearing a loose-fitting school shirt. And before Momonga could see more, the boy finished shaking himself off of any errant debris and dust, before taking one last look back at Momonga, then shook his head and turned around, walking away.

Momonga wondered if there was any point in continuing the conversation for a chance to gather more data. The guy had already apologized to him, and while Momonga could have pursued the man who had left on his own, it was just a whim generated solely by his irritation at the man and his own lost thoughts.

'If anyone crashes into me one more time today – I'll be very angry.' Momonga noted inwardly coldly, before returning his attention to his nature observation. Sadly, the green hedge and a small bird looking back at him carefully from the height of the lamppost, no longer elicit joy as it had just a few seconds before.

'The creatures of the lower levels may not be capable of posing a threat to my life – but they are definitely capable of irritating and annoying me.' Momonga shook his head slowly once more, then once again sunk into his one head.

'Umu, while the rude interruption was annoying, seeing that there's no longer any point in spending time on nature watching, my contemplation would be better suited to other matters. In this case, money, and where to find them.'

Once again, Momonga found himself in dire need of money, it seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

'Okay Momonga, you need to find the money needed to pay for the school, would they demand that I pay for the day I spent there, or would it be a monthly thing? Actually, what if they demand payment for the entire year!? I've heard of, what is it called again, a school year? If that were the case, I'll need some serious source of income to pay for that, even if education seems somewhat cheap in this world!'

Dropped from the peace brought on by the beautiful nature into a stressful situation where he now has to worry about earning money again, Momonga was quite glad for his ability to temper his emotions.

'Ha, I can't believe I laughed at Genjiro, when he bought himself some dumbbells to try to keep his body in shape, given his job's great toll on his body. He was so excited, claiming to everyone that he would soon have more energy to play YGGDRASIL. He had stopped after only a week.

Ha, and here Momonga is repeating Genjiro's mistake, if not worse. Here he is, on the cusp of bankruptcy in a spending spree from a moment of passion.'

Where would one find such large sums of money, and quick? Something illegal. Momonga doesn't think that selling his organs would be the way to go at this point.

Momonga had to get a large sum of money in a short period of time – in other words, he needed a high risk, high reward job or opportunity. How about arena fighting? There were places like those in the future, would there be something similar here? There are real monsters in this world, so maybe he could leverage his powers to hunt monsters? Martial pursuits suited him well, given the much lower level of this world.

But how would he find those? He lacked the connections to get himself into one!

Back to his original idea, stealing could also work if he could easily determine which of the people he could meet were rich, and there lies the crux of the problem. The usual criteria for determining wealth from his past world were poorly suited to this world, due to the fact that almost anyone could afford pets or real meat here. Determining the quality of clothing or cars was quite difficult for Momonga without more knowledge about their worth.

The easiest of the options, robbing the largest of the personal estates he could see, could work. But, Momonga had seen a girl in a Kuoh Academy's uniform, who had magical powers, living in one, so that plan might not be too safe. There was too great a chance of running into demons of this world if he did not gather information about the place beforehand.

The next and last option – excluding the most drastic one, the sale of the items in his inventory and Yggdrasil gold, which he was never going to do ideally, seems for him to gamble. And to cheat extensively.

'Okay.' Momonga concluded his plans with a sigh. 'I hope the demons wouldn't raise too much of a hassle if I break a part of our agreement and leave the Miki residence. At the very least, I could defend myself by saying that I was attacked in their territory. Something like 'who cares where I am, if there is no safe zone for me in this city, I am attacked even in your own territory!' Oh, that sounds good, I'll have to remember that!'

It was with these thoughts that Momonga nodded to himself almost contentedly and continued on his way through the city.

***

Miki wiped the table, just as she had done for many days, months, years before, with a slight smile on her face.

"Issei… " Before the thought could finish forming, like a light switch, Miki tossed the old thought aside, instantly creating a new one.

"Satoru will be back soon – lunch is almost ready, just in time for his return. If he returned late, though, it might be not too hot anymore for dinner. I hope he likes katsudon."

"Gorou should be…" Another flick, and the unfinished thought melted into oblivion in Miki's mind, replaced by another.

"Satoru will already be home, no one else will come, so I don't think there's a need to re-heat the food, so there's really nothing to do… Hmm, maybe I could mop the floors? It's not time to do the chore yet, it's quite the waste of effort since the floor is still clean after the time I mopped up the vomit stains… But what else is there to do? I've already done the other chores, the only other thing to do is the laundry, but they're still drying. It's not like I could speed that up."

Thoughtlessly wiping the already clean table, Miki began to speak to herself her plans, perhaps as a method to stave away the silence, or perhaps for some other reason. Miki was not in the state of mind to question why she was speaking to herself as she brought the dirtied rag to the sink to rinse it before hanging it to dry in its usual place.

"Well, there's one thing I could do – I could actually clean Issei's room…" Miki couldn't even finish the thought before her head ringed with pain, as if her mind had hit an insurmountable obstacle at full speed, trying to understand and comprehend the sliver of memory that had come unbidden like reflex.

"Issei is my son…" Miki suddenly felt a strange pressure in the back of her mind, as if that blurb of simple thought, which Miki knew to be true, were rejected vehemently by her psyche. Her head felt like it was squeezed by a tight band, as she tried to force herself to think about her son.

"I remember this, I gave birth to him. I gave birth to him from Gorou." Bit by bit, the re-emerging thought forced others like it to the forefront of Miki's head, causing great pain as if her brain were shrieking as the memories moved painfully like a rusty gate. "He lived in this house, he has his own room here – my son, Issei's room…"

Miki felt a great thumping migraine began to build up, as if these emerging memories were erroneous puzzle pieces in Miki's view of the world. As seconds passed, Miki struggled to fit these memories in her head, each moment like lashes to her flesh – before, with a shrug of her shoulder, she gave up.

"Oh well, I won't clean there – I'll ask Satoru what I should do next."

Instantly, with that thought, the pressure in Miki's mind disappeared like a mirage, as if the great she had felt never existed, and in fact she even felt refreshed! "Ah, Satoru, I really must thank you! When I think of you, everything becomes much easier, and I don't have to decide myself… Thanks a lot!"

"Oh-ho-ho, indeed, as one would expect," Issei's sudden voice behind her startled Miki, causing her to turn around with a start, as if she hadn't expected to see Issei in this house…

'Although, he did live here…' The thought caused a slight migraine to rise again. Though this time it might be because she had looked at Issei, who didn't seem the least bit concerned or curious at the obvious confusion on Miki's face, continuing to watch her as if she were a particularly interesting exhibit.

"Issei?" Miki, after a moment, feeling the pressure building in her head, finally addressed her son. "You should go to your room."

"Why would I, mother?" Issei only took a step closer to her, contrary to his usual obedient behavior, if slightly fearful, towards Miki.

"Doesn't your son have to eat lunch, mother? What kind of mother are you, then, if you can't feed your child?"

Miki unconsciously took a step back, watching warily as Issei, her son, approached her, all the while the pressure building inside her skull and the headache began to intensify. "Issei, go to your room…"

"When Satoru comes home, he will tell you what you need to do." The words and the memory of Satoru, for a moment, relieved Miki of the pain she felt. She didn't like to think much, the pain blinding each time she tried, but when her gaze was focused once again, the pain returned a moment later, when she saw that Issei was even closer now. Miki tried to take one more step back, to not have Issei's figure anywhere in her sight, before finding out that she had cornered herself.

Her back lightly struck the fridge's door, there's no more room to escape.

"Of course, mutter, of course." Issei nodded lightly, and perhaps it was simply a product of her imagination, but Miki felt as if there was something out of place, before the pain at seeing Issei up close forced her to forget that thought.

"When He comes, everything will be much easier… But before He Himself appears – Father has given me the sacred grace, the duty, the right to praise Him even more in the chorale of this play. And I certainly will endeavor to do my utmost." Something in Issei's voice, his tone of voice, words – warped. His speech began to change, the cadence of it causing waves of pain and nausea to bloom in Miki's head.

And to add to the growing pain in Miki's mind, a new one was added, but this time of a different sort entirely. It was a completely different kind and type of pain, as if one wave of nausea from having memories dredged up was rising inside her, while another from not understanding it. And, instead of conflicting with each other, each wave flowed into the other, rising as a single tsunami.

"Issei, I don't…" The nausea and pain began to penetrate the thin film of her mind that still hid the remnants of her inner self, the Miki she had been only days ago.

"I don't understand Issei, what are you talking about…"

"Issei is dead." The Issei in front of Miki's eyes suddenly said calmly, even when he had said something so damaging to her psyche, almost with a slight smile. "Father decided that it would be so, and so it was."

"Is… Issei is dead?" Miki hesitated to ask, to confirm, feeling as if someone had picked up that thin, leaky film of consciousness that was called 'Miki', inside her personality and began to gently pull it to the edge. "I don't understand…"

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out, soon." Her son, 'Issei' shrugged once more, then raised his hand up, making Miki see how the arm seemed to melt like wax. The shock of seeing such a thing making her body felt numb completely, as it confirmed her greatest fear, the truth that she didn't want to acknowledge

Where there were five human, short but nimble fingers, there were now four long, spider-like, small easily bendable rods, much longer than the human ones that Issei slowly twirled in the air, as if to demonstrate their nightmarish reality.

Miki opened her mouth to cry out, but realized that her mouth couldn't move, it was as if she was in a waking nightmare.

"Your son, Issei, is dead." Issei – no, the unknown being that had taken his form slowly swept his fingers through the air, moving it with a kind of painful dexterity and grace. Then his hand, placed in front of Miki herself, began to flow once again, like boiling wax, turning back into a human hand, the fifth finger re-appearing with an imperceptible disgusting attraction.

"He was murdered."

"How…? Who…?" Miki could only mutter her question quietly, as if she didn't actually want her question answered, fearing that the last tethers holding herself together were already fraying. The damage her mind had taken, exposing the farthest, deepest, most recent remnants of her memories and her personality, her own self, her self-awareness.

"Father uttered it, and so it was." The creature masquerading as her son smiled, then shifted her gaze to Miki carefully.

"That is, the one who now bears the name 'Satoru Suzuki' has done it."

Miki could only hear a ringing sound in her ear, unable to parse what the creature in front of her was saying. Slowly, ineffably, the mesh of makeshift film that had covered up the wounds in her mind were scratched away, exposing a small passage into the core of her personality.

"What?"

"Listen to yourself, you know it to be true." The creature shook its head slightly. "You know, you've felt firsthand how Father plays his game. Every one of His actions has meaning, every coincidence is a puzzle piece in the whole picture. Even random hints are manifestations of his infinite wisdom, and any 'mistakes' he made, were left as a false trace, drawing fools to their perdition…"

Miki opened her mouth, trying to ask, to shout denials, but she froze, feeling as the words freeze in her throat, in a desperate spasm trying to suffocate her before she could utter a word.

'No, no, not Satoru! He's a good person, he wouldn't kill Issei' Miki tried, throwing off all the bolts of reason and memory, releasing outward their flow, to bring her memories into the light. 'No, it all doesn't make sense, it absolutely doesn't make sense, it's not!'

"Where did such confidence come from, mutter?" The creature shook its head as if it were watching a film it loved, but had seen it so many times that every line was therefore completely predictable.

"You panic, searching the corners of your mind for an answer, but all you see is what's inside, instead of an answer, is understanding. Awareness. The Truth."

As if the first slip had been the sign of an avalanche, moment by moment, word by word, memories began to rise in Miki's mind.

A betrayal that made no sense, that appeared in spite of all reality. A pain that turned to nothingness through a sip of water. A dream that stepped without warning on an exhausted mind. A taste that melted fire where there could be none. A path that didn't mesh with what was possible. Documents that mean nothing.

Actions, thoughts, things that don't make sense, repeating all over and over again, meaningless, insane, irrational.

Miki felt with infinite horror how empty it was becoming inside her, with a quiet moment, awareness collided with the insides of her personality, consuming her last tethers to reality like acid.

"No, no, no!" Miki couldn't tell whether she was screaming in reality or just inside her mind, desperately tearing at her throat to deny her own memory.

"Every moment, every awareness, every thought that you thought was your own is something that was bestowed upon you by Father," The creature said calmly and quietly and Miki realized, with an emotion that she could no longer comprehend. Nothing seems to make sense anymore, Miki felt like she was like a ship lost in a storm, with nothing tethering herself to reality. It felt as if her mind was but one more strike away from disappearing altogether.

"You were given a part in a play, you were given the lines, and you acted on them without realizing that you were only dancing on the Puppeteer's string. Every moment of lucidity a mercy of the Supreme Being given to you, and again and again you took step after step, mistaking it to be under your own will. All the while, unable to realize how far the gulf between the very concept of the Supreme Being, His infinite, overarching will – and you were."

Miki didn't even know if she felt anything from that revelation, if she could even think of anything in the first place. With a placid awareness, Miki Hyoudou understood only that she had finally lost her mind, left without a mask to hide behind, to hide from the voice and the words that seemed to pierce her very soul.

"You realize this, the one you called 'Satoru Suzuki' – is the Supreme Being. And you, your every action, your every movement was part of His plan, stretching through worlds and times beyond the understanding of inferior beings. Perhaps you yourself, your life until this moment, perhaps the existence of this city, this country, your entire human race, or even this world was but one countless little note in the margins of His Great Play. And all of it was only for this single moment that I, my Father's son, tells you His will. Isn't it glorious?"

The last drop of her self-consciousness collided with the Truth, which without any reason were perceived only as pure truth, the truth that they were, and evaporated a moment later, melting into nothingness.

And there was no more Miki Hyoudou.

***

Momonga returned to Miki's house a couple of hours later after his fruitless search for a casino in Kuoh City. 'Umu, that's the end of my ideas, I don't know where to make money in Kuoh anymore…'

Momonga would have been happy to find a suitable, legal way to make money, but he wasn't too smart to come up with a possible way in a moment's notice. Additionally, he was severely limited by his rather relative knowledge of the realities of Earth's past.

He could, of course, function in society using his knowledge and magic, he might even be quite comfortable just by using his magic to guarantee his livelihood. But that was a path he couldn't take, as it would just put a target on his back.

But if not by using his Magic, what then? The Earth of this time was devoid of much of the ordinary and everyday things of his past world, while also possessing a number of unique traits of its own that Momonga was not even aware of.

'If only I had some source of information about this world that I could turn to openly for questions. Miki is a good start, a great source for a cover in this world, but she does not know that I am not her husband's son by another woman at all. I don't think that asking her basic questions that I should've known just by living wouldn't arouse suspicions… What if the supernaturals here read her mind and figure out that I'm actually not from this world? It's for the same reasons I can't approach other people, especially if I don't want to reveal a single fact about myself to the demons. It's better to turn them against myself in the end than to reveal such important information to them myself. Especially considering that if they demand to know it explicitly, it will already mean that the demons have moved to open confrontation. At that point, I'd better retreat to Nazarick and prepare for the ensuing battle…'

Momonga, making his way to the front door opened with a hunched shoulder, tired from his excursion in Kuoh City. Having so many eyes on him while he took that stroll was so exhausting! He was about to enter the house before he froze, suddenly coming up with a great idea.

'Wait, but I do have such a source of information! Raynare! How could I forget about her!? She definitely knows more about this place and Fallen Angels, being a creature of Sin, should know all about making money! And besides, she already knows about me and Nazarick, and Demiurge kind of vouched for her… She's perfect! Right, I should check on her today and grill her about it.'

A moment later, delighted by the unexpected good fortune that came his way, Momonga walked through the door with a skip to his step, and then, once inside the house, sniffed as a great smell wafted from inside the house. 'Ah, it smells great! I have no idea what Miki made, but I'm already excited!'

After undressing, that is unequipping his school uniform and replacing it with his casual wear, Momonga walked toward the kitchen, expecting to find Miki cooking. Momonga nearly collapsed on the ground in pure shock when he found Issei, that is Pandora's Actor still in his uniform, sitting on a chair pulled out next to the table. And Miki, lying on her back, neatly nestled beside the Actor's chair.

Miki looked completely exhausted and with her head turned to the side with saliva running down her lips, which had already created a little puddle under her cheek. At least with that position she's in no danger of choking, Momonga's shocked mind helpfully pointed out, remembering some half-forgotten first aid lessons.

Miki's eyes were closed, and Miki herself showed no signs of life, but a quick check with the [Life Essence] made it clear to Momonga that she was alive. And if he remembered correctly the appearance of her health in the past, was perfectly healthy, or she was actually near death. The difference between the two states for the first level was so small that Momonga could not be completely sure.

Shifting his gaze from Miki, who hadn't even moved when Momonga entered the kitchen, Momonga had to stop himself from cursing. How? How did this happen? I thought I had communicated clearly with Pandora's Actor, so how did this happen?

Momonga paused, as he looked at Pandora's Actor with clear expectations, waiting for an explanation from him about Miki's current state.

Pandora's Actor, however, not catching the thoughts from Momonga's gaze, or maybe the problem was that he was still maintaining the mask of polite kindness that had already begun to become customary to him, didn't start talking. Instead, he just continued looking at Momonga with a look that could not be described in any other way than 'fearful pride', like a child who thinks that he has performed his assigned task perfectly. Yet, at the same time, was afraid of the reaction of his parent. Looking at that expression, Momonga could no longer hold on to any bad thoughts he might have had about Pandora Actor's actions – this is his fault in the end.

'Haaaaaaah…' Momonga felt the incomprehensible emotion that had risen from the depths of his mind begin to dissipate with a deep mental sigh, even before Momonga's racial abilities would suppress it when it rose above a certain level.

'Hmm, am I starting to get a better handle on my emotions? Great, there's at least one silver lining to the headache inducing situation. If this sort of thing keeps happening, I'll become the consummate master of keeping my emotions under control… Of course, I'd rather want this kind of thing to not happen anymore, but somehow I feel like if it's already a moot point, nothing will stop it from happening again… Huh, I had left Nazarick as a holiday of sorts, but now I need a rest from that holiday. Actually, before I tried to get a holiday from my holiday, what actually happened here?'

After a moment, Momonga was finally able to formulate a proper response and began to speak. "Umu, Issei… What exactly happened here?"

"I accomplished what you instructed me to do, Father!" With exultant pride, Pandora's Actor answered instantly, as he then broke into a smile, but after a moment, as if he had caught something in Momonga's gaze, his smile began to fade rapidly. " Did I do something wrong, Father?"

"No, no!" Momonga immediately hastened to reassure him, still not quite sure exactly how he was supposed to interact with his son, but knowing that he didn't want to upset him. "You did everything right, only, ahem… I would like to know what exactly have you done with Miki?"

"Oh, that!" Pandora's Actor expression instantly returned with a radiant smile on his face. "I extinguished the remnants of her personality, reason and understanding, preparing her as a perfect empty vessel to accept Your will! In the most ideal way for that, as You had commanded, Vater!"

Momonga didn't even pay attention to the German words that slipped into Pandora Actor's speech, again, much more concerned about what had happened and the sight of Miki. Who, to all appearances, had indeed, as Actor said, lost everything but her life, being in fact a vegetable. 'Okay, so it's somehow my fault again… My orders, that I didn't remember giving, which Pandora's Actor again understood in an unknown way, simply because he is much smarter than me… And this somehow led to some event that Pandora's Actor thought was perfect, and now, in his perception, he has only done what I ordered him to do… Only this has led to the fact that Miki Hyoudou is now lying on the ground as a living corpse and I have absolutely no idea what to do about it!'

Momonga's emotions did come back again as his mind coped with the realization of what had happened, but were dispelled a moment later. 'Umu, to put it in the most correct terms, this is a disaster, an absolute disaster, which caps off the series of disasters that my introduction into the human world has been. Or, in other words, the Hyoudou family has been completely destroyed. Issei is dead, Gorou has been sent to God knows where, and Miki has turned into a living corpse. In my attempt to arrange things as peacefully as possible in this family, as if in some strange mockery of fate, I have destroyed this family completely… Ha, I need a vacation…'

Momonga wanted to curse his luck, but was unable to do so with Pandora's Actor right in front of him.

'Okay, enough with the whining, Momonga! Such a waste of time wouldn't help solve anything!'

With another blast of his Emotional Suppression, Momonga finally found his equilibrium again.

'Okay, Momonga you're calm now. So, what to do with Miki next? According to Pandora's Actor, Miki had just had her mind broken, something that is impossible to do in YGGDRASIL, so, how could I fix it? Maybe I could use ample amounts of [Control Amnesia] and erase Miki's last memories of what happened? But then Pandora's Actor would guess that I lied to him, and that he did something wrong. Especially since he'd obviously be in this world for a longer time than me, he would find out that I healed Miki sooner than later. Would [Cure Insanity] work on her? That's as close to her current state as I can imagine. But that would run into the same problem as Pandora's Actor figuring it out.'

Numerous ideas flashed in Momonga's head and were just as quickly discarded.

'Perhaps, I can do an experiment? Use something like [Dominate] on Miki and see if a strong mind control spell can bring her back to sanity? I don't sense any magic from Miki, so trying to dispel the magic is also useless… The easiest thing to do, is to get rid of her, but then there would be immediate questions about her absence. I've already connected my identity to her at least once, and people already saw her accompanying me. And, judging by the fact that a police officer stopped by this morning, who also saw me with her, if anything, I would be the very first suspect for her disappearance. I am not so much afraid of persecution as the fact that the demons might obtain a strong card against me in that case. This is a troubling conundrum, Miki needs to be brought back to herself, but I actually have no idea how to do that.'

With no easy idea forthcoming, Momonga had to start thinking of using the more 'expensive' options, spells that he would usually reserve for emergency situations. And this situation definitely fits the bill.

'Maybe I could use some Super-Tier magic, like [Child of Humanity] to fix Miki? But, even I ruled out the problems with doing that, foremost of all being that I don't know how such spells would work here, it's not a tenable plan. Of course, doing it in a city controlled by Demons is a foolish idea. It's not exactly the most inconspicuous of spells. The moment I cast it, all the Demons in the city and probably the entire country would flock to my position, especially when I'm vulnerable. No, Super-Tier magic is not the way to go, that is of course unless I'm planning on bringing Miki to Nazarick, and there's no way I could keep that secret.'

With all his avenues blocked, Momonga was on the verge of giving up, about everything really.

'Huh, I have about zero ideas on how to get Miki back to normal, and I can't turn to anyone with this information… Maybe it's not too late to just get the whole Nazarick together and confess to everyone personally that I have absolutely no idea what is even going on in this world. That I am not at all as smart as they think, and just put up with their reactions to these actions?'

Momonga shook his head a little at that idea, then immediately noticed how Pandora's Actor were looking at his action with great interest. Unable to bear that look of pride, especially at the moment, Momonga would be happy to find any distraction to the conundrum in front of him, and decided to do something that he wouldn't normally do.

He allowed Pandora's Actor to ask him a question, something he usually avoided at all costs with the denizens of Nazarick, since he usually didn't have an answer for them, and yet had to act like he did.

"Is there something you wanted to ask me?"

"How perceptive, Father." Pandora's Actor nodded momentarily, but Momonga did not dignify another undeserved praise with even a thought in the current circumstances. "Father, for a moment the question arose in my mind, what role was in store for Miki in your Great Play?"

'I had high hopes for the role of my adoptive mother and not a vegetable on perpetual life support, but as you can see, I had hoped for nothing,' Momonga exhaled internally, then thought about it. Even if he really did imagine for a moment that he could somehow miraculously bring Miki back, what next? If not by using [Control Amnesia] to simply erase her memory, then she remains a giant threat. Even if Momonga were to exit the picture now, Pandora'a Actor couldn't as he had to play the part of Issei for some time, at least if Momonga didn't want to draw the attention of the Demons. It would be such a waste.

As Issei, no one has ever questioned or attempted to test Pandora's Actor, nor did anyone even found anything strange with him, as Pandora's Actor perfectly impersonated Issei. If I were to restore Miki's mind, Pandora's Actor would immediately be found out right away, but if I don't, it will cause more questions and problems. Keeping her under a charm spell indefinitely won't work either, they're noticeable to anyone who could use any spell of appraisal.

Especially considering that Momonga himself would obviously have to use a high enough Tiered spell to do it, and hiding such information can only cause more questions. Furthermore, an errant cast of dispelling spells and the whole tower would crumble down, in other words…

'I can't find Miki's place - and yet after what I already did with her - I would at least like to compensate her somehow for what happened.'

"I'd like for her to continue to act as my mother, Issei's mother, a housewife and, um, I guess, Gorou's ex-wife already." Momonga sighed as he finally answered Pandora Actor's question, feeling quite exhausted by the numerous mental work he just did.

"For her to do pretty much the same things she was doing before she met me… And at the same time, I'll be honest, I'd like to take care of her."

"In other words, Father…" Actor held up one finger and rubbed his chin. "Like a pet?"

Momonga inwardly cringed, if you think about it that way, his description was really close to a pet, not a human. Momonga didn't feel too close to the people of this world, it wasn't his world, and he wasn't human anymore. And if anyone ever found out that he was undead, the powers that be of this world would probably try to destroy him or take him over. But at the same time, the simple and true observation from Pandora's Actor, did answer Momonga, that he had considered Miki something of a pet.

A morality pet if nothing else.

He definitely empathized with her and wanted to 'apologize' to Miki for what had happened, but he also did not feel obliged to agonize over it, to admit his mistakes, repent of his sins and the like. The first thought he had when he saw Miki's broken self, was to get rid of her and how to do it. He regarded Miki's life primarily in terms of its value to himself and his plans, not as something self-valuable…

And he didn't find such a thing troubling to him even now, when it was pointed out to him. Only being rather surprised at how easily and accurately astute Pandora's Actor had pointed out the essence of his attitude toward Miki. "Yes, like a pet."

Momonga would have liked to take care of Miki and make up for what had happened, but he didn't consider himself really 'obligated' to do so. And even the ideal he imagined for Miki was that she would still continue to take care of him, cook good food, clean the house and not interfere in his affairs. Just sitting in her allotted corner and doing the things she was allowed to do, exactly like a pet, except of the human variety.

'Umu, I see.' Momonga took a deep and drawn-out inward sigh. 'I have only one idea of how I can still, in theory, fix this, an idea that's stupid, but it's all I have. If that doesn't work out, ha… I guess I'll have to admit to Pandora's Actor that I have no idea what plan he thought I had, and just go forward with erasing Miki's memories. And after that? Umu, I can probably escape this world by making Pandora's Actor pretend that I erased his memory of me or make up something like that and try and maybe go to another world. There seems to be a lot of those here…'

"Okay, excellent work Pandora's Actor, but for now, I'm going to conduct an experiment, after which I need to return to Nazarick for a while. As for Miki, umu, Miki better let her stay home for the next 24 hours. Do observe her carefully, and if you find anything unusual, you can neutralize her at least until I arrive, and if that happens… I think we need to talk seriously about what to do next." Momonga admitted with a serious and heavy heart to Pandora's Actor, to which he only nodded back equally just as seriously.

'The only way I can think of that might work, is the old electronics way, on and off. In YGGDRASIL, dying would get rid of all kinds of statuses, so I have reason to hope it will work in this case, even when exposed to a status that did not exist in YGGDRASIL. At the same time, it would also work as a test for the effect of resurrection abilities.' Momonga momentarily shook his head as a plan for action formed in his head.

'Well, let's hope that at least it won't have any unintended consequences!'

Momonga couldn't help but think that he might have jinxed himself there.