"Shaashaa!"
She clung to Rei Ao, inhaling his scent as though she wanted to melt her entire being into him.
Rei Ao shook his head with a wry smile. "All right, all right. We'll have plenty of time to be close later. First, let me check what's going on."
"Mhm, mhm!"
Tohru obediently let go of him and led him to the end of the corridor.
Rei Ao noticed a pair of glasses and a notebook on the floor.
"That girl was pulled into the Dragon Realm from here."
Tohru raised her hand.
A tiny crack appeared in midair.
"Sorry. It looks like the barriers on both sides have been reinforced, so I can't break through with my power now," Tohru said apologetically, feeling rather useless.
"This isn't your fault." Rei Ao rested his chin on his hand, thinking aloud. "I suspect the Dragon Realm, Heaven, and the Demon Realm have all joined forces to strengthen the barriers."
He reached out and placed his hand on the crack.
Boom!
A dragon's claw, wreathed in crimson fire, thrust straight into the fissure. Under Tohru's admiring gaze, the crack was forcibly torn open, growing wider until it formed a passage big enough for a person to walk through.
With his current level of power, accomplishing this was a simple task.
"Tohru, if you'd rather not go back there, you can wait here for me."
He could tell, from before, that Tohru was reluctant to return to her old world, so Rei Ao intended to go alone.
"Mhm. I'll guard this place properly!"
Rei Ao stepped alone into the spatial rift.
Dragon Realm.
Lucoa was both gentle and curious toward the girl who had come from the human world. She briefly explained to her the relationship between the Dragon Realm and the human world.
It took Rizu Ogata some time to absorb and process this information before she finally calmed down. Though the idea of another world sounded absurd, given the situation, she had no choice but to accept it for now.
However
"How am I supposed to get back home?" she asked.
Lucoa apologized awkwardly, "I'm sorry, but right now one can't easily travel between the Dragon Realm and the human world. If you really want to go back, I'll have to discuss it with the others and then have whichever forces exist on your side come and get you."
Hearing that, Rizu suddenly turned gray with despair. This meant she couldn't return for the time being, and she had no idea when she would be able to. She'd miss her tutoring sessions! Would her father be worried? Her thoughts spun in confusion, and she felt lost.
"Huh?"
Lucoa was just thinking of contacting the Emperor of Demise and the others for a meeting when she suddenly sensed something. She whipped around. A piece ofclaw had appeared in midair.
A dragon's claw!
The concentrated aura of dragon power was so palpable that she recognized it at once.
"A dragon?"
Lucoa grew wary. She had never heard from any of the Heavenly Envoys that there were dragons in that other world. She watched as the spatial fissure grew bigger and bigger. Narrowing her eyes, she steeled herself for combat against an unknown dragon whose power she could not gauge.
And then
A figure emerged from the rift.
"So this is the Dragon Realm"
Just as Rei Ao was about to take in his surroundings, his gaze was drawn as though by gravity to Lucoa's"world spheres."
"'World-Class,'" he muttered instinctively.
"Who are you?" Lucoa asked sternly.
"Eh?" Rizu, distracted by the voice, rubbed her near-sighted eyes. She walked up to Rei Ao, studied him carefully for a moment, and finally recognized him.
"You'reRei Ao? Rei Ao from class?"
Rei Ao calmly pulled his gaze away from those "world-class" assets and smiled at Rizu. "Yes, it's me, Rizu. I've come to take you home."
"!!!"
At those words, Rizuovercome with relief at the sight of someone she knewburst into tears and threw herself into his arms, forcefully colliding into him.
"Sob, sob Rei Ao, I'm so glad I thought I'd never get back"
Having been on the verge of breaking down ever since she arrived, Rizu finally let all her emotions out while clinging to Rei Ao.
"So it's someone she knows," Lucoa murmured, quietly withdrawing the power she had almost unleashed. She and Rei Ao exchanged glances, and the two silently agreed to wait until Rizu's sobs subsided to faint whimpers.
Only then did Rizu realize she was still tightly hugging Rei Ao. She hurriedly stepped back, her face crimson. Hanging her head in embarrassment, she apologized, "S-sorry! I hugged you all on my own"
"It's nothing," Rei Ao reassured her. He took a step forward and gently placed the glasses he had brought onto her face.
Standing so close, Rizu could feel his faint breath on her cheeks, and she tensed up, her heart pounding. A flush crept quickly over her skin.
"Here's your notebook as well," he said, handing it back after adjusting her glasses. Then he asked softly, "Feeling calmer now?"
"Mhmyes," Rizu mumbled back, mortified. She could barely settle down with him this nearher mind was still a swirl of excitement.
At that moment, Lucoawho had been observing Rei Ao curiouslyfinally spoke in a gentle tone, "I am Lucoa, Guardian of the World and Quetzalcoatl God. And you, Dragon-sanwould you mind introducing yourself?"
"Dragon-san?" Rizu blinked her big innocent eyes at Rei Ao, puzzled as to why Lucoa would address him that way.
"Sorry, but I'm not a dragon," Rei Ao corrected her. "I'm Rei Ao, a human being. The dragon you saw is just one of the powers I possess."
He raised his hand. Instantly, his arm changed, covered in red dragon scales, only to return to its human appearance moments later.
"Ah?!"
Rizu's mind went blank. She stared at Rei Ao in shock, the same classmate she used to admire for his brilliant gradessuddenly revealed to be someone beyond even a 'superhero.'
"Ohh, I see," Lucoa remarked with a nod. "No wonder I couldn't sense a dragon aura from your human form. You're quite a fascinating human, Rei Ao. I'm very curious about you."
Rei Ao returned her gaze meaningfully, as though still thinking about those 'world spheres.' "I find youvery intriguing too, Lucoa-san."
~~~
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Chapter 275: Lucoa's Curiosity on Human Realms...
"Rei Ao-san, there's something I don't understand."
"I heard from the heaven envoy that everyone in the human realm is just an ordinary person."
"But you possess a power so strong that even I can't fathom its limits. What's going on here?"
Lucoa had never been to the other realms.
Her knowledge of the human realm, the heaven realm, the demon realm, and the afterlife realm all came from the envoy of the heaven realm.
According to the angels,
of the four realms, the human realmmade up entirely of ordinary humanswas the weakest.
Yet Rei Ao,
this human,
was unreadable to her.
Judging from the aura of a dragon he displayed, his power definitely surpassed her own, and might even exceed that of the End Emperor.
[Name:] Lucia
[Level:] 55
[Abilities]: "Magic," "Quetzalcoatl," "Magic"
In essence, Lucoa truly was weaker than Rei Ao, but her power was also nothing to scoff at.
Rei Ao had only one answer to her question:
"I'm special."
"Special"
Lucoa was momentarily taken aback.
"That really is an interesting response."
Her eyes became more curious as she looked at Rei Ao.
"Rei Ao-san, I sense a familiar presence on youmay I ask?"
"Oh, you must mean Tohru. She's living at my place right now."
He already knew without asking whom Lucoa was referring to.
"As I thought."
A glint flickered in Lucoa's eyes.
Her feeling had been right: that familiar presence was indeed Tohru.
She hadn't expected the missing Tohru to travel to the human realm and meet such a special human.
Rei Ao glanced at the dazed Rizu Ogata and said helplessly, "Someone on that side is really worried about her, so it's okay if I take her back now, right?"
"By the agreement, it's not really permitted to pass between worlds so freely"
Lucoa paused in mid-sentence, then broke into a radiant smile.
"But Rei Ao-san, you're special. Taking her back is fine. I'll reinforce the space afterward."
"You really are easy to talk to," Rei Ao said with a laugh, then took Rizu Ogatawho was still in a dazeby the hand and headed toward the spatial rift.
Just before stepping in, he turned to Lucoa.
"Hope we get another chance to meet next time."
With that, he led Rizu Ogata into the spatial rift.
""
Lucoa watched the calm spatial rift for a while with her heterochromatic eyes.
A corner of her mouth lifted as she murmured quietly, "I'm looking forward to meeting that special human again, too~"
"Rei Ao!"
Tohru breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Rei Ao return. But she wrinkled her brow and leaned in close, sniffing at him. "You smell like Lucoa!"
"You dragons really do have sharp noses. She could smell you, and you can smell her."
Rei Ao remarked in amusement.
"You met Lucoa?!" Tohru asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Mm. The Quetzalcoatl is right on the other side of that spatial rift. Aren't you going to meet your friend?"
"Mm"
Of course Tohru wanted to see her friend,
but she also felt a considerable aversion to that other world.
"Never mind. We can meet again some other time."
She shook her head like a rattle drum.
It seemed Lucoa on the other side felt the same way.
Glancing back, they saw the spatial rift closing while Lucoa added a protective ward to that patch of space.
"In any case, Ogata isn't hurt, and nothing happened to her. Let's give Furuhashi and the others some peace of mind."
Rei Ao took out his phone, switched to the selfie camera, and turned it on himself and Rizu Ogata.
"Ogata, look up. Let's take a picture."
"?"
Still disoriented, Rizu Ogata only followed his voice in a daze.
After taking the photo, he sent it to their study group chat.
"Ogata, I think you need to calm down. Let me take you home first."
"Okay."
Rizu Ogata nodded.
She really did need some time to settle herself.
Her entire worldview had been shattered, leaving her unable to think logically.
Meanwhile, as Rei Ao escorted Rizu Ogata home, Mafuyu Kirisuwho had been anxiously waitingsaw the photo Rei Ao posted in the group chat and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness Rizu Ogata is all right," said Fumino Furuhashi, resting a hand on her rather large belly. She looked much more relaxed now.
"As long as she's okay," Mafuyu Kirisu exhaled.
Even if she knew Rizu Ogata was safe, she still had to make sure.
Mafuyu Kirisu: "@Rei Ao, can you tell me exactly what happened?"
Rei Ao: "Ogata's phone got broken. While she was in the school looking for something, the security guard locked her in by accidentsomething like that."
Fumino Furuhashi: "So that's why we couldn't get through by phone."
Mafuyu Kirisu: "I see. Are you two still at school? Do you want me to come over or call the security office?"
Rei Ao: "No need, I'm taking Rizu Ogata home right now. Don't worry."
Mafuyu Kirisu: "All right."
Fumino Furuhashi: "Then I'm heading home too. Our tutoring session just ended."
Rei Ao: "Be careful on the way."
Mafuyu Kirisu: "It's not just 'be careful.' I'll escort her home myself."
"Huh? Kirisu-sensei, I can just grab a taxi."
Fumino Furuhashi wanted to refuse, but after the scare with Rizu Ogata's disappearance, there was no way Mafuyu Kirisu would let her go alone.
"No, I'm taking you back personally."
"Uh all right."
Seeing how determined she was, Fumino Furuhashi felt it would be awkward to turn her down.
"Um, my house is just up there,"
Tohru headed back first, so Rei Ao walked Rizu Ogata all the way to her front door.
She was still forced to keep her hair in a school-mandated updo, and spoke a bit awkwardly,
lowering her gaze. Her eyes glistened with nervousness as she glanced at her right hand
the one that had been held by that warm, safe-feeling hand.
"Right, let's let Kirisu-sensei know you're home, so she can stop worrying."
Rei Ao took out his phone and snapped another selfie with her, sending it to the study group chat.
After putting the phone away, he let go of her hand.
"Go on"
""
Yet Rizu Ogata didn't walk straight to her door.
Instead, she looked at Rei Ao with a complicated expression, biting her lower lip before asking, "Um about what just happened what will become of me?"
She knew she'd just learned all sorts of unbelievable secrets.
So she wanted to know what would happen now.
~~~
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Chapter 276: I Discovered a Huge Secret!?
Ogata Rizu clutched the hem of her clothes with both hands, looking so tense it was as if she were awaiting a verdict. Coupled with her fair, youthful face and large bust, the sight unintentionally made one want to "pick on" her.
Rei Ao curled his lips into a mischievous smile. He stared into her eyes and asked in return:
"So, what do you think should be done with someone who knows this many secrets?"
"Ugh!"
Ogata Rizu shuddered.
She had seen this kind of thing in movies as well.
"In situations like this, people usually wipe the person's memory or kill them to keep it secret."
Having said that, Ogata Rizu immediately looked terrified.
"Will I end up like that too"
"Hahaha!"
However, Rei Ao merely laughed aloud.
He placed a large hand on her short hair and ruffled it, saying with a smile, "Don't scare yourself. No one's going to wipe your memory, and you're not going to be killed. As long as you know not to go blabbing, you'll be fine."
"Of course, if you want to seal off this memory, I can help you."
The concept of 'freezing'freezing memoriesis no big deal for me.
"II don't want that!"
Ogata Rizu insisted, "I don't want to seal my memories."
"No problem."
Rei Ao shrugged.
"And if you ever want to step into that 'new world,' you can come to me. Just make sure you think it through carefully first."
Finally, he patted her on the head.
"For now, just go home and rest up."
In the next instant, Rei Ao vanished from her sight.
" "
Ogata Rizu stared dumbly at the empty space for a long while.
"Rizu?"
A voice called out behind her.
It was her father.
