"Hey, wake up—stop sleeping." Tohka, who had been napping on her throne, suddenly felt herself being shaken. When she opened her eyes, she saw her other self.
"Mm…what is it? Is it time to eat?" But she was still half-asleep and just asked Inverse Tohka drowsily.
"Eat, eat—eating is all you ever think about." Inverse Tohka looked at her, veins popping on her forehead. She didn't even want to comment anymore: "My spiritual energy is almost depleted, hurry up and switch out, or your little girlfriend is going to lose her mind."
"Mm, okay, I'll go out right now." Hearing this, Tohka jolted awake completely. She didn't dare waste another second and immediately took over her body again.
"Hey, Tohka—Tohka, are you okay? Don't scare me like this." Holding the now-limp Tohka, Miku Izayoi called out worriedly. This was too terrifying—how could someone just suddenly pass out? But she didn't want to draw a crowd, so she kept her voice low.
"Mm…Miku? Why are you dressed like this?" Slowly opening her eyes, Tohka noticed Miku Izayoi in a maid outfit.
Bonk.
"Ow—ow, that hurts!"
"You idiot—so you're finally back to normal?" Watching Tohka crouch down holding her head after taking a righteous punch, Miku Izayoi's anger finally boiled over: "If that woman was going to come out, why couldn't you at least give me a heads-up? Do you know how much you scared me today? Hmph—come with me. I'm going to buy you a proper outfit."
"Yikes…"
…..
"So, tell me—why do humans always have to hurt each other?" Tohka muttered, speechless, as they got back to their hotel room.
Originally, Miku was her only maid, but now it had turned into two. What nerve snapped in that girl's brain—she had dragged Tohka to wear that ridiculous thing too.
"Hmph." Miku Izayoi snorted coldly at her grumbling. But she also regretted it a little now. What was wrong with her today? She'd been so busy tormenting Tohka she forgot she herself was still in a maid costume.
She wished she could slap herself. At least she'd used her power to divert everyone's attention before dragging Tohka back here.
"But look, Tohka—this city isn't exactly peaceful lately." Just then, Miku spotted the newspaper that had been delivered to the room. The front page detailed several murders from the previous night. The photos weren't printed—maybe because they were too graphic—but the description alone was disturbing.
"Ugh…what now? This world really is full of disasters…" Curious, Tohka took the newspaper from Miku's hand: "This is…"
Her expression darkened as she read. According to the article, the victims had died in bizarre ways—like they'd been completely drained, their cells all in a state of necrosis.
"This way of dying…why does it sound so familiar?" She frowned, speaking uncertainly. Even without detailed photos, the description alone was enough to paint a grisly picture in her mind.
"This probably wasn't done by an ordinary person. It feels…like a demon." As she spoke, Tohka remembered an old movie she'd once seen. There had been a very handsome knight in it—though his appearance…well, most people would run the other way if they saw him.
"Wait—what did you just say? A demon?" But Miku had heard every word and immediately perked up with interest: "Are you telling me there are demons in this world too? Seriously? Are they the ones with weird horns and huge wings on their backs? Oh—do they have hearts?"
"Uh…well…" Miku's enthusiasm caught Tohka off guard.
After thinking it over, she finally continued: "I don't know where you got those ideas, but real demons are a bit different from myths. Normally, they don't come to the human world—because doing so greatly limits their powers. The stronger they are, the bigger the limitation. And even so, they'd still be powerful enough to cause huge chaos here. But usually, they don't bother."
"Mm, is that so…so where do they stay? Are they like Thor and that mischievous Loki—living on some other planet?" After all, they'd already run into Norse gods. Hearing there were demons too—how could she not be curious?
"No, not quite. If they lived on other planets, they wouldn't be so limited." Tohka shook her head: "They exist in another dimension—a place unique to demons. That's their true home. Most demons can't break through the dimensional barrier. Only the really powerful ones can come here—and even then, they're severely weakened. But even at half-strength, they're still enough to wreak havoc. Still, most of them wouldn't bother."
"Should we go take a look? From the way you're talking, it sounds like they're not that scary." Miku's eyes lit up. She hadn't been in this world long, but she'd already seen aliens, gods—everything. So in her eyes, demons were just another type of powerful being. Nothing special.
"That's probably not a good idea. They really are dangerous." This wasn't something she was making up. She didn't know exactly how strong they were—but if she was talking about one of those at full power, even her Inverse self probably wouldn't stand much chance. It wasn't exaggeration—there were too many God-level beings in the Marvel universe. Some could even challenge the five primordial cosmic entities. Sure, they'd usually needed tricks and favorable conditions—but even so, it showed how terrifying their power was.