"Staying by my side the longest… Loki-sama, I'm just an ordinary person."
Tsunayoshi stressed the point.
"Oh? Do you really think so?" Loki's smile turned sly. "You think someone who can imagine and then create monsters unrestricted by life form or shape is 'ordinary'? Or that a reincarnate who carries memories from a previous life is a normal person? Will you face birth, aging, sickness, and death so easily? With power like yours, won't you want more? And don't you think I'd expect that of you?"
Tsunayoshi's cheek twitched. He knew Loki's eyes were sharp, but not this sharp. As a reincarnate, of course he longed for a longer life. If he were truly ordinary, perhaps he could accept a quiet, finite lifetime. But he had a strange "plug-in," and at thirteen it had handed him hope beyond imagination. How could he not wish for longevity?
He exhaled, still impressed. "Loki-sama's eyes are really something… you even saw through that."
"Heh. My eyes have always been like this," Loki said, pleased with herself. Unlike Freya's soul-seeing charm, Loki's insight wasn't as convenient—but it had helped her confirm the worth of many, like Finn and Gareth. Now, on Tsunayoshi, it was no different.
She looked down at him, approval in her smile. "Your ambition matches your potential. But potential isn't actual strength. You know that."
Tsunayoshi nodded.
"Besides your own pursuit of longevity, you want that right for those important to you. That, too, will drive you forward," she continued. "So I won't block other people's feelings for you. Only with those bonds will you have greater motivation to keep advancing."
Her straightforward words laid her thinking bare. Tsunayoshi was at a loss for what to say. To give him more drive on that path, she was even reining in her own greed. What could he say to that?
"So… Loki-sama, are you basically telling me to build a harem?"
"What do you think?" Loki rolled her eyes. Asking what he already knew was just teasing at this point. "Try that with someone else and—forget it. With anyone else, I wouldn't allow it."
She paused, then cocked her head. "That said… once you've 'handled' Tione and Tiona, does that mean I can openly peep on their baths?"
"…Loki-sama, I think you can already watch openly. You're the same sex."
"Nope." Her face fell. "Because I used to barge into the baths and tease them, they've already classified me as 'anti-sex.' I have to use a private bath. Otherwise, why do you think I was alone the day you fell in?"
So that was it. In that giant bath, Loki had already been exiled before he arrived.
Tsunayoshi's expression turned complicated. Learning his girlfriend might be an even bigger lecher than him—and had been banished from the women's bath as a predator—made it hard to tell whether his girlfriend was more man or woman in spirit.
His mind flashed back to the first sight he'd had upon arriving in this world. Well, Loki wasn't lacking in every department. She had what she should have—just a little… smaller.
His eyes drifted up. Lying on her lap, he only had to glance to see the view—then thumped, a knuckle rapped his head.
Loki's eyes narrowed, a thread of pressure in her voice. "And just now… where were you looking?"
Definitely the "TikTok girlfriend" vibe.
"Nowhere."
A vein popped on Loki's temple. A god could tell when a child of the Lower World was lying. Obviously, he was.
She pinched his cheeks hard—harder than before. "Saying you didn't look, then lying about it! Really?"
Tsunayoshi could only look helpless. Not only was his girlfriend more shameless, she could also detect his lies with ease. Headache material.
"Anyway," Loki said, letting his cheeks go, "I can accept that other women might like you. But there's one thing I absolutely hate."
She stated her condition at last. For the sake of his longer road ahead, she'd relaxed her possessiveness. Compared to a brief handful of decades, she wanted him with her for much, much longer. If others joined the journey for stretches of time, she could—barely—accept it.
Tsunayoshi agreed without hesitation, then paused. He did have one question about the boundary. "Loki-sama, which kind of people do you hate?"
"Without a doubt, women like Ishtar and Freya—deep, scheming types."
He fell silent for a moment, then sought confirmation. "You're sure Ishtar is that calculating?"
"Her mind runs deep. She just looks like a fool because Freya monopolizes her attention," Loki said. "Ishtar's Charm isn't like Freya's—it won't snag gods easily—but it's more than enough for mortals. I don't even want to know how many men that woman has ruined. So, stay away from women like Ishtar. Far away."
Her warning gave Tsunayoshi a new definition of Ishtar. At the very least, he must never be careless around her.
"And as for Freya… just don't engage with her," Loki added. She didn't elaborate—not because it wasn't important, but because Tsunayoshi was already more wary of Freya than any reminder required.
(End of Chapter)
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