Even worse than trying to wash cooking oil off his hands, Rito had to do it while scrubbing his entire body.
Not only was it hard to get off, but it also stank a lot.
After using the energy of the two orbs while training for hours, it was expected that his body would improve, but he didn't expect that in the process, he would expel so much impurity.
Of course, the most important thing was that... He had clearly become stronger!
'I was right, doing physical exercises works too!'
Not only did it work, but it worked really well.
After scrubbing until his skin turned red, he threw himself into the bathtub.
...
After finishing washing, he began to dry off while looking in the mirror. After removing the impurities, his skin became whiter and smoother.
It was late at night, and Mikan and Lala had already gone to sleep.
When he returned to his room, Lala was sleeping in his bed.
"..."
After some hesitation, he put on his pajamas. While walking toward the bed, he simply tripped over nothing and began falling toward the bed.
"Careful!" He said loudly.
"What?" Lala woke up, sitting up, and that's when Rito fell with his head between her bare breasts.
"Sorry." He said and tried to pull away.
However, Lala hugged his head, saying: "Rito, you're back! Let's sleep together~!"
"... Alright, let me get out first." He spoke with his mouth between the gap of her breasts.
"Hahaha, yeah... That tickles~" She laughed innocently, not seeming to see anything wrong with what had just happened.
On the other hand, Rito found himself in trouble but tried hard to calm down.
'I thought I didn't need to worry about this, that it was just something that happened to please the fans, but it seems I need to be extra careful around girls...'
He didn't want to be treated like a pervert.
With that thought in mind, he lay down, and Lala hugged him from behind.
"Hehe, it's warm~" She said cheerfully, soon her breathing becoming soft.
For Rito, it was a bit harder. Having a beautiful girl, especially Lala, whom he liked, hugging him from behind, and on top of that, naked... It was hard for him to fall asleep.
==
==
He still hadn't learned to fight and had only done two days of basic training, but when he opened his eyes and woke up in the familiar plain, he was full of confidence.
"This time, I'll be hard to kill!" He clenched his hands into fists.
'Huh? Isn't that the title of a movie?' He thought: 'Well, whatever.'
His lips curled up. A golden light shone in his eyes as he scanned his surroundings.
Maybe it was something like a placebo effect, but he felt his senses were much sharper, even his vision. When he looked around, he soon noticed a lone rabbit.
It was a bit smaller than the huge white rabbit he saw the first time, but it was still about 80 cm tall.
Rito approached to within 30 meters of the rabbit, and the rabbit raised its ears in alertness.
When its red eyes saw him, the rabbit bared its sharp teeth from its triangular mouth.
His eyes narrowed. Every time he saw a cute rabbit showing its sharp fangs, it seemed strange.
But he wasn't the same person as yesterday. He looked calmly as the rabbit charged. His eyes grew cold. When the gray rabbit reached him, he moved and, at the same time, delivered a strong punch to the rabbit's neck.
*Crack!*
A sharp sound was heard, and the gray rabbit kept tumbling forward for a few meters, kicking its legs a few times before stopping.
Dead in a second!
The corners of Rito's lips rose involuntarily.
'As expected, I've gotten much stronger!' He rejoiced.
Soon, the gray rabbit's body turned to dust and left behind a faint red orb.
He wasn't surprised that it only dropped one orb.
This rabbit was clearly inferior to the first rabbit he faced.
But that didn't diminish how much stronger he had become by defeating it with a single punch.
After picking up the orb, he resumed his search. Soon, he found two more rabbits.
The black one was almost the same size as the huge white rabbit he saw the first time. There was another gray one that looked like a twin of the one he had just killed.
Upon noticing him, the two rabbits charged with their red eyes, like starving dogs spotting a juicy piece of meat.
While they saw him as a piece of meat, he saw them as orbs capable of making him stronger.
Clenching his fists, he ran toward the rabbits.
He dodged the claws of both rabbits.
*Whoosh!*
*Pow!*
He punched the gray rabbit to death and then focused on the black rabbit.
The black rabbit had a stronger defense than the gray one and was also faster.
However, Rito wasn't the same as before. He delivered five punches to the neck, and the black rabbit convulsed as it fell to the ground.
...
An hour later, he was sitting, panting, on the grass. He was now an experienced rabbit hunter.
In that hour, he killed two huge white rabbits, larger than the ones from yesterday. Then, he killed six large rabbits and 13 small rabbits.
Including the 4 orbs he received at the start, he collected 35 orbs in total.
*Whoosh!*
"Huh?"
Rito was confused...
Why did the sky suddenly turn upside down?
...
Opening his eyes, Rito looked around cautiously, only to sigh when he realized he was in his bed with Lala beside him.
'What killed me this time?'
It was so fast that he didn't even realize when he died, and it seemed his head had been cut off once again...
'Highlander, is that you?' He smiled wryly.
It was strange that he wanted to make a joke when he had just died.
If this continued, would he get used to dying?
He felt a chill at the thought. He hugged Lala a bit tighter, and she rubbed her face against his chest, purring with a cute sound.
In this cold world, only Lala's warm embrace gave him some warmth.
==
==
"Rito, good morning."
Lala woke up before him.
She was smiling as she looked at him.
Sitting up in bed, he yawned while stretching.
Smiling at her, he said: "Mm, good morning, Lala."
"By the way, Zastin said I can start attending classes today, so I'll go with you to school~!"
Only after hearing this did he notice what she was wearing. It was the standard Kuoh Academy uniform.
A white long-sleeved button-up shirt with vertical lining, a black ribbon at the collar, a black cape, and a matching buttoned corset, along with a magenta skirt with a white underskirt.
The only thing that stood out and differed about her was her tail.
'If Rias and Sona see Lala, won't they try to recruit her?'
That was worrying.
Should he warn her about it?
"Rito, Lala, breakfast is ready!"
Mikan's voice reached them.
"Yes!" Lala replied: "We're coming!"
...
While they ate breakfast, Mikan kept glancing in Rito's direction.
"Mikan, is there something on my face?" He asked.
"Nothing at all..." She averted her gaze.
'How strange...' He thought, brushing it off as he went back to eating.
==
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