Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy

Aria looked bewildered as she watched the bickering god and demon God in my arms.

I would have felt the same if I had been in her position. In terms of divine power, they were clearly the gods she had killed. But not only had their appearance changed, they didn’t feel or sound like gods at all.

It was quite natural for them to be in my arms. Not only that, but they had even come to me and asked me to hold them, spreading their arms.

At first, I only held the god, who was naturally innocent and easygoing. But at some point, the Demon God stopped refusing as well. It was quite a change of heart, considering that at first, she had growled at me.

Thanks to Leona and Latina, they said they felt like they were raising a daughter as they took care of the two goddesses. If I were to call the two goddesses my daughters, I wondered where my genes had gone. But that was beside the point.

“Anyway, your fate has already been decided. The conversation ended while you were asleep.”

Leona, who had been whispering something serious, quietly moved away from me when she heard my words. Aria smiled weakly.

“Yes. I’m ready. What is it?”

“You can no longer be Aria. You’re already dead in this world. Or rather, your existence has been erased.”

The calm blue eyes disappeared behind the closed eyelids. As she had said she was ready, she seemed to be trying to accept my words.

When the world was about to be destroyed, Aria had sacrificed herself to stabilize time, and with that, the existence of Aria as a human had also disappeared. Her past as the childhood friend of the hero, the time they had spent together, and what had happened afterwards.

All of that had disappeared.

Leona had grown up alone in the village, and the couple who should have been Aria’s parents were raising a girl of a similar age as their daughter. No one in the village remembered Aria, and as a bonus, someone else had taken the second place at the academy. Aria as a person no longer existed.

“That’s probably the case. As I was torn apart by time, my past must have been torn apart as well.”

“You’re no longer April. Nor Aria. You don’t have a name, a place to be, or a place to go. You’ve become a person completely detached from this world.”

“…Yes.”

Aria, who had been trying to calm herself, trembled slightly at this point. Her hands holding the blanket shook.

“So, we decided to call you Aria.”

“…Yes?”

The blue eyes reappeared. The gaze of the blue eyes towards me widened slightly. It was the same as before, but the tone was slightly higher.

“Why are you so surprised? Since Aria has disappeared from this world, we’re not telling you to take her place. We can’t perfectly replace the past you’ve lived, but isn’t that enough? Or do you want something more?”

Aria, who had been dazed, shook her head hurriedly and asked back.

“No, no, that’s not it at all. But Iㅡ”

“I know. You didn’t bring us here with good intentions. Things didn’t end well after you brought me here either. The fact that you can no longer causing trouble is, in a way, a good thing for you. But that’s the result, not the intention.”

The question of which was more important, intention or result, would be an eternal debate. Of course, my conclusion wasn’t a perfect answer either. Others might think differently.

But that was my thought. If she hadn’t been brought here, her life on Earth would have rotted away anyway, and in the end, it had turned out well, hadn’t it?

As for Laura, Priscilla, Elysier, and Rosalia, they were truly innocent victims, and I had no intention of interfering with how the four of them thought of Aria. At least, that was how I felt.

If our perspectives clashed, I intended to follow their opinions. What I was talking about was not a right, but an opportunity.

“… .”

Aria, who had been dazed, quietly lowered her head. Leona, who had stepped back for a moment, approached the bed again. What I had to say was over, and from now on, it was Leona’s turn.

As the hero of this world, as Aria’s childhood friend, and as the friend of the four people who possessed someone thanks to Aria.

“Aria.”

“….Yes, Leona.”

She was going to ask that question again, wondering if she would get the answer she wanted. Whether the feelings she had felt as Aria’s childhood friend were all false emotions.

I closed the door and came out to the hallway. The god and the Demon God in my arms said something.

“Special human. Are you satisfied with this?”

“Is that really enough?”

“The conclusion has already been made. There is nothing to be satisfied or not. My role is over. That’s all there is to it.”

What was left was for others to do.

“What about you two goddesses? Aren’t you the ones who should be concerned the most? You were both killed by that woman.”

Not only had they been killed, but in a way that would make any horror movie alien envious. They had been killed with the monster bursting out of their chests while they were alive. On top of that, the god had been confined in the temple in a miserable state.

But the two goddesses seemed strangely unconcerned about Aria.

“I don’t care.”

“Same here.”

“…Really?”

“You’re similar to that special human. In the end, I’ve become able to be with my sister again, haven’t I? It’s annoying that she fixed what she did, but I’m happier now than I was before, and my sister has stopped acting so pretentious as a goddess too.”

“That’s too much. You didn’t have to give up being pretentious as a goddess.”

The Demon God grumbled at the goddess’ smile.

“Well, I do think it’s not so bad now… That’s just how it is. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

“Let me translate that for you. What she’s saying is that she’s extremely satisfied with how things are now, and that she’s happy, glad, and delighted.”

“M-m-m-m-m, what are you talking about! Equinox! No!”

The Demon God struggled and reached out to cover her sister’s mouth. Then the goddess suddenly became serious and asked.

“No? Sister, do you swear on the dessert and snacks we’re going to have today that you’re telling the truth?”

The golden eyes, which were exactly like Leona’s, shone even brighter. She was using divine power. Seeing herself being scanned up and down by the light, the Demon God began to fidget.

“By the way, today’s dessert is strawberry tiramisu and macarons, your favorites. If you’re lying, I’ll eat them all by myself. In front of you. I’ll savor every bite.”

“Ugh… ugh…”

The Demon God, who had been trembling, soon nodded obediently. The goddess looked triumphant.

“See, Special Human? She’s a tsundere. It’s an outdated personality type that’s gone out of fashion lately, but as expected of my sister, she’s equipped with an old and outdated trait.”

“I’m not old! I’m just calling you ‘sister’ for convenience!”

The Demon God protested, but I was more interested in something else.

“Where did you learn about tsundere?”

“Laura and Priscilla taught me. They promised to teach me more. There were so many interesting things!”

“… .”

What were those two teaching the goddesses, who looked like children but weren’t? And they were pure… or not.

Anyway, what were they trying to teach these goddesses who looked like children but weren’t? And it was interesting? Was this what they called nurturing a budding tree?

“Since you answered honestly, I’ll have one of your tiramisus, Equinox.”

“How can you do that, sister! Of course, I should answer honestly!”

“There’s nothing in this world that’s a given. You’re just a kid who doesn’t know any better.”

“Didn’t you just call me old and outdated?”

“Just give me one, don’t fight over useless things.”

When would these two ever grow up?

.

.

.

“Little sister.”

After taking the two goddesses to the mansion’s kitchen and asking them to eat all the desserts they wanted, I watched them happily munching away. Just as I was about to leave after receiving a call from Leona, Diana stopped me.

She seemed to have something to say.

“Why?”

“You brought another woman while I wasn’t looking. Wasn’t the number you had enough?”

“I did bring her, but not for the reason you’re thinking.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?”

“The kind of thoughts that come from your erotic novels?”

“…..”

Diana cleared her throat with a ‘hem hem’ sound. I knew she would react like that.

“Let me give you some advice from my years of experience. You’re going to get stabbed. Or your bones will be crushed. Don’t rely too much on healing magic and be so careless with your body.”

“It’s not advice from your years of experience, it’s advice from your erotic novels. And I told you, it’s not what you think. She just needed a place to stay for a while.”

“All beginnings start with such small acts of kindness. Are you going to knock before you enter from now on? If you walk in without knocking and happen to see her naked, you might just move on to the next step.”

“As if that would ever happen.”

I couldn’t help but feel exasperated, but Diana didn’t seem to care.

“Or do you want to hear about a good method I know? Do you want to hear it or not?”

“If you’re going to suggest that I contact Yuna and ask her to exchange some of her collection, you better be prepared. You’ll be finger-licking for a while since I’ll put a sealing spell on the collection.”

“… .”

The other side suddenly became quiet. So she had already read through the huge amount of books Yuna had given her. Yuna had given her a lot and received a lot in return.

But I agreed to contact Yuna and ask her, and after making an appropriate excuse, I knocked on Aria’s door.

“It’s me. Can I come in?”

“Yes. Come in.”

After receiving permission, I opened the door. Aria, whose eyes were red as if she had been crying while I was gone, and Leona, sitting quietly next to her, were in the room.

“What happened?”

“I decided to pretend that the past didn’t exist. I never had a childhood friend, I grew up alone in the village, and I came to the academy alone.”

“… .”

Aria lowered her head. Whether or not she had apologized, it seemed that Laura’s novel would remain buried in their memories.

But it was clear that this was not the end, so I quietly waited for the next words.

“However, There is a positive side.”