The living room was steeped in a near-motionless quiet.

Only the "tick-tock" of the wall clock's second hand beat a steady rhythm against Shirogane Kei's already scrambled nerves.

Like a robot fed too many bad commands, she sat rigidly on the sofa, clutching her schoolbag tight in her arms—as if it were the only piece of driftwood that wouldn't sink in the howling storm of information.

Rei Ao took in her out-of-body stare and vacant eyes.

He knew the truth about Gabriel had hit too hard.

She'd probably need a more systematic expansion of her worldview just to barely grasp it—

or, more accurately, to be forced to accept reality.

He sighed.

Might as well strike while the iron was hot and say everything that needed saying.

"Ahem."

He cleared his throat again, trying to call Kei's scattered attention back.

"Kei, that just now… was only the tip of the iceberg."

Kei's eyes rotated painfully slowly,

finally managing to focus on Rei Ao.

Her gaze was full of panicked confusion: "There's more?!"

"Gabriel is my neighbor, my friend… and one of my girlfriends," Rei Ao said evenly, dropping the next bomb.

"And among my neighbors, besides an angel like her, there are also… mm, demons."

"Dee… demons?!"

Kei's voice spiked with a cracked note of horror.

Angels had already wrecked her worldview.

Now demons too?!

The very beings that legends and religion cast as evil, depravity, and brimstone?

"Mm." Rei Ao nodded with complete certainty,

as if it were no big deal.

He even added, trying to soothe her: "But you don't have to be scared. Most of the demons around here are actually pretty cute—kind of like Gabriel. They're all pretty girls."

He sounded like he was describing a neighbor's docile house pets that occasionally tore up the furniture.

Cute? Pretty girls? Demons?!

Kei felt the processor in her brain overheat to the point of scorched smells.

Aren't angels and demons supposed to be mortal enemies?

Isn't it the ultimate showdown of light and darkness?

Why does it sound, coming from Senpai's mouth, like a bunch of high-school girls in the same club having a spat?!

Seeing Kei's expression like a CPU burning out and about to blue-screen,

Rei Ao rubbed his chin.

He figured he might as well lay it all out at once, so he wouldn't have to explain every single time later.

He lifted a hand toward the kitchen.

"Since we're on the topic, let me do proper introductions."

"Tohru—as you can see, the house maid. Her true form is a dragon."

"A dragon from another fantasy world."

"D… dragon?!"

Kei's gaze snapped to the blonde maid in the kitchen, who was humming and washing pots at special-effects speed.

She—she was a dragon?

The kind of legendary creature that's massive, scale-armored, fire-breathing, and hoards treasure?

Dragons?

Kei's eyes couldn't help drifting to the two horn-like things atop Tohru's head that bobbed with her movements—the ones she'd previously assumed were some odd hair accessories.

Could those be… dragon horns?!

Tohru seemed to feel Kei's stare.

She turned and flashed a brilliant smile—Kei could even see the faintest tips of little fangs—

and gave the spatula in her hand a jaunty wave.

The sauce on it nearly splattered onto Emilia, who was carefully covering a cake with plastic wrap nearby.

Emilia frowned the tiniest bit

and shot Tohru a chiding look.

Her exquisite profile under the light seemed to carry its own halo.

Rei Ao pointed toward Emilia.

"Emilia—she's from another world of sword and sorcery, and used to be a Hero."

A Hero from another world?

Kei felt her common sense being ground into the dirt.

That gentle, ethereal silver-haired girl had a background that… that legendary?!

"And then Ilia and Sora," Rei Ao continued, pointing at Sora and Ilia.

"As you can see, they're a bit special—think of them as… incarnations crystallized from magical power."

"You can understand them as living, self-aware magic books that cast spells on their own."

Living magic books?!

Kei's vacant gaze trailed after Sora and Ilia.

"And over there is Futaba," Rei Ao finished, pointing to Futaba.

"Futaba's situation is more complicated."

"She's essentially a duplicate split off from an ability triggered by someone else. Later, I completed her so she can exist as a real human."

"Her original body—maybe you've heard of her—is our school's Futaba Rio."

A duplicate? Completed into a life?

"Boom—!!!"

After weathering angels & demons → dragons → an isekai Hero → living grimoires → a separated duplicate,

Kei's brain finally gave out and fully crashed.

Her eyes opened to their limits,

the light gone from her pupils,

leaving only hollow blankness.

Her mouth hung slightly open, but no sound came.

It was like all the bones and the soul had been taken out of her; she slumped softly against the sofa back.

Even when her schoolbag slid to the floor, she didn't notice.

Worldview?

What's that?

Can you eat it?

Her consciousness seemed to float out of her body, hanging in midair, looking down coolly at this bizarre, logic-defying home of Senior Rei Ao.

Angels, demons, dragons, otherworlders, magical beings, a split-off self…

This wasn't an apartment at all!

It was clearly a containment center for problem beautiful girls!

Rei Ao saw the light completely fade from Kei's eyes.

He knew they'd hit the limit of tonight's crash course.

One more step and the kid might actually split apart.

He shook his head helplessly,

bent to pick up the fallen schoolbag, patted off the dust, and tucked it back into Kei's arms.

"Looks like you'll need some time to process."

There was the faintest hint of apology in his tone.

"Come on—it's late. I'll walk you home."