The Strange Normal Night

  The day was coming to an end. Everyone was either in bed or preparing to go to sleep. Moments like these make me realize that our house is becoming too small for so many girls. We're lucky Voranoa likes narrow, humid places; she has no problem with the laundry room. However, I'm sure that once she discovers what it's like to have a proper bed, she'll quickly change her habits—and Lucy will probably appreciate it, too. The other problem is where Nanami sleeps. I’ve never seen her sleep. I know she rests despite being a ghost because she mentioned it once, but I don’t know where. Maybe in the living room? I just want to make sure everything is okay.

  After walking to the couches, however, I couldn’t find her, although I did find a pillow and a blanket. It seems she does rest there, but she's not there right now. Mei Ling is in the garage with her hammock and heater. Such a beautiful, high-society girl shouldn't rest like that, yet she does because of me. We really have to do something about this situation. I need to discuss it with my mother.

  Still, I don't see any trace of Nanami anywhere. Where is she? I have to talk to her. I know she’s worried about the harem situation, so I have to let her know that she has her own space and that her voice is as important as Tamamo’s.

  !!!

  Oh, I know where she is!

  I carefully go back upstairs, head to the balcony, and climb the sloped roof to the top. There, I find the ghost girl quietly admiring the city lights. She briefly turns to see who the intruder is. After realizing it's just me, she simply turns back to watch the city.

  “A city that has brought the light of the stars down to its streets. Maybe I’m not like the neon forests; they are more like fireflies trapped in glass boxes—a city as full of life at night as it is during the day.”

  “There are always people walking, selling, carriages racing through the streets. People stay awake. They sing, dance, shop, love… They aren’t afraid of an air raids, nor of the sky opening to swallow them. They live as if every night were a promise that tomorrow is waiting for them.”

  “It’s the first time I don’t see a city trapped in the deep fear of darkness.”

  “For the first time, I see with my own eyes the city I read so much about in the stories you used to tell me. The Tokyo Skytree is there, no farther than a stone’s throw away, and Mount Fuji can be seen in the distance depending on the day.”

  “Finally, the day has come to fulfill the promise of seeing a world without dragons.”

  “......”

  “......”

  “But for some reason, I don’t feel like we won.”

  “.......”

  “Tell me, do you think all this fighting was worth it? So much death, so much misery?”

  “.......”

  “It’s not paradise, but at least it’s an improvement.”

  “.......”

  “Sometimes I ask myself the same thing too; it’s never easy. Many don’t believe it, but the hero’s adventure continues even after the book closes.”

  “.......”

  “When I came to this world after the war with the dragons, I cried with happiness seeing the world still as it was before those bastards’ first attack.”

  “Fifteen seconds later, my mother called me on the phone just to tell me that Maria had been hospitalized.”

  “That was how long my happiness from winning a damn ten-year war lasted.”

  “.......”

  “Afterwards, things only got worse seeing humans—the same race I belonged to—rise up against each other this time by their own will: the continental war.”

  “I had saved the world, gone down to hell, fought, suffered, won, and returned—only to see the people I fought to save fighting among themselves again.”

  “Truly a piece of shit.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “.......”

  “.......”

  “Now I just focus on not losing what I already have.”

  “If they want to kill each other, so be it.”

  “I don’t want to be or sound nihilistic; I hate that stupidity that nothing matters.”

  “But it’s not like I live with a child’s illusion of making the world a place of impossible wonder.”

  “Ummm, that’s not the answer I was expecting.” she said, resignedly.

  “Well, this isn’t the world either of us hoped for.”

  “But it is what it is. I don’t have all the answers; I’m only human too, as lost in life as everyone else.”

  "At least in that, you're right. Have you decided if you want to be a slime girl or a kitsune?”

  "You change every day. It's hard to take you seriously."

  "You don't have to keep transforming into that."

  “...”

  "I know you’re grateful that I gave you my body so you could keep living, but that’s in the past. It’s destroyed now, and honestly, I don’t really care."

  "That stupid body was my bastard father’s idea."

  "If I'm grateful for anything about this ghost form, it's that I look like an average girl. Yes, I'm a ghost, but look: dark hair, no animal ears, and I'm about 1.60 meters tall. I have an average appearance."

  "I'm finally normal!"

  Well, except for the completely white dead eyes and the blue fire orbs.”

  “I wouldn’t call that normal either.”

  "You're still a monster girl. You just went from being a kitsune to a ghost."

  "But in your case, it's an improvement. At least you look like the ghost of a normal girl."

  “I’m the weird one who’s getting weirder.”

  "I used to be a man; now, I'm a girl.

  "Supposedly, I'm a slime girl now. But Tamamo and my mother worked so hard on this kimono that I want to wear it."

  "It looks just as cool as a kitsune. I look like a kitsune goddess, just like Tamamo, but degenerate because of my weird tastes."

  “Hey, I was just asking which you preferred more. If you don't have an answer, that's fine too."

  "How about we just call you a Slime Kitsune? The only one in the world.”

  "A pretty, motherly goddess kitsune whose voluptuous body is actually made entirely of water."

  I didn’t know where to look, embarrassed that Nanami knew about my strange tastes. For a moment, I just wanted to leave and disappear. At the same time, I felt happy that she acknowledged it.

  "You've always been weird, maybe even more so now than before."

  "But you’re still the same person I chose to have in my life, quirks and all."

  "At least that's what makes things fun."

  “Nanami, I have no idea if you’re helping or insulting me.”

  "Both. Don’t think I won’t use your degenerate tastes as ammunition to tease you whenever I need to.”

  “That sounds cruel.”

  “Consider it a way to get back at me for no longer being your only wife, Miss Kitsune Water MILF.”

  “All right, stop it, please.”

  “...”

  “Look, don’t you want to see the rest of Tokyo at night?”

  "We could ask Mei Ling to start the car and drive us around the city.”

  "Are you seriously going to ask one of your wives for help trying to win the favor of another?"

  “...”

  “Forget it. She’s already asleep.”

  “No, come on. It’s important.”

  "She’ll be excited to drive, too."

  "She’s really proud of her car and tries to show it off every chance she gets."

  "I can ask her to drive while we sit in the backseat."

  "Oh, and we could go eat, too! I know a place that sells seriously unhealthy burgers!”

  "They're truly worthy of being called junk food. I'm sure the great empress who only ate Michelin stars would like them."

  Nanami immediately turned to look at me with a guilty expression when she heard “junk food” mentioned. She ended up smiling and giving in to her craving and the moment. She nodded with a sigh. I knew it was a small victory, with only my dignity lost.

  After waking Mei Ling—who grumbled half asleep but didn’t protest much when she heard the words ‘food’ and ‘someone wants to see your car’—the engine purred softly as Mei Ling started the car. We let ourselves be carried through the illuminated streets of Tokyo with the radio playing cheerful music. We ate in the back seat, bags on our laps, and the lights of Tokyo vibrated around us like a sea of lights while we enjoyed the burgers—a small moment to feel alive in a little victory, as if we owned the city, or at least the part that hadn’t succumbed to the dragons.