In this Second Chance at Life, where I can see skills as clear as day, everything feels like a breeze. And to make it even better, I’m spending my days joyfully with my First Love. - Chapter 60

The term Human-Demon—is it a species created when a human becomes a familiar or bonded creature? Or is it called that due to possessing an overwhelming amount of magical energy? The origin of the name remains unclear. Borrowing Ichika’s Foresight, I discovered that a Human-Demon is a species that exists outside the gods’ favor, one that opposes them outright.

Apparently, there’s a similar species called Demonkin.

Well, after everything that happened with the Supreme God, I already hate the gods. If they see me as an enemy, that’s perfectly fine by me.

Becoming a Human-Demon has brought about several changes.

First and foremost, I feel absurdly stronger—or at least I think I am. I haven’t measured it specifically, so maybe I’m just imagining it because of the contrast with my previous weakened state. But right now, I have so much energy I don’t know what to do with it.

It seems Ichika is feeling the same. She says that as a Human-Demon, she can now use nearly all the magic she had access to as a witch. Curious, I asked her, “Wasn’t magic supposed to be impossible without skills?” She explained that as long as you understand the flow of mana, can control it using magical formations, and know how to communicate with spirits, magic is possible even without specific skills.

However, understanding mana flow and magical formations requires having had the skill at least once. While Ichika can see spirits, I can’t—despite borrowing part of her Foresight ability.

Kanahebi once mentioned that having one’s skills forcibly stripped is an incredibly rare occurrence anyway.

So, the likelihood of me using magic? Slim to none. What a disappointment.

On the bright side, thanks to us both becoming Human-Demons—and more importantly, thanks to the mutual familiar contracts—there’s now a rule that familiars and bonded creatures cannot harm their master. This means that no matter how much stronger one of us becomes, I can hug Ichika without worrying about hurting her.

In other words, I can now hold Ichika without hesitation, kiss her, and maybe even…!

Ahem. Well, I probably won’t have the courage anytime soon. Things like that will have to wait. Still, this little “side effect” makes me happier than I’d like to admit.

An Ominous Situation

Our relocation from our old home to this fortified, barred residence likely stems from this country’s dependency on foreign imports. If those imports were cut off, the nation wouldn’t survive. That’s probably why they’re forced to comply with foreign powers.

…Though, honestly, if I wanted to, I could obliterate those foreign countries in about three seconds.

Alternatively, this could be nothing more than a political gesture—a meaningless attempt at peaceful resolution while knowing full well that restraining me is impossible. Either way, one thing is clear: this country is not our ally.

And it seems the world at large views me as an enemy.

Naturally, I’m worried about my parents. I haven’t received any messages from Hermes Pigeon, so they’re probably safe, but they’re likely worried about me after everything that’s happened…

“For now, should we visit my parents?”

“Sounds good,” Ichika replied.

With that, I ran while Ichika used teleportation magic to head to my parents’ house. Thanks to my evolution into a Human-Demon, I arrived in less than a second—even while using Blink Step.

For distances within Japan, I’m faster than teleportation magic. Heck, I could probably run from Brazil to Japan in under ten seconds.

“Things were not fine at all!”

The scene in front of my family home was, to put it mildly, utter chaos.

“Kick out Yasushi Sashima!”
“Down with the dangerous individual!”
“You devil who summoned monsters!”

“Shut up! Show some respect for Lord Yasushi!”
“Bow down and worship him properly, you fools!”

On one side, there were protestors holding signs and placards that read things like “Down with Yasushi Sashima!” and “Get out, dangerous individual!” On the other, there were members of a group I’d once subdued—something called “The Stars of Adoration.” They seemed reformed now but were clashing with the protestors, creating an incredibly hostile atmosphere.

To my surprise, leading the “Stars of Adoration” group was none other than Komei-kun. Why was he involved?! Have they been in contact with him?

That’s a question for later. For now, it was clear that Komei-kun was rallying his group to defend my family home from the advancing protestors.

“Protect Sashima-kun’s house!” Komei-kun yelled passionately.

As for the protestors… I didn’t recognize a single one of them.

Before enrolling in the vocational school, I used to go for morning runs every day and often greeted people in the neighborhood, so I should’ve known at least some of the locals. But no, there wasn’t anyone familiar—aside from one person whose name I vaguely recalled.

Among the protestors, there were also quite a few people who didn’t look Japanese, and some weren’t even speaking Japanese.

These people… Did they come all the way to this country just for this protest? How creepy.

Despite the absurdity of the situation, I decided to shelve my thoughts for later. For now, I suppressed my presence and casually walked through the chaos, entering my home through the front door.

“I’m home.”

“Welcome back. The scene outside is pretty wild, huh?”

“Yeah…”

I mean, why was he talking about it like it was just a bit of bad weather?

“Wahaha! No matter how old I get, these extraordinary situations never fail to excite me!”

Even my grandfather was taking this situation lightly, speaking in his usual carefree manner.

My family home was currently hosting not just my parents and grandparents but, for some reason, Ichika’s parents as well. And just a few seconds later, Ichika teleported into the house, finding all of us there.

“I knew it! So this is where you’ve been! But why are you at Yasushi-kun’s house?”

“Well,” Ichika’s father replied, “after hearing the news, we came here to talk. But then we realized we couldn’t leave the house anymore.”

“You saw outside, didn’t you?” he added, gesturing toward the chaos outside.

“Because of that, I can’t go to work… Honestly, in this situation, working isn’t even an option. I didn’t expect to rely on you so soon, but… it would really help if you could support us for a while,” Ichika’s mother said, directing her words to me.

I didn’t mind supporting them.

After all, most of the blame for this mess fell squarely on me. Besides, in this life, I was only a 16-year-old high school student, but in my previous life, my parents had supported me for over 23 years.

I had more than enough money to take care of them, so finances weren’t an issue.

“That’s fine with me… but…”

But still… In my previous life, and probably even in this one, both my mom and dad were people who loved working. They hadn’t said anything directly, maybe out of consideration for me, but I knew it bothered them.

Taking away their ability to work because of me—it felt like I was robbing them of something they cherished.

All because I pushed myself to the limit to save the world.

Great power has always terrified people. That’s why I had always hidden my true strength. Even when I saved the world, a part of me had anticipated this reaction.

But I had chosen to ignore that thought. All I wanted was to stop the monsters from taking countless lives and destroying livelihoods. And in doing so… I ended up ruining my family’s peace instead.

This was the worst outcome imaginable.

If I could time-travel back three days to March 11th, I’d probably let the monsters destroy the world.

Public opinion, societal pressure, and their fear of me—those things had turned their malice toward my family.

“This is all because of me… I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not your fault,” my mom said, pulling me into a hug. “I don’t know all the details, but I do know this much—gentle Yasushi protected the world from those monsters.

“And the ones who are truly in the wrong are those who’d treat you like this after everything you’ve done. You have nothing to apologize for.”

My mom’s words were firm, and both my dad and grandparents nodded in agreement.

Whether it was my previous life or this one, my family never changed.

They always let me live as I wanted, and when it mattered most, they accepted me unconditionally.

And in that moment, I remembered why I had revealed my power and chosen to protect the world.

It wasn’t to save the ungrateful masses staging protests and imprisoning me now.

It was to ensure that the world’s infrastructure didn’t collapse—to preserve the happiness and stability of my family, Ichika, and even Ichika’s parents.

That was my reason.

Not for them. Never for them.

The day I showed my power, three days ago, the world undoubtedly turned against me.

But the world misunderstood something.

No matter how much they criticize or fear me, none of it matters. With my overwhelming power, I could crush them without hesitation if I wanted to.

And so, I choose to think this way instead:

The world didn’t turn against me.

The entire world made the mistake of turning me into their enemy.

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