Vol. 1 Chapter 4.5 – I Wish to See Panties

By the time he realized it, he was already standing there.

A dark sky swirling with strange spiral patterns.

He immediately understood—he had returned to the Underworld.

In his hand, he still held the scale.

How had he brought it back from the living world? A divine artifact like this probably wasn’t truly physical, despite appearing to be.

Issei looked around.

Anubis was standing there.

“You’ve fulfilled your mission and returned. Well done, Issei.”

“A promise is a promise.”

Issei said it like it was nothing.

The words of a genius are absolute. What Issei declares must be carried out.

No matter who the other party is—even if it’s a god.

The scale passed from Issei’s hand into Anubis’s.

“Don’t lose it again. If you do, I’m not helping next time.”

“Yes. I’ll be careful.”

The scale dissolved into particles of light and was absorbed into Anubis’s hand.

If you could do that from the start, just do it from the start.

That thought came to him, but he didn’t say it aloud—Anubis was smiling too joyfully.

Through studying the ways of women, Issei had begun to acquire the superpower known as『reading the room.』

Even for a genius like him, it had been a difficult path. But with relentless training, it was starting to bear fruit.

“I must grant you a reward…”

Wiping at the corner of her eyes, Anubis spoke.

“You wound me. I didn’t do this for a reward.”

He did it because of a promise.

More precisely, because Anubis had asked him.

Even more precisely, because she had looked troubled.

“No. If a god accepts help from a human and offers no reward, it would disgrace the dignity of the divine. Say it—whatever you wish. In the name of Anubis, I shall grant it.”

“Hmm…”

Issei considered. This wasn’t a bad setup.

She asked for a『wish』but for Issei, there was only ever one wish.

“My wish is—”

“—Ah. No need to say it. I know already.”

Anubis stopped him mid-sentence.

“I know your wish well.”

“Do you?”

Issei nodded.

He’d stated his desire at the beginning:『Let me see your panties.』He had already said it.

He would not repeat the failure he made with Shiori.

“When you parted from those girls, they cried quite a bit, didn’t they?”

“Did they?”

She must have meant Chitose, Niko, and Shiori.

He’d said his farewells, but hadn’t noticed if they’d cried or not.

…They cried? Why?

“I know…Your true wish is to return to them, isn’t it? Watching that scene, even I understood. There’s no mistaking it.”

Anubis crossed her arms, nodding firmly to herself as she spoke with absolute certainty.

“To come back to life—that is your wish. I know it for certain.”

“No. That’s not it? I never wished for that.”

“…Huh?”

Anubis stared at him.

“You’re mistaken.”

“Huh?”

Issei said, and Anubis’s mouth fell open in disbelief.

“I told you from the beginning, didn’t I? I wish to see panties.”

“Wh—what did you say?”

“Panties.”

“Th-That means… in the underwear sense…?”

“Exactly. That kind of panties. Correct.”

Issei nodded.

For some reason, Anubis’s eyes were wide open… but Issei could tell that she finally understood.

“This is absurd! You—! You’re completely absurd! Why wouldn’t you wish to be brought back to life in this situation!?”

“Because… the panties are right there. That’s why.”

He stared intently at her waist.

Anubis was wearing a slit skirt wrapped around her hips.

Were there panties underneath? It was a deep and pressing question that had haunted him for some time.

“…Do you have them?”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Are you even wearing panties to begin with?”

With a glint in his eyes, Issei asked the forbidden question.

“I-I… If I were… wh-what of it?”

“Fufu… Then let me see them.”

“W-Why must I show you!?”

“Then gods are nothing more than that. —Didn’t you just say it? That you’d grant any wish. —Was that a lie?”

“B-But I was going to bring you back to life—!”

“I never asked for that. I want to see panties. —That’s all.”

Anubis glared at Issei. She bit her lip.

“Now—choose. Break your promise, or show me your panties. It’s one or the other.”

“Kh… A mere human… daring to blackmail a god…”

Anubis slammed her staff into the ground.

She turned her back to Issei.

Then, slipping the staff between her legs, she began to slowly lift her skirt.

Ohhh…!?

Issei circled around behind her, watching from a low angle as her thighs were gradually revealed.

This was the most difficult panties he had ever pursued—finally about to be unveiled.

From the edge of the skirt Anubis lifted, a glimpse of purple fabric peeked out.

Issei could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

Indeed, panties were exhilarating. Panties were wonderful.

Panties! Panties! Panties!

The purple fabric wrapping her hips and crotch formed intricate folds. Issei stared at it, mesmerized.

Panties! Panties! Panties!

“Don’t think you have a place in the Underworld anymore.”

Anubis said with a cold expression and an even colder glare.

But Issei didn’t hear her.

“Hafuu…”

With a deeply satisfied sigh, he sat down on the ground.

And just like that—his consciousness began to fade away.

◇

When he awoke, he was inside a plain white wooden box.

Dressed in a white funeral robe, flowers had been placed all over his body.

And most importantly—

“It’s hot!”

The entire box was being subjected to intense heat. In other words, it was being burned.

Issei immediately escaped—kicking through the box, then kicking open a steel door, his clothes briefly catching fire, but he successfully broke free from the blazing furnace.

“…Huh?”

Chitose was there. Nanako was there.

Niko and Shiori were there too.

They were all dressed in black.

And all of them—had swollen eyes from crying.

Issei turned around to look at where he had just emerged from.

And he understood.

“Ah. A crematorium.”

“I-I-Issei…?”

Niko stared at him, face filled with disbelief.

“Yeah. I had a little chat with a god. …Seems I’ve been kicked out of the Underworld.”

“Wh… What? Is it really… really you, Issei-san?”

“Is that so shocking, Shiori? It’s the second time I’ve come back to life.”

Shiori reached out, gently patting his face and neck.

Issei let her touch him without protest. Shiori kept touching him, as if to confirm he was real.

“Obocchama… Welcome home.”

Chitose spoke.

Issei turned his face toward her.

“Mm. I’m back.”

“What are your plans from here?”

“Let’s go back to the mansion. I want to drink your tea.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Chitose lowered her eyes and responded quietly.

“Scones! Let’s bake some scones too, Senpai!”

Nanako shouted excitedly.

“Right. Scones too, then.”

Issei nodded to Nanako.