Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Iris was carried away by Sol and disappeared from view.

“Phew,” I exhaled, sinking my body into the hot water, and finally leaned my back against the rock, letting my muscles go limp.

—To be honest, that was seriously close.

I tried my best to look away, but my gaze was inevitably drawn toward Iris. That’s just how much that small, white, childlike body possessed an alluring power that could almost be called demonic.
Even if I tried to forget it, the image was seared into my eyes. Her slender neck and nape, exposed because her hair was tied back. The droplets falling from there bounced off her firm, fine-grained skin, maintaining their spherical shape as they slid down her neck, over her shoulders, and down to the faint curve of her chest. Although the water was quite murky and dense, a hint of cherry blossom pink would occasionally peek out from behind her hair—yet she seemed completely oblivious to it.

It was the same when she walked. She seemed to think she was hiding it, but the glimpse of her buttocks that occasionally flashed from behind her long hair—though modest—gave off a cute, plump elasticity, and from between her slender thighs… no, I’d better stop.

And she had absolutely no idea about any of this. Even if Ayame-chan told her all about it, and even if she currently possessed the consciousness of a girl named “Iris,” her memories and experiences… As I realized from this incident, they remained unchanged—still those of Yanagi. That’s why she was completely lacking in caution toward me.

*“She trusts me.”*

If it weren’t for those words, I might have lost my rationality and attacked her myself. But I had no choice but to live up to her expectations. Driven by that single-minded determination, I managed to hold onto the chains of my reason.
The fact that Sol didn’t say a word about her bathing with me, and that he took Iris away just now to do something that might humiliate her—it must be for that reason. To make sure she stays properly wary of us, even though we’re of the opposite sex. …Well, probably. S̲h̲i̲t̲, knowing what she’s done in the past, I’m not so confident.

—Well, actually, the first attempt was a total flop. I never thought she’d be so unconcerned about it.

She’s the only one who doesn’t know it, but in reality, Iris is incredibly popular in this town. A young healer who, despite being captured by thugs and suffering severe emotional trauma, runs around helping other girls without demanding much in return. She usually keeps her face hidden by pulling her hood down tightly whenever men are around, but rumors of her striking beauty have already spread since her episode the other day. She hadn’t realized this either, but even at today’s reconstruction site, just the fact that she was watching from behind was enough to make the men there work with incredible enthusiasm. And before they knew it, she’d been led away by the women—leaving them understandably disappointed that she was no longer there. Just knowing that a kind, cute girl is cheering them on from behind is enough to make their motivation soar. That’s just how men are.

Perhaps it was because this was a frontier settlement, or maybe it was the character of that kind-hearted mayor and his wife—or perhaps both. The people of this town had a strong sense of camaraderie, and almost all of them were warm-hearted, which was a huge stroke of luck for us. However, as we would eventually realize, that wasn’t always the case everywhere. Iris’s wariness stemmed from the trauma of an incident from her childhood—it wasn’t simply because she was currently a girl. She was sensitive to gazes directed at her, yet oblivious to those looking at “herself as a cute girl”—an odd imbalance. She did seem to realize that she currently looked like a cute young girl, but she was completely indifferent to how that cute version of herself appeared to men. From now on, she’ll have to develop a sense of danger as a girl. Presumably, Sol had no intention of going easy on her this time.

――Stop it, Nii-sama! This is way too embarrassing! Not my front, not my front!?
――Sorry, but I can’t grant you that request this time. Don’t worry, I’m just going to take a look. “Chain Bind.”
――Eek!? M-my arms…!?　

……Hey, what are you doing? I can trust you, right? You haven’t forgotten your objective, have you? Why do I hear metal chains clanking around!?

“Nyahaha. You look pretty worn out, Senpai.”
“Yeah, tell me about… Wait, why the hell are you here!?”

When I casually turned to look, I found another person leisurely soaking in the bathtub. It was the girl who was supposed to be holed up in her room, Milly… no.

Miriam the Dressmaker.

Iris didn’t seem to know this, but even though Miriam looked quite nonchalant, back in the game, she was the guild master of a famous guild that gathered top-class artisans. She was a strange one—someone with a wandering streak who rarely showed her face at the guild, yet for some reason enjoyed great popularity. She was my junior from university who was also a cosplayer in real life, and who had taken her hobby to the next level by immersing herself in crafting clothes for the game as well. She would travel all over the map to gather rare materials herself, then force her handmade gear onto player characters she liked—mainly the cute ones—before admiring them and moving on. She was a player who was famous, in a ghost story sort of way—that was her.

In the game, in addition to their main class, players could freely select and equip one subclass obtained in-game. Much like Iris’ “Princess” and Sol’s “Prince,” some had rare and specific acquisition requirements, but the majority were crafting-related. The one she possessed was an advanced version of the Tailor—a “Fashion Designer” that allowed her to freely design and create clothing. I’m pretty sure there were only a handful of players in the entire game who had it.

“That’s so mean, making me work all by myself while everyone else gets to enjoy a nice bath together. You could’ve at least invited me, you know?”
“I-I’m sorry about that! B-but why did you just come over here like it’s no big deal? You’re a genuine, 100% woman, aren’t you?!!”

That’s right—unlike Sol, whose heart is female but body is male, or Iris, who’s not fully aware of her own female body due to her past experiences as Yanagi, she is a woman in both her original world and this one, isn’t she?!

“Nyahaha, mixed-gender bathing is part of the fun. If you’re so stuck up, you’ll never be able to tour hidden hot springs in the countryside, nya. Besides, look.”

Unlike Iris, she wasn’t entirely naked; As she spread her arms wide, it revealed a thin, dress-like garment that was wet with water. Though she did try to show her body off.

“I even went ahead and prepared something like a bathing suit, nya.”
“…Couldn’t you have shown that off a little sooner, hey?”

If you’d just given Iris one too, I wouldn’t have had to stew in frustration all this time, you know?

“Now, now, I even prepared something like this, nya. Want a drink?”

Saying that, she showed what had been hidden beyond the tub… She’d even prepared a set of sake in a bucket. This one’s clearly intent on enjoying herself to the fullest.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t had a single chance to drink alcohol since coming here, so it was a tempting offer. But the idea of drinking in the middle of the day—even if it’s common sense over there—made me feel a bit uneasy…

――N-Nii-sama, if you get your face that close, y-your breath’s tickling me, eek!?

“Guh!? Haa… Damn it, just a little then.”

At least drinking would take my mind off things. If I just sat there spacing out, the voices from over there—which I couldn’t help but hear from time to time—were way too… hard on my ears.

“That’s more like it… Come on, down the hatch!”

*Glug, glug, glug*—the sake was poured into the small cup with a satisfying sound… Wait, here they call it Eastern Archipelago sake, don’t they? I downed the glass—filled to the brim with a clear, slightly yellowish liquid—in one gulp. A sudden heat flared in my throat, and the pit of my stomach grew warm… Not bad at all. Delicious sake while soaking in a hot spring under a clear, snowy sky. It finally felt like my fatigue was starting to melt away.

“…Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have given you a job like that. It was pretty unreasonable, wasn’t it?”
“Absolutely, nya. Telling me to ‘Make the best possible armor that the current Iris can wear’ was absurd, nya. But well, I think I managed to come up with something I’m satisfied with, nya.”
“I see… That’s a huge help. How much do I owe you?”
“Nyahaha, don’t be a stranger, nya. It’s for Iris-chan’s safety, right? I’ll do it for free this time, nya.”

What a generous offer. On top of the materials used for the armor itself, she was also adjusting the equipment requirements… In this world, if someone without the necessary strength wears equipment with powerful effects, they get severely “drunk” by that power. So much so that they can’t even stand up. To mitigate that while maintaining performance requires appropriate materials and procedures. Even if she was the head of an entire guild, the cost of those materials wasn’t something she could just hand over on a whim.

Yet, she just laughed cheerfully and downed her cup. As she emptied it and looked up at the sky, her expression wasn’t her usual carefree self—it was serious, tinged with a hint of melancholy.

“…I’ve grown attached to that kid, I don’t want to see her die before me.”
“…I’m sorry.”

…Right. I’d heard from Ayame that she’d lost her younger sister in the past. To suicide, following a mental illness. Things turned out this way, but back then, she’d been aiming to become a child psychologist. Even her interest in cosplay and fashion in general originated from making outfits from her sister’s favorite anime, for her sister who tended to be withdrawn at home.

“…Honestly, it’s a huge relief that you showed up just in time.”
“Heh heh, you’d better be really grateful, nya.”

Perhaps embarrassed by my sincere thanks, her face flushed slightly as she made a playful face, but her expression quickly turned serious again.

“…Besides, I have a feeling. I just know we can’t lose that girl. Compared to all of our lives combined, she’s…”
“So much more valuable, huh?”

I picked up where she’d faltered. I’d had a vague, lingering sense of it. Back then, she was anything but ordinary. We were facing an opponent we’d struggled so hard against, and yet she defeated it so easily it was almost like a lie… Well, not exactly “easily,” but her support abilities were outlandish. Mind you, that overwhelming presence I felt back then has since faded; now she has a somewhat airheaded, spacey, and laid-back demeanor.
But even setting that aside, if—as suspected—only third-reincarnation classes have made it over here, then among the players, she’s the only pure support/healer. There were some NPCs like that, but compared to her—who possesses every second-tier skill—there was a huge gap in ability, and her value was immeasurable.

“That’s why I won’t hesitate to cooperate. Besides, I’ve grown quite fond of that girl.”
“I’m sorry… From now on, I’ll be counting on you, Overlord Miriam.”
“Nyahaha, I’m still not used to being called that—it makes me blush… Well, leave it to me, Sword Saint.”

As we called each other by our class titles—names neither of us was quite used to yet—and blushed at the exchange, we clinked our cups lightly and downed our drinks once more.

――Eek…U-uh… are you… really going to check… all the way there…? …Mmn!? Stop…! Not there, hey!?

“—What the f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g hell is he doing, that damn nonce!!!”

My scream, as my patience finally snapped at the sight of their tryst behind the rock—which seemed on the verge of crossing some dangerous line—echoed through the forest.

.

.

“Sniff, sniff… I’ll never be able to get married now…”
“Then why the hell did you come sit right next to me…!”

That’s right—when this girl came back and got into the bath, she chose to squeeze right between Miriam and me, of all places, even though we were sitting side by side, sharing a drink. That spot wasn’t exactly spacious to begin with. Since she forced her way into such a tight spot, I could feel the soft, smooth touch of her arm pressed against my right arm—it was grinding away at my rationality. However, I felt reluctant to push away a girl who was sniffling and crying, so despite feeling utterly uncomfortable, I had no choice but to let her do as she pleased.

“Oh dear, hehe, she might not realize it, but she’s actually quite possessive, huh?”

For some reason, Miriam was nodding to herself as if she’d come to some conclusion. What on earth was going on?

“I’m sorry, really, it was my fault.”

As Sol bowed his head deeply, Iris—in a rare moment—blushed bright red and glared at him with tear-filled eyes. If looks could kill. This was truly unusual. She was seriously angry. Miriam and I hurriedly put our drinks out of the way.

“…So, you’ve got your answer now?”
“Yeah. This still leaves me wondering where it came from, but at least for the two of us, the theory that we’re still using the items from our initial registration in our original world is out of the question.”
“Well, if you say so, I guess that’s how it is.”
“After all… By the time I started playing, I’d already got *it* down there.”
““PFT””

Iris and I both started coughing. What a bombshell this idiot just dropped!
Iris’s slender shoulders next to me were trembling. I couldn’t see her expression since she was looking down, but I could kind of guess how she felt.

“…Nii-sama, in that case, why would you ever check every crook and cranny of mine…? If that’s the case, one glance would’ve been enough, right…? Could you please give me a satisfactory explanation?”

Ah, I could feel a tremendous aura of negative emotion rising gently from beside me. It might even have surpassed that enemy from the other day.

“Haha… Sorry, you looked so cute blushing like that I just couldn’t stop… I’m really, really sorry!”

At that utterly ridiculous answer, I felt like I heard—or imagined—the sound of a blood vessel snapping from beside me.

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu……!! NII-SAMA YOU… BIG… DUUMMYYYY!!”

The next moment, Iris—her eyes brimming with tears and seething with rage—slammed her hand down, sending a massive spray of water flying toward Sol.

.

.

.

“Rage-san, that’s alcohol, right? I’d like some too.”
“Not a chance.”

I replied immediately to her voice as she looked up at me. Come to think of it, she really did like alcohol. Even though she couldn’t hold her liquor.

By the way, Iris hadn’t looked at Sol even once since a little while ago. She seemed to be deliberately ignoring him, and since nothing he said got through to her, Sol was sitting a little ways away, feeling totally dejected. Serves him right.

“Come on, it’s fine—I’m not a minor.”
“Your mind may be an adult, but that body is still a minor’s, right? No way.”
“Uuu…”

As I looked at Iris’s back—turned away from me—something unnaturally white caught the corner of my eye. I spotted it purely by chance.

“…Hey, Iris, there’s something on your back that looks like a white welt… no, wait.”
“Huh?”

It’s too neat to be a welt, and it doesn’t quite look like her natural skin color either. Though I flinched at the sight of the girl’s soft skin, I stared at it intently…

“Sol, did you draw this feather-like pattern when you were creating her texture?”
“Huh? What’s that? I don’t know anything about it…?”

It was a pattern. A wing-like shape spreading out to the left and right, surrounded by something resembling a magic circle. It was the same color as Iris’s natural white skin, yet it stood out distinctly… So that was why I could only see it now that her skin had flushed and taken on a reddish tint.

“What, that sounds scary… Um, Rage-san, could you take a look at it…?”
“Well, it’d be a big problem if it’s something bad. Here, turn your back toward me.”

I’d rashly agreed to help this girl, who was cowering in fear of some unknown thing… I’d gone and done it.

.

.

.

“Eek!?”

The moment a finger slid across my back, the sudden, unexpected sensation made my mind go blank, and I couldn’t hold back a strange scream that escaped my lips… What on earth was this!?

“Oops, sorry—was that ticklish? But hang in there for a sec; I can’t really check if you’re moving around… Wait, what the heck is this?”

Uu… Every time a finger glided across my back, my body would twitch and jump slightly. I had no idea because it was a spot I couldn’t reach myself! T-this was a little weird—this was bad!

“Hey, Sol, these are runes, right? They’re way too complicated—I can’t make heads or tails of them.”
“Let me see… Hmm? No, these are a bit older… Aren’t they from the era of the ancient magical civilization, before the system was standardized?”
“Whoa, seriously? Those are a pain in the a̲s̲s̲ to decipher.”
“…uu, phew… You two, w-wait, y-yaa…!”

Every time their fingers glided over me, I felt the mana inside my body getting disrupted. Every time their fingers brushed against what seemed to be a pattern on my back—one I couldn’t see—the mana inside me rippled like waves, and a tingling sensation slowly spread throughout my whole body… What was this? My senses were going haywire!?

“…ngh! …ungh!?”

Every time my back was touched, I felt a ticklish sensation as if I were being caressed by countless hands spreading across my skin. The sensation of the mana’s circulation within me—which had become so acute, perhaps too acute, ever since I became “me”—sharply drove home how that disrupted flow, caused by being touched at its central point, stimulated every nerve in my body. I was barely holding on by biting my finger and clenching my teeth tightly to keep from letting out a moan that was about to escape… B-but this… I had absolutely no idea how to hold back…! If this kept up, I was in big trouble…!

“…Hang on, this isn’t a script from the ancient magical civilization either. Could it be the seal of the goddess Airein’s blessing?”
“Seriously? If that’s the case, we’ll have to ask an expert—we’re completely out of our depth here, aren’t we?”
“Yeah… It’s not a language with fixed grammar; it conveys meaning through the shapes themselves… There are too many possible interpretations for us to handle…”

The two of them, engrossed in their discussion, didn’t notice what was happening to me. As my back was relentlessly stroked, the mana churning inside me began to erode my thoughts. What had started as a sensation on my skin gradually seeped deeper and deeper into my body, igniting heat as it went… If this kept up…

That sensation from earlier in the changing room flashed through my mind. Realizing where this heat, slowly invading my body, was headed, the blood drained from my face in an instant.

“S-stop…! I-if this keeps up… I, I’ll…!”

Finally, unable to hold back any longer, the finger—now sticky with the saliva I’d been sucking on—slipped out of my mouth. Even though I tried desperately to make them stop, the moment I attempted to speak, I had a premonition that an embarrassing sound would burst uncontrollably from the back of my throat. I could barely manage a whisper—so faint it was like a mosquito’s buzz—and it didn’t reach the ears of the two people behind me, who were engrossed in their heated discussion…!

“U-um, I-I can’t take it… stop…!?”

At last, the ripples disrupting the flow of magic throughout my body reached my core, deep within my stomach… and the nature of that sensation transformed into an intense heat, like something entirely different, cascading into “that spot” deep inside my body… No way, this couldn’t be true!? He was just touching my back, that was all!? It was as if a direct line had been connected to my spine—something was suddenly converging from my entire body into the depths of my stomach. My whole body was bubbling with the sensation that I’d already crossed the line, that I’d risen to a point of no return where it could no longer be stopped… No, no, no, NO!? Wait, what was happening!?

“And this… this rod-like thing in the middle—is that the staff from the other day?”

Rage-san’s finger is moving along my spine… I-I can’t take it, not any more, h-ha… Ahh!

“Ah, you two, if you don’t stop soon, Iris-chan’s going to be in big trouble… Ah, I guess it’s too late.”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”

The two of them finally snapped back to their senses. But Rage-san’s finger, caught off guard, slid forcefully along the hollow of my spine…

“――――Fyaaaaaaaahhh!!?”

Faced with the most intense stimulation yet, my back jerked violently—a huge, sudden jolt!—to its absolute limit. The sensation of something opening with a sharp flutter, as if my will had been torn from my back, felt trivial compared to the electric current and heat shaking my entire body—as if I were finally releasing everything that had been building up inside me all this time—

“Whoa!? Sorry, are you okay――”

Rage-san’s voice sounded distant, and suddenly, all my strength drained away in the opposite direction. My whole body went limp as if a string had snapped, and I collapsed into the hot water… and I lost consciousness.

.

.

A little while later, when I—who had apparently fainted from the shock—woke up resting my head on Milly’s lap, the two of them were bowing deeply in unison.

“I kept…telling you!! To stop…!”
“I’m sorry, I really didn’t notice—I didn’t mean any harm!!”
“I’m sorry, really, I’m so sorry!!”

…Hmph, that was so embarrassing. I’m not going to forgive you two for a while! Ugh!!

***

　She’s just being ticklish, right…?
　I wanted the girl with the feather to have a sensitive back.