Arm in arm, the two of them turned into that legendary alley with light, eager steps.
It was an ordinary-looking building, with nothing but an inconspicuous sign out front bearing a heart-tipped tail.
The moment they pushed the door open, a faint sweet fragrance drifted over them, and the soft lighting inside stood in sharp contrast to the dark street outside.
"Welcome This is the Succubus Café, where weary adventurers are treated to sweet dreams" A smiling succubus with revealing clothes and little black wings on her back stepped forward to greet them.
Kazuma's eyes instantly went wide, and he almost started drooling.
Kōichi still had a sliver of reason left, but even his heartbeat quickened on its own.
"T-two top-tier sets, please!" Kazuma slammed the money pouch onto the counter with grand confidence. "I've got a membership card! The kind... the kind that lets you customize special services!"
The succubus took the card, glanced at it, and her smile grew even more alluring. "Oh my, a distinguished VIP guest. In that case, right this way, please. You'll need to fill out a detailed wish list~ Whatever kind of partner you want, whatever kind of setting, even... whatever kind of play, you can write it all down."
The two were led to a pair of adjoining private booths.
Holding fragrant parchment and a quill, Kōichi and Kazuma exchanged a look and saw the same fire burning in each other's eyes.
"Kōichi, remember our vow." Kazuma clenched his fist.
"Of course. Tonight, there is only happiness." Kōichi nodded solemnly.
Then both men immediately slipped into their respective booths and began writing furiously.
Inside the booth, the air was filled with a strange atmosphere, something like testosterone mixed with pink-colored fantasy.
Kōichi gripped the faintly perfumed quill, his expression more focused than ever, as though he were drafting a magical contract that would decide the fate of the world.
"Partner: It has to be her... that legendary actress with the tongue of a goddess and miraculous fullness. Ms. Hatano!"
He wrote the name down with force, pouring into every stroke all the homesickness and gentlemanly spirit he had suppressed for so long in this other world.
"Setting: A Showa-style hot spring inn, cherry blossoms drifting outside the window, while she kneels on the tatami in that classic dark blue yukata, pouring sake for me..."
"Scenario: No need for unnecessary words. Just that gentle gaze, and that classic line. 'You've worked hard today. Let me take good care of you...'"
After writing the final word, Kōichi let out a long breath, as if he had just completed a masterpiece.
He carefully blew on the ink to dry it, then pushed open the booth door and stepped outside.
At almost the exact same moment, the booth next door opened too.
Kazuma stepped out wearing a dreamy expression, a suspicious glimmer still hanging at the corner of his mouth, clutching the parchment in his hand like a ticket to heaven.
The two met in the hallway. Their eyes locked, and sparks flew between them, the kind only true gentlemen could understand.
"Finished?" Kōichi raised a brow, a hint of probing in his voice.
"Finished." Kazuma took a deep breath, his gaze resolute. "This is my lifelong dream. My only spiritual support in this other world full of idiots and perverts."
"Since we both swore not to screw each other over..." Kōichi suddenly lowered his voice and leaned in closer. "Want to... trade and take a look? I want to confirm whether your taste is worthy of being my teammate's."
Kazuma hesitated for a moment, but then gave him a knowing grin. "Sure! I want to see what kind of dark desires are hidden inside that always-so-serious sadist Kōichi!"
"One, two, three, switch!"
The two parchments changed hands midair.
Kōichi lowered his eyes to Kazuma's page, and his gaze instantly froze.
"Partner: that legendary private tutor... Ms. Hatano!"
"Setting: an empty classroom after school, with the sun setting outside..."
Kazuma, meanwhile, looked at Kōichi's page, and his eyes went round as saucers, his mouth dropping open into an O.
"Partner: that legendary hot spring landlady... Ms. Hatano!"
The air seemed to freeze.
The next second, both men jerked their heads up and stared at each other, their eyes filled with shock, emotion, and the blazing light of true understanding.
"Kōichi... you bastard..." Kazuma's voice trembled, and his eyes grew wet. "So... so you like Ms. Hatano too! And from her most classic era, no less!"
"Kazuma..." Kōichi seized Kazuma's hands tightly, as if he had just found a long-lost blood brother. "I never thought that in this other world, I'd meet someone with such refined taste! Gods, Crimson Demon geniuses, all of them are nothing but clouds before Ms. Hatano!"
"Exactly! That all-embracing sense of motherhood! That acting that feels unbelievably real even though it's all performance! That's the ultimate healing we've been chasing!" Kazuma was so excited he could barely speak straight. "Kōichi! From today on, you're my brother from another mother! From now on, if I've got food to eat, you'll definitely have booze to drink!"
"My brother!" Kōichi was moved to tears as well. "To celebrate the elevation of our friendship, I've decided to change the line you wrote just now, 'I hope Ms. Hatano lightly punishes me with a riding crop,' to 'I hope Ms. Hatano harshly punishes me with a riding crop.' That suits your masochistic side much better!"
"Hey! We agreed not to sabotage each other!" Kazuma instantly snapped out of it and lunged to snatch the parchment back. "And it was 'lightly'! That's flavor, not perversion!"
"Oh, don't sweat the details." Kōichi laughed and dodged him. "As long as it's Ms. Hatano, it's all good, right?"
Just as the two of them were happily arguing, in the way only men can understand, over whether it should be lightly or harshly, the succubus came over with a smile and took the two sheets of parchment.
"Both of your wishes are very... well, very profound." The succubus looked over what was written on the pages. She had no idea who "Ms. Hatano" was, but she still put on a professionally suggestive smile. "Please rest assured, we'll tailor the perfect dream for each of you based on your descriptions. So tonight, be sure to lock your doors and windows, and wait for our visit~"
The two men exchanged a glance and once again showed the same knowing, sleazy grin.
Late at night, the air in Axel was filled with a restless but expectant stillness.
Kōichi and Kazuma Satou, the two men who had just established the Hatano Alliance, were each lying stiffly on their beds in the inn room in an extremely awkward posture.
To make sure their dreams would not be interrupted, Kōichi had even stuffed three layers of soundproofing cotton into the crack under the door, while Kazuma had arranged a ring of cheap calming incense by his bedside.
"Haa... calm down, Kōichi. You're a reincarnator with a higher education. You can't act like some middle school kid who's never seen the world. Even if it is Ms. Hatano... even if it is a hot spring inn... even if it is a yukata..." Kōichi stared up at the ceiling, and in the silence of the room, his pounding heartbeat sounded deafening.
What the two of them did not know, however, was that at that very moment, an accident worthy of going down in Axel's history of bad luck was unfolding on the roof of the inn.
A shapely succubus, just about to carry out her assignment, was crouched by the chimney and panting, clutching two order sheets with a deeply conflicted look on her face.
"Damn it... what kind of weird barrier did that blue-haired priest put around this inn?! That absurdly pure holy aura nearly roasted my wings off!"
Before going to bed, Aqua had suddenly gotten the idea of casting an extra-powerful barrier in the middle of the lobby to keep dirty things from disturbing her sleep, though really she was just trying to keep mosquitoes away.
As a result, of the two succubi who had originally been scheduled to come, one had fainted on the spot while approaching the inn, unable to withstand the pressure of that idiot goddess's aura, and had to be carried away.
The remaining succubus looked at the two orders in her hands, then at the fact that she was the only one who had managed to sneak in, and fell into thought.
"These two guests' requests... Ms. Hatano? I don't know who that is, but from the descriptions, it seems to be the same person. In that case, to save on energy, I may as well pull both of their consciousnesses into the same shared dream space. As long as I switch the scenes fast enough, they probably won't notice each other..."