Hey there. It’s me, a former Demon King in my previous life.
Hey, stop it. Don’t look at me with those cringe “Ugh…” eyes like I’m some pathetic person.
For now, just listen. Ah, no, I really want you to listen.
This morning, while I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom, it suddenly hit me: “Ah, I’m the demon king who was defeated by the hero!”
Don’t think it’s a sloppy way of remembering. I thought the same thing myself.
“Ah, you probably already know that a demon king is an evil character from fantasy games, movies, and novels that threatens the human world. He’s the enemy of the protagonist… the hero. The final boss.
Huh? You want me to look in the mirror?
Yeah, exactly. Just look at my appearance and you’ll understand.
Relax—I think so too.
A height of 153 centimeters, a body as skinny as a bean sprout, and a generic ‘background character’ face.
Oh, and by the way, I became a high schooler this spring.
Saying that I was the demon king in my previous life sounds like nothing but a nice delusion, doesn’t it?
But of course… my former self was something else entirely.
I had blue skin, a body that was nothing more than a saggy mass of flesh, writhing tentacles, and a mouth that split wide open—almost to my ears—with sharp fangs.
Oh, and that was just me in my early stage.
Then, step by step, my doughy body bulked up into a muscular giant, sprouted a tail and horns, even grew bat-like wings, and acquired nearly unstoppable widespread area-attack skills (as long as they weren’t light-element based).
Huh? Not what you imagined? Yeah, the demon kings in recent fantasy worlds are all so handsome. Damn, I’m so jealous. Damn it.
But unfortunately, that’s what I looked like when I was the Demon King.
Well, in the end, I was stabbed in the heart by the hero and died.
I’m sure that world became peaceful afterward.
Hero, may you find happiness with the heroine (even though I don’t know any heroines, to be honest).
As for me, I’m going to live my life modestly as a normal human here in Japan on another Earth.
********************
“I’m Ichinose, and starting today, I’m a member of this class. Let’s all get along.”
“My name is Ichinose Noa. Nice to meet you.”
I screamed internally, “The hero?? Nooooooooo!!!”
Standing beside the teacher at the podium, that charming, blonde, blue-eyed new transfer student, beaming as he introduced himself—I was silently freaking out. (Not that I actually screamed out loud… that would be too much, so I’m proud of myself.)
“Ichinose, your seat is over there.”
“Yes.”
Huh? No way? Why?
I was sweating profusely, like a waterfall.
Did the hero also get reincarnated?
No, calm down.
It’s not that the hero was reincarnated. It’s just a resemblance to the hero. Besides, I look nothing like my past life…
“………………W-What?”
Why is the new transfer student stopping by my side and looking down at me?!
“Ah, sorry… I just thought you just reminded me of someone I know…”
“…Ha ha, is that so.”
“I’m sorry,” the transfer student apologized again as he passed by me and then… sat in the seat right behind me.
Uwaaah—of all places, behind me!
No, I get that my last name is Azumi, so I understand I’m supposed to sit at the back! I get it! But if some hero lookalike is coming, at least let there be someone between us! Between me and the transfer student! I wish there were someone else there! Like Ando or Anzai! For the sake of my mental well-being!
I want to punch myself for casually saying to everyone, “I wonder what kind of guy he is,” just a moment ago!
Ahhhh! Please! Please! I beg you, I hope this transfer student isn’t the hero!
Desperately praying in my heart, I didn’t know the transfer student had been staring at me intently all along.
********************
“Ah… I’m dead.”
“My spirit has gone away.”
The transfer student—no, Ichinose—started asking me things like how far we are in the next lesson or if I can show him around the school…
Stop it. Please, ask someone else!
…Well, the girls ended up showing him around. Thank goodness for Ichinose’s good looks.
“Azumi-kun, could you spare a little time for me… would that be okay?”
After school, when I tried to get up and slip away like I was about to run, Ichinose stopped me. Eeeek!
“………………Wh-Where?”
“Right there.”
With that, Ichinose stood, grabbed his bag, and suddenly bent down toward me.
“Azumi-kun, you’re the Demon King, right?”
Ah—game over.
The place I was taken by Ichinose, or rather the hero, was the annex’s archive room. I was already feeling like a sacrificial lamb on the way there. …And then I thought, wait, why does the transfer student, of all people, have the key to the archive room!? That’s scary!
“I said I needed to go fetch some teaching materials, and they lent me the key,” he explained.
“Don’t read my mind! And seriously, how can you borrow it so easily!?”
“Well… I still have some skills from my previous life. One of them is charm.”
“Charm? The hero has charm!? Scary! And anyway, why would you have any skills!? No way, You mean… you can actually use magic?! Also, don’t read my mind! Hah—don’t tell me you can actually read minds…”
“‘I don’t have magic—obviously. And besides, your expressions are way too obvious, Azumi-kun.’”
“What? Really? My friends always say I have a deadpan face.”
“Is that so? Then I guess only I can truly read you, Azumi-kun. That makes me happy.”
Stop smiling all sparkly and radiant like that. Why do you look so happy? It’s creepy.
“‘…I knew right away you were the demon king. Even though your appearance is completely different.’”
Hey, don’t lock the door. Don’t stand in front of it!
“I knew it at first glance.”
Huh?
“At first glance? What do you mean?”
“I have a lot I want to talk to you about. Have a seat.”
The hero sat on a nearby chair and lightly patted the seat next to him.
I was on high alert, expecting him to attack me—but then the hero just let out a small laugh.
“I’m not going to do anything to you like that.”
But… you were really aggressive in your past life! And what about reading my mind… wait, did it really show on my face? I can’t tell… I pressed my cheeks with both hands, thinking, Damn, I really don’t have any expression.
“Are you doing that on purpose?”
“Huh?”
On purpose? What do you mean? Are you under the impression that I’m deliberately trying to kill the hero?! I’m not! I’m not targeting anyone!! It’s all just a misunderstanding!
“Seriously…? I wonder if I can endure this.”
No, what are you mumbling about? That’s so scary. Stop it. It’s scary. It’s freaking me out—I just want to run away.
“You can run if you want, but I’m confident I can catch you in seconds.”
I’m sorry. I won’t run away. Please don’t look at me with those eyes that seem to be hunting for prey while wearing such a serene smile.
“Um, excuse me for intruding…”
I sat down on the chair, trembling. I ended up in a pretty defensive posture, but forgive me, I had no choice.
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
“It’s about that other world—about what happened after I defeated you…”
And with that, the hero began his tale. Then…
“Seriously?!”
After hearing the hero’s story, I held my head in my hands.
First off, it turns out that I—the one everyone thought was the demon king—was originally just an ordinary commoner.
Apparently, when the white mage (one of the hero’s companions) destroyed the magical circle carved in the basement of the demon king’s castle, the entire region known as the “Cursed Land,” which had been under the demon king’s control, transformed into ordinary streets, and every defeated demon returned to human form. Of course, there were no survivors.
Even more shocking was that the one who created the demon king—and the cursed land—was none other than the ancestor (or more precisely, the court magician serving the king a long, long time ago) of the very king who ordered the heroes to defeat the demon lord.
That magician dabbled in forbidden black magic—engaging in all sorts of dangerous activities (including human experiments, among other things)—and accidentally created the “Cursed Land,” which caused everyone living there to turn into monsters.
Among them, thanks to my particularly good compatibility with black magic, I ended up becoming the monster known as the Demon King.
When the king learned about this dire situation, he apparently thought it was actually a stroke of luck. Heh.
At that time, due to repeated tax hikes, the people were pushed to the limit and the nation was on the verge of rebellion.
In the midst of all that turmoil, our sudden appearance—us monsters manipulated by the magician’s mind-control magic—proved convenient in diverting the populace’s attention. We would suddenly appear in the forests or even attack villages, and the country would, as a sort of performance, occasionally employ mercenaries or knights to hunt us down.
They carried on this charade for generations. Disgusting…
Amidst all this, it is said that a decree was bestowed upon the temple.
That decree turned out to be the hero.
The people in the temple—and even a few nobles who secretly doubted the king—found the hero (who was just a baby at the time), protected him, and secretly raised him.
Apparently, most of the temple’s people were aware of the country’s darker side. Bribery, perhaps?
To them, the hero was someone they wanted to eliminate at any cost.
Good thing he was protected before they could catch him. Well done, hero.
So, they had the grown hero embark on demon hunting missions, essentially broadcasting his existence to the world.
When a human capable of defeating the root of all evil—the demon king—appeared, the people rejoiced and wholeheartedly embraced the hero.
The country could not say that there was no need to defeat the Demon King, so they sent the hero and his party to the “Cursed Land” with the command, “Go and defeat the Demon King.”
“During our journey, we encountered far more humans who tried to wipe us out than any demons ever did.”
The hero smiled brightly. His smile was eerie… and just as I thought that, his expression darkened.
“I had known that the country was deeply involved with the Cursed Land. But I never imagined that the monsters we were killing were originally humans…”
“Well, I guess… yeah. I suppose it can’t be helped. You really didn’t know.”
Honestly, even if you told me then that I was originally human, after being a monster for hundreds of years, I would no longer remember what it was like to be human.
But…
“Ah… you know… if you had never been born, I’m sure that I would’ve continued to be exploited for a long time to come…”
Ah, so that’s why—I finally understood the feeling I had when the hero thrust his sword through my heart.
“When you pierced my heart, in that moment, I thought I would finally be free. I didn’t know why I thought that, but after hearing your story, I finally understand.”
At that moment, a trace of the emotions I had when I was human must have surfaced.
I looked straight at the hero and no longer felt afraid of him.
“Thank you for freeing me… no, us. Hero.”
I managed a wry smile. I’m not sure if it really looked like a real smile, but I hoped the hero understood.
Before I knew it, I was being hugged tightly by the hero… Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!
Too tight! Too tight! It hurts! My bones are breaking! I’m going to die!
Owww—stop squeezing me!
I frantically started slapping the hero’s back.
“I’m sorry… my body just acted on its own…”
Freed from the hero’s arm, I gasped for breath. I seriously thought I was going to die. …Wait, why is the hero’s face red? And could you please let go of my shoulder? People might misunderstand if they see us from the side.
“Um… I just couldn’t bear the thought of you disappearing…”
No, no—I’m not going anywhere. In fact, there was a moment when I almost felt as if you were going to make me vanish…
“Because, back then…I never got to tell you how I felt…”
Huh?
“That’s why, when I found you, I knew without a doubt that it was fate.”
What?
“I… I love you.”
Excuse me??
“Back then, I fell in love with you at first sight when you returned to your original form. So, Azumi-kun, please go out with me—with marriage in mind!”
You say whaaaaaaaaaatttt???!!!
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The End.
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Author: Yohan O
A bit of this, a bit of that, a bit of everything except straight
