It's True Love 48 (Patreon)

"So, did you have fun with my Sister last night...?" Touko breaks the awkward silence that has been consuming our date. As expected, she's mad over Aoko winning, even if she doesn't want to admit that I'm a prize.

I look away. "Yeah...?" Spending time with Sensei is always fun, that's why I wanted her in my harem on the first place. And also her massive ass I guess, that's a pretty big reason too.

But as Touko glares at me, I suddenly realize she was talking about a very specific type of fun. "E-erm... we didn't have sex though." I only banged my very cute Senpai. Which is kinda weird when you think about it.

She looks away. "I see. By the way, do you mind explaining why you were late?" And there's the other elephant in the room. Urgh, I just knew my life would one day end because of blonde lolis!

I awkwardly chuckle. "You see thing about that is... I ended up stumbling on what was probably that unknown stalker you warned me about." She raises an eyebrow, I guess I got her curious.

"She seemed like a pretty normal girl, but I ended up wasting time because she was lost and... Well, actually Shiki showed up and I essentially passed the girl onto her. Your Shiki by the way, not mine." Not that we own Shikis.

I have a feeling she's still angry at me, but at least we are finally talking about something. "And did you figure the girl's name? Something about her put me off..." Coming from Touko that's not a good sign.

I nod. "Yeah, her name is Manaka Sajyou. You recognize it?" I'll have to admit, the girl was certainly strange... But she is my stalker, so it wasn't like I was expecting het to be normal anyways.

Touko nods back after thinking a bit. "I do, but I also don't know much about her in particular. As far as I'm aware the Sajyou are just your average family of mages, nothing special." At least I now have confirmation that she's a mage.

Which means she most definitely knows about the mess I call a life. And that also means that her stalker levels are high enough that she didn't backdown at the sight of Arcueid or Rika. How scary.

Touko continues. "There is something interesting about the Sajyou's however... The current heir had two daughters, and he's planning on training both. An unusual thing among families of mages." That sounds nice of him.

And it also makes me curious about something else. "Your family was the same right? With you and Aoko being trained." Both of them are amazing mages after all, even if one is essentially a walking bomb.

Touko snorts. "Hah, nah." That's... surprising. "I was the one trained as the heir of the Aozaki's... And then Aoko who had never received any training at all suddenly stole my spot due to my grandfather's whim." Ah, so that's from where the animosity started, I'm assuming.

Mage families really are a mess. From what Senpai has told me, they typically have these disputes because only one person can inherit a Magic Crest, which is essentially the family's combined knowledge.

I can understand why Touko disliked Aoko, I think anyone would in such a situation, even if subconsciously. It also doesn't help that Touko clearly loved magecraft... but at the same time, this is clearly her grandpa's fault.

There's no point in telling her that though. Touko isn't an adolescent, so I'm sure she reached the conclusion she needed to reach a long time ago.

Touko puts a hand on her chin. "Ignoring my problems however, let's talk about that girl..." I'm on a date with you though! "Did you find out why she would have wanted to stalk you?" My amazing looks?

"Sadly I didn't. I'm pretty sure I never saw her before either... Maybe she find out about my whole grain thing and got interested?" She is a magus after all, and my unique constitution even interested Touko.

But the Aozaki doesn't immediately agree. "It's possible, and there are multitudes of mages willing to try the honeypot tactic, but... I don't know. Just keep your guard up around her." So even the mighty Touko Aozaki is spooked?

Yeah, that's definitely a bad sign. "If she's making you so worried maybe I should call up Shiki. I left her alone with that girl after all." Hell, maybe I should rush to her side as well. If Cat got hurt because I passed my problems onto her...

Well, let's just say that a guy who makes such a massive mistake is unworthy of getting a harem or banging his Senpai. Even begging for forgiveness a thousand times wouldn't help this young lord!

To my surprise however, Touko chuckles. "There's no need, Shiki Ryougi would be at a bigger danger when facing a armed civilian than a magus." Well, guns are pretty cool! Even Senpai uses them...

I tilt my head. "That's... pretty unusual." Maybe that would make sense if we were talking about the worst mage ever, but the worst mage ever wouldn't set off Touko's weirdness radar. Probably.

There's is a weird glimmer on Touko's eyes. "It's due to Shiki's Mystic Eyes Of Death Perception." That's...! "Yes, we are talking about the same power your friend possesses. Those are eyes are very suited to fighting against mystics."

"And Shiki has experience too. Every other day she attracts another freak of nature who she has to handle... I actually discovered quite a few things while watching her." Ah, I now understand what that glimmer is.

It's excitement. Touko is a researcher who genuinely loved magecraft, so naturally she will enjoy talking about things related to it... Geez, what the hell am I doing bringing her to expensive places when I can do something way more effective and simple?

I smirk. "Hey Touko, let's go back to the hotel where you are staying." Besides, as she is the ultimate femcel, I'm sure she is way more comfortable at home. Without a doubt there is a universe where she went full NEET...

She blushes as a pout appears on her face. "I'm not as easy as my sister, sorry." You are even easier if I really am being honest. I mean, I had tons of backstory with her, but you are a new arrival.

I chuckle. "I'm not talking about sex." Though I do have a condom I could use, courtesy of Sensei. I think having sex with Touko Aozaki using a condom gifted by Aoko Aozaki might be a sin though.

"It's just that... you are interested in Grain and... in my body in general, right?" She gived me a hesitant nod, clearly she's still on suspicion mode. "Well, then you can take a look at it." Free of charge!

She squints her eyes on my direction. "Oh yeah...? And the catch is...?" That you fall in love with me, and we have tons and tons of children and live happily ever after! Also, I want to learn cool chuuni magic stuff.

I shrug. "There's no catch, I just thought that would be more fun for the both of us over the date I planned..." I already paid for everything, which means I wasted church money. Sorry! "I mean, the whole purpose of this bet is winning me as a student, so this should be right up your alley, right?"

She nods. "Well, you are correct..." And even as she tries to hide it, I can tell she is now very excited. "Let's go to my apartment then, I'll assess your current level of magecraft... And we will do nothing more." Seems fine to me.

All I need is for Touko Aozaki to fall in love with me by the end of the night, nothing more, nothing less. And since she loves magecraft and I'm made of alien juice...

I'm confident on my chances.



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"Amazing..." I think I have never seen Touko as genuinely happy as she is right now.

You know, when she asked me to show her what I got I was a bit worried. I can't do any of my copied abilities right now, since Rika isn't here, and I doubt she would care about my swordsmanship skills either, so...

I had to show her what I understood of magecraft. Which is just the basics of course.

Structural analysis, reinforcement, projection. Things any mage knows, things Touko Aozaki really shouldn't care about. And while I have a few tricks the Holy Church say aren't magecraft, even though they totally are... Touko shouldn't care about those either.

And yet she looks like Christmas has come early. "Your structural analysis and reinforcement are so unique!" So my projection isn't even worthy of consideration? What a shame...

She's circling my body like a hungry predator. "How does your grain pick and choose what to consume!?" She's talking about how my grain is pretty much poison. I even used it once to destroy the runes on her puppets after all.

I shrug. "I... don't really know to be honest. It's just kind of... instinctual? I guess." It is a wonder my grain doesn't eat through my body. Rika's outer body is also technically not made of grain, and it survives just fine.

I also... well... I came inside of Ciel, and she didn't suffer any damage from all the energy I was given her. That is to say, I can technically pick and choose what I harm and what I don't harm. Good, it means I avoided the legendary radioactive Spider-Man cum scenario.

Touko finally stops, now staring right at my face. "I see, I guess traits like that are all over nature." She hums. "Still, how did you even survive birth...? You freak!" She doesn't seem to mean that as a offence, so I chuckle a little.

To be honest I don't even want to think about my birth, I was aware the entire time after all, and it was just as horrific as you would think. It makes me wonder if me being a reincarnated person helped this body survive though...

She puts her hands on her hips. "And then there's the fact that your body somehow doesn't overheat and explode over carrying this much mana. Is it the heroic lineage you hold responsible?" It figures she would know that.

Yet again, I can only shrug. "Dunno, probably? I... do I really hold that much energy?" People always tell me I have tons of mana, since I run on grain, but they never told me just how much exactly.

Touko grins. "I can't measure it, I don't think anyone can... In terms of sheer energy you definitely have way more than the entirety of humanity combined. Honestly you probably surpass even the spider." Spider-Man's radioactive cum!? Yeah, she's definitely not talking about that...

Suddenly she... she facepalms. "Ugh, how did I miss you!? It's not fair that you fell on Aoko's hands of all people!" I feel like I would have been a much colder person if you had found me instead, but whatever.

Actually... considering the amount of evil or less than morally great people roaming around the world, I can't help but be amazed that such a kind person is the one who gave me guidance. It almost feels like fate.

She takes a deep breath. "No, it doesn't matter right now. I have you all to myself right now after all." Cute.

That's so cute that I can't hold back. "Are you sure you should be saying that? We still are on a date, so I might get the wrong idea." The legendary condom still rests upon my pockets, waiting to be used!

She glares at me. "Right now you are my pupil, so don't get the wrong idea." I definitely haven't lose the bet yet! And considering the look she's giving me... I think I might have won already.

Even if her love is less the romantic type, and more of the I'm a scientist and you're a rare discovery type. Hey, I'll take it! Things can always evolve, and I did plant the seeds for it multiple times already!

She smiles, her glare dying out in a second. "And speaking of you being my pupil... for how long have you been a magus anyways? You haven't learned much." Ah, here comes the sermon. Sorry for wasting my talent!

She immediately reads me. "Ah, and don't worry, I won't judge. Your learned about the supernatural from my sister after all." She sighs. "That woman is wasting Shiki Tohno's talent as well..." You want two Shikis!?

Still, she's assuming a lot. "Actually Sensei pretty much taught us nothing of magecraft." Her eyes widen. Why is she surprised over Sensei being Sensei? "My teacher is actually Ciel. I don't know if you're familiar with her...?"

She nods. "I am, she's the Burial Agency member who's immortal. I also know she does indeed know some magecraft." As expected of my puppet stalker! And here I was expecting your skills to have degraded because you don't know I had sex with that very same Ciel yesterday.

"It's good to see you're well informed! But yeah, it's Senpai who has been training me... I started a bit before our final confrontation with Vlov, the Dead Apostle Ancestor. Though most of our focus go into actual combat." I'm not a researcher after all.

So we mostly train with swordsmanship... or at least that was the idea, but since I was recovering our sessions mostly consisted of us trying to send the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception back to Rika.

Touko gasps. "That's...!" Ah, please tell me she isn't about to call me pathetic... I'm fine with being average, but being below average sucks. Actually I wanna be great, sorry, but I'm a prideful guy.

She suddenly starts giggling and walks away. After a moment she comes back with some pieces of paper and lays them on a table. It peaks my curiosity, since I don't actually think those papers are anything special...

And then she clears her throat. "Are you familiar with runes, Yuta?" I'm surprised she's bringing those up. I know she's proficient with them, but it's clear that her true mastery is puppet related.

Still, I'm familiar with the subject. "They're a branch of magecraft which uses symbols and stuff right? I know it's pretty popular for people who need formal craft." That is to say, people without tons of mana.

That's because it's a symbol which they may fill up over time, sort of like jewel craft. That isn't to say people like me still don't have an advantage though, but it is indeed a much more accessible form of magic.

She smiles. "Well, your level of knowledge is acceptable for a complete amateur. I'll fill you in on the details later." Why do I have a feeling I just lost my free time tonight? Well, I'll gladly sacrifice it for her.

Her finger glows, and she draws a unknown symbol in one of the sheets of paper. Immediate a light wind comes off it, barely enough to make the paper slowly move.

She looks back at me. "That rune's meaning is wind... Well, it does have tons of other meanings, but I want to see how well you recreate one without knowing the mystery behind it." Isn't that way too hard!?

You expect me to recreate something which I don't even understand!? I don't even know how to make my finger glow like yours did either...! And I doubt most people start learning runes with elemental stuff...

Essentially Touko just threw a impossible assignment at me, but I doubt failing will have any consequences. So I walk to the table as well, trying to calm down my nerves.

The paper she made has already went out flying, which means I can't look at it, which means I have to draw the symbol from memory... Could it be that Touko is a insane teacher!?

I concentrate my grain on my finger, and essentially begin burning the symbol into the paper. Magecraft usually utilizes chanting so that a mage may self-hypnotize himself into actually pulling off whatever he's trying to do...

But Touko didn't teach me any words, so I just try pumping as much mana as I can while really imagining wind. I'm definitely about to embarrass myself.

I finish. "There it is..." And then the rune suddenly grows green and essentially explodes into a mini-hurricane. "Ah! Sorry!" I jump back to avoid any damage, and the rune destroys itself.

I slowly look over to Touko, expecting the most angry expression every.

Instead I'm met by heart eyes. "Ah! A prodigy indeed!" I completely failed though! "Ugh, watching it almost makes me jealous!" In a flash she's in front of me, holding my shoulders.

"We have to fix my sister's mistakes Yuta. We have to hone your talent...!" She's shaking me, which is quite unlike Touko. Honestly at this point I'll just go with the flow, since I apparently did well.

So I slowly nod. "Sure, I'm down to learning magecraft..." It could be helpful when hunting vampires, even if I think not a single rune could ever match the sheer destructive capacity of Vlov's Idea Blood.

She giggles. "We sure will...! By the end of the year you will be the next Odin!" And then a sudden realization hits her. "Ah, but you probably want to go back to the dates, don't you?" Um...

Nope. "Don't worry about them Touko, you can teach me all night long." Because I have won, even if she won't officially say it. Also, this is making her more affectionate than any date ever could.

She grins. "Just make sure you don't regret it when that bet kills all your harem dreams and you become my full time apprentice." It's sort of funny that she still thinks the bet is on, when she's looking at me like I'm the Root.

...

Time passes while Touko excitedly explains the intricacies of Runecraft. I try to pay attention, but I won't deny spacing out once or twice... or thrice. In my defense, we have already passed midnight.

Oh. "Hey Touko-Sensei, do you wanna know something?" She has obtained the title of Sensei too of course, now matching her sister. Actually maybe she should surpass her considering she's actually teaching me things.

Touko stops with her explanation. "You have a question? I won't mind answering, but if you missed something basic I'll get mad." Is that really an attitude a teacher should have!?

I grin. "Nah, I just wanted to say that I really want a harem. And I'm getting one somehow." The bet ended. I'm still pursuin a harem, and so what that means is obvious.

It takes a moment for Touko to process this information. "I..." And then she hides her face. "Damn it, you have to be kidding with me!" That's right, there's no denying it. It doesn't mean it's romantic, but in some way, shape or form, Touko Aozaki loves Yuta Okkotsu.

The pupil strategy is way too strong, I hope it never gets nerfed.



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AN: As expected, Touko lost. And Yuta even managed to learn something or another! Well, he is not well suited to being a mage, considering he can be quite lazy and sloppy... But so is Merlin, and he's doing just fine!

Huh, does winning after saying that "famous phrase" make Yuta the anti-fraud?