My nephew... ah-so-boo!
Geez!

　It was late afternoon in the garden, and I was lounging in an easy chair, when a kaori appeared from somewhere and plunged into my stomach.

　That in itself was just a "girl dives", but it worked pretty well because I was hit in a completely unprotected area.

'Geho, geho, geho!
What's going on?　All right, it's what your father called a 'pre-existing shark'.
It's a physical attack!

　I rammed into Kaori, holding back the pain.
　She looked puzzled.

My nephew has a good sense of humor. If I attacked them, they would have disappeared within a kilometer radius.
I'm scared, Demon King!

　Another grand plunge.
　The body press made a huge explosion and the world-ending scene flashed through my mind.

　The scary thing about the demon king is that it doesn't sound like a joke at all that a one-kilometer radius can be erased.

'More importantly, nephew, let's play.
"Okay, okay, what's today?

　Kaori's advances were useless.
　I gave up early and decided to just go along with it and get it over with.

The preparations are being made by the servants, all we have to do is go.
Okay.

　I got up from my easy chair and followed Kaori.

　　　　　☆

And I regretted it.
'What are you talking about, nephew, what's so funny?'

　Kaori peers at me from right beside me with a strange look on her face.
　I sighed and asked back with a gasping face.

'Hey, what's this?　The troops around here.

　I open my hands and ask Kaori.

　We are now surrounded by an army - or rather, we are being protected and marching.
　It's an army with armor and armaments that are nearly all in black.
　There are roughly ten thousand of them. Everywhere you look, it's soldiers, soldiers, soldiers.

This is the demon king's army. In other words, it's my army.''
'You're a demon army!　Don't tell me you're going to go to war with them, do you?
'My nephew's head is a bird's head. I can't fight a war because I can't touch a human being.
That's right... so why not?
Now I'm going to go do my annual ritual.
A ritual?
That's right.

　Kaori is unusually a bit shifty.

''Once upon a time, at some point, your mother did something terrible to your sister Hikari.
I started off a long time ago, but the characters seem familiar.

　I couldn't help but go into it, but if it's an episode of Kaori's mother - the previous Demon King, then maybe "Once upon a time" is right.

That's why we do an annual ceremony to apologize to Hikari-sama for that time.
...I see.

　I gave a small nod.
　I don't know the specifics of the story, but I feel like I'm getting enough for the minimum requirements.

　Kaori always speaks normally, but as I can tell from the story of the one kilo erased earlier, the 'terrible thing' at the level of the Demon King is likely to be quite important.
　The apology rituals that come to mind from that are most likely to be of the 'requiem' variety.

　If I could imagine that much, I figured it was mostly okay.

'Yes, my nephew can do it for me.
What?　Why?
It's the perfect look. Even the sorry ceremony is an imitation of what your father and sister Hikari used to do.
I'm a guy too, so that means I'm visually better off.
That's the way it is.
...not a bad ritual, I hope.
It's all right. Anyone can do it if they give it time.
Okay. All right.

　With a ritual like that - it's better to do it quickly than to get into a conversation with Kaori.

　I agreed to do the ritual instead.

　　　　　☆

　After a half-day's journey, we arrived at a temple in the middle of the wilderness.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find a lot of people who are interested in this kind of thing.

　While the demon king's army was surrounding the temple and guarding it, Kaori and I went into the central mausoleum.

　Then a girl appeared.

　She is a lovely girl who looks about Kaori's age, dressed in black and with long hair that flutters around.
　The reason she's not human is because her entire body is faintly transparent.

''Is this what you call Hikari-sama?''
That's right, it's a vision of your sister.
Okay. So what am I supposed to do?
Nod your head.
...What?
Nod your head.
No?
Because of what your father and sister did.
Yeah.

　Come to think of it, you said something like that.
　And that I'm a better visual fit.

　I saw the illusion.
　It's true that my doing it looks better than Kaori's.
　I mean, if Kaori was doing it, it wouldn't look like a 'sorry ceremony'.

"Do you want me to pet you?
That's right. Take as much time as you can.
Okay.

　I nodded and approached the phantom as close as I could reach.
　And while the 10,000 demon king's army was watching, I patted the phantom's head.

　If you're wondering if you need to do something special, that's not the case, it's just an ordinary phantom that you can touch.

　He continued to stroke her head as it was.

　The girl was lovely, and I had the full illusion that I was stroking my real daughter's head.

　On the other hand - she felt her arms get heavy.
　It was as if the power was being sucked out of them, that malaise.
　My arms are getting heavier and heavier.

　........I see.

　I was about to be fooled.
　What's that, 'just give it time.

''It's amazing how your arm can move even when it's heavy!

　If I continue to stroke him, I can see him saying this.
　I cut off the nudging.

　--Thanks, Oto-san.

　Somehow, I had an auditory hallucination as if the phantom had said something like that.
　And then the apparition disappeared with a satisfied look on its face.

'It's over--what?'

　When I turned around, I saw Kaori - and the Demon King's Army - all astonished.

''What, what?''

　I'm pressured by that and ask again.

　I had a bad feeling.
　And it hit me.

"'Ooh-oh-oh!'
My nephew is a great guy.

　An earth-shaking cheer came from the Demon King's Army 10,000, and Kaori was innocently impressed.

''What's the matter with you?''

　I had a bad feeling, and my intelligence quotient dropped slightly.
　In contrast to that, Kaori's tension increased more and more.

'Hikari-sama's ritual is to stroke and inject love.
Love............?
"I nudge her with all my feelings (chikara) and don't leave until Hikari-sister is satisfied. It usually takes an hour.
'Is that what you mean when you say you should take your time!
'And my nephew did it in an instant, it was amazing!

"'Oh, oh, oh!'

　Kaori is impressed, and the Demon King's Army cheers even louder.
　Oh my God, to do this in front of so many people....

''Are you a plague god?''
"?　He's a demon king.

　I nodded at Kaori's innocent reply, but I was disappointed.