Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 6 - Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

To Know a Woman’s Heart

“Ah…I just can’t… I can’t do it anymore…”

At a high-class hotel, a man was perched on a veranda railing, looking troubled as he stared into the distance. Sorrow hung over him like a dark cloud, and his expression was desperate, yet beautiful. He was an undeniably gorgeous young man…if you could ignore the bat-like wings sprouting from his back, that is.

“Argh, you gods! I curse you from the bottom of my heart! Why was I born this way…? A member of such a wretched and tiny race… If only I had been a normal human, I wouldn’t have suffered like this… Life would have been easy… I mean, I’m super-hot, after all…”

The slender man glanced up at the heavens. The sky was cloudy and dark. Apparently, the gods couldn’t bear to look him in his handsome face.

“There’s nothing left for me now but death… If I fell from here…I’d be guaranteed a beautiful death…”

By the way, the room where he was staying was the fanciest room in a very fancy hotel. And it was on the top floor. If you peered down, the people coming and going along the main avenue appeared very small, like so many grains of rice.

Maybe he doesn’t realize how little of him that fall would leave intact. Perhaps he isn’t the brightest candle on the shelf…

“Umm…”

I tried to call out to him.

“Please! Don’t try to stop me!” the handsome man cried. “I’ve already lost the will to live! …Or perhaps— Are you a goddess, come to save me?”

“Huh? No, I’m, ummm…”

“I understand… Really, I do. You’re very kind…to come stop a man about to throw his life away… But please, leave me be… I have already lost any will to live on as a demon…”

“Uh-huh…”

“You truly are so kind… Will you listen to my troubles…?”

“Um…”

“You know, I… The truth is, ever since I was born, I’ve been trying to seduce women, but I’ve never been successful. Even with a face this handsome, women can’t seem to stand me. They always give me the cold shoulder.”

“Umm…”

“In short, I’m a virgin.”

“Umm……!”

“My whole life, I’ve had no luck with women, and I don’t think that will ever change. So I’ve decided I’d rather die than continue struggling on with no reward for my efforts in sight and—”

“Umm!!” When his complaints grew vulgar, I decided it was time to raise my voice.

“Will you…comfort me?”

But the man apparently had other ideas.

(That was absolutely not the reason I had called out to him.)

“…No, that’s not it. You’re just a little loud. I can’t focus on my reading.”

“……”

“Could you keep it down?”

“……”

At the top floor of a high-class inn, there was a lone witch, elegantly indulging herself in some reading on her veranda.

That’s right, it’s me.

But the man in the next room over had suddenly started carrying on about self-harm, and it was really bothering me.

“…So, it’s just as I thought… No one…no one wants me…”

“……”

Apparently, this annoying guy had latched on to me for some reason. If I left him alone now, he would probably jump. And even if he didn’t jump, he would probably continue his endless whining from the veranda next to mine, which would be even more annoying.

“Fiiine… I’ll hear you out if you want.”

“Bah, I don’t want your paltry kindness!”

“Got it. Don’t need to tell me twice.”

“Ah! Wait a second! Perhaps…a little kindness would be tolerable.”

“What’s your deal…?”

I think I probably narrowed my eyes quite a bit at that.

“The truth is, I’ve been a bit out of sorts… I’m sorry. Right now, I’m just a little emotionally unstable.” He hung his head with a sigh. “I’m sure it’s quite obvious, but I’m at the end of my rope here.”

“You don’t say.”

It was pretty obvious.

“By the way, what’s your name?”

“I’m Elaina.”

“Elaina, huh…? That’s a great name…” Fixing his gaze on me, he gave a weak smile. “By the way, Miss Elaina… I wonder if you would be kind enough to listen to a request…”

“Your last will and testament?”

“No.”

“…If it’s a stupid request, I’m going back to my room immediately, got it?”

“That’s fine! I’m no fool! This is a matter of life and death!” the handsome young man insisted.

I wonder what happened to the meek guy from a moment ago? Maybe he ascended to heaven.

But now, I see that he really is emotionally unstable.

I decided it was best to keep a healthy distance.

“So…what’s your request?” I asked coldly.

The young man sucked in a big breath, and then, with fire in his eyes, said, “Have se—”

I went back to my room.

“No, listen, earlier, that was just one of those things. A figure of speech, or, no, look! You didn’t give me a chance to finish! I don’t really have anything to feel guilty about! Come on, I’m begging you! Please listen to my story!”

I could tell from the pounding on my door that the slender young man was out in the hallway.

I slid the chain into place on the door and opened it just the tiniest bit to glare at him. “…You’re bothering me. Please, go back to where you came from.”

“…Sorry, but I lost my place of residence…which means I don’t have a home to return to!”

“Then don’t go home. Return to the earth.”

“So…you’re telling me to die…”

“All right then, I’m done now.”

“Ah! Wait a second! Wait, please! Listen to my story!” He stuck his hands in the door and forced the conversation to continue. “…Until you lend an ear to my tale, I’m not going anywhere.”

“That’s up to you, I guess. I can’t be held responsible for what the door does to your hands, though…”

“Huh?”

“Okay!”

Heave!

The young man’s hands, it turns out, were no match for the door. His wails of agony filled the corridor of the high-class hotel. I was worried that other guests might come out to investigate.

“…Tch. Were you trying to get me to call for help? Well, you’ve made one little mistake…! You and I are the only ones staying on the top floor of this high-class hotel! Which means that no matter how loud I scream, no help is coming! Accept it, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…”

“I see.”

“It’s because I made a special request with the hotel proprietor so that I could stay in a room next to a cute girl. I also bought out all the other rooms while I was at it, so there are no people staying in any of them.”

“That is…wow…”

That’s really creepy…

“Leaving that aside, won’t you please just listen to what I have to say? I want to dispel the earlier misunderstanding.”

“Forget about earlier. You’re acting like a real creep right now!”

“It’s fine, that’s not a problem.”

“How could that be anything but a problem?”

“No, you see, there’s a good reason why I’ve been so desperate thus far. I promise you, if you give me a chance to explain my situation, I’m sure you’ll be excited to have me as your lover—”

Heave!

“Aaaaaaaaahhh!”

The young man wisely decided it would be best to share the tragic story of his infernal birth from the other side of the door.

What followed was the sad tale of a young man born into a race of demons…I guess.

Sex demons.

The generic name for a race of demons with handsome faces and abundantly beautiful bodies. Their outward appearance doesn’t differ from humans much, except for the bat-like wings growing from their backs. The most prominent sex demons are the succubi, who visit men in their dreams and sap their life energy. They skillfully blend into human society, and I’d even heard that, in certain places, succubi operate special adult-oriented businesses, making a living by providing obscene fantasies. The city I was currently staying in happened to be one of those places.

The troubled young man belonged to the relatively rare male species of the sex demon race. He was an incubus.

His basic nature was no different from that of a succubus. Incubi survived by bringing women lewd dreams and taking some of their life essence in return. Apparently, that was all there was to it.

However…

“It’s no gooooood! Nobody wants what I’m selling. I can’t even give it away. I’m so unpopular, I seriously want to just die already.”

“Huh…”

He gave an example. A succubus could head out into town and entice a man with cheap acting, coming onto him with lines like, “Hey there, mister. Wanna go take a little break in that hotel over there? I’ll show you wonderful dreams  ” or “I’m just a little tired… ” or “Tonight…I don’t wanna go home… ” Then she would take the man she had snared to a succubus-run hotel and lie next to him smoking a cigarette while lazily showing the sleeping man lascivious dreams. Upon waking, the man would say “Heh-heh-heh…that was the best…” or something, and leave her a large sum of money. This was apparently a very profitable business model for the succubi, but things didn’t go the same way for this incubus.

First, he would go out into town.

“Hey, hey! You there, miss! Wanna have some dirty dreams…with me?”

“Huh? Gross.”

“……”

He couldn’t even get past the initial contact. In other words, he wasn’t even standing at the starting line.

That was not a surprise.

“That kind of approach doesn’t work as well on women. Plus, it’s pretty obvious from your appearance that you’re an incubus.”

Since the succubi were running hotels and so on, the existence of sex demons must have been fairly well known around here. So naturally, any woman who saw an incubus approach her would know exactly what he was after.

Of course, that would put any woman on her guard. They can probably tell he’s only after their bodies. That’s obviously why he can’t seduce any of them.

“That’s right… That’s why I’m in such a bind. I said this at the beginning, but even though I was born like this, I’ve never held a girl in my arms. I’m a sex demon, but I’ve never managed to do a single thing that a sex demon should do.”

“Guess not.”

“I’m a sex demon…and a virgin. I’m a virgin sex demon.”

“Aren’t you ashamed?”

“Of course, I am… Can you imagine how it feels to be a grown-up demon who’s never given anyone lewd dreams…?”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

What I meant was, aren’t you ashamed of your whining…?

“So now that you’ve heard my story”—he turned his handsome face toward me—“won’t you let me show you some lewd dreams?” But the way he delivered the line wasn’t handsome at all. It was nasty, in fact.

“You’ve asked me that sort of question many times already. My answer is still no.”

“…No matter what? If you don’t want the dreams, I can do stuff with your body, too.”

“That’s even worse.”

“Wait, but—”

“No way.”

“……”

“No. Way.”

“……”

He looked heartbroken. There was no room to argue with my adamant rejection.

“…That’s what I thought… There’s no way… So there’s really nothing I can do but die, huh…? I’m trash, there’s no value in me living…”

Honestly, after listening to you, I’m inclined to agree.

…I wanted to say that, but I stifled the urge to do so, and answered him with a long, heavy sigh.

It wasn’t too late to extricate myself from this whole situation, but I was also getting the sense that it might be dangerous to leave someone so mentally unstable alone… I was worried that he might very well attack the next woman he encountered.

And so…

“…I can’t accept your proposal, and I have no intention of ever changing my mind. If I did, I think I’d consider ending it all myself, but… Instead, how about I give you a little advice?”

After a moment’s hesitation, I made a proposal of my own.

The young man’s difficulties with women clearly stemmed from a complete lack of experience. Of course he didn’t know how to approach women—he’d never even spoken with a woman before, not really. Fortunately, his inexperience could be papered over somewhat by the proper education.

Therefore, in order to prevent him from endangering any more women—

“How about if I teach you just what a woman’s heart is made of?” I offered. “With my help, you’ll be pulling girls in no time…,” I whispered to him, just like a little devil.

“Teach me the secrets of a woman’s heart, you say? Can you really do such a thing?”

“What are you talking about? For your information, I know so much about what women want that I’ve been called a regular love guru.”

“Ah, you are familiar with the ways of a woman’s heart even though you are a woman yourself… So does that mean…you prefer women to men?”

Heave!

“Aaaaaaaaahhh!”

A wail of unbridled agony echoed down the corridor and throughout the highest floor of the hotel.

We went for a walk around town.

“Right, so let’s assume that the reason you’re a failure with women is a basic lack of experience. That seems about right.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“In order to actually be popular, I think first you have to learn how to interact with women, and to do that you need to understand what women are like…without tripping over yourself trying to win their affection, of course.”

“Sure.”

“But because you’re an incubus, you can’t help yourself. You’re too forward, and it’s really off-putting.”

“That makes sense.”

“So conversely, if you weren’t an incubus, you wouldn’t have so much trouble talking to women, right?”

“I guess you have a point…”

“Okay, so go and talk to a girl now. And this time, you won’t mess up, because you won’t be an incubus.”

“……”

“What’s wrong? Are you gonna chicken out?”

“…No, um…”

“It’s all right, don’t worry. There isn’t a woman alive who would suspect anything is off about you. Come on, show a little backbone.”

“Um, it’s not a matter of courage, just…”

“Come on now, don’t be modest. You look great!”

“About that… What’s with this getup anyway?”

The incubus glanced down at his own appearance and frowned. He wore a very skeptical expression. It was as if the guy who had previously been isolated on the other side of the door from me had been reborn as a completely different person.

The man with the handsome features now had sleek, long hair, and he was wearing women’s clothing, a skirt, and a blouse. He still had bat wings growing from his back, but no one who saw them would ever think he was an incubus.

To put it clearly and concisely…

“You’re a succubus.”

That is to say, an incubus in a succubus costume.

“What the heck?! Why?! Why do I have to pretend to be a succubus?!”

The incubus was indignant. The people walking past us did a double take because of the manly voice coming from such a girlie-looking girl.

“You still don’t get it? Every time you meet a woman, all you can think about is trying to sleep with her. Your vulgar attitude is what’s causing you to fail.

“This is a necessary step,” I soothed him confidently. “What you need is experience interacting with women, am I right?”

“Are you right? No way! Even if I do get friendly with a woman, in this getup, there’s no point, is there?! I mean, I just look like a regular old pervert, don’t I?!”

“Then clearly it suits you.”

“That’s going too far!”

“Now hold on. I never said a single word about ‘getting friendly’ while you’re dressed up like that.” I shook my head in exasperation. “Don’t you get it? Pretending to be a woman will give you the chance to really get to know other women. And besides, nobody ever has to find out that you’re an incubus. Think of this as practice. If you want to be a successful incubus, you’ve got to learn to get comfortable around women.”

“…In other words, you’re saying that I’ll have an easier time talking to women dressed like this? But who exactly am I supposed to talk to?”

“Can’t you just sort of call out to people walking down the street?”

“That’d never work…”

“Hmm? It’s surprisingly easy, you know?”

I went over to the curb and quickly scanned the street. I could see every person coming and going down the main avenue. There were couples walking close together, groups of girls walking slowly, side by side, and people out shopping alone.

……

I glanced at the skeptical incubus. “All right, I’ll give you a model to follow,” I said, and walked off.

Straight ahead of me was a plain-looking woman who was clearly out shopping by herself.

I decided to aim for her, and walked directly toward her, then—

“Ah! I’m sorry!”

—ran right into her.

I really went for it, and I fell on my backside, as did she. The fruit that she must have just bought went flying out of her bag, rolling out into the middle of the road.

Well, it was just a simple accident.

“I-I’m sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going…” I put on a big show of being flustered and panicked, as I gathered up the fruit that had fallen on the ground.

“N-no, it was my fault…” The other woman was also flustered and confused.

Both of us muttered apology after apology as we gathered up the fallen fruit, and then when everything was neatly picked back up, we bowed to each other and went our separate ways.

“So, basically something like that.”

I returned to where the incubus was waiting and looked up at him.

“Wait…what? You just ran into her.” He was glaring at me with narrowed eyes.

My, my. Does he really think that I bumped into her just so I could pick her fruit back up?

“Take a look at this.”

I produced a single key from my pocket.

It was a key to the high-class hotel I was currently staying in.

“…What about it?”

“That was a demonstration, so I didn’t do anything with it, but…supposing she had happened to take this with her by mistake, what then?”

“……?”

Apparently, the incubus wasn’t very bright.

“Say that earlier, when I ran into her, I had secretly slipped this key into that woman’s bag. If I did that, what do you think the result would be?”

“If you… Well, she’d probably return the key to the hotel. Any normal person would.”

“That’s right. That’s exactly right. She would go out of her way to come to my hotel.” I nodded. “After that, it’s easy. You lie in wait at the hotel and meet her again. And then you make up some reason, like ‘as thanks for bringing my key back’ or something, and invite her out to dinner. If you were still an incubus, she would probably be on her guard, but now that you’re a succubus, she ought to see nothing wrong with accepting your invitation. And then you enjoy a nice meal and practice talking with a woman.”

And then maybe, after you get some experience, you can start thinking about your job as an incubus…

“I see… This way I can easily get to know women, huh…?! You’re amazing, Miss Witch! That’s brilliant, to come up with this method!”

“Oh-hoh-hoh, I know, I know.”

“Really, it was a very clever idea, but you know, normally I just do a little bit of this—”

Heave!

“Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

It must have been about a week after that.

I didn’t really have anything left to do in the city, so I packed my bags and checked out of the hotel.

Ever since our outing together, the incubus staying in the room next door had apparently been working on spending time with women, disguised as a succubus, and it seemed to be going fairly well. Every day, women visited his room one after another, and then went out somewhere together with him.

It seemed like the incubus had also grown comfortable playing the part of a succubus. He’d even started speaking in a more feminine way, just like the other women. I’d even heard him chatting about a new sweets shop on the main street. I was confident that the day when he could finally flourish as an incubus could not be far off.

I was pondering this as I walked down the city’s main avenue at night.

“Hey handsome! How ’bout it? You wanna have some sweet dreams with me?”

“Sweetie, you look tired, huh? Why don’t we go get some rest?”

“Wow, what a dreamy gentleman you are! Whaddaya say? How about choosing me to keep you company tonight?”

The succubi were gathered along the main avenue that ran all the way to the city gates. They called out to the lonely men walking alone down the road, leering at them with lascivious eyes, then disappeared into hotels with them arm in arm. It was plain to see that the city’s nightlife was anything but wholesome.

“……”

By the way—

I came to a stop in front of a certain hotel.

“…Oh-hoh, now which man shall I have tonight…?”

I didn’t particularly have an interest in the businesses run by the succubi, but the succubus standing there in front of this shop, evaluating the men who passed by, looked familiar to me.

No, I had definitely seen her before.

What the heck?

It was obviously…

“…What the heck are you doing, Mr. Incubus?”

For some reason, the incubus, a male sex demon, was mixed in among the females, serving customers at the succubi-run establishment.

I don’t understand the meaning of this. I don’t understand at all.

When I recognized him, the incubus said, “Goodness! If it isn’t the witch! Long time no see, sweetie.” His face lit up brightly.

…Who is this person?

“Thank you ever so much for before. With your help, I’ve finally become the sex demon I was always meant to be.”

“…Huh.”

“And while I was spending time with women, pretending to be a girl, I thought, ‘Wait, I’m crazy cute just as I am, aren’t I…?’ and look at me now!”

“Huh…”

Well, that certainly is an appealing look, but…

Ignoring my astonishment, he launched into a rapid-fire explanation. “And then, you know what I did next? I went to lunch with the other girls plenty of times, right?” His eyes sparkled. “And there, I…well…” Then, just as quickly, his eyes started to cloud up instead. “I witnessed all the nasty things about women…and I saw that they’re really…well, they’re much nastier creatures than I expected… Women are…” The light had already disappeared entirely from his eyes. “They get jealous easily, and they’ll be friendly to your face but bad-mouth you nonstop behind your back, and their sex talk is really vulgar, but then they feign complete innocence in front of men, and they all have one-sided conversations where they just talk about what they want and don’t listen… It’s like women are completely different people when they’re with other women, versus when they’re with men…”

“Uh-huh…”

I mean, sure, I can’t argue that there are some women like that, but…

“Seriously…they’re way nastier than how I imagined girls to be…much worse than I ever thought…”

The incubus in girls’ clothing wore a dark expression, as if under a gloomy shadow. It was obvious that pretending to be a woman had made him feel closer to other women, and it was only natural that the way the other women had reacted to a person they’d perceived as someone of the same sex had been very different from the way they handled people of the opposite sex, but… Apparently he’d taken away the wrong lessons from the experience. It had been a blind spot in the plan, all right.

But a moment later, the light returned to his eyes. “And then, you know, I had a thought! The women I had imagined were nothing like these creatures! Right?”

“Uh-huh…”

“Girls! Girls are more…clean! And nice-smelling! And soft! And they make your heart pound! That’s how they should be!”

“Uh-huh…”

“And so, I thought! That’s it! I should become my ideal woman! Right?”

“Ah, I see… I mean, what?”

“That’s why I’m hanging out with the succubi. I’ve decided to become my ideal woman. Whaddaya think?”

“What do I think? I don’t know how to… Sorry, but I’m not really following.”

“Oh, pooh. It’s simple! I’m gonna be the queen of the succubi.”

Oh, you are? No wait, what are you talking about?

But she (?) ignored me in my astonishment and chuckled knowingly as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Thank you, Miss Witch. You really opened my eyes.”

Opened your eyes…to a new gender identity…?

“Well…um…the most important thing is that you’re happy…”

“By the way, how about it? If you’re free, wanna go a round?” The sex demon jerked a thumb back toward the hotel. “These days, I’m fine with either men or women!”

“I can’t say the same for myself, so I’m afraid I shall have to decline.”

“Oh-hoh-hoh-hoh… My, my. You’ll regret it! One of these days, I’m gonna be the best of the best! The number one sex demon!”

Then the lady incubus disappeared into the night, laughing loudly.

I couldn’t help but feel like I had somehow created a wild new breed of sex demon.

A few days later, I happened to overhear a rumor. Apparently, in a certain nearby city, an incubus had appeared who was even more popular than the succubi.

They were a rare creature in this world. People said the incubus was indeed an incubus, but dressed in women’s clothing, and—typical of incubi—would seduce anyone, whether they were a man or woman. It was wild.

I even heard that the men who lived there had already developed a peculiar saying: “There’s no way that such a cute succubus could be a girl.” Obviously, there was a new queen of the night trade.

What’s more, the succubi who had been put out of work by the new competition formed a union in protest, and were currently on the hunt for the witch who was responsible for creating their latest rival.

And they all lived happily ever after.

……

Well, not exactly…