Mash-up Anime World: Creating the SCP Foundation to Contain Anomalies

"For you to share some of the burden, of course. Besides, this is also about inheritance. The way of the maid is a tradition, passed down from seniors to juniors."

"Just like how I taught Tohru, and now Tohru teaches them. This cycle continues, allowing the maid tradition to be preserved, just like the continuation of life itself."

Haruto attempted to brainwash Tohru with his words.

And clearly, it worked exceptionally well!

Originally sulking with jealousy, Tohru immediately latched onto the phrase continuation of life and, quite obviously, misunderstood its meaning.

"The continuation of life between me and Haruto… Hehe… Hehehe~!"

Tohru giggled foolishly as her imagination ran wild. At that moment, the door creaked open.

The two oni girls stepped out.

Upon seeing Haruto, they bowed in unison, displaying none of the initial rejection they had shown before.

Oni had a very peculiar trait.

Normally, they were extremely averse to outsiders, regardless of the benefits offered. No matter how appealing the conditions, they would remain unmoved.

However, once they acknowledged someone, their loyalty was unwavering—to the point of being willing to devote everything to that person without hesitation.

It seemed that the two oni girls had already come to accept Haruto. After all, young oni were quite trusting.

With no place to call home, simply offering them shelter was enough to earn their loyalty.

Haruto chuckled.

"You're awake. How do you feel? Any discomfort in your bodies?"

Ram and Rem shook their heads.

Their bodies were brimming with magical essence, far more abundant than ever before.

However, the moment they recalled the source of their current condition, their cheeks instantly flushed red.

Seeing that they were unharmed, Haruto breathed a sigh of relief. As long as they were fine, that was all that mattered.

"However, magic essence is thin in the main world. For you two to function normally, you'll need to replenish your magic on a monthly basis. If you experience intense battles in between, that replenishment cycle will shorten even further. Otherwise, you might collapse again."

Hearing this, the oni girls' faces turned even redder.

"R-Re-Replenish... magic!"

Tohru suddenly shouted.

She threw her arms around Haruto.

"How can Haruto replenish magic for others? Tohru wants it too!"

Haruto's mouth twitched.

In a certain sense, if they were just comparing raw magical essence, Tohru had even more than him.

Replenish magic? Yeah, right!

It was still uncertain who would be replenishing whom.

"Then why don't you take care of their magic replenishment in the future?" Haruto suggested.

Tohru immediately shook her head.

She was a proud dragon! Only Haruto was allowed to touch her!

Haruto simply shrugged.

Tohru: QAQ!

Afterward, Haruto took Ram, Rem, and Tohru to the kitchen.

Today's lesson—how to cook chicken.

The dish—White Cut Chicken!

Prepare the chicken, place it in boiling water for two and a half minutes—

Cough cough.

Time passed.

Summer quietly slipped away.

Vacations always seemed to end too quickly. And soon, it was the start of a new school term.

Once again, Haruto arrived at Sōbu High.

Inside the classroom, his classmates were buzzing with conversations, mostly about,

"Where did you go during summer break?"

"Did you watch the famous idol Hoshino Ai's concert?"

"How many tricks did you learn in singing, dancing, rapping, and basketball?"—trivial but lively discussions.

Clearly, the excitement of summer vacation hadn't faded yet.

Haruto turned his head and noticed his seatmate, Yukinoshita, sitting there with dark circles under her eyes, looking utterly exhausted.

"I thought it was always the ox that gets exhausted, not the field that gets overworked..."

Haruto quipped.

Yukino was momentarily stunned before she realized what he meant. Her face turned red with embarrassment and anger.

If it were anyone else, she would have immediately struck them down with an Aikido move.

But against Haruto…

She could only chant in her mind: You can't beat him… You can't beat him…

"So, Yukino, what exactly did you do over the break to end up so worn out? As I recall, you have excellent genes. Even a couple of nights without sleep shouldn't have given you such noticeable dark circles."

Haruto asked curiously.

Yukinoshita rolled her eyes.

"Thanks to a certain unscrupulous employer dragging me into a certain unscrupulous organization, I ended up on a seven-day observation assignment!"

Haruto blinked.

Then it clicked.

"Oh, so you were the one assigned to monitor the newly discovered containment object, the Red Sea Object (SCP-093)?"

Yukinoshita weakly nodded.

The so-called Red Sea Object was a blood-colored disk discovered in the Red Sea region of Africa.

If left unheld, the disk would automatically seek out the nearest mirrored surface, shooting towards it at supersonic speeds before attaching itself to the mirror.

Despite the high-speed impact, neither the Red Sea Object nor the mirror would sustain any damage.

Once attached, the mirror would transform—

Into a portal.

A portal leading to a parallel world.

"Even if you were assigned to observe a containment object, there's no reason for you to go seven days without rest. Observation tasks aren't that demanding..."

Haruto was a bit puzzled.

Even for newly secured anomalies, observation and testing might be frequent, but not to the extent that Foundation personnel would be completely exhausted.

 Yukino sighed and simply nodded.

The moment the Red Sea Object was mentioned, her expression was filled with regret and sorrow.

Haruto quickly figured out the reason.

The portal opened by the Red Sea Object led to another parallel world. A world tentatively referred to as the Unclean Land.

As for why it was called that...

The Unclean Land was similar to this world's Earth, but all life in that world had perished around the year 1953.

The reason dated back to the 17th century of that world.

"He"—a false god from the gaps between light and darkness, time and space, and the worlds—

*"He" descended upon the Earth of the Unclean Land.

His first followers were granted a secretion from "Him," a substance known as the Tears of God.

This substance transformed people into half-humanoid, decayed monstrosities known as the Unclean Ones.

The Unclean Ones varied in size, some were as tall as three or four-story buildings, while others reached heights of over ten stories.

Their entire bodies were pale.

They had no lower halves, their torsos ended abruptly at the chest.

To move, they used their arms, crawling across the land ceaselessly, traversing every inch of the world.

The Unclean Ones came to dominate the entire parallel Earth.

It was, in every sense, an apocalypse.

It was easy to guess why Yukinoshita had pushed herself through a seven-day-long observation mission.

She had been searching for survivors in the Unclean Land.

Even if there was only one person left, she wanted to save them.

But unfortunately, based on all observed data so far, humanity in the Unclean Land was completely extinct.

This conclusion made her efforts seem futile and likely filled her with deep sorrow.

Ever since coming into contact with the Red Sea Object, images of that ruined world had constantly replayed in Yukinoshita's mind.

She couldn't shake the feeling that those creatures—the Unclean Ones—

Seemed to be suffering.

There was no logical basis for this feeling.

After all, research on the Red Sea Object was still in the observation phase, and no physical contact experiments had been conducted.

And from all observational data, there was no reason to support such a theory.

Yet every time she thought back on it, Yukinoshita couldn't help but grieve for them.

As she lost herself in thought—

She suddenly felt pressure against her temple.

A cool, soothing touch.

The perfect amount of pressure, bringing immense comfort.

The exhaustion from the past seven days, along with her mental anguish, seemed to fade away.

It felt too good.

Unconsciously, Yukinoshita closed her eyes and simply enjoyed the sensation. She didn't know how much time had passed.

A sharp ringing suddenly woke her up.

"Although I have no objections to romance, please refrain from such behavior in class!"

Hiratsuka Shizuka's voice was filled with exasperation.

Yukinoshita's eyes flew open.

She saw Haruto retracting his hand.

In that instant, she understood what that cooling sensation had been.

A faint blush spread across her cheeks as she adjusted her posture, suddenly feeling too embarrassed to look at Hiratsuka.

As she recalled the experience just moments ago—

That comfort and relaxation had almost completely erased her exhaustion.

And more than that, the worries she had been dwelling on seemed to have loosened, if only for the moment.

Seemingly unintentionally, she cast a sideways glance.

Looking at Haruto's profile—

A strange feeling welled up in Yukinoshita's heart.

She had always been at the mercy of this boy, constantly teased and exploited.

And yet, even though this was just a small gesture of kindness—

It sent ripples through her heart.

Time passed.

The school bell rang, signaling the end of class.

It was only then that Yukinoshita realized—she had completely spaced out for an entire lesson.

For the first time in her life, she had been careless in her studies.

"Th...thank you."

Yukino's voice was so soft it was almost inaudible.

Haruto simply smiled.

"Feeling better?"

Yukino nodded.

After a brief pause, she quietly asked again,

"Um... would you consider joining the Service Club?"

Every teenager wants to spend more time with the person they find special. And joining the same club was the perfect way to do so. Even though she had been rejected once before—

Yukino felt that Haruto had changed. He had become gentler.

However...

"Absolutely not!"

She was met with a cold and firm rejection.

This left Yukino feeling utterly frustrated.