Akari Hayashi woke slowly, the way she always did these days—gradually, without alarm, sunlight already warm across her bare midriff where the oversized t-shirt had ridden up during sleep.
She exhaled, content.
Then she opened her eyes fully.
A translucent blue screen hovered directly above her face, bright even against the morning light pouring through the curtains.
System Notification – Critical Update
Due to the user's acquisition and active use of the System Shop, the Infinite Womb cheat has been deemed redundant and is now scheduled for permanent removal.
Effects of removal:
The user's womb will revert to normal human biological function (finite capacity, standard pregnancy mechanics, no stasis or absorption properties).
No previously absorbed items will be lost. All Sacred Gears, abilities, equipments, spells, knowledge, and essences gained through the Infinite Womb mechanic remain permanently bound to the user's soul.
The single retained child (Issei Hyoudou's) will not be removed or affected; it will remain in perfect stasis inside the user indefinitely, even after the cheat is deleted.
Removal will commence in 60 seconds unless manually canceled.
Cancel / Confirm Removal
Akari stared at the words.
Sixty seconds.
Her heart gave one hard, unhappy thud.
She sat up fast, sheets pooling around her waist, hand instinctively pressing against her flat stomach.
The presence was still there—Issei's child, quiet and eternal, the only one she had ever wanted to keep. But the womb itself… the cheat that had turned violation into victory, helplessness into power, every unwanted impregnation into stolen strength… was about to vanish.
She hated it.
Not because she needed more children. She didn't. She had hated every second of the ones she hadn't chosen. But the womb had been her cheat code—her unfair advantage in a world that would have crushed an average extra like her without mercy.
It had let her flip the script: men who thought they could use her became stepping stones instead. And now the system was taking it away because she had a shop?
"Bullshit," she muttered.
But the timer was already at forty-five seconds.
She stared at Cancel, finger hovering.
Then she looked down at her stomach again. At the single, cherished presence inside. Issei's child would stay—explicitly protected, even after removal.
She didn't need the womb to keep him. And she didn't need to let random men inside her anymore just to cherry-pick their powers. The impregnation had been the only vector, and now even that was obsolete.
The System Shop could buy her anything she wanted. She had twenty million points. She could repurchase Multiverse Travel whenever. She could buy god-killing artifacts if she grinded enough.
She didn't need the womb.
She hated losing it… but she didn't need it.
Thirty seconds.
Akari exhaled through her teeth.
"Fine," she said aloud, voice flat. "Confirm Removal."
The screen flashed once—green confirmation.
Removal confirmed.
Infinite Womb cheat deleted.
User's womb returned to normal human state.
All prior gains preserved.
Issei Hyoudou's child remains in stasis – protected indefinitely.
The blue glow vanished.
Akari sat very still for several long seconds, hand still pressed to her stomach.
Nothing felt different at first.
Then she noticed the absence.
Not the child—Issei's presence was still there, faint and warm and hers. But the endless depth, the greedy hunger, the subtle pressure of infinity coiled behind her navel… gone. Her womb felt ordinary again. Finite. Human. Normal.
She hated how normal it felt.
But she also felt… lighter.
No more carrying the risk of unwanted pregnancies just to steal power. No more pretending to be helpless while men finished inside her. No more biological timer ticking in the background. She could walk through the world without that particular vulnerability ever again.
Akari let her hand fall away.
"Okay," she whispered. "Okay."
She swung her legs off the bed, stood, stretched until her spine popped, then summoned a fresh set of clothes with a thought—white crop top, black denim shorts, light sneakers. Same style, same exposed midriff. Some things didn't need to change.
Ten minutes later
She was outside, the spring air cool against her skin as she walked the familiar residential streets near Kuoh Academy. She needed to move. Needed to feel the ground under her feet after that little existential update.
The neighborhood was quiet—early enough that most students were still eating breakfast or dragging themselves out of bed.
She wasn't paying attention.
Her mind was still turning over the removal, the preserved child, the twenty million points, the wandless Fiendfyre waiting in her soul like a sleeping dragon made of black flame. She turned a corner too fast—
—and crashed shoulder-first into someone.
"Shit—sorry!"
Akari stumbled back half a step, looking up.
Purple eyes. Long black ponytail tied with an orange ribbon. The teasing half-smile that could melt steel or cut like a knife.
Akeno Himejima stood there in her Kuoh Academy uniform, school bag slung over one shoulder, looking more amused than annoyed.
Akari blinked.
Akeno tilted her head, smile widening just a fraction.
"It's okay. It was an accident."
Akari recovered fast—years of otaku knowledge and recent survival instincts kicking in. She rubbed the back of her neck, offering a sheepish grin.
"Didn't see you there. My bad."
Akeno waved a graceful hand. "No harm done. I wasn't exactly watching where I was going either."
Silence for half a heartbeat. Akari could feel the faint brush of demonic power—subtle, controlled, but unmistakably there.
Akeno was scanning her, casually, the way high-class devils did when something felt off. But there was no alarm in her expression. Just curiosity.
Akari decided to lean into it.
"Hey… can I walk you back to wherever you were going?" she asked, keeping her tone light. "I'm already turned around anyway. Least I can do after almost knocking you over."
Akeno's eyes sparkled with faint amusement.
"Sure. Why not."
They fell into step together.
Akeno pointed directions every time they reached a crossroad—left here, straight past the convenience store, right at the old shrine gate.
Akari followed without hesitation, pretending this was all chance while her meta-knowledge screamed the destination long before they arrived.
The apartment complex came into view: modest but well-kept, the same building Rias Gremory and her peerage used as their off-campus residence in the light novels. Invisible wards shimmered faintly to supernatural senses—protection spells layered by Rias and Akeno themselves. Akari could feel them like static on her skin, but she didn't react.
Akeno stopped at the entrance gate, turning to face her.
"This is me," she said, smile soft but eyes sharp. "Thank you for the company. It was… unexpectedly pleasant."
Akari shrugged, hands in her pockets. "Anytime. Sorry again for the crash."
Akeno laughed—low, melodic, the kind of sound that made people want to hear it again.
"Don't worry about it." She paused, studying Akari for a second longer than necessary. "You live nearby?"
"Yeah. Just a few streets over."
Akeno nodded once.
"Well… maybe we'll bump into each other again."
"Maybe."
Akeno gave a small wave, then turned and disappeared through the gate.
Akari stood there for a moment, watching the door close behind her.