Chapter 74: Therapy.
A new member joined the Sadou family a couple of years ago. A capable daughter to the second-largest nobility in the capital. A demoness who took up the name Sadou Lin- or in simpler terms, Alez-nii's wife.
You might be curious as to why I brought her up out of nowhere, but it would become abundantly clear in a moment's notice. After all, she was the one who put me in such a precarious situation.
I was sitting on a rocking chair with a table in front of me. A table containing beverages only an adult could consume. The windows were closed and to the other side stood a figure of an alluring woman.
A succubus.
Now let me assure you. There was no adultery here. Sadou Lin was not so loose as to leave her husband hanging. And I didn't have the physical attributes to measure up to Alez-nii's charm even if she were that type of woman… Which she wasn't.
And precisely because she was tough on her morals, I was here suffering.
Sadou Lin, the future queen of the Demon Alliance, was a learned woman. A woman who had studied the brains and psyche of all races alike. Her knowledge was only accentuated by the physical prowess of her race- the succubi.
The succubi had a way of charming people. They had a way of bringing out sides of you that you didn't even know you had. Pair that up with the occupation that requires you to sift through a person's personality, and you have a match made in heaven.
Screw being sluts, this was what succubi and incubi were made for- being therapists.
Well, not quite.
Her ability was not perfect. It had one and only one drawback which was that they had to be attracted to the person. Not physically, just emotionally.
Maybe out of curiosity. Of course, for someone as dedicated as Sadou Lin it was impossible to be attracted to a minor like me. So she was trusting that the booze would kick in and make even the insignificant me feel significant.
It was kind of hurtful.
In the end, none of that worked, so I was just sitting on a couch with Alez-nii's mask on.
Why did we even end up in such a precarious situation in the first place? Simply put, because of my punishment from the trial.
But that didn't mean that she had to go all the way to use her succubus powers right? In the first place, she never used them for her therapy sessions. She was more than capable of understanding a person with just her professional experience.
Well, the reason she had to use her powers in my case was that I was an impossible nut to crack.
I never realised just how sarcastic and reserved of a personality I had. Yesterday Lin-nee kept on asking stuff to me and I never once gave a straight answer. It wasn't like I was trying to hide anything.
It was easier to explain this by saying that my body naturally and instinctively reacted to therapy questions as a threat to my mental wellbeing, and responded by making inappropriate remarks and personal attacks. Yesterday, even her simplest questions like
'How are you feeling today?' were answered with
'About as well as you look, mommy sorry mommy sorry mommy.' Which in turn was answered with.
'For fuck's sake Mao!'
In the end, she got pissed, her pride as a therapist got hurt and she decided to pull all stops and started to use her succubus traits on me.
Of course, we had Hime-nee as a supervisor in case Lin-nee lost control and ended up becoming the one who gets punished instead of the one who punishes.
"So let me ask you once again, Mao-kun. What brings you here today?"
Lin-nee bent over the table and put her glass of whisky down. I don't think I need to tell you but a succubus looked alluring. And she had the proportions for it. Mommy.
Too bad for her… Even in her devil mode, I felt nothing. Was it because I was exposed to Yuuno for too long? Yuuno's devil charms can practically beat everyone out there. And she was always trying to allure me. Yep. Totally.
"I'm here to Fiddi." I answered.
"Huh? Fiddi?"
"Fiddieznutsinyoface-"
The sound of glass cracking and the next second there was a shard right under my chin.
"What are you here to do today?" Lin-nee aske-HELL NO! This wasn't asking, this was threatening! She had a blade to my neck.
I looked over to Hime-nee. She was here to stop stuff like this from happening. Why was she just sitting there?!
"You had it coming." Hime-nee shrugged her shoulders. My eyes turned to Lin-nee again.
Ah. Scary!
I definitely pushed her too far.
My body recognised the more imminent threat and my mouth opened up again. This time, way more agreeably.
"I am here to consult about my violent tendencies." I gulped.
"That's better." Lin-nee plopped back into her own rocking chair. The sigh of relief she let out probably drained her of any air in her lungs. She pumped her fist after getting a single appropriate response from me. "Have you had any bouts of losing control because of your anger in the past?"
"I mean… If games count, then yes otherwise n-" Wait, I did have some now that I think about it. Like that time I went berserk because Clintarou died. Or in my previous life, when I started the war because of that one event. Every time I went berserk was a time I could have lost everything. I was just lucky that I didn't.
This was an issue I had to confront. Instead of manning this out, I should take advantage of the professional in front of me. My body stopped treating her as a threat and recognised her as a resource.
"Mao-kun?"
"Oh, uh… Yes. I did lose control when Clintarou died." She, being a part of the family, knew who Clintarou was.
"What did you do when you lost control?" The air smelled sweeter now that I had given in. Succubi pheromones?
"I went straight for the kill. Of course, I couldn't kill them in the heat of the moment so I got beaten up first."
"Did you know the strengths or identities of the assailants?"
"No… Not at that moment at least."
"Wait, so you dived in blind?"
"I did."
A brief moment of silence followed. She looked so focused like a real therapist. And then a lightbulb moment hit her face.
"That's fascinating! There are only two possibilities when it comes to that situation. Either you were brain dead and lost all cognitive ability. Or maybe it was because you believed that you were so far above them, that you didn't even have to bother about your own safety."
Well, my absolute confidence and conceit might have to do with my previous life, but I can't exactly tell her that.
"People- even when enraged, judge their opponents. It's just how survival works. But the fact that you didn't bugs me. Mao-kun, what's your favourite thing to do?"
Eh? Like a hobby?
"I like making fun of people." When their faces twist in anger and they can't do anything about it… oof. Or that might just be Yuuno. It has gotten increasingly harder to crack her walls now.
"We already established that you're an asshole. Something else. Like playing instruments." Was that a personal remark?
"Oh, in that case, I really like cooking. Sure I'm not the best at it, but it's almost meditative for me. To distress."
"Is there any specific kind of food you like?"
"Spicy. Like really spicy. Stuff that even I have a hard time handling, just so I can feel something."
"Tingle?" A tingle is too weak. It doesn't give my favourite kind of oomph.
"No… I do it for the pain." I was numb to pain because of my previous life. But I quickly realised that pain was what made anyone feel alive. If you didn't feel pain it felt like you were living a dream.
Of course, I wouldn't open my pores to experience the same pain I did in my previous life. That was one of the reasons I wanted to reincarnate in the first place. But I wanted to experience a little amount of pain here and there.
Physical pain didn't work on me, but the pain you get from the physiological effects of spice was a little different. Slightly more present.
"Speaking of pain, I heard that when you were fighting you were totalled. Did you not feel any pain in that situation?"
I mean, I didn't. Like I said, I was numb to physical pain. But explaining that would leave too many loopholes. Lin-nee was a smart woman. I needed another excuse. Also, how much did that Rune piece of shit snitch on me? Only he knew about all of this.
I'll pay him back for this.
"I did. But I think adrenaline took over." I answered after a little thinking.
"Hmm… I'm not sure if that's how adrenaline works, but whatever." She nodded while writing something down, her face unconvinced. "OH WAIT! Everything makes sense. Say, Mao-kun… Do you think pain can bring pleasure?"
Hime-nee almost spat out her glass of wine. Of course, she was drinking too. As a vampire who could heal and age infinitely, alcohol worked as well as water did.
Anyways! Back to the question at hand.
Do I think pain can bring pleasure?
'Crap. I don't like where this is going.'
"I mean… It really depends on the person. Of course, I totally don't mean me, but pain isn't as pleasurable as it is a means for me to feel alive."
I wasn't lying. I mean I tried to. But the sweetness of her succubus pheromones finally started to take effect.
"Say, Mao-kun, if you had the option to never feel any pain in your entire life or to feel a little pain, like a soft pinch for the rest of your life… What would you pick?"
"I would pick a little pain." I suffered from that and I already drew my conclusions. The conclusion that the pheromone extracted from me.
"Say, Mao-kun, do you want your partner to be stronger or weaker than you?"
Stronger? Definitely. That would mean I could slack off my entire life.
"Much stronger."
Lin-nee closed her notebook and threw it on the table.
"You were called here to address your violent outbreaks, but we ended up finding out your sexual deviance."
'Uh oh.'
I knew exactly what was coming. And no matter how much I wanted to, I had nothing to deny it with. Any refusal would end up with me being in an even more messed up situation.
DAMN IT! This was checkmate.
"Mao-kun, you're a masochist aren't you?"
{a/n: The entire family eventually found out about Mao's deviance.}
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
bligboi
bligboi Rn, I'm planning to win WPC, so I've been speedwriting 'Don't mess with the Daemon of Death'.
I'm writing that to level up the action scenes before I get into the MaoTensei balls to the walls action.