Chapter 35

Nyarin decided to trust me. She sighed and relaxed under the stars into the dreamy waters of Dogo Onsen, a famous old onsen in Japan. She closed her eyes, smiled her real smile, and let her head fall back.

I had heard of this thousand-year-old hot spring. I had wanted to come here, but life had always happened. I had been too busy to live my life.

We relaxed until the water felt too hot. It was time to go.

The only thing I could tell Nyarin about the plan was that I couldn’t tell her any details. She just had to trust me and follow my lead. There was no way to be sure Truck-kun wasn’t listening, and secrecy was key to my plan.

We didn’t bother exiting the water, toweling down, or getting dressed.

I just smiled at Nyarin and said, “Dammit, not another Isekai!” I sent us into another Isekai world, dry and clothed. I expected it to be the last I would ever summon.

Truck-kun looked at me and Nyarin, confused. It took him a moment to realize why we suddenly looked taller. Then he looked down at the body he was inhabiting and sighed. “I’ve been reincarnated as the villainess?”

“Villainess Isekai are the exception to the trend in female Isekai protagonists. I’ve never been a fan of them, but this one is a great place for us to negotiate.”

Nyarin kept her eyes on Truck-kun. “They have a high failure rate. They’re only used as a last resort. A number of the escapees have told their villainess stories.”

Nyarin maintained her saleswoman-perfect smile and the mask that hid her vulnerability. Her tail didn’t even twitch.

“Plus,” Truck-kun smiled, “this Isekai has strict rules that punish the villainess for breaking protocols. Every path leads to defeat, right? Not a bad place for a negotiation. How about I kill you quickly and we just call it even?”

I swallowed, trying to seem confident. I put on my negotiation table face and shook my head. “Tut, tut, death threats are so unladylike, Truck-kun.”

This should work, but the next moments would mean everything. I wished I had been given a I chance to explain the plan to Nyarin. “Did you enjoy me stripping you of your powers? I can do it again and keep them permanently.”

I’ll give Nyarin credit, her fake smile didn’t waver for an instant. In fact, it grew hungrier.

“I still don’t know how you did that,” Truck-kun answered. His smile vanished. He wasn’t glaring at me. In fact, he avoided my eyes entirely.

“It’s my mind. I make the rules.”

“That’s not how this works, you ****-for-brains mortal.” Truck-kun answered.

Another fun aspect of this Isekai was the cursing filter.

I smiled. Sometimes the most devastating thing to say is nothing.

Nyarin laughed as the censor filter activated. “Such unladylike language, boss man.”

Perfect. The situation kept Truck-kun angry and distracted. Nyarin didn’t know the plan, but she was playing him like a fiddle. The first rule of negotiations is to control the context.

“You ****-ing **** for brains **** ***** *****.” Truck-kun said, hardly intelligible through the curse filter.

“What was that?” I asked innocently.

That set Truck-kun off. “****, ****, ****, platypus, ****, nerd-*** ****. What you did shouldn’t be possible!”

“Been in this situation often? “ I asked. “Malfunctioning spell in a mortal mind? When were you last surprised by something, Truck-kun, Baku?”

The mention of his hated name and species had the desired effect. I couldn’t have him thinking too hard or he would figure everything out. “Can I at least consume dreams again? It won’t poison me like it did before.”

Nyarin almost reacted to that lie. I had never taken Truck-kun’s powers. I had never made dreams a poison instead of food to him. Thankfully, Nyarin kept her cool and didn’t give away the secret.

I waved a hand. “You’re safe for now.” I had pondered what would scare an ancient immortal into negotiating. Understanding the other side’s thoughts is fundamental to negotiations.

What would unsettle an immortal most was anything that changed the rules of their immortality. Truck-kun’s haunted eyes remembered how his ability to eat dreams changed from healing him to nearly killing him.

“I still think what you did was impossible,” he said venomously through the cute voice of a short, young villainess in a skirt. It took real effort to keep a straight face.

“I can’t let you figure out how I stole your powers and made eating dreams poison you. You’d develop countermeasures. I won’t give you a third chance to see me do it. If I have to use that technique again, I’m killing you to keep it a secret. Without that technique, I’ve got no backup way to handle you.”

The last part was true, but the rest was a lie.

My strategy was simple: if I couldn’t beat the Baku, I’d steal his willingness to fight. If I couldn’t show him I was too dangerous to fight, I’d bluff.

Dawning realization lit Nyarin’s eyes. She hid it well, but I’ve seen behind her mask. I had pushed him out of reality, and he came back talking about things that never happened.

False memories.

I had false memories of two years being raised in another world. I still remembered those years. And two could play at that game.

I had forced upon Truck-kun memories where I had done impossible things, but I was the only one who knew they never happened.

Now, in his mind, the cost of fighting me was too great. I had broken his will to fight. The ruse was as flimsy as paper. But contracts are written on paper, and I’m an expert at negotiating contracts.

I smiled at Truck-kun. “I’ll work with you, but I need assurances. Yield to me your shape-shifting and healing abilities. I’ll return them when I’m free.”

Truck-kun actually spat at my feet, muttering some ancient curse in an unrecognizable language that dodged the curse filter. It was odd to see a prim and proper villainess do that. “Never.”

“Hey, so unladylike,” Nyarin said. She’d make a fine negotiator.

I had never planned for Truck-kun to accept my first offer anyway, so I said,“Fine.” In business negotiations, making the other side open to a deal is half the battle. My unreasonable first offers made him open to more reasonable deals. “What about your ability to eat dreams?”

He shook his head. “The only reason you’d negotiate like this is because you couldn’t simply take them by force. No deal.”

He was right. I couldn’t take them by force.

He was naturally wary of making a binding deal. With True Vision I had learned Baku were bound to their promises. Breaking a promise could seriously wound them, possibly fatally.

Truck-kun hadn’t realized my negotiations had a double purpose. The high prices I proposed anchored him to the value I was offering. If a deal with me was possibly worth risking his immortality, he’d be eager to get it for a lower price.

The second purpose was to get him open to negotiations in the first place. He didn’t even realize he had decided to negotiate. He knew I had the upper hand but was willing to negotiate since I had folded on my first two offers.

He sensed an opportunity for a better deal and didn’t even bother considering that he didn’t need to make a deal at all.

I had nothing. I was pure bluff. If he attacked right now, it would all be over.

Truck-kun was an ancient Baku, and I suspected far more. But despite his power and experience, I bet he had never gone to a company-paid business negotiation seminar. Don’t underestimate nerdy salarymen.

“How about,” Truck-kun said slowly, “I promise to protect you, help free you, and later protect you from my mistress, Kisshin. You’ll tell me how it was done and not do it again.”

I hesitated just long enough to keep him under my control. Eagerness on my part might ruin everything. “Offer Nyarin the same protection, and we have a deal.”

Nyarin’s mask slipped for a moment. She showed surprise with ears forward and attentive, tail straight and tense. Had no one in her life ever tried to protect her?

“Deal,” he said, leaning forward. “Now how did you do it?”

“Do you remember the moment where I stripped you of your powers?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, irritated at the obvious question. How could he not remember it?

“I don’t.”

Truck-kun’s eyes widened in realization, and then he said and did some very remarkably unladylike things.