I didn't actually know how painful the Toy Hammer I’d received from Shiro-san really was. For starters, it didn't seem to work on me, so hitting myself produced no effect whatsoever.
I had never used it on anyone else, either. However, I remembered a time when Alice and Fate-san were fooling around and Shiro-san urged me to recite the "Spell of Destruction"—which basically meant saying, "Help me, Shiro-san." At that moment, this very hammer had been brought down upon the two of them.
Given that those two, who stood at the absolute pinnacle of world-class power, had been in genuine agony, I could only assume the pain was extraordinary.
After that incident, Shiro-san had handed it over to me on a whim. While I occasionally brandished it to intimidate Alice into behaving, I had never actually struck anyone with it.
I felt a certain hesitation about using such a thing on someone I was meeting for the first time, especially someone I intended to thank. To be perfectly honest, I’d been half-doubting Lystia-san’s advice.
I’d figured I could surely manage at least a basic greeting without resorting to such measures... Or so I thought, until I actually met Phoenix-san.
Phoenix-san took the form of a bird just over a meter long, her entire body composed of flickering green flames. She looked like fire itself shaped into avian form, yet even as I drew near, I felt no heat; it was clearly a special kind of flame.
The moment I looked at her, the first thought to cross my mind was: "Ah, this isn't going to work."
My Sympathy Magic confirmed the problem. The emotions Phoenix-san felt toward me were... a total void. There was no goodwill, no hostility—nothing. To her, I was a mere pebble on the side of the road. She was only here because her superior had reluctantly ordered her to be.
They say the opposite of love isn't hate, but indifference, and I didn't sense even a flicker of interest in interacting with me. I got the feeling her next words would be "I'm going home," and that even if I introduced myself, she wouldn't bother to remember my name. Her emotions were that cold.
"Phoenix, what is with that expression?"
"Sigh... I am simply not in the mood for this. Seeing him in person only makes it clearer. I cannot imagine that someone like this possesses the power to kill me. Truly, I have not the slightest bit of interest. To be honest, even explaining this is a chore. If you have business with me, please go through Shaltier-sama in the future."
"..."
This was bad. And what made it worse was the atmosphere coming from Pandora-san. A vein was throbbing on her forehead, and she looked like she was a second away from snapping.
I was past the point of expressing gratitude. I really had no choice but to follow Lystia-san's advice.
"Phoenix-san! Excuse me for a moment!"
"Huh? What is that toy? If you intend to mock me, I shall be quite cross. No matter how powerful the people around you may be, if I do not find the individual themselves appealing, I—Nwaaaaaaaaaaaagh!?"
Phoenix-san had given a perfectly reasonable "What is with this guy?" reaction when I pulled out the Toy Hammer. She looked exasperated, but she didn't even try to dodge as I brought the hammer down.
The moment it made contact with her body, she let out a scream and tumbled to the ground... wait, was that a scream?
"Haaah... mnh... haa... What... ah... what is this!?"
She was writhing on the ground, letting out strangely sensual sounds. What was I even looking at? I felt like I was witnessing something I shouldn't have.
I wanted her to return the worry I'd felt when I was about to apologize for hurting her.
"Th-That's impossible... To think that without killing me, you could grant me such... p-pain—such pleasure..."
She said it. She definitely just used the word "pleasure." I see; so she was an extreme masochist. I suddenly wanted to cancel the introductions and go home.
As I stood there processing this, Phoenix-san picked herself up and hung her head, bracing the tips of her wings against the ground in a remarkably dexterous display.
"Aaaah... How... how foolish I have been... I believed that only death-inducing pain was the supreme pleasure. No, I had merely convinced myself of that... My vision was so narrow! My eyes have been clouded for tens of thousands of years!!"
To be blunt, I couldn't understand her at all. As I listened with a flat expression to her lamentations—which I had no desire to comprehend—Phoenix-san suddenly snapped her head toward me. For a second, I felt a wave of vertigo.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say a tidal wave of emotion hit me with such force that it nearly blanked my mind. That earlier "void" was gone, replaced by a torrent of various feelings surging toward me like a flood.
"I never possessed anything resembling religious faith. I had no intention of worshiping a god... And yet, my God... was right here all along."
My head spun again. She was made of fire, so her eyes were just green flames shaped like eyes, and yet they looked as though they were burning with madness.
I had intended to follow Lystia-san's advice... but had I just made a catastrophic mistake?
Desperately wishing for a break, I stole a glance at Pandora-san standing beside me—and immediately looked away.
She was in a terrible state, too. She was staring at me with flushed cheeks and hungry eyes, drooling as she watched. The sight was enough to traumatize me. I decided to pretend I hadn't seen a thing.
It seemed I had made a truly awful mistake.
Question: How did it end up like this?
Answer: Lystia had assumed Kaito would deal heavy damage to Phoenix, leading her to respect him and listen to what he had to say. However, the pain of the Toy Hammer was far more intense than Lystia had anticipated. For an extreme masochist, it became an "unexperienced reward," causing her affection level to swing from "indifference" to "fanaticism" in a single blow.