My Cute Wife is Mitsuri Kanroji

"You… This is my food!"

"What?! I was the one who saw it first!"

Kotaro watched as the two demons fought over him. If they were girls, he might have welcomed it—no, he was bound to Mitsuri for life.

He looked at the demons more closely. Their veins protruded from their foreheads and skin, and saliva dripped from their mouths. Trapped here and unable to escape, the demons had been starved for so long that desperation filled their eyes.

"Why don't you make it first come, first served?"

"Oh! Human, you're clever!"

"Alright! First come, first served!"

The demons laughed maniacally and leaped at Kotaro with open mouths, ready to devour him as quickly as they could.

"Sigh… Poor demons."

Kotaro lifted his staff and swung it like a bat. The iron staff struck the first demon, pushing it into the second one and smashing both into a nearby tree.

"Let me free you."

In the dark of night, sparks resembling the sun's energy flowed into the staff, turning it silver. The energy then coursed into the demons, making them scream in pain.

"Hamon: Metal Overdrive."

"Aargh! What is this?"

"T-This… This feels like the sun!"

The demons couldn't retaliate as they were crushed and blocked by the staff. The Hamon engulfed them completely, reducing them to ashes.

"Kotaro-sama, you did it!"

"Well, they weren't much of a challenge. But, Mitsuri."

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you aren't hungry?"

"O-Of course, I'm not—"

Grumble~

The sound from her stomach betrayed her. Mitsuri blushed and hid her face. Kotaro smirked. As expected, how could she not be hungry?

If there was something that surprised him, it was the fact that not even a night had passed, and the crisis had already arrived. But then again, who was she? She was Mitsuri, well-known for her appetite.

The problem was that there was no food. At first, Kotaro thought he could hunt some animals, but…

"The demons didn't spare even a single one."

The forest was spotless; not even a small animal was in sight. There's a saying, "When you're hungry, everything tastes good," and it applied to the demons too.

While humans were the best delicacy, the demons had resorted to hunting animals in their uncontrollable hunger, eating them to survive. Now, there wasn't a single animal to be seen.

Of course, the darkness of the night might also be why he couldn't find any animals. Perhaps he could find some during the day, but if he searched for food then, when would he sleep?

"Mitsuri, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm hungry too."

Mitsuri slowly peeked through her fingers at his words.

"Really?"

"Really. And after being together for so long, you don't expect me to not know this about you, right?"

Mitsuri getting hungry… If Kotaro didn't know this beforehand, then he was a failure as a husband. Being hungry was Mitsuri's trademark, and it made her who she was.

'And when she eats, she looks so cute.'

Kotaro remembered her face when she chomped on food so happily, making "nom nom" sounds. It filled his heart, though it emptied his wallet.

"Waaa~ Now that Kotaro-sama says it, I feel even more embarrassed!"

"Sigh! Am I really here to hunt demons?"

Why did it feel more like he was on a picnic, except he had no food with him?

…

"Mitsuri, here, hold me."

"Yes."

Kotaro held her hand and pulled her up. While all the other participants were doing their best to survive, Kotaro and Mitsuri were walking toward the mountain summit. It didn't take them long, and soon they stood at the peak.

"Look, the sun is about to rise."

Mitsuri turned her eyes in the direction Kotaro was pointing and saw the sun slowly climbing up, marking the start of a new day.

"Ah… It's beautiful."

It was a sight to behold. The night was not yet over, and the sun was slowly rising, making the twilight unbelievably beautiful. The sky was a mixture of colors: yellow, orange, red, and pink. The night sky met all of it, with stars still twinkling.

It was a dreamy sight, but Kotaro felt something was missing. Then he realized what it was.

Kotaro pulled Mitsuri into his arms. She blushed but soon settled into his embrace, and together they watched the scene.

"Now, it is indeed beautiful."

The first night of the final selection ended. Some participants had died, while others survived. At the sight of the sun rising, all of them sighed in relief because daytime belonged to humans.

Kotaro and Mitsuri continued to watch until the sun was fully out and birds flew into the sky, fluttering from one end to the other.

"Well, let's go and look for—"

"Kotaro-sama."

Kotaro was about to release Mitsuri and start the next part of the test, searching for food to survive, but Mitsuri tugged on the hem of his clothes.

"What is it, Mitsuri?"

Then she whispered something that made Kotaro's eyes widen.

"I want to stay like this a bit longer."

"Mitsuri…"

'When did you become so spoiled? But… I don't hate it.'

Kotaro held her more tightly, causing the embarrassed girl to blush even more. But on her face was a smile that made the morning even brighter.

===

A/N:

A bit of romance in middle of demon-infested forest~