With a groan, you rolled out of bed and quickly smoothed your clothes. You hoped they wouldn't notice that you had been trying to sleep in your day clothes. You didn't want them to think they might be intruding or that you might be weird. After quickly glancing at yourself in the bathroom mirror and fixing the part in your hair, you hurried to the door and opened it.

To your complete surprise, the person at the door was none other than Gundham Tanaka. He had his hands in his pockets, and his neutral expression gave away nothing. You wondered what he wanted so late at night and with no warning.

"Hi, Gundham. What's up?" you asked innocently. Feeling a little self-conscious, you began to subtly fidget with your hair.

Gundham's eyes immediately latched onto your nervous fidgeting, and he sighed. "I am here to make peace with you. It is clear that our interaction this morning left you with a sour first impression. My... sincerest apologies." He lowered his head slightly as if to express his guilt.

You shook your head quickly. "No! That's not the case at all! I didn't mean to act like I was offended or upset... I was just surprised. You're so different from before... I really thought I had offended you. You seemed really... mad," you replied.

He blinked at you in surprise. "If I had been angry with you, you would have been instantly engulfed in vengeful hellfire and vaporized! Such a fate is not befitting for you."

"I see... Well, I'm relieved that we're on good terms," you said with a little smile.

There was another awkward pause. Gundham seemed to be debating on something, and you waited for him to find a resolution. After a bit of thought, he confidently looked back up at you. That gleam of excitement in his eyes completely changed his edgy persona into something more light-hearted and playful.

"I recall you asking whom I have smuggled onto this mysterious island. As a sign of my gratuity and our new acquaintanceship, I offer to reveal... My Dark Devas of Destruction!!" he declared.

As soon as he finished his declaration, four balls of fluff flew from his scarf and perched on his arm and shoulders! Four pairs of black, beady eyes peered at you from the fluff balls, and their tiny ears twitched in your direction. The tiny creatures seemed to be judging you.

"...Hamsters?" You squinted at the little creatures and hoped you identified them correctly. "Oh my gosh! They really are hamsters! I knew you were hiding something! Wow~!"

Wanting to get a better look, you took a few steps toward Gundham and extended your hand toward the chonky golden one on his left shoulder. Before you could touch the hamster, you noticed Gundham freeze up into a startled statue. His eyes were fixed on your hand which was alarmingly close to his cheek. Seeing him freeze up made you flinch away from him, and the golden hamster on his shoulder tilted its head in confusion. It seemed to be looking forward to friendly pets!

Gundham snapped out of his shocked state and stumbled backward many paces into the night's shadows. He was breathing heavily and lightly caressing his cheek that almost came into contact with your hand. "Y-You!! You nearly...! Do you know how close you came to certain death?!"

You furrowed your eyebrows and reviewed what happened in your mind. Nothing about that interaction seemed out of the ordinary. "I don't follow. What happened?"

He shuddered to release his tension and stepped back into the light from your cabin's outdoor light. Picking up the golden hamster from his shoulder, he looked back up at you. "I don't know yet if we are... compatible. I haven't had ample time to assess your astral levels compared to my own."

"Astral levels? Like... the stars?" you asked. Your mind raced as it tried to interpret what he was trying to tell you. "Maybe... you're saying you don't know whether my place in the cosmos relates to yours? Does it mean... you don't know me well enough to let me get close to you? Or is this more involved with the occult?! Maybe... you're saying you don't know if my powers are on par with yours!"

Gundham blinked with surprise at how hard you had to think to figure out what he meant. "Allow me to clarify," he offered. Making sure you wouldn't make a move toward him again, he extended his bandaged hand toward you. "My body... has been cursed with toxic miasma. It has been growing within me since... No, never mind when it started. All you need to know is that my body is not safe for mortals to touch. Anyone who violates my boundaries without my protection and without a power equal to my own... They will turn to ashes."

His expression became downcast, and he looked down toward the ground. Seeming lonelier than you had seen him all day, he retracted his hand. The other hand holding his chonky hamster held the small creature toward you.

"Open your palm. Be careful not to get too close. Let Invading Black Dragon Cham-P move of their own volition! Cham-P will determine if you are pure at heart!" Gundham declared. His confidence returned bit by bit as he shifted his attention back to what he originally came over for.

Deciding that you could detangle the meaning of his words later, you focused all of your attention on his hand and the hamster. Opening your palm to accept the hamster, you couldn't help smiling when the small creature waddled onto your hand. Cham-P curled into a ball in your palm and regally awaited pets. Stroking the soft fur behind Cham-P's tiny ears, you giggled at how friendly and fuzzy they were. The other hamsters started to look a bit jealous.

"Maga-Z? Jum-P? San-D? Do all of you insist on entertaining the pure-hearted maiden?" Gundham asked confoundedly. He had never seen his Dark Devas acclimate to a new human so quickly! "I see... So she is one with the heart of the Beastial Kingdom. Perhaps, there's a throne for her in the Netherworld! Very well, then... If you insist," he murmured to them. Glancing from them back to you, he posed his question. "How would you like to embrace all of my Dark Devas of Destruction simultaneously? They are jealous of Cham-P's status."

You perked up at the thought of being able to engage with even more cute fluffy creatures. "Yes! Yes, I want to meet them all! I've never seen hamsters so friendly!"

Gundham nodded as he let his Deva's skitter down his arm and over to your shoulders. They chattered eagerly between themselves and enjoyed memorizing your scent. After what had to be five minutes of hamster-related antics, you returned them to their rightful owner. They each waved at you with happy little smiles.

"They're beautiful. You... really are very talented, Gundham. I can tell how many hours you've dedicated to training them and loving them. It's easy to tell that you've been very nurturing," you praised with a rosy glow to your cheeks. If there was one thing you remembered about Gundham, it was that he loved it when people complimented his creatures.

Sure enough, your glowing review left him embarrassed and hiding in his scarf. The hamsters giggled at how flustered he was. "Th-Thank you."

"Whoa, hey! What's goin' on?" a sharper-pitched voice squawked from a few doors down the boardwalk. A dark figure approached you and Gundham and eventually came into the light. It was the pink-haired mechanic: Kazuichi Soda.

"Soda!" you exclaimed upon seeing yet another guy standing outside your cabin. You quickly realized what the situation looked like from his perspective. "We were just talking."

Gundham's good mood faded in an instant and he rapidly hid his hamsters back in his scarf pockets. Once his familiars were safely tucked away, he took on a defensive stance and crossed his arms toward Kazuichi. Clearly, he wasn't quite used to everyone on the island yet.

"Just talking, huh? This guy wasn't giving you any trouble, was he? Because I for one know that there are a lotta randos and perverts in our class. I was half worried you were being harassed by Teruteru," Kazuichi explained. He was examining Gundham with a harsh, judging expression as if he expected the Ultimate Breeder to be pulling something.

You smiled reassuringly up at Kazuichi and hoped that would calm his nerves. "It's sweet that you're concerned about me, but I promise Gundham wasn't doing anything pervy. We... were previously acquainted outside the academy, and we were just catching up." You noticed Gundham's cautiousness and knew he would probably get mad if you mentioned the Dark Devas to an untrusted stranger.

Kazuichi narrowed his eyes at Gundham and scoffed. "Catching up? That's what they all say. Listen, don't be letting your guard down at night, and don't go letting guys into your cabin. Dudes like him won't say no to shacking up with a cute girl like you!"

"The fact that you are even mentioning 'shacking up' at all just goes to show what's on your mind..., perve," you told him flatly. "Thank you for being concerned, but I think I can handle myself. I'm not defenseless."

Your words seemed to hit the guy like a bag of bricks. Kazuichi totally wasn't expecting to be called out! "H-Hey! I'm just trying to keep you safe! N-Nothing pervy about that!" he huffed defensively. "If you're sure that there's nothing wrong then... fine. I'll let you handle it."

When Kazuichi turned to leave for his cabin, he shot Gundham one last challenging look. "You'd better not do anything to hurt Miss (Y/N), okay??" With that final warning, he marched away.

Seeing Kazuichi retreat to the boy's side of the boardwalk made Gundham relax a little bit. His little hamsters poked their heads out of the scarf to survey the scene. Once confident it was safe, they all scurried back to their perches on Gundham's arms and shoulders.

You realized that he hadn't yet declared he was going to leave for the night. He usually wasn't the type of person to keep people waiting or held up for no reason. "Is there anything else you want to tell me, Gundham...?" you asked.

Taking a breath, he faced you. "You know how to handle yourself around your fellow mortals quite well. I am... impressed. You surely have not lost any of your social charms," he said as if you did something revolutionary. "There is one other thing I wanted to consult with you about. I want... to establish an alliance between us!"

You were taken aback by how loudly he announced what he wanted. An alliance? "Do you mean like... friendship?" you asked him.

The hamsters started cheering in agreement with your guess, but Gundham shushed them. "The Supreme Overlord of Darkness does not need 'friends,' but I do require faithful subordinates to increase my influence. With your assistance, we might be able to win over the other fools on this island and convince them to support me in my goal... Absolute world domination!!"

Deciding to listen to the hamsters that betrayed his true intentions, you chose to play along with his villain persona. "Oh, mighty Lord of Ice and Darkness... Tamer of the magical beasts born from the Netherworld! It would be foolish for me to turn away someone as powerful and talented as you. I would surely be cursed by the cosmos for my tragic sin against nature's order! For you to ask me to join your noble ranks, I am humbled and unworthy," you ad-libbed. Coming up with things to say in his fantastical style was a lot more difficult than you expected. Rather than dragging out your monologue, you got to the point. "Yes. I accept your invitation. There is nothing I would love more than to make an alliance with you, Gundham Tanaka. Let's work together to conscript more into our ranks!"

Gundham was dumbfounded by your theatrical response and had to compose himself. "It seems that we are in agreement. Perhaps... calling you a mere human was too presumptuous. You have the makings of an apprentice in the dark arts!" He started to look giddy and excited like a child who found a new playmate on the playground.

"If I'm more than a simple human... Then maybe it's safe for us to make this official," you suggested all the while making sure he didn't turn defensive again. You extended your hand to him and gave him a confident stare. If you showed any weakness, you knew he would back down.

Looking at your hand and then back to you, he took a breath. The hamsters were waiting eagerly to see what he would decide to do.

After several long moments, Gundham finally came to a decision. The choice may have been hastened by the fact he noticed your arm getting tired and shaking slightly. "I'm afraid... I cannot put you at risk. While you are proving yourself to be more receptive to my presence than most humans, you are still untrained. You must develop tolerance to my miasma over time! Then... perhaps we will be compatible. It will be a long and arduous journey; but if you'll allow me, I will guide you through to the end! If that... is what you yearn for."

You couldn't be disappointed with such an earnest response. Retracting your arm, you thought about what he meant by an arduous journey. Relationships do require a lot of work, and you were still getting to know him as his current self. Even if you both happened to be hitting it off now, there was no telling what conflicts you might face tomorrow. He made a valid point. Both of you will know when the right time will be to seal the unholy pact of friendship.

Still, you couldn't help but notice that he really seemed to want to take your hand.