Chapter 180 Dealing with problems

I'm standing on the hill next to Shizue's memorial, surrounded by wisteria trees with a beautiful view of a sunset in the distance.

Standing next to me is a strange cat girl who looks strikingly familiar. I can't place my finger on who she looks like though, for whatever reason.

And right now, she is looking at me with an expressionless face.

For some reason, I get the feeling that she's insulting me in her mind.

So I take a closer look. I squint my eyes, staring into her familiar face, taking in every detail.

And then I realise… this is the same face I always see when I look into a mirror. A name instantly pops into my head, to which I unconsciously mutter it.

Rimuru- "Shizue…?"

But that can't be right. Shizue was the first name that came into my mind, but I immediately dismissed that option. After all, Shizue was… older. Around her early 20's.

The woman- no, the girl in front of me right now barely reaches her late teens, around 15 years old. Furthermore, Shizue didn't have cat eats or a pair of tails that are burning at the tips.

Plus she's dead.

The only person – or cat in this case – that I know that has cat ears and a pair of flaming tails is…

Rimuru- "Shizu…?"

But Shizu is a fucking cat. Nothing but confusion shows on my face as I repeat the question she asked me first.

Rimuru- "So… who ARE you?"

(A/N: MC turned into Kazoo Kid just for this)

Releasing a sigh, the girl turns her eyes back towards the memorial and continues to stare at it, confusion and conflict running through her eyes.

???- "… I don't know…"

She whispers.

She sounds… Hurt? No, that's not the right word… Disappointed? Tired? Depressed? Perhaps a mix of all of these emotions?

Regardless, I think I finally understand what is happening.

Rimuru- "… You got your memories back, didn't you?"

She didn't say anything, but a nod of her head let me know her answer.

Shizu, a Hellcat, went through the Harvest Festival and evolved into a catgirl. Not only that… but it seems she reawakened her memories of her life as a human.

So when she asked "who am I?", she was really asking…

???- "Am I Shizu the cat, or am I Shizue the human?"

This… is something very philosophical.

And so, to avoid looking like a dumbass and giving a dumb answer, I ask her a question instead.

Rimuru- "Tell me. Is your name Shizu? Or is it Shizue?"

She doesn't say anything. So I continue talking.

Rimuru- "Can't decide? Fine. Then you are both Shizu and Shizue."

Her ears twitch.

Rimuru- "Tell me. Are you the Conquerer of Flames? Or are you one of the Mascots of Avalon?"

Once again, she struggles to say something, but in the end, says nothing.

Rimuru- "No answer? Fine. Then you are both."

Once again, her ears twitch. Her tails also begin swaying left and right.

Rimuru- "Tell me. Do you have a tendency for explosions? Or fire?"

???- "… Aren't they the same…?"

I hear her mutter to herself with the slightest trace of a smile on her lips.

I also smile.

Rimuru- "They are the same? Then you like both explosions and fire."

I continue asking question after question.

Rimuru- "Are you a Hero? Or are you a Demonic Arts practitioner?"

Rimuru- "Do you like normal meat buns? Or fish buns?"

Rimuru- "Are you more comfortable as a human? Or a cat?"

To all those questions, she struggles to pick one over the other. As she struggled, I simply said "No response? Then pick both." To which her cat ears would twitch and her tails would sway left and right.

Question after question, I constantly asked her. Questions that make her choose between her life as a human or her life as a cat.

And to all of these, she couldn't choose.

Finally, even with my enhanced mental capacity, my dumbass couldn't think of any other questions to ask, and I asked a question I already asked before.

Rimuru- "So, tell me. Are you Shizu? Or are you Shizue?"

I'm calmly smiling at her on the outside, but internally, I'm screaming.

Rimuru- 'WHY WOULD YOU ASK THE SAME QUESTION AGAIN, DUMBASS!?'

But unexpectedly, her small smile turns into a full one that nearly made me blind from the brightness. It's as if all the weight of the world has been lifted off her.

She turns to me, and with the setting sun behind her, this moment became one burned into my memory forever.

Shizu- "Both. I am Shizue and Shizu!"

.

.

.

Oh my god, I think I'm falling in love-

STOP! YOU HAVE MIKOTO!

Not letting any emotions show on my face while muttering mantras in my head, I close my eyes, turn around, and start walking away with a smile on my lips.

Rimuru- "Is that so…"

I teleport away.

Shizu turns back towards the memorial made in her honour and finds something sitting on top of it. It's her Anti-Magic Mask. She takes it in her hands and holds it to her chest before turning around and walking away.

I find myself back in the living room in my house.

Rimuru- "*Inhale*… I didn't look like a dumbass, did I?"

Illya- "It was cringe, Onii-chan."

*-999,999 emotional damage*

I feel a trail of blood leak from the edge of my lips as I clutch my heart.

I turn to look at Illya who is still sitting on the couch, looking at me with an amused smile.

Goddamnit Illya, you were watching…?

Rimuru- "…"

Illya- "…"

Rimuru- "… Nigerundayo!"

I teleport out using [Azathoth] and run away. I can't win a verbal fight against Illya.

:(

This time, I just teleport straight into the Mirror Dimension. This way, I don't need to look for the training site I always used to use to test things out.

I then teleport to a random spot around the world.

Let's start off with something small. Something like… a meat bun.

(Hours later…)

I teleport back into my house after my experimentation is finished.

And I just stand there, staring into space.

Illya is still sitting on the couch, but this time she is sipping from a bottle of juice.

Illya- "*Sip* So? How was the World-Ending Meat Bun?"

Rimuru- "… Let's just say that I didn't know the reality was so fragile…"

Like, how was I supposed to know accidentally dropping the World-Ending Meat Bun would end up ripping through space and time, causing a collapse of the entire universe!?

Luckily, this all happened in my Mirror Dimension that was massively reinforced through [Azathoth].

Well, on the bright side, it turns out that I can create universes now.

I mean, normally I can't, but Yamato recently went through a bit of a change.

It evolved from a Mythical weapon into a Genesis weapon.

So… yeah.

More importantly, it's morning and everyone is waking up!

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Name: Rimuru

Race: Origin Slime

Protection: Crest of Space

Title: Highest Tier Spirit, Leader of the Monsters, Onii-chan, King of Avalon, Master of Headpats, Procrastinator King, The Nutcracker, socially awkward cringe slightly chuuni slime, True Dragon Slayer, Sensei, World's Strongest, Overpowered to a stupid degree

???: [Codex: Illyasviel]

Ultimate Skills: [Yahweh, God of Creation], [Odin, God of Runes], [Azathoth, God of Void (Alternative)]

Equipment: Yamato - Genesis

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A/N: There's a bonus chapter!