The startled man tossed something in his hand high into the sky, and with a hint of disappointment, Kiddo clicked his tongue to let the demon be aware of our presence.

The demon let out a startled gasp, "Houuu!!!", without even looking our way.

Then he quickly turned our way and tried to play it off hastily.

"This… This is just ordinary water…! I was just playing!"

The drenched man suddenly fell to the ground, motionless.

"Houuu!!! Please forgive me! I don't know what happened to me! Before I realized, I was just..."

When the demon realized we had caught him red-handed, he got down on all fours and tried to make up a story.

And then we heard a little whistle coming from above us. We lifted our heads and saw something falling from above. Our eyes moved along the falling object and we saw it fall on the demon's head.

"Please pretend not to have seen anything! Un…!"

And as soon as the demon had finished speaking, he began to turn to ash.

It was definitely strange… But, let's just…

Pretend not to have seen anything... 'Pretend not to have seen anything...'

"Ah!" I exclaimed.

"Ah! What?!" shouted Kiddo, startled.

"I forgot about character introductions!"

"We were doing that, right!"

Eager to find the secondary characters, I hurriedly looked around. I excitedly tapped Kiddo on the shoulder and pointed at one of them when I saw it. Irritatingly Kiddo shoved off my hands. Was it because he was already facing in the same direction, or was he beginning to develop a new personality disorder?

"Haphephobia?"

"What's that?!"

"Weeell… Whatever. Let's get back on the main topic..."

What we both saw was a stall bursting with devilish fireworks. It might have been nothing of notice if it was just an ordinary stall. However, what we are seeing is the stall ripped open from within, setting off a series of explosions, and a demon leaping out with a tiny creature atop its head.

Yet again, the people around us began to say the words of praise to the person in question, leaving me no opportunity to explain.

"Ah! It's the girl clad in black!"

"Yes, I heard about her too. The little one who gazes and seizes souls at whim!"

"Wait! You mean… Is she the same one who is said to play with the living and the dead alike?!"

"Scary! This sounds more like words of fear than words of praise! More like, why are we suddenly talking about the demon!" yelled Kiddo at the top of his lungs, as if he too was frightened by the remarks of the three bystanders.

With a slap on Kiddo's head, I said, "I already told you to stop interrupting!"

And just as I imagined, the little human girl walked over to the boy who was gently rubbing the pain off his head, and tried to speak to him in an innocent and nonchalant tone.

"Looks like you're just as thrilled about the festival! I'm Secondary character - B. What do you call yourself, human?"

"This is bad. She refers to me as human. No matter how much you stress on the word human, she is just trying to defy your work."

Hearing no response from Kiddo, the little human girl lowered her head. As if anticipating what was about to happen, he ran away from us. Assessing the situation, I too ran away, catching up with Kiddo.

"What happened, O Knight? Does it bother you to be struck by the bone?"

"Stupid brat! How dare you try to escape before me?!"

"That's what bothers you?!"

Trying to let out a sigh of disappointment, Kiddo turned the other way, only to find a goat—running at the same pace as us—bleating in his face.

It was the same goat being chased by the one-eyed demon. But the difference was that the trio, three people from earlier, were sitting on the demon's huge torso, ready to introduce our next character.

'No way! Don't you!'

"It's a goat."

"Yes, it's a goat."

"That's just a goat."

Kiddo, who was anxious that the trio might make ridiculous praises once again, let out a soft sigh of relief when nothing bizarre happened.

Well, I can't have that. If the three of you were trying to steal my job, then just put up with it.

"That's Secondary character - K."

"What?"

"That's–"

"I heard you for the first time! I'm asking what makes you think that this ridiculous thing can make sense!"

Trying to avoid getting into the crossfire, we distanced ourselves from the chaos, seeking refuge at the far end of the wide area. I successfully steered away the crossfire, but not the usual snarky conversation from Kiddo.

"Did you hit your head, brat?! Can't you follow one simple instruction?! It was literally the one and only one instruction I gave you here!"

"No, did you hit your head?! Instead of telling me to get my thinking straight, can you get your wit straight?! Seriously, how did you come up with these characters?!"

"What is it? Is there any problem?"

"It is nothing but problems! One pair of social outcasts, one being that can't be called a human, and another who doesn't even share any human genetics!"

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"You have requested the chef for an interesting story and it. Is. Being. Served. To. You," I said pertly, clearly making fun of him.

Aside from what I had to say, he started tearing his hair out while bragging about my creative talents. Wow! I definitely deserve a pat on the shoulder.

"I ain't praising you, old m–!"

"Huh?"

"I didn't say anything"

"I didn't ask anything"

"Like I said, I didn't... say anything," he said, his words trailing off at the end while avoiding eye contact.

Continuing the banter, I casually pushed Kiddo with a shove to his shoulder. And by chance, by fortune, by sheer luck, an axe of unknown origin appeared, or should I say landed, between us. Slowly someone, perhaps a demon, approached us and commented on how he had missed his chance.

Huh?

Unlike the comical figure around us, they completely were shrouded in black fabric from head to toe. No particular features were noticed, no wavering movements can be visible, and there was no face to interpret their emotions.

It is true that even though I was the one narrating, I had no idea what's happening. Kiddo was not amused, because he asked me if this is my attempt at trying to scare him. His confident smirk quickly faded when he saw no answer from me.

A feeling I had long forgotten came over me as I saw another similar figure crouching on a heap of creaking objects behind us. The new figure leapt over us and landed next to the one picking up the axe, all while muttering along the lines of what to do next.

Totally incomprehensible situation. Kiddo and I found ourselves retreating slowly, rendered speechless to the point where even breaths felt a burden for the both of us.

While still panting with our backs to the wall, we saw two hands emerging from the ground, clutching the feet of the mysterious figures before us. The hands yanked the two into the paper floor while jumping out of it at the same time, we caught sight of another figure, different from the first two.

Instead of calling it another mysterious figure, it would be more fitting to call it a weird figure. It is literally, as in literally, a scroll with comically attached eyes and pencil-drawn limbs, mostly covered in cobwebs.

With a click of his finger, he turned the paper floor into a scroll and left with the scroll, apologizing to our confused faces.

After pulling strange faces and several facepalms, the both of us finally managed to regain our composure with a long, whimpering sigh.

"Why is the narrator surprised too, huh?!"

"Because of you, Mr. Genius!"

"Why… me…?"

"'Why'? Seriously, why?! Go! Go ahead and stick your finger in every hole you see until you smell something bad. Then you will probably understand!"

That might be a strange way of putting it, but he certainly understood what I was saying. And yet he wanted to continue the banter, trying to get the upper hand, trying not to feel defeated. But he was cut off by a random explosion right next to us.

When we saw the explosions that colored our faces bright, a man with women in his arms descended from above, and he landed with total awesomeness. Me aside, Kiddo was completely mesmerized.

The captivated women gazed at the man in wonder, inquiring about what name they should use for him, to which he replied, "You can call me Secondary character - H."

'Just how many of them are you trying to squeeze into this story?'

"The day is still fresh, wanna follow– drop me home?" suggested one woman, her arms still around him.

"Follow the scent at night," uttered another as she kissed the man on the cheek.

'A beastly treatment?!'

The women's words were enough to make Kiddo blush and look through a keyhole hand, but that was not the case for this charming man.

"Looks like I committed another sin by stealing your hearts, haha."

'Oh, so dashing!'

Ew, so cringe.

"But this is where we part ways!" exclaimed the man.

His sudden burst of voice flabbergasted the women, even me. As he put them both down, he revealed that his heart had already been dedicated to another. The women gasped hard with their hands over their mouths. So did Kiddo.

Wh-what? What are you doing, brat?

My wonder went unnoticed by Kiddo, as his gaze was locked on the next most obviously charming thing to me.

The women, their hands clasped together in anticipation, inquired who the lucky woman was.

"She's the one I fell for, from the moment I knew about her."

The women, along with the three bystanders from earlier, found themselves enchanted by the tale of fate as their glittery eyes gazed upon the captivating man.

"Even though she is long lost, I will not give up until I find her."

In front of the man stood the three bystanders, the two women and Kiddo, biting into their handkerchiefs as if they were witnessing one of the million unparalleled tales.

"I'm always yours, my sister!!! My skin and my blister!!! Even though I don't want to believe that you ran away from me, I will never give you up!!!"

"Wow. Congratulations. There you go, making it weird again. Thank you, my past self, for not getting your hopes high," Kiddo muttered as sarcastically as he could, and sighed as he suddenly appeared next to me.

"Don't turn this one on me! What was that crazy nonsense you were doing earlier?!"

"Yo-you tell me. Whenever I act like a curious child, or whenever I act like I sense something fishy, you turn a character into a joke, or a joke into a character!"

"Wh–"

"What am I supposed to do other than be unpredictable like a person with BPD?!"

…

"It wasn't funny, Kiddo" "Shut it, I know!"

That was something, of course, but this time it was different. I attempted to explain that I was willing to take the blame for the previous ones, but this particular instance wasn't my idea.

To strengthen my argument, I highlighted the absence of the bystanders who constantly attempt to steal my job, as well as the absence of any demons in the character introduction this time around.

Looks like I was successful at my attempt. His eyes rolled in concern. Maybe not entirely, but he definitely sensed that something was amiss between us. As we were trying to get a grasp of the situation, it happened again.

"You two, would you like to help me?"

There were no chimes from the bell of destiny.

There were no whispers from the winds of prophecy.

"In this conquest to find my sister?"

There was only a charismatic man's voice that almost sounded eerie.