The time of judgement has come to pass. As I opened the door to my room, I expected the truth to be revealed. There, Hohemi slept wearing my blazer, on my bed alongside my scarf. I reverted Yarko to her scarf form on command, and unlike Stehy, she obeyed.

An unruly loli, obsessed with justice. I looked down at the loafer loli draped in the crook of my arm. At least Stehy has clothes. Yarko didn't have clothing, but now that Yarko is clothing, she no longer needs clothing.

The strangeness of the situation crept up on me as I scoured the room. My inn room isn't that big, so why am I looking under the bed with fire magic? I want Hohemi's clothing. My blazer is still on her body. Stripping her sleeping body sounded appealing in my imagination, but when it came to doing it live I lost my courage.

After all, it's Hohemi. I'm sure she'll use it as an excuse to get involved with me again. All I have to do is retrieve my blazer from her body and escape the inn, burn down the city, train Stehy to summon the U.S.S Enterprise, then burn all of Errera to the ground.

It's simple. If I can't deal with life, then, the only other option is to destroy all life. And then, I'll go move to the moon and be a hermit or something. I'm sure, from what I've seen of this planet, that it isn't worth keeping around anyways.

I'm in a bad mood. I wandered around my inn room in the Laughing Dragon for the sixth time. There's nothing here. There are no clothes. Did Hohemi come up to my room naked? Then, the clothes are downstairs. However, what happens if Hohemi wakes up and makes off with my blazer when I'm gone?

Clothes are important. Really important. For an Anime Girl, and for my ideals of what an Anime Girl is, they need the school standard issue blazer. I didn't make these clothes lightly either, this is a unique blazer, one of a kind haute courte— or however that term goes. Anyways! The blazer is vital. In scenes where an Anime Girl isn't wearing her blazer, there is a significant difference. I can't allow Hohemi to escape this room with my precious.

Staring at her sleeping body, I realized there were two options: strip her, or talk to her. I stripped her.

I planned it out with Anime Girl. I reasoned with Anime Girl, saying I 'didn't want to disturb her sleep.' Anime Girl muttered something dark and ominous sounding in japanese. She knew I was lying, because she's inside my mind anyways, so it was kind of pointless putting up a front. Eventually when I said the truth straight out, she agreed.

"She's scary and she's going to do something to me, so let's get the blazer and go, alright?"

As for why I needed Anime Girl's help, naturally, I couldn't violate my morals here. Anime Girl's Stand form would need to remove it. If I didn't have an Anime Girl with a Stand form, I'd have to use my hands, and that, that would be 'stripping a sleeping girl.'

So, even though I am saying 'I stripped Hohemi,' this is a combined effort of all of my existence. A delicate plan to protect my sense of self. An effort to protect mankind. This world no longer has to burn— I am a hero.

I only saved the world from myself, though? Oh well. Anime Girl's Stand form sailed out of my body and removed the blazer in a blur. And so Anime Girl neatly folded my blazer, came back to me, offered it to me like a business card. Yarko in scarf form lay in a rectangle on top of my blazer.

She's very polite.

And now, escape. I went to the door, fully expecting it would open. A strange miasma floated from behind me. She's awakening! I can sense it! This is her consciousness, her sight being set on me! I don't have time for doors!

Running on full Anime Girl Instinct, I leaped across the room, catching one final glance at Hohemi. Her eyes were half open. I was right. She was waking up. I was right to jump out the window.

I fell into the street below, a casual passerby looking up at the window and down to me. His face contorted into a smug grin, like he knew what was going on. There was no way Mr. Random could possibly know what was going on, and as I ran through the streets of Nephilz, I asked myself questions about his smug face.

Why was that guy so smug? It wasn't until I got halfway down the river at the foot of Adventurer's Mount that Anime Girl reminded me about something important.

[Niji.]

Damn it all. I left my left loafer back there! Okay, options, people! Clothes-people? Someone else inside my mind, solve my problems for me! That's all I want, an easy solution to a difficult problem. If I physically return, I'd be near an awake Hohemi, and then the relevant details of last night or further involvement with her might occur. I don't want this to happen. My left loafer is still in the inn. What if Hohemi takes it? I'm not going to leave it up to chance.

Stehy is sleeping draped over my arm. Anime Girl said [Muri] when I asked if she could retrieve it. She must have a limited effective range. Then, Yarko? No no, Yarko is around my neck as a scarf, and her human form is naked.

「I can do it。I'm awake。」

Yarko's voice echoed in my head. You have no clothes, Yarko. I can't make you walk through the streets naked.

「It's not a problem。」

It is for me!

「This isn't a big deal。I walk down the street, I enter the Laughing Dragon, I go upstairs, I pick up Niji。」

And you do it naked. That is a problem.

「I don't think so。」

And so, I learned Yarko is a streaker. A nudist. No wonder she wasn't wearing clothing, it doesn't explain why Hohemi had no clothing on—

「You stripped us。」

Me? No, you are clearly mad.

「I can see your memories。」

I thought I lost those! How can you see them, but I can't?

「In scarf form, I live in the house I was telling you about。[Yume Shibai], Anime Girl's spell。Everything about you is visible from here。 」

I'm worried. I had a feeling Anime Girl could read my mind in-depth and look at my memories, but, everything? Even that? Even that?! And, that time when!

「Yeah。It's not a problem。Humanity is chaotic because of nature。It is humans that invented the concept of chaos。Before chaos, or judgement, there was, and will be, nature。So, all that porn is tame compared to what I'm used to。」

What the— Yarko, are you the, real Nyarlathotep?

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

「Nyarlathotep is character from a book。To explain myself in words you will comprehend would take awhile。For now thinking of me as "The Concept of Chaos" is good enough。」

I don't think it is.

「There's no such thing as "Elder Gods"。It's called the "Lovecraftian Mythos" for a reason。It's a mythos。It's not real。」

Not real? But, I'm an Anime Girl. Those aren't 'real' either—

「In your current existence, they are now。」

What.

「I said it would take awhile to explain。I'll get Niji。」

No no wait. You reminded me of something when you said 'mythos.' The other day Niji was floating when I thought 'I am fallen angel.' What if I went all out chunni? That might wake her up.

「It would。She would become 'fully aware。' I am anticipating the day。」

And dark laughing echoed through my mind. I see. So I can't ever think anything chunni, or, whatever Niji is, she will 'awaken.' That doesn't sound good, especially if Yarko, the concept of chaos itself, is enjoying the thought of it.

「You're such a downer。Last night you were a lot more fun。」

I can ask Yarko what happened, but the more I hear, the less I want to know. Later. For now, I'm going clothes shopping.

「Where I am going, I don't need clothes。」

Yarko, you can read my mind, you know I have a problem with you not having clothes. And it's not like I have enough courage to deal with Hohemi in the first place.

「You did fine last time。」

It was a heart rending trial that echoes in my memory to this day.

「Niji is awakening。」

How does that count as 'chunni'!

「"Chunni" doesn't awaken Niji。It is inevitable she will awaken。There is no avoiding Niji。」

How mysterious. I walked around the river bank, thinking to myself for awhile, glancing out over the river. The Mounts of Nephilz in the distance, I had questions for myself. Clothes shopping? Awaken Niji? Send in a naked Yarko? I have three options. These are all poor options, but they are options.

The good part— I know what I won't do. That's what's really, really important. I know what I don't want to do.

So— lets abdicate all responsibility! I can't completely forget the obvious here— I am a lazy bastard. Or, you could say I'm an overwhelmed bastard, either way, a bastard. Although calling myself a 'bastard' kind of includes Anime Girl at this point, doesn't it? So, not a bastard. I am lazy. There.

"Yarko, go buy clothes, then, get Niji. Knock out Hohemi if she's awake. Murder bad. Preserve my morality!"

「Eh。」

And my scarf unwrapped itself from my head. I shifted the loli's weight under my arm as a naked Yarko walked off. I sped after her, pulling out a wad of cash from my skirt, I pushed it into her hand. Yarko took the money and sauntered off. I waved her goodbye with a smile on my face. What was Yarko planning to do without the money? How would you buy clothes! Silly concentration of the concept of chaos. Now, great. She's gone. This solves everything.

Wait.

I hunkered down into a squat, folding my arms across my knees. I never could do this in my last life, so it felt novel. It also reminded me of the gravity of the situation. Yarko's naked form haunted my mind.

Was anything solved?

Running away from your problems makes perfect sense if you can't solve them. That's why running away is great. You can run away from every problem, forever, and you'll have an entire life with no problems.

Which is, as I stood on the riverbank of Adventurer's Mount, realized, a problem by itself.

A life with no problems could be called an 'easy life,' but it also means I haven't committed to anything either. So. I'm, again, worried.

It's mostly about what Yarko said about being the concept of chaos and Niji awakening. Those sound— unavoidable. If you put it this way, it almost seems like the clothing summons are actually more troublesome then help. Maybe I was better off with Anime Girl sleeping in Heaven(Pillow Rat Tree).

I relaxed myself, folded my arms, and began to ponder. Squatted to ground, I understood something basic. It's something that no one else can tell you, because it's coming from inside yourself.

I have the freedom and power to do more. I have a great looking body! I have magic! I have serva- clothing summons. And I have an Anime Girl with a Stand form. So, shouldn't I, give this a little more thought?

Saying to myself 'it's just a girl you'll be fine' is a little... no, it's too obvious. She's not 'just a girl.' She's good at something— pressure, seduction, fear, or good at striking at my weak point. Even if she didn't do anything, to my knowledge, but get her clothes ripped off by me yesterday and wake up in my bed, there is great danger to Hohemi.

Not that I'm thinking I'd lose in a fight. It's much worse. It wouldn't come to anything called a 'fight.' I, easily, was more afraid of her than of anyone on Errera. Ouji and Negi outright tried to kill me, but I'm not afraid thinking of either of them, I'm mad. Mad at myself for not being stronger.

The path to strength is clear. Kirei. That's the 'easiest' road. Give up on my rules and submit to his training. There's the University Mount to the left of the Royal Mount I went yesterday. Since I got disqualified from the tournament thanks to barging in on Elu, I was saved trouble. But, now I don't have a concrete problem.

I could commit myself to seeking power, and avoid Kirei. Find another way at the University Mount. He's probably not the only person there. Negi got talked down by Ouji, so I should be fine, right?

Oh, Hohemi did mention 'there aren't many places for a homunculi to live' but, I'm mooching off Ouji anyways. So I should be fine. I can casually get better at my own pace, discover the secrets of yesterday explained to me later today when Yarko returns from getting Niji back from my occupied inn room. Then, I disappear for the day, and hope Hohemi leaves. Send in a scout to make sure she's gone.

But, then I'm back to square one. Hohemi's a major player in Nephilz's politics. I can't ignore her if I want to take over Nephilz, and it's not like she's done anything 'wrong.' If there was anyone who was a problem here, it should be Kirei, but even Imouto, one of the strongest in the world, is fine with him.

Ah, I understand. I stood up. Yarko isn't going to buy clothes. She never intended to from the start. In fact, Yarko could have lied about everything— why would I strip Yarko and Hohemi? There's no permutation of reality possible where that would happen. Even if I was drunk, I severely doubt the rule-abiding me could do something so brazen. And, Anime Girl doesn't seem the type. I don't need to act now. But, I understood.

Yarko is going through the streets absolutely naked right now. Later on, it will be a problem. Am I ale to 'control' or 'lead' these clothing summons? So far, they've been scattered. Stehy is asleep beside me, Niji looked afraid to exist, Yarko explains a few things, but it's not clear. Even Anime Girl! Even Anime Girl only speaks japanese despite being the one I trust the most!

I ran through the streets. There's a problem. No, there's more than one problem. There's a huge list of them I've made up, for myself, for my desires I wanted to get from this world, from what I wanted from my life. If I want to get naked and go live in Heaven(Pillow Rat Tree) I can do it anytime!

And so— with the graces of Anime Girl's internal GPS system— I found the inn, and slipped in through the window I shattered. The bed was empty. A trail of blood ran across the floor, leading out of the room. On the bed, a note.

Great.

I thought I'd get a chance to solve a mystery, not run into more of them. This is the way it is, isn't it. I sighed in the room as I draped Stehy sleeping body on my bed, picking up the envelope. The reward for solving one puzzle is you get a better puzzle. That's about how life goes. It was my mistake thinking these puzzles had an endpoint.

Not even the most powerful people on Earth feel satisfied after achieving their biggest goals. It's a dopamine thing, you get dopamine from anticipation, not from receiving the reward. The reward ends the dopamine spike in the brain. When I solve this puzzle, there will be another one waiting for me.

Staring at the letter, then to the trail of blood, and thinking about it seriously— I decided. There is an ancient tactic people of Earth use, passed down through generations. Lazy or not, powerful or not, the technique of 'delegation.' Get someone else who cares about the problem to solve it. And with that, I flung the envelope towards Stehy, and flopped down onto my bed.

Anime Girl, shut the door, will you?

[Hai.]

Convenience is nice. I was all gung-ho there for less than five minutes. But, this minor setback has encouraged me. I can give up! I can take breaks! It's not like the puzzles will stop anyways! And so!

I'll wait for backup to arrive. I covered myself in bed covers as a sleeping Stehy unconsciously repositioned herself. She looped herself around my right ankle, even with her eyes shut she was able to find it.

It was only maybe an hour, I think. I woke up between Yarko's breasts, fled to the rooftop and talked to Ouji, then fled to the riverbed, and now, the main difficulty in my life is gone.

This is encouraging. I went to sleep, thinking that things were looking up. I don't have to handle everything— no, I don't want to handle everything. What's the good of having clothing summons if you can't rely on them? That's why! I'm doing double duty here, by relying on Stehy to handle this when she awakens, I'll be deepening our relationship. The true goal should have been uncovering her powers all along. With the U.S.S. Enterprise on my side, I could have been in space by now.

Not that space in a spaceship is much different than Heaven(Pillow Rat Tree). I resolved myself, and relaxed. It's just a trail of blood and a sealed envelope with writing on it saying, 'I'LL KILL YOU.' It's nothing Stehy can't handle.