Chloe walked the streets of the suburbs. She looked down at her bracelet, looking at the cracks intently. She knew she had to confront Saneko. Over the past few days, she had been building up the courage to face her. She still believed that Saneko was a truly evil being that was planning to take over, or even destroy the world. Sure, Chloe had started to think there was a chance Saneko was on the side of the humans, but those thoughts got pushed away by her fear.

Just on Friday, Chloe missed school like she did for most of the week, but wanting to face Saneko, she knew she had to contact the Anetop Academy for her information. Every parent gave the school their home addresses, so it wasn't too hard. She simply told the school that Saneko was her best friend during school hours, and wanted to know where she lived to talk to her. It was not like Chloe to lie, but she couldn't continue living in fear.

The school gave her the information without much thought considering Chloe had a good reputation in every school she had ever attended. On her way to Saneko's house, she started to hyperventilate, thinking about all of the ways her confrontation could go down.

"What if she crushes my head with her bare hands. I'm going to die aren't I. I can't do this."

Being overly paranoid, Chloe turned around to head back to her house before stopping herself.

"No. I have to face Saneko."

She turned back around to continued walking towards Saneko's house, but her paranoia continued to get the best of her.

"Oh god, what if she rips my heart out of my chest, and as I take my last breath, she eats it before my eyes. OH GOD!"

Chloe turned around again to go home, but she continued to stop herself from giving in to fear.

"NOPE! I GOTTA SEE HER!"

She once again turned around and continued trudging down the sidewalk to go to Saneko's house. She clenched her fists, trying to calm herself down as much as possible by talking to herself.

"It's going to be okay Chloe. You can do this.... NO I CAN'T!"

Chloe was about to turn around again before she slapped herself on the cheek.

"NO! I CAN DO THIS! I WON'T BE SCARED OF SOMEONE WITH A HERO NAME AS REDICULOUS AS DEMON BABE!"

"Demon Babe?"

Hearing this voice caused Chloe to turn around. Behind her was the boy who had become Saneko's disciple. He was always out and about. Chloe scratched the back of her head and spoke to the boy with a shaky tone in her voice.

"Oh, hi. Who are you?"

"NO! WHO ARE YOU?"

The boy's shouting caught her off guard. She shook her head to regain her composure.

"W...what?"

"WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT DEMON BABE?"

"Y...you... uh... you know Saneko?"

"I don't know anyone named Saneko. Just answer my question! Why are you talking about Demon Babe?"

Chloe didn't exactly know what to make of what the boy was saying. He knew Demon Babe but not Saneko? Chloe didn't know that Saneko had never given him her real name.

"Well, I was just going to see her. How do you know her?"

"If you are a villain, rest assured that Demon Babe will brutally destroy you."

"Wha...? No! I'm not a villain!"

"Good, because Demon Babe is the strongest! She could destroy your entire mind body and soul by just breathing!"

"WHAT?"

Chloe started to get fearful again. Who was this boy and how did he know Saneko? Why was he so adamant about Saneko being strong? These questions flooded Chloe's mind until it felt like she was getting dizzy.

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Chloe ran off, leaving the boy behind. The emerald on her bracelet gained another crack, and now it was almost fully cracked. The boy watched as she left and called out to her once more.

"YOU SHOULD WORSHIP DEMON BABE! SHE'S THE COOLEST!"

Chloe wasn't listening anymore, she just continued running with tears streaming down her face. The boy shrugged and turned around before skipping off happily.

After running a few blocks down, Chloe came to a stop and started panting, trying to catch her breath. She put her hands on her knees and hunched over, taking big breaths. Her endurance wasn't that good.

After finally catching her breath, she wiped the tears away from her eyes and reached into her pocket to pull out a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it to look at some words written on it. It was Saneko's address. She continued to sweat as she looked down at the piece of paper, still horrified by her own paranoia, and now the boy's statement.

"I can't do this. I should just go home."

Looking up, Chloe realized that she was standing right in front of the Sarakana household. Her eyes widened and she looked back down at the paper a few times just to make sure.

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"Oh god. I'm already here, so I... I should go through with this."

Chloe didn't really even have a plan. She didn't know what she would say or anything. She just knew she needed to tell Saneko off. She started to pump herself up and walk up to the door. She nervously reached out her hand to knock on the door but pulled back just before she could.

"Oh god oh god oh god. I can't do this."

Gritting her teeth, she tried to push her negative thoughts down.

"Yes I can! I need to be brave!"

She put her hand to the door to knock again, but quickly pulled it back like she had just done before.

"NO I CAN'T! AGH! I NEED TO SUCK IT UP!"

Without hesitating, she turned around for a final time and knocked on the door. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she awaited the answer.

"WHAT DID I JUST DO? PLEASE DON'T ANSWER!"

Inside the house, Saneko was lazing around on the couch with one leg hanging off of it, holding the remote up and clicking through the channels. Naturally, she was in her lazy clothes.

"Why hasn't there been any power fantasy anime on for so long? I guess these stations just don't want money."

Mrs. Sarakana was in the kitchen peeling an orange. She looked up to Saneko and called out to her.

"Hey Saneko!"

"Yeah mom?"

"I heard a knock on the door. Could you go get it. I ordered an automatic litter box for Dyinglight."

Saneko leaned her head back and let out a groan.

"Ugh~ why do I have to get the door?"

"Because I'm eating an orange."

Saneko glanced to her mom with narrowed eyes. It was such a lazy excuse and she really wanted to call her mom out on it, but she knew she wasn't in the position to talk considering her position on the couch.

"Fine. I'll get the damn door."

"Watch your language."

With an eyeroll, Saneko stood up and headed over to the door. She opened it and saw Chloe standing there with a nervous expression. She was not expecting to see one of her classmates at her house. It took a while for both of them to register what was happening. They made eye contact and both yelped simultaneously. Saneko slammed the door and stood against it, breathing heavily. They had both yelped, but for completely different reasons. For Chloe, it was obviously the fear of seeing Saneko. For Saneko, however, it was the fact that her classmate saw her in her lazy clothes.

"Who was it sweetie?"

"No one!"

She ran to her room and her mom watched her as she did with a confused expression. Saneko quickly changed into her school uniform. She looked in the mirror and tried to adjust her hair as it was really messy from lazing around all day, but of course, her cowlick would not go down.

"Eh, good enough."

With that, she teleported outside behind Chloe. Chloe was still standing there in shock, not saying anything and just staring at the door. Saneko took this time to practice her menacing smile. When she had a smile ready on her face, she put her hand on Chloe's shoulder, causing a shiver to go down her spine.

"AH! WHO'S THERE!"

She turned around to see Saneko standing behind her with that eerie smile. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she started to lose balance. She fell against the door and slid down until she was on the ground. Saneko looked down at her and began laughing to herself.

"At least she knows who the true superior being around here is."

Mrs. Sarakana heard a thud on the front door, so she stood up and opened it.

"What's going on out here?"

Since Chloe was laying against the door, when it opened, she fell on her back. This startled Mrs. Sarakana and she took a few steps backwards.

"Who is this? And Saneko, how did you get out here? Don't tell me you teleported."

"Oh my god, not with the teleporting rant again."

Looking down at Chloe's unconscious body, Mrs. Sarakana pointed to it while looking at Saneko.

"No but seriously, who is this?"

"It's just some girl who is like a background character in the story that is my life."

"SO YOU MADE A FRIEND?"

Mrs. Sarakana's eyes lit up and a big smile appeared on her face.

"No mom! She's some loser that is totally inferior to me. I bet she hasn't even watched 'Restarting As An Inchworm'."

"Well I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about, but I'll go get her an icepack. What happened to her?"

"She was overwhelmed by my greatness."

Mrs. Sarakana walked back inside, not believing Saneko. It was a boy who cried wolf situation. Saneko would probably say that to anyone she found unconscious, but this time it was actually true.

Mr. Sarakana walked in the house from the backdoor. He wiped sweat from his forehead and sighed.

"I finally finished washing the side of the house. Oh and look, an unconscious girl."

He was totally casual about the situation as if it were an everyday thing. Rummaging through the fridge for an icepack, Mrs. Sarakana responded.

"Yeah. I was going to give her an icepack, but I think we ran out.

"Oh yeah, I think Saneko used them to put her banana smoothies on so they would stay cold."

"That sucks. It's a good thing she's grounded, she deserves it. I honestly can't stand her sometimes."

"I'm right here you know."

Closing the refrigerator, Mrs. Sarakana looked as if she had an idea.

"Oh I know! We can get Saneko to take care of this girl until she wakes up."

Saneko shook her head, mouthing the word "no" a few times. Mr. Sarakana, however, didn't take issue with this idea.

"That's a great idea! That way, it's not our problem."

"Exactly!"

Saneko was fuming with anger at this point. She really wanted to yell at her parents, but this was her fault, so she had no right to. Mrs. Sarakana looked at Saneko with an aggravatingly happy smile.

"Saneko, teleport her to your bed and nurse her to health."

Saneko groaned again, not believing that she had to do this. All she wanted to do was scare Chloe, not take responsibility for what came afterwards.

"Ugh~ Do I have to?"

"You are grounded remember?"

"Tch."

Saneko teleported herself and Chloe away. Mr. Sarakana started thinking about something and spoke in an unsure tone.

"Won't that girl's parents get concerned?"

"Nah. They are probably cultivators. Cultivators can do anything!"

"True!"

The Sarakanas didn't have a good grasp on cultivation at all since Mrs. Sarakana had never cultivated any power, and Mr. Sarakana had only gained a level of 2 on Reader. From their perspective, anyone with higher levels of cultivation was an unstoppable force that didn't have to worry about anything at all.

In Saneko's bedroom, Chloe laid on the bed while Saneko sat on the chair near her table. She couldn't change out of her school uniform because when Chloe woke up, she couldn't look like a normal person. She needed to look super epic, or however she thought she looked.

Surprisingly, Chloe didn't take that long to wake up. She started squirming in the bed and making little sounds. Hearing these sounds caused Saneko to stand up and get in the most "heroic" pose she could think of, which of course was just her standing straight with her hands in her suit pockets. Chloe started to open her eyes weakly.

"W...where am I?"

"In the domain of the great Demon Babe!"

Chloe turned to see Saneko standing there with the same eerie smile she had earlier. Chloe instantly passed out again. Saneko's smug expression turned into one of frustration.

"That's it. I've had enough."

A few hours later, Chloe woke up in the playground. Some kids were poking her with a stick, but started to back away when they saw her eyes opening.

"Oh, she's alive."

"Quick run!"

The kids ran off, and Chloe began to stand, placing her hands on the mulch to give herself leverage. Once she stood up, she looked around with tired eyes.

"Where am I now?"

Chloe's mind immediately went back to the last thing she remembered, which was Saneko's creepy smile.

"She put me here didn't she?"

The emerald on Chloe's bracelet was now completely cracked.

Saneko was back in her lazy clothes. She walked out of her room and sat in the kitchen and saw one of the oranges her mom was eating earlier. She picked one up and began to peel it. Mrs. Sarakana, who was in the living room watching TV with Mr. Sarakana, looked over to see Saneko sitting there.

"Hey. Did you nurse that girl back to health?"

"Uh... yeah. She's in ship shape."