“So, you two have been dating a bit?”

We’re walking to the mall, and we’ve been hired to do a bit of cleaning there.

Sacho and Kanjo are really ahead, as always. And the mall’s actually a really long way from here, since the only one for miles is two miles down the road.

And so, I tell Megumin the whole story. Of course, I have to leave out Sachos’ undercover missions.

“Speaking of which,” I ask. “What did you give Kanjo as a ‘gift’?”

“Ah…That really wasn’t fun. I panicked and gave her a dictionary.”

“Well, what’s wrong with that?”

“The binder was falling apart, and the A—B section had so many wears it was unreadable.”

“Er…well, I’m guessing she wasn’t a fan…”

“No. She wasn’t; Kanjo’s not great at hiding her feelings, either…”

“I can see that…I mean, I can’t really, since I’ve never actually talked to her before.”

“She’s annoying. Stupidly annoying. She’s also kind of a wimp; she criticises everyone for everything, when to be honest with you, she doesn’t try to do anything with her free time…but still, she’s too social for her own good…I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason she joined this club.”

Well, this is confusing. In all the times I’ve talked with her, it’s always to butt into a conversation, or to tell me I’m doing something wrong. Is that what Megumi’s talking about? But at the same time, Sacho likes to talk to Kanjo a lot…

“Anyway, Sacho enjoys Kanjo a lot. I think Sacho just tries to be nice to everyone.”

Ah…that makes a bit more sense.

“I mean, it’s a good skill to have,” Megumi begins. “It was people like her that became my first friends.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” I ask.

“Well…,” Megumi trails off. “It’s a long story…”

“Well, We have the time…there’s still about 45 minutes of walking until we arrive at the mall…”

Megumi pauses. Slowly, she starts to talk.

“Well, it all began when I was born…”

———————————————————

“Around when I was born, my parents divorced. We lived in an old house in the countryside, about two hours from here.”

“My mother was a very caring person. My father…well, he wasn’t as great. He left us in an obscene amount of debt. So much so that it was hard for us to pay the bills; just so my mother could take care of me, she dropped feeding herself three meals a day so I could have a warmer blanket. After that, we were left with nothing. I even got a day job out in the country as a waitress at an old pizzeria. For a while, it looked like we would be lost.”

“Wait, so then how did you afford to get a nicer house in this neighbourhood?” I ask. “Your mother must be a very hard worker…”

“My mother was a very hard worker. But eventually, she developed cancer in her lungs. It spread to other parts of her body; before long, it became terminal…she didn’t make it out alive.”

Silence. A horrible, profound silence.

“Oh my…so, what ended up happening to you?” I lower my voice, carefully.

“I was sent to an orphanage. I was only seven, so I didn’t understand much. I know now that I wasn’t exactly a big sell, and I was moved to multiple orphanages all across the state. It seemed like all hope was lost. But then, two things happened. First off, I met a very nice girl named Akane. She was exactly like Sacho, trying to make friends with everyone.”

“Woah, that must’ve been great for you,” I answer. “So, what happened to her?”

“She was moved to another orphanage.”

Another terrible silence. This time, I have to find a way to break it.

“So what was the other good thing that happened?”

All Megumin does is smile.“The second thing was, that around that same time, I was adopted by an old lady named Ai. She feeds me, raises me, and pays for my scholarships all right her in Aikawa.”————————————————————

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Okay, I have so many questions.

“How come you didn’t end up back with your dad?” I ask, a bag of mixed of emotions.

“He was too drunk. I must admit, I never considered him anything but a donor,” Megumi answers, smiling.

“Well, how come you never bothered trying to find Akane?”

“I just don’t think I could. She could be halfway across the country.”

I smile. I think I know how to repay Megumi for what she did for me.

***

After we arrive at the mall, we meet up with the manager so he can assign us for which side of the mall we’re cleaning.

“You could start by cleaning the shops,” the manager starts. “But it would probably be wiser to start by cleaning the centre of the mall.”

The centre of the mall is a peculiar sight, to say the least. It has a crystal-clear fountain, complete with marble-grey steps and a white-to-black floor colour.

After looking twice, I realise that a good amount of the floor is covered in all kinds of disgusting foods. Pretzels, pizza slices, and ice cream practically land all over the room like easter eggs.

“Oh…this could take a while…” Sacho remarks.

“Well, there’s only one way to pass the time!” Kanjo says.

Kanjo takes out her broom, and swiftly starts sweeping up some of the littered food on the floor.

“Well, here goes what we came for,” I think.

Before long, the entire mall is much cleaner that before. After Sacho sweeps up the final crumbs, we all walk to the managers office to report our work.

“Well, I’m impressed!” the manager exclaims. “It’s hard to believe you could do it in such a short time. Now, you shall move onto the shops themselves.”

The shops are also pretty easy. Since most of the owners clean up the main debris, we just have to take care of the dust.

We decide it’s a good idea for us all to split up, and handle one shop each.

It’s actually a pretty good plan, but I can’t seem to shake the feeling that someone happens to be watching me, and it definitely feels like whoever’s watching me isn’t a human.

Anyway, that’s probably me just going a little crazy…but then again, I’ve seen actual devils, and I if I’m being honest, if I was a devil, and I had seen a human use magic to fight my kind off, I wouldn’t just shoo them off like dust under a rug.

Speaking of dust, I finish up cleaning up my last shoppe just in time for 3:00 o’clock.

“Hey, come quick!” Megumi pokes her head in through the shop door. “We’re going back to the school to drop our cleaning supplies!

“Hey, wait up!” I call, realising the group’s leaving without me.

***

After we drop our stuff off at the school, we all go our separate ways, all to our homes to turn in for the day; Sacho and I take our usual route through the woods, since it only takes about fifteen minutes.

But Sacho isn’t as chatty as she usually is, for some reason. I can sense that, just from the motionless expression on her face.

“Sacho, what’s happening with you?”

Sacho pauses. Eventually, she turns to me, and starts talking.

“I’ve got another dangerous mission. This time, there’s been sightings of two devils in the area. Both are elite. The council also doesn’t like the idea of you tagging along, so I’m not sure how I feel about it…”

“Well, what’s the penalty?”

“I’ll be moved down by 30 points.”

“And how much are you given for defeated an elite devil?”

Sacho starts to smile. I think she understands where I’m getting at.

“120 points.”

“So, if you win a fight with me, you’d be given 90 points. That’s still a pretty good amount.”

Sacho starts to grin. “This is why I like you.”

Then, there’s a slight silence.

“Anyway, I’ve got about a week until the day I have to go on the mission.”

“Where is it, anyway?”

“It’s in the Domacchin Mountains. There’s already some wizards hiked up in a cave, and we’re going to join them.”

“Ah…I’ll have to ask my parents about that—”

Before I can finish my sentence, my vision goes blurry, and my head is spinning. By the time I regain my revision, I see two things: one being Sachos’ face; the second being the face of another friend…

1

“Niko! You okay?”

“Hinata! What’re you doing here?”

Hinata’s a boy with black hair coming down with sharp bangs; he’s my best friend at Aikawa High.

“Well, what’re you guys doing out here?”Hinata asks with his usual enthusiastic tone.

“We’re walking home,” Sacho explains. “Where are you going?”

“I’m heading to my house as well,” Hinata asks. “It’s really nice to see you.”

***

After we arrive home, I quickly run upstairs to ask my parents about the hike.

It doesn’t take much convincing, since they both think I need to get outside more…

Afterwards, I make the quick walk to my bedroom, so I can write in my journal about my day.

I’ve started to keep a journal of my day to day life. Especially lately, I’ve had a lot on my mind…I’ve found it a great way to explain my thoughts to myself, and really understand myself and my emotions.

After I’m finished, I try to find something to do. It’s only 4:30, And I still have a few hours to spare.

Maybe Sacho will have something for me to do.

It only takes a bit of walking around the house for me to find Sacho. She’s normally either In the living room reading, in the room we share, or on the balcony, thinking.

Anyway, When I do find her, she’s on the balcony, and it only takes Sacho a few seconds to realise I’m there.

“Oh, hello!” she says, greeting me with her usual smile.

“Hello! I was just wondering if you wanted to do something with me.”

“Funny you should ask that… I was just about to ask you if you would to sit on the balcony with me and help me out here.”

I sit down in a chair next to her.

“So, what do you need help with?”

“I need help with this crossword. I don’t understand it that well…”

Recently, Sacho’s been tasked to look into games that humans play for fun. The council thinks that if they can find a way to present humans with entertainment, we might build a more stable bond with their kind.

“Okay,” I answer. “Always nice to do something with you…”

I motion my chair closer to her and help her finish her crossword. I also give her a basic rundown of the game, since it had only occurred to me just then that Sacho had been learning the entire game through trial and error.

***

“There we are! All complete!” I exclaim, as we fill out the final word together.

I check the time. 6:30! We’ve been sitting here for that long!

“Well, that was fun!” Sacho exclaims.

We share a smile together.

2

It’s the next day at 4:00 a.m, and everything’s a blur from the moment I wake up.

“Wake up….Wake up! Niko we have to goooo!”

“Hrm…huh? How come I’m always being waken up this early? What’s even happening?”

“They’ve moved the date of the day we hike up the mountain to this morning! We have until 4:00 p.m to perform the eight-hour hike!”

“Wait, what about telling my parents…”

“I’ve put a spell on them, so we have up to two days to perform our duties! Now come on, we only have so much time…”