III. This world full of Mysteries, Oddities, Delusionals and Bullies

“Fu fu fu fu… This Queen of Darkness have invaded my very first Rival’s territory. Being in here is exciting enough that it gives me chills down my spine already. All that dark masses of energy gathered around this little fortress. I really feel like I’m at a disadvantage if I were to battle you right now, Maou. Also, you have these three of your Greatest Generals surrounding you. I can’t believe I’ve fallen for such a trap!”

“Hey… Girl… May I ask you what are you even doing here?”

I asked Anemone why.

We were at Fred’s studio, the once unit7 that had been modified to connect units 6 and 8 together to form a studio at the middle. Initially the room was spacious enough for the four of us, but for some reason the later days have been too crowded.

The current number of people gathering at Fred’s studio at that moment were seven. The initial four of us at Fred’s team, then Old man, Seria and Anemone.

“Humu. This sure isn’t some normal gathering. I’m quite confused too as to what’s happening now. Why are there two teams currently in here?”

“Awawa… Don’t fight. The two of you.”

Anemone was carrying her usual chuuni smug while looking at Fred. Fred was still wearing defensive mode as he looked at Anemone. There was still the anxiety that he had been holding against her ever since he went home that morning after the after-party of the ‘Fresh Aspirants’ awarding event for Anemone.

Old man and Seria were having their usual chat at a separate table they have set up beside the usual center table that we had been using inside the studio. Kyrie have tried to serve them tea but they refused and asked to have beer instead. They immersed themselves to a deep conversation not paying in mind whatever the topic we were currently having. I just considered it as professional after-hours talk.

We continued our nonsense discussion.

“We could accommodate you guys as much as you want, but please don’t do unnecessary changes to how this studio was arranged.” –I tried to talk to them.

“No Ingrid, we’re being invaded.”

“Sigh… I’ve been telling you, this situation is quite different from that ‘thing’ you have been talking.”

“No. I refuse to believe. My intuition is always correct. I won’t stop until I find out what this invader is actually planning.”

“Awawawa no no no Fred, you’re being uncourteous to your visitors.” –Added Ara(imouto)

“Fu fu fu… I see your awareness is still as sharp as ever. You haven’t changed since you’ve left your previous world. Now we have all the time to tell me a tale of your valor.”

“No no no!!! Don’t bother Fred anymore. We have a draft to finish!!”

“Even if we have all the time here there would be nothing to talk about. The likes of a lowly queen such as you are not eligible to know such information.”

Well I’m glad I’m not being treated as a lowly individual… No no no!!

“Don’t even try to prolong the topic!!”

I wondered why these events were even happening.

---

(A week ago, morning after the Fresh Aspirants awards event.)

“Anemone… She’s from another world too…”

“Eh?”

“She have told me at the party. She even knows I’m a former Mau too…”

Those words bothered me too much. I wondered if it was because Fred have found hints about magic that actually existed here at Earth. What if Anemone was actually a hint that would have him find out how to get back to Mytherion?

What would happen to his current profession here?

What would happen to Ara and Kyrie?

What would happen to me?

“Fred… I… I’m sorry… I couldn’t think of anything after hearing that.”

Even I did not knew how I should felt at that moment. I hoped Fred understood that.

Without nothing to say, I approached him. As he sat at the table, he had that lonely expression which he hadn’t showed for the past years since he opened up to me. The couch he’s sitting at fitted two people together. I did not bought it having anticipated this situation. I just bought it initially for the sole purpose of using it for myself. But at times like these it became handy.

I sat beside him and lay my head rest at the couch.

Sigh.

We both gave a sigh, but we were both pertaining to different issues.

“So what are you going to do?” –I asked him. There’s no point in slowly pulling the decision out on him. I let him decide by asking the question. “Come now, please answer me… I need it too. Whatever your answer it will be fine by me.”

“I don’t know…”

“Should you take a break for a while? I’ll try to win another set of tickets to the hot spring if you want.”

“Ah I don’t want to experience ‘that’ again…”

“Thought so…”

Perhaps you’re right.

Multiple consecutive events happened back at the hot spring. I understood why Fred had the trauma of going to long vacations again.

“I don’t know what to decide anymore…”

I saw the tiredness at Fred’s face. It was the face of someone being troubled to choose between two options that will have a great bearing towards his future. A woman’s intuition was always on the spot. If I only knew these events were to happen I never approved Fred of going to that after party, or I will make sure to join him and do whatever actions needed to prevent these things from happening.

I closed in the gap between us. He had been looking haggard lately. I took the chance to pamper him.

“When you meet up with her again… I’m going to help you find closure to those questions you’re having right now… so please… have a rest for a while. It had been a long night.”

I lay my head at his shoulders. He was deep in thought and might not be focused on what I was saying to him but at least I expressed what I wanted to know.

“Ingrid… Thanks…”

It was exchanged with an appreciation.

How deep was his love for Yuusha? Did I have a chance at the very first place? Was I just running through circles without progressing much towards him? At that moment the very flame of my determination and confidence on myself wavered. ‘What ifs’ flooded my mind as if it was an unexpected tsunami that ravaged a town near the shore.

Will I be fine just having the same self-satisfaction I’ve been granting myself ever since I’ve confessed my feelings to him?

Will this love forever be one-sided?

I don’t want this feeling…

It’s piercing me…

I don’t want this…

I was glad that he was not seeing the pathetic crying face I was having that moment.

…

…

RING RING!!

“Whoah! What the hell!” –I was really surprised when Fred’s phone at the center table rang.

I could read the contact details.

Speaking of the devil…

The one calling at that moment was Anemone. The very root cause of this stress we’re currently experiencing. I immediately wiped my tears so that Fred won’t notice it. I hoped he did not saw me though.

“Aren’t you going to answer it?”

“I’m pretty tired already…”

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Of course I wanted to confirm the very existence of this another ‘someone that came from another world’ for myself and if ever I could try to stop her from further bothering Fred.

“I’ll pick it up.”

“Sure… Tell her to stop calling me if not important…”

Fred looked too tired already. I stood up and had him lay at the couch to sleep. I sat at the floor area between the center table and the couch, and supported my back at its sides. I then answered the phone.

“Fu fu fu… What are you doing now, Former Maou Fredericus?”

I just stayed silent and didn’t answer. For starters I needed to see how she usually talk towards Fred. It might give me a hint of her true personality.

“Not talking, eh? Such a disrespect towards the Queen of Darkness, eh? Don’t worry. We’ll see each other again soon enough. I’ll try to finish my chapter fast so I’ll be able to drop by at your place. I look forward for a royal welcome towards a royal visitor. ‘kay?”

I immediately ended the call.

“What did she say?”

“Sigh… A storm’s coming here. I don’t know when.”

“Oh God just let me rest already.”

The earliest of the weekend was greeted with an overwhelming stress for the both of us.

---

Honk honk!!

Old man’s black sedan sounded its horn outside my apartment complex to indicate that they have already arrived.

The past week have been very busy. Fred, Ara and Kyrie had been working on the initial chapters for Fred’s second draft to be submitted to Seria. We finished a bit earlier than the indicated schedule so Fred let us have a day of rest before the weekend. That one of the very few instances we finished earlier than our target date and have free time to rest. We wouldn’t look too haggard when we present ourselves to Seria who were scheduled to visit.

The weekend before that we received a call from her that she will be paying a visit very soon. A part of me and Fred knew this might happen already but we still wished it won’t happen. Seria was supposed to be the only to go to our place but for some reason Anemone tagged along, not to mention Old man was with her too.

I was not at Fred’s unit nor at the studio. I was doing chores at my unit when they arrived. I went out to do my job as a landlady and to welcome my tenant’s visitors, not that I’m obliged to.

“Using Old man’s car really is convenient.” –I said to Seria as I approached them who were still waiting outside the yard.

“Whoaaaah… This… doesn’t really look any comparable to the apartment complex I’m currently staying.” –Anemone tried to praise my apartment complex but went to a lousy comparison and insult.

“Well THANK YOU for that statement. I’m not here to contest my complex towards an apartment complex that’s not even yours.”

“Fu fu fu what gets you so worked up, Maou’s mistress? Did you sense the dark powers that resides my sinister eye?”

Looking towards Anemone, you could see a gathering of a huge amount of delusional shenanigans circling towards her. It was as if when God let out a heavy rainfall of maturity towards mankind, she was hiding at a cave or underground passage, enjoying her sweet childhood activities.

I mean, look at her, what is she even wearing under this high afternoon sun?

She was wearing quite revealing tight leather corset that was suspended towards her leather short. Both were covered in a mix of black and dark purple leather that was well polished. There was a visible gap between the end of her top piece and her shorts which emphasized the thin strap suspending both and her proud abdominal features that looked well maintained. She was also wearing long socks that ranged from bottom to the upper knee. The remaining visible skin at her thighs between her shorts and her socks looked even more seducing that any man won’t be able to resist to look. To top off the not-so-normal fashion sense, there’s a huge black and purple leather coat with white linings on top of her shoulders which only functioned to top her revealing clothes inside like an admiral.

Uwaaaah… For some reason I feel disappointed for myself for getting all worked up over this matter.

Right. She was just a full-pledged chuunibyou* for a lost cause.

“Ah, Ingrid pay her no mind. I gave up about a week ago.” –I could see the regret from Old man’s face.

Serves you right…

He must have regretted letting go of Fred in exchange for being Anemone’s editor. It seemed like she’s a lot more accumulated stress producer than Fred in a specific way. I wondered how she would do on her serializations. As much as I would, I wanted to read her work too.

I went back to the main topic and talked to Seria.

“Why are you even gathering here at my perimeter? You really looked like…” –I looked back at Anemone “…a circus troupe or a mafia scouting for their hit target.”

I looked at them: a bulky middle-aged man wearing a white formal suit and black slacks with matching aviator shades, a woman on unknown age wearing a green and black tracksuit while holding a kendo stick, and lastly the admiral girl wearing seducing leather corset under her black leather coat on top. Nothing more could be found scarier than encountering a bunch of weird people in the middle of the road looking at an old shabby apartment complex.

“I mean, don’t loiter around and attract too much attention from other people. You could head toward Fred’s unit upstairs, no need to even honk your new car just to fetch me out. I could report you to the police just so you know.”

“Well… it was just a test to see if there are anyone available. hehehe” –It seemed like Old man was really fond of his new car though.

“Me… I just want to stand here while holding this kendo stick. I should look like a poster of a foreign movie.”

“Nonono please don’t. Just head upstairs.”

“Fu fu fu… As for me. My sinister eye should be enough to destroy this whole fortress that currently being—”

WHACK!!

It was a solid hit.

For some reason Kyrie appeared out of nowhere and hit the talking Anemone with her folded parasol.

“OUCH! Who lowly vermin dared to hit the Queen of—Ky ky kyrie-schwenpai!?!”

“Humu. Just so you know the hierarchy. Let’s head upstairs, the Maou* is waiting.”

Kyrie phrased it in Anemone’s language. Did they had the same vibe? Were they both like this from way back their high school days? These were questions I didn’t necessarily need, nor needed answers.

Or was she just too much of a genius she could try to make sense with Anemone. And what’s with the hierarchy thing?

We did not want any more commotion happening in front of my apartment complex so we headed upstairs and knocked Fred’s unit.

Fred opened the door.

“Fu fu fu! At last, we meet again, former Maou from another world.”

Fred looked at Anemone who was currently in front of our bunch, then looked back to me.

“I hate you guys.” –Fred then closed the door.

---

Those were what happened before we got to the current situation. We have been arguing just about every single sentence that’s being spewed out of Anemone’s mouth. This scenario went on for several more repetitions due to us getting nowhere. Fred was so thickheaded and Anemone was so out of sense.

“Again… Hey… Girl… May I ask you what are you even doing here?”

After a few more tries I could finally see the irritation from Anemone’s face. I was close to ousting her from the apartment complex.

“Look here Fred… Now really is not the time to go along with Anemone’s nonsense. She’s really just a nutjob and a chuunibyou.”

Fred looked at me and was silently asking through eye contact if that’s what I observed from her. It seemed like he still wanted to put trust on what I was saying. I felt glad that somehow within him he still took into account everything that we’ve been through. I was happy.

“Say… Landlady… was Fred always like this? Supposedly he’s not the type to care on these types of nonsense. But he’s really being weird today.”

Not good not good!!

I quickly stood up and approached Fred. As furious as I am I pinched his left ear and tried to drag him back towards his unit.

“Humu. This pair really is acting strange today, don’t you think so, Imouto-Ara?”

“I just want us to get along. Uwu…”

As I dragged Fred back to his unit I could just hear the other two talking about us. It had been a miss on my end. I should have noticed sooner that Anemone was just a full-pledged teenager with an eight-grader syndrome. I could have convinced Fred sooner that this whole thing had nothing to do with magic and the situation might not have escalated up to this point.

I guess I’ll just do my best to convince him.

We locked each other at his room.

“What do you think you’re doing?!! Haven’t you got a grasp of the situation yet?!”

“What?! I’m just being cautious!”

“Overcautious!”

“…”

He must’ve realized by now… good.

“I told you didn’t I? There are no… not a single trace of magic here at earth. Those people who behaves and act like those are just people with a syndrome. Besides not being real, they’re all just delusions.”

“Eh?”

I felt like I have to hit Fred hard with the reality. He’s been too focused on this very slim chance that came to him and had been trying to grab the non-existent lead he was yearning for to go back to Mytherion.

It was not like I’m trying to keep him from myself and from going back to his original world. But as much as I wanted to help him too. I’m still quite not convinced that the reverse could happen. If God had send him to Earth, they must have something planned for him and it would be very rude to intervene. That’s what I had been thinking.

“Wake up already Fred.” –I held hid face with both of my hands. He had a face of realization. Yet another deadlock if he would say it in his terms.

“Mm… Okay… I’ll trust you with this.” – He was surprisingly obeying. I could only wonder what made him to calm down. He looked too different from a just a moment ago. It might be because he must have been thinking and realized something too.

And after talking some more, a few minutes later we went back to the studio.

What sight awaited our return was simply horrible:

“Ky…rie,…-senpai! Tap!! Tap!! Can’t breath….”

Anemone’s mouth was foaming already.

Kyrie was on top of Anemone while locking her arms to Anemone’s face. What could hurt more? It was a submission move commonly seen on foreign wrestling shows: the only thing different now was it was being done not by professionals but by some ‘kids playing tag’ – at their late-teenage years. I wondered if Kyrie had not absorbed the warning “Please don’t try this at home, it’s dangerous” at the beginning of each episode or she knew it from the very beginning yet still tried moves on poor Anemone while being cautious.

A genius really had no limitations for what they could do. I really thought Kyrie wouldn’t try hurting Anemone to the point that she’ll lose her career. She should know when to stop. But that was practically bullying already. I know I should be stopping them at that moment already. I had to act like an elder sister and stop my younger siblings from getting out of control while playing, but at some point I realized something was wrong within me too.

…

I found myself giggling, while retaining my composure and preventing myself to burst out laughing. What made it so amusing that it made me lost my sense of decision-making? I hate myself for that but the scene was just too fun to watch. I wondered why. Should it be because Anemone had put a hard time for Fred?

“Pfft. Just finish what you’re doing. It’s quite amusing."

“Eeh?! Bu-but-but Landlady?!”

“No buts. Ara(aneki) swap out, go help Kyrie”

“Aaaye~~” –She really came out. She must have been just waiting for my signal before swapping out. She must have kept in mind that I am the owner of the apartment complex, and any accidents that would happen will be my responsibility. Aneki-mode was a good person inside. She must have been thinking that she should not add any more on my burdens.

“Eh?! Eh?! Kyrie-senpai? Who is she? What is she about to do? That’s not the little crybaby from a while ago.”

“Ah little sweet invader don’t mind me. I’m just a ‘nobody’ that’s going to help Kyrie torture you more. You see… You’ve put on a lot of trouble to Fred these past weeks. I assume it’s just about time to pay the deal, right? So… say… Do you like jazz?” –Ara(aneki) just did her usual Fred teasing which

“Hiiii!!! Not good not good not good!!! Kyrie-senpai please release meeeee. NOOOOW!!”

Sensing something different from the Ara(aneki), Anemone’s intuition kicked in that being played by her won’t do any good and have any positive bearing towards her goal. She tried to further struggle within Kyrie’s clutch.

“Editor Old man! Please! Help me!!” –she tried to call out her remaining ally, but Old man turned out to be a traitor within her premises and forsaken her for a few cans of beer.

She struggled

She struggled to survive

Then she passed out.

“Humu. I’ve overdone it… a little. Tee-hee~~”

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