After my confrontation with Miyuki, we ended up forming an alliance. She claims that since she saw a portal for the first time, she’s been able to see into the future. That’s why it seemed like she was always one step ahead of me. With our agreement, she’ll tell me about any future events she sees. This way, we’ll be able to uncover the secrets behind the portals and the other world… hopefully. Sounds very helpful, but her ability is not super ridiculous. She doesn’t choose when it activates, and sometimes it’s hard for her to make sense of the disjointed information she sees.

I was skeptical when she first told me she could see into the future. Why would she start getting visions of the future just because she saw a portal? It all sounded very suspicious. At the same time, Carol did just start to learn magic the other day, so I’m not sure. What’s possible and what’s not possible is not for me to decide.

The strangest part about her visions is that she said the first one was different. Instead of showing her the future, it showed her about the other world. About how it’s actually the world of a game, and she knows just as much as me. All without ever having touched the game or taking a single step through the portal… A bit unfair… I had to play the game and go there in person for my information… She even knew something I didn’t…

The portals are being created by someone. That was the most valuable thing I learned from our conversation. The person responsible for everything is a blue-haired demon dude somewhere in what’s called Demon Territory. Loosely the same place with the lab where I got the VISS Driver. The information was pretty vague, but it was a good start. Miyuki doesn’t know who anyone in the other world is, and her description didn’t make anything click for me either.

As vague as it is, at least now I know where to search. If I want to know what’s going on with the portals and the other world, I’ll have to find a way into Demon Territory, probably into one of their bigger cities. But that’s not really important right now. What I need to do first is find Ririna. I asked Miyuki if she saw anything that could help, but she doesn’t even know who Ririna is. I guess that’s fair enough.

Miyuki then asked me a lot of questions. She seemed curious about the other world. I invited her to check it out with me, and she was surprisingly flustered. “Me? Going through one of those portals? No no no no! I can’t do that, Iroha! You know… I… I saw that I would die if I ever crossed a portal, so I can’t go with you.” Or so she said, but it sounded more like an excuse. I guess she’s just a normal girl and not a fighter like me. Of course she doesn’t want to go to a world filled with monsters. Quite cute, though. Cute reaction. Now back to the present.

“So this is the one that will be your abode… Never thought you’d pick this one.” After my meeting with Miyuki, I went to the dorms to pick a room like I promised. Me and Hecate were in the room I chose, cleaning the dust and packing away some of the junk.

“Is there a problem with this room? It looked pretty good to me.” Other than the rooms that belong to them, there was one other room Hecate told me not to pick. It was being used as a shapeshift storage room, and it would have been a pain to clean up. But we don’t have to worry about that with this one. One or two cardboard boxes and no more junk. The first box quickly filled up, and Hecate closed so it could be taken to the storage room later. We’re almost done.

“No… There’s nothing wrong with the room itself. I just imagined you’d prefer to be closer to Carol, that’s all.” She told me which rooms were occupied, but she didn’t tell who was where. Not that it made a difference to me. “Curiously enough, you’ll be directly above me. You’ll be my guardian angel, watching over me from above.”

“Wait, your room is the one below?” Also, guardian angel? Really? From what I’ve seen, I don’t think Hecate needs my protection… The other way around sounds better. With the way she dressed, if she had some black wings, she’d make a perfect fallen angel. She’s the one who’s gonna be watching over me from… below…? Wait. Doesn’t make much sense. “I guess we’ll be… same vertical axis neighbors…? It’s a pleasure.”

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Hecate giggled and bowed softly. “The pleasure is all mine.” Hecate grabs the full box and places it on a desk near her. She heaves a sigh of relief and takes a small break from cleaning. “The world sure is ripe with secrets and riddles, don’t you think?” She turned to me and calmly came over to my side.

“What?” Behind her is the only window in the room, letting in indirect light from the sun and a gentle breeze. Her black dress and hair glow softly and sway as she approaches. She’s pretty… “Yeah… There’s a lot we don’t know about in this world, right? Why did you suddenly bring that up?” Are we suddenly talking about the mysteries of the world?

“No reason… I just found myself wondering what kind of secrets you’re keeping. You have a lot of them, don’t you?” Wait, this again? Are we regressing now? “Wait, don’t get scared. I don’t mean to admonish you for anything. Calm down. No matter how many secrets you’re keeping, I still trust you. I was asking out of mere curiosity, nothing else.”

“Is that so…?” Whew… Yeah… The pressure I felt when she was angry at me is nowhere to be seen. “I guess you’re right. I do have a lot I talk about, but that’s normal, isn’t it? Everyone has their secrets, right?”

Hecate closes her eyes and takes a few steps back. There’s a bed near the window, and since the room is so small, it takes her just a couple seconds to reach it. “That’s true, isn’t it?” She sits down. “So many secrets, yet none of them matter. You didn’t know everything, but you trusted us with your life. Now I’m gonna be trusting you with mine, despite not knowing everything about you. Before, I would have never called that trust, but I’m surprised at how well I can accept that when it comes to you.”

“Oh! Uhmm…” I don’t really know what to say to that… I’m kinda happy, I think. “Thanks… I trust you too. I- I’ve never been the type to open up easily… Sorry…” I can count on my hands the number of times having my secrets exposed didn’t go terribly for me…

“It’s fine. Do it when you’re comfortable, or not at all. Like I’ve said, I trust you regardless. You’re the one person I can trust without knowing as much as I’d like. I suppose I may be a bit too nosy…” Hecate smiles to herself, then stands up. “Now then, time to get back to work. Just promise me one thing, Iroha. Be careful out there, okay? You really need to be careful from now on.”

“Sure…?” I’m always careful, though. Right? “Why?”

“I’m the one who cooks, cleans, and takes care of everyone around here. If I were to die protecting you, my poor girls would starve to death. I will be extremely upset if I were to die because of your carelessness. I may even come back as a ghost and haunt you until you learn how to cook.”

“Ahahahaha, alright… I promise. I really don’t want you dying to protect me either. I’d feel really bad. If I’m going to die, I’ll try to do it somewhere you can’t take my place.”

“Good. You’re quick on the uptake. That’s exactly how it should be. Thank you very much.” Gallows’ humor? What a strange situation… I never thought Hecate would make these kinds of jokes… I guess she changed a little from how she was…

I grabbed the box from earlier to take it to the other room, but I was quickly stopped by Hecate. “What are you doing?” Her voice earlier was soft and somewhat ironic, but now it was imposing again.

“Huh? I was just gonna take the box to the other room…”

“While you’re still recuperating? I don’t think so.” Hecate took the box right off my hands and set it back down on the desk.

“But I’ve been moving things to clean up, and you didn’t say anything.”

“You were?! What were you thinking? Your shoulder still hasn’t fully healed yet. You can’t be straining it right now.” My shoulder has fully healed. Thank you very much. “You know what? Out! Out, Iroha! Thanks for the help thus far, but I’ll take it from here. Go watch some television downstairs.” What the hell? Is she really kicking me out?

“But I’m fine! If I was in pain, I really wouldn’t be trying to help. I don’t exactly like hurting myself, you know?”

“Hah, from what I’ve seen, I’m not so sure… Either way, I don’t care about your excuses. Leave, Iroha. I said out!” Hecate pushed me from behind into the hallway and slammed the door shut.

I take back what I said… She hasn’t changed at all…

“Iroha? Have you finished cleaning already? Is the room ready?” The door diagonally right from my future room opened, and Katja stepped out into the hallway.

“No… It shouldn’t take too long, but it’s not ready yet.”

“What are you doing out here then? Weren’t you helping Hecate?” She closed the door behind her and calmly approached me.

“She kicked me out. I tried to grab a box, and she got mad because she thinks I still haven’t fully recovered.”

“Oh… Sounds like her… Though I also don’t fully believe you’ve recovered yet. Sorry, but she’s right on this one.”

“Yeah, yeah… Whatever you say… I don’t mind it that much, but now I don’t have anything to do. I don’t wanna sit around watching television.”

“Hmm… It would be a waste of time. There’s always something you could be improving…” Katja crossed her arms while thinking. “Wanna stop by the shooting range then? I offered to teach you how to shoot, so we could get started on our lessons.”

“Really?! Let’s go! Let’s go!” That’s an upgrade! From sitting down on the couch to learning how to fire a gun! I’m still a bit hesitant, though… She is talking about real guns, isn’t she?

“Okay, good. It’s good that you’re excited, but I’m going to have to burst your bubble. Sorry, but if we go, I’m only gonna teach you theory. We can only do something light today, so don’t get your hopes up too much, okay?”

“Oh… Well… It’s still better than sitting around watching television. Let’s go.” Katja nodded, and the two of us left the dorm. What a bummer, though. Only theory… Can I get away with a little more if I just ask nicely? I’ll play along for now.