"So, we have just one more chance to set everything straight." I said, "So we need to make this wish count."
"But still." Issei added, "Uncle's wish needs to simultaneously bring you back to your world, bring Othelia and Eleanor to ours, AND get him his girlfriend all at once. That's gonna be a tough puzzle to solve..."
"In that case, let's just ignore my wish and have you guys..." Freddy went to speak.
"No!" We shouted at him in unison, "Everyone needs to be happy, otherwise it's mission failed!"
Hrmm... But even then, it's way easier said than done. We basically need to divide the wish into three partitions of a whole, which is gonna require some mad specific wording. At this point, the wish might be too long for Freddy to even properly say, so if he were to stutter even once... Ugh, I shudder to even imagine the consequences.
"I think I remember from an old cartoon I watched as a kid that something like this happened." Freddy explained, "There were these ninjas, right? And they fought an evil genie who at first gave all of them three wishes, but took their words at face value to make those wishes more of a curse."
"Ninjas?" I furrowed my brows at the wild combination, "Fighting an evil genie?"
"Hey, if it'll help us get this done properly, then I'm all ears." Issei shrugged, "Go on uncle, how'd they win?"
"Umm, if I recall correctly..." He rummaged through his memories, "They all used up their wishes and had their souls sucked up except for one, and that one... Ah, he used consequences to chain multiple wishes!"
"I see...!" I nodded, not understanding a single word, "Elaborate."
"Consequences... So it's like saying - I wish Lune got sent back so Othelia and Eleanor could be with me instead?" Issei guessed.
"Kinda, but the two wishes need to actually have a correlation to one another." Freddy remarked, "We need to set up a plausible example, but after we get that done, it should work."
I see, now it's starting to make sense. Man, looking back, I really shouldn't have rushed to come back to this world so soon. I'm sure Meil or even Nelly could've figured this tidbit of info out as well, in which case they'd have helped me make a more efficient wish... Wait, that's it!
"I wish Lune had waited to hear Meil and the others out more before he rushed back to this world!" I told them my suggestion, "By wishing it like this, you'll effectively be changing my wish after it was made to be more helpful!"
"Ooh, alright, let's do that!" Freddy nodded, "I wish...!"
"Stop!" Issei shut him up with his hand, "That's the evil genie's trick! You can't!"
"Unf, eugh, nephew!" Freddy shook him off angrily, "What's the hold up? This'll help put us in a better position!"
"No, it won't." Issei explained, "Because then we won't have any more wishes to work with."
...Ah, that's right. We've already established that wishing to go back in time doesn't undo the amount of wishes you have, so if we did it this way, I might have helped us get a step further in with my redone wish, but we'd get put in a dead end since we wouldn't have any more wishes to make. Crafty, this evil genie really is something else!
"Alright, maybe we're approaching the issue from the wrong angle." Issei slumped forward, "What if our goal isn't to solve everything at once with one wish, but to use this one wish to get more wishes?"
"Uhh, no. Ouroboras told us explicitly that we can't wish for more wishes." I rebuked.
"No, not that. Say we wish for the three of us to gain the ability to teleport. Or heck, even just one of us will do." He elaborated, "That person easily re-clears all the World Wonders and gets a second wish. He uses it to wish for the next person to get teleport powers. Then we rinse and repeat until we're back at 3 again. It'll also help us get to Japan immediately, so it's an extra bonus."
"Uwoooohh! Nice one, nephew!" Freddy high fived him.
"It's genius! However..." I thought to myself, "What if getting a wish is an only-one-per-person type of thing?"
"We don't know that." Issei glared.
"Exactly, that's why we can't risk it." I shook my head, "If we don't think of anything better, then we'll go with that, but for now we need to remain aware of the fact we have no more do-overs."
"....."
"......"
Their silence is speaking volumes right now. They don't even have to say a word or even look at me for me to know they're pissed, but who can blame them? I am too, if I'm being honest. No matter what idea we think of, it's just got that one cog we don't know if it'll turn or not, and that's too risky of a bet to place. Going to Japan, sending me back, sending Othelia and Eleanor to this world, wishing Freddy's girlfriend into existence... Hmm...
"...If they can't come here, then why not just wish me and Lune to them?" Issei muttered.
"Huh?" We looked at him, "Issei?"
"I... I get it. They say if you're overwhelmed by a problem, then lower the bar." He sighed, "It'll be way easier to wish me and Lune to the Vast World than to swap characters around, so..."
"Nephew." Freddy grabbed his shoulders and slowly started to shake them, "You're leaving your family again?"
"Uncle... I'm just glad I got to see you all, and this world, even once more again in my life." He returned a bittersweet smile, "The truth is... I've gotten way too used to the Vast World, that I'm just as primitive as Lune is when it comes to this futuristic dystopia."
"Dystop-!? Issei!" Freddy yelled.
"Uncle. I have no documents." He sighed, "Othelia and Eleanor aren't gonna get the approval from my parents, and going to live abroad will essentially be just as you said - The same as having never come to this world in the first place."
"But if you go, you'll never be able to see us again!" His shaking became more violent, "Nephew, rethink this! Don't tell me this is just your stupid way of living up to your name!?"
"My name... One world." He chuckled, "Yeah, I guess I was built to choose just one from the very start. Uncle, I hope there's no hard feelings, but... I have no place on Earth. The Vast World is where Issei Kaido belongs."
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"Freddy... no, it feels wrong to call you that in this situation." I firmly shook his hand, "Fuuji, thank you for everything."
"...Tch, the pleasure's all mine, Luneski." He held back tears as he tried to keep his smile in check, "Hope you had fun here."
"It was a blast." I smiled, "Squared."
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"Ah." Both his Eyebrows shot up, "Ha! Hahahahaha! You, do you always have to ruin a tearful moment with well timed jokes!? Gah, damn, now I can't even send you off crying!"
"Good, cause we'd rather see you off smiling." Issei smirked, "Uncle, you remember how you're gonna make your wish, right?"
"I'll say it again for the readers." I added, "Wish for us to come back to the moment we left our world, so that the timeline of your world can change to have you meet your beloved."
"It just barely makes sense when you put it like that." Even Freddy mocked the idea, "Cause if we do that, then it's like saying you guys are the reason I'm single."
"It doesn't have to be the case, but your wish is gonna make it be the case." Issei explained, "Cause it means that, had you not gone to Japan to fly us around the world, you'd have met the love of your life. Besides, the details don't matter if everyone gets a happy ending."
"...I'll ask once again just in case, nephew, but..." Freddy gazed at Issei, "ARE you happy in that world? You'll forever be an outsider there if you go."
"Mn, I dunno. You tell me." Issei rolled his Eyes, "I get to live with two cute girlfriends, have tons of good friends who'll apparently follow me to another world, and I get to fight monsters and bandits with the very weapons I make and keep in my arsenal."
"Sounds like a pretty fun filled life." Freddy rubbed his chin, "Maybe I'll wish to take your place instead..."
"Oi!"
"Hah, just kidding." Freddy stuck his tongue out, "Alright, time to do this. You guys ready?"
"Yeah!" We nodded.
This was it. Time to put everything behind us and go back home. With this wish, it'll be as if it never was, like Issei and I had just shared some months long dream of going back to his world. Once Freddy makes his wish, we'll be sent back to Meil's basement at the moment we had left, and Freddy's life will have changed to account for our absence. He'll have his happiness too - His airbike, and a girlfriend to share the memories with.
"I wish for Lune and Issei to come back to their world, at the very moment they left it..." Freddy spoke slowly so as not to mess it up, "So that their absence in this world will result in me finding the love of my life."
"Hey uncle!" Issei recalled something just as we had begun to flicker out of existence, "Specify that you'll end up together! Otherwise you might meet her but end up flubbing it!"
"Ack, crap! I hadn't thought of-!"
Ah. Back at Meil's place again. What a nostalgic sight, even though I've just seen it a few hours ago, relatively speaking. Wait, that's not the issue!
"Papa, what did you-!?"
"Issei, you idiot! Why didn't you say anything sooner!" I shook him up, ignoring everyone else's distraught faces.
"Gah! I'm sorry, I only thought of it after he made the wish!" He apologized profusely.
"Huh? Who did?" Ed separated us with ease, "And you, Grim. You almost ruined the ritual and caused another mess, not to mention you ruined Meil's house!"
"Shut up." I then turned back to Issei, "So does that mean that... we failed?"
"We'll never know, I guess." Issei sighed, "With this, uncle will definitely meet the love of his life, but whether or not he'll manage to swoon her, however..."
As we both stood there, we had tried to picture the scenario. Sitting at a coffee shop, Freddy gets approached by a damsel. She asks about the airbike she saw him riding around in, and he happily tells her all about it. He offers her a ride, and they hit it off from there. Yeah, that's probably how it'd go.
"Except there's no way uncle would ever have the confidence to say that... Or maybe he would. It's like the cat and the box, in that we'll never know for certain if he'll end up with anyone or not." Issei sighed, "Schrödinger's Virgin."
"Virgin?!" Nelly blushed, "What the hell are you two idiots talking about anymore!"
"Did they hit their heads when the ceiling fell through?" Othelia inspected Issei's noggin, but didn't want to check mine.
"I'm telling you guys, whenever this crazy idiot is present, everything goes awry!" Eleanor gave me genuine death glares.
"Guys, I'm fine! Really!" Issei laughed from the girls' ticklish inspection, "Hey, come on! If you don't stop, you'll be in big trouble tonight~!"
"Ahem." Meil cleared his throat, "If there are no more interruptions, will Issei please redo the ritual?"
"...Nah, no need." Issei winked at me.
"Huh?" Everyone donned question marks above their heads.
"Issei, what are you saying?" Othelia worriedly asked, "Come on, let's go back to your home."
"Yeah, about that." Issei turned his attention to Ed, "I was just thinking about how fun it was to make a house back in Cardina!"
And so it was decided. For the rest of the evening, Issei and I had explained to everyone what had actually happened. Most were brought to tears by the end of the story, especially when they realized that one single mistake might have caused Freddy, the most reliable uncle in the world, to not get his happy ending. Eleanor and Othelia were through the roof, however, since that meant they could remain in their own world with Issei staying back with us. Ed too couldn't help but to hug him endlessly throughout the evening, crying tears of joy as he kept thanking him for not taking his little sister away from him as she angrily smacked the crap out of him. It was a joyous sight, and as everyone was busy celebrating our return...
"Let me guess..." Nelly asked with a giggle, "You're not gonna be telling mom about any of this, are you?"
"Daughter dearest, I'm afraid she'll finally smarten up and leave me if I do." I ruffled up her hair with a smile before stopping, "Ah."
"H-Hey, what...?" She found it odd, "Why'd you stop?"
This was the first time in months, hell, maybe even years that I had properly ruffled up my daughter's hair. It was smooth, well-kempt and showed the resolve of a young girl trying her best to look presentable at every waking moment for her crush. At that moment I had recalled that she wasn't living with us anymore. I don't know what she does in her everyday life. Who her friends are, who her classmates are... None of it, I only know what little of her life I've seen when we came here to visit her and Meil, but nothing else. I know nothing about my daughter, and that frustrated me.
"Looks like Grim's getting hit with another guilt episode." Ed could be heard jeering at me from the other end of the room.
"Be quiet and do not disturb them." Meil daintily hit him.
"Papa?" Nelly awkwardly stood there as I hugged her with all my might, "H-Hey, stop it. You're embarrassing us."
"I'm sorry for ruining your childhood."
"...Heh." She eventually stopped fighting it and instead returned the hug, "You kidding? You made it worthwhile."