Sasaki and Peeps - Volume 4 - Chapter 5

<The Giant Sea Monster>

After our short stay in the otherworld, we returned to my apartment. There had been no real issues following the incident with Prince Lewis, so we’d been able to relax for a few days before coming back. I was glad we had time to enjoy the foods and sights of the Republic of Lunge, like we’d originally planned—my body and mind felt refreshed.

My magic studies, on the other hand, hadn’t progressed much, since I’d prioritized my little vacation and spent the remaining time working on the machine I’d brought to the Marc Trading Company. This was my punishment for introducing a complicated device to people who didn’t even know about electromagnetic waves, much less radios. I’d had to go time and again to do battle with the amateur radio set.

On the bright side, everyone working there, including Mr. Marc, had been quick to pick it up, practically memorizing everything I told them. In the end, they reached the point where they could deliver a report at the same time every day. It was a lot more fun than trying to explain technology like the internet to an older person, that was for sure.

Once I’d gotten them to a good level of proficiency, we headed back to Japan. I checked the clock; it was a little past seven AM. Peeps went immediately to the desk and began using his golem to clack away at the computer keyboard, probably inputting the data from our latest visit. Doing checks and estimations on the difference in time flow between worlds had basically become his life’s work.

I sat on the edge of the bed behind him and watched as I checked my bureau phone. No messages or missed calls to speak of. I checked my private phone, too, but while I’d received several spam emails, there was nothing I needed to respond to.

After a little while, Peeps said, “Oh yes. What are your plans for today?”

“I intend to deliver a report to the bureau on our investigation of the dragon subspecies that fell from the otherworld,” I explained. “But I have something to discuss with Ms. Futarishizuka before heading in to see the section chief.”

“Then let us go to her at once.”

“Thanks, Peeps.”

He had probably noticed I didn’t have anything to do and was being considerate. I agreed to his proposal, and we headed out right away.

As always, we used the sparrow’s teleportation magic to get there. I felt my feet begin to float, and then my vision winked out. A moment later, our previous surroundings had been replaced with the living room in Karuizawa where we’d been the night before.

The room, over fifty square meters of space, gave off a sense of elegant luxury—a feeling of repose, as it were. Outside the large windows, I could see a gorgeous, well-maintained garden. The morning sun shone down on it, causing the crisp air to glitter. The air-conditioning inside maintained a perfect temperature—not too hot, not too cold. It was a far cry from the cold patches of my own apartment. I want to live in a place like this one day, I thought sincerely.

“What do you think you’re doing, barging into someone’s else’s house so early in the morning?” came a familiar drawling voice.

“My apologies,” I replied. “I wanted to discuss today’s schedule with you.”

We could see Ms. Futarishizuka and Lady Elsa in the adjoining dining room. Apparently, the former had just been preparing breakfast. She wore an apron over her kimono, and the dining table was all set up with plates and utensils and the like. Lady Elsa seemed to be helping her and pattered about wearing an apron of her own.

They appeared to be getting along well, despite not speaking the same language. The sight warmed my heart.

“We’ve got no food for the likes of you, just so you know,” remarked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“I won’t deny that’s a bit disappointing,” I said, “but even I wouldn’t demand that much of you.”

“So you say, but the sparrow on your shoulder looks quite hungry.”

“I can come back some other time, if you wish.”

“Oh? What an unusually commendable attitude, coming from you,” said Ms. Futarishizuka. “Take a seat right over there. I can at least make you some tea.”

“Thank you, Ms. Futarishizuka,” I said.

“Birdie, do you want to eat together?” asked Lady Elsa. “I’ll share some of mine.”

“No, but thank you for the offer.”

At Ms. Futarishizuka’s urging, I took a seat on one of the living room sofas. I could smell breakfast from here, and it smelled good. I took a peek at the table and saw a full, traditional Japanese meal, with rice, miso soup, and pickled vegetables along with salted salmon and fried, rolled tamago-yaki. I didn’t get much chance to eat food like that in the otherworld—or in Japan, for that matter—and the sight filled me with nostalgia.

It’s a good thing I ate in the otherworld, I thought. Otherwise, my stomach might be rumbling right now.

Once Ms. Futarishizuka was finished making breakfast, she brought over a Japanese-style teapot and cups for us.

“Now,” she said, “about today’s plans…”

At about the same time, the phone in my inside pocket began to buzz—my personal one. I took it out and looked at the screen. There was a message notification with my boss’s name on it, forwarded from my bureau phone. Ms. Futarishizuka looked over at it as she poured the tea into our cups.

“It’s from Mr. Akutsu,” I told her.

“Leave it, leave it. He’ll foul up breakfast.”

Right then, I heard a buzzing noise near Ms. Futarishizuka’s chest as the opening theme to a recently popular anime started playing, its rhythm upbeat and lighthearted. Given the timing, I was pretty sure that was also Mr. Akutsu.

“Now me? Seriously?” muttered Ms. Futarishizuka, looking fed up. Left with no choice, the two of us took a look at his messages.

“It seems urgent,” I noted.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” she said.

The message stated simply that he wanted us at the office as soon as possible. He would have heard about our return to Atsugi Base the day before, meaning he was well aware that we’d come in at some point that day regardless in order to deliver our report. And yet he’d contacted us anyway.

The message didn’t touch on the specifics of what he wanted, but I saw that Ms. Futarishizuka had been copied, as I expected. I looked up from the screen, my eyes locking with hers.

“I thought you said you had a nice, convincing talk with our boss, hmm?” she remarked.

“I did, without a doubt,” I told her.

“Then something must have happened with the big guy…,” she said offhand, making me uneasy.

Hearing our conversation, Peeps chimed in as well. “Are you going back to the apartment?” he asked.

“I know you just brought me here,” I replied, “but would you mind?”

“Oh, I’ll come with you,” added Ms. Futarishizuka. “This place is a little far from the bureau, you see.”

“That is fine with me. Shall we leave right away?”

“I’d like to at least have a nice, relaxing breakfast,” she replied, pathetically looking at the food arranged on the dining table. She gazed at the hot, steaming rice, as well as Lady Elsa, who was already seated and very politely waiting for Ms. Futarishizuka to join her.

I would have felt awful leaving our guest to eat breakfast alone. And if I wanted to maintain a favorable power balance with Mr. Akutsu, it wouldn’t do to go rushing to his side whenever he asked. Not long had passed since our little talk, so I figured it’d be okay to take our time, at least.

“I guess we’ll wait until after they eat,” I told Peeps.

“All right, then.”

He agreed immediately; he was probably thinking something along the same lines.

And so we enjoyed the morning for a little under an hour before setting out from the villa.

After breakfast, it was time to answer Chief Akutsu’s summons. First, Peeps sent us back to my apartment using his magic. From there, we got into Ms. Futarishizuka’s car and headed for the bureau. She’d parked it overnight in a paid parking lot in the neighborhood.

As we drove, she lectured me on the radio equipment I’d set up in the otherworld. She seemed curious how things were going over there and asked me several questions, starting with whether communication had been successful. I’d brought back a few problems that needed solving, but thanks to her, I was pretty sure I could handle them during my next stay.

Once we arrived at the bureau, we immediately headed for our office. Mr. Akutsu flagged us down right away and called us to the nearby meeting space. Miss Hoshizaki was already there.

“You’re late, Sasaki,” she scolded as soon as we entered the conference room.

“I’m very sorry, Miss Hoshizaki,” I replied politely. Apparently, she’d gotten here quite a bit earlier than we had. Ever the workaholic, I thought.

She was crossing her legs something fierce as she sat in her chair, with no thought to the miniskirt she was wearing. This struck me as very in character for her, and the sight reminded me of what Peeps said in the otherworld—about me possibly liking cross-dressing men. But compared to Prince Lewis, the person in front of me was much more to my taste.

On the surface, she was the picture of a female office worker. Back when I first met her, I’d mistaken her for an adult. But without her makeup, she looked just like what she was—a genuine high school girl. According to her, she was sixteen; if that was true, it put her well out of the running from a societal standpoint. Meanwhile, the person standing next to me was an adult on the inside, but a little girl on the outside.

The more I thought about it, the more I stopped wanting to bother. Besides, my favorite moments are when I’m eating a delicious meal with Peeps.

“…Wh-what?” stammered Miss Hoshizaki. “Why are you staring at me?”

“Nothing,” I told her. “My apologies.”

“If you’ve got something to say, I wish you’d say it to my face.”

“I was just thinking I ought to start working harder, like you do.”

“It’s impressive how you can straight-up lie like that.”

“I promise you those words came from my heart.”

“Then would you like to commute with me on the train every morning?”

She asked me this question like a kid might ask someone if they wanted to start going to school together. Is this how a high school girl thinks? I wondered. This kind of invitation became very rare once you got into the real world and started working. When I thought back to my time in elementary school, I could remember waiting around on the street for classmates or taking little detours just to be with them as we made the very short walk to school. When had I lost that leeway?

“Well, not exactly…”

“See?” she retorted.

“All right, all right, enough,” chided Ms. Futarishizuka. “Would you please take a seat already?”

“Oh, right,” I said, sitting down in an empty chair at the conference table.

On one side of the six-person table were Miss Hoshizaki, myself, and Ms. Futarishizuka, all in a row. Mr. Akutsu sat alone on the other side, right in the middle. Apparently, it was one of my duties to serve as the fence keeping the two ladies apart.

The chief plugged a cable into his laptop, and an image appeared on the wall-mounted display at the head of the table. It showed the Kraken, the beast we investigated the previous day.

It had been captured on video writhing about in the ocean. This appeared to be new footage, different from what we saw previously, and the time stamp in the corner of the screen showed just after dawn that morning. Other than that, it was basically the same as before. Naturally, this wasn’t the footage I shot, either.

“If a report is what you’re after,” said Ms. Futarishizuka, “would you mind waiting a moment? We just got back last night.”

“I’d like you to submit your reports as soon as possible, of course,” responded the chief, “but this is a separate matter.”

“Has something happened with the Kraken?” I asked.

“First, I’d like to show you the location where this video was taken.” The chief moved his hand, and a map appeared on the screen. You could see Japan in the upper left, with most of the remaining space taken up by the ocean. In the center was a horizontal series of dots labeled with dates, just like a typhoon forecast. Several of the points had been connected with a single line.

The date on the farthest dot to the right, if I recalled correctly, was when the Kraken had arrived in our world. The leftmost was from just a few hours ago. It was currently proceeding between the Ogasawara Islands and Guam, over a thousand kilometers south of Tokyo’s coast. If it continued on its current path, it would make its way from the North Pacific Ocean to the Philippine Sea.

“It traveled that far in a single night, did it?” said Ms. Futarishizuka.

“We believe it may be circling along the subtropical gyre,” explained the chief.

“So it’s traveling the same route as the Japanese eel,” she remarked.

I just realized I haven’t eaten eel at all lately, I thought. Actually, I don’t remember eating any for a few years now. Even the relatively cheap foreign kind had seen a huge leap in prices, and I couldn’t rationalize the cost, even on payday.

Now that my wages had increased at my new job, though, that was no longer the case. Maybe we should have eel for dinner tonight. It’s the perfect chance to show that meat-loving sparrow the merits of seafood.

“Wait. You mean eels come from that far south?” asked Miss Hoshizaki.

“Oh, it was all over the news not long ago,” replied Ms. Futarishizuka. “They were saying how they’d finally solved the mystery of where they lay eggs.”

“Not long ago?” I repeated. “It’s been at least two decades.”

“Really? Well, I suppose time does speed up as you grow older.”

“If the Kraken does indeed follow the same route as the eels,” continued the section chief, “it will ride the Kuroshio Current to the north—toward Japan. The reason I gathered you all on such short notice was to share information in preparation for that possibility.”

The chief pressed a key on his laptop, and the Kraken’s route extended out along its predicted paths. Several routes seemed to have been envisioned, but two of them went straight toward Japan. The other routes curled toward other nations along the Philippine Sea.

No matter which path it took, however, the octodragon was sure to make landfall in East Asia.

“Yesterday, it seemed to me this was a battle over resources,” I said.

“The magical girls’ one-sided defeat has caused most nations to change their response. Japan is already putting together plans, but I want to hear your opinions, since you were the ones in the field investigating the creature.”

“I don’t think we can rely on psychics for this, if that’s what you’re thinking,” I said.

“You can say that again,” agreed Ms. Futarishizuka. “We should just hit it with a missile or something. All that fuss yesterday happened because the people in charge thought it’d be cheaper to use magical girls, right? Nobody wants to make a huge investment on some big sea monster from who knows where.”

“Your suggestion might well be adopted as a last resort,” said the chief.

“Then I’d rather that happen while it’s still in international waters,” she finished.

Ms. Futarishizuka wasn’t pulling her punches with the section chief—I could tell she never wanted to do fieldwork like that again.

Meanwhile, Miss Hoshizaki seemed to have enjoyed her first long distance business trip. “Couldn’t you do something about it if you managed to touch it?” she asked.

“Why would you suggest something like that? Are you telling me to go out there and die?”

“We both know you won’t.”

“I could still end up drifting at sea for a very long time, you know.”

“I’ll make sure we put in a good effort to search for you.”

“I’d prefer we wait to try the crazy options until mankind has raised the white flag.”

Aside from Ms. Futarishizuka, the leader of her former group also had a psychic power that might be effective against the Kraken. He’d materialized that insta-kill merch while fighting Peeps, after all.

Actually, I thought, Peeps was able to reflect its effects. If the monster had similar magic, I got the feeling the nerd would be in trouble. Even a group of magical girls had suffered a one-sided defeat.

“Hoshizaki,” said the chief, “it seems these two are against using psychics. But what do you think? I can read your detailed report later, but for now I want to ask your honest opinion as someone who saw the real thing.”

“It wouldn’t work,” insisted Ms. Futarishizuka.

“He wasn’t asking you,” retorted Miss Hoshizaki.

“But it wouldn’t.”

“I mean,” Hoshizaki began, “I agree it’d be difficult to muster the necessary force using only bureau personnel…”

“I see,” said the chief.

Ms. Futarishizuka seemed uncharacteristically desperate, and I understood why. I knew well from my life as a corporate drone that whenever you took an ambivalent stance, you were practically asking to take on extra work. When unpleasant tasks come up, you have to flatly refuse, just like she’s doing now.

The chief nodded in response, before shifting his focus to the Magical Girl Alliance’s fight. He asked us specific, in-depth questions on how the monster withstood their Magical Beams, how Magical Blue wound up in a disastrous situation after making contact with it, and how we went about rescuing her. I could tell from Mr. Akutsu’s response that the higher-ups were genuinely frightened of the Kraken.

I spoke honestly on what I’d observed without departing from my false identity as a psychic. Though I naturally kept what Peeps had told me—about the creature being a dragon subspecies—to myself. I’d already combed through the video I took to make sure it didn’t show anything strange.

Once we’d finished telling him the whole story, the section chief straightened up and turned to face us. “Forgive me for changing the topic,” he said, “but I have a matter to discuss with Sasaki and Futarishizuka.”

“Sir?” I replied.

“What is it?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Now that I think about it, we never held a welcome party for either of you.”

That’s a weird thing to bring up now, I thought. Is he suggesting a welcome party? I’m not sure I could come up with anything more suspicious-sounding. It hasn’t been long since our talk, either. I got the feeling I’d be better off following one of those people in Kabukicho or Akihabara who tried to pressure you into their shops than going along with this story.

“Planning to poison us, hmm?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka, apparently thinking along the same lines. She was watching our boss with a dubious gaze. Seems a bit much to say it outright, though.

“Oh, I’d never take such a roundabout route,” he assured us. “If that was my intention, I would have already planted a bomb or two in your car. Or are you implying, Ms. Futarishizuka, that a mere poisoned drink would do you in?”

“What? I’m in shock. Utter shock, I tell you.”

“I’ve already made reservations,” the chief went on, ignoring her. “We’ll head out after office hours are finished. Would you like to join us, Hoshizaki?”

He’s asking, I thought, but it’s probably already decided. Almost nobody would turn down their boss after a question like that. Also, I was privately curious what sort of restaurant he’d picked.

“I suppose I wouldn’t mind,” said Miss Hoshizaki, voicing her agreement without skipping a beat. She was essentially the archetypical meathead, so this kind of semi-compulsory after-work drinking session seemed right up her alley. Seeing her in a suit like this tended to make me forget she was still a minor.

“I’m happy to take you up on your offer,” I told the chief.

“Are you serious?” demanded Ms. Futarishizuka. “Isn’t it the trend now to refuse invitations to these stupid things?”

“For private companies, perhaps,” I said. “But I’ve heard government workers still hold fast to tradition.”

“I’m really not trying to force you,” Mr. Akutsu said.

I expected to have a long relationship with the man, so in my opinion, using opportunities like these to build up rapport was a good idea. We might not become friends, but deepening my understanding of him as a person would only benefit me in our future interactions. And he was probably thinking the same thing—though I doubted we’d be relaxing and enjoying our drinks.

“Fine, I’ll go. Are you happy now?” muttered Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Thank you,” replied the chief. “We’ll head out after work, then.”

“Understood, sir,” I said.

“By the way, do welcome parties count as working hours?” asked Miss Hoshizaki.

“…Go ahead and mark it down if you want,” he answered.

The meeting had taken a little under an hour. Afterward, as planned, I spent the time writing up a report at my desk and dealing with the administrative work that came with sudden business trips. For lunch, Ms. Futarishizuka and I—along with Miss Hoshizaki—went to a nearby restaurant. My senior appeared over the moon as we ate.

I couldn’t fault her for it, either. All that extra pay we’d gotten for our trip was certainly cause for good cheer.

After wrapping up work that day, we took a taxi to Ginza, a famous upscale shopping and dining area nestled in the eastern part of downtown Tokyo. We were on our way to hold a welcome party for Ms. Futarishizuka and myself, as the chief had suggested. Along with the chief and Miss Hoshizaki, we made a party of four. We kept the group small, since one of our number was a former enemy of the bureau.

Hiring her had resulted in workplace relationships that were more than a little messy. Depending on the person, Ms. Futarishizuka might be responsible for killing a close friend. I doubted anyone would have agreed to come with us even if they were invited. In fact, I almost couldn’t believe how gutsy Miss Hoshizaki was for coming along with zero qualms.

As for the restaurant, it had most definitely required Mr. Akutsu to make reservations. From before we even entered the place, I could tell it was a very expensive Japanese restaurant. Groups of guests were seated in individual rooms with tatami floors, which reduced the noise from other patrons to mere echoes.

These weren’t the quasi-private stalls of restaurants for the riffraff—these were all actual rooms built into the structure. Ours featured not only a low, traditional dining table but also a tokonoma alcove, ranma screens above the door, and an outside-facing shoji screen with a glass pane meant to provide a view of snowy weather. It felt like something out of a high-class Japanese-style inn.

The chief and I ended up on one side of the rectangular table, with Miss Hoshizaki and Ms. Futarishizuka facing us across it. The latter matched the decor to a T in her kimono.

Miss Hoshizaki, on the other hand, was starting to fidget. She was clearly uncomfortable.

“Chief, um,” she stammered. “I don’t, um, have much on me at the moment…”

“It’ll be my treat today,” said Mr. Akutsu. “You can dine at ease, Hoshizaki.”

“Really? Thank you!” she exclaimed, her face immediately breaking into a sunny smile.

It was common sense that the section chief pay in situations like this. Miss Hoshizaki’s vivid expression of concern for her wallet betrayed how naive—and pure—she was. As an adult, jaded after many years of work, watching her was almost therapeutic.

“I believe the food here should be to your liking as well, Ms. Futarishizuka,” added the boss.

“I’m surprised you managed to reserve a table on such short notice,” she remarked.

“I gave it a shot and called,” he explained. “Apparently, someone canceled just yesterday.”

“That was quite fortunate indeed,” she replied.

I wasn’t sure whether he was telling the truth, but I was willing to let it slide. We had him to thank for this extravagant meal, after all. I felt bad for Peeps and Lady Elsa minding the villa in our absence, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me enjoying my welcome party. Besides, Ms. Futarishizuka had hired a helper to prepare their meals.

After a few moments, a waitress clad in traditional Japanese clothing arrived, and then it was time for dinner.

The meal was to be served over multiple courses, and once we split our chopsticks, we enjoyed a smooth, satisfying progression from appetizers to a palate-cleansing soup, sashimi, and then to a stewed dish, a seasonal flame-grilled fish, and a deep-fried dish. We received eel with our beverages, too; seeing the plates set down on the table felt like destiny.

The main dish was a steak of Matsusaka beef, one of the best kinds out there—and, to my astonishment, it was a chateaubriand. I feel really bad for Peeps now. I wondered if this was how the men at my previous workplace had felt about their wives whenever our company treated us to delicious food. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the meat with gusto. They’d brought out various brands of sake as well.

“Sasaki,” said the chief, “it would seem your glass is empty.”

“I’ve already had three, sir,” I replied.

“Hoshizaki has told me you quite like to drink.”

Wait, what’d she tell him something like that for? I wondered, unsure of how to respond. Naturally, my attention turned to Miss Hoshizaki, who was sitting diagonally across from me.

She seemed confused about my hesitation. “I saw you drinking beer during the day once,” she pointed out. “Don’t you remember?”

“Ah…” It seemed that, as a high schooler, she’d taken the fact that I once indulged in a little day drinking with Ms. Futarishizuka and jumped to a rather drastic conclusion.

Then again, when adults enjoyed liquor before sunset, they did tend to come off as lovers of drink—or alcoholics. Though I’d been hearing the term day drinking more and more recently.

“I’ve been trying to cut back lately for health reasons, sir,” I explained.

“Ah. My apologies, then,” replied the chief.

Miss Hoshizaki, incidentally, was drinking tea instead of sake. It was a testament to how sensible she was. The rest of us paid this no heed and drank as we pleased.

“Chief, I notice you’ve been drinking from the same bottle for a while,” I remarked. “Do you prefer a certain brand?”

“I’m not picky,” he replied, “but I suppose I am more particular than most.”

“I see.” I’d asked the question simply to change the topic, but then something occurred to me. I knew nothing about Mr. Akutsu’s personal life. Where did he live? Did any family live with him? Where was he from? Details like those tended to come up naturally while working with someone, but not a single fact about his personal life had drifted my way.

He, on the other hand, had quite a lot of information about me, thanks to those surveillance cameras he was so proud of. If we were going to keep interacting in the future, I wanted to balance those scales as much as I could.

With that in mind, I made light conversation with my new boss. He returned the favor, probably thinking the same thing, and asked questions about both Ms. Futarishizuka and myself—like what we did on the weekends, or if we went back to see our families during the year-end holidays. All of it was stuff I’d heard many times at my last job.

This made him feel like a normal boss—like this was just a typical drinking party. It was throwing me off a bit, honestly.

Time flew by as we chatted about this and that. Eventually, at around the two-hour mark by my estimation, the section chief glanced at his wristwatch and said, “All right. Let’s head to the next place.”

“Huh…?”

“What?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka, astonished.

Was this person really Mr. Akutsu? I never would have imagined him saying such a thing; I couldn’t stop my face from tensing in surprise. I’d pinned him as one of those bosses who just gave his subordinates some money to carry on the party by themselves—if that was the plan—and headed home.

“I’ve already reserved another place,” he explained. “Since Hoshizaki is with us today, I picked somewhere we can enjoy some sweets and karaoke. It’s a bit far on foot, so we’ll have to call a taxi. Anyone need to use the restroom?”

Did the booze change his personality? I wondered in shock. He certainly didn’t look drunk, and he was talking just like he did during meetings at the bureau.

“Are you serious?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“I’m not sure why I’d be lying,” he replied.

Seeing Ms. Futarishizuka surprised was actually kind of funny. She stared wide-eyed in bafflement at him. If she hadn’t been sitting down, I bet she would have braced herself as though a magical girl had just appeared.

To make a long story short, we ended up moving elsewhere just as he’d suggested. Work was over for the day, and there was still plenty of time until the last train. I wasn’t sure I agreed with someone Miss Hoshizaki’s age deciding to come with us, but saying anything would probably prompt her to criticize me instead, so I kept my mouth shut.

As per the chief’s suggestion, we took a taxi to our destination. He then showed us into a little bar in the basement of a mixed-use building. Aside from the counter seating, there was one booth. The lighting was dim, too—it was a very stylish joint with a calm and authentic atmosphere. One of those places that would charge you a thousand yen sitting fee, plus a 10 percent service fee, and then another thousand for one glass of beer.

There was only one bartender working behind the counter. He looked to be around thirty and wore his black hair combed back. He was good-looking, and tall for an Asian man. His outfit consisted of slacks and a cummerbund over a button-down shirt, with a necktie to complete the look.

Even to another man, he looked very cool standing behind the bar, elegantly doing his job with all those expensive bottles nearby. I was amazed by the way his movements seemed so casual and yet precise.

We seemed to be the only patrons. Actually, didn’t I see a sign out front that said the place had been reserved for the day?

We were shown to a cushioned booth all the way in the back where we took our seats and started off the after-party by raising our glasses.

“I’ve never been to a place like this,” said Miss Hoshizaki. “They do serve parfaits and stuff, right?”

“Quite a few bars are expanding their services to cater to female patrons,” explained the section chief.

Every few minutes, Miss Hoshizaki would look around, seeming impressed.

In front of her sat the gorgeous parfait she’d been asking about. It looked very fancy. My eyes dropped briefly to the menu—three thousand yen. She’d never have ordered it if the chief hadn’t been paying for everything.

The rest of us, meanwhile, had each received a separate variety of alcohol. I’d settled on a whiskey older than Miss Hoshizaki. It was only a one-ounce glass, but it had cost about as much as her parfait. Ms. Futarishizuka and Mr. Akutsu were enjoying drinks of a similar price range. Incidentally, we were sitting in the same positions as we had at the restaurant in Ginza.

“Do you often bring women to such places before taking them home, I wonder?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka. Great, the very first thing out of her mouth is sexual harassment. She really had no qualms about speaking her mind—even with her boss.

“Chief’s gay, you know,” pointed out Miss Hoshizaki. “Maybe this is the kind of place two guys would go together.”

“Oh, is he?”

“I’m happy for your interest in me, Futarishizuka,” said the chief, “but unfortunately, I can’t return the favor.”

“Wow, that really pisses me off.”

Was that his version of a joke? I wondered. He was always super serious, so it kind of threw me.

But since he was an attractive man, everything he said came off cool. The way he just accepted rude comments like that was so smooth. If I was in his shoes, I couldn’t have pulled it off at all. Everyone around me would have cringed, and people would be whispering rumors about me at work the next day.

Ms. Futarishizuka took the lead in the conversation once again—she’d done the same at the restaurant—so I was having a pretty easy time of it. I usually had to go around asking people all sorts of questions, so letting someone else do all the talking was really nice. Dangerously nice, I thought, considering how much she’s doing for me, even at a bar.

“Then perhaps,” she said, “the other new recruit has a chance?”

“I’m sorry,” he replied, “but I don’t see Sasaki that way.”

Well, I didn’t ask! And yet he’d one-sidedly rejected me again. This was the second time. Whatever. I don’t care.

After some more meandering chitchat, Miss Hoshizaki began to fidget. She’d finished off her parfait and had nothing to do. She’d been nibbling away at it after looking at the price, but by the time the rest of us were on our second glass, it was gone. She wasn’t used to being in a place like this, either—she was very conspicuously sitting up straight in her chair.

Noticing this, Mr. Akutsu addressed her. “Why not sing some karaoke, Hoshizaki?”

“Huh…?”

“Apparently, if you get a high score, you’ll get a free coupon for a famous bakery.”

Wait, did he set that up with the staff here in advance? I wondered. But I didn’t want to be crude, so I didn’t ask. He was good at his job—now I knew that even included preparing for drinking parties.

Miss Hoshizaki, meanwhile, took him at face value and seemed interested in the karaoke. Her gaze flicked from her hands on the table to the machine set up near the booth. “I’ve never done karaoke before…,” she said.

“You don’t go with your friends from school?”

“…No,” she said after a pause. Probably because she doesn’t have any, I thought, a twinge of sadness hitting me as I remembered how she’d been pestered by schoolmates on her way home before. You only had three years to spend in high school—three priceless years. I wish she could enjoy them a little more.

“I hope you don’t mind my asking,” I said, “but what year are you in?”

“Huh? Oh, um… I’m still a freshman…”

“Our boss is one thing,” said Ms. Futarishizuka, “but you are quite another, aren’t you?”

“Am I?” replied Miss Hoshizaki. “I don’t think I stand out quite as much as you do, though.”

“Well then, I shall take up the vanguard and perform one of the songs from my repertoire.”

Ms. Futarishizuka got up and energetically took the karaoke machine’s remote control.

With that, she kicked off a casual karaoke competition in the bar. Quickly grabbing the microphone, she sang the opening theme song to a famous anime everyone in the country probably knew. It was upbeat and had a fun chorus line that followed the melody. And she was weirdly good at it, too—I found myself listening closely, a little frustrated. Spurred on by her performance, perhaps, Miss Hoshizaki then began a song of her own.

Mr. Akutsu and I enjoyed our liquor as we watched the two of them cut loose. When their songs ran out, one of us would get up to fill in the empty space. The chief was an excellent singer, while I, with my more modest skills, played second fiddle.

Ms. Futarishizuka’s scores were far and away the best. She’s such a little kid, I thought. Maybe she’s actually big into karaoke. I’d heard of old people getting into it as a way to prevent dementia.

I guessed it had been a little under an hour when eventually, as one song ended, Mr. Akutsu got up to use the restroom. Once he was out of sight, I turned to face my senior. I’d been trying to find a moment to ask this since the restaurant in Ginza, but our boss’s bladder had been considerably steelier than I’d imagined, so it had taken me until now to broach the topic.

“Hey, Miss Hoshizaki,” I said. “Is Section Chief Akutsu usually like this at drinking parties?”

“Hmm. I’m not sure. I don’t have much to do with him after work hours.”

“Ah.”

“He’s acting strange,” insisted Ms. Futarishizuka, joining in. “In fact, he seems like an entirely different person.”

Unfortunately, not even Miss Hoshizaki could elucidate any of what was going on.

“If he is a different person,” I said, “what could be his aim here?”

“Perhaps he means to have us drink, then do something while we’re inebriated,” suggested Ms. Futarishizuka.

“He already denied he’s interested in either of you,” Miss Hoshizaki pointed out.

“That’s a separate matter, Miss Hoshizaki, so please forget about it,” I told her.

“Either way, I think we may want to make ourselves scarce, and soon,” said Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Yeah…,” I replied. We still had some time to spare, but maybe she was right. If this welcome party really was his attempt to get to know us, I’d feel bad. That said, we’d come with him to not one, but two places, so I was pretty sure we’d cleared the minimum bar of politeness.

A short while later, Chief Akutsu emerged from the restroom, and our whispered conversation came to an end.

Miss Hoshizaki and Ms. Futarishizuka went back to singing karaoke. The chief showed no change in demeanor; he sat down, looking relaxed, in the same spot as before. But moments later, I heard a buzzing from his inside pocket.

“Excuse me for a moment,” he said, remaining seated as he checked the screen on his phone. Apparently it was a call, so he put the phone up to his ear and answered.

The two girls, who had been excitedly picking their next song, quieted down when they noticed. As we watched, Mr. Akutsu carried on a short conversation that mostly consisted of him replying “Right” and “Okay.”

As I looked out over the quiet bar, I began to have doubts. Normally, he would have gotten up and exited before taking the call. Is he drunk? I wondered. Maybe we just can’t tell—like with Peeps.

I mulled over these thoughts as he finished his call and put away his phone. “It seems, Futarishizuka, that things have proceeded as you wished.”

“…What do you mean?” she asked.

“A short while ago, a nuclear attack was conducted against the Kraken out at sea.”

His tone of voice and behavior were exactly the same as before. He spoke casually, like he was simply chatting. The three of us, however, were shocked. Even Miss Hoshizaki raised her voice in confusion.

“Huh…?”

The same sort of sound nearly escaped my own throat before I managed to swallow it down. The atmosphere had up until this point been friendly and festive, at least on the surface. Now, it suddenly grew tense. I wondered if this was what it felt like when doctors received news of an emergency case while on vacation. I felt the booze-induced haze in my mind quickly clear away.

“They decided to act because the target was moving faster than anticipated,” the chief explained.

“What’s its course?” I asked.

“Currently, the same as I explained this morning.”

Should we even be talking about this in public? I wondered. Suddenly curious, I looked over to the bar. The bartender who had been standing there moments before was now nowhere to be seen. He’d been running a one-man operation ever since we arrived; from preparing the parfait to carrying the drinks, he’d done it all with impeccable skill. I looked around, but there was no one else here, either.

I suddenly understood the reason our boss proposed this welcome party.

“It’s true what they say: You should never go along with invitations from suspicious men,” remarked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“…It seems so,” I agreed. The sarcasm in her words was cutting.

If the chief was receiving this call now, that meant he knew about the attack on the Kraken, and he’d invited us out anyway. There was only one reason for him to go so far as suggesting a welcome party in order to set this up.

He’d wanted us chained to his side right up until this very moment.

Considering Ms. Futarishizuka’s powers, he couldn’t resort to force—I guessed that was why he’d done something so roundabout. But what was he after?

The section chief continued, answering my question. “Unfortunately, it seems the attack had no effect on the target.”

“Well, now,” said Ms. Futarishizuka deliberately, getting up from the sofa. “It’s about time for me to head on home.”

Mr. Akutsu ignored her and continued, his tone matter-of-fact. “According to reports, it probably used some method to cancel out the attack at the moment of impact, just as it did with the magical girls’ beams. They’re continuing to investigate how far the effects of the radiation will spread.”

Ms. Futarishizuka groaned. “I haven’t the foggiest what you’re going on about. In fact, I’m having trouble hearing you.”

“But, Chief,” said Miss Hoshizaki, “didn’t you say at the meeting this morning that hitting it with a nuke was our last resort?”

“I did, indeed,” he replied. “It seems humanity is out of options.”

“That sounds pretty dire…”

“If it makes landfall, the JSDF will be forced to fight it. The higher-ups are already forming teams for that contingency. Naturally, we will be aiding them in their response to the Kraken.”

This was really starting to feel like a kaiju flick. I could see it now—the giant monster landing in Japan, whipping its tentacles around, mowing down JSDF tanks and aircraft, making its way toward population centers for some incomprehensible reason. Wish we had some kind of rival monster or a giant with a strong sense of justice.

I expected the creature’s sheer size would render information control virtually impossible. Since it originated in the otherworld, I very much hoped to avoid it making landfall. If the damage kept spreading, people would be even more keen on analyzing that leaked video of Peeps and Lady Elsa. It might spell the end to our newly equal relationship with Mr. Akutsu, as well. There was a good chance he’d sell us out.

As one bad premonition after another flashed through my mind, our boss finally made his big request.

“Sasaki, can’t you do anything about it?” he asked me, as casually as if he were telling me to go swing by the convenience store to pick up some cigarettes.

Nodding and saying “Yeah, sure” wasn’t an option—not by a long shot. But neither was staying silent, so I launched into a question and answer session with the chief.

“Did you know this attack would fail, sir?” I asked.

“I had considered it,” he replied, “though, it certainly would have been nice if it worked out.”

I had no idea what kind of instructions he was receiving from the higher-ups. I had a feeling, though, that he was now absolutely committed—otherwise he wouldn’t have kept us here.

What’s more, I had a feeling this information was all over the place by now. A lot of people were probably feeling the pressure—had the chief wanted to lock down the three of us before someone else got to us? We weren’t exactly on good terms with him. I bet he could easily envision us being scouted by another organization. Or maybe he’d considered that, if we already knew what was going on, we might try to run.

Whatever the case, he clearly wanted to keep us within arm’s reach. Learning the truth behind our “welcome party” made me a little sad.

“Chief,” said Miss Hoshizaki, “this feels like it’s a little above our pay grade.”

“Oh, don’t misunderstand me,” the chief assured her. “I’m not asking Sasaki to use his psychic powers to deal with the Kraken. That said, he did get a close look at it during the investigation. So if he has any good ideas, I’m hoping he’ll share them. Of course, that extends to you as well, Hoshizaki.”

“…I see, sir,” I said. He was trying to be smooth about it, but he was definitely asking for some on-site labor. He was hoping I’d eliminate this octodragon with a wave of my hand, using some mysterious power nobody had ever seen before.

I thought back. Had his sudden request for us to go on-site the other day been part of one big scheme leading up to this very moment? We were all happy we’d gotten some intel on the Kraken, but had we been dancing in the palm of his hand the whole time? It was a little frustrating.

“It’s not all bad,” he pointed out. “This means those in charge have high expectations for us.”

“I guess that’s one way to put it,” replied Miss Hoshizaki, “All they’re really doing is dropping everything on us.”

“If things work out, though, I can guarantee a significant reward for all of you.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

To put it another way, Mr. Akutsu’s career depended on how things went with the Kraken. He was one of those “promotions are everything” types, and if he couldn’t manage to stay on that path, he might retaliate against us to vent his frustration. We may have had a grasp on his weakness, but that weakness was predicated on his current position in society.

What’s more, the word reward has really put a fire in Miss Hoshizaki’s eyes. This is bad.

“It seems,” said Ms. Futarishizuka, her eyes narrowed and her gaze driving into my skull, “that you should have taken a page out of our senior coworker’s book and put in for overtime, hmm?”

“……”

She could say what she wanted, but for once, I didn’t think we had much choice. If we wanted to prioritize our positions as bureau members, we couldn’t refuse the chief’s invitation. The only difference between Futarishizuka and me was that the curse binding her had a visible mark.

And that giant sea monster was approaching by the second, regardless of what any of us thought or wanted.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to meet those expectations,” I told the chief, “but I can sleep on it.”

“I’d like you all in the office bright and early, if there are no objections,” he said.

“Understood, sir.”

“And you can contact me at any time if you think of something, however trivial.”

“I will, sir.”

It was time to hasten back to Ms. Futarishizuka’s villa and consult with Peeps.

The welcome party had ended with the news about the sea monster, though once Mr. Akutsu was finished explaining, he jokingly asked if we wanted to keep singing karaoke. Obviously, none of us were in the mood for that, so we decided to go ahead and call it a night. We left the section chief in the bar and said good-bye to Miss Hoshizaki out front. We said something about having to take different trains home and split up with her. Meanwhile, Ms. Futarishizuka procured a taxi in front of the bar.

The three of us left separately, but once Miss Hoshizaki was out of eyeshot, I met back up with Ms. Futarishizuka on the street. As I walked along, a car pulled up from behind and parked on the shoulder. Her head poked out of the rear window, and she ushered me inside.

“Come, hop in, already.”

“Thank you, Ms. Futarishizuka,” I said, accepting her show of goodwill and climbing into the taxi.

The car’s GPS already displayed the route to my apartment. Very skillful on her part, as always. We hadn’t even figured this out in advance, and yet here she was. I felt like I was starting to get a glimpse of why she’d met with so much success in the world.

“What is with that man?” she complained. “I thought he was about to drag us all back to the office and confine us there.”

“I doubt he’d do anything so forceful with you around,” I told her.

“You never know. When someone’s backed into a corner, they tend to get shortsighted.”

It wasn’t like I hadn’t considered the possibility; in that sense, I was very glad to have her with me. I wondered in vague disbelief if she chose to participate in the welcome party for that express purpose. If that’s true, I thought, she’s a wonderful woman.

“It really isn’t all bad,” I said. “We did learn something about the current situation.”

“I feel like we would have heard all that by midnight either way,” she muttered.

“You think so?”

“You know, you may want to think about building a few more connections.”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

I could feel the taxi driver’s eyes on me through the rearview mirror. Ms. Futarishizuka was probably freaking him out. I suspected we were being captured by a surveillance camera or two as well. So instead of getting too deep in the weeds on the Kraken, we just complained about our boss for a while. As we traded gripes, the trip home went by in a flash.

Soon we arrived on the street in front of my apartment. The next thing to do would be to return to my room, get in touch with Peeps, and have him bring us to the villa with his magic. Back in Karuizawa with Ms. Futarishizuka, we’d explain the situation, and then I’d head to the otherworld. I intended to use the difference in the flow of time between worlds to hold a strategy meeting and figure out how to take down the Kraken.

As I thought through my plans, I watched Ms. Futarishizuka pay the driver. Lately, I’d stopped feeling pangs of guilt whenever I saw her take out her wallet. I’d insisted on paying the taxi fare myself, but as I was counting out my thousands, she swiftly slipped him a bigger note.

As we got out of the parked taxi and stepped onto the street, my apartment complex exploded.

“What…?”

“Nwooohhh?!”

With a huge boom, my apartment on the first floor of the complex was blown away. It was like someone had used explosives to blow up the building from inside. The room lit up first, then the windowpanes shattered—and then the walls and pillars were blown apart. Pieces of glass and lumber even made it as far as where we were standing.

None of the adjacent rooms escaped the damage. About half of the long building was instantly reduced to rubble. Then, as fires started up, the neighbors came out to see what had happened.

“That explosion,” said Ms. Futarishizuka. “Did that come from the girl’s room? The one who came to the hotel?”

“…Yes, that’s what it looks like.”

My neighbor’s apartment had been at the center of the blast. Mine was in a terrible state, but hers was even worse. It had partially caved in under the weight of the upper floors. I couldn’t make out many details in the dark, but I didn’t see any movement inside.

Considering the late hour, it was hard to hold out hope. Even Ms. Futarishizuka had dropped her banter and was looking on in silence. She’d heard all about me and my neighbor’s relationship.

“You’ll have to excuse me,” I said. “I need to make sure she’s safe.”

“Can I come along?”

“Yes—whatever you prefer.”

Flames crackled as the apartment blazed. It was an old building made mostly of wood, so the fire spread quickly. And with the dense construction in this neighborhood, if it was left burning, it wouldn’t be long before it jumped to another structure.

Neighbors began to gather outside on the road in front of the apartment. I ignored them and strode right up to it. Once I was inside the block fence, the fence itself and the nearby houses would create a lot of blind spots. The billowing flames and smoke would only help. Deploying a barrier spell as inconspicuously as I could manage, I pressed on, avoiding the fire.

What caused this? I wondered. A gas leak? Or did someone involved in that angel-demon proxy war or whatever plant explosives? Maybe someone with more experience would have been able to tell from the nature of the blast, but an amateur like me had no way to judge.

“……”

Abaddon was always at the girl’s side. As long as they were together, I had a feeling he’d be able to handle a situation like this. Praying she was safe, I made my way toward her apartment.

(The Neighbor’s POV)

Late at night, an unexpected visitor comes to the apartment. I’ve just tucked myself under my blanket in the corner of the room, and I’m starting to doze off when the doorbell jolts me awake. My mother has been watching TV. She mutters something about how late it is before going over to the front door.

The visitor turns out to be the younger man she’s been seeing lately; I can tell right away when I hear his voice from the living room. He’s the one who tried to rape me before.

I hear my mother’s voice change instantly from grumpy to cheerful. She speaks quickly, her pitch a little higher than when she talks to me. Her voice carries down the short hall into the living room.

“Oh, huh,” says Abaddon. “Think we’ll be sleeping outside tonight?”

“……”

Abaddon’s dry joke irritates me. Despite my mother’s actual behavior—in fact, because of it—she always makes a show of giving me the bare minimum of care. I doubt she’ll kick me out into the cold tonight, but there’s a good chance my bed will get moved into the hallway.

As I grow more and more fed up with this idea, my mother’s conversation with her boyfriend continues unabated. Sorry for the sudden visit, he says. No, don’t worry about it, she replies. If he was a responsible adult, I doubt he’d come knocking unannounced this late at night.

Apparently, he was drinking nearby and missed the last train. That alone should ruin my mother’s image of him, but she seems overjoyed as she invites him into the apartment.

Then, a casual remark mixed into their back-and-forth catches my attention.

“By the way, what’s that box you’re holding?” my mother asks.

“Oh, this?” her boyfriend replies.

“Could it be a present for me?”

“Actually, it’s from your ex-husband. He handed it to me outside the apartment.”

“What?”

“He said it’s almost your daughter’s birthday.”

“Wait. What are you talking about?”

“Well, he saw me on my way here. He’s not allowed to visit you, so he gave this to me instead and asked me to pass it along. Said he wanted to at least celebrate her birthday.”

This is something I can’t ignore. I glance out into the hallway. The man near the front door is holding a square box in one hand. It’s wrapped very neatly, and at a glance, it looks just like a birthday present.

But it’s nowhere near my birthday. Plus, my father started a new family after divorcing my mother, and he hasn’t sent me a birthday gift in years. And now he’s coming all the way to our apartment to deliver one? I have my doubts.

Just then, something dawns on me, and my thoughts turn to the death game I’ve recently become involved with.

“Abaddon, we’re getting out of here,” I inform him.

“What? Why?”

“Just run! And get my things!”

Until a month ago, something like this probably wouldn’t have bothered me that much. I’d figure it was a practical joke, or a misunderstanding—and this late at night, I’d have ignored it and gone to sleep.

But now, alarms are blaring in my head. With only the clothes on my back, I hurry to the living room window. Undoing the lock seems to take an eternity. As I drop down into the yard, pebbles poke into the soles of my feet, but I can barely feel them. The only thing on my mind is getting as far away from the apartment as possible.

Just recently, I was reading a book in the library—a suspense story that started with a scene exactly like this one.

Abaddon flies up behind me a moment later, carrying my things in one hand. “I don’t mind running,” he says, “but could you at least explain—”

Just then, a huge booming noise interrupts him. A moment later, I feel my body lift into the air. The blast hits me from behind as I run, sending me tumbling forward, and I immediately lose my sense of balance. After that, I roll until my body hits the block fence surrounding the building; I’m now at the far edge of the rectangular apartment complex.

“……”

It’s a good thing my apartment was on the ground floor. Otherwise, I’d have hesitated to jump out the window and died.

Sitting on the ground as these thoughts churn through my head, I turn back to see the blasted remains. My apartment was the epicenter, so it’s obviously toast, and the rooms on either side of it are destroyed as well. Parts of the second story have fallen into the area below, making the building barely recognizable. Flames are starting to rise, too. They’ll burn the whole place down if no one puts them out.

“Wow, I’m surprised you caught on to that,” says Abaddon. “And you acted right away, too. That was really something.”

“My mother’s friend was acting strange.”

“Really?” Abaddon comes over to me, still holding my things. It’s not every day he gives me a frank compliment like that. “Personally, I’m worried about your neighbor.”

“It’s fine. He hasn’t gotten home yet.” I’d been listening through the wall the whole time, so I’m sure. I’m grateful the apartment walls were so thin. Otherwise, I think I would have rushed toward my mother’s boyfriend, snatched the package and run out onto the street. It would have been worth it to me to save my neighbor, but I don’t want to die just yet.

After all, there have been a lot of other women around him lately. I would hate to take myself out of the running now.

“But are you sure that was the right move?”

“Why?”

“Your mother won’t come out of this unharmed.”

“Now that the apartment is wrecked, I doubt he and I will be neighbors anymore. In that case, I don’t really care where I end up. My living situation can only get better at this point.”

“You know, your logic is even scarier than a demon’s sometimes.”

“Really?” Surely anyone would think the same way in my situation. There’s nothing weird about it. Still, this place was full of memories of time spent with my neighbor, and now it’s gone. That hurts. I’m furious. So furious that I’ll gladly send Abaddon to take care of the culprit if I ever find out who did this.

“You probably shouldn’t assume what’s normal for you is normal for everyone else.”

“…Maybe you’re right.” The way Abaddon seems to read my mind is a little irritating.

Right near where I’m sitting is a path leading out the back of the building. In contrast to the road out front used for car traffic, this one is more of an alley, just wide enough for pedestrians to pass through, and surrounded on both sides by block fences and other residences.

I catch sight of someone in the alley, hiding behind a building. But as I turn around to get a better look, they dart away. My mother’s boyfriend said he received the birthday present in front of the apartment building. Here I was, a child fallen over in my pajamas. You’d expect anyone who saw me to be concerned, and yet this person is fleeing at full speed. Considering the situation, nothing could be more suspicious. If they know my identity and address, I need to chase them down. Even more importantly, they’re now my sworn enemy—the one who destroyed my neighbor’s and my apartment.

“Abaddon, we’re chasing them.”

“Good idea. I really hate being on the back foot all the time.”

I immediately stand up and take off after the suspect. It’s a man, about the same height as my neighbor. He’s wearing a coat over a suit, the hem of which flaps madly behind him as he runs. On his head is a fedora. Between his clothing and the darkness, I can’t make out any of his features.

As I run, Abaddon heals my wounds from the explosion. When I got up, my whole body throbbed with pain, but it only lasted for a few seconds. He’d healed my nose in the same way after my mother’s boyfriend bit it.

Unfortunately, he can’t do anything about my bare feet pounding against the ground. I endure it, continuing to run over the asphalt.

“He’s fast,” I say. “I might not be able to catch up.”

“I think it’s more that you’re slow, don’t you?”

It sounds like he’s suggesting I get more regular exercise. He’s right—I’m not very athletic. After all, moving around makes me hungry. Plus, it’s almost winter, the harshest season of all. I’ve accumulated a good amount of fat; I can’t just burn it for no reason. Whenever I recall that hopeless sensation of waking up in the morning unable to move, I know I have no choice but to sit out gym class.

“If you’d brought me some shoes, I might be able to go a little faster,” I say.

“In that case, I ask that you be more specific with your requests in the future.”

“Please run ahead and catch him.”

“Gotcha!” Abaddon zooms through the air at my instruction.

He’s told me before that he isn’t permitted to kill anyone. But just grabbing and binding someone who wants to hurt me doesn’t seem to be much of an issue. I already know this from the time he helped out back when my mother’s boyfriend attacked me.

Abaddon closes in on the man in the suit in the blink of an eye, reaching out for his neck. Unfortunately, the moment his fingers are about to touch skin, the man vanishes. He disappears in an instant, without warning—and without leaving a trace.

A second later, I realize that the sounds of cars in the distance, of families in their homes, and of air conditioners running—all the noises I’ve been hearing—are gone.

I’m now in an isolated space.

“Aw, darn,” says Abaddon. “I was so close, too.”

“Friends of the man who disappeared?” I suggest.

“That’s probably the right assumption, but we can’t say anything just yet.”

Abaddon stops near where the man disappeared, and I immediately run over to him. Whoever this guy is, he doesn’t only know my address—he knows my family situation and even about the man my mother is seeing. The enemy probably knows what I look like and my daily schedule.

We, on the other hand, have no idea what sort of people are after us. I feel hopeless at the prospect of more explosives in my future. I need to catch the culprits to recover my peace of mind.

“If only we’d finished negotiating with the others before this happened,” Abaddon remarks.

He’s referring to my neighbor and his work colleagues. Now I know firsthand why he was so anxious.

But I’m not about to let him complain. “Could you stop crying over something that’s already happened?” I say. “If you hadn’t decided to speak to me, my apartment wouldn’t have been blown up. My neighbor would probably still be my neighbor, too.”

“I see,” he replies. “I suppose you’re right about that.”

“But I see now what you’ve been so concerned about,” I tell him. It’s a good thing Abaddon and I are the only ones wrapped up in this. If I’d lost my neighbor in this ridiculous explosion, I’d have regretted it for the rest of my life.

“But what a stroke of bad luck to get attacked before we could move to a safe location.”

“I doubt my neighbor and the others imagined someone would send a bomb to my apartment.”

I can’t help giving Abaddon a little attitude. I’m still sour over losing a place I treasured, after all. I know taking it out on him isn’t going to get me anywhere, but my emotions are running high.

Knowing I should stop, I ask him a question to try to distract myself.

“Should we wait here until the isolated space vanishes?”

“That would be the best move if we want to capture the man from before. But we’d be letting the angel and Disciple escape. And even if that man was the one pretending to be your father, he could still be the lowest rung on the ladder and have no grasp on what’s really going on. In that case, he won’t be much help to us.”

“If the isolated space disappears while we’re searching for the angel and their Disciple, they’ll both get away,” I point out. “I’m sure you’ve already noticed, but I can’t feel any angels around right now. It’ll probably take a long time to root them out.”

“Yeah, I can’t sense a thing, either.”

“If they had to ask someone else to send a bomb to my apartment, I think it’s safe to assume they don’t have the strength to fight us directly. I bet they’re already pretty far away.”

“So what’ll it be?”

“We’ll leave the actual culprit and look for the angel and their Disciple.”

“That was fast. What convinced you?”

“You’re right—I doubt the man from before will know who the angel or Disciple are. And since you were practically asking to go after them, I have faith you’ll find them before they escape.”

“Hey, if I got your hopes up, I guess I gotta take responsibility!”

Abaddon nods and smiles. It seems like he got the answer he wanted.

It happened just as I set off toward my flaming apartment building. All the sounds around me were sucked away. The chattering of onlookers out front, the crackling of the flames, even the screams of the other residents all fell silent. I felt like I’d just gone deaf.

The flames, too, instantly vanished. Without all the smoke, I could see what it was like inside my destroyed apartment.

“What was it you called this? A proxy war pitting angels against demons?”

“Yes. It would seem we’ve been pulled into another battle.”

Ms. Futarishizuka was here as well, standing right next to me. I’d put a barrier spell around her, so she was pulled in along with me.

We’d entered an isolated space—a soundless world serving as the stage for the proxy war. Once before, the magical girl wrapped herself in a Magical Barrier and wound up joining us. Apparently, surrounding yourself with any kind of magic “wall” would allow you to get inside one of these things.

“I’m quite concerned about how this relates to that explosion,” said Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Do you think the explosion could be an accident, and they just came to check things out?” I asked.

“We’ll have to ask the girl for the answers.”

Personally, I considered the start of this death game good news. If an isolated space had appeared, that meant Disciples of angels and demons had come within a certain distance of one another. And if one had appeared near the apartment, it seemed highly likely my neighbor was alive.

I hastened into the building. The living room next door had been half destroyed when the second floor caved in on top of it. I wasn’t able to get inside. Instead, I peered in from between the support beams and walls using the ever-handy illumination spell from the otherworld.

“Nobody’s inside,” remarked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Doesn’t seem like it,” I replied. I looked around for a bit longer, but I didn’t see my neighbor anywhere. From what I observed of the explosion, she’d have died instantly if she was here. In that case, the death game wouldn’t have begun, and no isolated space would have appeared. With that in mind, I figured it was likely she’d been outside.

“This building’s done for,” said Ms. Futarishizuka. “It’ll have to be rebuilt from the ground up.”

“Looks like I’m in for some hotel living for the foreseeable future,” I agreed.

My own apartment, right next door, was in a similar state of ruin. My household belongings were history. Judging from the state of the fire, my bankbook and signature stamp would be irretrievable now. I could grab them in the isolated space, but as soon as we were back in reality, everything would revert to its original state.

That said, I’d been making good money off my trade in the otherworld recently, so this might not hit me so hard. The bureau would handle the cleanup, and if they decided to pass it off as a gas explosion or something, I’d probably be able to get insurance to cover a lot of it.

My neighbor’s safety was the bigger concern right now.

“I want to check the surrounding area,” I told Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Mm,” she hummed in agreement. “We should find the girl and get out of here.”

With her assent, we left the grounds of the apartment. According to Abaddon, this empty world appeared whenever a demon’s Disciple and an angel’s Disciple got within a certain distance. He also said they could feel out each other’s location. Unfortunately, outsiders like us had no way of finding them.

Instead, I decided to fly up into the sky and get a bird’s-eye view. Naturally, that would make us visible to the enemy as well—but I cared more about my neighbor’s survival at the moment, so I decided the risk was worth it.

“Oh, how many years has it been since I was last held by a man?” said Ms. Futarishizuka. “I think I might fall for you.”

“You’re giving me the creeps.”

In the end, I had to pick up Futarishizuka and carry her in my arms, since she didn’t have the ability to fly. And of course, she got in a little harassment. A mean-spirited grin appeared on her lips as she poked my arms and chest. Since we hadn’t found my neighbor in the apartment, her usual banter had begun to resurface.

Ignoring her, I fixed my gaze on the ground. Not much was moving, so the search went quickly. Ms. Futarishizuka was the first to notice something. She pointed to a spot on the ground.

“I see someone down by that intersection,” she said.

“…Yes, I think I do as well.” Two people, in fact, hiding behind a building facing into the intersection.

One of them had immaculate white wings coming out of their back—this pair must be the angel and Disciple who created this isolated space. They were pretty far away, so it was hard to make out anything more specific.

They hadn’t yet noticed us floating in the air. Presumably, the nighttime darkness was doing a good job of concealing us. They glanced about from their place on the ground, keeping an eye on their surroundings, probably wary of the demon and his Disciple.

“So now what?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“If we can, I’d like to get a look at the angel’s face.”

“Why?”

“Depending on who they are, we may need to get out of here immediately.”

Angels ran the entire gamut, from trivially weak to incredibly strong. If this one tended toward the latter, even we could be in danger. The image of little Mika chopping off part of my body with her sword was still fresh in my memory. If there was even a slight chance we might encounter her again, we needed to run for our lives. In order to avoid that, I wanted to meet up with my neighbor and Abaddon as quickly as possible.

“If it’s that dangerous, I’d rather not risk it,” replied Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Then we’ll focus on searching for my neighbor.”

“Actually, it looks like someone’s coming right at us. Over there.”

“Huh?” Following Ms. Futarishizuka’s gaze, I spun around, surprised.

She was right—a figure was approaching from below us, heading up into the air and rapidly closing in. An attack? I wondered, bracing myself before they came into view, and I realized my caution was uncalled for. It was precisely who we’d been looking for this whole time.

“Oh? How did you two get into the isolated space?”

Looking at them from afar, I’d thought That’s a strange shape for a human. But as I blinked to focus my vision, I realized Abaddon was carrying my neighbor in his arms. He was shorter than she was, making for an odd picture. The boy didn’t seem to be having any trouble with her, though. In this way, we matched—both of us were carrying a girl bridal-style in our arms.

“We saw the apartment explode right when we got back,” I explained to him.

“Oh, I see. You used that barrier magic or whatever, right?” said Abaddon, nodding. “So you ended up here the same way as before.” It seemed to make sense to him; the last time this happened, I briefly explained how we were ending up inside the isolated spaces. Plus, this one had sprang up right near my apartment building.

“I’m really sorry for causing you all this trouble, mister,” said my neighbor.

“Don’t worry about it,” I assured her. “Insurance should cover any losses.”

“Can you get insurance money for bomb damages?” she asked.

“Er, no. I was thinking we’d pass it off as a gas explosion or something.”

“Bomb?” repeated Ms. Futarishizuka. “So they were after the girl.”

Well, now we know why the apartment blew up, I thought. The angels versus demons proxy war must have finally strayed from the isolated spaces and began to encroach on reality. Belatedly, I realized why Abaddon had seemed more interested in what we could provide him outside, rather than inside the isolated spaces. I’d never dreamed the other side would start sending bombs.

But if that was true, what had happened to her mother? Most people were home at this time of night.

“Could I ask something?” I said, trying to broach the topic. “About your family—”

“Mister,” she said before I could finish, “before, you told me that woman was a coworker of yours.”

She delivered this implicit question with a much more detached expression than usual. It was easy to guess why. Can’t very well force her to answer my question, I thought, deciding to respond to her instead. “Yes, she’s my coworker. What about it?”

“Oh, have I done something?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka. “Little old me?”

“…No, you didn’t do anything,” replied my neighbor. “It’s just…” Her gaze was on the kimono-clad girl in my arms. Was she suspicious of us? I thought we secured their cooperation the last time we saw each other.

“Well,” said Abaddon, “you do seem a little closer than coworkers. I’m sure that’s what she’s worried about.”

“Abaddon, don’t tell them things like that,” insisted my neighbor.

“You want us to switch?” Abaddon asked her. “They’d have to agree, but I can always ask.”

“Please keep your mouth shut. That’s an order, Abaddon.”

“Ack! You sure do know my weakness.”

Was she uncomfortable with the sight of me, a washed-up middle-aged man, carrying someone who, at the very least, appeared to be a young girl? Considering recent social trends, I couldn’t say my neighbor’s feelings on the matter were surprising. We should probably land before she gets a bad impression of me.

“I suppose this means I must hasten preparations for your living quarters,” noted Ms. Futarishizuka.

“How’s it looking so far?”

“I’ve procured the building, but I’ve yet to have the furniture brought in.”

“That should be fine, to be honest.”

“But it’s empty—completely empty.”

“My partner can sleep anywhere as long as she has a blanket.”

“……”

I wasn’t surprised, but it still hurt to hear how bad my neighbor must have had it. Judging by Abaddon’s nonchalant tone, she probably dealt with things like that on a daily basis. My neighbor pressed her lips together, looking embarrassed. I felt bad for her—though there was no way I could have given her an entire bed.

Wanting to change the topic, I took the initiative and turned to Abaddon.

“Excuse me,” I said, “but have you found your opponent in this death game yet?”

“About that,” he responded. “Have you seen any angels or Disciples around? They seem to be concealing their presence, making them hard to find. On the other hand, it probably means they’re not very strong.”

“I just saw a couple of people like that on the ground below,” I told him.

“Right down there,” pointed Ms. Futarishizuka. “That building facing the intersection… Wait. They’re gone.”

“They’re a bit farther away,” I said. “They seem to be moving.”

“Hey, you’re right!”

The pair had moved a few dozen meters from the place we last spotted them. I watched them moving from building to building, staying hidden, keeping an eye on their surroundings. I couldn’t tell what they were thinking from here—they could have been waiting for friends, or searching for my neighbor and Abaddon, or trying to escape the isolated space after detecting them.

There was one thing of which I was certain, however. They hadn’t noticed us up here in the air.

“Just one team? That’s a little concerning,” remarked Abaddon. “They came with so many last time.”

“They would have sent more if they meant to take you down, Abaddon,” my neighbor agreed. “If the man from before sent the bomb at an angel’s or Disciple’s instructions, then finding these two in the direction he was headed probably means they were supervising him.”

“Yeah, I think that’s pretty likely, too.”

It seemed like my neighbor and Abaddon had an idea of who was behind the bombing. As one of the people who would be cleaning up the aftermath in the real world, I was curious about the culprit. For now, though, I’d focus on listening; it seemed the wrong time to ask for an explanation.

“That means these two are nothing special, right?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka.

“That’s what I think anyway,” said Abaddon.

“In that case, let’s catch them, dispose of them however we see fit, and then head back to the real world.”

“Shouldn’t we question them first?” I said.

“Regardless, we’ll need to catch them before they get away,” said Abaddon. “Would you two mind helping out? Just to make doubly sure we get them. We’ll do all the dirty work.”

“Abaddon, that’s not their job,” said my neighbor.

“Actually, I don’t mind at all,” I replied.

I didn’t want to be an accessory to homicide; if I was being honest, I was pretty opposed. But I didn’t want to sit by and leave everything to my neighbor, either. Last time, she’d almost been killed by these people; she and Abaddon couldn’t afford to remain on the defensive. That was why I agreed, despite my mixed feelings.

Whether or not he knew how I really felt, the self-proclaimed demon replied energetically.

“Great! Let’s wrap up this little game, then, shall we?”

Now that we’d met up with my neighbor and Abaddon, we all headed down to the ground. For starters, I came down right in front of the angel and their Disciple, Ms. Futarishizuka still in my arms. From their point of view, we’d suddenly dropped out of the sky. Upon seeing us, they immediately tried to escape. The angel was carrying their Disciple in their arms and attempting to launch into the sky in the opposite direction.

As soon as they turned tail, though, Abaddon—carrying my neighbor—alighted on the ground. We’d discussed this pincer maneuver in advance, and it played out perfectly. That was what Abaddon had wanted our help with.

The buildings were quite close together here, and we were on a tiny lane too narrow for a car to pass. Even from above, dense urban clutter frequently blocked our view.

“Stop right there,” said Abaddon. “This is game over for you.”

“Would you mind putting me down now that we’re back on the ground?”

My neighbor, still in Abaddon’s arms, descended onto the street. I quickly released Ms. Futarishizuka as well. Her scent had been tickling my nostrils as I carried her, and even parted, I could still sense it on my clothing—that mixture of sweat and perfume. The fact that I felt a little happy about it frustrated me somewhat.

I soon heard sounds of distress from the angel and their Disciple.

“Ugh. They caught us, Eriel.”

“I apologize. This is all my fault. I just had to make that suggestion.”

“You’re weak, and you’ve got the worst luck. Could you be any more useless?”

“…I’m sincerely sorry for not being able to help.”

“Well, I guess we’d be in the same boat even if we’d gone with my idea.”

One was a boy, one a girl, and both looked like teenagers. The girl had white wings protruding from her back. And when I looked closer, I recognized her.

“Excuse me,” I said, “but have we met before?”

“Ah…!”

Surprise colored the boy’s face at my question. Apparently, they remembered me as well.

“Who are they?” asked Ms. Futarishizuka. “Acquaintances of yours?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what are they, hmm?”

“Remember when I told you about my neighbor being attacked by angels? Before I met up with them, I ran into these two in an isolated space. We talked for a bit but went our separate ways pretty quickly.”

“They wouldn’t happen to be the ones who fed you the false information, would they?” asked Abaddon.

“Oh, um. Yeah,” I replied.

The angel and her Disciple tensed up when they heard this. They had We messed up written all over their faces.

At the time, I promised to let them go in exchange for information about the conditions that created an isolated space. They told me at least ten angels and demons needed to be in a specific area, which Abaddon later informed me wasn’t exactly true.

The Disciple was a young man in jeans and a parka. The parka had the same design as last time, and he had the same, somewhat long black hair parted in the middle. He looked like a student.

The angel girl accompanying him had pale-white skin and blond hair. Shorter than the boy, she was still a little taller than Ms. Futarishizuka, with an average build. Her clothing was all white, draped like a chiton or a robe.

“You’re friends with the man who blew up my apartment, aren’t you?” demanded my neighbor, taking a step forward. Her tone was a lot firmer than I was used to. It was obvious she was asking the question fully confident she knew the truth.

“If we answer honestly,” said the boy, offering an ingratiating smile, “will you let us go?”

“If you’d prefer to suffer right up until your last breath,” answered my neighbor sharply, “then I certainly won’t force you to talk.”

“……”

The boy fell silent, his face tensing.

My neighbor seemed like a completely different person. Her face was the same—impassive and detached. But her tone was forceful, and her words were brutal, just like Peeps’s when he was faced with an enemy. She seemed to have a quiet anger raging within her.

I thought of the apartment next door to mine, devastated in the explosion. I doubted she had many happy memories there with her family, but I supposed that, to her, even that home was irreplaceable.

It wasn’t easy for a child to let go of their parent. And if that time had to come, it should have been much further in the future. She may seem mature, but until just last year, she was wearing an elementary schooler’s backpack, I thought.

Despite my age, I could feel warmth at the corners of my eyes.

(The Neighbor’s POV)

There’s little doubt in my mind that the angel and Disciple in front of me are linked to whoever blew up my apartment. The thought sends anger whirling through my chest.

“You’re friends with the man who blew up my apartment, aren’t you?”

“If we answer honestly, will you let us go?”

“If you’d prefer to suffer right up until your last breath, then I certainly won’t force you to talk.”

“……”

That place was precious to me. It was filled with memories of the man next door. And these people took that from me without even giving me a chance to fight back. I’d love to set Abaddon on them right now and have him rip them to pieces. I already know my partner is a pro at grotesque murders. I’m sure he’d put on a show that’d make my hair stand on end.

But he’s right here, watching us. If I did what I want to do, I’m sure it would put him off. That much I understand—and that’s precisely why this is so vexing.

In the meantime, the Disciple continues. “It’s true that the angels and their Disciples targeted your apartment,” he tells me. “But we weren’t the ones who decided on it. The others did that, and then they forced me to make sure you were dead. I didn’t have a choice.”

“Do you honestly expect me to believe that?” I ask.

“Well, that old guy there knows how weak this angel is, doesn’t he? She’s been no help whatsoever, even during the games. Now, in order to get some use out of me, they sent me here as a disposable pawn. And as you can see, I’ve already been captured.”

“……”

“At this point, every angel knows there’s a really strong demon in this area,” he explained. “Nobody wants to go anywhere near your apartment. So when they started arguing about who to send to check that the job was done, Eriel and I got singled out.”

The Disciple is desperately appealing not only to me, but to my neighbor. He’s already lied once. How dare he try to worm his way out of this.

But my neighbor is a good person, so he just waits and listens in silence.

“Then you made this so-called isolated space appear in order to check?” says the phony little girl.

“Right. If it showed up, that would mean we failed, and if it didn’t, we succeeded.”

“It sounds like you are indeed disposable.”

I’m also curious why my neighbor is suddenly sniffing at his suit and shirt. I don’t want to believe it, but could he be enjoying the smell left behind by his coworker? She was hugging him excessively while he was carrying her.

Maybe I should have gone along with Abaddon’s idea. No, wait. I don’t take regular baths, so I might be a little smelly. That’s worrying. Thinking about this depresses me, making my responses to the Disciple harsher and harsher.

“Even if what you’re saying is true, that’s no reason for me to let an angel and her Disciple escape.”

“W-well then, how about this,” he suggests. “We’ll join up with you. We’ll switch sides.”

“First you cause this isolated space for no reason, and now this? What are you plotting?”

“I’m not plotting anything! I’m saying I’ll become a spy for the demons. If I see the angels planning anything big, I’ll let you know ahead of time. What do you think? Doesn’t that sound way better than just killing some small fries like us?”

If I’d had information about the bombing in advance, I might have been able to deal with it before it happened. The Disciple has a point. And the angel accompanying him is very weak, which would work to our advantage.

Personally, though, I want to kill them.

“Every time we hold this game, a few Disciples always end up as spies,” Abaddon interjects.

“See?” says the boy. “Even your demon agrees.”

“……”

It seems Abaddon is interested in what the Disciple has to say. Judging by the smirk on his face, he may even be in favor of this idea. It seems he’s not lying about spies playing a role in the proxy wars of the past. The angel the boy called Eriel doesn’t raise any objections, either.

If only he hadn’t blown up my apartment. Then I might have considered it.

“Was this your plan from the beginning?” I demand. “To pretend to switch sides in order to get information on us?”

“No, no! We wouldn’t risk our lives to pull something like that. We’re desperate here, you know.”

“Even if he’s lying,” Abaddon says to me, “if we can get information from him without giving him any in return, there aren’t any downsides to his proposal. Aside from your own feelings, that is. What do you think?”

“……”

The demon is politely telling me not to be selfish, and I know he’s right.

He doesn’t stop with me, either—he asks my neighbor, too.

“Hey, I’d like your opinion as well, if you don’t mind.”

“My opinion,” he says gently, “is that people are made up of both reason and emotion.”

“Mister…”

Ah, he’s being considerate of me. That fact seeps deep into my heart, warming my chest. I’m so happy.

I’m starting to feel hesitant about selfishly clinging to my emotions. Even if this was Abaddon’s aim, I don’t want to sully my dear neighbor’s thoughtfulness right in front of him.

I turn back to face the angel’s Disciple and begin again.

“All right. We’ll go with your idea.”

“Really? You’ll make good use of us, then?”

“Yes, but if you betray us, we’ll deal with you on the spot. That’s fine with you, right, Abaddon?”

“Of course!”

“Betray you? We’d never. We’ll deceive them for sure, you’ll see.” The Disciple offers another ingratiating smile and a firm nod.

The angel with him bows slightly. Doesn’t she have qualms about casting her lot in with demons? No, wait. Angels and demons both have to obey their Disciple’s orders no matter what. It doesn’t matter what she thinks—once her Disciple makes a decision, she can’t complain.

Just then, I see something come over my neighbor as he’s watching our exchange. As he stares at the angel’s Disciple, he draws in a sudden breath, as if he just realized something. A moment later, he turns to us with an apologetic look on his face and hesitantly poses a question.

“…Would you mind if I said something?”

As I watched my neighbor talk things over with the Disciple boy, something dawned on me. I remembered the task the section chief had given us at the welcome party—the problem I’d planned to consult on with Peeps at Futarishizuka’s villa. Yes, how to deal with the Kraken, still on its way to east Asia across the Philippine Sea like a young Japanese eel.

It was possible the person standing in front of me was the very savior we needed.

Making up my mind, I spoke up.

“…Would you mind if I said something?”

My neighbor and Abaddon immediately reacted; but it wasn’t only them—everyone present turned to look at me.

“What’s up?” asked Abaddon.

“What is it, mister?”

Unfortunately, this would be difficult to explain. The only other person here who knew of the Kraken’s existence was Ms. Futarishizuka. I figured the others, embroiled as they were in a demons versus angels proxy war, would be somewhat amenable to believing crazy, unrealistic things. But what about a giant sea monster? After all, I wasn’t in a position to give them any detailed information.

“I know this is sudden, but there’s something I’d like to ask the angel and her Disciple to help me with.”

“Already putting us to use as spies?” asked the Disciple.

“Not spies exactly, no,” I told him. “More like a planetary defense force, I suppose.”

“Uh, what?”

I knew I sounded crazy. The creatures of the otherworld were truly frightening in their diversity. “If it’s all right with you, I’d like you to come help exterminate a giant sea monster with us.”

“…Is this old man right in the head?” asked the Disciple, turning back to my neighbor and Abaddon, his face serious.

I didn’t blame him. If I were in his shoes, I’d have had the same doubts. At the Disciple’s frank question, Abaddon and my neighbor turned to me with confused expressions.

Ms. Futarishizuka, however, understood. “Oh. You want to use this isolated space thing to avoid people seeing, don’t you?”

“If we can manage it,” I told her, “I think we can get Peeps to help.”

“But will we be able to bring that monster inside one of these things?” she asked.

“I’m not sure—we’d have to discuss it with him. It’s just… Leaving aside what the boss told us, if worse does come to worst, we won’t be able to stay on the sidelines. If there’s anything we can do to prepare for what’s coming, I’d like to do it while we still have the chance.”

My magic wasn’t yet powerful enough to create a barrier as big as the Kraken. But with Peeps’s help, it was probably possible. He was the Lord Starsage, after all. In a worst-case scenario, we could travel to his homeland and ask them for help as well.

“I suppose if the beast makes landfall, it will be quite a bit more troublesome than a typhoon,” muttered Ms. Futarishizuka.

“Like you said, it all depends on where it decides to go,” I replied.

If the monster decided to turn right around and head for a different country, we’d have the option of just sitting back and observing. I didn’t have the passion or sense of duty to mold myself into some kind of superhero. But since the Kraken was a product of the otherworld, I couldn’t help feeling some responsibility. Peeps was probably the same.

“Um, mister, what do you mean, giant sea monster?”

“I’d prefer to leave a detailed explanation for a later date,” I told her.

“…Oh.”

“I wonder if that means it has something to do with the two of you?” ventured Abaddon.

“I’m very sorry, but I’m not at liberty to discuss the matter further.”

“Oh, is that so?”

We could talk it over until the cows came home, and even then I wasn’t sure I’d be able to convince them. I mean, I wouldn’t believe me.

“Seriously, is this guy okay?” the Disciple asked my neighbor again. “I’m starting to get some bad vibes.”

“Would you please stop disrespecting him?” my neighbor replied.

“Well, I mean… He’s kind of acting like a weirdo, right?”

I am, aren’t I? I thought. That’s the correct reaction. Exactly how a young person should respond. I’d grown desensitized by all the abnormal things that were happening around me lately.

Eventually, however, the Disciple appeared to give up. He turned back to look at me. “Well, I’m good with whatever. Not like we have much room to refuse, right?”

“If it’s all right,” I said, “could we trade contact information?”

“Would an email address work?”

“I’d prefer to have your phone number, if possible.”

“……”

Once I had the boy’s contact information, our business here was essentially over. I figured that if I put his number into my phone now, leaving the isolated space would erase it, so I said it several times to myself to make sure I remembered. As soon as we got back to reality, I’d call up the bureau and have them look into the kid’s personal information. By the next day, I’d know where he lived and what his family makeup looked like.

My neighbor didn’t have a phone, so I’d be acting as mediator between her and the other Disciple. It looked like I’d now be overseeing his spy activities in the proxy war, on top of everything else.

I told the angel and her Disciple I’d contact them the following day, and then we parted ways. Just as Abaddon had said, once the Disciple and my neighbor were far enough apart, the isolated space disappeared, and we returned to reality.

Now that we’d returned, we had to deal with the aftermath of the apartment blowing up. The flames were still licking at the sky as I produced my police badge and began responding to the situation.

Mr. Akutsu called me up as well, and I asked him to mobilize the other bureau members. As I worked, I continued to wonder whether someone with better eyes would be able to tell this had been caused by a bomb. I really didn’t want my home being all over the news.

When speaking to my boss, I implied psychics had been involved and managed to secure full command over the site.

When the other bureau employees arrived in a helicopter, I asked them to write everything off as a gas explosion, just as I’d originally planned. In the meantime, the neighborhood was bustling as ambulances arrived with first responders and police officers.

As for my neighbor’s mother, we received some bad news—as I’d assumed, she’d died immediately when the bomb went off. A man was also confirmed to have died in the same unit. I guessed he was her mother’s boyfriend. The remains were reportedly in a terrible state, and it was going to take time to identify them properly.

Several other people in nearby apartments had been wounded, but they were the only two deceased.

While I was working on-site, I had my neighbor and Abaddon retreat to a nearby hotel and asked Ms. Futarishizuka to look after them. If that would-be spy boy had lied, it was possible more assassins could come out of the woodwork at any time.

I steeled myself for the work, but overseeing the cleanup at my ruined apartment proved quite emotional.