What's there to say after Lenalee brought Miranda and I back to the apartment? I suppose nothing really changed much from the manga here. Miranda key necklace fell off of her neck, resulting in Miranda panicking and falling off of the table to get in.
" Don't worry, she's never hurt anyone before." I told Lenalee who had also received a shock from Miranda's antics.
" She just surprised me, that's all." Lenalee reassured me.
" But it's true, right Miranda? For all your problems, you've never harmed anyone at all?"
Miranda looked up from the key, and for a slight moment I worried that I might have said something that crossed a line.
" Yes, you're right Leo. I've never harmed anyone. A miracle really, given the circumstances." She sighed, and went to go clean the grandfather clock in as it chimed.
It wasn't until Allen came back with a scratched up leg that I realized I had changed something in the story. Miranda hadn't told Lenalee that the clock was the only she felt accepted her. Did me changing the subject cause the story to change? I hadn't even tried to do that. Was it a bad that I did?
" It was really strange because they definitely wanted to kill me."Allen winched as Lenalee began cleaning Allen's wound.
I was watching Timcanpy, who appeared to be taking great pleasure in poking Allen's wound with his tail. Who knew the golem had such a nasty streak to him. Lenalee seemed more concerned with Allen's physical well-being at the moment though. Strange, given that Akuma behaving in a bizarre manner should give mostly anyone cause for concern.
" But I'm glad you're okay." She brushed Timcanpy aside to clean Allen's wound. " It's too dangerous for you to face that many level 2 Akuma yet."
That statement felt odd to me. Lenalee might have been at the Order longer than Allen, but I doubted she had any sort of system to rate an exorcists power. In fact the only character I'd ever read about doing that was Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter. Actually, all the Hunters were like that to a degree. But Lenalee? Scratch that, any exorcist? I highly doubted she, or any of the other exorcists for that matter, can clearly gauge the power levels of anyone else. Which made me realize I'd probably needed to devise a system myself in order to keep on my toes in the future.
All the while Allen and Lenalee began to discuss Allen's powers. I walked over to Miranda, uninterested in where the exorcists conversations were heading. I considered the merits of a power rating system as I did so. The Millennium Earl would have to be at the top, he'd be the representative of 100 in my scale. So who would be at the bottom? Who'd represent 0? Truth be told, that would be tricky. Raw power was well and good, but your intellect could make you dangerous as well. Look at the Hitler ripoff, he's dangerous but doesn't have any supernatural powers to speak of.
I stopped behind Miranda.
" I think the clocks clean now." She'd begun cleaning after Allen had come back to the apartment.
" I know, it's just..." She didn't take her eyes off the clock.
" It's not your fault, I'm sure. Lenalee said that Innocence is causing this problem of yours." I was all I could do just then to remember that I technically didn't remember all the previous October 9th's.
Then Miranda went into one of her depressive speeches, probably scaring the other two exorcists in the room. But Allen calmed himself rather quickly, and bent down Miranda's level. All nice and touching really, asking her for help and all, but I had other things to worry about. That being time was going to rewind in a few moments, I had to act the part again.
I suppose I should tell you how this whole resetting thing worked for me. Well, Miranda was usually in bed before the clock ever hit it's rewinding time. That meant I'd never seen her bizarre possessed walk to the bed like what she began to do just then. Not wanting to be grabbed by one of the other exorcists, I walked with Miranda as if confused by her behavior. I even shook her shoulder when she laid down for dramatic effect, as if I was puzzled by what she was doing.
The next thing I know, I'm waking on the couch. There's never been any crazy whirlwind of time sweeping me to where ever. Personally I'm glad for that, being tossed around like a rag doll was something I can do without. I sat up after I heard Miranda speak.
" Huh? I don't remember getting into bed..."
I looked up sleepily, letting myself look as though I was still trying to process what was going on. Allen and Lenalee's shocked faces were staring back at me. Now I had to play my part for them too. I'd already decided on a good way to react to them.
" How you get in here!" Was the outburst they got for the next couple of days. Followed by cries of robbers and all around uncontrolled panic. I have to hand it to myself, for someone with the emotional range of a caterpillar, I sure could pretend that I was genuinely scared. And I made a good job of doing that act every day that time rewound too, they never were very good at dealing with me.
It was about the fifth day that the exorcist's had arrived to help Miranda now. Since she'd gotten the job in the play with the Witch and the Pumpkin, I had a strong belief that this would be the day we'd meet Road head on.
When the break hit I had taken to eavesdropping on the two by curling up behind a box near them, deciding that preventing the robbery would ultimately be counterproductive. Neither exorcist every bothered to check to see if someone was listening in on them. Pretending to be in the time loop was getting taxing, and I didn't know how long I could fool Allen and Lenalee. Little did I know that needn't had worried about working very hard to fool them. In the original manga, Allen and Lenalee had talked about their childhood. But as I listened in, I found out that they were talking about me.
" So you've met Leo before, Allen?" Lenalee casually questioned him.
" Yeah, he'd asked me for help with the Millennium Earl." Allen then proceeded to recount what he remembered about the meeting.
It was odd hearing about how Allen had seen the situation. He seemed to think that I genuinely was scared by the Earl targeting me. Well, I wasn't happy about the situation but we all know how me and fear work in this world. Then I heard how he had left John and I.
" His friend John managed to get help from one of Leo's relatives to carry him back home. I would have stayed to visit him, but Timcanpy wanted me to leave as soon as possible." He told Lenalee.
Then finally, the question I had been dreading was asked by Lenalee herself.
" Wait, if he was living with his relatives then what is he doing here by himself."
Yes, Lenalee was stated by the author to be the smartest character in the series. But Allen surprisingly had an answer to this question. It baffled me to think how he had come to this conclusion.
" He hasn't said it, but I think there might have been something wrong with where he was living. Maybe they abandoned him after the trouble he caused."
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Allen, aren't you a little hasty to be making those kinds of assumptions about people!
" How can you be sure?" Lenalee asked, but her voice told me she was already starting to believe what Allen was saying.
" Just the way he carries himself. It's as if the world has pushed him to the side and he's trying to make the best of it." he told her.
Well, I might be able to agree with what Allen was saying in terms of how me and the world were working at the moment. But really, was he just going to jump to conclusions without even asking me? I put a hand to my face as Lenalee agreed with Allen. There you go folks, the main characters decided I was and abandoned orphan without any sort of fact checking.
" Ah! Hey... Mr. Pumpkin!" That would be Road calling to Allen, best for me to make myself scarce.
I waited until both Allen and Lenalee left the alley before I made my own way back to Miranda. All the while thinking about what had been said about me. Changing the story is odd, that's all I can really say about it. Allen and Lenalee should have been talking about Lenalee and her brother back there, not me. Did that somehow leave Allen at a disadvantage for the rest of the story? Was that information needed? Nothing came to mind at the moment, but maybe it would be important. There was no telling what could happen now. There was Allen, reassuring Miranda that he'd get the money back before chasing the culprit.
" Miranda! Are you okay!?" I cried, running over towards her.
She didn't answer me, seeming to depressed to come up with a response. Then suddenly she began to rant out loud, loud enough that a certain Noah girl could clearly hear. I back off slightly, not knowing what to do. Road walked over and bent down, looking pleasantly pleased that she had found what she'd been looking for.
" So you clock is the Innocence."
It might have been the smile she wore, or the tone of her voice. Maybe the fact she'd ignored me helped as well. I can't be sure what really set me off. All I could tell you was that I kicked Road Kamelot, the eldest Noah next to the Millennium Earl in the face. So much for self-preservation...
How goes it, been busy over the Christmas break. Hope everyone else had a good Christmas and New Years.