Yuuta and Nibutani's hangout began with idle chatter, the standard-issue small talk you encounter on first meetings. You talk about your siblings, favorite whatevers, that sort of thing. As they sat in Yuuta's room, they heard Yumeha call out.

"Hey! Big brother! Kuzeha and I are going out to catch fairies!" she said.

"Okay! Be careful out there!" Yuuta said, as he heard the sound of the apartment door opening and closing.

"Fairies?" Nibutani said. Yuuta rolled his eyes.

"Yumeha caught some of Rikka's chuunibyou when she came over, so now she thinks she's a witch or something."

"You and Takanashi are on a first-name basis?" Nibutani's eyes widened.

"Huh? Oh no, not because we're close, she just really wants me to use her given name."

"Still, you two do hang out a lot," she smiled, idly tiling her head. "Also, what do you mean by she wanted you to use her first name."

"Nothing, forget I said anything about her!" said Yuuta, blushing when he hear the words he was saying. "I-I'll go get us some tea."

As Nibutani headed to his room, Yuuta started on the drinks.

Dangit! I forgot how to make conversation during middle school! Ugh, I don't know what I'm doing. I can't make a mistake like last time. Fake memories or not, that was totally lame no matter what way you look at it!

Suddenly, there was the sound of something falling over in his room. Yuuta ran over to have a look.

"Nibutani, what just hap-" he was about to say when he opened the door and saw the state of his room. Things had fallen off of shelves, pulled out of containers, and overall, it seemed to have been frantically rummaged through in a maddened fashion. Nibutani was sitting in the middle with a nervous and slightly psychotic expression.

"Uh…. hi… Yuuta?" she said, not even noting the fact that she used his first name.

"Uh…" Yuuta was not prepared for any variation of this outcome. "I'll go… get our tea?"

"Oh, thank you, you're too kind!" she said, laughing still very nervously.

Yuuta closed the door.

You know, it's almost as if she presents herself through some kind of ruse… wait, what did she say earlier?

"Really?" Yuuta's eyes went wide. "You never struck me as the type who forgets things easily."

"Aren't I a good actor?" Nibutani winked. "Something you notice, especially when it comes to leadership, is that people don't care one bit about how you actually perform, but how you present yourself to others! As long as you hide with a cute smile and use the right words, you could be an absolute imbecile and you can still be treated as a model citizen.

Hide it with a cute smile… and use the right words?

Without thinking further, Yuuta slipped out of the front door, up the stairs, used the spare key that Rikka gave him, entered her room and out the balcony, and started slowly climbing down her rope.

As he descended, he gazed into his room to find something that would change his life forever. Nibutani, the prettiest girl in school, respected member of the Far-East Magical Napping Society and the Cheerleading club, an exceptional athlete and intelligent student, and the class president, was scrambling about his room tearing through every nook in cranny like a madwoman trying to find evidence of her husband's alleged affair.

"Where is it? Where is it?!" she cursed under her breath. She turned to Yuuta's boxes of Dark Flame Master things. "Perhaps in here…"

Shoot! Gotta act fast! Like, super-fast!"

"Incarnate Wings!" Yuuta spoke and zipped from the rope to the balcony, wrenched open the window and dove inside to shove the box out of Nibutani's way, all in the blink of an eye.

Uh-oh! That was not a cool-guy thing to do. Dangit, how can I salvage this moment-

Nibutani grabbed his skull and slammed his head into the ground.

"Ack! What are you doing?" Yuuta stammered as she proceeded to move on top of room, restraining his remaining limbs and torso.

"Where is it?" he said. "I know you're hiding it somewhere so tell me now!"

"Where's… what?"

"The Mabinogion! Tell me where it is or else, I'll make you suffer!"

"Gah! Okay, okay!" Yuuta said as Nibutani released him.

What with this sudden transformation? Don't tell me… the real Nibutani is the vengeful and easily angered type?

He pulled the Mabinogion out of a nearby box and presented it to Nibutani who snatched it out his grip the moment it came into her vision. She opened up to a random page and let out a sigh.

"Finally… I can't believe she actually made a physical copy of this thing,"

"Eh? Who?" said Yuuta. Nibutani looked like she was going to say nothing, but then her visage lessened.

"Look, it'll be too difficult to keep you from spreading rumors, so I'll tell you the truth. But if I find you that you told anyone and mean ANYONE about what I'm about to share with you, then I will make your life living hell till the day you perish!" she glared at him with an icy sharp glance.

"Okay okay, just stop giving me that extra-scary look!"

She took a deep breath.

"The Mabinogion… is my diary,"

"Huh? You mean that Mori Summer girl… she, was you?"

She winced in the painful memory.

"During Middle School, when I was learning that the world wasn't the beautiful happy paradise that I thought it was when I was young, I caught a nasty case of Chuunibyou. I created the character Mori Summer based on my hopelessly optimistic beliefs. She was supposed to be a spiritual and positive alternative to our capitalistic and bleak society, but only from the perspective of a dumb girl who didn't understand half the things she talked about. I created a blog and made the Mabinogion. There was a bunch of other crap-like stuff about fairies and spirits and magical stuff. As you can imagine, I was alone for most of my years like that. So, I transferred to another school where no one would ever find out about Mori Summer. I deleted my blog and put away all my stuff related to her and that was the end of it. Who would've guessed that pig-tailed idiot would've made this stupid thing…"?

"Nibutani…" Yuuta said. He shook his head. "I wasn't planning on ever telling you this, but now seems like a good chance. Wait right here,"

He opened one of the boxes and took out a sketchbook, opening to a page depicting himself in his Dark Flame Master outfit.

"When I was in middle school, I was obsessed with games and anime, and I wanted to be a hero like in those kinds of stories. So, I know what it's like to have Chuunibyou, trust me. I used to call myself the Dark Flame Master and say all kinds of cringe stuff like "Be enveloped in the flames of darkness and disappear!" all while doing stupid poses like this," he did one of the poses he knew well. "That's actually the reason I joined the Magical Far East Napping society, since… well, I kind of miss hanging around magical stuff. Obvious I don't actually believe in most of the stuff that Rikka's always going on about, but I just can't seem to fit in anywhere else. So, I get how you feel about Mori Summer."

"Yuuta…" Nibutani looked up at him with sparkling eyes for a moment, before she snorted and muttered "What a loser."

Had it not been for the incredible stamina granted to him by the Black Flame Dragon, Yuuta would have surely died on the spot.

After that incident, Nibutani headed to the front of the apartment building, took out a lighter from her pocket, and set ablaze to the Mabinogion.

"So… the reason you joined the club was to…"

"Yep,"

"And you were acting like that because you wanted to get close to me because you knew I, had it?"

"Yep,"

"I see…" Yuuta cleared his throat. "Is it too late to ask you out on a date?"

Nibutani let out a laugh.

"Yuuta, you're a nice guy and any girl would be lucky to go out with you. But the problem is, you're also a complete weirdo who watches too much anime. Also, if you really want any chance of a romance with anyone, then you should put as much distance between you and Rikka's little circus as possible."

"Ah, I figured. Thanks anyway," he said. "But the thing is… I can't leave the club,"

"Hmm? And who's that?"

"Well, you see-"

Suddenly, a dark blue projectile flew right past Yuuta and slammed into a nearby way, making a massive indent in the concrete. The two of them coughed as the dust cleared, revealing the bruised and beaten shape of Rikka. She spat something out before turning to Yuuta.

"Ah, Dark Flame Master, there you are!" she said with a frantic look in her eye. She got to her feet. "The Eye of the Wicked Lord urgently requests your assistance!'

"What? What happened?" Yuuta looked her up and down. "Don't tell me… is it the priestess again?"

"No, not that," Rikka pointed in a direction. "What you thought was a gateway between worlds, worlds was actually a naturally occurring overlap, and the unrestrained tangle of different planes of reality created some kind of homunculus out of otherworldly creatures! We've got it contained within the overlap, but we need your help to defeat it before it escapes and wreaks havoc onto this world!"

She pointed off in a direction and Yuuta gasped. A hulking monstrosity, easily nine stories tall, stood off in the distance. It was humanoid in shape, its head sunk deep into its torso, dotted with hundreds of snarling mouths and eyes of many sizes. Six massive, deformed arm-like limbs extended from its oblong torso, and its stumpy legs thundered as they stomped the ground. The distinct golden blur of Dekomori's hammer whizzed about in an attack pattern. The creature roared as it attempted to swat the tiny warrior.

"Oh hey, Rikka, you're back!" said Nibutani, completely unmoved by the monstrous figure. "Hey, I hate to say it, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave the club-"

"Now's not the time, the town is in serious danger!" Rikka said. "Come with me, Dark Flame Master."

"Alright, let's go!" said Yuuta. Nibutani's eyes widened as they started performing a series of poses.

"Reality is rejected, synapses shatter, banishment from this world!" they exclaimed. A wave of energy surged out, tinting the gentle evening into the chaotic biomes of the overlap. Now as the Dark Flame Master, Yuuta could see the path to the monster clearly illuminated by broken cracks of light across the road, cars floating about them in zero gravity.

he held out a hand to Rikka, who grasped it without another word. "Incarnate Wings!"

They took off through the streets and leaped into the air atop a low house, right next to Dekomori.

"Dark Flame Master, perfect timing! The Homunculus has nearly gathered enough power to escape the Overlap. We must destroy it now."

"Understood, what's our plan, Wicked Eye?"

The Eye of the Wicked Lord pointed to the Homunculus' massive feet.

"We must attack its leg; not being created by evolutionary effects means that its walking patterns must be inefficient. A strong blow to the lower body could render it immobile."

"Just leave it to me!" said Dekomori, raising her hammer.

"Dark Flame Master," she said. "You must blind all seventeen of the creature's eyes to keep it from launching a counterattack. I will defend you as you launch strategic spells. Understood?"

"Crystal, Wicked Eye!" Dark Flame Master and Mjolnir Hammer both saluted their leader.

"Then let us defend the town!" Rikka exclaimed. The Dark Flame Master grinned and clenched his fist.

"I'm back baby," he said, before leaping forwards in great strides. One of the creature's many eyes focused on him and raised its lower arm to attack. Quickly, the Eye of the Wicked Lord jumped in and raised her weapon.

"Schwartz Shield!" she deflected the blow as the Dark Flame Master conjured a magic circle.

"Incineration Sniper!" he shouted, blasting a bolt of burning hot fire into the creature's eye. The homunculus roared in pain, giving the Mjolnir Hammer a chance to whack its leg.

"Let us continue!"

It went on like this. Rikke deflected the creature's blows with her shield with the Dark Flame Master blasted its eyes out with magic while Mjolnir Hammer kept bashing away at the legs. Finally, the creature collapsed on its feet.

"Now's our chance!' Tyrant's Eye announced. "Open fire, unleash everything!"

"Be enveloped in the flames of darkness and disappear!" Dark Flame Master conjured a whirlwind of purple fire that wrought screams of agony from the Homunculus' many mouths.

"Lunatic Mjolnir Crusher!" Mjolnir Hammer did two front flips in the air before bringing her hammer down. The golden weapon proceeded to grow, tripling in size as it pulverized the creature into the ground.

"By the name of the Eye of the Wicked Lord, I banish thee to hell!" Rikka tore off her eye and blasted a fine beam from her eye, ripping the center of the Homunculus up. The combined force of their attacks was enough to deplete the creature's energy. When the light faded, all that remained was a pile of partially burned squished flesh. Slowly, the remains began to disintegrate, turning from flesh into dust, dust into smoke, smoke into air. Yuuta stood speechless, as Rikka and Dekomori exchanged a fist bump.

"Phew!" Yuuta exclaimed as the Overlap faded and the three of them floated down to the ground. "I forgot how cool it felt to do that kind of thing. The fake memories just don't do it justice!"

"Do not get hasty, Dark Flame Master," said Rikka. "That enemy was a weak abomination. Our enemies are highly trained individuals bred specifically to kill people like us. But I must admit, you did very well during that fight. In fact, your AP finally rose to one hundred,"

"Aw shucks, it's only thanks to all that training you gave me!" Yuuta let out a hearty laugh, as did the rest of the group. The only one who did not laugh was Nibutani, who had followed them as they sprinted into town and ran around shouting strange things like maniacs.

"Anyways, now that that's taken care of, I'd like the Mabinogion back, please," Dekomori said. Yuuta's eyes widened.

"Erm… I think Miss Nibutani can help you with that," he indicated to the girl standing behind him.

"Uh…" Nibutani pointed to the pile of grey dust that still let off some smoke.