Aoyama-Itchome
Many students of shujin academy were walking towards their school. Young girls were talking among their friends. Boys were goofing around. Some were trying to study with their notebook. Although that some was only one though.
Makoto Niijima is an honor student through and through. From a young age, she's always tried her best, never lazing around. She's always diligent, not wasting even a moment of her time. And her hard work paid off every time. As long as she can remember she was never, even once, falls from first place. Elementary, middle and now even in high-school, every step of the way, she is the first in whole school. Not only that she was also famous for being strict and she always follows the school rules. That's why even though she's a second year she becomes the student council president. For a second year student, there was no highest honor possible. And, even then she has never stop trying hard. No, its the opposite actually. Now as a both third year and student council president, she now has to try even harder, so many younger students can take example out of her.
"Hey, don't you think the boy in front of us is cute."
"Not cute, I would say handsome."
Although that seemed to be working hopelessly.
"Yeah, pretty handsome. Though I've never seen him before."
"Oh, maybe he's third year transfer student."
"A third year, ohhhhhh, he's gonna get a lot of first year crushes.…I called dibs!"
"You can't call dibs!"
"Yes, I can! Look at dibs in wikipedia!"
'Honestly, what are they even arguing for?' High school students shouldn't be talking about such things. Even more so for first year. This is a very important part of their life. This part will decide what they are gonna have to do with their life. Something about crushes and loves has no place in high school. '…But, transfer student?'
Makoto looked up from her notebook and a little farther from her is indeed the transfer student, whom she showed where the faculty office was yesterday. Although he looked even more tired and pale than yesterday.
"*Sigh*" Makoto sighed quietly and put the notebook back in her bag. Then she walked a little faster to catch up to the boy in front of her.
"Huh, isn't that Miss prez?"
"What? Miss prez? Why is she going after Senpai? Did she call dibs?
'Why are they still talking about that?' Makoto ignored them and proceeded to call out the boy in front of her. "Arisato-san?"
…but no reply came. The boy didn't even turn around and acknowledged her.
'Ah, what!? Wait, did he just ignore me?' Makoto looked at the boy walking in front of her like an unidentified species.…Then she found that he was wearing headphones.
'…Ohhh,…Although that was still embarrassing.'
"Ahem." Makoto cleared her throat and collected herself, ignoring the wired look the two first years before were giving her.
"Arisato-san, excuse me?" This time she called out to him by also tapping his shoulder.…And that seemed to work as Minato turned around and looked at her.
"Yes? " Minato took off his headphones and asked the girl calling out to him.
"Nice to see you again, Arisato-san, I hope you've been well." Makoto said politely but the boy in front of her just stared at her with a poker face. Sure, now that she looked at him, his face is pretty, of course. Enough to put a girl to shame. His skin is white as porcelain. His silver eyes and blue hair makes him look like a fairytale prince. He's neither too tall nor short. All in all, he looks like a perfect gentleman. But, that's no reason to neglect your study and daydream about a boy.
….
'Although why's he starting at me?'
Minato looked at her for a weird amount of time before finally speaking. "…uh, nice to see you, too.…Niijima-san."
"Ah, thank you for remembering my name." Makoto, of course, replied back politely. " If it's not too much to ask, shall we walk together to school?"
"…Yes, of course."
And they both walked together towards their school. But, of course. Makoto didn't stop her observations. She believed that there's no such things as perfect. She too, even though tried to appear as an honor student, she too has her hobbies which…she doesn't want others to know. Even her sister while always tried to look professional, has her own faults, too. And of course, the boy beside her is not perfect,too. While others may be blind to his faults, she sure is not.
Based on her observations, his half-lidded eyes, which girls would say mysterious and cold. But, in true, he's actually just sleepy. And his eyes look hazy and unfocused, which her sister would describe as not an attractable quality. And his posture is what people would say lazy. His demeanor, which others people would think soft and prince-like, is actually listlessness. He also seems to have trouble remembering people.…And based on the glances he's sending towards her, he's also appear to be socially awkward.
"Um," Makoto stopped her scrutinization for a moment. " Arisato-san, are you not feeling well? You look pretty pale."
"Um, I don't look okay?"
"Yes, actually, you don't look okay at all. You seem to be wa-"
"I'm not okay."
"Oh…o…kay."And he seemed to be pretty rude.
"…Sorry, I'm just not getting enough sleep." Minato apologized? with an annoyed face.
"Oh, what's the matter?"
"Well, I've just moved and…" Minato made an annoyed face again. "I just met some living problem."
"Oh, is that so?", 'I'm not sure what I should say in situation such as this.' Makoto thought to herself for a moment. "So, uh, you just moved in. I supposed you're not from around here, then. May I ask where were you living before?"
"…" Minato doesn't replied back for some time.
"If it was a diff-"
"Oh, I'm just trying to remember the name." 'Uh?' " It was…Tatsumi port island." Minato said that with visibly no emotions. Now, she doesn't know whether he'd lied about trying to remember the name but she didn't dig too far into this.
"Oh, my! Compared to the school from there, I hope ours doesn't let down your expectation." Of course, she knew the school from that artificial island. The school is the artificial island.
"Actually, it was too big. I think I will like it here better. Although I've only been here for just one day though."
"And, you hadn't have a tour of our school, right? Should I show you around?" Makoto asked the question as they got near to the entrance of the school.
"You will?…Really?"
"Great! Although I have something to do today, so is tomorrow fine with you?"
"Sure, it's not like I have anything to do."
"Well, then tomorrow it is. We will start after school." Makoto smiled back to the boy in question.…but, of course he didn't smile back. He just only nodded.
"Well, then please excuse me." Saying that Makoto walked towards the school leaving the transfer student at the entrance.
….
"First, it was Okumura-san and now, it's miss honor student. The transfer student is really rolling, right?"
Minato turned towards the annoying smug voice. It was the two students from yesterday.
"Although we are here since the first year, we didn't really dare to approach either of them. Must be nice to be handsome." The one beside him said with an equally annoying voice. But, Minato didn't said anything and just looked at them with a poker face.
"And, transfer student." The first one said with a long sigh. "Why did you leave us without saying goodbye yesterday? We were talking then when we turn around, you were gone. I don't know if it is a thing for handsome boys but you shouldn't treat us with such cold shoulders."
"Uh huh, and we were thinking instead of dynamic duo, we could be three musketeers."
"…What?" For the first time since the conversation started, Minato said a single word.
"Well, there's plenty of time for that, first we must introduce ourselves, I'm-
"Ah, Aren, we are late!"
"Huh, really, damn it! I don't wanna get shouted by Kamoshida. Sorry, transfer student, we must run. You know what, you are in class 3, right. We will come for you in Lunch break."
"Aren, hurry up!"
"Wait for us, will you?" saying that two of them left the blue haired boy alone at the school entrance.
….
"Well, could be worse." Minato shrugged and also walked into the school.
x-x
Shujin Academy
'Why did I say that?' Minato Arisato now at his classroom, In second period, for once in his school life he wasn't sleeping but actually listening to the teacher.
'I know she's a lot like Mitsuru-senpai, but... actually scratch that, she may be worse.' Minato slowly turned around and '…oh god, she's still looking at me.' He quickly turned back and acted like nothing happened. Well, tried.
" Arisato-san, The questio-"
"It's B."
"oh, uhhh,…co-correct."
Now, he had his share of people staring at him, mostly Ryoji but usually it didn't bother him. But, this time the one who's staring at him is Mitsuru with stalker tendency. On their walk to school, half of the way, she didn't talk.
Now he didn't like talking, anyway but she's just staring at him while occasionally nodding to herself looking pretty satisfied.…Honestly that's just awkward, and that's coming from him. But, that's also didn't bother him, no…uh-um, maybe a little.
Minato thought back to time he lived at the dorm. Living at the dorm with Mitsuru, it was actually not easy. For starters, he had to learn French. Then he had to watch how he eats, how he drinks, how he talks, how he sits, and how he walks. Although walking part is not working though. Although she said not to care about any of that in her room though. 'Anyway …Now do you see the problem?'
Minato again slowly looked at the girl staring at him, who also happened to be the student council president. '…You can't actually sleep in class in front of the student council president.' Now would his school life at Iwatodai would be always like this if he's in the same class with Mitsuru.…Maybe. But, of all days, it would have to be today.
" Arisato-san, can you solv-"
"It's 3.165."
"uh,… yes, it's correct."
"Hey, how did he solve that? I'm not even getting the first part done?" " Is he like a genius?"
Not paying attention to all the murmurs around him, Minato thought back to the night or morning of today.
x-x
Hours Ago…
"A Palace, you say."
"Yes."
Minato and velvet room residents are now in his apartment room. He was of course leaning on the wall. Margaret was sitting elegantly on his chair, while Theodore was standing behind her. Caroline and Justine were identifying…trying to destroy his toilet light.
"So, the Mementos is the starting point for all human's emotions. That's why there's not shadows, but actual personas."
"That is correct."
"And if one of the humans stray too far from what the collective desires, they form places based on their desires which is similar to that place but differ by their individuality. And those are called palaces."
…*Twip*...*Thwat*
"Greatly put, Makoto-sama." Theodore chimed in. *Twip*
"And in that palace, their desires freely roam, and the outsiders can will it into whatever they want with enough force."
"Yes, and you can also completely destroys their desires-" *Thwat* , *Twi-Thwat*…. "-which would make the palace ruler an empty husk. And that is which our wayward wildcard is doing."
"So, do you know ho-" *Twip* "Will you guys stop doing that?" Minato said to the twins.
"Sorry." With that both Caroline and Justine also took their place beside their sister.
"Well, at least we now know that the one Philemon intend me to save is not that one."
"Yes, but I'm surprised you didn't notice that. When I sent Theodore check the outside world's news, he found out that there are many cases where humans were killed in that way. I think they named it as psychotic breakdown." Margaret said.
"…Yeah. But, I don't usually pay attention to news." Or anything. " But, that doesn't change our priority. We should still search for the missing wildcard. We would meet that one sooner or later."
"Uh, yeah, about that." Since coming here, Margaret showed a clear discomfort.
"Sister, I will explain it to him." Justine said to her sister. "You see, Makoto-sama, we, avatars of powers are extension of our master. So, in a sense, we cannot create velvet room without our master or equally similar power."
"Really?…Then what about the place from before?" Minato said turning to the young girl.
"We were getting to that but you left us while we're still explaining." Margaret gave the stink eye towards Minato, and he tried to not look into that.
"That was just a temporary space we create using both of our power. It cannot last long without someone tethering it." After Theodore explained that, all four of them stared at him in unison.
"So,…exactly what do you want me to do?"
"We were going to substitute your arcana in place of our master's power. That's why we came here. To ask for your help." Margaret said back.
"Oh, Okay then." Minato said as he walked towards the velvet residents. "Universe" and summoned his arcana…And appeared a nearly depleted card.
"…." No one said anything for a moment.
"So, uh, how do you want to play this?" Finally Minato broke the silence.
"How is your power so much depleted when you just arrived here?" Margaret asked in disbelief.
"Well, excuse me. I had to fight a maniac god and two bloodthirsty puffs on the same day."
"Hey, who are you calling puffs!?", 'I don't think I need to point out who said that.'
"I suppose we can't use this then." Margaret said observing the card in front of her.
"What? Why? It doesn't need more than this, right?"
"Well, we can afford it but then you would have lose all your powers." Margaret said back.
"That's true, but we can refill it later, right?"
"Yes, you can refill it. But you shouldn't use so much that it's gone."
"Why? I will just become a human again, right?"
"That's true for most gods, but Makoto-sama, you are not exactly normal." Margaret said turning her attention from the card. " You don't have a soul, not anymore. So, the only thing that's connecting you to this physical plane is this arcana. You shouldn't use it recklessly."
At her words, Minato paused for a moment. "…well, it's not like I have a choice."
"But, I would still suggest you to still careful."
"Alright, I suppose.…So,…where are you guys living right now?"
"Uh." At Minato's question Margaret tensed.
"Oh, of course. If we don't have the velvet room we are gonna need some place to live." Theodore also said.
"I didn't expect Makoto-sama's arcana to be this used up. So, I didn't think ahead." Margaret said while shaking her head.
"Oh, then how about we live here?" Theodore said proudly said like he found the solution to all the world's problems.
"With convict?"
"Well, this is indeed the most viable course of actions."
"*Sigh*" Margaret sighed elegantly, shaking her head. "…And with that said, Makoto-sama, can we take shelter here?" Margaret asked towards the boy.
….
Minato stared at the eldest velvet attendant without saying anything. "The thing about not thinking ahead…that was a lie, right?"
"Of course not, we only said the truth so far." Margaret said putting on her best smile.
"…Okay, so you guys live here, but how are five people gonna live in such a tiny space?" Minato asked with now tired voice.
"Hm, I thought your place would be bigger…this kinda changes things." Margaret said while rubbing her chin.
"Hey, you just admitted to your lying."
"Huh, convict sure is useless, isn't he?"
"Oh, there are many rooms similar to this one beside us, correct?" Theodore asked his question.
"I don't know who lives there."
"But, we don't see anyone on our way." Justine said back.
"That doesn't change my answer, I don't know who lives there."
"Isn't Lord Philemon give you this place?" Justine asked again.
"well, it's not like he included an FAQ sheet, so how would I know? Besides I don't have keys to those places." Minato said back.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about it, Makoto-sama. Don't you remember? I'm adept at crafting things." Theodore said smiling.
….
"…That just makes me worry more."
"Great, now that the living arrangements has been decided. We have to move on to another matter." Margaret said while flicking her hair.
"Decided? The only decision you guys made was to illegally break in." Minato said with a little raised voice.
"Don't be a pussy, convict. We can watch ourselves just fine." Caroline said smugly.
"Can You!?"
"Ahem, the another matter is that I believe we may had an idea of what that dark energy is or rather who?" Margaret said stopping her sister and the messiah.
"*Sigh, You know who was it?" Minato asked while he took out his phone.
"Yes, although we had no way to make it sure. We believe it is our longtime foe, Nyarlathotep.'' As soon as she said that, the four siblings suddenly became serious. "You could say he's the nemesis of even Lord Philemon." Margaret said grimly.
….
"…You don't say?" But Minato said back in a bored voice while still checking his phone.
"Yes, this is an very important matter. So, I suggest you pay attention to it carefully." Margaret said while glaring towards the boy.
"*Sigh*" Minato sighed as he put his phone back. "Have you met him?"
"I may not have known him personally. But, all of us, velvet room residents have deep knowledge about him."
"Okay, then, I don't need to know this."
"What? Why?"
"You guys know him, right? And now that you guys are here, I don't really need to know this right now."
"But-"
"Look, it's late or…it's early. I need to go to school, and I need to sleep. Like I told you before, I haven't got much sleep since arriving here." Minato said with a tired voice.
"Didn't you arrive here two days prior? Haven't you sleep in that time?" Justine asked.
"…I was otherwise occupied."
"With what?"
"Stuff." Saying his piece, Minato walked towards the futon and tucked himself in.
And the four siblings watch in silence as Minato tried to cover his whole body with blanket until he's comfortable.
….
"…Before I sleep, you said that in palace we can change the desires into whatever we want?"
Margaret shook her head to collect herself first. "Uh, Yes."
"And that Mementos is a big palace for all of humanity?"
"That is also correct."
"So, in a sense…can you change what all of humanity desire as a whole?"
Margaret thought to herself for a moment. "Theoretically, it is possible. But that would be a massive undertaking.… Why do you ask, Makoto-sama?"
"Just a thought.…So, with that said, good night." Then he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
"…He's rather eccentric, isn't he?" Justine said now looking at the sleeping boy.
"Well, Makoto-sama has been through so much." Theodore also said.
"…."Margaret also looked towards at the sleeping boy. " Yes, he's been through much.…But, anyway…" Then she turned around and addressed her siblings. "Our first priority is to find ways to recover the universe arcana. The wildcard will have to be searched as well but without the velvet room, our supports for them will be limited."
"And of course, the approaching danger of crawling chaos is apparent, as well." Theodore added in.
"There's also the false god and his wildcard agent. According to Justine, Makoto-sama didn't use a strong seal, and with his increased power, he may be able to connect to the outside world. And of course there's also the chance of him and crawling chaos to be accomplice." Margaret said while thinking to herself.
"And our master is imprisoned somewhere as well. And we had no idea where?" Now it is Justine's turn. " Looking at that we don't disappear yet, that means he's still safe but we can not know it for sure how long it will be?"
"And there's also what the convict said about someone trying to tell him to seal the imposter." Caroline also said nodding to herself. " We can't just believe him of course, but if another third party is here, this will complicated things more."
"Yes, and there's still not much we don't know. We can't really do anyth-"
"Hey" Before Margaret can finish, she was interrupted by the boy sleeping in his futon. All siblings turned around to the boy and Margaret asked the question.
"Yes, Makoto-sama?"
"Aren't you guys going to sleep?" Minato asked in a tired voice.
"Oh, we, avatars of power don't actually need sleep."
"Well, I do. So, shut up." Then Minato turned around and went to sleep again.
….
"Makoto-sama, you also don't need to slee-"
"I said shut upp!" The annoyed voice came from the boy in the futon again.
His politely asked request worked for a moment, before one of the puff became enraged. "…Eccentric, my ass! He's just a jerk!" Caroline said furiously.
"Um, Caroline please calm down." Theodore tried to calm down her sister.
"Theo, Let me go! I had to teach that jerk a lesson!"
"Uhuh-OWW, umm, Margaret please help!" Theodore asked for help from his trustworthy sister who just bluntly ignored him.
"*Sigh, this is getting nowhere." Minato sighed as he sat up. "Tell you what, we will devise a plan."
"A plan?" Margaret said. "To search for wildcard?"
"No. To search for my dreamland." Minato thought for a moment. "Um, can you guys turn around?"
"Why do we have to turn around?" Caroline asked in angry voice.
"Well, even I can't sleep when four people are glaring at me. So, turn around."
"What? That's ridi-"
"Uh uh, don't question me, just turn around. and yes, even you Margaret."
With enough persuasion, Minato managed to make all four residents turn around. "Now, just stare at the wall and… try to stay pretty." Then he lied down and tried to sleep again.
"…" Nobody said anything for a moment and awkward silence continues for some time.
"…."
….
"…."
Minato got up from the futon with a annoyed face."…Or you guys can tell me about what a Nyarlathotep is?"
"Great, then I will start from the very beginning." Margaret turned back around smiling. And her siblings followed suit as well.
...And that's how his second night or third morning on earth was wasted. Listening on and on about the guests of velvet room prior before him.
"…And that's when Tatsuya Sou decided to forget the bonds he forged and leave this reality so, the troubles brought about by the crawling chaos won't come again.… Now we don't know how he's here back again but that's all we know about the Nyarlathotep. Do you understand, Makoto-sama?" Margaret finished her explanation.
….
"Of course not."
x-x
…*Ding Dong*
"Well, this is it. Make sure you practice all of this. Cramming isn't good for your brain." As the bell rang, the teacher said her piece and moved out from the class room.
'This is ridiculous. I can able to live without eating but I'm sure cannot live without sleeping. …Okay, I will sleep through the lunch break. No one can stop me.'
"Arisato-san?"
'or not', "Yes," Minato turned towards the voice beside him, a girl in a pink cardigan.
" Are you okay? You looked really uncomfortable the whole time?" Haru said in a worried voice. "Are you not feeling well?"
"…Yes, maybe a little."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I made you help me yesterday when you're not feeling well." The girl said in a very apologetic tone.
"Oh, I'm not sick. I just don't get to sleep last night."
"Well, you sure look like you haven't sleep for months." Haru said laughing softly. "But, if you need to rest, you can go to the nurse office, you don't need to push yourself too hard."
"…Don't worry, I won't.…Thank you for the concern, though."
"You're welcome." Haru replied back with a bright smile then she took her stuffs out and walked out of the room.
Minato watched the girl as she strolled through the classroom, until she entirely vanished from his sight.
"Ah, thank you for helping me even though you're busy, Makoto-san."
"Makoto-san, are you okay!? I'm so sorry. If I'm better at supporting, this wouldn't have happen."
"Makoto-san, please don't push yourself too hard, it wouldn't do well for us if our leader is feeling unwell."
Minato looked back towards the windows, staring at the sky. "…Aren't they supposed to be completely different people?"
Then with a sigh, he also stood up from his desk and went out of the classroom, muttering, " Why is it remembering about her makes me hungry? It makes no sense."
x-x
Minato watched the a single bread on a tray with dead fish eyes. "This is the only one left?"
"Yeah, you should've come earlier. It's like a battle royale here in lunch break." The woman from the cafeteria said without even looking at him. "Count yourself lucky there's one left for you."
Minato looked back at the bread and the woman again. By no means Minato was a picky eater but, one bread was not enough for his inhuman appetite. "Well, beggars can't be choosers." With that he reached for the lone bread on the tray…when another hand also reached for it.
"Uhh." "Uh!"
Minato looked at the other hand in the tray then his eyes followed up to the boy with yellow hair.
"Uhhhh, dude, you taking this?"
"…Yeah?"
"Umm, okay. Uhh, fine, then." Saying his piece the yellow haired turned and walked away.
"Wait, you can take it if you want though." At Minato's answer, the boy suddenly turned around with a child like smile on his face.
"For real!?" But, the boy steadied himself fast with a cough. "Ahem, I mean you sure?" The boy said, looking at Minato, studying his face.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Minato took the bread and gave it to him. "Here."
The boy took the bread with utmost caution never leaving his eyes off from Minato. And even after taking the bread, he did not stop looking at Minato.
"Huh? You a third year?"
"Yeah."
"So, you're the transfer student, right?"
"I suppose so."
"Hmph, figures." Then he took the money out from his pockets and slammed it down on the desk. "Thanks for the bread, don't regret it later." The boy walked back without even looking back.
Minato looked at the fleeting boy with his usual poker face. Then he turned towards the cafeteria lady. "Is there any place where I can still get the food?"
x-x
…*Thunk*
Minato took the bottle and looked at it quizzically. "How is drinking coffee gonna fill me?" Then he opened the bottle and walked towards the nearby bench.
'Man, this city sucks. First Yaldabaoth, then two wildcards, overcrowded trains, insufficient cafeteria and children pretending to be mature at home, I wonder would it be better if I just stayed at being the seal?' Lost in his own thought, Minato drank from his canned bottle again.
"Here." But he was broken out of his reverie by a girl's voice.
Minato looked towards the voice and a pony tailed girl with black hair was smiling gently while giving him a sandwich.
"What?"
"Hehe, think of it as my payback for you helping Sakamoto-san earlier." The girl said back.
"Sakamoto-san?" Minato asked back with a tilt of his head.
"You know, at the cafeteria. Yellow hair and with a punk face."
"Ahhh…is he your friend?"
"Weeellll, he's kinda sorta my friend." The girl said back with a sheepish smile.
"Kinda sorta?" The girl nodded and gave the sandwich to Minato again. And as he took it the girl sat down on the same bench.
"Him and I don't interact too much but He's friend with my best friend, so he's kinda sorta my friend."
At that answer, Minato just simply stared at her. But, the girl just ignored him. "He's a good guy but his face and his demeanor can make you think otherwise, and…" The girl took a more somber tone, " He's not exactly well treated around here. So, he's kinda always on the edge,…Anyway, thank you for putting up with him, heheh." The girl said back again with a dazzling smile.
"I am Shiho. Shiho Suzui. You are Arisato-senpai, right?"
"You know me?"
"How could I not? The mysterious transfer student, stealing girls' hearts at light speed." Shiho flashed a mischievous smiles and leaned closer to him. "I rarely believe in rumors, but you sure are pretty, almost like a girl."
'Uhhh, this girl is surprisingly straightforward.'
"Oohh, and look at your skin!" The girl suddenly took up his arm.
"Umm."
"Your skin is so smooth and so sooffttt, ahhh I'm almost jealous!"
'…is this count as necrophilia?.…I hope not.'
"You know my friend is a model. She would literally die to have skin like this."
"U-uh, is that so?" Minato said as the girl admired his supposed pretty skin but then his eyes caught something.
"…Did you hurt yourself?" At his question, the girl suddenly tensed and her entire demeanor shifted. "N-no." The girl said back with a tremble voice. "This is just from my t-training."
"Training?"
"Y-yeah. I am in the vo-volleyball team and our co-coach wants us to be better so, he's training us hard." The girl said putting up a smile but even someone who just met her knows it's fake.
Minato said nothing but just stared at her with his emotionless eyes.
"An-anyway, please don't be mad at Sakamoto-san, and I'm sorry for bothering you." The girl said as she stood up in hurry. " See you later, Arisato-senpai!" And She half ran, half walked back almost like retreating, possibly to her class.
Minato watched as the girl entirely vanishes from his sight. 'I've been doing this alot today, ain't I?' Minato opened the sandwich and took a bite. 'Now that I think about it, aren't there many students with similar wounds and bruises.…I almost forget about it with Justine and Caroline.'
…*ding dong*
The bells rang and Minato just got up with a half bitten sandwich in his hand and walked back to his class.
'This is surprisingly good.'
x-x
Arisato Residence
"Man, I'm almost afraid to open this door." Minato stood in front of his home door contemplating about whether or not to open it.
The school finished with no accident and he was not teleported to another dimension on his way either. 'Maybe It would be fine. They are not strangers to sitting on their butts without doing anything the whole day.'
Minato nodded to himself and opened the door. And as soon as he opened the door, a loud and annoying voice invaded his ears.
"Caroline, are you sure you should add this on the fried rice?"
"Huh!? How the hell should I know!?"
"Wha!? But you're the one who told me to cook fried rice because it supposed to be the easiest!"
"Yeah, but I don't think I need to put in anything. I thought fried rice mean you just had to fry the rice."
"Th-then why did you tell me to put this thing!?"
Theodore and Caroline were bickering at each other on the kitchen. And Margaret wass sitting elegantly on the chair with her eyes closed while drinking what appeared to be tea. Justine was nowhere to be found but she would also be at the kitchen with Caroline and Theodore.
"Oh, I forgot that I'm still in hell." At Minato's voice, Margaret opened her eyes. "Ah, welcome back, Makoto-sama. I hope everything went well on your school."
"Forget about it, what are they doing back there?"
"Well we are preparing a meal for our dear guest of course." Margaret said back with a smile.
"Guest? Aren't you guys supposed to be my guest?"
"Oh, hardly." Margaret said back with a little hint of smugness. " Lord Philemon gave you this humble adobe, so by extension we are the owners of this house while you, Makoto-sama, are our guest."
"What?", 'Did she just take over my house?'
"And so, as the tradition of humans, we would like to treat our guest with a nice meal.… and We also would like you think of us as family on your stay here. So you can think of this as family dinner of sorts."
"Family dinner, huh?" Minato said while looking towards the shouting siblings in the kitchen. Then his lips turned upwards into a gentle smile. "Well, how can I refuse?" Margaret also watched the boy with a smile on her face.
'Heh, If this is hell, I wouldn't mind being damned for eternity.'
"Ahh, ah, Caroline, My clothes are burning!"
"Wha? JUSTINE! WATER HURRY!…WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S NO WATER!? THEODORE! RUN TO THE TOILET!"
"WHA! AHHH-WAHHH!"
Minato stepped beside a little, so the boy with flaming back can run though. "Ahehe." Then he laughs with a soft voice. "Yeahhh, …Eternity for sure."
-x-x-