房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"Help me... please..."

Presence pleaded. She wasn't even talking directly to Zoemi. She just cried out into the void.

"...how about I text my parents that I'm staying at a friend's house, and we will try to figure something out in the morning...?"

The black-haired boy breathed out, sitting back down right by the most powerful and most vulnerable being across the timelines and dimensions, and taking out his phone...

…

The patients that showed up at the Hikaru clinic the earliest were elderly – with the rare exception of the patients that called in with an emergency, but this time around the visit was reserved by a message on an app.

Hikaru Yuusha, the daughter of the pair of doctors running the Hikaru clinic didn't expect to actually meet Kuro Aku again as she learned that his interest in her was a result of mistaken identity, she felt bad about it as she started to like the boy regardless of his reasoning, but, life was life.

That's why she was so shocked and confused when she woke up and saw his message.

Said message was the reason why even though she usually didn't bother to get out of her room in the morning, she was on the clinic floor bright and early to open the door.

Not just unlock – actually open it.

As she did, she was greeted by Kuro Aku, the handsome boy she went on a date with the day before.

"Hello, Yuu, sorry for being a bother."

Aku greeted her with a nod and walked in as she made her way for him.

The black-haired boy wasn't actually the patient nor did he show up just to meet with Yuusha.

The person of interest was a child, a young girl in a bear onesie, who was tightly gripping Aku's hand while also clinging to his leg as if everything was terrifying to her.

"Umm... Aku... that child..."

"She is the most precious person to someone without whom I would not be alive."

Yuusha asked looking between the child and the boy and Zoemi explained with a troubled smile.

"My benefactor is not around anymore but the information he left me with points out to a really messed up picture. Like I said in my message, I want your mother to check this girl's condition and... well... By any chance does your family know some really good therapist?"

The boy asked with a serious expression.

"...you don't mean...?!"

"Yeah. I do mean exactly that."

Yuusha immediately caught on to what he was implying and gasped as Aku nodded.

…

"How's it going those days?"

One day Zoemi asked Presence as they were walking back to her apartment.

As it turned out the great primordial knew how to set herself up in another world as the entire complex that Zoemi entered that one faithful night belonged to her.

"I really wish that there was a profession like that back in my day. If we had a therapist in the royal castle a lot of things could have been avoided. A therapist and a separate family counselor. I never realized how messed up things were back then. It somehow makes things worse but better now, you know...?"

The little girl clenched the boy's hand before breathing out and smiling softly.

"Things will get better. I swear to Guide~"

Zoemi smirked and hummed with relief.

"Speaking of which..."

"Hmm?"

Patience leaned against Zoemi's left arm and said looking up at him.

"Whenever you take me to therapy you tell me about what happened to my home world after I left... and the thing with Guide and Miriette bothers me a lot."

The little girl furrowed her brows and squeezed the boy's hand.

"I wasn't trying to be mean or hurtful when I said that your Miriette should have stopped existing a few weeks after I was gone. It should have happened. And the guide that you feel so affectionately about... could you tell me again what they looked like when they appeared in front of you?"

Presence asked in a serious voice slowing down until she stopped and made Zoemi stop too.

"They looked very similar to you only that they had no face. They looked like a young girl with platinum hair wearing a one-piece dress. After the timeline was destroyed and everything reset they became a lot more affectionate with me, probably because I became their Heavenly Star Warrior."

The black-haired boy looked at the little girl in concern and repeated what he had told her before.

"Is there some problem with them? And what could my Miriette have anything to do with then?"

He added with a worried expression.

"Probably a lot. You see, Guide is a very specific god. They are not very high on the importance chart and they aren't particularly strong either. But one of their unique traits is that they appear in front of someone they always take the form of the person they want to talk to. With the only difference being that they appear without the face."

"...!"

Presence explained, stunning the black-haired boy.

"Your Miriette was almost a separate being from me, being my copy and all. There was a connection between us, so once she felt that I disappeared she knew her time was running out... I will now parrot you and ask it the same way you asked me... Do you think that knowing that she would stop existing, your Miriette wouldn't take some action to save herself?"

"!!!"

Presence chuckled and asked tugging on the wide-eyed boy's left arm.

"Hold on...! No, seriously...!"

Zoemi gasped shaking his head as if he wanted to get rid of an annoying fly.

"If I understand what you are implying then you mean that Miri somehow merged with Guide...! E-even if that was the case, then how do you explain the other Miri that I met?! The one who got her memories back...?!"

He asked with a pitiful expression.

"Are you saying that she wouldn't have a way to create a copy of herself even when taking over a god...?"

"!!!"

Presence teased Zoemi and the black-haired boy flinched at the realization that this time he wasn't giving it enough thought.

"But then...! She...! I...!"

Zoemi lost his composure and mumbled almost panicking.

He looked between the Presence and an unspecified point at the horizon as if he wanted to dash off, but then flinched and his shoulders dropped.

"...what's the reason for me to know that now? I can't trigger the law of Pisces side effect to take me back to that dimension, and even if I could, I first have to be here for you until you get over your trauma..."

The boy said, even though he was dispirited, he tried to hide it to not make the little girl feel bad.

"That's sweet of you, but you aren't my toy."

Presence expression became gentle and she nuzzled her face against Zoemi's left arm while squeezing his hand reassuringly.

"You don't need to take responsibility for me. I... now I know that I have to be strong by myself for myself. You have your own life, and I do want you to be happy~"

She murmured affectionately as if she was talking to one of her beloved teddy bears that were everywhere in her apartment.

"Umm, thank you for saying that, but it doesn't change the fact that I am still here... maybe I should give up and settle here, so much time had passed anyway..."

Zoemi fidgetted and sighed in a heartbroken voice.

"Pffft...! Do you even listen to yourself? You are complaining about time to the great primordial who controls time itself!"

"Huh..?!"

Presence snorted and suddenly tugged Zoemi so hard that he gasped feeling as if he was losing his balance...

...only that his feet were still firmly on the ground and he was falling within himself...!

*UMPH*

*UMPH*

*UMPH*

Before he had time to react in any other way, he experienced the feeling of breaking through the surface of the water three times in rapid succession and...

*SPLASH* *CLANG*x4

...an enormous spout of water burst out from below the middle-range target sending it flying high into the sky before tearing it apart from the inside.

The magic device now embedded into the soaked ground was releasing a white light meaning that in terms of magic damage, the attack was nothing – but the physical damage done to the armor was speaking for itself.

"Outstanding!"

"...?"

Teacher Suze gasped to the wide-eyed attendant in pure bewilderment.

"Young man... is everything alright...?"

Teacher Auequas noticed the boy's peculiar behavior and asked, standing up from her seat and approaching him.

"Miri...!"

"...?"

The boy muttered making the elderly woman even more concerned but the next moment...

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

"GWAH?!"

Zoemi kicked off the ground with enough power to cause an actual explosion that sent the brown-haired woman tumbling back.

Before she or any other teacher could react, the black-haired attendant was already gone.

"What in the world just happened?! Did he teleport? Or just exploded?!"

The red-haired Ikarveth called out in disbelief while teacher Shuze hurried to teacher Auequas and helped her stand up.

"Did either of you see what happened?! I know close to nothing about the martial artists... could they self-destruct like that...?"

Ikarveth shook his head and asked as the other two looked at him and then at each other.

"That boy... he didn't self-destruct... but he didn't teleport either... although I would not be shocked if he could do that, actually..."

The elderly gold-haired man gulped down his saliva and shared his observation.

"Then what happened?"

The red-haired man frowned and asked clearly not convinced by his senior's words.

"He just... ran away..."

"What?!"

Lady Auequas said causing Ikarveth to shout.

"The headmistress needs to learn about that! That attendant is irresponsible and we need to get his master to answer some questions! There must be something wrong with both of them! I knew that a mediocre fire magician cannot be that strong without something being fishy!"

Ikarveth declared promptly trying to leave the examination grounds.

"Headmistress already knows, you don't have to bother yourself..."

"Ah...!"

But his way was blocked by the gold-haired corpse puppet, Moxeoni, speaking up in a calm voice.

"What do you mean by that?! Of course, I would be bothered by something like that! We are about to wage a war and that master-servant duo might be involved with the enemies of our kingdom!"

The red-haired man growled furiously trying to sidestep the corpse puppet.

"...?"

"...?"

The gold-haired man and the brown-haired woman exchanged confused looks once again.

"...Lord Ikarveth... We need to have a talk..."

Moxeoni's expression darkened and she grabbed the man's shoulder – both of them disappeared in a flash of light the next second without Ikarveth being able to say another word.

"...what did he mean by war...? Did things with the Barbariacca and Atreterve got this far...?!"

Teacher Auequas gasped looking to the gold-haired man of a higher social status for answers.

"I didn't heat a thing, last time when I and the headmistress went to the palace, his majesty assured us that everything would end on a peaceful note...!"

Teacher Shuze shook his head and explained while rubbing his chest with a troubled expression.