Chapter 918 New ‘Baby’ Sitter

Medusa immediately departed as soon as she got ready and the first thing she did was to try getting in contact with Kisuke. Thankfully, after a few rings, Kisuke was able to pick up her call, "Medusa~ Glad to see that you've arrived safely. How are the others?"

"Everyone arrived safely as well, but I'm worried about those who are left behind.", replied Medusa while hearing small explosions going off in the background, although it was being muffled, "Are you busy?"

"Quite, but not really enough to keep me from speaking with you." Kisuke replied with a chuckle, "And regarding Yoruichi, Serafall, Hestia-sama, and Artemis-sama, there's nothing that can be done as of now. All we can do is trust them. Besides, the situation over there is already stable. The only threat is the parasite within the Dungeon, but that's not our problem to solve. We've done enough to give them the necessary arsenal to take that on."

"So there's nothing else that would happen aside from that?"

"As long as the Black Dragon isn't defeated, nothing else should happen. However, we don't know everything and something like the descent of the Gods could happen anytime."

"But that's still not our problem, right?"

"It isn't. We only took care of the three Gods' descent because they were convenient as the girls' practice partners. Even if we didn't get involved, Chaos or the Dungeon would have taken care of it themselves. Though if the situation was something that could earn us favors from Gods, I think Yoruichi would move out to secure those."

'I hope I can earn that trust from you in the future too.' Medusa smiled softly as her beautiful long purple hair swayed in the air, "Then I'll put my worries to rest."

"How about your sisters? Are they with you?"

"No," Medusa shook her head, "After feeling Athena's lingering Divine Power within the Belial Mansion, they refused to come out."

"That's too bad, but I won't ask you and your sisters to get along with her. It also doesn't matter if your hostility towards her disappears or not, so don't force yourself if you think you should be friendly with her just for my sake."

"I'll be sure to convey this to them." Medusa was very thankful that Kisuke was making this clear as she did have the idea of getting along with Athena despite her not feeling good about it for Kisuke's sake, "By the way, I'm currently being asked to look after Riveria and Aika by Sakura-san. If they are planning to stay for long in the forest, I doubt I could hide from Aika. I want your opinion in case I'm discovered."

"You can do whatever you want, but in my opinion, you don't have to hide. Just join them and you'll have an easier time."

"I can do that?"

"Of course. I'll apologize to her parents later and tell them the whole story. Aika only needs a strong shock to unlock all of her memories in any case."

Medusa was confused at his words for a few moments but recalled the current state of affairs and understood what he meant, "Show her the other side of reality, huh?"

"It'll be her baptism and maybe Riveria-san's too. I'll leave it to you."

"I'll do my best, but you will need to apologize to Aika herself too."

"...I don't want to get punched on the face, though?"

Medusa giggled, "It's a cheap price, don't you think?"

"...Put in some good words for me?"

"I'll try, but I doubt that'll do anything."

The two of them talked for a bit more before Kisuke disconnected because he couldn't afford to speak anymore. At that time, Medusa had also reached the forest and used her eyes to scan the traces of Magic Power before following it. It didn't take too long for her to locate the two, but before she could reveal her presence, she stopped and watched Riveria perform a Flash Step in shock, 'Did Kisuke teach her how to do that? But that's strange... I can only find a small trace of Ki and that shouldn't be enough to perform that technique.'

But as she further watched, she could only exclaim inwardly, 'Demonic Power!? As far as I know, neither Kisuke nor Yoruichi had developed the Flash Step to be usable with Demonic Power! How is she doing it!?'

"Who's there!?" Aika turned around in her direction in panic. The fluctuation in Medusa's emotion created a discernable wave through her camouflage and revealed the soul pressure that she had been trying to hide from Aika.

Riveria also stopped whatever she was doing and grabbed her staff, ready to respond to any threat.

Medusa sighed to herself and revealed herself by coming out of the shadows, "I'm sorry for startling you both." she said while also thinking, 'Good thing I talked to Kisuke before coming here... I was discovered a minute after arriving.'

Aika was very surprised when she detected a person that was already incredibly close to them. And while her beauty was phenomenal, what caught her attention the most were her jewel-like eyes behind her glasses.

"Medusa?" Riveria muttered, "You've returned?"

Aika turned to Riveria and asked, "Your friend?"

Riveria was a bit startled and looked at Medusa with a wry smile, "That's a bit sad, isn't it?"

Medusa nodded with the same wry smile, "Truly. Though, not for long."

"W-what's up?" asked the confused Aika.

Riveria turned back to her and said, "We're, at most, acquaintances. But for you, she's a dear friend."

To that disclosure, Aika didn't know how to react and could only bow her head and say, "I-I'm sorry!"

Medusa approached her and put her right hand on her shoulder while she used her left hand to lift her head. As soon as Aika met her eyes, she saw a gentle smile coming from Medusa, "Please don't apologize. You did nothing wrong."

Aika could only stare blankly at her and after a few seconds, tears started to silently fall from her eyes, "...Eh?"

She didn't know what came over her, but she was feeling incredibly happy for some reason and she couldn't help but tear up. Aika immediately tried wiping her tears, but they were not stopping.

Seeing this, Medusa slowly leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her, "It's okay. Everything is fine."

Aika didn't know what she meant but the warmth and reassurance during her confusion opened the floodgate as she began to sniffle before grabbing Medusa. She didn't know who Medusa was, but this stranger's presence seemed to be what she'd wanted all along.