With a sea of clouds in the background, a young woman wearing a sleeveless black dress with vertical stripes was sipping a cup of green tea while comfortably sitting around a little round table. Once her cup was empty, she put it down and smiled.
"Ah, here you are! Take place, take place!" she said with a joyful tone. She indicated the seat in front of her with her silver-clawed black glove.
"Where is she?" she coldly asked.
"Usually you say things like 'good morning', but we suppose you do not enjoy yourself at the moment, do you?"
"Where is she?"
"Would you like tea?"
"I ASKED YOU WHERE SHE IS!!!"
"... At your left?"
Shogo quickly turned to her left and saw Alexandra sitting on a white chair. She had short black hair with a peculiar strand on top, empty silver eyes, and was wearing a nun outfit.
"Mast—" Shogo stopped short, realizing that she was sitting herself around the little round table, a tea cup in her hand.
"It will not turn cold, but we suggest you drink it quickly." the woman said.
"..."
Shogo eyed the woman with hostility.
She looked like a mermaid or lamia depending on how you interpreted the hand-like tentacle-clothes wrapped around where her feet were supposed to be. Equally, you could call her an angel or a demon depending if you decided to ignore the rabbit-like horns on top of her head, or her crescent-shaped halo.
Her neck was encased into a collar with a silver chain hanging it, and her denuded back would be totally exposed all the way down to her hips, if it wasn't for her absurdly long sky blue hair whose color changed to black around the ends.
In short, she was an otherworldly beauty with a devilish figure, and an angelic demeanor. Though, Shogo couldn't see her as anything but a demon…
"It is pointless to glare at us!" the woman quipped, making a dismissive move.
Shogo stared at her for a few more seconds and sighed.
"Miss Trivia…" she said in a low voice, her fingers on her forehead.
"Yes?"
"Go away." she replied, pointing at the sea of clouds.
"Eh? No, we don't want to do that! This place is peaceful, there's no fights, no hate, no drama—" Trivia began.
Shogo interrupted, "No. Stop procrastinating and do your wor—"
Trivia interrupted the interruption, "We refu—"
Shogo interrupted the interrupted interruption, "Do your fulfilling useful calming kolorful idiotic nonsensical garbagey work."
"That's 'colorful'! With a 'c', you know? A 'C' like 'Cappuccino', you know? Also what is with the praises at the beginning of that poorly disguised statement? Do you want to pick a fight with us? You are looking for a fight, aren't you? Very well, we will take you on anytime! Come at us!"
"If you can be so excited, just leave me alone and go back to where you belong, stupid witch. Shoo shoo, go away." Shogo said, making a dismissive move with her hand.
Trivia seemed distressed. One could say she was even about to cry like a child.
Looking at her, Shogo felt something complicated and troublesome. About 3 years ago, she probably wouldn't have been able to tell what it was exactly, but now, she knew perfectly – it was annoyance.
Yes, for her, this woman was a demon. A harmless, lazy and childish demon who couldn't do her work properly without wanting to desert every 5 minutes, and that was getting on her nerves for WAY too many reasons for it to be healthy to talk about.
That was how she saw her – Trivia, the Witch of the Gate.
"You… You are so cold! We just came to monitor you two!" Trivia protested.
"You can do that using the eye you gave me." Shogo pointed out, indicating the woman's bandaged eyes.
"Oh, we suppose our presence is unneeded, is it not? It is denied even. How deplorable, A's children are so ungrateful," Trivia complained, the corner of her mouth down. "We just wished to discuss the events of the last three years, nothing more!"
"I don't believe that."
"..."
"Stop slacking please."
"But we… are not slacking? Could you… please calm down?"
"I am calm. I simply DO NOT wish to talk to you. Stop bothering us, and go to work."
"Um… listen… I – I mean, WE – ARE currently working, so accusations are baseless!" Trivia said, flustered.
Shogo got up and took Alexandra's arm. "I don't have time to listen to you rambling about how hard your work is. Why don't you try becoming a doll? I might help you understand that everyone doesn't have it as easy as you do."
"Could… Could you stop the verbal abuse? We… We are high-ranking witch, you know? A demon you know?" she replied, almost crying.
"So am I."
"What are you talking about, you thief?! Argh! That's it, give us back our right eye, you… you loafless sandwich!"
"And what is that supposed to be?"
"Well, considering we like our sandwiches with lettuce, tomatoes and boiled eggs, that would be an egg sala— Hey! THAT ISN'T THE POINT!!!" Trivia hit the table, getting up.
Trivia easily gets distracted…
"Can… Can you be serious for a second?" Trivia asked, seemingly out of breath.
"Sorry, I suppose I should respect my superiors," Shogo apologized, bowing her head.
"S-So you DO remember that part…"
"Yes. An embarrassment, truly."
"WHAT IS?!!"
"Though, if you allow me to speak crudely—"
"WASN'T EVERYTHING UP UNTIL NOW CRUDE?!!"
"You are making them afraid."
"Them?"
"Look for yourself."
With her hand, Shogo indicated her left – standing at good distance of them, were many girls and women with white hair, pale blue eyes, and brown skin. Some looked hostile while others looked frightened. Either way, none of them dared to move.
"Ah~... them…" Trivia mumbled, pensively.
"One of them was killed this morning. The culprit was probably… It was the… that thing the other girl is carrying everywhere."
"Nunda?"
"Yes, that. They aren't really witches, they can't remember it, but they can more or less see you."
"And they think we are the culprit?"
Shogo nodded. "Their minds are partially connected so they remember the victim's last moments."
"But not the culprit for obvious reasons..."
"Yes."
"Ah… And since they know what we are, they think we killed that one, and erased the memory?"
"Yes."
"What about you?"
"Don't worry. I know the truth so I won't make the same error," Shogo said, raising her head. "Though, you are partially responsible for that thing's existence so you should apologize."
"We will, but that wasn't our question."
"Excuse me?"
"Now, you are the one playing dumb."
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"Who killed that person?"
"I told you. That thing."
"Nunda?"
"Yes."
"Who killed that person?"
"That thing."
"Nunda?"
"Yes."
"Who killed that person?"
"What are you playing at?"
"What is the name of that thing?"
"..."
"Ah~... We think we understand now, but... just to be sure – what actually happened here 3 years ago?"
Shogo now had a complicated expression on her face. She rolled her eyes to think before letting out a deep sigh.
"Ah… I guess I should explain that to you at the very least," Shogo said, a slight smile appearing at the corners of her lips. "After all, I owe these peaceful times to you too."
Trivia looked in Shogo in silence.
Shogo took Alexandra's arm again. "Come with us," she said to Trivia. "It will be easier to explain by showing you."
"... Well, it can't be helped, we suppose we could use a walk or two."
Shogo nodded and gently pulled Alexandra. "Let's take a stroll, Master." she said to her with a low voice.
The girl didn't reply or resist. Slowly Shogo made her way toward the girls who, in response, stepped aside to let her pass. However, while they did the same thing for Trivia, the latter could feel far more hostility in their piercing gazes than she could ignore. Sweat rolled down her temp as she passed through the crowd, her lips pursed, and her hands not knowing where they needed to be.
"(Ah~... Maybe I should've stayed in bed today…)" she thought, though she knew it was pointless to think about that now. Nobody was forcing her anyway – if she felt too uncomfortable at some point, she could just go away. "But if I do that… urgh… work…"
Trivia clenched her right fist with determination – this was for the sake of procrastination, she had to give it her all!!!