Juuto entered the room behind the woman. Quickly, she shut the door behind them, leaving him alone with her. Unsurprisingly, the room they entered was empty, save for the lone table in the center. It was dim until she flicked on the switch, not wanting to open the shades to allow sunlight in.

It took the man a moment to adjust his eyes to the bright light in here. Meanwhile, Marie plopped her bag onto the table and began to take her things out.

“I can help with that.” He offered, but was rejected by her stare.

“There’s not much I got. So I’ll take care of it.” She told him, taking out an outfit. He would’ve figured that she’d have more clothes, but that woman only took out a few outfits. They were strange too, since they appeared to very traditional dresses. Not Japanese traditional, but something he would’ve expected to see in a medieval fantasy setting.

“So, um, where are you coming from?” He asked her, trying to break this awkward silence. Why would she ask him to come inside, if she didn’t seem to have anything to say to him? There was something wrong with this woman, he could feel it in his bone. “England? France? Maybe the states?”

“It’s not really important.” Her response caused him to feel more dread. The way she put on those gloves she took out of the bag made the man believe he was about to meet a gruesome end. “What was your name?”

“I’m… I’m Juuto Sakai.” He answered, finding it difficult to hide his fear. “My friends, they’re Rame Maou and Mifuru Miyagi.” Juuto figured that perhaps he could try and convince the woman how nice her new neighbors were. “The two of them are pretty cool. I work with Rame down by the 8-Twelve convenience store. Maybe you should stop by sometime to buy some things?”

“Rame...” Marie repeated that name with a hint of disgust in her voice. “That’s the short one, the one with the red hair, right?” He nodded his answer to affirm. “You work with her?”

“Actually, I’m her boss. But yes, we do take the night shift together.” What type of conversation was this? It didn’t feel like something that normal people talk about when first meeting. Those weren’t icebreaker questions, they felt more like questions one asks to gather information. He needed to find a way to get control back. “So, why did you decide to move here?”

“Funny you should ask that.” She cracked the first smile he had ever seen. Yet it was one of the most frightening things the man ever witnessed. Marie walked up to him, leaving her bag drooping from the table. “Juuto… Sakai.”

The woman made her move towards him, and he backed away in response. She brought her hand up and before his very eyes. Light began to emanate from her fingertips. From that beacon of light, a sword materialized out of thin air. A swift move and she…

***

“They’ve been in there a while.” Rame was getting upset about him going in there. Though not because it seemed to be a dangerous idea. No, it was more due to this odd feeling she had in her heart that the girl never felt before. “What are they talking about?”

“I’m not sure, but perhaps it is a better idea for us to wait for him inside.” With it now being December, the weather was getting a lot colder outside. Rame reluctantly agreed and the two entered their apartment room to wait for him. Obviously Juuto should know where they went after he was done talking with the woman. Meanwhile…

***

The blade flew right at his head. He slightly moved it to the left, and thankfully she wasn’t aiming to hit him either as it stuck into the wall. Juuto was fully aware now of what type of person she was. More importantly, he also had an idea on where she had come from.

This was another person from Enatis standing before him.

“I knew it.” She muttered. This woman now had an angry expression on her face. Her brows were furrowed as she moved in closer towards him.

“Knew what?”

“What’s your name!?” She spoke in a threatening manner. Marie could tell with his reaction, that this wasn’t the first time he had seen this type of magic.

“I-I already told you. My name’s J-Juuto Sa-Sakai.” He spoke with fear in his voice. It seemed that one wrong move, one wrong word would spell the end for him. “I’m just a manager at a local convenience store, that’s all.”

“Really? Looks to me that you’re working with that devil of a woman.” She said, referring to Rame. “I bet you’re also a demon, aren’t you? One of her lackeys, I bet you were trying to get me to lower my guard around you all.” Marie wasn’t going to be falling for any tricks around this bunch. For she was a hero, and heroes take out monsters like them.

“You… You got it all wrong.” He made an attempt to defend himself. “I’m really just a normal human from here. But I’m guessing you’re from Enatis, right? The same place that Rame and Mifuru are from too?”

“Right…” She retracted her weapon from the wall. It was no longer pointed at him, but still at the ready should he make any moves. “What do you know about her?”

He told her that he was aware of her position back on Enatis. That she was the demon lord known as Pluto, and that she had come here to escape after being defeated someone.

“...In order to live in this world, she needed to find work. So that’s how we ended up meeting, but I had no idea who she really was back then.” From the way he spoke, Marie believed that she could believe him. That man didn’t seem to be lying.

“I see… A shame to be held in hostage by that beast.”

“Well, actually we are friends.”

“Are you an idiot?” She sent a cold glare his way. “You said it yourself, you’re aware of the terrible things she’s done. Why would you continue to associate with her?” If he truly was the boss at work, then surely he could just fire her to make that girl suffer as well as avoiding all the problems she brought along.

“Look, we just are, okay?” Honestly, he couldn’t come up with a proper answer to that question. Rame did bad things, and should be punished for it. Yet, he knew the girl that worked with him during those night shifts. It was like the person he knew was different than the one everyone else seemed to know. What they described was someone that caused destruction, while all he saw was someone building others up.

“You humans truly are an odd bunch.” Marie had seen her fair share not only since arriving here, but also the ones that seemed to fall through onto Enatis. She never could get used to how they acted. “Looks like that’s all I’m getting out of you.”

“If that’s everything, now what?” He couldn’t just leave. This person seemed to plan on killing Rame and Mifuru. Yet, what could he possibly do to prevent that? “I doubt I can convince you not to hurt them.”

“I don’t intend on hurting them. For now at least.” She said. “My mission is to observe them. Otherwise, I would’ve laid waste to this entire building by now.” That made sense to him. This girl wouldn’t have taken the time to move in here if all she had to do was summon that sword and cut them down.

However, all this left him with was more questions. Who sent her? Why? And what is up with her magic? All the otherworlders seemed to be limited in their powers, with the exception of Akitomo. Perhaps those two were connected? All these things were going to have to be dealt with eventually, but for now. Juuto was concerned with his life.

“If that’s everything.” He gave a polite bow and inched towards his only exit. “I guess I’ll be going now.”

“Hang on.” She stopped him right as the man was about to open the door. “I have one more thing to ask of you.”