The rest of the day went by surprisingly peacefully.
We managed to get our figure right without having to rely excessively on corrupted guidance.
After school was over, I just headed home, had dinner with Mum and Kuri, which was partly provided by my interdimensional fields, and went to bed.
Then I went for a dreamless sleep after instructing Kuri to wake me in the morning.
Nothing above really getting to rest.
A bit of serenity is appreciated from time to time.

 

"Whoosh"

"Whoaah!" (C)

 

I stare startled into the room.
Seeing flesh growth, puddles of black ink, and clouds of miasma scattered all over.
And in the center, Chiaki, creating some kind of golden energy shield with her hands that covers the whole front side of her body.

 

"You could really do without exploding in the morning, Iori! You're quite snappy when waking up!" (C)

"What the heck are you doing here, Chiaki?!" (I)

"Your mum let me in. She said you're still sleeping and I could wake you up." (C)

 

Wait, my mum let her in?
Doesn't she know how problematic my rest can be?
There's a reason why I let Kuri with her invulnerable smoke body do it.

 

"Nngh, why didn't Kuri wake me up?" (I)

"Well, your mother thought that it's your free day and you deserve a rest. I mean it's already midday." (C)

 

Midday!?
What the heck!?
Why did Mum let me sleep so long?!
It's not like I have any benefit from my dreamless slumber.
I could sleep five minutes or five millennia and wouldn't catch a difference, according to Zika.
Coming from my own experiences, I wouldn't say she's wrong.

 

"Damn. Sorry for... well, that outburst?" (I)

"No biggy! I know you tend to be grumpy in the morning!" (C)

 

Sigh.
I just unleashed unspeakable evil onto her.
I should probably be lenient now.

 

"Fine. Whatever. Please, give me a moment to clean this up." (I)

 

What's strewn in this room is basically all a part of myself.
For this reason, it's not that much of a difficulty to merge it back into a part of mine.
However, the method I end up applying might be slightly peculiar.

I let my right arm transform.
This way it ends up unwriggling in thousands of little tentacles.
As much as this feeling unsettles me, I got enough similar experiences at this point to keep my cool and can start using the tentacles to suck all the problematic stuff that shouldn't be left to its own devices back into the endless expanse I call my body.
What makes this especially odd is the fact that, to me, it gives the decent impression of using a very advanced vacuum cleaner.
Like a model that has countless heads that individually track any kind of malicious filth and suck it in.
I only have to swipe my arm in the general direction and in the shortest time it's all taken care of.

 

"Wow! If I could clean like this it would be super easy. When will this be up for sale?" (C)

 

Like never?!
Oh, damned void!
I even get now the idea of how I could create a portal to my dimension, apply it to a corresponding construct, and detach it from my body.
So basically, I could provide it.
The newest trend in household amenities.
The cleaner, model: Eternal Nightmare Sucker.

No, forget it, I won't do that!
At most, if I don't find anything else as a gift for Chiaki's birthday.
And even then only a tuned-down version.
I have principles!

Now that this is taken care of, I can finally get to the pressing matters.

 

"What are you doing here, Chiaki?" (I)

"Can't I visit my best friend?" (C)

"Sure, but call it corrupted divine instinct, but I feel like that's not all there is to it." (I)

"Well, yeah. I wanted to ask you to help me with a little something." (C)

"Your 'little somethings' tend to become 'huge somethings', Chiaki." (I)

"I don't know about that. So would you accompany me?" (C)

"You failed to convey what I'd even get dragged into here." (I)

"Okay, okay. I wanted to talk with Soraja about your offer. Since you're an involved party it would help if you're present. You can explain better than me what exactly the implications would be to this. As you were the one to bring this up in the first place, I think it's fine if you follow up on it, right?" (C)

 

Well, she has a point.
I can't offer a goddess a place in my realm and then act like it has nothing to do with me.
On another note, has anyone understood how utterly ridiculous this last sentence was, objectively spoken?

 

"Fine, you got me. I'll come with you. When did you want to go?" (I)

"Well, right now of course!" (C)

"Oh no, you won't!" (S)

 

Mum!?
Has she superhearing nowadays?

 

"Miss Nomia? But this is important!" (C)

"That doesn't change my decision. You won't go and talk with some peculiar lady unsupervised. Not before you got something to eat! It's, midday and Iori didn't even have breakfast!" (S)

 

Right...
Should I've seen that coming?
Even Chiaki stands defeated.

 

So we consume a hearty meal and are subsequently confronted with another problem.

"How exactly do you intend to get to Soraja's place? You don't like teleporting and the bus takes like forever. We would barely make it there and back before it's evening." (I)

"Can't you just somehow fly us over?" (C)

 

Seriously?
I seldom heard something as stupid as this.

 

"Chiaki, I won't even get started about no-fly zones, which are a thing by the way. But do you seriously believe I would turn into a giant lindworm, letting you ride on my back, and fly us over, while the whole city is about to get a general panic stroke because apparently the end of the world just started? No, sorry, but I decline." (I)

"Awh, but it sounded so fun!" (C)

"Chiaki!" (I)

"Yeah, I get it. Just good that I have another way of getting to Soraja." (C)

"You have a way?" (I)

 

Why am I just now hearing about this?

 

"Well, she gave me a prayer! That one should basically transport me straight to her." (C)

 

Yeah, sure.
Just use the stuff that elder ladies who are concerningly infatuated with you hand out to you.
There's certainly no issue with this.

 

"Alright. Then let us port there." (I)

"Ehm, please Iori, don't take this as an offense, but it might be better if you don't teleport into Soraja's realm." (C)

 

Why?
Isn't it inconvenient if we use two different means of transportation?
That's like using two separate planes to fly together to vacation.
On the other side, my mind reminds me right now that my presence is killing Soraja.
That makes for a good reason not to come too close.
However, it might also make it harder to lead a conversation.

 

"I'm aware that I'm harming Soraja, but how am I supposed to talk with her if I can't accompany you?" (I)

"You know, harming her is one thing, but she also really doesn't like to clean up behind you. For this reason, you should teleport into her forest and wait at the entrance, so I can prepare things a bit. You know, for a smoother transition into the talk." (C)

 

What's the chance that Soraja just snatches Chiaki to get her away from my influence?
Still, I would probably be able to follow behind wherever they're going.

 

"Sigh. As you wish. But don't complain if she gets a little too close and I'm not there." (I)

"She isn't all that bad. Just stuck with having a bit antiquated values, overly dogmatic, and maybe rather stubborn." (C)

 

Then you two are truly a perfect match it seems.

 

"Sigh. I feel like I'm acting somewhat irresponsible here. Is it really okay for you to go to that person?" (S)

"Iori is literally invincible, and I get along with Soraja! There's nothing to worry about!" (C)

"I hope you're right. I wouldn't want to have to explain this to your mother for the police interview." (S)

 

Yeah, I guess that's gonna become difficult.
However, even Chiaki looks uneasy at this outlook.

 

"Uh, I promise that nothing's going to happen." (C)

"Fine. But call me if it's going to take longer." (S)

 

Unfortunately, there's a slight problem with this.

 

"Well, her place is in another dimension. I fear I won't get a signal there." (I)

"My... Then at least call out when it's possible." (S)

"I will." (I)

 

Mum still doesn't look completely satisfied, but ultimately gives in.
With this, there's only one thing left to do.

 

"Okay, I'll start now with the prayer!" (C)

 

We make some space for her in the living room and she sits flat on the ground.
Then she starts mumbling some kind of sutra that at first sounds like total gibberish.
However, once I concentrate with a bit of shifted interest on the lines, they kinda start making sense.

 

<...and open the path of gold to guide my weary soul to your realm of plenty!> (C)

 

Okay, seems like my demonic super mind can translate ancient scriptures.

 

That's... neat to know.
Especially, as this recitation has the concrete effect of letting Chiaki's energy stream out of her body, gather in front of her, and form into a flat vertical rotating disc.
One look at this thing tells me that there are stupidly strong forces involved in this.
So Chiaki does the only rational, sensible thing, and jumps right through this rift in space that may or may not rip her apart.

 

"I seriously don't know where she got that reckless streak from. Her parents are so composed." (S)

 

That might have to do with her reincarnation cheats.
Yet it could also simply be linked to the fact that she's crazy.

I prepare myself to teleport into Soraja's forest when I suddenly feel a tug on my arm.

 

"Mum, what about me?" (K)

 

Soraja doesn't really like her.
Well, she doesn't like me either, but there's no reason to make this more problematic than it has to be.

 

"Could you please stay here and watch out here for mum? I need to do this by myself." (I)

"Okay!" (K)

 

And she's in mum's shadow.

 

"Sigh... Please watch out for Chiaki, Iori. She's probably going to need it." (S)

"Will do." (I)

 

And with a single thought, I'm in a lush forest, flooded with sunlight.