“Y-You really won’t move from this place?” With the last bit of her courage, Celes asked me with a cracked voice.

I stopped oppressing them with Mana and gestured to Akari to stop using the illusion. The snakes slowly moved back and disappeared into a mote of green light.

When they were liberated from the suffocating feeling of being oppressed by my Mana, the two girls in front of us sighed in relief. Magiya Blaze wasn’t affected at all because I only targeted the two of them.

She was my dear, dear friend and housemate. She had already experienced my prank enough, and I didn’t need to add some needless oppression to her, or she would cry.

Wait a minute! That might be a good idea! I should’ve made her cry and comforted her later!

“I still don’t believe you. I will have this girl stay here with Magiya Blaze.”

“Magiya Celes?!” The new girl shouted at Celes. Her face clearly paled, and her body trembled in fear. “C-C-Can’t I just follow you? I-I believe Magiya Blaze is s-strong enough to stay here by herself.”

Hearing that, Celes’ expression changed. She looked at the new girl and narrowed her eyes.

“Magiya Aquis, what–”

“She’s right, Magiya Celes. It’s better if she tags along with you to find those balloons instead of staying here. I will be able to hold them by myself for a minute without Magiya Aquis’ help. Besides… She will only be a burden as her element is water, the opposite of my element.”

Blaze interrupted Magiya Celes before she shouted at the new girl. Hah! That haughty girl should thank Blaze. She was about to destroy her reputation among her subordinates despite anger and fear.

Even so, Celes still had the gall to glare at Blaze. I didn’t know that being afraid could drive a human to the point where they could no longer see reality and did something unthinkable. In a normal condition, I believed Celes would be able to make a rational choice.

If she couldn’t even do that, she wouldn’t sit in her place as the current leader of Magiya Temple. I still disliked her, though.

“Are you sure?” Celes asked, still glaring at Blaze.

However, Blaze nodded calmly. As expected of her! She was still able to keep her calm while dealing with such an unreasonable individual. If I were in her shoes, I would blast Celes away with a Magic Bullet. No one would be able to stop me.

The only reason I didn’t do that when I was kicked was I didn’t want to hurt Blaze’s reputation. I knew that the lovely Blaze cared about her reputation among the masses.

“Fine.”

Celes finally relented and nodded slightly. She took a deep breath to calm herself, but Akari only made her mood worse when she suddenly said.

“Are you done? Shoo shoo, we don’t need an arrogant girl here.”

Ouch!

I could even feel the sting of pain in that sentence. I looked at Celes, and sure, a visible vein popped up on her forehead as her mouth twitched.

My partner in crime unexpectedly had a sharp mouth. I liked her more.

“Sure sure! I was not offended one bit when I heard that from a criminal like you! Hear me. I will surely put both of you in jail after I find those balloons.” She exclaimed, pointing at us. Then she turned to Blaze. “Make sure to watch them, Magiya Blaze! I won’t forgive you if you let them go.”

Who was brave enough to say that to Magiya Blaze? Oh, right. She was the arrogant leader of Magiya Temple. I almost forgot about it. Her graceful demeanor on my first meeting was just an act. I see!

I nodded my head in understanding. Then I raised my head and made a gesture with my hand to chase Celes and the new girl, Aquis, away.

“Hey, are you done? My partner said you are not needed. Shoo shoo.”

“You!!” She trembled in anger but tried to keep it to herself. Taking another deep breath, she finally calmed herself down a bit and turned away. “Let’s go, Magiya Aquis.”

“Y-Yes.” The pitiful girl answered Celes’ command and followed her flying away. She turned her head around a little before shrieking in a high pitch when I waved at her.

They disappeared between the buildings shortly after. When they were gone, I looked at Blaze, who was looking at me intensely.

“Now then…” She said, crossing her arms and tapping her index finger against it. “Explain it to me.”

“Hey! Don’t be rude to Boss!” Akari shouted, pointing at Blaze as she stood up. “I will beat you, you punk!”

“Stop that, Umbra.”

“Kya!”

I pulled her and forcefully placed her head on my lap. Blaze looked at me strangely, and Akari was moving around in my lap, trying to get away. Still, she couldn’t get away from my grip, so she gave up and just turned her head to face me.

“But Boss! She’s rude to you!” She continued.

“It’s not a problem if it’s her,” I replied, taking off my mask and turning to Blaze. “Ya, do you like what I did, Blaze?”

“Yes.” She nodded and approached me with a smile. As expected, she liked it! Wait…

I blinked a few times as I noticed her smile suddenly turned scary. I… I had a bad feeling about this.

And my feelings were proved to be true once again. When she stopped in front of me, she then grounded her fist against my head.

“Is that what you want to hear, huh?! Do you know the problem you caused?! The whole city fell into panic. And that Celes!! How dare she act like that when the people are in danger! I know they are not in real danger, so I tolerate it. But… But imagine it if you’re serious about destroying the city?! Huh!?”

“Ouch ouch! It hurts!”

Seriously, it hurts!

I would’ve never expected this. Blaze snapped and got angry to the point she retorted to violence.

“Hah?! Does it hurt? I can’t hear it. Hey, Arsy. Do you know how much trouble this causes me? Are you not going to apologize? I can’t hear a single sorry, you know? Did you have fun watching the city and me in trouble, huh?”

“I am sorry! Sorry! So stop it! I am sorry, okay! But I did this not to have fun! This is necessary to solve this problem!” I shouted at Blaze and caught her arms. Seriously, what would she do if I went bald? Not that I would, but… That wasn’t the point.

“Huh?” She exclaimed in surprise.

Akari also moved from my lap and focused on Blaze.

“Grrr… How dare you do that to Boss?!” Even with her mask on, I somehow could know that she was glaring at Blaze.

“Umbra, sit.” I commanded, and she immediately followed it.

“Kon!”

This… she somehow acted like a dog. Rather, since when did she call me boss? Was she so engrossed in her role? I meant, I let Blaze do that thing to me because I knew how she felt. Akari should be more flexible in her role.

Even Blaze looked at Akari strangely. Maybe because she was with me, Blaze only nodded her head slightly.

I could guess she thought something like, ‘She’s with Arsy, so she must be one of her species. Alright, I won’t think much about her.’ Or something along those lines.

“Anyway, Blaze.” My voice turned to normal once I took my mask off. “I heard Commander Amamiya wanted you to cooperate with me?”

I noticed her body jolted a little and grinned.

“That’s perfect, then. I actually need your help.”

“What is it?” She asked, clearly dispirited. Because of her respect for Commander Amamiya, she couldn’t help but follow her command.

And I, being me, would certainly use that against Blaze. I meant, I still loved to tease this girl. Even if she said no teasing in Kyoto, I wouldn’t stop!

“That’s…” I then told her what I wanted her to do. The change in her expression was marvelous, and I enjoyed every bit of it. Akari also listened like a good girl, still sitting on my side.

Then when I finished explaining, Blaze facepalmed and muttered in a low voice.

“I hate my life.”

“You know I love you, Blaze~”