“Okay, so here’s how this plan is going to work,” Uriel explained, possessing the same energy as a military commander coming up with a strategy of war. “The Sakuranime Con is going to take place a couple days from now. During that time, we’ll need to prepare Glenda so that she can become the ultimate otaku heartthrob—or, as otakus would like to call it, the ultimate waifu. The preparation will be split into two parts: cosplay and anime knowledge. 

“For the cosplay, we’ll need to come up with a set of cosplay costumes for Glenda to wear in order to attract the gaze of as many otakus as possible. The cosplay has to not only stand out amongst the crowd from a purely aesthetic standpoint but must also be of a highly popular anime character. In order to keep things fresh and to capture the attention of the widest demographic as possible, we’ll need to swap Glenda into multiple cosplays. I suggest we do a different cosplay for each day of the convention. Seven days, seven different cosplays.

“For the anime knowledge, I’ll need to help Glenda brush up on the basics as well as get her up to speed on the latest anime trends. The more familiar she is with anime, the better she’ll be at holding a conversation with an otaku. And the better she is at holding a conversation with an otaku, the more likely she’ll be able to seduce them into giving her their precious otaku virginities. Hook, line, and sinker.”

Glenda nodded in agreement with the plan. “Sounds easy enough.”

“Alright, good,” Uriel said. “Now, Glenda, to start off, I’ll need to get a baseline on your knowledge in anime. You said you are a complete beginner?”

“Well, not exactly a complete beginner,” Glenda said. “I do watch anime from time to time, just not nearly as much to consider myself a true hardcore anime fan.”

“I see.” Uriel then handed Glenda a piece of paper and a pen. “Alright, write down all the anime you have watched so far. No need to write down every single one—just a couple that you can think of off the top of your head. Also, try to order them from most favorite to least favorite so I can get a general idea of your personal preferences.”

Glenda did as he asked, scribbling down all the anime she’d watched onto that piece of paper. After she’s done, Uriel took the paper and read the list out loud.

“Hmm, let’s see…Itadaki! Seiki, Mankitsu Happening, Kaede to Suzu…” The further down the list he went, the more confounded he became. “Umm, Glenda? I told you to write down all the anime you’ve watched. These are all hentai.”

“What’s the difference?” Glenda asked with an innocent shrug, as if truly not knowing the answer.

Uriel gave her a blank stare before facepalming himself. “The fact that you even need to ask this question means that we have a lot to work on.”

“One of my favorite anime is Kiss x Sis,” Sloane interjected. “It’s got kissing and sisters in it. And you know how I love kissing sisters.”

“Aww…Sloane,” Glenda cooed as she warmly cupped Sloane’s soft, cuddly cheeks with her hands. “I love kissing sisters as well.” 

“Glenda…” Sloane muttered softly, looking at her older sister deeply in the eyes. 

And with that, Glenda and Sloane proceed to kiss each other on the lips, making out with all the lesbian-incestuous (lescestuous?) energy they could muster. 

“No! Stop it! No!” Uriel protested, trying to break them apart. “Let’s try to stay focused here. No distractions.” Afterwards, he tried scanning down the list to see if there was even a single non-hentai anime on Glenda’s list. “Hmm, let’s see…Oh, I see you put ‘Food Wars’ on the list. Yeah, that checks out. This show fits your preferences to a tee…wait, why is it on the bottom of the list?”

Glenda made a pouty face. “It doesn’t have any actual sex in it,” she said, as if feeling incredibly disappointed by that fact.

Uriel looked at her with a deadpan stare. “Glenda, you do know that not all anime has to have sex in it, right?”

“Then, what’s the point, then? I mean, don’t get me wrong. If someone prefers to watch something without sex in it, that’s their business. But I would prefer a certain ‘spiciness’ to the shows I watch, if you know what I mean. ‘Food Wars’ as an anime is great in all aspects…except for its lack of sex.” 

Then, Glenda suddenly teared up, as if suffering through a traumatic episode when she realized an anime she’d spent hours watching doesn’t have sex in it. As she wept her tears, she ate several pieces of fried chicken, devouring them in massive bites. 

“I was promised sex, goddamn it,” Glenda continued, softly weeping melodramatic tears as she stuffed her mouth full of greasy fried chicken. “I was promised sex and they failed to deliver. I was totally expecting to see explicit scenes of teenage Japanese schoolgirls being violated by giant squid tentacles covered in honey and peanut butter. But no, instead, all I saw were people orgasming to eating delicious food, having all their clothes explode off of them in the process. I can’t get off from that! It’s all tease and no payoff. I feel like I was deceived, hoodwinked, bamboozled. I’ve never felt so disappointed by a show in my entire life.”

Uriel simply maintained his deadpan stare at Glenda, completely lost in figuring out how to respond to her woes. “Umm…that is not the point of the show…” he said awkwardly. Although, it is easy how one can interpret it as such. “Anyway, forget about all that! I’m gonna show you what real anime is about. I’m gonna show you the shows that are going to turn you into a true otaku. We’re talking about shows like One Piece and Demon Slayer and Fullmetal Alchemist.” Uriel then placed a firm hand on Glenda’s shoulder, his tone dead-serious. “Glenda…I will show you ‘Za Warudo’ of anime.”

Glenda sniffled as she looked at Uriel with watery eyes. “Is that…a Jojo reference?”

At that moment, Uriel smacked his head so hard on the coffee table, he might have left a crack on it. “Okay, you know about that but didn’t know that ‘Food Wars’ isn’t supposed to have sex scenes in it?!”

“What can I say? I’ve been around the internet,” Glenda said with a giggle, winking and sticking her tongue out in a playful manner. “Sometimes I just learn stuff through osmosis.”

Uriel sighed as he shook his head in utter bafflement. He may love Glenda, but sometimes, he just can’t even with her.

---

In between helping Glenda out with her anime proficiency and his own regular college studies, Uriel really had his hands full. With all the work he had going on, he barely had any free time. However, he didn’t mind it as long as he could make Glenda happy. Love does have a way of motivating someone into pushing the limits of the amount of work they can do.

As Uriel was heading to class, he suddenly heard someone calling out his name from a distance.

“Uriel!”

Uriel turned to look. It was Michael and Gabriel—still in their long, black priest robes. Almost immediately after spotting them, Uriel decided to ignore them and continued walking, as if deliberately trying to avoid them. Knowing that Uriel would react in such a way, they decide to walk towards him at a faster pace in order to catch up to him.

“Uriel. We need to talk,” Michael said stiffly as he and Gabriel walked alongside Uriel. 

“Really? Cuz I got nothing to say to you,” Uriel replied with a purposely spiteful tone to try to get him to go away. “Now why don’t you leave me alone. I’ve got classes to go to, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Please, Uriel. This is important,” Gabriel pleaded rather urgently. “We’re only going to take a few minutes of your time. I promise.”

Uriel sighed relentingly. Despite being more than ready to reject Michael’s orders, he seemed to have a much harder time declining Gabriel. Maybe because Gabriel was not as much of a demanding hard-ass compared to Michael, which led to Uriel being much more inclined to listen to him. If this was something that even Gabriel was concerned about, then it must be something pretty damn serious.

“Alright, fine. What do you guys want to talk about?” Uriel said annoyingly.

Gabriel and Michael pulled Uriel to a more isolated spot—somewhere at the side of a random nearby building—as if making sure that they won’t be disturbed by passersby. Then, Gabriel pulled out his phone and showed it to Uriel.

“We need to talk to you about this,” Gabriel said as Uriel examined the phone, swiping through the pictures as he did so. On it were photos of Glenda engaging in various scandalous activities with other men. Some were photos of Glenda flirting with other men out in the open. Others were of Glenda literally having sex with them—the details of which were incredibly explicit. “Apparently, your ‘girlfriend’ over here is not as faithful as you think she is. She’s been sleeping around, man. And have been doing it left and right like it’s going out of style. You should have seen how many men she goes through in a day! It’s crazy! Anyway, sorry we have to break it to you. I know the truth hurts, little bro, but we gotta let you know.”

Oh, shit…is this what they are getting all worked up about? Uriel thought, wide-eyed with panic as he nervously darted his gaze between the phone and his two brothers. They think that Glenda is cheating on me behind my back? Shit! They don’t know that Glenda is actually a succubus and that she’s doing all this for the competition. Oh fuck, it’s not like I can reveal Glenda’s secret identity to them either. They cannot know the truth about this! What should I do? How should I explain it to them? I need to come up with an excuse quickly. 

“Oh, this? Uhh…yeah. I knew about this,” Uriel explained awkwardly as he handed back Gabriel’s phone, trying to play it off as casually as possible. “Glenda has told me about this, even before we started dating. The two of us have…an open relationship.”

Gabriel’s jaw dropped as he gawked at Uriel with wide eyes. Meanwhile, Michael stared at Uriel with a skeptically raised eyebrow.

“An open relationship?” Michael asked with a scrutinizing look.

“Yeah. You heard about those, right?” Uriel explained with anxiously shifty eyes, feeling overwhelmingly embarrassed in having to discuss such an awkward subject with his two brothers. “It’s when two people are dating, but they are still allowed to have sex with other people. It is an unconventional type of relationship, for sure, but it’s been gaining a bit of traction among some social circles over the years. A way to sort of go against the rigid and frankly outdated monogamous view we have towards relationships. A way to break free from the cultural norms that society has shackled upon us. Yeah…an open relationship.” Uriel then ended with a smile—a fake smile that he’s desperately trying to make look real and convincing. 

“Hmm…how very interesting,” Michael commented with narrowing eyes. Either he was expressing skepticism or disapproval—Uriel couldn’t exactly tell which one it was, despite knowing him for pretty much his entire life.

“Yeah, that’s all there is to it,” Uriel explained, trying to make himself sound as convincing as possible. “I mean, it’s not like I expect a close-minded person like you to understand, but it is what it is. I knew you guys wouldn’t approve of this—you and your traditional religious values. That is why I kept it quiet until now. But trust me, Glenda and I have an agreement. We’re both totally cool with it. She’s allowed to sleep with however many guys she wants. I’m perfectly fine with it. There’s no foul play here. You guys have nothing to worry about.”

“Hmm…I don’t know, man,” Gabriel said with a bit of uncertainty as he scratched the back of his head. “This girlfriend of yours had slept with about a dozen guys in one day. No relationship is that open. Even prostitutes don’t go that hard. It’s like she’s a sex maniac! If I didn't know any better, I think she might be going for a world record or something.”

Uriel reacted with shock. “You’ve been keeping track?!” At this point, he’s less concerned about them knowing about Glenda’s promiscuous sexual habits and more concerned about them possibly finding out about Glenda being a succubus. 

“Of course we’ve been keeping track! We were worried that you were getting cucked, man. We’re just trying to look out for you, that’s all.”

“Well, now you know. Things are going perfectly fine between me and Glenda. There’s nothing for you guys to worry about. Besides, even if Glenda is cheating on me, it’s frankly none of your goddamn business. As an adult, I should be allowed to handle this on my own. I don’t need my two older brothers looking over my shoulder every moment of my life, meddling in my affairs and coddling me like I’m a goddamn baby. It’s fucking annoying as Hell!”

At this point, Uriel must remain firm. The further he pushes them away, the less likely they’re going to find out about Glenda’s succubus identity. Of course, when worse comes to worse, Glenda could always just erase their memories, though Uriel preferred not to go that route. Something about altering his brothers’ memories just felt icky and wrong to him.

Gabriel gazed at Uriel with a pained look on his face, as though he felt somewhat guilty for upsetting his younger brother. “Gee, I didn’t realize…I’m sorry, bro. We’re just trying to look out for you, that’s all.”

“Well, you guys should stop looking out for me because I don’t want you to,” Uriel stated with a resolute tone. “And I’m pretty sure I’ve already made that perfectly clear when—oh, I don’t know—I ran away from home. You know, the thing that you do when you want to cut all ties from your own family? Or have I not made that apparent enough for you?”

“Yeah, but…I…we…” Gabriel struggled to find words to say to soothe Uriel’s frustration towards them.

“Tell me, Uriel,” Michael interjected. “Have you been sleeping with other women besides this Glenda person?”

Uriel was slightly taken aback by that question. “Well…uhh…no, not exactly,” he said, fumbling with his words.

Michael narrowed his eyes with suspicion. “Hmm, seems like a pretty one-sided open relationship if you ask me.”

“Well, no one asks you. Like I said before, what happens between me and Glenda is none of your business.”

“You know what I think? I think you’re lying about the whole open-relationship thing. You’re just telling us that in order to save face. You don’t want to appear humiliated in front of us and so you came up with this bold-faced lie, is that it?”

“Wait, really?! Is that what this is?!” Gabriel exclaimed, shifting his gaze from Michael to Uriel. “Bro, you don’t have to be ashamed of it if that’s what this is. You can talk to us, you know.”

“What?! No! Of course not! That's not it at all!” Uriel denied with a hurtful look. “You think I would lie about this?!”

“It’s not like you haven’t done more drastic things before,” Michael said with a shrug. “You have already run away from home. You have already obscured the truth about yourself being shot. What’s one more lie to add on top of that, just to get two annoying older brothers off your back? If you think about it, it seems like a perfectly reasonable thing for you to do.”

“Oh my God! I can’t fucking believe this!” Uriel whined, pulling his hair to express his utter disbelief. “No! Just no! That’s not what this is at all! For the last time, Glenda and I are in a perfectly happy open-relationship! Alright?! I am not lying to you about this!”

“You are not exactly telling us the whole truth either,” Michael said, maintaining his doubtful gaze. “I can sense it within you. What are you hiding from us?”

Uriel could feel a pang of unease as he watched Michael look at him with his steely glare—a glare that seemed to almost pierce through his soul. “You know what? Screw this! I’m outta here,” he said as he began to walk away.

 “Wait, we’re not done talking,” Michael called after him.

In a moment of impulse, Michael reached his hand out to grab Uriel by his bag. As Michael grabbed the bag, he accidentally pulled a bit too hard, causing it to fall to the ground. As the bag fell, several of its inner contents—things like notebooks and pens—were spilled out all over on the pavement.

“Ahh, geez! Look at the mess you’ve made!” Uriel complained with immense annoyance as he knelt to the ground and began putting his belongings back into his bag. 

Within that scattering of items on the ground, there was one particular object that caught Michael’s eye, causing him to reach out and pick it up. 

It was some sort of metallic pendant, small and circular in shape. Engraved on it was an inverted pentacle.  

And within this pendant, Michael could somehow sense…a hint of demonic aura. 

Incredibly faint as it may, he could nonetheless sense it—like a subtle vibration triggering right at the edge of his perception. And once he realized what he had sensed, his blood instantly ran cold. 

Uriel noticed Michael holding onto that pendant—staring at it with an almost mesmerized gaze—and immediately snatched it off his hand. “Hey, give it back to me!”

That was the magical amulet Meridiana had given him to allow him to create a portal between here and Amsterdam. Without it, he wouldn’t be able to teleport freely between the two locations. Needless to say, it was an incredibly important item—one that he cannot afford to lose under any circumstances. Of course, in the eyes of a normal human person, it just looks like a regular piece of jewelry, a disguise to hide its true magical nature.

“Uriel…what in God’s name was that?” Michael asked, referring to the pendant—his eyes slightly aghast as he muttered. 

“Oh this? It’s just something Glenda gave me as a gift,” Uriel said, coming up with a simple lie on the fly to explain it away. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. So what if it has a pentacle on it? That’s just a random design choice. A lot of heavy metal bands use this design nowadays. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna start worshiping the Devil or whatever. Stop being paranoid.”

With that, Uriel walked off, leaving Michael and Gabriel behind. As he departed, Michael stared at him with a hardened, unblinking gaze—as if struggling to process the implications of what he’d just been told. That pendant—the one that had a hint of demonic aura on it—was given to Uriel by that Glenda woman. That could only mean one thing.

“Uhh, Mike?” Gabriel said, feeling slightly concerned towards Michael’s ghastly expression. “What’s wrong?”

“Gabriel, I believe it is much worse than we had initially feared,” Michael replied, his voice as rigid and stern as ever. “We aren’t just dealing with an unfaithful woman here. If my suspicions are correct, it is possible that we are dealing with…a demon.”