Gently closing the door to Theresa's rented office here in Nagazora, I stretched my limbs a bit as I looked at the time.
1a.m
Normally, I would guess that Bronya and Kiana were asleep by now, but who am I kidding.
Bronya's probably grinding out that MMO that she picked up recently.
Kiana on the other hand… I honestly am unsure?
She could be doing whatever she is doing in her room, or she could be playing some sort of game under her covers.
Normally Mei's presence would pretty much ensure they had a normal sleep schedule, but thing is…
She was here leaning against the wall right now.
And I gotta say, in that pose?
She could aura farm with the best of 'em.
Pushing down the grin that threatened to form on my cheeks, I went over to her, causing her to push herself off the wall.
"Finally done. You've kept me waiting."
"Ah. Theresa had lots of questions," I gestured over to the door. "You could have come in if you were bored y'know?"
"No need." She rejected and lifted up a hand sparkling in electricity. "This free time has been fruitful."
…
What did she come up with now?
"Well…" I cleared my throat to shift the topic. "When do you wanna go deal with that guy? Theresa said it was likely a pseudo Herrscher."
Unfortunately, I couldn't go nuke that guy yet,
Mei had been quite tight lipped even though she was usually very forthcoming with the information she had.
So what changed?
Could it be that she wanted to bribe more things from me with the information?
Maybe. That caviar she asked for that day could be proof of that.
But then again, I did promise her stuff during our second meeting so…
As I racked my brain during the silence after my questioning, I noticed the slight curl of the side of Mei's lips.
"I suppose we could deal with her tomorrow. It is quite late now, isn't it?" She reached into her pocket to pull out her phone.
As her screen turned on, faux surprise was plastered all over her face as she pointed at the time.
"Look at that. Past midnight." She said smugly.. "And what did you promise the coward that day?"
"That… I'd shower before I went to bed?"
"No. The other thing."
"That I wouldn't make my bed smell like a barbeque?"
"The other."
"... that I'd be better?"
At that, a bright smile appeared on Mei's face as she nodded.
"Yes. That one."
I pointed a finger up and argued. "Well to be fair, I just said that I would be better. Not anything else."
"Are you going to argue semantics now?"
Mei's smile was still unchanged on her face.
"Yes?"
Instead of saying anything to my BS, Mei just put her hand on my shoulder.
"Go to sleep, Gojo. And when you're well rested, we can go bully that faker."
"Don't you mean kill?"
"I didn't stutter."
"Ah sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Be bett-"
"Stop." I raised a hand up. Then, I sighed. "I really walked right into that one didn't I?"
And Mei's response was just a teasing shrug of her own.
I sighed.
Guess it's sleepy sleepy time then.
But that's fine. When in Rome, do as Roman's do….
Wait, is that how the phrase is used?
I glanced at Mei again, only to see her sneering as she looked at her phone.
"Those two seem to still be awake. I will deal with them as well then."
…
RIP
Bronya and Kiana.
"What? Why are you staring at me now?" Mei cut through my thoughts with her sharp voice. "My beauty is to be admired, but being so upfront about it is still rude."
I just placed my hands behind my head as I turned around.
"Hehe. It's nothing. I just thought you and Mei have a lot more similarities than I thought."
"Urgh… if that's a new insult you came up with, I will say that it's working…"
—-------------------------------------
A new day, a new scam- I mean scheme.
Sitting on top of the edge of a building, I took a bite of the apple I was holding as I looked down.
It was a girl.
She had long, light purple hair with green and black eyes. With her white school uniform that clearly belonged to Chiba Academy, it was clear who we were dealing with.
"Wow. I can't believe it's another student from Chiba. Who could have guessed that?" I drawled.
"I'm actually a bit curious about this phenomenon as well. I didn't expect that this school would be so cursed."
Mei walked up to me.
"Where are the other two?" She asked.
I immediately connected the dots to her question, linking them to Kiana and Bronya.
"I didn't tell them. I feel like we don't have enough intel about this girl's abilities so I don't feel rest assured letting them fight."
"And you're okay with letting me?" A playful glint in her voice.
"You're 'above' her right?" I said. "I don't wanna look down on them but they're not really gonna be useful in a fight of this level yet."
"Perhaps I should tell them about this." She looked up into the air and sighed. "Kiana, Gojo thinks you're too stupid to stay out of his way. Bronya, Gojo thinks you're a weakling who can only fight with her stand~"
A deadpan formed on my face as I threw the apple up into the sky.
"I think those are more your words and not mine."
And then before Mei could make fun of me for littering, I took out Shamash and burnt the apple core to a crisp.
Her attention was obviously immediately drawn to it.
"That weapon…"
"Yeah. It's my Shamash."
"I remember Kiana said it was her father's?"
"... Let's change the topic."
"You stole it from him, didn't you?"
"I prefer to call it borrowing. I might return it… at some point in time."
As for when that point in time could be, it could be today. It could be tomorrow. Or it could be after the heat death of the universe(if that can even happen here).
"Hmm… I think that the girl is about to head to reach her school. Are you not going to intercept her before then?" Mei suddenly asked. "I'm sure that her being able to take students hostage would be annoying."
Surprise showed on my face.
"I didn't think you would care about any of those guys?" A cheeky grin came on my face. "Don't tell me Kiana's speech had an effect on you~"
The purple haired girl just closed her eyes and looked away.
Ah… I guess she doesn't want to talk to me anymore.
Shaking my head in mirth, I raised both of my hands before I clasped them together
"Blue"
And then, I was gone.