Yuuto kept staring at his phone screen carefully while wiping the remaining tea from his lips.
"Zelretch…?" he muttered softly, still unable to believe that such a big name had appeared there.
Seeing that, Belfast swiftly took out her silk handkerchief and helped clean the spilled tea around the table.
"Is this new member that surprising to you, Darling?" she asked gently.
"Well… I've heard a little about him from Sensei and Kuroneko," Yuuto replied with a long sigh. "According to them, this person isn't just strong—he's extremely dangerous and… well, incredibly troublesome."
Yuuto finally leaned back fully against the sofa, letting his tired body sink into the softness of the cushions. His eyes stared up at the apartment ceiling.
"Seeing how strongly Sensei reacted to him… it seems this group won't be peaceful for quite some time," he placed the back of his hand on his forehead, trying to imagine what kind of chaos the ruler of the Kaleidoscope would bring.
Meanwhile, inside the chat room, the atmosphere turned into complete chaos. Notifications kept popping up rapidly as the debate escalated.
---
Yamato: Eeh? Lady Avalon?! Why are you suddenly so angry?
Hatsune Miku: Are you okay? It's rare to see you typing entirely in capital letters like that… You're making me worried.
Irene Belserion: An excessive emotional reaction. It seems you know this new member very well. Who exactly is he, Merlin? Explain it to us.
Zelretch: Oho? Hahahaha! Interesting! Very interesting! So in this timeline, Merlin is a woman? Wahahaha! The world never ceases to surprise me! This is truly top-tier entertainment!
Lady Avalon: SHUT UP, YOU ROTTEN OLD TROLL!! STOP SENDING MESSAGES!!
Lady Avalon: Listen carefully, everyone! Don't be fooled by his profile! He may look like a friendly and wise old grandfather, BUT THAT IS A HUGE LIE!
Lady Avalon: You must stay as far away from him as possible! This old man is a devil who feeds on the suffering of others! He enjoys pranking people, messing with fate, and doing interdimensional "trolling" purely for his personal amusement! He will play with you like chess pieces! DO NOT LISTEN TO A SINGLE WORD HE SAYS, UNDERSTAND?!
The group fell silent after reading Lady Avalon's barrage of messages.
In her room, Kuroneko stared at her phone screen, blinking rapidly.
"Aren't all the traits she just described… actually describing herself?"
Yuuto, staring at his phone, muttered, "Isn't this what they call an oversized boomerang?"
Meanwhile, the group notification sounded again.
---
Irene Belserion: Your explanation only makes it harder to distinguish fact from your usual jokes. But one thing is certain… this old man possesses no ordinary power, correct?
Zelretch: Well, well… why are you being so cruel, Merlin—ah, sorry, Lady Avalon? As far as I recall, I've never done anything wrong to you. I'm just an old man who enjoys observing.
Lady Avalon: SHUT UP! Your very existence is already a massive problem for the universe! And remember one thing: DO NOT DARE DRAG MY SISTERS INTO YOUR STRANGE HOBBIES! Do not turn them into your test subjects!
Zelretch: Sisters? Oho? I didn't know you had sisters. I thought you only had one "pathetic older brother" trapped in the Tower of Avalon.
Hatsune Miku: Lady Avalon doesn't mean biological sisters, Mr. Zelretch. All of us women in this group consider each other sisters… because we share the same bond of heart with Yuuto-kun.
Zelretch: …Yuuto?
Hatsune Miku had just begun typing a reply to explain who Yuuto was, but before she could press send, a new message from Lady Avalon aggressively cut into the chat.
Lady Avalon: MIKU!! STOP! DON'T EXPLAIN ANYTHING ABOUT YUUTO TO HIM!
Hatsune Miku: Eh? Why not?
Lady Avalon: JUST DON'T! This old man is a virus! I will not let this dimensional-level troll corrupt the purity of our Yuuto with his twisted ideas!!
Yuuto Kido: Sensei… the way you're stopping Miku is only making the situation worse. You're basically baiting him to become more interested in me.
Lady Avalon: YUUTO! YOU STAY QUIET TOO! You are forbidden from typing even a single letter while this old fossil is online! Hide! Go into airplane mode or something! Run!!
Zelretch: Oho? How protective. It's rare to see you panic like this over one individual, Beast of the Star. Your excessive reaction… only increases my curiosity about this "Yuuto" dramatically. Hahahaha!
Lady Avalon: Argh… DAMN IT!! Listen here, Old Man! Enjoy your time while you can! I'll find a loophole to kick you out of this group as soon as possible!
Yuuto, reading the emotionally charged messages, could only rub his throbbing temples again. He leaned his head back against the sofa cushion with a tired expression.
"It seems Sensei really holds a deep grudge against Zelretch…"
he muttered softly, imagining the headache awaiting him with two troublemaking magi inside one group.
---
Irene Belserion: Your reaction is truly excessive, Merlin. If you hate this new member that much, at least explain to us who he really is so we understand the situation.
Lady Avalon: I REFUSE! I won't waste my energy explaining about that living fossil! Just saying his name makes my tongue itch!
Irene Belserion: Very well. If you refuse to speak… Kuroneko, I saw that you recognized the name. Could you explain what kind of being just entered and made Merlin lose her sanity?
Kuroneko: …Very well, Irene. But before I explain what kind of entity he is, I need to confirm one crucial thing first.
Kuroneko: Mr. Zelretch… in your current timeline, have you already become a Dead Apostle?
Zelretch: Oho? So someone here knows my history besides that Flower Mage? How interesting…
Zelretch: The answer is yes. This old body stopped aging as a human long ago. I am the Wizard Marshal who has surpassed death.
Lady Avalon: Tch. As I suspected. Damn it! We really got the worst possible version of him!
Kuroneko: That means… your life-and-death battle against Crimson Moon truly happened in your world?
Zelretch: Hahahaha! You even know about that arrogant "Moon King"? Yes, that was a painful memory… but very satisfying.
Kuroneko: My knowledge of you is quite extensive. You are Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, the Wizard Marshal… the one who surpasses space and time using the legendary Second Magic, "Kaleidoscope."
Kuroneko: And most importantly… you are a Dead Apostle Ancestor. In simple human terms, you are a True Vampire—an immortal being who enjoys drinking blood.
Hatsune Miku: A vampire?! You mean those scary creatures from horror stories?! The ones afraid of garlic, crosses, silver bullets, hammers and wooden stakes, and that burn under sunlight?!
Kuroneko: Fufufu… how naive, Miku. Those are merely cheap myths humans created to entertain themselves.
Kuroneko: Garlic and silver? Completely useless against their kind. A cross? Just decoration—unless it is a Black Key or a Sacrament specially blessed by the Holy Church and wielded by a powerful Executor.
Kuroneko: Sunlight and a wooden stake through the heart might kill a low-level Dead Apostle… BUT for a monster like Zelretch? Impossible. Such trivial things wouldn't even scratch his skin. He is an anomaly standing at the top of the food chain.
Zelretch: Ho? Your understanding of my kind is quite profound. Then it's my turn to ask—can you explain this group?
Kuroneko: Very well. Sit calmly, Mr. Wizard. I will explain everything from the beginning.
"Looks like Kuroneko is entering lecture mode again. This is going to be long," Yuuto muttered as he leaned deeper into the sofa, preparing to become a passive reader.
But just as he tried to relax, his body twitched slightly. His head turned toward the phone, brows furrowing as if a piece of a puzzle was missing.
Belfast, who had been observing her husband carefully, immediately noticed the change.
"What is it, Darling? You look like something is bothering you."
"Hmm…" Yuuto placed a finger on his chin, eyes distant as he tried to recall something. "I don't know, Belfast. It feels like… I forgot something. Something that just happened… or maybe someone?"
He paused.
"But what was it?" he murmured again.
Eventually, he shrugged and looked back at his phone.
"Ah, never mind. It's probably just my imagination."
---
Inside a repurposed classroom, behind a sliding door labeled "Volunteer Club," the afternoon silence felt awkward as usual.
A teenage boy sat alone at the end of a long table, isolated from the social world around him. In his hand, he held a mysterious flip phone that had somehow ended up with him.
His brow was sharply furrowed, and his characteristic dull, lifeless eyes—resembling those of a dead fish—now radiated deep irritation.
Across from him, the atmosphere was starkly different. Two girls sat close together. The short-haired girl with a side bun radiated dazzling cheerfulness, while the long black-haired girl beside her sat with cold, composed elegance.
"Hey, hey, Yukinon! Earlier in class—" the short-haired girl chirped enthusiastically.
But her cheerful sentence was abruptly cut off by a frustrated mutter from the end of the table.
"Tch… damn it. How does this group even work? Where's the exit button?" the teenage boy grumbled, pressing the phone's buttons harshly in search of a "Leave Group" option.
The long-haired girl slowly shifted her gaze. Her eyes, sharp as ice, pierced directly toward him.
"If you keep staring at that phone with such a stupid expression, your already dead-fish eyes will rot even further," she said flatly but cutting. "Are you trying to spread more visual pollution than you already are?"
The boy slowly turned his body, looking at her with his usual lazy expression.
"Didn't you know? The myth that phone screens permanently damage eyesight is outdated," he replied flatly. "Modern screens are designed to be safe. Infrared radiation and such aren't issues anymore. The worst risk is temporary eye strain from blue light exposure—not organ decay like your ridiculous accusation."
The long-haired girl didn't flinch. She narrowed her eyes and looked down at the device in his hand with disdain.
"That theory might apply to modern gadgets," she replied coldly, "but judging by that antique you're holding… isn't that a relic from prehistoric times? I doubt modern safety standards apply to a technological fossil like that."
"Hah?! What's wrong with old things?" he retorted, slightly offended. "As long as it works, throwing it away is wasteful. It's called efficiency, you know."
Seeing the tension rising over something trivial, the short-haired girl finally intervened.
"Maa, maa~ Yukinon, Hikki! Don't fight again!" she said with an awkward smile. "It's just a phone, no need to argue so seriously, right?"
Hearing her cheerful mediation, the two who were about to start a verbal war sighed. The atmosphere gradually calmed, though traces of mutual mockery remained.
"Yuigahama-san. That wasn't an 'argument,' merely a correction of Hikigaya-kun's flawed logic," Yukino stated coolly, as if closing a courtroom case she had just won.
The boy called Hikigaya snorted. He had no intention of continuing. He slumped back into his chair, spine curved unhealthily, thumb pressing the 'Option' button repeatedly in frustration.
Why the hell isn't there a 'Leave Group' button?!
Yuigahama tilted her head curiously.
"But hey, Hikki… that's unusual. Did you change your phone? That super old flip model? Is retro style trending again?"
Hikigaya stopped pressing the buttons and looked at Yui strangely.
"Hah? What are you talking about, Yuigahama? This is my usual phone. I'm loyal to my belongings, unlike you trend-obsessed, wasteful consumers. Besides, this is a touchscreen—"
His defensive sentence abruptly stopped mid-way.
His mouth remained slightly open, but his voice died in his throat. His dull eyes slowly lowered, staring at the object tightly gripped in his right hand.
It wasn't a flat touchscreen.
It had a hinge.
Physical T9 keypad buttons.
Silence.
Those dead-fish eyes widened completely, losing all trace of drowsiness in an instant. Cold sweat began forming at his temples.
"Eh…? Wait a second…" his voice trembled in pure confusion.
"Whose phone is this…?"