Date

      We finished our meeting with Trico after he told us about our next target: a Demon Lord named Arx. They also served King Caedes and seemed to have at least a respectful relationship with Sero, thus they’d constructed a portal that connected their territories together. From the outside, I’d thought it was part of the castle and never expected a portal to be there. Once he’d given us the details, Trico left as mysteriously as he arrived.

“Should we go get Libero and set off then?”

“Actually, there was something I wanted to do first.”

“Oh? What’s that? Something you can’t do with all the Sitis running around?”

“Mhm, it’s something I need you for.”

My heart skipped a beat just hearing ‘I need you,’ but surely it was something to do with my abilities. Metal? Electricity? Yeah, surely that’s it.

“Sure, what can I do to help?”

     Siti rose from her seat and dragged her chair over beside mine. She said, “Turn your chair toward me.” As I did as instructed, she set her chair down in front of me and sat down, facing me directly with her closed legs wedging between mine.

     She stared directly at me, those amber hues and that charming, devilish smile pointing directly at me; I couldn’t help but look away.

“I don’t know when we’ll have another peaceful moment like this. Not that I think we’ll fail, but with that new Lord, Trico, I don’t know what could happen from here on, so I wanted to see something: I wanted to see what your world is like.”

“Ah, well, I’m not sure how I can show you that. I’m not that good of an artist and I-”

“With your mind of course. Just like I hear the words in your head, I can see the images too. You just need to focus and imagine them. You can do that, can’t you?”

I turned my gaze back to her now-pleading eye and I couldn’t dare hope to decline.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Good! Now, close your eyes and focus.”

     As I closed my eyes and started to imagine, my focus was immediately broken by her touch. Her hands on the back of my head pulled me closer and she leaned her forehead against mine, then set her hands upon mine, holding my rugged, clawed hands with her small, delicate green fingers.

“Wh-where do you want me to start?”

“Hmm, I don’t even know where to start. So just...pretend like you’re showing me around! Ah, like a date! Just the two of us, with you showing me all kinds of interesting, wonderful things from your world.”

“A-a date? Ah, geez, that really makes it more nerve-wracking. I’ve never been on a date before, you know.”

“Then don’t worry about it~ Just focus on your world. Like, say, what was your home like?”

The images flooded my mind as I recalled them as clearly as I could.

“My home? Well, it was nowhere impressive. I lived in a little home with my parents. It was enough space for the three of us and my mom kept it tidy. She’d always yell at me to wipe my shoes off before coming inside.”

“And then a knock comes at the door!”

“Uh? I open the door?”

“And here I am! Your lovely Siti, ready for our date~!”

“Y-you said not to worry about it! And what’re you wearing?! It’s so revealing!”

“I just pulled an outfit from your memories. I’m amazed that Earth girls can be so bold! But it looks good on me, right? A little eye-candy for you, and a little something to make everyone jealous of you~”

“Y-yeah. Well, they’d wonder why you’re green, but you do look great. I guess I’d have to wear something nicer than what I usually wear around the house.”

“Yeah, yeah! Hurry up! My world has houses and roads too, so I don’t care about these! I mean, they look a lot nicer here, and those are some weird carriages, ‘cars’ you call them? But show me somewhere interesting!”

“Ah, then, uh, how about the mall?”

“Ooooh! It’s like an indoor marketplace! Though, even your mind says this place isn’t amazing?”

“I’m kind of drawing a blank on amazing places. My hometown didn’t have a whole lot of incredible stuff. At least, not that I went to. But there’s plenty here. I’ll show you!”

“An ‘anime’ store? They sell so many kinds of things here. Books and, ah, your mind calls these ‘DVDs’? And figurines! These ones are dressed even more scantily than I am!”

“Yeah, well, I don’t buy those ones!”

“But you’re tempted to buy one.”

“Khh! A date doesn’t normally read their partner’s mind!”

“Too bad~ Mmm, but I can feel the strong emotions you have for some of these. Are the stories really so incredible?”

“Mhm. They’re the best. They make you laugh, make you cry, make you so drawn in that you can’t wait to find out what happens next!”

“We should watch one!”

“Ah, I don’t have the entire story memorized, there’s no way it’d have the same impact as watching it.”

“Well fine. When we get to Earth, you can show me then!”

“Yeah, I’m sure you’d love them!”

“You want me to dress up in their costumes huh? ‘Cosplay’ is it~?”

“N-next store!”

“’Video game?’ What’s that? I get a similar feeling to the previous one.”

“Well, they’re all kinds of things. They’re games, or like puzzles. You can solve them and they have all kinds of different rules.”

“Mhm, mhm, you do have lots that you’re very fond of, but you keep imagining me playing the dancing games?”

“Aaaaah you know what? This mall has an arcade so I can just show you some right now hahaha!”

“Oooooh! So many flashing lights and sounds! Its amazing that humans can make all this without the Flow! Come on, come on! Let’s play one!”

“Okay, this one then! You just pick up this device, step on the pedal to come out from cover, point the device at the bad guys and pull the trigger!”

“Like this?”

“Huh? Hey, why are you so good at this already?”

“Naturally, because I’m amazing~ Perfect accuracy, lightning-quick reflexes, huhuhu~ No human can compare.”

“Wow, geez, I don’t even need to help.”

“Oh noooOOOooo~ It seems like my controller is malfunctioniiiing~”

“Hey! Don’t pull stuff from my memory just to lie! Siti! I can’t do all this!!”

“Ah! We lost~ Okay, what next? You keep eyeing those dancing games.”

“Sorry, I don’t even play those games.”

“But you want ME to play it? Think I’d like it? Or do you just want me to be jumping and bouncing around~?”

“O-KAY that’s enough of the arcade for now we can come back later hahaha! How about something to drink? Or eat?”

“I am curious about the kinds of food you have here. But wow, you’ve got so many different kinds in this ‘food court!’ Pick one for me!”

“Uh, what does a plant even like to e-”

“Pick one!!”

“Ahh! Uhhh, how about pizza!”

“Mmmm, ooooh~! This is good! I love how gooey it is! They had gooey cheese in my world, but nothing like THIS~!”

“Oh, I bet you’d like this too!”

“MmmMMMMM!? This is so sweet! And tasty! ‘Ice cream!?’ And there’re different flavors?! I want to try all of them!”

“I don’t even know if I can remember all of them, and they keep inventing new flavors all the time.”

“Try anyway! Feed them to me! One spoonful at a time! Ahhhhh~”

“Agh, fine! Lightning round! Chocolate! Strawberry! Cookie Dough! Peanutbutter Chocolate! Cheesecake! Apple Pie! Orange sherbet!”

“Ahhh! Okay okay! Too much sweet stuff! Hehe, you remembering getting sick made ME sick!”

“Oh, sorry about that.”

“It’s okay, let’s keep exploring!”

“Okay, how about this store?”

“What is all this junk? Shiny rocks and weird statues of old men? What’s a ‘tarot deck?’”

“We don’t have the Flow in our world, but many humans still believe in magic. So this is a shop of magic stuff, or things that humans think are magic. The shiny rocks supposedly have special powers. The Tarot deck is supposed to be able to tell the future. And this is a dream catcher, supposedly it catches bad dreams.”

“Interesting, interesting! But none of it actually does anything?”

“I don’t think so. Where I come from, if magic was real, it’d be a HUGE deal.”

“I see, I see. I like this one!”

“A necklace? Sure, it’s imagination, we can buy it.”

“Put it on me!”

“I, uh, can’t you put it on y-”

“I want you to put it on me!”

“O-okay…”

“Hehe, hey, look at me properly, otherwise you can’t clasp it~”

“Fine fine.”

“Does it look good on me?”

“I think anything would look great on you.”

“Oh, you said that so naturally~ You mean that? You want to go to a clothes store?”

“Mmmm, we can go somewhere more interesting.”

“Ooo what IS this store? Clothes? Toys? Weird stuff?”

“It’s kind of like a trendy store, it just sells all kinds of weird stuff that’s popular at the time. Usually among teenagers.”

“There’s some interesting stuff on the back shelves~!”

“Ahh! We’re not here for those!”

“I’M here for those! You can’t resist thinking about it! Think! Thiiiink~! Let the naughty thoughts flow through you~!”

“I resist! Because! I’m here! For other things!”

“Oh? These costumes? Kind of like cosplay?”

“Yeah.”

“Pick one for me.”

“Huh?”

“You want me to wear one of these. Pick one.”

“I-I was more interested in what YOU’D pick.”

“You keep saying that, but your mind keeps screaming ‘bunny suit! Bunny suit!’”

“You can ignore that.”

“Nope, I’m getting the bunny suit! Hm, should I put it on here?”

“You can’t! This place doesn’t have a changing room! That’s public indecency!”

“Mmmm, then you’re just going to have to wait until we get back home~ Look forward to it. Can you feel the anticipation?”

“You really like to tease me, don’t you?”

“Mhm! I love teasing you! Libero would never play along with me and most demons are just violent maniacs, so I’m really glad to have met you!”

“Yeah, me too. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here. Die, I guess?”

“Yup, you most certainly would have died.”

“But I didn’t. So, thank you for saving me.”

“You’re welcome! You can always rely on me~!”

“And I’ll do my best too, in any way I can.”

“Heehee~ Okay, where too next?”

“I don’t know, there’re so many things I want to show you. Gardens, zoos, aquariums, amusement parks. I just don’t know where to start and where to end.”