"…. So…. She IS the one that saved me?" – asked Akrema.
"Yeb. I'm the one." – said Ayako.
"…. Huh. What is up with the hostility?" – asked Ayako as she noticed Akrema acting weirdly to her.
"Well… When I look at you… I remember two things. Black sphere and pain." – said Akrema.
"Those are probably the memories of the Tale I had murdered, since I used these so called "black sphere" to murder the Tale." – said the black haired woman.
"However, you cannot remember anything big, right?"
"…."
"No…. I only remember these two things." – said Akrema.
"Welp this is an normal side effect." – said black haired woman.
"Unlike Autos who remember everything as their time as Tales, the Tale Bearers only somewhat remembers the stuff the memories of the Tale. Sometimes they recover some memories over time, while something they don't at all, its quiet random and it depends on the person as well."
"So yea, calm down and stuff, since you own me your life."
"…"
"Fine." – said Akrema.
"…."
"Hm?"
"What is it? Still don't trust me?" – asked Ayako.
"N-no…. It's just… Well, I want to know something." – said Akrema.
"Are you human?"
"???"
"!"
"Oh! Yea, I'm human. I'm not oni or anything like that." – said Ayako.
"I'm plain old human."
"Bullshit. You are monster that looks like an human." – said Shuten with skeptical look.
"Hey. When you look at her, how old- "
"Shut it drunk oni." – said Ayako with big smile.
"…" – Shuten smiled back before then flipping off the woman.
"…."
"…."
"Em….. So, are we going or…?" – said Akrema, breaking the silence in the house.
"…Yea, let's go." – said Ayako.
"…"
(Is she hiding something from me?) – though Akrema.
(Shuten said that she abandoned me after rescuing me for some reason, but why?)
(If she used the Tale and made me into the Tale Bearer in order to save me, why did she abandoned me? It does seems like she knew what would happened if I were try and fight.)
"…."
(Did that so called "Dancing Swordsman" attacked her too?)
(…If that is the case, then what the fuck is that thing?! Honestly, I don't want to find out if possible.)
"…Hm?"
"Wait, now that I think about it, how did you two found me? I moved quiet far away. Did you put something like tracing device on me?" – asked Akrema.
"Something like that." – said Shuten.
"Anyway, its better if we stop asking questions and move already."
"…. Okay." – said Akrema before moments later the group left the house and began wondering around the streets.
"…"
"So…. Are heading back to where we split up before?" – asked Akrema.
"Yea. We were pretty much close to the exit." – replied Shuten.
"But then this "dancing swordman" appeared?" – asked Akrema.
"…Yes." – said Shuten as the group continue walking.
"…."
"…."
"So…. Are you part of some sort of secret government organization that deals with this world and stuff or something? Like the organization that consist of mages and all sort of otherworldly stuff?" – asked Akrema.
"Hm…. Pretty much." – said Ayako.
"Well, I'm. But Shuten isn't."
"?"
"You are not?" – asked Akrema.
"Nah. I'm not part of their organization." – replied Shuten.
"But sometimes I do help them out, so maybe think of me as mercenary or something like that."
"…. Okay….?" – said Akrema.
"…"
"Question. You aren't some organization to be just pretending to be good guys while in reality being an secret evil organization that is behind everything or is planning on using this different world to do some stuff like conquer the world or maybe remake all the reality in your image." – said Akrema.
"…"
"Noooooooo?" – replied Ayako.
"…"
"Why….. Why did you gave that kind of very unconvincing "Noooooooo" answer?" – asked Akrema.
"I mean, its movement. Of course they are evil." – said Shuten.
"Hey. Fuck off." – replied Ayako.
"Anyway. You." – said Ayako as she turned Akrema.
"Are you thinking we are some sort of evil organization from the games or mangas that pretends to be good guys, helping out the main character and stuff, with him even being part of our organization, only for us to reveal our true intention and destroy the world?"
"…."
"Yeb." – replied Akrema.
"…"
"Well…. We are not." – said Ayako.
"I kind of didn't trusted these guys either as well, but I can now at least vouch for them that are not bad people…. Well, expect for the director. That bastard is an bitch."
"…"
"So what will happened to me?" – asked Akrema.
"Will you arrest me or something, throw me the prison and interrogate me about what had happened to me?"
"Hm…. Well, that is unfortunately the problem. We don't know who you are and having somebody like you walking around, armed with an ability to turn into monster and possible kill people won't be an good option." – Ayako.
"…" – Akrema stopped for moment, with was noticed by the pair.
"So, what next? Will you force me to join your organization or something? Since I'm Tale Bearer? Or will you kill me or something in order to get the Tale out of my body?"
"…"
"Oh please." – said Ayako.
"You think you can fight me?"
"I killed the Tale that you had inherited and you don't know how to use its power properly yet nor your body is adjusted to it either."
"Honestly I can just knock you out and the next thing you knew, you are in the jail and have every single part of your body strapped with chains."
"…."
"Anyway, you will be probably locked up for some time, since this is standard procedure and you are completely random civilian that has no experience with magic and stuff."
"How do we know you won't go crazy with this power or something? There are cases of the people going nutjob once they got an taste of a power."
"So, here is an question."
"Would you let lose that kind of people?"
"What if as soon as we let go of these people, they go berserk?"
"This isn't some complicated questions or question of morality, it's just safety."
"But if you are really just some random poor soul that isn't evil, then we will let you go."
"…."
"Bullshit." – said Akrema.
"I get what you are talking about gal, but she isn't lying." – said Shuten.
"Its like mages and some creatures like onies. They are not keeping tabs at every single one of them."
"The same applies to you, but the problem right now that you are an unknown factor with could be in reality an hidden bomb."
"Honestly, if you were just psychopath, I would just murdered you on the spot. I'm not even joking right now. Having that kind of people getting their power on this stuff is way too dangerous." – said Shuten.
"…."
"Fine." – said Akrema as she started walking again.
(It's not like I can do anything to them either way. She is right. My body is in completely messed up state… Hell, you don't even need to be shattered to deal with me. Some random guy with pipe can take me down now.) – though annoyed Akrema.
"…"
(Not only that, but Shuten can easily take me down.)
(Hell! I smashed these shattered, but she straight up obliviated them! I ain't fucking with her! And that woman apparently killed the Tale that killed me! NOPE!)
"By the way, I'm picking you up again." – said Shuten.
"?"
"Wut?" – said Akrema before getting picked up by Shuten again.
"I really don't want to waste any more time, so we are running straight ahead." – said Shuten.
"Wait Wh----aaaaaaaatttttttt!?" – Before Akrema could give an reply Shuten began running at full speed while carrying Akrema body as the black haired woman quickly fallowed behind.
The group quickly ran through the city, ignoring the shattered they encountered or just destroy any that stood in their way.
It didn't took long for the group to arrive at the location where Shuten and the dancing swordman fought, with was very noticeable as Akrema stared and saw countless cuts around, even one of the buildings having giant slash mark, with ended up alarming Akrema.
However, she wasn't allowed an moment of a rest as the group quickly left the area, continue running though the forest and buildings, before then finally arriving at something that shouldn't be there.
An giant base that did not looked like it belonged it. It wasn't something you would see in the city nor the entire thing wasn't covered in plants.
"?!"
"What is this place?!" – asked Akrema as she was put down and saw the giant base that was also surrounded by the trick wall.
"An base of operation." – said Ayako as she began approaching the mechanical gate that moments later opened up, letting the group enter.
Welcome back, miss Ayako. I see you had brough new survive." – said the man that is wearing an lab coat.
"Yes and she is case C. I will be bringing her back out to the real world and contact somebody from the other side for the medical scan, since we need to see is she is okay or not." – said Ayako.
"I understand." – said the man before then walking away.
"…"
(What is this place?) – though Akrema as she looked around.
(Is it…. Military base? It does have some vibe like that… But it's not that.)
(Or maybe this is an military base but some magical one instead?)
(There is also that wall…. It looks like its mechanical though… So is it like an mix between engineered and magecraft, or something…. Wait, the fuck is that?!) – though Akrema as she saw an giant humanoid like monsters made out of the rocks, lifting boxes.
"…. Say…. Wouldn't those be… Golems from fantasies?" – said Akrema with curios look.
"Hm? Oh yea. Those are the golems." – said Ayako.
"Are that surprising, knowing that the stuff like mages and monsters are real?"
"…"
"Can you make an 5 giant mecha golems that represent different animals and then combine together, creating super mecha warrior?" – asked Akrema.
"…"
"Pffffffffffff!"
"HAHAHAHAHAH!" – Shuten started laughing while pointing her finger at the Ayako.
"…Shut it." – said Ayako with straight face.
"???" – Akrema stared confused.
"Oh, my LORD! You just had to say it …. Hahahahah…" – said Shuten while trying to catch her breath.
"Shut it oni!" – said visible angry Ayako with further confused Akrema.
"H-hey! Listen to this! This idiot- "
As soon as Shuten started talking, the woman lifted up her arm and the space around it began warping, right in front of Akrema eyes.
"…"
"Do you really want to go at it? Black witch?" – said Shuten with serios tone.
"Yea. I maybe want to. Maybe I want to beat out that smug look of yours." – replied Ayako.
"…"
*Ekhem*
"I'm sorry if I did something wrong, but you please stop it?" – asked Akrema.
(Honestly speaking, all of my senses are screaming "danger" when I look at them like that! And I don't want to be anywhere near these two if they would start fighting each other.)
"…"
"Tch." – Ayako backed away, returning the space around her to normal, calming down the situation.
"…Anyway, are you coming back with us Shuten?"
"Yea. I'm going home." – replied Shuten while stretching.
"I think I have more than enough adventure for now."
"Anyway, can we go now?"
"…Yea, fallow me." – said Ayako as she began leading the group towards the large building, before then finally entering it.
The group began walking through the building, meeting different people, each one wearing different clothing, with even some of them wearing military gear, causing Akrema to suspect them to be soldiers, with also caused Akrema to get nervous.
"…We here." – said Ayako as the group stood in front of giant door that moments later opened up, revealing something unnatural.
An giant space that was twisted and cracked like glass, giving an appearance as if the entire thing both mixed while also giving an appearance of an shattered mirror while also reflecting different lights, causing the entire thing to emit faint glow.
"…"
"Em… Is this thing…. The way out?" – asked Akrema that was both suspicious and scared by the unknown shattered space.
"Yeb. This is the thing. The Stable Twisted Crack." – said Shuten.
"I know it looks scary and stuff, but honestly speaking its completely safe."
"Well, you may feel weird when using it though. As if you are both walking and swimming at the same time."
"It may also feel somewhat confusing at first, so I will just hold your hand just in case." – said Shuten before grabbing Akrema hand as Ayako without hesitation walked towards the weird twisted space, entering it, causing her body to change shape and crack, before then dissevering.
"…IS IT REALLY SAFE?!" – asked Akrema after seeing what had happened to Ayako body.
"Oh, don't worry about it. It was…. Visual effect…. Thing…. Anyway, lets go." – said Shuten as she began dragging Akrema against her will.
"?!"
"H-hey! Hold on!" – said Akrema as Shuten entered the weird space before then dragging Akrema into it.
Akrema stepped into the weird space against her will and as soon as she entered it.... Her vision cracked.
The cracks of her vision were misplaced, making it look like the entire space was like was misplaced puzzled pieces…. Before then it started twisting, cracking more.
"Ugh?!"
(She wasn't kidding?! It does feel like I'm swimming and walking at the same time, but not like when you are walking on the surface underground.) – though Akrema as she continues walking through the space as it began cracking even more, twisting even more… But also, now changing colors.
Moments later the cracks and twists started began slowly changing backs, somewhat returning to normal before then finally returning to their original state of just misplaced puzzled that slowly started placing themselves on their own correct, and then finally, Akrema stepped out of the unknown space, causing her entire vision to turn to normal.
"?!" – Akrema looked around herself, noticing that she giant room she was in before, but now all of the walls, even floor had an green color.
"Are we…. Are we back?" – asked Akrema while looking around, while also noticing the distorted space right behind her.
"Yeb. We are back." – said Shuten.
"Welcome back to our orginal world."