I. Assistant -1?! – part 1

Modern Earth, 20xx+3

“Nom Nom Nom”

It was a good morning for Fred as he woke up knowing that he won’t have any deadlines to catch.

He’s currently a mangaka with a monthly shoujo serialization. He had enough stress he musters up while needing to meet his deadline with his scary ‘so-like-yankee’ editor. But life was so hard that it told him stress was not enough.

Several unknown factors had been added to his stress accumulation: The existence of his two out of this world assistants: mainly Kyrie, a genius do-it-all gothic Lolita that always loved to hit him with a painfully hard folded fan (harisen) for fun; and the triple split-personality literal meat tank Ara. But his two assistants weren’t the only ones that planted a bug on his daily life. Lately, a self-proclaimed fan and rival which was created between the unison of the elements of retardism and chuunibyou** codenamed Anemone started living at the unit beside his’. Fred proclaimed that she was tasked by his previous oldies editor to forcefully observe and bother his daily life.

To top of his cake with a cherry, there was this Landlady that fully pledged to exist for the sake of making him fall in love with her.

To him, waking up on a morning inside his studio without any deadlines to think of was surely a blessing.

He could be the person with the least of worries to think of currently in whole Earth.

Everybody’s normal and he could spend his day just sleeping more.

If and only if that’s just the case.

“Nom Nom Nom…”

Fred scratched his head. But he looked like it was not new to him. Instead of asking himself of the why’s, he started flooding his head with the how’s.

“Ara… Ara… Wake up. I don’t know how but at least leave before Ingrid enters the door.”

Yes, one of his assistants was sleeping on the same bed with him, buck-naked.

Creeeeeak…

“Freeeeeeeeed…”

A cold woman’s voice crept from the door.

The place they were Fred woke up was the only rest bed at his studio. His studio was the customized unit 7 that was passable through a connecting door from his unit 6. But the connecting door was not the only option to enter his studio. To make things fair with his assistants, the original door of the unit was kept as the main entrance purposes of those who kept trying to ruin his daily mood.

And today that door was supposed to be used by of course non-other than Ingrid, the Landlady to wake him up for his deep slumber.

For some reason she became too madly in love with him and he was asking why but she wouldn’t budge from dropping a hint why. As time went he just accepted the truth without being fed with any proper reasoning.

And that became his very own basis that at that moment, his very own life was in danger. He wouldn’t want Ingrid to see her tenant Ara (skip the flirting, but advancing her moves) sleeping with him for no reason at all. He had to reason out that nothing really happened and they just slept together for whatever reason he never knew.

The door was slightly open, and a sinister face of someone with 140% intent to kill was peeking at it while looking at them.

Fred had no time. Even though nothing really happened and there was really nothing to hide, Fred had no option but to cover the snuggling Ara fully with his blanket. He had clothes on but Ara had only her underwear.

To sum it up, a death flag was set on him.

“Look, nothing’s sleeping here you see? It’s only me. You saw nothing and it’s just your illusion.”

Step…

“Look, it’s not like we’re already going out. I’ve accepted your feelings but never did we have any confirmation about going out, okay?”

Step Step…

“Look, I’m really not a player. I don’t even know why it ended up like this. You remember Ara said she’s no feeling well and went home earlier last night right? After we finished up I slept here. That’s all I could remember!!”

Step…

“Look, nothing’s sleeping here you see? It’s only me. You saw nothing and it’s just your—”

Flip

“Nom Nom Nom… Fred… stop cuddling… It tickles.”

Ingrid flipped the blanket over and uncovered the snuggling half-aslept Ara, now visibly shown only wearing her sexy black underwear.

“HIYAAAAAAAAAH!!”

“No wait Fred, why are you the one surprised?”

“Oh wait, yeah I was the one who saw her first. Wait NO!!! Why are you here Ara!!!”

“Hooo-hummm… Oh Fred… Good morning…”

The devil succubus-like Ara glistened her face with a bright smile and greeted Fred in front of his self-proclaimed lover. That was one of either romcom or betrayal drama series starters.

“Ingrid I’m tired of bailing myself out of this situation. Instead, can we throw away her body to somewhere it won’t be seen until it decomposes?”

“Hmmmm. Great idea. But how about you explain yourself first before I throw away yours?”

It was a truly sudden but his second assistant Kyrie was already standing before Ingrid and Ingrid was already holding the deadly harisen*.

With a voice of a wet kitten in the rain, Fred pleaded with “But I slept early…”

HIIYAAAAAAAAAH!!!

---

Ingrid was an owner of a so-maintained apartment complex near the borders of the town.

The whole lot area of the complex was about 300sqm, with each of the unit’s floor-size of 30sqm. But the spacious yard at the front where each of the tenants could do their random activities covered a huge area of the lot that the number of units that could fit a floor was reduced to four.

Ingrid could earn enough capital to expand the floors for increased number of units but being a cautious landlady, she kept the floors to two and the maximum number of units to eight.

The reason was simple.

The thought had always been within her once she started the business. But lately, several oddities had miraculously swarmed over her humble complex where all she wanted was to have a good relationship with normal tenants.

The appearance of Ara was so sudden that she just popped out of nowhere just right after she finished restoring most of the functions required for a normal-operating apartment complex. She thought that she was just helping a poor lost soul that seemed to have no direction in life.

Then every impression started to crumble after knowing the nature of her work and the nature of her split personality. She had suspicions, but eventually everything was proven after Fred’s appearance.

Not too long after accepting Ara (who was by that time, a nocturnal), the living for fun Kyrie arrived, and stormed every corner of her patience. She was a princess-like personality from a dominant family which, by the time God let rain all of humanity’s intellect, the kid’s DNA expanded a funnel to make a catch basin of everything and pour onto her tiny little brain.

Ingrid didn’t want to anger her family, but she managed to control her as much as she could because even just a bit of a moment she let her loose on her activities, she always starts to light a candle on an exposed nuclear power-plant or some sort of exaggerated real-time outcome.

Lastly came Fred, a former Maou from planet Mytherion that died not for their sins, but…, really was just killed by Yuusha and died. He got transported to Earth though and put a heavy burden on Ingrid as the bearer of his saddest truth story ever.

Being a caretaker of these three stooges was not enough. Lately Fred was so enthusiastic in his profession that he started to gather another batch of hard to control people, especially two elders and one at a proper working age but with a mentality of a kindergarten.

The trend has been set. Of course she wouldn’t want to expand her business just to gather more people like them.

There was never a normal day since the three of them gathered at her apartment complex. Even more lately, another once was added to her list of potential humanity-threat level tenants.

A not-so-normal day included this.

Nothing could hurt more than seeing the man you love being in a bed with another girl. They weren’t even in a proper relationship yet.

But that’s just as far as it goes. Despite being the way they were, Ingrid and the other girls at her complex made a vow that only Ingrid should be the one to make advances with Fred. Each of them had their cases, and that was how far it goes. They’re not really into Fred or something. That’s why they promised to support their kind Landlady on her romance too.

As far as the fourth tenant, Anemone. She seemed to just aim for Fred as her ultimate rival.

Staaaaaare…

“HIII!!! Fred save me! Landlady is trying to kill me with that killer glare. Freeeeeeed uwaaaaaah!!”

The scared Ara(imouto) clung onto the confused defendant like she had nothing to do with his current trial.

“I promise Ingrid I’m not doing anything! In fact, aren’t I a victim too? Besides, It’s not like we’re—”

Thud!!

“Ouch! What was that kick for?!!”

“That kick is supposedly for Ara.”

Thud!!

“Ouch!! Wha—”

“And that’s for you, for ruining my morning.”

Ingrid just wanted to let off some steam. To compare what just happened in terms of gaming difficulty, Ingrid just encountered a C-class difficulty quest with an extremely annoying boss and no reward whatsoever. A truly end-game side event.

“Here, catch!”

HIT!

“Ouch!! What was that for? You purposely flung a junk of metal in my forehead!” –Fred was shaken when Ingrid thrown something to him.

“It’s the keys on my unit. I’ve left breakfast there. I was planning to bring some here, but this scene spoiled the mood.”

“Uh… Where are you off to?”

“Of course, I’m working. Can’t freeload on my complex forever as much as I want. Besides, I’ve used up all of my leaves.”

“Oh… wait, really? You’re working?!!”

Thud!!

“Idiot. What made you forget something so trivial? Drowning yourself in alcohol to forget something and drowning yourself to work to accidentally forget something are two different things. You can’t do that.”

“That’s the fourth one! I’m going to charge you with assault! What if I’m seriously injured and couldn’t draw anymore!?”

“Then I’ll be happy to kick you out. Along with Ara. Well it seems like both of you will be fine yourselves.”

“HIIII!! Please landlady! I’ve got nowhere else to go!”

Ingrid was just joking. But the mood forced her to half-meant what she said. The two just didn’t knew.

Going to work explained the way she was dressed with office attire. Besides running an apartment complex, she was also working full-time at a small office downtown.

She then turned away to head out, but at least she didn’t forget her responsibility and passed it to somebody ‘trusted’, which was Fred who really had nothing to do that day.

“Ah. Wait Ingrid!”

“What? I’m going to be late.”

She was already that grumpy. But Fred still stopped her.

“’I’ve got something to talk later. Can I barge in at your place?”

“Okay.”

Shut…

…

…

“Now you will explain to me how did you managed to get in my studio even though it’s locked.”

“Eh? Fred… Aren’t we… allies?”

THUD!!

That morning Ara went out of the studio with a big lump on her forehead.

---

“Phew… what a day…”

After entering her unit, Ingrid opened a button of her shirt to freshen up and dropped her bag at the center table, beside a hot coffee which was just placed there for her to drink.

Ingrid slowly laid her aching back on the cozy small couch. She needed some rest.

“Yeah. What a day.”

“WHOAH! DON’T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!”

“No I’m surprised that you’re surprised. You’re the one that gave me your keys. Sigh… sorry. My bad. In any case. There, drink some coffee.”

“It’s already evening; you want me to palpitate or not get any proper sleep? What if my body goes out of shape? I could only see demerits for you for your coffee offer.”

“Is office work really stressing you that much? Can’t you just go fulltime on being a landlady?”

“Not really that stressed out compared to you. This is normal. Anyways, I think I’ll take on your offer.”

Ingrid reached out for the coffee cup and took a sip.

“Hmmm, nice flavor. I’m surprised you managed to pull this out.”

“Come on, am I really being branded as a good for nothing but drawing person? I could really do things if I put effort in it. It’s the same back at Mytherion. I really recall telling you stories of almost everything on my childhood back there.”

“I know, I know, learn to appreciate a joke, will you?”

“The way you’re looking isn’t of somebody who could still crack a joke at the end of a stressful day.”

“I told you I just needed a rest… Like this.”

Ingrid put back the cup of coffee at the table and rested her body at the couch. She then leaned towards Fred and rested her head at his left shoulder. That made Fred almost jump out of surprise. It was nothing new to him but the way it was delivered like that surely brought an audience impact.

“Wha— so suddenly?!”

“I’m a good girl, aren’t I? Just give me a pat on my head already… A good office girl should get a reward from her househusband after a day of hard work.”

“What are you talking so suddenly. You could get easily misunderstood if you talk like that…”

That made Fred blush. He tried to shrug of Ingrid’s teasing but eventually gave up.

“I-if that’s what you want…” –he then gave Ingrid a quick pat and followed up, “Bu-bu-but I’m only doing this to relieve some of your stress. It’s not like it has any deeper meaning or something…”

“My my… is this the fabled tsundere? Now that really relieves my stress. Fu fu fu!”

“You jest! Quit playing with my feelings. I’m telling you I’m really this close on getting back to Mytherion!”

“Sure, sure. Come back anytime you miss me.”

Fred pushed Ingrid away out of annoyance. Ingrid continued her precious Fred-brewed coffee and opened the topic.

“So. What is it you want to talk with me? You said it back this morning.”

“Ah... That…”

“Is it another story?”

“No… It’s about Ara.”

“I’m going to kick you out if you started telling me something really happened last night. No. I might even kill you here right now.”

Even though Fred was safe that nothing really happened, the way Ingrid looked at him with that dimmed yandere* expression sent chills down to his deepest being.

“No no! That’s not it!” –Fred did his best to divert Ingrid’s focus on what he was about to tell.

“The truth is… It’s Ara’s manager. I recently found out that she’s getting calls from her manager at her previous work.”

That was when a flashback came upon Fred. The memory was still joggled, but he was able to remember something happened that happened the previous night.

---

“But… But… I’m currently happy living with them… I can’t just leave them… I can’t… I’m sorry, manager…”

Fred was woken up from his deep slumber by Ara’s mumbling beside him.

A chapter was just finished and submitted which passed Seria’s expectations, and he was already at the point where he couldn’t care even a millimeter for the things that’s happening around him, so he just left scolding Ara to tomorrow’s him.

But before he finally passed out of stress, his attention was diverted onto Ara that very moment.

Even with the darkness within the room, the moonlight the slipped through the window made something shine at her cheeks.

She’s crying…?

---

Ingrid looked at Fred and immediately got what he was talking about. She encountered several flashbacks too about seeing Ara being called several times that she had to excuse herself from the group.

“Do you know about her previous work?”

“Yeah. How about you?”

“I already had the idea. I first met her near the red lights.”

“I see… She’s being offered with something to come back, huh?”

“And that’s what’s making her conflicted.”

“I think… There’s nothing much I could help regarding this. But what about you? What do you want to do?”

“I wanted to help her as much as I could, but…”

“In the end, the decision is for hers to make, huh…?”

The two then looked at the TV that was currently off. Pretending to watch something out of the pitch-black LCD and the dim light of the room, the two racked their brains out to think of something that could give Ara a push on deciding.

“I think I could use a smoke.”

“Me too…”