XI. Ara Decides to Manage a Pub III

“Why have you picked this place?”

“Because aneki told me so.”

“Just as I thought.”

“Aneki was actually the one that’s supposed to bring you here again, but since we borrowed you from Landlady Ingrid for just a day, and we’re just part of the same body, we really can’t waste this precious day.”

“She can just swap out now since she’s the one that wanted to do this at the first place, don’t you think so?”

“She—She’s resting right now.”

“No she’s not. Just as I thought. You’re being forced to do this. Tell her to come out now. I demand for aneki. Right now!”

“No. Please let me finish what I started.”

Fred looked at imouto’s determined eyes. He then gave up and positioned himself comfortably at the wooden bench to start hearing imouto out.

The two were sitting at the very same place where Ara and Fred first met accidentally. That’s the same place that made the gears turn for her again. That made the place memorable to her.

As instructed, aneki told imouto to bring Fred there. She also happened to know the place since she stumbled upon it a week ago.

“A while ago I’ve told you that you’ve become somebody special to us, right?”

“Huh? Why bring that up now? Seriously, you won’t be able to move me with that again.”

“No. That’s serious. Really… Can’t you just hear me out?”

Fred wanted to believe, but he had already been toyed with by aneki for as long as he could remember. And since he knew that aneki was forcing imouto to explain things at her stead for whatever reason he don’t know too, he thought it might just be another prank that aneki have set up to toy with him again.

But as perfect as the moment was, his unwavering mind was still easily swayed by imouto’s tone. She was wearing a pure white dress; her face looked bright as well as her eyes shined bright due to the city lights; she was the one initiating the talk. For him it felt like several flags compiled in one scene just to completely throw him off guard.

“You see, Ara was still a kid when we started to exist within her. If you would happen to be her classmate, then what would you think about somebody who has two personalities?”

Fred stopped to think. But he couldn’t think of whether he should give Ara an answer or not. But ara saved him by continuing her side.

“Being the overprotective one, aneki have always forced herself out of this body to take over. She always had full control during those times, and just forces her way out for her convenience. She might have had a strong sense of responsibility, but as young as we were, our naivety didn’t really help improve the situation.”

“I… I think I finally get what you’re saying.”

“Yes. We didn’t really have great childhood stories to tell anybody. Constantly changing personalities, ‘Ara’ would be a delightful friendly girl at first. That made the imouto-mode Ara approachable and easy to befriend. Then all of a sudden she would flip 180 and turn into a rough, rebel and tomboyish juvenile. Like, how can you make friends with that. All of the friends I made yesterday, suddenly go and leave my side a day after.”

Hearing Ara’s story stressed Fred. He attempted to get a cigar from his pocket but he stopped. He thought it would ruin the image of an angel sitting beside him.

“That’s. That’s really hard. The two of you kinda reminds me of some demo—humans I know. But at the very least they’re separate individuals. You have it hard.”

But Fred knew that he had it rough too before, even rougher than what Ara experienced. He just thought he had to empathize with Ara so she would make her feel better.

“That situation went on until the very last day I attended high school. I never really had a stable life. It had been very hard for me. I grew very weak as a person, and on my subconscious, I’ve always tend to rely onto aneki at the very convenient times. But at the same time, I’ve grown to admire the way she handles things too.”

“I see… But what does this have to do with me being special?”

It was unfair on Fred’s part to be kept hanging and waiting for the real topic. And since she’s shared a lot about her past now, Ara decided to go onto the main topic.

“You know what’s funny. Oh, aneki still might not know about this. She should also be seeing all of this right now so it’s better. I can tell this story to the both of you.”

“Whoah. Okay, okay. Count me in.”

“There’s this one night when I’m still young when I accidentally found aneki’s hidden manga stash under my bed.”

Fred thought he just had to console Ara for her past. He never thought he would get such a rare story about aneki. Any aneki-related story that could catch her off-guard could be a lethal weapon to her against her toying hours on him. Fred felt he had to memorize every event of such a story.

“No way! Is this…”

“Yeah it’s what you think it is.”

The two connected in an instant. And now they’re both talking from a perspective of a mangaka. So both of them spoke what they both had in mind at the same time:

“Finding a porn mag at the MC’s room scene!!”

“HAHAHA YOU GOTTEM!” –and they both clicked their fingers while being synchronized.

“Hmmmm… So aneki had that side on her.”

“Yeah, I never expected her to be hiding such a thing from me. When we were younger and still hadn’t met you, whenever somebody gets swapped out, she wouldn’t share any memories the other one is having outside. It would just be the physical things and evidences we would see that one is doing something or when she writes a note, telling the other what to do… So knowing that thing really shocked me.”

“Ugh. That’s a pretty complex thing. I’m starting to think the two of you are even more complex to understand than Kyrie.”

“Uwaaah… So that’s how you compare us with each other.”

Ara repeatedly hit Fred’s shoulder while pouting.

“Well anyways. I never expected her to engross herself on such a hobby. Maybe at first she wanted it to be just a way to relieve stress, but later on she took interest on it too. I never had the chance to know, since I couldn’t ask her directly. It’s a secret I’ve kept from her for too long. She only knew she told me about it two years ago when we started working under you. But I already knew it long time ago already.”

Ara still bragged about getting an ‘upper hand’, despite knowing her aneki would scold her really bad once they were alone at that room again later on.

“She’s read many genres, but of course, Ara is a sweet young girl, so most of the volumes she stocked were shoujo and romance ones. I never expected that too, considering her traits.”

“Well I didn’t know it goes way back. She’s told me here before that she loved reading mangas, but this is new.”

“That’s it for the silly trivia. I already sold my safety from her by telling that story to you. I hope you’ll give me something in return later… like a pat from an onii-chan… Hehe… Just kidding!”

“Y-you?!!” –Fred immediately blushed and hit her forehead.

“From here on out, it would be what aneki told me.”

“Sigh… Your imouto-trait is so powerful, you should be careful on whom and when to use it against.”

“Yes, yes, as you wish.”

That concluded the fun part. Ara’s jolly eyes went serious again. What really lied after a short ice breaker was the main talk.

“Okay okay… Well continuing with the topic. Do you remember this place?”

“Of course. I got roundhouse-kicked here twice already. By non-other than your aneki.”

“Good to know.”

“Ugh… Seriously???”

“But that event really was the sign she needed.”

“A sign? What do you mean?”

“She confessed everything to me. That she had been already conflicted for too long about being a hostess at a bar. How long would she continue? Will she be one for the rest of her life? What if she accidentally lost the purity she’s always strived so hard to protect? Then all of the hard work she did will be for naught.

Then out of a sudden, on a random evening, she remembered a silly dream she had when she was young: She wanted to help a mangaka. It was a very long time ago, but it was embedded clearly at her mind. Even at out late teenage already, she would still buy and read some romance mangas.

Being the ‘Ara’ that was constantly swiching gave us a huge disadvantage on living with our daily lives. So even with just reading a very few chapters, buying some volumes, or borrowing one from an otaku classmate, reading mangas had always helped her in a way that just a little bit of entertainment could make her forget about her worries.

That’s how significant these little comic books to her on keeping this little fragile body intact up till now.”

Ara went on with her story and explanation. Fred looked at her and once again, the city lights that shined from the other side of the river reflected some of its magnificent colors to the water and towards the place they were at.

Fred looked at the murky color of the water.

This scene made me remember that one dream I had back at Mytherion. That dream of the story of me and the little kid version of Dax, looking at the far side of the river, not knowing how far the other side extends. That silly dream I had when Morgianna and I went out for a journey, but instead, got stumbled upon the demi-human caravan and experienced events with Dax that triggered to the resume of the long-running great war of humans and demons.

But why am I starting to remember all of that now?

Why did I suddenly remember that dream?

How did I ended up meeting Ara for the very first time here at this kind of place?

Why did Ara thought that I used her as a reference from my previous draft which I used the events from when Dax and I met?

Are all of these by any chance…

“You should know what happened next already.”

Ah these are just major coincidences. No way… Really, no way!

Being distracted by Ara’s sudden question, he quickly gathered his memory from when the two of them first met at the place and was able to connect imouto’s story to what aneki told him. Being able to, he answered Ara to complete her statement.

“My oneshot.”

“Yes… Now for a silly follow-up… Do you believe in fate and stuff?”

Fred didn’t hesitate to answer for an unknown reason he couldn’t explain too.

“…Actually yes…” –Fred murmured, but enough for Ara to hear.

“She was really hooked by your oneshot. She wished that it would get serialized, but thankfully, you’re such a stubborn human being and refused the opportunity.”

Fred looked away. He was guilty, that’s a fact.

“Sorry… I had a ton of reasons…”

“It’s okay though… Even if she wouldn’t be able to read it to finish, something better happened.”

“And that’s… So that’s it.”

“Yes. Her meeting with you. She felt it was fate that led her onto you. At the times she was conflicted and finding for answers, you came storming in without any care and saved her. She was thankful for that. Actually it’s the same for the three of us. If you didn’t come, who knows how long will I still be at a deep slumber? I might’ve really been forgotten and cease to exist if that would be the case. Same for Ara-ara too. She wouldn’t come to existence if you hadn’t helped Ara that night.”

Ara stood up. She ran towards the railing near the riverbank. She then bowed down.

“Thank you Fred. This this for the three of us, Ara as a whole. Thank you.”

Fred was flustered. He looked away while blushing. He still couldn’t face Ara(imouto) at her purest white and beautiful form well.

“I—It’s nothing… It’s fine. You’ve helped me a lot too.”

It was time for Ara’s farewell. She had to tell Fred for a proper closure.

It was not like they’re lovers. She’s not a girlfriend that decided to break up with her lover because she’s about to go away or some sort. But the scenery and feel made it look that way. That’s what somebody would think if they were to stumble upon them, making that scene.

Fred remembered the very scene at the same spot, two years ago, when the two of them were too happy, talking about mangas and stuff and the series of events that led to Ara being one of his assistants.

Perhaps that moment Fred must have considered the place to be special too.

Perhaps that moment Fred must have considered Ara to be special too.

He looked at Ara that was already thankful and teary-eyed. It really was a fun two years for her.

He wanted her to stay. But just like how he was from his previous life, he couldn’t. He knew it would be best to let others decide what’s the best for them. Not very fitting trait for a Maou. It might just be him and his fatigued body reaching its limits that made him remember things he would rather not again.

There sitting at the bench, he thought:

Ah, maybe that’s why I wasn’t really that successful as a Maou. I’m still repeating the same things here on Earth. As much as I hate it, if this will help her find closure for her past experiences and make her a better person, then I’ll let it be.

He looked at Ara say those last words as one of his beloved loyal assistants.

“Fred. I’ve… We’ve decided to manage the pub. We… Ara can’t be be your assistant anymore. We shall hereby resign.” –then she bowed as a sign of gratitude.

“I accept.”

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