"Remember that one arc in A Witch's Last Tour where Miss Mogu knew everything for three days?"

"Uh-huh...?"

"Well, the one who cursed that brought upon him stated that she will know everything, and he meant everything. That meant in his terms, good and bad magic—almost like white and black magic. Miss Mogu can enjoy all sorts to the point that the limit to everything is her imagination. The twist is that she also gets to know the bad side of everything, so it's no ordinary golden teapot tale of three wishes. It meant that Miss Mogu would also go through the bad in it with the good."

"So you're saying this is like the good and evil dichotomy?"

"Absolutely."

I spent the morning of Monday, March twenty-eighth, flashbacking one of the last conversations I had with Miko.

The conversation we last had before her birthday goes all the way back to March fourteenth because I lied, that afternoon where I almost got lost around Ruruteru after dropping Ala-chan to where her house is and ended up in the library around City Square, unsurprisingly I did meet ways with Miko. Yeah I know, very anticlimactic.

While I checked on the library's counter to see if the latest volume of A Witch's Last Tour had arrived, Miko surprised me on my back with a peek-a-boo!

"Guacamoles on steroids! Don't give me a heart attack or you'll spend the rest of your life paying my hospital bills!"

As such, presented her signature chuckle and greeted, "Why hello there, Akko!"

Sadly enough, that was the last time Miko greeted me with such an innocent and pure-hearted soul and flair—before her birthday. Her greetings seem to start a trend of series where it has a different twist every time we meet.

After my business in front of the library's counter, Miko invited me for an afternoon snack treat. I agreed on the notion and followed her. Confused at first as to why Miko led the way towards the back of the library, little did I know the City Square library had a cute corner for snacks and such like an eatery. I was surprised because in any of the libraries that I have encountered in my life, they never, ever allow food and drinks, and yet this library just screamed a middle finger at the libraries that restrict edibles by placing a food corner—or food court?

Nothing fancy, Miko treated ourselves to a sandwich treat—and she paid for it which means my savings will go up by little to no more than a footnote in history! And that's where we started conversing heavily, continuing with the fragment of our conversation we had earlier.

"Hm. . . . I don't quite get it."

She put a finger to her temple, "Well, can you recall the other arc where Mogu almost broke down and all of her magic turned into black magic because she was severely distressed?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"'More or less the same thing as Mogu possessing everything that's bad as much as her possessing everything that's good. Life just has a limit of how much you possess. Basically, Miss Mogu knowing everything is like blurring the line in that good and evil theory you mentioned, it's like trying to confuse oneself if heaven and hell is good and bad respectively."

"Wow Miko, you sure put a lot of deep emphasis and analysis on a light novel that seems to be targeted to young adolescents or something."

"Well, it's not that it's an easy-peasy story if it's targeted for a young or elderly audience—or any story outside of the demographic you're in, every story has an essence and lesson built into it. Even many people are still mystified and often perplexed at The Little Prince. A Witch's Last Tour is a balance of an innocent-looking title and storyline on top of the frosting, and the sheer depth of humanity and familiarity on the cake. It's like thinking to yourself 'Ah, this is a rhythm game, maybe I should turn the speed to 1.0 so it'll be easy as heck,' but in the end, you have a flood of notes which makes it worse."

"Now that you mention it, is there any difference between when you read this book when you were young and when you're currently an adult—something like that?"

"It's like visiting your favorite theme park as a child then later on as a stressful and workaholic adult." she replied.

Ohhh, I get it. I guess we're on the same train of thought after all.

She sighed heavily, "Oh golly, when will A Witch's Last Tour ever get an anime adaptation?"

"First, we need an adaptation of this book," is what I wanted to say—"I'd love to have something to watch, though I bet many people, even elitists, would be confused at first if they watched some plain slice-of-life series, an action, or psychological one."

"You got a point there, there's always gonna be a trade-off when you translate something, or like a lost-in-translation dystopian kind of wonder."

"Like how there's no such thing as a perfect map?"

"Exactly." she laughed with the purest yet enthusiastic ones I've ever heard, "Funny Akko, it's weird how we always click when we talk."

Shoot, did she inherit the "____ Akko" from Ala-chan?!

"Me too actually, it's the first time I had a friend that's this educatively talkative. I don't know how to explain it—like it would be the same sensation if I were friends with a guy of my age talking about games or something."

"A guy—oh that's right, we were your first friends," I'm surprised she knew that I didn't have friends up to this point, "How about Alachii and Tomochii? My, my Akko, don't tell me you have favoritism among your friends..." she covered her mouth.

"No no... not like that. I also enjoy talking with the both of them. I just don't know if they'd like nerdy informative talk that I always do. I'd imagine Ala-chan being bored from it outright and trying to shift to her interests most of the time. I bet that's the same Tomo would do to me."

"Aww, Akko...If you have something to express, you do it while you're alive and kicking!" she exclaimed. God, that line didn't age well. "I'm pretty sure they'll love you for the fact that Akko is Akko, and I'm on that boat!"

She does have a point, nothing will change unless I leverage that change. It's like making a purpose for the solar energy that I harness.

"By the way," Miko leaned forward, nearing my face, "How are things between you and Tomo though, is she still sulking around you or something?"

"Not that much compared to when I told you about it—oh right, she confessed to me."

"Oooh, that's good news."

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

"Wait, WHAT?!" that was a ten second lag of a reaction coming from her.

"Yup, she had a crush on me somehow." I casually continued.

"Hold on—my Tomochii little baby having a crush on someone? Wait, didn't she say she liked someone else? Oh god! Why didn't I get the news from the two of them? Is that why they're so oddly silent in front of me lately?" every question Miko posed came with a gesture each as she hyperventilated on the matter—more so like Ala-chan. She then slammed the table and adjusted her glasses, "Wa-wa-we-wait! How did she confess to you?"

"Unsurprising, but she did it at our elementary batch reunion exactly a month ago."

While my senses expected Miko to slam the table again and go "WHAT?" all over again, she instead just expressed a plain face then went, "What." It sounded like she's angry or sarcastic, but it looked like her mind just exploded in how much she didn't know about what's been happening lately. It's as if she ran out of ways to express her cluelessness. "Forget about why the two have been unusually dead silent about me—what about you Akko, how did you respond to it?"

"Well, I can't answer that, but it seemed like we got a lot closer ever since that happened—she actually confessed about being wary about confessing since it might make things weird for the both of us, but the opposite happened."

"So you did reciprocate back?"

I shrugged. Yup, I forgot what I did back there.

"Hmm..." her enthusiasm turned into skepticism, her finger on her chin, "You did tell me one time that Tomo's been unusually hostile to you ever since, but you guys being together poses an even unusual turn of events—you guys haven't even known each other for well over a month..." she pondered.

"I guess the telltale saying goes, 'from enemies to lovers.'"

She continued pondering as her grip on her chin was emphasized, moaning as if thinking, then said, "I... don't know? I mean to be honest your guys' story sounded like you guys met on a dating app—not so well to judge since every relationship has its own story to tell. I mean, what do I know better, right?" she cleared her throat, "But are you sure you guys have no problem at all, like at all really? Because I never heard something about Tomo being hostile and cold until you came up to me a month ago."

"Nah, our first month in our relationship was just us greeting each other a lovely good morning, maybe some talk about ourselves throughout the day, maybe play a computer game, then talk, then greet each other good night."

"Well that's a goodie, communication is key in a relationship after all. I'm surprised you have the capacity to do it even, Akko."

Reminiscing this, I have no idea if everyone else is just gonna go around the lines of "Shocking Akko, that's unexpecting of you!" Is that because of my face?

"Well, had nothing better to do, so might as well just lighten up my girl."

"IIIEEEEEEEE!" she screamed like a chipmunk on steroids, only to witness someone having secondhand butterflies on their stomach, "Awwie... Oh, sorry, I'm just really hit by what you said there. Am I witnessing a real Korean drama?" then she had her whole weight on the table, laying as if she's distressed, "Oh boy, oh boy, when will I get my handsome knight in shining armor?"

"If I were you, just go with studies first. 'Gotta have the money in your pocket for the entirety of your life as possible, not money out of your pocket."

"Assets and liabilities? Woah!" she expressed great enthusiasm, "Man, I should've taken Accounting with those two as well, "Smarty Akko, a boyfriend who also has the brains—that's an ideal man for anyone. But you are going out with someone, so does that nullify your ideology of studies first before going into a relationship?"

"You did say I have the capacity, so why not use it? Also, it depends on the person if they agree or disagree with an ideology. Have you ever wondered why capitalism and communism exist like two brothers separated from birth?"

"Nice, tsk tsk!" Miko formed two guns with both of her thumb and index, "That's more like it, Akko. Well, I lost. You can't run from the inequality and the spheres of injustice on our planet."

"Yes, that's why I hate society." I boldly replied.

"Well, it's your belief, so go defend it, I suppose—wait hold on Akko, have you already watched Prism Wonderland, the idol anime I've been recommending you about?"

"Yeah, but I'm only like twenty-five episodes in. It'll take me ages to complete the whole one-hundred forty-five episodes, like what the hell?"

"Ah shut it, the three of us binged that in a month. I actually recommended it to those two and they liked it, so that was my second rewatch. It's my childhood show per se," she chuckled.

"In the end, my favorite character there is Ram."

"Hehe, I told you you'd have a knack for him. I was kinda expecting of you to like Ram because you have a knack for traps."

Embarassing I know.

"Hmm. . . I have a question Akko, what Mogu arc best represents you right now?"

"Sheesh what is this, a booklovers' club or something?"

"No, wait I'm serious!"

Then I thought about it for a moment. Since this is a long-running series of light novels, it's hard for me to pinpoint the exact 'relate' kind of sensation that I had so far. I'm a worse candidate for that given my memory is as capable as a goldfish. It is so conditional that a memory will actually commit to my brain if it's memorable and something that has a huge impact on me—yeah that's how bad it is.

Eventually, I had two in mind, "Well at first, the Mogu-chan moment for me was when she journeyed and stayed on Tahimika Village—like you know, the only place she ever encountered after countless hours of not finding a nearby kingdom or something? Yeah I felt her rough time when she was getting judged by for being the only smarty-pants in town, and when she tries to suppress or defend herself, she'd be in danger of getting accused—even the fricking sherrifs whatever-you-call-'em are on the village's side of things rather than a neutral and objective side of things."

"Oh wow." Miko's expression looked like she just met with death, "I. . . I didn't expect that answer, mind asking if you had that similar encounter before?"

"Once. . . er, twice." but I continued along, "Right now the best Mogu that represents me is the Solitude arc."

"Ah, that arc! But why?"

"I don't know—maybe it's just me growing up from my childish deeds, haha—" I awkwardly laughed, "But as much as that contradicts myself right now, I can relate to Mogu about being scared of being away from society for three days. Not only it felt like you have a huge duty to not let your species go extinct, it's the lack of physical and social intimacy that even loners or shut-ins can relate to. I mean can you imagine not seeing your kind for so long?"

"Mhm mhm, more like it's easy to love, but difficult to continue doing so?"

"Yeah, or somewhere along the lines of 'It's easy to connect than to disconnect with people.'"

"Huh, it's clear that you've changed then, Akko."

I cocked my head in question.

"How? Well if I'm to be really honest on our first meet-up, you looked like a baby who never was taught to converse with anyone. You were darting your eyes all over the place, be overly conscious of what's around you, things like that. You really had the voice of a flat toned lifeless dummy. But lately, you've seemed to be more composed and normal—well apart from the fact you still talk like a zombie with a frown everytime."

"Yeah yeah, I'm trying to improve on that. Ala-chan who has been pestering me about it is the reason I start to look in the mirror almost everyday."

"Mhm, that's good. It's nice that you have people who are lawfully good. Lucky for you for not being introduced to a bunch of bad guys—I mean first impressions last doesn't it?"

"..."

Yeah, she's true about that.

On that day, we spent the entire afternoon mostly talking about A Witch's Last Tour. Hence, I thought that's her lifetime favorite novel series, so I figured about getting her the latest volume as a birthday gift hands-first before I do (yeah, I'm somewhat selfless for one). I didn't really know this light novel series had a lot to pack in, it's like euphemism on steroids, except that the words that are hidden are in fact humane values and experiences. Huh, it reminds me of a certain martyrdom in Southeast Asia, except that his novel was a literal euphemism where he hid the colonists' flaws and wrongdoings to his country over a romance-suspense actiony kind of story. That was smart of him trying to let his countrymen know that the colonists are bad and corrupt.

We just like to hide things, huh? It's an entirely human act we're all guilty of, unconscious or not.

Anyway, that was already really late in the afternoon, so I told Miko that day that I'll head on the way home.

"Bye byee Akko~!" she waved, "O-oh, and also—happy monthsary to both of you!"

I also gave a wave as I left the library that afternoon.

I believe that was all that happened that day, no more lies then. I triple-checked if I've done something significant after my library visit. . . . . . . . . . . . nope, I just slacked off when I went back to my apartment until evening.

Exit Reminisce Mode.

God, I sound like a programmed robot.

I checked the time on my smartphone, as I was just sitting on my futon the whole morning.

"It's already twelve noon huh?"

I wasn't kidding when I said I spent the whole morning reliving the days of yore.

"Time to get up."

In fact I would be cheating if I said I was already up early in the morning. Wrong! I literally just went half the step of getting up by sitting up straight on my futon then nothing else. It was just this moment where I rose up to my feet, took a bath, then walked back down to see what's for lunch at Aka's place.

⁂

Okay, so I saved you some time and now I'm back once again sitting on my futon after a delightful lunch I had. In fact, I haven't realized that the past fourteen chapters have been riddled with food—I wouldn't count the sandwich treat memory that I had with Miko on the fourteenth as it was just a reminiscence of my memory. So I guess this is the first chapter to finally not include food? Yeah, you can now stop preparing food on your read.

It was a typical Akko-Aka commotion every time I'd eat at the back of her mochi store: Asking what's at stake, Aka made some beef-quail egg skewers, whined over the use of chopsticks—which I still can't master, thanked Aka for a delicious meal, and a heed of warning of why I treat her like a free fast food chain. That was all that happened downstairs.

Not that I'm lazy at narrating—see, I narrated it pretty well!

Retracting from the fourth wall, it was somewhat past one in the afternoon when I got back to my room and sat back on my futon. That was according to my brain since I don't really like to tinker with my smartphone right now. My calculations have a 5-minute margin of error though.

"What else. . . ."

Some people say that it's a useless and hurtful thing—a diminishing return—to keep on lingering around the past, as if you can't move forward if you keep doing that. But I don't like running away, so this is my way of rationalizing and organizing my thoughts—more like a friendly way of admitting that you've witnessed such trauma and finally saying to yourself, "Okay, I can move on now that this problem rests in peace." So yeah, I've been following Aka's way of doing things, which is that.

That's true for the most part—I'm not a huge fan of leaving a problem on its own like cultivating bacteria then causing catastrophe. In a sentence, I just don't like running away, both literally and figuratively.

"Reminiscing. . . ." I said monotonously, like a robot going back into sleep mode.

Of course, there's a big obvious lie that I've left for the past couple of days. It's really obvious. It makes you want to question if I'm better suited to be a narrator or not.

I'll give you a moment to guess it.

. . .

. . .

. . .

Let me backtrack to the day before yesterday, Miko's eighteenth birthday.

Miko and I supposedly told the drunk Tomo and Ala-chan back at her condominium about the both of us going out for some errands, but we made a detour at the rooftop. Then for some reason, Miko and I had quite a conversation on the rooftop.

"Let me tell you..." she apathetically said that night.

I didn't know that what I'd asked—if she had some more friends to come—would've hit her hard or triggered something bad; it's a simple question if anyone else's gonna come by, but it's heavy for Miko to swallow.

That night, where we were leaning on the railings, Miko looked from the distance as she talked.