III. Anemone’s Post-bullied Life

Ingrid

Modern Earth, 20xx+3

I have a reason for acting too clingy to Fred.

I’ve actually promised to myself that I would support Fred until the time that he would have to make a decision whether he would return to his original world, or to continue his current life here.

Fred is an alien. He’s someone that came from another world. That’s how he introduced himself to me. Of course I’ve put my trust onto him once because his eyes looked like someone who wouldn’t lie. Of course it’s up to him if he’s to torn up that trust. Too much have happened, and I still trust him.

But the way I view him changed and it was way different from the way it’s been before. It might be because of my certain encounter with this ‘Irresponsible God’. He’s that Fred’s been talking about that’s the one that sent him here. The God’s aim was to tell be about Fred, and to reveal who I really am(but that’s not the issue at the moment).

It was actually just a very short moment and the information given to me was really vague that it almost made no sense at all. But it caused so much disturbance on my supposedly normal daily landlady life. Think of it as a small drop that formed tons of ripples on a calm water.

With all that’s said and done. I’ve thought about things again. This time really hard.

I’ve confirmed my feelings for him due to the events that happened during our trip at the hot springs a year ago. And then the incident with the ‘Irresponsible God’ happened.

I’ve already had fair share of problems, thinking how I would act around Fred, now that I’ve realized I love him. Now even more because of a solid proof that all the stories he’s been telling me were true.

As I saw it, Fred had been constantly working on being able to adapt on life on earth and he’s improved tons since the first months of living here. But still there were times where I couldn’t shake off the feeling that he might still be the same old Fred that I know.

That led me to the thought that I needed to cheer him up, any way I could.

I have to… I’m the only one that could do it at the moment.

That’s the reason I’ve been stuck to being the cheerfully stupid landlady that’s head-over-heels in love with my tenant. I’ve thought about it several times and decided for myself that’s the best course of action. It’s not like the way I act bugs me. I’ve gotten accustomed to it and was actually enjoying it.

Then came actual storm…

“Siiiiiigh….”

“Uhm… Lady Landlady? Are you okay? That’s a long loooong sigh you’ve got.”

“Yes I’m fine. Here, want a smoke?”

I’ve asked a silly offer to the person at my front. I asked her to seat at with me at the veranda as I wanted to talk with her, but now that we’re sitting in front of each other, words wouldn’t come out of me.

It really was a silly move to ask her for a smoke. She just graduated high school and decided to work for a living. She looked like someone who just started to live life freely away from her parents. Or was she a pampered child to begin with? It would be bothersome if her parents suddenly gave me a call to scold me after knowing their daughter learned to smoke due to a bad influence of a landlady.

“Ah, yeah, forget I asked.”

“No. No worries, Lady Landlady. To be honest the thought of trying crossed my mind, but I kinda’ stopped some time ago.”

“Well aren’t you an honest girl?”

“Ah, no no… Even I have the darkest of secrets to keep.”

Whoah. It seems like she’ll open up too fast.

I asked her to accompany me on my unit as I would be discussing to her the house rules and regulations. But that’s not really everything.

“Well, who does not?”

I handed her over a piece of laminated paper which printed were the house rules and regulations.

Anemone just moved at my apartment complex not even a whole week ago, and she really haven’t gotten out much from her unit since then so I haven’t got the time to spoke to her about the house rules and regulations.

“It contains the whole quick read list of dos and don’ts. To give you a quick summary, you may keep that and hang it somewhere on your unit, somewhere you can check and see whether you’ve broken something written in there so I’ll need come rushing to give you a scolding.”

“Uwaaah… That sounds scary and bothersome. Can’t you just give me a quick summary? I’m the type to break written laws.”

“Yeah, like how you’ve broke into Fred’s unit a while ago.”

“FU FU FU, That’s some QoD* stuff for you.”

“Want me to give you a burn mark with this cigar? Or please just let me hit you with a fan Kyrie is using at the forehead.”

“No, wait, seriously, that’s against the law. I’m going to sue you. And where did you even get that anyways?!”

“It was mine to beging with… Siiiiiigh….”

“No, seriously, don’t come back to sighing. I’ll talk. I’ll talk. Just don’t show me how stressed you are with your weird tenants. Especially Kyrie-senpai.”

She did not realize she just admitted that everyone here’s weird, including her. But putting that aside, since she’s always been like that ever since we first met her and we’re kind of getting used to it already, she took the bait already so I wouldn’t get nothing from talking to her about her connection with Fred.

I remembered Old man telling us that she’s quite obsessed with Fred’s entry work, which I got to help with, great deal. But prior to that, Fred’s gone too gaga over her acting, trying to impersonate someone from her early kid age fantasies. For short, she’s just a chuuni and Fred’s gotten overreacting about it.

Fred might still hadn’t fully forgotten about his past. And Anemone’s appearance right now would be a lethal hit towards him, and towards my relationship with him too. All these piling up misunderstandings won’t get us anywhere until it’s proven that Anemone is just an ordinary screw-loose.

But I’ve got nothing to lose just by trying to confirm it.

Well, here it goes. Better to ask it now than lose the chance I just get.

“Say, Annette.”

“What it is Lady Landlady? Why a sudden change in mood? Why suddenly call me by my real name? Anemone is fine, like you always do.”

“Nah, I’m gathering courage on my end.”

“On what?”

“Actually, I’ve got to ask you about Fred. Are you someone he knew? Are you someone that came from the same place as he did?”

“I…”

She gave a sudden pause. Why?

“…what do you mean?”

“Seems like you’re hiding something. Old man had told us already, about your idolization of Fred’s work. But I just wanted to know the whole story. He just told the things that were important.”

“Wh-wh-why would you want to know?”

She got a point.

Me asking all of a sudden was a miss on my part. I should have gotten to know her better first and left a better impression of myself. But what we did ever since getting to know her: bully her until she cry. No exception, Kyrie included.

And after all she’s experienced so far, living under my roof, I wouldn’t wonder if she’s being wary all of a sudden around us.

But it didn’t count Kyrie because she’s a complete masochist towards her.

“Sorry about that. We don’t mean to scare you. We’re just having a good time.”

“GOOD TIME MY ASS! WHO ON THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD JUST GANG UP A NEWBIE TENANT AND TIE HER UP FOR THEIR CONVENIENCE!!”

“Kyrie would…”

“Ah! I guess I’d be making an exception. Kyrie-senpai KYAH!~~”

“WOOOOW… You’re a really Kyrie-obsessed being… huh…”

We’re getting derailed. She’s being too wary now and I wouldn’t want to lose the chance on confirming if she also came from Mytherion. So I continued the topic. But I tried a different approach.

“Hmmm… Let me rephrase my question then: How do you know Fred?”

“Of course I knew him from the magazines I’ve brought. Who wouldn’t get interested after being able to read his oneshot awardee?! I’m a real fan of shoujo mangas and his work that time was top-of-the-line!”

That settled it. With her statement I could already confirm that she’s just a normal fangirl. Every doubt within me had cleared up upon hearing her say that.

“Lady Landlady?”

I caught myself being lost on my train of thought. She’s calling me.

“Ah, yes?”

“Nothing. You suddenly became silent.”

“Say. How often do you act out your chuuni?”

“Fu fu fu. It just triggers like this when necessary. Any Unnecessary waste of dark energy would mea—”

“Oh right. The time, I have to go back upstairs to Fred, Kyrie and Seria.”

Nothing to gain much from letting her complete unnecessary remarks. I’m the landlady, so I think I have the right to shut my noisy tenants up when needed.

---

“Uhm… Mrs. Editor…”

“Ah yeah, they went out. The meeting finished fast, so I let Kyrie sneak Fred out for dinner.”

Nerves popped out of my head. They exploded already for all I could remember. Not everyday since Kyrie and Ara pledged support on me they tried to snitch time. It’s a very rare case that Kyrie asked for Fred alone. It must have been really important.

But it still infuriated me.

“Kyrie, you sly fox… I’ll get you for this someday…”

“They might be back in a few hours, though.”

“Yeah, I’ll wait.”