"When'd you chat with the Green Mage?" Konrad panted, struggling to keep up with Kaede.
It was the third name and shape for the same girl, and she still kept surprising him.
"Oh, curious?" she asked, skipping ahead as they took another train.
She must've planned the switch down to the very second.
As the first train stopped, the second one rolled in. Not a moment wasted.
The crowd thinned out, too, but the armor still turned plenty of heads.
"I'd better start from the beginning, then," Kaede sighed, finding herself a seat. "But one thing in advance—that spell's weird. He had no idea what went wrong, either."
She chirped without saying anything.
It reminded him of Lily—well, they were the same.
"Anyway, I've been here for a year." Then, she dropped a bombshell like this. "'Bout three months ago, the Green Mage arrived, too. I expected you'd be the first, but whatever."
"H-hold on," Konrad already lost it. "You've been here for a year?!"
He charged at the Demon Lord seconds before teleporting—or shifting.
Did he spend a whole year in that void?!
"I've theories," Kaede said with a laugh. She even enjoyed this? "Though that sorcerer couldn't confirm 'em. But I either time-traveled, or—the worlds are out of sync."
"Out of sync?" Konrad repeated, mumbling. "As in, a second there is a year here?"
"Not to that extreme, but yeah, why not?" The girl shrugged. "Think about it. First, I got caught in that purple thing, then you and Maou—"
"How do you even know that?" he asked, his mind revolting against the idea for some reason.
He lived here—well, not here, but on this planet—eighteen years ago. He also spent the same amount in Kasserlane. Now that he returned, Earth didn't seem that futuristic to him.
"When I got hit, my mind faded out, like, super slow," Kaede explained.
"I immediately went to a black void," Konrad said, busy rationalising everything. "Tried to cast a portal, but realised I don't have a destination—then, Akihabara."
"Hmm," Kaede scowled. "Guess you and I had very different experiences."
And he gotten nowhere near an answer.
They sat in silence for a moment, then she kicked off her feet, arms stretching over her head as she sighed. She had plenty of space to do it now; only a few people took this train with them.
"And how did you know I'd show up right there, right then?" Konrad tried a different approach.
"Hu-humm," Kaede flashed him the smuggest of smirks. "I saw it in a dream."
"That's it?" When was the last time he had such convenient dreams?
Right. When Lucifer gave him hints. And those were rather vague.
It has been some time. Now he wasn't even sure if his guardian angel was actually on his side.
Why did the Green Mage mention him?
"Isn't that enough?" Kaede sniffed, looking offended by his meager reaction. "I saw the future."
That gave Konrad a pause.
"Wait, you mean this was the first time?" he asked. "Lily told me about her future sight before."
"Would've been nice if she told me, too," she noted, rolling her eyes. "Thought I was going crazy, dreaming 'bout you like that, over and over. And then, first, the Demon Lord arrived."
"You only saw me?" Konrad asked, more excited now. "What about Stella?"
Kaede shook her head, crossing her legs as she leaned back against her seat again.
"Blondie was smart enough to stay away from that thing. Doubt we'd see her for a while. But no, I saw others, too. Things are always a bit vague until the actual events happen, though."
Again, something that Lily had already told him.
Her future sight was cool, but not as useful as one would think.
"Okay, so you met the Green Mage and had a little chat?" Konrad tried again as their train screeched to a halt. Kaede jumped without warning, yanking him with her.
"I wouldn't call it chat," she said, dashing for the doors, "more like an epic duel."
Dropping those bombshells like that, then leaving him hanging.
"Sorry, almost missed our stop," she giggled. "I only rented that flat last week, and forgot where it was. But by the time we get there, I'll finish the story, don't worry."
"You rented a flat?" Konrad asked, panting again. Not the question he was most curious about.
"Thought you'd sleep somewhere," Kaede said with a healthy amount of smugness. "This way."
The bustling metropolis transformed around them. It felt more like a large village now, not a single soul on the narrow streets, but well, it must have been getting late, too.
It was already dark when Konrad arrived in this world.
"So one day I had a dream that this guy showed up in Akihabara instead of you," she told him.
"Ugh, that must've been a massacre."
"Please, I'm not dumb," she scoffed, turning a corner. "I followed him in secret for a while, then BAM, I pommeled him until we both ran out of mana."
Yeah, that was very much like her. Shoot first, questions later.
"By the way, promise me you'll only use magic if there's no other choice. How are you with mana right now? That little illusion was necessary, but it shouldn't have drained you too much."
"Um, I'm almost full, but that portal depleted my sword. Why?" Konrad raised an eyebrow.
"Well, magic works here," Kaede claimed, wringing her hands. "But I've yet to find a way to replenish mana. Our epic battle didn't last long—and it even drew the angel's attention."
And here she said a second ago she wasn't dumb.
"Wait, but the angels are on our side, right?" he asked, but already suspected the answer.
"They're not even on their own side," she scoffed, climbing a metal stair on a two-story building. "My luck was that two of them arrived, and they fought each other. It was ugly."
"What?!"
"Besides, if there was one thing Lilith told me before I rode you into battle, it was never to trust angels." She kept dropping those bombshells, then ignored his questions.
But that last part was fair.
Gabrielle trapped him in yet another void-like anomaly right before the boss fight.
So many things have happened since then, he almost forgot.
He also missed that Kaede stopped dead in front of him and bumped into the petite girl.
"This is it." She pushed a door open. It was a single-room apartment with a kitchenette right at the entrance. "Not a duke's palace, but 'tis all I could get from my part-time job. Tadaima."
She waltzed in, pointing at the bed while Konrad was still trying to process what she had said.
"Change of clothes, a little cash. Food in the fridge. And yes, it has a bed. Didn't want to torture you with a futon. Get some rest, we'll be busy tomorrow. Oh, and here's your phone."
She pushed a smartphone into his hands and was already at the door again.
"Wait, you're leaving?" his head snapped up, dumbfounded. "You didn't explain anything yet."
"Well, duh, I have curfew," she said as if that made sense. "Can't help if you're a slowpoke. GPS on the phone, I marked a place, meet me there tomorrow, seven thirty sharp. In those clothes."
And she was out the door, leaving Konrad with even more questions than he had at the start.