My mind felt muddled. I had to remind myself where I was as I tried to force the memories. I think I was dreaming.

That wasn’t strange for me. Every so often, I would have fantastical dreams. Being a part of a group that returns to Earth after five hundred years to find it overran by invisible dinosaurs. An evil wizard trying to turn the tide on their own plot. Being a part of a group of heroes charging into a monolith. Never am I the same person twice in those dreams.

Oh well, the memories will fade soon. It probably doesn’t matter. More importantly, what was I doing before I went to sleep? What time is it?

The morning before returned to mind. My sister had come to visit.

As for the time… where was my phone? I fumbled my arm around,

‘Here you go.’

Finding my phone… it read 7:13… AM or PM? I wasn’t sure… my phone didn’t tell me… It's Sunday, though… Was it Sunday when I went to sleep? I don’t want to get out of bed to find out.

If I open the weather app, I think it should tell me where the sun is.

‘It’s evening right now.’

…

…

I felt my heart stop as my body acted before I could. Quickly rolling away from the voice, I threw up the tatami next to my futon, drew my gun, and held up the tatami.

The tatami was a makeshift riot shield with a couple of fiberglass panels and one of my spare tactical vests attached to the center.

I hit the defense light on my gun, hoping to stun them, if only for a moment, so that I could see who I was shooting before I fired.

My light flashed against plates of armor and crystal… “Huh? Valoria?!”

***One Week Later***

“It’s been a week.” My sister grumbled to herself.

“You could always just ask him, you know.”

It was Sunday, and our Dad had left to pick mom up from the airport. As for Bridget and myself, this was how we were spending our time off from our day jobs.

“You were at the palace. Are you sure you didn’t see anything?”

“I didn’t even know he showed up. All of a sudden, we were told to go home in the middle of training.”

“I can’t believe it. Lawrence’s first solo adventure! Storming the Crystal Palace, battling against its defenses, and ending with a one-on-one duel with the Magical Girl Queen, no less.”

“He is an adult. He’s not going to come to you with every little problem he runs into.”

“Little?! He fought Roselle! We’re talking about one of the top one hundred most powerful sapient beings in all of existence! Top ten if we only include the ones in this time period.”

“You’ve been watching shounen anime again, haven’t you?”

“What does that have to do with anything?!”

“Look, why don’t you just go visit him and ask him about it? You don’t always have to be mysterious and emo all the time. You could just be… you know… you.”

“You make it sound like I’m begging for attention.”

“Aren’t you? You’ve never had a problem with teleporting in on him and spouting some nonsense before.”

“That’s different…”

“Your blushing face is causing your little sister to lose faith in you.”

“Mrmrmr…”

“Will you just go see him after work? I don’t know; you can give him some evil, kukuku, and say something like so you survived an encounter with the crystal queen or something like that.”

“I can’t do that now. Entrances like that only work if it's done immediately after he returns.”

“Then why didn’t you do it then?”

“It’s not like I didn’t think about it when I sensed his return… But I took an early break at work so I could focus on watching him. By then, I was so far behind on my work that the director ended up scolding me.”

“And so your grand entrance was ruined. I’m sure he’s fine. He still comes into work and talks about nerdy things like he always does.”

***

The window to Lawrence’s apartment was curtained off as it always was. Even from here, I’m having trouble looking into his apartment.

It's strange. I wanted to teleport in, but it's been proving more difficult than usual. Lawrence has always had trinkets, but now he seems to be using very thorough wards and magical shields.

Still, even if magic is blocking me, there is little his front door could do… I can’t sense if he’s home. Should I just knock? What kind of void lord knocks? I should just open the door.

As I reached for the door handle, the deadbolt suddenly rattled, and my hand jumped as a chill went down my back. The handle turned, and the door opened slowly.

As my heart rate hastens and the air grows cold. For the first time in my life as Bridget Ericson did I feel an insurmountable terror. The light of the room blinding for a moment before the shadow of a looming final boss enshrouded me.

The woman standing in front of me was gorgeous. Mature with more than a foot of height over me. Easily just half an inch shorter than Lawernce. Her skin is smooth, and her face radiant, framed by straight and silky black hair. Her oval-rimmed glasses with the classic red frame and the casual braid coming over her shoulder, holding her long hair together with an adorable anime scrunchy.

I haven't even gotten passed what lies below her neck. Her oversized sweater didn’t hide her nice body. The hem stopping just short enough to show off those creamy thighs. Her knees, hands, and feet have such an elegant and graceful appearance. Not even the slightest strand of peachfuzz on her blemish-free appearance.

I’ve lost.

My strength left my legs, and before I knew I had fallen to my knees. The ground had never seemed so close before. The ground I had once sneered from my ivory tower as the troglodytes bumbled and plodded along. I found myself among them.

“Um… I’m sorry, but are you lost?” The way she squatted down to check on me. The slight tilt of the head. She’s adorable!

“It’s a terrible day for rain…”

“Hm?”

“WAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! It's not fair! Why?! Why god?” I was a mess on the floor. Crying my eyes out against the injustice of this world.

“Wah—ah—are you okay? Would—would you like to come inside?”

The perfect wife lady walked me into Lawrence’s apartment and sat me at the children's table.

Alright… Calm down, Bridget. You’re letting your mortal body run away with its emotions. You are better than this. You are a higher being who has only been defeated once in her life and found a world of greatness beyond that defeat.

If I can overcome this feeling, surely, I can grow stronger and know true happiness.

“Would you like earl grey? It's warm and just brewed, but we also have Jasmine if you want something cold.”

An opening! You can still do this, Bridget. There is no way a mortal welp such as her could match me against

“Oh, but if you don’t like tea, we have some milk left.”

“I’ll take the earl grey!” It's the most recently brewed, and its imperfections will be made the most apparent. This will be my chance.

The woman placed a cup of warm translucent auburn tea before me along with a small green square of cake with streaks of caramel glazing over it. It looked like a picturesque dessert from a hometown diner.

“I’ve been working on a batch of macha cakes. I hope you enjoy it.”

Humph, a green tea cake to go with earl grey. Amature. Bitter flavor on top of bitter flavor.

I took a sip of the earl grey… It's delicious. The color, this aroma, this unique bitter taste. Not only that, but its temperature is perfect!

Don’t lose heart, Bridget. Anyone can make tea this good if the ingredients are high quality.

Next is the cake. Slicing through its fluffy form with my fork, I could not detect a single flaw in its preparation. This was bad. There were noticeable crystals of sea salt and sugar. She managed to blend it into the cake without dissolving it in its preparation. She is no amateur. This feeling—eat the cake, Bridget. You have nothing to be scared of… Scared? Me?

Only now was I realizing how this mortal had me on the back heel. My childish form in the face of her overwhelming maturity. Possible Lawrence’s perfect ara ara waifu!

No, no. I can not accept this. I will not!

I took the first bite.

The cake was not at all perfect. The macha was thinned by using a slight bit more milk than usual. The sugar crystals added a texture that I didn’t care for. Yet the way each crunch helped cleanse the bitter flavor from the earl grey left a somewhat satisfying feeling.

The combination of salt from the caramel doesn’t overpower the macha, blending with it well, but it leaves me to wonder if it was necessary as the salt competes with the sugar crystals, and the sweetness from the caramel doesn’t do anything but make it sweeter.

Come on, Bridget. You’re just overthinking it! Just because this is exactly the same kind of flavor that puts such a happy-looking face on Kyrie. Just because this is the same flavor Kyrie and I enjoyed so long ago, together. That doesn’t mean… that doesn’t…

I felt something against my cheek. Reaching my fingers up to check—were these tears?

But it's not like she will take him away from me, right? Kyrie is my destined one. We’re going to be together forever.

“I’m home.”

And—and it's not like they're married, right?

“Welcome home. How did things go at the court house?”

This mortal woman is only temporary.

“It went well enough. Our marriage certificate should be in the mail sometime next month.”

Kill me. The only answer is oblivion. Kill me.

“Ah, but I should probably tell you before I get too carried away. There was a young girl outside our apartment today. She started crying, and I think she might be lost. So I brought her inside.”

“Have you called—”

The water in my eyes made it hard to see Lawrence’s face. He wore a button-down that framed his shoulders well with a waistcoat that brought in his stomach, shaping into a very masculine T.

His face had been cleaned up, his hair was styled nicely, and the two-hundred dollar tie he wore was decorated with a pin, not from the Hargrave family that Lawrance took his surname from, but from the powerful Mundo family.

That woman standing behind him with his blazer in his arms. Now that I was seeing his ensemble, I could tell this wasn’t some thrift store suit. Bespoke tailored bulletproof with platinum and sapphire thread.

“Oh, don’t worry, Val. It's just Bridget.”

Just Bridget? Right, I’m just Bridget. Born from the void, Master of the cosmic flow, and Bringer of the end. What are those things? Can you eat it?

“Oh, she’s your boss's daughter, right?”

“Yeah, she comes over to play sometimes. She and her sister.”

“Right, I remember you telling me how Rainy likes to borrow your older games for her streaming job.”

Lawrence… is an awkward nerd, right? Has my entire life been a lie? Have I been living in my own delusion? I’m just… Bridget.

And Lawrence is actually the scion of the notorious Mundo family? He has a fantastic trophy wife who probably actually loves him, and they probably do all those adult things every night.

Am I just a child who fabricated everything? A story I told myself, so I could live alongside someone amazing while rejecting my mundane existence.

“I-I hope you two are happy together!!” I teleported out of the apartment to the street below. I need to—

“Hold it!”

Before I could escape, a hand grabbed my wrist. I recognized the voice. I wanted to turn our to confirm who I knew it was, but the fear had me paralyzed.

Another person teleported in front of me. A palace guardian. Will this be the end of my mortal life? First my heart, now my body.

“I’m sorry about lying to you, lady Bridget. I honestly didn’t realize it was you.”

“Huh?” Guardians don’t speak. Wait, she sounds just like—

“I think you are greatly mistaken about something here.”

“Eh?”