Laplace

I returned to my room with Sugar marched out in front of me, quaking like an aspen. When I looked at her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and tipped my chin, she understood there was no other way, set her jaw, and started toward the Demon God—one step, toward the figure seated on the sofa for reasons unknown.

Right now, sunk into that sofa beside Makina and watching TV, the Demon God looked like nothing more than some unemployed shut-in. Anyone who knew what she actually was, though, couldn't loosen the tension even at a sight that shabby.

Sugar swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth and took a second step toward the Demon God. In that instant, the anchor on the TV threw up photos of two girls departing an airport and launched into a fresh piece of gossip.

Makina, seated beside the Demon God, turned toward her with sparkling eyes.

"Whoa! A god from the continent next door is coming! Are you two acquainted?"

The Demon God let out a soft little laugh and set a hand on Makina's head, stroking it.

Wait. Don't tell me.

"Yes. Laplace is one of the few gods this body deigns to acknowledge."

If the Demon God was just going to answer Makina that easily, then what exactly had Sugar and I been doing all this time?

Great. All that for nothing.

But if Laplace really was coming to see the Demon God, then when? Makina seemed to share the question; she tilted her head and asked.

"Then when is that god getting here?"

"Now."

Knock. Knock. Knock!!

"Azathoth!! I know you're in there, so please just let us in!!"

"God, is there really a Demon God inside this house?"

"There is. Considering the conduct, the words, and the trail Azathoth has left across the several thousand years I have watched her, she would never leave a house once it caught her fancy."

"Then why won't she let us in!"

"Because she would never personally stoop to a trifle like opening a door—and her Incarnations had no idea we would be arriving just now."

Listening to the voices beyond the door, my head was already starting to spin. If I could have had my way, I would have turned both the god and the human away at the threshold, but unfortunately no such option existed for me.

Choosing a third option that doesn't exist is only possible when you have the power to create it. For me—whose strength was feebler than a passing ant, not merely beside the Demon God but even measured against the other gods—it was an impossible method.

Even so, from somewhere deep inside, the sheer unwillingness to open that door kept welling up. Faithful to instinct, I stalled. In the brief moment it took my mind to reclaim a body that refused to move, I was late.

And so, while I hesitated, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Makina was already on her feet. She bolted out of my room and opened the door. You could call that the natural course of things.

"Still, don't worry. One of her Incarnations will open the door any moment now. The name was, I'm quite sure—"

The door that had stood like a wall between us and the guests from another continent vanished, and Laplace, the God of Omniscience, looked Makina straight in the eye and spoke.

"Makina, wasn't it."

A god she was seeing for the first time in her life had said her name. Makina stared at Laplace with bright, round eyes and opened them wide.

"You know me?"

"There is nothing I do not know. You, of course. You as well, Ragna. And everything about Azathoth—who, to all of you, must be nothing but questions."

Azathoth?

Just who was this Azathoth that Laplace had named? Of the five people here, someone the God of Omniscience addressed by name—and someone whose name I didn't know.

The candidates narrowed to two. One was the little Akashic Record brat Laplace had brought along. And the other—

The Demon God.

From the day the Demon God chose me as her Incarnation until this very moment, she had never once told me her name.

"Who's Azathoth? There's nobody like that here. Don't tell me that's the Demon God's name?"

"Hehe. Azathoth is merely a pet name I use for the Demon God when there are humans nearby. After all, if an ordinary human so much as heard the name of a high god on the Demon God's level—or let it pass their lips—that would be a disaster."

"Hmph. This body never permitted you to address me that way."

"Oh my. If you were Azathoth, you had more than enough power to stop me from using a nickname. The fact that you didn't means you agreed, doesn't it?"

"Silence. What do you take this body for?"

"Hmm... a cat?"

The moment cat left Laplace's mouth, the Demon God's brows knifed upward into a sharp, furious peak. At ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the same time, the space around Laplace's head was severed.

But before that space could split, Laplace ducked her face, as if she had known beforehand. She avoided the catastrophe of her head parting from her body.

"I really shouldn't tease Azathoth any further than this. Usia, go play with your fellow Incarnations over there."

"Okay!"

The child who answered Laplace so brightly came walking toward Makina and me.

The sky over the Demon Continent is red, so I wasn't even sure the color deserved to be called sky blue—but there it was anyway. Hair like a cloudless sky lifted straight off the heavens and set upon her head, and eyes of a blue that shone like sapphire, as if matched to the hair on purpose.

"Hi! I'm Usia Akashic Record! Nice to meet you!"

If I had to sum up my impression of Usia in a single line—

Whoa. That's a lot of blue.

"Yeah, hi! I'm Makina Nightmare!"

While I was busy admiring the girl dyed blue from head to toe—Blue, basically—I felt two gazes settle on me. What, was this the self-introduction portion?

If we're doing introductions, nothing beats this.

"A mighty, powerful morning! Ask me my name, and I am Ragna Nightmare."

"Ehh, what was that? It's not even morning, and the way you talk just got weird."

So she didn't know the line. Well, fair. On this Earth it was a meme from two hundred years ago; it would be stranger if Usia, of this generation, actually knew it.

"Hmph. Don't know it? Then forget it."

And yet, with me and Makina and Usia all gathered like this, the picture felt off. Wasn't this exactly the scene where you tag along to your parents' meetup with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their friends, the parents amuse themselves among themselves, and only the kids get herded off to one side?

Swap the parents in that example for Constellations, and it matched the present moment down to the last word.

Well then. We'll just do as requested. What power does an Incarnation have, anyway?

The Demon God I knew would never, ever step outside the house. Haul the kids along for a little outing around the Demon Continent, and that ought to cover it.

"Then let's head outside for now. Sugar, you're coming too."

"E-excuse me?! Why do I have to squeeze in where the little kids are playing?"

Truly, the textbook answer of a fool who sees one move ahead and never the next. Did this idiot not realize who would be left in the house once we walked out?

"Then stay home with the Demon God and the God of Omniscience."

"Hhk! That's a little..."

"Thought so? You'd better answer before I change my mind."

Could anyone actually want to be left alone in a room with the Demon God and Laplace? The two gods who held the greatest power in the Tower, one on either side of you—and they knew each other, at that. Your breath would catch and catch again, and you might not even get a word into the conversation. No. In a case like this, not getting a word in was probably the smart play.

"Still, it would be a bit much if I went around with the Incarnations, so... I'll just borrow your shadow, Lady Ragna."

Sugar stepped onto my shadow, and from her legs upward she began to be drawn slowly into it.

"What the—how'd you do that?"

I set my foot on the shadow she had vanished into and stared down at it, dumbfounded. I'd been sure she was good for nothing but chores, and this unexpected ability left me speechless—while beside me, Makina and Usia, who had been watching her disappear into the shadow, fixed glittering eyes on it and stared as if they meant to bore straight through.

"Whoa! That's amazing!"

"Right?! Show us again!"

She must have been able to hear the outside perfectly well even from inside the shadow, because Sugar soon poked out only her head and explained the true nature of this bizarre phenomenon—a person vanishing into a shadow.

"Hmm. That so? Got it. Then get back in."

"N-no, no, no. Isn't the normal reaction here something like 'Incredible,' 'I've seen you in a new light,' 'I knew I could count on you'?"

What a pain, this.