Usia Akashic Record
Once Ragna slipped out of the house with the kids to avoid the confrontation of gods about to unfold there, only the Demon God and Laplace were truly left inside.
Another god paying a visit changed nothing about the Demon God's posture. Every being in the Tower already stood beneath her—why should she bother rearranging herself? Looking down from above, the way she always did, was more than enough. And so she received Laplace as she always had, sprawled across the sofa in Ragna's room.
"So. What is it? You did call about that dungeon last time, so I've no mind to punish you for insolence."
Laplace came into the room and looked over the furniture, only to realize that whatever she sat on, her line of sight would still sit higher than the Demon God's. She simply lay down on the floor.
"No incarnations around, so I'll speak plainly and use your name. Azathoth, the you I know is a god whose relationships fall apart fast if she doesn't meet someone face to face at least once every ten years."
Miss that ten-year visit to the Demon God, and the words grew fewer, the distance wider, until at last every bond built over time turned meaningless and she became, in a single instant, a stranger.
Laplace said it in the tone of someone who had rushed over lest a cat she hadn't seen in ages forget her entirely, and the Demon God's brow curved, just slightly.
"So you've come to renew your meeting with me, the way one checks a roll?"
Asked in a voice edged a little sharper than usual, Laplace looked at Azathoth through half-lidded, drowsy eyes.
"Mm. Yeah."
Anyone could see Azathoth radiating displeasure, but that didn't mean Laplace was about to put a lie in her mouth.
If I'd lied just now, I'd already be dead.
Azathoth could let a friend's joke slide. She would not let slide anyone who dared lie to her face. And anyone who dared speak a lie before the Demon God paid for it in death—even another god.
"This is why I don't come see you often, Azathoth. The smallest gesture, and a fork in the road ending in death opens right in front of you."
If I hadn't held the Authority of Omniscience, I wouldn't have drawn near Azathoth at all. I would have kept farther from her than anyone. Or perhaps I would have become just one more among the countless gods who ran their mouths before her and died with their very concepts torn apart.
"So. How do they look to you?"
"Azathoth's incarnations, you mean?"
The innocent child whose bright smile had been adorable, and the child in twin tails who had looked at me with eyes that couldn't be bothered.
"Yes. I couldn't tell which of them was superior, so this time, as a special exception, I took both as my incarnations."
"Both of them are outstanding. You probably meant you couldn't rank them by looks, but their abilities are just as hard to separate."
And yet Azathoth's incarnations this time were fascinating. The Authorities of Space and Pride, with the Demon God since her birth, had never once been parted. Azathoth herself was far too intact for that, and by the nature of Pride—whole only when it stood alone—a single incarnation had always been granted both Space and Pride together. Space had never once been anything but proud, and Pride had never once gone without commanding space.
Now those two Authorities had been torn apart between two incarnations. Space no longer needed to be proud, and Pride could no longer handle space.
"Still, whatever the process, the ending's a happy one, so maybe it doesn't matter."
Split into separate incarnations, no longer needing to meet at all, and yet Space and Pride still longed to find each other again. That ending would surely be a happy one.
The Demon God had asked about her own incarnations, only for Laplace to drift off into sudden, airy nonsense. She looked down at her, and her expression set like cement.
"If you mean to tell a story only you understand, leave. Now."
"Aww, we finally meet after so long. It'd be a shame to go already."
I'd made it outside to escape the gods occupying the house. Now what was I supposed to do out here?
What do kids even do for fun these days?
I gave it a moment's thought. How was I supposed to know what kids did for fun these days? More than that, I had no particular desire to learn what they cared about.
Back in my past life, around this age, what did I even do with other kids?
At this age in my past life, school would end and I'd sprint straight to a PC cafe with the others and boot up League...
Useless.
If my gender hadn't changed, and if Makina and Usia had been boys too, I might have tried it once. But the PC cafe in my head was a dim place where curses flew from every direction, and the first thing you absorbed walking in was cigarette smoke. Three little girls going in there was a bit much.
If nothing came to mind for me, what about the others? I turned my head toward Makina and Usia, walking side by side beside me.
"Anywhere you want to go? Anything you want to do?"
The moment I asked, Makina beamed and answered at once.
"Nope! Nothing!!"
Mm. Right. Even outside, we were still just around the house. Ask someone if they want anything in a place they can visit whenever they feel like it, and the usual answer is nothing. With Makina, low expectations were a given anyway. The real answer would come from Usia, walking between the two of us.
Usia rested her chin on her hand and thought for a moment. Then her eyes flew open, and she answered with bright energy.
"Yeah! I'm good with anything!!"
Anything.
The undisputed champion of the worst fucking answers you can get when someone asks what you want for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
And to think I'd be the one on the receiving end.
The solution to anything, in fact, is very simple. The way out of that hellish reply is to do nothing and wait. Anything is just a compressed way of saying I'm fine with how things are, so I don't care what gets decided. It means they're stable enough, desire-wise, that nothing else is required. All you have to do is wait until the other person wants something different.
"Then let's just go to a cafe."
Was there a more perfect place for killing time? Indoors, so cool in summer and warm in winter. You paid for it, sure, but they gave you a drink and a chair where you could sit in comfort and let the hours pass. I'd meant to do whatever the kids wanted, since we'd evacuated outside anyway. If they wanted nothing, killing time at a cafe seemed better.
Cafes were like gas stations along a road—walk a sidewalk long enough and one turned up on schedule—so it wasn't long before we found one and went in. I opened the door, and the wall behind the counter was covered in menus.
First, rule out anything with caffeine.
People drank caffeinated coffee to chase off drowsiness, and they were drowsy because they hadn't slept. But the me of this reincarnation had nothing worth cutting into my nights to pour passion into. Chosen as the Demon God's incarnation, my strength already sat closest to the strongest among my fellow incarnations, and money was piled high in the family vault. Power? That followed on its own once you had force and wealth.
Right now, growing taller matters more than pulling all-nighters.
More than anything, I was a child at the age when you grow the most. I had not the slightest intention of skipping sleep now and spending the rest of my life short.
"I'll have an iced chocolate."
Which is why, among the caffeine-free drinks, I picked iced chocolate—the inoffensive, perfectly adequate choice. I decided quickly, and Makina finished right after me.
"Mm, I'll have the same iced chocolate as Ragna!"
Five seconds after walking in I'd picked a drink, Makina followed, and Usia—the only one still undecided—shouted a name with her eyes wavering.
"Ehh, th-then I'll take a hot chocolate!"
Mm. I hadn't meant to, but I'd unified the order.
Coming out fast is fine, I guess.
I stepped up to the counter.
"Excuse me. Two iced chocolates and one hot chocolate, please."
"Of course. Have a seat, and I'll call you when they're ready."
Payment was, of course, my card—more precisely, the card linked to the family vault.
Then again, I'm the head of the family. That makes it my card, doesn't it?
Well, I was the only one here likely to have any money. If I didn't pay, we'd all be washing dishes in the kitchen—or, if that didn't appeal, resorting to force under the Demon Continent's law of the jungle.
I'd meant to buy it in the first place.
What was the point of paying for iced chocolate out of the kids' sticky little pocket change? Hoarding that wasn't going to put up a building.