I Need To Do What?!

The Ultimatum

The school year was about to come to an end and Anzu couldn't be happier! With her parents gone to a magically created land far, far away (she still wasn't convinced her post office worker Dad was transferred to the United States), her best friends Tsukusa and Junta were still rooming with her (not in her own room but in her house obviously!).

Of course, they had company in the form of Tsukasa's sister, Arisa every other weekend. Hijiri and Tsuchiya occasionally came by for dinner once Hijiri got accustomed to the taste of commoner's food.

Rio or Riri popped in at inoppurtune moments and caused mayhem whenever they came by.

Anzu was excited that nothing magical had occurred in the past few months. She almost believed that she would safely reach the end of the school year with no magical hijinks.

Now, this optimism would be much stronger and believable if Rio hadn't decided to adopt a sullen routine these past few days. He would open his mouth to say something and then clam up, looking forlorn like it was the end of the world. Not to mention his weary sighs and sad looks when they would all sit together for dinner or go to the park or go shopping.

It was driving Anzu insane!

Now that Anzu had her video games, she made sure to reunite with her gaming console and had regular dates with it. She was about to defeat the evil warlord in her latest game when she heard that blasted despondent sigh.

Anzu threw the gaming console down with a loud crash.

"That's it! I've fucking had it with your attitude these past few days, Rio! Spill!" she roared into his startled face.

His aquamarine gaze and cute boyish features hardly ever had any effect on her anymore. Well, mostly.

"Anzu, what are you talking about?" he asked with that annoying coquettish grin of his.

Anzu wanted to throttle him, not that it ever did any good when she did.

She eyed that blasted star shaped wand carelessly sticking out of his pocket.
She held his gaze and stepped closer, till she was towering over him.

"You will tell me what your problem is," she whispered into his ear, ignoring his shiver.
"Or else, I'll fling this wretched thing into the sewer!" she threatened as she held out the wand in her hand. It was so easy, like taking candy from a baby.

"Anzu! No! Please don't do that! I need it desperately! More so this month than ever!" he cried pitifully.

Anzu narrowed her eyes at his words.

"What's happening this month? Other than the fact that our little game comes to an end and you wizards can no longer play with my life?" she asked, tapping the wand against her palm.

Rio played with his fingers and replied without looking up.
"Uh, yeah. You see, that is not entirely accurate," he hedged.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Anzu's voice had taken on a dangerous tone, one she adopted when a certain tiny peach fuzzball was about to get the beating of a lifetime.

Rio winced.

"You remember that tiny little deal earlier this year? The one where the wizard headquarters graciously granted you a year to fall in love?"

"I was there for it all! Now what the fuck does it have to do with your sudden desolate attitude?" she barked at him.

"Um, you see, they might have reason to believe you don't take the deadline seriously. After all, is it so hard to fall in love when you have 4 ikeman at your disposal?"

"And you are the 4th ikeman I believe?" she asked drily.

Rio nodded emphatically like it was obvious.

"Let's not forget the 0.001% chance of me falling in love with you," she pointed out.

"Numbers mean nothing when it comes to love!" he exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

"Can you get to the point now?" Anzu asked, massaging her temples. It was incredibly difficult getting a straight answer from Rio about anything!

"Uh, yes. So where was I?"

"I am not falling in love before the blasted deadline!"

"Right," he snapped his fingers at her. Anzu growled and Rio took a step back.
"Since our company has never given such a generous amount of time for any project. Even a Non-Heroine such as yourself is capable of falling in love. A year is simple far too much time!"

"When will this explanation end?" Anzu muttered to herself.
Perhaps, this can of worms should have been left unopened.

"-if you don't fall in love by the end of this month, this entire project will be labelled as a failure and your ikeman, all 4 of us will lose our memory of you completely," he said.

Anzu took a moment to process the information.

"WHAT THE FUCK, RIO!"