I Need To Do What?!

The Night Before Judgement Day

Anzu's POV:

It was the night before judgement day.
Fortunately or unfortunately, it landed on a Saturday.

Anzu knew she was a nervous wreck. Rio was awkwardly sitting in her chair, watching as she paced like a caged animal.

"Why can't I choose someone? Pretend to date so the council is satisfied?" she asked for the umpteenth time making Rio sigh.

"You know they can detect fake love. Wizards haven't been around for millennia to be fooled by a single human girl," he replied.

"But- but how do you even know you love someone? You can't just force someone to fall in love!" Anzu shrieked, clutching her hair.

"Under the right circumstances, it's entirely possible," Rio muttered mildly, looking at his fingernails.

"You're not helping me at all! Don't you have some jumbo jumbo gadget to gauge my feelings or lack thereof? What is going to happen tomorrow?" Anzu shrieked, shaking Rio till his head lolled like a broken doll.

"Only the council has an emotion reading machine. They will assess your feelings tomorrow," Rio said decisively with a nod.

"Such a thing actually exists?!" Anzu shrieked, feeling a tidal wave of apprehension hit her.

Anzu hunkered down by the side of her bed with her head clutched in her hands.
What was she going to do?
How was anyone supposed to know what they felt?
Especially a teenage who had never once been in love before?
How did people recognize the emotion for what it was?

Anzu knew she was capable of love.
She loved her parents.
Her sweet cat, Momohiki was another object of her affections.
Inanimate objects such as video games and chocolate were never classified under the category of love. They were necessary for her very survival. She needed them like the very oxygen she breathed but in those dark days, she proved she could live without them all.

Everything she held dear was ripped apart from her overnight and she still survived.
Did that mean she didn't love her parents, cat and games that much?
Anzu didn't understand what wizards called love.

Rio did say that the whole point of this endeavor was to increase Japan's population.

Oh. My. God!

"Rio!" she gasped suddenly.

"Anzu?" he asked concerned. He was crouching in front of her, poking her cheek, not that she noticed. Anzu batted his hand away.

"Why are you wizards spending so much time getting me to fall in love? You do realize that not every loving couple in a relationship wants kids, right?" Anzu asked fixing him with a cold stare.

"Uh..."

Rio's eyes widened as he followed her line of thought.

"If this love scheme doesn't work out, what do your people plan to do?" she inquired in dangerously quiet voice.

Rio gulped.

He played with his fingers as he spoke.
"Um, I don't think the council thought that far ahead. Wizards - they can't interfere with your free will. We live long lives and it's frustrating to watch humanity plummet before your very eyes. They just want to make a difference where they see fit. Plus, it gives us something fun to do!" he exclaimed, waving his wand around.

Anzu pondered his words, trying to push the darker images of wizards trying to breed humans like cattle for their amusement.
What did you expect?
She was a Non Heroine for a reason!

Anzu stymied down as she continued her meandering thoughts.

She thought of Tsukasa, Junta, Hijiri and Rio. They were her close friends and she would do anything for them. Hell, she would even help them bury a body and lie in a court of law if push came to shove. Anzu wondered why her thoughts were darker than usual today. She blamed the blasted wizards for their nosy, interfering ways.

If Tsukasa or one of the others left her, it would hurt. She wouldn't mind if she could meet them whenever she wanted and could just talk over the phone. She wasn't that attached to the hip with them, but she truly valued their friendship.

If their relationship was destroyed, if they could no longer remember her, if they simply passed by her in a crowd without a sparing a glance her way or worse, they had no spark of recognition, it would be like getting shot in the heart. Only she would remember their friendship. All their inside jokes, taunts, camaraderie!

It was the cruelest punishment of all!

Anzu spent many days worrying over this mess but she was no closer to an answer than she was before.

"Anzu, why are you on the floor?"

She lifted her head to look at Junta who was peering down at her.

"Hey! Why are you crying? Rio? What happened?" he demanded, crouching down to pick her up. He sat down with her on the bed. Anzu noticed Tsukasa look at her with concern as he sat beside them.

Rio sighed and sat on the ground.

"She's upset because the council is going to decide whether you all get to keep your memories of Anzu or not tomorrow," he replied sounding more down trodden than ever.

Anzu wailed as she heard the words out loud. No matter how many times she heard it, it still hurt.

She closed her eyes at the twin exclamations of surprise. Guess the truth was going to come out whether she liked it or not.

---

An hour later, Anzu was surprised to find Hijiri among them. Secrecy meant nothing when the wizard council was planning to do something potentially malicious to them.

"Let me get this straight. Anzu has to fall in love by tomorrow or we all will lose our memories of her?" Hijiri inquired Rio, eyeing him intensely.

Rio nodded slowly, biting at his hangnail.

"Anzu," Hijiri crouched in front of her, holding her gaze steady.
"Do you love Tsukasa, Junta, Rio and me?"

"I do love you all," she replied without hesitation.
"I just don't know if I'm in love with you. What does romantic love feel like? I don't understand!" she cried closing her face with her hands.

"Do you enjoy spending time with us?"

"Yes."

"Do you like holding hands with us? And the occasional kiss?"

All the guys leaned forward to hear her reply.
Anzu blushed under their scrutiny and closed her eyes.
"Yes."

"Do you have fun with us around? Even if all we do is sit and watch tv?"

"Yes."

"Do you miss us when we aren't around?"

"Of course, I do."

"I'd say that you are ready for being in a romantic relationship with any one of us. All that's holding you back is hurting the feelings of those you haven't chosen," Hijiri replied with a shrug.

"The wizards' plan backfired. She can't move forward because you placed her in a stalemate. You were being thorough by providing her options like an otome game but real life doesn't work out in such a way," he explained.

Anzu, Rio, Tsukasa and Junta stared dumbfounded by Hijiri's simplified explanation.

"The wizards should cut their losses and move to a new subject. Only time will tell how this relationship will pan out in the future. Wizards are not as clever as I would've expected them to be," he went on with a casual flip of his hair.

"What do we do tomorrow?" Anzu asked quietly.

"We meet them as a united front and confront them on the idiocy of their ways. I, for one, will not tolerate for my brilliant mind to be addled by mythical beings," he answered placidly, taking a sip from his cup of tea.

Anzu couldn't believe that it would be as simple as confronting them with the flaw in their plan.

But a girl could hope.