Love Far Beyond the Ashes

Forest Path

Zeta pov: Kiara-senpai and Calli-senpai have left. Ollie has collected Reine; all that is left is for me to look after my fiancé.

"Please tell me if you need anything," I said.

"Zeta, I'm fine," Ela told me sternly.

"Okay, I'm just asking," I said.

Selen glared at me, tilting her head to the side. "Is that Mumei's cloak?" She asked

"Yes, it is, and it smells really good!" I said

"Wait, do you smell Mumei's cloak?" Selen questioned

"Why wouldn't I smell Mumei-senpai's cloak?" I asked

"Look, we get that she is your oshi, but isn't that creepy?" Selen asked

"No, it's not," I said.

"It'd be cute if you were dating her, but you aren't," Finana said.

"Trust me, if Ela wasn't around, I'd be all up in Mumei-senpai," I admitted.

"Wow, you are saying that in front of your fiancé!" Selen said

"To be fair, I would too," Ela said.

"Yeah, see, we both understand Mumei-senpai is cute," I said.

"I can't believe you both agree that you'd date Mumei if the other didn't exist!" Finana said

"To be fair, if Pomu didn't exist..." Selen cut herself off as Finana stared at her.

"Wait, you're in love with Pomu!" She yelled

"Anyways, good that you know you'd date Mumei-senpai," I said.

"You all have fucking lost it," Finana said.

"Look, I don't think so," Ela said.

I began to feel a weird tingling in my head all of a sudden.

"You'd date me well to know," Mumei-senpai said.

"Don't listen in on my conversations!" I cried out.

The other three looked at me, not being able to hear Mumei. Sometimes I hate that all of council has this weird cognitive ability to call people through their brains.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to know how my favorite Kouhai is doing. I heard you let Reine fight." Mumei said

"Look, Mumei-senpai, she just showed up. I didn't let her get hurt!" I said

"Well, I just checked in with her, and you just beat her up." Mumei-senpai said

"Well, true, but for good reason, please don't be mad, senpai!" I said

"I'm not mad." I just think it's kind of odd that you'd say you didn't let her get hurt, Zeta." Mumei-senpai said

"I-I have to go..." I said

"No, you don't; you wouldn't want me to be lonely, right?" Mumei-senpai asked

"No..." I sighed

I knew Mumei-senpai was playing me, but I fell for it.

"So can you possibly meet me in twenty minutes?" Mumei-senpai asked

"I can understand why?" I asked

"Well, because I'll need to give you something then." Mumei-senpai told me:

"Got it in twenty minutes," I said.

"Actually, I'll call you when I'm ready." Mumei-senpai said

"On phone?" I asked

"No, the same way as usual," Mumei-senpai said.

"Are you talking to Mumei right now?" Selen asked

"Yes," I briefly said.

"I want you to bring Kaela as well," Mumei-senpai said.

"Got it," I said.

All of a sudden I felt my body go stiff, and I fell over. "Damn it," I said.

"What the fuck is happening?" Selen asked

"You overexerted yourself, Beb," Kaela said.

"I'm aware..." I told her

"So what happened?" Selen asked

"Well, you see, in the past couple of days Zeta hasn't gotten any sleep, and she's also constantly been fighting; someone pushed her really hard just a bit ago." Ela said

"Oops..." Finana mumbled

"Just massage me..." I groaned

Ela pressed on my back and began to crack it to loosen it up. She did the same to my shoulders and legs so I could move. I was able to crack the rest of my body myself.

"Hey Ela, do me a favor and pull out your mallet and hit the back of my head as hard as you can to rattle my brain," I said.

"Got it," Ela said.

"Why?" Finana asked

I didn't answer until after she slammed the mallet into the back of my head. I looked at her and sighed.

"Because it'll reactivate my modifications," I said.

"They can shut off!" Selen laughed

"Not necessarily, but when I push myself to my limits, my body will stiffen up and become weaker, so I have to remind myself about how strong I am," I said.

"That makes no sense," Selen said.

"She has you there," Mumei-senpai said.

"You're still here!" I yelled

They all glared at me again, but I realized who I was talking to almost immediately.

"Yes, why would I leave?" Mumei-senpai asked

"Don't you have two wives to satisfy?" I asked

"I do, but at the same time, I like to tease you," she said.

Mumei-senpai laughed, and I tried to flush her out of my mind, but it didn't work.

"You know you can just shut your brain off, you know?" she told me.

That was a fair point; however, I can't really turn it back on afterwards on my own, so I would prefer not to do that right now since my body would get weak after that as well.

"Well, I'll go now. It was fun to tease you, but I don't have time to waste right now," Mumei-senpai said.

As soon as she left, my brain stopped tingling. "So we're seeing you here soon," I told all of them.

"Oh fun," Kaela said.

"Well, let's at least finish our walk then," Selen said.

"Uhhhh, are we just going to leave him?" Finana asked as she pointed at Axel.

"Yeah, we are," I boldly said.

"Wow, you really have no remorse for him, huh?" Selen asked

"That would be correct," I said.

I snapped my fingers and made him stand up before sending him away since I didn't want to just leave him there. To be honest, I did have a little remorse for him, but not enough to bring him with us anyway.

I just need to get ready for anything that could happen. I need to make sure Kaela is alright and won't get sick.