Gate Guardian - Song of the Frozen Soul

PHASE 5 - REMEMBER, TIARA IS STILL ON A DIET

PHASE 5 - REMEMBER, TIARA IS STILL ON A DIET

You know you're pretty screwed when all the things in the universe decided it.

These past days, I have been seeing weird things. The gigantic red moon, the creepy voice inside my head telling me to commit suicide, and the faces of some people who had their eyes hollow and are crying with black blood. I've seen the movies about exorcism, and I have been praying the whole week even though I'm not an active Christian (I sometimes become an atheist when everything is pissing me off).

But nothing works. Maybe I need Jeanne-... No. I don't need her. I wanted to say that I need Jesus. I don't need that fraudulent runt.

I once asked Tiara if these hallucinations are dangerous, and she said that it was. She was so worried about me that she asks if I'm okay whenever we see each other at the start of the class.

For the next days, Tiara has been watching me. She said that unbaptized Gate Guardians are prone to Eidolon attacks, so she wanted to protect me. I protested at first but she insisted. Wherever I go, she's there, ten meters behind me, stalking, as if she's an agent from FBI and I'm in surveillance for selling child pornography.

Her bodyguard duty ends in the bus terminal every day. I feel guilty for her effort in escorting me for the past four days so I decided to treat her for lunch.

<>

Tiara has been chomping down the fried chicken and rice, while we, the five nerds look with astonishment. This girl...has an appetite of three hungry full-grown pigs! She already ate five cups of rice in just ten minutes! All our hopes and dreams of having an ideal girl eating on our table went down like a bomb.

"Thanks for the meal, Rikkun!" She made the shy charming smile again. Normally, guys would fall in love, but there are empty plates scattered all around her.

"Y-You can order for more rice if you want... Ric has an unlimited budget for you." Chrisprel said. I want to punch this guy.

"I-I can't eat more rice! I'm on a diet..." Tiara shyly replied.

Really?

"A-Anyway." I cleared my throat to shift the mood. "How long has it been since you lived together?"

"E-Eh?" She tilted her head like a confused puppy.

"That runt."

"O-Oh, if you're talking about senpai, she's not living with me. In fact, that's the first time she went to my home. She visited my place when I said that I have discovered a candidate."

"Senpai?" I crossed my arms.

"Yes!" Tiara had her eyes sparkling. "She's my senior, and the most intelligent and skillful Gate Guardian I've ever seen. She said that she has done a really bad thing to you two years ago, and she wants to apologize for that."

I was about to ask Tiara to expound about that phrase but then...

"So, you two are playing online games, huh?" Heushac butted in. We forgot that the whole squad is listening!

"Y-Yes! You're right!" Tiara and I shrieked in unison.

<>

It was already eight in the evening, and I just got out of the bus. I am finally here in my hometown, Mirose Grande City. From the bus terminal, I should wait for a taxi to pick me up and drop me at my house, which is ten minutes away.

Usually, this place is swarming with cabs, but this night, it's different. There's no one here. The bus driver and the dispatcher mysteriously disappeared, as well as the other passengers. The lights are eerily flickering.