Sound suddenly vanished around him, plunging the world into an eerie standstill . Everyone stood frozen, their expressions remaining in the fragile timeline with them . Objects, and vehicles, and even the wind succ.u.mbed to the same static fate . A chill rolled into the young man's spine .

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"You've done well, not talking too much," a familiar voice said . Mortem manifested a few feet in front of Clyde . The young man's eyes widened . Mortem smiled then said in a sing-song voice, "tda!" The creature inspected Harumi and the others, nodded, then turned back to Clyde . "Through the power of friends.h.i.+p . " The little man laughed .

"Oh f.u.c.k off," Clyde snapped, his face burning of embarra.s.sment . "Which one of your masters is behind this joke?"

"Beats me," Mortem said with a shrug . "Look, puny human, I'd love to stick around and hold your hand like a whittle baby-waby, but I'm just here for a quick check-up . I have no intention of stopping the timeline longer than it needs to be . "

Clyde noticed that the red aura from before wasn't around the creature . Red aura…almost like a hostile enemy . He a.n.a.lyzed Mortem .

[Ent.i.ty unknown . It is imperative not to engage this creature . Let the meaning of its name be your hint . ]

Mortem shook his head . Suddenly the most excruciating pain sent Clyde to his knees, holding his head, screaming . An impossible headache which felt like boulders smas.h.i.+ng against his skull threatened to incapacitate the young man . He fell to his back, convulsing .

[Your HP has dropped to 10%]

Just as quickly as the pain came, it vanished, then Mortem was hovering over Clyde's face .

"Next time, I won't be so lenient when you a.n.a.lyze your better . Remember the saying, don't shoot the messenger . Well think of it backwards . And my fingers are quite twitchy . "

[Your HP has been restored to 25% . ]

Clyde stood up, but still stared at Morten with defiance in his eyes . He wasn't going to let a cheap trick like that cause him to act like a pansy in front of this creature . That's what he wanted . Clyde still felt the fear deep within his gut but did his best to keep it at bay .

"Anyway," Mortem said, "you've pa.s.sed the checkup . It may be a while before I come back but do try to be past level fifteen or twenty—you're embarra.s.sing me . The Viper will wipe the floor with you if you goof off . Take your school and friends more naturally and seriously and you'll probably earn more experience . " Mortem shook his head . "d.a.m.n puny humans . Annoying . The lot of you . Sheesh . " The creature s.h.i.+mmered, vanished, and time returned .

Clyde dropped to a knee, gaining the shocked attention of the others surrounding him . Harumi knelt to his side, closed her eyes, and chanted, her delicate hands pressed against his chest . She gave him a worried look upon when she opened her eyes .

"Healing wave . "

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The warmth breathily surrounded him like a coat then he felt vitality return to him .

[Your HP has been restored to 55% . Your HP is slowly restoring over time . ]

"You were fine a moment ago," Toru said . "Kitome hardly put a scratch on you . "

Kitome gave the nonchalant rich boy a glare of daggers . No effect . She harrumphed anime girl-style then pinched his cheek . Toru stared back at her blankly, which seemed to make the blue-haired girl angrier .

Clyde shook his head, let out a breath, then stood .

"Thank you," he said to Harumi . He forced his thoughts to remain in check . He totally didn't notice the nearly-adorable glistening eyes the pink-haired young woman gave him out of worry . That's what he told himself . "So, we're doing this thing at eight, right? And you too, magical girl?"

Toru snickered, then put on a blank expression when Kitome looked at him .

"We were going to wait at my place," Harumi said, but seemed to regret her phrasing . Clyde wasn't dense but didn't care . He knew what she meant . If it wasn't for Toru's blank expression, he would've cracked a risky joke .

His phone buzzed . He struggled to hold his laughter at Chika's joke about a certain history teacher, but a slight snicker escaped him . He cleared his throat .

"I guess I'll see you at eight . " Everyone stared at him . "What?"

"We're headed the same way," Harumi said .

"I've got one more stop," Clyde lied .

"Shall we go with?" Kitome said, soliciting a glare from Clyde .

"I can do without the chaperone," he said .

Somehow, Harumi ended up shopping for supplies with him, despite Clyde's protests . Toru explained that certain things such as medicine, foods, and drinks could restore health on the spot . As much as the guy annoyed him, he had a point . Too bad that reminded Clyde about the printer . He needed to find a way out of this situation and fast . His answer didn't take long to appear .

A familiar redhead girl blabbed to a guy in a suit with a voice that made him want to melt into his happy place . A happy place with waffles and bacon and sus.h.i.+ and—Clyde shook himself out of the trance . To think the charisma girl had an effect so far away . He a.n.a.lyzed her .

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Name: Melody

Level: 10

Type: sweet talker .

Relations.h.i.+p: utter hatred .

HP: 100%

MP: 100%

Stats: Relations.h.i.+p isn't high enough . You better hope this girl doesn't decide to kill you .

Special abilities: Relations.h.i.+p isn't high enough . And it will never be . Try having s.e.x with her? Hahahahaha, yeah right, kid . She'd chop it off . And it may be the only way to fix this relations.h.i.+p .

Skills: You know, you could always program me to just display what's necessary . m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t .

Magic abilities: see above . Idiot boy .

Clyde was reaching his limit with the sa.s.sy prompts . h.e.l.l, they were starting get creative with their rejections . A little too creative .

"I'm not dealing with her again," Clyde said . "That charisma is too much . "

The young man watched as the suited man handed the redhead a wad of cash, eyes moved with false joy .

"Let's confront her," Harumi said, grabbing Clyde's arm right as he mustered the energy to step back outside .

"I'm just going to stay out of the way . "

"You!" the redhead pointed at Clyde and then laid on the dramatics, radiating a wave of nearly unstoppable charismatic energy . Clyde wasn't sure if this was how charisma actually worked . "That's the man who was really mean to me . Embarra.s.sed me in tears . "

Three large, muscle-heavy men started toward the young man, eyes full of mania . Clyde quickly a.n.a.lyzed them .

Common street thug .

Level: 14

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Type: enemy of the city .

Work under: Your hostile detection isn't high enough for this nor do you know the information to fill this in . So yeah .

Special: Your hostile detection isn't high enough for this . A pity .

Resistances: See above .

Secret: Your hostile detection, luck, and will isn't high enough for this . A Shame .

Extremely deadly murder-crazy thug .

Level: 35

Type: enemy of the city .

Work under: Your hostile detection isn't high enough for this nor do you know the information to fill this in .

Special: Ha . Ha . Hahahahaa . See above . [Just a warning…you may want to run . ]

Weakness: See above .

Resistances: See above . You're dead .

Secret: Your hostile detection, luck, and will isn't high enough for this .

Snuggly-Wuggly Teddy Bear shop owner .

Level: ???

Type: Honest merchant

Work under: Your hostile detection isn't high enough for this nor do you know the information to fill this in .

Special: See above . Kind of feel sorry for this entranced guy .

Weakness: See above .

Resistances: See above .

Secret: Your hostile detection, luck, and will isn't high enough for this .

Clyde attempted to flee again, eyes widened in both horror and confusion, but Harumi held onto his arm .

"Let me go—I'm not trying to die here," Clyde said .

"Come 'mere ya punk," said the murderous guy . "We're going to f.u.c.k you up . Blend ya, ya here . BLEND YA!"

The cas.h.i.+er cried something frantically over the phone, Clyde a.s.sumed had to be the cops .

Harumi stood her ground, raised her other hand, while holding Clyde's arm .

"If they kill me, I'm haunting you," he said to Harumi . His heart threatened to blast out of his chest . The thugs continued forward, grinning, and wiggling their tongues at the pink-haired girl .

[Harumi has activated Refresher!]

[Enemy status effects removed x 3!]

The men grunted then gave confused looks .

"Why in the h.e.l.l was I about to beat the s.h.i.+t out of some kid? I need a drink . Come on Bernie . "

"Let me join you two," said the Teddy Bear shop owner . And just like that, they were gone .

"Let's get going too," Harumi said . "That stupid girl got away . "

Clyde's heart dropped . Having a menace of that magnitude on the street was just too f.u.c.king dangerous . He needed a way to prevent himself from getting sucked into that charismatic AOE (area of effect) or he'd be either broke or dead . Or worse: both . Clyde secretly vowed never to die broke .

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