At the Gates of Pandemonium

CHAPTER 2

    There was no need to cry over the spilled milk, or so Rebecca told him as he took another bottle from the fridge and poured it into the bowl of flakes that was always served. It had been his first couple fight, he had had to sleep with Weisz the night before and couldn't help but miss the little morning chats he had with Homura in the privacy of his room.

   Six months had already passed and everything had gone great until that strange thing called jealousy arrived. Nor did he understand how it had happened or how it is that the guy in the tavern had ended up going through three walls and a showcase. All he knew was that Homura was disappointed and had told him that she wanted time to think about what happened.

    Who knew he could be so overprotective of anyone who dared to put a hand on her?

    Shiki, don't be so yourself, women are a problem that is written with capital letters, Weisz took a cup of coffee and sat down to accompany him to see the window.

"You have not been able to maintain a single relationship without being unfaithful after three days. You're a top-notch pervert"—he glared at him and the blond just laughed languidly.

    "I can't believe that with how dense you are you were able to conquer Homura's heart out of nowhere."

"I didn't conquer it out of thin air, my feelings for her were the cause!" Shiki straightened up in his chair and stood up to him in the most childish way possible.

"That formula would then apply to Rebecca and me, but I don't see any of those silly reactions you have when you fall in love. In addition, it is forbidden to fall in love with someone who knew me fifty years in the future"

     "And who decided?" —he emphasized—. "You are so proud and foolish that you don't realize that she does have feelings for you. You're supposed to be the smartest here, but you'd rather ignore what you're feeling."

"It's none of your business anyway," he squeezed the hot cup in his hands and withdrew without even speaking to him.

Yes, I definitely wasn't the only one with problems lately. Shiki said to himself

    "I assumed you'd be here, but I won't say it out loud—"the presence of the blue-haired woman caused the chair behind him to fly out and his body tightened as he felt her hand touch his back.

He did not want to look her in the eye, he had not had the opportunity to explain to her that in reality what happened in that battle was the product of several silly feelings that only increased his fears; silly fears that did not leave him alone or to sleep.

   " I'm still mad at you. I hope you know that what you did was wrong, Shiki."

His heart beat hard, and his sweaty hands moved restlessly under his back.

    Despite the days and weeks he had not been able to avoid that feeling since he accepted through his actions the strange feelings that he professed to her. He didn't even know how it all started, whether in that conversation about his pasts or the exaggerated marriage proposal that he now didn't know if he could keep. Things had become very difficult since Xiaomei had predicted a disaster of colossal magnitudes on the way to Mother, and from which there would be a fracture in the trust he had towards all his friends.

      He was not going to deny that at first he was amused, but soon after Witch, Hermit and even Ivry had told him not to take his words lightly; his grandfather Ziggy had had the same experience in the past, and now he was no longer among the living.

"Tell me, Homura... —the words in his mouth came out irregular and insecure—. Do you think what Xiaomei said that day can come true?"

     "What are you talking about?" She did not fail to warn us that we would find my teacher, nor in the way we would defeat our enemies when that time came. There is no doubt that she will not be wrong."