Arachnea

October 5th
Family Home, Sumida City, Tokyo

***************
  Xian POV
***************

When I opened my eyes, I saw the unfamiliar ceiling again. Looking around, I could see that I was still locked in this garage for over a week now since this terrible nightmare began, either because of Elise or my mother, at this point I have no idea. I can still hear movement on the other side of the door leading to the house, it seems the others have already woken up. Soon Tamamo will come with my breakfast, more cut fruit. I was tired of eating it; I just wanted to eat human food again. But when I saw the girl come back with the plate full of fruit and put it on the floor as if I were an animal, today the girl was surprised to see me when she turned around. Had she forgotten I was here?

"Oh my!"
"Xi'an! Look at you! You've changed again!"
"Tell me, how do you feel? Are you tired or something?"

"???"
"What do you mean!?"
"...."
"!!!!!"
"Wait! I can speak again!"

"Not only that, look at you!"
"You've changed quite a bit! Much more human than before"
"Although you still mostly resemble a spider"

A little confused by what the girl said, I raised my hands and saw them for the first time in a long time. They were normal hands, with five fingers each, as they should be. I could feel my human skin on them. Excited, I moved them to my face, and joy returned to me. I could feel my little mouth, my nose, my eyes, once again I had beautiful hair on my head. It was real, my humanity had returned, so I looked down at the rest of my body, but that's when I realized what Tamamo meant. I could still see my large chest, it was big enough to block the view a bit, so I used my hands to feel what was underneath, but just after passing my stomach, I noticed how the journey of my hands abruptly stopped where my hips should have started. Nervously, I stood up and turned to the side to see better, but I noticed that my eight spider legs were still there, and that's how I could see my new form in full, now it was just a girl's torso stuck on a giant spider. This was my new trapped body, it was an improvement, but I wasn't fully back yet.

"Don't worry, Xi'an, this is not your final form."
"There will be many more improvements before you return to your former self."
"Once again, you just have to wait to recover, so keep resting."
"You could say that what you are now is your true Arachne form."
"If you focus on becoming a spider again, you will have that form."
"However, if you suffer a fatal injury, you will completely return to being a giant spider."
"But under normal conditions, this would be the most animal-like you would appear."

"I'm still huge, right? I feel like I have my human legs, but they don't touch the ground."

"Oh, well, in a crude way you could say that you're just a torso attached to the body of a giant black widow spider."
"As for the legs you say you have..."
"I understand that you feel them just like your normal legs."
"If you were a normal person, they would be where your normal legs are."
"But right now those legs are not."
"In fact, those "legs" you have after your hips... were your lower jaws until yesterday."

"What do you mean by that? Are they deformed?"

"No, no, your silhouette is fine."
"It's just that down there was where your head was yesterday, and those legs were your spider mandibles."
"But look on the bright side, you don't have a giant mouth under your belly."

"Then why do I still have my jaws, legs or whatever they are?"

"That... that's another more private matter."

"What are they for?"

"Well, since you've regained your humanity from your hips to your head, that means that your... part for having a family is down there, where it should be for a human."
"But you're too big for a human male, so it would be very uncomfortable, if not impossible."
"So those legs are there to hold your partner in place so that he can be in a better position to make you happy."

"Oh, so that's what they're for... I see now... I thought that part was back there in that big lump."

"Well, that lump is actually your spider abdomen."
"That's where your digestive system, your reproductive organs, your lungs, and also where you produce your deadly venom."
"So be careful if you get cut there, don't let your blood drip on anyone."
"Although the main entrance for having children is still where every girl should have it."

"Wait, does that mean that almost all of my body organs are there?"

"So what's inside my human torso? Am I hollow or what?"

"No, no, you're not hollow. In fact, you're quite similar to Levia the mermaid."
"Your human part still has everything in place, it's just that you have a second set of organs in the lower part of your spider abdomen."

"And what about my venom, you said it was deadly."
"Is it deadly for me as well?"

"Originally, you were an ordinary black widow spider, one of the deadliest on the planet."
"But when you evolved into Arachnea, that part mutated as well, and it could be said that your venom is even more deadly than before."
"You could certainly kill an elephant in a matter of minutes."
"But on the bright side, you're immune to your own venom."
"Not only that, but as Arachnea, you can give your antidote to anyone you want."
"All you have to do is use your mouth on the person affected by your poison to save them."
"Although you'll have to be quick, 15 minutes at best, otherwise your venom is so strong that it will begin to digest someone from the inside, killing them before the venom itself."

"Do I have to actually bite someone? Like, give them a kiss?"

"No, I think it would be better like a vampire."
"You know, by sinking your fangs into someone's neck."

"Okay, that's better, I'll remember that."
"Although there's still a lot to process with my new body."

"But it's good to see your progress! This calls for a celebration! With a ton of food! I'm sure you were tired of eating fruit all the time."
"So order whatever you want! Even if it has to be for the afternoon, I've already cut this bunch of fruit, we can't let it go to waste."

"A hamburger! I want fast food! I want junk food!"
"I want something very filling! I don't want any more fruit!"

Suddenly the garage door opened again and another person walked in. It was Adelis, the second person to visit me in the past few days to check on my condition. When she saw me, her eyes widened even more than before.

"Xi'an! Look how much you've improved! Are you feeling better? You don't know how happy I am!"

"Oh yes, I feel much better. "
"Thank you for your concern.

"It's good to see that you're at least halfway human again."

"Now the problem will be to find new clothes for you. "
"I don't think Levia's clothes will cover the spider body, but we can't leave you with nothing."

"Oka-san, I think it would be best for Xi'an if we just get her the same kind of clothes she always wears. "
"The qipao she always wears is perfect for her current form. "
"The top part can easily cover her human chest, but the open bottoms will allow her to not be bothered by having eight legs and a huge belly behind her."

"You're right, that might work."

"Wait a minute, what am I going to wear as underwear? "
"I have half of my waist attached to a giant spider; I can't just wear regular panties."

"Oh, right, there's that problem too.
I think you'll have to join the 'Commando' group.
The same one that the crazy succubus isn't a member of, oddly enough.
Why does Lisa, despite being a succubus, have more modesty to at least wear something than Momo or Elise?"

"It's Lisa... Yesterday she made ramen jelly with chocolate, salty pudding and toothpaste and called it delicious."

"Right... there's some left in the fridge for Cesar when he gets back. "
"Good thing he can just eat it now without using his mouth, otherwise he would have ended up back in the hospital."

"Lisa is a very creative and imaginative mind, unrestrained. "
"For good, but very often for bad."

"That's a very nice way to put it."
"She looks like an adult in body, but her mind is no older than that of a small child."

"Wait, are you two talking about the super-violent psycho demon?"

Just as I finished speaking, one of the androids from the house entered the garage and spoke with a cold and emotionless face.

"Mrs. Adelis, Cedric is already outside waiting for you in the car."

"Yes, all right, tell him I'm coming. "
"Sorry Xi'an, I have to go to work now."
"We'll talk more when I get back."

"I understand, no problem. "
"In fact, thank you very much for helping me and taking care of me all this time."

"Don't worry, it's no problem.
"In fact, I feel that even this is not enough to repay you for how much you've helped me."
"Well, I'm off, or I'll be late."

"Mrs. Adelis, Mom  Lisa still hasn't gotten up. "
"Remember Daddy's advice not to leave the house without Mom Lisa."

"Damn succubus, it's the same thing every day."
"She knows I have to work every day at nine in the morning, but she doesn't wake up until after noon."
"Lisa! Get up! We have to go! The car is outside!"

Just as Adelis finished speaking, a huge black void appeared from the ceiling of the garage behind the light fixture, and a human figure emerged from the darkening shadow. Lisa, still somewhat sleepy and with her torso still in the ceiling, looked around, glanced at Adelis, and let herself fall until she hit the ground and fell into her own shadow, merging with it until there was no trace of her, as if nothing had happened, like a demon using its powers in a terrifying way.

"Lisa! How many times have I told you not to go through the floor to get down?"
"Use the stairs like everyone else, I paid for them for a reason."
"And next time, at least brush your hair so you don't look like you just woke up."

Adelis scolded the demon as she calmly walked to the entrance of the house, like a mother scolding her daughter, and this infernal mythical creature allowed herself to be treated like that without a care in the world. It was clear that the Adelis I knew before had changed quite a bit; now that she saw such creatures as just another person, last year she would have fainted on the spot if she had known that a strange creature like Lisa existed freely in the world.

"I really can't believe that Adelis is okay with a crazy succubus like Lisa following her around all day.
"It's a strange sight to see the two of them working together." I said out loud.

"Well, a lot of things here are not what they seem at first glance.
"Lisa may seem like a pretty cruel evil demon, and her appearance and behavior don't help either, but inside she's just an innocent girl who was thrown into a weird and cruel world for her mind," Tamamo said as she picked up the plate of fruit from my breakfast.

"What about you? Does the 'more than meets the eye' thing apply to you, too?"

"Of course, you're talking to a goddess who prefers to live as a normal human."
"Or a being who was born with a cruel, cold, and manipulative personality, but who just wants to be someone who lives happily and joyfully with others, so she pretends to be silly and cheerful all the time to protect others from herself. "
"And since everyone here knows I'm just pretending, but still doesn't care, they make me feel like this place is special to me," the fox girl said with a serious and proud look on her face at the same time, so I didn't know if she was lying or telling the truth.

"And what about the DOLL behind you?"

"The most affectionate and loving daughter a mother could wish for, hidden in a body that simply won't let her express it, but even that can't hide it," Tamamo said as she stroked the android's head affectionately, while the lifeless girl just stood there looking without doing anything else.

"Mom, it's almost time for you to go to school," the machine replied without showing any reciprocal emotion.

"Yes, I know."
"Today Momo and Charlotte are responsible for the morning shift in the cafeteria."
"Please take care of the house, Levia, Tifa and probably Xi'an as well."

"Affirmative, new parameters received," the android said as she returned to the living room.

"Did you really pretend to be me in front of the class all week?"

"Yes, it wasn't a problem at all; it was quite easy.
"Look...puff"
"Ta-da! Even got your voice."
Although some of the kids are upset now that we're in exams, they said that I finally started explaining the lessons much better.

"Are you able to shape-shift? Then if you were a true kitsune, no, wait...
Are you really the real Tamamo-no-Mae?

"I thought it would be obvious for a demon hunter like you," the fox girl said with an arrogant face.

"I trained with them, but I never became one."
"At least, that's what I remembered in the past, when I was a human and not a giant spider."
"Now I'm not even sure if that time was just a false memory of my mother.
"I don't even know if what I remembered about my father was nothing more than implanted lies."

"Well, don't worry for now, you're in a better place."
"Besides, Darling is taking care of your mother so she will never bother you again."
"....."
"I'm sorry, but it's getting late for me to go to school, so I'll have to leave you for now."
"But we'll talk more later."

"Yes, that's fine, I understand."
"Oh, I left my cell phone on the teacher's desk in the faculty room, which I use to answer questions in class.
"Do you think you could bring it to me?"

"Cell phone on the teacher's desk, noted."

Tamamo left the room and went to the school with Maria. Shortly after they left, the house became quiet and most of the residents were outside. I was pretty tired of being locked up in the garage for the last few days, so I asked the other android if it would be okay if I walked around the house for a bit. She said it was okay as long as it was inside the house. I was so happy that I immediately went to the door, which I was able to pass without any problems despite my new size, because the DOLL replied that apparently all the doors in the house had been changed to much larger ones to better accommodate Levia and her wheelchair. The same one, by the way, that arrived in the living room, her wheelchair pushed by the android, who asked me for help to put the girl on the floor.

"But why would you want to put the poor handicapped girl on the floor?" I asked.

"Oh, wait, you still don't know?"

The same girl who couldn't walk replied, lifting the hem of her dress herself, where I could see her enormous mermaid tail and where exactly her human body ended and her monster part began.

"I guess we're not that different after all," Levia said with a faint smile.

"So you're a member of the commando group that Adelis referred to.... "
"Sorry, I mean you were really a mermaid and not just pretending to be one.
"You're also a monster girl just like me...."

"More or less, I'm actually a newborn human who was turned into a mermaid."
"I've been sitting here on the surface for so long that I actually need to lie down to rest for a while."

"Interesting, it seems that I'm a spider who was transformed into Arachne and pretended to be a human. "
"Someone who has been deceived all her life into believing she was someone she wasn't."

The android girl carefully took hold of Levia's tail and started to move her out of the chair, I also helped to put her down properly without hurting her. It was a great surprise to see how heavy she was despite her appearance, as I believe she was even heavier than me in this form, but she, aware of the awkwardness of her body, shrugged it off and continued talking.

"I think we are similar even in that way. "
"I thought I was a complete mermaid and hated humans. "
"What a revelation I had the day Cesar found me and kidnapped me... .... "
"No wait, that sounds wrong, I mean the day he revealed the truth of my origin to me."

"Cesar? ...."
"That's a name I've heard a lot, and yet I only have a thousand questions about it."
"Isn't that the name of Adelis' eldest son? The one who died in the war.... "
"I know Adelis is deeply affected by his departure, but to force Elise to pretend to be her lost son. "
"It's just so wrong."

"Oh, right, you haven't gone through the initiation process yet. "
"Don't worry, everyone here went through the same thing when they first arrived, I've been told.
"It's just a normal stage."

"Stage? What stage?"

"Discovering that Elise is actually Cesar, Adelis' son. "
"Normally, he says it directly to avoid confusing anyone and to make things clear, as he likes to be treated as a man even though he's a very beautiful girl now, but it seems he didn't have time this time. "
"It seems that Xi'an Fang is a really serious threat to him to leave so quickly to fight her."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean, Elise is really Cesar?"
"How is that possible? How does that even work?"
" She can't even decide if she wants to be a fox girl or a slime!"

"This is what I meant by going through the initiation process in this family. "
"It's not that complicated, we all honestly use both names to refer to her all the time. It's easy to tell, even Saeko knows. "
"Apparently, both Adelis and Maria testify that it's really him and not an illusion.

"But that's impossible!"
"I was the one who identified the body and broke the news to Adelis. "
"I was the one who had to carry his body from Europe to Costa Rica for burial, I made the whole flight with his coffin."
" Adelis cried in front of his body for a long time that day, I was in the same room, next to his body cut in two!"
"....."
"I had to sleep next to Adelis because she was afraid to sleep alone that day...."

"....."
"I have no way of knowing exactly how terrible it was, but I have no doubt for a moment that it was indeed a terrible experience. "
"Even though you didn't know him at the time, seeing how it affected Adelis must have been quite strong in itself. "
"..... "
"But look, you're talking to a mermaid who's a spider herself. "
"In a house where even goddesses and humans live peacefully, why should the fact that Cesar is really alive now as Elise be impossible?"

"..... "
"My God, this is all so crazy and strange....."

"Yes, it's just part of the introductory package for the initiation ritual."
"Then comes trying to understand that Kazumi and Charlotte are just one person."
"Accepting that Lisa makes no sense and it's better to ignore her."
"Developing a sixth sense to protect Tifa at all times. "
"Never ask Adelis' real age, that's important if you want to live. "
"But it gets nice when you get to the harem volume and family life."

"You're right, once I had to present Adelis' birth documents and she just sent me a photo with the date of birth covered by her hand, casually, by mistake, ten times in a row."
"...."
"What?! Harem? Family life!?"
"What did I miss? When did that happen?"

"We're going to skip a few steps, but we'll make an exception for now since Elise isn't here."
"The summarized version would be: Have you seen these slave collars? Most of the girls close to Elise have them."
"Yours has a very nice design, actually."
"Well, the thing is, part of the deal with Elise is that she's our master, we're her property."
"Technically, she can give us any order she wants and we'll obey, even if it's against our will."
"Don't worry, it's not a big deal, she hardly ever does anything, believe me, this used to be a topic I was very afraid of, but really there's nothing to be afraid of."
"But besides that, Elise usually marries all the girls who become her slaves."
"Apparently, according to Tamamo's conclusion, Elise has such a low self-esteem that she thinks no one would be with her willingly, so she takes advantage of the moment to not feel alone and abandoned."

"Wife?! Of Elise, Cesar or whatever!?"
"But I never agreed to that!"
"This is a mistake, I don't want to marry another girl."
"I didn't know anything! I like men!"

"Well, with you it was an emergency."
"It was either that or let you explode like a bomb."
"Sure, he'll be disappointed, but if you talk to Cesar and pretend like nothing ever happened, he'll probably accept it.
But if you want advice, I would say accept it."

"Why should I accept being Elise's slave and wife?"
"I don't want to do what others tell me to do!"
"Besides, I like men!"
"I already had my plan!"
"Supposedly I would meet a strong and handsome man!"
"I would be sent to kill a beautiful CEO of a millionaire company, but it would turn out that he was the ideal man, a great strong and fast warrior, he would beat me in a fight, I would immediately fall in love with him."
"And then I would spend the next six months debating whether to accept my feelings or kill him."
"Then, in a mad act of love, I would marry him against the wishes of my ancient organization, so that I would spend the next years of my life hiding my true identity and balancing my identity as a professional assassin with that of a sweet and innocent wife!"
"And then I would have a beautiful daughter who could read my mind and find out my true identity and I would try very hard to hide it."

"O... Okay... that's very specific, but after hearing Lisa, I can at least say it's not the worst I've heard."
"But look, if you accept to be another wife of Elise, you've already fulfilled 80% of your story."
"If you consider that Elise is really Cesar and she  already thinks of herself as a man all the time."

"But her breasts are bigger than mine!"
"...."
"Besides, when he was a man, he was pretty ugly, I won't lie."
"His face looked like it had been in a car accident."

"Well, you're right."
"It was actually a plane crash."
"When I saw his burned male body, his face wasn't pleasant, to say the least."
"But never say that to his face, the poor thing has already suffered a lot."
"I'm sure that's why he agreed to become a woman with such a lustful appearance in the first place; he just wanted a body he could be happy with."
"But otherwise, he hits the nail on the head."
"He's extremely strong; he'd easily beat you in a fight."
"Technically, you're already married to him by some crazy act."
"Every week something tries to kill him."
"You already have two android daughters, and you know you're a professional killer; now all you have to do is pretend badly that you're not."

"But he's not the CEO of a million-dollar company! She's my boss's son!"

"But isn't Adelis an important figure in the Alliance?"
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"Besides, if you stay and find out who Caesar really is, you'll realize that he's far more important than any CEO you could find."
"His emperor title isn't just for show."
"I didn't think much of it before, but after seeing the truth, I can understand why they say he doesn't rule the world just because he's lazy."
"And I assure you, Mrs. Adelis has nothing to do with it."
"He really is that impressive."
"He's a very good person despite his appearance; that's why so many different girls are okay with being with him."

"My dad is the best dad in the world," the android said from the backyard while sweeping.

"Dad?"
"Is the android calling Elise dad?"

"Well, Elise and Tamamo adopted her as their daughter; the rest of us are just playing along."
"So you could say they're our daughters, just a little more peculiar. "
"Besides, they're very proud of how incredible their father is."

"That sounds pretty messed up in so many different ways."
" I can't just accept that!"

"It's okay, it's not a problem."
"How about we just put it aside for now, you live here with the others, and you'll decide later whether you like it or not."
"But remember, she saved you from your mother, and she's even fighting her right now, in large part because of you."
"...."
"Although I think it's quite funny; we've been talking so excitedly that you've probably already forgotten that you're a monster girl right now."
"It shows in your face."

The girl in front of me was right, I had been so focused on talking about something so interesting that I had completely forgotten that I was talking to a mermaid lying on the floor and that I was still a giant spider. Since I was paying attention again, I realized that I was hungry again, it was almost noon, but I refused to eat any more fruit, so I asked Levia and the android if it was okay if I used the kitchen, they gave me permission as long as I left everything clean when I was done, and since they were surely hungry too, I decided to cook for everyone.

I checked the refrigerator and found Lisa's strange cooking experiment wrapped in decorative ribbons and a big card that said it was for Cesar from her. Looking a little further, I found meat and plenty of dough, so I thought about making baozi, also known as Chinese dumplings, since they were relatively easy to make and it didn't matter if I made many because they could be stored for others to eat whenever they wanted.

"How strange, I know this family is Western and all that"
"But we are in Japan, there must be soy sauce in this house for sure, but I can't find it anywhere."

"The soy sauce is in the drawer to the right of the stove, that's where we keep all the spices."

"Oh, look, you're right! There it is!"
"Thank you so much!"

But when I thought about who had spoken to me, I realized that it wasn't Levia or the android, yet it seemed familiar. I turned to look behind me, and although it was difficult because of my large spider body, I couldn't see anyone, I even looked down, thinking that maybe I couldn't see them because of my current size, but there was nothing anywhere. When I turned around, I didn't see anything either, so I kept trying to cook, a little confused, but the same voice kept talking.

"You're a spider, right, Xi'an?"
"Do you eat people or anything like that?"

Once again the voice surprised me, but I knew I wasn't crazy, this voice was clearly talking to me.

"No, I've never eaten anything like that."
"All my life, I've eaten the same food as a normal person."
"That's why I'm making baozi right now."

"Spider behavior to harm small creatures, attacking for no reason"
"Killing rivals to have the same man as a partner?"

"Where do these strange questions come from?"
"No, I may be half spider, but that doesn't mean I act like one."
"I can hardly coordinate my body to walk with eight legs that look more like spears."
"Besides, I haven't even agreed to marry Elise yet."
".....2
"Wait a minute! Now I remember that voice!"
"You must be Tifa, right? Adelis' other helper"
"We've talked a lot about helping her, on yeh phone calls."
"Do you live here too?"

"Ah, she found me, damn it!"

"Where are you? I can't see you."
"Are you some kind of ghost that Elise captured or something?"

"Ah, no, well, yes"
"....."
"Please don't hurt me!"
"It will make Elise very angry and she will avenge me!"

"Why would I hurt you?"
"We're colleagues, right?"
"Adelis will kill me if I harm her beloved adopted daughter Tifa."

"....."
"Okay, I believe you...."
"....."
"But please stay away from me."
"Spiders have always been the natural enemy of my race, so it's hard to get over the feeling of danger just by looking at you."

"Well, I understand that."
"I myself admit that a spider is quite intimidating, especially if it's a giant one, and that's coming from me, apparently."
"But I promise I won't hurt you, trust me."

"Actually, I've already come out of my hiding place."
"I'm on the breakfast bar, next to the centerpiece."

That confused me because I'd been talking in that general direction but hadn't noticed anyone there. It wasn't until she said where she was that I saw what had been in front of me all along: a little girl with wings timidly emerging from the centerpiece.

"You're a little fairy! How beautiful you are!"

"Please don't hurt me!"

"Ah! You look so cute being so shy! I want to hug you! Come here!"

"Stop! No more bullying Mother Tifa!"
"It's not allowed to bully my mother even more," the android girl said, stepping between me and the fairy and holding her gently with her hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I got a little carried away, I'm sorry."
"But I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear!"

"It's okay, I can see that now."
"....."
"It's just that my body still reacts with panic to yours."

"I'm so sorry that my body scares you so much, I'm so sorry."

"No, don't worry, I don't hate you, it's just ...."
"....."
"You know what, let's just say I'm training myself to be braver by trying to get closer to you, how about that?"

"Yeah, sure, we can leave it at that if you want."
"...."
"But how did you end up here?"
"Did Adelis hire you as her assistant too?"
"How did you get that job?"
"Although now I understand why you only show up for calls."

"I ended up here just like everyone else."
"Elise saved me, I ended up being her slave, I married her."
"I like helping the agent, so when Adelis started working here in the house, I helped her a little, and I guess my responsibilities grew little by little."
"Although it could be that I was already good with documents."

"Were you a fairy secretary in your home place?"

"No, I'm actually a botanist; I used to study plants quite a lot."
"Although I guess it's more of a hobby now than my real job."
"Anyway, I guess I can help out in the kitchen a little bit if you want."
"I'm not very strong when it comes to lifting things, but I can bring you some things you need."

"Would you really do that for me?"

With Tifa's help, I started to cook some food that I was dying to try, even though she always kept her distance. As a reward, I made her some small Baozi, just the right size for her. It was a bit difficult, but she appreciated the gesture. I served others for the android who was like Levia, both of them ate as well, it seems they liked it too.

Everything that has happened these days has been so strange, as if I had been trapped in a horrible nightmare all this time, one that began when Elise called me to interrogate me, but at the same time I can't blame her for what happened after that, after all she has done to help me, she and her family have taken care of me from the beginning, it's clear that they were as surprised by what happened as I was, and yet they didn't hesitate to help me, a place where I would be protected and cared for. They were so good to me even before this nightmare, that now my greatest fear is that all of this is nothing more than a very complex deception, not what will happen to my mother when Elise finds her, because that will be obvious. But am I really letting myself be influenced by what has happened? Am I betraying my mother? Ahg, everything is so difficult to process, but one thing is for sure, Elise, even when she discovered my identity as a monster and despite the fact that I attacked her, she always took care of my safety, I can easily understand that her motive behind everything was to protect the people close to her, while my mother I never knew what she really wanted from me, now I'm wondering if the things she said were just to manipulate me and keep me close to Adelis, as if my whole life and what happened to me was just to get to that point. The life of that child who accidentally died so young because of me... was he just being used by Xi'an Fang to motivate me to get closer to Adelis?

The sound of the doorbell interrupted us all, it was already late, so I thought it must be Tamamo coming home from school, after the android went to check and opened it, I could confirm that it was her, still pretending to be me, in her arms she was carrying a huge box full of papers.

"I'm sorry Xi'an, I tried to review all the exams I could, but there are just too many."
"So I brought them here to review over the weekend."

"Oh, don't worry, that's actually normal for a teacher"
"Just leave them on the table and I'll go over them."
"It's my job, after all."
"You take a break."

"Thank you, Xi'an."
"I'll definitely take a rest."
"It's quite a challenge to keep up with so many young students and their progress. Especially Yamada and his bad jokes, he interrupts too much."
"Luckily, Haru realized that I was Tamamo and helped me in class, so it was easier to pretend."

"Oh, well, that's because he wants Haruno to pay attention to him."
"Since she always laughs at everything and is in a good mood, Yamada thinks that he has to be funny if he wants to get close to her, even if he really isn't."
"Even though Haruno knows this, she goes along with it because she sees the poor guy's effort."

"Interesting, so you're aware of the relationships between the students in the class," Tamamo said with a curious expression.

"Well, I'm the teacher in charge of the class, so of course I have to pay attention to my students."

"No, you're wrong, not all teachers notice such things, especially someone who's only there because his real job is to pretend and deceive others."

"What do you mean by that? That I don't care about these kids?"
"Of course I care, as their teacher it's important to me that they have a bright future!"

"That's exactly the point I wanted to make."
"Even though you are a professional assassin or  a bodyguard, working there only because your boss told you to, you take your role as a teacher very seriously, even more than some who are real professionals."

"..."
"What I mean, because maybe you haven't realized it yourself... is that maybe being a teacher is your true calling."

"Me? A teacher? Are you crazy?"
"No, no, no, I'm the least suitable person for that job."
"Look at me, I've been a monster all my life, it's just that my body has reflected it until now."

"The fact that you don't think you're good enough to be a teacher is in itself a sign that you take their education seriously."
"Tell me, how many times have you stayed up late studying to understand the material you had to teach the next day?"

"Wait a minute! How did you know that?"

"I was just guessing."
"Someone who isn't a real teacher, but cares about giving good lessons to his students."
"Even if it wasn't your real job, you worked extra hard to give your students the best."

Those were Tamamo's words that made me think for a while, but she, with her usual friendly side, suggested that we better focus on reviewing the class exams while she tries to tamper with Elise's exams. It was almost night when Adelis finally returned from work, and this time she brought a pile of fast food, just as I had requested this morning. I started eating almost immediately, crying a little, and the other girls also came to eat after the cafeteria closed. But while I was enjoying my meal, someone turned on the TV, and they were showing a live report of a last-minute fire.

"As you can see, the fire started in this apartment building in Kabukicho."
"Fortunately, no deaths were reported, in part because everyone is awake in that part of town at that hour, so the fire was quickly noticed."
"According to the police report, the fire started in the building on the second floor to the right, which is now destroyed by the flames."
"Apparently, this place was some kind of criminal hideout, as several firearms and ammunition were found among the debris."
"Due to the danger of explosions, the entire area had to be evacuated."
"The police have not yet confirmed who the owner of the rented room was, as the documents were apparently forged."
"Quite a suspicious situation, as the police indicated, so they will thoroughly investigate the whole case to get to the truth of all this."
"I repeat, around 7:00 p.m., this building on the street, right at 1-chōme-8 Ōkubo, to be exact, was reported to be on fire and explosions, so I have to evacuate the entire surrounding area."

"Oh, shit! No, no, no, no, no!"
"Not this way! Not so stupid!"

"What is it, Xi'an? Why are you so worried? "
"That's on the other side of town," Adelis remarked.

"BECAUSE THAT'S MY HOUSE! HOW CAN IT BE ON FIRE? "
"You've got to be kidding me! I haven't been there all week, I didn't leave anything to start a fire!"

"Wait, your house was in Kabukicho? the red light district? "
"Quite the taste you have, Xi'an," Levia said, teasing me a bit about my misfortune.

"The place is very busy and full of suspicious activities."
"Of course, it's the perfect place for an assassin to hide."
"Besides, it's where I kept my weapons and ammunition!"
"What the police found was undoubtedly what I stored"
"Now I can't even go back to see what's left!"
"The police will arrest me! And my car was still in the garage!

"Well, you're wrong about that."
"The day Elise interrogated you, the day you turned into a spider, you came to pick me up here, and then we went to the office where all this happened."
"Then we came here by truck, so your car is still safe in the Akasaka Press Center garage."

"But still! My house burned down!"

"Well, that's easy."
"I mean, the garage is still set up for you."
"You can just continue to use it."
Don't worry about where you're going to sleep for now," Mrs. Adelis said, making light of what had happened.

"If you allow me, I think I have a slight theory about what happened," Tamamo mentioned, still watching the news.
"If this was your house, Xi'an, it's easy to assume that you had some personal items from your home in China, right?"

"Oh? Well, yes, I had several things like a tea set, some demon hunter items they gave me during the holidays, some clothes my sister bought me."
"I think I also had a photo album."
"Wait a minute!"

"Yes, I think it was your mother, Xi'an Fang, who probably ordered your house burned down to prevent us from gathering any information we could use against her."

"...."
"Really, would she be capable of that?"
"...."
"Even though I am a professional in these matters, I must mention that it also seems strange to me that the very house I lived in was the one that was set on fire."

I couldn't do anything now except watch the news helplessly, see journalists walking through the remains of houses; I couldn't even leave here without causing chaos. But if my mother was able to do that from so far away, what would Elise be going through to find Xi'an Fang? Ironically, the answer came much quicker than I expected when the international news section showed the latest news: Chenggong, the safest city in the world, had fallen victim to a terrorist attack by an unidentified group. Apparently, the mayor had been kidnapped and held hostage in his own home, then murdered as the police tried to rescue him. I didn't doubt for a moment that my mother was behind what had happened, and that it probably had something to do with Elise being there at some point.