“The blue rose is a hairpin this time?”

“There’s no need to comment on that, Kagura Sota.”

“No need to be hostile, jeez. I’m just saying it nicely suits you.”

“There’s—” she sighed, “no need to comment on that.”

Hathaway nodded to the back before walking there. I followed her without any hesitation to a spacious open area at the back where some couches stood. A small counter could be seen on the corner hiding a man probably in his thirties who was reading a book really closely. He had his blue hair tied up to an apple hair with a pink scrunchy.

“Didn’t match my face, did it? It’s my wife’s.” He smiled, probably noticing what I’d been staring at. “You finally brought him here, Anna.”

“Anna? Should I call you that from now on?”

“Over my dead body.”

“Don’t be like that, Anna. Aren’t you the one who insisted on inviting him here?”

“He doesn’t need to know about that.”

“What’s going on?”

“Sit,” Hathaway glared at me as she sat down on the coach across from the one I sat on. 

There was so much I wanted to comment on but I decided to shut up and take it. The uglier a couch gets, the more comfortable it becomes. That particularly classical looking couch was extra comfortable. As expected of a book club. The man pulled a chair to the center. He took a good look at both of us before opening his mouth.

“You can call me David. David Ackermann. I’m the owner of this place and this so-called organization. Kagura, what do you know about Diegesis?”

“The extension of someone’s spirit?”

“Almost. An entity. Everything has a spiritual connection with the other realm whether it’s a creature, a concept, or even the sun. If the spiritual realm got in contact with them closely, their Diegesis will be formed.”

“Spiritual Realm,” I fixed my posture only to lean back to the couch again. “That’s the truth of our world?”

“Yes. Got any problem with that?”

“Easy, Anna,” David calmed her down, seemingly understanding my skepticism. “Every single thing in this world has its own story and such a story is enhanced by the human psyche—our perception. You know, the spirits love those stories, you know.”

“When these stories come in contact with the spirit realm, the energy will bring shape to it and create a distortion in reality itself.”

“Like powers and all?”

“Yes, but not limited to that. Have you ever seen rumors about weird occurrences, poltergeists, ghosts, the myth, and so on? They all have something to do with the spirit realm and Diegesis.”

“It just happens? Like that?”

“The Luxite caused it,” Hathaway interjected. “That crystal served as a rift between our world and the spirit realm, basically causing all of this to happen to us in Crystalline.”

“And that very spiritual energy fueled the whole city. That’s the reason why this place exists at all.”

“So nobody can just destroy the crystal to get this over with.”

“Bingo.”

“Besides, not all of them are bad or anything close to destructive. Most of them are unnoticeably harmless things in our day-to-day lives.”

“From Diegesis, we have you and I, Lores. We are people who understood the Diegesis in us to some extent and gained the ability to control them. Some of us, even, have heightened control over it that allowed them to influence other Diegesis.”

“Like Hathaway?”

“Yes, like Anna over there.”

“So you’re saying she’s the only one out of us who can take care of those Fairytales?”

“I love that you caught up pretty fast.” I could see the excitement on David’s face. He hopped off from his seat and took a notebook from the counter. “You see? Fairytales are special cases. Some out of control Diegesis can turn to those creatures. For example, Ashley Jones’ obsession. It manifested into the amalgamation of jealousy the both of you fought.”

“So the dragon was also a Fairytale?”

“Yes,” Hathaway looked quite uneasy. “That thing, Caladrius, was the collective pain of people turning to a Diegesis.”

“It’s those of the involved terrorists’.”

“I see,” I nodded as everything slowly fell in place. “But why are you telling me this?”

“Anna?”

Hathaway sighed, “two months ago, I came a little late in hunting down the Caladrius. When I reached that place, you were already mangled by it.”

“So you’re the one who saved me?”

“No.” She stood up, uneasy. There was a restless aura coming from her usual calm demeanor. “I’m the one who brought all of this bullshit upon you.”

Her words nudged me a little. I threw a glance at David whose expression turned apologetic. “What do you mean?”

“When they defeated Caladrius, they all noticed that its residual existence lingered around the area. It turned out that creature went into resonance with your story and Luxite, manifesting into your own Diegesis.”

“So you’re saying this whole situation was—”

“My fault. Yes. I should’ve arrived there earlier.”

Hathaway looked down, bowing deeply. It put me on the spot, really, but sincerity was the only thing I could sense from her.

“Thank you, Hathaway,” I said, throwing her off guard. David’s grim expression changed to a wide smile seeing that. “I can’t think of anything else but the fact that you saved my life.”

“But–”

“Twice, actually. That time and the karaoke place.”

Clap. Before Hathaway could even say anything, David stopped her. “On to the fun part?”

“There’s a fun part?”

David rushed to the far side behind some shelves and pulled out a huge white board. On it was the map of all Crystalline Sectors, some graphs, and numbers—all handcrafted. I walked to Hathaway who still had her head down. I leaned a little to make sure my eyes could meet hers, tilting my head in a really awkward way. 

“Do I have the right to call you Anna now?”

It pulled her back from whatever she was thinking about—face turning red, probably in anger. “Over my dead body.”

“Yup, that’s the spirit.”

“Here it comes, children!” David briskly started his presentation. His steps were really light in excitement. “Kagura-Kun,” he suddenly addressed me in a Japanese way, “how many people do you think live in Crystalline City?”

“A few millions? One or two?”

“That’s not even close. It’s eight million seven hundred and fifty thousand, three hundred and ninety six people.”

“That’s specifically too many.”

“How much do you think are Lores?”

“I don’t know, ten percent?”

“Thirty.” Hathaway corrected me.

“That’s an awful lot of people.”

“But not even two thousand of them are Chronicles.”

“Chronicles are those like me.”

“So what you’re saying is that there’s a lack of manpower?”

“Precisely.”

“Careful, Sota, and think carefully.” Hathaway threw a glare at me. “Think of yourself first.”

“We can help you learn all of this new thing you need to get used to. All we need is for you to help us a little.”

“David, this isn’t what we agreed on. You agreed to just explain the situation—not invite him into this whole moronic bullshit.”

Sota? I took a glance at Hathaway. It was hard for me to study her expression right now but it was clear to me why she even started to talk to me at all. I smirked. “Only if she let me call her Anna.”

“You little—”

“Then that’s decided! Welcome to The Footnote, Sota!”

“Wait, David!”