"By the way, Kaito-san."
"Yeah?"
I turned toward Alice and tilted my head slightly. She had a cheerful look on her face.
"Just to add to what I said earlier... Ein-san rarely gets misunderstood, but there's another reason why it happens to Zwei-san so often."
"I'm listening."
"As I mentioned, Zwei-san is trying to copy Ein-san. But no two people are exactly alike, so differences are bound to pop up. For instance, Ein-san looks cool and strict at first glance, right? But she actually has quite a sense of humor. That’s one of the main areas where they diverge."
"I see..."
Now that she mentioned it, I could see what she meant. Ein-san always spoke politely and maintained a calm, collected demeanor outside of her maid duties—but there was more to her than that.
She had played the straight man to Acht's antics during the barbecue, served Chronoa-san a giant mug of milk at the temple, let herself be goaded into a cooking duel by Alice during the festival, and even teased Zwei-san just now. She was surprisingly good at playing along with a joke.
To put it simply, Ein-san was someone who could take a joke, whereas Zwei-san—judging by Alice's comment about her being overly earnest—was likely the type who couldn't.
Perhaps it was those subtle personality traits that made Zwei-san so prone to being misunderstood.
"Well, I guess no two people have the exact same personality," I said. "It makes sense."
"Right? Anyway... let's stop 'escaping reality' and finally address the World Crisis that just erupted in front of us."
"...Yeah... good point."
I didn't want to get involved if I could help it, but I finally forced myself to look at the supposed disaster.
If this were a manga, the air would be filled with menacing sound effects. It was a standoff of epic proportions. On one side was Shiro-san, the God of this world. Her face was expressionless, but she was radiating enough magic power to make the earth rumble.
On the other was Eden-san, the God of the other world. Her face was contorted with obvious fury, and the mana she was releasing was literally warping space.
Joking aside, this was a situation that could easily wipe out a world or two.
"B-But what even happened?" I asked.
"No idea. Actually, isn't this rare? Seeing Shallow Vernal-sama and Eden-san fight like this... Those two supposedly have all sorts of contracts between them, so they usually don't step on each other's toes."
"Now that you mention it, this might be the first time I've ever seen them argue."
"Kuro-san doesn't know who to stop first. She's just standing there panicking. Even for her, trying to handle both of them at once would be a nightmare."
Just as Alice said, Kuro was looking back and forth between Shiro-san and Eden-san with an unusually flustered expression. She seemed unable to decide who to intervene with to settle things down.
"I really don't want to get involved... but I don't have a choice, do I?"
"Nope. If we're talking odds, it's about a 500% chance out of 100 that you're the cause, Kaito-san."
"...I figured."
If possible, I would have loved to pull an immediate about-face and pretend I hadn't seen anything. But Alice was right. It wasn't just a high probability; it was a near-certainty that this involved me.
The idea of the world being destroyed because of me was no laughing matter. I wanted to do something, but jumping into that stare-down was a terrifying prospect.
While I was debating my options, Eden-san—who had been glaring silently until now—muttered in a voice that was quiet yet heavy with pressure.
"...Why is it not permitted?"
"I repeat: I have no intention of allowing you to be involved in this matter," Shiro-san replied.
"...Are you claiming this falls outside our contract? I have made concessions on non-contractual matters time and time again. Don't you think it is your turn to yield, Shallow Vernal?"
"I appreciate your cooperation thus far, and I am willing to yield on future matters where appropriate... However, this is a separate issue entirely. I cannot permit your participation, Eden."
"......"
I could practically see sparks flying between them. I didn't know the specifics, but it seemed Eden-san was making a demand that Shiro-san refused to grant.
"...Though I suppose you will not be satisfied with that?"
"Correct."
"Then we have no choice but to decide it this way."
With a murmur, Shiro-san produced a single Platinum Coin and held it up for Eden-san to see. Eden-san nodded in silent agreement.
"Do you remember the rules?"
"Altering the time it takes for the coin to fall is prohibited, yes?"
"Indeed. I choose heads."
"Then I shall take tails."
What was going on? I had no idea what the stakes were, but were they really deciding things with a coin toss? Shiro-san was heads, Eden-san was tails... Under normal circumstances, it would be a simple game of chance. But the atmosphere was anything but normal.
Amidst the stifling tension, Shiro-san flicked the coin upward. It shot into the sky with such incredible force that it vanished from sight in an instant.
That alone was bizarre... but it was only the beginning.
"Oh crap!" Alice shouted.
Immediately after Shiro-san flicked the coin, Kuro, Alice, and Fate-san suddenly appeared around the two gods.
A translucent, cylindrical barrier was erected to encase Shiro-san and Eden-san. It immediately began to warp and vibrate violently as if being hammered from the inside.
"Ugh... What kind of pressure is this? Are these damn gods going full power!?" Alice groaned.
"Shaltan! Underworld King! Hold it together! If even a fraction of this leaks out, the world—let alone the continent—is history!" Fate-san cried.
"I know! But just containing it is exhausting!" Kuro added.
Hold on, what was happening?
I could vaguely grasp that Shiro-san and Eden-san were doing something absurd, and the other three were desperately trying to prevent the collateral damage from destroying the planet. But the reality of the situation was moving too fast for my brain to catch up.
"Hecatoncheir!"
"Prologue!"
"Only for the three of us... Critical Point of Fate!"
Wait, what were we supposed to be doing? This was a housewarming party, wasn't it?
This wasn't some "Final Battle" scenario... was it?
Serious-senpai: "I know the situation is insane, but since the cause is almost certainly Kaito, I bet the reason behind it is something incredibly stupid."
Mystery Entity: "The world is on the brink because they love Kaito-san too much."