This Goddess Must Be Crazy, Chapter 46 (Patreon)

“We have less time than we may think, so I will be brief,” All Might said, looking around at his students, who had once more confirmed that they were as much heroes as anyone else. “If an invasion of our world is to take place, we need to get the information out to heroes globally. There is no reason to think that the enemy will strike Japan alone..”

They were back at UA already in the main auditorium, though it was mostly empty. The first year heroe students were there, along with most of the faculty, and several notable heroes such as Best Jeanist and Endeavor, who was sitting by his son and looking grim. All Might was up on the stage with Nezu, Iris, and Izuku, while the rest of them sat in rows, listening to the dire news.

“That’s because you haven’t read enough Light Novels,” Kazuma said, sounding bored. “It’s always Japan, and it’s definitely going to be Tokyo.”

“I mean, it could be New York too,” Izuku said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.. “Or maybe Los Angeles?”

“Life is not a video game,” Nezu warned, steepling his fingers. “And while we tend to think of Japan as the most important location on the planet by virtue of living here, why not establish a beachhead in a sparsely populated, poorly defended location, and attack from there? We know they have agents here in Japan, but why not in Angola, Nicaragua, or Papua New Guinea?”

“‘Cause Ainz is from Japan, duh.”

All heads in the room swiveled towards Aqua, who smiled guilelessly back. “What? He is.”

“I thought you said the Lord of the Tomb was a lich,” Aizawa growled, leaning towards Aqua and causing her to cringe back slightly. “Why do you say he’s Japanese?”

“Because he was isekai’d. You know, like Kazuma, Subaru, and Tanya. He was just, um, in another Division, so, uh…he was a bit of a big meanie,” Aqua said, giving Aizawa a nervous grin.

“Sometimes, Aqua, I wonder how much information you have rattling around in that head of yours, and how much of it is pure nonsense you make up on the spot,” Aizawa growled, pressing an index finger to her forehead. “Is there any other incredibly important information you’d like to share with us as we try to plan the defense of the entire world?!”

“Ow! Stop it!” Aqua complained, and after a moment, Aizawa relented. “Hmph. Well, Ainz is obviously a smelly undead, so holy magic is super effective. And uh, he’s got lots of vampires and demons and stuff that work for him, and some really gross bugs.”

“We killed the bugs,” Kazuma said with a heavy sigh. “You weren’t there, but I did this flour thing and took ‘em out. Tsukuyomi squashed the rest.”

“Well, there goes fumigation off our preparation checklist,” Endeavor said with a roll of his eyes. “The real question is, how do we counter this with what we have at hand? And would other nations believe it? I certainly wouldn’t, if Shoto hadn’t told me himself.”

“I have spoken to some of the top heroes in other nations that I have connections with and intimated that an attack is imminent,” All Might stated. “It’s also not entirely a new concept: the prospect of someone having a dimension-hopping Quirk has come up before, though it’s been entirely theoretical until now.”

“Who the hell cares? They show up here, we kick their ass like we did before,” Bakugo growled, jerking a thumb at Aqua and Chris. “We got these two for a reason. They clean up all the spooky crap, the rest of us stomp the rest of it. Easy.”

“Don’t be crass, Bakugo,” Iris told him icily. “These monsters have destroyed countless worlds, my own included. If defeating them were so easy, it would have been done by now.”

“Then we need information,” Nezu said with a sigh. He frowned over at All Might. “How is that…effort…working thus far?”

The big man shifted uncomfortably. “I am…not sure. I do not like seeing such methods employed, even against the cruelest of villains.”

“The God Slayer is more than that, and whatever happens to her, she deserves it,” Chris said with a snort. “The one time I actually approve of handing someone over to a demon…”

“Wiz is there, nothing too heinous can happen, right?” Izuku said hesitantly.

“Meh. If it does, she can just bring the bitch back,” Bakugo said with a jerk of his chin towards Aqua.

“I didn’t do it the first time just so you could torture her!” Aqua snapped, going red in the face.

“Then why did you do it?” Endeavor demanded. “Because otherwise, it looks like you were just helping the enemy.”

Aqua looked down, tears in her eyes. “Because…once…we were friends…”

There was silence for a few moments until Bakugo laughed. “That’s the stupidest fucking thing-”

“Bakugo!” Iris said with a stern glare, which quelled him. Then she turned to Aqua. “Goddess, that is perhaps the most asinine thing I have ever heard. Surely you had a better reason, such as gathering intelligence.”

“WHAT?! That’s the exact same thing I was going to say!” Bakugo protested, standing up in outrage.

“No, you were going to be a rude idiot about it. Iris has class,” Kazuma told him with a smirk.

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Bakugo muttered.

“Regardless, we should be grateful Aqua did resurrect the God Slayer,” Nezu said with a shake of his head. “And we had best hope that Vanir can extract something useful from here. Otherwise, we go into this near blind.”

The discussion continued with ways to combat the coming of the Tomb, but one thought loomed over all:

What, exactly, would Vanir be able to extract from Tanya, and what horrific means would he use to do so?

“Thank you for choosing McDonalds, my name is Tanya, what can I get for you today?”

“Uh, can I get um…uh…”

Tanya gritted her teeth, and tried very hard not to snap the pen she had in her hand as she listened to the fool in the car that was in her drive through.

“Um…can I get a…Whopper with curly fries?”

“Sir, this a McDonalds. I can get you a Big Mac with french fries,” Tanya said, forcing her voice to remain chipper. “Would you like to make it a meal?”

“Uh, what about a roast beef sandwich with…onion rings?”

“I am afraid this is not an Arby’s, sir. We do not carry those products. We do have the Filet O Fish or a Crispy Chicken sandwich,” Tanya said sweetly, but that eye twitch of hers was back.

“Tanya!” Visha called, popping her sweaty and irritated face into the back. “Some kid pooped in the play area again, I’ve got to shut it down and clean it up again!”

“In the middle of the dinner rush!? Do you have any idea what that will do to our-” Tanya forced herself to stop and take a breath. “Yes, health and safety regulations must be followed. Go and see to it at once.”

“Right, on it,” Visha said with a heavy sigh, and turned to go. She paused, then turned back. “Oh, Demiurge called in sick again, and Shalltear is still out from those burns. So, uh, they want us to work another double shift again…”

“Yes, that’s fine,” Tanya said, her left eye twitching slightly.

“Uh, can I get a 15 piece chicken nuggets?” the moron in the drive through asked. Tanya was not certain how the idiot had ever managed to pass the written portion of the Driver’s License test. She doubted he was literate.

“I can sell you a 10 or 20 piece nuggets sir,” Tanya snarled as Visha left, then forced herself back to calm. “Which would you prefer?”

“I want a 14 piece nugget meal,” the man insisted.

“Fine, of course, you got it,” Tanya said, and punched in the 20 piece meal.

“But that says 20 piece, I can’t eat that much!”

“Oh, that’s an error, sir. I assure you, there will only be 14 nuggets in the box,” Tanya said in her most chipper tones. “What will you be having to drink?”

“I want a Diet Pepsi.”

“Sir, we serve Coca Cola products. I can get you a Diet Coke.”

“No, I want a Pepsi! I don’t like Diet Coke.”

“We do not have Pepsi, sir. We have Coca Cola products.”

“Fine! We’ll take a regular coke. Friggin’ bitch, can’t even do your job right.”

“Yes, sir,” Tanya said, forcing cheeriness into her voice, and imagined strangling this mouthbreather with her bare hands. “One coke.”

“Ah, Ms. Degurachaff,” Ainz, her manager, said, walking by and looking at a clipboard. “We’re out of coke syrup, going to have to order more.”

“Are you kidding me?! PROCUREMENT IS YOUR JOB! Why did you not order sufficient quantities of syrup, AGAIN!? This is the second time this month that we-”

Tanya dreamed of yelling at her manager, of chewing him out, and of quitting this humiliating job and getting a better one. But after having been fired from all her previous employers, this was literally her last option. She could not afford to fail.

“Oh, thank you for letting me know sir!” Tanya said cheerily, then cued her mic. “I’m sorry sir, we’re out of regular coke.”

“YOU DUMB PIECE OF SHIT, HOW DARE YOU-”

Her shift was long, and exhausting, and there was far from only one drive through moron she had to deal with. And of course, Sebas failed to show for his shift too. As the manager, Ainz SHOULD have been the one to keep the restaurant open, but no, he had to go home at 10pm, which left an exhausted Tanya and Visha alone in this godforsaken place all night.

Again.

They finally crawled home at 6 am the next day when Cocytus actually managed to show up for his shift. Their car had broken down last week, so that meant that they had to take the horribly inefficient American Public Transportation system, and share a bus that smelled of unwashed bodies and urine with a rambling and clearly insane homeless man, and two teenagers who appeared to be performing fellatio in the back. Tanya was too tired to care.

When they stumbled in, Visha tried to turn on the lights, but, of course, it didn’t work. The lightbulb had burned out yesterday, but they hadn’t had the time or the funds to replace it. They sat in the dark, and Visha put the bag of greasy and now cold food on the table.

“It’s your favorite, for breakfast. Cold fries and chicken nuggets, with powerade,” Visha said, exhausted. She rooted around in the bag, setting the now soggy mess in front of Tanya, then rooted around in the bag for a few more seconds. Then she burst into tears.

“It’s fine, the nutrition is adequate,” Tanya said, and didn’t look down at her belly, or Visha’s second chin. They’d both been putting on weight, but they didn’t have a better source of food, and hours in the back of a hot kitchen didn’t leave one much time for exercise.

“I-I forgot the ketchup ,” Visha whimpered. “I can’t do anything right!”

“You’re tired, I’m tired. It is sufficient,” Tanya said, though she did feel a pang of anger at the lack of condiments. “Perhaps there is some in the refrigerator.”

There were, though that was the only thing aside from some moldy bread and rotten milk in there. She gave Visha two packets and took one for herself, and they had their pathetic meal. Then they crawled into bed, which was an old mattress on the floor, and lay there, exhausted, but unable to sleep.

“You know the worst part,” Visha said, her voice ragged and exhausted.

“That we cannot currently afford air conditioning,” Tanya guessed, as the temperature continued to rise. It was not even 8 am, but it would soon top 100F, which irritated her as a voice in her head whispered that it should be 40C. June in Phoenix Arizona was not fit for human habitation.

“That we have to do it again in a few hours, and again, and again, and again,” Visha groaned, covering her face with her hands. “It’s just not worth it…”

Tanya felt her mouth go dry. “It is…better than the alternative.”

“I should just kill myself. Then you wouldn’t have to pay my medical bills at least,” Visha said bitterly.

“No!” Tanya sat up, glaring at Visha. “Do not even consider such things!”

“Why, Tanya!? Why should we keep going through this!? It’s pointless, it’s stupid!” Visha demanded.

“In three months, we will be evaluated, and I am confident we will get the highest marks, and a raise, which would-”

“Oh, great! Then we’ll be paid $7 an hour instead of 6.75! We can go broke slightly less quickly!”

The argument devolved from there, Tanya didn’t even remember most of it. She and Visha ended up sleeping with their backs to one another. It was an exhausted sleep, full of nightmares, and as the temperature rose, she panted, the heat of the day making her feel like she was in hell.

Oh, but you are in hell, dear Miss Degurechaff. Don’t you remember?

Jolting awake, Tanya gasped for breath, then on reflex, tried to struggle against the restraints securing her to the table she was laying on. Her prisoner jumpsuit was stained with sweat as though she were in an Arizona summer, despite the cool, almost cold air pressing against her skin.

She looked around, her eyes slightly wild, only to see the masked demon leering down at her, that damnable grin on his face.

“What was that!? That is not- what you did is against the articles of war!” Tanya babbled.

“Oh?” Vanir gave her a puzzled look, putting one finger to his lips. “Moi has studied your much vaunted articles of war many times. According to international treaty, moi finds no clause about giving a prisoner a dream where she is gainfully employed in a prosperous American city.”

“It was all just so inefficient! I could think of a dozen ways I could have improved that establishment to be more profitable, and secured a raise and better wages for myself! The forms for requisitions alone were needlessly labyrinthian! And that ICE CREAM MACHINE! Damnable thing, I could have easily found a more competent mechanic that could have kept it fixed!” Tanya raged.

“Vanir? What are you doing to her?” a worried female voice called.

“Oh, nothing she doesn’t deserve,” Vanir chuckled, an evil grin back on his face.

“You’re supposed to be asking her questions about Nazerick, what are you doing?” Wiz asked, her voice still slightly muffled as if distant.

“Breaking her,” Vanir purred. He came closer to Tanya, reaching out to stroke her sweaty and tangled hair. “Hmm, that one was not bad enough, oh no. Hmm, moi thinks next time, you shall be employed at a Panda Express, here in Japan…”

“Do your worst, monster, there is nothing that you could do to break me, I-”

“-one that does not follow food and safety regulations.”

“YOU FIEND!” Tanya raged, struggling against her bonds. “You cannot do this to me! What are you doing to Visha!?”

“Oh? You wish to see?” Vanir put a finger to Tanya’s forehead. “See.”

It was cold, and Visha’s breath puffed in the air, her lungs burning, her arms feeling like leaden weights. She desperately hoed at the ground, trying to break up the soil, but it was useless. She slumped on her hoe, feeling no hope. The frost had come early, and the entire crop was going to be lost. She wept bitterly, her tears freezing on her cheeks as she looked at her shriveled turnips and potatoes. Lost. It was all lost.

There was a noise behind her, and she spun. Dread filled her heart, and she dropped the hoe, ran to where the car had just pulled up to the farmhouse, her thin leather shoes slapping on the frozen earth.

“Please, we have nothing left! There is no money, no food!” her father was pleading before the grim faces of the invaders. He was on his knees, begging, blood already crusting his lip and grey beard, his cheek still bleeding from where he had been struck.

“Inexcusable. I have seen the reports of this region's production in past years. You are well below quota,” the officer said coldly, looking down at Visha’s father with a sneer. Well, down her nose. Even with him kneeling, they were of a height.

“Papa! Papa!” Visha wailed, and ran up to her father, wrapping her arms about him and glaring at the damn Germans. “What do you want now?”

“Miss Ivanovna. You and your family and behind on your payments to the Reich,” Colonel Degurachaff said icily, her cold blue eyes even more wintery than the frigid air. “Do not hold out on us. I know you have more.”

“We have nothing! Not even enough to eat ourselves! You took our last goat a week ago, so now we do not even have its milk to drink!” Visha spat, clutching at her father as she trembled. She should have gone with her brother Gregor and joined the partisans.

“No? Search the house,” Colonel Degurachaff said, her tone bored. The SS Troopers did just that, somehow finding things they had not already broken. They returned with a bag of potatoes they’d found in the barn.

“No! Those are our seed potatoes! If you take those-” Visha protested.

“You have a crop in the ground. Use those,” the Colonel sniffed dismissively. “But it is not enough. Take him.”

“What!? No!” Visha wailed as her father was ripped from her. “Please, no, not my father!”

“The camps can always use another worker,” the Nazi bitch said with a shrug. “See to it that you bring in that harvest in a timely fashion. Otherwise…well. Your father will have company soon.”

Someone kicked Visha in the gut, and she was on her hands and knees, retching, unable to speak or do anything as her father was hauled away. She was left alone with a frozen, worthless crop, and an empty hut as she clawed at the dirt.

When Tanya came awake this time, her heart was broken. She felt drained of all energy. That couldn’t have been her, could it? She would never do such things, not to Visha!

Only, it was all so logical…she had orders. Quotas. They had been nothing but Russian peasants, and the Reich and needed-

Tanya turned her head to the side, retching miserably. She spat to clear the bile from her mouth, then turned to glare at Vanir. “I will never break. Do your worst, monster.”

“Ah, but you see, the question is which of you will break first?” Vanir said philosophically. “For only one of you can live.”

“Please. As if I would not die for Visha,” Tanya laughed bitterly, sneering at this fool. “She is the only good thing left in the world.”

“Oh, no, you misunderstand,” Vanir leaned in, a wicked grin on his face. “If you break, I will kill you. If she breaks, I will kill her. This is not the first time Moi has interrogated mortals. Moi detests the nauseating emotion of love, but moi does understand how to exploit it. So, moi shall grant the release of death to the one who talks. The other, well. They will be allowed to live, sent to a world of peace and tranquility to live out their days, away from this war. Boring, but, well, you mortals do so enjoy peace, or so you tell yourself.”

Cold sweat broke out all over Tanya’s body. “The Prisoners Dilemma is solved. Visha knows this. So long as she does not break either, we will both live. And since you are simply giving us dreams, what is the worst that can happen?”

“Well, why do we not return to Colonel Degurachaff of the Waffen SS and Viktoria Ivanova to find out?” Vanir purred, stretching his gloved hands forward. “Your shame and regret will be most delicious. Moi can-”

“SACRED EXORCISM!”

A blast of holy light so bright it made spots dance in front of Tanya’s eyes shot out, and Vanir dissolved into dust as Tanya lay there, stunned.

“Wretched goddess! How dare you interfere with my work!? These mortals were given over to moi as sinners, as per the contracts of old! A goddess has no right to-”

“GOD BLOW!”

There was another crumbling sound, then Tanya heard panting. “I have every right! She’s not dead, and if she was, I’d bring her back again! She was, IS my friend, Vanir!”

“MWAHAHAHAHA! Oh, this is too rich, even from the most foolish of goddesses! To call the God Slayer your friend! Should I undo her bonds, that she might-”

“SHUT UP! SACRED EXORCISM!”

Another flash, more spots, and Tanya felt dazed. Aqua? What was she doing here? Why had she brought Tanya back from death already? It made no sense…she had killed gods. Dozens of them. Why would Aqua do such a thing?

Footfalls echoed, and a moment later, Aqua’s distraught face hovered over Tanya. “What did he do to you!? I snuck down as soon as I could, oh, I’m so, so sorry, Tanya! No one should be left to demons! Here, I got the key off his body, so…”

There was no way. Not even Aqua was this stupid. This was a ploy. Another dream from Vanir. There was no way that-

Tanya’s manacles clicked open, and she sat up, massaging her wrists and looking around. Aqua was peering at her anxiously, a key in her hands. “You’re OK, right?”

“Give me one reason I should not either slay you or take you hostage,” Tanya said coldly.

“Because we’re buddies! Now come on, we have to get Visha! Wis was looking after her, so she’s probably OK, but that stupid demon was in charge so who knows,” Aqua ordered, and led Tanya to the open door of the cell.

Baffled, and still not certain she shouldn’t just kill Aqua and be done with it, Tanya followed after her. It was a short walk down a hall to another room, where they found Visha in torn and bloodied clothes, Wiz tied up in the corner, and half a dozen little demons biting Visha or whipping her with briars.

“YOU STUPID DEMON! SACRED EXORCISM, SACRED- Oh no. AHHHH!” Aqua wailed, as her spell spectacularly failed to do anything. The little dolls all giggled and leapt at Tanya.

“Prisoner escaped! Eliminate!” they chanted in eerie voices.

Swearing, Tanya tried to dodge, to get to Visha, even as the dolls began to glow, but one grabbed onto her legs. If they exploded, she might-

Aqua grabbed all the dolls up, and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her. A moment later, there was a loud thump, and the door shuddered, a dent appearing in its sturdy metal surface.

Ignoring that, Tanya ran over to Wiz, who was gagged and crying, and ripped the key from around her neck. She ran over and unlocked Visha’s manacles, then helped her lover to her knees as she gasped for breath.

“How…how did you?” Visha whispered, one eye swollen shut, the other bloodshot as she stared at Tanya.

“Aqua,” Tanya said tightly. “Now come on, we have to get you-”

The door banged open, and Aqua, black faced and with scorched clothes stood there swaying. Her hair was slightly burned, and she looked like a horrible mess.

“Not so tough,” Aqua slurred as Tanya dropped Visha and fell into a fighting stance. “Stupid demon. Can’t beat me. I’m a goddess…”

“Do not come closer,” Tanya spat. “I may be unarmed, but I still-”

“Huh? I have to come close, how could I heal Visha otherwise?” Aqua asked, and then did just that, kneeling by Visha. “Heal!”

The only reason Tanya did not attack was because she couldn’t understand. She understood the words, she witnessed the actions, but she couldn’t understand why this blue being was helping.

Gasping, Visha shuddered, even as her wounds vanished. She gave Tanya a wide eyed look. “B-but, how? I…I am undead, how could you-”

“Oh, I fixed that. You’re a normal human now! Don’t worry, if Ainz was mind controlling you or something, you’re free! So we can tell Kazuma and Izuku, and we can all be friends again!” Aqua said hopefully, smiling timidly.

Visha and Tanya shared shocked looks.

“Ainz…Alucard, they said,” Tanya began, her mind racing.

“Aqua, we…we are enemies,” Visha said, her tone almost gently. “You cannot just-”

“Nu-uh! You’re not a stupid undead anymore! I fixed you! So we can be friends!” Aqua sniffled, her eyes full of tears. “And I won’t let Vanir torture you any more! It’s OK to beat up bad guys, and even kill them if you have to, but you’re not bad guys, right? You were mind controlled, turned into undead, you had to obey- WIZ!”

Aqua ran over and ripped the gag off the lich, who groaned softly. “Oh Wiz, I’m so sorry, see, this is why you can’t trust Vanir, he’s a jerk!”

“A-Aqua, the godslayer, you have to run!” Wiz panted. “You’re the one Nazarick wants! It’s you they’ve been after all these years!”

“Yeah, so? Tanya wouldn’t hurt me. Right, Tanya?” Aqua said, turning back around.

Logically, Tanya should eliminate or, at the very least, capture the blue goddess. Innocence was simply ignorance in a different guise, and Tanya despised something so useless, but… the way Aqua stared with so much trust, her actions beforehand.

If there was such a thing as a Goddess of Innocence, then Aqua would be such a being. By all rights, Tanya should act,but she found herself frozen, unable to think of what to do. “I…”

“Major?” Visha said softly. Tanya met her eyes, and her heart sank. “I think…I think we have made a mistake…”

Tanya opened her mouth to protest, but then, memories of being Colonel Degurachaff flooded into her. Memories of killing innocents on countless worlds. She’d justified it all, but…

“Lieutenant…Visha…what do you wish to do?” Tanya rasped, her throat bone dry. Visha was her second-in-command, her trusted partner. In lieu of her own action, then perhaps a second opinion from her second could help here.

Visha stood up slowly, going over to help Aqua undo Wiz’s bonds. “Yes, Aqua. We are your friends. Let’s…let’s talk. Do you think… could you help Ainz?”

“Well, he is a stupid undead, and he’s really evil,” Aqua said uncertainly. Wiz winced, and Aqua hastily added, “B-but we were friends, um, kinda. M-maybe?”

“You… are not what I remember. Or expected,” Tanya said, putting one hand to her head. “You are an utter fool, yes, but…”

“Well, you don’t see me calling you dumb,” Aqua grumbled.

“I suppose not,” Tanya said, then remembered times when Aqua had done just that. Something was wrong. Memories were coming back. Memories she hadn’t known she’d had. Memories of a time spent with Aqua in another world. Another time.

“Major, did you…have dreams?” Visha asked, her tone soft. “I…I dreamed of…”

“It wasn’t real,” Tanya snapped instantly. Then she grimaced. “Though what is real and what is not…I am not sure anymore.”

“Well, Ainz is coming! And, well, I sort of want to help him, but he can’t be allowed to kill any more people! You’ll help us, right?!” Aqua begged desperately.

“Of course,” Visha said gently, smiling at Aqua. “We…we are friends.” She gave Tanya a pleading look.

Something broke inside of Tanya, and she straightened. “Is that what the rules of this world would dictate? That we should cooperate, in exchange for amnesty?”

“I mean, I cured your amnesty, I don’t know why you’d want it back,” Aqua said in confusion.

Tanya and Visha gave her a blank look, while Wiz sighed heavily.

“You’re thinking of amnesia, Aqua. Not amnesty.” Then the ice witch turned a cold gaze on Tanya, one that made even her cankered soul shiver. “You have done much evil, Godslayer. There are few I would give over to a demon to torture, but you have earned such a punishment thoroughly.”

“I…yes,” Tanya admitted, feeling sick. “But, my information could save you all. Is that not worth something?”

“Yeah Wiz, come on! If they help, they’re good guys again!” Aqua turned to Tanya. “Please, if you help, I’ll talk to All Might and all the others! But you have to hurry! Ainz could come at any time!”

Slowly, Tanya nodded. “Very well. I will tell you what I can.”

The memories that were filtering back in told Tanya that Aqua could be trusted. She was selfish, stupid, and vain, but she also had a heart of gold, and would do anything to help those she cared about. The gods were still cruel and capricious, but if there was one god who didn’t need killing…well.

Perhaps it was time for retirement.

In the control room, Vanir chuckled and held out his hand. Nezu laughed and passed him a 10,000 yen note.

“Best money I have ever lost. You were right. I’m surprised though, Vanir. I wouldn’t have thought a demon would bet on a goddess.”

“That one is most infuriating, but moi has learned one thing.” Vanir grilled, pocketing the money. “If one wishes to foil the plans of a fool…send in a bigger one.”

“Hmm, perhaps, but that is not how I would have put it,” Nezu said, picking up his steaming cup of tea and sipping at it. On the monitors, they watched as Tanya and Visha began to confess their sins to both Aqua and Wiz.

“Oh? And how wouldst thou have put it?” Vanir asked. Then he frowned. “No, do not tell moi. Pah. Thou art far more soft hearted than moi would have thought.”

“It’s simple, really. You really do catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,” Nezu chuckled, leaning back in his chair. “I might be a bit of an evil mastermind myself, but I understand that.”

“Hmph. Moi refuses to acknowledge that this round has gone to Aqua. After all, moi was the one to engineer this situation with thy help,” Vanir laughed, heading for the door.

“Ta ta, I’ll be taking notes. Do let All Might and the others know for me,” Nezu said, then settled in, a smile on his face.