Chapter 8

  As soon as I opened my eyes, I realized for certain that my previous visions had been a dream. I was stretched out on the couch, however there was no goddess resting on my chest. Even the proximity of my emotional support eldritch horror Hound of Tindalos was nowhere to be found.

  Slowly I lifted my stiff body from the couch and looked around the office.

  I was alone.

  Holding a hand to my head to support it during my groggy state, I tried to recall the events leading up to my current situation. Joan and I had visited with that police chief. We made our way back to the safe room. Then... Something.

  As much as I tried, I couldn't fill in the space between the walk home and my waking up in an empty office.

  Since being dragged into this death game, I could only recall one other time that I had woken up to Joan's absence. That was when Raif's infiltration ability had failed, causing me to be sent into the Deep One settlement by myself during the last investigation. It was no wonder that I associated Joan's absence with complete emptiness. But now, even Dalos was nowhere to be found.

  I had always realized that it was only a matter of time before Joan would completely abandon me. It had been no secret that I was a burden and an annoyance to her. My only talent was the ability to hold her back. Whatever happened during the gap in my memories had been the final straw.

  Dalos's absence was the biggest shock. He had never shown me anything but unconditional love and obedience since we had formed our contract. I didn't even realize he was capable of leaving my side, let alone abandoning me.

  My mind immediately went to the worst case scenario.

  Dalos died. I was unable to protect him.

  The puppy had put his trust in me, and I had failed him. Just the thought of it caused my stomach to turn.

  Overwhelmed by the situation, I stumbled. I barely managed to catch myself on the desk as I fell.

  My poorly attended pity party came to an end as I spotted the paper on top of the desk. It was a note written on a torn-out page of Joan's journal. My mind immediately reminded me of getting dumped over email in high school, so I quickly drew conclusions before I even read the note.

  Still, the email wasn't my most embarrassing high school breakup. Those honors went to the time that my girlfriend dumped me in the middle of my senior prom. She had been my prom date and girlfriend, but she broke up with me and started dating another guy during the actual dance. That one really sucked.

  So, I guessed a break-up note, wasn't so heartless. Besides, Joan and I were far from being a couple. I didn't really understand my feelings for her, but they were very different than any romantic relationship I had ever experienced. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, I knew I loved Joan. I just didn't know what kind of love it was. I wasn't really even in a position to be able to interpret my feelings. Taking the entire isekai Lovecraftian death game thing out of the equation, I still hadn't recovered from being betrayed by my fiancée and best friend.

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  If anything, I thought of Joan as my savior and an unattainable goddess.

  Somehow, I managed to talk myself down from total emo status. A few moments longer and I might have gotten really into eyeliner and started a band with a name like Tears of Broken Promises or something. I'd have been lead kazoo.

  It was time to stopped delaying reading Joan's note.

  Clay,

  You're a lazy bastard. I tried to wait for you to wake up, but it's been an entire day. I get that you had a rough time in the last fight, but we can't just sit around forever.

  I'm going to take Dalos and look into a few things. You don't need to worry about us, we'll be alright.

  DON'T LEAVE THE SAFE ROOM! I don't care what the reason, you're too much of an idiot to survive for a second out here without me, especially without Dalos.

  P.S. I left some ramen on the table. Eat it to boost your stats.

  Harsh. I mean, she wasn't wrong. I would probably get myself killed the second I left the room, but she could have been a little nicer about it.

  I noticed a bowl of ramen on the table next to the couch. My first thought was How did I miss that?! My second thought was Oh yummy! Ramen!

  Without a moment's hesitation, I plopped myself down on the couch and started slurping delicious ramen. I hadn't given too much thought about how long it had been since Joan wrote her note, but the ramen was still slightly warm, so it must not have been an exceedingly long amount of time. With each slurp, I could feel my body growing stronger due to Joan's Ramen Chef ability.

  Even though I knew that the bowl contained nothing more than instant ramen, it was one of the most fulfilling meals I'd ever eaten. It made sense. I had been unconscious for an entire day, so I must have been starving. I felt the kind of relief a person could only feel when taking a breath after being underwater for a long time, or getting to watch the first episode of a new season of anime that I had to wait years for. I mean, I'd completely given up hope that KonoSuba would even get a third season, yet seven years later I finally got eleven more episodes of Megumin's explosion-related antics. She could have learned any other spell, but she only wanted to know Explosion because it was awesome. I wondered if she'd have also learned Parkour! on top of Explosion since it was the only other skill of equal coolness. Maybe season four would be all about Megumin learning Parkour!, but hopefully I wouldn't have to wait another seven years.

  I was brought back to Earth from my completely rational tangent by a knock at the door.

  That's odd. Joan wouldn't knock.

  My body reacted in the only natural way to an unexpected knock at a door... I leapt behind the desk and hid in silence until the source of the knock went away. I had a similar response to anytime my cell phone would receive an actual phone call, except since the caller couldn't see me, I'd just have to stare at the phone in terror instead of hiding behind a desk.

  Whatever was on the other side of the door knocked again.

  Against my better judgment, I peeked over the edge of the desk. Through the frosted glass, I could see the outline of a petite-but-unmistakably-feminine figure. Aside from the obvious feminine shape, their most identifiable figure was their wild hair. Due to the translucent nature of the glass, I could only get a general idea of what was on the other side, but I struggled to picture what hair would make the shapes that were silhouetted on the glass. It almost seemed like a bob with anime-like spikes?

  "Are you going to open the door, sugar? I can hear you moving around in there."

  The voice almost seemed to reach out and grip my heart, dragging me to my feet. My pulse raced, as I felt drawn to respond. It had an unmistakable seductive huskiness to it, while also maintaining a lilting innocence. The entirety of her voice felt like a contradiction that tore into my resolve.

  I was supposed to stay inside. I was safe inside this office.

  So it wouldn't hurt if I let them into the office. As long as I didn't leave, it would be fine.

  My hand gripped the knob, and I pulled the door open to reveal the figure on the other side.

  From the moment I was born until the day I died, there were only a few decisions that had a greater impact on my life than choosing to open that office door.

  That was the moment I first laid my eyes upon The Indescribable Beauty...