"Warlock?!" Kaito squeaked, his voice cracking in protest. He scrambled backward on his bed, pressing himself against the wall as if he could phase through it. "I'm not a warlock! I'm a broke college student!"
Elara was already on her feet, poised in a combat stance in the middle of his tiny room. Her eyes darted around, analyzing the "enemy territory" the stack of ramen cups, the dusty textbooks, the single, sad-looking desk chair.
"A likely tale!" she declared, her voice ringing with conviction. "This barren, grey cell is clearly a front for your nefarious practices! You have summoned me from my sacred battle for your... your..." She gestured vaguely at him, her gauntleted hand sweeping over his pajama pants. "...your unspeakable mortal desires!"
KAITO
Unsuspecting mortal desire was a package of instant noodles and eight hours of sleep!This is a nightmare!
"Look," he said, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I didn't summon anyone. I was just reading about you. In a story. On my phone." He pointed a trembling finger at the smartphone still lying on his rumpled blanket.
Elara's sharp gaze followed his finger. She eyed the dark, rectangular device with deep suspicion. "A scrying mirror? A small, black scrying mirror..."
"It's a phone! For talking to people and reading stuff!"
"Silence!" she commanded, though she looked less sure of herself now. The initial adrenaline was fading, replaced by a dawning confusion. She looked at her own hands, then back at the room. "This place... it feels... empty. The mana is thin. Drained." She looked at Kaito, genuine confusion in her brilliant eyes. "Where are we? This is not Eldoria."
"No," Kaito said, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "It's not. This is Earth. Japan. My dorm room."
"Dor... mu...?" She tested the strange word on her tongue.
"My home," he simplified, finally daring to slide off the bed and stand on shaky legs. He kept his distance. "You... you just appeared. Out of nowhere. On top of me." A faint blush crept up his neck.
Elara's own cheeks tinged with a delicate pink. She straightened her posture, trying to reclaim her dignity. "A... tactical landing. Unavoidable when traversing the chaotic void between worlds."
KAITO
A'tactical landing' right on my junk. Sure.
The immediate threat of being smited seemed to be receding. Kaito's practical, survivalist mind kicked into gear. The problem was no longer "magical girl in my room." It was now "magical girl in my room, and I need to make sure she doesn't destroy my life."
"Okay," he said, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. "Let's establish some ground rules. Rule Number One. No pointing weapons at me. Or anyone else."
Elara's hand, which had been resting on the hilt of her dagger, slowly dropped to her side. "A knight does not draw her blade without cause."
"The cause is 'I think he's a warlock' is not a good enough cause here," Kaito countered.
"Then what is the code of justice in this... Japan?"
"Calling the police. Due process. It's complicated. Just... no stabbing."
She gave a slow, regal nod. "I shall... withhold judgment. For now."
GRRRRooooowl...
A loud, long growl echoed in the small room. It took Kaito a second to realize it hadn't come from him.
Elara flinched, her hand flying back to her dagger. "What foul beast lurks in this cell?!"
Kaito stared at her. "That... was your stomach."
She blinked. "My... stomach?"
"You're hungry." The realization hit him with a fresh wave of despair. "You get hungry. Of course you get hungry. I have to feed a fantasy heroine." He looked at his nearly empty wallet on the desk. It seemed to weep in sympathy.
"This feeling... this emptiness. Is this 'hunger'?" She placed a hand over her stomach, looking down at it with a mix of scientific curiosity and personal offense. "In Eldoria, I am sustained by the ambient light mana. Here... I feel a strange hollowness."
"Welcome to being a mortal," Kaito said, a little bitterly. He walked to his small stash of supplies and pulled out a packaged instant ramen cup. He held it out to her. "Here. This is food."
Elara approached him cautiously, eyeing the cup as if it were a cursed artifact. She took it, turning it over in her hands. She shook it. She tapped the lid.
"How does one... engage this vessel?" she asked, her brow furrowed in intense concentration.
KAITO
Oh my god.She can't open a cup noodle. My life is a comedy sketch.
"It's not a vessel, it's a container. You... peel this part off." He mimed the action.
Elara gripped the cup with both hands, her knuckles turning white. With a grunt of effort, she tried to pry it open by sheer force.
CRUNCH!
The flimsy Styrofoam cup crumpled in her superhuman grip, the dry noodle brick inside shattering into a thousand pieces. Broken pieces of noodle and powdery seasoning burst out, showering the front of her armor.
She stood frozen, holding the crushed, leaking cup, a dusting of brown powder on her perfect nose. She looked down at the mess, then up at Kaito, her blue eyes wide with shock and something that looked suspiciously like shame.
"...It is... a fragile vessel," she stated, her voice barely a whisper.
Kaito stared at the noodle-covered, utterly bewildered legendary heroine. A sigh, so deep it felt like it came from the center of the Earth, escaped his lips.
He had a divine, overpowered, and catastrophically clueless roommate. And he was so, so screwed.
To be continued.....