"Why are we being called out by that pastel pink boy again?" Ymir rubbed his nape as he entered the Cafe con Flores. "It’s my day off, for god’s sake. I have a massage therapy appointment later at 12. My back is killing me."
A shock of red hair followed right behind him. "I can massage it for you, Your Highness. My hands are well-suited for such a task. And I can please you with not just my hands—"
The staff and customers of the dainty little cafe were startled when the cold ice prince punched his fiery companion!
But Magni didn’t even flinch, still smiling.
"Damn you, Rockhead." Ymir rubbed his knuckles.
Magni just chuckled. For under the human disguise he wore using a bit of Voidian magic, was indeed a head made of volcanic rock.
They approached Aphrodite, who was sitting on a far corner at a table for four. He was wearing a white turtleneck and staring at the flowers at the center. They pulled up chairs for themselves with coffee already prepared for them.
"Thank you for coming here." Aphrodite said. "I really need your assistance."
Ymir crossed his arms. "Assistance with what? I was surprised that you of all people would call us over for a meeting out here in public. You always strike me as the type to not like crowds."
"That is true, Mr. Glace." Aphrodite placed down his cup without making a sound. "But I could not think of a better venue. Especially since the subject of our meeting would be—"
Somner arrived, wearing flashy and expensive clothes as usual. It was summer, and yet he was wearing a beanie, tweed sweater and a silk scarf. It was as if he was trying to dress as a hipster, but the type of hipster that’s also a runway model.
Ymir’s right eye twitched. "Great. The dandy blondie is also here."
"Hello to you too, Mr. Glace." Somner sat on a chair beside him. "And your little Voidling boyfriend."
Ymir scooted his chair away from him. "He’s not my boyfriend, McNamara. Don’t you dare call him that or I’ll freeze your tongue off."
Magni opened his mouth, but Ymir’s head immediately turned to him to give him a fatal glare. Magni closed it, protecting his own tongue from his icy wrath.
Instead, he turned to Aphrodite. "So this is about Brother Modi, is it? What about him concerns you?"
Aphrodite rubbed his cup and looked down at his own reflection in his coffee. "Have you not noticed how... unstable he had been recently?"
Somner’s smirk flattened into a frown. "Of course we all noticed. It’s just that it seemed reasonable at first. I mean, he had been obsessing over Eirwyn since he... You know. And then the moment he found him, he got turned into a freaking baby by his baby. And then he got stolen and went missing. AGAIN."
Ymir sighed. "Even I was pissed off about it. We went through all the trouble going into the dark armpit of the Void itself just to get him."
Magni nodded. "Oh... Yes, I do recall how he would constantly insist us to interrogate the devious accomplices of that time-bender during His Highness’ days off."
Ymir rubbed his forehead. "Don’t even get me started with that..."
Ymir recounted how Hermes would be calling him every weekend. At 3AM.
"Fuck... Potentia." Ymir complained, his eyes still closed. "Not again.... Not even gods are awake at this hour."
Magni suddenly popped out from behind him. "Actually, gods are never asleep. They do not need to. Though I do not know about gods of the human realm. I’ve never met one."
Ymir kicked him in his rock-hard abs. "I told you to sleep on the couch!"
"Every minute counts, Ymir." Hermes said gravely. "I’ll be waiting. Same place, same time."
Ymir had no idea why he still complied. Perhaps it was because a part of him hoped that eventually, Hermes would run out of gas and realize it was a pointless chase.
In fact, the more they track down every SHIFT member they could find and interrogate them, the more... impatient Hermes becomes.
"Where is he!? TELL ME!" Hermes grabbed a former SHIFT private by the neck, lifting him up in the air.
Ymir stated the obvious. "Uh... I don’t think he can say anything properly with you crushing his windpipe. Jeez, Potentia. Calm down—"
"I know you’re hiding him!" Hermes slammed the poor man against a wall. "I can read your mind, but I want it out of your mouth. Where. Is. Eirwyn???"
"Khhh... I really don’t know...."
Magni placed his beefy hand on Hermes’ shoulder. "Brother Modi... I may not have the ability to read minds, but I do feel this man is telling the truth."
Hermes peered into the private’s mind using Mindbloom that he borrowed from Aphrodite that morning, then let him go.
He healed the Shift member using Rewind, and kept walking with a dark expression on his face.
Somner sighed. "I can understand wanting to beat up those SHIFT fuckers. But... He’s also hurting civilians now."
"Really?" Aphrodite blinked.
It was now Somner’s turn to recount his experience of Hermes almost accidentally killing an innocent man in one of their missions.
"This whole village is frozen in time..." Vera remarked as they walked into a town where everything it seemed that time stopped, turning people into living statues.
"Keep your eye out for a time-power user then." Eris stated.
Hermes suddenly grabbed Somner to the side. "Eirwyn... He could not just bring back time into literal days. He could also stop it if he wanted to use Rewind, by keeping it in the state it once was. What if it’s him?"
Somner was conflicted from that frantic energy he was exuding. "Hermes, that’s unlikely. He’s a fetus—"
It was unfortunate that one of the few people who was not affected by the time freeze was a man with glasses and brown hair.
He grabbed onto Hermes’ shoulder. "Oh thank god! Please, save me—"
Hermes’ hands moved so fast that he didn’t even seem to realize it. He slammed his fist square into the man’s jaw, and sent him flying straight into a wall!
The impact was so strong that the wall collapsed. The man was out cold, his glasses broken.
Hermes’ clenched fist shook as he saw the face of the man when the dust cleared. "It’s not him... Oh god..."
He immediately went to heal the man with Rewind and apologized. Eris gave him a scolding, and penalized him with deductions to his salary that month.
"I mean, how can he confuse that guy as Eirwyn? He looked nothing like him!" Somner exclaimed as he finished his tale.
Aphrodite furrowed his brows. "It must be from exhaustion and stress. He has not been sleeping well lately."
Aphrodite told them about his own experience, as someone who lived under the same roof as Hermes. It was much more extreme.
"He... He would be talking in his sleep, having nightmares. Last night, he mistook me for Eirwyn and..."
He gestured at his neck.
There was a deep bite mark on it, only covered by the turtleneck he was wearing.