117 Producers 1

A middle-aged man who had a slightly balding head came to open the door. He had an unshaved beard and thick eye bags that showed he hasn't slept in days. His clothing was stained with various sauces like he was too lazy to even do the laundry to have proper hygiene.

I couldn't blame him when it was like a reflection of me in my former life when I was crammed with exams. I was familiar with the desperation that wouldn't allow me to change clothes or shower in exchange for a couple more minutes of sleep. It gave off a feeling of a fellow comrade as I reached out to shake his outreached hand that welcomed us. While Alex failed to hide to his disgust towards the stranger and grabbed my hand in response to keep me from shaking his hand.

"Are you MysteriJ or FiveBlack?" I innocently smiled.

"I am FiveBlack," He didn't bother to hide his identity.

He gestured us to come inside, not wary of strangers at all like he was used to all the stalker fans that came to his house. Alex, who felt skeptic follow us inside wavered for a minute to get a better glance at the house from outside the door.

The walls had some cracks while the floors creaked with our every step. It was hard to believe it was lived in with all the dust bunnies that loomed in every corner of the house. Spider webs and other small insects crawled like it was their familiar territory.

Even the kitchen was bare of any fresh fruits and didn't have a refrigerator. The shelves were filled with disposable water bottles and cans of unperishable food. This place resembled more of a secret hideout similar to the one that Shelly had purchased for me in the first district than someone's main residence.

Most otakus were afraid of tiny insects while their living space was ironically dirty. I started to cautiously intake my surroundings for any hints of suspicious items. Jules and Alex did the same as we made no conversation with our host from being too focused on trying to find out the reason everyone was getting influenced by Lilika Yuri.

Maybe the host noticed we were too tense for a group of supposed super fans who came to visit. He served us some cups of murky-looking water that couldn't be the typical tea or juice. It resembled the rotten water of a lake filled with mass and other bacteria with its green coloring that smelled like old chlorine.

I pushed the cup away from the edge of my side of the metal stand fold table as the host looked at me expectedly to drink one sip. But, I smiled, trying to make a small conversation that could lead to some answers.

Before I could start, FiveBlack started coughing unstoppably like he was choking on something. It wasn't a surprise, considering how bad the air was inside the house to the point it felt like it was suffocating. When FiveBlack finally stopped, he took a highly-sophisticated mask from a kitchen drawer.

"Excuse me, I have asthma." He tried to wave our rising suspicions away.

Alex stared more intensely at his face like he was analyzing and predicting his next action as if the coughs were a series of a fake act. We all didn't dare to touch the rotten drink that we pushed towards the middle of the table, uncomfortable to keep it close to us.

"It's fine, I apologize for coming with no advance notice," Jules threw out another innocent smile.

I tried to focus on their conversation as the pleasant aroma that suddenly drifted into the air made my vision blur into a faint dream full of a blended rainbow of greys. I slightly giggled from the drug that made my mind feel like dumbing down as I wondered why I was so tense before.

Everything looked so pleasant as the dusty objects started to look like fluffy stuffed dolls that I would hug to go to sleep in the earliest days of my reincarnation. I slouched on the mistakenly hard chair that had transformed into the plushiest sofa chair. Tiny fairies sprayed more glitter as they traveled on the wooden planks of the floors.

The dreary walls were painted with pleasing colors of pastel pink and yellows that made you feel good inside. Everything so very welcoming including the fizzling drink that sloshed cherry pink towards the middle of the table.

I wondered why nobody had bothered to touch the drinks as they looked too good to be thrown out. I grabbed a cup and sipped a big clunk of heavenly honey that filled my mouth while I made sure no one noticed that I was taking all these delicious drinks for myself.

Immediately, my heart abruptly thumped out of rhythm as the head didn't fill so pleasant anymore after the drink. I almost screamed when my head started to throb like there suddenly wasn't enough air to the point I was choking.

"So it was true that this gas would only affect those with a high amount of mana," the person in front of me evilly grinned.

"I better get more of this," He laughed as Alex and Jules looked at me, horrified.