The false

Do you remember the old cartoons they always air in the morning? They're all great, aren't they?

"Not another step further, scum of evil!"

"Ack! It's you, Hecate Starburst!"

"That's right! And your ways of wickedness and evil have reached their end, Demon Emperor Naga!"

Okay, sometimes their dialogue was a little awkward, but I really didn't mind. The flair, the romance, the beautiful heroines and charming knights, it was all the stuff we love with all our hearts. Doesn't matter how convoluted, how unrealistic, or anything else. It just is wonderful in every sense of the word.

The episode of Arcane Hecate ran its standard fair, the titular heroine saving the day in the end and whatever village she had been visiting that day, cursing Naga's luck at escaping justice once again. She was off trying to find her old friend Sapphire, patch things up, and some new threat had appeared for the sake of the episode's plot. Things obeyed the status-quo like usual, but the cheery theme song at the end let us all know things were still just fine.

I checked my watch again, seeing that I still had plenty of time to watch that new "Magi School" show or whatever it was called. I had read up a bit about the show and its original manga, and I had to admit I was pretty interested in it. Classes wouldn't start for another couple of hours anyways.

So there I was, Saori Ichimonji, age 28, grad student at Montreal, Quebec's famous L++ Academy, and still watching morning cartoons in my fluffy-pink pajamas while eating cereal and behaving like a little girl. I had my reasons. Besides, this new show was pretty good, and the heroine was certainly interesting.

After that, the news was on again, reporting about a growing problem with the Hachi Satsu Assassination Guild, a group known to kill politicians, diplomats, and other influential people. This time someone had killed a pair of UN interpreters, the reasons being unknown at the moment.

"Whatever," I said in mid-yawn. There was no reason I needed to hear this kind of information from the news anchors. Instead, I headed off into the shower and washed up. Afterwards, I slipped out and wiped the steam off of my bathroom mirror, pausing for a moment to look at myself.

My grey eyes shined like those of a child as I styled my blonde hair back and then stepped out into my apartment. Grabbing my clothes for the day, I made sure to bring my glasses too, slipping them into their container. I hoped I wouldn't need them, but there was always the chance.

A short drive later, I was ready for my first class, walking through the doors of the building along with a classmate of mine, Eri Desrin. "Hey there, Saori! Ready for the test today?"

"T-test?" My voice betrayed my thoughts, quite literally. I knew we were having a test imprinting in Psychology today, I'd studied a solid couple of hours every day this week! Nevertheless, my panicked expression caused her to giggle a bit, forcing me to humorously scowl at her.

"Saori, you're so jumpy! Is there ever really a point in time you calm down?" Eri asked as we walked down the hallway together. Eri was a nice girl, with light-brown hair, a slightly fairer complexion than me, and a good head on her shoulders. She helped me out all the time whenever I was really stumped by something.

I laughed at the question, at least in my mind. If only she really knew. Didn't really matter though as we got to class in plenty of time. The teacher ambled in not long afterwards, giving a quick lesson about new material before handing out the test packets and briefing us on how much time we had and how points were allotted.

It was really standard fare, after all I had studied. After that, I could drop by the library, shoot the breeze with Kerrigan, buy a few odds and ends… seemingly mundane things, but actually quite-

Explain the qualities that are required to be a good parent, and how they shape they shape their child.

I stared blankly down at the essay choice and my mind completely crashed. There were other options for the extended response, and yet I couldn't take my eyes off of that one. A few minutes slipped by as I simply sat there, completely immobile.

Get it together, Saori. Get it to together!

I hissed before drawing a line across the words before then pouring everything I had into the option below it. I ignored the people looking at me in confusion before moving on and getting on with the test, the events in the past where they belonged. I just had to focus on the rest of the test, and then…

Whew! Another crazy day down the drain, but lots to show for it. I had a few more books to add to my collection, along with some materials for tonight's special occasion too, ranging some specific requests from the local butcher to flowers, and some candles to contribute to the atmosphere.

Of course, I had to wait until midnight, and the time was going to crawl by. I'd waited for who-knows-how-long to get the chance to do this between work and school, though. I could be patient for at least a few more hours.

All my favorite cartoons weren't going to be on in the middle of the afternoon, so I opted for a 24-hour news station. It turned out that a news team was reporting again on the Hachi Satsu murders. A woman with long, fiery red hair was talking to a reporter about that newest kill, explaining how the victims seemed to have shady backgrounds and blah blah blah… Like I really cared about that.

I switched channels again, discovering a nice little game show involving wordplay and bluffs, and decided to cut my losses. I really didn't want to watch it, but it was probably the best thing on. After it came more of the same, but at least the banter between the contestants kept things amusing. In the meantime, I started fantasizing about tonight, and how all of my dreams would come true at long last.

And I could also finally put that horrible event behind me.

Of course, I had to wonder if I should wear my glasses or not. First impressions were very important, especially when they would probably set the foundation for a long-lasting and very close relationship. I didn't want to scare him away, after all. But then again, I didn't want to seem to immature and childish either…

Urgh… this is the price you pay, Saori. Just flip a coin and decide that way.

And so it was decided by the hands of fate that I'd go into this without wearing my glasses. No problem, my eyesight was perfect, didn't really even need them anyway.

The moment of truth was nearing, and I quickly got things set up. I set a fire extinguisher near the front door in case things took a turn for the worse, and then walked out to the dinner table. I had arranged the bought candles on table in the design of a five-pointed star, and I doubled checked my reference books before placing the flowers and meat on a plate in the center.

"Okay… just need a single drop of a virgin's blood…" I pricked my finger with a needle to get the last requirement for the spell and let the red liquid fall into the mix. Things felt the same as they had mere moments ago… but I knew change was coming. And for a moment, I wondered how I was going to explain all this to my boss.

I was summoning. Summoning a demon. And all I had to do now was to explicitly state what I wanted.

"I want… I want a man," I announced. "I want him to be caring and strong-willed, someone I can love with all my heart… and someone that will give me a child."

Usagi… I'm sorry I couldn't do it before. I'm sorry I failed you. Just don't hate me for this, please. The accident took a lot from me as well, and I… I just don't see myself truly being happy if I don't do this!

"Please," I spoke again as I closed my eyes. "I want an incubus!"

The candles immediately were snuffed out, and I heard something crash into the table and break it. The darkness prevented me from seeing, but I'd spent enough time in this apartment to know where the lights were.

My life… my new life was about to begin! I was so excited… I could barely contain myself! Illumination flooded the apartment again and I turned around to see that which I had summoned…

… And I froze.

Standing there was a little kid, with short and curly dark-violet hair, looking up at me weakly.

The child

I had absolutely no idea where I was, who that strange woman looking at me with a mixture of disappointment and surprise in her eyes was, or why I had been summoned.

All I knew is that my back hurt, and I was gone from that place.

"… Uh… hello…?" I asked in confusion at the blonde woman, who just kept looking at me as if I wasn't what she had expected. I mean, summoning an demon is really complicated and you don't pull it off by sheer accident during your daily routine.

Slowly the woman cleared her throat before kneeling down in front of me. "Well, I just wanna apologize in advance, in case this is a really big misunderstanding. I just wanna check… you are an incubus, right?"

I nodded, scared of where this would go. I hoped she wasn't that kind of person. "Yeah. My name's Anser." In the meantime, I looked around. Where was he? Could he have-

My train of thought shattered as the blonde-haired woman stood up and smiled happily. And then shouted at the top of her lungs.

"WHOO HOO! NOT REALLY WHAT I WAS GUNNING FOR, BUT JUST AS GOOD IN THE LONG RUN!" Something told me this woman had probably been dropped on the head as a baby or possibly worse as she suddenly paused and leaned forward to look at me again. "Sorry, just checking. This isn't like how you look really young but are really millions of years old, right?"

I was scared to say anything. Incubi are born with the assistance of humans, hence our lifespans are the same, at least on average. This woman might not be the right kind of person to know that.

After a moment, she sighed and then outstretched her hand.

"Oh well… my name's Saori! Saori Ichimonji, and it's nice to meet you, Anser!"

Very, very hesitantly, I grasped her hand with my own, and she pulled me up before looking back down at her table and whistled. "You sure snapped that in two…"

"Well maybe you should've picked someplace else for me to land," I responded, but Saori turned back to me and flashed her infectiously optimistic smile. I tried to feel happy about it, but I was still in shock from the events that happened mere moments before my summoning.

Of course, this Stupid Blonde Lady didn't seem to care. "Not really…" she answered, "But I really don't think it matters! You're here, and that's what matters!" She pulled out a book large enough it could find use as a doorstopper before opening to what appeared to be a random page. She then smiled again, jabbing her finger down into a section and showing it to me. "Right there! Read it to me!"

Oh… crap…

"Come on, Anser… Read it to me!"

Saori Ichimonji, you are the second most horrible thing in existence.

My head glumly slumped forward. I knew the rule. Summoning a demon constituted making a pact, to bring them into the human world involved a request. Until the summoner's request had been fulfilled, or until the demon was unable to fulfill that duty, they were stuck there.

I just hoped that-

CRASH!

Great. I jinxed it.

Saori and I turned, and my blood ran cold. It had followed me here… somehow it had tracked me down, and in such a short amount of time! I could hear Saori scream in fear as the menace approached us.

Its purple, almost glassy-body shimmered in the artificial lighting, an humanoid entity crafted entirely out of violet crystals. Its almost perfect replication of a human's body structure which included hands with five fingers each and a face that shifted to display its frustration at the situation made it seem all the more alien.

"OH MY GOD!" Saori screamed and almost comically began looking around for a weapon to defend herself with. This was crazy, that thing was going to kill us, and there was absolutely nothing she could do. A very dark part of me even mused that with her death, I could return to the world of the demons.

The crystal monster lunged at Saori first, viewing her as the only threat to its goal of killing me. The woman managed to grab the largest kitchen knife possible before the entity slammed into her. Saori was knocked into a wall before falling to the ground, and the creature of jewels turned to me.

I didn't know why this was happening. Me and my big brother had been just living our lives back home, and suddenly this thing attacked! My last sight was my brother fighting that thing… and for a moment, I wondered if he was dead.

Keston… Keston actually dead! No! We had to find Mom and Dad! We had to-

The stone-cold hand of the monster grabbed me by the neck and pulled me up. There would be no need for any elaborate torture weapons. The thing had been trying to kill me back home, and it was not going to run the risk of another out-of-the-blue escape. It was simply going to crush my neck and that would be the end of my life.

Things certainly had been in a downward spiral for me over the course of the last hour… and it seemed this was the final straw as I just started screaming and crying. I saw no reason not to. After all, nobody was going to save me at-

There was the sound of stone breaking and I fell back to the ground, still trapped in the monster's unmoving hand. And I could hear a psychotic laughter echo through the apartment. I weakly turned, as did the monster, to see Stupid Blonde Lady standing there. Except… except everything was different about her. The way she carried herself, the emotions emanating from her body, and most importantly, those glasses.

On Saori's face were a pair of glasses, slightly square-shaped and very, very thick. The light reflected from them blocked any view of her eyes and helped give her that extraordinarily eerie feeling as Ichimonji pointed that kitchen knife at the monster.

"I… normally wouldn't be doing this, you know?" Her smile was that of a murderer. "I mean, this isn't really an assignment for the guild, so I have no reason to. I don't even know what you are.

"But that doesn't matter. You come into my house and raise a hand against my demon, and I will kill you."

The monster looked down at its severed hand for a moment before looking back at this Scary Shiny Glasses Lady version of Saori.

It instantly charged, and the same person who had been nothing more than an immature woman scant moments ago returned the favor. It was over before I knew it, the amethyst-purple monster going to pieces as Saori simply laughed.

"Idiot… you can't beat a Hachi Satsu member that easily." Saori then looked over to me for a second before walking back into the kitchen and putting the knife away. Upon returning, she pushed the monster's pieces into a small pile and smirked. "Bet that could fetch a nice price. Wouldn't you say… Anser?"

I didn't know what to say, really. This woman… how had she changed so much in just a few moments? And how had she been so cool and calculated during that struggle, using a kitchen knife to destroy something so terrifying? Saori Ichimonji… wasn't a normal person. And hadn't she said she was an assassin too?

"You seem… to be taking this really well…" I mumbled as Saori just looked at me for a moment. And then she took off her glasses again, and she changed.

"WHEW! Wasn't expecting that… were you, Anser?" The air of the killer was gone from her, and her inner child appeared to override her other personality. For a moment, I even wondered if she was a bigger abomination than that monster. She then knelt down in front of me and gave a joyful smile again. "Oh, and to answer your question Anser-" She giggled. She had noticed the pun in my name. "You just gotta roll with the punches sometimes."

She took my hand, dragging me along to inspect the damage to the house. The guest bedroom had bore the brunt of the monster's arrival, and it would probably take quite some time for it to be repaired. Saori seemed completely over the fact she and I had been in a life-or-death situation moments ago, not even bothering to ask me about it.

To be fair though, I wasn't asking her about what had happened with her either.

"And that's the bathroom, and that's the study… and that's my bedroom!" She flicked on the lights and then pulled me inside. "I guess you can sleep here for the moment, I'll just use the couch. That sound good?"

"Uh-"

"Great! I don't have class until after four tomorrow, so we can get to know each other! See you in the morning, Anser!"

She shut the door behind me, leaving me alone in her room.

The False

That… had been hectic. If I hadn't been able to wear my glasses… I shivered in fear as I walked back to the couch. The damage to my apartment was… a bit of a problem. In the near future, problems with the landlord could spring up as a result… but hopefully that wouldn't be too much of a problem.

The purple crystal monster was good and dead, or at least that's how it appeared. I put its remains in the trash, no reason not to. After that, I turned off the lights and went to bed… but not to sleep.

I'd been hoping for an incubus who would take me, let me have my own, genuine child… one with no strings attached and no arguing about who the father would be. Instead I got an incubus that was a child. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how disgusting my actions that day had been… and I mentally scolded myself for not trying to get mental treatment before going through with this.

But… but the damage was done. Anser was in my care now… and I had to try to help him out. And tomorrow would be the day, the day I truly got to know little Anser.

A/N: There is little reason to write a sequel if one just goes through the same motions as they did for the original. This is not Matei Mizuki nor is it a Magic Girl story. It is simply itself, the story of assassins and yet also one meant to analyze the nature of family and how far someone is willing to go for the sake of a child. A few characters from Mizuki will appear and serve key roles to the plot, but only one of them will serve as a regular in this story and one of the protagonists.

Anyways, read, enjoy, and review. Any advice or comments will be gladly welcomed.