"what do you mean?" I asked

"we fight back! You always choose to stay away from her but now is the time for you to step up, stand on your ground and fight for your life, your freedom" Maou said diplomatically

"he's right, Alice. You've been avoiding her a lot of times and this time you're cornered. There's no other choice than to fight her back" Winter nodded

"but how? I don't even know what her plan is or where's she hiding!" I sighed

" I think I know someone who could help you with that" Maou grinned

------------------------

"YOU!!??" Winter shrieked before she charged towards Lucifer with anger boiling inside her

"YOU GRAPE HAIR!! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING HERE?! I WILL KILL YOU! I-"

"calm down now, Winter. The dumbass isn't harmful" I said while pulling her tail back

"um.. What did you call me?" lucifer asked

" sire, what's with all of this commotion and who is that Prez?" Ashiya asked after he finished washing the dishes

" this is Winter, Alice's friend from Ente Isla-"

"BEST FRIEND" Winter emphasize

"right. And we kinda need Urushihara's help right now" Maou continued

"what?" lucifer amd ashiya asked in unison

"may I ask why do you need his assistance, your majesty?" Ashiya asked

" well the thing is-"

"hey! Demons! Open your door!!" Emi shouted from outside

"um.. Shouldn't we knock?" I heard Chiho asked

" Emilia? I knew it was you who shouted just now" I heard Suzuno said

"Emilia??" Winter asked excitedly as she wags her fluffy tail

" what does that woman want now?" Maou groaned

" come on in" Maou grumbled after he opened the door

"EMILIA!!" Winter shouted as she flew towards Emi with high speed and starts circling her

"what the- wait... Winter???" Emi asked in surprise before she looks at me questionably

" she came here this afternoon and she decided to stay here" I shrugged

"well that explains the sudden earthquake" Emi said as she pet Winter's head with her index finger

" whoa! So cute!! What are you?" Chiho asked

" I'm a Prez! The name is Winter. You must be the human girl Alice told me. You're Chiho, am I right?" Winter asked

"yup! Wow your fur looks so fluffy!" Chiho squealed as she reached towards Winter

Winter quickly dogged Chiho's touch and flew towards me. "no touchie" she pouted

"sorry, Chi. She doesn't like to be touched by someone new. When she's already comfortable with you, I'm sure she'll let you pet her" I said ss Winter dropped herself on my head

"oh it's fine, I understand" Chiho smiled

"is that other girl Izzy?" Winter asked as she pointed towards Suzuno who's taking her shoes off

"no, that's Suzuno" I said

"anyway, as I wad saying before I was rudely interrupted" Maou growled at Emi who ignored him

" we need urushihara's help on locating Kasdeya" Maou continued

" Alice's mother? Doesn't she live at Ente Isla?" Ashiya asked

"you're not planning to go back there, are you devil?" Emi interrogated

" can't you trust me a little?" Maou sighed

"I trusted by letting you date my friend, isn't that more than enough for me to trust my archenemy?" Emi snorted

"point taken" Maou said

" back to our main topic here, unfortunately, that woman is here on earth and is planning to take me back to ente isla. I already rejected her but knowing her, she wouldn't take no for an answer" I said

" so can you locate her, urushihara?" Maou asked

"dude, locating someone's number or a tracking device is one thing. But tracking someone who leaves zero trace? It's impossible" urushihara said

"great. Now we have to come up with a plan to fight her without knowing where she is" I groaned

" even if we split up and go all over Japan, I doubt that we will find her anyway. She's too slick and smart" Winter said

"so what now?" Chiho asked

"does Karuchi knows anything about her? Maybe she could help us" Emi suggested

"that's a great idea but I haven't heard any news from her ever since since Izzy texted me this morning telling me that they're going shopping " I said

" why don't you try calling her?" Suzuno suggested

" oh.. Right" I nervously chuckled

" what a genius" lucifer scoffed

"SHUT UP, BIRD BRAIN" I shouted as I landed my fist on his head

I searched my sling bag for my phone but I couldn't find it. I could've sworn I took it here. Where is it??

"is something wrong?" Chiho asked, noticing my distressed face

"I couldnt find my phone"

"maybe you left it back home?" Winter asked

"No! I could've sworn I brought it here" I said

"now don't get panicked yet. Let's go look for it" Maou said

" fine.. Let's go" I sighed

" we'll come too. Maybe we can help you find it faster" Emi said with suzuno nodding in approval and Chiho smiling ear to ear

" thanks guys" I smiled before we exit Maou's apartment

"that's weird. I thought it was going to be sunny all day. Or at least, that' s what the forecast say" Chiho said

"well the forecast isn't always right. Guess this time they miss something in their calculation" Emi shrugged

"it's very windy though and gloomy though" Suzuno commented

"yeah, as if the sky is in some kind of distress" Maou agreed

" looks like even mother nature dislike my mom's arrival here" I joked

" I have a bad feeling about this bad weather though" Winter said from my bag

" maybe it will rain soon?" Chiho asked

"maybe..." I mumbled

"anyway, let's hurry before the weather gets worst" I said

----------------------------

I sighed in relief when I saw my yard not too far from where we are. The weather is getting quite worse and I hate to be soaked in rain.

"Alice?" I heard someone called me

I look around and saw Riyuka at her front porch. "I thought you were at home?" she asked

"oh, hi Riyuka. No, I went out almost all afternoon. I was only at home for like thirty minutes before I left it again" I said

" that's odd. I saw two of your friends went to your house not too long ago and I heard them went inside your house" Riyuka said. She must be referring to Izzy and Karuchi!!

" didn't you locked them when we went out?" Maou asked

"I did! Riyuka! Have those two went back outside since then?" I asked

"n-no. I've been reading magazines at my porch these past three hours" Riyuka stuttered

" Chiho, you stay here with Riyuka, the rest of you, come with me" I said quickly

"should I call the police??" Riyuka asked frantically

" NO!! whatever you do, DON'T call the police. It will only worse things out. Just take care of Chi and run away as fast as you could when things get really worse" I said

"how worse?" she asked

" explosive worse" I stated

" come on" I said to Emi, Suzuno, and Maou who nodded and walk cautiously behind me

I saw my front door is closed. Carefully, I walked towards it and nodded to the others before I opened it with a huge slam.

I examined the door handle while the others searched into the house. Nothing is out of the ordinary here. Wait..... What's.... What's this smell?

I sniffed the air and smelled Izzy and Karuchi's smell. It's pretty thin though. But there's another smell there here.

"What's wrong Alice?" Winter asked while flying towards me from my bag

"I could smell my friends' scent but there's another scent that's lingering around this door..." I said while I followed the scent.

"and I think the owner of the scent is nearby" I said

"be careful" she whispered

"wait.... Have did you hear that?" I asked

"hear what? I didn't hear anything" Winter said

"exactly. Not even footsteps. What happened to those three?" I asked

My heart began to race as I start to panic. What happened to them?!?

"you check around here and I'll go upstairs" I whispered to Winter

"be careful, okay?" Winter asked, worried.

I nodded at her, "you too"

I slowly made my way upstairs while holding my breath. Don't panic alice. It won't help with anything. Think. Positive.

After checking the corridor, I opened the first room which used to be my dad's bedroom. I haven't got in here for quite a long time since it still has his scent all around it.

I gasped in horror when I saw that the room is thrashed. There's burn marks everywhere and me and my dad's picture on the nightstand was ripped out.

After taking some deep breath and examining the room for anything else, I closed the door and went to the next room that's actually my bed room.

Smelling some familiar scents, I opened the door to find my friends is somewhat frozen in there. Karuchi looks like she was protecting Izzy from something while Izzy is crouching behind her. Emi looks like she's about to bring out the holy silver and Suzuno has her hammer on her hand. And.... Maou... He's frozen too. He looks like he's surprised of something. In fact, everyone else does. Despite their angered faces, if you look closely, they're surprised about something. But what? And it looks like they're somewhat frozen in time.

" hello, my dear. Nice of you to join us" a voice said from behind me

I quickly turned around and saw the worst woman in the universe is smirking at me.

" you...."