Max shifted back to his normal form before heading up the stairs to the IMP office. The explosions from Cherry's little city-wide fireworks show were still echoing in his skull. His ears rang like someone shoved church bells directly into his brain. He could see Loona and Millie talking inside, but their voices were muffled behind the lingering damage to his hearing.
He pushed the door open.
Both girls stopped mid-conversation and looked at him.
Millie lit up instantly.
"Oh, hi ya!" she chirped, practically vibrating with excitement.
Loona, on the other hand, looked… shy. Which was not a word Max ever expected to associate with her. She avoided eye contact for half a second, ears flicking.
"Ok," Max said slowly, rubbing one ear. "What is going on?"
"We're just talkin' about a possible future!" Millie said with way too much pep.
Before Max could follow up, Loona grabbed Millie by the wrist and dragged her toward the hallway.
"Nope. We're done. Come on," Loona muttered.
The door slammed.
Max stood there in silence.
"…That was suspicious," he said to nobody.
He pulled out the phantom ring connected to Loona. The band glowed at about eighty percent brightness. When he activated it, the world shifted into her point of view.
"Don't talk to him about dating both of us yet!" Loona hissed in the hallway. "I'm not sure how to feel about it!"
"But you were open to it when I suggested it!" Millie whispered back. "We both feel somethin' with him. Might be a sinner ability, but it doesn't feel bad. Plus he's interestin' for a sinner."
Max cut the vision off before it got more awkward.
He leaned back in the chair.
"…Well. That's escalating."
Then another ring flickered.
Not Loona. Not Millie.
Cherry Bomb.
Except the perspective was wrong.
The view showed Cherry standing in front of a cracked mirror, tossing a bomb between her fingers. But the reflection didn't match exactly. The clothes were darker. Purple neon highlights traced the seams. Same face. Same build. Different vibe.
"Ready to cause some chaos, sis?" Cherry said.
The POV grinned.
"Hells yeah."
Max ended the vision immediately.
"What the hell?" he muttered. "Cherry doesn't have a sister…"
A knock sounded at the door.
He walked over and checked the peephole.
Nothing.
He turned around.
God was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room.
Way too close.
Max nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Fuck! You are creepy when you do that," he snapped, clutching his chest.
"Relax," God said casually. "You know I won't hurt you. So. What do you think?"
A second chair appeared. Max sat automatically.
"You mean with Loona and Millie?" he asked. "Things are moving way faster than I expected."
God waved a hand and tea appeared. He didn't drink his. He didn't even have a mouth. It was deeply unsettling.
"Well, Millie surprised me," God said. "But that's not what I meant. I'm talking about Poppi. Cherry Bomb's twin sister."
Max blinked.
"I never knew she had a sister."
"You didn't," God replied. "She's a reincarnate. Like you. Probably the simplest case I've seen. Her wish was basically: 'I want a fun life in Hell.' So she got dropped in as Cherry's twin."
Max stared at the cooling tea.
"…I didn't think I'd meet other reincarnations."
"You're omnipresent across timelines," God shrugged. "Well. The real you is. This version of you is on training wheels. The timeline you're in is where reincarnates accumulate. You wanted Cherry. She wanted to be Cherry's sister. Your desires intersected."
Meaning Max now had less than four months to win over Loona, Millie, and a reincarnated chaos gremlin he had zero background on.
"Fantastic," he muttered.
God stood.
"Well, good luck. She's almost always near Cherry. Go say hello."
And then he vanished.
No light. No sound.
Just gone.
Max sat there for a full ten seconds.
"…I hate when he does that."
He stood up, rolled his shoulders, and headed for the door.
"Alright," he sighed. "Let's go meet the purple one."
[AN. Sorry for the short and late chaoter. I hit a writer block on this story. Should lighten up soon hopefully. Just got a lot of stuff going on. Anyways im not dropping any story. Just having hard time thinking]