Jeff was standing there. His feet were perfectly parallel, and his back—normally hunched—straightened. With his eyes, he observed some silhouettes in the distance: several pedestrians, but there was something more.

  Looking further ahead, he was able to see a girl with her characteristic orange hair. She was his neighbor, Alejandra; most likely, she was on her way home.

  Something Jeff wouldn’t have paid much attention to, if it weren’t for another detail: there was a man. He was wearing a jacket with the hood up, and a face mask hid his face.

  In itself, his appearance was suspicious, but his attitude was even more so. He walked slowly, with firm steps.

  Jeff felt a strange unease when he saw him. He wanted it to be nothing more than a foolish assumption and not reality, so he followed him, matching the man’s steps.

  “Master, what are you doing?” Esfer asked, confused by his master’s suspicious actions.

  “…I’m just investigating something.”

  With that, the four of them moved forward. And with every step Jeff took, that strange unease grew stronger. The steps of that man were headed toward a specific target—he was stalking Alejandra

  If they were simply taking the same route, he would have taken it as a coincidence—but it wasn’t. The man’s steps moved forward when Alejandra’s did, he stopped when she stopped, and whenever she looked around, the man acted casually, using his phone or looking elsewhere. But when she stopped looking, he stared at her.

  Jeff had no doubts anymore. He was witnessing a stalker. He was seeing a crime, and he had no intention of turning a blind eye.

  His steps were stealthy, but his mind was a loud noise. Thoughts appeared one after another, each with the same purpose: figuring out how to catch that stalker. His mind worked as fast as it could until it found a solution. But… what could he do?

  “And what if you take out your phone and record that filthy man following your neighbor?” Esfer suggested, in a tone that made it sound like the most obvious thing in the world.

  “Why didn’t I think of that before?” Jeff thought, faced with Esfer’s painfully obvious answer.

  With that, Jeff slipped his hand into his pocket to grab his phone and put the plan into action, but when he looked at the man, he noticed that his steps had become slightly faster.

  Jeff didn’t want to lose sight of him, so he quickened his pace as well, pulling his phone out of his pocket, waiting for the right moment to record him… but he couldn’t find it.

  The man moved smoothly through the crowd, and Jeff didn’t want to take his eyes off him for even a second, afraid of losing sight of him.

  His steps continued until the man stopped, glanced toward a corner, and went in that direction. Jeff didn’t want to lose him, so he broke into a run, and when he turned that corner, he came face to face with someone. But instead of the stalker, it turned out to be someone else.

  “Well… so you’re the one who’s been stalking me.”

  It was Alejandra, the victim. And apparently, Jeff had become the stalker… yeah, he was not in a good situation.

  “Me? No, I’m not, I was—” Jeff tried to justify himself, nervous in the face of such an accusation. But his gaze drifted to the side of the street, where there was an alleyway. There was no one there, but Jeff quickly realized that the real stalker had gone in that direction.

  “Your face looks familiar… have we met before?” Alejandra asked doubtfully.

  Jeff was shocked that she didn’t recognize him.

  “Don’t you know who I am? I’m your neighbor.”

  “My neighbor? Oh, the one who lives upstairs, the man who gets really mad about the noise,” Alejandra commented confidently.

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  “No, that’s Mr. Frank, and he’s an elderly man,” Jeff replied irritably at being mistaken for an old guy. “I’m your neighbor next door. I even greeted you this morning.”

  “Really?” Alejandra asked with genuine doubt, which Jeff answered with a nod. “Sorry, but I honestly don’t pay attention to people who aren’t interesting or handsome like me,” Alejandra said in a proud tone.

  And Jeff could only watch as a girl whom everyone else considered a great beauty—with an air of grandeur— …really was a beauty with an air of grandeur.

  “Master, not to be intrusive in your conversation, but wouldn’t it be better to try to clear up the misunderstanding?” Esfer asked.

  “Oh, of course… why don’t we just go back in time and make it so this never happened?” Jeff replied.

  “What?” Alejandra asked, confused at first, but then she understood.

  “Oh right, we were at the part where you were stalking me. I’ll call the police—thanks for reminding me.”

  Jeff could only stare at her in worry, while Esfer looked at him with an expression that clearly said:

  Well… are you stupid or what?

  *Esfer, please turn back time,* Jeff thought desperately.

  "Are you sure, Master? With how much time has passed, I’ll most likely need about twenty years of your life."

  "…I’m screwed" Jeff muttered gloomily.

  "Yep, you are" Alejandra added while using her phone. "Though I don’t blame you. I mean, it’s impossible not to look at this beauty" she said, striking a small pose.

  Jeff looked at that with some disdain and did not keep it to himself. “Excuse me? Do you think you are so beautiful that you make men chase you?”

  “Yes, of course, that is obvious,” Alejandra replied with confidence.

  “Well, you are very wrong. I know everyone says that you are a beauty and all that, but I do not think the same.”

  “Ha, I don’t believe you.”

  "Well, believe it, because what they say about your silky hair is actually… is"

  "What? You don’t see any imperfection in my perfect being?"

  Jeff paused for a moment, his mind and eyes working at maximum to find even the smallest imperfection.

  "Your… your hair is actually… not that color?"

  It seemed more like a question than a statement, but to Alejandra, it sounded like the last.

  “H-How did you know that?!” Alejandra shouted, terrified.

  Jeff was stunned that he had guessed that, but upon looking more closely, he noticed other things.

  *Wait, could it also be…* "your cheeks aren’t naturally pink, you wear makeup, and you also use contact lenses to change your eye color."

  Jeff’s statements were hard blows for Alejandra; her real appearance was being revealed by him.

  “Also, you use something to fill-"

  “STOOOOP!!!” Alejandra shouted, unable to withstand the reality blows Jeff was giving her.

  “Master, I think you went too far,” Esfer said, worried.

  "IT’S OVER! I’M CALLING THE POLICE TO ARREST THIS PERVERRR!"

  *me and my big mouth… wait a sec*. Jeff, feeling the imminent danger, got an idea.

  "Hey, you really care about hiding your true appearance, don’t you?"

  "S-Shut up, this is my real appearance."

  “I don’t think so, and what would happen if I told others about this?”

  Alejandra stopped her movements with the cellphone, directing a scared look at Jeff, but then she pretended—or tried to pretend—her previous confidence. “Haha, you must be joking. Even if you tell it to many people, they wouldn’t believe you because you’re a nobody.”

  “Maybe… but it only takes a small push for it to start as gossip, and as gossip, they’ll try to check if it’s true, which it is—”

  Alejandra’s confident attitude quickly vanished, and she looked at Jeff in shock.

  “So, will you give me the floor?” said Jeff with a triumphant smile, seeing that he could save himself from jail, but that attitude quickly vanished when he looked at Alejandra, angry at Jeff but with teary eyes.

  “You… pervert!” shouted Alejandra with helplessness and anger.

  Jeff was startled to see her like that, and Esfer did not help the situation.

  "Master, you really are a villain" said Esfer with a tone of disdain towards Jeff.

  Jeff wanted to argue with Esfer and defend his case, but he had a bigger problem ahead.

  "No, wait, I just want you to listen for a moment, please stop crying."

  .

  .

  .

  After a few minutes, Jeff and Alejandra moved toward a small nearby park with available benches. Although during the entire walk Alejandra insulted him the entire way and Jeff tried to calm her down.

  When Jeff was able to tell his story, Alejandra's anger began to decrease little by little.

  "So, you were just following my real stalker?"

  "That’s what I was trying to explain to you the whole way" Jeff said, tired, since explaining something and trying to calm a girl wasn’t an easy thing.

  "Mpf, you just shouldn’t look so weird and ugly, and I would have paid more attention to you."

  Jeff wanted to argue and ask why being ugly made him guilty, but he feared Alejandra would threaten to call the police again. Which she would.

  "Proof."

  Those words bewildered Jeff. Alejandra, seeing that he didn’t understand, repeated it.

  “Proof. Where is the proof that you’re really telling me the truth?”

  Jeff could only stare blankly at Alejandra, who looked at him defiantly, but his mind was obviously not as rigid.

  *The proof!! What do I do? I have nothing. If I say I have nothing, I’ll look suspicious and she’ll call the police, and if I make up some excuse, I’ll surely look suspicious and she’ll call the police, and if I run at full speed to my apartment, grab a suitcase and leave the city, I’ll definitely look suspicious and she’ll call the police. What do I do?*

  Jeff looked desperately at Esfer with his eyes, and thought, *please, help me.*

  Esfer looked at their master and shared their idea cheerfully, “Why don’t you want me to make her forget the matter?”

  Jeff was about to respond to have it done, but Alejandra interrupted him first.

  “You don’t have any proof, right?

  Jeff looked at Alejandra again; she stared at him with a serious and irritated face. Jeff didn’t want to tell her, but thinking it over, erasing her memory would be something…

  “…It’s true, I don’t have any proof,” Jeff said, lowering his head with a bit of embarrassment, but he returned his gaze to her eyes. “But what I’m telling you is the truth.”

  The two held each other’s gaze with the same attitude, ending with Alejandra letting out a big sigh.

  “One week. I’ll give you one week to find the stalker or at least some proof,” Alejandra said firmly. “But if you don’t find anything, I’ll report you to the police.”

  “Yes, sure, in one week I’ll catch the stalker, thank you very much, I won’t let you down.”

  Alejandra stood up from the bench, looked at Jeff one last time, then turned around to leave, but she seemed to remember something and suddenly turned back to look at Jeff and shout, “And if I find out that you told anyone about my appearance, I swear I’ll kill you!!” With that, she turned around again and left the place.

  Jeff could only watch her leave, and with that he calmed down, knowing that at least he wouldn’t go to jail. He leaned back on the bench, finally relaxing.

  He could feel his back ease, as well as his legs and arms, but what felt the lightest was his head, which he had used a lot today.

  At that moment, Jeff didn’t want to think about anything, he just wanted to rest.

  A rest that was interrupted by his sphere servant. “Master, don’t you think this will be a difficult situation?”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t care. I just want to rest. Future Jeff will take care of the situation.”

  And with that, Jeff enjoyed a great rest on a bench for several minutes…