Disco Clearwater

In the city of Xanthic Cross, "normal" is a relative term. And for Nefarioun Crisis, Halloween was supposed to be a quiet night of escaping into anime and dodging her genie's questionable decorating choices. But when your household includes a trigger-happy child soldier, an ancient demonic knight, and a genie who settles disputes by wishing rubber spiders to West Africa, "quiet" is never on the menu.

For Nefarioun, a "relaxing" weekend is normally supposed to involve nothing more than escaping her soul-crushing job at the game studio and tracking down a rare, physical copy of her favorite anime. But in a city like Xanthic Cross, even a simple shopping trip can descend into a nightmare of bruised shoulders and public humiliation at the hands of a deranged stranger.When a chance encounter with the armored knight Stallion Bloodwrath offers a glimmer of hope, Nefarioun quickly learns that seeking help from "extra-dimensional" friends often creates more problems than it solves. Between avoiding the fallout of a corporate meltdown at work and navigating the increasingly blurred lines of her domestic life with Disco...the universe's most powerful (and most possessive) genie...Nefarioun is finding it harder than ever to maintain a "minimalist" lifestyle.

In the sixth volume of the Disco Clearwater series, the chaotic peace of Xanthic Cross is pushed to its breaking point. While Pico handles a literal locker-room bombshell with her signature detachment, Nefarioun finds herself haunted by a ghost from her past...the relentless Lute Hero Heinrich...whose arrival threatens to unearth the life she fled in her homeland.As Nefarioun barricades herself in her apartment, the history of her escape and her bond with the child soldier Pico comes to light. However, a far more dangerous threat looms in the form of Crackle, a rival genie with a personal vendetta against Disco. With the ability to warp reality and isolate Nefarioun from her protector, Crackle initiates a psychological war designed to break their pact once and for all.

Winter has descended upon the streets of Xanthic Cross, and with it comes the looming chaos of the holiday season. For Nefarioun, the "most wonderful time of the year" is a tide of community involvement she'd desperately rather avoid. But between a high-stakes tree run for a local school and the relentless curiosity of her genie companion, Disco, she is finding it harder than ever to remain a festive hermit.While Nefarioun attempts to navigate the complexities of human traditions and her own dark family history, her ward and former bodyguard, the child soldier Pico, has her own way of "celebrating". Whether it's rigging high explosives at a tree lot or landing a lead role in a school nativity play that she's re-imagined with military-grade demands, Pico is proving that you can take the girl out of the war zone, but you can't take the tactical planning out of the girl in the end.

Between a high-stakes Parent-Teacher Conference at the Middle School and a shift at the local Dōjinshi Fair, Nefarioun Crisis is finding that "normal" life is often more stressful than the one she fled. While she struggles to explain why her ward(the pint-sized, cigarette-smoking child soldier Pico) keeps "donating" combat knives to the classroom chalkboard, her faithful (and frequently bored) genie, Disco Van Gould, is more interested in magical dance numbers than middle school diplomacy.But the quiet life is short-lived. What starts as a simple day of supporting a friend's indie game stall descends into a blood-soaked nightmare when the "Chaos Funk" movement...led by the delusional Freedom Funk...takes the convention hostage.

Kamber just wanted to prove she could be a reliable member of the community, so when she's offered a high-paying babysitting gig for the wealthy (and heavily rumored mob boss) Bertoldo De Francisco, she jumps at the chance. Of course, she isn't going in alone...she's bringing along her best friend Pico, a teenage child soldier who's more comfortable with a 9mm handgun than a diaper bag.But the "baby" in question turns out to be a full-grown Bengal tiger, and the De Francisco mansion is anything but a quiet nursery.To this end, the simple evening of house-sitting rapidly descends into a downward trend of errors and high-stakes survival.

Nefarioun is finally settling into the "functional adult" life she once thought impossible...or so she tells herself. Between a draconian office job and a home life that includes a literal genie and a teenage former child soldier, the definition of "normal" is stretching to its breaking point.The stakes here shift from the battlefield to the classroom as the dreaded entrance exams for Xanthic Cross High School loom. While Nefarioun spirals into a "mom-friend" existential crisis, worrying if her ward, Pico, is academically prepared, Pico herself seems more interested in patrolling the neighborhood for "rats" than hitting the books.

It's just another grey, stormy morning at Xanthic Cross game studios, where Nefarioun Crisis and her fellow coders trade their hours for a living wage. But the office's "camaraderie-building" annual betting pool is about to take a turn for the surreal.When Nefarioun places a casual two-dollar wager on an underdog track-and-field runner named Yeon Blast, she inadvertently triggers the ever-vigilant ears of her resident genie, Disco. What should have been a simple race becomes a reality-shattering event as a magically "enhanced" energy drink sends Yeon Blast into a physics-defying time paradox, winning the race 40,000 times over...and sending the city's bookmakers into a panicked flight.But this chaos is only beginning. Back at the apartment, a storm-induced blackout threatens to keep Nefarioun from the seasonal anime she lives for.

Nefarioun Crisis is used to "Hard Mode," but balancing a soul-crushing crunch at her game development job while her household falls into supernatural upheaval might be her toughest level yet. When she tasks her magical genie, Disco, with ensuring young Pico makes a "good first impression" at the elite Xanthic Cross High School, she expects a polite send-off...not a full-scale demonic procession.Escorted by an entourage of undead knights, soul-devouring phantoms, and lizardmen warriors, Pico and her friend Kamber arrive at school in a display of grandeur that literally stops the weather.