Episode 20: Damage
“OOOH! Ooooohhh! [Brown]! It’s [Brown], isn’t it! It’s been ages! Heeheh! Fuhihihihiii! I’m so happy! So happy! Two friends have come to visit today! To my house! My little home! Two people, two of them, two, two, twooooo! I’ve got FRIENDS visiting! Fuhihihihihiii!!”
“I TOLD you! I ain’t no Brown, whatever the hell that is!”
“…You’re worse than the last time I came.”
Immediately after the black phosphorescence had blotted out her vision,
[Topaz Orange], the [Witch of Cancer], the [Wandmaker], was standing behind Sere.
In an instant.
An instant so brief there wasn’t even time to blink.
And now she was stroking the street child who had come with Sere, using her clumsy, heavy steel hands, bristling with countless pairs of scissors.
“Silver-hair, you know this old gloomy hag?”
“…Yeah. It’s been about five years.”
“Huhhh… Even an old hag like this has mates, then.”
The child sounded incredulous.
“Right, I’m gonna play some games. Old hag! I’m borrowing SF8!”
“Yeeeees! Play, play, play! [Brown]! You should play more games! Watch anime, too! [Brown]! It’s better to have lots of hobbies! If you do nothing but study, you’ll turn stupid!”
“I TOLD you, I ain’t Brown! Jeez…”
Before long, the chirpy electronic sounds of a retro game began to fill the room.
Listening to them, the Wandmaker swung her long hair about happily and stared intently at Sere with her eyeless gaze.
“[Blue]! I’ve got coffee! I can offer you coffee! I know you said you hated it, but if you put in lots of gum syrup, sugar and milk, you can drink it, right?! Right?! Right?! Everyone’s learned to drink it this way! Me, [Brown], [Yellow], [Pink], [Red], [Red], [Red], [Red]…! Fehih! Fehihihi!”
“…I’m sorry, [Wandmaker]. I’ve come to ask you a favour today.”
“I’ll do anything! Fehihihiii!!”
“Fix it.”
The Wandmaker crushed an empty cola can in her steel hand and poured the muddy liquid inside into a mug. While she was occupied with that, Sere presented her with the items she had brought.
A shattered scabbard.
A broken Japanese sword.
And the magical cyberdeck staff connected to them.
“Ah.”
The Wandmaker crushed the mug in her hand.
“Ah… AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
“Shut up, old hag!”
“She’s dead! She’s dead! [Green]! [Green], who was loved by everyone! Sweet, sweet [Green]! My little sister, [Green]! The smallest and cutest of them all! GREEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!”
The Wandmaker swept her steel arms through the room, smashing everything in their path.
A television, knocked flying by the child, hurtled through the air. Sere struck it down.
On the countless cracked analogue screens scattered across the floor, the anime images flickered and reflected in every direction.
“STOP! Calm down, [Wandmaker]!”
“[Green]…! Poor [Green]…! Who was it? Who did such a terrible thing to her? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yeeeees…!”
She stopped moving.
The Wandmaker pressed her cheek against the shattered scabbard.
Black light flickered, faintly illuminating the girl whose lower face was concealed behind a mask.
“… [Strawberry Pink].”
“…You can tell?”
“Ahhh… Poor junior. Poor thing. So poor, so poor, so poor…! Ah, ahhhhhh…!”
Still rubbing her cheek against the scabbard, the Wandmaker dragged her face across the rubbish-strewn floor.
Her mask opened.
A long, slimy tongue emerged from beneath it.
And then she began to lick…
The shattered mug. The muddy liquid she had called coffee.
*
“…Sorry. Was I having a psychotic episode?”
“…Yeah.”
“Whoops.”
Just like that, she was back to normal.
Sitting on top of a smashed television, the Wandmaker clutched her head.
“Sorry about that. Lately, I spend more time unconscious than aware. That was pretty bad, huh?”
“…Bad enough.”
“Man, I’m like this the moment I don’t have caffeine. Messing with your brain really is a bad idea, isn’t it? I don’t think that sort of thing is good for you.”
“Old hag, you should just drink coffee all the time.”
“No way. That stuff tastes like mud.”
“Well, then.”
The Wandmaker clicked the countless pairs of scissors sprouting from her arms and turned to Sere.
She stared at her with eyeless eyes.
*
“I more or less understand what’s happened.
“This magical cyberdeck cannot be repaired.”