“Ohh! Ohhhhh! Brown! It’s Brown! Long time no see! Fuheh! Fuhihohihoho! I’m so happy! So very happy! Two friends have come today! To my house! To my home!　Two people, two people, two people, two people! Friends have come! Fuhehihihihihiiii!!”
“I told you! I’m not Brown! I said I’m not Brown!”
“…It’s worse than the last time you came.”

Immediately after his vision was blanketed in black phosphorescent light.
　【Topaz Orange】—【The Witch of Cancer】, the 【Staff Craftsman】, stood behind Sere.
A moment.
A moment so fleeting there was no time to blink.
And then, she was stroking the child street urchin who had come with them. With her rough, steel hands sprouting countless claws.

“Silver-haired one, do you know this person? This gloomy old hag?”
“…Yeah. Been about five years.”
“Hah… So even a hag like this has mates, eh?”

The child said, sounding exasperated.

“Right then, I’m off to play games. Hag! I’m borrowing Street Fighter 8!”
“Aaaaaaah! Play! Play! Play! 【Brown】! You should play more games! Watch anime too!　Brown! It’s better to have lots of hobbies! Studying all the time makes you stupid!”
“I told you I’m not Brown! Honestly…”

Soon, the beeps and boops of a retro game began to echo.
Listening to it, the wandmaker swung her long hair about cheerfully, her eyeless sockets fixed intently on Sel.

“【Blue】! It’s coffee! I can make coffee! I know you said you hated it! But if I put loads of gum syrup, sugar, and milk in it, you can drink it, right?! Eh?! Eh?! Everyone, everyone, everyone learned to drink it this way! Me, 【Brown】, 【Yellow】, 【Pink】, 【Red】, 【Red】, 【Red】, 【Red】, fheh!　Fehihihi!”
“…Sorry, [Staff Craftsman]. I came with a request today.”
“I’ll do anything! Fehihohohoh-!!”
“Fix it.”

The Staff Craftsman crushed an empty cola can with her steel arm and poured the muddy liquid inside into a mug. With that in the background, Sere presented the item.

　A shattered scabbard.
A broken Japanese sword.
Connected to them, a magical cyberdeck staff.

“Ah.”

The staff maker crushed the mug in her hand.

“Ah—ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
“She’s dead! She’s dead! Greer! Beloved Greer! Sweet, sweet Greer! My little sister Greer! The smallest and cutest Greer ever!”

The cane maker swept through the room with her steel arm.
Sere knocked down the television that had been knocked over by the child.
　The anime images scatter across the countless cracked analogue screens.

“Calm down! [Wandmaker]!”
“[Greer]…! Poor [Greer]…! Who? Who did this horrible thing? Hmm, hmm, hmm hmm hmm hmm…!”

The movement stops.
　The Staff Craftsman rubs her cheek against the shattered sheath.
A black light flickers. The black light dimly illuminates the girl whose lower half of her face is hidden by a mask.

“Strawberry Pink…”
“…You know?”
“Ah… Poor junior. Poor thing. Poor thing, poor thing, poor thing…! Ah, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

　Carried by the momentum of the cheek-rubbing, the cane maker smears her cheek across the dirt-strewn ground.
The mask opens.
A long, sticky tongue peeks out.
And it licks… the shattered mug. What she called coffee, mud.

“…Sorry. Was I losing it?”
“…Yeah.”
“Oh dear.”

With a shrug.
Sitting atop the smashed television, the wandmaker clutched her head.

“Sorry. I’ve been unconscious more than awake lately. That was bad, wasn’t it?”
“…Quite.”
“Ugh, without caffeine I just go like this. Messing with my brain is no good. I really think that sort of thing is bad for me.”
“Granny, you just keep drinking coffee then.”
“No way, it tastes like mud.”

Right then.
Clicking the countless scissors sprouting from her arms, the cane maker looked at Sere.
She stared intently with her eyeless eyes.

“I’ve mostly got it.
This magical cyberdeck is beyond repair.”