1.
The performance was the kind everyone could guess at a glance.
A circus blending theater and acrobatics.
Maybe this was the first time the people here had ever seen anything like it, because their eyes were sparkling and they looked as if they’d gone right back to childhood.
But since I was only interested in the opening part, I didn’t feel much of anything.
"...You don’t seem very interested."
"Tina?"
Unlike Silver Wolf, who was fully focused, Hanabi asked quietly.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t interested.
When the girl who appeared at the beginning was onstage, the whole thing felt focused, like she was carrying the performance well.
But once she disappeared, it felt like everything started drifting in all directions.
And maybe it was because I’d been living in Neon City, a place overflowing with dopamine.
Watching people breathe fire and lions jump through hoops in front of me wasn’t all that exciting.
"Is it not fun?"
"It’s not that it isn’t fun. I just have so much going on lately that my brain feels numb, I guess."
First loop!
Go to the gambling den and suck up 55 million credits like a victorious hero!
Second loop!
Learn the core of Elation! Defeat the psychopathic god of the scalpel!
There was no sense of being chased anymore, so I was bored.
It hadn’t even been a week since I’d decided to rest.
I was dopamine-starved.
—This is boring, Neon City.
At this rate, I’m going to end up going to the gambling den, aren’t I?
I didn’t want Silver Wolf nagging me about it.
But if this kept up, I really would go to the gambling den.
"...I thought this performance was the most fun thing in the world."
"Hanabia. If you say it like that, what does that make me?"
How dare you scold me!
I haven’t even said the performance was boring yet!
"Would you like to hear about my past?"
"Oh, I’m curious!"
A past story spilling out in the middle of a boring performance!
I had no idea why she was telling her past to a human she’d just met, but as long as it was interesting, that was enough!
The performance continued.
And when the clowns’ tossed sparks danced through the dark curtain, I found myself sinking into the story of Hanabi’s past.
2.
The child was an abandoned orphan.
Alive, yes.
But they didn’t know where they were.
Where they had come from.
Where they should go.
They didn’t know.
They wandered. They begged to survive. Life had always been like that, so they had lived that way without asking many questions.
Until the troupe passed before their eyes one day.
They ran.
From far away, they secretly watched the performance unfolding.
A girl with twin tails floated through the air.
She swam softly like a fish, while masks swayed with her movements.
Various masks hung from her waist.
No matter how far away the audience sat, the performance felt so captivating it was as if it were happening right in front of their eyes.
Only then did the child gradually realize that "they" were watching a "performance" from "below the stage."
Intrigued, the child went to see the performance again and again, day and night.
Even so, the spotlight onstage never turned toward the child.
And before long, the child began to feel a longing.
I want to stand on that stage.
How many times had they watched the performance?
At one point, they could no longer hold back and went behind the stage.
There, they met the black-haired twin-tailed girl who was the star of the show.
They talked, and the child received a mask.
A fox mask split red and white down the middle.
The child put on the mask and went up.
"Do you think I can do it?"
"Why wouldn’t you be able to? Once you put on a mask, people will think you’re ■■■ anyway. And then that becomes the truth."
The fourth wall dividing the world was peeled away, and the lights still hadn’t come on.
They looked down at the stage.
A bottomless pit and masked figures seemed to be there.
It was unsettling.
It felt like the packed audience was staring at her.
Watching her words and actions.
The child steadied their trembling heart, then recalled the performance they had seen and began moving, adjusting their motions, voice, and posture.
"You did really well for your first time."
"But... it was different from your ■■■."
"That is a problem, I suppose. But no one knew, did they? If they don’t know, then it’s no longer a problem."
The child fidgeted, and the girl watched them.
"Besides, other than you, no one really came to see us often. We’re just a tiny, unremarkable troupe."
"But..."
"For a little while, if you have nowhere else to go... would you like to come with us?"
The companionship began.
Perhaps... a companionship no one could understand.
3.
"That’s why I’m working as the troupe’s errand girl."
"Oh... then that woman from earlier?"
"Yes. She’s the one who gave me the mask."
They did seem vaguely alike.
Like sisters.
"You do look similar. Are you actually related by blood?"
"Of course not. She was the first person I’d ever seen that day. I don’t remember anything."
A girl she’d never seen before.
Hanabi, who had fallen for the troupe’s stage.
I felt a little sorry for her.
If you were going to take in a kid, you should at least feed her properly and raise her right!
Look how skinny she was. It seemed like she barely ate, and her clothes were in bad shape too. When we first met, she’d acted cautiously like a small frightened animal, but now that we’d gotten a little closer, Hanabi’s true personality seemed to be showing.
Everyone lives life wearing a mask, after all.
Flash!
"Ack! My eyes!"
I’d lost track of time while listening to the story.
The inside of the troupe’s tent suddenly lit up, and I pressed hard on my eyelids after getting flashbanged.
"Wow... that was fun."
Maybe because it was a novelty she’d never seen before, Silver Wolf stretched and said it had been fun.
Meanwhile, I, who hadn’t even been interested, had learned about Hanabi’s past.
I had no idea whether it was real or fake.
What mattered was that I’d heard the story.
The moment we came out of the troupe’s tent.
"I hope you enjoyed the story."
A sharply tailored suit.
A black cane, basic equipment for a magician and troupe leader.
A magician’s hat and a ridiculous mask covering his entire face.
"And you are?"
"I’m the troupe leader who runs this troupe."
That’s insanely ominous.
Here it comes again, genre convention!
Characters who wear that kind of outfit and a mask are usually out of their minds!
Adrian Servet’s little piece of common sense, remember it!
"It was entertaining."
"Lies."
"...?"
"Ahaha, I’m joking!"
Holy shit.
For a second I thought he was about to smack me in the head with that cane, and I got scared stiff.
Silver Wolf, too, was already sensing the bad atmosphere, fidgeting with her sword and sling like a little animal with its fur standing on end.
"That wasn’t a very funny joke. You probably wouldn’t do well with women."
"...Hmm, that’s harsh. Still, as someone who leads a troupe, I thought I was fairly confident in my sense of humor."
Hey, bastard!
How was that even a joke just now?
Must be because he was the troupe leader and everyone around him always coddled him.
He was treating that garbage like it was a joke.
He had to be under-socialized.
After resisting the urge to crack his skull with my sword, I met the eyes visible through the mask and said, "We’d like to rest now, so we’ll be going."
"Ah, is that so? Then before you leave, I’d like to have that young lady returned to us."
The troupe leader pointed at Hanabi.
Hanabi’s body flinched and trembled.
And just as I was about to move forward—
"Um, uh."
"..."
"No."
Hanabi and Silver Wolf looked at me with startled eyes.
Damn it, whatever.
I’d always lived an impulsive life.
It wouldn’t hurt to get even more impulsive now.
"We rented this girl for the day. So we’ll borrow her for exactly one day and then return her."
Hanabi, I’m borrowing you.
Rental Hanabi.
I dropped the polite speech and looked at the troupe leader.
I felt like my caution had gone out the window, but there was an indescribable feeling in the air.
Ominous.
The man in front of me was ominous.
A tense staring contest.
When the eyes inside the mask and mine were locked in a tug-of-war—
"...Well, if that’s the case, then I suppose there’s nothing to be done!"
"Huh?"
"If you’ve already paid, then there’s no helping it. You may keep her with you for today."
With a light, empty laugh, the troupe leader turned around and walked away.
A strange sense of unease lingered.
It felt like he’d thrown out a mountain of bait and then left.
Like later on he’d show up as a game boss.
I could almost hear him saying, "Heh... let the play begin!" right before the boss fight started.
"Damn it, this feels sketchy."
"I know."
"See? You feel it too, Silver Wolf, right?"
Silver Wolf thought the same thing.
That uneasy, anxious feeling.
Only Hanabi, standing there stiffly, remained beside us.
"Why... did you... do that...?"
"You looked like you didn’t want to go."
"I! Don’t! Mind...!"
"Shh, my little baby cat. It doesn’t matter..."
Smack!
Silver Wolf smacked the back of my head again.
"Hey, you bitch! My skull’s really going to cave in at this rate! Stop hitting me!"
"Sorry. My hand moved before I could stop it when I heard that line."
"Come here. I’ll let you hit me once too."
Leaving Silver Wolf to dash away from my palm, I turned back to Hanabi.
"Let’s go for now. It’s fine, right now."
"...Haah."
"What’s happened has happened. There’s nothing to be done about it."
My future self will deal with it.
Take care of me when I regress again.
With Hanabi in tow, I left the festival grounds the troupe had set up.
The place was crowded with people, but that was only because the performance had just started.
"This time, we’ll show you around."
"Around what?"
"Punklorde’s specialty, the Neon City outskirts tour!"
I’ll show you the slums.
The kind of place where if a woman walks around alone, someone’ll immediately swing a blunt weapon at her head!
Still, if there was one thing to keep in mind...
These kids weren’t completely brainless either.
For example.
A pretty woman.
Wearing good clothes.
Walking around the outskirts alone.
People would think one of two things.
Ah, that lady must be a sheltered young miss who doesn’t know the world!
Shit, that woman must be so strong she’s confident enough to walk around alone!
Most of the time, it was the latter.
Unless your name was already known.
If some unfamiliar woman was wandering around by herself, people might test the waters, but they wouldn’t openly act up.
"The public safety really is bad."
"It’s a slum. Not exactly a glamorous neighborhood."
Hanabi looked around with a slightly disgusted expression.
Anyway, for today I had borrowed Hanabi.
I didn’t need to worry about the troupe leader and could just walk around.
"Sssst."
"Why are you doing that again?"
"This feels ominous..."
Was the troupe leader going to put my body on a roulette wheel and start throwing knives at me later?
That thought just popped into my head.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register