Contractor (5)

"This is getting boring," I watched my body slowly dying.

"Most people begin to panic when they see themselves close to death," a fairy became fascinated with me.

"Do you have any games here? Like headgears or gaming consoles. Anime and movies are fine too," I slumped my head onto the table.

"We do not possess any of these things," she shook her head.

"Then what do you do during your spare time?" I wondered.

"We like to observe humans. We also do some research on mana and take care of our families," he answered.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think the fairy world would be this poor," I pitied them.

"What do you suggest we do?" The fairies became curious.

"We can start with hand games. Since we're a big group, the game will last longer," I began to teach them the moves.

I was glad the time I spent with Luke and Alex was finally becoming more useful. I had many games that only needed your body to play them. I started to sing the song, lightly tapping the hands of the fairies beside me as they wondered what I was doing. The fairies were frozen in their seats, staring at me instead of moving their hands.

"I can't play this alone, follow me. This is a better way to pass time," I urged them.

"How about we do something else? We can teach you more spells," one of them suggested.

"You should abandon being my contractor if you can't do this. I do this everyday whenever I get confined," I waited for them to join me.

"Is there really nothing to do in the human world?" A fairy wondered.

"We can play hide-and-seek after this," I went through the familiar schedule.

"Hide-and-seek?" He turned to me.

"You hide somewhere, and someone searches for you. The game is over when the searcher finds everyone," I explained.

"Our contractee is still a small child," his face was full of disappointment.

"That's right! Do you want to play with dolls everyday?" I brightly smiled.

These fairies were thousands of years old, according to the gatekeeper. It was likely they had no tolerance for childish games. Most of them were starting to look at me in a new light, taking my threats seriously. I wondered if I should increase the torture so they could run away from me. My acting skills have dramatically improved, no one questioning my actions. Although my appearance was annoying, it made me look more convincing in these kinds of situations.

"I'm out. I can't play with dolls again. I had a contractee like her before and it was hard waiting for them to grow up," a fairy left his seat.

I hoped the other four would give up with him, but they didn't. The fairies stayed in their spots, full of regret. I sighed from thinking of how I would have to create a few dolls in the other dimension. Maybe they would be made from clay if I dug enough dirt from the ground. I wondered if there were bugs here to catch. Most people hated bugs and it was likely fairies would be the same.

"Let's begin the hand games," I turned to the rest of them.

"We speed the process. We'll return you to the other side soon," one of them blurted.

"What the heck were you doing until now? I thought it was already pressed to the limit," I narrowed my eyes.

"It was, you're still dangerously close to dying. But we didn't actually think of killing you since we wanted your potential for an unlimited amount of mana in the future. One more push and you're dead," he revealed.

"Can't you just give me some of your mana? This whole process would be over if you abandon your payment," I had the upper hand.

"Let's begin the hand games," she sighed.

Unexpectedly, the fairies were brilliant at singing, the voices ringing like bells. Although the fairies appeared miserable, they followed everything I said. I knew how I was going to spend my newly earned money on the other side. Maybe I could annoy Alex enough to move out of the dorm room. He seemed to despise dolls after being tortured under them. I had to hide my smile when another one of them left in the middle of the hand game.

I was left with three potential contractors, on the edge of their patience being destroyed. It was time to stop this game to make them explode. I coughed to grab their attention, "we're going to dig the ground to catch some insects. Whoever catches the most impressive one wins the game."

"No using mana and we're going to be using our bare hands," I grinned.

"This child is insane. The mana isn't worth it," a fairy left the table.

"What a pity," I pouted, cheering inside my heart.

Before I could start the game, the scene shimmering onto the glass table interrupted us. Elliot stared at me, drained of energy, "I think we have to give up."

"What are you saying?" Logan continued to exhaust his mana.

"Is Rika going to die?" Luke lifelessly turned to them.

"She's not going to die. Your other grandfather doesn't know what he's saying," Logan tried to comfort Luke.

"I'm going to teach you a new spell. You can help your partner get through this," he started to write down a formula in the air.