The Wolf and The Puppet

7 of Amberclaw, 999 A.N.S.

Inside a little bedroom lit by a light bulb, a girl with long black hair opened her eyes. On top of her head, a strand of hair seemed to wake up with her and take life too. 

She looked at the paper covered ceiling for a moment, not fully conscious yet. By the window at her left, she could see it was night, and it was raining. Her sight was blurry, so she instinctively reached for her face with her hand. However, that is when she noticed something – all her body was sensitive. She couldn't lift her hand without feeling every single millimeter of the cover scraping against her skin. She felt every fold of the bed under her, her toes bitten by the cold, her hair ensnaring her neck, her sweat going down her curves… 

In short, she felt her body.

The strand of hair on her head stood right up as she redressed herself in panic . She suddenly remembered everything – she was tracking down an angel in the sewers and…

She looked at her left hand. When she fought the angel, it was the first part of her body to burn, but now it was intact. That was the case of her right hand too, it was totally healed. The girls couldn't restrain her tears. Her hands trembled as she looked at them with glee – her strand of hair waved left and right. 

"Thank goodness! Thank goodness! They are still here! With that, I can… I can still continue!"

She passed her hands across her cheeks. No matter how much she wiped her tears, they would come down, running. She was smiling, laughing even. Just seeing her hands and hearing her voice was enough to make her extremely happy. 

"They are still there."

The girl was taken out of her reverie by a toneless voice. Someone climbed on the bed and sat behind her.

"See? They are still here."

Suddenly, the person put her hands on the girl's chest making her let out a little cry of surprise – the strand dressed right up again pointing toward the ceiling like an antenna.

"Wha, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!! Wait… WHY AM I NAKED?!!"

The stranger suddenly started fondling her breasts while mumbling short sentences.

"All big. All soft. All marshmallowy."

"W-Wait!!! Eeeek!!! S, Stop!!! Don't touch me there!!! STOP!!!"

"There? Where exactly? Here?"

"Eeeeek!!! I, I said, stop that!!! Stop it!!!"

"When someone asks you to stop, that means they want you to continue."

"WHERE DID YOU LEARN SUCH A THING?!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!! I will huff, and I will puff, and I will blow your house in!!!"

The girl made a movement with her hand, seeming to expect something to happen but… nothing…

"You are a bibliomancer, right?" the girl behind her asked. 

The girl gasped. She was in the lower ring, why would someone know what she was? When she came, she even put on clothings typical of the locals. What gave her away? Besides, even if that girl did know, how did she cancel her spell just now? She never heard of someone capable of canceling a bibliomancy's code instantly without doing much more than… fondling breasts…

"You… You are a skilled one, I must admit. I didn't expect to meet someone such as yourself in the lower ring. Tell me, how did you do that? How did you block my code?"

"I am skilled at fondling breasts? Then I should try with Master's next."

The girl frowned. 

She hit the stranger behind her with her elbow, and jumped out of the bed. Once she was far enough, she stretched her left palm toward the mysterious person with a scowl.

The girl's appearance startled her at first. She was no older than her with brown hair in an asymmetrical bob hairstyle. Her bangs were trimmed and a plated braid passed across the left side of her head, like a headband. She wore a sort of black nun outfit – minus the cap and with a white sarashi – black boots, and an eyepatch on the right eye. Her only visible eye was turquoise, and her hands were covered in bandages. The detail that attracted the most her attention however, was the black choker around this girl's neck – it was the mark of the puppets, the slaves.

When she saw it, the black haired girl's face distorted with disgust. "(Something like that touched my body?! How humiliating. I could never wash enough to take off that horrible stench!)"

"That hurts," the girl in nun's outfit noted.

She then tried to get up, but the black haired stopped her with a treat, "Don't you dare move a finger, you filth!! How could you?! How could you lay a finger on me?! For your crimes, you shall be condemned to death right here and right now!"

The girl in nun's outfit tilted her head in incomprehension. She looked in different directions for a while before suddenly getting up anyway.

"I said, don't move!" the black haired girl yelled.

"..."

Ignoring her second warning, the girl jumped from the bed and she drew even closer.

"Very well, you asked for it! I will huff, and I will puff, and I will blow your house in!!!"

Again, black haired girl uttered words, expecting something to happen. But nothing, absolutely nothing.

"(I… I can't use my abilities?! I even distanced myself! Does this place have some sort of bibliomancy canceling system?)"

"It doesn't." the girl in nun's outfit suddenly answered.

"(Huh? Just now, did she… did she just hear my thoughts…?)"

"I didn't."

Hiding her body with her hands, the girl nervously made a few steps backwards.

This was bad. She already heard about bibliomancers skilled enough to read into others mind, but she never met one up until now. She even started to think it was a baseless rumor, but if that doll could really do that...

The girl let out an arrogant snort, "(Yeah right…)"

So what if her opponent could read her mind? She just had to act faster and that was it. It just meant she didn't have much time to hesitate. Besides, that doll just seemed to reply to 2 random questions that she happened to ask to herself at the moment. It was a doll, it wouldn't be surprising if those words were just the result of its inferior brain defaillance. Yes, it must have been that – well placed nonsense. Why did she always go and imagine the worst? She had to keep this wild mind if hers under control.