I really should just attach every valuable thing I have onto my clothes. With a chain.
Her gaze was fixated on the pavement as she wandered through Lowee's oldest city district. The red domes and white walls of the nearby buildings were a stark contrast to the soft, fanciful pink and blue that saturated most of the city. Such was the beauty of a rooted city, of a living history that had almost vanished entirely on the artificial landmass she came from, with its endless cycles of rotations, reassembly, and renovations.
It was a place that she would love to get lost in during the next few days, had she not found her wallet missing, right after she got off the express train from Lastation to Lowee.
After jamming her hotel room door shut with a broom handle, taking her phone apart to check for possible tracking devices, and waking up multiple times from the same nightmare in which Elizabeth was trying to dismember her, then dispose of the body by mixing the bits into bowls of chili and feeding them to her friends...
...To say that she was stressed out, and not in the best state of mind when she walked out of the hotel room this morning would be a grave underestimation. She had slept through the whole ride, and was not exactly lucid when she walked out of the station.
With only a few coins on her person, and nowhere to go, her hope to find some refuge from her train wreck of a holiday in this snowy land of childhood wonders was rapidly diminishing. Maybe her sister would be having a much better time in her new foster home, with a more...responsible guardian...
Great. Now she was going down the same rabbit hole that caused her to screw up so badly at her job.
She had to find something to distract herself from these thoughts. After scanning through the row of identical buildings to her right, she settled on the one next to a tall spire, since this shop had the shiniest signboard and loudest music blasting out of its speaker. Plus, its doors were wide open, even in this cold weather.
It turned out to be a small arcade, full of sounds, bright visuals, and chatters. Good. She could at least watch people play games for an entire afternoon, while figuring out a way to get herself out of this situation. Though the woman at the front desk did look quite grumpy and done with the world, as she glanced up from the manga she was reading.
Hopefully, she wouldn't get chased out for lingering too long in this place.
She was walking past the clip doll machine when a conversation between two kids caught her attention. They are about Loft's age, she thought to herself, and had to shake her head again, to get rid of the sore emptiness in her chest and focus on their conversation. Think positive! Maybe she's having some great fun back home! Just like these kids—
"Really? Eight Lapin Cretins in a row?" The boy with messy blond hair groaned, as he stuffed the small plushie into the front pocket of his purple hoodie.
"I told ya', this thing's rigged! R-I-G-G-E-D!" The little redhead girl beside him put down the giant toy axe in her hand. "Not only did it keep catching those ugly rabbits, all the rabbits I caught are dressed up like princesses? L-A-M-E!"
"I dunno, Barb. Rabbits are cute, but these..." He took the plushie out from his pocket again and stared into its eyes, with a deep scowl on his face, "...Give me the creeps, man. It's like they are gonna take over your mind and replace you, when you're sleeping or something! You think people actually like them?"
"No. That's why they make these rabbits look like plumbers and princesses!" The girl said. "Otherwise no one will try and catch one. Now, what does this button do?"
She snatched the plushie away from the boy and poked it in the back, causing it to make a loud "BWAH!" noise.
"Geez, that's...even weirder! Why would they make these things scream?" The boy tugged at his red neckerchief, looking even more unsettled than before.
"Ooh, so that's what the button does! Let's see..." The girl hoisted the plushie up by the neck, with a huge mischievous grin on her face. Then, she picked up her toy axe and started to repeatedly crush it into the plushie's back, causing the poor toy to emit one strange scream after another.
"Yes! Take that, foul critter! Feel the wrath of the barbarian queen!"
She was really getting carried away in her imaginary battles. Huffing, the boy decided to test his luck again by inserting another coin into the clip doll machine, and starting to carefully manipulate the joystick. Despite his best efforts, when the time ran out and the claw made its grip, he ended up getting another rabbit plushie. A bigger one.
"This machine isn't rigged. It is cursed!" The boy clutched at his hair in despair, making it even messier than before. Just then, his phone started ringing, right when the little girl finally got bored of hitting the plushie, and tossed it into a plastic bag full of its brethren.
"Howdy, aunt...Oh? Uncle's drunk on plum juice again? Wait?" The boy's smile suddenly vanished as he put the phone closer to his ear. "What did he eat? Okay, okay, we'll be right there!"
He put down his phone and muttered something to the girl.
"Well, what'cha waiting for!" The girl shouted, before she tucked the toy axe back onto her belt, dragged the boy by the arm, and rushed out of the arcade, the little wings on her helmet fluttering in the wind. The big rabbit plushie and the plastic bag was left behind in their hurry, lying on the ground in a heap.
"Hey, your plushies—"
Her reminder was cut short, as the girl briefly turned back and yelled, "You can keep them! Gotta' go!" before vanishing down the streets with her friend.
Sighing, she knelt down and started examining the plushies in the bag. Googly eyes, vacant stares, facial expressions ranging from a small smile that just screamed " I'm dead inside" to a creepy toothy grin that wouldn't be out of place on the face of a B-movie serial killer...
Yeah. No wonder these stuffed rabbits were unpopular with the kids.
Oh, and the label said, "Made in PC Continent"? That was unusual. Imported toys seemed more like a Leanbox thing, where tourists from the artificial continent would arrive in small waves during summer, and flock to one of those carnivals that Clancy always denounced as a complete waste of money and potential security hazard. Loft would like them, though.
She would love anything, even the cheapest knockoff toys, if you are the one who bought it. Not anymore, now that you've shown yourself to be an irresponsible moron, a complete embarrassment of a Golden One who shouldn't even be out there, fighting crimes—
She facepalmed with a groan, before turning her sight back towards the big stuffed rabbit. This one was dressed up in a pink dress and blonde wig—a cheap imitation of Lowee's famous Princess Pear, just sprawling itself out on the floor with a dull, tired smile on its face.
Like it was too stupid and naïve to realize that it was abandoned by its would-be owners, who never wanted it in the first place...
...And was still making an effort at being the best princess it could be.
"We are on the same boat here, aren't we, little one?"
She picked up the big plushie and stared straight into its dark, googly eyes. This might sound weird, but it almost felt like the plushie...understood. Like it knew what she was going through, and would be smiling back at her, if it was capable of doing that.
Maybe it was a sense of kinship between idiots, who found themselves stranded, alone, in an unfamiliar place.
These rabbits suddenly looked a lot cuter than before. Still creepy. But also cute in a pathetic, relatable way.
She put down the big plushie, reached into the sash around her waist, and gripped the meager amount of spare coins that lay inside one of the small pouches. Well, she still had no idea where she was going to sleep tonight, so these stuffed rabbits would make good pillows...right?
Darn it, she just needed a reason to rescue her newfound spirit animals from an eternity of ridicule and neglect by arcade dwellers. If it meant spending her last few credits on this clip doll machine, so be it! It was not like her luck could get any worse today.
With a fierce determination in her eyes, she inserted the first coin into the machine and gripped the joystick, like she was some kind of captain trying to steer a ship through a raging storm. Her eyes were firmly set on the other big stuffed rabbit, which was also dressed up like a princess that she couldn't quite identify—Princess Pansy, was it?
Regardless of which princess it was supposed to be, it was probably the closest kin to Lapin Pear over here, and she would not allow such a cruel separation of these two sisters. Not while she had her hands on the joystick.
And of course, her first try ended up grabbing an actual plumber plushie that just happened to get in the way.
Her second try was no better. A mosquito plushie? Really? Those stuffed rabbits might be a little uncanny, but what kind of lunatics thought that basing their newest plushie on a blood-sucking pest was a good idea? Into the bag it went.
Now she was down to her last coin. She really could not afford to miss.
She got the claw right above the big stuffed rabbit, and was about to lower it when it jiggled in the air and swung towards another toy, in a bizarre movement she didn't think was even possible for a giant metal claw.
No! Not that direction!
She tightened her grip, trying her damnedest to steer it towards the desired object in the remaining three seconds...
...And the joystick snapped in two, with a dull crack that was almost entirely drowned out by the boisterous background music. She was left staring at the broken half of the plastic controller in her hands, before sheepishly dropping it onto the floor.
Maybe they could just duct-tape the whole thing back together, and she wouldn't need to pay a fine?
Loud, ominous beeping from the machine interrupted her thoughts, as the metal claw started opening and closing its grip in an erratic rhythm, almost banging against the glass as it began to spin in a circle. Some kids were looking up from their arcade machines, distracted by the jarring noises, while others remained absorbed in their gaming frenzy.
As it became clear that the metal claw was going completely haywire, those who were closest to the clip doll machine started to slowly back away, which served as good cover, as she grabbed the big plushie and sneaked towards the exit. Just as the woman at the front desk slammed the manga she was reading onto the table, and made a beeline for the doll machine.
A loud crack of glass shattering made her stop dead in her tracks and drop the plushie, right as the metal claw flew past her at a dangerous speed, out of the open arcade door and onto the streets.
It hit the pavement, opened and closed its grip one last time, then went completely still.
Wow, the blond kid is right. That clip doll machine is really cursed.
"Move your asses away from the glass shards!" The woman was waving her hands, shooing curious bystanders away from the machine, before she suddenly turned towards the door and pointed a finger at her. "And you! Get back in here!"
Without looking back, she immediately tried to make a run for it. She was barely out of the door when something wrapped itself around her arm from behind, causing her to lose her balance. The next moment, she was dragged back into the arcade and slammed onto the carpeted floor on her back.
For the next ten seconds, her pursuer just stared into her eyes, as she lay there in stunned silence. The woman was holding a weirdly patterned yellow scarf in her right hand, and her long, reddish-orange hair was almost touching the floor.
Now that she thought about it, why was this woman wearing a short-sleeved sailor uniform that exposed her midriff, while it was snowing outside? The baggy pants, fur boots, and fighting gloves did give her this tough, gritty look, though. Maybe she was just too badass for the cold.
"Getting comfy down there?" The woman broke the silence, after wrapping the scarf back onto her neck. "Now get up."
"So, uh, I just want to say it's all a big misunderstanding, and that clip doll machine is probably broken long before I put my hands on it—"
"Don't make me carry you like a baby, brat."
That was enough of a clue for her to comply, and she bolted up from the floor. After dusting off her clothes, she straightened her back in an attempt to look just a little more respectable in her sorry state, then let out a deep sigh.
"Sorry. I shouldn't try to run away like that. It's really stupid of me."
"You are damn right, you shouldn't be running." The woman sneered, then muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "fucking old geezer" under her breath, as she grabbed her arm, roughly dragged her towards the front counter, and gestured for her to stay there.
After getting a stack of cleaning cones out of the backroom, and putting them around the piles of broken glass below the clip doll machine, the woman finally returned to her. She tossed something into her hands. To her surprise, it was her plastic bag full of small plushies.
"Listen. My miserly prick of a boss brought that machine from some shady second-hand shop. Probably after it had killed a few people or so." The woman said, with a deadpan expression on her face, and she really wasn't sure if the last part was supposed to be a joke, so she just let out a nervous chuckle in response.
"I'm not surprised that it went out with a bang. But Mr. Esaka is still gonna give me hell. For letting this happen under my watch." Rolling her eyes, the woman pulled open the drawer of the front desk, before extending her palm out in her direction. "So pay up, brat. 250 credits, and you can get your ass out of here."
"Ah, well, about that..." She put a hand to her forehead.
"You still broke it." The woman said. "And you aren't leaving this place, till you pay for the damage. I work for an arcade shop. Not a charity."
"...I just spent my last three coins on your clip doll machine."
"Tell your parents to come and get you." The reply was as blunt as before. Unfortunately, that was not a solution, either. If Clancy was not on duty, maybe she could get her to come over from Leanbox and pose as her mom, but for now?
"I'm a tourist from another continent, and I lost my wallet." Yeah, that was the most concise explanation she could manage.
"You lost your wallet. Okay." The woman took a deep breath, "So, let me get this straight. You lost your wallet. Instead of going to the police station, or the Guild, or ask someone for help, you decide to wander into a random fucking arcade. And spend your last few credits on a doll machine."
She gave her a long, hard look, then uttered a single word. "Why?"
"I..." Nothing was going to make her sound less like a complete moron right now, wasn't it? Might as well be honest.
"I feel an...affinity for these stuffed rabbits." She took one out of the bag and hugged it closer to her chest. "I'm lost and have no idea where to go next. These wacky little toys that no one wants, we are like, comrades in misfortune, you know? They are so relatable, I just can't help myself—"
"Okay, that's enough." The woman shushed her, and started rummaging through the drawers of the front desk (she caught glimpses of a few colorful magazines that were definitely not suitable for anyone below the age of 18), before grabbing a piece of crumpled paper and tossing it into her hands.
"This is a city map. With bus routes and all that shit." She unfolded the paper in front of her, then reached into her pockets, and pulled out a hundred credit bill, along with a few spare coins.
"Here are some credits. There's a bus station right across the street, facing the tall spire. Take Bus 64 to the Basilicom. They'll help you out."
Her tone was as harsh and impatient as ever, but she could not help but feel quite touched by this small act of kindness, as she stuffed the money into her sash, together with the map.
"Thank you so, so much for helping me! What's your name, by the way—" Her expression of gratitude was interrupted when the woman leaned forward, and grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Asa. Next time, don't make other people pay your stupidity tax for you." She half-whispered into her ears, with a thousand-yard stare on her face. "And once they find your wallet, you better come back to this little Southtown Arcade over here, and pay for the fucking damage. You hear that?"
"Will do!"
Just when she scrambled out of the door, another angry shout erupted from behind her, causing her to stop running and meekly turn back.
"Hey! Take your bloody rabbit comrade with you!" Holding the big plushie high up in the air, Asa waved at her, before hurling it right towards her, with great force and accuracy. She almost lost balance and fall on her butt, despite successfully catching the stuffed toy in her arms.
"Uh, thanks! Again!" She yelled back, but Asa had already disappeared back into the arcade, without sparing a single glance at her.
Wow. Certainly the rude, blunt, no-nonsense type. Does she ever scare the kid customers away while she's working in there?
Despite her demeanor, Asa was as helpful as she could be to a complete stranger. And with her newfound cash and rabbit companions, she had regained some much-needed confidence and optimism in her immediate future. All she needed right now was to go across the street, sit on the bus, and everything would be fine and dandy!
"The Tourism Department is currently closed. The opening hour is from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm, Monday to Saturday—"
She stared at the bunny-eared, disk-shaped robot, floating above the deserted counter, replaying pre-recorded messages in a monotone voice.
Five minutes late, and now it was closed? Darn it. People in Lowee were punctual.
"If you need further assistance, please call the Hunter's Guild. The phone number is 064-255—"
All hope was not lost, then. She whipped out her phone, pressed the power button...
...and saw the bright red battery icon. Then, a pop-up notification, which stated that the battery power was currently at 2%, and the device would shut down in thirty seconds.
Oh. So she had forgotten to switch her phone off too, when she stuffed it into her sash this morning.
They say when fate closes a door, it opens a window. If so, I must have really pissed off fate today. That's why it is so determined to shut every door in my face, then opens a single window, just to pour gasoline inside, and finally throw a cigarette butt through.
She hugged the big plushie even tighter in the cold evening air, as she passed below the tall, majestic castle walls around the Basilicom, dragging herself through the gates and back onto the streets.