Chapter 10: Useless
Once Lenalee took Miranda and left, Allen and Alice take care of the four Level Two Akuma. Allen manages to destroy one with Alice's help, but then one of the Akuma named Pumpkin, attacks Allen and Alice.
"Voice of Pain!" Pumpkin shouts sending high piercing soundwaves at the two causing Allen and Alice to clench their heads of the pain.
"UWAH!" Allen shouts. "MY HEAD… IT'S GOING TO CRACK…!"
Next it is an Akuma called Scissor attacks. "Wind-Splitting Sickles!" A volley of invisible blades are aim at Allen and Alice. They barely dodge it. One hit Cross as Allen uses it to block some of the invisible blades.
"OW…!"
The last one is an Akuma called Witch. It is on the ceiling, above where Alice is standing. Her eyes are widened as she feels its presence above her. Witch let go of the ceiling and crashes down on Alice, but she dodges it swiftly.
"Woah…" Alice breathes as she dodged Witch's attack but when she regains her balance, on her left boot is a blue colored fire. She winces at the pain.
"'Ice Fire', it's hotter than fire." Witch explains. "Even if you just touch it a little bit, it will corrode your flesh."
In front of Witch, Scissor stands on its right and Pumpkin stands on its left.
"Let's tear, let's tear!" Scissors chants.
"No, no." Pumpkin disagrees. "I'm going to use my voice to destroy their brains, it's fun."
"We're going to tear." Scissor argues.
"No, corrode!" Witch shouts.
"No, the brain!" Pumpkin shouts.
The three Akuma start to play rock-paper-scissors. Alice then looks at Allen which he nods and aims at the three Akuma before shooting at them.
"AHHHH!" The three Akuma scream painfully.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR!?" Pumpkin shouts at Allen angrily. "YOU CHEATER, YOU CAN'T ATTACK WHILE WE ARE PLAYING ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS!"
"Did you think I'd wait for you to finish?" Allen questions annoyed.
Pumpkin then sticks its middle finger at Allen. "WE'LL KILL YOU, EXORCISTS!" Pumpkin shouts as Witch and Scissors stand behind it and all three of them prepare to lunge at Allen and Alice at once. However, all of a sudden stopped in front of them before they immediately flee, leaving Allen and Alice perplex.
"What was that about…?" Allen asks dumbfounded.
"Don't ask me…" Alice replies as she wonders the same thing.
Allen stands up. "Well, let's go to Miranda's house."
"Yeah." Just when she stands back up, Alice winces in pain and collapse alarming Allen.
"Alice!" He calls out as she looks at her left foot and slowly takes the boot off, showing the foot is bleeding. "This is serious wound. We need to regroup with Lenalee fast." Allen bends down in front of Alice with his back facing her. "Get on…"
"Allen… Thanks." Alice smiles and wraps her arms over his shoulders and Allen pulls his arms underneath Alice's legs. He stands up and starts to head to where Lenalee is.
In Miranda's house
Miranda is having a panic attack after seeing the three Akuma, Allen's hand and Alice's bracelet turning into two swords.
"WHAT IS THAT THING!?" Miranda questions loudly. "A HUMAN INTO A MONS–MONSTER… WHAT IS THAT THING!? T-THAT WHITE-HAIRED BOY, HIS HAND AND THE DARK BLUE-HAIRED GIRL, HER BRACELET…!"
"Calm down, Miranda." Lenalee reassures her, but fails.
"DO YOU THINK I CAN CALM–…" Then Miranda nearly drops the key hanging from her neck. "AH―!" She screams as she dives for the key.
"WA―H!"
Miranda sits up and looks at the key preciously as she breaths heavily.
"That… key." Lenalee says and she sees the grandfather clock. "Is it for the clock?"
"Y-you think I'm an idiot, don't you? For keeping this thing…"
"No, that's not what I think. You must have important memories in it."
"You know how there are people aren't good at anything? Well that's how I was." Miranda explains. "When I was a kid, I used to just stare at the backs of the other students. Everyone could do everything they wanted, and keep improving. Even as an adult, I couldn't do anything right and I kept on changing job to job."
~Miranda's past~
In a noblemen's home
Miranda is working as a maid in a noble's home. She is carrying tall stack of plates, but trips. The plates are all shatter.
"HEY~!" The nobleman shouts. "You don't need to come back to work tomorrow."
"N-no, please wait!" Miranda pleads.
"I didn't think you would be so useless." He shoos her away and Miranda holds her head down in despair.
Miranda smiles sadly at Lenalee as she tells Lenalee her past.
"I've… never had anyone said 'thank you' to me." Miranda tells Lenalee. "That means I've never been helpful to anyone. I wanted somebody to say 'thank you' to me and I wanted them to accept me. It was then, I found an old clock that is about to be thrown away at an old antique shop."
At an antique
"The last owner picked it up somewhere." The shop owner says. "It's a beautiful clock but the screw won't budge." Miranda looks at him then at the clock. "Really, really, try it if you think I'm lying." He hands Miranda the key to the clock.
"A clock that was being thrown away because it was useless. It seemed like I was a reflection of myself." The present Miranda says.
When the past Miranda put the key into the screw of the clock, she turns the key. The clock shows 11:59, but the hand moves forward to 12:00 and it starts to chime.
"AHH!" The shop owner says surprised. His sudden scream scares Miranda. "IT WORKS! THE CLOCK WORKS! NO MATTER WHO TRIES IT, IT WOULDN'T BUDGE!" He exclaims. "YOU SHOULD BUY IT!"
Miranda starts to tear up.
"The old clock that nobody could budge. The sounds of the chime moved my heart. It seemed like the clock had approved of my clumsy self." The present Miranda says.
~Later~
Allen and Alice arrive at Miranda's home. Allen sets Alice down on a chair and Lenalee starts to treat Alice's leg. Alice falls asleep. Allen stands behind her chair and reports that the Akuma fled.
"The Akuma ran away?" Lenalee asks.
"Yeah." Allen answers. "They seem a little weird. They were really motivated to kill us. I look around here in case."
Timcanpy rests on Alice's head.
"But I'm glad." Lenalee says. "It's dangerous to take on four Level Two Akuma." She looks up at Allen. "The new gun-type weapon puts a lot of stress on your body and you can't use it for very long, right!" She then bandages Alice's left leg.
"Yeah, that's right… I've put on a lot of strength though. Also," Allen looks over at sleeping Alice. "Alice was there to help."
Lenalee smiles. "That's good! And Allen, your body has gotten a little bigger."
"Really?" Allen asks. "And what is Ms. Miranda doing?" He looks over at Miranda who is cleaning her clock.
"After I explained about Akuma and us, she hasn't moved…"
Miranda starts to sulk next to her clock. "I really don't know anything… this town got weird on its own. Why do I have to targeted…? What did I do–? I don't want this anymore, I don't want any of this!" Miranda says darkly which Allen shudders.
"It's so d-dark." He states.
"She's been like that the whole time." Leenalee tells him.
"M-Miranda." Allen calls.
"I… CAN'T DO ANYTHING! DON'T YOU PEOPLE HAVE GREAT POWERS? THEN WHY DON'T YOU HURRY UP AND HELP THIS TOWN!?" Miranda shouts.
Alice wakes up and hears what Miranda says. She stands up and walks over to Miranda. Alice bends down and rests her arms on her knees. Allen did the same, but put his hands together.
"Okay." Alice says smiling causing Miranda to turn and looks at the two of them. "We'll help. But to do that, we need your help Ms. Miranda."
"You have something to do with this town's mystery." Allen says. "Can you give us a hand?" Allen smiles. "Let's go back tomorrow."
Miranda suddenly stands up. The three look at her in confusion.
"M-Miranda?" Allen calls but instead of responding, Miranda heads over to her bed and sleeps on it.
"YOU'RE GOING TO SLEEP!?" Allen shouts.
"This seems weird…" Lenalee says.
Alice looks behind them and she widens her eyes. "ALLEN! LENALEE!"
The two turn around to see the room covering with clock faces.
"W-WHAT IS THIS!?" Allen questions.
"Maybe…" Lenalee trails off. "It's that clock…?" She looks over at the clock with Allen and Alice look at the clock also as their eyes widen in surprise.
"The hand is going backwards!" Allen and Alice both thought seeing the hands going in reverse.
The window opens and clocks are suck into the grandfather clock in Miranda's room.
"AHH!" Lenalee screams from the pull and Allen grabs the windowsill before Alice grabs his hand and holds out a hand to Lenalee.
"Lenalee, grab on!" Alice shouts.
Lenalee grabs Alice's hand and Allen then sees a picture of the four of them in one of the clocks. "Today's time is getting sucked in…" Allen notes.
When it is over the day has come again, Allen's jaw drops. Alice and Lenalee are just wide-eye at the sun coming out.
"IT'S MORNING!?" Allen screams. Behind them, Miranda sits up from her bed.
"Hmmm…?" Miranda speaks. "When did I get in bed…?" She wonders getting the shock looks of the three Exorcists.
A few minutes later, Miranda, Lenalee and Alice sit around the table trying to figure out what is going on as Allen inspects the grandfather clock.
"…Incredible." Allen says looking down. "Alice! Lenalee! Look of this!" The three turn around to see Allen is merged with the clock with his head on top of the roof of it and his arms at the side. "A human clock!"
"KYA–!" They scream in horror.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, ALLEN!? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?" Lenalee starts to panic.
"MY CLOCK–!" Miranda screams.
Allen then comes out of the clock. "You can't touch this clock. Look what happens when I touch it…" He put his arm through the clock. "See?"
"WAH! YOUR HAND PASSED THROUGH!?" Lenalee screams.
"It seems that the only person who can touch this clock is its master, Miranda." Alice notes.
"Eh!?" Lenalee looks at Alice confuse.
"That 'rewinding of time' before, and now this… there's no mistake, it must be the Innocence." Allen states.
"Re… really?" Miranda says. "This clock is what has caused the town to become paranormal…" Miranda suddenly has a knife in her hands and points it at the Exorcists. "Don't… don't tell me that you're going to break it…? My friend…"
This cause the three to put their hands up.
"Calm down." Lenalee tells her.
"But Miranda, are you sure you don't have any big concerns in your heart? There must be a reason why this clock became this way." Alice asks her. "Try to remember. What happened on the real October 9th?"
Miranda puts her hand to her and starts thinking. "…That day was… The day that I was fired for the 100th time…" Lenalee, Alice, and Allen became silent as Miranda's answer. "As anyone would expect, when the number of times I've been fired reached 3 digits, I was feeling very…"
~On the original October 9th~
Miranda is drunk next to her clock. "No more… no mor–e–… Day after day, things always go wrong for me. Remain hopeful? Haha… 'hope'? What's that? Whatever… I don't care about life anymore…" She says. "I wish tomorrow would never come."
After Miranda tells the three what happened on the real October 9th, they point at her with shock.
"…Maybe that's why…?" Miranda says unsure.
"Eh…?" The three says.
"THE INNOCENCE GRANTED MIRANDA'S WISH!?" Allen shouts.
"I-it can't be I was just whining…" Miranda says in disbelief. "And besides, how could a clock do something like that!?"
"Miranda, can it be that you're…" Alice speaks. "Compatible with this Innocence…?"
"REALLY!?" Allen says surprised at Alice's conclusion.
"Oh! If the clock responded to Miranda's wish and caused strange things to happen, then it's likely that she's synchronized already." Lenalee says.
"What? 'Compatible'?" Miranda says in confusion.
"MIRANDA! TRY TO TELL THE CLOCK TO STOP THE ANOMALIES!" Lenalee instructs.
"O clock, O clock~" Miranda chants. "Turn back time now~"
Then a newspaper comes in from the door and Allen, Alice, and Lenalee run to pick it up before flipping to where the date is.
"October… 9th…" Allen reads.
"Let's think this through one more time…" Lenalee suggests.
~Three days later; October 9th, 34th time~
On the street
Miranda and Allen are on the streets selling tickets for a Halloween play. Miranda dresses up as a witch and Allen is wearing a pumpkin head while standing on a ball juggling many different things.
"Come one, come all~!" Allen shouts. "The horror play 'the Pumpkin and the Witch' is on today at Theater Pieter."
"Tickets anyone~~?" Miranda asks.
After a while, the two come back into the tent to meet the person in charge.
"Good job, good job!" The owner of the Theater Pieter says. "You can take a break, now! Good, you two! Those tickets are selling nicely. If you sell them well, I'll hire you permanently!"
"Really?" Allen asks.
"Allen." Allen turns around to see who is calling him and sees Lenalee and Alice with Timcanpy. The three moves outside to the alley next to the theater and sit on a large piece of wood.
"Well? How's work?" Lenalee asks.
"If we do okay, he's going to hire us permanently." Allen answers.
"Really!?"
After a lot of thinking about this matter, we've come up with this: the Innocence reacted to Miranda's strong pessimism, so we decided. "If we could get a job for Miranda so that her emotions will become more positive, we might be able to stop this abnormality."
"We haven't heard anything from the Akuma… let's hope it all goes well…" Allen says.
"Um… yeah…" Lenalee says.
"In the last 3 days, we've already been fired from 5 jobs…" Alice says. Allen stands up and starts to balance on his hands on the ball that he stood on earlier.
"Actually Allen, you're really good at street performing." Lenalee says.
"When I was a kid, I used to be a clown." Allen explains. "My foster parents were performers, so I had to perform many acts with them for a living. I never thought I'd be able to use these skills as an Exorcist though."
"So, you must have lived in many different countries? That must be so nice."
"It sounds nice, but we barely got by~~" Allen says and sits on the ball.
"What about you Alice? What did you do before you came to the Order?" Lenalee asks her.
"To be honest… I don't remember." Alice answers causing Lenalee to widen her eyes. "I don't remember where I used to live and who my parents were. All I remember is that I was in the forest with my bracelet before it became my Anti-Akuma Weapon and mine and Allen's Master came."
"Does that mean you have amnesia?" Lenalee asks.
"Yeah, but sometimes I keep seeing this girl in my dreams and for some reason I know her." Alice says. "When did you join the church, Lenalee?"
"I've been with the church for as far as I can remember." Lenalee says. "My brother and I are orphans. Akuma killed our parents… When it was discovered that I was compatible with these 'Dark Boots', a member of the church took me away. Separated from my brother. My only living relative… not allowing to go anywhere on my own free will… at first, that place was like a prison…" She explains.
~Lenalee's past~
In a room
The young Lenalee is tied to the bed and she starts to open her eyes.
"You've regained consciousness…" Member A says. Around her bed, four men stand.
"We don't know what you'll do if we don't restrain you." Member B says.
"We cannot let you die, and cannot let you go." Member C says.
"You are a precious Exorcist." Member D says.
"…Hom…" The young Lenalee manage to say "…Me… go… let me go… home…"
"This is your home." The young Lenalee knows that voice and she looks on her right.
She sees her big brother, Komui. She starts to cry and he puts his hand on her forehead.
"Sorry I'm late. I'm home." He says with a gentle smile. "From today on, I'll live in this house too. We can live together again…"
"We spent 3 years apart from each other. Brother Komui entered the church for my sake and became the 'Scientist Group Supervisor'." The present Lenalee finishes.
"Wow..." Allen says teary. "Komui-san is so cool…"
"Yeah." Lenalee says happily. "Because of that, I'm fighting for my brother."
"Siblings, huh…? Must be nice…" Alice mumbles but the widens her eyes slightly.
'Siblings…?' Thinking about this causes Alice to recognize it and wonders where and when.
"Ah! Hey– that pumpkin–" Someone calls. The three look over to who is speaking and see young girl. "Where do you get a ticket for 'The Pumpkin and the Witch'?"
Allen quickly stands up and gets into the act, "Welcome! Tickets are ri–ght here~~"
"Nn–" Road answers as Allen walks her over where Miranda is.
"Later, Alice! Lenalee! Gotta get back to work!"
"Good luck!" Alice and Lenalee say.
When Allen and the girl arrive to where Miranda is they hear the director yelling at Miranda.
"WHAT!? THE SALES MONEY GOT STOLEN BY A PICKPOCKET!?"
Miranda is on the floor in front of the owner and two other workers. "So… sorry." She apologizes.
"YOU IDIOT!"
"Excuse me, young lady." Allen says leaving the girl and runs over to Miranda to helps her sit up. "Miranda!"
"Allen… I'm sorry, while I was dealing with another customer, the bag with the ticket money got…" Miranda tries to explain.
"What did he look like?"
"A man with a brown top and long hair… he ran that way…"
"Lenalee!" Allen calls out, looking up and Alice comes running towards him and Miranda.
"I'll take the rooftops." Lenalee says.
"Allen, I'll take care of Miranda. Go catch the pickpocket!" Alice tells him.
Allen takes off his pumpkin hat and looks at Miranda. "It's fine, we'll catch him." He runs off.
"Allen… Lenalee…" Miranda says teary. "Alice…" She then looks up at the director.
"Useless!" The director says.
'I knew it… In the end, I'm complete useless. Trying my best, like a fool. I've had enough of this…' Miranda thought.
"Why am I always like this? Why is my clock the Innocence…!? Why am I…" Miranda starts to mumble.
The girl then stands in front of her and Alice and bends down with a grin.
"So your clock is the Innocence." She says.
Alice widens her eyes and looks at the girl. "How did you-!"
"We knew that you are with the Black Order but I never would've thought I found you here, Alice Lakefield."
Before Alice can activate Silver, something hits her head making her vision to be blurry and collapses as Miranda looks at her with wide eyes.
"Al… ice?" Miranda calls.
In the sewer
Allen and Lenalee have cornered the pickpocket. Allen's left eye turns into the Cursed Eye. The man that they were chasing is an Akuma. The man then turns into Witch.
"DAMN IT… A TRAP!" Allen shouts. Witch smiles crookedly.
"She has taken that female. She has taken that female you were protecting. Road-sama has taken her." Witch said.
"Road…?" Allen repeats.
In Miranda's room
On the wall, the girl, Road, writes something in blood. It says: 'Fuck you! Exorcist', with a cross under it.
