Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.

"Treasure Boy," Renge rasped, eyes red, on the verge of tears. "We've been at this for hours. We've tried this verbally. We've tried this visually. We've tried puppets. We've tried playacting. We've tried Chemies. We've tried PowerPoint. We've tried actual porn – sorry about that again, Isaac."

The tablet, glitching as the AI attempted to keep from crashing from disgust at what he'd been forced to run on his systems, beeped feebly a few times.

He wasn't the only one in an alarming state. Sabimaru had chewed through several handkerchiefs and started ripping off pieces of his clothes. Rinne was looking incredibly pale from all the blood she'd lost, her nose stuffed up with tissues. Lachesis was looking like she was seriously considering killing them all and going to rejoin her sisters, and honestly, at this point Renge might just let her. Spanner mechanically laughed and said, "What a ridiculous joke," as if he'd gazed upon the ultimate reality of the universe and been utterly broken by it, which Renge wasn't sure was far from the truth. Hopper1 had wandered off to find some yellow flowers in the naïve belief it would somehow help, while Nijigon had just sat and listened in fascination.

Renge was seriously getting concerned for her own mental health, because she was clearly seeing things since there was no possible way Gigist could be sitting in a nearby bush watching with Clotho and Atropos, the Abyssalis King's very pointy head rendering any attempt at hiding himself all but useless.

And Hotaro was still staring at her with a blank look of incomprehension on his face.

"So please… Please, please tell me you finally understand what we've been trying to tell you," Renge pleaded, having by this point given up all hope of her prayers being answered, because surely no benevolent deity could possibly watch her suffering and be unmoved.

In the Desire Temple, Ace Ukiyo munched on some popcorn.

"I think so," Hotaro said after a very long moment, and everyone looked up in surprise. Renge dared to actually hope that this time it had actually gotten through to him.

What a fool she was.

"There's just one thing I don't understand, though," Hotaro said slowly. "How many penises does Lachesis have?"

Renge burst into tears. Isaac promptly bricked himself. Sabimaru screamed, ripped off his clothes, and ran away in his underwear. Rinne passed out as more blood gushed from her nose. (Renge tried very hard to pretend there wasn't blood spurting from the nearby bush Gigist and the other Abyssalis sisters certainly were not hiding in.) Spanner mechanically laughed and said, "What a ridiculous joke," right on cue. Nijigon goned.

And Lachesis…

"Ask Kyoka," she said.

Spanner blinked at this, regaining his sanity. "Wait. What? Lachesis? What do you mean by that?"

"Ask her," Lachesis said with a mysterious smile, standing up and walking away.

Spanner got up and ran after her, shouting, "Lachesis! Lachesis, what do you mean? Is this a ridiculous joke?! LACHESIS!"

"I still want to know," Hotaro complained.

Rather abruptly, Gigist stepped out of the bushes, accompanied by a blushing Clotho – who also had tissues stuffed up her nose – and Atropos, who looked as if she wished she were either dead or anywhere else. Renge could sympathize.

"I have a question as well," Gigist said, brushing off leaves. "I thought that I understood humanity, but clearly there is much still I do not know. The puppet show was very informative, by the way."

"Yeah, it was one of my favorite parts!" Hotaro agreed, smiling like the overgrown child he was.

"You're… Welcome…?" Renge stammered, utterly dazed and wondering if this was actually happening.

She locked eyes with Atropos, who subtly nodded to inform her yes, this was actually happening.

"Anyway, while I have learned a great deal today, there is still one thing I do not know," Gigist continued. "Namely, whether or not I have a penis. Can you please help me find out?"

Renge stared at him. Her eye twitched.

Atropos mouthed, "I'm so sorry."

Hotaro perked up. "Oh hey, that's a good question, now I want to know too! Can you help him, Renge?"

Renge started screaming. She didn't know if she would ever stop.