Moments of Empathy Are Nothing but a Curse

Raven never went back to her shared house, so it got annoying for me to ‘commute’ to Pestilence at night. And someone had a radical solution to that.

“Why don’t you just kill her? I get you said that she was a horse or whatever, but she is just too high maintenance,” Pestilence said while brushing her hair with a comb; strands of black and white floated off.

“Said a girl who sleeps next to a severed hand. What do you even use it for? Wait, don’t tell me.” I drifted about in her bedroom as a proper ghost would, while trying not to look at the Hand of Glory, repulsive as always, resting next to her pillow.

“If you ask me to, I can kill the Robin Hood guy or whatever you call him.” Pestilence set down the brush on the table and checked her look in the mirror.

“I have to be sure that he killed those people.”

“I’ll force a confession out of him. I can even scare Midorikawa-san into becoming an obedient, good little girl. Just like me! I would do anything for you, my mistress,” Pestilence blew me a kiss. I would worry about the pathogens within it if I weren’t a spirit.

And she wasn’t done talking yet. “But if I have to be honest, none of our actions matter. In a hundred years, everyone, even your precious Midorikawa-san, will be dead.” Her tone and expression stayed the same, an eerie disconnect with what she said. The abruptness was so jarring that I had to squint to check if it was still her speaking.

“Keep the chemicals inside you in check.” Her bodily control must have slipped for a second there, letting the nasty poisons within affect her psyche.

She knocked on her temple and stuck out her tongue. “Yep, brain no think good for a second there. Punish me if you want, my mistress.”

Stop involving me in your fantasies. Before I could tell her that, the doorbell rang. A not-so-mysterious visitor at one in the morning. Quasi-omniscience really took away so many surprises in life. Pestilence smiled and twirled her hair. “How do I look?”

Bland. But that was the look she was going for. “Like you are about to spend your life savings in a host club,” I said.

Pestilence flipped her hair and ambled to answer the door. Her heels clicked on the floorboards. When would she start wearing slippers like a sensible person? She spotted a broom lying near the entrance. “Dede-chan, do you think this will make a good weapon?" She asked, swinging it about.

“Good for getting killed in a comedic way.”

“Perfect.” She snatched the broom and took a deep breath. Her body began shivering, and she clutched her prop for dear life. With the security chain latched on, she nudged the door to create a small opening.

“Hey… I… I have a weapon… so… whoever you are… stay back!” I had never heard a person stutter with such a uniform rhythm. But still, I couldn’t fault her dedication. As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

A comparably panicking voice replied from the other end, “I’m so, so sorry for scaring you. My name is Ueshima Hideka. Does Karasuya-chan live here? I’m her friend.”

Pestilence faked a sigh of relief and eased her gestures. “Su-chan? She’s not here… but… since you’ve come all this way. Do you want to come in?” Did she just invent a new nickname for Raven out of thin air? Impressive, but ‘Raven’ still sounded better.

“Oh, I don’t want to impose.” Hideka still had her fingers tightly interlocked.

“You already did. Spooked me quite a bit. I don’t think I can fall asleep alone now. And since it’s so late, you should spend the night.” Pestilence rubbed her tired eyes, piling on the guilt-tripping. She should teach a class on it, honestly.

“Late?” Hideka checked the time on her phone. “Eek! It’s this late already? I’m so sorry for disturbing you. I was so focused on searching for Midorikawa-san that I didn’t notice the time.”

“Oh, sounds like you really need some rest. My name is Sasaki Karen, by the way. Come in. I’ll make you some tea.” Pestilence tugged Hideka into the house, another victim in her swamp.

“You are really giving out laxatives like Valentine’s chocolates,” I whispered as Pestilence filled up the kettle.

“Diarrhea? What are you talking about?” Pestilence spoke with innocence, while keeping her eyes on the pot of simmering water. I couldn’t find a single tell that she was lying, which meant nothing since she could control her body.

She turned off the flame once the water started boiling. With a graceful swirl, she brought the kettle above the teapot. The steaming water cascaded in a uniform stream, mixing with the perfect amount of green tea leaves.

A mesmerizing sight. An impeccable performance. Too bad Hideka was too busy staring at her own hands to notice it.

Pestilence dragged on the tea-making process, engrossed by details that I couldn’t imagine her caring about. I kept my eyes peeled, not giving her a chance to slip in laxatives or any other weird drugs. And finally, it came time for Pestilence to serve the tea. “So, why do you want to look for Su-chan?” She struck up a conversation as Hideka took a sip from the teacup.

Hideka licked her lips before answering. “Midorikawa-san hadn’t been reading the messages I had sent her for a month now.”

Maybe she just blocked you; ever thought of that?

Pestilence’s head bobbed like the paw of a lucky cat. “Su-chan went on a trip around the country without her phone. She only keeps in touch through payphones with her close friends and family.” But she had neither, unless you count E.T. and me. And I didn’t think Raven thought positively enough of me to call a friend.

A smile returned to Hideka’s face; the worry clouding her dark blue eyes had cleared. “I just wish she had told me that, but I guess we aren’t that close…”

Pestilence left out a slight detail. Yes, since her little trip to Nohato Village a month ago, Raven had ditched her phone to avoid tracking; E.T. and she also moved between apartments and hotel rooms to hide their trails while distributing what the mallet had produced. But she still had her laptop, perfectly capable of sending messages, if she had wished to.

“If you don’t mind asking, is that an acorn?” Hideka pointed at the flask in the kitchen that contained the item in question.

“I found it on the street,” Pestilence answered.

“You must really treasure it.” She was still talking about the acorn, right?

“I don’t. It's a… it’s a stupid thing to collect.” Pestilence treated this conversation way too seriously. I would have laughed Hideka off.

Pestilence’s deprecation still sent Hideka into a small panic. “Well, then. Ummm… the tea. Yes, the tea. I can feel the effort you put into brewing it.”

“I only poured hot water onto the leaves.”

“No, I can taste it. The love and care you put into it.” She should spit it out because that taste was probably laxative.

Pestilence rested her head on her palm. “Are you hitting on me?”

Another round of clumsy hand waves from Hideka. “No, I don’t swing that way, and also, I’m way too busy to date.” But free enough to look for a person for hours.

Hideka gulped another mouthful of tea. “Sasaki-san, do you want to trade line IDs? If you don’t mind, I would like to drink your tea again.”

“I only have a landline, but… I will add you when I get a phone.” I didn’t remember Pestilence ever being this courteous. Was she finally getting a new act?

“Great! If you need someone to talk to, I know we just met, but I’m always open to chatting.” How this person could hope to understand the Horseman of Pestilence, a being older than Japan, was beyond me. But she was welcome to be a new toy for Pestilence.

The stomachache should hit her soon. Through the night when she slept on the sofa and in the days that followed, I watched her closely. But it never came.