The Mission

She dragged me back to the car and strapped me into the passenger seat.

I couldn’t see her actions as anything more than pure murderous intent anymore. Even the slightest movement from her made me shiver inside for some reason. Any resistance was futile.

As she started driving, she looked over to me, almost in a motherly fashion, worried for her child. The thought alone almost had me throw up. That thing couldn’t possibly have children.

“Everything alright, Laura?”

Laura? Since when were we on a first name basis? No honorifics at all? What is even happening in her head? She has to be clinically insane; there’s just no other way she could possibly function.

“Y… Yes, everything’s fine.”

“That’s great. I would’ve turned the car around immediately otherwise.”

Really? I shouldn’t risk it. She couldn’t have been serious just now. I haven’t eaten in a while though. Maybe she’ll understand? Should I bring it up?

“Actually…”

Her gaze practically already had my heart pierced on a spike; she couldn’t possibly care.

“Never mind.”

“Alright. You’ll shadow me for today, so pay attention. And put something on those wounds, cleaning is madly expensive for these seats.” I was so focused on not upsetting her that I completely forgot about my wounds. As if by her command, my entire body began aching again. I let out a desperate yelp in pain, but to no avail. She just continued driving.

Thankfully I managed to contain the flow of my blood from the cold temperature still lingering within me. I took a glance in the car mirror, only to almost be blinded by the white glow of my eyes. I still couldn’t get used to them by now. My hair, on the other hand, actually seems pretty alright.

“Hey there, what are you doing?”

As if I wasn’t cold enough already, now of all times she wants to start a conversation?

“I’m still not quite used to this appearance. My eyes seem pretty irritating. Why aren’t you wearing any sunglasses like most of the others?”

“They’re ugly. Simple as. Look at me for a moment.”

Like being remote controlled, I turned towards her.

She stared directly into my eyes for a while. I was slightly worried about her driving, but mentioning that would have probably granted me a premium seat directly in the pavement.

“No, they’re fine. Kind of beautiful, actually. I love looking at them.”

Matsumoto seemed way calmer than just a second ago.

“I wouldn’t mind looking at them forever.”

What? Is she? No, no way. And even if, there’s simply no way. What exactly is she implying? Will she rip my eyes out? Because the only other option available simply can’t be. I think I might actually prefer endless torment to that.

“That’s great. Could you stare at the road instead, though?” I seriously hoped that would steer the conversation away from whatever she was implying just now. And it did. It steered us only barely off a cliff.

“You’re right.” She wrangled with the steering wheel as we barely scraped by the guardrail. “That was close.” She chuckled slightly.

The rest of the drive was filled with nothing but silence. After thirty more minutes of driving, we finally arrived at our destination.

“Alright, listen up. We’re here to take care of a fellow Traumata. I’ve gotten reports of a sudden surge in traumatic energy around here, so you’ll run around here while I commute with the soil. As soon as you find them, I’ll be there. You just have to stomp on the ground hard enough.”

I didn’t even question the absolute insanity she just implied after everything she’s shown me so far. Of course she could commute with the soil around us, why not? Right now, she was the only thing separating me from Yuri.

We stopped on a rarely frequented mountain road, surrounded mostly by forest. There was no way I could possibly find someone around here, but it was worth a try if she said so.

I scoured through the forest for ages, not seeing a single other person or living being, for that matter.

It took me so long to find a lead that I actually managed to get lost. If I gave her the signal now, she would surely be furious, though.

By the time I made my way back to the car, it had already turned dark.

“There you are. Sure took your time. Come on, I know where it is.”

She grabbed my hand and dragged me with her. I could barely continue walking, so I just dragged her down after a few meters of running.

“Come on, do you want me to carry you piggyback or something? I wouldn’t be opposed, of course. But consent is very important when it comes to things like that.”

I would have been left speechless by the audacity of her even mentioning consent, hadn’t it been for something else interrupting her.

A fireball flew by us, singeing Matsumoto’s dress.

“Fire, huh? Let me guess. Your house burned down? Maybe even your entire block? Poor thing. Come here, I’ll comfort you.”

Instead of a response to her offer, another fireball followed from the same direction. Just then, she noticed the small hole the first fireball had left.

“Laura, catch it. You don’t want to see me angry now, do you?”

I ran toward that direction until my legs gave out. And I still continued running. I could barely make out a silhouette in the distance, also running away.

“Please stop!” I yelled, barely holding on to my breath.

The figure just kept on running, however. I took a glance back, only to see that Matsumoto was kneeling on the ground, seemingly weeping. The thought alone kept me going. Her, crying? There would be no end to my suffering if I didn’t catch that person.

The ground below both of us began shaking rapidly, while the figure still kept running. It even jumped over a few freshly felled trees simply to impress with their athletic ability.

The few more fireballs that were fired at me lacked all accuracy, not even hitting the trees around us.

After five minutes of barely keeping up, my legs finally gave out. My pants were soaked in blood from the knees downwards. I almost fainted while the ground around me began cracking open.

Move, right now! You won’t ever see Yuri again if you don’t stand up immediately!

The pain from my joints began to vanish, as I grew colder once more. I could keep running for a short while longer.

As I began running again, a large wall of dirt emerged in front of the runaway. He tried climbing up, but spikes coming out of the wall pierced through his hands.

Finally, I had caught up to him.

“Please, stop running. I’m sure we can talk this out.”

I began fading in and out of consciousness before I could look at his face.

Behind me, a roaring scream resounded through the entire forest.

In the blink of an eye, Matsumoto stood beside me.

The runner briefly gestured with his hands, before they suddenly laid beside him.

“You’ve done this to yourself, really.”

A thousand paper thin slices of rock surrounded the pyromancer in a flash. I closed my eyes after seeing the look in Matsumoto’s eyes, but the result spoke for itself.

Merely seconds later, without being able to speak a single sound, he had devolved into red mist.

Matsumoto knelt down again, fully breaking out in tears this time.