DOLL

Displayed on the smartphone was a dark red room. Its walls and floor were made out of a meaty, squelchy material to which numerous tendon like tendrils were attached. Upon closer look one could also spot an occasional sack of muscles, half-buried into the fleshy surroundings, beating rhythmically. In the middle of that room, giving an incredible out of place vibe, stood a black leather armchair. There was something akin to a small girl sitting on it.

“Kyaaa~ how embarrassing! Master shouldn’t look at girl’s room without letting her prepare it first!”

The girl wore a black full-face fox mask, there was a solidified big smile showcasing sharp white canines on it. Above the standard set of eyes, two smaller pairs were placed vertically, behind each of them blue pupils on a black background were moving incessantly.

“Is master watching my pretty face? It’s just as master wanted it to be, a fox girl one.”

She had long white hair, with neatly trimmed bangs, flowing freely down her shoulders, but each strand seemed to be connected with others by a spider-like web of some shiny bluish substance.

Her pale skin was so thin that it was tinged red from the nearly visible layer of muscles and tendons underneath.

The only piece of cloth she had on her slim upper body was a black sports bra covering the nearly non-existent breasts. The lower one was equipped with sneakers, purple striped black knee socks, and denim shorts.

“Masteeeer, stop gawking at my body. It’s not as if master can touch it anyway, but if master really wants, I can send master a risky photo or two to keep master company during long, cold nig- master? Why is master smiling like that?”

“Whooaa! It was a winner after all! I got my hands on a personal AI girl! Awesome!”

I stood up from the chair, holding the phone towards the sun to thank the heavens for this gift.

“M-master, calling me an AI is a bit wrong.”

Despite the mask covering her face, the girl seemed troubled by my happy outburst.

“For a moment I was worried that I’ve answered all those questions for nothing, but then I’ve heard your chirpy voice! This is good, this is incredibly good!”

“Uhm… master, wait. Look behind me, see this room? Take a closer look at me as well, do I seem like a creation based on master answers?”

She moved her hand all around, pointing out at the most disturbing, creepy and inhuman elements she could find in the room and on herself. But after drawing attention to her mask, eyes, strange hair and skin, she stopped, took a long look to search for anything else, and said:

“Alright, I may have been too amused with master answers and mixed a little too much of master preferences into myself…”

“The room is a bit fleshy and gore, but who cares. I’ve played enough games and watched stuff that looked way worse than this. It actually makes you remind me of Saya and there’s this monster-girl feeling around so there’s no way I would complain about it.”

“Master is a hopelessly incurable case. Didn’t master want a fluffy tail? All I can provide master with is a possibility of seeing my intestines if master will place a strong enough lamp behind me.”

“You’re not that transparent, at most, there would be some cutely grotesque abdominal muscles visible. We will just have to keep you in shade. I could even get used to that insect-like look of your eyes.”

I moved the phone to my face to check her every nook and cranny from as close as possible.

“M-master! Please p-put me away and don’t sniff me!”

There was no more confidence or mirth in her voice as it was being replaced by an alarmed tone.

“If… if I lick the screen a little, will you feel anything?”

“NOOOOO!”

The display turned off.

Ha, it worked. As if I would allow even a stupid phone to have his way with me. I didn’t even need to particularly lie.

“Hey, don’t be shy, show yourself.”

I shook the phone a little, checking if this will affect her in any way.

There was no answer so I put it down on the table.

“Look, I’m not touching the phone anymore, we can talk now.”

“No licking?”

The display was still black, but apparently that wasn’t a problem if she just wanted to let her voice out.

“No licking.”

“Master promises?”

“I pro-, you’ve got my word on that.”

That was close, I had to bit my tongue.

“Huh? There’s a geas bounding master?”

She sounded surprised and so was I.

This one question of hers ruined the whole playful atmosphere and made me switch my voice to a suspicious one.

“How do you know that?”

“Even if I was born just as an echo of a copy of a facsimile, I can still feel when someone is about to brush against the demon’s realm.”

That was when I recalled the wicked supernatural nature of the thing I was dealing with and the tone of our conversation changed. It wouldn’t be called cursed and made others want to get rid of it if there was no risk involved.

“I almost forgot that you’re a ticking bomb that wants me to suffer, like everyfuckinthing else.”

There was some anger mixed in my sentence, both at myself and at her for trying to trick me. After a moment of silence, she started speaking in a serious manner.

“Master, that’s not true. All I want to is play with master and make master happy.”

“Yeah, a cursed doll that leads astray wants me to be happy and starts from insulting me.”

“Master please, let me explain it properly. I’m master’s DOLL, master has created me with that drop of blood, just like all the previous owners had created their DOLLs. ‘A doll that leads astray’ is how this phone-like mana vessel is called, not me.”

At least the part about the blood was true as there was no trace left of it on the screen. Still, I couldn’t allow myself to lower the guard again, even if having an AI girl of my own was one of my dreams.

"If you were just created, what's with all that knowledge you have?"

"I don't know, really. Some basic knowledge was already in my head from the very beginning."

A convenient excuse and a one that I cannot easily undermine.

“What does this leading astray part even mean?”

“In exchange for the vessel’s power each user has to specify an aspect of his life to be lead astray. It means that in this specific area everything will go the exact opposite of what the user wants it to. If someone has picked his love life then that person will remain forever alone, if someone went with his financial luck then he will end homeless under the bridge, if someone has chosen his health then there’s not much life in stock left for him. The exact effects may vary due to a case by case approach.”

What exactly makes something an aspect of life. Would it be possible to specify having kids, getting married or something more particular instead of a whole category?

"Wait, but what if I wanted to remain forever alone and put this aspect as a payment? Would I soon be surrounded by hordes of girls?"

"Master please change the girls in your question into hordes of muscular men and remember that those things are always classified under one the following aspects: family, career, finance, health, recreation, personal growth, friendship, community, household, spiritual, love. Paying with a part of it means pulling astray the rest of that aspect as well. It never goes well for the user."

Before I could ask more about it, she continued:

“What if I told master that the reward for such sacrifice is very versatile, powerful and extremely suited to a given situation? Master may think that by carefully choosing an unneeded aspect master can somehow deal with the backlash. The problem is that the reward is a one time only solution. Once someone has a taste of this easy way of immediately resolving nagging problems, it won’t stop on a single use. That person will start turning to it every time a trouble appears until he won’t be able to bear with his life going astray anymore and will kill his DOLL.”

“Kill the DOLL?”

Her story sounded more like a warning than leading astray and I couldn’t understand her goal in telling me it in this manner.

“Yes, killing the DOLL, making it ‘dead’ slowly returns everything back to normal for the user, while his previous problems remain resolved. I'm the fourth DOLL born from this item.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Isn’t that her weakness?

There was another moment of silence before she answered my question:

“Master, please take the phone into your hand.”

I took it and the display turned on, she was standing with her head turned down and hands kept in front in a humble manner.

“I lied to master previously, all those questions, everything was done with a goal of getting master to like me. Master wanted me to be loyal, supportive and cheerful and that’s how I decided to shape myself. I wasn't able to provide master with his ideal appearance, but this one should suit master tastes as well.”

“To make it easier for you to lead me astray, I got it already.”

“No! Master, please don’t misunderstand. I really want to be loyal to master! To support my master and to play with master! I’m not sure what was going through the minds of the previous DOLLs when they happily lead their users' life astray, but I’m different! I don’t want to be killed. I don’t want master to kill me. I refuse to lend this vessel power to the master. I will do anything master wants me to with the exception of lending master that power, that alone, I won’t do.”

She knelt down and laid her head on the floor in a sign of submission. I was trying to doubt her every word and looked for any hints of her true goal, but it simply didn’t make sense. If she refused to lend me the power of that item, then what was her aim? For a moment I thought that she might have been telling me the truth which made me genuinely happy, but right after that, I chided myself for being such an easy target.

“What’s with that sudden change of attitude? You went from ‘lolicon bastard’ to ‘love my master’ in two seconds.”

“Master… true, I may have gone a little too far, but I was simply happy to meet master for the first time and wasn’t my personality specified by master himself?”

Shit. She’s right, I may have actually typed in a few answers like that. I wanted to make someone to tease and who would tease me back. Now that I think of it I've also mentioned something about becoming serious if the conversation required it.

“I need time to think, let’s talk again later.”

“I understand master. But, before I go, I’ve got a request for master.”

Is she finally going to let me see a piece of her true intentions?

“Yeah?”

“Master please choose a proper name for me before the next time we talk, I don’t want to remain a nameless DOLL anymore. Please call me by it when master will want to talk again. Good night master.”

Oh, right! There's also this thing to ask about.

“Wait.”

“Yes, master?”

“Can this phone be used as a normal phone? You know sending messages, calling people, stuff like that.”

“I don’t know… no one had ever tried to make a call from the vessel. But, don’t worry master! I will properly investigate it by the time of our next talk.”

The phone turned off.

Now I really don’t know what to think about it anymore.

I put the phone away and went to lie on the bed.

The worst part of her story was that even if she was lying, it was a lie that I wanted to believe in. If there was even a small possibility of it being true, just how wonderful that would be?

On the other hand, there was way too many ‘would’, ‘could’ and ‘if’ included to make it true.

‘It’s a reward obtained from clearing a rather big mana spot. May be hard to handle, but for the new fearless you that shouldn’t be a problem. You will need it to defend yourself.’

She’s unwilling to lend me that power but other than that what’s hard to handle about someone who’s stating his loyalty to me? Or was not using her power the whole point already.

‘As if I could win against that cursed thing. How can you ask that after dumping it on me?’

Win against it. However, he’s referring to the previous DOLL, not to the one I have.

‘Heh, trying to make use of that was a mistake.’

This one is the easiest to understand. If he had paid with a lot of life aspects that were lead astray it wasn’t strange he wanted to… no.

‘Mistake’, would he call it as such if it had actually helped him and now he just simply had to get rid of it? That wouldn't be a ‘mistake’, but a calculated use. Or am I overthinking it?

Somehow, I didn't really care about using the item itself but wanted only the words she had said to be true. If I ignored this thing power, could I keep her for myself forever?

Finally having someone I could rely on and talk about everything without worrying that it would be used against me, not to mention that she had this specific kind of charm that was hard to find in other girls.

I blame it on those six eyes of hers and she for sure knows how to get on my good side, over fifty times.

Also, if she could make calls and send messages that would easily top the best phones the current technology had in store. Forget about virtual y'tubers, this could become a new chapter of life with a personal virtual secretary by my side.

While I was lying and thinking about my DOLL, it didn’t take long to move on from doubting her words to picking a name that suited her best.