A Thimble

The pins moved.

Hundreds of red pins aimed at the man.

For a single instant, the monochrome crossing transformed into a forest of steel.

FWOOM!

The pins shot forward.

The man vanished.

The first wave struck the spot where he had been standing, piercing the asphalt like a storm of flaming needles.

Chitose's eyes widened.

He's fast.

Before he could react, a second wave of blue pins fired from behind her.

Unlike the red pins, these were cold and sharp, shaped like icicles as they flew.

The man dodged them.

One blue needle grazed his cheek.

A thin line of blood appeared.

He touched it with his fingers.

Then smiled.

“Interesting.”

Chitose tightened her grip on the rapier.

Behind her, the green magic circles continued rotating.

Something large began to emerge from within them.

A massive green pin.

Chitose pointed her rapier at the man.

The giant pin slammed into the ground.

BOOM!

Vines erupted from beneath it, twisting across the asphalt toward the man.

They almost wrapped around his legs.

But the man looked down and jumped high into the air.

His smile disappeared.

Did the Angel really investigate the Harbinger?

Or didn't she know it could use elemental magic, too?

---

Miyo stood several meters away, calmly watching the man.

The Vanity Entity was still struggling against the translucent catfish wrapped around its body.

Around them, some of the frozen pedestrians were beginning to move.

Slowly.

Their eyes followed the battle.

Chitose noticed them.

I don't have much time.

The man looked toward the people.

Then back at her.

“You're worried about them?!”

Chitose said nothing.

“You shouldn't be.”

His smile widened.

“They're already watching us.”

Chitose's eyes narrowed.

“That’s why I'm going to end this.”

The man raised his hand.

Purple energy began gathering around his fingers.

Chitose immediately pointed her rapier at him.

The man smiled.

“Trying to stop me?”

The purple energy erupted outward.

The emotions of the people around him began flowing toward him.

"Arrogance, Egotism, The desire to be admired, The fear of being insignificant."

Purple mist twisted through the monochrome streets.

Chitose stepped forward.

“Again?”

The man laughed.

“You can destroy as many as you want.”

He raised his hand.

“As long as humans keep producing Pride, I can make another.”

The purple energy condensed above his palm, hardening into an egg shape.

Chitose's eyes narrowed.

“Then I won't destroy the Entity.”

The man paused.

“What?”

Chitose reached behind her.

The Grimoire flipped through its pages.

She stopped.

Her hand touched a familiar object.

Then she pulled out a large pair of scissors.

The man stared at them.

“You're bringing scissors to a fight?”

Chitose smiled faintly.

“I make clothes. They're useful.”

The blades opened.

CLACK.

The Eye of Order activated.

Chitose saw them. 

Purple threads connected the people's emotions to the man.

Hundreds of threads stretched across the crossing.

The man noticed where she was looking.

His expression changed.

“Can you see them?”

Chitose ignored him.

She swung the scissors.

SNIP!

One of the purple threads was cut.

The energy flowing into his hand suddenly dropped.

His eyes widened.

SNIP!

Another thread slipped from his grasp.

“What are you doing?!”

Chitose moved forward.

SNIP!

SNIP!

SNIP!

One thread after another was severed.

The purple mist began to disappear, preventing the man from creating another Vanity Entity.

The man stepped backward.

“How can you cut them?”

She smiled.

“You said you create Vanity from people's Pride.”

She raised the scissors.

“Then I'll cut the connection.”

The man clenched his fist.

“You think that's enough?!”

The remaining threads suddenly tightened.

He pulled them toward himself.

The emotions of the people around him surged toward him.

The purple energy grew denser.

Much denser than before.

Chitose's eyes widened.

“That's a lot.”

The man laughed.

“You can't cut everything!”

---

The Vanity Entity suddenly broke free from the catfish.

It screeched.

The catfish immediately lunged after it.

CRASH!

The two monsters collided with immense force.

Miyo immediately turned toward the pedestrians.

“Chi-nee…”

“I know!”

A piece of a traffic light broke loose and fell toward a group of people.

Miyo raised one hand.

A small translucent crab appeared in the air.

It caught the falling metal.

The crab was much smaller than Miyo's other creatures, but it easily carried the debris away from the people.

Miyo looked toward them.

“Don't move.”

The people couldn't hear her.

The crab gently cleared the debris away.

Another window shattered above them.

Miyo raised her other hand.

Another creature appeared.

Small, translucent shrimp swam through the air, catching falling pieces of glass and pushing them away from the pedestrians.

Chitose stared for a moment.

Miyo was protecting everyone.

Miyo looked back at her.

“Chi-nee...”

Chitose nodded.

“I'll handle him!”

The man suddenly rushed forward.

He moved faster than before.

Chitose barely blocked his fist with the scissors.

CLANG!

The impact sent her sliding backward.

“You're stronger than you look.”

Chitose rubbed her arm.

“For an old man, you're stronger than you look, demon.”

The man smiled.

“I'm no longer a demon.”

Chitose froze.

The man grabbed her wrist.

“I don't have to follow their rules.”

---

Chitose looked directly into his eyes.

Then sighed.

“Miyo was right.”

She smiled.

“You talk too much.”

The scissors suddenly shrank, becoming small enough to fit between her fingers.

Chitose opened them.

SNIP!

She cut the remaining purple thread attached to his arm.

The man's grip weakened.

Chitose kicked him in the stomach.

BOOM!

He flew backward and crashed into a car.

Before he could hit the ground, Miyo summoned a jellyfish beneath him.

The translucent creature caught him.

The man looked at Miyo.

“You!”

Miyo looked back.

“Yes?”

“What are you?”

Miyo tilted her head.

“Miyo.”

“That isn't what I asked.”

“I know.”

She smiled faintly.

“But that's what I am.”

The man stared at her.

For the first time, he looked genuinely uncertain.

Chitose ran toward Miyo.

“Are you okay?”

Miyo nodded.

“I'm fine.”

She looked around at the people.

“Some of them aren't.”

---

Chitose looked around.

A person had been hit by a car during the battle.

A child was crying.

A man was holding his arm.

A woman was lying on the ground.

Miyo's expression became serious.

“I'll try to minimize the casualties.”

Chitose nodded.

“Then I'll catch him.”

The man slowly stood.

“You can't bring me back to Hell?”

Chitose shook her head.

“No.”

She pointed at him.

“Not yet.”

“Why?”

“I have questions.”

The man laughed.

“You think I'll answer them?”

“No.”

Chitose opened the Grimoire.

Then looked at Miyo.

“But I know someone who might be able to ask better questions than I can.”

The man frowned.

“Who?”

Chitose didn't answer.

The Grimoire's pages flipped rapidly.

Then stopped.

A thimble appeared on the page.

Chitose blinked.

“A thimble?”

The man stared at it.

“Are you serious?”

Chitose picked the silver thimble.

“It might work.”

“You're going to fight me with a thimble?”

Chitose smiled.

“Honestly, I don't know why the Grimoire recommended this.”

She looked at the thimble.

“I just throw it on the first time I use it.”

The man laughed.

“That thing is tiny!”

Chitose threw it.

FWOOM!

The thimble expanded.

The tiny silver object grew larger and larger.

It became the size of a human.

The man's smile disappeared.

“What—?”

The enormous thimble opened around him.

CLANG!

He was trapped inside.

“What is this?!”

Chitose pulled her hand backward.

The thimble immediately began to shrink.

So that's how the thimble works.

It became small enough to fit in her palm.

The man had shrunk with it.

A tiny man stared upward from inside the thimble.

Chitose blinked.

Miyo hovered beside her.

“That's cute.”

The tiny man screamed.

“LET ME OUT!”

Chitose held the thimble between two fingers.

“You're coming with us.”

The man slammed his fists against the inside.

“You can't do this!”

Chitose chuckled.

“Why not?”

“Because I'm not a demon!”

“I know.”

She placed the thimble inside a blank page of the Grimoire.

“That's why I want to talk to you.”

The Vanity Entity suddenly screeched behind them.

Miyo looked back.

“Oh.”

The creature had broken free.

Its enormous body twisted through the crossing.

Miyo raised her hand.

The blue anglerfish reappeared.

“Choo-choo.”

The creature lunged forward.

GULP!

It swallowed the Vanity Entity whole.

Both creatures vanished in an explosion of blue light.

The Domain began to bleed its colors.

Chitose looked down.

Even her dress began to bleed.

“It's done.”

Miyo nodded.

“Yes.”

She looked at her own hands.

“I'll go back to my normal form.”

Chitose watched.

The huge jellyfish holding Miyo engulfed her, becoming a round bubble.

POP!

The bubble burst.

Miyo landed gently on the ground.

“I'm back!!”

Her calm and emotionless expression was gone.

She immediately began stretching her arms.

Chitose chuckled.

“You need to explain after this.”

Miyo laughed awkwardly.

“Ehehehe… I will.”

Chitose looked toward the pedestrians.

“Are they safe?”

Miyo looked around.

Her creatures were still protecting them.

“Yes!”

She smiled.

“As soon as the black-and-white world completely melts away, everything should return to normal.”

Chitose sighed in relief.

Miyo looked at the Grimoire.

“Questions, huh?”

Chitose nodded.

“I need answers.”

The tiny man shouted from inside the thimble.

“WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?!”

Chitose ignored him.

Miyo smiled.

“I know somewhere.”

Chitose looked at her.

“Where?”

“My friend's house.”

Chitose blinked.

“Your friend?”

“Yeah.”

Miyo smiled.

“You want answers, right?”

She looked at the Grimoire.

“They might be able to give you some.”

Chitose stared at her.

“Do they know about me?”

Miyo paused.

“Some of them.”

Chitose's eyes narrowed.

“Some?”

Miyo smiled nervously.

“Don't worry about it.”

“That makes me even more worried.”

The two watched as the Domain continued to melt its colors.

The damage caused by the Vanity Entity world slowly disappeared with it.

---

Everything returned to the normal world.

The groceries Chitose and Miyo had been carrying were scattered across the ground.

An ambulance had already arrived.

Paramedics were helping the person who had been hit by the car.

“Oh no! I'm so sorry, Chi-nee!”

Miyo quickly began collecting the groceries.

Momoka helped them.

“You made a new friend?!”

Chitose froze.

“I met her at the pet store while I was buying—”

She suddenly remembered.

Oh no.

She doesn't know about Kazu-kun.

Momoka smiled.

“You got a pet! What's the name? That's nice for you. It makes me less worried about you.”

Chitose laughed awkwardly.

“A dog.”

She paused.

“A white Akita Inu.”

“What's his name?”

“Zuzu.”

Momoka smiled.

“That's a good name!”

Chitose smiled awkwardly.

Then Momoka suddenly looked at her.

“Chi-chan!”

“Hm?”

“In the blink of an eye, I saw you again in your wedding dress!”

Chitose froze.

“You were holding a huge compass in a black and white world! You looked so cool!”

Momoka blinked.

“But when I closed my eyes and opened them again…”

She looked at Chitose's casual clothes.

“You were back to normal.”

Chitose thought for a moment.

Then smiled.

“It must be the wind!”

Momoka laughed.

“Yeah! Maybe I'm just exhausted from the tight deadlines.”

She stretched her arms.

“Being a manga artist is harder than it looks.”

“You should take a rest for at least a day.”

Chitose suddenly had an idea.

“Are you free now?”

Momoka looked at her.

“Hmm?”

“You should come with us.”

Chitose smiled.

“I'm going to cook for us.”

She held up the grocery bag.

“I just learned a tasty dish.”

Momoka's face brightened.

“Sure!”