The Pinky (before battle)
<Does anyone actually live here...?>
While the signs of habitation are minimal, there is evidence of regular cleaning.
.......
Hasn't changed a bit, this place.
An odd silence filled the space we entered.
The room was completely quiet and devoid of any warmth.
Ryōshū gingerly made her way past the threshold.
.......
When I opened this drawer...
... there used to be... a schoolbag.
Mommy... Mommy!
Did you ever see stuff like this outside?
... No.
It's soooo pretty, though.
Hey, why don't you take off that schoolbag? You've been carrying it on your back all day.
It's "ran-do-seru"!
'Cause I'm still in elementary school! Ele-men-tary!
Have some watermelon. It's sweet.
.......
No way. It's super sweet... This watermelon's the GOAT!
... Uh-huh.
... You didn't get it, did you?
Nuh-uh...
GOAT means "Greatest Of All Time!"
... Unnecessary shortening, in my opinion.
You mean "IMO?"
.......
Okay, that's it. I'm gonna teach ya everything I learned at school! Starting today!
... I don't need to know.
It doesn't matter how popular they are now. With time, they'll all become old, outdated, and embarrassingly anachronistic anyway.
But Mommy, it'll be fun.
And you're like, all about aesthetics of shortening, right?
You gotta learn these if you dun wanna fall behind! Seriously, SMH!
... SMH?
It means... "Shaking... My... Head." Ta-da! And that's SMH!
... Aaaand this is how ya shorten the other ones.
Look, look! Okie?
Yep.
Ugh, SMH! Try this one!
Nodding M.H.
You're getting it, Mommy!
I'm not...
I didn't get it, can you repeat that... one more time...?
The visions slowly lift from us like dissipating mist...
... leaving a cobwebbed, empty room behind.
Spiderwebs are...
... such difficult things to remove once they stick.
.......
I shall impart unto you the reply before the question is asked. As it is with the cause for which you have arrived here, herein lies something you have all... lost.
Nothing was lost. We are here to retrieve what's stolen from us.
... Are you?
Mischievous adults like to pose facetious questions to children that are, in truth, quite cruel.
Do you like your mother more or your father more? Do you like strawberry ice cream more or chocolate ice cream more?
Perhaps my master, Yoshihide... considers you naught but a child still.
Get to the point, or you'll find out firsthand how exactly your master lost her tongue.
I present before you, Yoshihide... and your companions... a choice.
The Golden Boughs... and the child. If you could return with only one of the two...
... which would you choose?
You're becoming more and more like me.
... Do I have a choice? I am your blood, after all.
.......
... Bya!
.......
So, she's the child.
Yes, indeed. A child of your blood... a very precious child.
Her aptitude, her ability to "sense" the flow of time is... impossibly precise. She makes you look downright dull in comparison, Dihui Star.
.......
For now, we're going to give her enough room to perceive and experience "time" as she interacts with the world in her own way.
Ugh... It's gonna take forever before she's even remotely useful, then.
Fuhu... the more care we put into hammering and chiseling this material, the worthier shall it become.
Aww, look at this kid! She just smiled at me! Did you guys see that?
So... what's her name gonna be?
It appears that should be the next subject on our table. Personally, I would prefer if she could be named Elisa -
... Mm.
"Yoshihide" should be a good name for her.
... Says the Prescript?
Yes.
*puff* Well, whatever your precious Prescript says goes, right? It's better than crap like Elisa or whatever, anyway.
I would appreciate it if you would keep your comments on my naming sense to yourself, Valencina.
... Mya!
Look at 'er... Looks to me she's a fan of the name Yoshihide. Then it is decided! You're gonna be Yoshihide from now on, Yoshihide!
.......
You take care of her for a while, Dihui Star.
Why does it have to be... me?
Well, because she is of your blood. She's a near-carbon copy of you... save for her eyes.
You know that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking why it had to be - !
... To us, who are discarded here, nothing has less meaning than the question of "why."
Yoooo, are you guys seeing this? See how she picked up that little rattle?
Hah... Is she still on about that? Never tired of bitching, are you?
... Says the reprobate mongrel who's fallen out of favor with her own Famiglia. Another word out of your mouth, and I'll...
Guys, guys! Don't fight! Not before we place our bets! And you - aren't you gonna stop 'em?
Hm...
This is how we will be entangled. Every blow, every bickering a pull that brings us closer and closer... The intertwining of our bond and karma completes the web that is the House of Spiders.
It is now time for us each to do our best for this precious child that has finally been given to us.
.......
... Ma!
You...
... Bya!
... This is my first and final request to you: don't become like me.
Before you came to me, I... knew nothing but freedom and comfort in a world that belonged only to me.
Until they broke into my world, dragged me out of there, and cast me into this gutter.
And then you happened.
Wrinkles covered my skin like a crumpled blanket, and I realized I had become irreversibly damaged.
As you grow up, so will my misery...
... until I am nothing but a wrinkled, shriveled-up husk.
A husk that existed only to birth you into this world...
That is why you must never become like me.
The more our likeness grows, the clearer it will become that I am but a source of nourishment for you to feed upon. I will be sucked dry to wither and shrink into insignificance...
So don't you dare become like me.
Okay?
... *puff*
.......
Have you started smoking?
Yeah.
... Give me a light.
The day you returned home after receiving those combat ocular augmentations...
... and stared at me with red eyes that are just like my own, I came to realize, with horror...
You're becoming like me.
You revolting thing.
... Can't really help it.
I'm your kid, after all.
I'm not in the mood to play along with your riddles.
In that case, would you allow my humble self to understand your intent as a refusal to give up either of them?
I am afraid my master does not appreciate the greedy...
Bring her to me.
I'll talk to her, and if she wouldn't listen, I'll split her vertically from her throat.
And if that still doesn't do the trick, I will crush the Nursefathers' heads one by one until someone breaks and talks. Believe me, I will.
Heads can be decapitated, tongues can be sliced off, faces can be ground to mulch, and limbs can be amputated, but...
... this, you cannot sever.
It really is stubborn, isn't it? This thread.
I agree.
.......
Invisible, intangible, yet doggedly existent...
... and utterly inseverable.
The Nursefather raises her hand, lifting the red thread tethering her and Ryōshū together.
When her hand touches it, the thread becomes clearly visible, as though it has always been there.
But if that's the only thing you're hanging onto...
If the only thing tying you to this place...
... is that single thread...
Wouldn't it be better for you to sever it away?
I'm telling you this, because unlike the other Nursefathers, we are related by blood.
In other words, I'm giving you a chance to be free.
Because I know the inescapable end you will meet now that you've returned here.
... Unless you were to sever that thread before delving deeper into the House, that is.
This is your way out, a way to save yourself from a terrible fate.
Or...
... are the Golden Boughs really that important to you?
... What was their answer to my question, Ren?
... They gave none, Master. It may be that they wish to claim both -
No.
Vengeance has narrowed her vision to all other matters... it's as simple as that.
She knew returning to this den of Spiders would bind her in its webs, yet she was foolish enough to do so...
What other explanation could there be?
You... won't understand.
Someone like you who has done nothing but blame me for your miseries...
... and trembled with resentment whenever I called upon you.
So, I've kept that word buried all my life. The word that I would've used to call upon you.
.......
You couldn't even handle me - or anyone, really - calling you that. So much so that you'd -
... No.
Because the echoes of that word carry...
... nothing but misery for me.
.......
Is that why you brought that child here?
... mmy!
It's Mommy!