Garten of Banban: Hell Awaiting

Chapter Seven: "My New Best Friend"

"Uh... Alright, then." I murmur nervously.

"Okay, so here's the deal." Banban starts, sounding serious now. "The hard part is already done. All you need to do is mix the right concentrations and inject her with it about... six times?" He tries counting silently with his fingers as he speaks. "The machine with the droplet symbols is where that's done. When it's time, the screen will light up with the symbol of the needed concentration."

"For simplicity, the concentrations have been represented by colors. Mix and achieve the right concentration, then collect it in the syringe and give it to Nabnaleena." He continues. "The machine with the colored pipes will shift to the wrong colors, and when that happens, use the given tongs to revert them all to their normal state of green."

"The buttons on the wall will also malfunction at times. When that happens, hit any ones that are lit with AVI4 over there." He adds on. "The excess Givanium that you can find in the room will deplete when anything malfunctions or when a concentration is needed to be delivered. The procedure stops if any of the four depletes completely, and what happens next is... never good."

"Only the best of us performed Givanium procedures, but we don't have much of a choice." Banban says, a slight tone of sadness to his voice that I can hear through his words alone. "Nabs— I mean... Nabnab needs you, so just do as you're told. You might not like it, but I hope you know that I would never expect something like this from anybody else." He finishes.

"Alright, I guess I'll do my best." I reply slowly, feeling uneasy about this. "And Banban?"

"Yeah?" He responds.

"Can you... uhm... stay on the line until I'm done with the whole procedure thingy?" I ask tentatively. "I... uh... I don't really like the idea of being separated from you after everything that's been happening lately..." I tell him honestly, looking down in embarrassment. There's a short pause as I wait patiently for him to respond.

Finally, I hear his gentle voice again. "Nobody's ever... actually wanted me to be with them before..." His voice trails off, a small hint of emotion detectable within it. "Uh, sure, if that's what you want... I'd be happy to grant you my company." He adds finally. I breathe a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Banban." I mutter back quietly.

"No problem. Now get to work, because Nabnab isn't going to wait forever." He responds playfully. I scoff, rolling my eyes, before beginning the procedure. I then carefully lay Nabnaleena down on the operating table, watching her closely as she lies there motionless. Soon, Nabnab will have his own little girlfriend to take care of him. Lucky...

As I work with mixing the chemicals into the syringe, and AVI4 takes care of the red buttons lighting up, Banban talks to me. "It's been a while since I've last actually seen Nabnab myself." He comments softly. "He... hasn't changed much." I can sense the slight edge of bitterness in his voice, though I stay focused on the task at hand.

"How long has he been like this?" I wonder aloud as I inject Nabnaleena. "For as long as I can remember." Banban replies almost immediately. I nod absentmindedly in response, still preoccupied with bringing Nabnaleena to life. "And let me guess, even the kids here ignored and avoided him?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

There is a brief silence. "...Unfortunately so." Banban mumbles. "All Nabnab ever wanted was a real friend to confide in, but nobody came close. Even us other mascots of the kindergarten would treat him like some sort of wild animal, or a villain in one of those cartoons. Those are days that I... I wish I could change, but..." He trails off, his voice full of regret.

"Well," I inject Nabnaleena a second time. "If Nabnab knew how you felt now, I doubt he'd hold any of it against you. I mean, you guys literally have matching party hats! If that's not a best friend thing to do, then I don't know what is." I joke, smiling faintly to myself. There's a small pause before Banban speaks again.