Motley (#Wattys2016)

11: Strawberries

ONE YEAR AGO

Lo Stesso was an impoverished town. There was bound to be a bit of money in attacking it, although most of the villagers were poor and they did not have a local militia like other cities. Since it was a seaside town, it was convenient and easy to attack. A couple of sleeper missiles from Nori and Ryota knocked out half the town before they all leaped off the Oxblood and attacked.

People ran left and right. This was almost too easy; Nori barely needed to stab anybody since they were all so scared. Satoru had withdrawn his gun, but his grip on it was slack after he shot a couple of the residents of the town and scared the rest half to death. Ryota didn't even bother taking out a weapon. As they expected, there was little money.Now they strolled down the dirt road, staring at the brightly painted houses with tin roofs and thin wood walls. "Maybe we should just leave," Satoru said. "There isn't a lot here."

"Except for chickens," Ryota said. Indeed, chickens roamed the dusty streets. Ryota kicked one and it clucked loudly, flapping its wings wildly. "Do we need a chicken?"

"Don't kick Eri!" somebody shrieked. Ryota recoiled with terror, thinking the chicken had spoken. A rock came flying out of nowhere and hit Ryota squarely in between the eyes. He toppled over backwards, creating a cloud of hot white dust. Satoru and Nori whirled around to see his attacker.

A very tall girl with long braids stood in front of the chicken (now known as Eri). Her dark eyes were wild and each braid looked like a snake in her uncontrollable anger.

"Hey, hey, calm down, girl!" Ryota spat aggressively.

"You'd better not do that again," she told him. Ryota backed up; she must be at least three inches taller than him. "And you need to stop attacking my village."

"Trust me, we will. There's nothing here to attack!" Ryota said, which earned him another rock to the face. He fell back again.

"Listen, we'll be out of your hair in no time. All you need to do is give us some money," Nori said. She helped Ryota to his feet, while he grumbled and cursed under his breath.

"Besides, you're outnumbered and we have two people who know magic on our side," Satoru said. "You won't get hurt if you stay out of our way."

"You can't just walk over everybody like that! I won't let you!" The girl smiled. "And I've got some magic too." She pointed at the ground below them and made sharp rocks erupt out of the earth. Nori, Satoru and Ryota dodged just in time by rolling to the side. The crew got up, panting and brushing dust off their clothes.

"Fine, I'm sorry I kicked your stupid chickens! Happy?" Ryota said.

"Not really," the girl said grimly, "but you're lucky. I'm in a good mood today and I won't kill you."

"So will you give us some money?" Nori said hopefully.

"I've got some strawberries in my yard," Reiko said, shrugging. "But you don't get any money."

Nori sighed. "Well, if it's the best you've got, take us to your strawberries."

They followed the girl up another dusty hill to a house at the top. The house had a dull tin roof and walls made of different colors of wood. Clumps of dry grass and dust made up her yard, and there were chickens wherever you stepped. "Do you live alone?" Nori asked her.

"No, I take care of my younger siblings," she said. As if right on cue, four boys came running out of the shack. "Sis Reiko's home!" one of them said. They all enveloped her in a huge hug.

"Goro, Hachiro, Kyo, Yukio!" Reiko laughed, rubbing their heads affectionately. She looked around at the group of heads and asked, "Where's Chie?"

"She's inside," the oldest boy said.