A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 5: Ugh...Next Time! For Sure!

     It looked like a tornado had come through and wiped them out, which was highly likely with Mother's former A ranking. Now that I thought about it, A is supposed to be really hard to reach, right? Then why did my nineteen year old mother retire so easily from the peak of strength? No, how did she get there in the first place?

     Seeing that sight, I thought about the oddities of this world in comparison with "My Love." As far as I knew on my own and what Takuya told me, there were no dragons. Powerhouses were for reincarnation web and light novels, not otome games based on love. The Statuses weren't very specific and fighting wasn't a main point in the game. There were no gods, and adventuring was a topic rarely touched upon. Basically, I'm starting to think that there was a major redo of the game, Takuya didn't tell me anything worth crap, there was a hidden plot to this game, or this was only a world extremely similar to "My Love" but not the same.

     That, I could understand. The fact that this wasn't just a little love game anymore was what made me melt in my mental standing. I wasn't too sure of anything anymore.

     The collar of my onesie chaffed on my neck, reminding me of the mark of completion that had apparently burned itself there.

     That's right...I made a pledge.

     I'd stay here with all I had and not give up. It didn't matter what type of world this was, I would live my life to its fullest. I had a new one that was meant to be woven with care and time, a chance I thought I would never have. I would just have to learn its ups and downs on my own.

     We walked down the quiet halls with only her pair of shoes clacking on the floor. We made our way as solemnly as a funeral procession to her room and quietly opened the ordinary wooden door. Mother was unusually silent as she placed her staff in its place by her bed, me on top of the sheets, and walked over to my little dresser. She rifled through it and brought back some blue clothes, then disappeared into her bathroom with the pink ones. I heard the sound of a sink running, which was odd since we were in an old mansion, and she came back into the room with a tub of water, soap, and a wash cloth.

     After stripping me down, I was lifted and put into the tub on the floor as I had been many times before. Very softly, I was lathered in the soap meant for skin like mine and the blood came off and was diluted in the water. Very soon, I was a clean baby that was practically revitalized with the ten HP that I had since it took an hour to be cleaned without my falling asleep and drowning in the water.

     "Fir, are you okay?" Mother asked with a sad gaze. She expected me to answer after staring into my eyes and waiting.

     Did she know?!

     Afraid to nod and set her off if she didn't know I was more intelligent than a baby, I simply replied with, "Au."

     "That's good enough for me."

     A small smile lit her face as she took me out of the tub, dried me off, and put the clothes on me. I caught a glimpse of my arm as I was laid on the bed, and experienced a shock. Along the length of it, there was a long thick black line. Going across that line, it looked like someone had tattooed multiple double edged knives with wicked ends. Like messed up, elongated barbed wire.

     Sorry "Mom" back in Japan, I got a tattoo even though you didn't want me to, I snickered to myself.

     Also, sorry Mother here, I accidentally got myself into something weird.

     It looked like she couldn't see it because every time I put my arm in front of her, she frowned and asked me what I was doing. That's not odd at all.