Burn In Violet

01: Redhead

“I know. Except going outside.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Give me a break, coincidentally today’s books total something like 1500 pages,” Holly retorted.

“1396, actually,” Tamaki corrected smugly.

“I’m not a floating head, okay!” Holly sighed and rested against the headboard. “15 years of information force-feeding is not how a girl should grow up.” You want something that stores knowledge and talks, ask a homunculus, not a girl like me.

“Ten, actually.” If Tamaki had shoulders right now she would have shrugged. But her scarf somehow twitched a little. “You started reading when you were five years old.”

“You know giving that kind of comeback is not making me feel better, especially after you yelled in my ear like that.”

“Sure, I’ll lick your cheek next time.”

“Eww, just no!” Holly protested, knowing too well that Tamaki was just pulling her leg. “I mean, you just woke me up in the middle of the night! Let me pull myself together first, okay?”

Holly sighed. Tamaki bobbed continuously midair like a cork floating in the sea. The floating head was one of her guardian’s creations. Tamaki was a homunculus made through magic, and upon her master’s twisted whim, she was created with an extra feature: her head could detach and float around. Holly remembered reading on Nukekubi, a monster from folklore that had a detachable head that could fly around.

Tamaki had been Holly’s only friend whenever her guardian left her alone in the Library. Sometimes she would take Tamaki’s body with her, leaving Holly with less than half a friend, but Holly would prefer that over complete loneliness anytime. Sure, Tamaki could be a little bit eccentric, but who isn’t?

Her friend was a big help in staving off boredom. But she also acted as a substitute caretaker whenever her guardian was not around. For a floating head, she could be quite helpful sometimes. Well, sometimes.

Holly rubbed her eyes. “Um, Tamaki?”

“Uh-huh?”

“You know, I had a dream again.”

Tamaki turned herself upside down. “Uh-huh.”

“I saw my parents. We were picnicking on a green hill. The view was… was beautiful, there were… glass buildings everywhere. But… that can’t be real, right?”

“Uh-huh.” Tamaki nodded in agreement while staying upside down.

“Glass buildings are all destroyed before I was born, right?”

“Yeah, Master said she found you in a ruined city. You were just a baby then,” Tamaki explained in a low drawl. “How old are you in the dream?”

“I don’t know, maybe… ten?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s silly, right? It’s just impossible. But the dream felt like a real memory, like something I had really, really experienced before, something like a déjà vu.”

“Aren’t all dreams like that?” said Tamaki dreamily.

“What do floating heads know about dreams?” Holly allowed herself a lopsided grin.

“You can’t dream without a head.”

“That’s beyond obvious, dummy.”

“Uh-huh.”

“But somehow it was blurry in its own way… like… why did my name change? Why did I feel like every second I was talking as a different person? And, come to think of it, my parents’ faces, in the dream, were blurry. I can’t remember them anymore. Even their voices changed every second.”

“You still have to finish 300 pages,” Tamaki changed the subject.

“Oh you, you, you troll!”

Thwack. “Bweh!”

Holly had thrown a pillow in Tamaki’s face. It hit its target all right. Luckily it didn’t send her against the wall this time. “I know, I know! Duty or not, be a good listener, okay?” Holly half-yelled.

“Uh-huh.”

“And why were you yelling in my ear at…” Holly turned to look at the time, “two in the morning? Can’t you just force me to read tomorrow?”

“Uh… huh…” at this, Tamaki’s large bows actually drooped a little, like fox ears. “I… woke you up because… Master is home. She’s waiting at the door.”

“That old ha-she’s home?”

“Uh-huh, and she forgot the key.”

But Holly had already sprung onto her feet, bolting away like lightning. And you let me chitchat? Not stopping, Holly shouted, “If she kills me for making her wait, I’ll kill you!”

“Uh-huh.”

“I mean it!”

“Lol.”

*

Author's Note: Media: fanart of Holly and Tamaki by MebiusBrave. Sugoi na! Send him lots of love and troll reviews for me!