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Throwing a glance to the side, Aiyano replies:
- 99.9... So, on the one hand, you seem confident, and on the other, not so much. One-tenth isn't that small, you know. What will you do if it happens? Once you said, "I'll accept this fact and plan my life differently," but I feel that's too frivolous a scenario, and its relevance at the moment is questionable. And what if I told you that the chance is actually higher, because 99.(9) was already used yesterday, and relative luck is just as real as absolute luck? Well, that's all just beating around the bush," she says, pausing thoughtfully, and then looks into the distance again, as if searching for the right words. "This was a very strange acquaintance, filled with the most unexpected things – some good, some not so good. At least it left a lasting and unique impression, which no other person can boast. And yet, no matter how long the verse, it will eventually end. Either it will transition into the next, or the song will reach its logical conclusion. As for ours..." She raises her eyebrows and takes a breath, ready to speak, but hesitates, looks away again, then sighs and shakes her head in annoyance. "How rude. Just a moment..."
Rummaging through the "other" slots, she separates another unit from a pack of ofuda and throws it in your direction with a short norito – as it turns out, at you. You fall to the floor as if struck, unable to move, your gaze fixed on the rivets on the ceiling beam. It's not a pleasant feeling – if your astral body weren't completely paralyzed, you'd be gasping for air like a fish thrown onto the shore. You hear the slow click-clack-click of nihon shoes moving towards the dark corner where you're hiding, and finally, on the periphery of your frozen vision, you see her silhouette and the face leaning over you. You would never describe yourself as an ethnonationalist, and you generally advocate for a borderless, cosmopolitan world, but at this moment, you feel uncomfortable being in such a vulnerable position under the scrutinizing gaze of a person with a different phenotype than you, especially a woman.
- Well, who do we have here? - She leans closer to you, hugging her knees and looking at you with disapproval. For a moment, you feel like you can see what's under her dress from this angle, but in reality, you're just a few centimeters short. - Gray-Tajik. Or Kami-Tajik without a respectful suffix. Hmm... Mmm?
Tilting her head, the woman carefully examines your appearance.
- Could I have seen you somewhere before? - She tries hard to remember something that has long been forgotten against the backdrop of the dynamic reimei slopes of this life. - That protruding belly... The receding hairline... The dull, bloodshot eyes with burst capillaries... Ooh! It's you I kept seeing and hearing in June-July! It was you who kept muttering in my ear and peeking through the keyhole, licking your dry lips, breathing heavily, and doing all those disgusting things. Ha-ha! Okay, okay, don't shake so much, scufidoš, you've been caught red-handed. I won't torture you, and I won't laugh at you either. Did you come back to watch the ending again? Are you ready? Or have you thought about living your own life for a change? - She clicks her tongue, and the Asian woman looks at you not with disgust or pity, but perhaps with a sense of universal hopelessness. - And how do you feel about open endings? Do you appreciate them? You want to say something, but you can't, because you're still paralyzed. - In my culture, they are very common, and I like them too – what could be better than a skillfully crafted artistic, romantic ambiguity? The kind where the outcome is determined by the reader's personal perception. Hmm? I see your eye twitching. So, I guess you disagree with me? You're probably one of those people who need everything explained in detail and spoon-fed, otherwise they won't accept it and will find hundreds of epithets to criticize it? "Lazy," "cowardly," and so on? Well... that's a shame. You're just unlucky," she says with a cheerful smile. The dark-haired model, who is currently generously bestowing upon you the closest feminine presence in your life, decides to explain. - Like everyone else, I have my flaws, but spitefulness is not one of them. And yet, at one time, your muttering and antics tired me out. Your peeking through the keyhole, puffing, gas...light? and "tralbas" – or whatever it's called, all sorts of fantasies and lewd jokes during my forced vacation in Farellia, and before and after... Should a decent person behave like that? I don't think so. Therefore, you don't deserve to see the ending. Huh? I don't hear you. Don't try to talk, it won't work. You'd probably say something like, "anticlimactic, I didn't really want to, I already know everything, it's all obvious," and start voicing more fantasies, and so on... Maybe you'd be right, maybe not, it doesn't matter. The fact is that you won't see it, and guessing what might have happened is all that's left for you. ...well, I've talked to you enough, it's time to finish. I'm very glad that I was able to meet you here and now. It was time to resolve this issue once and for all, but I was a little sorry for you, and now I realize that you are destined for nothing but suffering, so there is only one way to help you.
Standing up, the old woman takes out her alien staff for exorcism.
- I will try to help you leave this limbo and return you to the universal cycle, maybe then you will have a chance for a new, full life, like everyone else. You don't have to thank me. Although, if you thank me from the bottom of your heart, I will be happy. Well, goodbye. Fair winds.
For the next twenty seconds, she recites a prayer to the Kami-sama-tachi, after which she performs the ritual in the usual way. Contrary to custom, you are not immediately exorcised, but you feel that your soul is dissolving gradually. For the first few moments, you feel immense pain, perhaps the kind that all evil entities subjected to exorcism feel, but it soon passes and is replaced by a gradually growing sense of peace.
The fact of your gradual exorcism slightly surprises the old woman, but she doesn't dwell on it, just shrugs and returns to the second inhabitant of the hut.
- Old baggage," she explains to him. "Finally cleaned up. Hmm... where did we stop? Oh yes, my answer. So," she takes a breath again.
After the exorcism, you are almost completely dispersed into atoms, your senses of sight and hearing barely function, and yet, you feel like you can hear her answer in your final moment, or draw a conclusion from a single movement of her lips... But in your last microseconds of life, you manage to notice that she is looking at you and patiently waiting for you to disappear completely.
Finally, you completely dissolve into nothingness, hoping with all your heart that you won't wake up from this wonderful dream with a hangover after a lecture.
Ment
Heroist
