Dark Alice in a Dark Wonderland

Toxic

Halo Eight: Toxic:

There have been black pumpkins popping up all over the city. Nobody has a clue where they are coming from. Some of them are rather unnerved by them. Easy to see why. However, they don't seem out of place. Halloween is coming up in a few anyway. But still, the little black pumpkins seem like an omen of some sort. Nobody seems to know what.

Only Hiroi Michiko and a few others know what the black pumpkins are warning.

The Dante Killer is unnerved. That one little interaction at work put her in a confusing place. She does not like this. There was only one way to fix this.

She had to make another kill so soon too. That display in Edogawa Park was good. She never thought that she would be comfortable with killing on camera. Maybe she could do something grand like that. Hmm... Let's see. She completed violence against neighbors. Next up was violence against the self.

DK started scrolling through suicide assist sites. Just looking at these pro-suicide sites made her stomach turn. Usually, this was Quantum's domain. But maybe he wouldn't be mad if she took just one. Because DK had her eyes on one victim in particular.

"Here you go," Akari said. She handed Mikado a small silver tin. He took it and opened the lid. Little deep red strips sat inside.

"You take one and put it on your tongue for five minutes," the witch told him.

"Five minutes?" Mikado asked.

"That's right," Akari said. The tadpole looked at the little strips. Anything to keep the girls from going into a frenzy around him, he guessed. Mikado put one strip on his tongue. The bitter cherry taste filled his mouth. He glanced up at Akari. She kept her eyes on him.

"You sure this will work?" he asked. The witch narrowed her eyes as she frowned at him.

"Okay, okay," Mikado said. "I will trust your judgment." Akari smiled at him. The tadpole sat back and endured the taste. Anything to keep from risking Anri pregnant.

"What is with the black pumpkins everywhere?" Mikado asked. The witch frowned.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"Yeah, there have been several black pumpkins all over the city," the tadpole boy said. "They kind of creep me out." He saw the worried look on Akari's face.

"What is it?" Mikado asked.

"Do you have one at your place?" she asked. "Think really hard."

"No," he said. The witch leaned back and breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank god!" she said. She looked him in the eye.

"Listen to me," Akari said. "If you see one of those black pumpkins around your place, throw it away as soon as possible."

"Okay... But what about them?" he asked. "Are they cursed or something?" The witch buried her head in her hands.

"You can say that," she said. "How long has it been?"

"Five minutes, I think," Mikado said.

"Show me your tongue," the witch said. The tadpole stuck out his tongue. Akari leaned for a look. All gone.

"Good," she said.

"What now?" Mikado asked. Akari crawled over to him. She came within inches of him. A warm flush ran through her chest. The witch closed her fist over her heart as she cleared her throat.

"I can still feel it," she said. "But I don't want to pounce on you right now." Mikado breathed out in relief.

"Oh good," he said. He held up the small tin in his hand.