Sureiyazu

Episode 36: Turn the Tables

"What do you mean, the eye is gone?" asked Heishi. "I thought you said it was as big as three people all the way across!" 

"I mean, that it's gone!" Kasai replied anxiously. Why was she anxious? "Vanished! Away! What do you want me to say?"

"But how can that be?" Heishi asked again.

"I don't know!" Kasai yelled. "But you're missing the point here! We can leave now!"

Heishi sighed. "Yeah, I know. Contrary to what a lot of the team thinks, I'm actually pretty good at strategizing, thanks."

Kasai had opened her mouth to argue again, but stopped and turned on Heishi. 

Heishi realized a moment later what he has just said. "I - I - it slipped out is all. I don't really - I mean -"

But Kasai smiled slightly. "Nah, you're way more tolerable when things slip out of you mouth. I didn't know you thought like that."

Heishi swallowed. "Sorry . . . I mean, I know you guys are like the best demonslayers in the world, but I feel kind of unappreciated sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that," Kasai nodded. "Whenever I say something smart I swear all their eyeballs pop out of their heads." 

"You say smart things?" Heishi asked. 

Kasai glared.

"Just kidding!" Heishi quickly added.

"Yeah, I know," Kasai grinned. "Now let's get outta this stupid hole."

~~~

"There has to be some way to open it," Taichi argued. 

Aya rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. She had been trying to open Taichi's cage for some time now, and yet nothing she had tried had worked. 

"Are you trying to imply that it's harder than it looks?"

"Maybe," was what Aya wanted to say. But as she couldn't say anything, she didn't. 

"I'll take your silence as a yes. But there must be some way to counteract the effects, mustn't there?"

It was irritating Aya, with all of the "must"s and all of the "there has to be a way"s. She ignored Taichi and continued to think. 

"Well, seeing as you can't exactly tell me what happens so that I can use my knowledge of magic to help you, I suppose you're on your own?" Somehow the fact that he posed it as a question - and therefore made it seem like he was making an attempt to be sincere -  made it all the more annoying to Aya.

She sighed a silent sigh and rethought the effects of touching the bars. It seemed to make the person who touched it relive all of their most terrible memories, of which she had a lot. 

"Would it help if I -"

But Aya gave him a withering I am thinking right now thank you very much stare, and he broke off awkwardly.

Aya would prefer to avoid contact with the cage until the figured it out. 

Though . . .

It was an extremely cheesy thought. There was no way it would work. The solution was straight out of a children's book. 

Aya gathered herself and prepared to try again.

~~~

"Three. Two. One. Let the second test begin!"