Re:War (Discontinued)

Chapter 8: "Daycare"

With the main idea for everything all sorted out, I took time to get to the Guild. I had to talk to Amayasha-sama about some things.

It was unfortunate that I had to bid farewell to Scarlet for the time being, but she was still near the forests, and was easy to call for help. 'Forest Messenger' seemed like a good nickname for her. Though everyone else preferred calling her 'Red Hood'. But for now, I gave her a task that she was strangely very willing to complete: to gather information on Reverie. My first plan was to get there once I was old enough, and if I was going to survive there, I needed as much information as I could get.

As for Alice, she would only stay near me the whole time, completely unwilling to leave my side. She was hostile towards everyone at home, her ribbons had grown more and increased in number, and she was using them to keep everyone away from her, Tsuki-nii, Hina, father, mother, Hanzo, anyone really.... Hina was having a fit about not being to come near me however. Tsuki-nii was amused by her, though he didn't want to get too close after seeing Alice puncture a tree when he wanted to talk to me after returning.

Alice was a surprising one. Those ribbons were strong, and was close to extra limbs. She could lift and move almost anything with them.

She got all fidgety and nervous the moment I left her to grab some stuff, she was really scared of being alone... I had told her to wait in my room as I grabbed some medicine from another room. Alice had some cuts on her that I had to treat again. Going through the forest could've gotten the wounds contaminated.

"Alice? I'm -whoa!!" I ducked away from Alice's ribbons. Startled by the sound of the sliding door, she shot her ribbons forwards, barely missing my face. "It's just me, calm down."

She looked frightened, and a terrified expression fell on her face when she realised she almost hurt me. She immediately got on the floor, kneeling.

"Alice? Um... you can get up. I'm not angry or anything."

She stayed on the floor, as if she was waiting for something.... Punishment? Just what did that guy do for her to act like this?

I laid the medicine tray on a table as I sat beside her.

"Hello~? You can get up now.. I'm not angry."

Seeing that she gave no response, I simply grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up. She was light as heck... barely any heavier than 20 jin... [note: jin is the Tendoen equivalent of kg]

She was surprised when I lifted her up, but didn't resist.

"Alice, you just made a small mistake. I won't punish you for that. I promised you before, I won't hurt you. Alright?"

Though her eyes were still blank, they were beginning to shimmer a little. She was recovering at a better rate now... her walking was stable, but she still couldn't say anything. I was actually beginning to wonder if she was mute to begin with.

"Now, Alice? You have a few scratches around your body that I need to treat. Unfortunately, this does sting a little. Bear with it alright?"

Rolling her sleeves away revealed a scratch on her left arm. I tipped some medicine onto the cotton and swabbed her injuries. She winced and let out a whimper, but didn't pull her arm back.

Well, she let out a sound.

Not how I wanted it however. She's in pain.

"Sorry Alice, just bear with it a little longer."

She nodded.

A few minutes later, I was done treating her injuries. Top it off with some bandages and she was good to go.