Black Swan Wonderland

Walker

II: Gluttony

Halo Six: Walker:

-Thursday Afternoon-

Erika sat across from Walker in the maid cafe with a look of unease on her face.

"Have you calmed down now?" she asked. Walker chowed down on his rice omelet.

"Yeah," he said. She didn't look so convinced.

-Three Hours Earlier-

Erika and Walker went down to the bookstore to buy the latest horror manga out.

"What's with the creepy shit lately?" Saburo asked. The otaku pair didn't have an answer. In fact, they had just now noticed it. So much blood, gore, monsters, violence, and corpses. Light and happy stuff didn't seem to interest the otaku pair lately. Kadota didn't pay it any mind.

Lately, Walker and Erika hungered for something more disturbing.

"You sure it's out today?" Erika asked.

"Yes," Walker insisted. He was the one to find this manga first. The young man was looking for something strong in the horror circles. One day, he got a DM to try out this manga. Well, it was the first three pages. The art looked so elegant with the colors so lush. Walker was so engrossed in the story that he grew disappointed when he finished the first page.

"Where is the rest of it?" he asked. At first, the message didn't go through. Walker tried to find the information on his own but came up with nothing.

Finally, he got a reply.

"This was just a sample of the first volume. It will go on sell tomorrow."

Walker just had to have more. So here they were at the bookstore in south Ikebukuro. Erika wasn't looking so convinced.

"What's this manga called again?" she asked.

"I don't remember off the top of my head," Walker said as they walked down the manga aisle.

"Are you sure it even exists?" Erika asked.

"Yeah," he insisted. "I will know it when I see the cover." He took out his phone and opened the picture file he had saved.

"This one," Walker said. Erika leaned in for a look. The cover was of a woman looking like a succubus surrounded by black ink. The woman had her forked tongue sticking out. A snake looked coiled around her pale curved body. Were those wings coming out of her back? Erika found herself drawn in and crept out.

"Where did you find this?" she asked.

"It wasn't sent to me in DM's," he said. Walker kept looked the whole time as he talked. "The manga looked really good from those first three pages that I saw." Erika wanted to believe him. Walker wouldn't stop talking about it all morning.

"I would like to see this manga too," she said.

"Sweet!" Walker said. So, here they were at the bookstore. Erika would be lying if she said she wasn't interested.

"There!" Walker shouted. Erika lifted her head. He stood by the manga that he wanted so dearly with a grin.

"It's the last one too," Walker said.

-Therapy Session: "Mimiko"-

Aya hit record on her tape player.

A woman about thirty-five sat on the couch with a focused smile on her face. She feels like she's ready to scream—again.

Aya took her seat in front of the woman.

"Good morning, [name redacted]," Aya said. The woman nodded at her.