Dynamite And A Laserbeam - Redux

Vol 5 - 7: Meeting The Joestars - Part 1

[Meeting The Joestars – Part 1]

It was extremely early in the morning, somewhere around 2:30 or closer to 3:00. Whichever it was, Eri didn't care. She was having what some might call a bad day, though for her, a typical "bad" day was a typical "good" day for her. Her arms were sore, but that was to be expected. You couldn't get your arms cut up and bled for an hour a day without them typically being sore afterward.

Staring at her bandages, some still stained with the aftermath while other parts of the bandages were dry, she couldn't help but feel a unique sense of dread and frustration.

She just wanted to play with the other children outside. Uncle Kai had promised that she could play with the other kids, but not today. When that weird white-masked man in the strange white coat took her back to her room, she could hear Uncle Kai crying.

She knew why he was crying.

They were both starting to get sick of their situation. Uncle Kai only wanted what was best for her. Eri knew that. To an extent, Big Sis did as well, but Big Sis was getting frustrated.

She didn't blame Big Sis for being frustrated, but that didn't mean listening to her complain all day was a fun pastime.

Right now, Eri was sitting on her bed, playing something called "Super Smash Brothers Ultimate." Apparently, it was a classic game from the early 2000s. It was a classic, and she really liked playing as the red lady with the sword. Or was it the white lady with a sword? They could swap out, so was it both?

Were they two people in the same body?

Whatever the case was, Eri liked playing that character because she felt... happy when she did. It was either this or sleep.

Eri didn't like to sleep, as it meant the next day would come quicker. However, tomorrow and the week following it were one of her "off-weeks." It meant she didn't have to bleed for an hour a day to let her recover. Then the week following that would be when she had to give her blood.

Eri frowned, her tiny hands tensing around the controller. She didn't want to do this anymore. She didn't want to bleed anymore. She knew why she had to—Uncle Kai kept explaining it to her and kept telling her that if they "didn't please That Man, then bad things would happen," but she couldn't care less anymore.

If bad things happened, then so be it.

If it meant that she suddenly stopped breathing, then so be it.

If it meant getting out of this living hell, then so be it!

Suddenly, the controller in her hand broke apart, cracking under the pressure Eri had forced upon it. The device shattered into pieces as it fell to the ground. Eri frowned, staring at the controller as the character on the screen stopped moving, and the large monkey she was fighting against proceeded to beat the character senselessly.

Eri sighed, looking down at her hands.

"Big Sis... I need to fix the controller," Eri muttered. At that point, one would expect someone within the room to move. That someone would say something or do something. That someone would've been Noroi.

But, Noroi wasn't there.

Eri was alone in her room. There was no one else in the room with her. It was just her, the air, her bed, the TV and game consoles that Uncle Kai bought her, and the mountain of stuffed toys that the other members of The Family brought her when she was having a bad day.

There was no one in Eri's room.

So then, who was she talking to?

"Yeah, yeah. Alright, fine. You know the special words, right? The special words that will help you in your moment of need?" Noroi's voice echoed within Eri's head as Eri nodded.