Pepa-rita hesitated at the order.
Her fingers twitched by her sides as her eyes darted between him and the wand—Stacy—still cradled in his palm. She huffed, crossed her arms, and plopped down onto the pile of mismatched books like an unbothered queen on her makeshift throne.
Noel leaned against the opposite stack, his hands crossed behind his back, gaze unreadable as he silently watched her, gazing at him with narrowed eyes.
She studied him for a while, but this time, there was no mocking pout, no silly repetition of "for-fo." Only silence.
Heavy, inquisitive silence.
"Will you be asking, or will you keep on admiring my beauty?" she asked cautiously, her previous tone nowhere to be found.
Tapping his chin for a moment of ponder, Noel moved his mouth.
"For starters, the little phrase that you seem to love repeating, for-fo. What does it imply? And why did you hold yourself from completing the sentence whenever you spoke to me?"
Noel stood lazily, his eyes looking down on the figure, his eyes apathetically watching any subtle reactions the girl may do that could hint at her motivations, or who she was in general.
She merely snorted in disdain.
"It is none of your business, I am afraid. You would not understand anyway. Pepa has a habit to remind herself of things because of her short memory, forget-me-not," she spoke confidently, checking her nails as she caressed them indifferently, gently puckering her lips.
"Is that so?"
Noel raised an eyebrow in response.
It seemed that the little girl before him did not hesitate anymore with her for-fo business, answering him confidently as if he had committed an atrocious act of curiosity. But this did not bother Noel in the slightest. In fact, her eccentric personality had piqued his interest.
"Is your memory truly that short...?" Noel asked, trailing off, as he gently adjusted his tassel on his head as well as his monocle.
"Yes, forget-me-not," she spoke flatly, a hint of sarcasm laced in her voice.
"I see."
Noel merely gazed at her neutrally with a nod, but Pepa-rita was able to detect a hint of suspiciousness in his eyes that resembled that of an interrogator, yet he did not sound his concerns.
"So in layman's terms, you have something akin to Alzheimer's or dementia?"
There were limited causes for why a person could be born with a short memory, but in most natural cases, this meant that long-term memory was excellent. But even in natural cases, there are many birth defects where short memory was followed by only degradations, or in other words, mental illnesses.
But there were many other causes for synthetic or unnatural short memory, a few that could be caused by many superficial diseases like depression, anxiety, etc., which did not appear to be in sync with the girl before him.
Thus, the options were extremely limited. This world was unpredictable, and based on what he had seen, there were many variables he was lacking.
For starters, things like curses could exist in this world, which could play a role in such cases, but due to his limited knowledge, he was unable to pinpoint the cause.
He still extremely needed to understand where he was, so that he would have the ability to create a benchmark where he could place his predictions on, before he could reach conclusions.
With that in mind, Noel licked his dry lips, turning his attention to the incoming response of Pepa.
Pepa-rita frowned, as she felt that Noel was getting an unpleasant image of her.
"I suppose Pepa does not seem to like what you are thinking about her, forget-me-not," she spoke before walking towards Noel with her hands open, looking at him bitterly.
She opened and closed her small hands in front of Noel.
"Now give Stacy back. I answered your question, forget-me-not."
"Hm?" Noel snapped out of his thoughts as the little girl before him, a frown creased his brows, struggling to piece up what she was trying to convey with her general actions.
"Give Stacy to me this instant, forget-me-not," Pepa muttered impatiently, her gaze lingering on the cute wand in his hands that seemed to carry more secrets than it could afford, before settling on his unmoved deep eyes that were locked on hers as well.
He sighed, tucking it in his pocket, his eyes not leaving hers for a moment.
"I will give it, however... I want you to answer all of my questions firstly. Go sit again so I can ask you what I will need to, girly, or you can forget about getting your cute wand back. Why do you need the wand urgently, if you don't mind sharing, for starters?"
he replied, his voice carefully neutral, aware that it could produce undesired results. However, due to his nature, he was not one to give up something so readily without an equal benefit.
And as they say, information is gold. Data is the most important asset in any world, no matter how little it is. Even little data could prove crucial for surviving a game of roulette with the unpredictability of this world.
The only reason he did not hand her the wand was because of the mystical feeling he had experienced as he played with the wand silently in his pocket. It was almost as if he could detect a faint hint of unnatural energy inside it, and this odd feeling intrigued him as he decided to analyze it more.
Unfortunately, it seemed that fate did not want to give him a chance to.
Pepa did not budge from her spot, irritation sprawled all across her face, the tips of her eyes a bit red.
"Then I suppose you leave Pepa no choice after all, forget-me-not."
"Oh, and what will you do? Care to demonstrate?" he remarked, tilting his head in thoughtfulness, as he calculated the potential negative results that could occur. "Will you kill me?"
Pepa gazed intently at him for a few moments, not answering him, before she walked a few steps backwards, maintaining a short distance, her eyes still on him. She merely observed him, her eyes lingering on him calmly.
And Noel suddenly felt something odd with his own body. His heart had started beating uncomfortably at an unusual rate as if breaking free from the clutches of his ribcage, as he took a few steps back as well, his eyes scanning her as if searching for a clue of what had changed in her.
He knew that he was pushing his luck too much, and that sooner or later his consequences would catch up with him.
She suddenly raised the nail of her index finger before she trailed it on her left forearm, her nail piercing effortlessly into her skin as if it was going through something virtual.
A nail with polish in the shape of a cute, white rabbit on her middle finger, yet the bunny held no expression other than the bowtie at its neck section.
A pale blue color seeped out, her blood, as she gently smeared it with her palm across her forearm, approaching the method calculatingly. She used her other hand to do the same with her right forearm, continuously proceeding with the same steps.
The girl's intent had shifted to something more profound than her previous cheerful attitude.
"I suppose now is a good time to do it, forget-me-not."
[Aivara Naimirus 9]
Her lips parted in such a method, yet no words came out. Due to the amount of blood on her forearms, it quickly dried. With her preparations being done, she stared dead into Noel's eyes, and that was when Noel's internal alarms blared to run for his precious life.
"Hehe..." Pepa giggled mischievously, yet Noel could hear clear ominous intent in the giggle that seemed to be the most innocent in the world.
His eyes widened as both Pepa's forearms had black text appear on them for a moment. The dark text then rapidly turned into a shade of dark blue text that turned into runes, before they started going back and forth like how a chainsaw would, similar to how alternating current operated.
Noel stood there in silence, his eyes scanning his surroundings as he contemplated an escape. He was outwardly calm, but inwardly his breathing had hitched, sweat gathering quite a bit at his forehead.
He looked at the wand in his hand, before he muttered an incantation he gave a try to, shaking it lightly in a specific motion, his teeth biting the edge of his tongue to bleed it if necessary to clear his mind.
"... Lighting," he muttered, his eyes not leaving the girl before him that had leaned forward with her hands behind her back, a smile on her face.
Nothing occurred. No sparks, no flicker even. It merely remained silent, no more responsive than what a coffin would be akin to.
It seemed he did not have an aptitude for magic, or there was a step he was missing. As if it would have been this simple, there seemed much more he would need to learn.
Badump.
Something shifted in the air, and he merely stood frozen, as a sense of his brain informed him of his imminent demise. Noel's strained eyes that had frozen flickered towards the girl that was standing eerily silent, observing him with her eye that had turned a shade of grey.
'Now!'
Using all the energy he could muster from his body that had given up on his life, he threw the wand with all the power he could assemble towards Pepa's location. The wand flew in the air before the arc lowered, the wand approaching the rug at an unusually high speed.
Yet before it touched it, it halted midair, as if something invisible was holding it. As if swallowed by space, it disappeared, reappearing in the eyes of the little girl that tilted her head with wide eyes as she registered the stick.
"S-Stacy?"
A smile bloomed across her expressionless face as she gently rubbed the stick as if verifying its integrity before she closed her eyes, snapping her fingers as the wand disappeared.
She turned disinterestedly towards the young man who was clutching his chest, sweat trickling down his neck, his eyes not moving from the girl before him.
Invisible chains. No, only one chain. She had summoned one chain that was about to pierce him if he was not fast enough to throw the wand. Despite being quite fit, he was sure that he would not have the ability to dodge the attack; no amount of dodging or shields could block such a thing, even if an anti-missile tank had taken his place.
"Pepa—"
"Miss Pepa. Pepa's name is Miss Pepa, forget-me-not," she uttered, her pride evident in her voice as she strolled towards Noel, her hands behind her back. Her small black shoes tapped softly across the soft rug, before she appeared before him suddenly as if she had teleported.
Noel was not fazed, however. He lowered his hand as he watched her looking at him with utter indifference. Or rather laziness. He knew she wouldn't kill him, at least not now. She had the ability, but him being here not on the other side of Styx proved such a fact.
"Do not underestimate me because I am small, forget-me-not. Pepa does not like it."
Noel watched her for a moment before nodding his head subtly, as he sighed in something akin to relief. He collapsed to the carpet, his chest rising slowly as he reflected on everything that had happened since he came to this world.
He needed to know where he was. Why. The questions kept on increasing, but he was unable to fulfill a single one of his questions, and it had begun to bother him. But he had no choice; after all, it was him that had lost the privilege of questioning her. Pushed her limits.
"Pepa's name is Miss Pepa-rita. My title is... The Witch of Negligence, forget-me-not."
Pepa-rita walked a few steps with her back to him before she stopped and turned around, a small smile on her lips. She closed her eyes as she leaned back in the air. Instead of collapsing to the floor, however, a white and light pink mattress appeared as she collapsed to it, a stuffed white rabbit appearing on it.
She embraced the rabbit to herself, slowly petting it as she spaced out for a moment.
"I welcome you to the world of Cireya, a world where..."
She paused, her eyes turning cold.
"Where nothing rules, without ruler, but no chaos. A world...
"Where everything loses its worth."