When I open my eyes, I'm back on the clouds.
The same impossible white clouds stretching in every direction. The same perfect blue sky. The same golden light that comes from everywhere and nowhere.
I'm getting really fucking tired of this place.
I push myself to my feet, my body feeling whole again. No blood. No poison burning through my veins. No suffocation. Just... reset.
And standing in front of me, exactly where I knew she'd be, is the goddess.
But this time, she's different.
Very different.
She's not wearing her usual flowing robes. Instead, she's dressed in something that looks like it came straight out of a Las Vegas showgirl's wardrobe—except somehow even more revealing.
Her outfit is a glittering bodysuit made of what looks like diamond-encrusted fabric.
It sparkles and catches the golden light with every slight movement.
The top is cut so low it's barely there at all, just two triangular pieces of fabric held together by thin straps, struggling to contain her large breasts.
The deep V of the neckline plunges all the way down past her navel.
The bodysuit is cut high on her hips, showing off the length of her legs, and there are strategic cutouts along her sides, revealing strips of pale skin from her ribs to her hips. She's wearing long glittering gloves that go up past her elbows, and on her head sits a elaborate feathered headdress that adds another foot to her height.
She looks like she's about to spin a wheel on a game show.
Which, I realize with growing dread, is probably exactly the point.
She's posing, one hand on her hip, the other held up in a theatrical gesture. Her lips are painted a bright red, curved into a wide smile.
"Welcome back, Kaito!" she says cheerfully, her voice dripping with amusement.
I just stare at her, still processing the fact that I died. Again. From poisoned food this time.
"You—" I start, but she cuts me off.
"You let your guard down!" she says, laughing. "Oh, it was perfect. You were so careful with the prostitute, so smart to run away. And then you thought you were safe and—" She makes a gesture like something exploding. "Poisoned food! Classic!"
She's laughing now, actually laughing, her shoulders shaking with genuine mirth.
The movement makes her breasts bounce in that barely-there top, and I force myself to look away.
"This isn't funny," I say, my voice tight. "I died. Again."
"Oh, but it is funny," she says, wiping at her eyes. "You have no idea how entertaining you are. Two deaths in one day!"
I clench my fists, anger overriding the fear for a moment.
"Let me go," I say. "Send me back to Earth. I want to quit."
Her laughter stops immediately.
She looks at me, her golden eyes suddenly cold despite the smile still on her face.
"No," she says simply.
"I can't do this," I say, my voice rising. "I can't keep dying over and over. I can't—"
"That's not allowed," she interrupts, her tone still cheerful but with an edge of steel underneath. "You agreed to play."
"I didn't agree to anything! You pushed me!"
"Details," she says with a wave of her gloved hand.
She steps closer, her heels clicking on the clouds somehow despite them being made of vapor.
She's right in front of me now, so close I can smell that intoxicating scent again—flowers and honey and something else.
And then she leans in and kisses my cheek.
It's quick, playful, her lips soft and warm against my skin. But it sends a jolt through my entire body.
She pulls back, still smiling.
"I believe in you, Kaito," she says, her voice dripping with false encouragement. "I truly do. I believe you'll become a great madman."
The way she says it makes it clear—she's saying she believes I'll fail. That I'll lose everything. That I'm bound to lose.
"Now then," she says, spinning away from me with a theatrical flourish. "Let's see what you lose this time!"
Behind her, the Wheel of Fate appears.
The massive golden wheel materializes out of nothing, hovering in the air. Still divided into those twenty or thirty segments, each one covered with a colorful question mark.
But now the wheel is decorated.
Glittering lights have been added to the frame, flashing and pulsing like a game show prop. It looks even more gaudy than before, matching the goddess's outfit perfectly.
She positions herself next to it, striking a pose like a game show hostess.
One hand on the wheel, the other gesturing toward it grandly.
"Let's! Play! The! Game!" she announces, her voice taking on that theatrical quality.
And then she grabs the wheel and spins it.
The wheel rotates, faster and faster, the segments blurring together into a rainbow of colors. The clicking sound is rhythmic, hypnotic.
Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick—
But I'm barely watching the wheel.
Because the goddess is posing beside it, and her outfit—that glittering, barely-there outfit—is impossible to ignore.
Every time she shifts her weight, her breasts move.
The thin fabric struggles to contain them. She arches her back slightly, pushing her chest forward, and I swear the triangles of fabric are going to give up entirely.
She knows exactly what she's doing. She's positioning herself deliberately, making sure I can't focus on just the wheel.
My eyes keep darting between the spinning segments and her body, unable to settle on one or the other.
The wheel and her breasts are fighting for my attention, and I hate that it's working.
The wheel begins to slow.
Tick... tick... tick...
She leans forward, her breasts nearly spilling out of the top as she watches the wheel with exaggerated anticipation.
Tick... tick...
"Come on," she sing-songs. "What will it be? What will Kaito lose this time?"
Tick...
The wheel comes to a stop.
A purple question mark sits at the top, aligned with the golden pointer.
The goddess claps her hands together with delight.
"Ooh! Purple! That's a good one!"
She reaches up and peels away the question mark like a sticker, revealing what's underneath.
A symbol.
A simple drawing of a nose.
I stare at it.
"A... nose?" I say.