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Nazrin stood alone on the porch outside her room. It gave into a square garden, surrounded by the Kiketsu Estate, the Kiketsu Family’s extensive headquarters. She rested on the edge of the porch, with her head looking down and her legs hanging in the air.
She reflected upon her current situation, in her search for treasure she had been tricked and sent to hell, where she was confronted and beaten by her Yachie Kicchou, forced to work for her new boss as the Kiketsu Family’s newest slave.
In a single day, she had lost it all, her home, friends and life. It had all been replaced with servitude to the one who had taken everything from her, and yet, she never tried to run away from it, to try to return to her old life.
It was strange, even after losing everything, her heart couldn’t find the will to try to escape. She felt sadness, of course, regret, too. Regret that she never said goodbye to all her loved ones, regret that she’d never see the temple again, regret that, in her memories, a certain tiger’s face was slowly but surely becoming blurrier by the day.
How much time had even passed since this had become the norm? Nazrin did not know. Working for the family had become a monotonous, almost automatic, routine for her. Kicchou wasn’t one to answer her questions either. So she was always in the dark. Kicchou didn’t like it when she asked anything she wasn’t supposed to, even if she tried to hide her annoyance behind a smile.
Nazrin remembered the many times she begged her boss to let her return home and, likewise, the many times she turned to anger and argued with her until Yachie “put her in her place,” so to speak.
“Good evening, Naz-chan.” Speak of the devil…
Nazrin turned her head to see a cyan skirt behind her, similar to the one she was forced to wear. Looking up, she saw her boss, Yachie Kicchou, looking down on her, with her arms crossed and a calm smile on her face.
“Hello.” Nazrin voiced, unmotivated. Her stomach growled audibly, she hadn’t eaten today.
“Is that really the proper way to greet your superior, Naz-chan?” Yachie’s bothered tone betrayed her smile.
Nazrin stared at her for a moment, until she seemed to realize who she was talking to, quickly getting up on her two feet and bowing before her boss nervously.
“I’m truly sorry, Kicchou-sama! Good evening, Kicchou-sama!” Nazrin sputtered out with anxiety. A nervous shivering travelling through her skin. Offending Kicchou-sama was a one way ticket to corporal punishment, she had learned that the hard way.
“Hmph!” Yachie observed her subordinate. Nazrin, even with her head down, still felt the gaze of her boss sinking itself into her, like a pair of fangs.
“You haven’t been lazing off, have you?” Yachie interrogated her.
“No, Kicchou-sama! I-I promise I’ve finished every task you’ve given me!” Nazrin stuttered for a second, even if what she said was true, being questioned by Yachie Kicchou would put an enormous amount of pressure on anyone, especially the poor mouse.
“Good to know.” Yachie giggled. “However, that’s not the only reason I’ve come to check up on you.” Yachie leaned in closer, looking more serious now. “I’ve been getting reports concerning your… questionable behavior.”
“Huh?” Nazrin raised her head, looking at Yachie in confusion. “Did I d-”
“Did I say you could raise your head!?” Yachie yelled in anger.
Nazrin quickly lowered her head once more.
“Y-You didn’t, Kicchou-sama. I’m d-deeply sorry, Kicchou-sama. P-Please forgive me, Kicchou-sama.” Sweat dripped down her forehead. Was this what servitude really looked like? In all her years of serving Shou, even after much more egregious mistakes, she didn’t recall a single instance of feeling like this. Cornered, threatened, scared.
Nazrin guessed that it was unfair to compare Shou to someone like Kicchou.
“I’ve been informed that you’ve been skipping your meals recently, have you?”
“Uhm…” Nazrin was soon overcome with anxiety once more. “N-No, I haven’t.”
“But my subordinates have said otherwise, are you implying they’re lying?”
Silence.
A hand posed itself on Nazrin’s shoulder, her body instinctively shivered in reaction.
“Look at me, Naz-chan.”
Nazrin did as told. Yachie’s eyes, as red as rubies, had an air of harshness to them. Just by looking at them, Nazrin could feel an oppressive aura engulfing her.
“Listen, Naz-chan,” Yachie posed her palm over Nazrin’s cheek, caressing her, “if you won’t tell me the truth, then I will have to beat it out of you. Do you want a beating?”
“N-No…”
“No what?”
“No, Kicchou-sama.”
“Then answer honestly, have you been skipping your meals, yes or no?”
Yachie’s palm on her cheek felt like it was ready to slap her at any moment. She had no choice.
“Y-Yes, Kicchou-sama, I h-have.”
Yacchie removed her hand from Nazrin’s cheek.
“You do realize that every meal you’re given is a gift from the Family itself, right?”
“Yes, I do, Kicchou-sama.”
“And you do realize that rejecting those meals means you’re rejecting the Family, correct?”
“I do, Kicchou-sama.”
“So why do you continue to reject the Kiketsu Family, which has given you everything you currently possess. Is the food not to your liking? Do you feel entitled to more refined foods? Is my benevolence, my kindness, not good enough for you?” Yachie held a grip on the mouse’s shoulder, reminding her of her place.
“No! I promise it’s not that, Kicchou-sama!” Nazrin shouted and averted her gaze, closing her eyes. The glare of Yachie’s eyes was too much pressure to handle.
“Why then? Explain yourself.” Yachie remained calm, even if her words seemed to indicate otherwise.
Nazrin was left distraught. She had really hoped that no one would notice. That she wouldn’t have to explain herself, she’d have rather starved.
“I… I didn’t want to forget…”
“Hm?”
“Every… Everytime I ate my meals, I felt my memories drifting away. My friends, my home, Shou, my life before coming here… I was forgetting it all. I didn’t want to forget them, Hijiri, Murasa, Ichirin, Shou, I want to see th-”
“Is that really it?” Yachie questioned dryly.
“Huh?!”
“Naz-chan, I’ve told you a million times already, nothing before you met me matters. The Kiketsu Family is everything you need, everything you will ever need.”
“B-But…”
“What you did? Doesn’t matter. Where you lived? Even less. Those people you never shut up about? They don’t matter either. None of it matters. All that matters is the family and me. Understood?”
“But Shou-”
“Shou this, Shou that, you never shut up about that bitch, do you?”
“D-Don’t call her that.” Nazrin whispered.
“Come again?” Yachie inquired, clearly bothered.
Silence. Nazrin knew the punishment for speaking out of line very well.
“Thought so,” Yachie giggled. “You’re so quick to defend her honor even when she’s done nothing to help you.”
Nazrin felt like crying.
“It’s been, what? A year since you’ve come here? I haven’t seen a single one of those temple loonies looking for you around here.” Yachie tightened her grip and leaned her head against the little dowser general’s face.
“Maybe you should come to terms with the fact that they abandoned you. That she abandoned you.”
Nazrin didn’t want to listen to her anymore.
“Shut up!” She yelled. “That’s not true! You know it isn’t! I’m sure Shou is looking for me! She has to be! Shou wouldn’t leave me alone with a piece of shit like y-” a hard smack across her cheek quickly silenced her. It happened in an instant, before she had regained her vision, she was already on her knees, looking at the ground, with her hands over her cheek, trying to contain the burning pain in it.
“That was a favor.” Yachie’s voice echoed behind her. “If I had let you finish that sentence, I would’ve had to take your pinky. Aren’t I forgiving? Toutetsu wouldn’t even consider letting you live.”
She posed her hands on Nazrin’s shoulders, digging into her skin with her nails. Nazrin’s new clothes didn’t cover her shoulders, leaving her skin exposed. Yachie had gotten rid of her old clothes, along with her dousing rods, a long time ago. “You have no need for useless things like that here” was her reasoning.
“I’m giving you another opportunity, Naz-chan. Look. On the ground.” Yachie whispered into her ears.
Nazrin looked down, there was a fresh tomato on the ground. When and how did it get there, she didn’t know. It seemed as red and bright as Kicchou’s eyes.
“It’s fresh produce from my own personal harvest, the best I could find, and it’s all yours.”
Nazrin eyed the tomato, her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten in days, she had barely slept, and the pain burning in her cheek wouldn’t stop. She just wanted it to stop.
“I’m sure you must be hungry, Naz-chan. So go ahead, take a bite. I promise you’ll feel wonderful afterwards.”
Nazrin grabbed the tomato. Holding it between her trembling hands. If a couple of bites was all it took to numb the pain…
She took a bite.
Then another one, and then another one, and another and another, until there was nothing left but the tomato root on the floor.
“Did you enjoy it, Naz-chan?” Yachie whispered into her ear.
“Yes!” Nazrin shouted, gazing straight ahead, not even turning around to look at Yachie.
“Who do you owe this joy to?”
“To the Kiketsu Family, and you, Kicchou-sama!”
“What else do you owe to me and the Kiketsu family?”
“Everything! I owe you everything, Kicchou-sama!”
Yachie giggled, whatever little resistance Nazrin had left in her body had entirely vanished. Yachie went around her subordinate, to look her in the eyes.
“Do you want more?”
She didn’t hesitate to respond.
“Yes! Please, give me more, Kicchou-sama!” Nazrin yelled. Her eyes wide open, completely lacking in sanity, and a stream of tears flooding her otherwise joyous expression. Whatever was left of her old self was slowly leaving her body, along with her tears. The name Toramaru Shou didn’t even register in her mind anymore.