Asher's eyes fluttered open.
Disorientated, he shifted around his body to take in his surroundings.
The light that peered through his eyelids suggested to him that it was morning.
"Don't move." Little Red's voice beside him gave a warning.
Too late for that.
Asher's head burst with pain as the slight movement from turning his head made him violently nauseous. Even the damp cloth on his forehead did little to alleviate the agonizing pain shivering through his flesh.
He moaned, falling back onto his bed.
"red… you saved me, didn't you?" A soft whisper came from the boy in the cot.
"Hm."
Asher turned his body to face his savior with a struggling, feeble heave.
"thanks." His eyes curved upward as he stared at her.
Little Red shook her head, leaning back on the bedside chair.
"No need." She crossed her arms-
Asher's breath escaped him..
Arm.
Where the woman's left arm was supposed to be was a mere stump of flesh, bound by a faded crimson bandage.
"-!" Asher clutched his head in nausea, but continued, "you… they took your arm…"
Little Red scoffed.
"Yeah. I'll survive.Though I suppose my chance with the wolf this time has gone to shit now."
Asher mustered a thin grimace, gesturing toward the bandaged stump with his hand.
The words he wanted to say failed to reach his lips, so he resorted to an amateur charade instead. He pointed to his shoulder, unwrapping a line of invisible bandages from his arm.
In a few seconds, the extent of Little Red's wound came to light. Her arm had been severed at the middle of the bicep. The wound was remarkably clean, as if it was sliced by a laser.
From where he lay, Asher could make out a sliver of white in the middle of the flesh, the bone of her arm.
Asher blinked, taking in the information in a daze.
"Done staring? Heal yourself. I'll survive just fine."
Asher stubbornly shook his head, eyeing the woman with a 'you don't understand' in his eyes.
"…closer…"
Little Red growled, but ultimately complied with his feverish request.
She stood from her chair, kneeling next to him instead.
Asher laughed as Little Red glared at him.
He trembled, raising his arms.
Little Red flinched as two small hands clasped her wolf's-teeth mask. The boy below her let out a tired murmur, opening his mouth.
Asher's voice trembled as he mustered his strength.
"Room."
What would the 'room' be like this time, with Little Red with him?
As Asher's vision faded, his mind drifted to that crimson shadow from last time.
…
"Get up."
"Huh-?"
A hand briskly grabbed his neck, pulling him into the air. Asher yelped, his eyes snapping open in an instant.
The ground below him was blood red, oozing some sort of rust-smelling mist.
"What is this, another skill of yours?"
Little Red squeezed his neck, bringing his eyes parallel to hers.
"...Yem. Though, how's your arm feeling now?."
The woman flinched, only now noticing the presence of her left arm. She relaxed her grip on his neck, shifting some of her attention to her new limb.
However, the uncomfortable pressure on Asher's throat didn't fade completely. Little Red swept his body in a horizontal circle, allowing him to see the full extent of the room they found themselves in.
"Did you choose this place on purpose?" Little Red growled in his ear as he took in the walls around him.
It was an ordinary room, save for the overpowering crimson hue that seeped into every inch of it. A medium sized bed was placed in the middle of the room, and a mirror leaning on the left side of the wall painted a familiar picture of a room that he had been in before.
Only this time, the only color he could see was red.
'This must be the red world that I caught a glimpse of last time. Red's reaction means she knows something about this place.'
Asher's mind raced as Little Red's grip slowly tightened around his neck.
"No, I have no clue what this is. My skill is called [Nostalgic Room], so…"
The name alone gave an insight of its function.
The woman released her grip, allowing Asher to collapse on the ground. Taking advantage of his prone position, Asher swept his palm along the floor. The texture of ordinary wooden planks scraped his skin.
A thoughtful expression touched his face.
Asher decided to prod with some questions of his own.
"Have you been here before?"
Little Red nodded. Of course she had been here before. The function of the skill itself, combined with the strange effect this mission had on the room, made sure of it.
"Then, what is this place?"
The woman shook her head, pointing to the mirror a few meters away from them. The glass screen was currently unfunctioning, showing a murky red color instead of an actual reflection.
"No more questions. It will start soon." She shushed him, her tone surprisingly meek.
A few minutes passed as they waited in silence. The smell of rust grew stronger as Asher felt the texture of the floor become spongy in anticipation underneath him.
Suddenly, the mirror shimmered. It showed a vision, not of their reflection, but of another world, vibrant with the colors that were absent from this crimson nightmare.
On the other side was the same girl Asher's soul inhabited last time.
Her golden amber eyes fluttered as she looked into the mirror with curiosity.
"Little Red?"
She waved; Little Red copied.
"Who's… who's that beside you? Another friend?"
The crimson hooded figure nodded wordlessly, prompting a giggle from the little girl.
"Nice to meet you!" She bowed politely, though with her stature it looked more cute than formal. Going with the flow, Asher found himself waving to her as well.
They simply stood there for a few seconds, observing each other. Finally, the girl broke the silence with a wide grin.
"Little Red! Wanna know what I'm doing today??"
The woman blinked, narrowing her eyes.
So it was this day. She knew, of course she did. But there was a script to follow.
"What is it?"
"Hehehe~ I'm going to my grandmama's today! Mom says I can go by myself too!"
Asher glanced beside him as he felt an emotion rising in Little Red's body. Her cloak began to flutter and shift along the ground. He placed a hand on her shoulder, unsure what was going on but also wishing to comfort her.
She ignored his touch, focused completely on the task in front of her.
"Good luck," the woman tore out the words from her throat with difficulty. "Be careful."
She stepped forward, resting her hand on the glass surface.
The girl tilted her head, but quickly caught onto the woman's intention, also laying her hand onto the glass.
Her splayed fingers overlapped with Little Red's.
And the world drowned in red.
…
Asher gasped, shooting up from his bed. Little Red sat on the bedside chair, her expression similarly disconcerted.
'What was that?' What Asher just saw didn't resolve any of his confusion. It would be more accurate to say more confusion was created than resolved.
Just what was the relationship between the shadow and the girl?
Little Red wasn't too concerned about the visions of the room, at least outwardly, instead more focused on her new arm.
Her smooth, cream-colored skin was otherwise unmarred except for a raking claw wound on her bicep and two vicious bite marks on her forearm, creating several valleys of garish red scar tissue that highlighted her clear porcelain skin.
With a start, Asher realized that this was the first time he had actually seen her skin, as before she had always hidden it under leather wrappings.
Though, her skin tone was remarkably similar to the girl he just saw.
Little Red clenched her fist.
"This… Ah, I have a chance again." She spread out onto the chair, breathing a huge sigh of relief.
She closed her eyes, immersed in almost meditative silence.
Finally, the woman noticed Asher's stare, craning her head to the side.
"You idiot."
"Eh??"
Little Red scoffed as Asher's expression begged for a 'thank you' that she certainly wouldn't give.
"If you had just stayed put, I wouldn't have even lost my arm in the first place." She growled, using her finger to poke at his forehead.
The woman's touch was deceptively soft, conveying a feeling of lightheartedness despite her harsh tone.
"Ehe~ …Sorry." Asher flashed an innocent giggle before being cut off by a near depressive guilt. What she said was true, if he hadn't been so stupid to wander outside during the night, none of this would have happened.
"It's alright. Hope you learnt your lesson."
Little Red stood up. She had already re-concealed her exposed arm with leather bindings without Asher's notice, reverting to her original appearance. An outside observer would never be able to tell that she had recently had her arm cut off.
Before she could close the door behind herself, Asher cleared his throat to grab her attention.
"So, when will 'that' happen? The next full moon, I mean."
Little Red closed her eye with exhaustion, surprising Asher with her lack of reaction.
Perhaps the vision affected her more than he was led to believe.
"Four days. You can explore the forest before sundown. Not much to do around here except that. Shout if you need me."
Little Red briskly turned away, leaving Asher to himself.
"What should I do…"
The System, either by accident or on purpose, answered his rhetorical question.
[Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary's suggestion is reasonable. Even during daytime, hidden treasures may present themselves to you, if the Host knows where to look.]
"Hah, such as? What, is there gonna be gold buried under an X drawn in the dirt or something?"
[Remember the Congealed Corpse.] An exasperated prompt responded to his equally exasperated question.
Memories of yesterday's chemical trip flashed through Asher's mind, causing his hair to stiffen.
"R-Right. I can find stuff like that."
[Correct. Factoring the restorative ability of the Room, the probability of death is near zero during the daytime. It may be suitable to treat this four day period as a break from the City.]
"Hehehe…" Vacation. Asher liked the sound of that.
Asher pumped his fist into the air and leapt out of bed, abruptly full of energy.
"Let's find some devil mushrooms! Wait, is it possible to tell me which ones are poisonous? How much info can my 'authority' get about these things?"
[Currently, it is possible to obtain a general summary of specified objects in your vision. Exact effects, such as the amount of statistics gained or lost, can only be obtained through trial and error through Host's own effort.]
"Hm…"
Asher nodded his head, rubbing his chin as he wondered if he should just stay home for a few days.
In the end, his curiosity got the better of him. A small part of him realized the opportunity in front of him, how he could learn more about ingested chemicals, knowledge he could definitely bring to his own world.
He thought about the various drug stores he walked past in the Neon District with Sophie.
Asher never really gave them too much attention before. He made a mental note to check them out further when he got back to the real world.
'I had bad experiences with that 'drug' from yesterday, but I wonder if some of my Fixers could benefit from enhancements.'
As of now, Pete, Mangchi, and Aiko were impossibly weak, at least from what he had seen so far.
Drugs could bridge otherwise impossible gaps in stats. Something they needed, he believed.
What he didn't know were the events in the Kurokumo's Pound. Asher still believed his Fixers to be weaklings like when he first met them; the truth had changed slightly from last time they met.
But that was for another time, for after this mission was completed.
What was the topic again?
Right, drugs.
Thinking about it a bit more, Asher shook his head. The Congealed Corpse's aftereffects were too debilitating to be worth the benefits by any stretch of the imagination.
"But hey, who knows what's out there; maybe there are ones with less harmful side effects."
Asher donned his crimson cloak, stepping outside.
And who knew if there would be something that could help him in this mission.