"What do we do?" Soho whispered. "We only came up with a way to take him out swiftly, but how do we make it look like an accident in a kitchen?"
I tried to think up a plan as quickly as I could.
"Turn on the stove," I told Soho. "We can light a spark, get him caught in a fire, and make it look like it was caused by his heating Fractal."
"Wouldn't he be resistant to fire?" Soho asked.
"No. Ian's notes only said that his body had conductive properties akin to heat. That shouldn't mean he's resistant to it."
"Got it." Soho went over and turned on all the stoves. I grabbed a rusty pan and a spoon from the back.
Now we wait.
On the other side of the wall, in the seating area of the cafeteria, Dante approached the kitchen while pondering about what the kids would like to eat.
"Green bean casserole? No, most of them don't like green beans. I think I remember seeing some crispy rice treats in the pantry yesterday. Maybe I'll get that instead…"
Dante's train of thought was interrupted when he heard a stove fan turn on inside the kitchen.
"Huh?"
We'd turned on the fan closest to the door in order to direct all the stove gas in its direction. That's when the door opened, and in walked Dante.
"Static." Soho had stickified the floor.
Screech—!
I scraped the pan and spoon together, producing a spark right by the stove.
Fwoosh—!!!
Flame twirled out of thin air, surging directly towards Dante's face. It all happened so quickly that there was no time to react. A bright orange ember engulfed him upon just the first step. He screamed a horrid screech of burning pain. The anguish of being embellished in flames as he stood there, still, unable to do anything but assimilate the fire, and understand the fire.
"Argh—!!! Urk—!!!" I could see him trying to withstand the pain. Still trying to move. His melting mouth tried to form incomprehensible words. "Ki—ids…!!!"
I have to finish him off now. I can't let him possibly achieve a Fractal Activation.
As I withdrew my knife and nearly dashed forwards, Soho suddenly grabbed my arm in a hesitating moment. "I-I can't anymore…"
"W-What—?" I was confused. Soho looked pale. "What's wrong?"
The heat in the room was growing with the flames. Dante's screams only grew with it.
"There're too many m-memories coming back right now. I-I can't…"
Soho was shivering. She looked small and fragile. I'd never, ever seen her like this before.
"C-Can we please go?" She asked.
I looked at her, unable to respond at first. There I stood in a place between an unfinished target, and a weakened friend. It was up to me to choose which responsibility to prioritize. I noticed the emergency exit at the back of the kitchen—an easy getaway and escape. Then I looked back at Dante, who continued to scream in agony as he stood in the growing flames. Within the brightness of the blaze, I could only see the silhouette of his soon-to-be burned corpse.
He's nearly finished already. There's no use in going any further.
I'd made up my mind.
"Let's go, Soho." I grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "We've done enough. There won't be anything left of him after that."
I began leading her towards the back of the kitchen where we barged through the emergency exit. Not to my surprise, although a fire had broken loose inside Sunnyside Orphanage, no fire alarm had gone off.
They probably couldn't afford that too.
We ran off, as far away as we could from the orphanage.