Okarin woke up in the middle of the night, gasping.
Their futon was soaked through.
They clutched their chest painfully and curled up tightly into a ball.
It was a nightmare.
A very painful nightmare.
They wanted to cry more, but Okarin had done a lot of crying lately, so their eyes were dry.
+ + +
It was Vicious.
She was there, sparkly. Laughing.
She was chattering with that hateful shrine maiden, but the audio was muted. Okarin couldn't hear what they were saying.
The Liberi gestured at Okarin, pointing at them, and then walked up and grabbed Okarin by their hair. She shook Okarin playfully, said something to the pink-haired miko, and then laughed. Okarin was like a toy, and they were dragged around like a rag doll. Their scalp hurt. It hurt to have Okarin's hair pulled. Okarin struggled, trying to lessen the pain.
Vicious didn't seem to care. She didn't look at Okarin. Vicious was looking somewhere else.
Okarin was the same as an object to her. The two girls laughed.
Vicious was carrying that kanabo.
She lifted the kanabo.
And then struck Okarin like a piñata.
The slime person gasped with pain, a purple bruise immediately appeared on their midsection.
White stars and dazzling lights.
The two girls laughed.
They struck Okarin again.
And again.
Okarin's cheeks were bruised, and fluid was dripping from their toes.
They were suspended by their hair and covered with discolored welts.
Slimes were resistant to blunt damage. Perfect for target practice. It was perfectly convenient for training.
Vicious struck Okarin harder.
Vicious's eyes were ruby red.
Okarin opened their mouth to say something.
—That it hurt. It really hurt.
To plea with Vicious.
But suddenly the dreamscape changed.
Okarin didn't have a mouth anymore. They didn't have any limbs either.
Okarin was just a slime.
A small round dumb slime who couldn't talk.
Vicious lifted the kanabo and smashed it downwards.
She pummeled the ball of bluish fluid with all her strength, like a chef pounding a ball of mochi or tenderizing a filet of meat.
The slime screamed wordlessly.
—Vicious!
—Vicious!
—Please! Please Vicious!
—It's me! You're hurting me!
It was the voice trapped inside Okarin's mind.
The slime was crying.
But slimes didn't cry and they didn't talk.
Okarin was just an ordinary mute slime.
Vicious didn't care for a dumb slime.
It was just a slime.
You could find slimes anywhere.
Adventurer’s killed slimes.
Vicious smiled and took out a kitchen knife.
Okarin was on a cutting board on the kitchen table, like a slab of uncooked meat.
The ostrich girl blew a kiss to Sora, the shrine maiden, who was right beside her.
Then she lifted her arms and plunged the knife into Okarin's flesh and the slime gasped.
Their core!
They were dying.
Suddenly Okarin could hear words again.
"It's okay dear," Vicious shimmied up to Sora in a romantic embrace. "I got rid of the big bad slime. We can have our dinner now."
The girl reached with one hand without looking.
She gripped handled of knife and twisted viciously.
The two girls were kissing.
Okarin's core split into two and shattered.
And then Okarin was dead.
+ + +
Okarin was standing at the balcony, leaning against the rails.
Yato Machi was a city in the clouds.
It was cold outside. The mountain was rocky.
The moon was high in the sky.
You couldn't see the city below, with how thick the clouds were tonight.
Their chest hurt.
Okarin missed the grass.
And the dirt.
They wanted to be in a puddle.
But it didn't rain in a city above the clouds.
Despite the enthusiasm they had shown earlier the previous day, slime person was deeply unhappy.
Briefly, Okarin wondered if they were going to die here.
When they had left Scribel City, Okarin had an odd premonition they might never see that place again.
They had a feeling they weren't going to live for much longer.
That somehow... in some way... they would meet their end doing something stupid and ridiculous for Vicious.
Or they might even be killed by Vicious's own kanabo.
There was a wry smile on Okarin's face, as they thought about Elaine's meaningless threat.
"
I know she doesn't like me," they whispered a secret into the nighttime air. "
I'm not that stupid."
The slime was somber as they looked at the moon.
"
I guess I will try to be useful until the very end?"
How long until the end?
Okarin had no idea, other than the fact that they knew the end was coming.
Okarin pulled themselves up and went back inside from the balcony.
They couldn't sleep, so maybe it was a good time to write a letter to the guild.
They sat down at a desk and wrote down a few quick observations about Fuyu Machi from the market yesterday — like the existence of toilet paper, bamboo water pipes, and luxurious bath houses.
There were probably many adventurers who would be excited to learn that such advanced plumbing existed in the Beastman city. Surely, that could be one of the many reasons why adventurers may want to come here in the future.
They signed their name and sealed the letter.