Chapter 14:

Doctor D stayed silent. His words could provoke the anomaly, and given her previous manipulations of someone else's perception of reality — he couldn't guarantee his own safety in the event of a provocation. So the most logical decision under the circumstances was silent observation.

— Can't you hear anything? You know — something like an irritating mosquito whine that forms into words?

Doctor D's gears were turning frantically. If he ignored the question — the anomaly might perceive it as a challenge. But if he answered — it might turn out to be a trap, with the mosquito remark being an analogy for his own helplessness in the face of her power. Which was clearly a prelude to an experience not particularly suited to a human body.

Although it had been stated that the anomaly would follow the rules of the game and likewise had no right to refuse them — nowhere had it been mentioned that she couldn't cheat. Because right now Doctor D was distracting a player, yet no punishment had followed. Which meant the anomaly was indifferent to outside interference — though the limits of her tolerance were not something Doctor D intended to test with his own skin.

— You know, this mosquito blabs such amusing nonsense. For instance — I don't know your name, but I know they call you Doctor D. Want to know what else this mosquito let slip to me? It's definitely something soooo important that I really shouldn't know. Want to guess? If you get it right — I might give you something truly wonderful. Of course, if you agree — I'm *certainly* not forcing anything~

Her resonant voice might have been pleasant — certainly not in a situation where she was indirectly threatening the doctor's life, which was making him increasingly nervous. But the most nerve-wracking part? Just as the anomaly couldn't refuse the game — neither could the doctor. And the most terrifying part? The conditions clearly stated that the anomaly could only call for games accessible to kindergarteners. But an argument wasn't even a game. Which meant the definition of "game" likely depended on the anomaly itself, or on external conditions.

— You think such interesting thoughts~ If everything in my head right now weren't so blurry — all sorts of equally interesting things could happen to you~. It seems that person named... what did that mosquito call him again? Right! Chuck! Was getting a little fermented — well, his existence was already starting to ferment on its own. Wait — does that mean I'm fermented too? And if I'm fermented — am I beer?!

Moreover, although the anomaly resembled a humanoid, her sanity remained questionable...

— Did you just call me unsound of mind — hic?! I did NOT just hiccup! You imagined it. And I — hic — seem to be getting drunk.

Even now. Although the anomaly had chosen to look like an attractive girl of about sixteen — she referred to herself exclusively in the masculine grammatical form.

— Because I'm a man! Hic — a bit tipsy. But enough thinking about me! Let's think about you, Doctor D, stalling for time until the response team arrives. You're trying so deviously not to play with me... I'm sooo sad. But you still have to answer — I'll give you twenty seconds!

They say a threat to one's life is the best motivator. Doctor D doesn't know which vile bastard said that — but they're damn right. His gears were currently processing information at the absolute limit of their capacity.

— 19.

What had the original question been? It concerned how much the other party knew.

— 18.

She had definitely mentioned that Doctor D was stalling for time — but hadn't named his true purpose. There were only two possibilities: either she didn't know, or she was deliberately pretending not to know.

— 15.

Her question could have been driven by a desire to satisfy her own sadism — but up to this point she clearly hadn't been doing that, and had simply been following the rules of the game.

— 12.

Her access to information was either limited, or she was confident in her own power. But if that were truly the case — she wouldn't be playing with Doctor D right now, she would simply have devoured him.

— 9.

Earlier, when she had mentioned her knowledge — she had repeated, with excessive precision, exactly what Doctor D had been thinking in passing. Moreover, she had known that person's name, and had even commented on his life. However, this could have been a deliberate ploy.

— 6.

Ah, damn it! He didn't have enough time to deliberate — he would have to commit to the most plausible option. Something was always threatening his life! Why couldn't they assign him to safe-level anomalies?!

— You have less than three seconds remaining. The answer must be spoken after one second, or sooner. Oh — seems I got carried away talking, and time's run out. So what do I know~?

— You might know surface-level information about the people you've come into contact with!

— Tch, a deal's a deal.

And with those words she leapt straight into Doctor D's arms. Her body had no scent whatsoever — but it created a stark and quite palpable sense of something missing. As if scent were something so unnecessary that it wasn't even worth bringing along. Which made the body now in Doctor D's arms feel somewhat unnatural.

Of course, that only applied to scent. The human-like warmth, along with the hypnotic softness of her skin, were so natural that they raised questions of their own. Her appearance was striking enough as it was — but small gestures, like the fluttering of her eyes or a faint trembling in her hands, provoked thoughts entirely unsuited to the current situation, whose age rating seemed to keep climbing relentlessly.

And something extremely broad and soft, currently resting right in his arms, was causing something that absolutely should not be showing any signs of activity right now to rise. Not after an ordinary civilian had just been dissolved into golden mist and devoured by this extremely dangerous anomaly — whose soft, if modest, chest was pressed right against his, whose pinkish-red eyes, as if detached from reality, twitched out of focus.

— Hic — is that a chocolate bar in your pocket? Something's — hic — poking into my backside.

Damn it. he thinks he might be enjoying this — what was Doctor D supposed to do? Right now, having been innocent for so long that he'd soon qualify for the title of wizard — and whose experience with women was limited to his mother and grandmother — he was holding in his arms an incomparable (and possibly underage) beauty who would never have looked twice at him in real life. Besides the tactile confirmation, he was also experiencing a strange temptation toward breaking some kind of taboo. If this kept going, he felt he would betray the wizards' community and defect to the muggles. But on the other hand — how would a not-entirely-sane, yet still female, person react if, while sitting on a stranger's lap, something suddenly pressed sharply against a certain part of her body that Doctor D certainly didn't find seductively appealing?

For some reason cold sweat began breaking out on Doctor D again — but his "magic wand," which he had sworn to guard like the apple of his eye until marriage, decided to betray its master and be knocked loose by the sinister anomaly. Which, for some reason, sounded more and more appealing with each passing second.

And from a purely physiological standpoint — could this really be considered an act of betrayal? Isn't it natural for organs to perform their functions? Just as the tongue produces saliva at the sight of a delicious dish, so the nose wrinkles at an irritating smell. So right now Doctor D wasn't doing anything wrong at all — this was a natural and entirely logically justified reaction.

He would still be caressed only by the wind, and on his path to becoming an archmage, demons of debauchery would not be able to break his will!

But contrary to his thoughts, his body was honest. And that particular phrase, for some reason, sounded ominously reminiscent of the beginning of a certain piece of visual art founded by Katsushika Hokusai in 1814 — whose history he had, of course, never studied in any detail, and his computer's hard drive simply happens to have a self-destruct function for no particular reason at all.

Yes, this was definitely normal.

— Your scent is driving me out of my mind!

Or so he thought — until the beauty, her face flushed red, began breathing against his neck. Right now Doctor D, it seemed, was beginning to grasp true spiritual values and was ready to abandon the path of the wizard for the defining transformation of his life! Mother, today your boy becomes a man!

Chomp.

— AAAAAA!

No — Doctor D was a complete idiot for even daring to think something forbidden about an anomaly. And right now he was paying for his stupidity in blood. Literally.

Although the anomaly had rabbit ears on her head — she was, for some reason, sucking his blood more fiercely than any vampire. So much so that Doctor D's head was beginning to spin, while the creature kept right on sucking — even smacking her lips. Mother, your boy is starting to fear women...