Artist's commentary
Karindou 4 Koma Extra Story Pseudo Short Story [Ghostrick Live] 8
"I didn't do so well..."
Said Ran disappointedly, as she stared with a frown at the target that she shot all her bullets at and gripped the Walther PPK with both hands.
The man-shaped target that was being stared at only had bullet holes in the head and heart areas. Like always, no matter where she aimed, she would only hit fatal locations. This danger was the cause of her current worries.
It had already been 1 week since she had been brought down to the shooting range to relieve stress. Ran had called her friends lots of times as a temporary escape from her homesickness, and after that, she would come down to the shooting range every day. She didn't mean to be influenced by Col, but it was recommended by a majority of the maids as a way to have fun and kill time. Also, only certain monsters could do it, so this was the best and only way to kill time. And so, in a familiar manner, she changed out and slid in a new magazine in one continuous motion, which she had gotten very good at, which pleased Col. According to her, she "had great potential", but she never really said exactly what that potential was.
Behind Ran was Cuey, who realized that her eye beam was more powerful, faster and accurate, and so gave up on firing a gun. Mifi, who had been left behind at the mansion today, was showing her how to make an accessory from beads. She was trying to pick up the beads from a tray on the bench with quivering fingers and thread them onto the thread, but she couldn't get it through that well. Due to the great effort she was putting forth, in 1 hour, she was finally able to thread 3 beads onto it. Although she certainly wasn't that skilled with her fingers, due to the fact that she only had a single eye, she didn't have any depth perception, and couldn't figure out the distance, so it was an oddly high degree of difficulty. And there was over 100 beads left on the tray.
"Having trouble, huh? Though it's not a problem of muscle. I showed it to you like this, but I guess since you turn your human body turned out like that, maybe this is better, Cuey? Sorry for saying this, but the way you and other humans see things are different, and your hands are big, so... I don't think this will work for you like this."
"Uwah... B, but, I want to finish 1 of them..."
"I know, I know, I'm sorry, so don't cry... Oh, you got one, didn't you?"
"Ah, I did. I threaded it! Yay!"
"Yeah. So should we try challenging the next one?"
Just like a child who can go from sad to happy in a blink of an eye, Cuey innocently cheered. Looking at her, Mifi, behind her smile, thought that she couldn't refuse, and she could only persistently stick with it.
(Geez, I really should teach her more reliably, but that's impossible for me. These beads accessories, when I was a child, I just copied what the adults in my tribe were doing, and when I took the pebbles that were used in decorations and tried to string them together for a necklace, I got hit on the head with a fist. After I was adopted by the mistress, the beads came back as something that the former head chamberlain gave to me to play with, but it's not really a hobby of mine. But still, isn't she basically making a mistake, thinking that I'm the only one who can teach her?)
In the Schtlehertz mansion, the only ones who could make trinkets from beads were Mifi and Pink-chan. The other maids... especially the non-human ones, were interested in them, and when they tried to do it before, they would easily crush the beads with their fingers, and with just a slight pull on the string, they would break it. These accidents would keep on happening, and as this was happening, the tray would get knocked over and a huge number of beads would spill onto the floor, and the strings would get tangled, and it be a mess not fitting for making it. Afterwards, she stayed away from that. Pink-chan was more skilled at making them than Mifi, but no matter what she made, it would get turned into some lewd toy, and even if she wasn't trying, it would take on some lewd appearance (For example, even if it was a kit). So for some reason, if you don't include the people who were there due to a request for producing something, she was unqualified to teach, but among the maids, she was widely regarded as being able to.
(But still, even though the head chamberlain asked me to accompany the little mistress as she killed time, in the end, she would do a lot better by learning through observation. The little mistress probably also has some interest, but it seems like she finds guns to be more interesting. ...I don't understand the little mistress or the head chamberlain. What's so great about guns? My grandfather, grandmother, and all of my tribe had their lives taken away. It can kill people so easily with just a little pull of the trigger, it's the absolute worst thing in human history. And the other person would be the little mistress, and the gun's pointed at me, then I... I...!)
Shiver. In Mifi's mind, an unpleasant fire broke out.
(I lost my cool. It must have been a rush of blood to my head...)
She was gripping the neck of a gun-crazed Ran neck with both of her hands, as her own face was distorted in anger. She had embraced her fear so much that she imagined that, and
"Uwaaaaaah!!"
She screamed. From behind her, hands slipped under her apron, and groped Mifi's large breasts.
"Hi, Mifi-chan, you're with the little mistress today?"
"Pink-chan! Y, you, when did you!"
"Just now~ You were making a scary face, so I thought I'd relax you. Yep, I thought Mifi-chan's breasts were big and good for groping~ So how about later tonight?"
"Yours are plenty big. Also, go as the head chamberlain for that sort of thing."
"You're telling me to die?"
"Learn from dying once. So, what is it?"
As she avoiding the hands coming to grope her by knocking them away, Pink-chan sadly drew her hands back. Ran, turning around to see what Mifi's scream was about, was beckoned over by Pink-chan.
"Little mistress, would you like to go out shopping?"
"Shopping...?"
"It's good, right? Don't you want to go, little mistress, you haven't left the estate since you've come here, right? You can spread your wings and buy what you want. It's much more healthy than staying cooped up here shooting guns."
Ran nodded at Mifi's words.
"Yeah, I guess I'll go. I want to go buy souvenirs before I forget."
"Good~ Then, I'll make an appointment with the jewelery store the mistress always goes to. When you're ready, please let me know. The mistress has already called the store, so we have a reservation whenever you want!"
"Jewelery store... Eh, appointment? R, reservation!?"
Ran's eyes opened wide at Pink-chan's words. She thought it would be basic shopping, but the conversation developed into a different dimension. That's right, I forgot, that's how the Schtlehertz family is!
"On a different note, we received a credit card for the little mistress earlier."
"T, This..."
Looking at the card that was nonchalantly handed to her, Ran was speachless.
"Oh? Isn't that a platinum card? Do they hand those out so soon... Ah, that's right, the mistress has a black card, so the little mistress, so they waived the enrollment fee for the little mistress."
"I see~ With this, you can buy all the adult goods you want, little mistress. Yay!"
"I'm not going to buy that!?"
As Ran flusteredly denied that, her voice was already a scream.
Cuey, who was unconcerned about this fuss and was still fighting against the beads, was surprised by Ran's scream, and suddenly threaded the beads onto the string. As she stared at it, she had a look of awe on her face.
It was like a repeated nightmare. She was starting to get used to it, and had forgotten the danger that was the Schtlehertz fortune had a new form in which to bear its fangs.
In addition, this time, she herself could use it as she pleased. She had no idea how high the upper limit was (even a gold card would pierce the heavens of her imagination), but at the minimum, Ran had more than enough to buy whatever she wanted. No, she had the power to go beyond that, and still have some left over. Now, Ran was hiding in her futon. Soon, she'll head to a store that she had never set foot in before, and the thought of the reception she would get with an appointment and reservation made her have butterflies in her stomach.
But, the car that Col prepared to transport them wasn't a limousine or a Benz. It was a car that looked like a well worn and tough military vehicle (Hummer H1). This made Ran feel oddly relieved.
"The mistress doesn't need to use a car to travel, so this house doesn't have a car for chauffeuring people around. This is my personal vehicle, so please excuse it..."
"No, strangely enough, I feel more calm in this than a luxury vehicle."
"I'm glad to hear you say that."
"You don't need to make yourself be considerate, little mistress. Tell the head chamberlain that her hobbies are too uncouth."
"Oh, that's too much praise Mifi, you're making me embarrassed."
"...I don't think she was praising you, Onee-sama..."
Col was driving, with Pink-chan was in the passenger's seat and Mifi and Ran sitting in the back seat. Going down a long road, they went through a gate, and headed towards the city along the road. Merging onto a main road, after a little while, the number of buildings began to increase. After passing by a shopping mall, the taller buildings caught her attention.
"It's too bad for Cuey-san. It looked like she wanted to go shopping..."
"I understand how you feel, but if Cuey appears in public as she is now, it will cause a big commotion. She'll have to be patient, until she can make herself a little shorter, and make two eyes."
"It's the same for some of the little mistress' friends, like the dog and bird mixed breed girl, and the snake girl. And Tamaryuu has to wear a hat. So that we don't cause unnecessary misunderstandings with humans that don't know about us, monsters and youkai that can't disguise themselves as humans should hide away.
"...I hope the day that humans and youkai can come to terms with one another comes soon."
"I wish for that as well. Because if that happens, then humans and monsters having sexual relations, just like a hentai comic, would be a realiaaargh!"
"Oh, sorry, my hand slipped."
Pink-chan was squirming from Col giving her a chop to her side. Maybe because it was hard to do it in while driving, or maybe that was enough to stop her fantasies from running wild.
As they bantered, the car finally reached a city with tall buildings, and the view out the window had completely changed. It had a completely different feeling from the area around the mansion and the roads leading to here. It had an urban atmosphere, and Ran was enthralled by the sight.
(I though that the place where I lived when I was alive was a city, but... The buildings weren't all jammed together like this.)
To put it simply, it was the difference between a residential and commercial city.
Gazing at the people walking around and the buildings they were passing by, Ran thought that it wasn't bad to be nostalgic for the past once in a while, and tried to remember the scene of her family when she was alive. However, for some reason, she could only remember about Japan. The scenes she was used to seeing when she was alive, she just couldn't quite recall any of them, and her impatience at not being able to get anything concrete took hold of Ran. No, she was faintly remembering. However, they were like a faint, abstract painting, or an out of focus photo, and were somehow not clear.
(H, huh!? That's strange, my life now certainly is fun, and my memories of when I was killed are scary, and I haven't really tried to remember back then, but... I can remember I had Papa, Mama, a younger brother, a slightly old two story house that Grandpa built. But my family's faces, my friend's faces, playing with my friends, the city that I lived in, how I spent my days... I can't remember those...!)
She tried desperately to recall those memories, and felt a chill of fear run up her back. The faces of her precious family that she loved, and loved her, she could only now vaguely remember them.
(Is that because I spent so long as a non-self aware vengeful spirit, so my memories grew hazy!? Just being able to remember something, anything... Something that left a strong impression...!)
And finally, she remembered coming home the day before the incident, and all the fear vanished. And then, she vividly recalled a recent experience partially due to the forceful impact of it. It was when she felt Tamaryuu's lovely ass on her cheek and embraced her wild feelings, and right after, the freak event of that being displayed, and seeing right in front of her, her thing (lol). In an instant, she realized that she had gone bright red like a kettle, and felt a pop of pain inside her nose. Mifi flusteredly pressed a tissue against her nose. It seems like she had gotten a nosebleed.
Ran felt a mix of slight guilt and itchiness as Mifi pressed on her nose. Feeling her body being lightly shook brought Ran back to reality. she realized that at some point, the car had entered an underground parking garage.
"Little mistress, we have arriv... eh, w, what happened!?"
"I, It's just a little nosebleed... I'm fine, it's nothing serious, it already stopped."
Quickly giving an excuse, she got out of the car, and shamefully, as her feet touched the ground, she felt a little lightheaded. She frowned as she smelled the gas from the exhaust pipe, but it brought it back to her senses.
(...Well, recent memories are probably easier to remember than old memories... It's fine, at some point, I'll be able to remember them.)
Reaching that conclusion, as she dabbed her nose to make sure there was no more fresh blood, Col took something that looked like a big briefcase from the trunk, and took the thing inside it out and offered it to Ran.
"Little mistress, here."
"...I can tell from looking, but I'll ask anyway. What's this?"
"Obviously, just as it looks, it's a metal bat."
Like always, Col pulled revolvers from somewhere, but today, she was dual wielding handguns, with the right being a colt python and the left a S&W M19 (the surface was completely worn down and looked like a M66). Even though she asked what's this?, that was the only reply. Her previous seriousness was blown away to another dimension by her confusion. Ran's pupils shrank as she heard Pink-chan's whispers in her ear. By the way, she had machetes in both of her hands.
"This is the plan to visit the owner of the store. When we, or rather, when Onee-sama goes, you have to move with us. Think of it as something recreational."
"Ah, now that you mention it, the owner was like that. I guess I'll bring one too, but please don't get tangled up in this?"
Saying this, Mifi took a hatchet out from the briefcase with a wry smile. Ran, who didn't get it at all, was even more bewildered.
The way they looked screamed out "we're robbers", and Ran was part of them. Thinking that if things went bad, she could turn ghostly and escape, she stared at the metal bat in hands with empty eyes and steeled her resolve, and got on the elevator that Col had waiting.
"Then let's go to the decisive battle field!"
She already had no energy left to give a reply to that.
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