Spooky E’s big eyes opened even wider. "Wh-what...?!"
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“You and I are a lot alike. We’re almost exactly the same. We have the same kind of power. Our abilities compliment each other.”
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Asukai spread his hands.
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“In other words, as long as I keep doing the same kind of things, then as far as the Towa Organization is concerned, there is no real difference from when you did them.”
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"............!" Spooky E’s expression twisted. “Y-you can’t mean...!"
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“Yes, I can. I’m going to use you as cover while I take over the Towa Organization. Through you, I shall spread the Imaginator throughout the Towa Organization...at least, that’s the plan.”
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Asukai took a step towards Spooky E.
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Spooky E slid sideways past the canister at hisback, trying to keep his distance. “B-but that’s...”
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“Forget can or can’t. I have to. If I want to make snow fall in April everywhere in the world, I absolutely need a vast organization backing me.”
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“S-snow.
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To any sensible human being, Spooky E was a monstrous being of unfathomable mystery...yet now he faced something far more inscrutable than himself for the first time since he had come into this world.
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“Simply put, I plan to standardize humanity’s psyche...putting an end to all the sadness, all the disconnections, all the misunder-standings that arise between us.”
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“Y-you’re insane! You’ve completely lost your mind!”
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“So what if I have? If you think yourself sane, then do something about this madman before you start insisting that I am,”
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Asukai said, grinning.
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“Ah......rraaaaaaaaah!” Spooky E bellowed as he leapt at Asukai, electricity sparking from both hands.
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Asukai. . .did not dodge.
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Spooky E’s electric palms slapped him on the head like a p sumo wrestler, knocking him over backwards.
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(What......?!)
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After all the confident speeches, Spooky E was completely thrown by his enemy’s extreme weakness.
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But he couldn’t hesitate now. He attacked again.
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Grabbing Asukai’s head between both hands, he sent electricity......
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Or at least, he tried to, but Asukai suddenly sprang forward, and Spooky E reflexively shrank backwards.
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“Unh. . .” Big drops of battle sweat rolled down his fat cheeks and forehead.
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“Pretty intense,” Asukai said, shaking his head. Something fell off of it.
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Something that made Spooky E’s eyes bulge out of his head.
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A wig, with smoke pouring off of it. The inside was covered in strips of something.
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It was a glossless texture that Spooky E knew very well.
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“A-anti-magnetic sheets?”
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These were stickers designed to shield floppy discs from the magnets in purse latches and the like by halting all electromag-netic waves. Piling these on top of each other had effectively left Asukai’s head wrapped into a sort of papier-mache helmet.
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“Exactly! I had surmised that your ability was based on elec-tromagnetic waves, so I came prepared,” Asukai taunted. Without the wig, his hair looked exactly the same. He was busy shaking dust out of it, fragments fallen from the anti-magnetic sheets.
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"........." Spooky E stared at the wig for a moment, but at last snorted loudly, then broke into a wild guffaw. “Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!”
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“Is it funny?” Asukai asked.
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Spooky E went right on laughing. “Ha ha! You were nothing l more than a fraud all along! How can I not laugh? You had me running scared!”
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“Am I?”
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“Without that little trick of yours, you can’t block my attack.
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We may be equally matched in the brainwashing department, but you’re not even in the ballpark when it comes to fighting!”
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“Ah, you could put it that way. Yes,” Asukai hung his head.
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“Give it up! You can never...” he started to say, but...
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(......?)
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Spooky E noticed something odd.
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In Asukai Jin’s right hand was a single rose. Held delicately in his fingertips.
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(Where’d that come from?)
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The rose had no roots. But it had not been out; instead, the stem grew steadily smaller, tapering off to nothing. It was like an artificial flower, but it was too realistic, too fresh.
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“Other people may not be able to see my ‘visions,’ but I imagine you can,” Asukai said, twirling the rose around in his fingertips. “After all, this. . .is your ‘psyche.”’
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“More magic tricks?” Spooky E bellowed, and lunged at Asukai again.
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Again, Asukai did not try to dodge. This time, there was nothing on his head to protect him.
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(Don’t need to hold back! Full storm power, fry every cell in his stupid brain!)
✦ ✦ ✦
Spooky E reached out with both hands.
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Asukai stood there, waiting for the blow to fall......
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......But just before it did, Spooky E’s body froze in place.
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(Wh-what the......?)
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He was right in front of Asukai Jin. His hands were just centimeters away from grabbing onto him...but he couldn’t close that gap.
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"Gr. . .grrrrr...?"
✦ ✦ ✦
Clearly, it wasn’t some invisible wall between them. It was more like Spooky E’s body had become incredibly, amazingly heavy-too heavy to continue moving.
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“M-my body. . .it. . .it won’t move.
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“Not your body. Your mind,” Asukai said quietly, the rose still in his hand.
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“Wh-what did you do to me?”
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“Right now, no matter what, you will not work up the motivation to attack me. That’s all. The only thing stopping you from moving is your own will. Your own unconscious will.”
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"H-how...?!"
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“I removed the ‘thorns’ from your ‘flower.’ That’s all.”
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“............?!”
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“But that seems to have removed your very capacity for ag-gression.”
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Asukai spun the rose in his hand again. There were no thorns anywhere on the rose’s stem.
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“Th-that’s impossible...” but even as he spoke, Spooky E
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toppled feebly over.
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And with a thump, he was sitting on the floor of the roof.
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“Unh. . .” he couldn’t even roar.
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Now he got it.
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He knew why Asukai had used another cheap trick like those anti-magnetic sheets. . .it was so he couldn’t run away.
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First, he needed to make him attack, and then stop that attack.
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But he only needed to stop it once. If he managed to get close enough to Spooky E even for a moment, then he could take his ‘rose.’
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“Your power-this thing where you control a person’s brain.
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with electric shocks-is incredibly backwards,” Asukai said, glaring down at Spooky E. “It lacks the concept of the ‘soul.’ You pay no attention to the principle force driving human behavior. You just jam a bit of information down on top of their minds, without ever really changing them in any real sense of the word. Compared to the Imaginator, you’re just second rate.”
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"Unh..."
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“You never thought to even do what I can-to perceive the flaws in human hearts, and discover how to repair them. Your method is like striking water with a hammer. The key point is to change your method, depending on who you are working with.”
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“Uuuuunh. . .”
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“Told you I was better,” Asukai said.
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“Uuuuuuuunh,” Spooky E moaned, reeling. It was just as Asukai said; he had no urge to attack, and no strength anywhere in his body.
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“Yet. . .I should admit that I do have to do much the same thing as you do with your lightning. There are just too many humans in this world.”
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"Wh-what have you done. . .what are you going to do now...?"
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Spooky E managed, listlessly.
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“Grafting. You know the word? Where you take two similar plants, touch the parts that bear fruit together, and create an entirely new plant. Same principle. I have been taking groups of two or more, and using them to plant a small piece of what each of them lacked. Everyone I’ve done this for has been very happy, since their hearts are now perfect. And naturally, all of them have become my allies.”
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Asukai smiled gently.
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“I can do the same thing for you. As soon as you find a part-ner, I can give you the ‘roots’ you lack. In return, I will take just a little sliver of your ‘stem.’ Of course, it’ll cut down that strong mental power. . .but you’ll hardly even notice. Not with the joy you’ll be feeling once your flaw is healed.”
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"..............." Spooky E looked dazed. “I don’t. . .understand.”
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“Even you will understand soon.”
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Spooky E looked up at Asukai, his eyes unfocused. "What I don’t understand is how you can be enjoying this. At least I was acting on orders from the T owa Organazation, but you..."
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Asukai frowned, sharply.
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Spooky E ignored him, dropping his gaze again. “Nah. . .well, that’s really not important. . .there’s only one thing left for me to if.
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look forward to.”
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He held his hands up in front of his face, staring at them.
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“What’s that?”
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“Something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” he muttered.
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“But my hatred for them was too strong, so I never could. I couldn’t do it while they were still living. But now those feelings are gone.
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Maybe because you took my ‘thoms.’ So for that, I guess I’m grateful to you...”
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“What are you talking about?” Asukai asked, puzzled.
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“Let me give you one warning. . .Imaginator! Boogiepop is after you,” he said, and then Spooky E grabbed his own face.