Chapter 15: The Perfect Balance
The man's severed head lies on the ground, squashed like a paper bag.
Having lost consciousness, his body slowly teeters, spurting bright red blood from the neck. It finally collapses in a cloud of dust.
The moment he falls, Katie turns towards us as if she'd timed it precisely all along.
She looks at us dead on, lips curling into a wry smile.
Her frilly apron, once pure white, is now splattered with a grotesque red pattern.
My heart starts pounding.
Wait just a damn minute. What the hell was that?
My mind stammers in protest. But I can't unsee what I saw.
A person is now dead.
It seems like some crazy scene from a horror movie, but a man was actually just murdered before our eyes.
I feel a chill crawl up my spine. This can't be happening.
What am I supposed to do now?
What is there to do?
Should I try to escape?
Should I take little Big with me?
If that's the plan, I'd better act fast.
But…my feet! They won't move! I'm stuck!
"Just calm down…" Big speaks slowly.
Gently, she puts a tiny hand on my shoulder.
I can feel her little palm resting there, its tender touch spreading warmly across my back.
"I'm here for you. I'll always be by your side, OK? I'm your Big, and I'm right here. Solid as a rock, brave as a lion. You don't have to be scared. Just relax. Don't lose your cool. Little Big's right here."
Her soothing voice and reassuring touch make everything melt away.
All my anxiety, tension, and fear…gone.
Sometimes I can be a coward. I can be weak. My resolve fails me. But my little Big always backs me up.
When it comes down to the wire and my courage fails, she's always there with kindness and support.
She always stands by me when I need it most.
"Meow-ha-ha-ha!"
Katie bursts out laughing, brilliant white teeth exposed.
There she is, smiling like an innocent child while her right hand hangs down next to her, soaked in a dead man's blood.
"Master and Mi'Lady, you are quite burr-ave after all! I thought mew might run away or start crying for help."
I ignore her comment. "Miss Katie," I ask her, "if we lose the game…I mean, if we find the wrong thing…you're basically going to kill us, right?"
"Well…" she hesitates, "that is not purr-cisely true."
Placing an index finger on her forehead, she goes on pensively.
"When mew lose your life in AKIBA, your body is lost…so mew do die in the real world," she explains. "But when mew die in the real world, your soul stays here in AKIBA forever and ever. Neverrr to perish!"
She grins, and then peering into my eyes, goes on.