“Apple-san?!”
Datil?
“Noooooo! Apple-san?! Apple-saaaan!”
Fresa? My consciousness was hazy. What was I doing?
“F-Furutsu! Stay with me!”
That queen ant got me good... I remember now. I was talking with Grida.
“Waaaaah! Nooooo! Did you die?!”
Huh? Did you always talk like that, Grida? Just now, you were more... Wait, huh? More what? I can’t think clearly. Did I die? No, I’m alive. I’m fine, I’m still alive.
“Furutsu! Furutsuuuuu! Waaaah!”
Don’t cry, Grida! Can’t you hear me? Damn it! The queen’s getting closer! She’s planning on finishing me off.
“Raaaah! Get away from this apple! Stoooop!” Datil roared.
Don’t push yourself, Datil. Just get out of here with Fresa. Please...
“I won’t let you hurt Apple-san anymore!” Fresa yelled. She stood in front of me, trying to shield me from the queen.
Not you too! Stop! Please, stop! What can I do? Is there nothing I can do?!
“Hey, quick question?” said another voice.
Huh?
“Why don’t you bond with those two?”
Wh-Who’s there? What are you talking about?
“Hmmm? Hmmmmmm? Did you really not hear anything?”
Let me repeat: what are you talking about?! You’re not making any sense.
“I mean, you did form a pretty difficult bond with something inside the box. So I assumed your soul was on the ruler’s side, Furutsu-san.”
Box? Bond? What are you talking about?
“Ahem. Ah, sorry about that. If you aren’t, I should speak a bit more professionally, shouldn’t I?”
I really don’t care. Just answer my question. What are you on about?!
“Ah, so you don’t even know who I am. Well, I suppose that makes sense. Do excuse my late introduction—I am the curse card.”
The curse card? So you’re the card that turned me into an apple!
“See? You’re misunderstanding something here! Really, I haven’t done anything to earn your ire. Not one bit.”
What do you mean? Of course I’d hate the card that reincarnated me into the thing that killed me!
“Non, non, non. My ability is to bond two souls together. It’s insulting to the highest degree for you to think of me as a curse.”
Huh?! Look at me! I’m an apple! An apple!
“Yes, I see that. The reason you’re so strongly bound to the last item that killed you is simply because the gods have no idea how to use my power properly. But of course, it’s not as though I could inform them myself either.”
I have no idea where this is going, and I have no time for it! I have to save Fresa and Datil!
The voice chuckled. “It’ll be fine.”
No way in hell is it fine! If I don’t hurry, those two will be ant food. W-Wait, what was that?
“A special service. Do keep this our little secret, okay? I just wanted to talk with you for a bit, Furutsu-sama. I took the liberty to slooow down time. Seriously, a secret, all right?”
Everything around me seemed to stand still. Datil, Fresa, and even the ant were frozen in place.
“Now we’ve got some time. Oh, just a moment, if you would.”
I heard a rustling sound as though someone was going through a toy box. Are you looking for something?
“Ah, found it! This is it. What’s with all this dust? I’ll blow it all away. Ack! Whoa! Achoo!”
What’s that?
“Uh, let’s see. Was it this button? I’ll just press it. Beep!” Ding Ding! “Ah, testing, testing... This is an announcement from the curse card. Okay, good.”
Wait, that dinging sound was a lot like the one from the Cards of Fate. You had to set that manually?!
“Thank you for your patience. There’s a rule to always make that ding whenever a card makes an announcement. All right then, where were we?”
You told me that the curse card wasn’t created to reincarnate me into the item I was killed by.
“Right, right! The gods reincarnate users of the curse card via ‘Auto-connect’ mode.”
Auto-connect mode? Like it automatically bonds me with something?
“The reincarnated usually have no destined bonds. They’re like blank sheets of paper. If you were to simply auto-connect in such a precarious state, of course you’d bond with whatever you feel most strongly towards—such as that which led to your demise. Don’t you think so?”
Don’t ask me.
“The same goes for the other cards. Their true powers are never drawn out, or else are simply used incorrectly. It’s casting pearls before swine! What a waste!”
Wait, I’m not following. Why can’t the gods use you properly? Didn’t they make the Cards of Fate?
“Ohhh, we’re starting from there? All right, okay, okay. Uh, let’s see.”
You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you.
“Well, to put it bluntly: no, the gods did not make the Cards of Fate. And as you’ve said, our creator hasn’t explained anything to them.”
What the heck? Why would the gods give something so mysterious and hard to use to the reincarnated?
“I agree! I absolutely agree! I understand your anger. But this is something the gods were forced to do, so please do forgive them.”
Forced?
“Whoops! I’m terribly sorry, but I’m not authorized to inform you of any more than this. It’s very tough to be in such a low position, isn’t it, Furutsu-sama?”
Argh! Knock it off with the relatability! I won’t force you. I’m grateful that you already told me so much.
“Heh heh heh, I thank you for your kind words. Hmm... I don’t think it’ll be a problem if I tell you this. I understand that you can hear my voice, but the gods, much less normal reincarnators, cannot.”
Huh?
“Even the gods aren’t aware of the little things: like how we Cards of Fate make these announcements, or of some of our extra abilities, special settings, or certain bonuses.”
Seriously?
“Is it hard for you to believe? I agree! We did try our best to reach out and explain ourselves, you know. That is our rule, after all. But they can’t hear us! They keep ignoring us! See, look. Beep.” Ding Ding! “See, what’s the point in ringing if they can’t hear us?”
C-Calm down! I understand your feelings! Why do you keep pressing that button?
“Ahem. Excuse me. Just a little frustration slipping out.”
This is surprising. So the gods and reincarnators don’t know how to properly use these convenient and amazing Cards of Fate?
“I thank you for your high words of praise. That’s exactly it.”
Wait, so this applies to the curse card too!
“Exactly. When you picked me, Furutsu-sama, I went ‘ding!’ and announced that you can change operation modes via the settings screen.”
You don’t have to press that button every time! Also, hang on, didn’t you have to dig that out? You said it was covered in dust. Did you really make that announcement?
“Oho! Very astute, sir! As you said, I couldn’t find the button that day, so I mimicked the sound with my voice. Ding Ding! You see?”
Wait, that was your voice?! You’re really good at it! Why not just keep saying it instead of pressing that button?! Wait, that’s not the point. I didn’t hear any sort of announcement back there. Are you sure you were talking?
“Of course I was. However, as I explained earlier, not many people can hear the voices of the Cards of Fate.”
I see. Maybe I wasn’t able to hear your voices because I hadn’t actually reincarnated yet?
“Correct. And if you had been able to hear my announcements before your reincarnation, you may have been able to switch off the auto-connect mode, allowing you to reincarnate as a human.”
Hey, that’s a total catch-22. I could have reincarnated as a human, but I had to be reincarnated as an apple in order to hear the announcement? Am I hearing you right?
“Indeed. The curse card was not originally meant to bond the soul with their cause of death.”
Then what was it originally supposed to do?