An Unexpected Connection

"Alright, young Leo, you're coming with me for a while!"

The girl's cheerful shout echoed in the cell, breaking the tension that had formed between them.

"!!!?!!"

Leo's brain shut down. He couldn't form a single coherent word or thought. His mouth opened and closed silently, and his eyes remained fixed on the girl, who was now looking at him with the energy of someone who had just decided on the perfect plan for a day at the beach. The phrase had been so cheerful, so full of conviction, that Leo found it hard to process the terror he should be feeling.

(What? Why? How?)

His mind was running in circles without finding a starting point.

He couldn't understand how she had reached that conclusion. Only a few minutes before, she had hit him in the face with a frying pan, which was already a traumatic experience in itself. Then, she had asked him a series of unconnected questions, as if she were filling out an absurd questionnaire. But what had shaken him the most, what had made his skin crawl, was the embarrassing nickname she had mentioned, a stupid nickname his classmates used against his will.

And now, after all that, the girl seemed to have come to the conclusion that "you're coming with me for a while." The incoherence of the situation, the lack of context, and the fact that she already seemed to know intimate details of his life, left him in a state of absolute shock. His choked cry of incomprehension was the only thing that could escape his throat.

His eyes followed incredulously as the girl, with a strength that didn't match her appearance, began to effortlessly lift the inert bodies that lay scattered across the cold, damp subterranean cell.

"How about we break the tension by talking a little?"

She said as she carried them like rag dolls and tucked them into the small pockets of her dress, where they disappeared without leaving the slightest trace or bulge, as if the pockets were portals to another space in this underground prison.

"It's quite cold down here, isn't it? I expected it to be warmer in an underground prison."

While carrying out this surreal task under the dim artificial light of the cell, the girl continued to chatter cheerfully, as if she were in the middle of a casual conversation.

"The last boss was super difficult! But with the right strategy, I did it!"

Then, she rambled on about a video game she seemed to really like, her head tilted and full of enthusiasm, completely oblivious to the fact that she was putting unconscious people into her pockets and that a terrified young man was watching her, unable to understand anything that was happening in this dark prison.

"C-could you help me escape? I w-want to go home."

Leo, with a trembling voice, dared to speak, asking with a nervous gaze and trying to find a spot on the floor that wasn't the girl's smiling face.

"Mmmmm...?"

She looked at him, tilting her head with an even brighter smile.

"Oh, don't be silly, young Leo! We're just getting to know each other, don't you think? We should spend more time together, after so many things we've been through, it would be rude to leave now!"

Upon hearing that, Leo's mind went blank.

(Been through? What things?)

Looking back at his memory of past events, he only recalled a pink frying pan smashing into his face, incoherent questions, and the use of a nickname that only caused him embarrassment.

"........"

The girl seemed to have a completely different version of reality.

"Besides!"

The girl exclaimed with an enthusiasm that echoed in the silence of the cell.

"We were locked up in the same prison and even exchanged blows! That's a connection for life!"

(CLICK!)

"Huh...?"

An audible "click" echoed in the cell as she fastened him to a chain she now pulled gently.

Before Leo could process the absurd statement, she leaned towards him. With surprising speed, she placed a reinforced steel collar around his neck. The metal was cold and heavy.

"So..."

The girl gave him a sweet smile, the same one she used when talking about her video game, as she held the other end of the chain, sealing Leo's fate in the strangest and most terrifying way possible.

"....I won't let you escape just yet~"

The girl's voice was as sweet as candy, but her words froze Leo's blood. Her white eyes now shone ghoulishly under the flickering light of the cell. She maintained that sweet smile, but to Leo it was no longer cute; it was the mask of a nightmare. The chilling weight of the steel collar on his neck reminded him of his new and terrifying reality.

With no other option but to respond, he gathered all the air in his lungs, but he only managed to get the words to stumble out.

"W-w-what... w-w-what do you w-want from m-me?"

He answered, stuttering, his voice barely a whisper. The chain tightened, a physical response to his fear.

"I just want your company for now and to talk a little!"

The girl let out a shout of pure joy. The sound echoed in the cell, and the chain tightened again with her sudden movement as she exclaimed with a radiant smile.

"But... why?"

Leo, not knowing if the joy was part of her madness or not, tried to stay calm.

"We don't know each other, do we?"

Leo asked with a little firmness in his voice, trying to understand the girl's goal.

"......"

At that moment, the girl's smile disappeared. She fell silent, her gaze lost. Her expression became genuinely confused and, with a childlike voice and a slight stutter, she mumbled:

"T-that's a good question... why am I doing this...?"

She moved her head from side to side, as if her thoughts were tangled threads she couldn't unravel.

"........"

Leo watched her, surprised. The expression on her face, the way she tilted her head, reminded him of his younger sister. It was the same confusion she had the first time he introduced her to a friend, unable to express the feelings she was having at the moment.

"I don't know!!"

The girl rubbed her head with both hands, screaming in frustration as if trying to untangle the loose threads of her mind.

(WHUMP!!)

Then, without warning, she slammed her head against the floor with a dull thud. A small puff of steam escaped from her head, disappearing as quickly as it appeared, while she lay exhausted on the floor.

"............"

Leo was stunned and speechless. The pressure he had been holding in his body since he arrived in the cell dissipated involuntarily, and upon seeing such a scene, he released the air from his lungs in an involuntary sigh.

The situation was so absurd and ridiculous that his fear gave way to a strange sense of relief.

"I need sugar..."

The girl, on the floor, mumbled in a tired voice. She looked so exhausted, so harmless in that moment, that Leo almost forgot that, moments before, she had hit him with a frying pan and chained him up.

(.... maybe she's not evil)

Leo thought, watching the girl who, minutes earlier, had terrified him. She now lay on the cell floor, exhausted, her head slammed against the concrete and incoherently mumbling about the need for sugar. The image of steam coming out of her head, her constant mood swings, and her illogical behavior caused a lightbulb to go off in Leo's mind. His panic dissipated, and a new perspective took hold of him.

(She's... she's like a child)

Recalling the mood swings he had seen in his younger sister: the way she went from happiness to frustration in a second, the senseless tantrums, and the need for something sweet to calm down. With that new idea, his fear transformed into a cautious understanding.

"I must try."

With an idea in mind, he reached a hand into his pocket and, carefully, took out the "choco bomb" he had been saving. This round chocolate candy, popular in Central City for its delicious blend of milk and ice cream flavor, was extremely expensive and hard to come by, which was why he had gone out late at night in search of it. The choco bomb, such a prized object and the reason for his late walk, felt like his only bargaining chip at that moment. With the candy in his hand, he slowly knelt and approached the girl on the floor, extending it towards her with the hope that this rare and delicious treat could be the first step towards their unexpected and terrifying coexistence.

"Do you want some...?"

"Sniff, sniff..."

At that, the girl sniffed the air; her nostrils trembled slightly. Her white eyes slowly opened, and her face lifted from the cold floor of the subterranean prison. A small line of drool slid down her bottom lip as she mumbled with palpable, childlike emotion.

"A Choco... bomb?!"

Her gaze locked onto the round candy Leo offered her, filled with a pure and boundless longing.

"Y-yes.... here you go."

Leo handed it to her slowly, as if he were feeding a small, delicate animal. He watched as the girl took the choco bomb with both hands and began to chew it with a loud joy.

"Ugh~"

A small sigh escaped Leo's lips as he watched the scene.

(Maybe... maybe she's not so terrifying after all)

...However, those calm thoughts of hope were soon interrupted.

(THUD!!)

A loud crash echoed in the cell. The girl, who just a moment ago had been happily savoring the candy, fell with a crash to the floor, her body beginning to tremble uncontrollably.

"What... what happened?!"

In that moment, Leo had made a grave error. The choco bomb, that coveted delicacy in Central City, was made with a recipe that included a certain amount of alcohol. Under normal circumstances, the amount was tiny, barely perceptible, and insufficient to affect an average adult. However, in his growing desperation to understand the strange girl, Leo had overlooked a terrifying possibility: that there could be someone "extremely weak to alcohol."

"....Ahahahahaa~"

And thanks to that, that night, in the darkness of the subterranean prison, that weakness was about to unleash chaos.