The Director's New Favorite Doll
There are beings that leave behind an instinctive fear and a strange, lingering unease. For those who can't appreciate the charm of chitinous exoskeletons, it was the cockroach that would pop out of the coffee pot while doing the dishes after savoring a cup of coffee. I thought there would be no such being for me, but now my mind has changed.
Watching a man with a perfect D-shaped belly covered in thick, bushy hair put on clown makeup and act all coquettish—
Gulp—
Saliva slid down my throat from the sheer tension.
'This is it. This is the one.'
Looking for staff for Amurotica. The door to employment is open.
Amurotica, the owner and operator of the amusement park, was impossible to deny—from its sheer mass to its overwhelming presence.
I screamed internally.
What made him even more terrifying was the cute, sparkly sticker plastered on his face. The gap was enormous.
Was this the anomaly Doll Pizza knew?
I searched through the manual I had compiled in advance for information on the anomaly.
[No search results found.]
The words that followed immediately captured the full attention of the ghosts.
“You’re not answering! Then I’ll just have to find out for myself!”
A small box popped out of Amurotica’s hand. He thrust it toward my face.
I leaped backward as if I were about to fall over, dodging the box.
A clown doll sprang out of the box and exploded on the spot.
Boom—!
Amurotica vanished within the gray dust cloud that burst from the box.
As you can see, it’s a clown-concept doll. Originally it wasn’t a combat type—I raised it more like a bonsai, for ornamental purposes—so if you know the gimmicks, you should be able to handle it.
First is the box.
It explodes like what you just saw. If you inhale that gas, you won’t be able to stop laughing. The more you breathe it in, the harder it becomes to stop. When it doesn’t explode, it keeps spraying laughter gas like a mat on the ground, so you have to trigger it.
Second is disguise.
It transforms into surrounding objects. You’ll feel a slight sense of wrongness. Since you have good eyes, I think you’ll be able to spot it yourself.
Third is stealth.
It hides like it’s doing now. It’ll stab you with a dagger from your blind spot, so you have to dodge.
A box shot out from within the dust cloud. I swung my scythe at it.
The box that just appeared looked different from the previous one.
Right as my scythe was about to make contact, Amurotica returned to its original form and knocked my scythe aside.
“Yohohohot! You have excellent eyes!”
The moment he clapped his hands, laughter gas spread out. I had no choice but to move to avoid it.
Amurotica refused to let me create distance and closed in, swinging a dagger. It wasn’t trying to wound me—it was trying to restrain me. I had inhaled a bit of the laughter gas, but every time the blade touched me, it sucked away my energy.
We locked blades and began a contest of strength. I wasn’t the only one confident in a war of attrition; Amurotica seemed to be as well.
The taste of the energy I was absorbing right now… Seeing Amurotica up close gave me a strange feeling.
It didn’t feel like a man. If I had to describe it, it felt genderless. If not that, then maybe I had unlocked some new possibility, but that couldn’t be it.
So that was it.
Laughter burst out of me uncontrollably.
“Yohohohot! What’s so funny?”
Seeing the effects of the laughter gas with his own eyes, Amurotica seemed to sense victory and grew even more excited.
But the energy I was draining must have been burdensome, because it broke the stalemate, burst out more colorful gas, and vanished inside it.
With that massive body, there was no way it had flown into the sky. So of course it was underground.
Two split shadows could be seen under the sunlight.
It wasn’t hiding as obviously as the box from earlier. A situation where I couldn’t tell which was real.
'No need to distinguish, then.'
I swung my scythe at one side and threw my chain at the other.
'The real one is the one I can drain energy from.'
Amurotica burst out from where I had thrown the chain. It swung its dagger to deflect the chain, but unlike the scythe, the chain wrapped around its body.
I drained energy from the tightly coiled chain. Even though I had already absorbed quite a lot, Amurotica still looked completely fine.
On the contrary, I was the one in danger from laughing so much.
'I’m going to suffocate.'
Anyway, I couldn’t stop laughing no matter what.
I kept swinging my scythe in an all-out offensive. Wounds appeared all over my body. But my opponent was taking just as much damage.
Every time I swung the scythe, huge chunks of flesh flew off.
Thud—
The extra fat had been deliberately added for strength and weight. Amurotica was cutting away the parts that only weighed it down after being sliced by my scythe.
“Hahahaha!”
A powerless laugh escaped me. My limbs screamed for air. Instead of air, I forced energy into my muscles and continued the assault.
My face had turned blue, but the opponent had to be struggling just as much.
Finally, there was no more energy to drain. It meant I had sucked all of hers dry.
“Hehehe—”
Once all the flesh had been stripped away, Amurotica’s true form was revealed. It was a girl in clown cosplay with a sticker on her face.
The doll’s characteristic seams, invisible when covered in flesh, were surprisingly elegant.
I briefly considered locking her up right then, but it didn’t seem necessary at the moment. With all the flesh gone, Amurotica had grown significantly weaker.
“Kugh! How humiliating! What do you plan to do with me!”
“I’m not going to do anything.”
Rehabilitation would be necessary, but that could happen gradually once she was in the Bureau. Above all, this was an anomaly, yet it didn’t look like one.
'Is it because it’s an employee?'
It was just a human with a few extra lines added. The lines were quite elegant and had value, but compared to Mary, who was also a doll, it wasn’t even on the same level. Honestly, it was worse than the other employees.
Even though Amurotica looked pitiful, I didn’t feel even the slightest bit of sympathy.
'It might actually be better if it had a bit more flesh or a few extra fingers.'
Whether it lost a little or gained a little more, it seemed like it would be fine.
“Hey. Show me how a normal human would get out of here yourself.”
“Me? Why should I do something like that?”
“You don’t have a choice.”
I stomped on Amurotica’s head with my foot. It looked much better than before.
'As expected, the charm of a doll is that you can customize it.'
Normal meant it could become special at any time. Using those unique seams, I could make it even more vibrant.
“If you do well, you’ll get a reward. If you do poorly, you’ll be punished.”
At those words, Amurotica moved.
I watched it attach several pieces of flesh in the Flash Garden, saw it pay that flesh to ride the indoor attractions, and even learned how to get off midway and escape through a side path.
“This is how civilians get out.”
“This is too complicated. There must be an easier way.”
“There isn’t.”
“For example, the bumper cars or something.”
When I waved the paper on which I had collected the rules, Amurotica flinched.
“How did you…?”
“There’s a way. Any other methods?”
“……”
“You’re not answering. I guess I’ll have to find out myself.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
“I told you, I’m not going to do anything.”
I placed my hand on Amurotica’s head.
“I’m just going to manage you.”
Anomaly ‘Amurotica’ has been contained.
As expected, having insiders helped. The information extraction went smoothly.
The rulebook had been further refined, and given its vast size, quite a variety of escape methods had emerged.
Now all that remained was to test the rules directly. I also needed to check for any points to be careful about.
“I should be careful with the parade, right? It says if you follow it properly you might be able to escape, but I’m not sure. Should I try it?”
“Yeah. Just trust me.”
“You said that same thing right before my head exploded in the bumper cars.”
“This time will be different.”
“Alright, Tosam. I’ll trust you?”
Boom—!
Thud thud thud—
Tosam’s head exploded again after joining the parade.
“Aigoo. I’ll have to ask them to attach a new one in the Flash Garden.”
'For normal people, avoid the parade as much as possible.'
After dozens of repetitions, the rulebook was slowly beginning to reveal its outline.