Wasn't that obvious?
"You didn't tell me I had to sign my own name..."
Sen Getsusa stood with her hands behind her back, looking innocent, tracing the patterns on the carpet with the tip of her boot. "I thought... I just thought I'd sign any name... Names are just codes, anyway."
"Raise your head and look at me when you speak! You impolite little brat!"
Yubaba roared, "I will punish you! Punish you! No one can act wild in the Bathhouse! Not even a guest!"
She waved her hand, and a massive fireball gathered in her palm!
With a throwing motion, the ball of fire flew toward Sen Getsusa at an extremely high speed—
In Sen Getsusa's vision, the massive fireball flew straight at her. The scorching heat wave still blew back her long hair, and she could even smell a strong scent of burning.
She immediately bent her knees and crouched down, taking the opportunity to roll to the side.
Boom!!
The explosion was deafening!
The carpet was blown to pieces by the fireball, fragments flying through the air. Sen Getsusa pushed off the floor to stand up and, with a kick of her legs, charged straight toward Yubaba!
While closing the distance, she unfolded her right hand and pulled out the silver-plated table knife from her pocket!
Sen Getsusa ran swiftly, her table knife and arm pointing straight ahead. In the flickering firelight, the girl traced a silver line!
In the blink of an eye, the girl reached Yubaba. With her head down and arms extended, her long hair flying, she lunged forward like a sharp blade!
Bang!
Just as the table knife was about to touch Yubaba, a transparent wall appeared abruptly, blocking the path of the knife's tip.
It was probably barrier magic.
Sen Getsusa thought expressionlessly. She withdrew her weapon, placed her right hand at her waist, took a deep breath—and then, continuously and fiercely, kept stabbing at the transparent wall! Her arm left a trail of afterimages!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Crack—
Finally, the barrier, covered in cracks, shattered like glass fragments and splattered backward!
Immediately following it was the shining tip of a knife!
"Hah!" There was no panic on Yubaba's face. She simply pressed her palms together in front of her chest and let out a loud shout, her long nose exhaling a cloud of smoke.
The surrounding space fluctuated, rippling with her at the center. Sen Getsusa felt that power appear again, pushing heavily against her body.
With a "humming" sound, she was pushed back ten meters by the invisible force, as if she had encountered a wave in the ocean. Even after landing, the aftershocks of the fluctuations continued to hit her body, pushing her backward.
"No... You aren't human. What on earth are you?"
Yubaba stared at Sen Getsusa with both surprise and suspicion.
An ordinary human couldn't possibly have the strength to shatter a barrier.
A few seconds ago, that snow-bright knife tip had indeed made her feel a sense of admiration!
Sen Getsusa remained expressionless, slightly calming the breath surging in her chest. She coldly raised her knife, her legs slightly bent and curled, and her body leaning forward.
This was a posture ready to strike at any moment.
Until the enemy has lost their ability to fight, one must never let their guard down—this had already become an instinct from her training.
The two faced off in the room. The remaining fire continued to burn the carpet, scorching the last corner into ashes. The air gradually froze at this moment.
Seeing that Sen Getsusa didn't answer, Yubaba seemed to have no intention of continuing. She hopped back into her chair, casually took out a long, thin pipe, put it in her mouth, lit it, and took a deep breath.
Pffft— Pffft—
Thick smoke billowed from her long nose, and even her brow smoothed out.
Clack.
Holding the pipe in her left hand, she took a small red wallet out of a drawer with her right hand and threw it to Sen Getsusa.
"Take it. This is her dividend for this month." She waved her hand, her tone still strange. "I have fulfilled my responsibility on my end according to the 'contract'. As for whether she can get it, that's her responsibility."
Sure enough, the surrounding smoke seemed to have a life of its own, turning into countless tiny white snakes that then coiled around the door behind Sen Getsusa, sticking closely together and turning into some kind of eerie pattern.
"This space has been locked by me." Yubaba squinted while puffing smoke. "I've done what I needed to do. Now, you can leave."
"If you can."
She let out a low, raspy laugh.
Sen Getsusa stared intently at the calmly seated Yubaba, moving forward step by step slowly and cautiously, then bent down and reached out to pick up the wallet.
Her eyes were still fixed on her.
It wasn't until Sen Getsusa retreated to the door that Yubaba spoke with a loud laugh.
"This space has been sealed by me! You brat, as an apology, you must work for me for a hundred years!!"
The witch looked down at Sen Getsusa, twirling the pipe in her hand and tapping it against the mahogany desktop.
Ignoring the self-satisfied Yubaba, Sen Getsusa, not far away, gripped the wallet in her hand and bowed to her in farewell. "Well then, until next time, Yubaba."
"I told you, hahaha, this door has already been—"
Click.
Without waiting for Yubaba to finish, she reached out and pulled the door open, walked out gracefully, and then closed the massive wooden door from the outside.
Thud.
[All Things Are Impermanent: As a Child of Dimensions, you cannot be anchored, sealed, or restricted by any spatial spells, divine arts, technological means, or astral mysteries. Divination-type spells are ineffective against you.]
...The hallway was quiet. The clatter of boot heels hitting the floor echoed into the distance.
Sen Getsusa suddenly stopped at a corner and spoke toward the darkness. "Mr. Bai seems cold, but he's actually quite kind."
Her crisp voice seeped along the wall, and then the Mr. Bai who had guided her at the beginning walked out from the shadows.
His brow was furrowed, a worried expression faintly visible beneath his serious demeanor.
"Yubaba is not to be trifled with. You shouldn't have provoked her." Although the girl's clothes and hair were a bit messy, he didn't see any obvious wounds or blood. Mr. Bai breathed a small sigh of relief.
There was only a faint, weak light in the hallway, hitting Sen Getsusa's expressionless profile, flickering—as if her entire face was being cut in half vertically by shadows.
"She never intended to let me get what I was owed anyway, so it doesn't matter if I provoked her or not."
Sen Getsusa walked forward slowly, the shadows shifting from vertical to horizontal, obscuring her eyes again. "Besides, I guess she wouldn't actually kill me."
After the attempt, Sen Getsusa finally understood what "Yabai" meant.
Though saying it that way was quite amusing... next time, she hoped Profiler could give her clearer and more accurate hints.
For example, something like "Crushing Defeat."
(??-??)
In the independent void, the card moved.
The purple interface expanded.
[Note: Not every Planeswalker possesses a 'Profiler'.]
[A certain holder once spoke of this: the Profiler holders he had come into contact with all had different ways of manifesting.]
[A steady personality makes profiling more accurate... but also more dull and uninteresting; some more active Planeswalkers have profiling data that leans towards being unpredictable and chaotic.]
Sen Getsusa:?
Are you saying I'm a psycho?
The girl reached into her pocket and quietly drew on the card with her finger:???
Unfortunately, she received no reply.
While she was agonizing over how to adjust her personality to make her Profiler normal, Mr. Bai's warning reached her ears.
"If... if you are human, please leave here as soon as possible—I mean, return to your Human World." He leaned against the wall, waiting for Sen Getsusa to approach, and walked shoulder to shoulder with her toward the elevator.
"I'll probably be bothering you for a few more days, Mr. Bai."
Sen Getsusa could feel that there was no sense of being pulled within her body; if such a feeling appeared, it would prove she was about to go back.
"Call me Haku, or White." He paused for a moment. "Next time you come, take me in with you. This time was too dangerous. I thought you were here to work."
Sen Getsusa nodded in agreement, then looked at the very young Mr. Bai with his short hair and joked, "You certainly seem out of place here."
Since arriving here, Sen Getsusa had seen too many fervent faces: "I noticed the state of the people around me as soon as I walked in..."
"Anyway, you're out of place here, Haku-kun."
"Because I shouldn't be here either." Haku lowered his head, the floorboards creaking under his feet.
"But it's already too late."
Sen Getsusa did not respond.
Because asking 'why is it too late' or 'why shouldn't you be here' would be meaningless sentences.
She was just a passerby, a plain female Planeswalker who barely exceeded human physical standards.
In this World full of spirits and monsters, she had no way to defeat a witch. And Haku's words all pointed toward Yubaba as the target or the end of the conversation.
This was a problem she simply couldn't solve. Since she couldn't solve it, she shouldn't add to her worries.
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