Sleeping Player (Project Chrysalis Book 3), John Gold [free e books to read online .TXT] 📗

In Japanese, ‘baka’ means ‘idiot.’ That’s basically the only invective they use, and he certainly fits the bill.”

LJ didn’t react in the least to the move. He continued acting like a cat, continued heading down to the sea to catch fish. Instead of sleeping at home, he found trees with hefty branches in thick crowns. Eating fruit and drinking milk were also favorite activities, with the milk picked up as loot from the local bison. The strangest aspect of his behavior was that he jumped into the water to catch fish with his bare hands. Cats don’t like water, though he didn’t react in the least when confronted with this fact.

What happened next was practically nonsensical. When Alice showed up for a regular conversation, LJ was sleeping on the porch. Next to him, however, was a girl his own age sitting cross-legged and stroking his head. Bak had let her get close without killing her. Also, the girl was dressed in patient clothing.

“Be quiet, miss. He’s sleeping.”

“Good afternoon.” Alice looked at the girl who had dared approach Bak. “Who are you?”

“Milisandra. You must be new—I haven’t seen you before.” It was only then that the girl turned around, and Alice noticed her bloody clothing and overall paleness. Red hair hung down to the middle of her back.

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Doctor Alice, his doctor,” Alice replied, pointing at Bak. “How did you get close to LJ? He usually attacks everybody.”

“I used a fish. What, did you not know how much cats like fish?”

She was behaving oddly. On the other hand, it certainly made sense that one tortured mind would understand another. Milisandra looked around twenty, though she talked like she was twelve. But the question remained: why did Bak let her into his space?

“Why are you all bloody? Did he attack you?”

“No, of course not! He’s a good cat! He licked all of my wounds.” LJ picked up his head and nudged her to keep stroking him. “We were on the beach when some angry men attacked me. They’re always hunting me! But my monsters save me—this time, it was LJ. I don’t like it when people touch me.”

Alice had no idea what was going on, so she went to see her father. As the director of the clinic, he was supposed to know about patient rights.

Sam Walton spent most of his time at work talking with the patients. He was in the middle of a break right then, however, so Alice was able to talk with him as he ate.

“Papa, what’s going on with Milisandra? Why is she getting felt up, and we’re ignoring it?”

“Bon appetit to you, too, sweetie.” He pushed his plate of meatballs away. “What’s wrong?”

“Well…well…they’re touching her! Father, psychologically, she’s still a child!”

“That monster is certainly no child.” Her father was always rough when it came to his wards. “Five years ago, she passed the trial for the League of Hunters and joined them. She was just fourteen! A year later, she was the world’s most famous PKer thanks to her heinous experiments and…fighting style. She’s a chimerologist, and she uses her monsters in battle.”

“What monsters? She’s a child!”

“Her own! She keeps them in her body.” Her father shivered and threw down an uneaten piece of bread. “Ah, I can’t stand even remembering it. When a fight starts, all kinds of nastiness crawls out of her body, each worse than the one before. It isn’t a battle ability or a spell—they’re her chimeric pets. Her skin turns pale, her hair turns red, bloody lacerations open on her body. Sometimes, her hair gets shorter, depending on the pet.”

Alice wasn’t about to let him get off the hook that easily.

“Father, it maybe be revolting, but she’s still a child inside. What would you do if some grown men started groping me?”

“I’d kill them! But not in her case. She’s been a full-fledged player for two years now—she’s a life mage. In real life, she has all kinds of family problems, and that’s where her psychological issues come in.”

“What kind of problems?”

“Domestic violence, alcoholic parents, sixth level of citizenship, life in the station cesspool. When she was twelve, one of her parents’ drinking buddies raped her, figuring he could have some fun while they were out cold. She closed down and stopped talking after that. Her parents sent her to a psychiatrist, and he was the one she told about what happened. As a result, her parents were stripped of their rights. She was sent to a sixth-tier orphanage. Constant trips to the psychologist, particular cruelty in the game, delayed social development. Her doctor thinks she uses her monsters to protect her from aggression in the outside world. For her, it’s a way of expressing herself and living life on her terms. How do you think I know all that?”

“How?”

Alice had a pretty good idea. Her father was the director of the clinic, after all.

“In the past two and a half years, she’s been sent here five times. Five damn times! Other players constantly complain about her cruelty. They crack jokes about her, but she interprets that as a threat and starts torturing them. She told me she’s trying to teach them a lesson. ‘People are cruel, and they don’t understand the pain other people are going through until they feel it themselves.’”

“Awfully wise words for a girl like that. With me, she talked like a child.”

“That’s her protective behavior model. She doesn’t talk normally with anyone besides me, and she’s just been better with me over the last six months.”

“She may have someone else to talk to now. She tamed LJ—used a fish to make nice to him, and now she’s petting him like a real cat.”

Sam closed his eyes and frowned. Two patients who were less than pleasant had found each other