Itinit sat at a table, staring at a large virtual screen in the air. Next to him on the floor, on two opposite sides, sat the dog girls, wagging their tails. Their gazes were transfixed on the image on the screen, and their tongues occasionally darted out and licked their lips.
"The robot hasn't returned yet?" Halankuo approached the table.
"It's too slow," Itinit answered. "I decided to show my little animals an ad before it gets here."
Halankuo looked at the screen. Chicken legs walked through the forest and beat the worms that tried to attack them from underground.
"It's a new game," Itinit explained. "It's coming out soon. My little animals are really looking forward to it, so they asked me to show them."
"It's a good thing Tuot can't see this. I don't even know if he'd be scared or not."
"We wouldn't have known. His jaw would have dropped either way."
Meanwhile, the chicken legs on the screen reached the boss, a large frying pan floating in a lava lake right in the middle of the forest. Noru and Kimchan covered their eyes with their hands and groaned in unison, but soon curiosity became stronger. The dog girls' fingers unclenched and their eyes saw the frying pan hitting the lava, summoning forks and knives from it.
"This is a scary game," Itinit noted. "Who developed it?"
"It's probably someone really hungry," Halankuo suggested.
"Tuot wouldn't be able to play that. And there are no animal girls here."
"Yeah, but this is a game for animal girls, not about animal girls."
Itinit looked at Halankuo as if he saw a monster from a very scary game in her place, but he didn't scream.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Halankuo looked down. "I don't think I forgot to put anything on."
"No, I realized something. This game was created by someone who knows about the existence of animal girls."
"Does he have an account on the Mausoleum of Nature?"
"It's starting," a strange voice interrupted the conversation.
Itinit and Halankuo turned and saw Sitihi, dressed only in a gray apron reminiscent of tinfoil.
"They don't fit," Itinit noted.
"It's the same with Kyotyoryon," Halankuo said calmly. "I'm already used to it."
"You shouldn't look at me, but at the screen," the doll said. "It's already started there."
Something new was indeed happening on the screen. Two masked dolls looked at the audience with their heads almost upside down, in a non-human way.
"Aibi, there's someone with horns," the purple-haired doll said.
"Yes, Suturu, there is someone with horns," the green-haired doll confirmed.
The dolls' heads disappeared from the screen. The background appeared: a mixed forest on a steep slope with trees that almost blocked out the gray sky.
"They're definitely outside the town," Itinit said. "But they probably haven't reached the river yet."
"There's such a small river there that you might not notice it," Halankuo added. "I just learned about it today."
"You and Tuot have a lot in common," Itinit rose from his seat. "I didn't ask him, but somehow I'm sure he wouldn't have noticed either. By the way, where is he?"
"Tuot," Halankuo suddenly remembered her pet and, without realizing it, sat down on the seat next to Itinit.
"Okay, no time for that now," the creator of the dog girls said. "There's something interesting here."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the screen, the dolls decided to test the strength of the robot standing before them, taking turns firing their abilities at it. Suturu summoned a purple circle. It began spinning and firing tiny energy particles directly at the screen.
"Suturu, you couldn't do it," Aibi said. "Let me..."
The purple-haired doll had to yield to her sister. Aibi bowed her head, her hair covering her face.
Halankuo suspected something nasty was about to happen to the doll and turned away. Itinit, meanwhile, gazed admiringly at the smooth green hair, unsure of what awaited him...
Aibi threw her head back. The doll's eyes filled with a green liquid, making the pupils seem to dissolve in it.
At first, Itinit didn't understand what was happening, but when he saw the liquid begin to flow from the eyes like tears, he almost spit out another liquid from his mouth.
Noru and Kimchan held out longer. But when streams of acid began to flow down the doll's cheeks, the dog girls hid under the tables. The unfortunate "animals" were afraid the liquid would fly through the screen and hit them.
Only Sitihi remained to watch the rest of the scene. The doll didn't care what was standing out from the other doll's artificial eye. She stared at the screen with the large green spot, wondering only if it would interfere with her continued viewing.
But the robot survived the acid attack. The camera screen escaped destruction because it was a virtual screen, and only a few minor dents appeared on the thick layer of metal.
"Aibi, you couldn't do it either," Suturu said.
"Why?" Aibi looked at the robot with normal eyes. Only the black holes in her cheeks suggested the acid. "There's a little there."
Suturu approached the robot, saw the dents, and then turned her head to her sister.
"You won, Aibi," the purple-haired doll said. "But only by a little."
"But I won."
"Yes. But it won't last long. Next time I'll do it better than you. But for that, we need to find someone we can defeat. This robot isn't suitable. It's very strong."
The dolls didn't have to search long. A hand emerged from the ground near Aibi, holding an eyeball in its palm.
"Something came out here," Suturu said.
Aibi twisted her head around her neck.
"It something is nowhere to be found," the green-haired doll answered.
"It's something down there," Suturu said, pointing to the hand with the eye.
Aibi looked where her sister was pointing, but only managed to spot fingers with pink nails that had disappeared into the ground.
"That something's already gone," Aibi said.
"Yes," Suturu agreed. "You need to look for something else that hasn't gone."
The dolls had "lucked out" again. A pink-haired head emerged from the ground, this time a few steps behind Suturu. Its face was completely hidden by a white mask with a black symbol in the middle.
"Suturu, there's a doll," Aibi said. "Go away, you're bothering it."
Suturu took a few steps forward, then turned around and saw half a doll's body "emerging" from the ground as if from water.
"Are you a doll?" Suturu asked. "Why don't you have legs?"
The masked doll didn't answer. She simply continued to emerge from the ground until her legs were in the air.
"She's strong," Aibi noted. "She has a bigger front shield than the two of us."
The healing doll's breast was truly impressive. Two large dark green leaves hid the lower part, while the upper part seemed to appear to remind ordinary combat dolls of their owner's strength.
"Are you a doll?" Suturu repeated, though she knew who stood before her.
A white screen framed in blue appeared before the healing doll, with black symbols written on it.
"I don't understand," Suturu said. "Explain properly."
The pink-haired doll couldn't speak, but the foolish sisters didn't understand.
"I forgot these dolls can't read," Itinit said from the other side of the screen. "But you can't read it from here. The writing is too small. Kimchan, can you read this?"
Kimchan turned around, let out the briefest groan possible, and then ran to the screen.
"There's almost nothing clear there. She says her name is Toloruchan and something about a sister. I can't read any further, aw!"
Kimchan looked at Itinit with an expression as if she'd eaten all the food in the fridge.
"She's trying so hard," Halankuo smiled. "You should give her a fridge."
"Okay," Itinit agreed. "But it will be an empty fridge."
Noru growled and looked at her creator as if he had eaten all the food from her little sister's non-existent fridge.
"Okay, you'll get a fridge too," Itinit promised. "Just don't interfere with my plan. We need to somehow get the message through the robot."
Meanwhile, Suturu and Aibi had come up with their own, unique plan.
"There are no holes in her mask," Suturu looked at her sister. "It's in her way."
"Yes," Aibi agreed. "Let's break the mask. Then she'll be able to speak."
"I'll break it before you do. Defeating such a strong doll with such a large front shield is better than defeating a solid robot."
Aibi didn't argue. She simply bowed her head, and her hair hid her face.
Suturu extended her hand forward. The same purple energy circle with some symbol inside it appeared before her palm.
But the healing doll didn't wait to be attacked. She "went" underground as easily as she "came out" from there. The energy darts from the circle struck only the ground, creating holes in it like insect burrows.
Aibi's attack hadn't even begun. The acid doll threw back her head. Her eyes filled with green liquid again, but not enough to start leaking from the slots.
"The silent doll has disappeared," Suturu noted.
"Where is she?" Aibi asked.
"Can't you see?"
"Something green is bothering me."
Aibi closed her eyes to clear the acid. At that moment, a hand with pink nails emerged from the ground. Suturu didn't notice her right away, so the eye had enough time to activate the pupil.
"Suturu, I can't move," Aibi said.
"You're broken," her older twin answered. "You need to remove your head and then put it back."
Suturu approached her sister and accidentally noticed a hand with an eye protruding from the ground. A bolt of electricity appeared in the purple doll's hand, which then released lightning.
The hand dodged the attack, and the lightning struck the ground. Only a few grassy plants growing in its path were damaged.
But despite all this, the goal was achieved. The eye stopped looking at Aibi for a few moments, and she was "corrected."
Suturu extended her hand forward. The electrical clot transformed into an electrical circle with lightning inside.
The eye tried to target the new enemy, but it was too late. A multitude of electric darts flew out from the circle, which were impossible to dodge.
Unfortunately, Suturu didn't notice another danger. Cracks appeared in the ground a step away from her. And although the hand with the eye was successfully electrocuted and forced to hide back where it came from, the new threat was far more serious.
"Suturu, there's something large there, headless, but wearing a dress," Aibi said, jumping back a few steps.
Behind the purple-haired doll, an open blue flower the size of a two-story house was already "standing." Blue energy was accumulating in its center, resembling a round virtual button, causing it to grow brighter with each passing moment.
"It's something in the dress," Suturu said, shielding her eyes with her hand to block the light. The doll was so stupid that she didn't sense the danger at all.
A beam of blue energy erupted from the center of the flower. A shield appeared on Suturu's elbow, redirecting the attack. The beam reflected off the black symbol on it and flew back at the enemy...
The flower, struck by its own beam, trembled. Suturu felt a powerful vibration and only then jumped back a few steps.
"I won, Aibi," Suturu looked at her sister and showed her Suturu's hand with the shield.
"I could have done that too," a similar shield appeared on Aibi's elbow.
The flower dimmed, began to flicker, and gradually disappeared. The dolls were left without an opponent, but not for long—new cracks appeared elsewhere, bringing something new to the audience.
"I think I sent the wrong creatures," Itinit watched the battle through the screen. "These dolls can't read, but they're also stupid."
"You could send me," Sitihi suggested. "I can read."
Itinit and Halankuo looked at the doll and could barely contain their smiles. Sitihi was dressed only in an apron and was holding a weapon-head by the hair.
"She saw you," Itinit objected. "But that's not important. You work at this cafe now, that's why you're dressed like that."
"Is that the workers' uniform?" Halankuo asked.
"It was once a form," Itinit answered. "It was made up of other parts, but I couldn't find them. Good thing I found the most important thing."
"But Sitihi doesn't do anything," Halankuo noted. "Itinit, are you sure she works here?"
"Yes," the doll answered in place of the establishment's owner. "I'm watching the screen and warning you."
"He did it just to look at the doll," Halankuo thought, turning away. "Why do I have such friends? One likes animal girls, the other likes dolls. Only Sitihi is normal, even though she's a doll. Uh... Why…"
"Something's starting now," Sitihi said. "Look at the screen, not at me."
Itinit looked away from the clean skin on the doll's thigh and back at the screen.
Aibi and Suturu stood on an island in the middle of a boiling acid lake. Green bubbles appeared on the surface, grew to the required size, and then floated upward. Meanwhile, fallen but not yet dissolved tree trunks lay on the shore.
"They want to prevent the doll from attacking from underground," Itinit noted. "These two aren't that stupid. Maybe they like Tuot, but no more."
"Is that the average?" Halankuo looked at the screen.
"Yeah," Itinit answered. "I wonder if there was a scale of stupidity, would it be measured in Tuots or these dolls."
"I think these dolls together would have one Tuot or a little less," Halankuo said. "But not more than Tuot."
While the sentient beings discussed the "scale of stupidity," the battle continued on the other side of the screen. A blue energy flower emerged from the ground at the edge of the acid lake and fired a beam from its center at the dolls.
Suturu was saved by her shield again, after which the flower self-destructed just like last time.
"That doll that summons things like that has less than half of Tuot," Itinit noted from the other side of the screen.
This seemingly foolish action turned out to be merely a diversionary tactic. After the flower disappeared, a hand with an eye emerged from the ground at the opposite edge of the acidic lake and activated a purple pupil.
"It can't lock onto more than one target at a time," Sitihi commented. "But there must be a second hand somewhere, with another eye."
The doll in the apron was right. Soon, a second hand emerged from the ground, but this time it came with its owner. The healing doll "emerged" from the ground at the edge of the forest, but only halfway, after which it extended its remaining hand forward.
Noru and Kimchan groaned at the sight of the one-armed doll and hid under the nearest table, but continued to watch the action on the screen.
"She has one arm," Halankuo noted.
"Yes, one," Sitihi agreed.
"She let go of one hand," Itinit said. "That's obvious."
"It's still her hand," Halankuo looked at the floor as if she'd learned a terrible secret.
In the place of the vanished flower, another, identical one appeared. Aibi raised her axe and then brought it down. The acidic bubbles that were in the air flew towards the flower, but instead of hitting it, they passed through the blue translucent energy and exploded over the forest…
The flower opened and began to accumulate charge. Aibi covered her face with her shield, which was attached to her elbow. The doll prepared to attack, but was completely unaware that she was trapped.
Two eyes with purple pupils were directed at two dolls. The eye with the detached arm looked at Suturu, while the eye on the opponent's arm was aimed at Aibi...
Soon, the flower accumulated a charge and released a beam of blue energy. The dolls tried to move, but were unable to. It seemed their bodies would disintegrate from the powerful energy flow and fall into the acidic lake, where they would dissolve, perhaps forever.
But something went wrong. The beam stopped in front of Aibi's shield and was then redirected back.
The flower finished like its two previous flowers. But the healing doll didn't give up. Its eyes lifted Suturu and Aibi above the island, then moved them in opposite directions and released them. The dolls "hung" over the boiling acid.