Magical Lotus - Mahou Shoujou Byakuren - Episode 5

[Oldmansour]

>"Perhaps I should have clarified that I meant longer-term. How much allure does your prior lifestyle still hold for you - riding aside?"

>To your surprise, Motormaster laughs. "'Say the right thing, get out of jail now.' That right?" he sneers. "I've played this game before. But save me some time here. What the magic word, what do you wanna hear?"

[DracoOmega]

>"The truth."

[Oldmansour]

>"The truth."

>The contemptive look on Motormaster's face worsens for a moment, then it fades and his head sags, his emotions leaving him again. "What does it matter?"

[DracoOmega]

>"It matters because I still want to help you, whether you believe it or not. But I'm not prepared to risk you doing harm to anyone, either."

[Oldmansour]

>"It matters because I still want to help you, whether you believe it or not. But I'm not prepared to risk you doing harm to anyone, either."

>"Harm?" The word explodes out of Motormaster. "How am I supposed to harm anyone like this? I'd be lucky to step on a butterfly now. Better odds of someone putting me down than me managing to bruise someone else. And there's a long line of people who'd do it, too. I was hated almost as much as I hated."

[DracoOmega]

>"You already tried to strangle me. You may have lost your supernatural strength, but even an ordinary human is more than capable of harming others should they wish to."

[Oldmansour]

>"You already tried to strangle me. You may have lost your supernatural strength, but even an ordinary human is more than capable of harming others should they wish to."

>"And look how good I was at it." Motormaster remarks with more than a little sarcasm. "You probably wouldn't have even needed your bodyguard there. Maybe I should try taking candy from babies, that might actually work." The self-pity in his voice is palpable.

[DracoOmega]

>"I am not worried about you harming me. But did you ever restrict your violent impulses only to people strong enough to defend themselves?"

[Oldmansour]

>"I am not worried about you harming me. But did you ever restrict your violent impulses only to people strong enough to defend themselves?"

>"Nobody was strong enough to defend themselves against me. Nobody... And now...." He manages to sigh. "Now I... am less than half a man. Harm somone? I couldn't harm myself right now..."

[DracoOmega]

>"It may take some time for me to be convinced of that. But in the meantime, how'd you like to take your bike out for a spin tonight? I could arrange for it."
>We'll keep a short leash on him, of course. I'm just hoping that maybe if he connects to something he once enjoyed that maybe... maybe it would help somehow.

[Oldmansour]

>"It may take some time for me to be convinced of that. But in the meantime, how'd you like to take your bike out for a spin tonight? I could arrange for it."
>We'll keep a short leash on him, of course. I'm just hoping that maybe if he connects to something he once enjoyed that maybe... maybe it would help somehow.

>We better not tell Reisen, though. I doubt she'd be happy about it.

[DracoOmega]

>She... she wasn't right, was she? To want to kill him instead of leaving him like this? I... thought I was saving him....

[Oldmansour]

>She... she wasn't right, was she? To want to kill him instead of leaving him like this? I... thought I was saving him....

>I don't know that you didn't. Byakuren, who knows what that thing did to him. Satori had it bad, but Motormaster had it worse. He's never really been alive until now, if you think of it like that. He's got a brand new life ahead of him, and that's hard. Even if your old life was a bad one, leaving it behind is hard. Believe me, I know. He's hurt, badly, but he's not broken. If he was, he wouldn't keep getting mad at you.
>And on that note, she adds, more hesitantly, I have had another idea, about how we could help him. Or, where we could find some help for him.

>"Why?" Motormaster asks.

[DracoOmega]

>And what's that?
>"Because it's something that mattered a lot to you and I thought it might help you feel a little more... yourself, to do something familiar. Something that felt good."

[Oldmansour]

>And what's that?
>"Because it's something that mattered a lot to you and I thought it might help you feel a little more... yourself, to do something familiar. Something that felt good."

>Are there asylums in Mayoiga?

[DracoOmega]

>Presumably yes, right?
>If so, say as much

[Oldmansour]

>Presumably yes, right?
>If so, say as much

>One that you know of. No wait, two, though you're only peripherally aware of the other. The one you're most familiar with is Berkeley Manor, which, you're pretty sure, deals with ordinary folks with debilitating mental problems. The other, whose name you don't know, specializes in the criminally insane.
>Well, maybe one of them is the best place for Motormaster right now. Rin suggests.

[DracoOmega]

>You may well be right. If he is to heal at all, it will take a great deal of time and patience, and... there are so many other things that only we can do. I will look into it.

[Oldmansour]

>You may well be right. If he is to heal at all, it will take a great deal of time and patience, and... there are so many other things that only we can do. I will look into it.

>Maybe no one else could've saved Motormaster from that splinter. But maybe that's all we can do for him. Maybe someone else has to do the rest.

>Faintly, Motormaster shrugs. "Well, why not. Nothing to lose."

[DracoOmega]

>"Then we shall be back later this evening."
>"And I do hope you'll have some food in the meantime. I have great confidence in the chef!"

[Oldmansour]

>"Then we shall be back later this evening."
>"And I do hope you'll have some food in the meantime. I have great confidence in the chef!"

>"Why not." says Motormaster again, listlessly moving away from the wall. Rin tenses visibly, but the tall biker simply walks between you two without so much as a twitch of his biceps. "I used to like food..."

[DracoOmega]

>Let's give him a minute to see if he actually does start eating and then let's exit the oubliette again.

[Oldmansour]

>Let's give him a minute to see if he actually does start eating and then let's exit the oubliette again.

>His pace is lethargic, but eventually he sits himself on the edge of one of the two beds in the room, selects a rice ball, and takes a small bite out of it. His motions are mechanical, nearly devoid of life, but he is eating. You suppose that's better than nothing, at least. Still feeling very conflicted about this whole affair, you decide to leave the damaged biker alone for the moment.
>As you reach for the door of his room, though, you hear him say, "Wait."

[DracoOmega]

>"Yes?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Yes?"

>"Probably doesn't matter...." Motormaster closes his eyes, his emotions starting to fade, but for the first time he seems to visibly fight this sensation. After a moment, he opens his eyes again. "But I gotta know. Only two women have ever known the truth of me. Of us, what I really am. Was. Of my other half. How did you know?"

[DracoOmega]

>"We were contacted by a... well, I guess you could call her something like a ghost. She told us you were inhabited by an entity like the one we'd just fought a few nights before. I... do not actually know who she is or how she came by this information herself. I don't suppose you might?"

[Oldmansour]

>"We were contacted by a... well, I guess you could call her something like a ghost. She told us you were inhabited by an entity like the one we'd just fought a few nights before. I... do not actually know who she is or how she came by this information herself. I don't suppose you might?"

>"A ghost? I don't know. Maybe it was the ghost of the other woman. She might have followed me here from Pommenville."
>"She's someone you killed?" Rin asks.
>"I didn't kill her. I should have..." Motormaster asks, lowering his head. "I should have. He told me too. But I didn't. Another dementia caster killed her."

[DracoOmega]

>"Someone you knew?"

[Oldmansour]

>"Someone you knew?"

>He nods.

[DracoOmega]

>"What happened? If... that's not too personal, of course."