Intermission 7.5

Surprisingly, Cursor enjoyed wasting its time playing the Teaset’s silly board game. Even after wearing a humiliating cat outfit and getting mocked by Color Black, winning a round was a huge boost for their ego. However, that small moment of victory pales in comparison to their goals of winning this season. They wouldn’t be bothered not being crowned the winner, but traveling to all sorts of countries—all for free as well—was a once in a lifetime experience.

And yet… the more Cursor pondered about it, the more they realized winning wasn’t close to what they wanted. It was something else entirely. Something else much harder to pin down in mere words.

Almost everyday, without fail, Cursor would find Color Black lurking in some random corner away from everyone else, and drag him into whatever activity they fancied at the moment: stealing from stores, exploring abandoned areas, lighting gigantic fireworks, terrorizing the local cats….

As much as Black himself might complain and criticize its “outrageous hobbies”, not once did he ever back down from a hangout session.

Evidently, Cursor was also growing accustomed to his grumpy presence.

Less evidently, it still felt sickeningly hollow.

Something was missing—always has been missing—and they didn’t know what. No matter how often they spent time together, or how often Color Black slipped up and nearly vented about his woes, Cursor couldn’t shake off this persistent feeling, or rather lack thereof, in their chest.

But should they be surprised? What made it think Color Black would change the whole trajectory of its life and make it… make it…

Whatever—what WAS it thinking about right now?! Considering their track record at their school, why would Black make any difference in how they viewed other people?

Color Black, as the first ever friend it made, should mean the whole world to it. And yet… God—with the awkward yet more open manner Black acted towards it, Cursor knew his feelings ran deeper than their own.

“A friend couldn’t rid of that beast, huh?” Cursor absentmindedly muttered to itself, collecting its bearings and grabbing a hold of its lighter Gas Pump confiscated. Thank god she didn’t try at all to hide it well from it.

They hoped what they were planning to do next would satiate that storm of boredom.

-

The sight was dazzling and hypnotic—wild flames running across the scenery. What once was an expanse of empty, shabby buildings, became a lush garden of fires that made Cursor felt truly alive. It knew this feeling of euphoria wouldn’t last. Nothing ever good ever did.

But they don’t have to worry about that, at least for this beautiful moment. Cursor stepped into the bright abyss, feeling painfully hot from the bursting embers barely scratching their body.

It spent almost an hour just waltzing around the area, watching the weak buildings crumble into disarray and listening to the comforting, familiar crackling of fire. They couldn’t stop grinning madly throughout the entire duration of their stay. They were tearing up the seams, bursting with laughter at every step they took further and further into the free world of their own creation.

Cursor wished it could stay there forever. Forever and forever where no one else can bother them, and they didn’t have to bother with anyone else.

Whatever thing it was, it wasn’t a person for certain. It only wished Color Black would realize it sooner too. That boy had no reason to care about some awful thing that cared little for him as well.

With what little remnants of sanity they had left, Cursor fled the fiery expanse and back into the normal world—feeling burns sprouting throughout their frame.

They didn’t want to end up like Flamethrower—a charred corpse that contributed nothing to society.

Cursor knew that even after skirting around threatening danger, that hollow feeling would return again and again and again and again to torment them. But maybe, as long as they keep upping the ante, as long as they keep having fun.

It’ll one day be finally free from that curse.