Chapter 57 – Honorifics

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When I mentioned that the doll’s completion level had decreased, Hosanna thought for a moment before quickly speaking up.

“Perhaps it’s because you didn’t make it directly?”

“W-What do you mean I didn’t make it directly? Hosanna, you saw it yourself. I carefully—”

“I know you made it with care. I was watching from beside you. But Mari, what you put all that effort into making were the ‘small’ dolls. Not the ‘large’ doll.”

“…Ah.”

I had complained with a touch of indignation, but I couldn’t help but sigh at Hosanna’s following words.

As Hosanna said, the small dolls were ones I had personally crafted one by one.

But the large doll was simply created by combining the completed small dolls. If I had to describe it, it was merely like adding clay repeatedly to increase its size.

Since there wasn’t any part that I had directly molded myself, it makes sense that the completion level would be low.

When I thought about it, it was obvious. Though I’m not particularly skilled in this area, normally to make a human-sized doll, one would typically establish some kind of framework first, but I relied solely on skills to crudely increase the size without any such foundation. It would be strange if the completion level was high.

Now I could understand why I’d consistently received completion level D when making small dolls. It was natural for the completion level to be low when the foundation itself was lacking.

But the thing is, I don’t know how to properly make dolls. Even before I shut myself in my room, I was completely hopeless at crafts, and my manual dexterity wasn’t good either.

And now I have to make dolls properly? This was far too difficult for me.

To think I’d been going around claiming to handle dolls well. As belated self-loathing washed over me, I slumped my shoulders, when Hosanna, who had been looking at the large doll, spoke.

“Let’s stop increasing the size here. I think the completion level might drop below E, and above all, it’s questionable whether you’ll be able to make this move.”

“What? W-What do you mean by that?”

“First, insert the core and activate it. Then you’ll naturally understand.”

Questionable whether I’ll be able to make it move? Can’t I just do the same as before? Despite my skepticism, I still followed his instructions while looking at Hosanna.

After inserting the infinitely small core—compared to the doll’s size—into the center of the doll, I connected the mana thread.

“Huh…?”

And the moment I infused mana as usual to awaken the core, I understood why Hosanna had said those words.

“H-Hosanna. This…!”

More mana was being drained into the core than when moving a small doll.

Perhaps because the amount of mana being consumed instantaneously was so great, my body staggered for a moment, but thanks to Hosanna’s support, I didn’t fall.

“Oops, are you okay?”

“Th-Thank you.”

“No need for thanks. More importantly, I guess I was right. The mana consumption is too severe. It’s not just the size of the doll, but I think the core is the problem.”

“What do you mean the core is the problem…?”

“It means it’s not at a level that can handle the size of this doll. But because we’re trying to force it to move, it requires a lot of mana. If I had to make a comparison, it’s like trying to lift an airplane with a car engine… something like that.”

“Then, does that mean this doll is unusable…?”

I had spent hours diligently making it. As I asked with a crestfallen expression, Hosanna sighed.

“Not necessarily… is what I’d like to say, but I think it’ll be difficult. What do you think? Do you think you could use this in battle?”

“Ugh, that’s…”

“For reference, I’m talking about the second level. Could you move this while simultaneously moving other dolls?”

At Hosanna’s words, I tried to move one arm slightly. Just that alone consumed a massive amount of mana, more than when moving Doll 505 normally.

Moving this simultaneously with other dolls in the second level? It was absolutely impossible. It was clear that I would be trembling from mana deficiency before that.

“…I can’t do it.”

“I thought so.”

I couldn’t hide my dismay at Hosanna’s calm response. After working so hard to make it, the result was a useless burden that couldn’t even be used.

Feeling like I might cry, I rolled my eyes around aimlessly, and Hosanna patted my head.

“No need to be so disheartened. After all, we both properly achieved what we had set as today’s goals, right?”

“That’s true…”

The original goals of core creation and doll creation were properly accomplished. The issue arose at the point of activation.

Recalling that fact made me feel gloomy again. Seeing me so downcast, Hosanna smiled wryly and roughly mussed up my hair.

“Oh, you kid.”

“Ah! Wh-What are you doing?!”

Despite my protests, Hosanna’s patting didn’t stop.

The merciless ruffling that completely disheveled my hair only stopped when I felt the world spinning before my eyes.

“Uwaah… The ground is moving on its own… I-I’m falling…!”

“It’s okay, you won’t fall. I’m holding you.”

“Uweek…”

I could feel that my shoulders were being held, but separate from that, my legs wobbled uncontrollably.

The dizziness subsided after some time had passed. As I sat slumped on the sofa, Hosanna said:

“Feeling better now?”

“Except for the fact that I can’t seem to put strength into my body…”

But more importantly, why did you suddenly ruffle my hair so forcefully? I looked at Hosanna with narrowed eyes.

Of course, being patted didn’t feel bad, but my hair had become a mess, which was somewhat annoying.

Hosanna seemed to notice my gaze and said with a small smile:

“Your hair is completely disheveled.”

“And whose fault is that…”

“I’ll help you fix it.”

“What? No, you don’t have to…”

“Didn’t you say you can’t put strength into your body? Don’t worry. I’ll fix it with the utmost care.”

With such a mischievous expression, those words aren’t convincing at all!

But in my weakened state, I had no choice. Reluctantly, I closed my eyes tightly and exclaimed:

“P-Please be gentle!”

“…Can I ask you not to say things like that in front of others?”

Did I say something strange? As I looked perplexed, Hosanna shook his head and reached out his hand.

“Ah.”

The sensation of fingers delving between my hair strands involuntarily made me vocalize. It was a completely different feeling from when Andreina or Yuika arranged my hair.

Perhaps because externally we were of similar age, the occasional touch of his fingers felt soft, but at the same time, there was something a bit rough about the sensation.

I flinched repeatedly at the touch combing through my hair, and at some point, the arranging hand moved away.

“You can open your eyes now.”

“Um, hmm…”

As I carefully opened my eyes, I saw a face grinning for some reason.

Even though I don’t know Hosanna well yet, I could tell that expression came after he had done something.

He’s not even trying to hide it. With a suspicious expression, I asked Hosanna:

“…What did you do?”

“Do? What do you mean?”

“Then why are you smiling like that…”

He had definitely done something. As I thought about it, I immediately felt something was off.

Why does my forehead feel cool? Hastily covering my forehead with my hand, I felt smooth skin instead of the neatly arranged hair that usually hung there.

My bangs?! Looking at Hosanna with a shocked expression, he waved his hands and said:

“No, I didn’t cut them, so don’t look at me with that expression. I just swept them to the side to reveal your forehead, that’s all.”

“Oh, I-I see…”

“No matter what, I’m not so ill-mannered as to arbitrarily cut someone else’s hair, am I?”

“Ah, s-sorry…”

I hastily apologized to his slightly hurt grumbling voice.

Certainly, I went a bit too far this time. Hosanna wasn’t someone who would do mean things to me, yet I doubted him too quickly.

As I hurriedly apologized, he smiled as if he had never been hurt and said:

“Then you’ll go home like that.”

“What?! L-Like this?!”

“Why? It’s cute. Before going home, show Yuika too. She’ll probably make a fuss about how cute you look.”

Yuika was the type of person who would make a fuss about how cute I was even if I didn’t do anything.

Seeing my dismayed expression, Hosanna gently lifted me up by the arm, then held my shoulders and led me forward.

“Well, then we’re done for today!”

“W-What? Suddenly?”

“Meetings and partings are always sudden.”

Momentarily speechless at the unexpected remark, I looked at him, and Hosanna, seeming a bit embarrassed, cleared his throat and said:

“For now, let’s aim for you to be able to control two dolls simultaneously. We’ll postpone increasing the size for later.”

“Yes…”

I was already planning to do that. That was the only thing I could do and absolutely needed to do right now.

As we walked through the short corridor after changing shoes, Hosanna continued in a quiet voice:

“And, there’s no need to get discouraged so easily when things don’t go well. Who’s good at something from the start? Besides, skills are unfamiliar to us who lived in a world without such things. So it’s natural that we can’t use them properly.”

“…For someone saying that, you use them well.”

“That’s because I’m exceptionally talented, can’t help that.”

“What kind of response is that…”

Though it was clearly a boastful remark, it was delivered in such an exaggerated voice that it made me laugh rather than annoyed me.

As I giggled softly, a kind voice came from behind:

“So, cheer up.”

“…thank you.”

It was gratitude for the encouragement, and also for deliberately pranking me to change the mood when I was feeling down.

Certainly, without that consideration, I would have been pathetically sniffling and blaming myself again.

Before opening the door leading outside, I turned my head slightly and cautiously asked:

“Um, is it okay if I call you… Hosanna?”

“Oh? Are you dropping the honorifics now?” (T/N: Pretend she has been calling him with honorifics till now… dammit, another part I messed up)

“Ah, if not, I’ll keep using them…”

I instinctively shrank at those words, but Hosanna immediately denied it and said:

“No, no. I was the one who told you to speak comfortably from the beginning, right? Since it means Mari is comfortable with me now, I have no reason to object.”

Seeing him grinning as if genuinely pleased, I also smiled slightly.

“Then—”

Just as I was about to tell Hosanna to be careful in the dungeon before parting, the door opened and a shadow fell over my head.

As I turned my head with a puzzled expression, I saw Yuika with a somewhat rigid face.

I was about to greet the welcome face when:

“Why is Mari coming out of the President’s house?”

“Yuika?”

I looked at her with confused eyes upon hearing Yuika’s chilly voice for the first time in my life, but her gaze was directed solely behind me.

Hosanna, who was bearing the full brunt of that fierce gaze, laughed and raised both hands in surrender.

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

It was a very natural response, as if he had expected this to happen.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Thank you for reading as always!!

I tried to polish the ending a bit more but ran out of time…!

In the end… Mari’s spec upgrade ended with just +1 to Core (number of usable dolls)…!

When you think about it, Mari is still a beginner after all…! Human-sized dolls are for intermediate users and above…!

Only skilled doll masters can handle human-form dolls…! That’s the setting…

Of course, there’s no one in the novel to explain this… so I’m patching it through this afterword like some pitiful cheat…!

It’s painful…! This pain made me late with the update…!

But still… I’ll keep doing my best with the serialization…!

Thank you…!

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Girlfailure creates girlfailure situations that causes more girlfailing.

What a girlfailure!