Chapter 141: Delusions
Outside Sakura Snow Desserts, Sakura and Sasuke sat on a pair of stone bollards at the street corner, sipping the new jasmine-cherry tea, watching the two driver Sakuras go at each other.
Sakura had discovered that this inner world ran on no currency. You simply walked into a shop, told them what you wanted, and the worker Sakura handed it to you.
But if there was no currency — why did any of them have jobs?
Neither Sakura nor Sasuke could figure it out. When they'd asked, the worker Sakura had looked at them like they were the strange ones, and explained that this was simply the rules.
"Hey — you're asking for it, you know that?!"
One of the driver Sakuras finally hit her limit. One punch — and the other one went down.
The other one climbed back up immediately, and then they were both at each other, a full-blown road rage brawl unfolding on the sidewalk.
"Okay, but — am I actually this volatile?"
Sakura watched the two of them go at it and felt genuine uncertainty about herself.
Sasuke looked at the girl beside him. Said nothing.
He hadn't personally witnessed what had happened with the Two-Tails or the Raikage. But he'd watched her punch Orochimaru clean off his feet with his own eyes.
Whatever was buried under that exterior — the fight instinct was clearly present.
As the driver Sakuras' street fight escalated, several bystander Sakuras pulled out their phones and called the authorities.
Within three minutes, a police car arrived.
And — as neither Sakura nor Sasuke were remotely surprised — two uniformed officer Sakuras stepped out.
"I genuinely can't anymore."
Sakura chewed her straw and watched the officer Sakuras approach with profound resignation.
"Pffh—"
What happened next produced simultaneous shocked silence from both of them.
The aggressor driver Sakura wound up and punched the other driver Sakura's head clean off her shoulders.
What.
What.
Her head came OFF—
And there wasn't a drop of blood. The neck was smooth and clean, like a doll's joint. And the headless body didn't fall — it just kept grappling, completely unperturbed.
The flying pink head traced a graceful arc through the air and landed directly in one of the officer Sakura's arms.
And every single Sakura on the street watched this with the casual indifference of people waiting for a bus.
Not one alarmed expression. Not one scream.
"HA!"
"You're done for!"
"Enjoy your jail time!"
The decapitated head peered up from the officer's arms with a delighted, smug expression.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!"
"You have violated Article 9527 of the Greater Sakura Mutual Non-Harm Act! Hands on your head! Get down NOW, or I will discharge my weapon!"
The second officer Sakura had her sidearm out, pointed at the aggressor.
"That's completely unfair — she started it! This is HER fault!"
"I said get DOWN. Last warning."
The aggressor Sakura looked furious, glanced around — then walked over to a nearby office building and, while Sakura and Sasuke stared with fully dilated pupils, lifted it.
A twenty-plus story tower, raised like a child's toy block. The foundation didn't crumble or tear away — it simply wasn't there. A flat plate.
From every open window, office Sakuras, janitor Sakuras, security Sakuras, secretary Sakuras, and CEO Sakuras were all screaming.
One secretary Sakura fell directly from the top floor and landed face-first on the pavement in front of Sakura's feet.
"Ah... I'm dead."
She was lying completely flat, eyes replaced with two X's, a small Q-version ghost drifting upward from her mouth.
Sasuke looked at the scene. Looked at Sakura beside him.
His expression said, clearly: I had no idea your inner world was this lively.
Sakura opened her mouth. Couldn't find words. Closed it.
The officer Sakura, outraged, opened fire.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Three shots. All direct hits.
Sakura and Sasuke stared.
This woman just lifted a twenty-story building.
And you're shooting her with a water gun.
That was unambiguously a water gun. A toy. Making its own sound effects.
And the officer was making them with her mouth. With a completely straight face.
The aggressor Sakura took three streams of water to the torso. She lowered the building — slowly, gently setting it back in place — and staggered backward, clutching her chest, pointing with one finger at the officer in disbelief.
"I can't believe you actually — you actually shot me—"
The world went dark.
A spotlight descended from somewhere above and locked onto the officer Sakura. Every storefront on both sides of the street began playing the same dramatic orchestral piece in perfect unison.
The officer Sakura holstered her water gun. She tilted her cap down over her eyes. Her expression became one of profound, world-weary regret.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I'm a police officer."
WHY DID THE SKY JUST TURN OFF—
WHO ARE YOU PERFORMING FOR—
WHERE IS THE SPOTLIGHT OPERATOR I CAN SEE YOU UP THERE GET DOWN HERE—
ALSO HOW ARE ALL THE SHOPS DOING THAT AT THE SAME TIME—
Beside her, Sasuke had the expression of someone heroically not laughing.
The crowd around them erupted.
"THAT'S OUR GUARDIAN!"
"SO COOL!"
"THE PEOPLE'S PROTECTOR!"
"I LOVE YOU!"
"LIKE A MOUSE LOVES RICE!"
Several bystander Sakuras were visibly weeping. One, unable to produce actual tears, pulled eye drops from her pocket and applied them on the spot.
The officer Sakura's dramatic moment concluded. The sky came back on.
Sakura had run out of reactions.
"That was so moving!" The worker Sakura from the tea shop had appeared beside them at some point, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. "Didn't you feel anything?"
"No," Sakura said flatly. "Nothing. Zero."
The world went silent.
The music stopped.
Every Sakura on the street turned to look at them.
The worker Sakura turned to look at them.
Sasuke blinked.
"WHAT?!"
"YOU FELT NOTHING?!"
"HOW CAN YOU HAVE NO CONSCIENCE—"
"MONSTERS—"
"ABSOLUTE CRIMINALS—"
"ARREST THEM! ARREST BOTH OF THEM!"
"LOCK THEM UP FOR EIGHTEEN HUNDRED YEARS!"
"DO YOU FEEL SOMETHING?! DO YOU?!"
"SHOOT THEM! SHOOT THEM!"
"I'll stomp them with my FOOT—"
The foot Sakura literally detached her own leg and began hopping toward them on one foot.
The crowd collectively lost their minds and charged.
The aggressor driver Sakura, the decapitated one, the weeping ones — all of them, running at full speed.
"RUN—"
Sasuke and Sakura bolted.
Behind them: an entire city of herself, in pursuit.
Tables. Chairs. Various objects were thrown. When objects ran out, some Sakuras simply picked up other Sakuras and threw those.
One Sakura caught a neighboring Sakura mid-arc and threw her further. Relay throwing. Organized.
I dodged a Sakura. I just dodged an airborne Sakura.
On the upper floors of buildings, Sakuras were lining up to jump.
"First row: jump failed! Second row: advance! Third row: prepare! Fourth row: ready!"
There is a queue. There is an organized jumping queue.
Sasuke, vision swimming, fell behind — and then disappeared entirely under a wave of Sakuras.
"GOT ONE—"
"I'm going to kick him SO hard—"
The foot Sakura, who had been trampled nearly flat in the pursuit, sat up, sniffled, and her little ghost floated back into her body like a sneeze reversing itself. Full recovery. No damage.
"THEY DON'T DIE—"
NOBODY HERE DIES—
Helicopters appeared overhead. Military. Four or five uniformed Sakuras visible in each bay door, six-barrel miniguns deployed.
"CRIMINAL ELEMENT!"
"IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE—"
"PREPARE TO RECEIVE YOUR SENTENCE—"
(Chapter End)
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