“Stop running!” I did not know why, but even as I ran faster, the pink-haired thing kept following me. How was I supposed to get my mask if she won’t leave me alone?

I sighed as I came to a stop just outside of town and turned around to look at the pink-haired thing. “W-why do-do… Umm… Yo-you keeep ch-chasing me?” 

    “Hah…. Hah…. Why did you run…. I… Hah…. I can’t breathe….” The pink-haired thing seemed to be in worse shape than me. Maybe if I started running again, she would not catch up? 

I went to turn and start running again, but a hand suddenly grabbed my arm. “Please wait! I just have to ask you a question!”
    
I bit my lip and turned back to look at the pink-haired thing. “Wha-What?”

“Can you help me with a qu…. Hey, why did you start running again!?” The pink-haired thing looked quite surprised that I would start running again. But I never planned to listen to her anyway. 

I ducked down a few side roads before finally finding a quiet spot to sit down and relax. “As I need to get that mask and fast. But why did that girl seem so hell-bent on chasing me? It made no sense….” 

I let out a long sigh. I actually said so many words to a real person. I was already drained just from that, but I did not have time to be sitting around. “I need to go get the mask quest….” 

I gathered my bearings and made my way to the business street, where the mask vendor was. It was a unique little place that had many different masks from different cultures. The mask I was trying to get was a fox mask, mainly because it is cute. The streets were lit up even though the sun had yet to fully go down. It gave off a  festive feel, I guess you could say. Many people were out and about chatting away while shopping for this and that. It seemed like everyone was having a good time.

When I reached the stall in question, an elderly lady sat behind the booth with her hands busy crafting another mask. “Excuse me…” I called out to her in a low voice, trying not to startle her. I did not wish to cause her to cut herself.

“…” But all I got was silence.

“Ummmm… Excuse me!” I called out once more, a little louder this time. But still, the old lady did not even flinch.

“Hey Bretta! You got a customer!” The lady from the stall next to the mask stall yelled out at the top of her lungs.

“What? Lin, did you say my name?” The old lady finally looked up, but she did not even glance at me and looked at the woman named Lin, who was in the booth next to her. 

“You have a customer! Look!” Lin pointed at me, giving me a helpless sigh. “Sorry about that. She is a little hard of hearing.” 

Just a little!? Is what I wanted to ask, but I felt it was rude. The last thing I wanted was to anger the lady who was going to give me a mask. The old lady finally turned to look at me. When she saw me, she smiled brightly. “Oh! Welcome, welcome. Here, have a mask.” 

And just like that was given a mask. And the fox mask I wanted….. “Wait, I can’t accept this. I didn’t pay for it!”

“What!?” The old lady is really not hard of hearing. She was deaf!

“Just take it. You won’t get anywhere. She does this sometimes. When she sees a person and thinks a mask fits them, she will just give it away. She is not here for money but to work on her hobby in peace. Her husband always nags at her.” Lin gave me a smile as she looked at the mask in my hands. But how would the old lady know someone was nagging at her if she couldn’t even hear the person in front of her? This thought really confused me and would probably bother me for a few days.

“I see….” I looked at the mask in my hands. It was quite well made and had even some tassel-like things coming off the side. I took it and put the mask on. It did not have any stats and was nothing more than a cosmetic item, but it was better than nothing. 

“Mmm… yes perfect. Off you go.” The old lady shooed me away as if I was some kind of bug. Lin gave me a helpless smile as I waved at her and gave the old lady my thanks before taking my leave. Well at least now I did not have to go back out to the field. I did not wish to run into that pink-haired thing.

    “Found you!” As I was saying, it was good I did not run into that pink-haired thing. “Hey! Don’t ignore me!” 

“Why does this voice sound familiar?” I couldn’t help but mumble my words out loud as I turned and looked at a pink-haired thing that had flushed red cheeks walking towards me. “Ah…. Run!”

And so I ran. As did the pink-haired thing. “Stop running! Just hear me out! Please!”

I have no idea how long I was running for but by the time the moon had almost disappeared from the sky. The pink-haired thing was still right behind me. I have no idea where she is getting all this energy from. It looked like she would collapse any second now. We were currently outside the city. I could kill her, but I would probably feel bad afterward. While she can’t take a hint she had not actually done anything bad to me. But I did not really wish to struggle to speak to her….

That was when a brilliant idea came to mind. I looked around and found a stick and wrote a few words on the ground as the pink-haired thing came walking up to me. I pointed to the ground so that she would see what I wrote.

“What? Hmmm? Pink-haired thing, why do you keep chasing me…? Pink…. Pink… Pink-haired…. Thing….  I’m not a pink-haired thing! My name is Angel!”