episode_0007

[Leruye, it’s truly been a long time since guests visited this place. I welcomed them, but they attacked me without warning!]

Oh dear.

[I hate ships, and I hate steam. So how much do I hate the two combined? Anyway, my schedule changed because of them, but what can I do? Our lives are always like this.]

Rie, you have such a positive mindset.

[When they exist, we exist, and we will surface someday. But I heard you discovered an interesting place… I have time to spare, so I’m thinking of dropping by. Travel is always enjoyable.]

You know that, but you won’t let me go? Is this for real?

[You who are reading this will be upset, but didn’t I tell you? We will surface someday, and we’ll be by your side. So there’s no need for you to leave my side. Is there any need to even think of leaving me?]

What, is this responding in real-time? I was flustered by the past Rie, who suddenly spoke to me as I read her diary, but my interest piqued, so I continued reading.

[I’ll give you everything you need, so put away those bad thoughts and feel free to consult me anytime! Even if you leave, it’s best not to leave my side – that’s what I wanted to tell you.]

“Haaah…”

The diary ended there. Even if I tried to turn the page, it wouldn’t, as if glued shut.

She said she was too embarrassed to show it, but then she made it unreadable? How many times is she pulling a fast one on me… My trust in the Rie within me diminished slightly.

“Haaaah…”

Yawning endlessly. I had only read a diary with a witty and playful tone, but it felt like my energy had been drained.

Feeling exhausted from trying to drag myself from a deep, sucking swamp, worn out by a viscous lassitude, I turned off the light, carefully placed the diary on the desk, and lay down on the bed.

—Crack, crack, crack!

Sharp pain struck me the moment I closed my eyes.

My cheek stung, and my teeth rattled. Did a tooth thief break into my house?

I opened my eyes and met the gaze of a familiar bearded man.

He wasn’t trying to give me CPR, was he?

“Hey, whew, if I’d been a moment later, you would’ve drifted straight into the Sea of Unconsciousness! Be more careful.”

“There’s a sea here?”

“Good heavens, look around you!”

No, he’s just glossing over slapping my cheek.

I stood beside Mr. Thompson, who was looking around, and surveyed our surroundings.

The world we stood upon was so mysterious it could only be described as dreamlike.

A surreal sky, vast and open, embroidered with countless planets and moons.

Planets shattered into pieces by writhing tentacles and monstrous birds flying through the sky. When I turned my gaze from the sky, the endlessly stretching fields were as chaotic and beautiful as a kindergartener’s scribbles, without any discernible pattern.

Taking one step, it was soft. Taking two steps, my feet sank.

When I forcibly pulled my feet out and stepped again, boing, my body bounced into the sky. It was a theme park-like space where all laws and common sense were defied. The landscape, boasting vibrant colors, captivated my eyes, and the corners of my mouth couldn’t help but twitch.

This is exploration, this is fantasy!

“Woohoo!”

“You’ll fall if you do that, young man.”

Mr. Thompson approached me as I bounced around, performing backflips and turns.

With a spoilsport comment, Mr. Thompson grabbed my arm and dragged me somewhere, then entered a suddenly appearing cave, sat down, and praised me.

“Most people would deny reality, but you adapt well.”

“Where exactly is this?”

“You enjoyed yourself thoroughly, and now you’re asking? Well, it has various names.”

[Nexus of Illusions, Wandering Dream’s Sanctuary, Outer God’s Courtyard.]

Mr. Thompson, who had announced the names of this place in an unnecessarily solemn voice, was wiping sweat from his brow, looking strained.

Sweating just from saying names? He must be out of shape.

But I didn’t particularly like the names Mr. Thompson had called out. To call such a dreamlike place by such dull names.

“What’s with those names? Dreamland sounds much better.”

“What?”

Mr. Thompson’s eyes, staring at me, turned jet-black like ink.

The Hellstrom guards were like that too. Is it just a characteristic of people here?

“Hoo… ah! Good, Dreamland, Dreamland… Ah! Yes, Dreamland.”

Mr. Thompson, whose eyes had returned to normal, was disoriented for a while. Then, seemingly pleased with the name I’d given, he took out a book from his pocket and began to scribble with a pen.

“It’s an excellent name. There couldn’t be a clearer designation. No – it’s a naming worthy of its true name. You are truly remarkable.”

“Hehe.”

He just complimented me because he had nothing else to say.

Feeling embarrassed, I scratched my cheek, savoring Mr. Thompson’s praise, then firmly held the hand he offered and shook it up and down.

“Anyway, we should reintroduce ourselves. My name is Erica, Thomison Erica Levison—that is my true name.”

“Thompson isn’t your real name?!”

Rie, you lied to me again.

“What lunatic would use their true name if they wanted to live? In a world where a single syllable difference can avoid madness…”

“My name is my real name, though?”

“What?”

Erica took out a magnifying glass from her pocket and began peering into my eyes.

It was an old magnifying glass made of brilliant pure white glass. He stared into my eyes with it, then scratched his head and exclaimed in a despondent voice.

“There’s no reaction, so you seem normal… Strange. Well—let’s put all that aside. Am I to assume you came to me because you have something you want to hear?”

“Uh, will you tell me anything?”

“Fortunately, this is Leruye, beyond that woman’s authority. Ask anything—I’ll answer what I know.”

“I want to explore and see other cities too!”

“Mmm, mmm, a natural human desire. Is there a reason?”

“Rie keeps stopping me and changing the subject. So it just made me want to go even more, you know?”

“Rie?”

“Oh, it’s a nickname. She told me to call her comfortably, so I’m calling her that.”

“…Uh, ah, uh, oh, ah, ah, ahhh, ahhhhh!!!”

“…?”

Mr. Thompson, convulsing and trembling, began to spew frothy bubbles like that foam-spitting man I was caught with on the first day, before he thwack, stabbed his thigh with a pen, and ptooey, spat out foam.

What, are you a crab?

“Whew, whew, I’m sorry…”

“Are you alright?”

He seemed to have lost his mind for a moment. Is it because calling her that nickname is disgusting?

“I’m not alright at all! Whew, that was a close call. I’m not blaming you, but… that nickname, never, ever use it in front of anyone. Never, ever!”

“Huh, why?”

“If I tell you not to, then don’t! I almost, almost went mad myself, you know.”

Mister, in this world, everyone’s either mad or a little less mad.

When I looked at him with a pitiful expression, he bared his teeth, his face beet-red, before he whew, exhaled deeply, seemingly controlling his emotions, and let it go.

“…I almost snapped something back but held it in. Anyway… Never! Call that name again… and you should reveal your true form quickly too.”

“Me? My true form?”

“You’re free until you wake from this dream. Here, you can finally reveal your true form, which you kept hidden so tightly in that hellish place. If you keep living with a mask on, you’ll go mad.”

Having said his piece, Mr. Thompson closed his mouth, then suddenly put his hands on his face and started tearing it off!

“Woah!”

It was a shocking scene straight out of a slasher movie, and just as I thought, that must hurt, snap, rip—something tore, then thud—Mr. Thompson’s face hit the floor.

He looks quite ugly like that.

“Whew, now I feel alive again.”

Mr. Thompson’s bare face after tearing off his mask-like face was quite astonishing.

His tidy face, framed by ash-gray hair that reached his waist, glowed harmoniously with a sharp nose, full lips, and dull yet mystical gray eyes.

The wrinkled old man suddenly grew taller, and his chest swelled.

His true form was an old man with a woman’s face and male breast enlargement. Just as I cringed at the clashing concepts, Thompson glared at me and snapped.

“What’s with that look? It seems rather disgusted.”

“It’s just that I thought you were a friendly old man, but your true form is a man with a woman’s face and male breast enlargement, so it’s a bit…”

“Don’t people usually think the true form was a woman?”

Oops!

“And here, call me Erica. If you keep using a pseudonym, it can become a conduit.”

“Not even if I call you that in my head?”

“No.”

“Understood.”

“Anyway, you should reveal your true form quickly too. When else would you recognize your true self if not now? Well… if that’s more comfortable, I won’t stop you, but losing your ego is truly…”

“This is my true form, though?”

“What?”

Erica didn’t seem to believe me. She suddenly grabbed my face and began pulling and molding it.

Unlike Rie, who gently caressed and treated me like a treasure, Erica’s hands were incredibly rough and unpleasant.

Annoyed, I quickly turned my head, shaking off her touch, and Erica, seemingly speechless, mumbled with her lips before bowing her head and apologizing.

“I, I apologize.”

“Not at all.”

She must have come here to talk, surely.

And so, in that awkward atmosphere, we spent time just staring at the ground.