243 – 243 – Summer. festival. Fireworks #18
243 – Summer. festival. Fireworks #18
After falling into Enio’s shadow, there was a passenger.
It was Enio himself.
How is this possible?
First I asked
“Enio, I’d like you to explain the current situation.”
“Well… .”
Enio seemed to be pondering for a moment.
Its brilliant ruby eyes turned to the candles burning all around us.
Hwareuk.
As the candles began to go out one by one due to the wind blowing from somewhere, the shadow specters who were watching us from far away gradually narrowed the distance.
-Gerreuk-.
Enio used a candle that was still burning to rekindle the extinguished flame.
And he told us too.
“If all the candles go out, there will be a dangerous situation. If there are places where everyone has gone out, I want them to light the flames again.”
There were many suspicious and strange things in many ways, but in the current situation, it seemed that it would be best to follow Enio’s words.
Shuk.
Each person carries a candle and walks around the area, refilling the extinguished flames more brightly.
It’s just turning on the lights, but it’s like a solemn and strict ceremony, so I’m quite nervous.
When most of the candles were lit up like that, Enio said.
“at that time. The day I returned after fighting Sister Therese. When I entered the dormitory, someone talked to me. At first, I thought it was an auditory hallucination because I was tired.”
“It’s hallucinations.”
“I thought it would get better if I rested. Rather, as time passed, it became louder and clearer. So I was wondering who the hell was talking to me.”
It seemed that Enio experienced a strange phenomenon immediately after fighting Therese.
If I had known it would be like this, I would have watched it with a little more interest.
I made a bold promise to Balak, but it turns out to be a lie.
While I was arguing with myself, Enio’s words continued.
“mirror. The voice was coming from the mirror. The me in the mirror called myself a shadow. my shadow. He said he could tell me things I didn’t know and do things I couldn’t.”
Enio said that he listened to what he was talking to in the mirror.
“But, while I listened for a while, I fell into the shadows.”
Enio, like us, seemed to be caught in a trap.
“So, what is outside right now is not me, but my shadow. And I have to get out of here and block my shadow. Otherwise, something quite dangerous could happen.”
I asked Enio, who was lighting the extinguished candle again.
“If it’s dangerous, what specifically?”
“If you look inside, what does my shadow think? It conveys to me what I am feeling. It would have been the other way around.”
“That means you can understand the meaning of the shadows.”
“yes. the shadow… . I’m about to do something big Dangerous and scary. They are trying to turn the world around by swallowing the entire world as shadows.”
turning the world upside down?
It was a time when I felt slightly puzzled by a sentence that was unfamiliar to me.
Megaira asked with a rather serious face.
“What do you mean? Turning the world upside down… ?”
“Literally. Swallow everything in the world right now into this world in the shadows. The outside world becomes a false world. They want to make this shadow the real world.”
indeed.
I think I know how it feels.
You’re thinking of taking the whole world in your hands.
Come to think of it, Enio, who stepped on my face and made me fall into the abyss of shadow, said this.
“I said that the substance would become the shadow, and the shadow would become the substance. It was also said that the light and the dark would be reversed. Maybe Enio’s story is true.”
It was when I calmly nodded.
Enio asks.
“So Viktor-kun, how many days have passed outside? After defeating Mother Therese. day? Two days? Or, a week or a month?”
“It’s been about a week.”
“It’s already that much time… . There is no passage of time here. That’s why you don’t know or feel how much time has passed outside.”
It is a space without the flow of time.
This must be because it is a world where the sun never rises and only that strange moon floats in the sky.
Can we consider it an independent space that does not follow the rules of the gods and Ludens?
no.
In a way, this place was also influenced by something ‘god’.
A decapitated statue that Enio in his childhood was said to have invaded and touched.
Because it belongs to a goddess.
Although it is too blasphemous and scary to be called a goddess.
There is no change in the fact that this is a space under her control.
“Enio, just like you said, I need to find a way to escape quickly. Did you wander around and couldn’t find the exit?”
“Exit… .”
* * *
“You need a spark to get around.”
Enio picked up a piece of wood that had fallen nearby.
support position.
After ripping off the skirt of her school uniform, she wrapped it around a tree branch, smeared oil on it, and set it on fire, making it a pretty plausible torch.
“As you all know from seeing it yourself, shadow monsters can’t easily approach if there’s a flame. That’s why it’s important to light up wherever you go.”
It’s easy to understand, it seems to have a weakness to fire and light.
It would have been very convenient if Victoria had been here.
This guy, after fighting with Nike for the last few days and making him worry, there’s no time when it’s really important.
Still, it was clear that a few days after I was gone, he would find me.
In that sense, he will feel like my last safety pin.
“Then go.”
We set out on the road following Enio holding the torch.
There is no regularity at all, and all sorts of junk pile up like mountains or walls and walk along the walls and streets.
As I was walking like that, I could see something that bothered me.
It was a large windmill.
Maybe 3-4 meters high.
I don’t know why this is in Enio’s shadow.
“Enio, why did you put the windmill in the shadows?”
“I don’t know either. Most of the things here are things I don’t know. I don’t even know why this is in my shadow. I don’t even know what’s there.”
“is it.”
“Rather, I want to know. So I went around and found out in many ways. That’s what I’m most suspicious of.”
Shuk.
We climbed the cluttered hill and looked down low.
– Grrr… .
-Gerreuk… .
There were many shadows swarming there.
Its form was different, from beasts to humans to grotesque appearances that did not look like living things at all. When he thought it would be difficult to break through that number, Enio said.
“Hey, there’s a mirror in the middle over there. A mirror with a large blackout curtain. It feels like those monsters are deployed to protect the mirror.”
Listening to Enio’s explanation, there was definitely a mirror at the center of the monsters.
Most of them were hidden in blackout curtains, like there might be one in a clothing store, but it didn’t seem to hide even the strangely radiating light.
“There’s a chance it’s an exit.”
But it seems hard to reach.
I don’t know if I can break through the shadow monsters that seem to be close to a hundred or a thousand, relying on a single torch.
“Lady Enio, we’ll get you outside somehow.”
“safely.”
Megaira and Alecto showed enthusiasm.
It’s fortunate that I’m not intimidated.
“A shadow like that, just break through and you’re done!”
A Megara equipped with a claw-shaped weapon.
When he said it as if he would run into the shadows in the lowlands at any moment, Enio shook his head quietly.
“Those shadow monsters over there aren’t really a problem. The real problem is the man hiding among those monsters and watching us.”
Enio sighed.
It was the first time I’d heard that there was anyone else here besides us, so I was curious for a moment. I asked.
“Who else besides us?”
“there is. maybe… there will be more in the future Here, I have something to show everyone. Follow me this way.”
* * *
Victoria Arclight admitted that things were taking a strange turn.
“It’s already been two days… .”
Victor.
It’s already been two days since the man disappeared.
no one has seen
No one knows where it went.
“As if it never existed in the first place… .”
Did you go out of school?
No, it wasn’t like that.
Because you always have to go through the guard gate to leave the academy.
In other words, there is a high probability that Viktor is still in the academy.
“Victoria… ! I found Viktor… !?”
Someone ran into the student council president’s office.
Victoriaka shook her head at the urgent expression of the pink-haired female student Nike.
“no. No traces, no evidence. I’m only tracking the direction because I think there’s a high probability that the last person I met knows.”
“Couldn’t it have been taken by villains like Fimblebert or the Genesis Church? You kidnapped Viktor!”
Nike’s reasoning made some sense.
But Victoria shook her head.
“If so, Viktor would have resisted. Then there must have been a big commotion, and someone must have witnessed and testified. If someone kidnapped or took Viktor… .”
It is highly probable that he is an ignoramus.
In fact, when young children are kidnapped, it is a problem that they obediently follow adults they have known.
‘Victor is not a child. There are times when he behaves like a child in a strange way.’
It was then.
The room next to the student council president’s office was very noisy.
“This Arnoi… . Chef Viktor’s lucky clover… . That’s what I gave you… ! This Arnoi has nothing to do with this incident and is innocent… !”
When I entered the office used by the student council, a nymph was causing a commotion.
It’s Arno.
“oh… ! That’s what I thought… ! Chef Viktor… . You made some great armor… , I was supposed to pass it on to someone… !”
Skadi frowned at Arnoi’s words.
“You mean the fluttering underwear-like armor? He asked me not to try it on, so I told him to turn it off. Could it be that I was the last person I met Victor?”
Startle.
At that time, Hilde, who was interrogating Arnoi, shuddered.
and say little
“perhaps… . Maybe I was the last one I met. Perhaps… . It could be because of me that Viktor disappeared.”
Christina was surprised by Hilde’s somewhat awkward voice.
“Hilde, what do you mean by that? Did Viktor disappear because of you?”
Hilde looked around.
Then he took something out of his bag.
It’s an armor made of string, thin fabric, and scales… Rather, it was something more like underwear. Victoria, who was puzzled by the passionate red color, asked.
“what is that?”
“This, Viktor asked me to wear it too.”
silence.
As soon as Hilde’s words finished, the silence that came was too heavy.
As if to dispel the heavy silence, Hilde added.
“I told you to leave. I haven’t seen Viktor since. I went to return this, but it wasn’t there. If you look at it like that, it might be the last time I met you… .”
It was Hilde who was speaking seriously.
Cristina said, “Why are you wearing such shameless clothes… ?” he seemed flustered.
it’s all the same
Then Shadi said a word.
“Viktor, didn’t you run away? He was ashamed of himself because he tried to dress a girl in embarrassing clothes and was rejected. If it’s that guy’s personality, it’s worth it.”
It was quite a story.
said Victoria.
“Victor, just show up again.”
I don’t know where you are or what you’re doing, but I’ll investigate this matter firmly.
Even as she thought so, Victoria felt a strange emotion.
‘Viktor is not a person who is not responsible enough to run away recklessly. It’s clear that something happened. I guess I got caught up in it. Like an idiot.’
There was one person who would do something like this.
A black and sinister guy.
But there is no evidence.
Shadi soon approached Victoria and spoke softly.
“Someone said he saw Viktor near the women’s dormitory. Perhaps this is the last sighting. I don’t know who I was trying to meet in the women’s dorm. look at this.”
Seruk.
A small piece of paper from Shadi.
It was a missing persons list.
“This is a list of missing people who disappeared in the winter castle in the north in about 10 years. A lot of people related to the Blackstar family have disappeared really quickly.”
“It could be related… ? Shadi, are you saying that?”
“It’s a case of disappearance that Ludens’ student council clings to and can’t find out even if it’s tracked down. There are rather few people who can do such a thing, so it’s easier to narrow down the suspects.”
“… … .”
“I’m just talking to you, Vicky. You find Viktor first and at this point you’ll get a lot more points than the others. But I can’t hide it forever, so hurry up.”
Seruk.
Victoria got up from her seat.
Then, he headed to Enio’s dormitory, which hadn’t been seen for the past few days.
smart.
When I knock on the door, I feel a presence from inside.
– Come in.
interest.
When I opened the door and entered, I saw an all-black room.
‘A hobby. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all black. What kind of child of darkness is this?’
The blackest one was the girl sitting on the sofa.
Enio.
Victoria said to Enio.
“Where did you hide it?”
“yes? What does that mean as soon as you suddenly meet? Who are you hiding?”
“… … .”
Victoria held her mouth shut.
I asked where you hid it, I didn’t ask what you hid.
But what do you mean by ‘who’?
“Enio, you’re also bad at hiding things. No, if it were you, you wouldn’t hide it on purpose. Victor. Are you here? I don’t know what you’re trying to do. You’d better confess quietly.”
“… … .”
Enio shut his mouth.
Then, he laughed silently, stretching his cheeks from side to side to the point of giving goosebumps.
Victoria felt very uncomfortable with that appearance.
“… You are not Enio.”
“No, now I am Enio. It was me from the beginning. It will always be me.”