XX1 The princess asks to know her mother’s feelings.
The worm slithered over,
just out of her vision,
and whispered…
THE END
“...uh?” I flip the page back and forth, and turn the book around a few times. “Is this missing a page?”
“Good god, I hate these types of endings,” Shiori growls.
But the door opens, anyway. I actually feel relieved, for some crazy reason that I can’t even fully guess at. I really wanted to know what the worm had to say, but I didn’t, you know? Feeling a little dissatisfied… I mean, graces, that’s most fiction. It’s hard to write a good ending.
I have a feeling that there was a feeling much scarier waiting on the other side.
The other side of the loop, however, is not scary at all. Though it’s a little weird. Last time our funny surprise at the end of the loop was a locked door. This time? Nothing. Just an empty wall. I’ve got an anticipatory headache for whatever new search and destroy we’ll have to do, but the relief in my chest is telling me it’s better than knowing whatever the snake was going to say.
Shiori, for her part, is as clueless as me for once.
“I’m not actually sure what pattern’s going on right now,” she says thoughtfully. “Let’s just look through the books and see what comes up.”
That’s when I see it. “The Secrets of Shiori Novella.” She sees it right after me, and somehow boldly walks right up to it. She’s got this smug look to her, actually.
“Such a thing would never bother me,” she shrugs and lets off all kinds of hot air. “I aspire to be an open book, just like those I read. I keep no painful sec—- hey!”
I snatch it from her before she overheats.
“‘Today, I left a microphone in Nerissa’s room to record her while she sleeps.’ Wow. That is actually really gross, but not quite as bad as I was expecting.
“...Like I said! I have nothing I feel like I need to hide!”
“‘Yesterday, I licked Bijou because I wondered if different emotions taste different. Then I blamed it on Mococo. The two of them are fighting, and I feel so, so guilty. I’m too scared to bring it up.’”
“I should… probably resolve that one, yes. Okay, I have one thing to hide.”
“Recently, I have been surfing the web to see if there’s a cage big enough to keep both Fuwawa and Mococo… but I still have not solved the bathroom prob… are you serious? What’s wrong with you?”
“N-no! It sounds weirder than it is! They’re dogs! And we’ve all been in jail anyway, so they’d be used to it!”
I surreptitiously make a little more distance between me and her, and shake my head. I should stop reading her weird secrets because I think it’s giving Yorick some heartache too. I’m not quite sure where his heart would be.
But a thought flashes across my mind.
At the very same time as an awful, gut-wrenching feeling.
The thought that I’ve been missing… maybe even dancing around… something very, incredibly obvious. The feeling that all that dancing’s because of something painful, that I still don’t want to know. I’m too scared to know.
Just for a second, though, I remember. Not the thing itself. I just remember how scared I am.
That’s why I can’t help it. Not with the new me who’s tired of running away from things. There’s a book on the shelf that’s calling for me, loudly, screaming at me all of a sudden. And I’m scared of it. Looking at it is actually making me clench up, like my limbs are giving me a veto on walking over.
I can’t stop, though. Because I’m more scared of letting fear stop me for the rest of my life.
“Hm? W-wait! Don’t touch that! You’re not ready!”
I grab it before she can do anything, and rip it open.
“Today a girl my age
came to the village.
I was mean to her,
but I actually wanted to be her friend.
Her name was Shiori."
— Mˍˍˍˍˍˍˍ
ENDING 7 REACHED: The Name is Ciphered
You’ve reached the Cellar.
GO TO: The Cellar Entrance ZZZ