Sometime during the long fall Ferris began to wonder what would happen if rabbit-Ryner wasn't lying at the bottom to break her fall. Would she hit the ground? Or maybe this hole went on forever. Her worries were soon calmed as her still-unsheathed sword transformed into an open umbrella, allowing her to drift down more slowly. Ferris was certainly confused by this sudden transformation but she wasn't about to question it. Now that she was falling slower, she began to become aware of nearby floating objects, even bumping into several unidentified masses. She reached out for one. A lamp! She turned the little handle and the hole was suddenly filled with a dim light.
The sights around her astonished her. She was completely surrounded by what appeared to be the king's office furniture. Maybe the Dango Gods heard my plans and are helping me get to the king, she thought. First came the old wooden desk, followed by a flurry of papers. An unrolled map of the continent was close behind. Next was the little couch her and Ryner always sat on as they watched the king work, only sometimes bothering to help. A mirror floated by and Ferris was pleased to see that, unlike that idiot, she did not have long ears or a tail. After a few minutes of watching pencils and pens and even a small houseplant float by she suddenly landed on Sion's chair. Her relaxation was only momentary, ending as the chair tipped and she began her fall again.
The umbrella resumed its proper form as a sword and Ferris fell the last few feet into an oddly decorated room. As she got up off the floor she noticed it very much resembled a checkerboard. She lifted her head and saw the identical checkerboard walls and ceiling. Ceiling?, she thought, What happened to the hole?. Before she could assess the situation further she heard an unmistakable voice repeating "We're late we're late we're late." Ferris raised her sword towards the sound and called, "Found you, Ryner!" She ran down the checkerboard corridors after the voice and caught up just in time to see Ryner, still in rabbit form, disappear through a door. A tiny door. I'm smaller than Ryner, so I should fit too, she thought. She opened the door only to find…
Another door. And another behind that. And another and another and another. She grabbed the next doorknob and twisted. "OWWWW" she heard a voice cry. Ferris looked around for the source of the voice but did not see anyone else in the room. "Get your hand off my nose!" the voice commanded. Nose? Ferris looked down. Indeed, the door had grown a face! With eyes and a mouth and, just as the door said, her hand was gripping the doorknob-nose. She looked closer and was slightly surprised to find she recognized the face on the door.
"Aren't you that Nelpha border guard I hit with my sword a while back?" she asked. She clearly remembered leaving this guy unconscious on the ground as her and Ryner illegally entered the country. But how did he end up here, on a door? "I don't recall," answered the door. "I don't believe I've ever been hit with a sword." Maybe she was mistaken?
"Have you seen a rabbit?" Ferris asked the door. Talking to a door! She must be going crazy! The door opened its mouth to allow her to look through. There he was! Hopping away! She had to catch him. Ferris grabbed the door's nose once again.
"You won't fit like that!" said the door, "You're too big." Before she had a chance to feel insulted, the door spoke again. "Look over there on the table." How had Ferris not noticed the table earlier? Now she was sure she was crazy. Or Ryner drugged her for one of his perverted schemes…
She immediately noticed a distinct smell in the air. Dango? She ran eagerly to the little table standing in the middle of the room and, as she had predicted, there was a dango skewer and a cup of tea. "Eat Me," said a little card beside the dango. You didn't have to tell Ferris twice. She quickly and enthusiastically gobbled the first ball of dango, barely noticing when the stick grew too big for her hands. "It's… growing?" asked Ferris. No, it wasn't growing, she was shrinking! "Now I can fit!" Ferris told the door, trying to pull the remainder of the giant dango behind her as she approached. She grabbed the door's nose for the third time and twisted.
Nothing happened. "I'm locked, of course," the door told her in a very matter-of-fact tone. "You remembered the key, didn't you?" Ferris looked up, and of course there was the key sitting what seemed like a mile above her on the glass table. "Try the second ball of dango," suggested the door. Ferris tore off a more manageable chunk of the huge dango and shoved it in her mouth. She got bigger and bigger as she continued to enjoy her snack. To her great annoyance, her head hitting the ceiling interrupted her eating. She was now holding a toothpick sized dango stick and her body was filling up the whole room! "But I'll never fit like this!" she cried. "STUPID DOOR" she screamed as she tried to draw her equally giant sword, knocking over the teacup sitting on the table. "Wait!" begged the door as tea began to flood the little room. "Finish your dango!" The final ball of dango was barely the size of Ferris' smallest fingernail, but she wasn't about to say no to dango.
The final piece of dango had the desired effect, shrinking her back down. But Oh! The room was flooded with an ocean of tea! Ferris hugged the now empty dango stick tight, hoping it would be enough to keep her afloat. She grew smaller and smaller and the tea ocean grew higher and higher, until she was able to float right through the door's keyhole mouth. "Take that, idiot door!" she giggled as she realized that, with her intelligence and beauty, she had outsmarted the door.