Something stirred in my arms, rousing me from my sleep : the morning sun had risen above the trees, and was now at just the right angle to be shining straight onto Maribel's face, causing her to stir.
I hurriedly withdrew my arms from around her : during the night, they had tightened around her waist, holding her close to me. My embarrassed attempt to cover up the position we'd ended up in only woke her up faster, though : slowly, she opened her eyes, blinking as she adjusted to the sun outside. How cute...
"Renko ?", she murmured, sitting up; now that her warmth had left my arms, I realised just how cold I was. Considering it's supposed to be the middle of winter, though, I'm surprised it isn't colder... "Did... did we escape from that thing ? And where are the others ?" She was looking around her, now that her eyes had somewhat adjusted. I didn't often get to see Maribel in her half-asleep state like this, but it was always a treat when I did : she slurred her words in an adorable way that gave her some kind of accent, although I wouldn't be able to pinpoint it. Oh, right. I should probably reply instead of being infatuated by her accent.
"Don't worry," I reassured her, despite being as clueless as she was, "we were safely hidden under this tree trunk last night. And as for the others..." It was only then that I remembered that Koujin had been with us as we fell asleep. Maribel does have a knack for making me forget anyone else... "As for the others, only Koujin was with us, but I'm not sure where she's gotten off to..." I offered her a smile, hoping to have cleared the morning cloudiness from her mind, but she only frowned further. "No, not her... What happened to the lady in purple I was talking to ?"
I froze. Who ?
"Yeah, you know, the blonde..." She then stopped halfway through her sentence, seeing how shocked I looked. "Wait, you mean, that didn't really...?" She fell silent again, looking thoroughly confused.
She had seen her again. And if she could tell how she was dressed, she can't have just been remembering what she saw yesterday. She hasn't left my arms all night, so it was a dream, but knowing how real her dreams can become...
She seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion. "So, that was a dream... It felt real, though, but they again, they all do, don't they ?" She said, forcing a laugh. She's worried. "In the dream, I think she was telling me to find her or something. Her name was... Yukari, I think ? Probably because she was wearing purple. My dreams aren't very imaginative, are they ?" Again, she laughed, but it sounded hollow to me; I knew her too well to not notice when she was trying to cover up her worries.
I would be worried too, though. We know nothing about Yukari, except for her name and the fact that she's the one who must be behind all this. After all, if she wants Maribel to find her, that makes it even more likely that she was the one who brought us here, right ? But what would she want with Maribel ?
...
"Well, no use dwelling on this any longer, right ? It's normal that I would dream about her, since she made such an impression on me yesterday." She crawled out of the organic cave, stretching herself after being hunched up all night. Noticing that I was staring at her, she quickly followed up with something else in an attempt to cover up her worry.
"Doesn't this remind you of that time we went exploring that haunted house ?" I remembered it well : we had heard rumours of an abandoned house far out in the countryside being haunted; since we were the Sealing Club, we were hoping to find something interesting, and so, without giving it much preparation, we set off after class one day to investigate. "What a fiasco that was, right ? When we got there, everything was locked up tight, so we didn't even get to explore the inside at all. And when we wanted to go back home, it was such a rural place that there weren't any trains until the next morning !" She laughed; at the time, we were cold and scared, having to sleep outside in an unfamiliar place far from home, but now, it made for a fun memory. "This is the second time we've had to spend a night outside like this," she continued, smiling fondly as she remembered that night.
"You know, Renko, this is going to be our biggest adventure yet."
An adventure ? People have died ! This isn't comparable to one of our little adventures; we're in this much deeper than ever before. Whatever we call this, though, she's right about it being on a whole other level that what we usually get up to.
Still, if she wants to keep viewing it like that, it might be for the best. I don't want her to feel overwhelmed, so if it helps her cope...
...
I nodded; as I placed my hand on the ground to help me crawl outside, I heard paper crinkling : looking down, there was a neatly-written note near placed next to me. Maribel had heard it too.
"What's that ?" I finished clambering outside before answering her question.
"Well, it looks like a message... Oh, it's from Koujin." I finished reading the note to myself : it wasn't very long, and only said the most essential details, much like the person who wrote it did. "She said that there was somewhere she needed to find, but that it isn't a good idea for us to follow her, so she left without us. Then she wrote us directions to where we should go in order to find a good lookout point, from which we can decide where we want to go. That's all she wrote," I said, handing Maribel the note in case she wanted to read it herself.
"Follow the path behind the tree up the hill, turn right at the boulder, and look for the clearing. That should be easy enough. Still... If she has somewhere to go, doesn't that mean she knows this place ?"
She was right, of course. But then again, ever since the beginning, Koujin had acted like she knew more than everyone else as to what was going on. She was definitely hiding something from us, but at the same time...
"Do we follow what she said, then ?" Maribel looked surprised at my question.
"Oh, what, shouldn't we ? I mean, she found this hiding place for us, right ?" Trusting as ever. Might as well, though, since it's not like I have any idea where to go...
"It didn't sound like it was very far away. We might as well give it a look, at least."
...
She seemed happy that I had decided to trust Koujin; as we set off, she had a spring in her step that I hadn't seen since the last time we were exploring something together. She's really into acting like this is an adventure, isn't she... Well, let her have her fun. I'll just have to be the one who worries for the both of us.
On a sunny morning like this, though, the terrifying events of the previous night already seemed distant, almost unreal. It was hard to imagine that the forest we were in, which now looked like a pleasant place for a walk, had a horrifying murder take place in it. Birds were singing, and it was getting warmer now the sun had properly risen. If I didn't remember the look on Segare's face, if I hadn't heard the screams, I could almost pretend that nothing had happened, that we're just in a forest somewhere, not lost in some kind of dangerous other world...
But I can't. I need to stay alert for the both of us. I looked over at her : she was marching along, her golden hair bouncing with each step, and a radiant smile illuminating her face. Every aspect of her was glowing with energy; next to her brilliance, I was only a small candle, but I was happy to content myself with basking in her light. Everything about her warmed me up inside, and I was never happier than when I was next to her as she enjoyed herself.
As much as she's trying to pretend otherwise, we're in real danger now, though. Anything could happen to us.
If I don't tell her soon, I might never be able to.
...
"Ah, Renko, look !" Maribel interrupted my thoughts with a gasp : we had arrived at the edge of the hill, and a vast view over the land around us was now visible.
The view was breathtaking : before us lay a wide valley, surrounded by mountains on all sides. Straight ahead of our lookout point was a vast lake, but it was the mansion sitting next to it that really caught my eye. With its scarlet-tiled roof, it stood out in the surrounding expanse of green forests that were almost uninterrupted across the whole valley. There were some hills here and there, one of which seemed to be covered in yellow, and, in the centre, a path led to a small village far off in the distance. Nowhere was there any sign of modern civilisation : it was as if we had travelled into the past, or at least, to the most remote parts of Japan. Neither of those is correct, though.
I glanced over at Maribel : her eyes were sparkling with glee, seemingly overjoyed to finally get a good look at her "dream world". She was going over every little detail, letting out excited little noises when her gaze passed over something she recognised. She eventually turned towards me, so excited that she couldn't even start a sentence properly. Might as well help her out a bit.
"So, isn't that mansion the one you were talking about ?" That was enough to get her to launch into excited explanation.
"Yes ! That's the one ! It was one of my first dreams here, the one where that maid showed me around ! And over there," she went on, pointing to the far reaches of the landscape before us, "you see that bamboo forest ? That must be where I saw that strange creature !" She smiled expectantly, as if she had just proven a point. What do you want me to say ? It's not like I didn't believe you. I nodded, returning her smile.
"It must be nice, seeing your world laid out in front of you like this, right ? Like you're admiring a painting you've finished, or something..." Her smile faded, as she seemed to ponder over that remark.
"My world... Can I really call it that ? I mean, those were my dreams, but to consider the whole world as mine..." She seemed to be genuinely considering it; I decided to cut her off before she came to some weird conclusion.
"Ah, no, all I mean is that it must be nice to see the place you visit in your dreams nicely displayed for you like this. It really is a beautiful place." I always believed she could visit another place, but I never agreed that it was only her dream world. And now that I'm stuck here, I'm even less ready to accept this as something she conjured from the depth of her imagination. So, no, this isn't your world, Merry. It's a real place with real dangers, that we really need to find a way out of. Not wanting to dwell on that subject, I steered our conversation towards more important matters. "Where should we go first, then ? There's a village over there, but it'll probably take a few days to walk there..." My thoughts overtook my words, and I was hit with a sudden hunger. "...and we don't actually have any food, do we ?"
Her eyed widened, realising the situation we were in. Could we even make it to the village in time ? That'll teach me to have skipped breakfast, the morning our bus took us here...
"Well, we don't have much of a choice, do we ? We'll just have to ask for hospitality at the mansion." Seeing my dubious expression, she hastily added, "It'll be fine ! I'm sure the maid remembers me from last time. They were actually very good hosts, so I'm sure we can at least get some food from them !"
Eerie-coloured mansions were not high on the list of things that inspired confidence in me, but I couldn't think of a better alternative, and now that I had remembered that I hadn't eaten for at least a day, my stomach was taking the wheel, telling me to shut up and go along with it.
I sighed, conceding to her plan. She seemed happy, though, so I couldn't stay apprehensive about it for long. The mansion seemed to be accessible if we carried on straight down the hill, give or take the twists and turns the path would take. Since the lake it front of it was so big, we agreed that, should we get disoriented along the way, it shouldn't be hard to find the mansion again once we get to the bottom of the hill, since we'd just have to walk around the lake.
...
We set off on our quest, I myself motivated by hunger, and Maribel motivated by... whatever the glorious source of energy that kept her going was. Share some of that energy with me, won't you ? I then spent the next few minutes of our trek thinking about potential ways she could share energy with me. One in particular seemed like a good idea. There must be some kind of transfer of energy going on, if it can rouse people from eternal slumber or revert princes transformed into frogs... She stopped in her tracks, staring at me wide-eyed. I blushed and averted my eyes, my first thoughts being that she had somehow guessed what I was thinking.
"Renko, I forgot, but don't you always carry some chewing-gum with you ?" Oh, is that all. I nodded, hoping she wasn't seriously implying that counted as food. "When you chew something, it tricks your brain into thinking you've eaten, so we'll be less hungry. So, do you have them ?"
Relieved that my thoughts were still private (You never know when it's Maribel you're talking about...), I didn't care enough to argue whether those silly tricks actually worked or not, and so, reaching into my shirt pocket, I took out a piece of gum for both of us.
"Thanks ! This'll help, you'll see !"
As we walked, I could hear her chewing. Loudly. Far too loud. I turned to her, about to ask her why on Earth she was making so much noise, when I saw that she was already observing me, waiting for a reaction.
"Why, I already feel completely full !", she said through the noise of excessive chewing. "Who even needs food, right ?" She beamed at me, still waiting for a reaction.
Maribel, what are you even on about ? It's been barely a minute, and this is hardly the time for...
Oh. I think I get it. She's trying to cheer me up.
As I realised that, a warmth spread over me; once again, I felt myself blushing, unable to stand up to her beautiful eyes. The innocence behind her sense of humour and that smile of hers was just too much for me. Why are you so damn cute ?
I heard her chew a bit more, as if to add even more emphasis to it. I looked back at her, and she started laughing; I soon followed suit. I could never keep a straight face when she was laughing at something.
...
As the laughter died down and we resumed our walk, I felt like some kind of weight had been lifted. Maybe I have been worrying a bit too much lately, and maybe I should lighten up... Glancing over at her, she seemed so carefree, lost in her thoughts with a faint smile on her face. No. She doesn't seem to grasp the gravity of our situation. Deep down, she still probably considers this to just be her dream world. If she's going to walk headlong into danger, I'll be the one to protect her.
Protect her ? I realised how unrealistic my thoughts were. What can I do, explain physics to whatever attacks her until it dies of boredom ? I couldn't even protect myself, yet alone her.
Nothing in the universe will stop me from trying, though.
...Gosh, love makes you think some stupid things.
...
The rest of the walk down the mountain was done in peaceful silence. Little by little, the forest thinned out, until, when the ground was finally level, we saw the lake, reflecting the sun's rays like a giant mirror. Sure enough, now that we were out of the forest, spotting the mansion wasn't a difficult task. We hadn't gotten too far off the path, and by my calculations (guesswork...), I told her that we'd be at the mansion in the next twenty minutes.
I was uneasy : in the forest, we were hidden, or at least it wouldn't be hard to hide behind a tree or a bush if I was to hear something coming. Here, there were still trees scattered around the edge of the lake, but other than that, it was open ground right up until the mansion's gate. If something finds us here, now that we're weak with hunger, there won't be much I could do...
All Maribel had done was express her excitement at being near the mansion again : she still insisted that we'd get a warm welcome. Maybe we will. Can't blame me for not sharing your optimism, though; the closer we got to the mansion, the more old vampire films resurfaced in my mind. We'll knock on the door, and it'll creak open slowly, before shutting behind us by itself as an evil laugh resounds around us... The clear blue sky and the sound of singing birds helped ruin that effect, though. I'm happy we didn't have to come here at night.
...
It was around midday when, at long last, we arrived near the front gates of the mansion. There was a wall all around the mansion itself, which we had noticed as we drew closer, so we had changed our trajectory slightly so that we'd arrive from the front. There was a path leading up to the mansion, lined on both sides by a row of trees and bushes, hiding our view of the main gate. We'll be there in a minute, though, so it's too late to chicken out now-
"Get down !", a voice hissed from a nearby bush. I jumped, letting out a small yelp; looking for the source of the noise, I saw Kinshou beckoning us to the bush she was in. Maribel had already started walking up to her, so I didn't have much choice but to follow.
"Kinshou, was it ?", she asked, but she was quickly hushed.
"Shh ! Don't make any noise !", the small girl insisted with surprising vehemence. I'm starting to see the family resemblance...
We ducked into the bushes, still unsure as to why we had to be so quiet. We didn't have to wait long for an explanation.
"You're planning on going into that mansion, right ? Maybe to ask for food or something ?" Seeing by our faces that she was spot on, she chuckled bitterly. "Thought so. So did we. Segare walked right up to that gate, he did, and in the blink of an eye, he just... vanished. It's been at least three hours and I still haven't seen nor heard anything from him."
I knew it ! I knew something would be up with such a strange-looking mansion ! I can tell this isn't going to end well. I just need to convince Maribel that we should leave this place. We'll find food along the way or something; there must be some fruit trees or berry bushes somewhere, right ?
I turned to her, about to do my best to pull her away from this bad idea, but she just looked puzzled.
"Are you sure ? He just vanished ?", she asked, her voiced seeming frighteningly loud. "I'm sure he's fine, you know. The people inside are – I mean, I heard that they are – quite hospitable. He's probably just having a cup of tea," she added with a laugh.
That laugh was the last thing I saw of her : a flash of white hair, the feeling of getting grabbed by the back of my collar, and suddenly, I was no longer outside.
I was now in a dimly-lit, stone-walled cell.
Without Maribel.