I sprinted towards the Mystery Shack without a second thought. The potential danger posed by this anomaly was too significant to ignore. It infiltrated our mental defenses effortlessly, leaving us vulnerable.

"Heh... Hey, Wendy."

"Dude, finally. You're here... Come check out this attendance chart for the workers."

Wendy sat at the counter, examining the chart. It was where Wendy, Soos, and I always checked when we were around. However, this time, there was an unfamiliar name on it – Mary Robinson.

"I got here earlier than expected, So... had nothing to do, and then I stumbled upon this."

Wendy seemed visibly disturbed. Understandably so, since she'd known Mary from the beginning, unlike me.

"Do you have any idea what's happening here?"

"...No. Not at the moment."

I couldn't answer her question just yet. How was I supposed to react in this situation? What could I do?

"We should talk to the others... and also, call Tambry and Valentino since they don't seem to remember Mary, okay?"

"Okay..."

"And the next step is probably going all around the shack, asking if anyone saw Mary. We need to track her down. Don't worry about whether it'll be dangerous or not. I can always go back in time and fix it."

Wendy wore a grim expression at my words. I understood. She might feel that if I could just revert anything that happened, actions in that period became meaningless.

But what could I do? She had to get over this if she wanted to be part of the team.

Just then, Soos walked into the room, whistling a hip-hop melody. This was an opportunity.

"Hey, Soos?"

"Wassup, dudes?"

Soos responded with a carefree smile. Wendy and I cornered him, and the serious conversation began.

"Soos, where... where is Mary right now? Do you know who she is?"

"Of course, I know who she is. She's our friend! We work together every day!"

The situation was unfolding in ways I hadn't anticipated. Soos had already acknowledged Mary as one of his fellow workers.

"Soos, can you tell me where she is right now? I can't find her here, even though her name is checked on the chart."

"Well, yeah, dude. She went outside 'cause she needed to clean the parking lot."

"Did you see her going there with your own eyes?"

Soos gave me a puzzled look, as if I was acting strangely.

"Well, yeah, dude. I did."

"...Thanks."

Wendy and I exchanged glances, then sprinted out of the gift shop and into the parking lot. There weren't many cars, and it looked freshly cleaned.

Stan stood in front of a bus that had just pulled up to the shack.

"Welcome, welcome everyone! Before you enter, put all your possessions in this mystery bag, where everything valuable will vanish like a mystery!"

"Mr. Pines! Mr. Pines!"

"Ray? I'm doing some business here, kid. What do you want?"

He seemed annoyed when I called him, but there was no time to lose.

"Do you know where Mary is? I can't find her."

"Mary? Why do you want to find that girl? And I didn't see her anyway."

"Ooh, I saw a girl walking back into the building, sir."

A kid from the tourist park answered instead of Stan. Inside the shack? We were just there.

"We need to split up, Wendy. You stay here outside. I'll check inside the shack. Make sure nobody leaves this place."

"...Okay."

Wendy agreed, and I rushed into the shack as fast as I could. Mabel, who was knitting a sweater, looked at me with curious eyes, but I couldn't find a girl that matched the look of Mary.

"Mabel, did you see her?"

"Who? Mary?"

Now even Mabel was mentioning Mary without me bringing her up.

"...Yes."

"She said she was tired and was going to get some air."

"So she went back outside?"

"Yes...?"

"And you saw it yourself."

"Um, yes. Why are you paying so much attention to her right now? Is there something wrong with her?"

"No, just checking... Okay."

While Mabel eyed me suspiciously, I grabbed my phone and dialed Wendy. She answered a few seconds later.

"Wendy, Mabel said that Mary went outside again. Did you see her?"

[No. I was checking the gate and made sure nobody came out of the shack.]

"Mabel, which door did Mary go out?"

"The door you just came in."

[Yeah, I never saw anyone coming out of the door except for you.]

"Okay, wait there. Did you call the other two who got involved?"

[I texted them, and they are on the way.]

"Great."

I hung up and ran out of the shack. I think I understand what's going on right now. Things... are not looking good, to be honest. If my thinking is right, Mary might be even scarier than I expected.

Wendy came to me, panting from all this running.

"I never saw anyone coming out of the shack, so she's definitely in there. We need to..."

"No."

I stopped Wendy from running and rearranged my thoughts.

"She'll probably not be there, even when we go back to the shack."

"Why...?"

I sighed and held up the attendance chart.

"We are not missing Mary out here. That doesn't make sense. We made sure that there's no logical way out of this place, but yet we couldn't even find her."

"That...makes sense."

Wendy nodded.

"It... is not possible that we missed Mary every single time."

"Then what is it?"

"Hm..."

I... think I am getting a glimpse of what's happening. I don't think Wendy can understand, but...

"In my opinion, reality... is being manipulated."

"...Manipulating reality?"

"Yes. Every time we try to find and pursue Mary, the reality is being manipulated to give her a reason for her absence."

"...The heck?"

Wendy looked extremely confused.

"It's nothing to be surprised by, really. Come to think of it... the photos that I got that I never had before... the memories of friends and families of Mary that don't exist... Anyways, the most logical explanation for this whole situation is that memory and reality are being manipulated every time we try to do something to Mary. Therefore, Mary won't be there even when we go back to the shack."

"...Then how do we... do something to her?" Wendy asked carefully.

...This was a question that I couldn't answer hastily, though. Yes, it's best to catch her or neutralize her before she can do anything crazy, but... Right now, I don't have much information about her. I don't even have the origin story of this anomaly. Yes, I know the stories of a friend that nobody remembers, but what I don't know anything about a friend that everybody remembers except for me.

So what can I do? Against an opponent that slowly places oneself beside me? Against an opponent who kills people and animals without remorse?... Against a friend, that only I don't recognize?

"...One thing for sure. For now, we don't have information. We need to check if Mary... actually existed or not."

Yes, this is the most plausible thing we can do. We need to find the history of Mary. Is she real? If she was actually alive this whole time, what does she have to do with this anomaly?

"And the question can be solved... by your school counselor, Wendy. But since we can't just let Mary manipulate people's memory like this, let's check what others think of Mary."

"Okay."

"And... please explain all this to your two friends. I'm not really comfortable talking to them, so."

"You've got it."

While Wendy did her best to explain what she understood to Tambry and Valentino, I took it upon myself to walk around and ask the Shack crew members about everything they knew regarding Mary.

This time, it was Dipper. We sat on a bench.

"Yeah. Black hair, short height, curly waves... Um, why are you asking me all this?"

"Dipper, this is serious. Just answer me."

"...Well... dude, you sound a bit creepy, to be honest. And besides, you know Mary the best! Weren't you, Wendy, and Mary best friends? I thought you guys always hung out with each other. Right, she even helped us when we were attacked by that slimy wax monster that killed wax Stan... Are you in this weird situation again? Is there any monsters around?"

Maybe I needed to test something with Dipper. What would he react like if I told him Mary's not real?

"...Mary's not real, Dipper."

"Huh?"

"She's fake. It's all fake. She manipulated your memory and reality and is trying to convince you that she's real, but she's not. Try to find her, 'cause she's nowhere."

"What do you mean? I... don't understand."

Dipper sounded puzzled and extremely confused.

"She's not real! She's an anomaly that just makes people believe she's real, and..."

"...She's right here, with us!"

"What?!"

I quickly looked to where Dipper pointed his finger, but there was no Mary.

"...Wait, huh? She was just here...?"

"..."

This is serious. Why did I leave a space there? Normally, I wouldn't sit right next to people. I'd give some space if I'm sitting on the bench and there's enough room... but why did I sit right next to Dipper this time? As if I thought there's already someone sitting on the bench...?

...Oh no.

My memories, my unconscious – they're being manipulated. Slowly but steadily. If this is true, after my checkpoint saves itself, I can't go back. This is dangerous.

If this continues at this rate, I might go home after my shift and not talk to Wendy's school counselor. Thinking that... Mary is a real friend of mine.

I have to hurry. Before... things get more serious.

Quickly leaving a confused Dipper on the bench, I ran towards Wendy. We can't wait any longer.