KTBYM - Chapter 43

I closed my eyes reflexively. It was because I thought the magic circle, reacting to the intruder, might generate electricity or sound an alarm. However, I heard neither Sally's scream nor the loud ringing of bells.

Click, click, click.

I gently opened my eyes at the sound of the doorknob spinning.

"There's nothing dangerous, but as expected, it won't open."

Sally was turning the doorknob as if she were going to rip it out. Of course, there was no sign of the door opening. I let out a hollow laugh at her method, which was simpler than I had expected. I felt like I had let my guard down a little.

"Don't just laugh, help me out. It's swaying so much it looks like it would open if I pulled really hard."

"With even a magic circle, do you think the door will open this way?"

As I said that, I grabbed the doorknob instead of Sally. It was because I felt that Sally would only give up if I pretended to do something, anything.

'Uh?'

It was a sensation I had never felt before. It felt as if something had brushed past my body. No, on the contrary, it felt like I had turned into a fragment of a cell and pierced through something. That sensation, as if every nerve were instantly splitting into tiny pieces, was difficult to describe.

'W-what is this?'

My vision shifted. What I was seeing now was not a wooden door carved with a complex magic circle.

The sunlight streaming through the large window softly enveloped the room. I used to think that the chill of the magic tower was the taste of the season and the dampness was due to the old building. But this place was different.

The sudden warmth and dry air, as if spring had arrived, even lifted my spirits. Especially in a situation like this.

If I hadn't turned around to check the door, I would have mistakenly thought that I had entered a completely different world rather than a room.

'Did I enter the forbidden room? Just me?'

Since I didn't know how they had managed to get in, I thought I might get trapped here if I wasn't careful. It was just as I was about to grab the doorknob again to see if I could get out.

[Sally, Sally is finally here.]

[Sally, over here. I'm here.]

I turned my gaze back into the room, following the sound. There was no one there. Instead, a bed that looked as if it were covered by something caught my eye. It seemed like someone might be lying inside.

'Is that you in bed?'

[Sally, you're right, that's me. Ah, I'm now...]

With that, the voice was no longer heard. As if guiding me this far was its very role.

'Something lying on the bed sending telepathy from the forbidden room...'

I almost let my guard down because of the atmosphere in the room. Considering the circumstances, it seemed like things wouldn't turn out well. Everything I had seen in the Magic Tower so far had been nothing but hideous things. Nevertheless, I felt I needed to find out what it was.

'It's okay. It's fine. I've seen stuffed humans, you know? What could be worse than that?'

Reassuring myself like that, I slowly approached the bed. The figure revealed above the blanket was not large. If it were a person, it looked like a young child rather than an adult.

'I wonder if it really is a little kid.'

The voice was like that, and there was potential. Thanks to that, I was able to take a slightly bolder step.

'No matter what happens, let's not be surprised. Don't be surprised...'

As I walked along, giving myself a self-suggestion, the moment I looked at the face peeking out from under the blanket, I let out a gasp.

The boy wrapped in the white blanket was enough to make one mistake him for an angel. It was the first time I had seen such a gentle and pure-looking face. It was as if the sunlight breaking around him was radiating directly from the child.

'Is this you?'

There was no answer, leaving me wondering if their true purpose was to lead me here. Thanks to that, my conversation partner disappeared. There was nowhere to ask who this child was or why they had called me.

I gazed down at the corners of the eyes hidden by long eyelashes. She lay motionless, as if she hadn't noticed me entering at all.

'May I wake you up?'

She was a child as beautiful as an angel, but this was a forbidden room. And the reason this place became a forbidden room must have been because of this child.

'But since they called me first, shouldn't I at least hear what they have to say?'

Having made that decision, I crouched beside the bed and opened my mouth.

“Hey.”

"..."

“Kid.”

I had mustered up some courage, but there was no reaction. Thinking my voice might have been too quiet, I tried calling out a little louder this time.

“Kid.”

I even tried gently pulling the edge of the blanket, but the child did not move, as if in a deep sleep.

'No way...'

A bad premonition flashed through my mind. I quickly placed my hand on the tip of the child's nose. Fortunately, I could feel a shallow, warm breath.

'Phew, that startled me.'

I slumped down onto the edge of the bed.

'I don't think I can just wake him up.'

As I watched the child remain unresponsive once again, I suddenly realized that their hair was silver. That was right. Silver, a dazzlingly sparkling silver. It was a rare color, but one that was very familiar to those in this magic tower.

'Are you perhaps Eon's family?'

I superimposed Eon's image onto the child's face. Naturally, the only similarity between the angelic child and the devilish Eon was their hair color.

In truth, it was a futile endeavor. The image of Eon that formed in my mind was nothing but an abstract one, like the incarnation of a demon. I couldn't remember at all what his facial features looked like.

'I know his eyes are purple, but...'

Unfortunately, the child had their eyes closed.

'I wonder if he won't open his eyes.'

I had merely thought that in my head. I swear I had no intention of opening the child's eyes to check the color. Therefore, that black hand forcibly pulling the child's eyelids was by no means a figment of my imagination.

'This is reality, right?'

Only then did I let out a scream, a step too late.

"What the hell is this!"

I quickly pulled at that pitch-black thing clinging to the child. I thought I had pulled it. But that was merely my perspective; in reality, it was nothing more than a meaningless gesture.

"What? Aren't you getting caught?"

I tried the same thing again, but I couldn't catch it. Whether I raised my fingertips to pick it up or tried to push it down with my palm, it just passed right through my body.

If they couldn't touch each other, it wouldn't have been a big problem. But they could touch the child. The guy who had been forcibly flipping back the eyelids changed his target, perhaps realizing that he couldn't check the color of the pupils anyway.

The creature, moving stealthily like a snake, slowly began to wrap around the child's neck. I don't know if it thought this would make the child open their eyes, but it was a dangerous move in any case.

"No!"

It moved just as I wanted without eyes, but it seemed unable to hear due to its lack of ears. Or perhaps it had no intention of obeying my commands in the first place.

Thinking it might be better to wake the child up and run away, I shook the small body, but there was no sign of it waking up.

'Where on earth did that pitch-black thing come from...'

As I glared at it anxiously, I suddenly realized something. It stretched out when I moved away from the child and shrank back down when I got closer. It moved as if it were extending out from me.

'That's disgusting.'

Goosebumps ran all over my body. At the same time, I threw off the cardigan I was wearing. I wish I had found something connected to him with it, but what fell to the floor was just ordinary clothes.

I even tried feeling my back with my hand. But I couldn't find anything.

As my fruitless struggle continued, the child's lips turned purple. The pale daylight was gradually turning dark.

'I'm going to suffocate to death at this rate.'

I ran to the door and turned the doorknob. This time, I expected to see the hallway where Sally was waiting when I opened my eyes.

Click. Click.

But nothing happened. It just made the same spinning sound as when Sally turned the doorknob.

'Can't you get out?'

No. This couldn't be happening. Suddenly, the thought occurred to me that this was a trap.

When Eon met me in the hallway, he must have known I was going into the Forbidden Room. Still, wasn't the reason he let me go just because he had calculated this situation?

I was in a hurry. I knocked on the door with all my might.

"Bring Sally the Tower Master here! Hurry! Please! We have to open this door!"

I made the loudest sound I could, but this was a space sealed by magic. It was uncertain whether my voice would reach Sally's ears.

I went back to the child and checked on his condition. Faced with his face turned purple, I felt a terrible sense of helplessness. I had to just watch someone die again.

'This time too, because of me...'

'Because of me? What kind of power do I have that this happened because of me?'

Come to think of it, it was strange. There was no way I, who didn't know a single magic spell, could have created such a bizarre monster. This was beyond my capabilities.

Watching it expand and contract with my movements reminded me of Eon. The drawings he used to make with his fingers. The kisses on the wall, and the voice that whispered before that.

'Born in light, and shall die in darkness.'

The words I thought I hadn't heard earlier suddenly came vividly to life in my mind.

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