Warning: the timeline in this chapter is quite disordered. Because I want to ensure that each chapter has a different feeling. Serious chapters would remain serious, and comedy chapters would remain comedy. If this goes between chapters 74 and 75, it could disrupt the flow between the Arnoid and Inspector's conversation.
—
—Arnold’s PoV---
“Where is your mug?” Before they parted ways, Gregory suddenly asked.
“???” Arnold turned around and tilted his head, his expression one of pure bewilderment.
‘What?’
What does the mug have to do with anything? Why was that suddenly important?
Gregory smiled, an expression of profound understanding on his face.
“There is no further need to conceal it, Mr. Marion. We are well-informed regarding such matters as well.” Gregory nodded, a knowing glint in his golden eyes.
Everyone turned to look at Arnold.
Hazel’s eyes widened for a brief second. Then she placed a gloved hand on her chin, her lips curling slightly as understanding dawned on her face.
Troy, on the other hand, immediately straightened his posture as though he had just been reminded of protocol.
“?”
Naomi tilted her head, visibly lost. Troy leaned closer and whispered something into her ear. She gasped, quickly hiding her mouth with her hand.
“My humblest apologies!”
Meanwhile, Arnold frowned.
‘Know about what now?’
“It shall be a pleasure to cooperate with you, Mister Anon Marion.” Gregory said, already turning away. He lifted a hand in farewell.
Naomi and Troy offered him respectful bows, while Hazel shot him a lingering, piercing gaze before following her captain.
“...”
‘What the hell?’
Arnold stood there, his mind racing.
Was there something wrong with the mug?
‘Wait.’
His eyes widened slightly.
‘Was what I drank not water?’
His mind immediately turned to Davis. That man had been the one to hand him the mug.
'That screw man, what did he feed me?'
Arnold stood there, a flicker of unexplainable doubt playing across his face as he watched the white-suited figures vanish.
—
“Captain, if I may be so bold, what was in his mug?”
“Water.”
“???”
Inside the rented cottage at the rear of the village, Naomi asked, which prompted a strange answer from Gregory.
“A small lesson in discipline, for his attempt to imitate me,” Gregory explained, polishing his pipe.
Naomi stared at him, utterly baffled.
“Captain,” Naomi closed her eyes, her face reflecting a weary exasperation. “I must implore you, please do not mimic the Chief Adjutor.”
“…”
Gregory coughed lightly and turned his head away, as if suddenly finding the wall very interesting.
Naomi exhaled, then glanced around the room, irritation flashing in her eyes.
“And everyone, please, do not play along with his jests, please!”
“Tch.” Hazel clicked her tongue in clear displeasure.
However, she suddenly shuddered.
Naomi’s eyes were right in front of her.
“Hazel, cease that clicking of your tongue. It is a most unladylike habit, if you please!”
Hazel shot her an incandescently annoyed glance, her eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Shut up, you overstuffed pudding! I only take orders from those stronger than myself!”
The moment the words left her mouth, Hazel launched herself straight out of the window.
“P… Pudding?”
Naomi’s face flushed bright red. She whirled around toward Troy, who was standing by the window with his arms crossed, wearing his ever-present charming smile.
‘Oh no, he’s so handsome…’
Her thoughts drifted for half a second, before she snapped back to reality.
“Troy dear! after her, please!”
“Ahaha.” Troy chuckled, but he too felt a sudden shiver under the force of her glare.
“Troy!”
“A–at once, my dear!” He immediately leapt out the window after Hazel.
“...” Naomi buried her face in her hands, her shoulders slumped in defeat.
‘This group…’
That night, Naomi reprimanded Hazel sternly.
Of course, the girl did NOT listen.
—
Inside the mindscape, Isa sat comfortably on a plush velvet seat. Her small legs dangled just above the floor, kicking back and forth in a rhythmic beat of excitement as she watched her mature counterpart’s conversation with the Inspectors.
Stolen novel; please report.
“W... wow!”
She lifted her oversized movie glasses, which slid down her nose a little, and reached into the popcorn bag resting on her thighs. The kernels were perfectly shaped and fluffy, even though she could not truly taste them.
“Yes, Ahaha, look at their faces! Izzy, so cool!”
On the grand screen of the Theatre of Memory, which Isa had created for her own amusement, Arnold’s perspective played out clearly.
The vessels they possessed could use Field Vision within a fifteen-meter radius. That also meant they could reframe that vision, pulling it back into a third-person view, like watching a movie starring themselves.
Isa tilted a bottle of coca to her lips and took a long sip.
‘Yummy~’
It was very sweet. Isa loved it. This excessive sweetness was mostly because Izzy didn’t remember what the drink was supposed to taste like.
In Izzy’s memories, people always consumed such things while watching movies. so she mimicked the act with enjoyment.
“Pfft!”
She nearly choked.
‘What was that!’
Her eyes widened as she leaned closer to the screen, on hand holding her mouth.
“Hey, are you all seeing this! She forgot to put the mug down, ahaha!”
She even drank it! Izzy had no shame whatsoever!
Isa slapped her knee, giggling so hard she almost rolled out of the velvet chair.
“Dementia, dementia!” As expected, Izzy really had dementia!
After the laughter subsided, Isa settled back into her cushions. She smoothed out her skirt and watched the exchange again, this time with full focus.
“Ughhh…”
She groaned as Izzy began to use a part of her mind to process the information she was gathering.
As expected, as the new data slipped in, Izzy’s complex thought processes also flooded into Isa as well. Images, deductions, evaluations, fragments of logic layered over each other until Isa could feel them brushing against her own awareness.
“Wow, so that’s how it works?”
‘Profiling?’
‘Behavioral reading?’
‘How exciting!’
With the Theatre, she rapidly skimmed through all relevant information, absorbing it as she watched Arnold’s interaction unfold.
‘Isa learns something new today!’
At this rate, she didn't need Izzy’s protection anymore!
Isa tightened her grip on the cola bottle.
“Ah! SHUT UP!”
She jolted upright.
“Oh no, Isa cursed!” She glanced around frantically. ‘It’s Izzy’s fault!’
‘?’
Izzy’s focus briefly strayed to Isa, a silent, questioning probe that made her flinch.
“Hic! It’s nothing, Izzy!”
She straightened her posture, folded her hands neatly in her lap, and returned her attention to the screen
“Ohh. mmm, I wonder what they were thinking.”
Izzy had already deduced their thoughts based on her past-life experience. But…
A text box appeared on the screen, displaying Izzy’s internal monologue for her to read:
‘Very strong. They’re so careful. They’re probably using abilities to check me. Better be cautious. Should not slip up.’
Isa found it fascinating how deeply Izzy analyzed every little thing.
But honestly, in Isa’s opinion, the Inspectors were probably just fascinated by her.
“Izzy…”
Why did you gaze at that thing for so long?
‘It’s my old instinct. Sorry,’
Old instinct?
Did Izzy like it?
But it was just a glob of fat!
Was that her preference?
Isa looked down.
‘...’
Her shoulders slumped slightly.
‘But we are one. Why are you pretending to be so innocent?’
“Gahh!”
Oh no!
Isa’s eyes went wide. She covered her mouth with both hands, frantically shaking her head.
“T–that!”
‘Whatever.’ Izzy didn’t push further, redirecting her focus back to the conversation with the Inspectors.
‘...’
Inspectors!
Thank you!
‘That was dangerous,’ Isa thought, letting out a small sigh of relief.
She paused for a moment, deep in consideration, before bringing her hands to her chest.
‘Bisahhh!’
‘...’
‘...’
Absolutely nothing happened.
It did not get any bigger.
“Why?”
Isa frowned, tilting her head.
This place was her mind, their mind. Usually, everything here was shaped by their imagination.
Then why couldn’t she change herself?
“Because I do not allow it.”
“Hyaaahh!”
Isa jumped nearly a foot into the air.
Beside her, another “her” appeared!
This another “her”, however, bore a blue flower on her head.
“Izzy!”
Izzy had appeared out of thin air without warning. She looked down with a cool, authoritative gaze.
“This girl, really!”
“No!”
Isa scrambled to stand, intending to vanish from the theater entirely, but she was too slow! Izzy reached out, grabbed the younger mind and pinched her cheek without mercy.
“It huxtttt!”
“Of course it hurts!”
Isa yanked herself free, rubbing her now-red cheek angrily. Her eyes watered as she pouted.
“Gahh, Bullizzy! Go die!”
With a flare of temper, the young mind vanished from the theatre, leaving Izzy standing alone amid the velvet seats.
“...”
“Izzyyy.”
Just as quickly as she had left, the girl came rushing back, launching herself at the mature mind in a sudden hug.
‘Oh no… Is Izzy hurt?’
Isa’s eyes flicked upward.
The blue flower… it was slowly turning dark.
It was fracturing.
An anguished sensation overwhelmed Isa’s mind.
“Please don’t be sad.”
‘Isa is here.’
‘Isa is here for you.’
—
‘Bully brother! Go die!’
“...”
“Izzyyy.”
‘?’
Izzy looked down at the girl who had suddenly appeared and clinging to her with desperate warmth. A complicated, swirling knot of emotion rose in her chest.
“I am not sad.”
“Yes, yes, I know,” Isa murmured, reaching up to stroke Izzy’s head.
“…”
What was this? Why was she suddenly being treated like a kid?
Izzy frowned, then pried Isa’s arms away and stepped back. Without another word, she dissolved out of the mindscape.
At the moment, she was controlling Arnold, trailing the Inspectors who had ignored her question. She only spared that brief moment to check on her young mind.
‘Hehe, tsundereee~’
‘…’
This girl… she learned something bad again.
But Izzy didn’t reprimand her this time.
She felt a bit drained, likely overextending herself during the conversation with the Inspectors.
‘Hmm?’
Suddenly, their main body gave a warning. Back in the mansion, something was peeking out from the door.
A white bonnet appeared, bobbing behind the door of the attic.
“That girl, what is she doing there?”
—
Moonday, four days left before the full moon Rite starts.
