"Today is also quite uneventful."
Weekend evening.
I was feeling particularly bored today.
Perhaps it's because I've been spending ti with Alice lately.
The sense of loneliness that I was familiar with now feels a bit unfamiliar.
Today, even Eun-jeong, Suho, and Kyeong-min are all busy.
This kind of thing happens often. Actually, quite a lot when I think about it.
But if Alice isn't busy, it's also a day when I can have her all to myself.
With a sense of anticipation, I tapped on the mirror.
Knock knock.
"Let's play together~"
As if performing a summoning ritual I found on the internet, I spoke to the mirror, and it rippled, connecting to Alice.
"Oh my. Are you bored again?"
"Ehehe... If you're not busy, let's play. Or even just talking like this would make happy."
Just seeing Alice's face makes happy.
Because she's pretty!
Her eyes used to be red, but now those mysterious and deep blue eyes calm and comfort my heart.
In response to my request, Alice habitually stroked her chin.
She seed to be pondering what we should do today.
"Hmm... Then, how about visiting the Institution today?"
An unexpected suggestion ca from Alice.
The Institution!
A group that controls and manages all occult matters behind the scenes of society, protecting humanity.
It was a topic that made my heart race, sothing I had only heard about from Alice.
Erasing mories sounds scary, but... I didn't want to miss this opportunity.
"The Institution? That big occult organization? Is that really okay?"
"Huhuhu... It's a secretive organization, but they're lenient with kids, right? Honestly, I don't think we'll get in trouble no matter what we do."
"It's a bad thing to say, but... As long as we don't get caught, it should be fine, right?"
"Honestly, even if we get caught, I think it'll be okay."
It was a sowhat bad act for a child to go to such a secret and official place just for fun.
But I still wanted to go.
Understanding my intentions, Alice connected the mirror to her location.
"Co on over to play."
Without hesitation, I jumped into the mirror.
Then, a room filled with carefully arranged and cute items ca into view.
The bed and floor were all covered with soft, fluffy things!
"So this is Alice's containnt room. It's super cute."
"It's not my taste. Carol put all this here without asking."
"Who is that person? I heard about them before."
Carol... I've heard that na from Alice.
And also from Jack O'Lantern.
I wonder what kind of person they are.
I might want to et them soday.
Looking at this room, it's clear they care deeply for Alice.
"She's soone who really likes and cute things to a suspicious degree. An adult who's old enough but still acts spoiled around . You shouldn't be like that when you grow up, okay?" ℞𝓪ŊΟ𝐛ĚŠ
"Can't I?"
"...I'll let it slide sotis."
Alice, showing at least so sincerity, created a clone of herself and left it in the containnt room.
The clone waved its hand, telling us to have fun.
Alice and I quickly exited the containnt room through the mirror portal and walked down the hallway.
Seeing that the surveillance caras were working, it seed like they were just letting us play.
So, we beca even bolder.
"This must be the cafeteria."
We stopped where a delicious sll was coming from.
Grumble...
Co to think of it, I haven't had dinner yet.
I couldn't resist and peeked inside the cafeteria.
People in suits and special equipnt were visible.
Mostly dressed in black.
It felt like I had entered a world of black.
"Surprisingly normal... No, actually, there's a lot of delicious-looking food!"
It was a buffet-style al setup, with an incredible variety of food.
The types of food here were as many as all the school als I've seen combined!
"If the Institution was a company, it would be a ga-corporation, right? Given the hard work they do, it's only natural that they get to eat well."
"It must be super tasty..."
"Then why don't we just eat?"
"But I don't deserve that, do I? That food is the reward for their hard work."
For people dealing with dangerous tasks, they deserve proper compensation.
I think it's more about welfare than money.
If they have to be extra vigilant while working, they should be able to relax just as much during their breaks.
Eating delicious food is part of that relaxation, but is it okay for to join in?
"How much have we contributed! It should be fine. And it's not strange to get a al in a place that protects people, right?"
Is that so?
Honestly, the Ruler we faced with Alice was a super strong monster, right?
Even though Alice did most of the work, one al shouldn't hurt, should it?
Objectively, that seems right.
"...Maybe so!"
So, we entered the cafeteria, and Alice boldly asked an adult nearby.
"Give us food!"
Here, to get a al tray, you need an ID card or sothing that shows you belong to the Institution.
If you're inside the Institution, aren't you all coworkers? I had that question, but I convinced myself that you never know.
Anyway, that's why they asked for a card.
The man we caught looked troubled and subtly tried to activate a small radio in his pocket.
"Stop trying to check if Carol gave permission. Wouldn't that be disappointing? I've helped you guys a lot. Even if you report , I won't get punished much, but making raise my hands is annoying."
"No, if I pretend not to know, I'll get a pay cut..."
"If we go by that logic, everyone here is an accomplice."
When I looked around, the people who were staring at us quickly turned their heads.
"Ahem..."
It seed everyone had received help from Alice.
They all knew but pretended not to.
I felt even more confident in such an environnt. Ahem.
A secret organization-approved dinner!
"...Thank you!"
Grabbing two al trays, Alice and I served ourselves the food we wanted.
"Tonight's dinner is a manly al: pork cutlet and stir-fried pork. And chocolate cake!"
"I'll have olet rice and udon. And one exotic dish with a na I don't know!"
We each took a bite of the food we had chosen.
So soft! The sauce and the eggs in the olet were incredibly soft.
Even though it was pre-made, it was as soft as if it had just been made. How does that work?
While enjoying our al, soone patted my head.
"Ah, Uncle Jas!"
"Good to see you. And Alice, you're getting bolder by the day."
"So what? Maybe we're all starting to get comfortable."
"Well, if there's no punishnt, rules lose their aning, don't they?"
"Huhuhu... Do you think so too?"
Uncle Jas and Alice still get along well.
Hmm... Both are the type who dislike complicated things, it seems.
Uncle Jas's al was just bread and soup. Simple.
"Are you teaching sothing bad?"
Then Sister Maria joined us.
I heard she transferred from the Cathedral to the Institution, and she seems to be doing well.
Sister Maria also likes sweets, so she only took an ice cream instead of a al.
"Little Red Riding Hood didn't co?"
"She hesitated, saying it's bad to go out recklessly. Should I say that's typical of her? She didn't hesitate when going out to play with Alice, though."
"That's true. From her perspective, going out to play with friends isn't a bad thing. Uhuhu..."
We chatted about various things while having our al.
The warm conversations going back and forth made this mont very pleasant.
As the al was almost over, Uncle Jas stood up first.
He seed to anticipate what we would do next and patted my head as he spoke.
"Don't ss with anything too dangerous."
"Okay!"
"Got it! Wait? Why are you patting my head too?"
A mont later.
We were sneaking into another containnt room.
Because we're curious!
Alice's monsters are diverse, but sotis I'm curious about other flavors.
Alice showed a list she had taken from sowhere.
"Wow... Are all these the anomalies in the containnt rooms? There are so many. But what's the difference between these anomalies and devils? I've always wondered."
We've discussed this topic several tis with Alice and the others, but it always ended vaguely.
Probably this ti too.
Alice answered my question like this.
"Well, maybe it's the difference between breaking the rules and not breaking them?"
"Then do devils and angels not break the rules? Who decides that?"
From a human perspective, both devils and angels are supernatural, so...
"From my perspective, it's just the way it is."
Anyway, we connected to the containnt room through the mirror and peeked inside.
There was an object made up of small squares like Tetris blocks, constantly changing shape.
"It looks like it might explode if it forms a straight line."
"There should be related docunts here sowhere. Found it. It's in a locked drawer. The security level is low since the threat level is low."
According to the docunt, it really does explode if placed near square buildings.
Wow, there's all sorts of things in the world.
I couldn't help but laugh, but the nas of the victims from the explosion were also written in the docunt, so I quickly stopped.
"...Ahem! Shall we look at sothing else?"
Alice quickly led to another containnt room.
In this one, there was a mysterious-colored jellyfish floating in an aquarium.
"It's pretty..."
"It must be a hallucinogenic jellyfish."
It has anomalous properties but doesn't seem very threatening.
So we could watch it comfortably.
After staring at it for a while, we moved on to the next containnt room.
"There's a person here?"
What I saw was a man dressed as a chef, staring at us through the mirror with a soulless gaze, like a mannequin.
"Don't look too much. That's a chef who cooks people. How unlucky. Should we just get rid of him?"
It looks like a human, but it doesn't seem to be a human.
I didn't bother opening the file containing photos of the dishes he cooked.
I could roughly guess what atrocities that monster had committed.
I shouted at the monster.
"Rot in there forever!"
Then it stared at coldly.
Alice, seemingly displeased, warned him.
"Lower your gaze. Do you want to disappear without a trace?"
Then the monster lowered its eyes!
Feeling sowhat relieved, we continued on.
It felt like we were at an exhibition.
I felt like I was looking at a well-made piece of modern art, and it was enjoyable without any sense of rejection.
"Alice, you're enjoying this too, right? I wish this mont could last forever."
"I feel the sa. But when night falls, we have to sleep, right?"
It seems a lot of ti has passed.
My legs are starting to hurt, but my heart still wants to play.
Still, I didn't want to trouble Alice, so I gathered my thoughts and suggested we peek into one last containnt room.
Alice smiled and agreed.
"Alright. This is the last one."
In the last containnt room we peeked into, there was a girl sleeping.
She was sleeping so peacefully that at first glance, it was hard to tell what was anomalous about her.
But then I noticed a small toy pony circling around her like the moon around the Earth.
"Let's see, skipping the identification code, the alias is Sister's Toy."
The docunt stated:
After a sudden car accident left the girl in a coma, a toy pony started floating around her one day, and it has the characteristic of eliminating anyone who poses a threat to her.
There was a suggestion that the comatose girl might be unconsciously controlling the toy pony, but analysis showed no correlation.
However, the toy pony was the sa one her older sister, who died in the accident, used to play with, leading researchers to speculate that the sister's soul might have inhabited the toy.
But no soul has been detected, so it remains a mystery.
■■■ Researcher comnted that will and soul might be different things.
"The accident is tragic, but it's really touching.
To leave behind the will to protect her sister even after death."
"Yeah... That's true."
"Personally, the fact that no soul was detected suggests that she didn't defy death and went peacefully to the afterlife. Protecting her sister and not defying death, isn't that the best possible outco?"
I shared my thoughts, waiting for Alice to chi in.
But Alice remained silent, just staring at the sleeping girl.
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