[ The House of Mistresses - Unseen Corridor ]

I open my eyes again to find myself back in the theater room.

Dim red lamps hang on the walls, rows and rows of seats facing the grand stage with its curtains raised.

—And not a single sign of any murder-happy [Headless Body] in sight.

“Pheeeeewwww~”

After turning my head left and right like an owl for a bit, I let out all the air in my lungs that I’d been holding back for the last few minutes in one breath.

“Miw… Are you okay?”

On the seat to my right, Little Eden’s sitting there with Bery the Cerberus in her lap. She looks up at me with a clear gaze that almost makes me hold my breath again.

—How very… surreal.

“U-um. Thank you, Little Eden, I’m fine.”

I give Eden a stuttering reply, waving my hands in front of me. From my left, I can hear the sigh of Ninth Sister Miho and the sound of Second Sister Rinne patting her chest in relief.

“That was… way more exciting than it needed to be.”

“Right? I thought we were in some real trouble there.”

The two of them also sound quite exhausted. Well, I guess that’s to be expected. The [Headless Body] suddenly moving and chasing after us so aggressively earlier gave us quite a fright.

I look around the theater room again. There’s nothing on the stage, and all the seats beside ours are completely empty.

—Which means that right now, aside from the four of us, there’s no sign of any of my other sisters here at all.

“They still haven’t finished their explorations?” I mutter with a frown.

“It would seem like it,” Second Sister Rinne says.

An uncomfortable feeling begins to rise in my chest. What’s going on, exactly? Earlier, when we tried to call out to them in the corridor, none of them responded. Did they intentionally ignore us? Or maybe… something happened to them too.

“Should we try to go call them again?” Ninth Sister Miho proposes.

—In the end, there’s only one way to know, huh?

At the door to the theater room, Little Eden, Ninth Sister Miho, Second Sister Rinne, and I, carefully look left and right just in case there’s any other ‘surprise’ waiting for us in the dimly lit corridor.

Thankfully, aside from the ever-so-ominous red lamps, nothing seems to be amiss, and all four of us are able to safely walk around again.

“This should be the door they went in, right?”

Arriving at the front of door two to the left of the one directly opposite of the theater room, I throw a questioning glance at the two of my sisters, and receive their nods.

So, I knock on the door twice.

Knock~! Knock~!

—Nothing.

“First Sister Roxxi! Frul!” I yell as loudly as I can.

—Still nothing.

With a deepening frown on my forehead, I reach out to grab the handles, only to be stopped by Ninth Sister Miho’s voice before I can pull them apart.

“W-wait, Miwari. What if we open the door and see the [Headless Body] standing there like last time?” she asks fearfully, raising her hands.

“That… shouldn’t be possible, right? I mean, didn’t we get rid of it?”

—Right now, it should be stuck in a room consumed by darkness. A room that no longer exists.

“But what if we didn’t get rid of it at all? I mean, what if we were wrong?”

“...”

Her words make me pause. The hands that reach to grab the door handles quietly recede.

But eventually, it’s none other than Second Sister Rinne who breaks the silence with her hushed whispering:

“Isn’t the only way to know… to open the door?”

““...””

As the door in front of us remains closed, hiding everything and anything that could be on the other side so completely it’s unnerving, a feeling of dread begins to creep up my spine once again…

Clack~!

—Only for it to disappear in the next moment.

“““Little Eden!”””

“Mm.”

Ninth Sister Miho, Second Sister Rinne, and I exclaim in surprise when, while we were standing there hesitating, the golden-haired little girl’s already nonchalantly slid the door open.

Inside the newly opened room, we see a large, wide-open space filled with tables and chairs, the scarlet flames illuminating everything from the chandelier hanging high above.

But more importantly…

“It’s…” Second Sister Rinne says.

“Actually gone,” I say.

—The [Headless Body]’s nowhere to be found!

“We did it! Little Eden, you’re my girl!”

Excitedly, Ninth Sister Miho crouches down and gives Eden a big hug, shaking her shoulders wildly. And the person herself simply stood there holding the sleeping Cerberus in her arms without showing any emotions at all.

But as I begin to panic and think about quickly tearing them apart…

“Eden is not… a girl… though.”

—Little Eden says that.

“““Eh?”””

Simultaneously, looks of confusion manifest and freeze themselves on our faces. At this moment, the three sisters of House Lucianna, all feel like our fundamental understanding of reality has been subverted.

—What is life? Why are we here? Are there answers to the mysteries of the universe?

Unconsciously, I start scanning Little Eden’s body from head to toe.

Long, pretty eyelashes, pink lips, round, golden eyes—an almost too perfect set of features that could make anyone feel just a little bit jealous.

Noticing my eyes, Eden silently adjusts the traveling bag’s strap on his shoulder.

“““...””” Everyone.

—I don’t even know what to say.

After a few seconds…

Ninth Sister Miho awkwardly separates herself from Eden and stands up.

“I… see. I’m sorry for assuming.”

The corner of her mouth twitches.

“It’s fine… Eden… doesn’t mind it.” Eden shakes his head.

“I-I’ll go take a look inside the room!”

With a little bit of panic, Second Sister Rinne then runs into the room. After glancing at Eden only more time, Ninth Sister Miho also follows her inside.

“Little Eden, why didn’t you tell us that you were a boy?” Left alone with Eden in the corridor, I crouch down and whisper in a low voice to him.

“Because people… treat Eden… no differently… either way?” Eden answers, touching his chin with one hand.

“No, I mean that if you had told us before back in the van, we would have let you go immediately.”

“But Eden… didn’t want that… to happen… no?”

“That’s… true.”

…..

—Wait…

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Immediately, my entire body straightens.

Then, I turn to look inside the room, at the two of my sisters who are inspecting the new environment with curiosity.

“Is this the large cafeteria?”

Second Sister Rinne tilts her head and pinches her chin.

“It looks like this is the one from the second floor.”

Ninth Sister Miho looks around with her eyebrows raised.

“...”

—All this time, everything that happened was only possible because of ‘her’...

As I stand there, frozen, Eden’s already walked inside with the other two.

However…

“Hong~!”

After Eden takes a couple of steps into the room, suddenly, Bery the Cerberus who has been nothing but quiet for a while, loudly barks and wiggles itself out of Eden’s arms.

It drops to the floor, sniffs, and then runs off, quickly disappearing into an empty doorway on the other side of the large cafeteria, behind the counters.

“Ah… Bery.”

With a slight raising of his voice, Eden calls out after the little black-furred puppy.

But it’s already too late.

“Are you not going to chase after it, Little Eden?” Ninth Sister Miho asks.

“He’ll... probably… come back soon,” Eden says simply.

“...”

—I remain frozen.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the room, Second Sister Rinne who’s been busy searching through the tables and counters, excitedly yells out.

“I found it!”

Ninth Sister Miho turns to her: “What did you find, Rinne?”

“Tea leaves!” Second Sister Rinne raises the bag of dried tea leaves she’s found high in the air and presents it to us.

Then, with an ecstatic smile, she clasps her hands together.

“It should still be in the theater room, the tea set, I mean! I'll go bring it here!”

With excitement in her steps, Second Sister Rinne walks past me out of the cafeteria, but not before winking at me once.

“Keep the door open for me, will you?”

“...”

—I remain frozen.

After Second Sister Rinne leaves the room, my mind has finally finished going through everything.

So, automatically, almost like someone who's possessed, I walk into the room.

Little Eden’s walking around looking at all the tables. Ninth Sister Miho’s inspecting the counter on the other side.

Again, automatically, I pick up one of the empty plates from a nearby table.

My steps eventually bring me to stand behind the back of ‘Ninth Sister Miho’, who’s still inspecting the cafeteria’s counter.

Slowly, I walk closer…

…..

—And smash the plate toward her head!

Plank—!

The plate misses! ‘Ninth Sister Miho’ spins out of the way just in time, causing the plate to smash into the counter, splitting into countless tiny pieces before scattering all over the floor.

Then, staggering backward, she looks at me with widened eyes.

“Why did you attack me, Miwari?”

“There’s no point trying to hide it!”

Staring fiercely, I point my finger at her.

“I figured out that you’re not Miho!”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Little Eden was right! Back then. It shouldn’t have been possible for the Headless Body to even walk out into the corridor at all!”

—If the fact that we really did get rid of it tells us anything, is that the [Headless Body] is not an ‘observer’. Then how was it able to stand in front of the door without getting transported to the theater room while there was no one else around?

“But you could’ve known that and accounted for it, right? No, only you could've known that and accounted for it! If we assume that what Second Sister Rinne said back then was the truth, you could’ve figured it out when you tampered with the [Headless Body] in the theater room!”

—That specific part of her account still stood out to be the weirdest thing. Even now, there’s no way to know which one of them’s lying. But if one of them is telling the truth, and that person is Second Sister Rinne, then everything else simply falls into place.

“Besides, wasn’t it you who suggested that we spend time exploring Kanna’s room? Even though she wasn’t a suspect?”

—Was that an actual attempt at being thorough, or were you just trying to buy time for the [Headless Body] to arrive because you realized that Little Eden would eventually be able to get inside your room and find out whether or not you still have all of your uniforms?

“Plus, when we ran to the theater room after meeting the [Headless Body] for the first time, the door was slightly opened...”

—I actually don’t remember whether or not it was because I was too flustered at the time. So this is just a bluff… But it had to have been.

“And more importantly, the final piece of evidence!”

Under the gazes of Ninth Sister Miho, and Little Eden who’s standing a little further away, I declare with trembling hands.

—The nail in the coffin; the stake to the heart!

“If you were the real Miho, y-you would…

“Y-you would’ve gotten really excited… when you learned that Little Eden is a boy.”

But as soon as those words leave my mouth...

The entire room falls silent.

…..

“Huh?”

“...?”

At the confused little head tilt of Little Eden from the other side of the room, my face starts to burn red out of embarrassment.

—Aaahhh~ Why can’t I have an actual cool confrontation with the culprit like one of those detectives in mystery novels? Why is this the thing that ticked me off? Seriously!

Crying inside, I resign myself to fate, and grit my teeth.

“Do you not realize it? The real Miho’s personality… is that of a massive pervert!

“You were the main reason why I left, don’t you know that?!

“Their innocent images were the only light of hope in this dark and cruel world or whatever nonsense! Aren’t you just making excuses so that you can do weird things!?

“Always going on about your precious art collections! Always forcing other people to take part in your strange interests!

“‘Dress up in this costume Miwari, try out this outfit I made for you Miwari, do this pose and let me take pictures of you Miwari, be my personal Miwari, Miwari!’ Lol* this, Shot* that, you’d just never ever shut up!

“Also how many times do I have to tell you that I’m not even a Lol*!”

Huuuph~

I take a deep breath, and clench my fists.

“—I’m just ShhHhhOOOOOoooooooooOOOoooooooooooooooooooooOoooooOOOoooooooooooOOOOoooRRrtT~!”

ShooOooort~…

ShoOort~...

Short~…

Short~…

…..

My voice reverberates within the room, echoing over and over again.

“...” Ninth Sister Miho.

“...” Little Eden.

“Haaa~ Haaa~ Haaa~” Me, panting aggressively after pouring out several years worth of frustration in one go.

Ahem~

Eventually after some time, Ninth Sister Miho clears her throat and starts to speak.

“Firstly, I’d like to say I’m so—”

However, halfway through her sentence, a 'vile' smile suddenly appears on her face, and she rushes at me with a fork she quickly picks up from the nearby table.

—But I’m ready for it!

When ‘Miho’ comes within striking distance, I take one step forward, and thrust both my hands toward her ears!

‘Miho’s’ entire body freezes—like a butterfly that’s been caught in an invisible spider’s web. She tries to move her arms and neck but is unable to, causing her body to twitch in discomfort.

Immediately, a familiar feeling of [resistance] tries to push my hands away, but I keep pressing harder in on both sides of her head, without making any physical contact.

Soon enough, her eyes are unable to keep themselves open and her expression relaxes. Her body slowly falls down as I lower myself along with her—my hands still remain suspended a little away from her ears.

Reaching the floor, the struggle of ‘Miho’ finally ceases, and her head drops to the floor with a hard thud.

As if someone just pulls away the invisible object in the hands that I’m pressing together, the [resistance] I felt before instantly disappears, and my hands whiff right past each other, creating a sharp sound in the air.

Poof~

—And with that, I plop down to the floor as well, utterly exhausted.

“Haaa~...”

Walking over to me, Little Eden cast a glance back and forth between my currently miserable appearance and the now unconscious body of ‘Miho’, before looking directly into my eyes.

“Was that the… ‘Puff Puff’ thing?”

“Don’t call it that!”

“—Miwari!”

I turn to look behind me, and see Second Sister Rinne walking through the still-opened door carrying a smoking tea set.

“Sister Rinne…” Without much strength, I call out to her weakly.

“W-what’s happening…?” Second Sister Rinne walks over to see ‘Miho’ and me lying on the floor, and exclaims in surprise.

Lazily, I point at the unconscious ‘Miho’.

“Miho’s a [fake]. She tried to attack me when I called her out. We need to tie her up and wait for her to wake up and then interrogate her.

“Then if we go back to the theater room and wait for the others. She should be able to tell us something about our current situation.”

I carefully get myself back on my feet, only to suddenly feel weak again immediately and have to sit down on a nearby chair. Noticing my condition, Second Sister Rinne rushes up to offer me a teacup from her tray with a worried gaze.

“Here Miwari, you must be tired.”

“Eh? Ah, um.”

Because my throat’s been feeling pretty dry for a while. Without much thinking, I quickly give Second Sister Rinne a nod and receive the cup of tea she’s offered.

—Only to regret doing so in the next moment…

“Ah… Miw… Don’t.”

As I receive the cup of herbal tea from Second Sister Rinne, I can hear the voice of Little Eden trying to stop me.

Unfortunately, I’ve already downed the entire cup by then.

“...Huh?”

Just as I turn to see Eden’s widened eyes, in the back of my skull, I can feel something squirming.

Immediately after that, both of my ears go silent.

Then the ‘ringing’ starts.

Diddididiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~...

Even though the physical experience is sudden and alarming, an intense feeling of sleepiness begins to overwhelm me. As if there’s a deeply discomforting ‘grasp’ tightening around my senses, each and every single one of them starts to go numb.

I stumble forward, only barely able to keep myself from falling by grabbing the edge of the table.

Then, I hear a voice.

“Ah, it looks like we did it.”

A happy, pleasant voice threatening to break into laughter, filled with scorn.

—And one thing’s become clear to me.

“You… are not… Rinne... Either.”

I fall sideways to the floor, knocking the chair down with me, dropping the cup of ‘herbal tea’ and spilling the hot liquid onto the wooden surface.

Under the dim red lights of the cafeteria’s chandelier, it burns like blood.

As my vision continues to grow hazier and hazier, out of the corners of my eyes, I can make out the silhouette of ‘Rinne’ stepping toward Eden.

“No… not… like this.”

In my mind, a single thought begins to reverberate. Mustering up every last drop of strength that hasn't drained my body, I spring back onto my feet and lunge at ‘Rinne’, locking my arms around her neck.

Then, peeking from her back, I try to look at the face of the golden-haired angel one last time.

“Little Eden…

"Run away.”

I grab onto the sides of ‘Rinne’s’ face firmly from behind.

And…

“Puff… puff…”

—————……….