“This is it,” Thirty-Six said, pointing to the room ahead. The walls were bright pink, in contrast to the polished chrome of the rest of the facility. Kano found it hard to imagine why they would have built it—it was awfully out of place. Stepping inside, Kano looked around. It was small, more an extension of the adjacent office than anything.

The only furniture was a small table and chair and a little bookcase tucked away in a corner. They were the same color as the walls, a rather unimaginative design choice in Kano’s view. At least that fit with the rest of the center. The lighting here was softer, with a yellow tinge. Thirty-Six sat down in the chair and smiled. It was the perfect size for her.

“How did you find this place, anyway?” Kano asked. They’d been here for more than a day, but Thirty-Six had barely left her side. There was no way she could have explored much. Thirty-Six looked away, refusing to meet her eyes. Going over to the bookshelf, she pulled out a book. It was decorated with flowers and other things that Kano didn’t recognize.

“Look,” Thirty-Six said, opening the book on the table and pointing at the contents.

Kano put her hand over the book and stared down at Thirty-Six, unamused. “I asked you how you found this place, and I’d like you to give me a proper answer.”

When Thirty-Six still didn’t respond, Kano sighed. She wished Thirty-Six would just admit it. Her silence told her everything. “You’ve been using the network again, haven’t you?” She put her hand on Thirty-Six’s shoulder. “I won’t get angry, so please tell me what’s happening.”

“A bit,” Thirty-Six said, fidgeting in her seat. “But it wasn’t on purpose.”

“No? Then how did it happen?” Kano kept her tone level, not wanting to make Thirty-Six feel bad. Though she’d prefer if she’d been more open with her, she wasn’t going to berate her for it, especially when it was related to such a sensitive issue.

Thirty-Six kept her gaze fixed on her lap. “I was bored. And when I was thinking of something to do, I must have accidentally used it. It told me I’d find something to do here. That’s all. You won’t get mad, right?”

Smiling, Kano gave the little ghoul a pat on the head. “I already said I wouldn’t. There’s nothing for me to get mad about. You didn’t do anything wrong. Though I wish you’d told me before you went off on your own. You couldn’t have known what was actually here. What if they’d led you somewhere dangerous?”

“They wouldn’t do something like that,” Thirty-Six said, looking up. Kano’s eyebrows shot up at the anger in Thirty-Six’s voice. It wasn’t much, but it was striking for someone so mild mannered. She couldn’t recall Thirty-Six so much as raising her voice before. Yet she felt so strongly about the network? This strange construct she’d come into contact with so recently? Did it have some kind of hold over her?

Kano scratched her head. This didn’t make any sense. “I thought you were terrified of them after what happened with Yon in that weird place.”

“I was, but… now I know they didn’t mean any harm. What happened was… just an accident.”

How could it possibly be an accident? There was definitely something strange going on. Neither Yon nor Rovon had mentioned it being able to influence people, but it didn’t seem like they understood it too well themselves. It didn’t fit with what they’d said—they’d both been convinced the network had no will of its own. Did its interactions with Thirty-Six suggest otherwise? It was hard to say without asking the girl herself, but Kano would rather they forgot about the whole thing. They wouldn’t be here much longer, and Thirty-Six had already suffered enough trauma. Kano shook her head; she’d worry about it later.

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“Sorry,” Kano said, doing her best to look unconcerned, “I didn’t mean to insult them. This whole thing is just so strange. The network and the center itself.” Kano wished she could leave already. This was no place for either of them. She wasn’t sure what exactly belonged here, but she knew she wanted no part in it.

“Strange?” Thirty-Six’s gray eyes looked up at her, brimming with incomprehension. “I don’t think it’s strange.”

Kano wasn’t sure if Thirty-Six meant the facility or the network. Either way it was worrying, but she wasn’t sure how to define what about them was bizarre. Wasn’t it obvious? It felt like she was trying to explain why it was strange for the sky to be purple rather than blue. Of course it was strange, yet it was clear Thirty-Six couldn’t grasp the idea. Was it because she was a ghoul? Or a result of her unusual past? Perhaps it was easy for her to accept such things as normal; the life Thirty-Six had led underground certainly seemed strange to Kano. Drawing upon her extensive past experience with the wider world, Kano did her best to convince the little ghoul. “Well, you’re wrong. It is strange.”

Thirty-Six didn’t look entirely convinced, but she nodded. “Oh. Okay.”

Good, at least Thirty-Six did as she was told. Even if she wasn’t compelled to do so like Urick was.

“If it’s strange,” Thirty-Six continued, staring into space. “Does that mean I’m strange too for connecting with it?”

“Yeah, probably. But that’s fine. People are strange anyway, but buildings shouldn’t be. They’re just there to be used.”

“Does that mean Yon is strange, too?”

Kano frowned. “Yon? What do you mean?”

“She’s working with the network. So if it’s strange, is she also strange?”

The concept hurt her head a little, but to Kano, Yon was strange in a very familiar way. Her behavior was strange in an objective sense and yet was something Kano had a lot of experience with. Perhaps that was how it was with all necromancers. She seemed to have encountered several in the past. But there was no need for Thirty-Six to understand that.

“She’s strange, too, but in a bad way. That’s how necromancers are.”

“So if I’m also strange, does that mean I could be a necromancer?”

Kano hung her head. How had it come back to this? “I already told you, no. Just drop it already.”

“Fine.”

Despite her reply, Kano was sure she hadn’t heard the last of it. How was she supposed to get the notion out of Thirty-Six’s head? Maybe it would fade once they were back home, away from any necromancers. It seemed her best hope at this rate. “So, what is there to do in here?” she asked, hoping to distract Thirty-Six, at least for the time being. She had more important things to do than stand around arguing about the ghoul becoming a necromancer.

Thirty-Six held up the book she’d been trying to show Kano earlier, which had lain forgotten during their exchange. “This has lots of different pictures. But none of them have any color.” She pointed to one of the pictures—it was a leafy plant unknown to Kano. “You add the color yourself. I think it’s meant to be some kind of game.”

“Add color? How?” Kano couldn’t see any paint around.

Thirty-Six picked up a wooden stick with a blue tip from the table and scribbled on the paper. Where the tip touched, the paper turned blue.

Kano watched, bemused. “And this is fun?”

“Um. Maybe? I haven’t really tried it yet.” Thirty-Six continued to color the picture in. “It seems neat. Do you want to try?”

Kano thought it seemed pointless. Why weren’t the pictures colored in the first place? It made no sense. “Err, no thanks. I should…” Kano wracked her brain for a suitable excuse, “probably go find out what the humans are doing. You’ll be all right here on your own, won’t you?”

Still focused on her book, Thirty-Six nodded.

“Good, I’ll be back in a while. Wait here until I come back.”