Chapter 16: Dreams! Part 2

“Having dreams, you see.”

The voice of the rabbit echoed in my ears.

At that moment, two emotions sprouted within me.

First, a mixture of uneasiness and fear, wondering when it had been targeting us all along.

And second, relief that it had come to target us.

“…Itsuki!”

Nina-chan’s hand reached out.

The soft touch of Nina-chan’s hand reached my left hand.

Before confirming that sensation, I began to weave “Guiding thread silvate” within me.

While weaving, I firmly kept the rabbit outside the window in my field of vision.

“Don’t be afraid, children.”

As the Ferris wheel slowly ascended, the rabbit stuck outside the window shrugged its shoulders.

“I’ve come to help you.”

“…Help?”

“Yes, indeed. Children have dreams. Those dreams are very fleeting and beautiful.”

I frowned involuntarily.

Even as I frowned, my hands continued to work.

I created a cocoon of “Guiding thread silvate” that covered the mascot costume.

Then, “Attribute Change: Fire.”

“Blazing Cocoon, Homuramayu.”

The next moment, in response to my incantation, the mascot costume outside the window was engulfed in flames.

“So, I thought about it. A way to leave a dream behind.”

With a roar, the sound of the blazing flames echoed inside the gondola.

The mascot costume outside, enveloped in the cocoon of flames, had no way to escape.

But it didn’t disappear.

The monster extended its hand toward us without turning into black mist.

“It’s not something to be surprised about. This is a dream.”

“A dream?”

“Yes, indeed.”

As if to say that the conversation was over, the monster continued.

“Dreamers will eventually wake up. If they’re going to wake up, then I’ll just cut out that part and leave it behind. Dreams are cultural heritage. I have a duty to preserve them.”

“So, that’s why you abducted the other children?”

“Abducted? That’s a nasty thing to say.”

While the monster spoke, I wove the next spell.

“They came willingly. To a world of never-ending dreams.”

The combination was “Attribute Change: Wind” and “Transformation Change: Blade.”

Since it was outside the window, I didn’t need to hold back.

I gazed at the monster and chanted.

“Gale Blade, Kamaitachi.”

A heavy sound, like the air being torn, reached my ears just like before, but not a single scratch appeared on the rabbit. It was as if I were looking at a three-dimensional hologram, like in science fiction.

“So that children’s dreams don’t wake up, I won’t wake up either.”

The monster proclaimed as if singing, and then…

“Now, show me your dreams.”

In accordance with the mascot’s words, one of the balloons the rabbit was holding burst.

Simultaneously, what overflowed from it was black, pitch-black mist.

It resembled what is seen when a monster dies, but unlike a monster’s corpse, it didn’t disappear and instead covered our gondola. I didn’t know what it was, but as long as the monster was releasing it, it couldn’t be something good.

And as I gazed at the black mist, I understood why the monster had approached us at this timing.

A confined space.

A kind of confinement where you couldn’t get out until it was over.

I see.

Indeed, if it was going to target us, this timing would be the best.

However, I didn’t plan on just letting it happen to me.

“Nina-chan, close your eyes for a moment!”

“Wait, Itsuki!”

While keeping Nina-chan connected, I forcefully pulled her towards me and activated the “Relics of Raikou Douji” I was wearing around my neck to run the “Guiding thread Silvate.”

The moment my entire body was enveloped in the physical enhancement, I extended the “Guiding thread silvate” from the gap in the window used for ventilation to unlock the gondola.

With a clack, the sound of the gondola’s lock being released reached my ears, and Nina-chan screamed.

“Are you kidding!? That’s impossible, Itsuki!”

“It’s okay. Leave it to me.”

Nina-chan seemed to have quickly realized what I was going to do, and she shook her head vigorously. But there was no other way to escape.

I pulled Nina-chan towards me with one hand and, at the same time, jumped off the gondola.

“Wait! Don’t be in a hurry!!”

The panicked voice of the mascot costume reached us.

Gravity, trailing behind, forcefully pulled us toward the ground.

The acceleration and sensation of floating were beyond what a roller coaster could provide.

Naturally, if we had stayed that way, we would have been smashed into the ground, but I had no intention of dying.

Following the principles of quick-draw quick-shot, I created “Guiding thread silvate” and wound it around the Ferris wheel’s frame, turning it into a lifeline, all while pulling it with my right hand.

Afterward, standing on the moving frame, I calmly looked at the floating rabbit in the sky.

By the way, Nina-chan, still held in my left hand, was trembling.

“Itsuki, are you okay? We’re still alive, right!?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. We’re both alive.”

“Pl-please don’t let go!”

“I won’t let go.”

Unlike me, who  had the “True Sight,” Nina-chan didn’t have that ability, so from her perspective, we were currently standing recklessly at a great height without any lifeline.

To reassure Nina-chan, I held her tightly and prepared myself.

Meanwhile, the pink rabbit monster, which had been watching us until now, quietly muttered.

“Oh, how terrible. Escaping from my dream.”

“What part of that is a dream?”

As I answered, the black mist vanished.

At the same time, the gondola that had existed until now was gone.

“I wanted to create a world where children could continue to dream like children. So, I thought of inviting you there.”

“…Created?”

In response to the monster’s words, I couldn’t help but ask. I didn’t know the extent of what “world” meant in this context, but I was familiar with a similar kind of magic.

Last year, when I was exploring with Nina-chan, we encountered a world that existed only at night. It was a world created by monsters where magic couldn’t be used. However, I couldn’t imagine that a third-rank monster could create something like that.

That’s why the phrase “created it” left me with as many questions as answers.

“Who created it?”

“The Acting Troupe Members.”

The pink rabbit muttered quietly.

I clenched my teeth involuntarily.

“Where did you meet them?”

“Well, I don’t remember anymore. But they seem to be interested in children too. If you’re curious, why don’t you hang around at the amusement park?”

“…I see.”

I nodded quietly and clapped my hands.

“If I’ve heard that much, it should be enough.”

As I clapped my hands, the balloon in the rabbit’s right hand disappeared.

Normal magic attacks didn’t work on the rabbit, which is why I tried fairy magic, and it worked.

“Why…? I’m just a dream.”

I didn’t understand why fairy magic worked when normal magic didn’t, but perhaps, as the monster’s words implied, fairies were also part of the “dream world.” There might be quite a bit of compatibility involved.

As I thought about it, the monster’s feet disappeared, followed by its head and then its torso. Finally, only the black mist remained.

After finishing off the monster, I let out a relieved sigh that my job was done and looked down quietly. I could see the ground far below.

I then looked up.

There, the tip of the Ferris wheel, missing one gondola, was slowly rotating.

…What should we do about this?

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