The three anomalies who had raided my home.
Since we couldn’t exactly have a conversation in front of the shattered front door, I brought them inside and seated everyone around the table.
I took the seat of honor, with Spidergirl and Miho on either side of me.
Maestro said he was more comfortable standing and remained behind me.
"So, brothers, do you have anything else to say?"
「"Why did you do it?"」
"...What’s with the way you talk?"
"This feels like a mafia sit-down."
Snicker.
Spidergirl laughed as if we were beyond help.
Just moments ago, we had exchanged all the information we had.
They had used a ticket to seal off the apartment in order to rescue me, only to discover that this place was not Eterno Baekdam.
You might think that meant they had simply swallowed up an innocent apartment.
But it wasn’t quite that simple.
"Hey, show me that post that went up earlier."
"Understood."
At my signal, Maestro summoned the gallery window from thin air and tilted it toward me.
[Chat] : But I don’t think that’s just an ordinary apartment
Author: Architect
(A photo of green mist flickering in a corner of the apartment)
Can you see this pic?
There’s supernatural processing all over the place.
I don’t think the building itself is a ghost story or anything.
It’s more likely that another anomaly interfered with it, yeah.
[Total comments - 5]
CleanlinessKing: Hm, you’re right?
└CleanlinessKing: If it’s visible to the naked eye, that’s at least a Nightmare-rank ability.
└[Author]Architect: Any idea whose power it is?
└CleanlinessKing: How would I know...
└CleanlinessKing: There isn’t just one or two anomalies out there. How am I supposed to tell from this...
"It’s Madam Rabbit."
「"It’s that bitch."」
"Y-you’re certain?"
I nodded at Miho’s cautious question.
Really, it was so obvious that it was practically transparent.
Madam Rabbit was the one who had gifted me this house, and there was evidence I couldn’t ignore.
"Miho, bring in those people you said you subdued on your way here."
"Y-yes, sir!"
Miho hurriedly rose from her seat and went outside.
A little while later, Miho returned holding some kind of prisoner’s rope.
Behind it came a line of people with rabbit ears atop their heads.
Including the attendant who had shown me around when I moved in.
"I thought your way of speaking sounded strangely rabbit-like."
"..."
The attendant avoided my gaze and stared only at the floor.
As an awkward silence continued, Maestro spoke, tapping his baton against his palm.
"Don’t look so miserable. If you cooperate, we’ll turn you into instruments."
"I-isn’t one supposed to offer mercy...?"
"Pardon? Becoming instruments is mercy, isn’t it?"
「"?"」
Leaving the three of them behind as they freely exchanged question marks, Spidergirl plopped down into a squat in front of the captives.
"You people. What were you trying to do here when you kidnapped our Rookie?"
"Noona, it wasn’t exactly kidnapping—"
Hm.
I should keep quiet.
I could feel the weight of Spidergirl’s eight stares.
Was that a special ability too?
Honestly, I kind of wanted it.
"...Giving someone a nice house out of nowhere is kidnapping. You lure them in with emotions and desires."
"An entirely correct statement."
Maestro folded his arms and nodded.
Yeah, honestly, it wasn’t unconvincing.
It was like placing a graphics card on top of a bear trap.
No one was forcing you, but you had no choice but to fall for it.
"So answer me. What exactly are you plotting?"
"..."
"Hm. No answer, I see."
Despite Spidergirl’s sharp gaze, they clamped their mouths shut and glared at us.
Those green eyes looked both resentful and, at the same time, as though they had nothing to say.
"Ha, these little—!"
"Wait a second, something’s off."
Sensing something strange about this, I stopped her as she tried to approach with her fists clenched.
"Maestro. Go outside and bring back a pen and paper."
"I shall obey your command."
"It doesn’t need to be a command..."
He gave a deep bow, then walked out into the Backrooms beyond the apartment.
I seemed to be asking the others for a lot today.
Doing this felt so natural that I had made the mistake without realizing it.
From now on, I needed to get moving on my own two feet.
Rattle, clatter.
"I found them. They were buried beneath a mountain of things."
After some time had passed, Maestro returned through the hole in the front door.
I took the paper and pen from him and handed them directly to the attendant.
"For some reason, you can’t answer even though you want to, can you?"
"...!!"
"Write it down here. Miho, untie these people."
"Y-yes!"
While Miho untied their ropes one by one, the attendant began writing something on the paper with a remarkably serious expression.
Click.
「"Are you done writing?"」
"It seems so."
After she set down her pen, we gathered in small groups to read what was written on the paper.
[Chat] : We’ve been wronged!!!
"...This is gallery formatting."
Nod.
"You’ve never written anything except on the gallery?"
Nod, nod.
...Sure.
It was easy to read, so that was nice.
**
[Chat] : We’ve been wronged!!!
Author: RabbitClerk
(A drawing depicting the evil Madam Rabbit)
We were rabbit ghost stories who worked under Madam Rabbit!
Saying she didn’t have a location-type she liked, she personally created this apartment.
Then she ordered us to serve the Rookie who would soon be moving in well.
But!!
Ochre-colored walls enclosed the apartment, and those people tied us up!!!
Then they suddenly took away our powers and voices!!!!
This is truly so unfair...
Please show mercy and at least spare our lives...
[Total comments - 11]
ㅇㅇ(999.1): Forget the voices for a moment.
└ㅇㅇ(999.1): What do you mean they took away your powers?
└[Author]RabbitClerk: They took away our recognition as anomalies.
└[Author]RabbitClerk: Now we are neither anomalies nor humans...
└ㅇㅇ(999.1): I see.
ㅇㅇ: How pitiful... To be abandoned when you merely followed orders...
└[Author]RabbitClerk: Right!!!
└[Author]RabbitClerk: But why are you posting under an anonymous username?
└Maestro: You know everyone here has transformed their usernames.
└Maestro: Please change it back to your original name.
└Miho: Very well....
"Why are you all talking through writing too...?"
"Because it’s fun."
"Because it’s fun, isn’t it?"
"Because it’s fun."
「"I want to do it too."」
"..."
Spidergirl looked at us as though wondering what kind of weirdos we were.
To not understand the aesthetic of gallery-posting.
This was why anomalies who diligently lived out their real lives were like this.
"Anyway, Madam Rabbit only ordered you to serve me well?"
‘Yes, that’s right.’
The attendant, RabbitClerk, wrote her answer in an empty space on the paper.
"Hmm. What do you all think?"
"It is obviously a lie. There are so many ways to treat someone well; buying them a house is unnatural."
Maestro pointed his baton at the attendant.
Wave, wave, wave!!
RabbitClerk frantically waved her hands, denying his claim.
"The children’s reactions... do not seem to be false, however."
"Yeah. I can feel how wronged they are from the handwriting."
I looked away from the paper and at the attendant and the others.
Only now could I see their pitiful expressions.
Their cheeks were puffed up as if they might burst at any moment, and tears had gathered at the corners of their reddened eyes.
Then Spidergirl suddenly grabbed RabbitClerk with both hands.
"Look me straight in the eye and swear it. Is everything you wrote here true?"
Nod, nod, nod!
"...I think it really is true. Though I don’t know what Madam Rabbit was planning."
RabbitClerk’s words were probably true.
But that didn’t mean we could completely put aside our suspicions.
They might merely have been deceived themselves. Madam Rabbit might not have told them about her plan.
"In the end, we have no choice but to hear it from Madam Rabbit herself."
「"But how?"」
"What do you mean, how? We go find her ourselves."
As it happened, we had former anomalies whom she had betrayed.
And we had more than enough people capable of fighting if necessary.
It was the perfect time to strike back.
"But why are you talking through that? You could just come over here yourself."
「"Secret."」
"...?"
**
A high-rise bathroom with clouds visible through the window.
At the center of a bath thick with steam, Madam Rabbit was soaking in the water, her seductive figure on display.
Splash, splash.
"Soon... he will come looking for me."
When she struck the floor with her fist, a rabbit-eared woman in a suit approached.
"You called for me?"
"Release those people we had held captive at the shop. And retrieve the duplicate of me that the Bureau dealt with."
"Understood."
The woman bowed deeply, then vanished again.
Without making a sound or showing the slightest sign of movement.
Leaving only misty footprints on the floor.
"...EcologicalWindow, was that the name? The Head Mod has certainly worked hard for us."
Within the bathhouse, filled with the quiet sound of water, her soft laughter echoed.
"You must reclaim that power. Hehe."
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