The Black Friend in the Basement
Selenum, as it existed in the re-enactment of those memories surrounding the black friend in the basement, had always been a happy kingdom. The king was benevolent and wise, the queen compassionate and intelligent. Luna, raised in such an environment from childhood, seemed destined for a future as bright as moonlight. However.
Cracks began to form, little by little, in what had seemed like an eternally blissful Selenum.
"M-Mom and Dad... why aren't they coming lately...?"
Luna, waiting alone in her bedroom for her parents, clutched her blanket tightly and shed endless tears.
"D-Dad... Mom... I'm always alone..."
When had it started? When had the distance from her parents grown so vast? When had the palace fallen so silent? When had she become this lonely...?
"You said it'd get better soon... Liar..."
The king and queen grew busy. At first, they told her, "Just wait a little longer, Luna." They promised they'd soon return to their old ways, spending time with her again. But that "little while" never arrived—not after one day, not after two. The princess's wait dragged on for days, then months, without end.
"M-Mom... can we eat dinner together today?"
One day, Luna asked, brimming with hope. Maybe Mom and Dad had a fight. Whatever the reason, if they weren't quarreling, there was no way they'd ignore her like this. With a trembling voice, she clutched the queen's dress tightly.
—Tremble.
Her small hands shook just as much as her voice.
"Oh, I really want to eat together today... p-please."
Maybe if she asked politely, they'd say yes. Maybe they'd left her alone because she'd been too spoiled up until now. As her time alone stretched on, the girl began blaming herself for everything.
But even to Luna's desperate plea, the king and queen merely shook their heads, faces worn with exhaustion.
"I'm sorry, Luna. There's an important meeting, so we'll be late again. Next time, for sure."
Her mother's eyes, once always so warm, now seemed strangely clouded.
"Y-Yeah... next time, for sure...?"
Next time. Again, next time. Next. Next. Next. The word echoed endlessly.
Eventually, one day, Luna stopped seeing her parents altogether. They weren't there when she opened her eyes. The seat beside her stayed empty at meals. Even when exhaustion from loneliness lulled her to sleep, no warm touch reached her. Only cold solitude lingered as her constant companion.
"...When are you coming...?"
Luna murmured into the darkness alone, but no reply ever came.
"L-Lately... I keep talking to myself..."
When was the last time she'd spoken to another person...? The princess began to stutter more and more. For some reason, the words just wouldn't come out right. Was it because she'd always been turned away...?
"A little... l-lonely..."
The palace's atmosphere had completely changed. It used to brim with people as warm as sunlight, but no longer. The servants' footsteps grew cautious, the officials hurried about with grim expressions. Even the common folk spoke less and less.
"Um... is something happening in the kingdom...?"
"I'm sorry, Princess. I'm too busy..."
Luna tried speaking to everyone she encountered, but no one answered her questions.
"...Why won't anyone tell me...?"
The air hung heavy and silent. The young princess gradually lost her way within it.
"Yesterday... today... and tomorrow... am I always going to be alone...?"
Luna sobbed quietly beneath the covers. Why had everything turned out like this? It had all changed so abruptly. How could Mom and Dad, who had seemed to love her most of all...?
"Come back... to how it was..."
The princess spent her days drowning in sorrow. Tears soaked her pillow each night, loneliness her blanket as she drifted off. The tears flowing from her beautiful golden eyes swelled into rivers, then seas.
Then, one day, Luna began wandering the palace in search of her parents.
"Lucifer said if I just stay still, nothing changes..."
She couldn't spend every day crying. Luna was still just a little girl, but she wasn't some passive princess.
I'll change it all back myself.
With her resolve hardened, Luna roamed the palace alone, room by room.
"Huh...?"
Sparkle.
A strange light she'd never seen before caught her eye. A faint red glow emanated from the passage leading to the palace basement.
"This place was always sealed off..."
— "Luna, you can go anywhere in the palace, but never here. Understand?"
Even her kind mother and her doting father, who granted every whim, had forbidden the basement.
Out of curiosity and a desire not to disappoint them, Luna had always treated it as nonexistent. But today, something seemed to call to her, drawing her closer without thought.
"Maybe... there's something here..."
Perhaps the reason her parents had changed so strangely lay down there. Clutching a lantern, Luna cautiously descended.
Tap. Tap.
The endless stone stairs felt like a path of endless penance.
"Haa... finally made it down."
The basement was narrower than she'd imagined. A massive iron cage stood alone in the space—nothing else.
"I went through all that trouble... and there's nothing h—"
Then came an unpleasant sound, like something gnawing away.
—Crunch.
"Wh-what's that noise?"
It sounded like some creature chewing metal with its teeth.
Grind. Chomp. Crack.
Shining her lantern toward the source, Luna recoiled in horror.
"Th-that's... what...?"
Inside the enormous iron bars, a black entity—chained up—devoured something.
—Crunch.
The thing resembled black soot crudely mimicking a human shape. Like it was sculpted from charcoal ash, it muttered continuously in a sinister voice.
「Damn... not enough... this crap's nowhere near enough...! Only her will do... only her can satisfy my hunger.」
What the entity in the cage devoured were gold nuggets, emeralds, rubies—treasures of all kinds.
「If not for that wretched savior... I wouldn't be trapped here...! I'll have my revenge... definitely.」
The black entity kept muttering as it chewed through the treasures.
Can't make out what it's saying...
Luna inched closer, step by careful step.
"Wh-who are you...? Eating that will give you a tummy ache..."
—Clank.
Hearing Luna's voice, the black entity paused its meal and dragged its chains toward the bars.
「The goddess of moonlight graces this filthy hole... Being locked in the basement has its perks.」
—Clank clank.
Unpleasant metallic clangs filled the basement with every movement.
「Princess Luna, lost your way? Or... overcome by loneliness and come seeking company?」
"You know me...?"
「Of course. Selenum's treasure! The most beautiful princess, acclaimed by kingdoms far and wide—who wouldn't know you? It's an honor to meet at last.」
The black entity shook itself off, then bowed like a gentleman. The puppet-like motions only amplified its grotesque aura.
「Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Gre... no, just call me the black entity.」
"Blackie...?"
Luna dubbed it "Blackie," like something forged from soot and ash.
「Haha! Blackie, eh? I like it. Now that we know each other's names, shall we be friends, Luna?」
"Um... th-that..."
The girl hesitated for a moment. Sneaking into the forbidden basement was bad enough—befriending this ominous presence?
If Mom and Dad find out...
But Luna was desperately lonely. Aside from the shrine maiden Tsuki and savior Lucifer, no one spoke to her anymore. She might not have felt this isolated if she could spend every day with them, but Tsuki was bound to the temple and couldn't linger long by the princess's side. Lucifer roamed the world as the savior, making him a rare sight to begin with.
I just want to talk to someone...
The princess asked for little. She simply craved sharing daily life, chatting with another soul.
She didn't know who—or what—Blackie was, but surely just talking would be fine.
"Y-Yeah. Let's be friends..."
「Friends with such a lovely princess? We must celebrate today!」
The black entity extended a small gold nugget toward Luna. Plain, with no engravings or adornments, yet it pulsed with some inexplicable energy, marking it as something special.
「A gift for our first friendship. Cherish it, Luna. Think of your friend waiting alone in this basement—carry it when you sleep, when you eat. Always.」
"Yeah, see you next time, Blackie! Stay well till then!"
「Haha, naturally. May the goddess of moonlight forever watch over you, Luna.」
Its words invoked a blessing, but the black entity's red eyes brimmed with sticky, chilling desire. The gaze of one coveting fruit still unripe.
"Sweet dreams of the moon, Blackie!"
Unable to read those eyes, Luna beamed innocently and bid it farewell—a pure girl elated at gaining a friend to talk to.
On a night when moonlight cascaded like shattered glass, Luna befriended that ominous being.