The Dream Continues (2)
"Ugh... I'm gonna throw up."
Flowers bloomed everywhere. Their fragrance hung thick in the air, sharp enough to sting the nose.
Where the hell am I now...
A lot had happened to get us here. Teaming up with Senior Nova and entering the Mental Dungeon had been the easy part. After getting tossed around like garbage in a temporal storm, I'd opened my eyes to this mess.
Inside the Mental Dungeon stretched a flower field — an endless sea of blossoms. Every time the wind blew, the multicolored flowers swayed like waves, and those floral tides looked ready to crash over us.
"..."
Nova nudged a flower with the tip of her shoe.
"This place has a real clear aesthetic, huh~"
"Whose?"
"The mercenary's. This is her Mental Dungeon. She clearly loves flowers, right~? And here — a K Corp ampule."
"Thanks."
The wounds the mercenary had left on me vanished in an instant. Watching injuries that had definitely been serious disappear never stopped being uncanny, no matter how many times I saw it.
"...Senior Nova, I appreciate it, but could you take this even a little seriously? We just walked into a Mental Dungeon that hasn't even been discovered yet."
I said it, but I half agreed with her. The scenery before us was beautiful past the point of reason. Beautiful, and beautiful, and far too beautiful — like a stage set someone had deliberately constructed.
Then a clear, resonant bell rang out.
The entire flower field shuddered. In the distance, a massive curtain rose.
There was a stage. There were seats. There were lights. And there was a host wearing a mask.
What the hell is that thing doing here?
Nova's face soured instantly.
"Creepy as hell~ That thing's not human."
"On that, we agree."
The host raised a hand.
"Act One: The Flower Shop — begins now."
In that instant, the scenery changed.
A village. A small flower shop. And a little girl in a cute red hood — the young mercenary.
"..."
She wore a vacant expression, walking the road with a flower basket in her arms like someone drifting through a dream.
Then someone approached her.
"Wait — what the hell..."
Why is that person here?
The face was familiar. Someone who absolutely should not have been able to show up — someone who spent every waking day getting ground into dust managing Alephs and wrangling our tomboy of a Team Leader.
Nova wore the same look. That slightly dazed expression people get when something that has no business existing is standing right in front of them.
We turned our heads at the same time and stared at each other.
"...Deputy Leader?"
"That's Senior Doyun..."
The sight of the Deputy Leader in a straw hat and apron, holding a bouquet, was honestly nauseating. The clothes were completely wrong. The idea of that ultra-by-the-book senior wearing something like that was just... yeah.
So I was certain. That was not the Deputy Leader. More precisely, it was something that looked like Doyun — something propping up this world.
That Deputy Leader — no, that thing — smiled.
"Do you like flowers?"
Holy shit... that is pure unfiltered nightmare fuel. Just hearing it feels like it's shaving points off my sanity.
"..."
"Do you like flowers?"
"..."
"Do you like flowers?"
Nova jabbed me in the ribs.
"Hey~ that's not actually Senior Doyun, right~?"
"Of course not, Senior. There's no way the Deputy Leader would be standing around like that."
"Fair enough~ I was just checking~"
"Obviously it's something mimicking Doyun."
It kept smiling.
"Do you like flowers?"
"Han? I think it's talking to us~"
"Hah... Fine. Let's say I do."
Only then did it nod, looking satisfied.
"That's good."
"Our village has a lot of flowers, you see."
It pointed a finger at the young mercenary.
"That child likes flowers too."
"Very much."
It gestured for us to follow, and we did. It guided us through the village.
The village was peaceful. The residents were smiling. They planted flowers, sold flowers, talked about flowers. But no normal village would revolve entirely around selling flowers and nothing else.
We walked a little farther.
"Hello."
One of the residents spoke.
"Do you like flowers?"
Another resident.
"Do you like flowers?"
And another.
"Do you like flowers?"
And another.
"Do you like flowers?"
Nova's expression grew progressively more rotten. Even she couldn't stand this, apparently.
"..."
"..."
"...Ahh~"
"What."
"I hate this soooo much~~~"
"Right? Weird as hell, isn't it?"
Every single resident said the same thing. Same expression, same smile, same voice — like actors reading nothing but a script.
Through all of it, the young mercenary kept walking. Flower basket in hand, following a fixed path in a fixed direction.
Watching her, Nova spoke.
"She can't see us, right~?"
"Probably not. She's the lead actress of this act, and we're just uninvited audience members."
"Haaah..."
Nova sighed.
"I just want to wrap this up and get out of here..."
A short while later, the young mercenary stopped in front of the flower shop. Doyun — no, the thing — approached her.
"Going to Grandma's house again today?"
"Yeah."
"What a good child."
It smiled.
"Such a very good child."
"..."
I didn't like those words. They kept grating on me.
I walked forward. Nova raised an eyebrow.
"What are you doing~ Don't be a pain... shouldn't we watch a little more~~?"
"There's something I need to check. Just one thing."
I stood in front of the young mercenary. Even if she couldn't see me — even so — I needed certainty. I needed to know whether she had truly accepted this life.
"Hey."
The mercenary didn't react. Of course she wouldn't. She was the lead of this act, and we were nothing more than interlopers in the audience.
I kept going.
"You like flowers?"
At the same moment, the mercenary's movement stopped.
Nova's eyes went wide.
"...Huh? She reacted~ She was ignoring everything before~"
The mercenary slowly lifted her head.
"Yeah."
The answer came without hesitation — casual, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I like them."
"Why?"
"Because they're pretty."
I nodded.
"I see... So which flowers?"
"..."
The mercenary froze.
"Huh?"
"Which flowers do you like."
"Roses?"
"Why?"
"...Because they're pretty."
"That's weird... Last time you said you hated roses. Remember?"
"...What?"
"You said you hated the thorns."
"..."
Those red eyes wavered slightly.
"That's..."
"That's..."
The words cut off.
I kept pressing.
"Then what flowers do you like besides roses?"
"Tulips...?"
"Why?"
"..."
"Sunflowers?"
"Why?"
"..."
Nova muttered beside me.
"Hey~ is this okay~? You're not just poking the hornet's nest for no reason?"
I didn't answer. Senior, just stay quiet for a second.
The mercenary's lips kept moving soundlessly. She said she liked them, but she couldn't explain why — like she was reading answers someone else had written down for her.
"Because you're a flower shop girl?"
I asked.
"...Yeah. Because I'm a flower shop girl."
"Then what was the best part of working at the flower shop?"
"Watering them?"
"Selling the flowers?"
"Or... arranging them?"
"..."
The mercenary's face hardened bit by bit — because she couldn't answer. She knew she was supposed to like them, but she didn't know why. She didn't know what she'd enjoyed. A flower shop girl who couldn't say a single thing about the flower shop. Like her memories had holes punched through them at random intervals.
Under the grand premise of being a flower-loving flower shop girl, everything else seemed predetermined.
"...Huh?"
For the first time, panic flickered in the mercenary's eyes.
"Why..."
"Why can't I remember? I definitely did those things..."
"Did you really like them?"
"..."
"Or do you just know that you like them — just recognize it that way?"
The mercenary's mouth opened, closed, then opened again.
"...Huh?"
Eyes the blue of a clear sky trembled.
"Why... why is that? I'm a flower shop girl, and I like flowers, but..."
In that moment, the village went silent. Completely. The wind, the birdsong, the human voices — all of it vanished.
I felt eyes on us. The voices that had filled the village faded away, and countless gazes pressed in from every direction.
Nova muttered.
"Well, you went and did it~"
Doyun stood before us. The smile that had been on its face moments ago was gone. Eyes and mouth unmoving — blank as a doll. Honestly, though, this version was more familiar. It was what I always saw.
"A flower shop girl likes flowers. That's only natural."
"And naturally, an actor must perform their role."
At the same time, every resident turned their heads in unison. Dozens — no, hundreds — all looking at us.
Repetition. Endless, grinding repetition.
The young mercenary stumbled backward.
"...What? Why?"
Doyun walked forward.
"A flower shop girl must like flowers. She must be a good child. She must love her grandmother."
"And so, an actor must perform their role."
Nova drew Abraxas.
"Whoa~ this is getting serious~"
"Right? It's even scarier with Senior Doyun's face doing it."
I drew Repentance as well. The black longsword revealed itself.
At the same time, flower petals began cascading from the sky. Red petals — thousands, tens of thousands — falling like a rain of blossoms. And in Senior Doyun's hands, a massive pair of shears appeared. Shears for cutting flower stems — with the added feature of being roughly the size of a person. Getting sliced by those would not end well.
The blades snapped shut with a heavy clack.
"The audience may not interfere with the story. And impurities that aren't even audience members... must be removed."
The entire village began to warp. The flower shop crumbled, the roads split open, the sky tore apart.
The host's voice rang out across everything.
Doyun slowly raised the shears. And it bared its hostility.
This was not the real Deputy Leader Doyun. Even so, the sheer presence and killing intent rolling off it meant that this imitation of Deputy Leader Doyun was strong.
"A flower shop girl... must be a flower shop girl."
BOOOOM—!
The massive shears came crashing down toward the ground.