33: Into the Depths

“Glub—gobogo—!!”

“Tom! What’s wrong?! What are you doing?!”

Seeing Tom suddenly struggling and gasping,
and the white rice ball plush—the one the little girl had been holding—floating on the pond’s surface,

Rena panicked, overwhelmed by confusion.

“This is insane…!
How am I supposed to deal with this?!
What even is this world!?”

The moment those words left her mouth, ironically, Rena realized something:
even her way of thinking had to change here.
In this place, only one thing mattered—“Don’t doubt—just believe.”

“Am I supposed to accept even this…?
Of course I am! Tom can’t be drowning on dry land.
I have to believe he’s okay first.
And right now, what matters most is—
the little girl who disappeared!
The younger me!”

Her instincts sharpened—and a moment later, certainty flooded her.

“Glub…!”

Tom, gasping and flailing, pointed desperately toward the pond.
Rena didn’t hesitate.
The instant she saw where he was pointing, she sprinted.

“There she is! She’s drowning!”

In the center of the pond, the little girl’s small body bobbed up and down.
Rena swore to herself that she would save her—no matter what.

“I can make it! I will reach her!”

Suddenly, her surroundings blurred.
Darkness swallowed her vision.
She felt her feet sinking, dragging her downward.

“Glub—glub!”

Bubbles escaped her mouth.

Rena quickly realized—
her consciousness had entered the mind of the drowning child.

Thanks to her earlier experiences, she didn’t panic even now.
She remembered:
as long as she didn’t doubt, she could breathe—even underwater.

“I knew it… If I just believe, I can survive anything here!
Right now, my spirit is inside her!”

Without fear, she gazed calmly into the dark waters below.

A high-pitched ringing filled her ears, growing louder—
and then the sound shifted, becoming fragmented words.
It was like hearing broken radio static,
pieces of a conversation bleeding through the dark.

“…Ah, yes. I did find something.
However, it wasn’t what I was looking for.
…What? The girl? I’m not sure.
It seems she suddenly lost consciousness.”

“That voice… I’ve heard it before…”

Even submerged underwater,
Rena could hear the voice clearly.

And then—the voice, so eerily familiar, continued:

“In any case, I have returned the axe I pulled up back into the pond.”