34: Mr. Fishing Rod

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

Hearing the familiar voice and the contents of the conversation,
a missing piece clicked into place in Rena’s mind.

“The axe he pulled up…
That voice—
it’s 'Mr. Fishing Rod', isn’t it?
He is here somewhere, around this pond!
But… something feels wrong.”

Rena tried to look up toward the light filtering down from the surface,
but instead, she noticed something:
a strong glow rising from beneath her feet.
Surprised, she turned her gaze downward.

“That light…! That’s the golden axe!”

Adjusting her position,
Rena began swimming downward toward the sunken axe.

The light blue dress she wore created no resistance in the water,
allowing her to move smoothly.
Controlling the small body she now inhabited with surprising agility,
she reached out for the shining axe.

Just then, the man’s earlier words echoed through her mind:

“I have returned the axe to the pond.”

Something about it sounded strange.

“I was the one who threw it into the pond, wasn’t I?
I did it to save Tom—without thinking.
And… that man’s voice…he sounded… nervous?”

As Rena hesitated, another fragment of the man’s voice drifted to her ears:

“…N-no! This was truly a coincidence!
I was only searching for the axe I had lost—for my grandfather!
She had nothing to do with it!
I—I returned the golden axe to the pond myself!!”

He was trying to cover for her.
As if he had deliberately claimed the act of returning the axe.
But why?

That mystery stirred Rena’s relentless curiosity.
Her hand, reaching toward the golden axe, froze.

──What is that brown object lying there?
It seems to have fallen from the girl’s hand──

A sudden, low, intimidating voice pierced through Rena’s mind.

She instinctively clapped her small hands over her ears.

──Your nervousness betrays you.
Are you hiding something?
Did you give this girl forbidden knowledge?
Did you alter my story by adding an unnecessary “setting”?──

“I-I am merely a character, sir!
Following the ‘setting’ you created!
I only use this fishing rod to search the pond, nothing more, I swear!
Master Dan!!”

Hearing that desperate protest,
Rena immediately sensed the man was in danger.
Without a second thought,
she grabbed hold of the golden axe, seizing its ancient handle tightly.

“Mr. Fishing Rod is in trouble! I have to help him!!”

Strengthened by a fierce determination,
Rena kicked toward the sunlit surface.
Tiny bubbles sparkled in the light around her, guiding her upward.

The axe in her grasp was surprisingly light, almost buoyant,
and seemed to lift her toward the surface.

“Puha!!”

Even though she could breathe underwater,
her mouth had still filled with water.
She gasped and spat it out as she broke the surface, her vision clearing.

There, standing by the pond’s edge, were two men.
One was the fishing rod man she had been searching for,
clearly panicked and staggering backward.

Clinging to the buoyant golden axe,
Rena turned her gaze toward the other figure.

──What are you doing there?
And what is that shining thing you’re holding──

The sudden voice struck her like a blade.

As soon as the voice spoke,
Rena clearly saw the man’s cold, merciless eyes glaring at her.

Even though he stood far away,
his voice thundered directly inside her skull,

his gaze ignoring all distance—
as if he were staring down at her from inches away.

──You dare disrupt my story?──