Part 33: Baking Contest

Back in Candiere’s Cafe, I was finding it difficult to digest how Princess Candiere and I would stop The Traveller. If it meant debunking the truth behind the Cafe Catalog, then I had to try.

“Princess Candiere, if you don’t mind me asking… Can we go to the Cafe Catalog? I feel like we may have a chance of figuring out how to stop this thing from messing around with this cafe and murdering so many students at my school.”

Peppie intervened into the conversation to try and balance out the possibilities of them going along with that idea.

“We could, but what exactly are you trying to do?”

“Basically I want to see if we can bust through the boarded-up door on the left.”

Everyone in the room was suddenly eyeing me with concern.

“Uhm, Ararima… I hate to have to be the one to say this, but we already know what is behind that door. Let’s just say that it is not what you’re thinking. That is why we boarded it up. Our guards risked their lives entering that dangerous area.”

“Dangerous?”

Prince Cinnamint clarified on Peppie’s previous statement.

“Very dangerous. In fact, there is a book we discovered when I was in there with the guards. The book is in my room. I can tell you a lot about it. First things first we need to tell you something important.”

“Okay, tell me.”

“You might want to get used to staying here for a while. People that die with knowledge of the game risk ending up here. You are the only one that somehow broke The Traveller’s death rule. I’m not sure if it’s intentional but you do have a chance of returning. Unfortunately we can’t do anything about anyone else that’s been reset.”

“Fine. What am I going to do in the day though since we can’t let The Traveller know about what we’re doing?”

Peppie interrupted the both of us with this unmatched excitement.

“Work at the cafe of course! We’ll take you on a tour of every single floor. We are also having a big baking contest tomorrow. I hope you’re ready! Training starts soon!”

I still didn’t get why Peppie was so enthusiastic about me joining. I was also pretty suspicious of that moment when she bumped me into Prince Cinnamint. Was that on purpose too? I didn’t mind working there as long as it meant getting closer to figuring a way out. Admittedly, I wasn’t as homesick as before. That didn’t mean I was okay with everything though. Imagi still betrayed me. Worse than that, I missed Cherry. If anything, whatever bad things they did to her really made me mad. I was frustrated and upset that I couldn’t be there for her all because of those stupid bullies.

“I’ll do it on one condition…”

“What’s that?” asked Peppie.

“There are some people I want to meet first thing tomorrow,” I told her.

When I thought about the job offer, there were a few upsides to this. There was a possibility that Suyashi, Wata, Edahoshi, Nachi, Nibira, and Aia would likely be here. It had said so in the story. Maybe I was the key to helping them remember who they were.

Only one way to find out for sure.