Part 44: Murderer Unveiled

I knew just by looking through the crowd where Suyashi, Edahoshi, and Nachi were. However, there were no signs of Hanakawa, Nabira, or Aia to be found. In any case I already could tell who they were after seeing the news broadcasts lay out images of their dead bodies. I had a good recollection of those memories.

The crowds of staff started making their way through the door as Wata, Peppie and I led them down through the dingy liminal halls. We passed by many weird things that felt out of place. Office chairs smothered in coffee stains were randomly blocking our path. Purple crayons and white sheets of paper had been scattered everywhere with cryptic drawings on the walls that kept all of us huddled in together.

As a golden rule, we told everyone to hold hands while travelling in rows of threes. Earlier I had examined the count of staff coming with us to be 33. It was interesting to consider because that number didn’t match up with the deaths that occurred in total at Dream Academy High. This made me curious. I decided to ask if Wata knew what happened to them.

He said that a majority of staff attempted entering locked doors without Candiere’s permission. In some cases, rumors spread that The Traveller was in fact stalking staff at night if they got lost somewhere in the cafe. This heightened my suspicions that I figured were true.

The Traveller was mixing truths with the lies.

We were now deep in the darkest parts of the cafe. According to the map, we were nearing our destination.

And then it happened.

A ceiling pipe above the middle section of our group collapsed in on itself without warning. It caused the worst damage we ever witnessed and broke right through the floor tiles (as if they were made of glass) while dragging a random staff member down into the empty abyss.

The moment I saw the gap between one side and another, I noticed that thirteen of the staff were split from our front group of nineteen. Of those that I knew, Edahoshi was with them. I knew for a solid fact that Peppie could use her magic to teleport the fourteen students over back to our side. When we did this, the thirteen students seemed to have recovered from the incident and thanked Peppie. However, the fourteenth student was proving to be a hard task.

Peppie was sweating really badly and fainted in my arms. Her eyes were flickering a gray color.

“I’m sorry Ararima. My power is straining my eyes. I’ve only felt this one time before and it caused me to pass out. I have to sleep for a few hours to recharge my energy if I’m going to be using that much strength. Hopefully by that time, I can get the other staff member that fell back with us.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Fair enough. I’ll hold you until you feel better.”

Peppie smiled before closing her eyes. She looked so cute being all snuggled in my arms like a baby. Meanwhile, Wata pointed us towards the next bend in the hallway.

“Guys we are nearing dangerous territory. There is an intersectional hallway where Shrouds are known for grabbing unsuspecting visitors at if we are too loud. We must be careful and stay quiet.”

Everyone respected what he said before we headed towards the intersection. By the time we got there, I looked at the map which showed three different routes we could enter. To our left was The Funhouse Room. In front of us was a continuous part of the hallway’s current path leading to another intersection. To our right was The Candy Room.

This was where the plan had to come into full effect. I used my hand to usher everyone ahead near the next intersection. I tried my best to communicate with them without talking. I told them to stay while Wata (who stood in the middle of the first intersection) would be guarded with four other staff members.

I started slowly making my way to the right where The Candy Room was.

Now between all of the logical thought that was put into my choice, I knew too well that many of the books in this cafe (beside William Peterson’s journal) lied about certain things to misdirect those that try to find the easy way out. OZ45 was an “in-your-face” kind of exit. It said the number 45 so on the surface, it sounded like the right exit. In reality, that wasn’t the case at all.

In fact, the only real reason OZ2025 was the right room had more to do with the fact that William Peterson’s accounts of the events happened when he was 45 years old. He had survived for as long as 45 days in the very same room. If that wasn’t enough, 2025 also had a square root of 45. I had a hidden feeling that those numbers weren’t only chosen because of that.

Whatever it was, it seemed pretty deep.

In a lot of ways, I think William Peterson may not have lived to escape The Candy Room unfortunately. With as many potential possibilities of hallucinations occurring, he wouldn’t have been able to visit the Funhouse Room. It would have come down to someone taking the book and his dead body while conveniently setting it down as if no one touched it. I already knew who had gotten their hands on the book right after he had been paralyzed.

The Traveller marked out the name of the eight-year-old boy who murdered his parents and intricately hid the evidence in every possible way he could. Whoever the name of this boy was, it solely depended on if that was the real full story. Hanakawa was tied to the cult-like characteristics of UVOCA. In some way, The Traveller was linked to all of this. If Hanakawa took Nabira’s body to The Traveller, finding it here would be extraordinarily difficult to pinpoint.

All of these thoughts were what took place in my head as I listened next to The Candy Room’s door. Inside, I heard weird lullaby music. It sounded unusually muffled. I decided to signal Wata about sending two of the four staff members next to him towards my way to help me out just in case.

Opening that door became the most stressful decision I’ve ever had to make.

Upon entering the room, what I saw scared me half to death. My friend Cherry was laying on the ground barely conscious. The music had stopped, but the room still had an unsettling aesthetic to it regardless of that. That was when I got tapped on the shoulder by one of the staff members.

I turned around only to find what looked to be a round white mask with the design of blood red chevron symbols symmetrically mirroring one another in a horizontal fashion. The smiling mouth and soulless puppet-like eyes caught me off-guard as the hooded figure was cloaked around one of the staff members that was right beside me.

It squinted its eyes at me without saying a word as it pushed me hastily into the room. Before I could even catch sight of what it had done, the door had closed right in front of me. Peppie had fallen into the room with me. I set her down beside Cherry and ran back to open the door only to be greeted with a dark hallway where this shining pink light in the distance showed a silhouette of Princess Candiere whose glitchy laughter echoed towards me.

I closed the door immediately frightened. My attention caught sight of a lock in the knob that could be useful. It would require having a key though. Maybe it was somewhere in the room?

I scrambled to figure a way out as my mind was conflicted with what could possibly hold the door shut momentarily. That was when I heard a groaning noise. It turned out to be Cherry who had woken up from me banging the door shut. I saw a few cuts and bruises on her, but she was somewhat alive. I had no clue how she wasn’t already paralyzed in that ooze of pink frosting. The Traveller was clearly plotting something against us two specifically. I didn’t like where this was going.

Cherry stared at me with wet tears in her eyes. She was hugging me a lot more tightly. Something must’ve gotten to her. I was a bit flustered and relieved to know she was alright. It didn’t exactly make me feel better though since I didn’t necessarily know what happened to the rest of the group.

“Haniki-chan, are you alright? Where did you go?” she asked me after calming herself down.

“Feeling a bit depressed, but not all that bad either. I got to visit Candiere’s Cafe. I wish you could’ve been there with me. That place is so much fun. So are the staff and Princess Candiere. Minus the murderer’s antics.”

Cherry was a little silent after hearing that until she gently held my hands again like before in the waiting room. It felt really massaging.

“What about Peppie?”

Oops. How could I forget like that?

I picked Peppie up and set the little bunny in her arms as a fondness grew within me for her. She did try to save Imagi. I knew well enough that the cafe was her life too. I had to return the favor in some way.

That was when I glanced back around and noticed the scenery changed ever so slightly with candies of every variety laid out all over the ground. I looked at my magic watch only to find that it was broken.

Oh no.