Part 4: YuYu-Land

“There might be a way,” stated Wata.

I turned toward him in confusion as I was unsure of myself already. It wasn’t so much Wata’s plan that made me feel doubtful. Rather it was my own involvement in all of this that led me to believe I wouldn’t stand a chance escaping.

Let alone regaining the trust of every Dream Academy student again.

Regardless of how I felt about this, Wata further revealed his idea.

“If we want to get out of The Oddzones, we need to take what we remember from the book we had earlier. Ararima, do you remember the last thing you saw inside of it? All I can recall were The Funhouse Room and The Candy Room.”

Yep, my uselessness was beginning to settle in.

“I cannot really recall anything other than those two locations either unfortunately… From the way it looks though, I think we could try your way based on one of the two places that you think we should look for these guardians at.”

Wata, thinking deeply on this choice, knew there was really only one way to do this.

“Since we already searched The Candy Room, The Funhouse Room could be worth a shot. Only problem is finding out where it could be located. For all we know, it could take really long to find it. The rooms we were in recently had random numbers generated. Them being scrambled around complicates everything, so unless there’s a map we could use, we’re left to our own devices.”

Saying this triggered a sense of heavy dread across Wata’s face. He knew for a fact that it would be near impossible to travel there without getting caught either.

Suddenly, during this moment of mental breakdown, The Flower Man walked over to us with surprising news.

“I don’t normally do this because more often than not, every Outsider that I’ve met here denied my help. I’ve told them these exact same words I’m telling you now. I suppose the only thing different about you two is your knowledge about Styra. The point is, I can help guide you to The Funhouse Room. I’ll say it like this though. You need to follow my instructions properly if you want to survive. If at any moment something bad happens because you didn’t listen, it’s on you.”

I quickly felt an overwhelming amount of anxiety from hearing that.

My capabilities were being challenged even though I had already failed everyone. Was it even worth bringing me along? Out of fear that it might get worse, I couldn’t hold in my hesitation any longer.

“I think I should sit this one out. After what I did, I’m worried that I’ll screw it up again, things won’t end well, and—“

A gentle hand interrupted my stressful speech as it stroked my face.

“Ararima, the first day we met, I always started to feel like there was something special about you. I know how you feel. About feeling like you’ve made a mistake and that no one will forgive you for. Sometimes I bash myself for not seeing what I was getting into. Candiere’s Cafe was such a small game to me back then. The only reason I picked it up in the first place was because it was a birthday gift for Toma’s little sister. Yet, the day I visited that house with the game, Toma told me she had been reported missing.”

Toma’s little sister gone missing?

My eyes widened at the realization that the flashback I had about the drawing may have been more than just a coincidence.

Before I woke up in that weird crayon house, the picture that I saw in the vision depicted a strange field of smiling sunflowers while the doll I saw earlier was holding hands with a dark hooded figure.

There was no denying who it could’ve been.

“The last time I saw her before she went missing, I was sitting there on the couch talking with Toma. All the while, I was watching her draw a strange world. She was singing to herself very quietly too. She kept repeating the words, YuYu-Land,” added Wata.

“What is the name of Toma’s ten-year-old sister?” I asked him frantically as I started to see something disturbing with what he was saying.

“Imagi Hosa—“

Both of us immediately realized at that moment that if Imagi originally went missing at a younger age, the Imagi we met all throughout high school wasn’t even who we thought it was.

Then I started to see why Wata stopped writing the final words on the scrapped note listing the students who would be fated to die.

What he saw could have revealed how Imagi actually died before he could save her or himself.