“This is where you’ll be staying. It’s nothing fancy, but it should do for you.”
Kyle showed Zoey to her room. It wasn’t anything fancy — just a simple single-bedroom space. There was a bed, a wardrobe, a desk, and a chair, alongside several crayon marks all over the walls.
For obvious reasons, the Matriarch had arranged for her to stay alone.
“This is good. You can even say it’s luxury compared to the place I’ve slept in.”
Dropping her luggage, Zoey sat on the bed and patted it a couple of times before nodding in satisfaction.
“Really good.”
“Okay, nice.”
Kyle then looked at Myles.
“Your room is right next to hers. You’ll also have a single room like hers.”
“Oh?”
As if not expecting this, the rat raised his brow.
Kyle reassured him.
“Yes, don’t worry. The Matriarch has arranged for you to stay in your own room, too. There’s no point in you staying with the kids, and there’s no place left in Seth’s and mine’s room.”
“Hm?”
“You guys are going to sleep in the same room?”
The two looked surprised, but Kyle shrugged.
“We’ve got a bunk bed. Although we’ve grown since our younger years, we should still be able to fit.”
“Oh, right…” As if recalling the fact that Kyle and I were from the same orphanage, Zoey slowly nodded her head.
Kyle pulled the chair over to face the bed and flipped it around, sitting on it backward with his arms resting on the backrest.
“Now that we’ve settled the lodging, it’s about time that we talk about the task.”
Kyle’s expression grew serious, and the atmosphere shifted with it.
He plopped several files onto the bed.
“I’ll give you a brief rundown of the situation and what we’ve managed to find in the time we stayed here.”
Kyle began to tell the two everything. Thankfully, because the two were already aware of the case, he didn’t need to begin from the start.
He took out the drawing and essentially told them everything that he had told me.
“In short, what we’ve discovered is that the anomaly refers to itself as ’Mr. Jingles’, and so far, only the children seem to know its name and appearance. Why that is, I’m not sure. This aligns with the original report, but there’s no guarantee that this information is accurate. That’s why it would be most appropriate if we expanded our scope of search to something outside of the orphanage.”
The room turned quiet following that brief summary of the situation. Zoey and the rat both mulled over Kyle’s words whilst I looked around and noticed a paper and some crayons on the table.
Feeling a little bored, I took the paper and a red crayon.
“…Have there been any incidents in the meantime?”
As Zoey spoke, Kyle shook his head.
“No, no reported incidents as of yet. Everything looks to be okay for now. There’s no need to contact the Guild just yet.”
“Alright.”
Zoey left the discussion at that.
On the other hand, I looked at the rat. There was something that I was curious about. Why was he here of all people? While I had been away for quite a while since I had to take care of my game, I didn’t think he got close to Kyle in that time. In fact, looking at them now, the two looked and talked to each other like colleagues.
’In that case, is the reason why he’s here because he’s been performing very well recently?’
I hadn’t been keeping up with the situation within the Guild, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case.
The rat was, after all, an extremely talented ’character’.
’Hm, now that I think about it, both Zoey and the rat are here. Who would’ve thought? The two characters that came from games that I once worked on.’
My eyes narrowed slightly.
I had been thinking. If the two of them were both characters that came from games that I had once worked on, there were surely going to be more characters. While it was true that I had been busy, I still did try to dig up information on other potential characters.
I was left disappointed.
’Are the two the only characters that will show up, or will there be more?’
I wasn’t sure, but I hoped not.
There were a couple of characters that I could think of at the top of my head that I wanted nothing to do with.
’I’d take the rat over them any day.’
“Anomalies usually come from gates, but each anomaly follows its own set of rules, which is determined by its past and history. Taking into consideration that we’re dealing with a clown that deals with kids, that should be our starting point.”
Kyle once again pointed at the files on the bed, tapping them with his finger. Listening in closely, I couldn’t help but nod. This was also what I had found.
Each anomaly wasn’t random. They all had their own backstory, and their rules weren’t set at random. There was a reason for each rule.
At least, in most cases.
’While the Twisted Man had its own rules, it’s a man-made anomaly. Things should be a bit different for it.’
“Tomorrow morning, some of us will head to the town and ask around about anyone who was once a clown, or anything related to them. It doesn’t matter how small the clue is. Just find it, and we’ll roll with it.”
Kyle began to give out the instructions while I casually listened.
“The others can stay here to check up on the situation within the orphanage. We’ll keep in contact constantly and work together from there. Remember, this is a reconnaissance mission. Don’t do anything dangerous unless you have to.”
Looking around, Kyle eventually stood up.
“Okay, for now. This is enough. We can talk about it more tomorrow morning. The best thing that we can do now is…” Suddenly pausing, Kyle looked at me, and his expression turned weird as his eyes lowered slightly.
When I looked at him, I also saw that the others were giving similar looks.
“What?”
Was there something wrong with my face?
However, looking at their eyes and then the direction of where they were looking, I realized why they were looking at me strangely.
“…Oh.”
I pulled the crayon back.
“I was just bored, so.”
“I can see that.”
Kyle replied, looking at the paper in my hand before shaking his head. Scratching the side of my face, I gave it a quick glance.
It wasn’t that bad…
It was just a small red circle.
That was just about it.
*
“It’s been a while.”
“Looks like the Matriarch didn’t change much. The place looks exactly as we left it.”
Leaving the rat and Zoey to their rooms, the two of us headed to ours. The moment I stepped inside, I was greeted by the familiar scent of fresh sheets and the sight of the old bunk bed.
At the far end of the room, a large window sat centered on the wall, with a wooden desk positioned just beneath it. Opposite the bed stood a tall wardrobe, with another desk placed off to the side.
The one by the window was my desk, while the one next to the wardrobe was Kyle’s. For that reason, he also had the top bunk while I had the lower bunk. Not that I could’ve taken the top bunk anyway.
I was too sick to have it.
“Look at this, Seth. Our photos are still here.”
Turning my head, I saw Kyle holding onto a bunch of photos that he had taken out from one of the drawers, and as I drew near him, I could see myself and him in them.
“Haha, look at you.”
Kyle showed me one of the photos.
In it, I could see my younger self holding onto an ice cream cone while my entire nose was covered in cream.
That…
’I still remember that.’
It wasn’t until way later that I noticed.
“Look, check this one out! Haha!”
“…Stop it.”
Looking at some of the photos, even I couldn’t help but smile. They really did look silly, and they also brought a wave of nostalgia.
Everything was exactly the same as I remembered.
So much that I started to wonder if there really were no differences. But soon, the smile faded away from my face.
“Look at this one hahaha!”
Kyle extended another photo.
“This is the time when you just returned to the dentist. Look at the face that you were making.”
Kyle looked like he was genuinely laughing while pointing at the photo.
But…
Looking at the photo, I didn’t have it in me to laugh.
After all, I wasn’t there.