In the afternoon of Tina-san and Rekka-san’s day off, we stood in front of the food storage together with Woodbaum, having invited him. It was here that we planned to conquer Rekka-san’s fears.
We had asked Head Chef-san for permission beforehand, so he had left the storage unlocked for us.
This food storage wasn’t all that large, but the narrowness of the building was precisely why Rekka-san might be scared of it.
There weren’t any windows, and if you didn’t leave the door open, the inside would be pitch black.
“Rekka-san, are you okay? Please tell me at any time if you feel scared.”
“Yeah, it’s a little scary, but I’d like to try it.”
Rekka-san clenched her fist tightly. Her face was a little stiff, but you could see some eagerness in her expression. Seeing Rekka-san work so hard made me want to give her a reward, but she might not want jerky.
“Then, you wait outside, fairy…….ah, you were over here?”
The fairy that was only releasing a faint light was difficult to see in the sunlight, so I ended up looking in a completely different direction when speaking to it.
“Should I wait outside as well?”
“No, I would like Woodbaum-sama to accompany me……if it is not too much trouble.”
Rekka-san seemed to be afraid of going in by herself from the outset. The more the merrier, so she also asked Woobaum to accompany her as well.
“Of course it’s fine as long as I can be of help.”
“Thank you very much. Then……let us go.”
She appeared scared of being the first one in, so she followed behind Tina-san in entering the food storage. Rekka-san’s biggest trauma was from being placed inside a wooden box during her kidnapping, but prior to coming to the Northern Fort, there was the incident where she was almost shut into a storehouse, so she was probably recalling the fear from that time. Rather than her room at night or the narrow corridors of the fort, this sort of storehouse was probably far more frightening to Rekka-san.
Tina-san, Rekka-san, me and then Woodbaum entered the food storage in that order. The wooden door that made up the entrance was still left wide open.
The inside was cramped, the floors and shelves filled with veggies, fruit, grain, cheese, and wine left in a disorderly manner. While the basement storage apparently had a larger stockpile of foodstuffs, the amount here seemed like it would maintain the fort for several days.
“Rekka-san, how is it?”
I walked around to Rekka-san’s front and looked up at her face.
“Right now I’m fine. The door’s still open after all.”
Her voice and facial expression were calm. She didn’t seem to be lying.
However, at that moment—
Just as I noticed a sudden gust of wind, a loud ‘bam!’ rang out, and at the same time, my field of vision grew pitch black.
Everyone twitched in shock.
The wind seemed to have blown the door shut.
“T-That surprised me.”
Like the stroke of a white pencil drawn on a piece of black paper, there was some light leaking in along the archway of the door. However, the light could barely even illuminate the floor near the doorway.
My eyes still hadn’t adjusted to the darkness, so I couldn’t see the figures of Tina-san, Rekka-san and Woodbaum, who should have been right by me.
“Is everyone okay? Rekka-san, are you alright?”
In the darkness, it started to feel like there wasn’t anyone around me, so hearing Tina-san’s voice assured me.
“Rekka-san?”
Tina-san said anxiously. I could hear the sound of Rekka-san’s breathing turning into short, shallow breaths from the sudden happening.
“Rekka-san, let’s go out.”
“You’ve only just started, so there’s no need to overdo it. I’ll go and open the door.”
“N-No, I’m still fine. But, I just need to squat a little to concentrate a little……”
It was when Rekka-san started doing squats after saying that.
Squeak, squeak. -I heard a small sound coming from my feet.
What sound is that? -I wondered, straining my ears. I couldn’t see anything in the darkness, but I still looked down at my feet.
“Squeak squeak.”
I could hear some kind of animal crying. In addition to that were the faint sounds of small footsteps walking around on the floor.
Rather, could this possibly be—
The instant I realised the true identity of the mystery sound, stills of my memories started to flash through my mind.
The hole in the wall of the lounge. My figure taking an afternoon nap on the sofa. And then, the tiny enemy approaching my hind leg.
The image was interrupted by the sound of another ‘Squeak!’ at my feet, as I let out a scream of fear.
“KYAAAAAA!? A MO-MOUSE….A MOUSE IS AT MY FWOOTTT-”
I wanted to say that a mouse was at my feet, but my mouth wasn’t working properly, and I ended up sounding like a granny from the boonies with a heavy accent.
I couldn’t judge whether or not this mouse was the same as the one that had appeared in the lounge, but if it was like the mouse from that time, then it might be aiming for my paw pads again.
My paws were sensitive, so the thought of them being gnawed on made the fur along my back stand on end with disgust.
On the other hand, Tina-san, after hearing the word ‘mouse’ amidst my screams, she similarly let out a loud scream.
“Eh, a MOUSE!? NOOOO!”
“W-Wha wha wha-!?”
And then, Woodbaum, startled by our screams, reared back. It seemed like his antlers may have hit a shelf, as the loud sound of ingredients tumbling down resounded, causing him to be startled a second time.
“Wahhhh! Something fell! I’m sorry something fell!”
He clip-clopped in confusion. How skillful of him to be able to apologise while still startled.
However, thanks to Woodbaum, I was able to collect myself, realising that I could no longer hear the cries of the mouse, nor its footsteps.
It must’ve been surprised by all the noise and ran back to its den.
Thank goodness, I let out a sigh of relief and said to everyone.
“I’m sorry for surprising you. It looks like the mouse is already gone.”
“T-There’s Rekka-san’s matter too, so let’s go out for now.”
Still trembling with fear from the mouse, Tina-san said that, and then began to walk towards the door in the darkness. I was not sure if it was because my eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness or because I was a fox, I had also started to be able to faintly see everyone’s silhouettes in the dark.
“Rekka-san, are you alright?”
“Yes……um, but actually I do think it’s about time I go out.”
“Yeah, don’t overdo it.”
Tina-san just went to open the door. Tina-san will……
“Tina-san?”
No matter how much time passed, she wasn’t opening the door, so I turned around and called out to her.
“Wait, something’s weird.”
“Weird, you say?”
“There isn’t any handle, and the door sounds kind of hollow…….what is this?”
She said, bewildered. It was true that the light that had been leaking in from outside from the crack between the door and its frame had disappeared.
Wondering what had happened, I also approached the door. Just before I reached it, I stepped on something jutting out from the ground. It was hard and rough.
However, when I sniffed it, I quickly discovered its identity.
“It’s a tree.”
Not only that, it wasn’t one of those trees that shot straight up, but instead was a thick, winding vine. The root that seemed to have grown out from the wooden door pasted itself against the floors, walls and ceiling, making it impossible to open the door.
I recalled the incident in the lounge that had occurred not too long ago. When Woodbaum had closed up the mousehole, he had ended up causing these kinds of tree vines to start popping up all over the place.
“Woodbaum?”
I turned towards Woodbaum’s black silhouette and said. He fidgeted, and then after stamping his hoof twice, he said this in an apologetic voice.
“……I-I’m sorry. It looks like I accidentally used my power when I was surprised.”
Silence descended within the food storage.
Rekka-san had turned as stiff as a statue.
“W-Wait. It might open if I push it with all my strength.”
Tina-san started to push at the door with her utmost effort, but it didn’t even budge. The vines had perfectly melded the door together with the rest of the food storage.
I also tried biting at the vines desperately, but I was only able to scrape it a little. I could hardly make a dent in it.
And then, it was at that moment.
“We can’t get out……”
Hearing those subduely murmured words, everyone turned towards Rekka-san.
“Can’t get out, a locked room……closed…pitch-black……space……”
Rekka-san couldn’t stop muttering to herself. Thinking that this was bad, Tina-san and I temporarily separated from the door and returned to Rekka-san’s side.
“Rekka-san, get a hold of yourself!”
“That’s right, how about doing some squats? Okay?”
The two of us panickedly continued speaking to Rekka-san.
I wonder if I should use the transfer technique to the One-Eyed Knight to call for help? But even if I did that, Rekka-san would still be stuck in here until we finished destroying the door from outside.
It would be best if I could use the transfer technique and bring Rekka-san with me, but up until now I’ve only brought other spirits together with me. I don’t know if I could bring a human with me, and I’m scared of what might happen to Rekka-san’s body if I fail.
A vast array of thoughts whirled through my head, but in the next instant—BAM! -a dull thud rang out, and the food storage’s door shook.
Woodbaum had turned his antlers towards the door and charged at it.
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