Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

Project Alice-02 (6)

'My body won't move.'

Alice.

The girl was panicking, unable to control her own ability.

Even that brief encounter with OZ had driven her to the edge.

Instinctive fear weighed down on Alice.

If she called forth the dream now, it felt as if the Nightmare would seize control at once.

'I have to calm down.'

She could not lose her reason.

If she did not step up, there was no overcoming this disadvantage.

"Hah, hah..."

She repeated that to herself again and again, but her body refused to listen.

Inside her head, shattered memories were clattering as they poured down.

A voice laced with static rang out.

-Big Sis always wanted to stay by your side...

Big Sis.

I want to run away.

-Big... Sis is... okay.

-If Alice is happy... then Big Sis is happy...

No matter how she tried to shake them off, the memories of that day dragged the girl down.

A deep sea of sorrow soaked her through.

Alice seemed to be swimming through it.

Through the faint scraps of consciousness left to her, the silhouettes of her team members flickered.

"We must not let them take Miss Alice!"

"Wait... do not stand there in a daze. Follow me!"

"Hey! What are you doing sitting there!"

The scene moved slowly.

At this rate, everyone would die.

Their side only had a handful of people, while the other side's numbers reached the hundreds, perhaps even the thousands.

On top of that, they had already passed through a hallway packed with monsters, so their Stamina was far from intact.

'I have to move.'

Even Alice was out of the fight.

There was no hope in sight.

-Oh dear... do you truly intend to try?

-If you simply hand over Miss Alice, I was planning to spare the rest of you.

Should she have just handed herself over?

Even if they had to beat her half to death while she resisted, would it not have been right to accept that offer?

The boy had rejected it.

The other team members had also raised their fists as if it were only natural.

'Why?'

I'm a monster who survived after killing my sister.

As she sank into that thought, a rough hand snatched her arm.

"Hey...!"

Caitlin.

When she pulled, a pitch-black net barely missed Alice.

The girl, who had almost been hauled off by the Cultists just like that, could only let out a hollow breath.

A bronze hand seized her by the collar.

"Fuck, are you not going to get a grip!?"

Static crackled and sparked.

Fierce eyes flickered before her.

"Everyone's doing all this shit to save you, so don't just stand there with that slack-jawed look on your face!"

To save. Me. Everyone.

Each word stabbed into her heart like a dagger.

To save something like her, everyone was risking their lives.

"Follow me! Run in time with my breathing!"

"......"

"Hey!"

"......I'm."

Pulled along by Caitlin's hand, Alice ran through the space.

Caitlin's complexion looked worse by the second, as if she had hit her limit.

Even so, she did not let go of the hand she held so tightly.

Over that swaying scene, Alice saw her sister's hand overlapping with it.

-So, you... at least you, live as Alice.

Ah.

Alice felt as if she would never understand anything anymore.

Everything was too difficult, too heavy for her to accept...

-How was it? The outside world you stepped into after sacrificing your sister?

She felt dizzy.

All of it clogged Alice's thoughts.

She could not breathe, and she wanted to cover her ears and hide anywhere she could.

I don't want to lose them. I don't want to be left alone, so why do I always...

"......Just leave me."

"What?"

"I'm a monster."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm not even human. I'm a monster... and I kept deceiving all of you."

"......"

"The seed of ruin. A weapon made for that."

How much she had hated herself.

How much she had hated her own life.

She just wanted to let go of everything like this...

"Why would you, for someone like me..."

Slap-!

At that moment, her blurred vision snapped to the side.

At the same time, Alice's muttering cut off.

A burning impact remained on the girl's cheek.

When she turned her head blankly, she saw the hand that had struck her hard across the face.

"Hey."

Caitlin.

Yellow pupils stared at the girl as if they would tear her apart.

"I hate you."

"......"

"I always have."

"......"

"Don't get the wrong idea. You're not the only one getting special treatment. I hate all of them. Whether they're better than me or worse than me, they're all so fucking unbearable I can't stand it. You're one of them. Just one of them. I don't care if you're human, a chimera, or a war weapon. I hate all of it the same."

The answer was violent.

But every single sentence was packed with sincerity.

Caitlin roughly pulled Alice's limp body upright.

"Don't think I'm going to see you differently just because you spilled some dramatic past. And if you hold us back in a situation like this, that pisses me off twice as much, so don't whine in front of me."

Crackle-!

The girl gritted her teeth and squeezed out the mana she had left.

Bright yellow sparks wrapped around her whole body.

"Get your head straight."

"......"

"At least nobody here is going to sob and tremble in fear because of whatever the hell your identity is."

"......"

Kwaziik-!

Leaving the stunned Alice behind, Caitlin rushed forward.

She burned down the pack of chimeras chasing them in one shot.

After letting out a pained breath, she rejoined the battlefield where dark mana was swarming.

"What are you trying to accomplish by pushing her so hard! I have told you many times, that child needs stability...!"

"Shut up! That bitch was saying annoying things!"

"Shut up, you say? What sort of outrageous words are those to a princess of a nation..."

"Both of you, please focus! This time they are charging from the front!"

Before her eyes, her team members' desperate struggle continued.

The sounds of chimeras being sliced apart, magic exploding, attacks being blocked.

Alice stood there, staggering.

Caitlin's words were still lodged in her heart.

Perhaps it was because of the chest pain pricking one corner of her mind.

-I hate you.

Her faint consciousness slowly rose back to the surface.

At the same time, her pounding heartbeat took on a lukewarm temperature.

Gradually, it cooled.

"......"

The jumbled chaos in her head stopped.

Now that she thought about it, maybe it had always been like this.

-Miss Alice.

Why did they stay so close to someone like her?

Why did they never leave on the nights she collapsed again and again?

How could they know all her ugliness and still kindly tell her not to blame herself?

-Don't think I'm going to see you differently just because you spilled some dramatic past.

The people who stayed by her side.

The people who kept her from crying.

-Alice.

-You will definitely be able to become happy.

She had lost her sister.

She could not lose them too.

If she lost even them, she had no confidence she could go on living.

-Miss Alice.

-If something is troubling you, it is all right to tell us.

-You have us, do you not? We want to be your strength.

Her breathing settled.

Her vision, wet with tears, became clear.

-If we ever manage to get out of here someday, let's build a quiet house and live there, just the two of us.

-We can just run away! Or are we going to stay in the lab forever?

-Alice.

Memories she had repeated tens of thousands of times so she would not forget.

Two Alices.

Two lives.

One name.

Alice had received many things from Alice.

Because she had received life from her sister, the little sister's name became fully Alice.

-I'll give you my name.

-So, you... at least you, live as Alice.

It was the name she had received from her sister.

It was the life she had received from her sister.

It could not be taken away.

She could not hand over her sister once more.

She could not lose precious people once more.

'Big Sis.'

So.

'This time... help me not lose them.'

She wanted her to watch over her.

Her breath quietly settled.

"......"

Her eyelids gently opened.

Before she knew it, a pitch-black shade had mixed into her blue eyes.

Her emotions no longer surged, and fear could no longer squeeze her heart.

-I love you. My little sister.

Yes, love.

Above her head, a black crown floated.

Over the dream she could make bloom, she dyed a clear emotion.

'I love you too... forever.'

Who were those words meant for?

Without knowing why, Alice mixed them into her dream.

The crown above her head spun fiercely, draping the girl in thick darkness.

Flutter.

A black-red cloak settled over her back.

The others suddenly realized that a dreamlike fog had spread around them.

"What the hell! There's fog around us all of a sudden...!"

"Calm yourself. This is probably..."

Alice's feet left the floor.

The girl floated into the air and, for a brief moment, walked through the fog.

In a scene where everything seemed to slow, the monster made a wish through the window.

"Come out."

The dream whispered.

"Protect them. The people I love."

Shaaaaa.

A night wind from an unknown source caressed the area.

In the coolly chilling air, an answer came from the open window.

[♥]

Right after, something stepped lightly down in front of the girl.

A fluttering dress hem, elegant movements, and a crown worn above the head.

It stared at Alice.

Its shape resembled a well-kept mannequin.

A heart shape had been drawn on it, and faint dreamlight leaked from within.

Kuuuuung.

Its presence pressed down on the area wrapped in fog.

The one wearing the heart crown approached and greeted the girl wearing the black crown.

[♥]

It kissed her white hand.

An act of respect.

Alice calmly pulled her hand back.

Amid that faint dignity, the heart-wearing being looked down at the Cultists.

Heart Queen.

The densest part of the girl's Nightmares.

In a calm voice, Alice whispered to her dream.

"Please."

[♥]

The two queens joined the battle.

The disadvantageous tide of battle reversed in an instant.

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