Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

Someone's Something

"Miss Alice."

"......"

The girl looked up at the sound of her name.

Through those tear-filled blue eyes, a grinning jester's mask smiled back at her.

"What happened here today is a secret."

"A secret..."

Better for as little of today to leak out as possible. Setting aside word of his own exploits spreading, nothing good could come of Alice's ability getting out.

Especially once word of the [Black Queen] started circulating, the cultists would start paying attention. 'That bastard' would be among them. Things would get messy from every angle.

Nightmarification.

An ability that could rightfully be called the strongest in the world.

If Alice ever learned to control the Nightmare, he'd have an ally no different from a nuclear weapon.

'Well... that's not happening in a day or two.'

A distant prospect. For now, the tasks directly in front of him were more pressing.

First: get her to a point where she could take care of herself.

"We'll talk details later. Just the two of us. Without anyone knowing."

"Just the two of us... without anyone... knowing..."

Alice murmured the words back, like she was turning them over.

He tilted his head and pressed her.

"Understood?"

"......Yes."

Glazed eyes. She nodded as though she understood.

He patted her head. That quiet compliance suited him just fine.

"Good girl."

"Yes..."

Crack! Crumble,!

Mid-conversation, a tremor rang out through the ceiling above. The source was outside the barrier enclosing the hunting grounds. Looked like the faculty had finally found a way through.

The curtain of pitch black that had smothered everything began to fracture, little by little.

"Nice timing."

Crack! Craaack,!

The ceiling split wide open. A moment later, the barrier shattered entirely.

Beyond the scattering shadows, a blue sky shone through.

"......"

He looked down at the figure in his arms. She had already lost consciousness.

Closer to passing out than falling asleep.

'Makes sense... the rampage must have worn her out completely.'

He laid her slight frame down beside Ranne. The faculty would be flooding in soon.

He stretched out beside the two of them.

The students would be safely rescued without issue. To avoid suspicion, he needed to play unconscious too.

[Viktor.]

"Princess."

Carmilla had already returned to her bat form. She landed on his chest and crept back into his front pocket.

Small hands tapped against him.

[You worked hard again today.]

"The fate of one who saves the world, I suppose. Thank you for getting caught up in my personal business, Princess."

[Say no such thing. Viktor's affairs are as good as my own, aren't they.]

"That's reassuring."

He closed his eyes after that.

Distant shouts from the faculty drifted through.

He let his consciousness go, easy as falling asleep.

'Long day.'

And with that, the first practical of first year came to an end.

***

She thought she'd had a short nightmare.

Or maybe nightmare wasn't the right word.

It had been calm. Warm. Nothing like the ones she usually had.

-You've had it so hard for so long.

-You did so well. Truly.

The cold in her breath felt like it was thawing. Like a gentle warmth had wrapped itself around her body.

She fell asleep more easily than usual. More peacefully.

And then.

"......"

Alice opened her eyes in an unfamiliar bed.

Everything white.

'Where... is this...'

She had definitely lost consciousness in the forest.

An unfamiliar ceiling. Unfamiliar surroundings.

She glanced around, disoriented. Before the confusion could settle, a voice came from across the room.

"Miss Alice."

"......"

A boy wearing a mask.

Viktor was seated on the sofa across from her. He rose as she stirred, as though he'd been waiting.

"How are you feeling?"

A voice from her dream.

Alice's half-conscious mind finally caught up with reality.

'...It wasn't a dream.'

The wave of it hit her, and her breath went still.

As her blue eyes swept the room, the boy smiled softly and began to explain.

"This is the academy infirmary. Though 'infirmary' barely does it justice."

"How..."

"Right after you lost consciousness, the faculty managed to dispel the barrier and get inside. The other students who were trapped were all safely rescued as well. No serious injuries, fortunately."

"......"

"Everyone is resting here in this building now."

Alice listened in a daze.

Then she noticed something holding her hand.

A girl was slumped forward over the bedside, fast asleep, her hand wrapped tight around Alice's.

"...Princess Kihano?"

Ranne Kihano.

Hair like sunlight pulled into thread.

The warmth filled Alice's palm. She stared down at Ranne, at a loss.

"She's been by your side the whole time. Up all night watching over you. She only just fell asleep a little while ago."

"How long... has it been..."

"A full day."

"A full day..."

Alice sat quietly looking at her.

Golden hair spread loose across the white bed.

Viktor watched Ranne with something fond in his expression and patted her head.

That warmth in her hand. Alice hesitated at the unfamiliar feeling, then opened her mouth.

"How is Princess Kihano doing...?"

"She's fine. She's tough to begin with. I poured a healing potion on her as well, and she had a full examination done once we arrived. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"That's... a relief..."

The sigh that left Alice was involuntary. She had been quietly dreading that something might have gone wrong.

-Miss Alice.

-I'll buy us some time.

That retreating back. The silhouette that had stood between her and the nightmare.

Gripping Ranne's hand tight, Alice found her eyes meeting the boy's.

Something warm in his gaze.

"Miss Alice."

"......"

He said her name, voice soft.

An indescribable weight pressed down on her chest, not painful, but deep. She flinched, shoulders drawing in, then parted her trembling lips.

"......Yes."

"What happened yesterday, the parts involving the Nightmare, only the two of us know. It has to stay that way. You remember, don't you? What I told you was a secret."

She remembered.

Their secret. Just the two of them.

How could she forget.

Alice quietly nodded.

"Good."

A brief smile, and then the boy stepped toward the bed. The white mask drew close, just an arm's length away. Still unsettling to look at. But for some reason, the girl wasn't afraid.

Her heart settled.

"Miss Alice. I'd like to make you a proposal."

A proposal. Something he had mentioned in passing yesterday. The conversation that followed was a continuation of that.

"You saw it yesterday. I have the power to help you. I can destroy the Nightmares, and through that, suppress your rampages as well."

She traced back what remained in her memory like something out of a dream. The nightmarish hordes that had poured out endlessly. And yet, his scythe cutting through them alone. Shattering head-on the rule that had said she couldn't be stopped.

-Miss Alice.

-So you were here. I've been looking for you.

A miracle. That was what he was, at least to her.

"I'll help you. Stay with me and learn how to control the Nightmarification."

The word help. The substance of it was something beyond imagination, a wish she had never once dared to want for herself.

"You'll be taming that brutal calamity and making it yours. If you succeed in controlling the Nightmarification, the Nightmare won't torment you anymore. The daily anxiety, the compulsion, you won't have to be swept up in any of it."

"......"

"You'll be able to live an ordinary life. Like everyone else."

Controlling the Nightmarification. She had never even imagined it. There was no one in the world capable of something like that. She had believed that.

But...

"I'll give you that kind of life."

The boy before her made the promise as if it were the most natural thing in the world. About a possibility that had seemed like nothing but futility. About the girl's future.

Alice could only stare, utterly lost. A story about herself, yet it felt like hearing about another world entirely.

"There's a price, of course. This isn't charity. It's a proposal."

"......"

"Be close with me. Whenever I ask for help, drop everything and come. Take my side in any situation, use your strength for me in any situation. I intend to do the same for you. Unconditional allies, that's the short of it."

"Unconditional... allies..."

"In return, I'll promise you a better life."

"......"

"So. Does that sound tempting?"

After hearing everything the boy had to say, the very first thought to surface in Alice's mind was one word.

'Why...?'

Why.

Only that short word caught in her throat.

'Why, for me, to this extent...'

Why.

Why.

Why.

Saving her from the rampage wasn't enough, now he was offering to help her learn control. Giving her a way to overcome the Nightmare, promising her an ordinary life...

'Why.'

She couldn't understand it. Even the things he had presented as his price were mostly things that required sacrifice from him. Someone that strong, she couldn't see how her pitiful excuse for power would be of any use. It amounted to just another clause for protecting her.

'You, why me...'

Alice was fragile, but she wasn't stupid. She could follow the shape of the proposal well enough.

This was a proposal where she would only receive.

'I...'

She couldn't understand.

Alice. Alice. A child who should never have been born. That was always how she had thought of herself. Help from others, a better life, those things had no place in her world. She had believed they shouldn't.

-Then how about this. Being close with each other from now on?

And yet.

She had been so certain, and yet...

-Miss Alice.

-You've worked so hard.

The boy had crossed the lines Alice had drawn so easily. That was why Viktor was difficult for her. An unreadable person.

'Strange.'

Come to think of it, it had been that way from their very first meeting. He was always kind to her.

-We're in the same class, aren't we.

-When fate brought us together like this, how could I not help.

The first time they'd met, even as strangers, he helped her out of trouble. Found her sister's necklace she had almost lost.

-Hehe.

Alice's ability, 'Dream Sight'. He held enough goodwill toward her for their signals to connect.

Noticing that she always wandered alone, he had introduced her to his friend Ranne.

-We promised to be close, didn't we? You remember?

-Since we're getting close, I wanted to introduce you to another friend of mine.

-Miss Alice.

-I can help you.

In this incident, he had even fought directly for her. Torn away her Nightmares and pulled her back from the edge of being swallowed whole.

'All of this...'

All of it, in less than a month. Everything she had received from him in less than a month.

She still couldn't understand.

'What on earth.'

At first, she had thought he was just another misfortune in her life. When she had glimpsed his secret on Purgatory Floor 70, she thought she had stepped into an irreversible hell. She had been certain he would kill her or torment her into silence. That was why she had feared him so much...

'But he wasn't.'

He was different from what she had expected. She had trembled and called him frightening, but Viktor had always been kind. His inexplicable warmth had been piling up in her heart, layer by layer.

'I don't know anymore...'

She didn't know anything. What he was. A misfortune or a fortune that had come to her. She had reached a point where she couldn't tell the difference.

'I just...'

Life had shifted so sharply, so suddenly. Light and hope had shone down on her without warning. She couldn't bring herself to believe it. She had opened groggy eyes, sat up, and for once, life didn't hurt. The heaviness that always sat in her muscles, the throbbing headache that came like clockwork, the hallucinatory whispers of the Nightmare circling her ears, not one of them was tormenting her.

'Strange.'

Tears welled up.

She had never felt this way in her life. Like being left alone in an empty, quiet world. Strange and frightening as it was, it was comfortable enough that she couldn't hold back tears.

'What should I think of you...'

And, what did he see in her? What did he see, to be so devoted to someone who was nothing? The warmth that no one in the world had ever given her except her sister. How he could give it away so easily...

Out of curiosity.

Out of fear.

And that flutter she couldn't name.

The girl couldn't stop the tears running down her face.

"Yes..."

She could only nod.

"I will. I want to..."

Words she had never once let herself hold. For the first time, the girl said them to someone other than her sister.

"Please help me."

Her voice trembled. The boy smiled at that alone.

A warm palm settled on Alice's cheek. Fingers gently wiped the tears away. He answered in a single word.

"Gladly."

A moment that lingered like a miracle.

Alice gripped his sleeve.

After that, until exhaustion pulled her back to sleep, she didn't let go.

***

A few hours later.

Everyone else asleep. Only I remained awake in the infirmary.

"......"

Alice was sleeping soundly. The Nightmarification progression had dropped sharply, her expression was noticeably at peace. Ranne was slumped beside her.

I stroked them each once, then settled onto the window ledge in the corner of the room.

'Cleanup done...'

A light motion pulled up the status window. Everything was finished. Time for the accounting.

Countless quest completion messages came flooding in.

Ding!

[Emergency Quest Cleared!]

-Title: WelcometoWonderland.

-Objective: Stop the Nightmarification of the rampaging 'Alice (Alice).'

[Remarkably, you completed the quest without killing the host!]

-A special reward will be distributed. Please check your inventory.

Ding!

[Hidden Quest Completed.]

-Title: Queen Slayer

-Objective: Defeat the boss monsters ruling Wonderland: 'Heart Queen,' 'Red Queen,' and 'White Queen.'

[You have annihilated the Queens with a remarkable performance!]

-A special reward will be distributed. Please check your status window.

Ding!

[Sub Quest Cleared!]

-Title: If You're Gonna Do It, Do It Right!

-Objective: Achieve a ranking of 3rd place or higher in the practical.

[You have claimed 1st place in the practical with a remarkable performance!]

-In addition to the existing reward, a bonus reward will be provided.

"Well then. Shall I check the rewards?"

Accounting time.

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