Chapter 99
Bang!
With a sharp crack, the bullet Lavian fired hit the first-place prize dead-on.
Nina and Den cheered in unison.
“Wow!”
“You hit it!”
“Heh, this much is nothing… Ahem. You guys want anything else?”
“Den, is there something you want from those?”
“Hmm, then I guess…”
Thanks to Lavian getting swept up in the moment, the prizes at the shooting booth were in danger of being completely cleaned out.
The stall owner, growing nervous, finally tried to intervene.
“Um, excuse me, there are other customers who—”
He was immediately met with a chilling glare from Ferry, who looked ready to kill.
“Huh? So what, we’re not customers now?”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant—”
“Then what did you mean? You looking down on us, huh?!”
Fortunately, Cheshire stepped in just in time to stop Lavian, who looked about ready to rob the entire booth of its prizes.
“Hey, let’s call it a day and head to the theme park already.”
“Wait… what theme park all of a sudden?”
Lavian turned to him with a face that said what the hell are you talking about?
Cheshire only smiled lazily.
“The one I mentioned earlier.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t remember.”
“The one related to what you just did. Nina, want to go on some rides?”
“Huh? Yeah! That sounds fun!”
Nina beamed, hugging the huge teddy bear to her chest.
Beside her, Den was fiddling with a skull soldier figurine, eyes shining.
That was… quite an unexpected taste.
Cheshire looked down at Den with a slightly surprised expression.
“So that’s what you wanted, huh? Did you say thank you?”
“Ah… thank you!”
When Den thanked him with a bright smile, Lavian finally snapped out of his daze and put down the gun.
He wasn’t sure what had come over him, but the fact that he’d just done something worthy of being thanked by that arrogant brat filled him with sudden regret.
Wait a second… when did that kid get so close with Nina?
He’d heard they’d only met once before, yet they already seemed pretty friendly.
Even for kids, that was fast.
And hadn’t they been holding hands just now too?
As Lavian silently fumed to himself, Nina approached him.
“Thank you, mister.”
She came up hugging her doll and gently took his finger in her small hand.
Her blue eyes sparkled with genuine admiration.
“You were really cool, mister. Den said so too!”
…Guess the kid’s not totally hopeless after all.
Just like that, Lavian’s opinion of Den did a full 180.
* * *
The last day of the festival was when the theme park really came alive—after sunset.
Parades, light shows, and fireworks displays made up the grand finale.
By the time the group arrived, the sun had just started to sink below the horizon.
The massive Ferris wheel standing at the edge of the plaza gleamed in the red glow of dusk.
“If we don’t hurry, the kids won’t get to ride anything.”
“Then we’ll just kick everyone else out.”
At Lavian’s absurd suggestion, Cheshire’s expression brightened slightly.
“Oh, that’d be an easy fix… but then the security captain would probably chase us down, wouldn’t he?”
“Damn it, you’re right. We only just managed to lose him.”
“Kids, what do you want to ride? If you don’t pick now, you’ll have to wait until next year.”
At Cheshire’s words, Nina and Den looked around the area together.
From nearby, loud screams echoed from the haunted house attraction.
Noticing Den staring at it, Nina asked softly:
“Do you… want to try the haunted house?”
Den flinched, then blushed faintly.
“Is that okay?”
“Yeah! I actually wanted to go too.”
Her warm response made Den’s eyes go wide.
“Really? I thought you’d be scared, Nina.”
“…Is that so? I thought you’d be scared.”
“No way! Ghosts don’t scare me.”
Come to think of it, Den was full of surprises.
Then again, people are way scarier than ghosts.
With that idle thought, Nina quickly turned to the adults.
“We want to go to the haunted house!”
“The haunted house…?”
Cheshire muttered uncertainly, glancing at Lavian.
Lavian, in turn, glanced uneasily at Ferry.
Ferry, paling visibly, shouted:
“Don’t you dare dump this on me again!”
Nina, puzzled by their reactions, heard Den whisper to her:
“They’re scared.”
“…Are you guys scared of ghosts?”
“No.”
All three men denied it at once—but the closer they got to the haunted house, the slower their pace became.
Watching the trio shuffle forward like sluggish turtles, Nina and Den exchanged unimpressed looks.
“Should we just go in by ourselves?”
“Probably. They might end up fighting the ghosts.”
“…You’re right.”
If those three went in, the actors in ghost costumes might actually become real ghosts.
So even Lavian and Cheshire are afraid of something, huh.
The discovery was amusing enough that Nina had to bite back her laughter as she approached them.
“Um, how about just Den and I go in? It’ll be more fun that way.”
“Oh, really? You sure?”
“Yeah, that might actually be better. You’ve got good instincts, Nina.”
As Lavian and Cheshire immediately lit up with relief, Ferry rushed over to buy two child tickets.
Soon, Nina and Den were holding hands as they entered the haunted house.
Lavian let out what sounded suspiciously like a sigh of relief—but his eyes lingered on them with mild irritation.
“I don’t like this for some reason.”
“Is there anything in the world you actually like?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh right, there is one thing. Ferry, go grab some drinks for the kids, will you?”
“On it!”
Once Ferry eagerly left, the two men moved toward the haunted house’s exit.
Because it was the final night of the festival—and perhaps because this area was somewhat isolated—the atmosphere here felt oddly lax.
Empty beer bottles rolled around the ground, and two young men in their early twenties were smoking nearby.
“Hey, you bastards! You know this is a no-smoking area? Who the hell smokes where kids are playing?!”
“S-sorry!”
While Lavian chased off the smokers with Nina’s teddy bear as a weapon, Cheshire gathered the bottles and threw them into a trash bin.
“Tch, and here I am holding back, yet they dare…”
“You holding up okay?”
“Not really. I’m at my limit. You?”
“Still managing. Though I’d kill for a cup of coffee.”
Their weary, adult exchange hung between them as they quietly watched the noisy haunted house.
“By the way, have you found out anything about the Hameln investigation?”
“Do you love me?”
The non sequitur was so outrageous that Cheshire just blanked out.
“There are jokes you can make, and jokes you can’t, even as a joke.”
“Then why the hell did you show up in my dream?”
Lavian turned his head sharply, glaring at him, a strange fire flickering in his eyes.
This wasn’t mere annoyance—something deeper churned beneath.
Cheshire tilted his head, confused.
“Sorry, but don’t flatter yourself. You did appear, but you weren’t the main character.”
“Then who was? Nina?”
It wasn’t really a question.
Just then, a few couples who had entered earlier came running out of the haunted house, screaming.
Ignoring their startled looks, Cheshire muttered:
“You too…?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Lavian’s voice dropped low.
For him—and for Leopart—it could have been chalked up to some quirk of royal blood.
But if Cheshire was having the same dreams… that changed everything.
“Earlier, when I won this doll at the shooting range, Nina was there too, right?”
“She was.”
“How did she seem—in your damn dream, I mean?”
For a moment, hesitation flickered in Cheshire’s eyes.
“She looked happy. The atmosphere was… very different from now, but she seemed to be enjoying herself. And she had her hand bandaged.”
“Left hand?”
“Left hand.”
“…I’m going insane. Why the hell are you part of this too?”
Lavian pressed a hand to his forehead, muttering through gritted teeth.
It was almost a groan.
It really did seem like they were experiencing the same thing.
A strange, unreadable look crossed Cheshire’s face.
“Then… you…”
“…”
“Do you know who killed Nina?”
“…What did you just say?”
Lavian’s gaze snapped up sharply.
He looked ready to punch him. Cheshire instinctively raised his hands.
“Whoa, whoa, calm down. I just—”
“Start from the beginning.”
“What?”
“Everything you know. From start to finish. Spill it.”
Somewhere deep in Lavian’s mind, the memory Leopart had shared flashed vividly—
The scene of Nina’s death.
Cheshire looked at him blankly for a moment, then sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“I don’t know about your case, but even if it was a dream, I only know what I saw and heard myself.”
“…”
“At some point, you started keeping Nina by your side all the time. Or maybe ‘following her around’ is more accurate. Honestly, at first I thought you’d done something terrible to her parents.”
“Why?”
“Because the two of you were nothing like you are now. You were practically groveling at that kid’s feet, and Nina—she was running circles around you. Can you picture that?”
