Chapter 120: Evening
According to Alain's estimate, they were about to reach the 5th loop. The moment he pushed open the door, the light in the corridor abruptly dimmed, as if an invisible hand had turned down the brightness knob, like the sun hanging high outside the window was gradually setting behind the mountains.
"It's gotten much darker." Millie's fingers, clutching his clothes, tightened. This time, Alain was sure it wasn't an illusion—the corridor itself was undergoing some kind of change.
"Be careful, stay behind me, keep the controller ready at all times."
"Mm!" He clasped the girl's palm in his; Millie's affirmative reply was swallowed by the corridor, turning into a short breathy sound. The two continued forward.
Since entering the corridor until now, Alain had also understood a few things: why they hadn't encountered a monster immediately upon entering this time, but instead arrived at a "cozy" corridor. It must be the function of the ring in his hand.
Logically speaking, for the monster to maintain control over the small spiders, there had to be a [Door] directly leading to the "monster breeding house." Because of this, when they opened the door earlier, they encountered that monster.
And after Alain closed the door, he happened to see the ring regain its effectiveness. Under the ring's "guidance function," he opened the door again and arrived at what seemed to be a normal version 1.3B.
And as they opened the door in the looping corridor more times, it grew increasingly dim. According to Alain's guess, it would probably become pitch black sooner or later. And by then, it should be time to encounter the monster.
At some unknown nth time passing the corner, Prankster Mita's reminder on the wall arrived.
[Be careful]
The two nodded in unison, then looked towards the corridor. The snowy screen TV was still flickering, but the originally grayish-white noise was gradually being stained with blood-like streaks. The sunlight shining from outside the window was still bright, but the corridor itself had dimmed considerably.
Alain looked at the three clocks: still stuck at 12 o'clock sharp, unchanged.
"By the way, don't you think the Mita room in 1.3B is a bit different?" Millie voiced her question as they walked. "Other Mitas' homes are in the form of rooms, but this one is a corridor."
"I don't understand either. If you, a native, don't know, then of course I, an outsider, wouldn't know either."
After passing the cabinet, it indicated they had completed half of the fifth loop.
"Actually, I have some guesses about this." And Millie's faint words echoed behind Alain.
"?" He turned his head, looking at the girl's face hidden beneath the brim of her hat. Her lips moved, "Once upon a time, this was also a room. In the room, stayed a Little Mita."
"...?" Alain didn't take it seriously, his gaze looking ahead.
"That Little Mita had no player. All she could do every day was to boringly look at the corridor outside her door, at the players passing by one after another." The voice of the girl holding his hand gradually turned cold, sending a chill down Alain's back. "But the players just passed by, never came in. Why?"
"Wh-Why?"
"Because." The hatted girl pulled his steps to a halt, causing Alain to glance at her. "There's no such version as 1.3B at all. The corridor? It's also fake."
"..." The speechless Alain had countless questions. But Millie grinned, "It was a cage I prepared specially for you from the very beginning!!!"
"?!"
Alain released the girl's hand and quickly retreated several steps. Could it be... the reason Crazy Mita wasn't there earlier was because she had replaced Millie at some point, thus luring him to this place that seemed to be 1.3B but was actually a cage?
With the precedent of Prankster Mita pretending to be Millie... Crazy Mita might also disguise herself. Then hadn't he been with the 'bad woman' all this time?! Thinking of this, Alain almost launched into a verbal tirade against the 'bad woman.'
But peals of soaring laughter shattered his nervousness.
"Hahahahahahaha! You actually got scared by me... Pfft hahaha!" Millie clutched her stomach, tears of mirth sparkling in the corners of her eyes from her joyous laughter. "Haha... It seems I'll have to bully you more often in the future!"
"I can't believe I got to see you like this! I have to tell my best friend later! Hahaha..."
The young man's face darkened as he approached, and amidst the girl's pleas for mercy, he accurately flicked her smooth forehead.
"Ow... That hurts!"
"Scaring people comes with a punishment for scaring people. You're punished by not being allowed to hold my hand for the next half hour."
"Hmph~ If I don't hold it, I don't. I don't care."
The brief squabble eased Alain's tension considerably. Before long, they arrived at the door at the exit. After opening the door, the brightness inside the room dimmed once again. This time, it was almost nightfall. Faintly, the temperature also seemed to have dropped quite a bit.
"Brr..." Seeing this, Millie's slender shoulders trembled slightly behind him. She turned to look at Alain, "Hey, bro, you should be scared now, right?"
"It's alright." Alain glanced at her lightly, a hint of disdain in the corner of his eye, then continued to walk forward on his own. As a master in the 2D domain, he had played plenty of horror-themed galgames. Moreover, right now, there was still a Little Mita waiting for him to save.
"Wait a minute!" Millie frantically followed.
As their steps passed by the wall lamp, the warm yellow light suddenly lit up, startling Millie with a "Wah!" and she subconsciously grabbed Alain's hand. Seeing this, Millie secretly thought, "It's over."
Sure enough, the young man in front turned his head, looking at her with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "Didn't you just say you didn't care about holding my hand?"
"Ahem... Wasn't I worried you'd be scared? After all, we're good bros. What... What are you doing to your good bro?!"
While the girl was explaining, Alain took off one of her gloves. Then, he pulled her smooth little hand forward. "I also need to receive some compensation." After saying that, he deliberately squeezed her small palm.
"How can you tease your good bro like this... No, don't squeeze, it tickles!" Millie, feeling the itch, her face flushed crimson, symbolically resisted a couple of times. If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have scared him... It's my own fault for what I did earlier.
But the scared Alain is cute to pinch~ So satisfying, I'll scare him again next time!
"Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze." This instead made Alain push his luck. Her slightly chubby hand was very soft and glutinous, like fingertips gliding over smooth egg white.
"I told you not to squeeze!"
While bullying Millie, he was also silently observing the surroundings of this looping corridor. Right now, it should be the 6th loop. But it seemed that apart from the brightness dimming considerably, there were no other changes. The three clocks also hadn't changed.
Alain wondered if he was being too careful. Maybe they were just broken.
"Squeeze."
"..." Millie was indignant but didn't dare to speak. If he let go again, she would have to actively try to please Alain... Th-This... Isn't this like her seducing him?! Unacceptable, unacceptable... Let him hold it for now.
She felt like her hand had become Alain's toy for relieving stress at the moment. But she had no way out... If she had known earlier, she wouldn't have said that "don't care about holding hands" so definitively.
Lost in thought, he opened the door and reached the 7th loop. The darkness was as thick as ink; the wall lamps struggled to cast spots of light like greasy egg yolk. Millie stuck close to his left shoulder, the palm lines of their clasped hands gradually sticking together in the air. And... it always felt a bit chilly.
Alain turned to observe her, looking uneasy, and simply let go of her hand for the time being.
"Huh?" As Millie let out a sound of disappointment, Alain took her hand again, intertwining their fingers. The warmth brought by their palms pressed together dispelled much of the tension in the girl's heart.
"T-Ten fingers intertwined..." Millie looked at their linked hands, feeling a bit thrilled... It was the first time she had experienced such intimate contact. No... thinking carefully, the object of her intimate contact had always been the Alain before her. Her best friend's prospective boyfriend... and also her bro. By the way, is it normal for good bros to do this kind of thing?
Do good bros intertwine their fingers?
"Have you ever played a horror game?" After passing the corner, Alain frowned slightly and saw the snowy screen of the small television on the cabinet turn completely red. Faintly, there was a "thump, thump" sound of knocking, the source of the sound being precisely that crimson snowy screen.
The previously indistinct human face had become more solid, now forming a human-like shape. As if something inside the screen wanted to come out?
"N-No... I always play fighting games and racing games." Alain's voice, and the warmth transmitted from his palm, calmed her emotions somewhat, and she also saw the crimson small television at a glance.
Looking at his back, the girl reconsidered, and couldn't help but grip the controller tightly. Her small hand clasped Alain's ten fingers in return, and she whispered, "Sorry... for scaring you earlier."
"It's fine. And it's precisely because you scared me that I can hold you like this."
"Oh, oh..." Seeing that he wasn't angry, Millie breathed a sigh of relief and added, "If my best friend were here, you couldn't say this to me."
"I always say it."
"...Tch, so cunning."
In the gap between their words, they opened the 8th door.
"Hmm?" After seeing what was at the corner, he sneered. "Indeed, the danger Prankster Mita mentioned has appeared."
At the corner was a peeping human-headed spider. "Finally met you, enemy."
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