18 How Sparks Survive In Winter (Part 2)

For now, I didn't know about the future misfortunes coming in my way.

I leaned a little bit towards Yuki and asked, "Is it okay for the other one over there to hear?"

My gaze went to the other person near her. I eyed the cloaked figure on the side who was looking elsewhere.

That cloaked person was naturally the marionette from earlier.

Yuki nodded, "I told him everything ever since I came here."

"Oh? It seems I was caught ever since the beginning."

The cloaked figure flinched even though he was looking the opposite way. It meant that he was listening to our conversation.

"I had Archel follow your movements since I arrived yesterday. You acted differently from what I know of so I thought you were like me."

The cloaked figure finally looked in our direction and bowed slightly. The respectful demeanor was completely opposite to the carefree puppets I met earlier on the rooftop.

Archel, the Marionette ability user. It's one of the unique-type abilities with 'Puppet' as a precursor. Kaven's hypnotism is somehow related to that concept.

'So this Archel guy's abilities is a cousin of my ability or something like that?'

Oh, what the hell. I'm not going to think about such complicated things anymore. I've had too much to think about today.

'Though I want to ignore him, I also can't do that.'

My brain was moving faster than my decision.

Archel was a character who was loyal to the crazy bitch in the book and helped her with everything. He's the perfect servant that anyone would ask for.

I had a suspicion that the crazy bitch was here because of this ability but disregarded it and thought it was just someone similar.

'I never imagined that the marionette would be loyal in this situation as well.'

My thoughts went deeper than necessary.

In the back of my mind, I had thought of my situation happening to others. It was natural.

'It happened to me so why would I assume that it can't to others?'

Though, as for Murasaki Yuki, I had not thought of her as one of those potential people. Why? Because I had a suspicion about Archel being here. The crazy bitch was the same person in the book since Archel had followed her. Why would you follow a different person inside your madam's body, right?

'Everything is getting complicated.'

When I met Archel, or the vessels, earlier on the top of the ship, I just didn't want to acknowledge it was really Archel. When Yuki acted so strangely earlier, I ignored it too.

I didn't want to entertain this scenario.

'Damn it.'

However, something was concerning.

'How many of us got dragged here? Yuki arrived here just yesterday? SMOAH is not just a book but also a game? We had different methods of entering this world? Do we even come from the same world?'

I wasn't aware of a SMOAH game.

I also finished reading SMOAH but Yuki on the other hand got dragged here in the middle of the story.

'Just what the hell is about to happen?'

Is it possible that the SMOAH I know is just a version of it? Is it really like that? I had so many questions but something else had to come first.

'Yuki and I can find out all about this later.'

For now, I need to sort out my priorities.

"I would believe that you came here just to confirm my status but getting involved with Crescent Moon Company isn't a little move too. You should know that it's one of the basics of SMOAH logic," I told Yuki.

She nodded. "Yes, I came here for something else too. I was chasing an organization and found their crumbs in this place."

Organization.

It reminded me of Jashan, Polly, and Ilya.

'I wonder if it's the same organization again...'

This Yuki is trying to chase that organization?

"Good sense of justice, how admirable."

"Are you mocking me?"

I shook my head and replied, "No."

"Your face is saying the absolute opposite though," she replied back.

I want to scoff at those words but couldn't after hearing the genuine honesty in her tone. Upright. Honest. Role model.

'She acted just like someone I read about, particularly an awesome character... never mind.'

Thinking about it made would make me feel depressed so I just shut my brain down before I could think of anything else.

It was silent. None of us were speaking. It was in the middle of those moments that our heads snapped to the left.

Three glowing eyes looked at the abyssal darkness where the faintest presence of someone was making its way away from us.

It was obvious we got spied by someone suspicious.

The three of us looked at each other and started running towards the darkness. The faces of those three people, the two children and a woman holding an obnoxious plant, flashed inside my head before disappearing completely inside the darkness like our bodies.