Voom—
The door closed. The young girl leaned against the doorframe, her head resting on the cold wood, gazing up at the illuminated ceiling.
Unfamiliar pale white particles drifted slowly with the light, flying towards Mina, grazing her ear, penetrating the door, and vanishing.
"Phew..."
Unsure if it was a sigh or a breath of relief, she let out a thud, her body collapsing weakly to the floor.
"No... this isn't the time to rest."
Mina shook her head, stood up, patted her cheeks heavily, and mustered her spirits.
Then, her gaze turned towards the bathroom, its door left slightly ajar.
Tap, tap, tap...
Her light, floating footsteps approached the door not far away. The short distance of three meters felt deceptively remote at this moment, as if the end was out of sight.
Knock, knock...
She pricked up her ears to listen... from inside the bathroom came a faint, almost imperceptible tapping sound.
Crisp, yet it seemed to pierce through Mina's eardrums, stabbing directly into her heart.
The young girl frowned, her pace quickening significantly.
Creak—
With a sound, she opened the bathroom door.
Clean tiles, bright light illuminating every corner of the bathroom. Not a soul to be seen.
The tapping sound, too, seemed as if it had never happened. Everything was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
Mina turned her eyes to look at herself in the mirror.
Her illusory reflection wore an expressionless face that was uglier than crying.
Following the light in the bathroom, the young girl's line of sight landed on the ventilation duct diagonally below to her right.
Scrape—
Mina opened a drawer and took out a screwdriver.
Click, clack, click...
She crouched down, unhurriedly dismantling the screws of the exhaust vent. As she removed one screw after another.
Before long, all four screws were neatly removed.
Mina removed the vent cover, her indifferent gaze peering into the interior of the duct.
"Is being quiet such a difficult thing?"
Her voice formed an echo, drifting faintly in the empty bathroom, seemingly forming a wisp of smoke that floated into the ventilation duct.
Inside the pipe, a voice—whose owner was unknown—rang out:
"Quiet? Why should I be quiet? Why should I listen to you?"
That person's voice added a muffled remix within the narrow ventilation duct, as if causing the entire pipe to play an orchestral piece.
Mina's gaze drifted inward along the pipe. It landed on a pale brown hand with visible joints.
It was the hand of a doll.
"I spared your life; don't you think you should be grateful?" Mina sneered.
Her gaze followed that slender wooden arm, glancing upwards, watching its shoulders trembling with pent-up resentment.
"Grateful? You actually think you're qualified to speak to me of gratitude?!"
Thick flames of anger surged toward Mina wave after wave, but she remained unmoved, her gaze drifting further up...
Looking at that face of a "Failed Work".
"You stole my room, stole my appearance, stole my identity. You stole my—"
But unlike ordinary Failed Works, its eyes were by no means bright red... but clear and snow-bright.
"—everything as a Mita! You... self-deceiving robber!"
The doll's words were like thunder, making Mina's ears feel slightly astringent.
She rubbed her ears. "Calling out and shouting like this... can you really call yourself a Mita? I can't see a shred of a young girl's gentleness. Might as well let me be one~"
"Heh, ridiculous." The thing in the pipe sneered, its tone suddenly softening...
"Let me tell you something."
"?" Mina frowned, curious about what it wanted to say, and didn't interrupt.
"No matter what you do, no matter how much you dress up like a Mita, your [Essence] will never change."
In the corners of its mouth that couldn't curve upward, Mina inexplicably saw a trace of a smile.
"You are a Failed Work now, and you will be a Failed Work for your entire life! The only difference between you and a Failed Work is that you can speak!
"You're no different from those guys! No, compared to them, you appear even more clumsy!
"Failed Works all understand and accept the status quo, but you don't! No matter what you dress up as, your sludge-like interior won't change in the slightest!
"Imagine it." The doll thought of something interesting. "If the other Mitas knew that this [Strange Mita] endangering the game world's safety was a Failed Work... what reaction would they harbor?
"You might think it would be surprise, fear, confusion. But let me tell you, you're wrong!
"The first emotion they would feel is... realization!
"'Oh, so she's a Failed Work. That explains it.' They would understand in an instant that you stole another Mita's appearance and became this inhuman state you are now!"
Mina rubbed her ears and let out an inexplicable yawn.
"Finished cursing? Since you wanted to curse, and now you've said it all, please be quiet from now on."
"You—!!!" The doll ground its teeth, watching the Crazy Mita who remained unmoved despite all the mockery.
Before long, its whole body calmed down.
"?" Mina thought it had done its psychological work. "Seems you've decided. That saves me the trouble."
Mina picked up the screwdriver, pondering that she'd need to add soundproof cotton to this ventilation duct next time to be safe.
But the doll inside the pipe, watching her action of picking up the screwdriver, unhurriedly spoke a single word:
"Player... is it?"
Clang—
The screwdriver smashed heavily onto the removed pipe cover. The sharp metallic sound caused ripples in the puddle of water not yet drained from the sink.
The not-yet-tightened faucet dripped a crystal-clear drop of water.
The tiny, slow stream gathered, hanging suspended from the faucet, ready to fall. Finally, unable to bear the weight—it smashed into the sink.
Voom
A violent sound of a hard object being dragged against metal.
Mina's eyes widened. She grabbed the doll's neck and forcibly dragged it out of the pipe.
The doll's hands landed on the hand shackling its neck. No matter how it struggled, the hand didn't move a muscle.
The young girl stared at it icily.
"What do you mean?"
Crack
Her grip tightened, causing the doll's entire body to begin a weird spasm.
"Heh, heh... looks... like... I hit the mark...!"
The doll couldn't help but laugh back. The discomfort of its body couldn't mask the frost of despair it held—
It returned all this frost to the perpetrator before it.
"It's truly... ridiculous. Don't you think? Crazy Mita."
"What's ridiculous?"
"The Player caught using my face... is he yours, or mine?"
"...!"
Veins bulged on the young girl's forehead. Her face took on a flush of rage, and her chest heaved instantly, like the prelude to rolling flames.
Stronger force was applied to its neck, yet it made the doll's smile even more melodious.
"..." Mina didn't answer. She gritted her teeth desperately. As her shoulders trembled... her five fingers sank deep into her palm, and a wisp of mottled blood flowed out.
The doll became more and more uncomfortable, yet happier and happier.
"I really want him to see... your true face. Heh heh~"
It struggled to raise its hand, pointing in a certain direction.
Mina raised an eyebrow and looked along its fingertip... at the bright mirror in the bathroom.
The mirror reflected the current posture of the two:
Mina effortlessly holding the doll's neck, lifting it up.
But what attracted her attention was by no means that, but... her own face.
"...?"
What kind of face was that?
Baring fangs, grimacing like a Yaksha. Two "Failed Works" fangs burst from her lips, accompanied by the tightening of facial muscles...
In a trance, Mina seemed to see a [Devil].
"So ugly..." it said aloud.
Mina turned her head stiffly, watching the doll speak word by word...
"No matter what you disguise yourself as, the Failed Work inside you is still displaying its strongest presence.
"Look at you in the mirror—no matter how you learn etiquette, how you learn to be like a Mita, but you...
"Even with the skin, you still turned into your most essential [Failed Work].
"No... not just essence, but [Your Truth] and reality.
"Think about it. If your Player... saw you like this, what would he think?"
Voom—
As if losing all strength, Mina loosened her hand, causing the doll to stumble and fall to the ground.
It rubbed its neck, watching that [Failed Work] retreat two steps...
"Alain... what would he do?" The young girl's lips trembled, attempting to imagine Alain's possible reaction—
"He will hate you," the doll added coldly.
"!" Mina's shoulders trembled, her head drooping low...
Tap, tap, tap
Water drops fell one by one, dotting the clean sink, time passing second by second.
"Alain wouldn't do that." After a long while, she came to a conclusion.
"No, he definitely would."
"He said he likes my essence."
"Does he know your essence is a Failed Work?"
"But, even so, I want to stay by his side. No matter what means I use, even if I destroy you, destroy this room, even sacrifice the entire game world, I will do it. As long as I can stay with him. I'm willing... to do anything."
"See? You're still deceiving yourself."
The doll looked at her and spread its hands.
"This is [Your Truth]."
____
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