Chapter 159: Spirits (2)

Spirits (2)

Layla, with her eyes wide open. Elise, with her arms crossed. Soliette, standing right next to me. Kain, seemingly uninterested. Asher, with a furrowed brow. Gerkhen, with a calm expression.

Among them, the impostor is...

“Who is it?!”

Layla asked urgently.

I raised my finger.

“Who is it?!”

“...I’m about to tell you.”

While glaring at Layla, I pointed straight at my chest.

“The impostor is me.”

“...?”

At that moment, everyone tilted their heads.

“Shion. What do you mean by that?”

“Are you an idiot?”

Soliette asked with a puzzled look, and Elise chuckled.

I didn’t need to pay attention to them.

I turned to look at the stone statue.

“Everyone on this airship is a ‘real’ spirit. Therefore, the ‘impostor’, or human, is only me.”

The stone statue narrowed its eyes at me.

It had clearly said,

‘This is the airship of spirits. There’s an ‘impostor’ among us!’

However, it only mentioned that there was an impostor on the spirit’s airship, not which side was the impostor.

Whether the human was the impostor, or the spirit was the impostor.

“You said to identify the spirit before the airship takes off.”

‘We’re about to take off! Successful takeoff!’

‘...Identify the spirit before the airship takes off.’

The two statements from the stone statue seemed to contradict each other.

At first, I understood without much thought. Since we had already taken off, it must mean ‘of course, before we land’ – something like that.

But the stone statue answered that it only spoke the truth.

So.

“This fake airship has taken off, but the real airship hasn’t even taken off yet?”

──...Hahahaha!

Then, the stone statue laughed loudly. The other seven lost their expressions. Their focus blurred, and their skin hardened like pale wax.

──Correct!

The stone statue shouted. Suddenly, the surroundings melted like a watercolor painting in the rain. The revealed scenery was the dark interior of the airship.

As expected, the airship was still stuck to the ground, and the others were sound asleep in their seats.

“...Are they experiencing the same thing?”

Next to me were Layla and Soliette. Right behind me was Elise. Gerkhen was lying on the floor for some reason.

“Indeed... Master Stone Statue... Shaba shaba...”

Just then, Layla next to me mumbled in her sleep.

“Hehehe....”

I don’t know what kind of dream she’s having.

I slapped her cheek once.

Slap-!

“Oops, sorry.”

I failed to control my strength. I hit her too hard without realizing it. My wrist snap was perfectly wound.

“Hey, are you okay? I’m sorry.”

“......”

There was no answer, and Layla’s cheek, which I had slapped, gradually turned red. It quickly swelled up like a bun, and now it looked like she had several wisdom teeth removed at once.

She doesn’t wake up even when I hit her like this?

– I thought for a moment.

“......Ah.”

Layla reacted quite late.

“Ugh... Ahhh... Ahhh... Ahhh...”

She kept writhing as if the pain wouldn’t stop. She trembled with pain, her eyelids fluttering, and her arms and legs shaking.

“Damn stone statue... You hit me...”

“I’m sorry.”

“Crazy stone statue... Shit stone statue... I trusted you, but you betrayed me... Ahhhhh....”

I turned to look at the stone statue again.

“Stone statue. They’re trapped in dreams, aren’t they?”

──That’s right!

‘Dreams’ are the most efficient way for spirits to seize the physical body.

They confine the original owners of the bodies to the other side of unconsciousness, that is, in dreams.

Those original owners who cannot escape from there fall into a coma, and the control of the external world of the dream—namely, the ‘body’—is seized by the spirits.

“Can you help me? I want to enter their dreams.”

──You’ve just escaped and you want to plunge back into danger?!

The stone statue asked. I nodded my head.

“Yes.”

Entering isn’t particularly dangerous, yet it is. My magic and magical interference are almost nullified, but souls that primarily utilize spiritual energy are a different category.

──Understood. But you must be careful! I won’t be able to forcibly pull you out!

“I know.”

The unconscious is not such an easy space.

It’s not a phenomenon that can be shattered by shaking the body or slapping the cheek.

One must make oneself aware of one’s ‘reality’.

─It’s simple! Just sleep next to them! Who will you enter first!

The stone statue asked. The first one I saw was Gerkhen. I don’t know why, but he was lying on the floor.

“Him first.”

* * *

Meanwhile, inside Gerkhen’s dream.

“Cotton candy clouds, what a surprise.”

Gerkhen had crash-landed on cotton candy clouds. In fact, it was an even more peculiar situation. His airship had gotten stuck in the cotton candy clouds.

So, the group had no choice but to descend onto the cotton candy.

The cotton candy clouds were real cotton candy, and when they tore it off and ate it, it tasted like sugar cotton candy.

“Exactly. Why cotton candy clouds of all things?”

Then someone spoke. It was Shion.

Gerkhen glanced at him, then lay back down. He chewed on the cotton candy while lying down.

Unable to bear it any longer, Shion spoke.

“Hey. You found the fake, didn’t you?”

“......”

Gerkhen looked at Shion while eating cotton candy. He asked as if he was dumbfounded.

“Do you want to stay here forever?”

“It’s not bad to enjoy it. If I can use it.”

Gerkhen already knew that the current situation was a dream caused by the spirits. However, he had sent a false signal to the spirit that coveted him, creating this landscape.

This is a so-called lucid dream—’Lucid Dream’.

“But how did you know? That this is fake.”

“No. I want to be with you.”

I slowly approached Elise. Almost overlapping our bodies.

“No...... we can’t. We...... shouldn’t be like this!”

She shouted out. I paused for a moment in front of her nose. I looked straight into her moist, shaking eyes and said.

“We can.”

“We can’t. I’m Petra...... and you’re Ascal, aren’t you.”

“......”

What the hell is she talking about? Is she filming a movie?

I almost gave up on the situation itself for a moment, but I forced myself to focus again.

“What does that matter? Whether you’re Petra or some rug, it doesn’t matter.”

“......I understand, so let go of me first, gasp!”

I put my hand on Elise’s cheek. I touched her soft earlobe and said.

“Stay with me......”

Our breaths intertwined, and our noses were about to touch.

“Let’s stay here forever, Elise. Don’t worry about anything else. Here, forever......”

“......Wait. Forever?”

“Yes. Forever.”

“......”

For a moment, Elise’s expression hardened. Her body stiffened as if she had realized something.

“You.”

Her eyes, which had been shaking violently until a moment ago, froze as she looked up at me.

“Who are you.”

A question of who I am.

I held back a laugh and replied.

“......Don’t you know? I’m Shion Ascal.”

“Hmph.”

Elise gathered power in her palm. She looked at me as if mocking me and coldly muttered.

“Get lost. The Shion I know isn’t this weak.”

......I succeeded.

I was satisfied to get out of her dream.

* * *

Again, the airship.

“Phew.”

When I woke up, I saw Elise. She was still asleep, but cold sweat was beading on her forehead.

“Ugh......”

Her face was pale as if she was in pain, and magic was sparking from her hand.

It meant she would wake up soon.

“Let’s try this!”

Then a clear shout rang out.

I turned to look in that direction.

It was Layla. She was wildly waving her arms above her head, like one of those inflatable tube men used for advertising.

“Did you wake up too?”

“I can do this all day!”

“......?”

But her reaction was a bit strange. I approached Layla again.

“You damn bastard......! Bring it on!”

While shouting like this, Layla’s eyes were tightly closed. She was flailing her arms as if swimming, and roaring loudly.

“Come at me!! Hit me again!”

“.......”

Well, it seemed that slapping Layla was the best way to wake her up.

Just in case, I slapped her one more time.

This time, a little softer.

Smack.

“......Ah.”

Layla flinched.

And then, huff──! Huff──! She trembled as if she was incredibly angry, hyperventilating.

“You’re really dead.”

“......She’ll wake up on her own.”

She seemed fine, no need to worry.

“Heh!”

In the meantime, a groan came from behind.

“Haah...... Haah.......”

Elise had woken up from her sleep. I turned to look at her.

“Did you wake up?”

“......You.”

She pointed at me with her finger.

“.......”

But she couldn’t say anything, just licking her lips. Her face was slightly flushed.

“Why. What.”

“No...... I had a nightmare.”

“What kind of nightmare.”

“......Don’t ask. It was terrible.”

Elise looked around.

“It seems everyone is the same. When did you wake up?”

“Just now.”

“......Really?”

“Yeah. I woke up about a minute ago.”

“......Phew.”

Then Elise let out a sigh of relief. I pretended not to know and asked.

“Do we have to wait until the others wake up?”

“No.”

She wiped the sweat off her forehead and shook her head.

“We can go into the dream. We’ll have to help. It would be hard for them alone.”

“......You damn bastard!!”

“Kyah!”

Elise was startled by Layla’s sudden outburst.

“Hey!! Come here!! You’re dead!!

“What, why?”

She quickly checked Layla’s face, but,

“Come here!!! I’ll make your cheeks like mine!!”

Layla was still asleep.

“......What’s with her? Why are her cheeks like this?”

Elise asked, looking at Layla’s cheeks, which were swollen like a balloon.

“I don’t know. I have no idea.”

I shrugged.