"Hey! Hey! Isn't it rude not to include me in your game?"
"The Theater Actor can't hold cards, right?"
"True! True! Ahaha!"
The goofy laughter echoed in my room. True, with his rounded hands, the Theater Actor couldn't possibly hold cards.
Wait, since when did I even have a stuffed animal like this in my house?
"I'm your sister's plushie! I'm not yours! Don't forget that!"
"...Hmm? Oh, right."
So it's Hina's.
She might own something like that. After we moved into the new house, Hina got her own room. I can't even enter without her permission.
It made sense. When we lived in our apartment, Hina had tons of stuffed animals, so I could imagine her room filled with them now. The Theater Actor's answer was so spot-on, almost like he knew what I was thinking in advance.
Still, it's weird that he's able to talk. How does it work?
"Hey, Theater Actor, how are you talking? Are you a speaker?"
"Hm? No, no, it's my mouth! Look, my mouth moves, and you hear my adorable voice, right?"
"But... it's not moving at all."
"Ahh? Ahaha! It must be because you're seeing with a dirty heart! Kids with a pure heart can see it move!"
I looked over to Aya-chan to check.
"What do you think? Do you see it moving?"
"Nope. Not moving at all."
"Ehh!?"
The Theater Actor exaggerated a gasp, flipping over dramatically.
If I think about it logically, it must be a speaker.
Now, I was curious about how he was moving so freely.
"Hey, Theater Actor. How are you moving?"
"Hmm. Now that's a tough question. But let me ask you, Itsuki: how do you keep breathing to stay alive? How do you make your muscles work? Can you explain that?"
"...Uh..."
"See? It's a mystery! I'm the same. Ahaha!"
He laughed, spinning around on one leg like he was dancing, dodging any real answer.
"No, no, come on. Seriously, how are you spinning like that?"
"What are you talking about, Itsuki? The Theater Actor's always been this way, hasn't he?"
"...Really...?"
Nina-chan said it like, "Of course, the sun rises in the east," and that had me doubting myself.
"It's probably gyro effect! Just like a bicycle or a unicycle. Nipa!"
"...I... don't know what that is."
Was there some principle that explained how stuffed animals could move on their own and spin like that?
"There's no shame in not knowing! You're blessed with the wisdom of not knowing! I'm just fluffy fluff."
"...What are you even saying?"
"Just cheering you up! Ahaha!"
He continued spinning, then, like a figure skater, came to an abrupt halt.
"Whew, cheering you up is tiring. Time for a break. One break, two breaks...three breaks?"
"..."
The Theater Actor said that and sat back down on a tiny toy chair behind Nina-chan.
Then, suddenly, I heard the front door unlocking.
"I'm back, Itsuki! Oh? Are Aya-chan and Nina-chan here?"
Mom's voice echoed from the entrance. After a moment, I heard footsteps stomping down the hallway.
"Big brother, welcome back!"
"That's
welcome home
, silly."
"Yeah, welcome home!"
Hina had returned from shopping with Mom. Shortly after, Mom peeked her head into the room.
"Oh, Itsuki, when you have guests, you should at least offer them tea."
"Uh... yeah, right."
Putting the thought aside, we all ate curry together. I noticed nothing strange there. I took a bath—nothing strange there, either.
I did my usual evening stretching, then settled into bed. All very routine. Almost... too routine.
Still, I felt a nagging sense that I was missing something.
Lying in bed, I stared at the ceiling.
...Something was lacking. Something felt off, like an important piece was missing.
Why did I feel so uneasy? It reminded me of my past life as an adult, where I wasted a day off and felt it was all a big waste of time.
I knew it was a "normal" day. I understood that. But still, I couldn't shake the feeling.
I sighed, getting up from bed, throwing off my covers, and sliding open the door.
The hall was bathed in moonlight, illuminating the path to the yard.
Stepping carefully, I slipped out to the garden's edge.
There stood a large building—almost too large to be just a storage shed, yet too small to live in.
But approaching it made me feel strangely calm, like something important was waiting for me there.
"...Yeah."
I opened the door to the detached building with one hand, and there, sitting in the center, was the Theater Actor.
"Mhm, mhm. So, you came after all. This... is your happiness, isn't it?"
Nodding dramatically, the Theater Actor sat there, almost mockingly exaggerated.
"So this is where you were, Theater Actor."
"Yes, I was here the whole time! Because this is where you wanted to be!"
He spun around.
"Itsuki-kun, do you know what this place is?"
"It's the training hall. The place to practice... m-a-g-i-c."
"Yes! Exactly!"
Saying "practice magic" felt deeply satisfying.
That's right.
I hadn't practiced magic even once today.
No wonder I couldn't sleep.
"I am the Theater Actor, conductor of this wonderland. The one who shows children their dreams."
I summoned my magic, conjuring
Silveit
in my hand.
The familiar feeling of my
Threading Arts
magic brought a sense of fulfillment.
"I made this world to give you what you wanted, Itsuki. A safe world without monsters, a world with no magic. The perfect, peaceful world for you."
The Theater Actor's spinning stopped. He pointed a plush arm at me.
"But you—oh, you're a greedy one! Even though you wish for a world without monsters, you still want a world with m-a-g-i-c!"
At that moment, the training hall peeled away like a paper dollhouse, unfolding and collapsing.
In a loud crash, the walls hit the ground, and behind me, my house disappeared, as if it had been a mere illusion. The moon vanished, too.
Everything faded away.
In the next blink, I was standing in the middle of the amusement park.
And with that, I remembered everything.
"Funny, isn't it? You don't want to die, you want a world without monsters, yet you still want a world with magic! It's a contradiction, you see! You are a contradiction!"
"It's not a contradiction."
I extended
Silveit
, wrapping it around the Theater Actor.
"Because if there were no magic..."
I lit him on fire, watching as the Theater Actor turned to ash within the embrace of my
Silveit
.
"...everything I worked so hard for would disappear, too."
As he disintegrated, he faded into a dark mist.