"Aww, look at little Riku sitting there quietly, isn't he adorable~? He's ready to be our big boy now."

I’ve begun to notice some odd antics from Haruka and Yuma. At first, they were just brief moments of unease, but after doing some more investigating, that soon turned into suspicion.

First of all, I’ve noticed that Haruka and Yuma are tossing around words like "big boy" a lot. I'm not sure what they exactly expect from a one year old, but perhaps they're just being plain weird. However, I cannot overlook this next one. The two seem to be hiding my existence from everyone else. Whenever a visitor comes over, they make a mad rush to hide me and my crib in the basement of the house. They make no mention of my name to said visitors either. As a result, my room has very little in terms of toys, decorations, or anything that would suggest a baby is living there.

At around this time, Haruka’s been busier than usual. It seems that the library has recently been receiving some renovations and as a result, more people have been going and coming. Since the library Haruka works at is privately owned, they’re able to simply hire more workers in accordance to the increased visitors. Despite that though, she still has been needing to work longer shifts and more days. Her work is now just a few hours short of a full-time job. Haruka has to spend her breaks from work to come back home and feed me, change my diapers, or other such things.

Even so, no matter how long Haruka and Yuma are absent from the house, they never hire a babysitter. I was already quite alone beforehand, but now it’s like they’re practically nonexistent aside from the night.

Unless the common sense of this world is in a complete mess, I think it would be safe to assume that this behavior is not normal. So that begs the question, why are they so secretive? It’s convenient that I’m not supervised so that I can do whatever I want, but I’m seriously questioning their qualifications as parents.

Well, it’s not like I’m one to talk. I’ve done a terrible job raising children many times in the past, though many of those times involved environmental factors like poverty, unsafe habitation, total war, or freak accidents. However, it doesn’t seem like any of those factors are involved here, unless being born to weird parents counts as a freak accident.

It had been on my mind for a while now, but I recently happened to unearth something that brought my full attention to this issue. While walking around in the house the other day, I stumbled across a tax return that Yuma was in the middle of filling out before having to go to work that day. At first, I was only taking a quick glance at it, but soon noticed something alarming. My name was nowhere on it, nor was there anything to indicate my entire existence. After doing some scouring around, I happened to come across a recent copy of the family registry, which listed the names Haruka Nakamura and Yuma Nakamura, but not Riku Nakamura. They didn’t add my name to the official family registry, something which should have happened a week or two after my birth at most.

That was a red flag for me. I’m currently living in this world without any official document to confirm my validity. This is definitely not the normal family I thought I was in.

In addition, for some odd reason, Haruka and Yuma have been increasingly agitated ever since the new residents greeted them. Three months ago, the foreigner couple stopped by and introduced themselves as the Williams family. As usual, Haruka hid me in the basement while Yuma greeted the two at the front door. Once I was concealed, they invited the Williams’ into the house. The couple brought a rose from their garden, presenting it to Haruka and Yuma. At first, the two welcomed the Williams’ with delight, but that completely changed when Ms. Williams presented baby Alice to them. After that, as they continued conversing, I could hear a sense of unease coming from Haruka’s voice. Yuma began stuttering as well, as if something was bothering him with the foreigners. Eventually, they cut the conversation short and forced the Williams’ out of the home. Normally, I would just assume that they had something against foreigners, as many people I had encountered in other worlds were the same, but their anxiety right after seeing Alice made me think otherwise. Ever since then, they’ve been keeping me inside the basement not just when visitors arrive, but whenever they leave the home as well now. They’re paranoid about something, and it has to do with the girl named Alice Williams for some reason.

“Yuma, I’ve been thinking that we should push for hastening the-”

“Haruka, remember rule number one.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry…”

There’s one more oddity I’ve picked up about Haruka and Yuma. There recently have been mentions of this “rule number one” between the two of them. Whenever Haruka brings up a topic with some suspicious undertones, Yuma always refers to this supposed rule which causes her to become silent.

This has reached far beyond the point of superstition. Something is definitely going on.

I’ve been studying Haruka’s and Yuma’s habits for a while, trying to look for anything suspicious. Yuma takes off in the morning and doesn’t get back until evening. By then, he’s extremely exhausted and often remains awake for only a bit before going to bed. Haruka takes off in the afternoon and comes back by evening. Fairly normal for a daytime schedule.

However, that’s not what I’m focusing on. I’ve noticed that some days, Haruka and Yuma seem more tired than usual. I would notice some dark circles under Haruka’s eyes as she hands me a bottle, and Yuma would dive right into bed after coming back from work. Due to that, I’ve been forcing myself awake during the evening in order to observe them during the hours I would normally be asleep. Fighting against sleep has been a common thing in my past lives, especially in Earth-like worlds, so I became accustomed to it after a bit of time.

As a result of my efforts, I noticed something peculiar about the night. Sometimes, Haruka and Yuma will both go outside at midnight, coming back a few hours later. They head out solemnly as if they’re attending a funeral, and then come back the same as ever.

Today, it seems like they're going outside once more. Looks like it's time for some private investigating.

Once Haruka and Yuma leave the house, I observe their movements through the window, noticing them walking west under the glow of the street lamps. I wait about a minute before conjuring some darkness aura to artificially increase my height and help me climb out of the crib. I then make my way to the front door and slowly open it, making sure that nobody is around to notice my departure.

Similar to when I was investigating the Williams family, I encased myself with a layer of darkness in order to blend into the night, avoiding the street lamps. I head in the same direction as Haruka and Yuma. Needless to say though, as a one year old, I cannot catch up to fully grown adults. That’s not a problem though.

I conjure additional darkness aura and shift it to the soles of my feet. At first, a pair of stilts form, just like the usual, but after a brief moment, the stilts reform. Each stilt diverges to form two branches, like a wishbone. A circular wheel then forms between the two branches.

My darkness ability has been growing over the past few months, and now I can go beyond creating simple pillars that have mass. I can’t create any overly complex shapes yet, but a branching pole and a wheel are within my capabilities.

Wheels are the superior mode of transportation when on a flat surface like the concrete roads of this world. As a result, I soon see Haruka’s and Yuma’s figures in the distance, growing larger as I get closer. I slow down my pace, making sure to remain a reasonable distance from them.

The two are silent for the whole time, not saying a thing. Their usual frivolous vibe is gone as well. It’s like they’re completely different people.

Eventually, the two stop at a building and climb a set of stairs to the front entrance. I dispel the wheels I made and look at a plaque near the building. It reads “Yami Library”. It seems that the two went to Haruka’s workplace. However, the library looks to be closed and locked by this time. All the lights are off and the window blinds are down. Haruka, and Yuma especially, shouldn’t have any business here.

Haruka presses a set of buttons on an intercom as if she had memorized the pattern prior. After a couple of seconds, a voice appears from an electronic speaker.

“Recite rule number one.”

Haruka and Yuma both stare directly into a security camera near the intercom and speak in unison.

“Keep your two lives separate from each other. Never have them cross.” (x2)

After a few more seconds, the voice replies.

“You may enter, Member No. 26 and No. 27.”

A click resounds and the front entrance to the library automatically opens for them. Haruka and Yuma then walk inside, not saying another word. Seeing the door slowly close, I think about quickly dashing up the stairs as fast as I can, but reassess my options when remembering the security camera.

I can’t just waltz right up to the front door, since that would reveal myself to whoever is behind the security camera. Being revealed would start up some really annoying things I would rather not deal with. I could also just give up and leave, but I’d be missing out an opportunity to know more about my surroundings.

I spend a few minutes pondering what to do until I notice some rumbling sounds approaching. I quickly focus my attention towards this incoming person and quietly observe from the shadows.

A woman with a somewhat tall stature walks in, lugging around a large crate on a cart. When reaching the stairs, she hoists the crate off the cart and carries it up the stairs, a task proving to be difficult for her. With a thud, she drops the crate near the front entrance once she climbs the top of the stairs.

Now having a better look at this woman, I begin to notice something. Her face seems very familiar. It takes a few brief moments of searching through my memories before realizing that she’s the doctor from back when I was just born.

The voice on the intercom follows the same routine.

“Recite rule number one.”

“Keep your two lives separate from each other. Never have them cross.”

“You may proceed, Member No. 18.”

The door automatically opens once more. The doctor walks down the stairs, retrieves the cart, walks up again, and begins to put the crate back on it. During this process, both the doctor and the crate she’s carrying are in the way of the security camera. Not letting this opportunity go to waste, I silently climb the stairs and sneak into the library while the doctor’s back is turned to me, preoccupied with adjusting the crate on the cart.

Upon reaching inside, the first thing I notice is how dark it is. Since the library is closed, all the lights have been turned off. I quickly hide myself within the darkness and track the movements of the doctor while maintaining a distance from her.

Looking at the interior of this library, I would say that it’s quite…unusual. There indeed seems to be hundreds of thousands of books present, but the decor of the place doesn’t exactly leave the most pleasant taste in my mouth. Rather than being built around ease of access, it seems that the library was made to create a daunting impression through endless spiraling staircases leading up to who knows where. In addition, many statues are scattered around the whole vicinity. These statues weren’t of people, animals, or famous figures like usual, but instead had gargoyles, imps, and other ghoulish creatures.

I peek from behind a statue of a black knight while the doctor walks past the DVD section, the kids’ section, and then the fiction section. She eventually reaches the religious section and upon walking to a certain shelf, she pulls a series of books, causing the shelf to slide to the side, revealing a complex stairway leading downwards.

The doctor heads down the stairs with the cart and crate, creating a distinct clacking noise each time the crate’s wheels hit the step below. After about a minute, the passageway automatically closes, and it looks as if nothing had ever happened. I wait for tens of minutes, and during that interval, a couple of people arrive and follow the same procedure. I make sure to memorize the book-pulling pattern so that I can repeat it myself. After confirming that nobody seemed to be coming anymore, I inched towards the bookshelf and pulled the books in the right order.

As expected, the passageway opens, leading to a spiraling staircase. I clad myself with an extra amount of darkness to help conceal myself even further and then descend.