“Shadow?” murmured Gilbert. He was still staring at the closed door, contemplating whether he should ask what that girl meant by her words.

 

“Gil? What’s the matter?” Cardinal poked him in the back. “Aren’t we going to the beach right now?”

 

“...Yeah.” He turned around and beckoned for Cardinal to follow him. They had already wasted too much time fooling around today, and had nothing to show for it. He could care less about the words of a strange barista. They left for the station.

 

Glimmering eyes watched them leave.

 

…

 

ATTENTION

Due to a gas leakage, the Boardwalk and Carnival are currently closed. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask for your understanding. Please direct any and all questions to the office of Mayor Ludwig.

 

“Well… What should we do now?”

 

“I’m thinking.” Gilbert frowned. A gas leakage? An obvious lie if you knew what happened here yesterday. The more pressing matter was whether the mayor knew about the monster or only saw the aftereffects. It would be troublesome if they knew. Not only would investigating Cardinal’s memories become more difficult, but—

 

“Hey, are you kids interested in the carnival?”

 

A rough voice called out from behind them. Startled, the two turned around to see a slightly older man wearing a baseball cap staring at them. He had a scraggly beard and a hollow stare. With his hands in his pockets, he jerked his chin to the entrance.

 

“If you are, I know a way to get around the gate. There’s a way to get through the fence up ahead.”

 

“No than—”

 

“Really, that would be great!” 

 

Flabbergasted, Gilbert glared at Cardinal. She slightly shrunk back before giving him a “Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan” look with her eyes. The man turned and started walking. Cardinal followed and after a short pause, Gilbert did too.

 

While walking around the carnival gate’s perimeter, he whispered to her, “Are you out of your mind? Why did you agree to follow this guy?”

 

“Hehe, it’ll be okay, Gil. He seems a little suspicious, but I’m sure even if something goes wrong, you’ll be able to take care of it.” Cardinal smiled confidently, “I believe in yo—ow!”

 

“So you didn’t have a plan at all! We’re leaving.”

 

“Wait! We can’t do that, the monster from before is the only link we have to my memories!” She looked at him, the desperation from last night present in her eyes. The two stared at each until he looked away and continued walking. He heard her footsteps catching up to him from behind.

 

‘Well, we did need a way in...’ He eyed the man walking ahead of them, ‘Besides, I haven't gotten that rusty yet.’

 

The man stopped and gestured to a few bushes near the fence, “We’re here.”

 

Seeing Gilbert’s questioning look, he spread apart a bush to reveal the “hole”. While the fence clearly had no gaps, the ground underneath a part of it had been dug out, most likely by a small critter of some kind. Although it would be cramped, through this tunnel they could probably get into the carnival. 

 

“How did you know this was here?”

 

“I’m a construction worker here. Me and my buddies made this hole to sneak some things in and out.” He flashed them a grin. “Just some extra cash, you know?” Then, he crouched down and crawled through the short tunnel, emerging on the other side. 

 

Curious, Cardinal approached the hole before slowly crawling through it and crossing the fence. Gilbert followed after. His expression hardened when he looked into the hole, but soon returned to normal. Emerging on the other side, the two brushed the dirt off of themselves as the man opened his mouth, “I’m Samuel, by the way. Where are you guys headed in the carnival? If we’re going the same way I’d be happy to accompany you a little longer.” The man took his hand out before pausing and shoving it back in his pants nonchalantly. Gilbert's eyes narrowed.

 

Cardinal opened her mouth, but Gilbert cut her off. “We’re okay. Thanks for showing us a way in.” With that, he dragged Cardinal away from the man.

 

After he was sure that he put a fair distance between them, he let go of her and pointed in the general direction of the carnival’s center, “Let’s quickly investigate and get out. I don’t want to run into that guy again.”

 

“Why not?” Cardinal tilted her head, “he seemed like a nice guy.”

 

“Didn’t anybody teach you to be wary of strangers? He lied to us.”

 

“Huh? What do you mean?”

 

“He was lying about being a worker here and about the hole.” Gilbert sped up his pace, “The dirt in the hole was still wet."

 

"So?"

 

"In this cold season? A hole that was dug a long time ago by him and his ‘buddies’ would have dried by now.”

 

At the very least, digging a hole during the Winter would require proper tools.

As Cardinal fell silent, he continued, “And his fingernails, I didn’t notice it at first, but they were caked in mud. Add in the fact that the tunnel was filled with small uneven grooves and it's obvious that something's fishy about his whole story." He didn't mention that some of Samuel's fingers weren't covered in mud, but rather entirely tinged red.  

 

Still, there were a couple of points about Samuel that he still didn’t understand. Why help them in the first place? Why make no real effort to hide how suspicious he was? And how was he so unbothered by his torn off fingernails? The baseball cap had hidden most of his expressions from them, making it hard to know what he was thinking. What he had been able to notice was a hint of black fuzziness that was present on the side of his neck. Yet, this was hardly helpful since almost everybody that he saw had those markings.

Gilbert pushed these questions aside as the collapsed slide came into view along with the demolished café. Finding clues and leaving was the higher priority here. A brief scan showed that nothing seemed to be different other than safety tape and fencing being set up around the perimeter of both sites. The area was a still a large plaza that connected multiple paths with the slide at the center.

 

Gilbert grimaced as he remembered the death that he had experienced here. The feeling of having all his bones broken wasn’t something he wanted to experience again. He briefly glanced at Cardinal, who had crouched down in the ruins of the café, before rummaging through some of the rubble. Nothing but chunks of concrete, glass, and broken furniture could be found. Likewise, despite how much the monster had writhed inside the slide, there was nothing of its rugged skin or dark blood that could be found there. He went back to Cardinal, still crouched down in the café.

 

“Nothing on my end, what about you?”

 

"..."

 

“Cardinal?”

 

He looked closer at her and realized that she was holding something in her hand. It gave off a faint glow and shimmered with rainbow hues when the light hit it at a certain angle. It reminded him of the very edge of the bubbles he would blow as a kid. 

 

Tearing his gaze away, he snapped his fingers in front of her. She didn't respond, a faraway look in her eyes, as if she was in a completely different world. For some reason, it gave him a slight sense of panic. Hurriedly, he shook Cardinal back and forth. 

 

“Hu-ah? Wha-at? Gil-il? Why are—you shaking—me like that?” Letting out a groan, she stood up, before almost falling back down from her dizziness. “The world… is spinning…”

 

As the distant gaze that was on her face was replaced by her usual vibrant attitude, he turned his attention to the puzzle piece.

 

“What’s that in your hand?”

 

“I’m... not sure. I saw it on the broken café countertop and picked it up.” Cardinal held the object out to him and it was now clear that it resembled a tiny puzzle piece. Except puzzle pieces didn’t occasionally glimmer in the sunlight. 

 

“You don’t even know what it is and you just picked it up?” He really couldn't take his eyes off of her for a second. “Put it back where you found it!”

 

“It’s fine, Gil. You’re such a worrywart sometimes.”

 

Then, as she smiled back at him, the tiny object melted into her hand.

 

“...” 

 

“...”

 

“Uh, Gil? It just went into me.”

 

 

“Why are you stepping away from me?”

 

 

“Wait! Don’t run away, Gil, help me out here!” At this, Cardinal latched onto Gilbert, refusing to let him go.

 

“I-idiot! Stay away! This is why you should’ve used your brain more and not picked that thing up!”

 

“I couldn’t help it! I felt like it was sucking me in and before I knew it, it was in my hand!”

 

“That’s exactly what I mean!”

 

Eventually, Gilbert pushed Cardinal away. She was about to grab onto him again when he stopped her. “Look, do you feel anything different about yourself?” She stretched out her hands and scanned them, before shaking her head. “I think I feel a little healthier?” She puffed up her chest, “Maybe I got a little smarter too.”

 

"I highly doubt it," he retorted. "Next time, don't go touching strange things.”

 

She brushed his warning off with a smile, “It turned out okay, didn’t it? Maybe this was related to my memories, in which case, what I did was actually the right thing!” She strode towards the direction of the carnival’s entrance. “Come on, Gil. It’s getting dark and we still need to check out the beach.”

 

“—A useless effort. The corrupted that washed up there has already been taken care of by me. Leaving it unfinished was quite sloppy, if I must say.”

 

The two whipped around at the sudden voice to see a girl with purple hair standing a few feet away from them. Her eyes were a dark shade of violet and her abrupt appearance rooted them to where they stood.

 

“Good day.” She curtsied. “This one, Luna, greets you. Albeit pointlessly—"

 

A sneer graced her lips as the shadows surrounding them seemed to darken.

 

"—for this is goodbye as well.”