Part 9. Open Your Heart
Only ten minutes had passed since they entered the topsy-turvy house, but it had left everyone mentally drained. Amisa had placed Mochi on her shoulder, and the three of them sat on the couch in silence for a while. No one blamed each other for getting stuck; they all understood that without great courage, those three doors couldn't be easily opened.
"This level is quite a prank... Hahaha..." Toto broke the silence with a half-joking, weak tone.
"...It's not just a prank, it's intentional murder. What's with the 'scented key,' where's the scent..." Jasky complained discontentedly.
Looking at Jasky 's still reddened face, Amisa felt guilty. After finding the right words, she asked, "Um, is your face still hurting?"
"What do you think?" Jasky furrowed his brows in response. Amisa quickly lowered her head again, gripping her skirt tightly: "I'm really sorry, I'm not usually like this... I don't know what came over me... why did I..."
"This matter can be discussed later...," Toto forced a smile, a weariness on his face that hadn't been seen before.
"Yeah, time is running short," Jasky pretended nothing was wrong and took out his notebook, but the pen accidentally fell to the ground.
Between the eyes—see to unlock the heart.
Between the ears—hear to unlock the sound.
Between the nose—scented key.
"I wrote down the room names and level descriptions in advance. The common point in all three levels is to escape the room within a time limit. This is very similar to the real-world game 'Escape Room.' Have you played it before?"
Toto responded, "I've gone to an amusement park with friends to experience it. They also have a topsy-turvy house there, but I'm not good at using my brain, so I end up being the tool for others, hahaha~~~"
"I've played mobile games, but they were just virtual games. None of them had rooms like these," Amisa recalled the classroom from earlier, shivering involuntarily.
Jasky surveyed the structure of the Toosb house around them. "Honestly, at first, I thought it was just simple riddles, but it seems more like it's asking us to explore something deeper."
"Oh, I just saw that the room names mentioned body parts, so I thought we had to use those specific body parts to pass each level, hahaha..." Toosb scratched his head embarrassedly.
"What do you mean by exploring something deeper?" Amisa slowly raised her head to look at Jasky.
"Like... the first level is about exploring things that seem invisible but exist, the second level is about hearing the hidden meaning behind negative criticism. I think the third level might be..."
"Finding... the tulip that blooms anew after bathing in the flames of trauma?" Amisa closed her eyes. She seemed to be grasping the purpose of this level, and she made up her mind, lifting her head and saying, "In the room I was in earlier, I saw my elementary school classroom. There were desks and chairs for different grade levels, and each one had a drawer filled with trash, the table covered in obscenities and curses... and they were all my former seats."
"Memories of bullying?" Toosb said when he spoke up, Jasky 's expression also taking on a shadow.
"It's kind of like that, but I probably deserved it. I used to be a child star who was always acting cute at school, perhaps arousing jealousy. Sometimes I'd find trash and threatening letters in my drawer, later, as my fame grew, I started looking down on everyone, even being arrogant with teachers. But then... due to a slip of the tongue, my acting career was ruined."
"The Dreams of Alice Fire incident?" Jasky said.
"It's surprising you know about it too, but it's not just because of that single incident. I'm sure many people had accumulated resentment towards me for a long time. Later, I started receiving hate from netizens every day, being shunned by teachers and students at school. Whenever they got the chance, my classmates would stuff my drawer with trash, steal my belongings, and throw water on me in the bathroom.
Even when I changed classes in middle and high school, the bullying continued. Even if I tried to keep a low profile, they wouldn't let me go... I... I was just..."
Amisa's voice choked up as she spoke, and Mochi quickly comforted her by pressing its beak against her cheek.
"You don't have to continue if it's too difficult," Jasky frowned.
"But I have to. The clues are pretty obvious now. The pile of trash represents the psychological trauma we've experienced. If we don't face it, how can we find that crucial tulip? At least, I think sharing like this can help us share the burden. Are you planning to face that door alone?"
Faced with Amisa's questioning, Jasky turned his face aside. "I... I'm not... I just..."
"Hey! Since that's the case, let me share mine!" Toosb hurried to mediate. "In my room, I was in a hospital ward. There was a middle-aged man lying on a sickbed, emitting a stench of decay and drugs. He would burst into mad laughter from time to time."
"Is he someone you know?" Amisa asked.
Toosb gave a wry smile. "He's my father. My mother runs a family hair salon in Nagoya. My father often used his unique drumming and dancing skills to liven up the atmosphere in the shop. He was crazy and eccentric, always making everyone burst into laughter, hahaha~~~"
"I see, that's why you get along so well with that frog," Jasky commented.
However, as they continued laughing, Toosb's expression turned compassionate as he shifted the topic. "But, in truth, my father suffered from pseudobulbar affect. He often burst into laughter in the middle of the night, and this led our salon to receive constant complaints. He couldn't bear the disdain he faced and turned to drugs, wasting all the savings we had for the shop. Eventually, my mother filed for divorce and took me away from my father. I was away for ten years, during which I never saw him again..."
"Do you... miss him?" Amisa asked with a sad expression.
"I do~ My father always encouraged me to face everything with optimism. So, I really liked your 'Law of Attraction.' In fact, the reason I came back to Japan this time was to visit my father. I received a call from a hospital in Japan saying that my father was deteriorating due to drug abuse, and his body had wasted away. However, just as I was on my way to the hospital, I ended up falling into this place. The room I was just in was probably an imagined scene from my subconscious... hahaha~~~~"
"Everyone has their own difficult pasts..." Amisa and Toosb exchanged smiles, then their gazes turned to Jasky.
"Ugh... I know..." Jasky sighed and straightened up. He began to speak slowly: "I saw... the scene of my parents' argument on the night before their divorce. My mother is a pastry chef and had a successful baking business. However, after marriage, she began to look down on my father, who was only good at magic tricks, leading him to have an affair... which ultimately ended in their divorce. Afterward, perhaps feeling too lonely, my mother poured all her emotions and expectations onto me, not allowing me to touch anything beyond baking. She made me wake up early every day to learn baking, and I gradually developed signs of autism..."
"So you have autism."
Jasky glared angrily at Toosb. "Is that not okay?"
"It's totally okay! I might even have pseudobulbar affect~"
"Formerly, I had a condition that caused body odor and obesity. People would treat me like a disgusting fat geek, and I became a shut-in, eating the food my mother brought to me every day, locking myself in my room reading books and wasting time..."
"Wow! No wonder you're so knowledgeable about comics. Have you read a lot of manga?" Toosb asked curiously.
"My mother treated manga like poison, so I never even got the chance to touch them. In my room, there were mostly baking books from my mother and magic books and Western novels left behind by my father."
"I can't believe it..." Amisa re-evaluated Jasky's handsome appearance. "From a geek to a handsome guy, and you combined your trauma into a hobby so skillfully as a dessert magician. You really turned things around!"
Jasky 's face remained impassive as he looked at Amisa and said, "You changed me."
"Me?"
"Yes, I've been following your daily singing videos for a few years now. Your unique style gave me a sense of courage, a fearlessness against societal norms. Even seeing you successfully create a song with over ten million views."
"Wait a minute! You've seen them all?" Amisa asked in surprise, and Jasky nodded without hesitation. "I've been paying attention to you for years. I thought, if a girl who had been through social flames like you is trying to move past it, what right do I have to escape from being isolated at school? So, I decided to lose weight and learn baking from my mother again, using the knowledge from baking and magic to develop low-calorie desserts. That's why I call myself the 'Dessert Magician.' It's my vision, my dream."
"Wow! That's so inspiring! Group hug!" Toosb, moved, tightly embraced Jasky, who sighed and didn't push him away for once.
"Well, if you succeed in developing those desserts, the girls will surely love you!" Amisa brightened up.
"No... I don't really need that..."
"You too, Amisa!" Toosb added. "You've brought together the Little Tea Princess from Bai Cheng and the Lonely Unicorn and Lion Man from Red Heart, helping us cooperate and cross these levels together. That's something not every regular person can achieve."
"You're right, if it weren't for you two assisting, I probably wouldn't even have passed the first level," Amisa said with a smile that had become more open.
"I'm just using my brain a bit," Jasky stated.
"I'm just a tool," Toosb said.
"But you're both much more than that."
"And you're much more than that too."
Seeing Jasky and Toosb speaking in unison, Amisa couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Hahaha! You guys have great chemistry."
"Hahaha! Bashful boy, we have great chemistry."
"Who says I have great chemistry with this silly rabbit?" Jasky pushed Toosb away.
"But without me, wouldn't you still be crying from being scolded by the answering machine?"
"Want me to hit you?"
Boom───────────────
Before the conversation could continue, the Toosb house began to shake violently. It was at this point that the trio realized they had talked too much, and there were only ten minutes left.
"Oh no, we got carried away and didn't focus on the main point," Jasky said.
"No," Amisa stood up, holding Mochi. "I know what to do now."
"That's funny, I do too!" Toosb stood up as well.
"Alright," Jasky stood up, "I think I've figured it out as well."
"Then, let's find the tulip and move on to the fourth level!" Amisa extended her hand, and the other two followed suit, stacking their hands on top of each other.
"Together!"
Once again, they established their unspoken understanding and returned to their chosen doors.