"What are you doing here, Kazuya? You are Kazuya, right?"
Kanata-san took me to her room and made sure no one was listening in on our conversation.
"Yeah, it's me. It's just a long story."
"You should get out of that disguise. I could recognise you from a mile away with that disguise on."
I'll just shift Alter Ego and make it fit my previous appearance. Alice Kanata was my mother's schoolmate, supposedly. If she found out that I am Alpha then my journey would come to an end. She's someone that I cannot deal with right now.
My hair turned black and my eyes turned blue. I looked like Kazuya.
"Well, what was with the disguise?"
"I kind of ran away from school after that incident. I thought it was dangerous. I changed my appearance and name, making sure that I don't talk so that my friend doesn't attack me."
"Hm? Friend? Your comrades?"
"No, one of the people in the Divine Church protecting Lucia is... was my friend. If he sees me now, he'll try to kill me."
Kanata-san is a curious woman. I'm sure that the question, 'Why,' is circling her mind. If she asks, I'll have to dodge it.
"Sounds like you've had quite a hard experience. It reminds me of your mother."
She chuckled lightly, reminiscing, while I stared at her with a blank expression.
"Ah, right, you don't remember her..."
She's someone else who knows about my 8-year amnesia. However, now that I've regained my memories, I could somewhat make out what kind of person my mother was.
Some of the memories are blurry and distorted but I can make them out. Some memories became clearer when February entered my body. Like a memory of my mother and I. It was just a memory of her pushing me on a swing in the park.
"Anyway, make yourself at home. Wonderland is a wonderful place."
"That's a terrible pun."
·———·
Wonderland—a safe haven, but from what? All these people look perfectly fine and happy. So, what's the catch? Why did Kanata-san create this place?
Lucia and Kanata-san seemed to know each other. Lucia didn't seem British unlike Kanata-san, who is half-Japanese and half-British but was mainly raised in England.
I guess that's it for us. We got paid for our labour but Elizabeth doesn't seem to want to go anywhere yet.
"Huh? What?"
"Let's stay here for an extra day."
"Why?"
Mei asked Elizabeth.
The purple-haired girl narrowed her eyes as she glanced towards Kanata-san's bungalow.
"I have a hunch... If we stay here for a day, we'll get something which will lead us towards our goal."
I scratched my head and raised a finger.
'I don't see how that makes us need to stay.'
I kept writing in text, just in case.
"We should probably listen to her."
Myraliana walked up to us. She had gone to see what Wonderland was and freely explored this place.
"Sis' intuition is rarely wrong. It's saved us in sticky situations. We'll probably make more progress if we stay."
Mei, Kaito and I exchanged looks.
"Plus, anyways, I was going to ask the same thing."
"Something suspicious is going on."
Kaito finished Myraliana's statement for her.
"Mhm. I was walking around the town and it was strange. If you take a closer look, there's not a single child in this place."
Myraliana pointed it out.
As I looked at the passing crowd of people, there did not seem to be anyone under the age of 18. Of course, I can't tell people's ages at first glance, but no one seemed to look like a child.
"That's not strange, is it? Perhaps they've simply grown. Maybe Wonderland has been around for a while."
"No, Wonderland has only been around for 3 years. I asked the man who guided us."
Elizabeth almost instantly shut down Kaito's theory. She put her hand on her chin, thinking deeply.
"It's strange, very strange."
Mei agreed.
"With around 10,000 or so people in one place, would it be strange not having babies?"
The purple-haired girl concluded.
She's right. With approximately 10,000 people living together, you would think that there would be a single baby here. But not one. Elizabeth is right, it is suspicious.
I don't want to believe it but... Miss Kanata must be behind it.
'Let's investigate some more before talking to Miss Kanata.'
They all nodded at me.
Honestly, I don't want to get ourselves mixed up into this but they won't leave it alone. I won't leave simply because I'm worried for our safety. If they all want to do something, I'll do what I can to help them.
The only problem is Miss Kanata. Assuming she's directly involved, then we'll need to fight her. All that I know is that this won't go well...
·———·
"What do you mean that you don't have the grimoire?"
Alice asked Lucia, looking out of her window. Lucia shrunk back near the door.
"Those people from BLOOD took it when they last attacked! They're still after my life for some reason though!"
She lied. She blatantly lied. Lucia lied to the person that was supposed to be protecting her. This was because she also believed something was strange in Wonderland.
"Is that so..."
"By the way, Alice... Where's Yume and Mari?"
"..."
The woman turned, silently staring at the girl. The girl found it hard to predict what she was thinking.
"They volunteered."
"Volunteered?"
"They have now become one with Wonderland."
"What're you...?!"
"Lucia. Do not get involved. If you interrupt what I am doing here in Wonderland, then you will be denying the future of the world itself."
Lucia grimaced, troubled by Alice's vague words.
"What do you mean?"
"It's just as I said. Wonderland is the future of the world. It will be the new Earth, where people can live in peace, study, learn, live, and work, side by side. Unlike the surface."
"Do you understand what that means? Billions of people in here? How will you monitor them all? It doesn't make sense."
Alice raised her brow, almost as if to question Lucia.
"What?"
"Billions? I never said there would be billions."
"Huh?"
"At the very most, there will be 100,000. That's because the surface will be destroyed by the Gods."