This is more complicated than I thought; we actually registered ourselves with the organization. I got my ID under the name Oliver this time. I have so many names now; I wonder if I'll ever get confused by them.
"Oi, look in front of you!"
"Huh?"
Before I could react, I bumped into someone.
"Ack!" Papers rained down around us.
I fell on my butt with a loud thud.
"Tch, why don't you watch where you're going? Are you an idiot?" the person snapped, his voice filled with annoyance. I stood up and started picking up the scattered papers. As I picked one up, I read something that caught my eye.
To be executed. The name beneath the headline was eerily familiar: Mei Rosette. I wasn't sure if it was the same Mei I knew since I never learned her last name.
"He didn't mean it," I heard Flower's voice, snapping me back to reality. I gathered the rest of the papers and handed them back to the man, but he snatched them from me rudely.
"I don't care. Be thankful the supervisor isn't here, or else she'd punish both of you for blocking the way," he muttered angrily before storming off.
I felt a knot of worry tightening in my stomach about the people set to be executed. Why would they do that?
"Stop spacing out, will you? The woman at the registrar told us where to go. If you cause trouble like this, you'll get kicked out before you even realize it," Flower scolded me.
"I'm sorry. But I saw something on one of the papers. Something that's bothering me."
"Saw?" Flower repeated.
I nodded, recalling the name on the paper. "It seems they're going to execute certain people, and one of them is Mei."
"Who is this Mei?" he asked.
"She's from that school before. She was the one who showed me around. Mei is just a student."
Flower turned away from me, crossing his arms. "So?"
"Eh?"
"What about it? It doesn't have anything to do with you. Why would you care? As long as it doesn't hurt you or affect you, you should leave it alone before you get yourself into real trouble."
"But—" I tried to reason with him.
"I don't want to hear it. We better get going before I lose patience with you and throw you back inside your consciousness."
***
"So, I guess this is the room?"
The two of us stopped in front of a door on the 35th floor of the building. It seemed deserted.
"Look at the paper again," Flower said, wanting to double-check before we went in. I pulled the paper out of my pocket to confirm. "35th floor, Garnett door. Yep, this is our door."
"But it's strange. I don't see anyone around," I added. "Let's get going and finish this." Flower sounded impatient, like he was being chased.
I touched the doorknob and carefully twisted it open. As the door swung wide, darkness greeted us. "Here we go again, another dark room," I muttered, glancing at Flower. He looked shocked. "Wait, there's something wrong with this room."
"What do you mean something's wrong?" I asked, curious.
"I can feel a strong dark Alice inside..."
"E-eh? What do you think this room is? Could it be a battle room, and we have to fight?" I asked, panicking. But then he grinned at me. "Are you that curious?" What was with that look on his face all of a sudden?
I shook my head. "N-no?"
Suddenly, he kicked me into the room. "Waaa! Flower! You son of a—"
My eyes widened and sparkled. My mouth hung open in surprise.
"Hey, are you still there? Is there something in the room?" I could still hear Flower's voice. "Flower! Come quickly!" I called out in excitement.
"Geez, what is it...?" When he entered the room too, his eyes sparkled in amazement.
"Fireworks? Night? What in the world... This place is Abyss." He could tell where we were?
"Abyss? But isn't Abyss a place of darkness where they throw sinners to suffer?" I asked, confused.
"Where did you hear that? Abyss isn't like that, idiot. Abyss is a special place for monsters and demons. Not long ago, the ruler of Abyss tried to take over the human world. Although many demons prefer staying in Abyss because it's much more peaceful," Flower explained.
I observed Flower's smile. He was actually smiling. Did he live here once?
"But I don't understand how they connected Abyss to this room. Could it be they opened a gate?" he asked himself, but I could hear him.
"Gate? Isn't there only one gate to Abyss?" I asked.
"Who knows? What year are we in now? Don't you think people would have advanced? Nothing is impossible," he muttered as he started walking.
"W-wait for me!" I called, hurrying to catch up.
***
We ended up in a small demon market. It was kind of scary, so I stayed close to Flower to make sure we wouldn't get separated. I wanted to cling to his shirt, but every time I lifted my hand toward it, he hissed at me like a snake.
"Hey..." I mumbled, noticing the demons' eyes on me. I was already sweating cold, and Flower didn't even want to comfort me.
"What is it now? Stop complaining already," he snapped. I hadn't even said anything yet! This idiot. I sighed, missing Lykon. She was softer than this moody jerk.
Flower suddenly stopped walking, and since I wasn't paying attention, I bumped into him and fell on my butt again! How many times would that happen today?
"We're here. The oldest demon blacksmith in the Abyss."
"Why are we here again?" I asked curiously while getting up off the ground.
"The woman didn't say much. She just told us to come here. Maybe this is another trial. Since I'm smart enough to know, we can't proceed in battle without a weapon at least," he said with a smug look.
"Weapon? But, I don't know how to wield any weapon."
"Then you are stupid," he mocked.
I glared at him. Seriously, this was so different from the Flower I saw on that thorn chair!
"Let's go inside," he said, heading into the shop. "I said wait for me!" I called, following him.
Inside, the store was full of swords and all kinds of weapons. "I can't believe this place exists here," I mumbled to myself, stepping away from Flower for a moment to look around.
I moved closer to an axe. "I wonder if this one is real," I muttered like an idiot and rubbed the blade like a fool. "Ack!" My finger suddenly started bleeding.
"Okay, it's real," I confirmed, sticking my bleeding finger in my mouth. I went back to Flower, who was talking to a huge buffalo-like demon.
"Oh, there he is. The human," the buffalo demon said.