The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 308 Cat Pago (21) - Diary, Eighth Page The white cat with heterochromatic eyes spoke. "There's a tiger and a crocodile. Between these two very hungry animals, a delicious-looking deer appeared." "So what would the tiger and crocodile do? Would they suggest splitting it in half amicably? Or would one side obediently give way?" "Supernatural entities are basically like hungry beasts. Real beasts get full when they eat prey, but supernatural entities only become more greedy as their victims increase, never knowing satisfaction." "Like the previous building incident, there are cases where various types of supernatural entities band together as if conspiring, but that's only possible when things align to some degree." "Just like how different types of broadcast ghost stories try to overwrite each other and broadcast only their own content, there are some supernatural entities whose very narratives are fundamentally opposed to each other." Popuri answered indifferently while continuing to tie the hem of her long pants to make a makeshift tube. "So I'm the deer, and this Other Shore Station is the lion. Therefore, to escape, I need to bring in a crocodile?" "Exactly that. In this world, there's a type of ghost story where no matter what you do or how you travel, you're inevitably led to strange places." ─The navigation arbitrarily shows strange routes. If you follow those routes, you end up at reservoirs or lakes where many people have drowned to death. ─I never input such a place as my destination, but the navigation keeps insisting this is the correct destination, constantly telling me to return to the original route since I keep deviating from it. ─I ignored the navigation and clearly drove straight for dozens of minutes, never made a U-turn or anything, yet somehow that reservoir appears before my eyes again. Normally, this would be an utterly unpleasant and bizarre ghost story. However, for Popuri right now, it was also a ghost story she desperately needed. Whether it's a place where people drown or whatever, anyway, the lakes and reservoirs where supernatural entities lure people in this type of story are 'regions that actually exist in reality.' At least it means she could escape this supernatural space and go to reality. "But will the navigation supernatural entity really recognize this as a 'vehicle'?" Popuri pointed to the object below while tucking the life jacket made from pants between her bag and back. A green hand truck that had been placed in the station restroom cleaning supply cabinet along with buckets and mops. The item that some people also call by names like L-cart or Daruma was ready to roll away from under Popuri's feet at any moment. "Why, energetic boys often ride similar things around, don't they? So it's a vehicle." "I think getting a back smashing was part of the package deal. ...Well, there's no other choice though." Popuri grabbed the hand truck's handle with one hand and operated her phone with the other to start the navigation app. The destination was Meimoku Lake. It was the name of the place with the highest reputation recently among the reservoir and lake-type navigation ghost stories that Popuri remembered. Anyway, these things just keep cycling with different names, so it would become some other name as time passes, but at least for now. [─Starting route guidance. Please go straight for about 100 meters.] Originally it was a type of ghost story where if you passed by the area, your destination would arbitrarily change to that Meimoku Lake place even if you had set a different target area, so she wondered if it would work to specify Meimoku Lake from the beginning, but making that worry pointless, the navigation began guidance. Even though all other communication-related functions on her phone were completely dead. Clatter, clatter─. A frivolous and sharp wheel sound echoed through the Pigan Station platform where only silence had lingered. Popuri, gripping the hand truck's handle in one hand and her phone in the other, kicked off the ground forcefully with one foot. The green plastic board that she usually only saw in the backyards of supermarkets or convenience stores glided forward carrying Popuri's weight. "……." "Just now, you thought this was more fun than expected after riding it, didn't you?" "No. It's not like that? Do I look like a woman who would have such childish thoughts in this serious situation?" "I see, my apologies. I unnecessarily poked a sore spot." "Why are you apologizing!?" Even while grumbling, Popuri's gaze was intermittently checking her phone screen. The carrier logo had disappeared long ago, but the navigation arrow in the center of the screen was trembling like a living creature, pointing northwest. [─Please go straight for about 20 meters, then turn right.] Popuri frowned. Popuri had already thoroughly searched every corner of the station long ago. And according to Popuri's memory, the location the navigation specified should have had an outside exit, but it was a place firmly sealed with concrete walls. Popuri had been harboring doubts about whether she would crash into a wall if she followed it as is, but making those doubts meaningless, when she actually turned the corner, the right path she witnessed was no longer a dead end. A space that stretched out like an underground shopping center, filled only with empty stores on both sides. For some reason, even though it was clearly indoors, she felt as if the fishy smell and humidity had become much thicker. [─Please go straight. The possibility of route deviation has been detected about 50 meters ahead.] The navigation's voice became one tone lower and heavier than usual. It felt not like simply guiding directions, but with the firmness of a commander leading the charge on a battlefield. Popuri looked ahead. And she was startled. Clatter!! Because a steel shutter was coming down from the ceiling at a terrifying speed. [Break through. Break through. Break through.] "Easier said than done!!" Popuri gritted her teeth while repeatedly kicking off the ground with one foot to increase the hand truck's acceleration. When it was reaching a speed she could barely handle despite having accelerated herself, the edge of the steel shutter barely grazed over Popuri's head as she crouched low. The moment Popuri passed the shutter, the humidity and fishy smell around her became even thicker. And despite clearly being indoors, something like thin fog was spewing out from somewhere, tinting the air. ─Crack! Crack!! The fluorescent lights on the ceiling burst noisily as the power was cut off. Simultaneously, the scenery of the surrounding corridor writhed as if alive, then began to reconstruct itself in various ways. [─Attention. This area is under construction. Passage is impossible. Please turn back. Please turn back.] The station's announcement broadcast rumbled and pressed against Popuri's eardrums. Actually, the corridor before her eyes stretched like gum, and the space in front of and behind Popuri stretched out about 10 times longer by feel. No matter how much Popuri ran forward, the speed at which space expanded was faster. "It seems the station side also has no intention of letting you go like this, blacky. Must be nice being popular." "I don't need this kind of popularity!!" [─Recalculating route. Turn left immediately. The current road is delayed, but the water level of the destination lake is very appropriate.] "If you want to make me drown, at least pretend to be normal and act like you're not!!" Even while voicing such complaints, Popuri immediately turned the hand truck's direction and dashed to the left. What was there was glass walls and empty space waiting for new tenants with their interiors emptied, but what she felt when the hand truck collided with that glass wall wasn't an intense impact. A strange sensation as if breaking through a wall made of sticky mud. And fog that had now become so thick that she couldn't properly see even 10 meters ahead. [─This is an announcement from Other Shore Station. You have currently entered an authorized personnel only area. Please stop moving immediately and turn around. Station staff will guide you.] For a moment, something like a chilling shiver ran down Popuri's spine. ■■■■■■■ Something indescribably unpleasant and creepy seemed to be chasing from behind. Just when she was about to turn around half-instinctively to check what it was. Press. Pago's front paw mercilessly pressed into Popuri's cheek. "Don't do stupid things. Blacky. Whether it's the other shore or the underworld, anyway, the top two things you must never do in the realm of the dead are looking back and eating local food. Just ignore it and run following the navigation guidance." The moment she heard Pago's words, Popuri unconsciously let out an "Ah" of realization. When escaping from the realm of the dead, if you look back, you lose something precious. If you eat food from the realm of the dead while there, you belong to the realm of the dead rather than the living world. At this point it was more in the realm of mythological knowledge than occult, but anyway, if she broke these rules, it would definitely be the end. It's not like she was going to eat pomegranates to class change from a modest minor deity in charge of her domain to the mistress of the underworld like a goddess in mythology. [─This is an announcement from Pigan Station. Please stop moving immediately. You must stay here. You cannot go anywhere. This is your final destination.] [─Trust the guidance. This is not your destination. You will be near your destination shortly. 50 meters ahead. Go straight immediately. Never stop.] Please just shut up, you damn supernatural entities. Unfortunately, those words from Popuri could not come out of her mouth. After rushing straight ahead for a while in an environment where she couldn't see what was what due to the fog. Because with a sudden floating sensation, her body spun around in midair. Just before falling, along with the sensation of a soft ball of fur, something pushed an object into her hand, which had been holding the cart handle but was now empty. "Do as planned! Blacky!!" Splash─!!! Sudden coldness. Moisture. The sensation of water. Sinking, no, the sensation of something grabbing her feet from below and pulling her down. Against the malice that seemed intent on drowning her immediately, Popuri squeezed out all her strength to stick her body out of the water surface, even if just for a moment. And, she vigorously flapped the pants she had grabbed in her hand, or more precisely the makeshift life jacket made from pants, then fiercely hugged its waist. With powerful buoyancy, Popuri's body floated up to the water surface, and the hands that had regretfully grabbed Popuri's ankles several times and pulled her down also eventually gave up and let Popuri go. With a splash, Popuri crawled out to the lake shore and lay spread-eagled, breathing heavily. After catching her breath for a while like that. Her phone, which she had forgotten she was even holding in her hand, rang out with a notification sound. Even in all that chaos, she had continued to hold onto it without letting go. Even though she found it absurd thinking about it herself and let out a hollow laugh, Popuri checked her phone. Whether it was thanks to waterproofing effects or if this too was some extension of a supernatural effect, even after falling into the lake and coming out, her phone was fine. [Hello? Hanamori? The appointment time has passed, did something happen by any chance? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?] Ah, come to think of it, they had originally planned to go to the art museum. Despite already being 4 hours past the appointment time, Hinosaka's voice was filled only with worry and concern, not displeasure or irritation. Indeed, not just anyone could be the school's idol. "...I'm not hurt, but I have no strength in my body at all. Could you come pick me up, no wait. I'll send you a message with a different area nearby, let's meet there." [Oh, okay. Sure! I'll go right away!] If she had told her to come directly here and Hinosaka also got caught up with supernatural entities, it would have been truly unmanageable. Even while feeling as if various parts of her body were throbbing with pain, Popuri somehow managed to get up. Yes, anyway, she was alive! She had returned to reality!! "Blacky. Prepare some premium steak chunks and wine that's at least 10 years old." ...Though it seems like her wallet might be dead. *** --- --- --- 『Other Shore Station』 A train station with an eerie name that doesn't exist in reality. The author arrived here during the process of escaping from the Monkey Dream on the previous page, but it's unknown if there are other ways to reach this place. Inside exists an ordinary station, with restrooms, ticket gates, stairs, etc. normally present, but as if only the station part of the space had been cut out, all areas where facilities leading to the 'outside' should be are blocked off by solid walls. This is the same even for the tunnels where trains should come and go. The escape method is to use a navigation supernatural entity. Set the location name of a type of supernatural entity that lures people with navigation and drowns them to death as your destination and activate the navigation. Originally, Other Shore Station firmly closes all passages leading outside the station, but by borrowing the power of navigation supernatural entities, it's possible to ignore this. I presume the narrative of 'even if you move via logically impossible routes, you somehow end up forcibly arriving at that destination' is what creates this effect. For vehicles, I confirmed that when using a hand cart, navigation supernatural entities function normally even without a car. Whether other vehicles work requires experimentation. However, even if you escape with the help of navigation supernatural entities, the destination is always a lake, and you face the risk of drowning upon escape, so advance preparation like preparing a life jacket is absolutely necessary. I've attached a diagram below showing how to make a temporary life jacket using pants, so make use of it. --- --- ---