The kindergarten was exactly as Tie remembered it.

Except that the lights were off and an eerie emptiness hung in the air.

By habit, Tie first went to the “Quail” group. It was the place she knew best.

As if to confirm it, her name was written on the praise sticker board on the wall.

But what of it.

“Ugh...” 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Tie let her brow fall in defeat.

She was soaked from the rain; her whole body was cold and she had almost no strength left.

Suddenly her eyes fell on the wooden blocks lying on the floor.

Nearby were the familiar series of children’s storybooks and a toy kitchen set.

Everything looked so familiar, as if she had been playing with it only yesterday.

How had everything come to this?

Tie pressed her lips together until they hurt, and tears welled in her eyes.

Through the crack in the window Berugon’s voice kept coming.

“Show yourself, King of the Dead...”

He said he wouldn’t spare her if he found her, that she should prepare to part with her life.

Completely crushed, Tie rose from her seat.

Then she carefully opened the door and stepped out of the “Quail” room.

In the general play area, submerged in darkness, a clock hung on the wall above the shelf.

Its second hand still didn’t move — just as it had when Tie first entered the building.

“I can’t just keep running.”

Tie tugged the straps of her kindergarten backpack tighter and muttered to herself.

Actually, Tie had long wanted to take Krazar’s core, the one Berugon was holding.

But the problem was she had no idea how to do it.

If she tried to go at him head-on, Berugon would seize her at once.

And if she only ran, she would never be able to take the core.

And that suspicious magic stone was the key to getting out of this.

‘A good idea, show up... a good idea...’

Just in case, Tie positioned herself near the entrance so she could run at any moment.

Then she fell into deep thought.

Maybe she could try to talk Berugon round?

Tell him that the red mist is controlling him and that he needs to come to his senses.

Maybe then he’d snap out of it...

“No, no.”

Tie shook her head sharply.

The idea she’d just had had too high a chance of failing and might reveal her location to the enemy.

Then, maybe make a trap?

She’d seen that in a folk-tale series on YouTube.

A hunter digs a deep pit and catches a tiger.

But again Tie had to shake her head.

This wasn’t the Empire of Tallocium. In other words, there was nowhere to dig a trap.

The asphalt road is where the cars race.

Even the sidewalk was tiled.

Where would she even dig a pit?

While she was trying to pry up a tile, Berugon and the red mist would already have caught her.

Tie looked at the stopped clock with a sinking feeling.

‘If only my bone friends were here...’

If she even had the summoned servant-spirits she used in Pearlcity, things would be much easier.

‘But I can’t use magic inside this place.’

Tie slowly sat down on the floor.

She hung her head, feeling utter hopelessness.

And then—

“...Huh?”

Right opposite her.

Through the open door she noticed something that suddenly flashed.

Realizing the light source was in the teachers’ room, Tie looked toward the window at once.

She feared Berugon might see it.

But at that moment his voice receded — in the opposite direction from the kindergarten.

Then the light flickered again.

Tie darted over.

When she entered the teachers’ room, she saw an object on a stool in the corner.

“...Pad!”

It was the tablet the “Quail” teacher used.

Tie ran up to it.

And the instant she reached out to the screen—

trrrr—

the tablet suddenly began to play a blurry video.

[Ti... Dad... now... first answer over there... and now I’ll read the letter you prepared.]

The image gradually sharpened, and soon a man appeared on the screen.

[Oh, there are questions too?]

Tie’s eyes widened.

Her father was on the screen.

Tie quickly pressed the buttons on the tablet and turned the brightness down to a minimum.

She then lowered the volume and crouched in front of the stool, continuing to watch the video.

[Yes, it will only take a little time. Tie is playing with friends right now, so don’t worry.]

Her father on the screen nodded.

Behind him on the wall hung a poster made of cut colored paper.

And suddenly Tie remembered everything.

It was before she had come to Tallocium.

The time when her father disappeared.

One strange May day, when the daytime temperature rose above 31.5 degrees, her father vanished.

Because of that, Tie didn’t go to kindergarten for three days.

On the fourth day her grandmother said Tie should go back anyway.

Father would come back «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» after all, and you couldn’t go on living like that.

When she returned to the kindergarten, her friends she hadn’t seen for a long time chatted with her nonstop, happily.

And that day she heard about it.

About the parent event that had taken place during Family Month while Tie had been absent.

‘We then ate banana-chocolate rolls and watched the parents’ letters?’

‘Parents’ letters?’

‘Yeah! And there were those colorful paper things in the back, and they projected the moms’ and dads’ faces through the beam projector, and they read the letters.’

It was a special gift the Quail homeroom teacher had prepared for the children.

Video love letters that she had gradually filmed from the parents who came to pick up their children.

‘Too bad Tie didn’t see it. Should I ask the teacher to show yours?’

‘Exactly! I saw when the teacher turned on the projector! Tie’s dad was there!’

Her friends fussed, trying to comfort Tie, who had missed the video.

Some even ran into the teachers’ room and insisted.

‘Teacher! Let’s not do a fistfight but watch Tie’s dad’s letter!’

‘Tie’s dad is cool, let’s watch!’

The teacher looked embarrassed, but soon asked:

‘Maybe it’s true? After all, Tie was the only one who didn’t see it. Tie. Do you want to watch the video letter your dad left?’

Tie still remembered perfectly how she felt then.

Neither the teacher nor her friends—

None of them knew her dad had been missing for four days.

That was why they brought up the topic of her dad, which Tie had been trying not to think about, and offered to watch the video.

So Tie hated them all back then.

‘...I’m not watching.’

‘Huh?’

‘I’m not watching that! I won’t watch! Why do you keep saying watch, watch, waaah—!’

Her friends looked stunned.

The teacher didn’t understand either.

So Tie ended up the only one who didn’t watch the video letter.

But why was that very video playing now right in front of her eyes?

[What does our Tie mean to you?]

Hearing the teacher’s question, the father on the screen frowned slightly.

It was his habit—how he listened to other people’s words.

Usually he showed almost no expression, but when he talked about Tie, a faint smile would appear on his lips...

Yes, it was definitely Dad.

[Tie... to be honest, to me she’s a burden.]

Something felt wrong.