Had they put Ryuto in the role of the friend who came after Akira and were now worrying that I was going to leave?

But what did they mean about a promise? Who had they made a promise with?

My breathing grew strained and my pulse quickened.

Keeping my footsteps quiet, I moved away from the door and had just started climbing the stairs, still holding my breath, when- At a turn in the hall, Uotani stood wispily like a phantom, hugging her woven crimson ball to her chest.

It was so sudden that I thought my heart was going to stop.

"U-Uotani, how are you feeling? You still look a little pale."

Uotani reached an arm out and took a tight grip on the hem of my shirt, her look languishing, then said, "...Please don't be alone if you can help it."

"Huh?"

I was just about to ask her what she meant when she released her grip and ran down the stairs.

What was that about...?

My limbs grew even colder.

It really would have been better if Ryuto had stayed.

When I went back to the room, Tohko was sitting on a chair, her head drooping. I saw how sad her eyes looked and my heart skipped a beat.

I recalled once again the look I'd seen at dawn.

While I stood there frozen, my chest squeezing tight, Tohko raised her face and her eyes widened.

"Oh no, when did you get here? You took your time, didn't you?"

Yuri's diary was open in her lap.

The thought that she'd been making such a sad face because of the diary gave me a moment of relief, but then it bugged me because I didn't think she'd had Yuri's diary open that time at dawn.

What was it in that diary that made Tohko so melancholy? Obviously it told a heartrending story, but...

"The tea is totally cold. What were you talking about with Ryuto?"

Tohko closed the diary. Just before she did it, my eyes caught the red dianthus.

"That bookmark-"

"Hmm?"

Tohko reopened the diary she had just closed.

The bookmark with the pressed dianthus glued to it was stuck inside.

"You mean this?"

"Yes. Has that always been stuck in there?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think Maki put it there?"

"I don't think so. It's not her style."

"Then who did?"

Whatever else it was, I doubted an eighty-year-old pressed flower would have such a vibrant color.

Which meant that someone had read this diary before Maki got her hands on it.

I wondered if Tohko had considered that possibility, too. With a mild look on her face, she murmured, "It's probably...someone who knows Shirayuki very well."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm...not sure yet myself. But I'm imagining something."

Tohko pressed her lips together.

I wasn't sure whether I should tell Tohko about the conversation I'd just heard between all the servants or about how Uotani had warned me.

She looked so listless, I didn't want to worry her.

"Anyway, Konoha, you haven't managed to avoid the question."

"Huh?"

"What did you talk about with Ryuto? It wasn't something lewd that you can't tell me about, was it?"

Tohko pouted and glowered up at me through her eyelashes.

It completely backfired on me. Tohko pried into every little thing, even stuff I didn't have a clue about, and she got me sweating good.

When afternoon came around, Tohko went to the book room and walked around it, looking intently at the ceiling and walls and window, apparently thinking about something.

I left the room partway through Tohko's inspection to go to the bathroom.

I finished my business, washed my hands at the sink, and when I opened the door, a piece of white paper that had been folded in half dropped to the floor.

That wasn't there when I went in, I thought suspiciously as I picked it up and looked inside. There was something written on it in ballpoint pen.

Konoha Inoue I'll be waiting at the mountain pond at three.

I have something important to tell you, so please come in secret, so that no one sees you.

Sayo It was from Uotani!

My heart constricted with nerves.

What could it be? If she was calling me out to the pond, was it something she couldn't talk about in the house?

But hadn't Uotani told me I mustn't go to the pond? Plus, she'd told me not to be alone if I could help it- Hmm. Something wasn't making sense.

When I looked at my watch, I saw there were only twenty minutes left before three.

I went to the kitchen, just to see.

"Excuse me, is Uotani here?"

The housekeeper told me she'd left a few moments ago to buy groceries.

Had she gone to the pond? So was this note really from Uotani? If so, maybe I ought to go, too.

There was no time to hesitate, so I left the house and headed toward the pond in resignation. Strangely, Baron didn't appear, even though he always barked whenever I went outside.

I walked along a sunlit path, and when I reached the pond, there was no sign of anyone.

The expanse of the water's surface was glistening quietly, sucking in the light from the sky, just like when I'd come here before with Tohko. The cool breeze that smelled of greenery rustled the leaves on the trees and the grass at my feet, and small bugs were flying around me.

Maybe Uotani wasn't here yet...

And just then- A hand reached out behind me and pressed something cold against my face.

There was some kind of drug soaked into it!

A sour smell assaulted my nostrils and my spine trembled, sensing physical danger.

I tried to turn around but was restrained by sturdy arms and couldn't budge. The body against my back was large and hard. Just as I was conjecturing that it was an adult man, I lost consciousness.

Chapter 6-A Crimson World.

I wonder what Shirayuki was.

That's what I thought about in the pitch-blackness.

My image of Shirayuki was a woman with long white hair, standing in the center of a pond illuminated by cold moonlight on a silent night.

"Cast a bell for the temple, set it at the foot of the mountain, and toll this bell thrice daily, startle me, and so force me to recall our promise."

A commanding voice spilling from sensual red lips.

It resembled Maki's voice. My voice and Tohko's as we read Demon Pond aloud played over that and made the voice multilayered.

The darkness of the night shivered with cold.

"...My sex dreams of liberty. It desires free will. It yearns to be selfish."

"If you were, you would forget the promise and attempt to fill the seven highways of the Northwest with the waters of your little pond."

Sealed within the bell, which her gaze never left, the desire for revenge, felt by a creature whose freedom had been stolen, burned in a pale fire like demon's breath.

"In the name of my freedom, the lives of the human cattle of the world count as nothing. But I will not shirk the promise, I will not break the vow. I will not allow them to forget our vow, however. Neglect not to ring the temple bell that you may attempt to remind me of it."

"Ring the bell, ring the bell forever," Shirayuki repeated. That was proof of the vow. Don't forget. Ring the bell. Ring the bell. Ring the bell.

When I woke up, I felt a stabbing pain at my temples.

Where was I?!

I leaped to my feet in a panic.

A wooden ceiling, mat flooring, sliding paper doors-a clean, elegant room in a traditional inn? I had been put to bed in a futon on the floor made up with white sheets that smelled of sunlight.

"So you're awake."

The door opened and a tall adult man wearing a suit entered. It was Takamizawa from Maki's house. He'd brought me to the villa. What was he doing here?!

Perhaps the effects of the drug I'd inhaled before passing out were still lingering, because my thoughts refused to come together. I felt as if I were still dreaming. The sound of trees rustling rang in my ears.

"I apologize for using such aggressive methods. Everything will be over quite soon."

His gentle tone didn't suit this bizarre situation at all. My heart thrummed even harder and I grew disoriented.

"What's going to be over? What's going to happen to me?"

Outside, I heard rain.

Takamizawa smiled placidly to calm me down.

"I will send you to your home in Tokyo, perhaps as early as tomorrow, so there's no need to be concerned. I will guarantee the safety of Tohko Amano as well, of course. Actually, I meant to go up to the house to get you, but...the plan changed slightly and I suppose I caught you off guard. I'm truly sorry for that."

"Did Maki order you to kidnap me? What is she trying to do?"

Though I glared at him, the smile stayed on Takamizawa's face.

"I can't answer that," he replied in a kind, placid voice, though there was force to it.