Bad∞End∞Night Vol 1 Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Beginning of the Everlasting Night

As my eyes tried to focus on an unfamiliar ceiling, I went back through my memories from this morning. After that long recollection, I took a big, deep breath, and looked around at my surroundings. 

I’d woken up on a bed with a splendorous canopy. I remembered arriving late to the theater in the morning, curtain rise, act one concluding, helping with prop-making… being teased by Len, telling Meiko about Rin picking up a stray kitten… Then when I was alone on the stage, I picked up a letter and went to read it… and then what? I thought I heard the buzzer for curtain rise in the distance… But as much as I focused my thoughts, my head was blank, and I couldn’t remember what happened next. 

Was this… one of the green rooms? I hadn’t slept well the day before, so I was at peak fatigue. Maybe once the first day was finally over, I had a dizzy spell and collapsed. I looked out the window and saw a beautiful full moon high in the sky, crossing the meridian… Which meant it was still only midnight? The wind blew fiercely outside, shaking large tree branches. The rain seemed to have stopped. 

Suddenly, I heard loud sounds mixed in with the wind - thump, thump, thump. What could be making that? An eerie noise that seemed to reverberate off something from far away. Though I could hear it clearly like it were right at my ear, it was so echoey to imply the source was quite distant. But taking a look around, there was no one in the room… Then the sound stopped. I was probably just hearing things. 

More importantly, what was everyone else up to? I told Meiko to start the afterparty without me, so surely they were already partying in green room #1. It had gotten so late. I had to hurry… 

Getting out of the bed and taking one look around the unfamiliar room, I turned the doorknob and went out into the hallway. Lamps were placed every few meters along the wall of the dim hallway, shining dubious light. 

Did the theater have a hallway like this? The century-old theater did have some parts renovated over the years, but for the most part retained the same gorgeous Adam-style interior from its construction… Yet the lights, windows, walls, display shelves and chairs, carpet… Everything I saw was clearly different from what I was used to. Everywhere I looked, I saw the same unified style of furniture. Had they remodeled while I was asleep…? No, that was ridiculous, and would take more than a day. 

Heading down the long hallway, I saw the grand stairs and hall up ahead. They, too, were similar, yet different from the theater I knew. Where could this possibly be? I peered down the hallways surrounding the stairwell. Then, I noticed Rin and Len squatting in front of a clock in the hall below. But were the stairs always so long? The two of them seemed close enough, yet felt very far away. 

“Rin! Len!” 

I leaned on the handrail and raised my voice to call out to them. But they didn’t respond to me. Could they not hear me? I shouted again, louder. 

“Hey! You two!” 

The two of them spun toward me at nearly the same time. 

“AhhHH… YOU broke the CLOCK…” 

“ColLAPSED…? What DO you MEAN?” 

“Huh…?” 

So I hadn’t collapsed, at least. But then why was I sleeping in a bed? 

“EVERYone went TO bed on THEIR own TWO feet!” 

“Everyone…? S-So everyone is asleep but you two?!” 

They did say they’d discuss things for tomorrow and party in the green room, so maybe they just drank too much and got incredibly sleepy. I mean, I wasn’t the only one who was tired, so it was possible… But then why were these two awake?

“Yes. BeCAUSE, the parTY’s over, so eveRYONE went to THEIR rooms.” 

Though I didn’t know that, not having participated in that party. Unless, don’t tell me; I did take part, but drank so much I forgot about it… That couldn’t be it, right? I did feel my head ache a little when I tried to trace my memories, but surely that couldn’t be from a hangover. 

As for this place… If this wasn’t the theater, it was possible it was a high-class hotel in some corner of West End which Kaito… or possibly Luka, had paid for us to stay at. 

“BeSIDES, the play HAS stopped.” 

“TIME has stopped!” 

“W-Why…?” 

“Okay! GOT it!” 

“Huh…?” 

“Um, Mr. Kaito…!” 

I approached and looked him in the eye, then spoke with desperation similar to earlier today. 

“I just saw it. There’s something strange about Rin and Len! They’re dolls… Their limbs turned ball-jointed! The two of them turned into real Doll Twins! Tell me, where… where is this? What happened while I was asleep?!” 

Kaito blinked a few times, then tilted his head slightly. 

“Hmm…? What are you saying? The doll twins have always had ball joints… I received them at the same time I received this mansion from my grandfather. I heard that they were created by the witch who lived in this forest… But she’s gone now. So I suppose I can’t say for sure whether they always had such joints…” 

“T… That’s not what I meant! Weren’t they human? Until just a while ago!” 

“Did you… see something frightening here on these stairs? Like a ghost, say.” 

“It would seem the next page of the script has gone missing.” 

Chapter end