Chapter 52

I was just about to step over the threshold.

“…!”

A hand seized my arm.

I blinked blankly and looked up at whoever had grabbed me.

It took a moment to recognize him. My mind felt fogged over, like it was wrapped in mist.

Slowly, I blinked again and parted my lips.

“Lycian….”

“……”

The look in Lycian’s eyes was anything but ordinary.

There was no way he could see the white door suspended in midair—yet somehow, he seemed to sense that something was there.

He looked at me with open reproach.

“You’re trying to go off on your own again? We agreed last time—I’m going with you.”

“R-Right….”

Guilt pricked at my conscience, and I forced an awkward smile. I’d promised to take him with me, only to forget completely. Even if I had two mouths, I’d have no excuse.

“But I’m not sure you’ll actually be allowed in. I should probably check first… Just a second.”

I hurriedly called up the system and asked:

‘Can Lycian enter the Hidden Shop with me?’

The system responded at once.

‘Fragment of Time…?’

I tilted my head, puzzled by what that meant.

So does that mean I have a ‘Fragment of Time’ too?

I cautiously probed further.

‘Can’t you tell me what a Fragment of Time is?’

That emoticon—haven’t seen it in a while.

‘Guess that’s a hard no.’

Fine, fine~ Whatever. I dropped the matter immediately.

It wasn’t something I needed to know right this second, anyway.

More importantly, Lycian could come with me. Thank God.

I beamed at him.

“You can go in too. Let’s go!”

I grabbed his hand tightly and led him through the door.

Fwaah!

My vision flared blindingly white, then slowly returned to normal.

When I cautiously opened the eyes I’d squeezed shut on instinct, the same scene I’d seen once before spread out before me—

A bizarre, dazzling island floating as if adrift in the middle of the cosmos.

How would Lycian react to seeing this for the first time?

“Lycian…?”

I called his name softly and glanced beside me.

He stood there, eyes wide, blinking vacantly.

“Um… Lycian?”

“……”

“You’re not dead, right?”

He wasn’t moving at all. I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing—it sent a jolt of panic through me.

Can someone just… suddenly turn into stone?

I poked his upper arm with my fingertips.

He flinched, blinked rapidly, then drew in a deep breath.

His firm chest rose sharply, then fell.

At last, he turned to me with a faint smile.

“As I thought, Muriel, you truly are someone special. A place like this… it could only be seen by someone with the Sacred Touch….”

There it is. Fanatic mode.

Haven’t seen that in a while either.

Maybe he’d been holding back because he’d realized how much it unsettled me.

But now, his eyes—locked on me—were sparkling so intensely it was almost burdensome.

I let out an awkward laugh and quickly looked away, striding forward.

“Let’s go! Time to change fate!”

“Fate…?”

“Y-Yeah! Something like that!”

I brushed it off vaguely and walked about ten steps.

Right on cue, the system popped up another message.

Oh, I’ll call one. I’m rich in coins right now!

Confidently, I pressed YES.

Pop! A little fireworks effect burst in midair—

And the guide appeared.

“Milk! Long time no—”

I stopped mid-greeting, a strange sense of dissonance prickling at me.

It wasn’t Milk.

Long and slender…

‘A cat…?’

A black cat with dark wings sprouting from its back stared at me with yellow-tinged green eyes.

“Uh… hi…?”

I greeted it anyway.

The black cat lifted its chin primly and replied,

“Hello, nya? This kitty is a guide of this shop, nya. My name is ‘Neru,’ so feel free to call me that, nya.”

Ah. So this one’s a guide too.

I nodded and shook the paw it extended toward me. I could feel the silky fur and the soft jelly pads beneath my fingers—

‘So squishy…!’

I wanted to pet it more, but the cat swiftly slipped its paw from my grasp.

As I smacked my lips in disappointment, the black cat continued in a businesslike tone.

“The guide who assisted you last time, ‘Milk,’ is currently on vacation, nya. He’s gone to the dream world to visit his owner from when he was alive, nya.”

“His owner… from when he was alive?”

That didn’t sound trivial.

Neru spun lightly in place before explaining,

“You didn’t know, nya? All of us guides were pets with human families when we were alive, nya.”

“…!”

“If we work here long enough, we get a chance to visit our owner, nya. We go to them in their dreams when they’re asleep, nya.”

Oh my God.

I’d never imagined that. I’d thought they were just cute shop assistants. I never dreamed they were the spirits of animals that had died.

“When our owner dies, we can quit being guides and go meet them for good, nya. From then on, we live happily together, nya!”

As if eagerly awaiting that day, Neru let out a cheerful, “Nyaaaang.”

“……”

Suddenly my nose stung.

I lowered my head and buried my face in my palms.

‘The spirit of a pet who misses their owner….’

I’m weak to stories like this.

Old animal videos I’d watched came rushing back to me—

Like the dog named Maru who waited for his late grandmother in an empty countryside house…

‘Ah, I’m going to cry. No—hold it in…!’

Right beside me, I heard Lycian and Neru’s flustered voices.

“Muriel…?”

“You’re not crying, nya?”

“N-No…!”

But a tear had already slipped out.

Lycian gently lifted my chin with his fingertips.

I ended up meeting his eyes with mine, shimmering and brimming.

“Muriel….”

He sighed softly, then laughed in mild disbelief.

“With such a tender heart… what are you going to do in this harsh world? I’ll have to protect you for the rest of my life. There’s no helping it.”

“W-What are you even saying?”

As I tried to flee, he wrapped an arm around me and carefully brushed away my tears.

His touch was so cautious, as if I were some fragile glass ornament that might shatter at the slightest pressure.

About three minutes passed like that, with Lycian gently consoling me.

“Done crying, nya? Let’s get to work, nya.”

“……”

The black cat pulled out a pocket watch from somewhere and urged us on.

“Punctuality and efficiency are important, nya!”

Cat, you’re definitely an ENTJ…

Anyway, we followed Neru to where the ‘Fate Distortion’ item was kept.

The entire time, Lycian held my hand tightly and didn’t let go for even a second.

“We’re here, nya!”

The black cat pointed at a transparent glass display case with its paw.

Atropos’s Scissors. True to its name, a peculiar pair of scissors rested there, gleaming with sharp silver light.

“Hm, this item is reserved for you, nya! Just pay the price and you can take it right away. What will it be, nya?”

What was there to hesitate about? I was buying it.

I smiled brightly.

“I’ll take it. I’ve got plenty of coins.”

“Very good, nya! Atropos’s Scissors… 80,000 coins, nya! Place your hand against my paw, nya!”

As instructed, I pressed my palm against the cat’s paw like a high-five.

Then—

Chrrrr—

The sound of coins pouring out rang in my ears, and the system displayed the next message.

Everything processed so smoothly—it was satisfying.

I glanced at the glass display case.

The silver scissors had already vanished.

‘So they’re in my inventory now.’

I pressed “Go Now” and opened my inventory.

There it was in the item list—

‘Fate Distortion – Atropos’s Scissors.’

‘Yes. Finally…!’

Now all that was left was to use it.

There was no reason to waste any more time here.

I quickly asked Neru and Lycian for a moment.

“Hold on, I need to do something.”

“Take your time, nya~”

Neru swished its tail lazily. Lycian, though staring at me with open curiosity, nodded without protest.

First, I took the Fate Distortion item out of my inventory.

The heavy silver scissors settled firmly into my hand. Up close, they looked even sharper.

Additional text had been appended to the item description.

‘A replica…?’

So it’s a copy?

A new system pop-up appeared.