The participants gathered together, crowding around the untranslated hieroglyphs as if collective bewilderment could birth a translation.
"Aragi, why are you frozen?" Hov addressed me from behind. "We're already getting ready to break into the library. True, we haven't figured out how yet."
"The door is too big," Kamiki emphasized. "We won't be able to move it. It's seemingly made of the hardest metal, we won't be able to break through."
Frankly speaking, the options were getting fewer and fewer with just one look at this door.
Now I finally realized: this wasn't a dream at all.
This was reality. The kind where you suffer defeat even if you were supposed to be a defender. Even if you were obligated to outplay the very mistress of this game.
I still feel that pain, and not in a figurative sense. It's as if it still pierces my body.
Did we really return to the second day? Everything happening reeked of a familiar, as if poorly washed, feeling of déjà vu.
There can be no mistake. I lost to her... on that first night. Gerudo's murder. I couldn't prove Enua's alibi. Though... did I even have any chance? She was playing on her own field.
She revived the victim, and he, returning from the world of the dead, refuted my arguments. As if the game itself rejected my rules. Could it be... Enua really was the killer?
No. I will never believe that. Especially when my enemy is a witch. People like her, by their nature, have always been... too cunning to simply tell the truth.
And then a thought came to mind. Too simple to be false. Too truthful to be convenient.
The witch spoke on behalf of the victim. To deceive, to deliver checkmate. She knew she couldn't refute my words otherwise. And so... she resurrected the victim. Made him a witness and forced him to say what she herself needed.
My thoughts were cut off abruptly, as if someone had pressed pause. That someone was Hov. His hand landed on my shoulder.
"You okay? We called you several times, but you seemed... drowned in thought."
"Sorry, seems like that's exactly it," I exhaled. "I didn't hear you."
"Were your thoughts about how we open the door?"
"Exactly that. Though, judging by the silence, you're also without ideas for now."
Yahweh was stubbornly ramming the door, as if brute force could solve even one logical puzzle.
"Mister Aragi, are you alright?" Morgana addressed me. "You looked... troubled."
"And you noticed that... Don't worry, I'm fine. I was just... flying in thought, but they evaporated immediately as soon as I saw a beautiful maiden beside me."
The girl, unaccustomed to such casual flirtation, immediately became flustered and hastily turned away.
"We have the key," Yahweh spoke up. "But according to Cheryl, there's a spell on the door. It won't let us open it."
"What are we going to do?" Kamiki asked. "At this rate, we'll never know what these lines mean."
"I'll try to open it," a voice sounded from behind.
The voices fell silent. Everyone turned to Cheryl.
"Ahem... we understand that you want to help..." Yahweh mumbled. "But you are weaker than all of us, no offense."
"Shut up, Yahweh," Hov threw out coldly. "Whatever, there are no other ways anyway. Give it a try."
Last time, Yahweh opened the door. Apparently, the scenario changes depending on our actions. Though... for some reason I wasn't even surprised when Cheryl opened it as if it wasn't a puzzle at all.
"Aha-hah..." restrained laughter rang out. "Did you see your face, Yahweh? Turns out you're weaker than a kid whose build is several times smaller than yours!"
"Stop it, I admit it. I was wrong."
"Come in already," Cheryl threw out. "We don't have much time, it'll get dark soon."