The two minors looked at each other and fell into deep thought. After a long while, the boy spoke first. "That isn't something we sell."
Alice looked at the boy's composed expression and decided she still had much to learn in this regard. She nodded seriously, then asked, "Can you help me sell something?"
The boy immediately frowned. "Contraband?"
"No." Alice pulled out the five pages of diary she had copied. "Roselle's notes."
But that did not reassure the boy. His frown deepened as he firmly refused, "No."
Alice stared at him and asked thoughtfully, "Kaspars's death scared you?"
The boy stared back at Alice without speaking.
"Have you ever considered this?" Alice flicked the five diary pages in her hand, making the sheets strike against each other with a rustle. "Maybe if you agree, someone will smother you to death under your blankets in the middle of the night. But if you refuse, you might trip over a cue stick next and get skewered straight through by it?"
The boy glanced at the cue stick, shuddered, and gritted his teeth. "At least I should know what kind of risk I'm taking."
"Generally speaking, there's no risk, unless you're unlucky enough to run into a lunatic." Alice shrugged.
"?" The boy looked at Alice in disbelief.
Alice glanced at him and asked in surprise, "You didn't take my attempt to scare you seriously, did you?"
The boy's eyes widened, and his gaze involuntarily drifted toward the cue stick standing beside the table.
Alice followed his gaze and murmured:
"But then again... falling onto a cue stick and getting pierced through by it does seem like quite an interesting way to die...
"But one person alone wouldn't be fun enough. It would be best if lots of people got skewered together