Hand in Hand / Cecilia Takes the Field

Cecilia skipped out of the Austin Tower and asked, still wanting more.

A staff member passing by stumbled.

"Sure." Otto helped Cecilia take off her down jacket as he spoke. "There should be plenty deeper in the amusement park. What do you want to try?"

The fright games in the Austin Tower were supposed to be one of the park's greatest attractions, but because they were disguised as part of Homu World, the operators had placed all the dangerous rides in remote areas toward the back.

As he replied, Otto retrieved their small bag and hotel keys from the temporary counter, then followed the crowd out of the place and into an open area where they could see other parts of the amusement park.

Cecilia thought seriously about it, her eyes gleaming with lively light. Like a child encountering something new, she was eager to try it, yet a little afraid.

"Are there lots of games like this? Preferably not just the kind that scares your mind—I mean, something even scarier!!!"

The woman gestured at a height, then felt it was not enough. She rose onto her tiptoes, placed one hand on Otto's shoulder, and raised the other as high as she could reach.

Otto nearly laughed. He coughed, composed himself, and answered.

"Mm, there are roller coasters, rapid river rides, drop towers..."

"So many?!" the woman exclaimed, then happily put her hands on her hips. "I want to try them all!"

For some reason, she felt an inexplicable happiness in the amusement park. It was as though, as long as she was here, she could cast off every burden, forget all exhaustion, and be carefree and free.

Like before... What had the past been like?

"Of course, of course." Otto's voice was gentle. "You can play whatever you want—oh, right. First, let's buy you some gloves."

The man pressed against Cecilia's fingertips. "Your hands are freezing."

"Yay!"

The woman's smile spilled from her eyes, utterly undisguised in her delight. Otto smiled back, his gaze full of indulgence.

Yet the moment Cecilia turned away, Otto casually glanced somewhere. The roadside lights reflected in his pupils, like flashes of emerald light rising and falling.

It seemed careless, yet it also seemed like a warning.

Hand in Hand

"Don't you find it thrilling?"

"Huh? What? Thrilling?"

"When you look down, your heart starts racing, you feel afraid, and then you want to grab onto something."

"Mm, looking down... I don't think I feel that way."

"True. How could people like us, who treat Schicksal Headquarters as home, be afraid of heights..."

The roller coaster Otto and Cecilia were sitting on had slowly climbed to its peak and was about to plunge downward. The clouds looked close enough to touch.

According to the ticket seller, after reaching the top, this roller coaster would launch forward at two hundred kilometers per hour, accelerating as it dropped more than a hundred and forty meters.

The tracks would loop through eighteen circles, enough to make anyone dizzy.

Otto had not originally planned to go this big right away, trying to create a suspension bridge effect with Schicksal's mighty Valkyrie.

His idea had been to start with a pirate ship ride and gradually increase the level of excitement.

But Cecilia had taken one look at this attraction and fallen for it. Though she said she would listen to her brother's arrangements, her eyes revealed how badly she wanted it.

So they would ride it. As long as his girl was happy.

Just as he sensed something and casually caught sight of a black shadow on the ground, the roller coaster shot forward with a howl. The clamorous wind drowned out all other sounds, and his view shook violently.

Naturally, Otto was not frightened by this. In his previous life, he had also loved extreme sports. His idea of the most romantic death had been to leap from Mount Everest and embrace nature.

That was why he always appeared so calm, no matter what he did—even if the calmness was an act.

With nothing else to do, the man even turned to see what Cecilia was doing.

Well, she was smoothing her disheveled hair behind her ears.

Otto had forgotten that this girl used to treat Ferris Wheels like elevators. Back then, she had even had the leisure to chat with him...

Sure enough, trying to create a suspension bridge effect with amusement park rides was low-level even by low-level standards for a battle-hardened Valkyrie.

The others, however, were getting quite into it. Their wailing screams echoed in every direction, especially when the roller coaster began to turn and clattered loudly.

Everyone's adrenaline surged. They instinctively screamed and shouted as if they wanted to expel all the air from their lungs and pass out from oxygen deprivation—then they would not have to keep being scared.

He did not know whether their screams could stop the clouds, but birds really did freeze in midair upon hearing them, abruptly dropping lower.

"What the fuck?!"

"Motherfucker!!!"

"This is terrifying! Aaaaaaah!!!"

"Damn it, my shoe fell off!"

After descending one nearly vertical slope, however, those people seemed to have been scared stupid. Even when the coaster stopped high in the air and moved backward, they did not make a sound.

Their faces were deathly pale, their eyes vacant, and they looked as though they were struggling to breathe. Yet every one of them seemed to have their throat gripped by something, their voices trapped inside.

Oh, what a shame...

Otto actually felt a little regretful... The atmosphere had been so good just now!

Riding a roller coaster without hearing other people scream was like seeing Fu Hua with curves in a doujin—it just lacked a certain charm!

The machine continued to race onward, and the sensation of the world spinning overtook him. The man calmly tapped the handrail, stared straight ahead, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Then something cool suddenly brushed against his wrist. Looking down, he saw a slender, fair little hand reaching toward him tentatively.

Otto raised an eyebrow, turned his wrist, and clasped the delicate hand, warming the chill from Cecilia's fingertips.

To ordinary passengers, three minutes felt endlessly long. Weightlessness pressed in from every direction, forcing them to close their eyes and clutch their safety restraints tightly.

But Otto and Cecilia held hands, silent amid the thrilling ride. The speeding machine allowed them to hear only the long howl of the wind, yet they felt each other's pulse through their fingertips, as if it were each other's breathing.

Perhaps, to them, time did not feel long.

When the roller coaster gradually slowed, the others finally seemed to recover their voices, and complaints rose one after another.

"God! I'm never riding this damn thing again!"

"I think I should go down and look for my shoe..."

"Lily! If you ever invite me onto a ride like this again, I'll shove a huge stick right up your ass!"

"Haha, that's the best news I've heard in the last few minutes..."

Otto looked at Cecilia. As if they shared a silent understanding, she turned her eyes toward him. There was not a trace of fear on her face; instead, she gave him a cheerful wink.

Wink~

The man nodded in response, released her hand, and stretched.

Once the roller coaster came to a stop, Otto stepped down and went to Cecilia's side. He unfastened her safety belt, then extended one hand while placing the other over his chest, bowing in a perfect gentleman's salute.

Cecilia smiled knowingly and elegantly placed her hand in Otto's palm. Then she stretched out one foot and lightly hopped down, like an aristocratic young lady stepping out of a carriage.

She still remembered this sort of trivial etiquette.

"The view from up there was wonderful," the woman said brightly. "Just like at home!"

"..."

Otto noticed quite a few people looking over.

What, was the view at Schicksal Headquarters not good enough for their home?

Naturally, Otto only thought that to himself. He had no habit of showing off before ordinary people.

He patted Cecilia's shoulder and led her away from the roller coaster. Then he took out the gloves they had just bought from the woman's pocket and gave her a glare without the slightest bit of severity.

Cecilia was a little confused at first, but she quickly understood.

"Hehe... I only took them off a moment ago. It hasn't been that long."

She smiled sheepishly and obediently held out her fair, icy hands.

"Why did you only realize you were cold after getting on the roller coaster?"

Otto gently rubbed her hands until the frost-white color slowly took on a faint pink tint, then helped her put on the gloves.

"Put them on in time."

Cecilia gave a silly smile and tried to change the subject. "Brother, I want to try that..."

She pointed into the distance. Otto did not dwell on the matter and nodded, walking toward the drop tower.

—but before they even got close, they heard screams rising and falling.

"It's already started..."

Cecilia watched the moving ride, her voice a little dejected.

"Then should we wait, or play something else?"

Otto asked as he found a bench and sat down.

"My suggestion is..."

His voice suddenly stopped. Cecilia, who had been considering it, looked over curiously. She saw Otto purse his lips and stare at the bushes to the right, his eyes complicated and his expression hesitant, as though he wanted to speak but held back.

"Brother?"

"I'm here." Otto frowned, a trace of displeasure entering his eyes. "My suggestion is that I have no suggestion. We can't play anymore."

More cries came from the distance, but the voices were filled with terror and even carried a sobbing tone. Every word reached everyone's ears clearly.

"Run! Run! Zombies are coming!!!"

Cecilia Goes into Battle

"What?"

"You're not joking, are you, Amon?"

"Lily! Get on my back! We need to run!"

"Oh, Allah, I swear in Tathagata Buddha's name, this guy must have been sent by God...!"

"Stop talking nonsense, Tugaming! Start running!"

"But I can't help it..."

The crowd instantly erupted. Some hurriedly tried to flee while holding their children's hands, some took out pistols and assumed defensive stances, some angrily denounced the false advertisement, and some raised their phones to record...

"What a mess."

Otto sighed and muttered, though no one knew whom he was referring to.

He pulled Cecilia to her feet and retreated to the railings in the corner.

"No! Everyone! Run! That zombie made a scythe appear out of thin air! It... they're already running over from that side! Everyone, get out of here!"

Crackling gunfire rang out in the distance, along with human screams—the screams always cut off abruptly, like snapped strings.

At that point, how could they not understand? Those people were crying out in pain after having their throats cut, and at the instant they made a sound, someone—or perhaps something that should not be called human—had sliced through their vocal cords with a sharp weapon!

"Oh my God!"

"What are you standing around for? Run!"

"Yeah, as long as you outrun everyone else!"

"Allah, please send down a holy son like Jesus to rid our Buddha of the zombies upon the earth..."

"Ah—!!!"

The crowd suddenly scattered in the middle. A man clutched his neck, his eyes bulging as purple patterns crawled over his face. He screamed, but his scream ended in less than a second. The man did not even have the chance to turn into a Deadwalker before curling into a ball and collapsing before everyone's eyes.

"Ugh, ah!!!—Lily, what are you—?!"

Another scream rang out. Everyone looked over to see the man who had carried his girlfriend on his back staring wide-eyed, his face full of confusion and disbelief. Then he crashed to the ground, a gaping hole appearing in his chest.