Before long, Annie arrived at the hall with the two maids in palace attire. She saw that dozens of tables had somehow filled the courtyard outside with men and women raising their cups and drinking merrily. Inside the hall, several very much alive people sat at the only table there, their faces so deathly pale they looked worse than corpses.
The table was empty, too. There was nothing on it but bowls and chopsticks—not a drop of wine or a single dish.
"Hi—"
(˙▽˙)
"Hello, everyone!"
(^▽^)
Seeing them, Annie took her seat and waved hello to the living people, lifting the little paw of the Little Bear she was carrying.
(...)
(●￣￣●)
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The six men and women there weren't in much of a mood. They gave her a glance as if they'd seen a ghost, then sat stiffly in their places without saying a word. They didn't seem particularly eager to speak just then, either.
Their behavior made one thing obvious: they already knew that they were the only "guests" in the hall who were actually alive. The guests at the tables outside, along with the maids and stewards moving around, weren't human at all!
It would have been strange if they could still be in good spirits in a place like this.
Annie was the exception, of course!
"..."
Anyway, when the uncles, aunties, and older women—each looking even worse than the dead—didn't say a word or seem interested in greeting her, Annie thought about it for a moment and decided she couldn't be bothered with them.
"Wow..."
So, after settling into her seat, she curiously peered outside and openly, cheerfully studied the guests and the strange young maids in palace attire who hurried back and forth.
Night had fallen. A bright