Dunn's Suspicion

Lynch's eyes lit up, and he pulled the Antigonus Notebook out from his desk.

He had no intention of keeping this thing anymore; he would simply toss it into that room when he passed by on his way.

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He noticed that the window on the outer side of the house was open, facing directly toward that body. If he happened to pass by, he could throw the notebook inside.

When Dunn and the others came to investigate, they would be able to retrieve the Antigonus Notebook.

He had already revoked the notebook's ownership binding, so Dunn and the others would certainly be able to see its contents.

Even if Dunn and the others discovered that this notebook was the same one as the fake one, and realized that it was he who had thrown it in, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

After all, if the Antigonus Notebook was real, and he had indeed had such a dream, being controlled to throw the notebook away was a plausible scenario.

He could even take this opportunity to have Klein perform a divination for him to see if his dream was truly a major issue.

That's right, that was it.

Lynch immediately tidied himself up and put on his coat. He was just about to put on his hat, but he quickly set it back down.

If he wanted to push all of this onto the person behind the scenes, he couldn't appear too put-together.

Thinking of this, Lynch immediately took off his coat. He walked out the door wearing only a shirt, clutching the Antigonus Notebook.

He certainly couldn't take a carriage; it took Lynch about an hour to walk to the building he had visited during the day.

He stood outside, looking up at the open window above.

He remained motionless for a long while, then, with an expressionless face, he tossed the notebook through the window.

After completing this action, he paused for another moment, as if he were being controlled by something.

This process lasted for five minutes. Suddenly, Lynch moved, as if his consciousness had been unlocked, and he hugged himself and shivered.

He looked at the scene before him with a confused gaze, seemingly unable to understand why he was there, and he continued walking forward in a daze.

After putting some distance between himself and the location, Lynch immediately started running.

Surely Klein couldn't divine this far away, right?

If Klein could manage a divination even from this distance, Lynch would just have to accept his fate.

He felt his pockets; there were a few pennies inside, leftovers from when he had bought cakes for Klein and the others earlier. When he left the house, he had deliberately not brought any money, which fit the behavior of someone being controlled.

But he was truly exhausted; he couldn't hold on much longer.

If he kept walking, he felt his legs would definitely be in agony tomorrow.

Lynch found a carriage and took it to Zoutland Street.

At this time, the Blackthorn Security Company was closed, and not a sliver of light shone from within. Lynch didn't care; he knocked on the door.

There were Nighthawks on duty downstairs guarding the Chanis Gate, and others keeping watch upstairs; it seemed to be Leonard tonight.

"Who is it?"

Leonard's voice rang out.

"It's me, Lynch Trans."

Lynch stated his name, and after a short while, Leonard opened the door.

"Why are you here at this hour?"

Leonard checked the time; it was three in the morning.

Logically speaking, Lynch should be fast asleep at this time.

"I had a dream. I dreamt that the place we visited during the day had a problem, that someone inside was watching me, and I also dreamt that I threw the Antigonus Notebook through the open window."

Lynch rubbed his temples, looking somewhat worried.

Leonard stared at him for a moment before stepping aside.

"I'll go notify the captain right away. As for you, I think you should stay in the lounge for a while. I don't think you've noticed that you've been trembling the whole time."

Leonard's tone softened.

He pointed toward the lounge and helped Lynch find a coat to wear.

Only then did Lynch seem to realize he was drenched in sweat, and having been blown by the cold wind, he was shivering uncontrollably.

"Sorry, I might have been too hurried and forgot to prepare properly."

He put on the coat, and only then did he seem to come back to life.

Leonard watched his movements and suddenly smiled, saying, "I don't know why, but I always feel like your way of putting on your clothes looks familiar."

Lynch acted as if he hadn't heard him.

Of course it looked familiar; he was lucky this time, as he had switched to Leonard's Sleepless state, so it was normal to occasionally carry traces of Leonard's habits.

"Do you remember how you got here on the way?"

Lynch looked at him blankly, seemingly not understanding why he would ask that.

"I came by carriage."

"Then why are you covered in so much sweat?"

Leonard stared into his eyes, a hint of suspicion in his expression.

Lynch didn't seem to mind; he shook his head as if recalling a memory.

"I remember arriving by carriage, which just left a moment ago. If I'm drenched in sweat, it's either because I was nervous, or something happened to me. It seems you should probably call Old Neil over as well."

He looked at Leonard with frankness.

The suspicion in Leonard's eyes vanished. He muttered something under his breath, then grabbed his top hat from the lounge and walked out quickly.

Lynch didn't ask where he was going; it was obvious Leonard intended to notify Dunn and the others.

Come to think of it, the Nighthawks had it rough, being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night whenever something happened.

Back when he and Klein were subjected to Dunn's dream-weaving, it had been late at night, and later, when someone trailed Klein, Dunn still had to work through the night. Thinking about it, Dunn didn't know how many sleepless nights he'd endured since he and Klein joined.

Still, it shouldn't be a problem; after all, a Sleepless could stay energetic with only three or four hours of sleep a day.

Take himself for example: even though he had only slept for a short while and had a dream, he still didn't feel tired.

However, it wasn't that he wasn't exhausted at all. After staying in the lounge for a while, Lynch grew sleepy.

Unfortunately, just as he closed his eyes, he heard the door outside open.

Dunn and Leonard walked in, followed by Old Neil and Frye. Both were yawning, looking exactly like people who had been forcibly dragged out from under their blankets.

No, that was likely exactly what happened.

Lynch could easily imagine how Leonard had woken them up.

"What exactly happened?"

Dunn and the others didn't head to the office, instead sitting in the lounge to wait for Lynch to recount the events.

"It's like this: I returned from a gathering held by Mr. Skuton, a faculty member at Tingen University, and was studying at home until midnight. I was probably too tired, so I dozed off for a bit.

"In just about ten minutes, I had a dream. I dreamt I had returned to the place I visited during the day. A door was open there, and a figure stood with their back to me.

"I dreamt that I walked downstairs and threw the Antigonus Notebook in my hand inside. The sensation was too real. After I woke up, I immediately hailed a carriage and came here."

Dunn nodded, scrutinizing Lynch's current attire.

He was wearing an ill-fitting suit jacket that he had left here previously; it had a hole in it and looked worn out.

He wasn't wearing a top hat, his shirt cuffs were unkempt, and even his collar had an extra button undone.

This was clearly no ordinary dream. Dunn even suspected that what Lynch called a dream was something that had actually occurred.

Just who was the other party, to be able to control even a Beyonder?

Even if Lynch was only Sequence 9.