"By the way, before the mirror shattered, did either of you... hear any other voices?"
As they walked down the seemingly endless, dim corridor, Greg suddenly asked the two girls behind him without turning around.
His voice sounded especially clear in the empty corridor.
Although Sylvia excelled at light magic, she had little resistance to the undead or eerie phenomena that defied common sense.
When Greg suddenly brought this up, her face immediately paled a little, and her voice trembled:
"W-what other voices? I... I didn't hear anything... Don't tell me you heard... something... unholy, Greg-"
"Enough, Greg."
Victoria interrupted her, folding her arms as her gray eyes swept over their excessively quiet surroundings.
"Don't tell creepy ghost stories in a place like this. You're giving me goose bumps."
"...All right."
Greg acknowledged her and said no more.
Although neither had answered him directly, their reactions told him everything.
They hadn't heard it.
"Hey, Hachimi."
Greg called out to Nightmare in his mind:
"When the mirror shattered earlier, was that you suddenly talking to me, trying to give me a scare?"
"Hmm?"
Nightmare's voice carried a rare hint of displeasure:
"What dost thou mean? Though I do enjoy stepping on thy face with my paws while thou sleepest, I have never spoken unbidden to disturb thee while thou attendest to serious matters. I possess at least that much discretion."
"True. Sorry, I was over-wait!"
Greg suddenly caught on:
"What did you say? You like touching my face with your paws while I'm asleep?! No wonder I sometimes wake up with weird marks on my face, or it feels itchy! So that was your doing!"
"Hmm?"
Nightmare's voice returned to its usual languid tone:
"Did I say something just now? I have no recollection of such a thing. Perhaps thou sleepest