Mr. Head Maid

The owner of the Green Lemon Restaurant, Fox, suddenly stepped out of the shadows and said to them:

"It's foggy. You'd better not go outside."

Neph glanced at his almost perfectly round face and felt a subtle pang of sympathy for the eyes set into it.

Donna's family clearly disagreed over whether to leave. Their bodyguard, Cleves, spoke up:

"Mr. Fox, what are you trying to say?"

With little expression, Fox said:

"In Bansy, on nights with thick fog and violent changes in the weather, it's best not to go outside or answer knocks at the door. Otherwise, you might, encounter, something bad."

"But people already left!" Donna spoke in a voice even shriller than it had been upstairs.

Fox raised a hand and pointed at the rooms on the first floor. "They chose to stay the night."

Creak! Bang!

The moment he finished speaking, doors opened one after another, some quietly, others loudly. The gentlemen and ladies from earlier came to their doorways and silently watched Donna's family, who wanted to leave. Silently watched.

Neph shuddered, finding the scene inexplicably familiar. She took the Monocle she had put away out of her pocket and held it up toward her left eye, looking around at the Preparers.

No one showed any sign of taking a Monocle out of their pocket. Neph breathed a sigh of relief and tucked hers away again. Then, ignoring Donna's family, who were still arguing, she chose to skip the plot-she walked straight over and pulled open the restaurant door.

Howling wind and swirling fog invaded the restaurant's first floor, bringing with them the terror hidden in the darkness. Donna, who had been so eager to leave, froze for a moment before pulling her younger brother Danton behind Cecil.

"Didn't you want to leave?" Squinting into