Alice

The little girl was only eleven or twelve. She seemed not to hear Vanessa's questioning, and her smile grew even more twisted as she approached!

Vanessa saw a thread of saliva drip from the little girl's slightly crooked mouth.

The girl's heart pounded. She discreetly unfolded the pocketknife inside her pocket, resting her fingers against the back of the blade, but hesitated.

For now, the person before her looked like nothing more than a little girl. Was she really going to use it?

Vanessa was only an ordinary person. She was very afraid of getting hurt, and even facing a little girl, she needed a moment to hesitate.

Just as Vanessa's grip tightened further and further, she suddenly heard a shout. "Alice? Where have you gone?"

The little girl stopped. She glanced at Vanessa, then turned toward the street.

A hooded figure appeared there and hurried over upon seeing the girl. "Why have you run off again? I told you..."

The figure noticed Vanessa and abruptly stiffened, then raised a hand and pulled the hood lower, hiding her face completely beneath it.

Vanessa was still badly shaken and had not seen the figure's face at all. Now she was even more frightened. These two were together!

"There's a-big sister-here who-fell-down. I wanted to-help-her up."

The little girl called Alice spoke, but her words came out extremely awkwardly, as though she had to make a different expression for every word she uttered.

The hooded figure looked over and nodded to Vanessa. "Sorry, she... hurt her head when she was little. She looks a little strange. She didn't frighten you, did she?"

Only then did Vanessa notice that Alice's mouth was a little crooked when she spoke, and her hands kept moving about, as though she could not quite control her own body.

She was a child with deformities.

Vanessa had heard of such things. Supposedly, more than ten years ago, a medical equipment company had invented a kind of safety forceps that could greatly improve newborn survival rates.

But patent law had not yet been established at the time, and others had stolen the know-how behind the forceps, privately making quite a few imitations.

But the medical equipment company had prepared for this. Their forceps had a special design that required a particular technique to use, and anyone who did not know it would cause problems-babies whose heads were gripped by counterfeit forceps were highly likely to suffer brain injuries and become children with deformities.

The company soon monopolized the market and made a fortune, while the newborn deformity rate also rose considerably that year.

Alice walked over as she spoke, ignoring the hooded figure no matter how she called for her to stop.

She gave Vanessa a twisted smile. "Are-you all right-big-sister!"

She took Vanessa's hand and, struggling to control her uncoordinated limbs, pulled the girl to her feet.

Then she bent down with some difficulty and apologized. "I'm-sorry. I-frightened you."

Vanessa had fallen to the ground in fright at the sight of her. Alice knew her appearance was frightening, so she had wanted to help her up.

Vanessa stood blankly where she was until the hooded figure pulled Alice away. Even as the little girl was dragged out onto the street, she kept waving to Vanessa.

Only after the two had vanished from sight did Vanessa raise her left hand, which she had kept hidden behind her back. She had been gripping the knife in that hand all along, intending to hide it for a surprise attack, and once she discovered that Alice had only wanted to help her up, she had been even less willing to bring it out.

The pocketknife was very sharp. It had made a small cut in Vanessa's fingertip, and a few drops of blood seeped out. In the end, she had still gotten hurt.

After a moment of silence, Vanessa slapped herself.

She was clearly just an ordinary little girl. Being born with deformities wasn't her fault, and Alice had even wanted to help me up.

How did I become like this! Suspecting even a little girl!

I really lost my head. She was clearly a sweet little girl... Come to think of it, I'm the one who should apologize.

After those emotional ups and downs, she was left with decidedly mixed feelings. Holding the key, she walked to the door, inserted it into the lock, and turned it.

Although the key was rusty, it opened the lock very smoothly. Vanessa turned sideways, moved clear of the doorway, and pulled the door open.

A strong, stale, rotten smell rushed at her, mingling dust, decayed wood, and the sense of time standing still. Most old wooden houses were like this.

The house was pitch-black inside. A few feeble rays of light filtered through the narrow windows, but instead of dispelling the darkness, they made the interior seem even deeper and more secluded, like a gaping maw ready to devour whoever it chose.

Vanessa felt inexplicably nervous. It was clearly nothing more than an empty house before her, yet her heart pounded.

She had a vague intuition that once she stepped through this doorway, her life would change, and she could never return to the way things had been.

No-my life already has no way back. I can only keep moving forward.

"I need to go inside. I need to find those books. They might help me stay alive... You can do this, Vanessa!" Vanessa encouraged herself in a voice only she could hear. She made up her mind to leave as soon as she found the books.

Books were a precious asset.

Even in this age of mass printing, they were still worth a great deal. Popular novels could buy a few filling meals, while technical books and textbooks monopolized by booksellers were even more expensive. A single volume might support her for several weeks.

Although they were a gift from the old man, Vanessa still felt uncomfortable all over. She kept feeling like a thief breaking into someone else's home.

But excitement soon suppressed that feeling. Looking at the empty house, the girl could not help swallowing, as though she were looking at an ownerless treasure vault.

Turning back to close the door, Vanessa stepped into the house. She cautiously raised the nail-studded wooden club she had brought specifically for this purpose. Empty houses were often occupied by vagrants, and although the Clock Tower District was very safe, she still had to be careful.

The decaying floorboards creaked beneath her feet. If anyone was inside, they must already have heard her.

Vanessa did not hurry farther inside. She even deliberately made some noise. If there was a vagrant here, it would give them enough time to climb out a window and leave.

From her observations outside, the house had two floors, perhaps with an attic above. The entrance led straight into a small sitting room, with a wooden staircase on the left and a rather cramped fireplace directly ahead, the only part of the house built of stone.

New Scandinavia's seasons were cold and damp, and fireplaces were the main means of heating here. Wooden houses were prone to damp, and the dry heat from a fireplace could slow the wood's decay, so wooden houses here were generally equipped with fireplaces.

A low table stood in the middle of the room, with insect-eaten holes in the sofa beside it.

Long-withered flowers stood in a vase by the fireplace. It was clear that the house's original owner had rather loved life. Though the house was very simple, it had been furnished warmly.