"Watch out!"
Flora's expression tightened, and she stepped in front of Elliot.
She had clearly forgotten that this was the Dream World, where dying was no big deal.
Elliot glanced at her, then turned his gaze to the shadow monster.
It still seemed a little confused. It looked around, then turned toward the two of them. "...Who are you? Where am I?"
"I'm..." Flora instinctively looked back at Elliot, then jumped in fright.
At some point, Elliot had put on a mask.
"Do you know who you are?"
"I'm... Eleanor, Eleanor Bennett, a Night Watch Bureau detective... Hm?"
She seemed to gradually come to her senses. Looking at the boundless ruins around her, she grew wary.
"You-who are you? Why did you bring me here?!"
Behind his mask, Elliot gave a soft chuckle. "It seems you've forgotten everything."
"Forgotten what?" An inexplicable unease stirred in Eleanor.
"Do you still remember [it]?"
"What do you mean?" Eleanor seemed to panic for an instant, but she quickly composed herself and looked over with her face set.
Elliot found it amusing. She had turned into a dark shadow, yet she still had expressions and movements, all of them rendered in two dimensions. She was practically a paper cutout.
"Of course... I mean the [it] inside you. The source of your madness, the being that could control you."
At his words, Eleanor's expression gradually grew grave.
"I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?" Elliot asked.
"...The good news."
"I killed [it] for you."
"Really?!"
"Of course. [It] is completely dead. Only the corpse remains... Hmm, perhaps not even that."
Joy flashed across Eleanor's face. Ever since that accident, she had carried this time bomb inside her.
She had not dared tell anyone, or even let the Night