tokyo creator

Extra Chapter 314.11 Null Pointer

Tamaki Yumiko just watched Ijuin Ayano rush down the slope and run away, and finally watched her push open the glass door at the far end of the hall, and her back disappeared outside the door.

She didn't try to stay at all, she just looked helpless.

Sure enough, in less than 10 minutes, Ijuin Ayano came back.

She ran back with a look of horror on her face and stood in front of Tamaki Yumiko again, panting.

Before she could catch her breath completely, she wiped her sweaty brow and cursed: "Damn it, what the hell did you do!"

"Outside the New National Theater, it should be the Metropolitan Expressway!"

"But, but - why did the outside wall of the theater turn into a gray fog??"

"The whole of Tokyo...the whole of Tokyo has disappeared! It has turned into gray mist!"

"And... damn, I can't get past it! Even if I run, it's like I'm standing still. I can't get close to the wall and the gray fog!!"

Tamaki Yumiko continued to comfort her as softly as possible: "Calm down, Ayano. I already knew this."

She thought for a while and then said: "Actually, if you are free now, you can take a closer look inside this theater."

"Even inside the theater, there are not many places you can really go. Probably... just the small area you see in front of you? The courtyard outside the entrance, the ramp from the first floor to the second floor where we are, and the The two-story mezzanine at the end of the grand staircase. That’s all.”

"You can't get in all the other places. The elevators on both sides of the hall, the workshop, and the power distribution room, in fact, none of the doors can be opened, and the elevator does not respond when pressed."

"These doors..." Yumiko paused and suddenly remembered what someone said. "It's like a 'texture' for the game."

Ijuin Ayano looked at Tamaki Yumiko with a strange expression - and then suddenly turned around and ran away again.

Tamaki Yumiko still didn't stop Ayano this time, but just watched her with helplessness again.

The girl rushed down the slope with the momentum of an angry wave towards someone, grabbed the door handle of a certain door at the entrance of the hall, and began to shake it violently.

Of course, the result was the same as Yumiko had known for a long time, the door didn't move at all.

Don't move, not even make any sound.

…After all, it’s just a sticker.

Soon, the girl at the door squatted down to rest exhausted, her back full of despair.

But after a while, she summoned up her ferocious courage again, moved to another door, and began shaking wildly again.

——and then squatted on the ground in vain again, panting.

After repeating this three times, Ayano seemed to finally give up completely.After squatting in place for a long time, he walked back slowly with his head down.

The way he walks is like a dejected puppy in a rainstorm.

Yumiko Tamaki sighed and went to the vending machine next to her to buy a can of hot milk.

Ijuin Ayano finally walked back to the platform.

She looked up at Yumiko, the expression on her face was lost and desperate, and her eyes were red.

"Yumiko... Yumiko!" She looked at Yumiko pitifully in a voice that sounded like she was about to cry, "What the hell did you do with your magic... I want to go home... I want to go home... Wow!"

……

Ten minutes later, the two girls sat side by side on the sofa in the middle resting platform without saying a word.

Ijuin Ayano had already calmed down, but she was biting the edge of the can that she had finished drinking.

Finally, she suddenly lost her temper: "Ah——!!! It feels so strange!!"

"There's no reason. I'm just very sure that Yumiko, you must have something on your mind about Master Gray."

"But at the same time, I wasn't actually very angry. Instead, I felt like 'I knew it was like this'."

"This strange place is quite scary, but once you stay there for a long time, it feels familiar." Ayano rambled.

"And there is also a feeling that although I am very angry, I just feel that Yumiko can be trusted."

"Isn't this weird? We've only known each other for less than a day, haven't we? We were having an internal quarrel on the top of the bell tower half a day ago! Why, why can I say 'Yumiko Yumiko' so naturally and so intimately now? ?”

"It seems... Yumiko, I always feel that similar things have happened more than once??!!" Ayano held her head and scratched her beautiful curly hair into a mess.

Tamaki Yumiko sighed: "Yeah. Actually, I feel the same way."

"For example, how do I know these things?" She also looked at the hall door, "How do I know those doors can't be opened?

"...How do I know that this vending machine is the 'real thing' and not the one with pictures on it?" Tamaki Yumiko looked down at the can in her hand, and felt some kind of emotion welling up in her heart, "It seems, that Someone once bought me a can of hot milk when I was about to cry..."

Both sweet and sad——

Wait a moment.

Tamaki Yumiko suddenly realized something.

——Undoubtedly, in the same scene as here, when she became a witch, there was someone who was always with her.

But why can't Tamaki Yumiko remember that person's appearance?

Even before the thought just now, Tamaki Yumiko didn't feel anything wrong at all about her "not being able to remember that person"?
No, it should be said...

To be precise, before entering the theater.

Tamaki Yumiko raised her head and looked around the theater space, and suddenly had an idea——

"Ayano...can you still clearly remember every detail about the incident when you transformed into a witch?" She said to herself.

"Are you stupid? How could you forget something like that?" Ayano said impatiently, "What do you mean?"

"But I don't remember." Yumiko Tamaki said with a bitter smile.

"how is this possible--"

Amid Ayano's surprised expression, Yumiko recounted her feelings.

"So to be precise, although I clearly remember the origin of the matter and all the characteristics of this witch stage, I have no memory of the subsequent development..."

"And, who is that person? Ms. Kui is indeed monitoring the whole incident on behalf of the organization. But I can be sure that it is not her who accompanied me and saved me, but another person."

At the end of the story, she felt a headache again, rubbing her temples and said, "So you can say that, I don't remember at all - in the end, who saved me and how."

Then Yumiko raised her head and saw Ijuin Ayano's expression was also uncertain.

After gritting her teeth for a long time, Ayano made up her mind.

"Yumiko, with the story about the Tower of Babel just now, you can tell me your important secret." She said with a straight face, "Then in exchange, I will also tell Yumiko my secret... The previous falling incident , In fact, it is almost the turning point of my witch transformation stage."

"Speaking of which, Yumiko has doubted me before, right? It was me who doubted Lord Gray." As she said that, Ayano glanced at Yumiko,
Tamaki Yumiko's face turned red and she planned to apologize.

Her wild guess about the footprints really made her almost confront Ayano.

But Ijuin Ayano was ahead of the curve and said expressionlessly: "Your intuition is right. I have indeed done that kind of thing."

Yumiko Tamaki opened her mouth in surprise.

"Two people were unlocked from the Heaven's Lock. So they walked down from the bell tower... and fell. That incident was the 'stage' for me to transform into a witch." Ayano continued to keep a straight face, one to one. Ji confessed, "The names of those two people...are Imai Rieko and Asano Eimi,"

Tamaki Yumiko remembered that those were the two dolls they saw in the old Rose Hall.

Is that why?Ayano's strangeness at that time was... more than that.On the top of the bell tower, Ayano once showed a strange expression. Was it because of this incident?
Ijuin continued: "But the strange thing is that there should be no such pair of talents in the academy."

"...And, like you, I don't remember how the matter was resolved in the end. But I'm a little better than you. I at least remember that the person who resolved the matter should be Lord Gray."

"——So I think it was Gray-sama who saved Yumiko, even though you don't remember."

Ayano held her chin and gradually fell into deep thought.

"But, I remember that Aoi was also involved in this matter..."

"Yes, that should be the case. After all, Aoi is also a 'guide'. Just like Yumiko, you will meet Aoi, I should also..."

"But as for what they did specifically..." She held her head and shook her head, "I can't remember."

Yumiko Tamaki looked at Ayano, and a vague idea suddenly flashed through her mind.

Following that thought, she tried to say: "...Ayano, I have always wanted to ask, why do you hate Miss Aoi so much?"

Ijuin Ayano was stunned.

Yumiko Tamaki thought for a while, then changed the question and asked: "Ayano, what is the relationship between you, Miss Aoi, and Orihara Hui?"

Ijuin Ayano's expression became more and more confused.

"I remember... before that incident, Aoi was my 'sister'. We... we had no conflicts. I just remember that we were so close..."

"But after that incident, I became Lord Gray's 'sister'."

Like sleepwalking, she squeezed out a few words.

"Hey……?"

Then, the girl continued to have a confused expression, and suddenly choked up and shed tears, "Why..." "Why...am I crying?"

Tamaki Yumiko saw that the situation was not good and quickly stopped her: "Okay, okay, Ayano, it's okay, don't force it, don't force yourself! Just stop here!!"

"Yeah, I understand." Ayano nodded vigorously, while her nasal voice became thicker and she sniffed, "It's just... I suddenly feel so cold..."

Yumiko sighed and finally pulled Ayano into her arms.

……

After drinking another can of hot milk, Ayano finally calmed down again, and the two of them could finally discuss the current situation.

"So I suspect that the person behind the incident may be trying to make us remember things that we have forgotten." Tamaki Yumiko made a conjecture, "So, that person brought us back to our 'stage'."

"...It seems so? It was my 'stage' before, and now it is your 'stage', Yumiko." Ayano nodded and asked another question, "But - how is this done? ?”

"Normally speaking, the 'stage' should have disappeared after we completely transformed into witches... Ah, that's right. The collapse of the stage is one of the necessary conditions for us to successfully transform into witches. "

Tamaki Yumiko thought about it again and said decisively: "There is only one conclusion, right? This place is not my tower at all."

"what--?"

"Because that tower... actually didn't look like this in my eyes." Tamaki Yumiko looked up at the high and transparent theater space above.

The spaced skylights cast daylight without the need for additional lighting. Daylight alone can make the entire theater lounge bright and transparent.

The entire lounge has a simple and elegant style, with three colors as the main tone: milky white, transparent color, and wood color.The milky white color is the floor tiles and the baffle on the left side of the stairs; the transparent color is the baffle on the right side of the stairs, and the wood color is the side wall and the handrail at the top of the baffle.

But at the beginning, Tamaki Yumiko, as the master, quickly saw the "true mask" of the Tower of Babel behind this disguise.

The ramp is not the ramp that connects the foyer and the lounge, but the brick ramp leading up from the Tower of Babel.On the left side of the road is the tall tower that reaches the sky, and on the right side is the sky. Looking out, you can see the horizon where yellow and green meet.

——But now, the New National Theater is still the New National Theater.

Yumiko did not see the Tower of Babel.

Ayano also understood what she meant and said to herself: "...I also want to see the lavender field."

"But if you want to prove it..." Yumiko Tamaki pondered for a moment, then said decisively, "You can go up to the tower to have a look in the same way as before."

She stood up and pointed to the top of the slope: "There, the west stairwell."

The east stairwell near the foyer is another stairwell on either side of the foyer that they have been walking around for a long time.

"We just entered the foyer from the east stairwell, or no matter how many floors we go up in the east stairwell, we will only be in the foyer on the first floor when we finally leave. So, let's first assume that that place is the starting point. Next, We should start from the foyer and follow the gentle slope of this grand staircase to the second floor of the theater.”

"Then enter the west stairwell at the end of the corridor... In the west stairwell, go up to the next floor. If it is the original tower, then in this way, you can reach a 'new floor'."

Ayano was a little confused when she heard this: "Ah——?? What kind of strange ritual is this?"

"Because..." Tamaki Yumiko tried her best to squeeze out the memories.

Whether it was the method itself or the reason for doing it, she didn't think of it suddenly, but squeezed it from her memory.

"Yes, this is what Miss Kui said."

"She said - on my 'stage', the theater we see in front of us is false. And the real Tower of Babel... is a spiraling ramp." Yumiko said thoughtfully, "Or It is said that it is precisely because it has no end that it can go up. The main staircase of the theater has a starting point and an end point... so it will always stop at the same floor."

"It's missing a key."

"The west stairwell is the key. It connects the starting point and the end point of the main staircase of the theater, making up for the shortcomings of the main staircase, making it...'the real road to the sky.'"

Ijuin Ayano still had an expression of disbelief.

Tamaki Yumiko laughed: "Come on, I'll prove it to you."

She dragged Ayano all the way up to the theater on the second floor, then entered the west stairwell and stood in front of the upward stairs.

The stair emergency door was closed, and the entire stairwell suddenly seemed to be isolated from the outside world.

Dark, closed.

Ijuin Ayano shuddered involuntarily and pressed closer to Tamaki Yumiko.

"I stay here, Ayano-chan goes up." Yumiko said to her, "It's very simple. If you turn your perspective on the middle platform and see that I am not 'up', it proves that we have got out of the loop. "

"No, no, no, I won't leave you! You don't have to say anything, I believe you, Yumiko!" Ayano said without hesitation, "Let's go up together!"

Tamaki Yumiko laughed dumbly.

So, the two climbed up the steps together and came to the emergency door on the upper floor.

Looking at each other, Tamaki Yumiko took a deep breath, carefully pushed the emergency door open - and then exhaled half a breath.

Ayano also said blankly: "...Really."

They really came to the entrance to the foyer on the first floor - the door to the east stairwell.

Tamaki Yumiko felt that now was only half the success: "However, we still need to verify that we have indeed left the original floor."

"Ah, how do you verify this?" Ayano looked around, "Doesn't this place look any different from before?"

"Well...actually, I have also thought about how to verify it."

Yumiko Tamaki said as she led Ayano up the slope again and came to the vending machine on the rest platform in the middle.

Then, she was completely relieved and smiled.

"Ayano, look..." Yumiko pointed to the vending machine, "The drinks we drank just now have returned to the same state as before they were sold inside."

"Hey, it's really..." Ayano was stunned for a moment and became frustrated, "Doesn't this mean that our efforts were in vain again? We are back to the starting point?"

But Tamaki Yumiko looked at her, took a deep breath, and then dragged out one long word: "No--"

"Just because it has returned to its original state, it proves that this is no longer the same floor!" She said loudly, "If it is the same floor, it should be missing what we just drank!"

Ijuin Ayano suddenly realized.

Tamaki Yumiko felt that her mind had been completely opened up.

"So, this is not my stage. It looks like it, but the internal rules of operation are completely different."

"I think... this place was specially built by the mastermind behind it, right?"

"The same floor that we cannot leave is not actually the same floor. Instead, when we leave one floor, we use some method to transfer us to the 'just built', 'exactly same' another floor in an instant. Let’s go.”

The detective's mind was fully open, and he kept saying what he thought of.

"Moreover, the number of drinks was not taken into account, which also proves that the mastermind behind the scenes is not really looking at us... The constant building of 'like the same layer' is just a trick left by the mastermind behind the scenes."

"Like... some kind of preset script? Every time, a 'new layer' will be created according to the existing template."

"So, to break this 'artificial cycle', I think there is a way to try."

In the end, Tamaki Yumiko got an idea that made her extremely excited: "——Yes! As long as we are fast enough, preferably, we can reach several floors away in an instant, then the methods left by the mastermind behind the scenes cannot be solved. It’s too late to build it—”

"Or, because it is impossible to build infinitely in this way, it will definitely destroy floors that will no longer be visited, so if we can go back instantly -"

"Ah, then, how can I reach several floors in an instant?" Ayano continued to ask stupidly.

Tamaki Yumiko finally puffed up her chest proudly.

Then she held out her arms.

——Her pseudo-spiritual flower, the Ouroboros-shaped bracelet, appeared on her wrist and made a crisp sound.

"Okay, I've marked the starting point."

Yumiko Tamaki said so, then she pulled Ayano Ijuin who was confused and climbed another ten floors along the route just now.
Standing at the door of the tenth floor, which was completely unchanged from the first floor, Yumiko Tamaki summoned the False Spirit Flower again.

"Are you ready? Ayano? We are going to try to jump back to the first floor in an instant."

She looked serious and said solemnly.

"If the scene built by Blackhand is large enough, we will jump back to the first level."

"But if the scene built by Blackhand is too small and the original first layer no longer exists, then we break the cycle and jump outside the scene."

"...But the problem is, I don't know what's out there, so I can't say whether this situation is good or bad...I really don't know what will happen."

Ijuin Ayano nodded nervously, but said resolutely: "Let's do it!"

So Tamaki Yumiko took a deep breath and shook her wrist again.

At the same time as the bell on my wrist rang——

At the same moment, Tamaki Yumiko seemed to hear a faint echo of a chuckle.

Then, the space shattered.

　I've been busy with work recently, and I'm updating like a fisherman...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)