After leaving behind quite a few books for Norl—who seemed to have entered a dormant state—X left its containment unit in satisfaction.
next, it was time for him to greet a few other Abnormality girls he had already grown familiar with.
"One night's sleep is eight hours… which means the time I can explore the Backside of Lobotomy Corporation is probably only about half of that…"
Walking through the corridors of the Backside facility, X kept thinking to himself:
"If I want to visit all the old acquaintances and still have time to explore new Abnormality worlds…"
"Then my actual exploration time might only be a little over an hour."
"Sigh… there isn't even a proper clock here… half the time I have to consciously estimate the passage of time… what a pain…"
"And if Goodness gets hungry again someday… and drags me into doing that with her…"
He subconsciously touched his waist.
"Then even the time I can spend visiting the other old acquaintances will be drastically reduced…"
"As for Magic Bullet… honestly, whether I go or not probably doesn't matter to her…"
"But still, even just saying hello is fine, right? I've kept it up for so many days now… persistence is one of the most precious things in life."
He hadn't even walked the length of half a corridor, yet his thoughts had already churned through a great many things.
"And today it seems I can reach the Central Headquarters on the 'inside' side as well… plus those two humanoid Abnormalities today…"
"If they're the kind that can be communicated with… or even give huge benefits after talking…"
"Ugh… this is so annoying. Why is there never enough time?"
Step—
Just as he passed by the containment unit of Judgement Bird, something unexpected happened!
Whoosh—
The black feather hidden in his inner pocket suddenly flew out on its own!
However, perhaps because X 's mind wasn't on it at the moment, the feather didn't transform into the imposing "executor of Justice" like before.
Instead, it drifted up lightly, like a lifeless leaf caught by a breeze—
Then slowly settled back into X 's palm.
"Hm?"
X snapped back to attention and looked at the feather in his hand.
"This feather… is Judgement trying to contact me?"
"That's rare…"
"Even though she and Little Bird share the same Abnormality world, I don't think I've ever really entered through her unit."
"…Alright."
He turned his head and looked at the door of the containment unit.
—
Abnormality World
Once he recovered from the light-pollution hallucinations caused by passing through the entrance, X saw Big Bird sitting quietly in her usual place, her head slightly raised, "looking" in his direction.
"Good evening, Judgement."
X greeted her with a smile.
"This should be the first time you've taken the initiative to contact me… right?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than something occurred to him. He changed his tone, and his smile turned a bit wry.
"That feather of yours moved on its own, you know… don't tell me I was just imagining things."
Thump.
Big Bird gently closed the book in her hands, then slowly stood up.
This seemed to be the first time X had truly, carefully seen Big Bird standing in full.
Tall and slender, yet not frail or bony.
The antique scales hanging from the necklace around her neck—forever tilted to one side—paired with the old bandages covering her eyes, lent her the cold authority of a judge.
Yet atop that aura of authority lay a thick layer of something else—
Fatigue.
And as she stood, that dust of fatigue didn't shake loose.
If anything, it seemed to settle even deeper.
"I sent Little Bird away, X ."
Big Bird spoke.
"Tonight, it's just the two of us."
"Tell me—what did you and Little Bird secretly do yesterday?"
(For details, see extra Chapter Three.)
She opened with a question of considerable weight.
"N-no… nothing…"
Overwhelmed by Big Bird's presence, X 's first reaction was instinctive guilt.
Even his denial sounded weak and unconvincing.
But then it hit him—
He hadn't actually done anything outrageous yesterday! Why was he acting guilty?
And even if something had happened, that would've been Little Bird's fault—
Uh… no, never mind. Let's say it was his fault.
"We didn't do anything."
Having steadied his mindset, X answered calmly.
"We just played a few simple games, and I told her a couple of little secrets."
"…Sigh."
Big Bird let out a soft sigh.
Her expression suggested both helplessness and faint amusement at X 's deliberately vague half-truth.
"Even if you really did do something, I actually… wouldn't mind."
"After all, Little Bird already likes you very much."
"…"
That statement hit X like a chokehold.
He opened his mouth, but in the end found not a single sentence he could use to refute or explain.
"Ahem… Judgement…"
Finally, like a thoroughly defeated deserter, he awkwardly shifted the topic.
"You called me here… it wasn't just to talk about this, was it?"
"Of course not."
With the conversation dragged back on track, Big Bird continued directly:
"What I wanted to tell you this time is…"
"I've felt Big Bird's presence."
"Big Bird?"
X rolled the name around in his head, then asked curiously:
"The last of the three Bird Sisters?"
"Yes."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
X smiled.
"Oh, I get it—you need my help, right? No problem."
"Little Bird has already told me about her characteristics several times. Leave it to me."
"No."
Big Bird shook her head.
"I don't want you to find her."
"What…?"
"This would benefit neither you nor us."
She continued shaking her head.
"Don't bring her back."
"Is it because you're afraid of that great monster?"
X was genuinely confused.
"But… aren't the two of you here? Even with all three of you together… is it still impossible to stop it?"
"Or do you think I would harm you? That I'm the monster you keep talking about?"
X frowned deeply.
"Is that why you want to preserve the last spark of the forest?"
"That's not what I mean, X ."
"Then what do you mean?"
His brow remained tightly furrowed.
But soon, as if something had occurred to him, his expression slowly eased.
"…Judgement."
X looked at Big Bird.
"Could this have something to do with that thorn in your heart from the past?"
"…"
Struck so precisely at the core of the matter, Big Bird fell into rare, passive silence.
"…"
After a long while, she finally exhaled a heavy, turbid breath—one that seemed to have been bottled up for centuries.
"Haa…"
"Yes."
Her voice lowered.
"The Big Bird that lived in the forest didn't want the creatures there to be eaten by monsters."
"At least, that was how pure my original motive was."
"But that forest was gradually dyed in darkness."
"And those years were soaked in memory… and regret."
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