Chapter 33
I could do without anything beyond my imagination happening first thing in the morning.
When I woke up, the wooden boards were moving on their own.
Someone praise me for not screaming.
That scared me.
Looking closely, it wasn't just one board; several were moving.
The pile of boards is lower than it was yesterday.
A curse... Are there ghosts here, too?
Huh, seriously?
No ghosts!
I want to go back to sleep, though I can't.
Reluctantly, I carefully sit up.
...
"...Rock figure."
So it wasn't a ghost after all.
Thank goodness.
But then there was the strange sight before me.
Rather than moving on their own, the boards were being carried by figures made from rock.
That's right, the rock figures I'd made last night.
While freely manipulating rocks, I somehow ended up shaping them into human forms.
They were about 60 cm tall.
Once I'd successfully made one, I got carried away and made ten.
Just for fun, I gave each one a single eye, like a one-eyed yokai.
Only that part gave off a faint glow.
I hadn't noticed while they were still, but each one had a huge glowing eye covering its entire face.
Surreal.
And now, nine of them were carrying boards around to make the floor for me.
Ooh, they're neat—there aren't even any gaps, and they're fast, too.
Koa and the others seemed to have been awake, staring intently at the rock figures.
When they realized I'd woken up, all their gazes turned toward me.
I quietly looked away. I don't know anything!
Meanwhile, the rock figures continued building the room's floor in silence.
Wait, why are they actually moving?
I pick up one of the unmoving figures.
If I remember correctly, I made one yesterday...
Since it turned out exactly as I'd imagined, I got carried away and made another.
Then, ah... I remembered an old picture book.
There was a picture book about a shoemaker, in which fairies secretly helped make shoes in the middle of the night...
I wanted fairies like the ones in that half-remembered picture book.
I thought making the floor would take longer than expected.
I also thought helper robots would be nice...
And so on. I made nine of them while imagining all that.
Ah... If only the floor were finished while I was asleep.
I went to sleep after saying something like that... I think?
Could that really have made them start moving? ...Seriously?
Maybe it isn't moving because I was so focused on making it that I never imagined it moving.
Or rather, did I really create figures that move based on that image?
...Well, I can't think of anything else.
"Stop work. Assemble."
I never thought they'd actually gather.
The nine figures lined up neatly.
They're surreal, but... oddly charming.
The unmoving figure in my hand.
Imagining it as a helper robot, I say, "Move."
When I set it on the floor,
it stood up and lined up beside the other nine.
...It moved... It can move?
"I'm counting on you."
...
Of the ten, how many are fairies, and how many are helper robots?