Chapter 91
Black space.
In a very deep and cozy space, Ella's consciousness slowly sank, her body became as light as a feather, and then gravity, in the shape of a hand, pulled her into the deepest part of her unconsciousness. It pulled her to a very deep, deep place.
Her memories fell as if dropping to the roots of an iceberg, and her ego descended towards the abyss that had been deeply hidden below the sea level.
In the black abyss, soap bubbles shone with rainbow colors as they rose to the sky, and bubbles of various sizes gathered to form a path. The line of soap bubbles that traced a shape following a trajectory that fell straight yet curved vertically was the very breath that Ella exhaled as she sank into the depths.
And when she finally touched the bottom.
Ella could see a beautiful landscape.
What her eyes saw was a field full of lily of the valley.
White flowers drooping in bell shapes filled the field, the entire world.
Rainbow colors spewed from the colorfully shining soap bubbles, dyeing the white surface of the lily of the valley with various lights, and the scene was dreamlike as they shone white, illuminating the ground while receiving the bright moonlight floating in the sky.
The pungent fragrance of lily of the valley enveloped her entire body, and when the fragrance surged strongly, the flowers swayed their bell-shaped buds back and forth as if wanting to ring and cry, dancing in a truly spectacular sight.
"Wow..."
As Ella was enchanted by the scene before her eyes, someone approached from behind her.
"Boo!"
"Eek!"
The person who approached from behind Ella shouted with an enormous volume as if deliberately trying to startle her, and Ella jumped in place, throwing her body forward while shrinking her shoulders like a startled cat.
Fortunately, she felt comfortable as if she had thrown herself onto a bed rather than getting hurt, but Ella had no time to enjoy that comfort and quickly scrambled forward on all fours to stand up. Then she tried to shout angrily at the person who had startled her.
"Who are you to do such a...thing...?"
But Ella could only lose her words and stare blankly for a moment.
There stood someone who looked exactly like her.
"Hello?"
The same face as Ella, the same height, the same voice.
A woman who looked exactly like what Ella saw when she looked in the mirror.
But the large breasts, different from Ella's, said that Ella and she were completely different people.
Even though she was wearing the same negligee as Ella, her figure looked easily twice as big due to her chest.
She spoke in a playful tone.
"I'm your big sister~"
Ella could only stare blankly again at the shocking statement spoken with a bright smile. But perhaps thinking Ella hadn't heard her properly, the woman repeated in the same tone once more.
"I'm your big sister~"
"Ah, um. What?"
The woman who introduced herself as Ella's older sister seemed frustrated by Ella's continued daze and strode over to go behind Ella. Then she lightly pressed Ella's popliteal fossa with her knee to make her sit down, and whispered in her ear.
"I'm your big sister~"
"No, I... I'm an only child... Ow!"
She applied pressure to the hand holding Ella and spoke again.
"I said I'm your big sister, didn't I?"
That voice was subdued, unlike the bright and lively voice from earlier.
"Yes! Yes! I understand!"
When Ella gave in under the pressure, the woman released her grip as if nothing had happened and hugged Ella from behind. Ella moved her head back and forth as if trying to escape the softness and comfort felt on the back of her head, and perhaps finding this uncomfortable, the woman lowered Ella's head, whom she was hugging, towards her stomach and placed her chest on top of Ella's head.
Then she hugged Ella tightly so she couldn't escape.
"Hugging my little sister like this makes this big sister feel so good. Don't you feel the same, little sister?"
"Huh? Yes."
Ella felt uneasy as she was hugged by this chest monster who looked exactly like her without knowing why. Her eyes rolled back and forth, and finally, as if she had made some decision, she asked with a serious face.
"But... Um... Who are you really...?"
"Hmm~? I'm your big sister~"
"No, I mean, I don't understand this 'big sister' thing to begin with..."
The woman opened her mouth only after some time had passed, as if pondering Ella's question.
"Hmm. Even if you ask like that. I'm your big sister, and I was together with my little sister. That's just it, you know?"
"What? What do you mean by 'together'?"
She stretched out her right hand and placed her finger on Ella's chest area.
She drew a circle of a size that could be considered small or large on Ella's chest with her index finger and said:
"This big sister was here inside her little sister."
After those words, silence fell for a moment.
And at the end of that brief silence, Ella twisted her body to stand up abruptly and looked at her with a pale face.
"Are you a ghost?!"
Someone who introduced herself as her sister out of nowhere.
Moreover, she said she stayed in her chest and was always together with her.
Within Ella's common sense, the only being capable of this was an evil spirit.
"W-wait. Then this isn't reality but an illusion. Am I being possessed by an evil spirit right now? Am I wandering in a dream possessed by an evil spirit–hieek."
Ella spewed out words incoherently with a pale face as if in a state of panic. Then she looked around trying to find something to wake herself up from the dream. Seeing this, the woman tilted her head as if wondering what went wrong and said:
"I'm not a ghost, I'm your big sister? And this is a dream, but you're not possessed."
"What are you saying! What else besides an evil spirit can intervene in dreams!"
Ella's appearance as she backed away while shouting loudly was like a cat raising its fur and yelling in the face of a threat. Or perhaps like a rabbit stomping its feet on the ground to show its anger.
The woman, who had been quietly watching this scene, seemed to realize something and stood up with an "Ah" of exclamation. Then she delivered a flick to Ella's forehead like lightning.
Thwack!
"Ow!"
A sound so loud it was hard to believe it came from a finger flick.
Ella screamed at the pain that seemed to shake her brain, and looked at the woman claiming to be her sister with tears in her eyes.
"Don't talk back to your big sister."
"S-sorry?"
"Follow me."
She said with a determined expression, then took Ella's hand and started going somewhere.
Ella seemed uneasy about being dragged by someone she didn't know and tried to escape several times along the way, but each time, the woman, who seemed to sense her intentions like a psychic, would threaten her with a "Tsk" sound or give her a look, and continue to drag her along.
The place they arrived at was a movie theater.
It was a movie theater made of brightly colored, round, and squishy bricks that looked like they were made of play-doh that children play with. It seemed to be about 3 stories tall, but it was built so haphazardly that one might worry about it collapsing and burying them if they went inside.
"It was just a field until a moment ago...?"
They had just walked roughly through the lily of the valley field, but suddenly the scenery changed dramatically and a movie theater appeared.
Moreover, unlike earlier when there was a full moon, there was a square-shaped sun in the sky, and it wasn't even dazzling to look at the sun so you could keep staring at it with the naked eye. But then everywhere was bright like midday, so it was utterly incomprehensible.
"That's how dreams are. If you follow this big sister, who's a veteran of the dream world, you can see many amazing things."
As if to alleviate Ella's uneasiness, the woman pulled her closer to her body and walked into the movie theater.
The inside of the movie theater looked proper, unlike its clumsy exterior.
Except for the fact that there were no people, it looked exactly like reality.
But when she opened the door to one screening room, a scene unfolded that seemed to say this too was just a dream.
Films.
Photos.
Books.
Scripts.
A field appeared where all sorts of records were piled up like garbage.
She briefly scanned the mountains of records and then spoke to the bookshelf next to the door.
"I'm trying to explain something to my little sister, is there anything that might help?"
Then the bookshelf spoke.
"That is not the correct command."
"Oh right, cutesy speech! Is there anything that might help me explain something to my little sister~~?"
"Starting search. Searching... Searching... 3 records found."
The bookshelf extended a mechanical arm and picked out one film, one book, and one photo from the mountain of records and handed them to the woman. The woman thanked it cutely, expressing her gratitude, and then carried the records to another place.
This time too, a scene completely unrelated to the screening room appeared.
It was the scene of a cozy-looking room.
The studio apartment with blackout curtains drawn had lots of fluffy-looking pillows and dolls, and there was a home theater system in the back. The home theater system was not an ordinary machine, but had a bizarre form.
There was an eye attached where there should have been a lens, and it was fidgeting as if it had an itch. Not only that, but in the back, something that might have been a zipper or a mouth was opening and closing as if begging for something to be put in.
"This is my favorite doll, I'm specially lending it to you~"
The woman pushed Ella into the room and made her lie down on the sofa, placing a fluffy white rabbit doll in her arms.
"Huh? A sofa? It wasn't here just a moment ago..."
"It's big sister's power."
The woman, who spoke decisively as if to say don't ask any more questions, pushed the film into the zipper of the home theater and hugged a black rabbit doll that looked exactly like the one Ella was holding.
Then she sat right next to Ella.
No, more than just sitting, she leaned her body heavily towards Ella.
"You'll be able to understand the question you asked earlier if you watch this. So focus!"
A playful tone.
But a serious face opposite to that.
Ella was about to say something but closed her mouth and quietly looked up at the video being played by the home theater.
The video displayed large letters as if it were a movie itself.
『 The White Baby and the Witch's Salvation 』
"Oh? It's not about the womb. Did I get the wrong one?"
* * *
『 The White Baby and the Witch's Salvation 』
[ Hey! I've caught one! ]