I Thought It Was a Fairy Tale but the Genre Is Strange

Episode 11 – Peter Pan (5)

“Ugh, my head.”

Tinkerbell woke up with a splitting headache. She had planned to report those two despicable traitors to Peter Pan, but suddenly everything went black. In an instant, it became dark, and she lost consciousness from a strong impact.

Tinkerbell tried to gather her hazy thoughts and figure out where she was. It was a familiar place. Inside Peter Pan’s castle. Tinkerbell realized that her vision was moving up and down repeatedly, even though she wasn’t moving. She tried to move her body but couldn’t. It was then that she realized she had been captured by the despicable traitors.

“Oh? She’s awake.”

“aaah!”

Tinkerbell, who was in my hand, screamed loudly.

“Peter Pan! Where’s Peter Pan! Save me! Help me! These traitors are ransacking our room right now! Peter, mmph!!”

I covered Tinkerbell’s mouth with one finger. She was so small and delicate that I felt like her body would burst if I applied even a little pressure.

Tinkerbell glared at me with a resentful expression. Cassandra, who had searched the entire room with me but found nothing, stepped forward.

“Tinkerbell, where is Eris? Where are the children you took?”

When I released Tinkerbell’s mouth, she snorted with a villainous expression.

“Hmph, do you think I’ll tell you that? Just wait! Once Peter Pan arrives, it’s all over for you!”

Cassandra’s face turned grim at Tinkerbell’s words. Her eyes were filled with a madness that made it seem like she might actually do something terrible, so I acted first.

“Then I’ll make you want to talk. You guys don’t even have the resources to build a proper bathroom, do you? Just digging a hole in a room and burying it, right?”

“Wa-wait. What are you trying to do now?”

I headed to the bathroom I found earlier. As I entered, a terrible stench that could rot my nose emanated from the deep hole. The hole was filled with Peter Pan’s excrement.

Tinkerbell’s pupils began to shake violently.

“Wh-why did you come here!”

“This is the last time I’m asking, so you’d better answer well.”

I smiled and pushed Tinkerbell into the hole. I stopped my hand just before she touched the excrement.

“Ahhh! What are you doing! Ugh! Stop it! Please stop!”

“Where are the children you took? If you lie or don’t speak, I’ll drop you into the filth.”

“Ugh! Okay, I’ll talk! Please! Please get me out of here!”

I pulled Tinkerbell out and gave Cassandra a thumbs up. Cassandra calmed her rising anger and forced a smile.

“Alright, lead the way.”

“Ugh. I feel like I’m going to throw up. Haa. Go, go to that bookshelf.”

The direction Tinkerbell pointed to was an empty bookshelf standing alone against the wall. As we approached, Tinkerbell asked to be sent in front of the bookshelf, so I extended my arm. Tinkerbell pressed her hands against the empty bookshelf wall.

Click.

With the sound of a button being pressed, the empty bookshelf began to move sideways on its own. What appeared was a secret passage leading underground.

“You, you guys have crossed a line you can’t come back from. When Peter Pan returns, ugh. It’s all over.”

“No, it’s not.”

I covered Tinkerbell’s mouth again. I was worried she might vomit on my fingers, but fortunately, she only gagged a few times. Cassandra and I began to descend with tense hearts. The stairs of the underground passage were covered with vines like plants clinging to the walls, emitting a faint light, so it wasn’t dark at all.

We moved cautiously, yet hurriedly, not knowing when Peter Pan might arrive. Tap, tap, tap, tap. The sound of our anxious footsteps echoed.

As we descended a bit further, an old door appeared. Carefully turning the doorknob, which was also covered in plant vines, the hidden room of Peter Pan was revealed. The place where he had dragged the children and imprisoned them.

“What, what is this?”

Cassandra’s voice was filled with confusion. I couldn’t understand the situation either. It was quite a spacious room. However, the missing children were nowhere to be seen, and in the center of the room, a bizarre plant with a gigantic bud, much larger than an adult man, had taken root and dominated the space.

A sinister red bud. And there were so many roots that it was impossible to gauge how far they spread. It seemed as if the roots might extend not only throughout this room but perhaps all over Neverland.

“They’re not here! They’re not here! Where are the children? Where is Eris?”

Cassandra, enraged, strode towards Tinker Bell.

I frowned and spoke to Tinker Bell.

“Tinker Bell, did you deceive us?”

“Puhaha! No, I guided you properly. Hehe, can’t you see? Open your eyes and check. Where are the children you are looking for?”

“Stop playing games!!”

Cassandra screamed so loudly that it felt like my eardrums would burst. She snatched Tinker Bell from my hand and grabbed her wings.

“Where are they! Where have you hidden my sister!”

“W-what are you doing! I’m not lying!”

“You damn fairy!!!!”

Cassandra, who had been desperately searching for her sister for ten years but failed and was tormented by anguish, finally exploded with repressed emotions. Rip. The unpleasant sound of flesh tearing. A small amount of blood splattered on the floor. And Tinker Bell’s ear-piercing scream.

“Kyahhh! It hurts! My, my wings! aaah!”

Tears poured from Tinker Bell’s eyes like a waterfall. Meanwhile, Cassandra’s expression, with Tinker Bell’s blood splattered on her face, was calm. As if she no longer cared what happened. Cassandra threw Tinker Bell’s wings, which she had clenched in her hand, to the floor and spoke again.

“Next, I’ll rip off your arms. Then your legs. Finally, I’ll tear off your head.

“Shut up!!! I’m not your mother! I’m Cassandra! I’m Eris’s sister! I’m not your mother!”

As Cassandra grabbed Tinkerbell’s arm with the intent to rip it off, I restrained her before she completely lost her mind in anger.

“Calm down, Cassandra! Let’s hear more of Tinkerbell’s story first!”

“Let go of me!”

When I grabbed her arm, Cassandra struggled even more violently. I urgently spoke to Tinkerbell.

“Hey, you could really die if you keep this up! Tell the truth! Where are the children Peter Pan took?”

“Ugh, I-I’m not lying. They’re here. The children came here. Look over there.”

Cassandra and I turned our heads in the direction Tinkerbell, on the verge of tears, was pointing. There was something bulging out like a tumor on the plant stem nestled in the corner, aside from the flower bud. It was large enough to fit a person inside.

In that moment, I felt Cassandra and I had the same thought.

My eyes turned to the floor around the flower bud. Glittering powder scattered everywhere. It looked familiar. Stems and roots emitting their own sparkling light.

My heart started pounding like crazy.

Thump thump.

Glittering powder. Strange flower bud. Giant tumor.

Thump thump.

Tinkerbell said the children were here. But the missing children were nowhere to be seen. The magical powder lifting the entire island.

And the bizarre magic of Neverland that never ages.

“No way, no way, no way.”

Cassandra, as if possessed, muttered and threw Tinkerbell aside, running to the corner and standing before the tumor. With trembling hands, she carefully tore the thin membrane of the tumor.

I watched beside her, desperately hoping it wasn’t true.

“Ah.”

Cassandra’s hand went in and out of the torn lump. In her hand, she held a small ring. The ring was smeared with white powder, and I understood what it meant.

“Ahhh.”

Tears streamed down Cassandra’s face. She collapsed to the ground. As the thin membrane tore, the lump, unable to hold its contents, completely burst open, spilling its contents. Along with a huge amount of white powder, various old clothes and items were revealed.

I carefully took out an old pendant from among them.

When I opened the pendant, I saw a familiar face. Captain Hook in his younger days, without a beard. And next to him, Wendy, smiling brightly.

Yes. The children taken by Peter Pan were no longer in this world.

Those left behind wandered in search of their families, unaware of the truth.

Cassandra’s desperate and sorrowful wail, having lost her most precious being, echoed through the room. The heartbreaking cry, which tore at the listener’s heart, seemed never-ending.