Pinhio opened his eyes in a dark space.
If his memories weren''t tampered with, it would have been right after falling victim to the strange abilities of Alice, another fairy-tale devil.
"This is..."
It was dark.
He couldn''t see even an inch ahead, but at least he knew that the surrounding area was empty.
He needed to analyze what had happened.
In Pinhio''s head, the gears creaked as he thought.
But they didn''t move properly, as if rusty.
Instead, a part of his heart ached.Was his heart hindering his thoughts?
Surely he was a being that didn''t even have a heart.
It was clear that Alice had done something.
"..."
Pinhio walked away.
His body creaked loudly as if it were damaged in several ces.
After wandering aimlessly in the dark for quite some time, a faint scent of cherry blossoms brushed past his olfactory sensors.
"Cherry blossoms..."
Pinhio followed the scent as if he was possessed.
After walking for some time, he finally arrived at the source of the scent.
There, a cherry blossom tree in full bloom was weing Pinhio.
"Alice. What are you trying to show me?"
He approached the cherry blossom tree.
That''s when it happened.
He stepped on something.
...It was a human hand.
Usually, when you see a human hand, you shudder, saying it is scary.
However, Pinhio knew this rough hand better than anyone else, so he was more surprised than afraid.
"...My hand."
It was the hand he had when he was human, before bing a devil called Pinhio.
Even though it was crude, it was still a human hand.
A soft and weak hand.
Pinhio''s gaze followed the hand to the tree''s roots.
The hand was sticking out from under the tree''s roots, so it was obvious what was under this cherry blossom tree.
Pinhio bent down to check.
There was his own corpse.
The corpse''s expression was full of sorrow and anger.
"...Why do I look like that?"
Pinhio reached out toward the corpse.
Somehow, he felt that if he did, he might find the answer he was looking for.
As the hand made of wood and iron and the hand made of flesh ovepped, a story unfolded in Pinhio''s mind.
It yed like a movie, and Pinhio sat back quietly, watching.
...
<strong>POV Switch - Pinhio</strong>
I was a factory worker.
I quit school at a young age and started working part-time to earn money for medicine for a rtive I could call my father.
The repetitive work was dull and boring.
Anyone unsuited to such work would have quit quickly.
But I was okay.
I had long since learned how to empty my mind and perform without making mistakes.
The people at the factory called me a machine.
Machine.
I liked that nickname.
Because machines are helpful.
Working hours passed and break time came.
I sat on my chair nkly to catch my breath.
Then another factory worker came up to me.
I had never seen him before.
"What do you want?"
"Oh, your tone''s a bit stiff. Did I offend you?"
"No. Just asking."
He suddenly giggled.
I just stared nkly at him.
He looked me over slowly and then muttered that I didn''t seem the type to be Alice.
I tilted my head at the iprehensible words.
"Oh, sorry. Just that you talk so differently from how you look."
"I picked up my rtive''s manner of speaking. I was raised by him since I was young. If you need me to use honorifics... I can do that."
"Hahaha! No, it''s fine. Anyway, I noticed you looked nk even while working. Isn''t it boring to sit idly even during your break?"
"...Not really."
When you work, your thoughts and emotions be lighter.
That''s why I didn''t feel bored at all.
"Is that so? But at least try this. It might be fun."
"..."
I downloaded a game on my phone as he said.
I couldn''t remember why I followed his advice.
I downloaded the game naturally, as if I was possessed by something.
The game was about a cksmith crafting and selling various weapons.
It was awkward because I usually lived a life far from games, but I got into it smoothly.
I wasn''t addicted.
It was just a little fun, but it was simr in that it was about making things.
Plus, I liked the fact that I could enjoy myself without spending any money.
The money I received from the factory wasn''t that much.
One day, while I was working and ying games at the same time.
When I came home, I saw someone I could call my father... Copsed.
I panicked.
Did I panic?
...I''m not sure.
In the video, my face was obscured, like I was wearing a mask.
I dropped all the eggs I had bought at the market.
Without even collecting the broken eggs, I took him to the hospital.
I looked at him unconscious in the hospital.
He was my rtive.
My only rtive.
Since my parents left me when I was a baby, I never knew their faces, and I didn''t particrly miss them.
But this person is different.
He took me in and raised me despite his illness.
Well, maybe because we were both quiet, we barely talked, but the bond called family continued.
I asked the doctor about his condition.
...Incurable.
The doctor said he had an incurable disease.
He''d been holding on with medication, but he was close to his limit...
I knew he was sick, but I didn''t know it was incurable.
I just thought he was putting off the surgery because he didn''t have enough money.
So I was under the illusion that if I earned money from the factory, it would somehow work out.
No, I wasn''t under the illusion.
He was the one who said he''d get better if he took his medicine.
I was deceived.
"...Why did you lie?"
"..."
He didn''t answer.
I waited for his answer and then went out the door.
At that moment, I heard a sob.
"Useless... Useless..."
"..."
Was he talking about me?
I couldn''t be sure.
But I thought he was referring to me.
Because in the end, I was useless.
No matter how much money I earn from the factory, I can''t cure an incurable disease.
All I could do was cover the hospital bills to prolong his life for a while.
The next day, I went to work as usual.
I looked at the machines running and thought.
<em>''If only he were a machine...''</em>
There would be no reason for him to get sick.
I watched the machines assembling parts in the factory.
I saw a passerby with a prosthetic leg.
I saw the machines that made life easier for people.
They were full of usefulness, so why am I like this?
I was convinced that even the nickname <em>machine</em> was too much for me.
...Why did he lie?
Did lying somehow help his disease?
...In the end, he died.
I see myself falling down and hitting my head on the floor.
I couldn''t tell if I was sad.
In the vision, my face was still hidden behind a mask.
I feel a sense of disparity between me in the video and me watching the video.
If this was a memory from the past, I should remember why I acted like that, but I had no idea.
"..."
I decided to keep watching the video.
And the next day.
I went to work at the factory as usual.
I was like a cog.
A cog that kept endlessly turning without thinking.
I earned money and earned money, and then...
What do I do now?
The purpose of earning money for medicine was over.
In the end, that person is dead.
Was there any meaning to my actions?
Objects that arepleted through repetitivebor.
What on earth do those objects mean to me?
I quickly came to a conclusion.
They have no meaning.
Nothing changes even if Iplete objects that no one might use.
Unfinished objects flow along the conveyor belt.
I felt like I was one of them.
But there was no one here toplete me.
So I quit the factory.
And the next day.
I was holed up in my room ying games.
It was my only escape.
That day, I skipped meals and just kept ying until I copsed from exhaustion, drifting into sleep as if I''d passed out.
And then I woke up in the game.
"Where is this...?"
When I opened my eyes, I was in a foreign town where it was snowing heavily.
People were walking down the streetughing.
In the game, snow did fall in the background, but I''d never seen the vige bustling with people like this.
"Inside the game?"
It was hard to believe.
I muttered that while standing in my workshop.
The workshop was a ce where yers made weapons.
It seemed to be created along with the yer.
The functions of the workshop and the yer''s unique functions were the same as in the game.
The material creation function that would be impossible in reality, and the auxiliary function that allowed even me, who had no manufacturing knowledge, to easily make items.
On top of that... There was even a setting that made it impossible to leave the workshop.
Of course, the screen in the game was fixed to the workshop, so it seemed to be an aftereffect of that.
Sighing deeply, I resigned myself to this forced confinement.
For several days, no customers came to the workshop.
That is, until a man who seemed to be the vige chief approached me.
I recognized him.
An old man with gray hair.
In the game, he was a pixted character who didn''t look anything like this, but he was so distinctive that I recognized him immediately.
He was an NPC who gave quests or offered some advice. And now, he was my first customer in this workshop.
He asked me to make a new dining table because his was broken.
At that time, I might have looked a little surprised.
Because this game was solely about crafting <em>weapons</em>.
Why did I think weapons were necessary in such a peaceful vige?
This world is simr to a game, but a little different.
After thinking that far, I set about crafting a table right away.
A very ordinary table.
After I handed it over to him, I began to wonder.
How could I return to my original world?
If.
If I fulfilled all the requests of the townspeople, wouldn''t I be able to leave the game?
With that thought, I threw myself into crafting things for the vigers.
When assembling things in the factory, I just absentmindedly put the same things together in the same way, like cogs turning, but the things people asked for were all different, so I had to think through each task.
And strangely, I didn''t mind that feeling.
...
"Make this for me!"
"...Okay."
The bakery owner''s daughter had recently visited and asked me to carve a wooden bear for her.
I''ve never carved anything, but I think I can do it somehow with the auxiliary function.
"What''s your name?"
"Cassie!"
I made it for her without taking any money.
She happily hugged the wooden bear and ran to show off to her friends.
It must be heavy because it''s made of wood, yet she carried it easily.
I stared at it nkly.
I couldn''t tell what kind of expression I had because I was wearing a mask.
...My heart ached slightly.
"This is something we made at our restaurant. Would you like some? I made it with you in mind!"
It was Varian, who ran a restaurant at the street corner.
He handed me a sandwich that was decorated so beautifully that it was burdensome.
I don''t know what he was thinking, but... I made him a decoration made of iron and wood as a way of showing my gratitude.
He dly epted it.
The sandwich was delicious.
"You''re the guy who made the doll for Cassie, right? Me! Make me one too! Something cool, not a doll!"
"...Okay."
This guy is Cassie''s friend and often fights with the kids.
He usually protects Cassie from bad kids, so he''s not really a delinquent.
I think his name was Tom.
A wooden sword should do for him.
I made the boy a wooden sword.
The boy was happy and showed it off to Cassie.
I just stared nkly at it again.
I''m nk, but I definitely seem to be alive in the video.
"Hello. I''ve been using the watering can you made mest time."
This was Fram.
She had a hobby of growing nts.
A woman who keeps annoyingly suggesting that I make growing nts a hobby.
When I stubbornly refuse, she makes a sullen expression.
A strange woman who wants to make azaleas bloom in this cold ce should get out of my workshop right away.
I didn''t show even a hint of sympathy.
Fram pretended to leave, then suddenly tossed a flowerpot, some fertilizer, and several seeds at me before running off.
"The ck seeds were given to me by some strange person who told me to pass them to you~ If something strange sprouts, don''t me me~!"
In the video, I immediately put the seeds and flowerpot in the ck hole (trash can).
I continued to receive requests after that.
Baro, who runs the shop next door.
Belle, who sells fish from afar.
Carl, a yful street magician.
Friedel, who rarely left his house, making him hard to see.
...And then, the vige chief, Geppetto, once again.
He looked at me with a satisfied face.
"You look better."
"Do I?"
"Of course. When I first saw you, you had an expression that wouldn''t have been strange if you suddenly died. On top of that, when I tried to have a few words of conversation, you kept cutting me off and kicking me out, which honestly hurt."
"...Is that so."
Honestly, I don''t remember, but I think I did.
"The vigers were surprised when they saw your expression... But you seem to have changed quite a bit."
"I don''t know."
But it''s believable.
That might be the reason why they didn''t talk to me until the vige chief spoke to me first.
"Hmm... I''m bored, how about a quiz?"
He said out of the blue.
Before I could answer, the vige chief asked me a question.
"Who is that person over there?"
He pointed at a person walking down the street with his finger.
I knew him.
"Hypno. He''s a rival of Varian."
"Then that person?"
"Erin. She breaks things often andes here quite a lot."
"And that person?"
"Pekka. That kid is a delinquent. To be honest, I don''t like him."
The quiz continued until I got sick of it.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
When I asked that, the vige chief smiled broadly.
"Do you know what I said to you when I first met you?"
"You asked me to make you a dining table..."
"There was more than that."
"..."
When I shrugged my shoulders as if I couldn''t remember, the vige chief sighed.
"I suggested that you try talking to the vigers. If they''re good people, connecting with them could be a kind of therapy."
"..."
"You ignored me back then, saying you weren''t mentally unstable and didn''t need it, and yet here you are, familiar with so many people. Looks like it worked after all."
I shook my head.
"We aren''t particrly close."
When I tried to deny it, Cassie appeared from somewhere and waved at me.
I couldn''t ignore her, so I waved back.
The vige chief looked at me happily.
"Hmph."
He then said that it was already getting dark, so he had to go.
Recently, there''d been ominous rumors circting in the vige, which might be the reason.
The vige chief turned around and started to head home.
At that moment, I noticed something strange about him.
"Hey, your leg."
The vige chief was limping.
"Oh, I fellst time. <strong>There was a bloody smell and something suddenly jumped out of the forest.</strong> I couldn''t see it well, but it must have been a wild animal."
"Wait."
I called him back and quickly made a crutch for him on the spot.
"Don''t overwork yourself, you''re old."
"How much is it?"
"This is a thank you, so no charge."
"A thank you?"
"I heard everything... Tom told me you''ve been praising my skills to everyone... Why, Geppetto? Why do you care about me so much?"
The vige chiefughed again.
His eyes were warm.
It was as if he was looking at his own child.
...My heart ached again.
"I said you were good because you were good. Hehe. Of course, you looked lonely, so that''s part of it. You''re young, don''t act like an old man who''s lost everyone dear to him."
His words felt like they were a reflection of himself.
It seems that there was a hole that could not be filled in the heart of the vige chief who lost precious people.
Perhaps he saw the same emptiness in me and wanted to help fill it.
The hole created by losing precious people can only be filled with precious people.
Even if the hole doesn''t fillpletely, the will to try is what matters.
Admitting it felt a bit embarrassing, but his kindness had helped fill my emptiness too.
"It''s just pointless meddling... But let''s say it wasn''t entirely useless."
"Hehehe..."
After the vige chief left, I started cleaning up.
I had to throw away the useless wood that was left over.
Usually, I throw these useless wood and scrap metals into the ck hole.
This was a system that was also used when I yed the game, and it was a trash can for discarding unnecessary or incorrectly made items.
The ck hole only epts objects.
<strong>People can''t enter, so it seems quite safe.</strong>
"..."
It''s been quite some time since I settled in this vige, but I still can''t see a way to go back.
I thought that if I fulfilled all the vigers'' requests, like in the game, an exit would appear.
...Or maybe.
Did I need to receive a request to make <em>weapons</em>, like in the game?
Countless recipes for weapons were rotting in my head.
The vige was peaceful.
There was nothing dangerous.
Why did the game need so many weapons?
A fleeting question.
...I shouldn''t have overlooked this question.
"Kyaaaa-! Belle, Belle''s dead!"
It happened without warning.
The children of the sea, crawling out from the deep, attacked the vige with their fishy smell and disgusting tentacles.
Screams echoed through the peaceful vige.
Unarmed people were torn apart by the spears of the fishermen, and the town''s guards were struggling and somehow protecting others.
From afar, the vige chief is seen running towards them with a shabby farm tool as a weapon.
"I''m sorry to ask this of someone who has only been in this vige for a short time! Would you stay here and make a weapon for me? Please! The people are in danger!"
<em>''No... why is this happening...''</em>