At the end of the corridor, Joyce placed her hand on the doorknob and gently pushed the door open.
Like the hallway outside, the room was dark, with only a sliver of light stubbornly peeking through the drawn curtains, allowing Joyce to barely make out the layout.
A small desk with a few storybooks, a desk lamp, a listless Homu doll with a toy sword clutched in its hand.
There was also a small, hard bed. The desk, bed, and a single chair almost filled the entire room.
But… where was Sirin?
Joyce glanced around and quickly spotted a large lump on the bed—a blanket monster—and a tuft of purple hair peeking out from under the covers.
Joyce took a step towards the bed, and the blanket monster flinched, pulling its exposed feet back under the covers.
Joyce paused, scratched her head, and walked away from the bed.
The blanket lifted slightly, revealing a pair of golden eyes peering out from the gap.
Joyce quickly returned with the chair. The gap in the blanket immediately closed, and all was still.
Joyce placed the chair beside the bed and sat down. After a moment, she casually spoke while examining the objects in the room.
"Sirin?"
The blanket monster shifted slightly, acknowledging Joyce's presence.
Sirin's room wasn't complicated. There weren't many things, and it was a bit messy, like the room of a somewhat untidy little girl.
Such a girl should be lively, playful, fond of food, and a bit averse to studying… if she grew up normally…
Sirin clearly wasn't a child who had grown up normally.
Joyce stared at a framed family photo in the corner of the desk, sighed softly, and then turned to the blanket monster on the bed.
The gap in the blanket had disappeared. Joyce could almost imagine Sirin curled up tightly underneath.
"You can come out and see me. I'm not a bad person," Joyce said with a smile.
"No," a muffled voice came from under the blanket, concise and to the point. "Don't believe you."
Joyce chuckled. "But I'm really not a bad person… You don't think a bad person would let you stay hidden under the covers, do you?"
"…Not listening."
Sirin pulled the blanket tighter, as if it were the safest shield in the world, capable of blocking out all bad people and bad things.
Seeing that getting Sirin to come out wasn't going to work, Joyce changed tactics.
"Do you like 'Homu the Brave vs. the Evil Dragon'? Actually… I'm the author," Joyce dropped a bombshell.
The blanket was flung open, revealing Sirin in her pajamas, her hair a tangled mess.
Sirin, her hair sticking up like drooping fox ears, looked Joyce up and down. Just as Joyce was about to speak, Sirin pulled the blanket back over her head and hid.
The whole process was as natural as a clam opening and closing its shell.
"Liar. You're not a hundred-year-old geezer."
Joyce's words were not only stuck in her throat but also stabbed through the heart.
Geezer… Joyce had never been insulted so viciously in her life.
But she couldn't really refute it. In human terms, she was indeed a hundred-year-old geezer… no, a granny.
Composing herself, Joyce decided to abandon the attempt to convince Sirin she was the author.
"Fine, but I do know the author. If you want, I can take you to get his autograph, how about that?"
She could always operate two bodies at once, even if one of them was an old man's.
"No." Sirin shifted under the blanket again, her refusal swift and decisive.
"Hmm… why not? Don't you like it?" Joyce asked.
Sirin seemed to be in a relatively good state. Though she refused to see anyone, at least she would answer and communicate, and she was still interested in things she liked.
But it was often people like this who reacted most violently when the problems hidden in their hearts erupted.
"Adults… bad." Sirin curled up tighter, muttering the two words. "Adults who lie… worse."
The words cut deep.
"Hey, hey, that's a bit of an overgeneralization…" Joyce protested. "Not all adults are bad. I'm a good person!"
"You just lied." Sirin pulled the blanket even tighter.
"I…" Joyce was speechless. But she really hadn't lied! She really was the author of that Homu book!
"Fine…" Joyce shrugged helplessly. "But even if I'm a bad person, not all adults are bad, right…?"
This time, Sirin didn't deny it. The blanket remained still.
Consider it a tacit agreement.
"Then what does it take to not be a bad person?" Joyce decided to ask Sirin for advice on how to be a good adult.
Sirin didn't speak. She rolled over under the covers before answering.
"Bad people are always bad people… They have nightmares when they sleep."
What a vicious curse… Joyce chuckled helplessly, then countered, "Doesn't Sirin have nightmares? Or is Sirin very brave and not afraid of nightmares?"
"Sirin's not afraid. Because Homu the Brave will protect Sirin and chase away the nightmare monsters…"
Joyce looked up in surprise at the listless Homu doll on the desk. The doll must have been very old, at least several decades. Even the best quality dolls would become listless after so long.
"Really?" Joyce asked skeptically. "Can Homu the Brave really chase away nightmare monsters?"
"Of course!" The blanket—Sirin—seemed excited. Though she was still hidden under the covers, Joyce could tell she was genuinely excited.
"Mommy said that when good children sleep at night, lots and lots of nightmare monsters will appear. They're sent by the Demon King to steal children's good dreams and make them cry…
"And only good children are rewarded with toys. These toys will fight the monsters when they come and chase them all away!
"Homu the Brave is the strongest! Even if the Nightmare Demon King comes, Homu the Brave can chase it away!"
Sirin was enthusiastically explaining how powerful her Homu the Brave was, as if showing off a prized possession.
Joyce nodded seriously. Then, she suddenly asked,
"If Homu the Brave is so powerful, why are you still hiding under the covers?"
Instantly… Sirin fell silent. She stayed quiet for a moment, then pulled the blanket tighter around herself.
"Because…" Joyce hadn't expected Sirin to actually answer. She was about to be the "bad guy" and reveal the truth herself.
"…Sirin is not a good child…"