When the apology letter was tucked into the diary, the dust on the diary began to fade away under the glow of the light.
The beam of light kept spreading.
It could not dispel the dust on the piano or the other books, but it opened a way back for Wen Xishu.
Wen Xishu picked up the diary with the apology letter inside, followed the light upward, and quickly left the world inside the mirror.
He was back in the gymnasium again.
Inside the gym, the setup that had looked like a mourning hall was already gone.
The mourning Shadow, Anya, had vanished as well.
All Wen Xishu saw was a single doll.
It was the doll that stood for Anya.
"You, what's your name?"
The doll looked at Wen Xishu with a trace of fear.
At this moment, Huohua—whose mouth had been covered all along by Wen Xishu's rejecting arm—finally managed to speak:
"Holy shit, there's another living thing like me, how come it's a doll?"
A toy teddy bear, a toy doll. These were things that were supposed to symbolize innocence.
One was the savior of Charlie's childhood; the other was what Charlie felt the deepest guilt toward.
"Oh! What a pretty doll. Never thought Charlie would play with girls' toys! Does she take batteries? Does she speak by command?"
Huohua's mouth kept running; Wen Xishu said:
"This is Anya. Anya, hello, I'm Wen Xishu. I've come to the Land of Dust to save Charlie."
"You… aren't a bad person?"
Wen Xishu said:
"I've already passed through your other form and gone to that attic full of dust. This is your diary, and inside is Charlie's apology letter."
The doll's hair was very short; at first glance, it even looked a bit like a boy.
It could move, but only very slowly, very stiffly.
When Huohua heard that this was Anya, the mockery stopped.
Because it instantly understood why Anya had become like this.
So it wasn't only itself that, even as death descended, still cared about its little master, still clung to a fierce obsession, longing to stay by the child's side.
It had bound itself to its little master's teddy bear.
And Anya, though she died by suicide, though she lost the courage to stand up to her father's domestic violence because Charlie failed to hold her in his arms…
Even so, right up to her death, she still hoped Charlie could live better, still hoped he would no longer be so fragile and alone.
That obsession became the doll that now stood here.
Later, however, Charlie's self-loathing filled the clock tower with Hanged Men, and the Hanged Men destroyed the teddy bear that supported Charlie's faith.
Likewise, his self-loathing and immense guilt toward Anya twisted Anya from a doll into the mourning Shadow.
But as long as you overcame that loathing, entered the clock tower with courage, and mended everything—as long as you combined the apology letter with Anya's diary…
The teddy bear could be repaired, and the mourning Shadow could be dispelled.
Now, everything had returned to the way it should be.
Yet Wen Xishu still let out a quiet sigh.
They were dead—all of them—there was no doubt, or else their obsessions would not have clung to objects.
Wen Xishu said:
"I'm not a bad person. Anya, thank you for once appearing in Charlie's life."
"It's a pity he didn't hold you when you were at your most fragile."
"But he has been blaming himself for it ever since, and he's full of hatred toward himself."
"Now, this Land of Dust is filled with the monsters his warped mind has turned into. I have to leave here."
"I think we need to go to the next place and save him together."
The doll's eyes blinked; clearly it was just plastic, yet there was a glimmer of tears in them.
"I'll go with you."
She spoke far less than Huohua did.
Wen Xishu picked Anya up, then handed her to the other hand of the rejecting arm on his back.
When Anya saw Huohua, she slowly lifted a hand and gave Huohua a little wave.
She knew about Huohua; it was just that at the time, Huohua didn't know about Anya.
Huohua thought for a moment… It didn't wave back, but instead wagged its tail—so short it was almost just a ball of yarn.
"This is the mistress, after all," Huohua thought to itself, and then immediately said the next line out loud.
Anya froze; that remark left her unsure how to respond.
Wen Xishu actually smiled for once:
"How do we get out of here?"
"The gym has a door," Anya said.
Wen Xishu looked around, and sure enough, spotted a door.
The door was seeping a faint greasy sensation.
Wen Xishu immediately guessed where it led.
Without hesitation, he brought Huohua and Anya to the door.
When he pushed it open, what met Wen Xishu's eyes was no longer the campus…
But an alley leading home, and that enormous "home" appeared before him once more.
A Victorian-style house big enough to hold the Glutton.
As Wen Xishu stepped into this place, the Scorpion Knife promptly popped up a chapter prompt.
Wen Xishu had already died once at the Glutton's hands; his belly had been torn open, and his entire body had become more monster-like, granting him tremendous strength.
But that still wasn't enough for Wen Xishu to take on the Glutton.
It was the embodiment of Charlie's unrequited love.
Its power far outstripped the mourning Shadow and the Hanged Man Legion.
Yet this time, Wen Xishu did not hesitate at all; he was no longer afraid of the Glutton.
He approached the massive building and, at great speed, shoved open the greasy, heavy main door.
After passing through the long, dark corridor reeking of rotting food…
The door at the end of the corridor suddenly slammed shut.
Just like the place Wen Xishu had cut into before… he had come to the Ever-Hungry Kitchen.