☀️ Arselia and Akonia

- And I am grateful to you for recognizing these details rather than accusing the first person you meet of a crime, - Ayano folded the palms of her hands, which were resting on the table. - At this hour today, being in the port district on business—specifically, I am writing a guide article on various locations in the city for the "Zarya" publishing house as a freelance contractor—I noticed this... attraction and decided to visit it, as I had never been there before, and considered something like this to be ideal material for the article, as an entertainment venue for residents and guests of the city of all ages, - she sighed after these words—so much did they contrast with the reality of what had happened. - At the entrance, I was met by... Unfortunately, I don't even know her name. A girl employee. One of the murdered... I paid for admission; she led me into the "room" itself, or rather the first room of the complex on that floor, and went back. I, however, went forward. As I recall, the complex consisted of only three rooms—a corridor, a hall, and a final room. The corridor was completely empty—not a soul, not a single decoration, nothing. It was disappointing, but not strange. More so, it felt—shoddy. In the hall, there was already... something. There were decorations—some apples on tables, or whatever they were; to be honest, I have a vague memory of that detail after everything that happened. What I remember much better is... the halved bodies of several people. At the time, it didn't even occur to me that they were... real. I was in a fear room, you understand? It's an attraction, it's specifically built that way... - Ayano spoke these words with a certain degree of bitterness, not even so much for the fates of the perished, which was certainly an unjust event, but one she had encountered in her life more times than could be counted; and certainly not to create a theatrical effect. Most oppressive—and infuriating—in this story was the fact that such a simple coincidence of random circumstances right before her eyes led to the loss of life for a specific person, not somewhere and sometime back then, or by some unimaginable monstrous demon embodying an unrestrained primordial element, but right through her fingers, with incredible arrogance and cruelty, by an ordinary thug.
- It seemed very realistic to me; there was even a... smell. But it's an attraction... - she realized she was repeating herself and shifted gears. - But the... I don't know... composition seemed strange to me?.. People in deer heads, a brute in armor, and... some woman. Or rather a girl. Young, but not excessively. Not like that... little one... - she shook her head. - I didn't stay there long. Maybe it's some local legend, how should I know? Then I moved into the final room, and again there was nothing there. Some trinket, and that was it. From there, I exited through the door I had entered and decided to express my dissatisfaction to her. Not in a harsh tone, of course; she's just a child and clearly not the organizer of the attraction. But I wouldn't go to such a shoddy place, nor would I bring anyone I know. I was supposed to describe all this in the article! ..When I shared my impressions, the girl apparently found something strange, she went to check, and I followed. We went through the corridor again, then she peeked into the room, and soon rushed out in tears and ran toward the entrance. And that's when I finally realized—none of this was actually supposed to be there. I hesitated a bit, maybe for a few seconds, followed her, and when I stepped into the vestibule, I saw... her. And the door to the street slamming shut. I didn't even manage to see the silhouette of whoever had just left. I ran to the door, but I couldn't get out—it turned out to be locked, it wouldn't budge. Then I started pounding on it and calling for the guard or anyone at all, and eventually after some time—I don't know exactly, it's hard for me to estimate how much time passed, but not much—a squad of guards entered. You know the rest.
She fell silent, then remembered the final touch:
- I didn't understand how they got in, the door was locked. I asked the guys while we were standing there; they said the door was locked with a key, and it was sticking out of it. But they weren't a hundred percent sure about that. It's all very strange.
After another moment of silence, she added gloomily:
- I don't know what your theories are based on. Like you and those guards can see—there are no marks on me and I have no weapon that could halve a human body, or... you understand. And if I did, I wouldn't have picked it up. I couldn't have locked myself inside from the street either. And I certainly wouldn't have called the guard if I were involved, - she stared back. - Listen, Major. Or Colonel, General, whatever you prefer—I don't understand ranks—all this happened in broad daylight in the busiest district of the city. Surely someone on the street noticed something; I raised a noise almost instantly. It cannot be, and must not be, that he simply vanished into thin air and escaped punishment.