Chapter 17: Visit.
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Is it not one of the most difficult things in the world to remember even the smallest of things?
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Patrick nodded, and made to stand up, taking the chips with him.
"Leave the chips, or you'll be cleaning up everywhere."
But Lumian stopped him with a single sentence.
Reluctantly leaving the chips on the table, Patrick asked:
"What do you want to see first? The sports corner? The storage corner? The garden? The library?"
Liu thought for a moment, but her curiosity was already pointed elsewhere.
"Mm, can we go see the doors in the entrance hall?"
Patrick nodded and headed toward the hall door.
"That's where the storage room is. The other door leads to the front of the carriage, where you can drive it."
Upon entering the hall, he leaned against the shelf and put his shoes on right away.
'It's not stable...'
Liu noted as she entered the hall too. Meanwhile Patrick opened the door on the left.
"Light!"
"This is the storage room. That's where the table and chairs were. There's also a bunch of other incredible stuff, but you can't touch anything without the old man's permission."
He stepped into the room while Liu put on her shoes and followed him.
'...it's huge!...'
The room had to be at least thirty square meters according to Liu. But its contents didn't interest her much.
"How do you turn the lights off?" she asked.
Patrick was in the middle of the room, seemingly looking for something.
"You have to clap twice."
Tap. Tap.
'Just like that?...'
Which he did, without warning. Liu's heart leapt.
"Light!" she cried out hastily.
Patrick turned toward her, his face looking a little surprised and guilty.
"Uh, sorry. I didn't know you were afraid of the dark."
Liu wasn't really afraid of the dark. But after what had happened to her, she no longer wanted to stay in dark places.
"Hhaa, it's fine. Let's go outside."
She headed back to the hall first.
'...really not stable...'
Since the carriage's movement could be felt in the hall, every time a door was passed to get there, the stability was compromised.
Leaning against the coat rack, Liu stepped forward to open the door across from her, while asking one of the questions that had been bothering her.
"By the way, where exactly are we going? Where is Lubren?"
The door opened directly onto the front bench of the carriage.
"You shouldn't interact with the projection, otherwise it'll mess it up. Last time I had to do all the cleaning because I accidentally touched it while going out to get some air."
Liu nodded and didn't step through the door. Instead, she turned toward Patrick.
"I don't need fresh air. And answer my question, Patrick."
Patrick looked at her with an exasperated expression.
"Hhaa... if you want me to answer your questions, start by stopping calling me Patrick. You can call me Milo."
'That's right... his name isn't Patrick...'
Liu accepted: "Alright, Milo."
They both took off their shoes to put them away.
"And, it's going to be a hassle to give you a tour while answering your questions at the same time. How about we finish the tour and I answer your questions while we play ping-pong?"
'We can play ping-pong here?...'
They walked back into the living room.
"Alright, but make the tour quick."
Patri.. no, Milo went ahead and headed toward the door next to the kitchen.
"Ok."
Following him, Liu glanced over at Lumian while Patrick grabbed a few chips on the way.
'He hasn't moved...'
"You should try these chips, they're so good." suggested Pa..Milo.
Liu looked at the bag on the table, but ignored it and followed Milo.
"No thanks."
Milo opened the door and walked straight in.
"This is the pantry, where all the food is kept. That's why the door is next to the kitchen."
Stepping inside to quickly take a look out of pure curiosity, Liu spotted a pile of things she didn't recognize.
'Big grey boxes? And what are all those packages?...'
"What's that?" she asked, pointing at one of the big grey boxes.
"That? Right... you wouldn't know. Those are fridges, a kind of cold shelf that keeps certain foods fresh longer."
'...that sounds practical...' she thought, nodding.
"Afterward I'll show you the restaurant real quick even though there's not much to see."
So they headed back to the bedroom hallway.
Passing by the couch, Liu wondered inwardly:
'What is that wooden thing he keeps tapping on, anyway? I hope Patr.. no, Milo will have the answer...'
After entering the hallway, Milo spoke up again.
"All the rooms are the same, you can check them out later if you want. And from the restaurant we'll go to the garden."
They arrived at the restaurant door and Milo opened it, continuing to explain.
"The garden connects to the restaurant, the sports corner, and the library."
'Huge... how is that even possible...'
Upon entering, the first thing visible was a good number of tables scattered about with chairs turned upside down on top of them.
"It's massive, isn't it. The garden is even bigger. And the sports hall should be about the same size, same goes for the library."
'...it really is massive...'
Milo moved to the left to push open a double door.
"On this side are the kitchens, and the storage room that's empty, probably because it hasn't been used in a long time."
'...what is all this stuff...'
While Liu took a quick look and saw a countless number of unknown machines, he continued.
"On the other side we have the big bay window that leads to the garden. I've already tried eating here alone, but you get bored too quickly."
He moved toward the bay window without giving Liu time to admire the view.
'It's like through the small window...'
"...the sky is black?"
Opening one of the glass doors leading to the garden, Milo replied.
"Yeah, I asked the old man and he told me it was void, and that he had put things he calls stars in it. Apparently it's to light up the garden."
Liu followed him as he entered the garden. She lifted her eyes and spotted a good number of small white luminous points in the deep black void.
'It's!!...'
This scene reminded her of something she had set aside after everything that had happened to her.
"You can visit the garden properly later, but there's nothing special about it."
'...it's like what I saw in the vision...'
Liu was about to sink into that incredible memory when:
"The library, on the other hand, is rather incredible."
One of her favorite words interrupted her moment and piqued her curiosity.
'...an incredible library!'
Books had always been one of the most important things in Liu's life.
She followed Milo enthusiastically, along a path winding between a good number of trees and bushes, until they arrived at a door that seemed to belong to a small forest hill.
'Incredible! That's so cool.'
Milo stepped inside without waiting, as if this scene was nothing new to him.
"It's one of the biggest libraries I've ever seen — well, I haven't seen many, but it's really big."
He turned around to welcome Liu and guide her through the library.
'...Aaahh! Is this paradise?!... Incredible!'
But Liu walked past him and plunged directly into the many rows of books.
Looking up, she saw that there were several floors.
'This truly is paradise!...'
She continued her contemplation, completely absorbed by what she saw.
"Uh... okay... Are we finishing the tour? Or do you want to stay here? I wanted to ask you a few questions too..."
Hearing that, Liu paused in her rapture and lowered her gaze to look at Milo.
'That's right, I have so many questions to ask him. I almost forgot, but...'
"Hhaa, I can always come back later anyway... so let's continue the tour and go play ping-pong so I can ask you my questions."
Milo nodded and turned around to go back through the garden.
"You can also enter the library from the living room, it's the door between the rooms and the sports corner. But it's cooler through the garden."
Coming back into the garden, Milo took a path to the right and arrived at what appeared to be a large wall in a matter of a few dozen seconds of walking.
'...that's huge too...'
He opened the door at the base of the wall and stepped straight inside.
"And this is the large sports hall. There's only gymnastics equipment here. I asked the old man why, and he told me it's because it's the best way to master your body."
Liu stepped inside and once again took note of the sheer size of the place.
'...it's getting stranger and stranger...'
"...how is it even possible for it to be this big?"
She looked around, but didn't spot the ping-pong table Milo had mentioned.
"No idea, I've tried asking him, but his answers are incomprehensible."
Milo moved across the hall.
"Where's the ping-pong table?"
Liu asked, following him.
"In the small room a little further ahead." he replied, arriving in front of a double door.
'There's another room?...'
Passing through the door, Milo finished explaining the tour.
"In the hallway to the left, there are locker rooms with toilets, and storage for some sports equipment, I think. And to the right there are two ping-pong tables."
He headed toward a shelf on the right and picked up two paddles and a few balls.
'Honestly, it almost feels like I'm at school... restaurant, library, garden, sports...'
He held one of the paddles out to Liu, who was following behind.
"There are also two other tables in the garden, if you want we can go play on those."
Liu took the paddle while thinking.
'...better to stay here if I want to ask him my questions.'
"No, it's fine, let's play here."
Which they started to do.
"Do we just rally?" asked Milo.
They each took one side of the table.
"What? You want to keep score while we're supposed to be asking each other questions?"
'What do I ask him first?...'
Milo had all the balls, so Liu waited for him to decide.
"Go ahead, you can ask a question first, I don't have any ideas right now." he offered, tossing one of the balls.
After returning the ball, Liu asked her question directly.
"Why do you call Lumian the old man, he doesn't look old at all."
This question completely caught Milo off guard, so much so that he completely missed his backhand.
"Huh... uh, it's because he's weird. You know, I've only been here a few days, and he already has way too many different abilities... Only the people from legends who lived more than two hundred years are capable of having that many different abilities."
He replied in a way that slightly threw Liu off, using words she found surprising, all while tossing another ball.
'...what legends? And... more than two hundred years?...'
Absorbed in her thoughts, Liu also missed her shot and sent the ball flying over Milo's head.
"What if whoever wins the exchange gets to ask a question? I don't think we're really going to manage to play like this." suggested Milo.
"Yeah... alright." Liu accepted.
'I knew it, he just wanted to play ping-pong...'
"You have the balls, so you can start."
Milo nodded and began.
Pa!
He put spin on it right from the serve, which caught Liu off guard, she responded with an awkward backhand and missed the table by a hair.
"Tch!"
"So, can I ask a question?"
Liu looked at him defiantly and made excuses rather than answer his question.
"I only missed because I'm not used to my right arm yet."
Which was not true in the slightest. In truth, she had barely felt the absence of her right arm during these past few days.
"Sure... but I can still ask a question, right?" Milo insisted, not willing to let her off the hook.
She had been so preoccupied with other things that she hadn't had the time to really think about her arm, except when she was with Yumi.
"Pft, yeah you can..." she replied reluctantly, in a less than pleasant tone.
And on top of that, she had recovered her arm in little time. In the end, the loss of her arm had been nothing more than a brief and distant memory that she was able to forget without effort.
"What's that weird shadow, the Form you were talking about?"
'...the Form... the Form??!!...'
Liu had completely forgotten about it. She slammed her hands down on the table abruptly, startling Milo.
Claa!
"Damn! I had completely forgotten! Where is it??!!" a panic she had forgotten came rushing back to her.
And though surprised, Milo answered her question, which hadn't even been directed at him.
"Uh, I asked the old man earlier. He told me it was in the shadow of the carriage and that it was following us. He said the barrier he put up was working well. Other than that, he didn't want to tell me anything more."
He spoke quickly, a little frightened by what Liu might do, having seen and experienced what she was capable of.
'Right, the barrier... and it's under the carriage? That means it can't follow me in here?...'
Beyond her control, this thought relieved her far more than she expected. She was no longer being followed everywhere, nor observed at every moment.
"Hhaa... ok."
She lifted her eyes toward Milo.
"What was your question?"
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To forget nothing under all circumstances — that is, of course, impossible?
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