### Chapter 186 – Prayer for the Maze (5)
—
[User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 92
Current Location: Maze’s Hell
Sage’s Advice: 2]
—
“Maze, maze! Over here! Hurry!”
“Huh? Why all of a sudden? What—”
— Rustle! Creak!!
At the moment something popped out of the bushes, all my tension instantly evaporated. What emerged was neither a monster nor a demon.
Just a pretty stylish reindeer.
“Oh.”
“Hehe! Is Kain scared of deer? There are tons of these near the school!”
As the maze boldly approached the reindeer, I panicked. It wasn’t a monster like I feared, but a reindeer could definitely be dangerous to a middle school girl.
“Be careful, Maze! That’s not just any little deer; it’s a reindeer! It could be dangerous!”
“Oh ho, kiddo. No need to worry.”
Suddenly, I heard a warm voice from behind me, and I turned around. There was a wholesome figure in very familiar clothing—an old man.
“Who are you?”
“Oops! You haven’t heard of Santa Claus?”
“Well, it’s not that, it’s just you suddenly appearing—”
“Suddenly? Can’t you hear the music?”
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year!
The lively carols had been playing continuously since I arrived at this place.
“I can hear it.”
“Then calling it ‘suddenly’ isn’t quite right, is it? You do know tomorrow is Christmas, right?”
“Didn’t notice until now; I wasn’t paying attention to the date.”
“Oh my, how disappointing! But since you seem to care about that child, I’ll forgive you.”
“…Sure.”
While I was chatting with the self-proclaimed ‘Santa Claus,’ the Maze was having a grand old time playing with the reindeer over there.
“Wow! What a beautiful scene! Such a lovely sight; it’s like she’s a snow fairy. Little one, do you like her?”
“Honestly, I really don’t.”
“Not being honest, are you? I kinda want to tease you a little. But since it’s Christmas Eve, I’ll let you go.”
What’s with that? I’m not saying I like her! Hearing that ridiculous thought, I was dumbfounded.
“Your eyes can’t glance away from her at all. Are you still scared of reindeer? Don’t worry; that one is named Comet. She’s not as sturdy as Donner, but she’s still sweet.”
“…I guess that’s good. But it’s late now; can we go for dinner?”
“Oh ho! I liked that remark. Yes, yes. A little one ought to eat on time. Take your girlfriend too.”
I didn’t even want to bother contradicting the old man’s wild assumptions. I ignored him and started moving toward the school dining hall with the Maze.
Han Kain: ‘Santa’ appears. Suspicious. Called from school?
Kim Mooksung: Wait.
…
Kim Mooksung: They “called” you?
Called? Does that mean that old man was just someone from the school? Just in case, I peeked out the window, but the Santa that had tensed me up was already nowhere to be seen. I checked the scenario, but it was just the same—no changes. “Wait for nightfall,” as they said. Looks like Santa’s just a school guy after all?
While we were eating, Ahri suddenly appeared and asked right away.
“Did you find anything about the ritual traces?”
“Not much new, but I’ll share. The ritual itself was done a long time ago—there are some Christian traces left behind, some sort of spell that’s been around for at least fifty years.”
“Are you saying a fifty-year-old spell is causing problems now?”
“It might sound weird to those who don’t know, but this stuff happens all the time. Think about it; there’s no Wikipedia for evil sorcerers, and schools that deal with them.”
“I see what you mean. There’s no group that preserves and passes down knowledge, and organizations like the Bureau actually hinder its transmission, right?”
“Exactly! The more evil the knowledge, the harder it is to pass down in its complete form. Even if you accidentally stumble upon that knowledge, it’s usually incomplete. So all those bizarre rituals happen way more often than you think, but only a tiny fraction succeed as intended while the rest just leave traces behind.”
“Some of those traces, even if they failed at the time, might coincidentally resurface decades later under certain conditions. Something like that?”
“Right! Roughly like that. Any changes in the scenario?”
“Nope. Still just waiting for tonight.”
Ahri glanced out the window and murmured.
“Let’s patrol together.”
By the time dinner ended, we went outside to check around the building and see what Ahri and Grandpa found regarding the ritual. Nothing new really came to light. To my eyes, the ritual just looked like an unidentifiable junkyard, and there was no one around outside anyway. This dormitory school is in a rural part of Indiana, USA, making it hard for outsiders to just stroll in.
“It’s frustrating. And why is there a Santa? Isn’t this a high school? Don’t such Santa events happen only in elementary schools?”
“Don’t think like it’s the 21st century you lived in. This era doesn’t even have smartphones.”
“What does that matter?”
“If you shove kids into a small-town school in America, they’re going to get bored out of their minds. So the school holds events periodically. The kids all know that Santa is just a hired guy. They say they took gift requests a few days ago. Of course, I don’t know how you and I were handled.”
And just like that, midnight was upon us.
—
— Maize
Yawn~! I stretched out and glanced around to see everyone was up, looking tired. Where’s Santa? Kain beside me looked more uneasy than sleepy.
“What did you ask Santa for?”
“I don’t know.”
What a silly reply.
“Why is everyone waiting for Santa anyway?”
“Don’t you know? Back in the day, he’d come into the dorm and drop gifts in the socks beside the beds. But too many girls’ parents didn’t like Santa coming into the dorms. So now, everyone just receives gifts on the first floor.”
“…Quite a practical reason.”
“When’s Santa going to come?”
Kain thought for a moment before answering.
“Based on the chat, or was it? I was told he’ll arrive around 2 AM. If you’re sleepy, just go ahead and sleep.”
What’s that supposed to mean?
“2 AM? It’s midnight now?”
“Uh?”
“He’s right outside! Right there!”
As soon as I finished speaking, Kain’s face turned pale.
What’s his problem now? He got startled at the reindeer earlier too; he seems more of a scaredy-cat than he looks.
Jingle bells, jingle bells!
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.
The cheerful carol rang out. It might be the most fun time in the year, even in a dull winter night.
— Boom!
Santa barged in. All the kids were ecstatic.
“Wow! Santa Claus!”
“Did you bring my gift?”
“Grandpa~! Did you bring a skateboard~?”
“Oh! Cute little ones. Of course, I brought gifts. But…”
“Yeah?”
“Are you a good kid?”
Thomas, who stood at the front, replied with a bored expression.
“Of course, I’m super nice. So just give me my skateboard already. I—”
“You lied to me…”
“Huh?”
“You bad boy!”
— Pop!
Thomas’s head burst like a squished tomato on the floor. Christmas had started.
—
“Aaaah!”
“Kyaaaaaah!”
It felt like my ears were about to bleed. Every child screamed and ran like the wind.
Dashing through the snow~!
When a cheerful verse of the carol rang out, snow suddenly began to fall from nowhere, making everywhere slippery. We’re indoors, for crying out loud! The kids slipped around due to the unexpected snow, and with each slip, terrible noises echoed from behind.
Run, run, run, and run again. I didn’t even want to think about what was happening behind me.
Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Scary.
My heart feels like it’s going to burst! What in the world is happening? What in the world is happening?
Then, teachers appeared. At the front was the gym teacher who came a few days ago, Grandpa Mooksung. As Grandpa threw off his gloves, bizarre arms appeared, like that of a monster. With one punch, Santa was sent flying. Upon seeing that, the teachers cheered and started shooting their guns.
Is it over now? I really don’t want to deal with this weirdness anymore.
But Santa got up like nothing happened.
—
A sleighing song tonight!
Suddenly, the teachers turned rigid as stones, dropping their guns and starting to sing.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Jingle all the way!
As the singing teachers’ heads swayed from side to side, an abundance of tomatoes seemed to appear out of nowhere.
The floor was covered with thick tomato soup. Add some mushrooms and sprinkle some pepper, and you’d have the perfect soup for breakfast! Too bad we’re missing eggs.
Now I get it. I must have dozed off waiting for Santa. The abundance of tomatoes could only mean I’m hungry, right? If morning comes like this—
“Maze, don’t think about anything, just run.”
“Huh?”
Kain grabbed my hand and started to run.
“Kain! You can’t run like that in school! The teachers always—”
“Just don’t think at all.”
In a one-horse open sleigh!
Another verse of the carol echoed. The reindeer cart I saw earlier broke through the first-floor wall. The once-gentle reindeer, Comet, was now feasting on the tomatoes scattered everywhere, her face splattered with red. As Comet munched on the tomatoes, she slowly approached me. Am I about to become a tomato too?
— Thump! Boom!
Suddenly, Kain next to me ‘disappeared’ and Comet flew from where he was!
“K-K-Kain, what is this???’
Kain smirked and muttered.
“This Santa’s quite a character too. Now he’s summoning monster carts? Can’t do anything without being a monster, huh?”
With those words, Kain grabbed me and pulled me along again. I figured it out gradually as I was dragged along.
This kid is completely different from ‘ordinary people’ like me.
Frantically, we ran until we reached the back door on the first floor, just as a car crashed into the school!
I stood there with my mouth agape, stunned, as a girl beyond the car window called out to Kain.
“I’ll slow it down for a moment, so take this! The number is written on the key.”
“Uh? Wait! I don’t have my license!”
— Vroom!
What in the world is happening?
A scary noise came from behind.
“Are you a good kid?”
“Shut up, you idiot!”
— Vroom! Bang!
I felt like I was going crazy.
Dragged without a clue, I ran and ran. Kain, sitting in the driver’s seat of the red Cadillac they just pulled, sighed deeply.
“Ah…. I really need to learn how to drive stick later.”
“…”
“In a situation like this, it’s not something to say, but are you alright?”
“Not sure what the situation is… I feel like I’ve entered a 007 movie all of a sudden.”
“Sorry.”
“What are you on about?”
“I think it’s going to be hard this time. Looks like we have to act before that thing shows up…”
“What do you mean by that from earlier?!”
Just as we were about to leave, the boy flashed a grin in front of me.
“See you later! Everything will be fine. May this phrase also carry the power of magic!”
—
My consciousness grew fuzzy. When I realized I was back in the depths of nightmares, I forgot everything once again.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Jingle all the way!
Oh! what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.
—
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