Entertaining a Small Thought

3rd Arc Part 13: New Faith or a Dose of Reality

After a bit of walking and a slight detour to the warehouse for some...insurance, I made my way to the 4th floor of the academy and started walking through the still eerie-looking floor to Angie's research lab. When I finally got to Angie's lab, I knocked on the front entrance.

"Angie? It's me. May I come in?"

"Oh Rin! Of course! Let yourself in with the key. I'm still finishing up our little project, nyahaha!" I heard Angie call back from within the room.

I did as she said and took out the key she gave me and unlocked the door before opening it. As soon as I did though, my heart dropped to the floor, along with my jaw, and my eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head from the sheer amount of shock I was feeling.

The lab was the same as when I last came here, with the addition of four new wax models, each one made in the image of one of our four friends who had died. There was one for Tsumugi, Kirumi, Miu, and Korekiyo, each one in one of the iconic poses that they had made when they were alive.

Despite being wax models, they were extremely lifelike, so much so I almost believed they were the real deal when I first saw them. But that was only for a moment, and it only served to strengthen my belief that this wouldn't work. These models, while incredibly detailed and, dare I say, perfectly made to look like their models, were distinctly different from a real body, dead or alive.

"Nyahaha! That expression that you have... Are you impressed with my work?" A wax-covered Angie asked me as she finished up the rest of the Tsumugi model.

"Y-Yeah. They're very...well made." I replied, doing my best to not relay that I was feeling incredibly uncomfortable being in the presence of the models.

They were giving me goosebumps, and I could feel a cold sweat forming on my forehead when I looked at them. I actually had to turn myself to my side so I wouldn't have some of them in my line of sight. Just looking at these things was making the guilt I thought I had buried resurface, making me feel even more uncomfortable than I would normally be around lifelike inanimate objects.

"I have to ask though why you decided to make one for each of our deceased friends when we can only bring one back? Also, did they have to be made with such...perfect detail?"

"Well, simple dolls probably would have worked as well, but once I got to work, Atua took possession of me," Angie told me. "Nyahaha! And before I knew it, I had made all of these!" She cheered happily.

I guess that explains why that vision from before had effigies of Kaede, Rantaro, Kirumi, and Ryoma before...not that it makes it better.

For once, I started to worry about the reaction she gave in accordance with the effigies. On one note, I can understand her feeling pride in her work and how spot-on she managed to get them to the original people, but at the same time, I don't understand how she could do something like this and still be her usual cheerful self, despite being in the presence of effigies taking the form of people we've watched die in front of us.

Perhaps it's how she copes with death? Perhaps she's too focused on the ritual or bringing one of our friends back to worry about that? I don't know, but I for one would rather have my mind on other things than this for the time being.

"Okay... Do you need anything else for the ritual?" I asked as I looked around for something for me to do. "Didn't the Necronomicon say it needed to be burnt over the effigie for the ritual to work?"

"Yep! I was going to go out to one of the empty rooms to grab one of the candles that are on the walls, but if you want, you could go grab one while I clean the wax off my hands." Angie told me with a smile. I couldn't help but chuckle when she said that.