Hidden 8th | BTS

Side Quest I

Cotton Candy Mouse

Jwi

Before Tata had found him, Jwi had been a normal plush mouse. Ever since he could remember, he had spent his days sitting on a dusty shelf in a carnival that seemed to never close. 

Jwi never talked. He never walked. He never moved from his spot with his own strength. His face had been the same blank expression ever since he could remember. 

Sometimes, there would be fragments in his memories. Memories where he used to talk. Where he used to be jumping around. 

Jwi doesn't remember when he stopped but he didn't find the will to bother. It was dark and cold in the room. 

Despite having seat mates next to him, he didn't know anyone, he couldn't see them because of the lack of light and with the fact that they don't seem to speak either. He could occasionally recognise the master of the game coming back and forth from the front desk to the back of the storage, where he sat. 

Jwi still remembers  an old man in stripes walking about the storage room. Then the old man changed into a young adult. After that a different adult had came. And another. After another. 

Still, Jwi had been on the same spot. He remembers his seat mates changing ever so often. He couldn't even bother to remember them anymore. 

But one day, a different young adult had carried him off the dusty shelf. The young adult had carried Jwi out of the dark cold storage room and stepped outside. 

Jwi remembered the first time he had saw the light shining so brightly. The light in the storage room had always been so dim, there wasn't any windows either. He could recall the scene as if it was just yesterday. Small children running around, some crying for their parents, some jumping in excitement for the games that they won. 

Jwi had been placed on another shelf that day. One that had sunlight, one that wasn't dusty and cold, one that was warm. 

For a while, Jwi had gotten the chance to see multiple of different people walking around the place. Some even stopped at the booth to shoot down the plushes on the same shelf. 

No one ever picked him. 

Maybe it was because he had been inside the storage room for so long, his original colour had faded and covered by a thick layer of dust. The young adult never did bother to clean him. Or maybe because his appearance was already outdated. Who knows how long he has been sitting on the shelf for? There were much cuter and fluffier dolls than him. 

But he didn't mind though. He could see a different scenery everyday. He could enjoy the sunlight every noon. And he was content with just that.  

Jwi had wished he could stay like that forever. He never expected to suddenly be knocked down the shelf by a flying cork. 

He could faintly remember the young adult picking him up and giving him to a teenage child. The child hadn't been smiling when he had received Jwi. 

"I wanted the Kumamon."

Jwi recalled what the child had said. He had been squeezed by the child once he was in his grasp. The child's frown had deepen even further upon further inspection.