Snow White and the Seven Gods; or "Hitoribocchi no Shirayukihime"

Final Chapter - Once Upon the Death of Snow White

EXT. OTOGIBANASHI MANSION - DAY

Time has stopped and I was the only one who could move inside the Snow Globe.

Regardless of the stagnation, I denounced care away from it. The fabrics of reality behaved in an estranged manner. You should know, I can troubleshoot the dilemma without lifting a finger. Hilarious for I know I'd rather run away than tinker the problem. Null of thought to that because I established the snow world.

And, who was I to run away from a problem I created?

Alien intone played in an unnerving midriff: an eerie sensation too torturing for the common psychology and overdramatic for romance. Serene enough for an escapist personality. Cumbersome for the need to save the world.

Perhaps, I should shift the blame before they realize I was the root of each and everyone's demise.

I let out a sigh when I stepped out of the Otogibanashi Mansion and took off for school.

Home, a side of the world you didn't know existed.

Picturesque scenery upon sight, the statues of living beings.

Standing frozen was the woman in the bakery serving her customers, bearing an irrevocable scorn on her face. Kids from the neighborhood frolicked around, enjoying their last day of summer break. Boys and girls my demographic bought their popsicles from a convenience store, and there was the store clerk with his gaping mouth to tend to the customers.

Some others here and there, people I know and don't know were busy with their daily lives.

There's nothing anyone in my position could do other than treat them as exhibits.

I was fine with all of it.

Everything in it.

I didn't mind the setting.

I could live here forever, I thought.

"Eep─!"

Then the contradiction occurred: I wasn't alone, much to an annoyance.

I could have sworn I heard an escaped gremlin, but the disappointment came in such a sorry state of white dish towel. Small dress and a straw hat, then to the flapped down bag and small limbs spread across their expected direction. What showed up was a human. Miles away from being a ghost or a goblin.

The little girl tripped over a rock, a mere pebble─or frankly, she tripped on flat ground. I know it wasn't clumsiness for certain. She was a good tactician to have caught my attention.

"Hey, were you a shovel in your past life?" I joked, notwithstanding the continued chuckle. "And, oh! So you're wearing stripes today, huh?"

The gremlin noticed that I was behind.

"Eep, a pervert! Ah─!" A shoe found itself flying towards my face─which I dodged. "Keep your eyes out where they're locked on right now!"

"So you like cats, dish towel gremlin?"

"Who are you calling a dish towel gremlin, you stupid monkey!?"

"Point taken, I'm a stupid monkey, but that doesn't change the fact that you're a dish towel gremlin."

"I'm the most ladylike of every girl you've met!"

Fiercely declared, she elegantly posed in her one-piece dress and fanciful straw hat.

Lady in the highlands? Not a chance, but it's definitely an amazing afterthought. She looks like she's in middle school. First year, late thirteen or early fourteenth, black long hair aflutter.