Twisted-Wonderland: Our Precious Treasure (Part 1)

(29) TCT: Child in the Depths!

When Jonah opened his eyes, everything was dark. He still could feel the dirt underneath him, but he couldn't see the sky above him. Is he still in the rose maze? Why he can't hear anyone? Slowly he got up, looking around.

Wait a minute.

This is not the rose maze.

He wasn't even sure he was still at Night Raven College. Everything around him was black except a single tree in front of him. There was a door-shaped hole on the tree, and beyond it, was a grayscale maze similar to what he saw in his strange vision.

Where is everyone?

There was no other way except, so Jonah took the risk and stepped into the tree. The rose maze was narrow, unlike the one in Heartslabyul, making him felt as if the bushes were about to crush him. After a long walk, he soon found a rose arc bush. The roses were the only thing colorful in this greyscale world, so of course, it would take Jonah's attention.

Though, he wasn't expecting THIS when he looked past the arc.

It was like a disconnected world. Instead of a part of the maze or maybe a garden, he found a fancy study behind the arc. In the study, there were two people, one was a lady in a beautiful dress. She was standing next to the table while holding a small cake with eight lit up candles on top of it. And sitting on a chair in front of the table was...

"Senior... Rosehearts...?"

He recognized that ahoge anywhere. He looked so tiny, still a child, dressed in fancy clothes. His hair and shining grey eyes were the only things colorful in this study.

"Happy eighth birthday, Riddle!" the woman cheered as she put the cake in front of the tiny Rosehearts. "For this year, your birthday cake is a sugar-free one filled with nuts. It's made from soy flour with lots of lecithin since it's good for the brain."

"Thank you, Mama." Riddle tried to smile. His hands were playing with the front of this blazer. "But, um, I..." He looked up to the lady with eyes filled with hope. "Just once is okay, but... I really want to try a tart filled with lots of red strawberries..."

The woman gasped. "My, how can you say such a thing?! Desserts filled with sugar like that are basically like poison for the body." She walked around Roseheart's chair. The boy looked down at his shoes when he felt the woman held his shoulder from behind the chair. "Just one slice of that thing will exceed your ideal intake of carbohydrates!"

The woman looked down at the boy, giving his shoulders a light squeeze. It wasn't supposed to hurt, but she managed to make Rosehearts flinched. "And for today's dinner, we'll be having sautéd tuna with plenty of docosahexaenoic acid and icosapentaenoic acid. It's much healthier than a strawberry tart! Ah, but the recommended calorie intake for an 8-year old is... Less than 600kcal for one meal, so don't eat more than 100 grams." She looked down at the boy again. "Am I understood?"

He gave her a weak nod. "Yes, Mama..."

"Good boy!" she cheered, definitely satisfied with his answer. "Now, blow your candle~"

Riddle let out a weak chuckle and pulled himself closer to the cake. With one blow, the candles went off, along with everything in the room, leaving Jonah standing there, bewildered.

Was that... Was that Senior Rosehearts' memory? Is he currently in Senior Rosehearts' mind right now? How did this happen? The last thing he remembered was the cannons went off and they saved the prefect, and then-

Jonah gasped. He reached his right eye. Sweet Nebula! That gooey-thing went straight in there! He rubbed his eye rapidly, hoping that he could take it out. But the thing was... It didn't hurt. His eye felt normal. Or was it not normal at all if he didn't feel any pain?