Hiding a House in the Apocalypse

Everyone says it.

There’s no place better than your own home.

M9 had a similar sentiment.

But for anyone else to explore M9’s house, which far exceeded the ordinary slope one might expect from a human, it required an immense amount of resolve.

“What are you doing? Skelton? Not coming in?”

M9 turned to look at me from the corridor entrance.

“Oh, no. It’s fine. I was just thinking about it. I already had tea earlier.”

That wasn’t entirely true.

I hadn’t had tea today.

It was just that my instincts screamed in warning, telling me not to step any further into that dangerously tilted, slanted place.

“...”

M9’s home was a four-dimensional labyrinth unlike anything I’d seen on a computer.

It wasn’t obvious where to step or where to hold on to move. A small mistake would send me plummeting to my death, and the place was filled with death traps.

Even I, who had overcome a fear of heights through training, found it a perilous place.

Rustle—

After I mistakenly stepped and watched a stone fall into the abyss below, I froze in place.

“Hey. Skelton. What’s going on? You’re not coming in? Let’s have a cup of tea.”

M9, sensing my hesitation, grinned and waited for me to enter.

But there was no need for me to go.

I wasn’t here to uncover M9’s ecological history; I had only come as an observer.

“Hey. Skelton. Why aren’t you coming in? Are you already overwhelmed by my The Hope?”

“...”

“Well, nobody’s left here smiling after visiting my house. Just wait a bit. I’ll get the tea.”

As M9 excitedly stepped inside, a loud rumbling sound echoed from outside.

It sounded like a heavy building collapsing.

Such sounds weren’t unusual in this area, but I didn’t want to get caught up in M9’s pace, so I immediately exited The Hope and returned to the rooftop.

“Phew.”

At least it was better outside.

Unlike M9’s twisted, spider-like maze of a home, I could at least tell what was up and what was down out here.

As I leaned against the railing and spent some time waiting, M9 brought out a steaming cup of tea.

“I never thought I’d meet you like this.”