Mary and her doll had lead Madotsuki into the nearby forest, where they started gathering berries, twigs, and other useful things. Madotsuki was helping, but this task couldn’t distract from the questions building up in her mind. Up until now, she hadn’t asked Mary about her past, but she would understand asking about this, right?

“What exactly is that doll, Mary?”

Mary looked over. “It’s my doll.”

“I mean, how is it moving around and following your orders?”

Mary paused in her work, looking more confused herself. “What do you mean? Dolls are like that… right?”

The doll itself looked between them, and Madotsuki glanced at it, illicting a small squeak. “No, not that I have seen.” It occurred to her suddenly she really had no idea where Mary was from; maybe she was from another world, and magical walking dolls were normal? "Are they all like this where you come from?"

The artist looks away. “Well… yes. I mean, I made them that way, so yeah...”

“What is your home like?” As Madotsuki spoke, she got back to picking berries. The other two got back to work as well, but they all stayed close to keep talking.

“I...” Mary looked over at the dreamer, wondering if she would believe her. If she would turn on her like Ib would. But they had fought together, right? So surely… “I-I came from an art gallery. Where all the paintings are alive. I… well...”

Seeing her discomfort, Madotsuki held up a hand gently. “You don’t have to tell me, if it really bothers you.”

“No, you deserve to know. I’m not… normal, like you. I didn’t have trees, or a sky, or sunlight. I just heard about those things, because… I-I’m a painting. Or, I was, anyway.”

Madotsuki looked her over more critically. She certainly looked like any human she had ever seen, but then she had never seen a moving doll either. “Go on?”

“Well… we were all stuck in my father’s gallery. He’s a great painter, you know! The famous artist, Weiss Guertena!” It wasn’t a name Madotsuki knew, but Mary seemed very excited to bring him up. “He made all sorts of amazing paintings, and he was so famous they were all put together in one gallery for the world to see! And…” She frowns. “Well, I was the last one he made. And I was the only one who could get out.” She paused, voice puttering out at that.

“How did you get out?”

Mary looked up with a huff, clearly upset all the sudden, crossing her arms. “Well you haven’t told me anything about you yet!”

Madotsuki backed away slightly. Clearly, this was a sensitive matter. “Alright, you don’t have to tell me. And, I wasn’t going to say anything, but if you didn’t mind telling me that much, I suppose I can tell my story too.” She paused, wondering where to start. Talking about herself wasn’t easy for her either…

Ib had finally gotten the Batter to go in the direction she wanted, and it seemed her patience was well rewarded, because they soon discovered what looked to be three tall huts of some sort. Though thin, it certainly could house people, and even had a window built into the top. There were small patches of flowers and berry bushes around the general area, but she didn’t see anyone around to live in these pleasant little homes.

They got closer, looking around, but Ib could hear and see no one. She wondered if the owners were out foraging like they were, and the happy thought that maybe she could sleep indoors tonight came to her. A nice safe bed with sheets, where she could be warm and sleep without fear of the glowing eyes and creepy whispers from the night before. Nothing had come for her then, but having a wall between her and them would be very reassuring.

But before she could reach the door, she heard the sound of something moving; on looking in the direction of the sound, she saw that someone was digging through the berry bush, behind it and out of view. So someone lived here after all! The Batter gripped his bat more tightly, but Ib stepped forward to greet them.

“Hello… we didn’t see you there. We didn’t mean to barge in.”

The rustling of the bush stopped, and the person picking them looked up- but rather than a human face, it instead was the snout of a pig, looking down at her with beady eyes. Ib was at a loss, and was only more shocked as the pig walked out from behind the bush, on two legs. It had hooves in the place of hands and feet, and wore only a grass skirt, and let out a very piggish snort as it looked the two of them over. “WHO ARE YOU?” His voice came out as almost a bellow, but he didn’t seem to be doing it intentionally. “YOU NOT PIG.”

Ib blinked and stared for a moment, but she found her voice as the pig-man took a step closer. “I-I’m Ib! Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

The Batter stepped in front of her, startling the pig into backing up. The pig narrowed his eyes at him. “UGLY MONKEY MAN. YOU BACK OFF!”

“Batter, I don’t think-”

Before Ib could finish, the Batter swung at the pig, which stumbled back, before letting out a loud squeal and punching back, which Batter dodged. The other houses slammed open, and two more pigs came out to join the fray. Powerful though he was, the battle was quickly starting to turn against the Batter as he was outnumbered. Ib, fearing they may come after her and seeing her chance to escape, ran off the way they came.

“Where do I begin...” Madotsuki sighed and closed her eyes, collecting her thoughts. “Well, before I ended up here, I was what you might call a 'hikikomori'.” 

She smiled a bit at Mary’s blank expression. “Basically a person who locks themselves away from the world. I suppose I did do just that. You see, I’ve always had strange and vivid dreams. And in those dreams, I could do so much more than I could in real life. I could fly, turn into strange creatures, see all sorts of amazing places and people. I could do whatever I wanted.” Her smile grew a bit, but then she sighed. “Even if my dreams were something horrible.” 

She waved her knife vaguely, but Mary didn't seem to catch her meaning. She had hoped to leave it at that...

“So after a while, I started avoiding the real world as much as I could. I skipped school, I didn’t leave my apartment, and I was happy just living in my dreams.” 

She looks around at the woods, then Mary. “At first, I thought all this was another dream too. It wasn’t very fun, and seemed a lot more dangerous, but I told myself if it is a dream, so I would be fine. I’d conquer it… but when I met you, I knew it had to be real.” 

She took a breath, trying to steel her nerves, but she couldn't keep her voice level anymore. "And that is terrifying. I… I don’t want to die for real. I just want to get back to my bed and-”

She was cut off by Mary hugging her. It took what seemed like a very long time for her to realize it, but once she recovered, the dreamer hugged her back shakily. “Thank you...” She felt something holding her leg, and looked down to see the doll hugging her too, and a little laugh escaped her. Not so much from humor, but absurdity. Here she was explaining herself to a painting and a doll, yet this wasn't a dream. 

“I-I’m fine. Really, you can let go.”

After they both released her, she continued, shaking her head. “I do just want to get back to my room. But I suppose... if you’re here too, then this place isn’t so bad. We’ll keep each other safe, right? We’re friends.”

Mary nods fervently, and hugs her again. Madotsuki sighs, now a bit annoyed, but she couldn’t help but smile. Friends, like the rest of real life, can be annoying. But she was starting to see some perks there too.