Chapter Text
You completely forgot about Harlequin’s performance that was meant to be held tonight.
You had been so busy worrying about the pink ticket, the questions, and accidentally derailing the plot that you had completely forgotten one tiny little thing.
You were currently occupying the body of a professional performer.
A professional performer who was expected to perform in front of a crowd tonight.
Sure, you had played through The Freak Circus more times than you could count. You remembered bits and pieces of Harlequin’s storytelling performance.
The problem was that bits and pieces weren’t exactly enough when you were expected to perform the entire thing!
You knew there was absolutely nothing you can do other than actually remembering the entire thing.
And after today’s interrogation, you had absolutely no desire to experience a sequel.
With a heavy sigh, you continued walking toward Harlequin’s tent.
At this point, you'd accept divine intervention. Don't all isekai protagonist get some kind of system that can help them or something?
Reaching the tent, you pushed aside the entrance flap and stepped inside. And there you spotted your bed, personal belongings, and stuff.
The tent wasn’t small, but it certainly wasn’t large enough to fit an audience.
Before you could think too hard about it, your eyes landed on another entrance tucked away near the back.
That must be it! You thought before you immediately went to open the entrance.
And when you stepped inside, I tell you... Your jaw dropped.
The room beyond was enormous. Rows upon rows of seats stretched outward before you, surrounding a large circular stage positioned at the center.
You stared at every corner of the tent. "Holy cow..."
You never expected a bigger room in such a small tent but hey, remember that 5 million small house illusion? Yeah, you know what they say, never judge a book by its cover.
You glanced towards the stage, the stage where soon, hundreds—maybe even thousands of eyes, would be watching you.
How were you gonna tell the story with that?! Not to mention, you did not like having strangers staring directly at you AT ALL. You'd probably choke on your words before you could even start!
You sat down on the nearest chair.
Calm down... you gotta calm down... All you have to do is just remember the story, tell the story, and boom, you're finished!
You hid your face in your palms. Yeah no, this was definitely not gonna be easy...
The more you thought about it, the worse it became.
Even if you somehow remembered the story, you still had to perform it like Harlequin.
Eventually, you forced yourself back onto your feet and headed backstage and it was cluttered with various props used throughout different performances.
Right... Harlequin is a harlequin (haha get it because he's a harlequin and harlequin is a term for jesters? okay i'll stop now). Of course, he would have props for performances!
Not like you were gonna use them anyway, you weren't a professional performer like Harlequin. There was absolutely no way you could do a thing like juggling.
As your eyes wandered across the room, something caught your eye when you glanced over at a table.
On the table, several familiar figures depicted the circus troupe, the exact ones that Harlequin used in the game.
You reached your hand to pick one up. Huh, I was just about to question where these were...
Gathering the rest of the figures, you carried them onto the stage and arranged them in front of you.
You placed all of them on the stage as you sat down, still staring at them.
Now that you got the figures, there was only one problem.
How did Harlequin make them move?
In the game, Harlequin made the figures came alive while he narrated the entire story. He didn't use any strings or mechanics or anything, so how were you gonna do that?
Unless...
Your gaze slowly drifted toward your back.
Right, the tentacles!
But the problem is that if it was allowed to even use the tentacles at all, no one knows any of the characters' abilities or their monstrous forms. You don't even know if Harlequin actually used his tentacles in his performances or not. Maybe he used his tentacles secretly... Wait no, every corner of the tent has people watching, that would be obvious!
You grabbed one of the tentacles. Your face twisted. "Eugh..."
Why does it feel so slimy...?
“Okay.” You stared at the tentacle. "Come on..."
The tentacle remained still as you wiggled yourself to make it move. "Please...?"
Not even a budge.
Wow, isn't that just fantastic.
You gave up from even getting help of the tentacles, you reached towards one of the figures that resembled Columbina yourself.
But before you could even grab it, one of the tentacles suddenly lunged forward and wrapped itself around the small figure.
"WOAH WHAT THE-"
You almost fell backwards from the way the tentacle suddenly appeared.
“…Huh?” You whispered softly. You sat up properly as you looked at the tentacle that was still holding Columbina and tightly so.
You reached towards it carefully, but the moment your fingers touched the figure, the tentacle tightened. You immediately pulled your hand back. “What the hell?”
You then grabbed the tentacle with both hands, trying to get it off.
"Why... won't it... let go?!" You whispered-yell as you quickly stood up, struggling to get the tentacle off from the Columbina figure.
"Oh SHIT...!"
As you continued on trying to get the figure off from the tentacle's grasp, a pair of eyes stared at you.
watching you silently.