A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 46

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 46.
“I’m going to lose my mind, really!”
[5:00]
Complaining wouldn’t change anything.
The moment the timer appeared in her mind, Caroline grimaced and hurried to ransack the wardrobe.
As she dug through the clothes, something became clear to her.
‘There are things in here that don’t belong to Friedman’s wardrobe.’
Her first task appeared to be sifting through everything inside and keeping only what belonged to Friedman.
After that,
‘They said it had to be symmetrical.’
After keeping Friedman’s clothes, she’d need to do the same in James’s wardrobe — keep only what was his.
And then the two wardrobes would have to mirror each other.
‘First, let me sort out the clothes.’
Caroline examined the garments methodically.
Hanging in order were a Black Long Coat, Black Shirt, Ivory Shirt, White Shirt, Handkerchief, Wristwatch, and White Gloves.
‘Why would gloves be hanging like that.’
Setting aside the amusing sight of gloves threaded onto a hanger,
those definitely didn’t belong to Friedman.
‘Those are Will’s.’
The buttoned White Gloves were Will’s.
‘And…….’
Caroline examined the clothes with a hawk’s eye.
Friedman was an organized crime syndicate operator at the Harbor who lent money to people and collected it back with steep interest.
That’s why he always wore dark clothes.
Black Shirt, black pants, black shoes made him look like a man of singular taste.
‘So those are right.’
And additionally, on particularly windy days Friedman appeared wearing a Black Long Coat.
In the work, he’d even shown his affection by removing it for Regina.
‘That one’s right too.’
And what remained was…….
The Ivory Shirt, White Shirt, and Handkerchief.
“Hmm.”
Caroline checked the remaining time.
[4:00]
At first glance, all three seemed unrelated, but they weren’t.
Friedman would often buy flowers to make a good impression on Regina.
Each time, he’d mention that the black shirt made the flowers look ugly and would appear wearing a brighter-colored shirt instead.
But…….
‘Was it ivory, or just white.’
During the performance, the stage lighting had been on her, so she couldn’t tell from memory alone.
Caroline boldly spread the hangers apart and slipped her hand between the two shirts.
One was Friedman’s.
The other belonged to a different character.
If she could only identify which character owned the other one, she could tell them apart.
‘Hm?’
The texture felt different when she touched the shirts.
One was smooth and crisp, the other smooth and soft.
‘The other one must be Will’s.’
Caroline could be certain of that.
The reason was simple.
James’s shirt was sky-blue, and Iphros’s shirt was made of rough fabric.
In a world where animals and plants were dying and the natural environment had become barren, soft fabric for a shirt would be impossible to produce.
‘Then…….’
Caroline took both shirts out on their hangers and held them up to the light.
A sheen gleamed from the Ivory Shirt.
‘This must be Will’s shirt.’
Will, in his circus ringmaster form, always wore a shirt with a lustrous sheen under his sky-blue tailcoat.
The gloves and the Ivory Shirt — both were his.
‘One more.’
The Handkerchief too.
[3:30]
Caroline checked the time and pulled all three items from the rack.
Then she rushed to the first red room.
She hung all three pieces in the wardrobe there, then quickly made her way to the second room—James’s room.
[2:50]
Time was slipping away fast.
‘You can do this.’
Pushing down the creeping anxiety, Caroline rifled through the wardrobe.
A sky-blue shirt, a navy vest, a striped scarf, brown pants, a white T-shirt, a jackknife, and long socks that reached mid-calf.
‘Thank goodness. This is easy.’
She knew at a glance.
James was a delinquent student.
So when she thought of him, the outfit that came to mind was the sky-blue shirt and brown pants.
The jackknife tucked in his pocket was a given.
He was a student, so long socks might come to mind, but he only wore cheap, threadbare short ones.
And these long socks, which carried an oddly boyish air…
‘Those belong to Iphros.’
Caroline could tell at once.
Next came the vest, the white T-shirt, the scarf.
Caroline picked up the scarf without hesitation.
The striped scarf of navy and white was Iphros’s signature.
More precisely, it belonged to Silvia—Isaha’s mother and the engineer who designed Iphros.
She had tied it around the belt of her creation as a memento of the machine she’d built.
[2:00]
Then the navy vest and the white T-shirt.
While these felt distant from James’s image, there were pitfalls here too.
The white T-shirt was what poor James wore underneath to endure the cold.
The navy vest was something he wore just once, out of respect for his teacher Robelian.
On the day of his wedding.
Her head was spinning.
‘This isn’t a problem a player would get.’
Unless you were a fan like Caroline, you’d fail inevitably.
‘No wonder all the players quit.’
This really was a damned game.
Caroline grabbed the scarf and long socks and quickly placed them in the fourth room—Iphros’s room.
[1:40]
And now, what remained was…
‘Symmetry.’
‘I sometimes think that James’s childhood is like a smaller Friedman. A copy, one might say.’
This meant she had to match the symmetry based on what hung in Friedman’s wardrobe.
The order of clothes in both wardrobes had to be the same.
Committing James’s outfit to memory, Caroline headed back to Friedman’s room.
‘But…’
Shirt, vest, pants, worn T-shirt, jackknife.
Black shirt, black pants, wristwatch, long coat, white shirt.
The items in the two rooms couldn’t form a one-to-one correspondence.
‘Let me think this through.’
James’s shirt would correspond to Friedman’s shirt.
Pants to pants.
The jackknife would correspond to the wristwatch.
Before determining which of Friedman’s shirts—black or white—James’s shirt corresponded to,
‘What about the long coat?’
Since it was worn on the outermost layer, did it correspond to the vest?
Then which of the black or white shirts would James’s worn T-shirt correspond to?
The black shirt he wore casually, or the white one he prepared specially to meet Regina?
[1:00]
[One minute remains. Please close both wardrobe doors when you complete the mission. Even if incomplete, the doors will close automatically when time runs out.]
[There are no chances for a second attempt.]
At these words, Caroline began to panic.
First, she committed Friedman’s clothing order to memory, then hurried back over to James’s side.
‘I have to rearrange the clothes anyway.’
White Shirt, Black Shirt, Black Long Coat.
Shirt, Navy Vest, Worn T-shirt.
The question was how to match them together.
‘Shouldn’t I pair the most fundamental ones with each other?’
Caroline pulled James’s shirt hanger toward the first position where Friedman’s Black Shirt hung.
‘What comes next?’
Caroline gazed quietly at the Navy Vest and the Worn T-shirt.
‘Do I really need to search for meaning in everything?’
When she thought about it simply.
The Worn T-shirt and Black Long Coat shared the common purpose of each character wearing them to escape the cold.
Beyond that, the work didn’t really explore any deeper significance.
‘If I pair those two together, then what about the Navy Vest and the White Shirt?’
The Navy Vest was what James wore for the first and last time within the narrative—at Robelian’s wedding.
It was a prop that expressed his affection and regard for the teacher who transformed his life.
The White Shirt was what Friedman wore whenever he went to buy flowers.
It was the embodiment of his affection and consciousness toward Regina.
In other words, the Navy Vest and the White Shirt represented the special significance one character bestows upon another.
‘Then.’
Caroline adjusted the positions of the hangers.
And after taking a deep breath, she closed the wardrobe door.
[Mission Complete]
[ ]
The moment a blank window appeared before her eyes, Caroline felt deeply dizzy.
But immediately after.
[Mission Success!]
Golden letters blazed across her vision.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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