"What is even happening?"
Sighing, he looked at the girl who was sleeping on top of him in this dark room.
He expected his kidnapper to torture him or do other cruel stuff but it was wildly different than he expected.
"Hey! Wake up!"
Getting a bit uncomfortable from her weight on his body, he lightly shouted to wake her up.
But there was no response, and all he could hear was her light snoring and occasional giggle.
'At least she is pretty light.'
Even though he found it a bit uncomfortable, it wasn't that bad due to her weight, which was almost a non-issue for him.
"But still move away from me."
He tried to move his body even a bit to move her away but that was all useless too.
'Hey? Got any ideas for how to get her away from me?'
[No, all you can do is wait for her to wake up.]
And as always, Iris turns out to be useless for him.
With nothing else to do, he just decided to close his eyes and rest for a bit.
x—x
"Hey, wake up."
Suddenly he felt something poking his cheeks, and with some difficulty, he opened his eyes.
Only to be met with darkness again, with red glowing eyes looking at him.
'Man, so it was not a dream.'
With a sigh, he looked at the girl who was still on top of him while still poking his cheeks.
"I am awake, so stop doing that."
"Stop doing what?"
With a giggle, she asked while still poking his cheeks lightly.
He could tell that she understood what he was talking about but she still didn't stop poking his cheeks or moving away from him.
"Whatever, so can you finally release me now?"
"Hmmm, should I? Or should I not?"
With a giggle, this time she pinched his cheeks lightly instead of just poking like earlier but someone he couldn't even move his head away now.
'You sure that you can't do anything, Iris?'
[Nope I can't.]
He just wanted to scream right now, due to everything that was happening and with nothing in his control.
'It's okay, calm down.'
Taking some deep breaths, he decided to once again negotiate with her as there was still a possibility of her letting him out.
"Didn't you say that you will let me out once I answer your question?"
"I did but…"
Worried that he was caught about not giving her all the answers, he looked into her eyes to see her emotions.
But luckily for him, they were in crescent shape which told him that she was not angry.
'But what is she planning now?'
"Yeah, say please release me then I might do."
But instead of answering, he just looked at those eyes blankly while saying nothing.
Minutes past with no one saying anything, when he suddenly felt her pinching his cheeks again.
"Hey! Say something."
"Ugh!"
Groaning, he realised what kind of situation he was in and couldn't help but ignore thinking it was not real.
'Still not anything Iris.'
[Nope.]
Taking some deep breaths to let go of all of his shame, he decided to do what she wanted from him.
"Please let me out."
Suddenly he heard a weird giggle from her which didn't stop at all while she moved around on his body lightly.
'Is she alright in the head?'
[Maybe not.]
Deciding not to care about it, he just blankly looked above while giggling in the background.
Suddenly, he heard a light cough and looking towards it, he could see that she was much calmer now.
"Okay, let me get you out of here."
Finally, she moved away from his body which made him a bit more relaxed.
Standing next to him, he suddenly heard a clicking sound and he felt his body being released.
"Hey, why are you not moving?"
Hearing her question, he looked at her with an annoyed gaze and answered why.
"My limbs have fallen asleep, so give me a few more minutes."
In silence, he lightly tried to move his limbs which were slowly going back to normal.
When suddenly, he can feel her poking his cheeks again.
"Can you stop doing that?"
"Nope."
Taking a deep breath to ignore her antics, he slowly started moving his limbs.
"Almost there, let's go! You can do it."
Ignoring her cheering, he lightly moved his hands around which were finally back to back to normal.
Then he looked towards her, who was still poking his cheeks, and immediately moved his hands towards her neck.
"What even are you…"
But instead of grabbing her neck, his hands just phase through her.
"It's good that you are cautious but don't worry, I will not hurt you."
She lightly laughed at his action, while consoling him for his failed attempt by lightly patting his head.
"So how did that even happen?"
He had some doubts but if that was true then he would still be trapped.
"Oh, that's because I am an illusion."
Hearing her words, he couldn't help but laugh even after doing all that.
He still couldn't escape the illusion and was stuck here instead.
"So how do I escape this illusion now?"
He lightly mumbled with annoyance while asking Iris but before her response, he got an answer from another place.
"Oh wait, by illusion. I didn't mean the world but myself."
"Huh?"
He looked at her with a confused gaze while finding it weird that he was captured by an illusion.
"So basically, my real body is somewhere else while this body is just an illusion."
"And where's your real body?"
"I don't know."
The more he asked, the more questions he had for her.
But for now, he decided to ask those questions later as escaping this darkness was a bigger priority.
'At least it's not an illusion world.'
Even though he still had some doubts, he went along with that conclusion for his sanity.