Lily and the Haunted Forest

**Lily and the Haunted Forest** is the forty-fifth installment in *Silylily - The Story*.

## Summary

Driving a bus, Luna brings Cocorobo, kokone, and Lily to a performance in the Execrated Forest in the place of Sonika, who had mysteriously disappeared. They do not know who booked them and kokone has a bad feeling about the location. From afar, Namine Ritsu watches the bus approach and cackles. When Lily's group arrives, they set up what is supposed to be their stage and Lily startles kokone by reminding her that the ghost of Suzune Ring haunts the forest. Lily offers kokone honeydew to calm her down, but the girls quickly notice Luna and the bus have mysteriously disappeared.

Despite their fears, Lily, Cocorobo, and kokone decide to practice for their show. The noise causes Ritsu to fall out of a tree, leading to a confrontation. Ritsu admits to pranking Lily by inviting her out there and the two begin to argue. During this, Cocorobo hears a twig snap and goes to investigate it. When her back is turned, Suzune Ring appears behind her. kokone ends Lily and Ritsu's argument to tell them Cocorobo has disappeared, but this only starts another argument. Panicking, kokone eats some honeydew and hallucinates a sexy image of Lily beckoning her to come over. Lily and Ritsu's argument ends when Ritsu points out that kokone is no longer with them.

Lily and Ritsu spitefully spend the night together, but Ritsu claims her friend Ruko would come to pick her up soon. They argue until a rainstorm puts out their campfire and drenches them. They take shelter in a cave, but find themselves surrounded by glowing red eyes. They run out of the cave and lose their way, becoming hopelessly lost. When tension picks up, Lily takes out some honeydew, but Ritsu smacks it out of her hand. Ritsu remarks that she once lost a good friend to honeydew, claiming she would not wish such a horrible fate on Lily, despite hating her. From afar, Ring watches the two as they try to find their way back to where they came from.

Ritsu and Lily reach a cliffside overlooking the forest, but Ring appears behind Lily and frightens her into falling off the cliff. Lily grabs a branch as Ritsu reaches a hand to her. Lily refuses to take Ritsu's hand, believing the UTAU would drop her, but Ritsu insists that Lily trust her. After some consideration, Lily takes Ritsu's hand and is pulled back up. They then realize Ring has disappeared.

After setting up a camp for the night, Lily and Ritsu sit in front of a campfire. After some silence, Lily asks Ritsu why she hates her so much. Ritsu confesses to envying Lily's life, explaining how her friends hate her and her fame is derived from being constantly compared to Lily. She admits to embracing the idea of hating Lily because it was easier than trying to live with the guilt of ruining Lily's life. After an uncharacteristically tender moment, Ritsu decides to go to sleep.

As Ritsu lays down, Lily strums her guitar and sings the intro to ERROR by niki. Ritsu stands up and joins her, sitting beside her on a log as the two sing together. After the main chorus, Ritsu confesses to preferring Lily's version of the song.

## Characters

* Lily from anim.o.v.e
* Luna
* Cocorobo
* kokone
* Sonika *(Mentioned)*
* Kamui Gakupo *(Mentioned)*
* Namine Ritsu
* Suzune Ring
* Yokune Ruko *(Debut; Mentioned)*
* Indefinable Shadow Beasts
* Kasane Teto *(Debut; Mentioned)*

## Trivia

* The song Lily sings is a parody of "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains.
* While setting up for their concert, Cocorobo notes that it "beats performing in a Walmart parking lot." This is a reference to a popular meme on silylilyanimove.