Mario had no idea, but he was going to keep following her.

After rounding the corner, Mario tried to keep his ears open for the sound of the Princess’s heels as something nagged at him in the back of his head. Something wasn’t right. He was missing an important detail, he was sure of it. But whatever it was, it continue to elude him. Besides catching up to the Princess was more important at the moment. Eventually, Mario came to the end of the hallway, with the door to the stairwell cracked open and sitting on a nearby vanity was Peach’s brooch. She couldn’t have much more left before she started getting to the good stuff now, Mario thought. A smile tugged at his lips, but still something was still bugging him. For one thing, this set up was too perfect. That brooch next to an almost-closed door was setting his trap senses tingling. Either the Princess was trying to set him up, or he was being strung along, maybe. Or he was just being paranoid, that was also an option. Too much time fighting on the Kingdom’s front lines has had him high strung for a long time now. Some days, Mario would catch himself jumping at shadows or loud noises, ready to throw a fireball, only to find out that it was Poochy or one of his Pixl roomates.

Either way, if it were the former, he has plausible deniability, he’s just been trying to catch the Princess’s attention all day. If the latter, then perhaps Princess Peach was smarter or wiser than he thought. Either way, Mario would learn nothing just standing here, staring at a piece of jewelry. He walked up the door and opened it, slowly. No one was there, and looking up, it seemed as though Princess Peach wasn’t looking to ambush him either.

Mario started up the stairs, knowing that they only went so far up for security reasons, and if previous evidence were anything to go by, Princess Peach only stripped just as she were leaving a room. But then, halfway up the stairs, Mario discovered that the Princess had decided to buck that trend. Lying in a heap were her stockings, as though she had taken them off by stepping on them and then taking another step forward, allowing the sock to slide off as she did so. But wait, these were her stockings, weren’t they clipped to her garter belt? And for that matter, where were her shoes? Surely those would be better to take off first?

That’s when it hit Mario, what had been bugging him this entire time. When Peach and Perry had walked past the room Mario had hid in, there were no clacking heels. In order to leave her own private chambers, according to the rules that Mario himself had written, Peach had to leave an article of clothing behind. She had left her heels, and she must have also taken that time to unhook her stockings from her garter as well. The only reason she’d been able to leave with Perry and the Vibe Scepter in tow was because they weren’t clothing. Perry was a parasol, and the Scepter was a wand. If anything, they were tools, or in the Scepter’s case a weapon. But why those two? What was Peach planning? Mario had determined a path for her and he still had no idea. But this didn’t make him worried, if anything this mysterious turn of events only excited him more! This would’ve been far more boring if he could’ve predicted everything Peach would do.

But why bother putting the brooch back on, only to take it off again? Was some part of her still resisting the Tome? Did she want to maintain what decorum she had left in front of her elite guards? Was she somehow onto Mario? Whatever the answers, Mario was dying to know. This was definitely the most fun he’d had in years, even in comparison to the last Grand Prix, where he’d taken home the gold. He’d much rather have taken home a fleshlight in retrospect.

Mario continued up the stairs, afraid that the trail might have gone cold again for him. He dashed up to the first landing, poking his head through the door, but found no evidence of Peach exiting here. Mario then ducked back into the stairwell, taking steps two at a time, determined not to lose his quarry. He came up to the second and final landing of this stairwell. What he saw surprised him: Princess Peach had stripped off another article of clothing, and left it on the banister. Granted, nothing that he’d written prevented her from stripping more than one article per chamber, but it still surprised him. She was supposed to absentmindedly strip one per chamber, did that mean she did one of them on purpose?

He picked up the article up, trying to determine what the dark pink cape-like garment was. Then it hit hit him, was this the train for her skirt? That was a separate piece of clothing? Mario had always assumed it was sown on.

Before Mario could set the piece of fabric back down, he heard a crash come from the room just outside the stairwell. That didn’t sound good! Mario dropped the train, not particularly caring where it landed before rushing towards the door, just now noticing that it was slightly ajar. Mario heard raised voices coming from the other side. Was the Princess okay, was this a trap after all? Mario had to make a decision before reaching the door!