The dizziness grew worse.
The figures around him swayed, murmuring in indistinct whispers, their voices impossible to decipher.
His consciousness frayed.
His body numbed, losing all sensation.
A tide of malice churned endlessly, yet he couldn't pinpoint its source.
No—no attack was even needed.
Their mere presence was enough to suffocate, to shatter the mind.
[■■■■?]
"Haah…"
His breathing grew heavier.
[■■■…■■…]
His senses warped, to the point where he could no longer distinguish left from right, up from down.
Where am I?
Is this still the school building?
[■■■!!!]
Or… have I already wandered somewhere else?
"..."
Mocking laughter grew louder.
It felt like crowds were watching him, observing from a distance.
[■■■ trash■…]
Who's talking?
So many voices around him.
So many eyes on him.
[■use■■thing]
Snap out of it.
Don't let the disorientation drag you under.
Think.
How did I even get here?
[Do■ you■ have■ any■ mean■■■ in■ this■ world?]
His mind blurred further.
Yet the voices sharpened.
Where am I?
[Look, ■nother■ piece■ of■ garbage]
A classroom?
His eyes opened.
Words were scrawled on the desk.
[Why don't you just die?]
Snickering from the side.
A wad of gum stuck to his clothes.
Pages ripped out of his textbook, others defaced with ink.
A note shoved into his bag.
[Go back to the mental hospital!]
The teacher called his name.
When he stood, every eye turned toward him.
[Oh, the teacher's pet is gonna answer again.]
[Think she'll cry this time?]
[Useless trash. Always putting on an act. Just die already!]
[I heard she's sleeping with that teacher. You think it's true?]
[Of course it is. Sluts like her love chasing older men.]
[Ew, that's so gross.]
[Why do we have to put up with this freak in our class?]
[They should pass a law to lock people like her up!]
[Die! Just die already, you waste of space!]
[Die! Die! Die!]
[DIE!!!]
At some point, everyone stood up.
At some point, every gaze locked onto him.
The whispers became shouts.
Behind him, someone sobbed. Someone else laughed hysterically.
The windows were packed with spectators.
His vision blurred.
Everything took on a dark red filter, then blue, then green, until all sense of direction was lost.
A slap across the face.
A body hitting the floor, struggling to rise.
The laughter grew louder.
The crying more distinct.
The only constants were the warping environment and the silent observers, their stares unwavering.
Their voices merged with the screeching static, forming an unbearable noise that drove him toward madness.
Pain.
Like needles stabbing through his skull, piercing his brain.
His body felt shattered, as if it had lost all form.
A trash bag dropped from above.
Rotting waste surged from all sides.
Buried.
Smothered.
Suffocated.
No… this isn't…
This isn't me—
...
BANG!
BANGBANGBANGBANG—!!!
In the split second of clarity, Takakai summoned the third member of the Rescue Team Badge.
Gunfire erupted, followed by an ear-splitting shriek that ruptured his eardrums, deafening him instantly.
His vision whited out, his eyes no longer functioning.
All he felt was his body being dragged, hauled forward by the officer he'd summoned.
Then—
A violent jolt.
Like tumbling down stairs, his body slammed into the ground.
Cries and laughter intertwined.
Then, the sound of shoveling dirt.
Like someone digging a grave.
Or filling one.
The weeping grew muffled, until it vanished entirely.
The laughter, though—louder. Happier.
BANG—
The gunshots sounded distant now, as if from another world.
Something moved in the darkness.
In the all-consuming silence.
A figure, crawling toward him.
What… is that?
A voice reached him.
Muffled. Indecipherable.
The thing drew closer.
Its voice grew louder.
But he still couldn't understand.
With his eardrums destroyed, Takakai could no longer hear.
Yet he sensed it—this non-human entity, desperately trying to communicate, to tell him something.
What does it want to say?
Slowly, Takakai regained feeling in his limbs.
Is this a mental space? Or somewhere else? Why am I in this pitch-black void?
A crushing pressure wrapped around him.
For a moment, the horror of Nutty Putty Cave resurfaced, and despite his iron will, his body trembled.
Calm down.
Get a grip!
I'm still alive. I'm not dead yet.
I can't give up. I won't.
He forced himself to move, to struggle forward in this lightless abyss where he could somehow still see the approaching thing.
He had no idea which direction he was going.
He just fought, with every scrap of strength left.
Then—
Everything vanished.
[Tea■■… ■■didn'■ ■■■■ cho■■…]
In the final moment, he thought he heard someone murmuring.
Still indistinct.
But the emotion was clear.
Not sorrow. Not pain. Not despair.
Just… numbness.
Like drowning in a black sea, leaving not even a ripple.
Nothing mattered anymore.
Just let it end.
This was always how it would go.
Everything was gone.
Even he was fading.
No one would notice.
No one would care.
Like an invisible person—their absence ignored, life continuing as usual.
So…
Just disappear.
Just—
[No, I can still see you.]
[No matter what, I've always been able to see you.]
THUD.
Takakai's body hit the ground.
"Kuh… gh…!"
He coughed up blood, his nose and ears bleeding, the whites of his eyes stained crimson.
The capillaries in his eyes had burst.
His brain was on the verge of shutdown.
The Rescue Team Badge's healing couldn't keep up—it was barely staving off death.
"Hah… hah… ugh…"
He couldn't speak.
Blood gushed the moment he opened his mouth.
His lungs were flooded, his organs failing.
Without the badge, he'd have died instantly.
But he held on.
His body, though broken, refused to give up.
His mind, though assaulted by pollution beyond human endurance, hadn't shattered.
Someone lifted him.
Something sweet was pressed into his mouth—fruit candy.
His wounds began mending.
His vision cleared.
The first thing he saw was the mutilated officer slumped against the school wall.
This was the first time the Rescue Team Badge's summon had taken this much damage.
Its arms and legs were gone.
Its torso was split open, organs exposed.
Its head was missing above the jaw.
Slash wounds. Blunt trauma. Burns. Water damage. Dirt and filth…
What the hell did it go through?
And yet, it had still dragged him out of that hell.
Sensing Takakai's awakening, the officer's remains finally dissipated.
Takakai turned his head.
Miko sat beside him, pale-faced, her expression one of sheer relief.
Further away, Bocchi tucked away a bag of candies, also exhaling in exhaustion.
Finally, Takakai looked up.
At the school building.
Under the midnight moon, every classroom was lit.
Students stood at the windows, staring down at the trio outside.
Silent.
Motionless.
The weight of their gazes was suffocating.
Any sense of having surviveddied in his throat.
Miko, seeing them too, turned even paler, trembling uncontrollably.
But Bocchi remained functional, dragging Takakai with one hand and pulling Miko with the other, putting distance between them and the school.
"Yoruyama High… I remember it kept running long after World War II, right?"
Takakai, finally recovering slightly, turned to Bocchi as she pulled him along.
"Y-yeah… that's right."
Though still struggling with speech, Bocchi had grown more coherent after their shared ordeal.
"Are there any detailed records from that time? Anything not made public?"
Takakai panted, forcing the words out.
"N-no… very little info. But… the first two Core Obsessions here… Nanami thought they formed after the war."
Bocchi shook her head, frowning in concentration before answering.
So postwar records are scarce.
Asamoto Eriko and Morihara Yukiharu both became Core Obsessions after the war.
And what I felt in that school…
One thing was certain:
Over ten thousand people had died in that building.
The mental pollution he'd endured was beyond what even a full team of Crimson Moon players could survive.
The sheer number and intensity of the Obsessions there were unfathomable.
Takakai's 10 mental fragments were gone, utterly depleted.
Even so, he'd barely escaped alive, his body and mind at their limits.
If he, with his mental resilience, had been pushed this far…
Any other Crimson Moon player would've died without even realizing how.
And yet…
Why me?
Miko and Bocchi got out fine, but I got dragged back in?
What kind of bullshit luck is this?!
Is the Black Watch messing with me again? Unlikely—it ramps up difficulty but doesn't pull Writer-level crap mid-dungeon.
Then… is it because of my identity?
"Eh? What's this?"
Once they'd put enough distance between themselves and the school, Miko finally noticed something—a hickey on Takakai's neck.
Was this here before we went inside?
She blinked, struggling to recall.
Time passed.
The trio rested in a clearing, sharing intel, checking for discrepancies in their experiences.
7:00 AM.
The sky brightened.
The morning bell chimed.
Shijou Maki woke up, yawning as she sat up in bed.
Huh? Why do I feel so weak?
She blinked, no memory of any dreams.
Her last recollection was lying down—then nothing until now.
Yet her body ached as if she'd run a marathon all night, despite no visible signs of exertion.
Weird. Did something happen while I was asleep?
And now that I think about it… falling asleep instantly in a dungeon is beyond strange.
This has to be Yoruyama High's doing.
"Time to go. The others are gathering."
Shinomiya Kaguya approached, speaking softly.
Washing up.
Making the bed.
Putting on the uniform, packing textbooks and supplies.
Then leaving the dorm.
The meticulous routine of student life, recreated in a dungeon, left Maki with mixed feelings.
Down the stairs.
Out the dorm entrance.
The entire player team had assembled in the courtyard.
Kumami, Katabuti, Hayashibe Kenta, Nanachikawa Ren, Aoyama Nanami, Fujiwara Chika, Shinomiya Kaguya, Hayasaka Ai—and now Shijou Maki.
All nine players were present.
Wait… all players?
Maki paused mid-step.
"Now that everyone's here, let's discuss today's investigation."
Kumami's calm voice rang out.
"Hold on, wait—is this really everyone? Are we sure no one's missing?"
Maki stepped forward, her expression bewildered.
"Huh? Yeah, this is everyone. What's the issue?"
Kumamj scratched her head, confused.
The others, too, looked puzzled, as if the question made no sense.
To them, the team was complete.
No one felt anything amiss.
"Eh? Ehh…?"
Maki's eyes widened.
A deep sense of wrongness gripped her, as if something was actively suppressing her memories, erasing someone from her awareness.
Then—
[I'm here. Stay calm. Don't react.]
A voice echoed in her mind.