"Mr. Takakai's... side?"
Hearing Takakai's question, Yotsuya Miko was momentarily stunned before realizing that although she hadn't said anything earlier in the living room, Takakai had already deduced something was wrong from her gaze.
He had noticed the problem but didn't speak up, waiting until now to ask?
Yotsuya Miko's eyes swept around Takakai's surroundings, over his body.
It was gone.
That grotesque thing with the shattered body had silently disappeared when the two of them were going up and down the stairs earlier.
Now, there was no abnormality on Takakai's body or around him—completely, utterly normal.
Where did that thing go? Did it leave on its own?
She couldn't understand. Why did it suddenly appear and then vanish just as abruptly?
But at least for now, she truly couldn't see anything unusual anymore.
After observing carefully for a while, Yotsuya Miko shook her head slightly at Takakai, who then relaxed a little and turned to look at the staircase ahead.
Time was running out.
After stepping into an area they shouldn't have entered, it was hard to say how time flowed here. The remaining dozen or so minutes might vanish in the blink of an eye. So, they had to find a way out now.
Takakai glanced to his side. He had already reached the end of the hallway. Apart from this descending staircase, there were no other paths in sight.
This was blatant sensory obstruction now.
How to break through?
What could possibly crack this situation?
Wait...
Takakai recalled the hallway filled with twisted flesh earlier.
In that hallway, because the ground was littered with corpse fragments and chunks of flesh, neither he nor Yotsuya Miko could walk properly, often stumbling unevenly.
If he had paid closer attention back then, he might have realized they were actually descending. But the overwhelming visuals, coupled with the need to stay vigilant against whether those corpses were supernatural, prevented him from noticing. Now that he thought about it, the dissonance had always been there—it was just overshadowed by more immediate sensory input.
So, this supernatural force could deceive his vision, make him smell the stench of corpses, and make him feel like he was stumbling through a pile of bodies. But the perception that he was [descending] wasn't completely erased—it was just buried under more vivid false sensations.
Now, what he needed to do was identify his true perception, the [real] sensation he was experiencing.
"From now on, don't speak. Stay quiet. I need to focus."
Takakai spoke seriously to Yotsuya Miko, then took a step forward as if to descend the stairs.
But his foot didn't actually step onto the descending staircase—it hovered momentarily before quickly retracting.
He turned, walked to the wall beside the staircase.
Takakai's foot lightly kicked the wall, then stepped back.
He began walking slowly down the hallway, occasionally making sudden turns, stepping backward, kicking the wall, or freezing abruptly.
Yotsuya Miko couldn't understand these strange actions at all, but she obediently followed beside Takakai, mimicking his movements step by step. Since Takakai never let go of her hand, she had no choice but to move with him. In the dim hallway, the two of them looked like they were performing some absurd mime act—except Takakai was dead serious, while Yotsuya Miko was just nervously copying him.
What was Mr. Takakai trying to do?
After a while of this, Yotsuya Miko grew increasingly confused, completely lost about what she was doing. Even the fear in her heart dulled slightly.
Then, Takakai's footsteps suddenly stopped.
He turned his head, looking to his side.
The next moment, he took a step forward—and his foot landed on empty air.
Huh?
The surreal sight made Yotsuya Miko freeze for a second, but she remembered Takakai's instructions and stayed silent.
Then, she was pulled forward by Takakai, stepping onto nothingness herself—
And was shocked to find herself standing firmly on something invisible in mid-air.
"Damn, is this the fucking invisible bridge from Dark Souls?"
Yotsuya Miko heard Takakai mutter under his breath.
At this point, half of Takakai's body had merged into the wall, his head completely embedded in the ceiling.
To Yotsuya Miko's eyes, he looked like he was stuck in the wall, motionless. But the hand gripping hers kept pulling, dragging her upward.
Was this all just an illusion?
The girl closed her eyes, mustered her courage, and followed the force forward.
Step—step—
Amidst the clear sound of footsteps, she felt herself staggering up over a dozen steps. Meanwhile, her vision pierced through the wall, entering a world of absolute darkness where nothing was visible.
What… is this place…?
A piercing noise suddenly erupted from ahead.
Yotsuya Miko realized she could see Takakai again.
But it was a Takakai whose entire body was tattered, organs spilling from his chest, turning back to smile at her.
The path ahead was densely packed with sharp spikes, stained with blood, horrifying to behold.
Flames burned, rapidly spreading from all sides, the scorching heat palpable even from a distance.
Yotsuya Miko closed her eyes.
She let Takakai keep pulling her forward, continuing to move ahead.
Shrill wails echoed around her.
Breath brushed against the back of her neck.
She even heard her mother calling her name, her long-deceased father's voice, and her friend Hana's voice.
Chaotic footsteps closed in from all directions.
Thick liquid dripped onto her body.
A sudden dragging force seized her other hand, her hair, her ankles—trying to pull her in another direction.
But the girl kept walking forward.
She just kept following the hand that had first grabbed hers, letting it lead her onward.
Click—
The sound of a door opening.
In that instant, it drowned out all the distorted, maddening noises.
Even with her eyes closed, she could feel sunlight warming her skin.
Yotsuya Miko opened her eyes—
And found herself standing in the backyard she had seen earlier, still holding Takakai's hand.
But unlike last time, when it had been an illusion, this seemed real.
Takakai didn't stop.
Silently, he pulled Yotsuya Miko along, striding straight through the backyard until they reached the rear wall.
With a slight tug, he yanked Yotsuya Miko into his arms, then leaped—clearing the wall in a single bound and landing on the street outside.
Only then did Yotsuya Miko notice that Takakai's eyes were closed.
And they stayed closed as he continued leading her forward, walking unerringly along the sidewalk, using the tactile paving to navigate, not stopping until they had crossed two entire blocks.
"Now, in your vision, where are we?"
Takakai, still with his eyes closed, turned to face Yotsuya Miko and asked.
"Ah, r-right now, we've left the house and are on the street outside."
Caught off guard by the question, Yotsuya Miko hesitated before answering quickly.
The next moment, Takakai opened his eyes.
He turned to look behind him—at his house under the crimson moon.
Firefighters had gathered at the front door. The bomb must have been quite powerful. But they'd probably be fine—since this supernatural entity seemed to target [friends], these rescuers wouldn't be attacked.
Yotsuya Miko was still gripping Takakai's hand tightly, clearly very tense. But now that they were here, Takakai had nothing left to worry about. He let out a long sigh and looked down at the timid-looking girl.
"For the next while, you'd better not go to school. At least wait until people stop talking about that stupid Alice Game. Cough, sorry for the language, but that's just how it is. Anyway, be careful from now on. I should get going."
Takakai was certain they had left the area affected by the supernatural invasion. When he tried activating Andres' teleportation blessing—previously unusable—he found it had been restored.
Without hesitation, he used the blessing's power and vanished from Yotsuya Miko's sight, reappearing several kilometers away in a small house where Shijou Maki, Chika, and Kaguya were waiting—completely distancing himself from the supernatural zone.
The sudden disappearance startled Yotsuya Miko, but after everything she'd seen, she just gasped before calming down.
Mr. Takakai really isn't an ordinary person… He could actually find the right path with his eyes closed just now. That's unbelievable.
The girl sighed silently, then frowned.
He… really left, right?
If he's gone, then why…
Realizing something, Yotsuya Miko's pupils constricted sharply.
Slowly, she lowered her head.
A drop of cold sweat trickled down her forehead.
Meanwhile, Takakai, after teleporting and seeing the worried faces of Shijou Maki and Chika, finally relaxed, exhaling deeply.
That was exhausting.
Relying on his decent spatial awareness, he had mentally reconstructed his house's layout, ignored all the bizarre disturbances, and finally found the correct exit through the backyard.
The whole process had been troublesome and dangerous. Closing his eyes blocked much of the supernatural interference, but the psychological strain and discomfort were immense. Not knowing whether other entities existed—whether shutting his eyes would leave him vulnerable to attack—made it even harder to stay calm. On top of that, Takakai had to carefully discern his movements because he'd often find himself walking backward, ascending or descending stairs. This sensory confusion was extremely perilous—he had to stay hyper-focused to ensure he wasn't being deceived.
"Takakai, did you teleport? Are you okay?"
"Thank goodness, Takakai…"
"You made it out! That's great. Rest for a bit."
The three girls spoke one after another. Exhausted, Takakai plopped onto the floor, waving weakly, unable to speak for the moment.
Then, he noticed something off.
What's this?
His left hand…
The hand that had been holding Yotsuya Miko's, the one she had gripped tightly. Even now, Takakai could still feel a hand firmly clutching his, just as it had when Yotsuya Miko first grabbed him after noticing the abnormality.
He looked down at his left hand.
At the pale, severed hand gripping it.
Only now did he sense the intense chill emanating from it.
Only now did Takakai realize the fatal oversight he and Yotsuya Miko had missed from the very beginning.
Ding-a-ling—
Ding-a-ling—
The school bell rang.
In the distance, the blood-red full moon gradually faded, vanishing entirely.
This moon, invisible to ordinary people, had returned to its original world in the eyes of the players—back to the realm of the supernatural.
Takakai could only sit on the floor with a bitter smile, watching Shijou Maki and Chika's panicked expressions. He weakly raised a hand to reassure them—
Before pale fingers reached out from behind him, grabbing his body and dragging him into the floor.
Darkness swallowed everything.
A hoarse, sinister laugh echoed in Takakai's ears.
The voice said:
[Welcome to Alice's school~]
[Come, let's play with Alice, let's become Alice's good friends~~~]
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