The object appeared to be a human anatomical model.
After observing from a distance, Takakai made his initial assessment.
One side of its plastic body displayed male anatomy - though without any discernible genitalia - while the other half featured cartoonish illustrations of bones, internal organs, and musculature. The abdominal organs appeared to be removable components.
This was clearly an educational model used in biology classes, the kind commonly found in well-equipped middle and high schools.
Its presence here, however, boded ill.
Takakai suspected this motionless mannequin was none other than [Uncle Statue] from the Alice Game's rules - the entity described as "enthusiastically hugging anyone it meets." According to the rule sheet, this creature seemed connected to both the biology classroom and the [Turtle Teacher], potentially allowing for some strategic exploitation.
From the dark hallway behind them - the passage they'd emerged from - footsteps suddenly echoed.
Takakai glanced back to see flickering candlelight illuminating the terrified face of a girl in sailor uniform.
One of the surviving students had followed them.
"Um... sir? May I... may I go with you? Yotsuya-san, please... can I come with you?"
The trembling, tearful girl made for a pitiful sight, but Takakai had no intention of taking on additional liabilities. He could barely guarantee his own survival while investigating the school's rules, let alone while babysitting stragglers.
Miko suddenly clutched Takakai's sleeve with surprising force.
Sensing danger, Takakai whirled around to follow Miko's horrified gaze toward the mannequin - though it remained motionless as before.
"What did you see?"
Knowing Miko likely perceived threats invisible to him, Takakai pressed for details.
"That... that model... it just turned its head to look at us."
Miko's voice shook as she struggled to control her breathing.
Upon closer inspection, Takakai noticed the mannequin's foot had shifted slightly, its posture now subtly angled toward them as if caught mid-turn.
It moved when we were distracted by that girl.
"Keep watching it. Don't look away - it probably moves when unobserved."
Takakai gave Miko's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Though visibly terrified, the girl nodded determinedly, fixing her gaze on the mannequin without blinking.
"You - what's your name?"
Takakai turned to the newcomer, first verifying through his blessing that she remained human and harmless.
"I-I'm Ogawa Kyoko. I won't be trouble... please let me come with you?"
The self-introduced Ogawa Kyoko stood barely 145cm tall, her malnourished frame shaking uncontrollably. Unlike Miko's controlled fear, her terror was written plainly across her face, legs trembling as if they might give out at any moment.
"Stand next to Yotsuya. Help watch the mannequin."
Takakai offered no further reassurance before moving off to scout the lobby.
One staircase led both up and down, with a floor marker confirming their current location as the fifth floor. Beside the stairs stretched another corridor disappearing into darkness - though Takakai thought he glimpsed a faint red light along its wall.
He avoided the stairwell, instead investigating the opposite side where he found an honor wall displaying portraits of the school's seven principals throughout its 200-year history since the Meiji era.
The first five principals held no particular interest, but the sixth - one Fujii Goro, who served from the 1920s to 1960s - gave Takakai pause.
Organized student exchange programs with Germany during his tenure? In that era?
As for the seventh principal, the space remained conspicuously empty - the plaque clearly removed, though by whom or why remained unknown.
Moving on, Takakai located a mop leaning against a wall - not an ideal weapon, but serviceable. Memories surfaced of wielding a similar implement against school bullies in his youth.
Returning to the girls, he found them still dutifully watching the unmoving mannequin. Without hesitation, he swung the mop, sending the model crashing to the ground in pieces.
Clatter!
The sound echoed through the lobby, but no threats emerged. Either the noise level was acceptable, or whatever entities might respond were otherwise occupied.
The mannequin's fragility surprised Takakai - despite its supernatural aura, it shattered like any ordinary display model. Perhaps its true danger only manifested at close range?
"Watch our surroundings while I clear this. Don't approach the debris."
After scattering the pieces aside, Takakai studied the floor map behind glass.
As predicted, the layout defied all conventional architecture - the fifth floor supposedly contained 24 second-year classrooms, three staff rooms, two restrooms, a storage closet, copy room, records office, two staircases and an elevator. While nonsensical, the general structure hinted at the school's original form.
Alice's required items - pen, eraser, notebook, ruler, and compass - would logically be found in classrooms. But with each room likely housing 25 specters, searching them all risked unleashing chaos.
The records office seemed a better starting point - student files might reveal Alice's identity, though Takakai suspected she represented the school's core obsession. Would uncovering her story trigger worse consequences? And would his watch still enforce a perfect clear condition in this accidental incursion?
"Let's move."
Decision made, Takakai led the group down the chosen corridor.
Nearly four minutes had passed since entering the lobby, yet only Ogawa had followed them. Their original hallway now lay silent and dark.
Soon, new sounds emerged.
Creak... creak...
Plastic joints whispered behind them mere moments after entering the passageway.
Ogawa clapped a hand over her mouth, nearly collapsing in terror. Miko turned nervously toward the noise.
But Takakai had already sensed the pursuing malice before hearing its footsteps.
The mannequin had reassembled itself and was following.
Now it stood frozen mid-stride as their gazes fell upon it - a grotesque parody of the childhood game "Red Light, Green Light."
"So we've got a budget SCP-173 tailing us?"
Takakai's muttered reference went unheard as another sound caught his attention - running water from a nearby restroom. A flicker of movement at the entrance suggested something had ducked inside to avoid detection.
Chapter 7: Yotsuya Miko's Perception and the Sudden Assailant
Like something from an urban legend, the mannequin persistently pursued them - advancing rapidly when unobserved, freezing when watched.
Takakai destroyed it twice more with the mop, but it always reconstituted moments later. While considering dismembering and scattering the pieces, he ultimately decided against risking unpredictable consequences.
Moreover, he sensed its threat extended beyond mere pursuit - at certain proximity, something worse would occur.
"The restroom... whoever went in was wearing our uniform, but I couldn't tell if it was someone I knew," Miko whispered urgently.
Takakai had only glimpsed movement, yet Miko described a figure with waist-length curly black hair - details impossible to discern in the gloom.
Then he remembered: Miko's vision only sharpened for supernatural entities.
"Pick up the pace. Stay quiet, and give that restroom wide berth."
Hugging the wall, Takakai guided them past the danger zone while Miko alternated watching their path and the trailing mannequin.
Ogawa struggled to keep up, her trembling limbs refusing to cooperate. Each squeak of plastic joints behind them drained more color from her face.
The corridor would pass Classrooms 2-4, 2-3, and 2-2 before reaching another lobby containing their target - the records office.
But first, they had to pass those three classrooms.
Reaching the turn, they found the hallway littered with broken tiles and faded trash. Strange graffiti covered the walls - recurring depictions of monstrous figures interacting with a smiling young girl. In every image, whether being dismembered, devoured, or caged, the girl wore the same blissful expression.
Around the bend, faint light spilled from Classroom 2-4's windows.
Inside lay a ruined but orderly room - every desk bearing a candle, all seats empty.
A perfect candle cache, were it not for Miko's averted gaze.
"Where?" Takakai whispered in her ear.
"...Below the windows. Watching us."
Miko couldn't bring herself to look again at the things crouched beneath the sills - students whose mutilated bodies had been reassembled like grotesque jigsaw puzzles, all wearing intact uniforms, all reaching through the glass with pleading, dismembered hands.
Takakai and Ogawa remained oblivious to the nightmarish display.
Why must I see these things?
Why must I endure this horror?
Miko's silent scream echoed internally as she hurried forward.
Noticing the mannequin had gained ground, she rushed to Takakai's side.
Observing his calm demeanor, she marveled at his composure. This wasn't feigned bravery like hers, but genuine, analytical focus. Alone, she'd have perished immediately.
Passing Classroom 2-4, they reached 2-3 - its curtains drawn, but whispers leaking through:
["Three people outside"]
["No, two"]
["I see four"]
["I want that girl to play with"]
["Let's hide her pencil"]
["In the restroom"]
["Then dump water on her"]
["Then she'll be our friend"]
The voices overlapped in eerie singsong.
Something behind the curtain was watching them.
Something had singled out Miko.
But why did they say "two people"?
Miko glanced suspiciously at Ogawa, who stopped walking whenever checked on, always remaining at the rear.
Testing her theory, Miko walked backward into Takakai while maintaining eye contact with Ogawa and the mannequin. Both froze in place.
"Wh-why are you staring at me?" Ogawa asked nervously, not advancing.
Takakai understood immediately. Steering Miko along, he maintained their two-directional vigilance as they pressed forward.
"Wait! Why are you— I can't—"
Ogawa's cries went unanswered as she looked down at her extra shadow in the candlelight.
"Is she... still human?" Miko asked reluctantly.
"For now," Takakai confirmed grimly.
The mannequin's curse had claimed her - likely triggered by her rear position. The transformation was too far along to reverse.
"How did you know?" he asked as they distanced themselves from the doomed girl.
Before Miko could explain, they reached Classroom 2-2.
Candlelight revealed its ghastly decor - each desk displayed a bisected human head and severed hand.
Then a flashlight beam lanced through the darkness.
Its source stood in the doorway - a woman's body with a floodlight bolted to her neck stump by rusted nails.
The beam found them.
Ice flooded Takakai's veins.
He grabbed Miko and ran.
Glass shattered behind them as the armless woman gave chase, her severed trachea hissing with each loping step.
With no one watching, Ogawa's transformation completed - her skin sloughing away to reveal plastic flesh beneath.
Now two mannequins pursued them down the hall, their plastic limbs screeching against the tile.
Ahead, the lobby came into view - filled with headless students clutching candles, white chrysanthemums sprouting from their neck stumps.
As Takakai's gaze fell upon them, their candles began burning at terrifying speed.
[To Be Continued...]