The situation was dire.
Extremely dire.
Behind them: two pursuing mannequins and the floodlight-headed woman.
Ahead: at least a dozen headless students blocking the path.
Takakai had assumed student-uniformed specters only appeared in classrooms—never expecting them to spawn in hallways as roadblocks. His original plan to investigate the records office now seemed suicidal, as entering would trap them between converging threats. Moreover, with the mannequin's killing pattern exposed by Miko but not yet countered, letting it cut off their retreat was out of the question.
What to do?
Even as he strategized, Takakai charged forward with Miko toward the waiting students.
The two mannequins closed in rapidly from behind.
The staccato click of the floodlight woman's heels grew terrifyingly near.
A quick mental calculation confirmed they'd never reach the records office before being overtaken.
No choice but to change elevation.
A crimson glint flashed in Takakai's eyes as he scooped Miko up and leapt—
CRASH!
They smashed through the ceiling into the sixth floor's darkened hallway.
Though the school's interior defied spatial logic, basic architectural principles still held—floors remained stacked vertically rather than spilling into voidspace.
The new corridor featured windows on both sides, revealing the pitch-black school grounds and—
Dozens of students hanging outside, each clutching rapidly burning candles, their cyanotic faces pressed against the glass.
Goddammit, how many of these things are there?!
Cursing internally, Takakai sprinted forward with Miko tucked under one arm, the girl dizzy from the jostling.
The whispers grew louder in Miko's ears.
Muffled giggles.
Creak... creak...
Only one set of mannequin footsteps now—though two had given chase earlier.
And the rhythm felt...
CRACK!
A hanging student slammed against the window.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
More impacts followed as the suspended figures began hurling themselves at the glass.
Miko saw their eyes—
Cloudy white with pinprick pupils that somehow still fixed on her unerringly.
Her mind began to fog.
Below, the floodlight woman's heels clicked furiously, matching Takakai's pace perfectly.
The remaining mannequin kept equal time—
Wait.
That rhythm—
"Takakai-san!" Miko cried out. "The footsteps! The mannequin—it's mimicking your steps! Every movement matches yours exactly!"
As she spoke, they burst into a larger chamber.
Behind them, windows shattered as the hanging students—their candles spent—floated into the hallway, advancing with eerie synchronization.
Takakai froze mid-stride.
The mannequin copies my footsteps?
The realization came with creeping paralysis.
His body stiffened—some invasive force taking hold without warning.
Without hesitation, he retrieved the Rescue Squad badge from his watch and pinned it on.
Half his face sloughed off as he did so, the fallen skin transforming into plastic mid-air.
But as the badge took effect, his plasticizing flesh reverted—leaving one side of his face a raw, exposed mass of muscle and bone, his eyeball and teeth fully visible in the grotesque visage of a living anatomy model.
"T-Takakai-san?!"
Miko recoiled as blood sprayed across her upturned face, too shocked to even scream.
"Seems your classmate could've been saved after all," Takakai remarked through gritted teeth, the pain of flayed flesh barely registering as the badge's power stitched him back together.
The badge still functioned here—one less worry. He'd need to test other cursed items soon.
At least the mannequin's pattern was clear now: it stalked prey, mimicked their gait, and gradually transformed them into another mannequin. Countermeasures existed—walking backward while maintaining eye contact—but required teamwork impractical for solo survivors.
"I hate games without safe periods..."
As he muttered this, Rescue Squad uniform materialized over his body. He summoned Old Guo—the spectral firefighter—sending him charging toward the hanging students.
The spirit lasted precisely one second before Miko saw it strung from the ceiling and swarmed, vanishing without a trace.
"What was—?"
"Expendable cannon fodder. Twenty-hour cooldown though."
Takakai's explanation came distractedly as they rounded several corners into a new hallway—classrooms on one side, windows on the other.
One door bore the plaque [Activity Classroom].
Before they could pass it, a shrill bell rang—
Ding-dong—
Lights blazed on. The pursuing students vanished.
Day Phase had begun.
Takakai shoved through the classroom door, depositing Miko in a seat before taking his own. Textbooks materialized before them.
Both immediately began reading aloud—Takakai smoothly, Miko haltingly through residual sobs.
Finally—relative safety.
Miko's heart still hammered from their harrowing escape. The ceaseless screams of her transformed classmate—the only fresh corpse among the hanging students—still echoed in her mind. That voice calling her name...
Takakai had no such luxury for recovery. Between recited passages, he analyzed their flight:
The floodlight woman's footsteps still echoed below—but the mannequin's had ceased after he donned the badge. Did gaining spectral attributes nullify its mimicry? And Miko, carried without touching ground, had avoided imitation entirely.
Conclusion: Levitation or wall-walking could bypass the mannequin entirely.
But what of the rules mentioning [hugs]?
Unseen below, the stationary mannequin stood embracing Ogawa's plasticized form—the two figures merging slowly, the girl's terrified eyes the last to disappear into its hollow chest.
Creak... creak...
Back in the Activity Classroom, their brief respite ended when the door creaked open—
The sheep-headed specter stood motionless in the threshold, reeking of malice.
It made no move to enter.
Miko's breath caught as she spotted the familiar mangled corpse from Takakai's apartment looming behind it—
The thing pressed a shattered finger to lipless teeth in a grotesque shhh—
Then reached past the sheep-head to flip the light switch.
Click.
Darkness swallowed the room whole.