[Sensei, why aren't you saying anything?]
A gentle girl's voice echoed.
[Sensei is so naughty~ Breaking Alice's game rules, stealing Alice's friends…]
A crimson hue slowly spread through the darkness.
[But even so, Alice can still forgive sensei~ If sensei tells Alice how he stole Alice's friends, and returns them—along with Alice's things—then Alice can still be sensei's friend~]
In the pitch-black plaza, **[Alice]—**now fully possessing Yotsuya Miko's body—smiled sweetly.
Behind her, a twisted mass of flesh, pieced together from countless mutilated corpses, slowly devoured the underground space. The path back had long since vanished, and any other possible exits were either nonexistent or already sealed by [Alice]'s power.
A dead end?
From the start of the second loop, roughly an hour and a half had passed.
Compared to the first loop, the situation hadn't improved much. Even though Takakai could now resist most of the horrors in Fujisaka Academy, [Alice] remained a problem with no reliable countermeasures. Even after partially deciphering her nature and discovering a way to temporarily halt her movements, it changed little.
At its core, dealing with one of these unreasonable abominations was torture enough—yet this damned school had over a dozen. The moment he managed to lock one down, another would appear shortly after. Even if he somehow restrained the second, a third, fourth, and more would follow.
For Takakai—now deprived of most of his relics—this enemy was nothing short of maddening.
But this time…
He had finally found the core of this place.
Takakai turned his gaze toward the bone cane resting on the platform.
Right now, [Alice] was still some distance away. This time, he hadn't become her "friend." The flesh monstrosity moved slowly—if he acted now, he could reach the cane, stain it with his blood, and claim it before she could stop him.
All he had to do was take the gamble—
But then, Takakai paused.
He turned back to [Alice], who stood motionless, still smiling at him.
After a brief silence, Takakai did not approach the cane.
Instead, he took a step away from it.
[Huh? Sensei, what are you doing~?]
Alice blinked, tilting her head in exaggerated confusion.
"Which [Alice] are you?"
Takakai stared straight at her, his voice low and deliberate.
[Alice is just Alice~ Sensei's question is so strange~]
The girl covered her mouth, giggling as if he'd told a joke.
"..."
Takakai remained silent, instead glancing back at the platform.
As expected—the bone cane was gone.
The Trap
Takakai had realized something was wrong the moment [Alice] appeared.
Her timing was too perfect—as if she had engineered this hopeless scenario to force him into a desperate move, all to observe how he claimed relics.
What confirmed his suspicion was his death in the first loop—when he had taken out the black umbrella.
If [Alice]'s relics became part of her once returned to the dungeon, then why would an unclaimed relic just lie there waiting for him?
This had been a trap from the start.
The [Alice] lurking underground had likely been following him and Miko the whole time, hiding her presence. She hadn't possessed Miko immediately—instead, she waited until Takakai left her alone. Even his act of breaking the door handle might have been an illusion.
From that point on, she had guided him here through hallucinations.
So where was the real relic?
Takakai took another step back—
And his back hit a wall.
The vast underground plaza no longer existed.
He stood at the end of a narrow corridor, a dead end.
Yet [Alice] remained in front of him, blocking his path, while the flesh monstrosity of dead students crawled closer.
"Hah…"
Takakai's breathing steadied.
He turned to [Alice] and spoke calmly:
"I've already broken your game rules. So why are you saying I can still be your friend? Doesn't that contradict your own rules?"
As he spoke, he closed his eyes, focusing entirely on distinguishing illusion from reality.
[That doesn't matter~ The point of the game is to have fun, to make friends~ Even if sensei broke the rules, it's not a big deal~ As long as Alice thinks sensei is a good person, someone who can be a friend, then that's enough~]
Alice tilted her head, her tone lighthearted yet eerily sincere.
So the core rule was just [friendship] itself.
The [Alice Game]'s restrictions only applied to players—for [Alice], whether she followed them or not depended entirely on her mood.
But if that was the case…
Then Takakai knew how to ensure he wouldneverbe her friend.
"I will never be your friend."
As if oblivious to the approaching horror, Takakai stood firm, his voice icy.
[Aww, sensei, don't be like that~ Alice thinks we'd be great friends! Oh, how about we exchange gifts? If we do, we'll definitely become best friends~]
Alice giggled, pulling out a bloodstained pen.
"No matter what you say, no matter how you pretend—I will never be your friend. There's only one thing I'll do to you."
Takakai didn't move. He kept his eyes shut, his voice unwavering.
"I will send you to hell. The hell you deserve."
[But Alice has never done anything wrong~ Alice hasn't hurt anyone~ Alice just wants to be friends with everyone~ How could Alice ever go to hell~?]
Alice continued to smile.
"You've done plenty wrong. No matter how you disguise it, your nature won't change. I know exactly what you are—so nothing you say matters. My goal won't change."
Takakai's voice grew colder.
"I will destroy this school. I will tear it apart. I will free the innocent trapped here and let them rest in peace."
He raised his head, his words sharp as a blade.
"And creatures like you—I will send every last one of you to hell."
This time, [Alice] did not reply immediately.
A silence stretched for three or four seconds.
Then—
[But sensei… you're going to die here~ You won't save anyone~]
Her voice was different now.
No longer playful.
Just pure, unfiltered malice.
In that moment, Takakai heard [Alice]'s true nature—the rotten core hidden beneath her sweet facade.
No empathy.
No remorse.
Just innate, boundless cruelty and utterly twisted perceptions.
This was her real self.
And she had shown it to him willingly—because Takakai had mimicked the one type of person [Alice] truly despised.
Howard—the man who became a rescue team horror—had been hated by [Alice] not because he was kind, but because his resentment was directed at evil itself. Even in death, his hatred for the school's atrocities remained ingrained in his being.
That was why [Alice] loathed him.
Righteous people who despised evil were her natural enemies.
"Maybe I will die here. But soon—it'll be your turn. And that day won't be far."
As he spoke, the flesh monstrosity finally reached Takakai's feet.
And his eyes—
Turned blood-red.
The Final Charge
SCHING—!
A crimson light sliced through the writhing flesh.
Using Heddal's Berserk Blessing to slow the horror's corruption, Takakai plunged straight into the monstrosity, hacking through it with his machete.
Tendrils of flesh latched onto him, merging with his skin before being violently torn apart by the blessing's power.
Ten meters.
That was all the distance he needed to cross.
But by the time he emerged—
His clothes were shredded.
His skin was flayed open.
His left arm was torn off.
His intestines spilled out, a section missing entirely.
Yet somehow—
He was still alive.
The screams of dying students echoed in his ears.
Nightmarish scenes flashed before his eyes.
But Takakai didn't look at the students.
He looked at the one constant observer in every vision.
[Alice] was smiling.
In every moment of suffering, she watched with delight.
She loved these scenes of despair.
This was the truth behind Fujisaka Academy's "perfect idol."
"Hah… hah…"
Drenched in blood, Takakai staggered forward.
His body was on the verge of collapse.
Heddal's blessing had reached its limit.
If he didn't escape soon, he would pass out from exhaustion.
With great effort, he took another step—
And then—
A pair of soft hands gently embraced him.
[Sensei worked so hard~ You really did your best~]
A tender voice whispered in his ear—
—before fingers plunged into his chest, ripping out his heart, liver, and intestines in one brutal motion.