The pain was excruciatingly clear at this moment.
Blood splattered across the floor, the walls, and Miko—no, Alice's—body.
His organs spilled onto the ground. His chest and abdomen were hollowed out. Takakai swayed unsteadily, only kept upright by Alice's embrace.
[Shh, it's okay~ It won't hurt for much longer~]
The girl gently patted his back, her voice carrying an eerie tenderness.
"Cough… ugh…"
Takakai couldn't speak.
His throat was clogged with blood. The agony had numbed his senses, leaving his thoughts sluggish and muddled.
But for the current Takakai, this level of pain was nothing.
Despite his fatal wounds, his lips curled into a wide, exhilarated grin.
He could feel it.
[Alice] was holding the bone cane.
To ensure the relic's safety, she had kept it in her hands. A logical choice—if she hadn't hugged him while he was drenched in blood.
[Sensei, this girl really does like you, you know~]
Alice's soft laughter tickled his ear.
[She thinks that as long as she stays by your side, she'll be safe. She depends on you. Trusts you~]
[Even if sensei can't be my friend, you can still be her friend, right? So I made her kill you~ Isn't that wonderful? Don't worry, I'll teach her how to make dolls properly~ I'll turn you into a beautiful doll~]
Forcing his eyes open, Takakai glimpsed Miko's tear-filled gaze—filled with despair—and the forced smile on her lips.
So that's how it is.
Because Takakai wasn't [Alice]'s "friend," she couldn't kill him using her supernatural powers. But since Miko had a physical body, manipulating her to harm him bypassed all restrictions.
She was exploiting a loophole in the rules.
And worse—she was doing this while Miko was fully conscious.
Takakai's awareness dimmed further.
He was dying.
If he didn't act now, he would die for real.
So—
THUD!
A rescue team member slammed into Alice, knocking her away before catching Takakai.
A ram-headed doll materialized in Takakai's hand. Instantly, all his wounds transferred to it, leaving the doll in tatters while Takakai stood unharmed, his sheep mask falling off, revealing his human face.
[Huh? This doll is…]
Alice, now sitting on the floor, stared at the doll in genuine surprise.
But Takakai was already running, tossing an unstable relic—a healing vial—into the flesh monstrosity.
The creature slowed further, allowing Takakai and the rescue member (who had jumped down from the 6th-floor disposal chute) to escape.
From the moment he sensed danger, Takakai had ordered the rescue team to act swiftly.
Though the crisis was far from over, he was still one step away from death.
Escape Through Shared Vision
Takakai sprinted forward.
To his eyes, a concrete wall blocked his path.
But to the rescue member beside him, the way was clear.
[Alice]'s illusions didn't work on horrors.
Takakai charged straight through the "wall," relying on the rescue member's vision to navigate.
Behind him, the flesh monstrosity lumbered slowly.
[Alice]—still possessing Miko—made no move to follow.
[No matter where sensei runs, Alice already knows~ You can't escape like this~]
Her voice carried absolute certainty.
Takakai didn't go far.
He stopped at a random classroom, unlocked it with his blood key, and stepped inside—
—only to find Class 2-15 now occupied by a single, writhing meatball (the fused remains of the girls).
[Alice] must have used illusions to trick them into sitting in the same seat during the "day" phase.
They were technically alive—though death would've been kinder.
"Another wipeout… I wonder if those two girls made it out…"
Takakai sighed, then turned to the rescue member beside him.
Silently, it handed him a bloodstained notebook—retrieved from a dissected anatomy model in the biology lab.
The notes contained:
Sacrifice records for Class 1, the dormitory, the pool, and the field.
Details on four underground observation facilities (though the pool and field sections were blacked out).
Crude experiments involving torture and corpse disposal to accumulate resentment.
A mention of focusing resentment into a single vessel—[Alice].
But key details were missing—likely purposely erased.
The handwriting was delicate, feminine—nothing like the [Turtle Teacher]'s brutish appearance.
Did [Alice] frame him?
If she could write like this, she already had reality-warping abilities back then.
Moving to the Next Zone
Takakai left the classroom.
The horror-students in the hallway swarmed him—no longer obedient without the mask.
Not that it mattered.
He cut through them and headed downstairs.
His destination: the 2nd floor (or 1st, if necessary).
The goal? Find the passage connecting the school building to the dormitory.
With the school's key relic already claimed, there was no reason to stay.
Of Fujisaka Academy's four zones:
Two were already locked.
One would auto-lock next loop.
Only the dormitory remained.
Securing its underground relic would dismantle the school's "surface" layer.
Takakai was curious about what would happen then.
But first—he had to survive long enough to see it.
The Cafeteria Floor
The 2nd floor wasn't classrooms—it was a cafeteria, divided into:
High-class dining
Mid-class dining
Low-class dining
Garbage zone
Students were segregated by rank, each area with its own kitchen.
The "garbage zone" served literal slop—leftovers from the other sections.
"This school really goes all-out on dehumanization, huh?"
Disgusted, Takakai hurried toward the dormitory passage—
—when suddenly, lights flickered on.
The ruined hallway repaired itself, pristine once more.
And an overwhelming gaze locked onto him.