-Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap......
The footsteps from the ceiling grew distant. It was worth it to have panicked and hurriedly entered some club room.
But since it was still just as scary, Himari let out a breath through her nose and covered her mouth with both hands. Because if she didn't, she felt she might unconsciously let out a scream.
"Phew...... Phew......"
She steadied her breathing and rolled her eyes around. Her vision, which had been dark only when entering the building, had now become accustomed to the darkness, allowing her to take in the surrounding scenery.
'A science room?'
The room she entered was an ordinary science room. Long desks with three chairs each attached, and storage containers holding experimental tools like microscopes, beakers, and flasks. And the peculiar smell of lab supplies stimulated her nose.
It wasn't strange for a science room to exist since the old school building wasn't just used as a broadcasting room but also as a practice room. But the condition of the supplies was too clean for a place where footsteps had ceased for a long time. The glass was perfectly straight as if cleaned just yesterday, and not a speck of dust had accumulated on the microscope.
A human body model made of fake bones stood in the corner of the science room. There was another stand next to it, but no other model was on it. Instead, there were footprints. On the floor thickly piled with dust that hadn't been on the microscope, large footprints were pressed, heading towards the hallway. Feeling a chill, Himari recalled the content she had read in the guidebook.
7. There is a human body model in the science room. If the model is not visible, it means someone is moving around wearing someone else's skin. Do not blindly trust someone you came with.
Moving around wearing someone's skin. She subtly shifted her gaze to look at the human body model that was only bones. Was that model originally just bones from the start? Or had it been completely stripped away by someone—no, by something? Himari desperately ignored the liquid dripping from the model's forearm and slowly steadied her breathing.
She must not be dominated by fear. She had to confirm the purpose of coming here—whether a Prophet of Decalcomania was present or not.
She slowly gestured in the air to execute various hacking tools. Translucent blue holograms floated in the air, and complex calculations were quickly performed. It was the task of finding the server existing inside the old school building. But even after several minutes, no server was caught.
'So they won't be caught easily after all?'
The Prophets of Decalcomania each possessed extraordinary hacking abilities. Since they were capable of penetrating Millennium's famously complex servers, there was a risk of being counter-hacked if taken lightly. So she was approaching with a speed and programming that wouldn't be reverse-engineered, but at this rate, she wasn't sure if they could be found within today.
But if she rushed, too many things would get caught. It was a kind of dilemma.
But who am I? A super-genius sickly pitiful brilliant cute lovely elf beautiful girl hacker. She could handle this much. Thinking that, Himari touched the hologram windows floating in the air. Her pink lips wriggled cutely.
Then, a faint, familiar voice came from the hallway.
"President~?"
"Eimi!"
It was Eimi's voice. Himari's face flushed with color as she shouted her name.
For some reason upon entering the old school building, the group had scattered here and there. Only Himari was left alone at the entrance, and Eimi and Kenji had disappeared without a trace. The reason was unknown, but she had no leisure to investigate it. It would be better to reunite with the group first and then move in earnest.
Whirr. Himari moved her wheelchair and poked her head out through the slightly opened door crack.
There stood a woman so tall her hair reached the ceiling and dragged on the floor, wearing a black coat.
-Bang!
Himari immediately closed the door again and urgently backed away. Her face was dyed with terror. Syllables that didn't form words leaked from her parted lips.
"President? Are you in there?"
Thump thump. The 'something' outside knocked on the science room door. Beyond the window embedded in the door, the faintly visible outline was so massive it couldn't be called human. It was clearly a window at a position where a face should be visible no matter how tall, but what was actually seen wasn't a face but a chest. The red eye attached to that chest flashed as if surveying the inside of the science room.
"President?"
The voice was unmistakably Eimi's. The way of speaking, the tone, even the pitch of the voice matched Eimi.
But that wasn't Eimi. It couldn't be Eimi.
Himari's quick mind worked like a high-performance computer. She opened her eyes wide and muttered in as calm a voice as possible.
"Yes, yes. I'm here."
One of the rules written in the guidebook.
12. If you encounter a tall woman in the hallway, have a brief conversation with her. But you must not be surprised when you see her. She is a very timid woman and a great person who can even give her life for a friend. Making her a friend will be very helpful.
"So you were there. But why did you suddenly close the door?"
"O, oh, I was changing clothes. I accidentally spilled water."
"Ah, I see. Then shall I help? It must be hard for the President to change alone."
Thump thump. As if trying to open the door, the monster kept knocking. Though no lock was specifically set, perhaps opening a closed door was impossible from that side? Himari put the newly obtained information into her head and steadied her trembling voice as much as possible.
"No, it's fine. More importantly, do you know where Kenji went?"
"He's on the 5th floor. I went to check briefly, and he was playing fun games with some clown."
"......5th floor. A clown."
16. Item 3 is false. This building exists up to the 5th floor.
"Is that true? You're not lying?"
"Yeah. He'll probably come down on his own when he's done playing. Or do you want to come with me, President?"
That statement confirmed it. Item 16 is false. The 5th floor doesn't exist in the old school building, and the moment you go there, you encounter a clown. The monster deliberately brought up the story to take her to the 5th floor.
'Then Kenji, who is supposedly already on the 5th floor...'
When did he go up to the 5th floor? Right after entering through the main entrance? Does that even make scientific sense? If assuming it's possible, what is his current state? What does the clown do, and what kind of 'prank' is it trying to pull on him? No, perhaps the thing's words themselves might be lies. He might be somewhere else, not the 5th floor, and it might be a plan to lure her with lies.
"......"
Her head was complicated.
There was no reason for a Prophet of Decalcomania to cause such complex confusion. Moreover, the 'thing' standing at the door wasn't a hologram. She had been attempting to hack since earlier, but no electrical signals were caught from it.
'A real ghost?'
Feeling goosebumps rising on her back, she answered the monster's question.
"No. I'll wait here."
"You sure? Shall I wait with you?"
"Ah, no! Eimi, please go around the building and look for traces of the Prophet. Come back when you find something."
"Hmm... okay. Then wait here."
The monster spat that out in Eimi's voice, then left the hallway with thump thump footsteps. Himari listened to the gradually fading sound while counting pi in her head, and when the footsteps finally became inaudible, she carefully opened the science room door.
Fortunately, no one existed in the hallway. As soon as she confirmed it, she changed her wheelchair's operation to high speed. But since she was in a wheelchair, she couldn't go to other floors, so her range of movement was inevitably limited.
Whether it was fortunate or not, the old school building's 1st floor alone was sufficiently wide, so there was enough space to flee.
'I can't leave alone. No matter how scared I am, I can't betray them.'
She briefly looked at the main door leading out of the old school building, then turned her head. Using that door should be after reuniting with the two people. Thinking that, Himari moved towards a club room that seemed suitable for operating her wheelchair.
Just before entering the chosen club room, she saw the CCTV attached inside the room. A faint red light lingered on the CCTV, which should have been black.
2. There are no operating CCTV cameras in this old school building. If you find a CCTV camera with its light on, please leave that place as quickly as possible. If you cannot do so, act as naturally as possible. Even if something appears, you must never act like you know it.
Thump thump thump! Heavy footsteps came from the stairs leading to the 2nd floor. Himari, with an almost tearful expression, turned her wheelchair's direction and entered another room.
The name of the room she saw just before entering was 'Broadcasting Room.'
In the blink of an eye, for some unknown reason, she was standing in front of a 2nd-floor storage room. It felt too realistic to be a hologram shown by a Prophet, and to begin with, it shouldn't be possible to erase the person next to you with a hologram. So this wasn't a hologram.
"......A ghost?"
Could the ghost stories roaming the old school building really be true? Eimi gulped and tightened her grip on the shotgun. No matter how much she prioritized efficiency and was nonchalant about everything, wandering through a space where ghosts might pop out was scary. She felt the illusion of a slippery snake wriggling down her spine.
'Where did everyone go?'
Eimi slowly, very slowly moved her steps, took out her smartphone, and sent a text to Himari. But it wasn't delivered. It was because no signal was caught.
"......Tch."
She slightly furrowed her brow and put her smartphone back in. Then she looked around the 2nd-floor hallway.
The hallway was remarkably clean for an unmanaged old school building. Not a single piece of trash was visible, and aside from the thickly piled dust, it was believable that the place was in regular use.
Conversely, it meant that no one had walked this hallway for a long enough time for dust to accumulate. But bizarrely, unlike the hallway floor piled with pure white dust, not a speck of dust existed on the windows and window frames. As if... someone had wiped them without stepping on the floor.
"......Phew...... Haa......"
Eimi slowly steadied her breathing and moved her steps, thud thud. The old floor creaked creak creak following her steps. Then, from inside a room she was passing, a sound of someone drinking something was heard. The room's name was Practice Room. Eimi carefully peeked inside the laboratory beyond the window.
Inside the practice room, three girls were sitting, each holding a plastic bottle with their mouths stretched wide as if something was very fun. It was too dark to confirm what liquid was in the bottles, but Eimi recalled the guidebook's content and realized the identity of that liquid.
15. All liquids placed in the laboratory are hydrochloric acid. The girls drinking it are not human, so please quickly run away before they notice you.
Gulp gulp. One of the girls began drinking the hydrochloric acid. Some of the acid spurted out from a hole in her neck, and the skin covering her esophagus and stomach melted away, revealing red muscles starkly. It wasn't a reaction that should occur from drinking hydrochloric acid, but it was clearly a bizarre and unpleasant reaction.
"......"
Eimi quickly lowered her body before they noticed her and passed the laboratory in a duck-walk. Fortunately, the girls didn't grab her and force-feed her hydrochloric acid.
At the end of that arduous walk was the staircase leading to the 1st and 3rd floors. Eimi tapped her thick, tired thighs with her fist and pondered where to go. To get out of the old school building, she needed to go to the 1st floor, but she couldn't leave the two people behind and exit alone.
If she had intended to get out from the beginning, she would have broken a window and jumped out long ago. Since this was only the 2nd floor of a building, jumping out wouldn't cause injury.
But it was questionable whether the windows would really break. Neither the video seen on the cam nor the testimonies mentioned anyone leaving the old school building through a window......
"......"
Eimi looked at the windows lined up side by side in the hallway and pondered.
Breaking a window was easy. Shoot it with a gun, smash it with a rifle butt, or break it with a fist. The methods were more diverse than expected. However, she couldn't put any of them into practice. If she were the only one who had entered here, she would have tried without hesitation, but two more people existed here. If she escaped through a broken window, the sound of breaking glass might cause the two people to get hurt by enraged monsters.
Kenji would be fine. He seemed like he could somehow defeat the monsters and escape.
But the President wasn't. She couldn't escape beyond a broken window with her own strength alone. Even if she switched her wheelchair to hover mode, she would be caught before floating in the air.
That wouldn't do. She didn't want anyone left behind. So Eimi gave up on breaking a window and pondered whether to go to the 1st floor or the 3rd floor to find the two people.
"Eimi!"
That was when it happened. Himari's voice came from a club room built on the opposite side of the stairs. Eimi flinched in surprise and turned her head towards where the voice came from.
"......President?"
"Eimi, so you were here. That's a relief. I was so scared thinking I was the only one left."
Himari showed her face through the small window on the club room door. It was exactly the Himari face that Eimi knew. Her voice was the same too. But Eimi could only look at her with a stiffened expression.
"Come in first and let's talk, Eimi. And I think going up is better than going down."
"......Who are you?"
Click-clack. Eimi raised her shotgun. Himari opened her eyes wide and blinked her eyelids.
"W, what do you mean? Who am I? I'm the President of Veritas and the Superscience Special Department, Akeboshi Himari."
"......You're a fake."
"No, what on earth are youㅡ"
"The President isn't tall enough for her face to be visible through that window. Because she's sitting in a wheelchair."
The moment she spat it out, the expression disappeared from Himari's face. Eimi felt a chill and spoke in a voice that seemed to spit out words.
"And when introducing herself, the President has a word she never omits. Even if it's in front of an acquaintance."
"......"
"You. Who are you."
"......Ah."
Himari let out a hollow laugh. No, the something wearing Himari's skin wriggled its facial muscles.
"Got caught."
As it said that, its body made a crack* sound and burst. The human body models simultaneously disassembled and rolled on the floor, and the club room door instantly turned red.
Eimi bit her lip tightly and lowered the muzzle. Then, without hesitation, she began descending to the 1st floor.
'It just said I should go up. So going down is right.'
Eimi carefully descended one step at a time, then entered any room located in the 1st-floor hallway. It seemed better to catch her breath for a moment before moving again.
"......Phew."
She let out a long breath and slumped down as if sliding against the wall. Just as she was about to recheck the number of shells loaded in the shotgun, she felt a gaze from the corner. Eimi sharply narrowed her eyes and aimed the muzzle towards that spot.
"Eeek!"
Then, a scream as if surprised burst out. Eimi opened her eyes wide upon hearing that voice.
"......President?"
The something looking at Eimi from the corner was Himari. Sitting in her wheelchair, she made a surprised expression and asked.
"E, Eimi? Are you the real Eimi?"
"......And are you, who asks that, the real President?"
"W, what do you mean? Did you meet a fake me too?"
"President, introduce yourself."
Eimi said while wiggling the muzzle towards Himari. Feeling puzzled, Himari followed her instruction.
"I am the President of Veritas and the Superscience Special Department, super-genius sickly beautiful girl hacker Akeboshi Himari. Gasp! Wha, what, did you lose your memory?!"
"......You're the real President."
Eimi let out a sigh of relief and lowered the muzzle. She explained about the fake Himari she had just met, and Himari also explained about the giant monster roaming around using Eimi's voice. After sharing their experiences, the two soon put their heads together with serious expressions to discuss.
"President, I think this has nothing to do with a Prophet after all. If anything......"
"It must be a ghost story. But I didn't know ghost stories could actually exist."
"So what do we do? Finding Kenji and getting out is the right move, right?"
"Yes... Since we found out it's not related to Decalcomania, we should quickly get out of hereㅡ"
[ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ]
Himari's voice was buried in a tinnitus-like sound that seemed to tear the ears. The two distorted their faces and urgently covered their ears.
4. There is no connected broadcasting equipment in this building's broadcasting room. If you hear bell sounds or broadcast sounds, cover your ears until the broadcast ends.
[Aaaaahㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ I inㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡformㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡyouㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ.]
But regardless of whether the two listened or not, the broadcast continued. A hard-to-hear noise was mixed between the voice.
[To welcoㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡme the guest who has coㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡme to the 5th floorㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ, an eveㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡnt has beenㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡprepared.]
[We will sooㅡㅡㅡㅡn broadcast a video on all scㅡㅡㅡㅡreens inside the buiㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡldingㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ]
[We hope you eㅡㅡㅡㅡnjoy theㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡviewing.]
Following the voice, trumpet sounds came from beyond the broadcasting room speakers. Himari and Eimi sharply turned their heads towards the broadcasting room monitor, which had suddenly turned on.
The monitor showed a room entirely painted red, with someone's back figure appearing. Himari confirmed the figure and opened her eyes wide, muttering.
"......Kenji?"
The screen changed. The back figure turned to the front, and Kenji's face was zoomed in. But upon seeing it, the two could only draw question marks on their faces.
On his black mask, which had clearly had nothing drawn on it before, a drawing as if scribbled by a child with chalk was now drawn.
^^
It definitely looked like this.
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