Just by blinking once, he was standing in a hallway filled entirely with red. The red was closer to paint than blood, but the debris smeared here and there evoked images of organ fragments. The squishy texture and sticky mucus reinforced that impression.
"......"
It wasn't a hallucination. The things filling this space were too realistic for that. A thick smell of blood wafted from the damp, clinging red stains, and a stench like decaying corpses stabbed at his nose. There were too many things stimulating the five senses to simply call it a hallucination.
But it wasn't inside a hologram either, as Himari had suggested. He wasn't particularly well-versed in science, but he knew holograms couldn't cover reality, manipulate people's brains, and send electrical signals to their senses. So the spectacle unfolding before his eyes was neither a hologram nor a hallucination.
Reality.
"So it was a ghost story."
Yes, this was a place where a ghost story had materialized. A place with no relation to a Prophet of Decalcomania, just simply, stupidly scary.
Kenji gave a bitter laugh and tapped the hallway floor with his toe. Then ripples formed in the red puddle, and the bloody pupils that had been visible beyond it disappeared as if they were a lie.
It was at the same time. A sound like something flying came from the end of the hallway, now full of dark red. Kenji tilted his body sideways to avoid it. The things that flew were three daggers, and they were quite sharp, embedding themselves deeply into the door behind Kenji.
"......Almost bought it."
He muttered that, then pulled one of the daggers stuck in the door and threw it with all his might toward where it came from. But that was it. No sound of it hitting somewhere was heard. Did they quickly retreat? Or was it a machine that threw the knives? He didn't know. From beyond the middle of the hallway, a thick dark red fog hung, making it impossible to see with the naked eye.
"Haa......"
Kenji let out a deep sigh and tapped his mask with his finger. He rolled his eyes. The number on a club room door hanging in the hallway, 506, came into view. It meant the 5th floor. The floor that item 3 said didn't exist, but item 16 said did.
'So item 16 was true.'
Yet, the scenery here was far too bizarre. There was so much red it felt like his eyeballs would pop out. When he entered the old school building through the main entrance, it seemed like an ordinary abandoned school, but here it felt like hell itself had been transplanted.
Wasn't it too different? This time, he dodged a dagger coming from a blind spot and pondered deeply.
Item 3. The old school building exists up to the 4th floor, and that floor is marked with F. If the number 4 is written on that floor, that place is not reality. So which part exactly did item 16 prove false? That it exists up to the 4th floor? That it's marked with F? Or that it's not reality?
"......Hmm."
Kenji dodged the flying daggers and slowly moved forward. The number of daggers increased as he did, but he paid no mind.
'Item 16 again.'
16. Item 3 is false. This building exists up to the 5th floor.
At a glance, it sounds like the statement that it exists up to the 4th floor is false, and it actually exists up to the 5th floor.
But what if you understand it by separating it?
'Again.'
16. Item 3 is false. This building exists up to the 5th floor.
'The two sentences can be perceived individually.'
Right, according to item 16, item 3 is lying. But nowhere does it say it's one lie, and it doesn't reveal at all what the lie is. The statement that the 5th floor exists is just that—a statement of existence. It could be interpreted as having no connection to the statement about lying.
'Then the definite lie is.'
First, the statement that it exists up to the 4th floor. This is the 5th floor, after all.
Next?
Kenji turned his body sideways to dodge a dagger flying toward his brow. In the process, he saw an alphabet written on the wall of the descending stairs.
F.
'Five. 5.'
The floor marked F wasn't the 4th floor. It was the 5th. That statement was also a lie.
Then, the final remaining question.
Is the floor marked 4 really not reality?
He stuck his face out over the stair railing. The descending stairs were quite long, but the faintly visible 4th floor looked ordinary. No blood, no organ fragments. Just a dark abandoned school. Nothing more, nothing less. Kenji twisted the corner of his mouth into a smile.
"So it was wordplay?"
He went back up to the 5th floor and quickly tilted his head to the side. Swish! With a sound like tearing wind, a dagger disappeared into the darkness. Kenji, with a rather refreshed expression, took off his mask and picked up a piece of chalk rolling on the floor. As he did, he spoke.
"Good. This is reality, and you are ghost stories. And I can send ghosts to the Lord's side."
"Hahahahahahahah!!!!!!!"
"You're laughing? I like it too! Hahahahahahah!!!!"
"......"
"Laugh."
Kenji erased the expression from his face and muttered. But the exaggerated laughter no longer came. Regardless, Kenji, wearing a serious expression, drew a picture on the removed mask with chalk. A simple drawing that even a kindergarten student could draw, not difficult at all.
Smiling eyes.
The ^^ emoticon was drawn on the black mask. Kenji nodded satisfactorily and put the mask back on.
He had figured out everything he needed. The ghost story entangled with the old school building wasn't a Prophet of Decalcomania but simply a materialized ghost story, and the 5th floor wasn't a non-existent space but merely a space designed with gore and teeming with monsters.
So there was no longer any reason to stay here. He would go down slowly from the 5th floor, reunite with Himari and Eimi, and leave the old school building.
But before that. He would slaughter all the anomalies here so these bastards couldn't act up again.
"Phew......"
He steadied his breathing briefly and thought quietly.
What kind of person would ghosts be afraid of? Someone with a physically powerful body? Someone without fear? An exorcist? An athlete? A religious person? High school girls who rival tanks in threes?
No. They aren't afraid of such people. On the contrary, they might even enjoy seeing them trembling in fear, but they definitely aren't scared of them.
Then, what type of person do they fear and avoid?
The answer was simple.
The type of human that even other humans are afraid of.
In other words, a madman.
A lunatic.
The clear-eyed madman.
Real madness.
"Play with me, brothers!!"
Kenji could gladly become the being they feared.
"You're dead if I catch you~~~~!!!"
Terror surged from his entire body.
Immediately after, static noise flowed from a speaker placed in the corner of the hallway.
A being with mouths dangling all over its body hurriedly ran down the hallway. Originally, it was supposed to find those who didn't cover their ears despite hearing the broadcast, scream at them, and blow their heads off, but now it was filled with a terrified expression, its teeth chattering clack clack clack.
-Dududududu!
Then, the sound of something running quickly came from behind it. The monster tried to increase its speed further with trembling lips, but the something that came running was faster, grabbing the monster by the hair.
"Got you."
A man wearing a bizarre mask spat out with a laughter-filled voice. Then the monster let out a terrified scream.
"Keeeeeeeeeeeeek!"
But the man didn't care about the monster's circumstances. He lifted the captured monster by the hair and immediately threw a punch toward its face.
"This is God's Bible!"
Crunch! The monster's head shattered into pieces. But no blood or flesh poured out. It simply turned to dust and scattered. It was the end of a ghost story that existed only as an urban legend without a proper form.
Nothingness.
The monster disappeared without leaving a single trace of its existence in this world. The man—that is, Kenji—looked at the spot where it had been standing and cast a pitiful gaze.
"I'll send some friends so you won't be lonely on your way. Don't cry."
"......"
"You're thanking me? I'm grateful too. You're a polite friend."
Kenji wiped away tears and moved his steps, thud thud. Then, he felt someone's presence. Turning his head directly toward it, beyond a slightly visible window, a woman appeared to be dancing. Kenji grinned and flung open the door to the room she was in.
"Brother's here!"
In the center of the room lay the corpse of a woman hanged by a thick rope. She opened her pale blue eyes fiercely and stretched her hand toward Kenji. Amazingly, her arm elongated like a rope, tightly coiling around Kenji's neck.
9. The woman reflected in the windows is not dancing. Do not be mesmerized by her movements—it is a strangled corpse.
Kenji stroked the lovely arm wrapped around his neck and spoke in a slimy voice.
"Oh my... No matter how much you like me, this kind of restraint is a bit much."
He let out a huhut laugh, then grabbed her arm with both hands. Then her arm burst like a balloon.
"......?!"
Confusion settled on her face. Kenji looked at that expression and shouted loudly.
"You're seducing me with that expression?! This won't do! We're starting day 1 today!"
Kenji threw a punch at her. An ink-colored flower engulfed her, and the woman tied to the rope melted into white dust. Kenji looked at the rope left alone and screamed.
"No, fuck, my girlfriend!!!!!!!"
"......"
"These evil bastards!!!! I will never forgive them!"
He kicked the door open with a bang and came out into the hallway. A security guard who had been watching for an opportunity blew his whistle beep beep and swung his baton down toward Kenji's head.
8. There is no security in this building. If you hear whistle sounds or footsteps, please quickly avoid that place.
Kenji grabbed the baton with his left hand and, with his other hand, grabbed the guard's neck and twisted it.
-Snap.
"This is Buddha's wooden gong! The sound is very cheerful!"
The guard's slumped body turned to dust and disappeared. Kenji retracted his outstretched hand and muttered in a pious voice.
"Namu Amitabul Gwanse-eum Bosal......"
At the same time, footsteps came from the ceiling.
-Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.
5. If you see a woman crawling on the ceiling, pretend you didn't see her. She is not human.
Kenji immediately stopped his Buddhist chant and roared.
"You bas!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How dare a mere lowly ghost interrupt this one's prayers!!!!!!!"
-Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!
"Come here! I'll fix your messed-up mind!"
-Tap-tap-tap-tap!!!!!!!
"Got you, you bastard!"
-Tap-tap!!!!!!!!!!
"Seeing you up close, you're disgustingly ugly! Take this! Allah's magic stick!"
-Bang!
Kenji's thrown punch landed directly on the ghost crawling on the ceiling. She turned to dust without being able to put up any resistance, scattering like snowflakes. Kenji looked at the spectacle and rubbed his inexplicably stinging nose tip.
"That guy... Still, you go beautifully. Though winter ended long ago, thanks to you, snow falls here. Are you watching? It's all thanks to you......"
"......"
"Thank you. That was a good show."
Kenji fluttered his coat and turned around.
A CCTV was staring at him. Kenji immediately rolled his eyes toward the heavy thump thump thump footsteps that could be heard. Where the footsteps came from stood a monster that seemed like a mix of beast and human.
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.
Kenji looked at the monster and spoke in a cute voice.
"Who's a good boy! Are you a stray? Where's your owner?"
"Grrrr......"
"Gasp! Did you just bare your teeth at me? Oh my, oh my! Looks like you're not properly trained! Did you get your rabies shot?"
"Grrrooooooarrr!"
The monster opened its maw wide toward Kenji. Kenji kicked its jaw from below to shut its maw and threw a punch toward its brow.
"Can't be helped! This is the rabies shot!"
-Crunch.* With the sound of its insides being crushed, the monster's body went limp. Kenji looked down at the monster's body beginning to disappear and nodded.
"It really is the rabies shot. The performance is sure."
He slightly adjusted the position of his tilted mask and turned his head. An emergency exit was installed alone on one side of the hallway where there had clearly been nothing. But the picture drawn on it wasn't of going down, but of going up.
1. There is no rooftop in the old school building. If you discover a door leading to the rooftop, please quickly avoid that place.
Kenji hummed a tune and stood in front of the emergency exit. Then he found a note hanging next to the door. Picking it up and unfolding it, one sincere sentence was written.
[Could you please leave?]
"Fuck off."
Kenji tore the note to shreds and smashed the emergency exit door. Then the screams of the dead coming from beyond faded as if they were a lie. He left the crumpled, crushed emergency exit behind and shouted in a lively voice toward the dark hallway.
"Brothers~ Kenji's coming again! Don't think about running away~ To the person who threw knives at me earlier! I know you're the only one left on the 5th floor~"
"......"
"Not laughing now? Hmm... Are you bored?"
Kenji took a deep breath, then laughed with all his might.
"Hahahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!"
"......Eeek!"
"I'm coming! Brother's coming! I'll personally give you a chance to have an interview with God if you get caught!"
"You crazy bastard! Don't come!"
"Ahaha! You're dead if I catch you!!!"
Kenji laughed heartily as he ran down the hallway.
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