Takakai and Hayasaka had retreated to the storage room.
Though the door stood open, neither dared step outside.
The moment they left the room, the corridor's unseen force began dissolving their bodies into black sludge—digesting them alive. The process started subtly, almost imperceptibly, but once it crossed a threshold, the corrosion accelerated violently. Without immediate retreat, they'd liquefy entirely.
If not for Takakai's paranoia, they'd already be puddles on the floor.
"How… is this possible?"
Hayasaka stared at her bleeding fingers—nails split, skin oozing black fluid—her voice trembling.
She hadn't noticed the transformation outside. Even now, the pain was faint, as if her nerves were numbed.
"Probably a runaway rule. By the end, Shirasawa Elementary was pure chaos."
Takakai's tone was flat, unsurprised.
Overcrowding students.
Reckless, high-risk experiments.
Whenever a class succumbed to specters, they'd seal it off—until the old building became a death trap, forcing a move to the new one.
At least Nutty Putty Cave hadsomesafety measures before the director went full psycho. But this?Zerorestraint. Just a bunch of idiots poking eldritch horrors with sticks.
Is this the legendary "Showa spirit"? Brainless machismo masquerading as resolve?
No wonder everything went to hell.
Still, he had a backup plan.
Closing his eyes, Takakai shifted his focus to the policeman specter he'd summoned.
Clunk.
The vent cover fell away as the specter emerged, its distorted body snapping back into shape.
The room it entered was familiar—a match for the memory fragment.
Shelves stacked with rattling containers.
Bloodstained dissection tables.
Yellow grease splattered everywhere.
(No smell, thankfully—specter senses were limited.)
This was where Satou and a researcher had dismembered a twisted, mutated victim—while Chiyo watched from the vents.
Why would a kid crawl through filth like this? What drove her?
The specter approached a table, picking up a handwritten report.
[Autopsy Report]
[Subject: Hachiya Ryouhei]
[Age: 6]
[Height: 103cm]
[Weight: 558kg]
[Origin: Hachiya Orphanage]
[Condition: Severe contamination-based mutation]
[Findings:]
70% of body mass converted to pure grease.
30% bone softening.
Found alive despite deformity. Died mid-dissection.
[Background:]
Peer of "Hachiya Chiyo." Visited school multiple times.
Mocked as "fat pig," "grease monster," etc. by students.
Consensus bullying likely triggered specter rule, mutating him externally.
[Conclusion:]
Proof specter influence now extendsbeyondschool grounds.
Potential weaponizable if controlled. Could target U.S. forces.
Orphanage residents must remain confined. Monitor Chiyo closely—her evasion skills are improving.
So Chiyo hid in the vents… and saw them carve up her little brother alive.
No wonder she snapped.
The specter moved to a freezer, wrenching it open.
A pulverized corpse, barely recognizable as human, lay frozen in chunks. A tag noted it was a student who'd "shattered like glass" after bullying.
The second freezer held a headless body, still twitching.
The third, fourth… thirty-plus freezers, each containing a living-dead student, warped by cruelty into monsters.
Only the dissected ones (like Ryouhei) were stored elsewhere—becausethey could die.* Researchers wanted* weapons, not unkillable abominations.
The dissection must've happened after the orphanage "mass death."
Chiyo probably sneaked in searching for her family…
As Takakai thought this, the specter's vision shifted.
Tiny, grimy footprints appeared on the floor.
Small handprints on the freezer handles.
A phantom child—silent, trembling—touched the dissected remains.
Then opened every freezer, searching…
…and found nothing.
She drifted deeper into the facility.
Click.
The specter followed, stepping into the hallway.
Unlike the firefighter and rescuer (bound by rigid rules), this specter's lingering will was malleable. It obeyed smoothly—a lifetime of taking orders.
But Takakai could feel its latent resolve stirring:
[Protect the helpless. Punish the guilty.]
The core grudge of Fujioka High'sOfficer Hirano—passed to this specter.
The more atrocities it witnessed, the more that will awakened.
Don't go rogue on me now. You're my last summon.
(Well, technically, "Old Guo" was off cooldown—but that weakling would justdie againinstantly.)
"Takakai-san… outside…"
Hayasaka's whisper snapped him back.
Not that he needed the warning.
Footsteps.
Heavy. Deliberate.
Approaching.
A sound he'd recognize anywhere.
The Butcher.
That thingfollowed usinto the depths.