Takakai sat silently in the crimson plaza, his expression eerily calm.
Behind him, Yotsuya Miko lay peacefully on the ground, motionless—like a mannequin. Of course, she wasn't a mannequin. Due to their two prior instances of [Flesh Communion], she had developed a unique resonance with Takakai, granting her access to this blood-drenched city. Though, well… maybe the "signal" wasn't great here. She couldn't move, existing more like [Furniture] than a person. Still, she was aware of her surroundings.
…Huh? Why does that phrasing sound so wrong? And in the worst way possible?
SMACK!
Takakai slapped himself.
What the hell am I thinking about right now?! Focus!
The reason he hadn't reset yet—hadn't returned to that damned starting room—wasn't because he wanted to stay in this hellscape. It was because the spawn was camped. If he couldn't figure out a solution here, he'd be permanently softlocked, unable to clear the dungeon.
"But a boss guarding the spawn point? That's just cheating…"
Frankly, Takakai found it hard not to laugh.
He wasn't stupid. At this point, it was obvious—he was being targeted.
That twisted little girl and the monstrous maw that followed, plus the memory deletion upon death—an utterly pointless rule—confirmed it. The KP was screwing with him.
That memory-wipe rule made no sense. Shirasawa Elementary was a man-made dungeon; its rules were designed. No designer, no matter how incompetent, would add [Erase the memories of those about to die] as a mechanic.
Meaning: The KP had altered a rule.
A referee blowing the whistle unfairly was bad enough, but whining wouldn't change anything. He needed a countermeasure.
Tch. This kind of arbitrary difficulty spike is disgusting…
Takakai exhaled slowly, closed his eyes, and began to think.
Even if the KP was rigging the game, that didn't mean Takakai was powerless.
Because one thing was certain: The KP had to work within the rules. It couldn't just delete him outright.
In fact, Takakai already had a rough idea of why that ugly little brat and the [100-Sunlight Chomper] had spawned on him:
He knew the name [Hachiya Chiyo].
One of the key traits of ayakashi was [Awareness Invites Attention]. Know them, and they know you. Usually, only core grudges had this property—and Hachiya Chiyo was almost certainly the core of this dungeon.
But that wasn't the full story.
The little ghost's reason for attacking was [You're not a teacher. You're a liar.]
And Takakai had claimed to be a [Teacher] during Week 1, using that identity to interact with the children. Meaning: The ayakashi remembered his actions from the previous loop and saw through his fake identity.
So, was the trigger [Deception] or [False Identity]? After some thought, Takakai settled on the former. The ghost had emphasized [Liar], and ayakashi didn't usually improvise like Alice. Their words were echoes of the past—clues to their nature.
Kumami's advice came to mind: "Think like a child."
Hachiya Chiyo—likely the core grudge—was fixated on eliminating Takakai because:
He knew her name.
He had deceived others.
And this was where the KP had interfered.
That thing—the one that had strangled him across decades of memory fragments—was clearly higher-dimensional. It couldn't directly perceive Takakai's [Black Wristwatch], but it could infer his retry ability from his actions. (Not that he'd been subtle—grabbing grudge items left and right, openly discussing resets with allies… Yeah, the KP had plenty of evidence.)
Takakai's theory:
The KP had recorded his deception from Week 1 and embedded it into [Hachiya Chiyo]'s awareness. Then, when Takakai learned her name, it triggered her rules—resulting in an instant spawn-kill.
As for the memory wipe?
Probably another KP tweak. Takakai guessed Hachiya Chiyo's original rule was [Erase memories of the dead], ensuring her killings went unnoticed. The KP had expanded this to include [Erase the dead's own memories], countering Takakai's retries.
The one thing the KP might not know—or couldn't confirm—was whether Takakai retained memories inside the blood city.
That was his only advantage.
This space let him analyze failures and plan counters. But if he broke the spawn-kill, the KP would realize he had this edge. Future loops could see even worse interference—difficulty spiking from N1 to N15 in a heartbeat.
In short:
The real challenge wasn't just the dungeon anymore.
From now on, Takakai was playing chess with an invisible opponent.
An opponent he couldn't beat in a straight fight.
An opponent bound by restrictions he didn't yet understand.
An opponent that could only tweak the rules to screw him over.
Meanwhile, Takakai had the blood city—a place to regroup, analyze, and prepare.
A place to fight back.
…
Realistically? His odds were terrible.
He knew nothing about the KP's full power. It had existed for decades, maybe centuries—a monster lurking behind the Sacrifice Game. Meanwhile, Takakai was just a player who'd cleared three dungeons. Even with the wristwatch, he was nowhere near top-tier.
And now, his greatest weapon—retries—wasn't foolproof anymore. Every new loop could bring unknown traps.
This unfair battle was becoming even more unfair.
But so what?
Since when had he ever fought on even ground?
Since when had he not traded pain and death for victory?
If the enemy leveled up, did that mean he should cower?
"Alright then, let's play, you hack writer of third-rate tragedy. I'm smashing your 'masterpiece' to pieces today."
Takakai took a deep breath, his resolve unshaken.
He could wish for a [Memory Partition] ability—sealing away his knowledge of [Hachiya Chiyo] to avoid the spawn-kill.
But he didn't.
The wristwatch's 12 slots were precious. Aside from the mandatory core-grudge slot, he only had 11 wishes to work with. Over-relying on them was risky—especially when he had another solution.
Takakai turned to Miko, leaned down, and whispered into her ear:
"Tell Maki and Chika: Get me a teacher's identity within 5 hours. Any kind, as long as it's officially recognized."
He repeated it three times, then stood as the bell tolled.
When he opened his eyes again, the cramped bedroom surrounded him.
And all hell broke loose.
The 7.2-Second Escape
0.0s - 0.1s:
Three Rescue Team Badges activated.
Pistol fired—1,000+ rounds in a full-auto spray.
3 specialized rounds hit the ghost girl.
3 more struck the ceiling maw.
0.1s - 0.5s:
Takakai sliced his wrist, dousing both entities in blood.
Two badges recalled (RIP Guo).
0.5s - 3.0s:
Heddal's Blessing maxed his speed.
Pistol's auto-aim pre-shot every doorknob ahead.
Burst into Kaguya's room, grabbed her mid-confusion.
3.0s - 6.0s:
Leapt into the kennel, summoning:
Alice's Room (door propped open).
Firefighter (distraction for the Butcher).
One-handed scooped Hayasaka (golden retriever) from her cage.
Foot-hooked Kaguya (preventing her faceplant).
Dove into Alice's Room.
6.0s - 7.2s:
Recalled firefighter (last-second save).
Slammed the door shut.
"Hah…"
Takakai's crimson glow faded as he slumped against the wall.
Total cost:
6 suppression rounds.
1 Alice's Room use.
1 sacrificial rescue member.
"Was aiming for sub-6 seconds, but theory and practice never match, huh?"
"Wh-What just happened?!"
Kaguya, finally processing events, stared at him blankly.
Takakai grinned, giving her a thumbs-up.
"Nothing much. Just a warm-up. The real show starts now."
Then he grabbed a bag of chips from Alice's table and started munching.