Diana could hear Grace's footsteps as she started descending the stairs.
She could have hidden again with Peneri. It would have been easy not to get caught by Grace, who didn't have enhanced senses like herself.
But ultimately, she decided against it. If Grace reached the first floor, then eventually the basement without warning about what was to come, it would be like feeding her to the sharks when there was a rope she could use to pull her out of the water.
And more importantly, Diana didn't want anyone getting hurt because she'd chosen to stay silent due to her selfishness not to be exposed for also stalking Bell.
The two of them were criminals of the same crime after all.
Well, three if she included Peneri, who had followed her.
It didn't take long for Grace to reach the first floor, and the moment she did, the expression on her face when she spotted two familiar classmates was priceless. It could've been put up on a wall in a museum as a painter's magnum opus.
For a split second, Grace's instincts screamed at her to hide her face. She'd already assumed they knew that she'd been stalking Bell.
Or rather… Maya, who just happened to be with Bell.
Well. Bell too. Obviously Bell. Why was he with her precious rival when they usually went home separately? Why did she cancel plans on her own?
Yes. She was following both of them.
A fact she was too ashamed to admit. If someone heard that the daughter of House Hartley was stalking her classmates like a loser, the punishment awaiting her was unimaginable.
But her face had already been seen. There was no point pretending otherwise now. Straightening her posture, she continued down the stairs with graceful, measured steps, as if she were entering a ballroom instead of walking into an awkward confrontation.
"H-hey, you two," Grace stuttered, forcing a smile. "W-what a coincidence."
'Coincidence my butt,' Peneri thought.
Diana didn't call out Grace. It wasn't the right place and time to embarrass a classmate, and it wasn't her character to do such a thing in the first place.
"Grace," Diana said calmly, "I'm assuming you already realize we're trapped here by some sort of barrier."
Grace paused, then nodded. It seemed that it wasn't only up on the rooftop that was blocked off. "Yeah. I tried crossing the rooftop earlier. There's an invisible boundary, and I couldn't pass it at all. But I did happen to see a bird fly straight through it."
Diana's eyebrow lifted.
That meant outside interference was still possible, at least in theory.
For a fleeting moment, an idea crossed her mind. If they went to the rooftop and screamed loud enough, maybe someone outside would notice. It wouldn't hurt to bring attention to the situation that they were in. If they could get the authority to enter the building, the likelihood of them getting hurt would decrease drastically.
Although it would be hard to explain why they were there, it wouldn't be the end of the world to admit that they have been following a classmate.
And, admittedly, maybe Bell would get dragged into trouble too. She had seen him wearing a mask earlier when he got out of the car, clearly trying to hide his identity.
Even if he was doing something good by rescuing someone, inconveniencing him felt like the least that she could do to give him what he deserved after what he had done to her.
"If you're thinking about calling for help," Grace said flatly, "don't."
She was able to shut down Diana's idea before it could even be voiced.
"The bird could pass through the boundary freely," Grace continued, "but when I tried to touch it, my hand went straight through. I couldn't interact with it at all."
"Eh?" Peneri blinked. "What? How does that even work?"
"I don't know exactly," Grace admitted, her voice quieter now. "But I think… the people who were inside the barrier when it formed are separated from the outside world. I'm not even sure we're still in the real world."
Her guess was disturbingly accurate.
It wasn't surprising, though. Grace consistently ranked second in nearly every exam, and the only reason she didn't place first constantly was that first place belonged to a cheater known as Maya.
"I think," Grace went on, gathering her thoughts, "that we're trapped in some kind of pocket dimension. One that exists parallel to the real world."
Peneri tilted her head. "You lost me. What does that even mean?"
Grace exhaled and tried again. "The space inside the barrier looks identical to the real world, but it isn't the same space. It's like… another layer placed on top of reality. When the barrier was created, we were already inside it, so we became part of this layer, or in other words, we were pulled into the pocket dimension."
Diana nodded slowly.
"That's why the bird could pass through," Grace continued. "It wasn't actually entering the barrier. It stayed in the real world. I was standing in the parallel one."
Peneri's brain visibly struggled to keep up. If thinking any harder could produce smoke, hers would've been pouring out by now.
But Diana understood.
"How do we get out?" she asked.
"I don't know," Grace replied honestly. "If this is a star ability, and I'm almost certain it is, there might be a time limit. Or the user could run out of star energy, and it'll deactivate on its own. Or…" she hesitated, "we might have to defeat the person who created it."
"Defeat them…" Diana murmured.
From below, the sounds of combat echoed upward. Multiple people clashing with one individual, yet somehow, that single presence wasn't being overwhelmed. If anything, the fight sounded balanced.
"There's also the chance," Grace added quietly, "that if we don't defeat them, we'll be stuck here permanently. But that's only if there's no time limit at all."
That possibility made the other two girls slightly gloomier than they already were. But the truth is that Grace didn't even voice the darker possibility that even defeating the user might not dissolve the dimension. That escape could require the creator's permission, and if they were a maniac who didn't care about torture or death, it would mean that they would have to set up home where they stood for the rest of eternity.
There was no reason to crush morale before it was necessary, so she kept that to herself.
The fighting wasn't just audible to Diana. Even Peneri and Grace could hear it, though to them it was muted and distorted, nothing like the clarity Diana experienced.
"So…" Peneri said hesitantly, clenching her fists, "should we go help? Whoever's down there, they're fighting the person who made the barrier, right?"
She hadn't brought her weapon with her, but her fists and abilities should be enough to help out.
Grace frowned at the stupidity of Peneri. "What if the one who created the barrier isn't a bad person? What if they're containing criminals?"
What if it was someone from Bell's party? To assume that they needed to team with the other party was foolish. It was best that they just pick the side that they knew Maya was on because that was the correct party, defeat the other party, and then solve the exit problem later.
Diana shook her head.
"No," she said firmly. "They're not."
She'd known the moment she heard Mason earlier, his gratitude for being rescued, that Bell and his people were doing something good.
And now, mixed in with the sounds of combat, she could hear the barrier's creator taunting Mason.
Mocking him.
Asking why he couldn't just be a good boy and stay quiet, stay tied up in the chair where he could peacefully live out his final days.
Telling him his death would have been painless. That no one else would've needed to die due to his selfishness.
Now, because he'd called for help, more people had to be killed.
Someone who spoke like that wasn't on the side of good.
They were a criminal who had to be dealt with for the greater good of the city's safety.
"There's no way," Diana said coldly, "that the person who made this barrier is a good person. Trust me."