Suddenly, a loud sound came from the entrance of the building. Smoke filled the entire place, and out of the smoke came someone I had met before—the man without a face, the leader of the Kamikakushi.
He stepped through the smoke and dust covering the entrance. He looked toward Shiro and me and said, "Did you really think I wouldn't find you when you took that book from its original position?"
Shiro responded, saying, "Well, you should know by now that I wouldn't make such a stupid mistake."
There was a slight moment of silence, but it was broken when one of the three people who had come into the building after Shiro and me seemingly pulled a sword out of thin air. From all my past experiences, it wasn't the fact that he literally conjured a sword that piqued my interest—it was the fact that the sword he held in his hand was completely identical to the one Shiro carries around.
He rushed forward, drawing the sword from its scabbard, and immediately went to strike the "leader"—as I call him. But the moment he got close, a horde of oni, parts of the ancient god, emerged from the leader's shadow and proceeded to attack him. They pushed him back slightly, and it seemed like he was struggling with them.
"Why don't you guys help him?" I asked, concern in my voice.
Rose, the woman with bright crimson hair and sparkling blue eyes, quickly replied, "There's no need. He's more than enough for that version."
"Version?" I echoed to myself as I looked at the leader of the Kamikakushi. I quickly noticed something—their entire physique was completely different from when I saw them in the past round. I had failed to notice this detail before, too consumed by the fact that the cause of all my problems was standing right in front of me. But this time, the "leader's" body seemed much more feminine, unlike the masculine build it had last time.
As I was lost in thought, one of the oni that had been engaged in combat with the tattooed man directed its attention toward me and began moving in our direction. It was completely shut down by the oni standing with us—the one that came with Rose and the other man.
"Did you think that would work?" Shiro said.
"It" looked at us—the ancient god. I couldn't make out its expression because, well, it didn't have a face.
Suddenly, another horde of oni appeared out of nowhere, as if coming directly from its shadow. It said, "Why do you oppose me? You were there that day. You saw what these people did, and yet you still choose to side with them."
I was confused because I didn't know what it meant by that, nor was I sure who it was referring to. But when I glanced slightly to my right, I noticed that Rose had fixed her gaze on Shiro.
He looked at her, sighed, and said, "You're the one who's on the wrong side. I've tried to tell you multiple times before that these humans—yes, they killed her and burned the place down—but who do you think orchestrated that attack?"
I was even more confused. He was speaking as if he himself wasn't human, even though he definitely seemed human. Then again, the first time I met him—and even now—he and the rest of the people here had a presence similar to that of the oni and their leader.
At that moment, "it"—the leader of the oni, Kamikakushi—said, "Forget it. When I attain it, you'll be forced to follow me." Then he disappeared right before my eyes and instantly reappeared in front of me, his hand clenched into a fist. He threw a punch at me, but luckily, Rose pushed me out of the way.
I flew backward and landed about three or four meters away from Shiro, Rose, and the others.
The man with the sword, who had seemingly been struggling with the horde of oni, burst through the dust cloud caused by his conflict with the otherworldly beings. He moved toward the "leader" and once again delivered a sword strike, but it managed to dodge. At that same moment, Shiro moved backward toward me as the leader spawned another horde of oni.
Shiro moved back about two meters and called out to me, "Ezra!!!"
I looked at him, and he asked me, "Are you ready to die?"
I stood there in silence for a while. The struggle between the "leader" and the others continued. Then, after a moment, I replied:
"Yes. I am."
I died.
6th of September, 2022. The time was 12:30 PM.
I was in a classroom at XXXX High School. I had come here because my mother had said this was the high school I had been enrolled in. So I came to check it out, and I could enter because no one would know I was there in the first place.
But there was something different about this 6th of September, 2022.
Originally, from what I can remember, I came here, no one noticed me—as usual—and then I left. But this time, in this class, I'm holding an empty book with the number 21 written on the front and back. There were five people sitting at the desks in front of me, as well as two beings I wouldn't describe as human...