[Bang!]
Amid searing pain, Takumi's eyes snapped open.
He saw the faint light filtering through the sealed window crack, and beside the wall, the clock on the wall pointed to 8:10.
"You're finally awake. What on earth happened to you?"
Kaguya stood beside the clock, her tone sharp and wary as she questioned him.
'What happened to me?'
Takumi blinked, his consciousness fully returning, then immediately felt the discomfort in his body.
His clothes were almost completely soaked through; his entire body felt as if he had just been dragged out of water.
'What… what was going on?'
Takumi moved slightly, and at once felt a stinging pain along the side of his thigh.
"…"
Realizing something, he grabbed the leg of his pants and rolled it up.
Then he saw the source of the pain.
A small handprint.
A faint, bluish-purple handprint pressed upon his skin.
So clear that Takumi instantly remembered—in the very last moment of that lucid dream—the small hand that had reached out from the water and pulled his entire body down.
[Knock, knock—]
The next instant, a soft knocking sounded outside the damaged living-room door.
...
Piece after piece of flatbread dropped into the boiling water and began to cook rapidly.
Maki hummed a tune softly as she gently stirred the noodles with her chopsticks, then added the seasoning packet.
Steam spread through the kitchen. Beside the sink stood several pairs of clean chopsticks, a fork prepared for Green, and a few porcelain bowls.
"To be honest, could you maybe not knock like that next time? I seriously thought something had broken in—I almost decided to restart the run right then and there."
At the same time, Takumi, sitting on the living room sofa, let out a deep sigh and spoke with obvious irritation.
Standing beside him, Kaguya also lowered her head and furrowed her brow, rubbing her temples with her fingers, her expression filled with helplessness.
The person who had knocked on the door that morning was none other than Yamamoto Hiroshi himself.
Although, in terms of physical fitness, he was the weakest among them, due to the biological clock and sleeping habits of the older generation, this man had actually woken up around six. He had stayed in his room until eight before carefully stepping out, only to find that most of the others in the house hadn't come out yet. He kept waiting until Green and Maki finally emerged from their rooms. Since there was still no movement from Room 204, where Takumi and Kaguya were, he asked Green to unlock the door so that he could go in and check on them.
At first, Green was unwilling, but after some thought, Maki decided to take action, so Green had no choice but to pry the lock open. Yamamoto Hiroshi then entered the corridor and walked to the door of the living room.
Through the crack in the door of Room 204, he could see Takumi and Kaguya sitting on the floor resting inside. After pondering for a while about how to wake them, Green decided to knock on the door—causing Takumi and Kaguya inside to explode into a panic instantly.
If not for Maki rushing over in time, reaching through the hole in the door to unlock it and charging inside, Takumi and Kaguya would surely have already turned the dial to roll back time.
"I'm sorry, really—so, so sorry."
The deeply embarrassed Yamamoto Hiroshi bowed his head repeatedly in apology.
"All right, I know you didn't mean it, but do you understand how terrifying that was? From now on, no matter what happens, try not to knock, okay? Tch… I swear, even if I do manage to get out of this haunted place, I'm going to end up with door-knocking PTSD…"
Takumi let out a long sigh, then caught sight of Maki Shijō walking out from the kitchen.
"Don't blame this uncle too much—it was my decision. You two should've gotten up earlier anyway. Try to have a little crisis awareness, will you? Especially you, Oba-san. As the eldest daughter of the Shinomiya family, you couldn't even get up in the morning because you weren't used to sleeping on the floor—that's just pathetic."
As she said this, Maki placed a large bowl of cooked instant noodles on the table, then began ladling them into smaller bowls one by one.
The thick aroma of MSG and seasoning filled the room, and for those who hadn't eaten in quite some time, it was irresistibly appetizing.
"Yo, looks pretty good."
Though Takumi often claimed to be an instant-noodle purist, he was the first to step forward this time, and he devoured three large bowls of the noodles Maki had made. Green, with his tall build and heavy appetite, also ate three bowls. Kaguya and Maki, on the other hand, each only managed a small bowl, and even that seemed like they had forced themselves to finish it. Unexpectedly, the one who ate the most wasn't Takumi or Green—but Yamamoto Hiroshi, the plump middle-aged man, who astonishingly finished nearly four bowls. His appetite left everyone speechless.
"I'm sorry, I think I ate a bit too much…"
Noticing the others' gazes, Yamamoto Hiroshi looked quite embarrassed, so his fourth bowl wasn't filled to the brim. He suffered from hypertension and hyperglycemia, couldn't exercise much, yet still had a huge appetite—and also had the habit of waking up in the middle of the night. If not for fainting last night after being overwhelmed by the illusion caused by the Clock of Severed Heads, he would most likely have gotten up to use the bathroom during the night.
'Middle-aged illnesses, huh? What a problem.' Takumi hadn't expected that Yamamoto Hiroshi's health was this poor—if they were to face any danger, he probably wouldn't have any chance of escaping at all.
Realizing these issues about Yamamoto Hiroshi made Takumi's head ache. He quickly talked further with him and learned that in his younger years, Yamamoto Hiroshi had worked in construction, throwing himself into all kinds of exhausting and dirty labor, recklessly overworking day and night just because he was young. As a result, when he grew older, he became severely overweight and developed high blood pressure, high blood sugar, lumbar muscle strain, and a whole list of other ailments. To make matters worse, once he started working in an office and stopped exercising entirely, his physical condition deteriorated drastically—at this rate, he might even end up in a wheelchair in a few years.
Learning about this, Shinomiya Kaguya felt distinctly displeased. The twisted education of her family caused her to instinctively begin weighing Yamamoto Hiroshi's value to the group. But this time, Takumi and Shijō Maki both firmly decided to side with Yamamoto Hiroshi. Maki first called him over alone, trying her best to calm his emotions, while Takumi seriously considered what methods could ensure his safety and better make use of his abilities.
"Yamamoto-san, since you've worked as an electrician before, could you try fixing the lights in all the rooms on the second floor—and then connect all the switches together, so that they can be controlled remotely from one room?"
After stepping out of the room, Takumi looked at the wires scattered across the ceiling in the corridor, connecting one room after another. Having come up with an idea, he returned to the room and asked Hiroshi about it.
"Well, wiring isn't exactly a simple matter, but… maybe I can give it a try. I managed to find some tools from Green and that girl with the ponytail—barely enough to make do. But I'm not sure if it'll actually work."
Takumi's somewhat fanciful idea clearly made Yamamoto Hiroshi hesitate, but he still nodded and decided to give it a try.
The old man understood very well that, for this makeshift group of survivors, he was actually a burden—someone who ate a lot, couldn't scout, and couldn't help analyze clues. So he had to do whatever he could and do it well.
Green remained silent, simply following orders and guarding Yamamoto Hiroshi obediently.
As for Maeda Miwa—after being locked in Room 205 for an entire night, the next day when the others went to check on her, they found that the woman had already gone half insane. She was curled up in a corner of the room, trembling constantly, and screamed loudly whenever anyone approached. It was already impossible to communicate with her at all.
"There's nothing we can do… Let's just leave her in 205. At least she's safe in there. When we finally find a way out, we can see if it's possible to bring her along."
Maki sighed helplessly and shook her head. Although she genuinely sympathized with the woman, given their current situation, even she couldn't think of any way to care for her while still managing the apartment's exploration and defense. Thus, the only option left was to leave her be.
Next came the exploration of the remaining three rooms on the second floor.
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