The gloomy curtain of rain had already begun to fade.
The morning sun rose, moonlight spilled across the land, and then yet another new day arrived.
In the city, people simply repeated their unchanging daily routines.
To them, Horror Stories did not exist—there was no death game, no strange and eerie beings. Everything they saw and heard in their day-to-day lives was the entirety of the world in their eyes. Perhaps nothing significant would change for them until the day they left this world. Or perhaps these days would suddenly end one day—yet most of the people around them would still continue repeating the same melody, running this world like the components of a machine.
But for those who were already living outside the bounds of normalcy, such days were long gone.
Because their lives were counted in months, and the death game woven from rule-based Horror Stories played out once every month. To survive each and every time—this was probably not something easy for most players.
Although he had not yet officially made contact with the so-called player community, Takumi felt his estimation should not be too far off the mark.
At this moment, counting from the end of the Shirakawa Apartments instance, it had already reached the fourth day. And counting from the information Maki and Kaguya had dug up at the TV station, it was now the third day—that is, the time when that player market would be held.
Takumi stood at the entrance of an abandoned old district located on the outskirts of the city—an area that had lost its water, electricity, and gas supply, and was basically deserted except for the occasional homeless person. After waiting here for a short while, he saw Maki, dressed in casual clothes, appear from a nearby intersection.
"Good morning, Maki."
Takumi greeted the girl calmly.
"…I'm amazed you can still greet me so casually, you know."
Maki narrowed her eyes and stared at Takumi for quite a while. In the end, she let out a snort, walked forward, and began walking side by side with him.
Three days earlier, during that embarrassing situation, Takumi had called Maki to apologize seriously. And although the girl had been a little shy, she did not truly distance herself from him. She simply stated—very seriously—that the next time they met, he was absolutely not allowed to touch her randomly.
Back then, Takumi had really wanted to ask her what her exact standards for "touching" were, but considering the girl had still been angry at the time, he obediently chose to keep his mouth shut.
After that, however, Maki cooled off surprisingly fast. Perhaps, in a certain sense, she herself also felt a bit guilty—after all, during that gradually intensifying deep kiss, she had to admit that she had gotten at least somewhat carried away.
Could it be that she was actually a slightly wanton girl?
That question bothered Maki for an entire day. But afterward, she slowly sorted it out: now that she had fallen into this Sacrifice Game, she and Takumi had already formed an inseparable connection. Since that was the case, rather than being hung up on all those little worries, it was better to look forward properly and think about how to deal with the tasks ahead.
Even though she told herself that and seemed to have figured things out, when she actually met Takumi again, the girl still couldn't help but put on her usual tsundere demeanor.
"Speaking of which—that earbud. Does that mean Shinomiya-san has been listening in on the situation here the whole time?"
Takumi glanced at the tiny earbud Maki was wearing in one ear and asked. "Yes. Oba-san's household rules are really strict—she can't go out freely like I can. So this is the only way for her to participate as much as possible."
Maki nodded lightly. When discussing business, she didn't show a tsundere attitude.
"These past few days, have any players tried probing you again?"
Takumi thought for a moment and asked another question.
"No. Aside from the first day, there haven't been any more attempts. At least, none that I could detect. Maybe the other side intends to wait and see. Right now we're out in the open, and we can't determine whether the ones hiding in the shadows are friend or foe. All we can do is hope they're not someone like Tanaka."
Maki shook her head slightly, then shot a quick glance at Takumi beside her before looking away. After a moment, she glanced over again—then quickly averted her eyes before Takumi could look back.
After repeating that three times, she could no longer hold it in and quietly spoke up.
"You haven't run into anything these past few days… have you?"
The moment those words came out, Maki frowned, feeling that the topic she had chosen was far too ordinary.
"These past few days… it's been fine, I guess. Aside from those things that start appearing every day at dusk, I haven't run into anything else yet. Oh, right—I heard that underground market is supposed to be pretty cold. You'll be okay, right?"
As Takumi spoke, his gaze drifted toward Maki's long legs showing beneath the hem of her skirt.
Takumi had long felt that wearing short skirts in cold weather was a strange habit among women. He had no idea whether it was just an anime stereotype or if many women actually liked dressing that way.
"I'll be fine. I'm not so clueless that I wouldn't consider something that simple. It may look thin, but these are thermal tights."
As Maki spoke, she lifted her skirt slightly, letting Takumi see the white thigh-highs she was wearing.
The sunlight at this time of day was still decent. Under that warm light, one tall and one short figure crossed the boundary of noisy civilization and stepped into an old district where piles of junk lay scattered, the outer walls of many buildings had peeled away, and weeds grew unchecked.
It was clearly only one or two streets away, yet this place felt like an entirely different world. As soon as they stepped inside, both Takumi and Maki felt a chill.
"By the way, why was this place abandoned?"
Takumi turned to the girl beside him and asked.
"Well, that's a bit complicated. This area was built many years ago as part of a planned development zone. It seems they originally intended to turn it into an economic district, but a lot went wrong during construction, and many supporting facilities were never completed. Later, when management changed hands, the transition had problems too. On top of that, this place never managed to attract residents, and Japan's economy has been declining more and more. So in the end, this area was basically abandoned—almost no one comes here anymore. Well, except for a few homeless people and criminals. In the past, I definitely wouldn't have come to a place like this."
Maki explained the situation as she walked forward.
Before coming here, the two of them had studied the map of the area, so there was no concern about taking a wrong turn—they headed straight toward their destination.
Sunlight passed through the abandoned buildings and, shining through the shattered windows, scattered small patches of light across the darkened street.
Takumi turned his head, watching Maki walking slowly beside him. After thinking for a moment, he stepped closer and reached out to grab her hand, holding it as they continued forward together.
"Y-you… what are you doing? Didn't I tell you not to touch me?"
Caught off guard, the girl's face flushed, and she quickly lifted her head to ask in a hurry.
"Let's walk while holding hands."
Takumi only smiled as he said this, pretending to be innocent with that bright, cheerful-boy smile of his.
"You… you really do have a talent for bullying girls, don't you?"
Knowing he wouldn't let go easily, Maki muttered quietly and gave up resisting, allowing him to hold her hand. Just like that, the two of them continued walking side by side.
The uneasiness in her heart seemed to fade just a little.
Only now did Maki finally realize that, deep down, she was still faintly afraid—she had some fear of that unknown underground plaza.
'Did he notice that, and that's why he insisted on holding my hand?'
Thinking this, the girl secretly glanced up at Takumi, only to see his usual calm expression.
'I really don't get him. Sometimes he seems like he's pretending to be clueless, and sometimes he really is clueless.'
'Mm… the only thing I can confirm is that he's a shameless pervert—one who pushes boundaries the moment you give him a little wiggle room. I need to be on guard. Way too dangerous.'
Just as she was thinking this, Maki suddenly noticed a figure appear ahead of them.
It was a girl.
A girl with pink long hair, carrying a guitar on her back and dressed in sportswear. She was very pretty, but for some reason her aura felt somewhat gloomy.
In this empty, silent, abandoned district, this girl—who looked completely out of place no matter how one looked at her—walked out from the street corner. Judging from her direction, it seemed she was heading to the same underground shopping plaza shown on the TV as Takumi and Maki.
Maki had already pulled her hand back and was watching the girl cautiously.
Takumi, however, after a brief moment of recalling and thinking, quickly recognized the girl in front of him.
Isn't this… that Bocchi?
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---