"Takumi-kun, why are you covered in so many injuries? Are you really okay?"
Maki's gaze locked tightly onto Takumi. In a worried tone, she asked softly.
"I'm telling you, I'm really fine. Alright, alright—now isn't the time to worry about that kind of thing. Hurry up and go out, and we'll talk."
Takumi only waved his hand and spoke very casually, then continued moving forward.
At the side, Kaguya only silently watched the interaction between Takumi and Maki, then turned her head to look ahead and continued moving forward like this.
As for Fujiwara Chika, she followed at Takumi's side, with Maki on one side and herself on the other, keeping Takumi sandwiched in between. At this time, although she did not say anything, the girl's gaze kept sweeping back and forth over Takumi and Maki, as if she were quietly making a judgment.
It could be seen that the relationship between these two really was very good.
That kind of heartfelt concern and caring was obvious at a glance. This girl named Shijō Maki genuinely liked Takumi from the bottom of her heart, and Takumi responded to her in a very practiced, natural way. Clearly, he liked her as well.
She had just had the feeling of falling in love, and then she got her heart broken.
Sure enough, it would feel awful.
Fujiwara Chika could not help forming such a thought in her heart, and she sighed inwardly with a faint sense of sentiment.
What she failed to notice was that although Shijō Maki appeared to be chatting with Takumi, her attention was actually focused on her the entire time, constantly watching Fujiwara Chika's every move. It could be said that she was maintaining one thousand percent vigilance.
Pink, long hair.
Cheeks with a slight softness to them—definitely the type that was extremely lethal to men.
Her facial expression carried a faintly airheaded feeling, and the way she followed along step by step was also somewhat like a small animal. No matter how one looked at it, Takumi-kun clearly had no resistance to this kind of girl.
And her butt was pretty big too. Mm, though her chest wasn't that different from mine—just slightly bigger, that was all. Looking at it this way, at least in terms of figure there wasn't that much of a difference. The problem shouldn't be too serious.
As Maki thought and thought, without realizing it her hand clenched into a fist, then slowly relaxed again.
At least for now, Takumi-kun didn't seem to have any particular thoughts about this girl. On the other hand, that girl already looked completely captivated by Takumi-kun. I really don't get it—he's lewd and perverted, so how did he manage to win over a girl from Shuchiin in such a short time? From what Kaguya said, this Fujiwara Chika is even a politician's daughter. Shouldn't she be more cautious when it comes to relationships? How could she be so easily charmed by a man?
Shijō Maki had completely forgotten how she herself had been easily taken down by Takumi back at the Shirakawa Apartments. Of course, even if she did recall it, she definitely wouldn't admit that she had been taken down—there was no doubt about that.
"To be honest, I still feel that there wasn't actually any need for us to choose this method. Maki and I have already found a lot of useful clues. If we keep investigating, we should be able to gain even more, achieve a perfect clear, take the core Obsession Item, and even crack the Obsession and destroy the instance. In my view, all of that is possible."
Kaguya wasn't bound by these stray thoughts. Instead, she frowned slightly and looked at Takumi as she asked.
After successfully clearing the Shirakawa Apartments, and with the additional factor that they had smoothly gathered a great deal of information while inside the research base, giving all of that up at this point felt somewhat regrettable to Kaguya.
"Yes, it's possible. But to find that possibility, how many more runs do you think we'd need to redo? Don't forget, if something goes wrong, I'm the one who pays the price. And the situation in this instance is far too complex. Just figuring out the rough timeline of how this instance was formed already cost us a massive amount of time and effort. Not to mention, there are two different core Obsessions in this instance. You don't seriously think we can figure out the solution in a single run, do you?"
But Takumi merely cast a sideways glance at Kaguya and then replied bluntly.
"If we want to obtain a core Obsession Item, or crack an instance to obtain blessings, all of that can be achieved through those Dusk-level instances that have already been fixed and completed. But the instance we're facing right now is no longer something that can be cleared by simply 'trying a bit harder.' The number of times I can start over is ultimately limited. If we redo this single instance five or six times—or even exhaust all of our remaining attempts—what do we do then? Even if we manage to clear this one instance, what about the next instance?"
Even though he possessed the black watch—an overpowered, cheat-like existence—Takumi had never believed that this meant he could become some overwhelmingly domineering, invincible figure from then on. He was very clear that while this strange watch granted him opportunities to start over, it was also, step by step, dragging him toward the abyss of death. Moreover, most of the extraordinary powers bestowed by the watch required the consumption of his restart attempts.
It was still far from the point where he could confidently tackle such high-difficulty instances that even veteran players would not dare to approach lightly.
The correct approach should be to select those fixed Dusk-level instances with lower difficulty and less complexity, crack their core Obsessions, continuously obtain powerful blessings with virtually no side effects, and absorb the residual Obsession fragments to increase the watch's recovery value—taking in more fuel to form a positive cycle. Only by accumulating like this step by step, lying low for a while and enduring until his strength was fully developed, would it be the best time to challenge higher levels.
Choosing the highest difficulty without restraint just because there were more opportunities for trial and error was an extremely irrational behavior. At the end of the day, this watch was not a cheat system that could directly turn Takumi into an invincible emperor of the world. Therefore, once Takumi had confirmed a route that allowed for normal clearance, he gave up the path of perfect clearance without the slightest hesitation.
"…That's true. Sorry—it was my oversight."
This was something Shinomiya Kaguya could clearly understand as well. It was just that earlier she had felt somewhat regretful about abandoning those clues. After Takumi finished explaining, she quickly grasped the current situation and very straightforwardly lowered her head to apologize to Takumi.
My perspective still isn't far-reaching enough, and I'm still not calm and deliberate enough when making decisions.
Kaguya could not help sighing softly to herself.
Then she looked again at Shijō Maki. This child had clearly been very clever in the past, yet now her mind was completely focused on Takumi.
As for Classmate Fujiwara, she also looked utterly captivated by Takumi. But then again, this girl had always been the type who greatly admired romance. Although she would say things like "romance is still too early for me," in reality her enthusiasm for topics of love was frighteningly intense.
Kaguya remembered that this girl had even proactively served as a strategist for one of Maki's friends, helping her manage her relationship with her boyfriend and the like.
And now, these two girls had both fallen for the same man.
Such a situation—indeed… no, perhaps now was no longer the time to measure their current lives by the standards of ordinary people's views on romance.
As the group walked step by step along the brightly lit Stone Forest Path, which radiated a faint chill, Shinomiya Kaguya suddenly reached an understanding at that moment and grasped a fact. That was that the ordinary one-to-one romantic relationships typical for ordinary people might no longer be suitable for the group known as players.
After all, they were a high-risk group whose lives might very well have only a month left, and who could face death at the end of every single month.
Uniting at all costs to face danger was entirely reasonable, and someone like Takumi, who possessed the power of "starting over from the beginning," was all the more a target that absolutely had to be united with. Therefore, even if she, Maki, and Chika were together with this guy at the same time, it was not something entirely impossible. Only by establishing sufficiently close relationships could everyone truly band together when facing something as terrifying as the Horror Story game, work together more effectively against danger, and share in the benefits of Takumi's own power.
Shinomiya Kaguya felt somewhat unsettled.
This realization made her feel extremely embarrassed to acknowledge, especially when she thought about whether she herself should pursue him—it was something she found even harder to endure.
Confessing and dating and all that… no, such things really did not suit her. Perhaps it was better to remain comrades-in-arms?
But if they were merely comrades, then whether it was retaining memories together when starting over from the beginning, or establishing a mental link like the one Maki had, those were things she would not be able to do. And once they faced danger—once they faced a situation where someone absolutely had to be abandoned—Takumi might be more inclined to choose to abandon her…
But if he were the one to confess to her…
The girl's thoughts became somewhat chaotic.
Takumi, who was walking along ahead, was completely unaware that at this very moment the three girls following at his side all had their minds revolving around romantic thoughts about him, as if they had simultaneously been cursed by the god of love and turned into love-brained girls, their hearts unsettled.
That said, it was not as though they had no reason to let their minds wander like this. After all, the power of blessings could alert them at any time to approaching danger, and aside from Takumi himself, the rescue team member summoned by the Rescue Team Badge was following behind them. For the time being, the group's safety was quite well assured.
Mm—Takumi did not have the rescue team member remain inside the guard booth.
After discovering that the guard who looked as if he had been crushed was right there behind the booth, Takumi had a sudden idea. He stated that everyone was there for a shift change, but that they had all misremembered the time and arrived early, so they would have to trouble the other party to continue working for a while longer. With that, they left smoothly.
It had to be said that anomalies capable of communication were actually quite easy to deal with. As long as what you said could be justified within the rules, the other party would not suddenly turn violent.
As for why he had the rescue team member come out, there were two reasons. First, no matter where the other party was, verbal interaction could divert the attention of the core Obsession guarding the entrance. Second, even though he had already decided to leave this instance, Takumi still had some things he wanted to verify at the very end. If nothing else, as one of the first players to clear the fixed stage of the Red Nut Grey Cave instance, the intelligence he possessed could absolutely be sold for a high price. Escape strategies for such an extremely dangerous, top-tier Dark Night-level instance would be snapped up by countless people no matter where they were offered.
Therefore, Takumi decided to have this rescue team member escort the group to the entrance and then return—go to the entrance of the Gentle Slope, and after loudly shouting "I am human" to draw the attention of the anomaly guarding the door, charge straight into the Gentle Slope.
That anomaly in the bloodstained white dress only appeared during the research base period, and its true body was located at the very end of the timeline. In other words, during the earlier phases—the attraction's operating period, the accident cover-up period, and the disaster outbreak stage—the Gentle Slope should not have contained any anomaly at all. Yet more than one rule required this place to be avoided, which was extremely suspicious. Could it be that because that anomaly had become the core Obsession, it directly altered the earlier timelines, causing the Gentle Slope to become a place of death from time immemorial? If it were really that overpowered, then fine—thanks very much. Takumi felt that such a setting belonged to the late stages of a fantasy novel and had no business appearing on a Dark Night-level instance boss.
"Are you ready?"
Standing on the stairs at the entrance to the Red Nut Grey Cave, gazing toward the top of the staircase at that gentle crescent moon and the scattered starlight, Takumi turned his head and asked the three beside him seriously.
Then, after the girls gave affirmative answers, Takumi issued the order to the rescue team member. Immediately, the rescue team member—who had long been eager to sacrifice himself to save others—took off running, diving toward the direction of the Gentle Slope, and halfway there opened his mouth and let out a shout devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
[Ah, I am human.]
[Ah, I am human.]
[Ah, hu—man, hu—man, human.]
After the three lines—recited stiffly, like a talking toy—an eerie presence surged explosively in an instant. A shadow of a white dress flashed past the rescue team member's side.
Even though the one enveloped by that presence at this moment was also an anomaly—the rescue team member—Takumi still felt an overwhelmingly intense cold through the link of the badge.
"Move!"
He did not hesitate. He immediately burst forward, sprinting out of the range of the Red Nut Grey Cave.
Kaguya, Maki, and Chika followed closely behind. The four of them ran out together, stepping onto the ground area of the Red Nut Grey Cave under the moonlight—truly leaving the range of that dark cavern and reaching the surface.
[Congratulations on successfully clearing the Dusk-level instance: Red Nut Grey Cave]
The cold voice sounded beside Shinomiya Kaguya's ear, beside Shijō Maki's ear, and beside Fujiwara Chika's ear.
Their bodies began to turn illusory as the process of being transported away from this anomalous place began.
All except for the one person who remained.
"Ah?"
At that moment, Takumi collapsed to the ground, a growing sense of dizziness surging through his mind.
He seemed to hear Maki calling out to him, to hear Chika's panicked cries, and to hear Kaguya's murmured words in an incredulous tone.
What… is… happening…
It was like he was about to wake up from a dream.
Everything became increasingly blurred.
In the final instant, he seemed to see two hands turning transparent, about to disappear, reaching out toward him.
But when Takumi tried to reach out and grasp them, he realized he could no longer see his own hands.
Clatter—
A set of security uniform clothes fell to the ground.
And the person who had been wearing them had vanished without a trace.
Takumi opened his eyes.
He awoke in pitch darkness.
He smelled the stench of decay.
He felt the intense malice lurking in that darkness, the suffocating, terrifying chill.
He also heard it—the sound of a drop falling from above him, fetid and reeking of iron-rust.
Drip—
An unmistakably real sensation touched his forehead.
The hazy dream had ended.
In the cold, cramped cavern where his body was tightly pinned and unable to move, Takumi had awakened from the dream.
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