[Stepped on a cat~ Stepped on a cat~?]
[Stepped on a napping little cat~?]
A child's singing voice echoed from the television.
Along with it came the cheerful sound of many people hopping about, all of it emanating from the TV speakers.
There was no image.
Because when the scene of the reporter interviewing at the school had appeared earlier, Takumi had immediately thrown the coffee table at the television, smashing the screen on the spot.
The facts proved that although doing so had some effect, the effect was limited. Even without the image, the broken television's speakers continued to emit strange noises, constantly producing unsettling and extremely eerie sounds.
[The kitty ran away~ The kitty ran away~]
The cheerful singing voice continued to ring out from the shattered television, accompanied by nearly chaotic, piercing noise.
The temperature in the living room was dropping, already to the point where it began to feel cold.
Outside the window behind them, a row of those things was already standing there.
The corridor outside the living room door was covered in aberrant shadows.
All communication had been completely cut off; only the mental link with Maki remained usable.
At this moment, Takumi and Miko stood on one side of the living room. For a time, they did not know what to do and could only remain where they were.
What should they do now?
Takumi's gaze kept shifting between the doorway, the window, and the smashed television.
Beside him, Miko was so frightened that she was at a loss, instinctively reaching out to clutch tightly at the hem of Takumi's clothes. It seemed that for the moment, she could not come up with any idea.
What should they do?
Takumi asked himself inwardly.
A lethal threat had already appeared before them.
What could they do to break the current deadlock?
There was no doubt that he had now been entangled by an aberrant force.
But he had not been attacked.
Although various abnormal phenomena had begun appearing around them, he still had not suffered any direct attack from the Aberration.
Then, according to the principle that Aberrations must inevitably abide by certain rules, could it mean that he had not yet violated the killing rule of the Aberration that was attacking, and was therefore still in a temporarily safe stage?
No matter how the form and abilities of an Aberration changed, its characteristic of obeying rules would not change. Up to now, no matter how high-level, how difficult, or how terrifying the Instance the players had encountered, the Aberrations inside had never changed this operational principle.
Then the fact that he and Miko had not died yet meant that the "certain-death rule" had not been broken.
The appearance of the Aberration phenomenon had, at the very beginning, started after Miko said the words "Alice's Game." She should have first been entangled by the power of that Aberration. Then he obtained the relevant information from her, thereby forming a chain effect of the Aberration's power, which caused him to be drawn into it.
Alice's Game… this Aberrant object that existed in Fujihana Middle School often carried out its rules and patterns of action according to a set of "game rules." But he and Miko were not currently inside places such as the Teaching Building or the Residential Wing—those kinds of "game locations"—nor did they possess any "game rules" in their hands.
From this point of understanding, whether it was him or Miko, neither of them met the activation requirements of this "Alice's Game." Therefore, the one that might possibly launch an attack against them certainly would not be "Alice" itself.
Following this line of deduction, "the Very, Very Bad Big Bad Wolf," the Aberration emphasized by the rules, would also certainly not attack him and Miko, because that Aberration would only attack players who participated in Alice's Game and violated specific rules.
After excluding these two, which Aberrations that existed on the rule sheet remained—those whose connection to the game locations within the game rules was not particularly close? Which Aberrations could possibly appear outside the game area and act according to certain rules, and might initiate an attack?
Takumi stepped forward, walking to the side of the smashed television and toward the coffee table he had thrown out earlier, now lying crooked on the ground.
He set the coffee table upright again and placed it back on the floor.
Then, Takumi pulled a candle out from the coffee table drawer, took out a lighter, and lit the candle just like that. Maintaining the posture of extending his hand forward, he slowly stood up while holding the candle.
Miko, standing beside Takumi, blinked, not understanding his intention for a moment.
But very soon, after hearing some kind of movement, the girl slightly turned her head, and then saw the thing standing at her side.
[Shh—]
Amid a low, suppressed laugh, the candle in Takumi's hand was blown out.
"T-Takumi-san…"
At that moment, Miko was almost about to collapse onto the ground.
"Test successful. You saw that thing? Where was it just now?"
Takumi showed no reaction at all to the candle in his hand being blown out. He merely turned his head to look at Miko and asked calmly.
Just now, he had seen nothing and heard no abnormal sound.
In Takumi's field of vision, the extinguishing of the candle had happened abruptly. Before it occurred, he had not sensed the slightest sign.
But judging from Miko's terrified reaction, something must have appeared just now.
As a player, he had seen nothing—yet Miko, who was not a player at all, had seen it?
Could it be that her eyes could see more, and more comprehensively, than his as a player?!
"It… it walked past me, and then blew out the candle you were holding."
Pale-faced, Miko did her best to maintain a calm expression as she answered Takumi's question.
"You're sure it walked directly past you?"
Takumi asked again to confirm.
"Mm…"
The girl nodded heavily, unconsciously lowering her gaze to the floor.
The "Bad Kid" was right here.
And based on what Miko had said, either the "Bad Kid" possessed the ability to move through space, or the "Bad Kid" had actually always been here, always following beside them. It was only after Takumi lit the candle that, due to the corresponding rules, the "Bad Kid" manifested—and even then, only partially.
Perhaps this was because Takumi was not currently participating in "Alice's Game," so the candle in his hand did not possess any special properties. But if Miko could see the "Bad Kid" in this state, then perhaps she might be able to play a significant role next.
"Where is it now?"
Takumi glanced around the living room—which, at least in his eyes, showed no abnormalities and appeared completely normal—then looked back at Miko and asked.
"…"
The girl did not answer his question. She still did not dare to meet his gaze.
Takumi understood what Miko meant.
His eyes swept around himself, yet he could see no unusual phenomenon.
But the girl beside him could see foul-smelling blood dripping down from Takumi's body.
If she lifted her head even slightly, she could see a rotting, stinking arm hanging down from Takumi's waist. The flesh, stripped of its skin and covered in knife marks, was filled with writhing maggots.
Only half of a ribcage remained, encasing Takumi's left arm. Strands of sinew connected it to the intestines coiled around his waist and legs. With every movement Takumi made, the dangling internal organs could be seen swaying slightly.
That thing's head was right beside Takumi's shoulder.
Its jaw had been torn off and was lodged against Takumi's neck. The sharp broken bone pressed against his throat, yet Takumi himself felt nothing at all.
More than a dozen extremely thin steel needles had pierced in through that thing's temples, then punched through out of its eyeballs, almost forcing its eyes out of their sockets—yet dense blood vessels and strands of flesh still connected to the eye sockets, gripping the eyeballs tightly like a spiderweb.
Half of its tongue had been cut off and hung down, and the remaining arm—left with only three fingers—was still slowly lifting. It raised the index finger, its nail torn off, and held it upright against its half-remaining mouth.
[Shh—]
That sound was like a whisper right beside Miko's ear.
She couldn't say it.
Hearing that sound, Miko realized she absolutely could not say what she had seen.
If she said it, then she would…
Takumi was still looking around.
He was guessing that the "Bad Kid" had been standing right next to him all along, and might even be clinging to his back.
But Miko could see with absolute clarity that the "Bad Kid" was already almost fused together with Takumi—one could even say it had grown onto his body.
But Takumi didn't have the bandwidth to care about that right now. After all, judging from the rules they had so far, the "Bad Kid" would not, for the moment, pose any danger to him and Miko. By comparison, confirming the other Aberrations was the key.
The TV was extremely loud, but it hadn't attracted anything to come in, so things like "Sheep Mom" and "Teacher Duck" probably weren't here.
This wasn't the stairwell, so "Teacher Turtle" and "Grandpa Bull" also weren't something to worry about for now.
In the darkness outside, there might be things like "Sister Flashlight," but so far, no abnormalities had been discovered inside. Right—there was also that very strange rule about turning the lights on in the daytime and turning them off at night. Maybe it meant "lights on is daytime, lights off is nighttime." So, being in the living room, under the light, he and Miko couldn't see anything existing in the dark hallway, because that was a region that could only be seen "at night."
Wait a second—since he had verified the existence of the "Bad Kid" in the rules, that proved the Aberration that had already appeared really did come from "Fujihana Middle School."
But whether it was the girl who had just passed through the hallway, or that group of students standing outside the window, none of them had any obvious traits that could correspond to a specific identity, did they?
Takumi rummaged through the drawer again and pulled out two flashlights. He tossed one to Miko, then took out a standard-issue handgun from the drawer as well. He brought it out together with the holster and strapped it to his waist, then took out two loaded magazines and put them into his pants pocket.
"Y-you… have a gun too?"
Miko froze for a moment, not expecting to see that.
"Better not count on this thing being too useful. It's mainly for curing idiots."
Takumi spoke very seriously. Then he switched off the safety on the gun in his hand, turned around, and aimed at the knee of a student outside the window who had his back to him.
Bang!
After the sharp gunshot in the next instant, blood burst from the student's knee. The whole person staggered one step and fell straight to the ground.
Could it be… a living person?
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