They had long since died.
Under the school's brutal torment, they had been killed and injured until none remained whole—not even complete corpses.
But this intense resentment still remained.
Accumulated over a long time, continuously piling up, never dissipating.
[Gulu… oh… uu…]
Those sounds blended together at this moment.
The indistinct breathing of those whose throats had been slit, mixed with blood foam.
The muffled groans of pain under extreme suffering.
The final cries before death arrived in utter despair.
[Oh… u… mom…]
They were calling out.
They were wandering.
They had already sensed the presence of the living.
Now, they had come.
"N-no, no, no—open it, open it, open it, open it now—AAAAAAAH—!"
Realizing at last that she was in a dead end, Kinoshita Yuka desperately pounded on the wall, yet she could not shatter it with a single blow like Takumi. She could not even leave a mark on it.
Takumi did not take action to save her.
But it was not because he was unwilling.
The moment the anomaly occurred, he already knew she could not be saved.
The viscous flesh had already reached her feet.
Though it appeared slow, the most visible mass was only part of it. Before that, the flesh-colored slurry had already flooded into the classroom and filled it rapidly. The moment her body came into contact with that substance, she was already beyond saving.
"AAAAAAAH—!"
Amid her shrill scream, the girl's body was dragged into the flesh.
One hand after another reached out from the dark red liquid, followed by broken, fragmented bodies.
They seized her and pulled her completely inside.
Then she resurfaced from the flesh. Her clothes had vanished, and her body had already become the same fragmented mass of flesh as the surrounding things.
Alice was smiling.
She stood in the classroom filled with flesh slurry and scattered limbs, rising onto her toes, spinning, lightly dancing.
The wailing rotten flesh gathered beside her into the shapes of children, only to shatter again into decaying meat.
Then, one rotting hand after another slapped against the wall.
More and more whole or partial eyeballs pressed against it.
That enormous mass of flesh—filling the corridor outside and most of the classroom—pressed itself entirely against the wall, pounding on it relentlessly.
Takumi had already placed the identity card against the scanner on the door. With a crisp electronic "beep," the heavy door began to open slowly. Sensing the rapidly approaching presence of that thing behind the wall, Takumi no longer held back—he thrust his hand into the half-meter-thick gap of the metal door, his feet sinking into the ground as he exerted his full strength to pull it open faster.
They had to leave before that mountain of flesh entered the room.
They absolutely could not stay in the same room with that thing.
The intense sense of crisis and urgency brought by his instincts made Takumi involuntarily exert more strength, forcibly pushing the door—whose opening speed was extremely slow—open by a large margin.
"Time to go!"
He shouted at the three girls behind him.
"No… Yuka, I… I…"
Yoshino Rika, who hadn't expected that the friend she had chosen—someone she had always thought of as steady and reliable—would die like this, took a few steps back and collapsed onto the ground.
"Th-This thing…"
Kobayashi Chiharu was also struck by an enormous shock, but she still reacted to Takumi's shout, hurriedly grabbing Yoshino Rika and rushing toward the door Takumi had opened.
"…"
Miko did not respond.
She could no longer see where she was.
Countless voices drowned her.
At this moment, in her perception, in her vision, in her senses—there was nothing left but the lingering resentment of those students.
She saw it.
She saw it with terrifying clarity.
Someone had died.
Many, many people had died.
They were in such pain. They were in such despair.
Even until the very last moment, no one came to save them.
[We can just throw these corpses straight into the grinder and burn them, right?]
[What a hassle. Couldn't those brats be a bit more restrained? They made such a mess—it's really causing us trouble.]
Being chopped up. Being crushed…
[Someone checked the grinder—there seems to be a crack somewhere inside. A lot of the processed rotten meat has fallen into the sewer. Is that really okay?]
[Oh, that's the dedicated processing furnace for Class 23 and 24 of the third-year division. Forget it, don't worry about it. What, do you want to crawl into the sewer to check where it's leaking?]
Falling. Flowing…
[Isn't that a bit bad? After all, these things… more or less have some issues. Is it really fine to just leave them alone?]
[What could possibly go wrong? At worst, we'll just apologize. Besides, once that rotten meat flows into the sewer, it's gone. No need to worry about it.]
Gathering. Slowly merging…
Bit by bit, it formed into a massive lump of flesh, becoming something made from countless people fused together.
It began to move.
They began to move, slowly.
From the pipes, returning to the Teaching Building, returning to the classroom.
Then moving forward step by step, moving along the corridors, devouring anyone they encountered along the way, advancing toward that place that remained in memory until the very end.
[W-What the hell is this thing?!]
[N-No, don't—ah… gurgle… oh…]
[I order you to stop! Damn it, wasn't this thing made from students? Why won't it obey?!]
Those "Outstanding Students" dressed in luxurious clothing, who believed themselves superior, were trapped inside the classroom and completely swallowed by the writhing mass of flesh.
Amid screams and wails, flames suddenly ignited, rapidly engulfing the entire class, covering both the surviving students and that monstrous entity.
After the burning ended, nothing remained in the ruined classroom.
[Still a failure?]
A figure outside the classroom spoke slowly.
[The cultivated flesh aggregate has indeed acquired a certain level of anomalous properties, but it still cannot avoid damage from conventional methods. Completely unqualified. And the Outstanding Students of this batch also failed to produce a new "Alice." How many times has this failed now?]
Standing beside that figure, a tall and thin silhouette spoke next.
[There's already been one successful case in the second-year division. Take it slow—we have plenty of time.]
[But Yoruyama Middle School has already developed a weapon that can be used in actual combat. Although the effects are very unstable, our progress is indeed lagging behind…]
Looking at the devastation inside the classroom, the two figures—one tall, one short—continued their conversation.
[There's no helping it. Once we chose this research direction, we had to face the issue of slow progress. But at the very least, we've already found the correct path. As long as we conduct enough repeated experiments, we will definitely succeed.]
[But this experiment… I really feel uneasy about it. That flesh aggregate may have had some accidental factors, but it was clearly composed of "students." You saw it just now—the "teachers'" commands had no effect on it. If we continue the experiments, won't something else spiral out of control?]
[That's not a problem. As long as we properly control the experimental process, nothing will go wrong.]
[These things… we should still treat them more cautiously. The "accidents" we're dealing with are already numerous enough. Among the students enrolled this year, more than half can no longer be identified, right? We don't even know where those things came from.]
[I understand your concerns, but a researcher's caution cannot be applied to this matter. We only have three opportunities each year. The Outstanding Students of first, second, and third year can each only undergo the sacrifice process once per year. If we stop midway, our progress will inevitably be severely affected. When accountability comes down, none of us will be able to bear it.]
[…Fine. Those idiots in the military never do anything except push for progress. We should go. We've already observed long enough. If we stay any longer, we'll exceed the safety time limit. I don't want to become part of this damned place.]
[Mm, let me check… there are still 26 minutes left. You're being a bit too anxious. We've only been here for about an hour and a half. There's still plenty of time before the calculated danger threshold, isn't there?]
As they spoke, the two figures turned and left, entering a hidden door in the wall and stepping into the observation area behind the disguised glass wall.
Dark ash still rose, carrying smoke.
Faintly, it seemed as if the wails of the dead could still be heard.
Then, Alice—who was still inside the classroom—turned her head and smiled at Miko.
[Oh my, you can see me?]
The playful voice seemed ready to drown everything completely.
But in the very next moment, Takumi's voice exploded beside her ears.
"Don't get dragged in. We need to go!"
Accompanied by a chilling aura, that voice jolted the girl's mind awake from chaos.
Miko opened her eyes and realized she was already in Takumi's arms.
Ahead, Chiharu had already supported Rika and entered the glass corridor beyond the door. Seeing that Takumi had fallen behind, she even slowed down slightly to wait for him and Miko.
Crack—crack—
The glass wall beside them began to show more and more fractures, on the verge of shattering.
And within the churning mass of flesh inside the classroom—
"Ha…"
From the eye sockets of the sheep-head mask, a blood-red glow burst forth.
The Rescue Team Badge, the sheep-head mask, and Hedda's blessing—three different supernatural powers—all possessed the ability to enhance physical attributes.
At this moment, Takumi activated all three simultaneously. His body sank slightly, and he raised a hand to protect the back of Miko's neck to prevent her from snapping it due to sudden acceleration. In the next instant, he lunged forward violently, crossing the entire glass corridor in a single burst amid the explosive sound of the ground cracking.
On one side of the glass corridor were classroom after classroom. In each one, students could be seen chatting and laughing.
Including the corridors of the Teaching Building, the restrooms, various specialized classrooms, and even the so-called supply rooms and waste collection rooms.
Every place where students might appear was under surveillance.
There was no privacy whatsoever.
But now, every time Takumi passed a classroom, a corridor, or a room, the students who had been chatting would stop, turn their heads expressionlessly, and stare at him.
As if their gaze could pierce through the glass and clearly see Takumi on this hidden corridor.
BOOM—!!!
The glass wall behind them shattered at that moment.
The surging mass of flesh chased after them at terrifying speed—faster even than Takumi at full power.
At the same time, however, Takumi sharply noticed that the thing was not pursuing him with its full strength. A considerable portion of the flesh was wrapping around the teachers he had severed, trying to absorb those aberrations into itself, delaying its movement.
This thing attacked indiscriminately—living, dead, aberrations—everything!
Takumi instantly confirmed the nature of the flesh mountain.
He stopped.
A sharp scalpel appeared in his hand.
In the next moment, this Obsession Item immediately went out of control. Blood surged along the blade, and the phantom of a doctor appeared.
"Off you go!"
Takumi kicked it straight into the sea of flesh ahead.
The aberration residing within the scalpel had just manifested when it was immediately wrapped up by the flesh mountain and swallowed, disappearing without a trace.
A second scalpel followed.
Then the Faceless Head-Eater.
Then the Blood Scissors.
Then the Blood Puppet.
The surging flesh swallowed all of these out-of-control Obsession Items and the aberrations they summoned. Even though it could not destroy these entities that were not derivative aberrations, it still relentlessly tried to devour them, and as a result, its speed dropped more and more, slowing down rapidly.
Seizing this moment, Takumi hurriedly led the three girls forward, accelerating their escape. Soon, they reached the end of the glass corridor.
This was a larger space, furnished with leisure equipment—something like a lounge.
On one side was a door leading to a teachers' office.
There were also elevators and stairs leading up and down.
The stairwell was pitch-black, completely devoid of light.
The elevator, meanwhile, was moving upward, seemingly about to reach this floor.
On the sofa in the lounge, Takumi saw Alice sitting there, smiling at him.
Behind them, the flesh mass was already catching up. It would reach them very soon.
So… was this a multiple-choice question?
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