Linking their minds together and establishing communication directly through thought.
No need to speak aloud.
No need to make any outward reaction.
Only mental conversation was required.
For players, this was a highly secure method. It could prevent information leaks, avoid interacting with Aberrations, and greatly improve communication efficiency.
But this method also carried risks.
Once a player possessing mental-link abilities encountered a problem, every player connected to that link could potentially suffer collateral contamination.
For example, if a player obtained information related to a core obsession and was mentally contaminated because of it, then directly shared that information through the mental link, causing every connected player to become contaminated as well—
That was a classic total-party-wipe scenario that had already occurred many times before.
Of course, there were corresponding countermeasures for this as well.
For example, Mai could directly overwrite her own personality, making the very fact that she had "learned contaminated information" disappear. Because of that, she had never feared mental communication in the slightest. At worst, she would simply wash her personality clean once more.
As for whether overwriting one's personality counted as a form of suicide, Mai herself had never cared about such a question. In her view, as long as she still believed she was herself, and as long as she could continue fighting on as a player, that was enough.
As for Takumi, there was even less to say.
The mental link he possessed was the highest-grade link provided by the black watch.
Other players' mental links often led to situations where people inadvertently read each other's thoughts, making it impossible to distinguish between information intentionally shared and private thoughts that should not be spoken aloud.
Takumi's link had no such flaw whatsoever.
Its users could freely choose exactly what content they wished to convey.
And after using this mental link for quite a long period of time, Takumi himself had become extremely skilled with it as well. So after the link was established, he adapted to the situation almost immediately and handled it with complete ease.
As for Miko, however, the feeling she experienced at this moment was not something that could be explained in a sentence or two.
What exactly…
…was happening?
After that fleeting instant of music and crying, the girl felt as though her spirit had undergone some kind of change in an instant.
Her perception seemed to have been enhanced.
Within the mental link established through the Obsession Item, as the thoughts and spirits of Takumi, Mai, and the three girls outside the Instance—Maki, Chika, and Gotō Hitori—flowed through the connection, Miko felt as though her own mind and senses had received some sort of amplification, becoming clearer than before.
There was no mistake.
This feeling…
Because the mental link connected their minds together, it had, in a certain sense, created a sharing of spiritual power.
For most players, this degree of sharing would not produce any noticeable change.
But Miko could state with certainty that her perception had indeed been enhanced. Under the reinforcement of this spiritual pathway, her senses had undeniably become stronger. After simultaneously touching the minds of both Mai and Hitori—two Red Moon-level players—and then further brushing against Takumi's own spirit, it felt as though she had broken through some sort of barrier and stepped into a higher realm entirely.
And so she directly saw the things inside the room.
Not the slightest trace of illusion.
Utterly real.
So real that they directly obscured everything else.
As though they truly possessed physical bodies existing in reality itself.
Real enough to make one shudder with fear.
Clear enough that every tiny detail on them could be seen distinctly.
That was…
A student?
Its clothes had become utterly ragged, filled with tears and stained everywhere with filthy blood.
The exposed skin on its arms had completely rotted away. One eye was gone, while the other had lost its eyelid entirely, leaving the eyeball directly exposed.
It had no hair. The top of its skull had been peeled open, and sharp steel needles pierced through the pink structure of its brain. Steel nails had been hammered directly into flesh and skin to hold everything in place.
Every one of its teeth had been pulled out. Decayed flesh spread through its lips and mouth, while its tongue hung limply outside, saliva dripping continuously downward.
That thing stood right in the middle of the room.
A grotesque and twisted existence that neither Takumi nor Mai could see.
Something only the girl herself could observe with her eyes.
"…"
Miko had already looked away.
That single glance just now had already somewhat attracted the thing's attention, causing it to turn its head toward her.
But the moment it turned, the girl noticed that something like an umbilical cord was attached to its body, extending outward from it, stretching beyond the room, passing through the doorway and continuing toward some unknown destination.
{What did you see?}
Takumi's voice rang directly inside the girl's mind.
{Right in front of me… there's something standing there… something terrifying. It looks a lot like the Bad Students who were tortured inside Fujihana Middle School…}
Despite being badly frightened, Miko quickly regained her composure and carefully explained the situation on her side through the mental communication.
{Was it something you could already see before, or are you only seeing it now? Establishing a mental link really can enhance certain people's perception. Maybe you've run into a similar situation?}
Mai's voice sounded at that moment. As an experienced veteran player, she immediately realized the most likely explanation.
{I saw similar things before, but only through mirrors or window glass and things like that. Seeing them directly… only started just now. I couldn't do it before.}
Miko answered honestly while trying her best to ignore the thing in front of her.
Only for it to walk directly toward her instead.
With a crack, the Aberration's head—which only had one remaining eye—fell off. The thing lifted it with what was barely left of its hand and held it out toward her.
At the same time, another voice rang out from the thing's body, transmitted along that umbilical-cord-like connection, carrying a trace of confusion.
[That's a little strange. Can she actually see it?]
That voice did not come from the Aberration itself.
She was certain of that.
This Aberration no longer possessed anything that could be called a "self." It was merely a monster driven by instinct.
And she had heard that voice before.
Among the three figures that had watched her inside the hospital room earlier, one of them had possessed exactly the same voice she was hearing now.
This Aberration's movements did not seem self-initiated.
Was it being controlled by those things she had seen back in the hospital room?
As these thoughts raced through her mind, Miko's expression had already completely returned to normal. She merely continued communicating with Takumi and Mai internally, remaining so calm that she even had time to let out a yawn.
{Takumi: In other words, while you were inside the hospital room, you already noticed something wrong through the mirror. Tch… "Takamagahara," huh? Looks like the masterminds behind those artificial Aberration experiments back then are still alive, and they've hidden themselves somewhere inside a concealed area of this Instance. Though by now, they probably aren't completely human anymore either. They must have exploited some loophole in obsession manifestation and turned themselves into something neither human nor Aberration.}
{Mai: That situation does seem more likely. However, this group appears to have retained some means of interfering with the Instance itself. I think they're inside a space overlapping with the Instance proper, which is why we can't see them while they can observe us at any time and act whenever necessary… Tch, if that's the case, then all those core Obsession Items successfully brought out of the Instance need to be reexamined. There might be traps hidden in them.}
{Takumi: Leave that sort of thing to the people outside. Aoyama-san should have ways to contact those Red Moon-level players. Let's first confirm the current situation. Miko, you're sure that thing is only guessing whether you can see it, right? Try standing up and walking forward straight through it.}
{Miko: …Y-you want me to do that? Understood…}
{Takumi: It probably can't physically interact with you. After all, the two of you most likely aren't actually existing in the same space. So if you want to eliminate its suspicions, the best method is to walk directly through it once. Don't worry. If you can't pass through and physical contact happens instead, we'll act immediately. We won't let you fall into danger.}
{Miko: O-okay. I trust you, Takumi-san…}
After the brief mental exchange, Miko stood up, stretched lazily, and then started walking forward.
Her steps were steady.
Her expression was calm.
While Takumi and Mai still appeared to be continuing their conversation on the surface, still pretending to analyze the available information, in reality their attention had already completely shifted over to Miko's side.
That thing wearing a school uniform—which looked extremely terrifying, and seemed to have been a female student while alive—was still standing motionless in front of her. It simply held up its own head and stared at the girl, remaining frozen in place.
The girl took a step forward.
One step, then another.
Just like that, she walked straight through the thing's body.
She felt absolutely nothing.
That thing truly did not seem to exist within the same "space" as her, which meant physical contact was impossible.
However, perhaps that was not absolute. If those things ever truly realized she could see them, then things probably would not remain this simple at all.
[Can't see it? That's really strange... or does she have some degree of perception and vaguely noticed it?]
The controller muttered quietly to himself while manipulating the student corpse and trying to make it approach again. But the thing suddenly collapsed apart behind Miko, turning into a pile of rotten flesh. No matter how the umbilical cord connected to the rotting meat squirmed and writhed, it could no longer make the thing stand back up.
[Damn it, not again! These vessels are complete garbage!]
The vicious cursing rapidly faded away together with the shrinking umbilical cord.
Yet Miko still showed absolutely no abnormal reaction on her face. She merely continued standing between Takumi and Mai, behaving no differently than before.
Well... not entirely no different. At the very least, she was clearly in a terrible mood right now, deeply uncomfortable, and the emotions in her heart were practically written across her pupils in Takumi's eyes. The reason Takumi could discern the change in Miko's emotions so clearly, however, was mainly because during the previous loop, after fusing with Miko's flesh and spirit, it had been almost equivalent to experiencing her entire life. His understanding of the girl had already seeped into his bones.
"Alright, that's enough rest. We need to move ahead of schedule."
Mai spoke at that moment. Meanwhile, in the corner of the room, "Gotō Unit One," who had been sitting there motionlessly as though in standby mode, suddenly sprang upright. Snapping its fingers, it declared in a low voice: "I am destiny itself."
"Something happened?"
Takumi immediately sensed something was wrong from Mai's expression.
"That Toyama Akira ran into some problems. It looks like he's already been assimilated by the hospital. The same goes for those classmates of Yotsuya-san's. We can't keep staying here anymore. We have to move now. Otherwise, we might not even be able to leave later."
As she spoke, Mai looked out the window toward the hospital buildings.
At that moment, she could see figures wearing patient gowns gathering together one after another. They all raised their heads simultaneously and stared in the direction of the hidden room.
Mai could feel some kind of force locking onto this place. She realized that once those "people who knew the real identities of the three of them" had been assimilated by the hospital, they might carry out unpredictable actions based on the memories they possessed while still alive.
"Then we move."
Takumi did not hesitate. After exchanging a glance with Miko, he nodded and opened the door.
Mai walked out first, responsible for checking whether any lurking Aberrations were waiting outside.
The second one out was the shell created by the Obsession Item. Since Gotō Hitori had already switched it back into "manual control mode," it had once again returned to its hunched-over posture.
Miko walked out third, while Takumi stayed behind her to secure the rear.
And the moment she stepped into the corridor—after seeing the state of the hallway, after seeing those things that previously had not been visible—the girl's footsteps still paused slightly.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---