The warmth of sunlight seeped through the classroom windows, casting a gentle glow over the rows of desks.
Yotsuya Miko could feel the heat of the sun on her skin, the way it illuminated the textbook pages in front of her.
The teacher stood at the front of the class, smiling as he explained the lesson with clarity and depth. He didn't just recite the material—he wove in anecdotes about the author's life, sprinkled in dry humor to keep the students engaged, and guided their understanding toward deeper interpretations.
He's a good teacher.
Miko had to admit, this lecture was genuinely well-delivered. In terms of sheer teaching skill, this instructor could rival the top-tier educators at Shuchi'in Academy.
But that wasn't why she was here.
"..."
Her golden eyes scanned the room again, searching for anything out of place.
Yet, no matter how hard she looked, she found nothing.
Even though she had seen that filthy, stained rulesheet in the dormitory—so out of place in this pristine school—and even though she had spotted another tattered set of rules in the classroom that no one else seemed to notice…
There were no monsters here.
No grotesque apparitions. No lurking horrors.
Even the figures that resembled her dead classmates from Fujika Academy were just… talking. Laughing. Existing.
Compared to this place, the faint ghostly shadows she sometimes saw in the real world felt more frightening.
And that terrified her.
Because if there were no visible threats…
Where were they hiding?
A cold, creeping dread settled in her chest.
They're not gone.
They're just… waiting.
Waiting for the right moment to reveal themselves.
"Yotsuya-san, please answer this question."
The teacher's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
Miko stiffened.
On the blackboard, a calculus problem stared back at her:
f(x) = x(1 - ln x) - 1
Find the area bounded by f(x) and the x-axis.
Her mind blanked.
Math?!
Takakai, seated nearby, glanced at her before quickly turning to Fujiwara Chika.
The pink-haired girl squinted at the problem, then mouthed silently:
"...C."
"C," Miko blurted out.
The teacher sighed, adjusting his glasses.
"Even if you guessed correctly, you should still pay attention next time."
As she sat back down, a far more disturbing realization struck her:
For that brief moment…
Iwantedto just be a normal student.
The dungeon wasn't attacking them outright.
It was slowly rewriting their sense of self.
Something poked Takakai's back.
Tap. Tap.
A small, crumpled note landed on his desk.
He hesitated before unfolding it.
[Hi! New here? Let's chat! Class is boring~]
The handwriting was messy, the kind of scribble a bored teenager might leave in the margins of a notebook.
Takakai frowned.
There's no one sitting behind me.
His Blessing of Malice Detection remained silent. No hostility. No warning.
Still, he wrote back:
[Sure. What about?]
He crumpled the paper and tossed it behind him.
A few seconds later, it landed back on his desk.
[School ghost stories! Heard of the dormitory ones?]
Takakai's fingers tightened around the pen.
Finally—a lead.
He scribbled quickly:
[Yeah. Any details? I live there.]
This time, the reply took longer.
Two minutes passed before the note returned.
[Three dorm ghosts! "Bedframe Man," "Jumping Girl," and "Nameless One." Pick one!]
Three entities.
That matched the Survival Rules he'd seen—the ones about checking under the bed, avoiding windows, and never calling out names unseen.
He was about to write another response when he noticed Hayasaka staring at him.
Her lips moved silently:
"Who… are you… talking to?"
Takakai's blood ran cold.
He turned around.
The seat behind him was empty.
Ding-dong— Ding-dong—
The bell rang.
9:40 AM.
30 minutes until the long break.