"Where are most of the bruises on your body located?"
To ease the awkward atmosphere in the air, Bai Yuze suddenly asked about the location of the bruises.
"Many, most are concentrated on the back, with a few on the limbs but they can be hidden by clothing."
"Now that you mention it, it seems my wounds are also hidden by clothing, and Yui Yuigahama's burns are too."
Yukino nodded, analyzing based on Bai Yuze's words.
"I feel like we have a specific role in this strange house. I always have a feeling that as long as I stay in this room, no matter what big things happen, I don't have to worry. This feeling is like…"
"Home!"
Bai Yuze said the answer Yukino wanted to express.
"I have this feeling too. I guess our identities might be children living in the house."
"Why not adults?"
Yukino was a little puzzled, after all, the word "home" includes both "children" and "adults."
"Only children don't have to worry about what will happen in the future, because if something happens, the adults in the home will handle it. Adults have a lot of pressure and can't be as willful as children."
"Adults have a lot of pressure, huh…"
A flash of her mother's strict personality and her sister's fake smile suddenly appeared in Yukino's eyes. Unconsciously, Yukino's perspective quietly changed…
"Now we need to figure out one question: where did the people playing 'adults' in the house go?"
Since there are children, adults should also exist, but currently, only children exist in the house, which is clearly problematic. Moreover, as "children," they are actually injured. No caring adult would ever watch their child get hurt, unless… this harm was bestowed by them!
"I don't know. There are too few clues at hand. We can only look for other clues after it's safe."
The two looked at each other, and the atmosphere fell silent.
Yukino sat on the broken bed, resting with her eyes closed, while Bai Yuze leaned against the wall, recalling the rules in his mind.
After an unknown amount of time, the wooden door of 104 was knocked.
Knock knock knock knock, knock knock knock knock
"Xiao Ze! Xiao Xue! Open the door quickly!"
A voice came from outside the door; it was Youbihama's voice!
"Yui Yuigahama?"
Yukino was surprised. Although she didn't know what time it was, her intuition told her that only two hours at most had passed, which was far from the safe time range.
"Waaah, Xiao Xue, open the door quickly! The corpse in room 102 moved! Waaah!"
Crying came from outside the door. Yukino wanted to stand up but saw Bai Yuze make a shushing gesture at her.
"Is that Youbihama? Are you okay now?"
Bai Yuze walked to the wooden door, with only a door separating him from the person outside.
"Xiao Ze, help me! That corpse is so scary! Open the door quickly!"
"Don't rush. Where is that corpse now? Did it run out?"
Bai Yuze asked while bending over and pressing his hands against the door.
"It ran to 101, and it's coming out soon! Open the door quickly!"
The voice outside the door began to grow anxious, and the force of the knocking also increased continuously.
Bang bang bang bang! Bang bang bang bang!
"Is that so? It seems it hasn't found you yet. Don't rush, I'll look for the key first, okay!"
Bai Yuze's tone revealed a comforting air, and Yukino couldn't help but roll her eyes at his words.
"First of all, Bai Yuze is currently blocking the door and has no time to look for a key. Even if he did have time, the door would at least need a keyhole!"
That's right, this door was just an ordinary wooden door, with no locking function. It could be opened with a gentle push, yet Youbihama outside insisted that the people inside open the door for her. Therefore, the Youbihama outside was fake.
As for how to determine if Youbihama was real? Yukino smiled slightly. Given Youbihama's personality, she would probably just push open the wooden door and then cry for comfort.
"Did you find it?"
The voice outside stubbornly continued to ask. Bai Yuze could only deceive it.
"If I can't find it, you go hide in room 105 first. We'll come get you when the danger is over."
There was a moment of silence outside, followed by the sound of footsteps receding.
"It left?"
Bai Yuze was a little surprised. He didn't expect the thing outside to be so easily fooled, just like an innocent child!
But for his safety, Bai Yuze still blocked the door with both hands, preventing the thing outside from forcing its way in.
"It should be gone."
Yukino reminded him, then couldn't help but chuckle.
"Your clumsy words were too fake; only a monster would believe them."
"I can't help it, I've never lied to anyone since I was little."
Bai Yuze spread his hands. He wasn't a professional liar, so he certainly couldn't utter brilliant deceptive words.
"Will Yui Yuigahama be okay…? Since a monster imitated her voice to deceive us, it will definitely try to deceive her too… What should we do?"
"Then we can only wish her good luck."
Bai Yuze leaned directly against the door and sat on the floor. He closed his eyes, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.
Yukino also fell silent.
Time passed quickly.
Suddenly!
Bai Yuze heard urgent footsteps in the corridor. Just as he was about to listen carefully for the source of the sound.
Bang!
"Ah!"
The wooden door of 104 was kicked open! And Bai Yuze, who was sitting behind the wooden door, suffered the consequences.
"Huh! Why are you sitting behind the door?"
Bai Yuze's cry of pain made Youbihama's brain freeze for a moment. After she reacted, she asked with a bewildered expression.
"It's a long story, but why didn't you knock!"
Bai Yuze rubbed his waist. The force of the door opening almost crippled his lower back.
"Waaah, Xiao Xue! I missed you so much!"
Youbihama suddenly pounced on Yukino, her tone fearful and aggrieved, just like a frightened kitten curled up in a corner, silently crying.
And Yukino seemed to truly treat Youbihama like a cat. She stroked Youbihama's head and said gently.
"What's wrong? What happened tonight?"
"Waaah… someone… someone knocked on the door… It even disguised itself as both of your voices!"
"And then?"
Yukino asked patiently.
"I wanted to open the door then, but the corpse in the room suddenly moved. He pulled out the surgical knife from his neck, stabbed it into the wooden door, and then the knocking stopped.
I was so scared then, I crouched in the corner, not daring to let him out of my sight. Only when the agreed time came did I dare to come find you."
After hearing Youbihama's experience, Bai Yuze pushed open the door and ran to 102. And it was exactly as Youbihama said; the wooden door of 102 was pierced by a surgical knife, and that corpse was standing behind the door, seemingly staring at Bai Yuze through the crack in the door…
Or perhaps at everything outside the door…