The tendril-clustered hand of the gym creature stretched towards Yuki, the black appendages writhing like dying worms. The psychic hunger intensified, a vacuum pulling at his fear, his grief, his very life force. He could feel the cold dread seeping into his bones, the stench of rot filling his nostrils, the silent screams of the trapped faces echoing in his skull.
Move! His mind screamed. Run! Fight! Do something! But his body refused to obey. His feet were rooted to the spot, muscles locked in a rigor of terror. The hollow ache in his chest expanded, filling him with a chilling numbness. This was it. This was how he ended. Consumed by a monster in a deserted gym, his own fear the appetizer.
The creature's tendril brushed against his cheek.
It wasn't a physical touch, not exactly. It was colder than ice, colder than the grave. It felt like a violation, a probe drilling into his mind, seeking the deepest, most painful memories. And it found them.
The gymnasium dissolved.
Yuki wasn't standing on the polished wooden floor anymore. He was in the narrow alley behind his apartment building. It was night. The air was thick with the smell of garbage and damp concrete.
And Hana was there.
She was backed against the brick wall, her face pale with terror. Her eyes, wide and pleading, locked onto Yuki. "Yuki! Help me!" Her voice was real, sharp, cutting through the alley's gloom.
Standing before her, blocking her escape, was a figure. Tall. Cloaked in shifting shadows that seemed to drink the weak light. Its form was indistinct, but Yuki felt the same predatory hunger, the same ancient malice he'd felt from the shadow-thing at his window.
"Get away from her!" Yuki screamed, lunging forward. His voice echoed in the alley, loud and clear.
But the figure didn't turn. It didn't even seem to register him. It raised a shadowy limb, not towards Hana, but towards Yuki. A gesture of dismissal. Of contempt.
Hana's eyes widened further, not with fear of the creature, but with dawning horror as she looked past Yuki, towards the mouth of the alley. "Yuki? Behind you!"
Yuki spun around.
Another figure stood there. Smaller. Hunched. Its skin was leprous grey, fused bones visible beneath. Where its head should be, there was only a gaping, tooth-filled maw filled with silently screaming faces.
The gym creature.
It had been there all along. Watching. Waiting.
The shadow-figure before Hana laughed, a sound like grinding stone. It raised its limb, not a shadow now, but a claw of solidified darkness, and struck.
Hana's scream ripped through the alley, a sound of pure agony that tore Yuki's soul apart. He saw the claw tear across her throat, saw the blood spray, saw the light extinguish in her eyes as she crumpled.
"NO!" Yuki roared, a sound of pure, animal rage and despair. He surged forward, towards the shadow-figure, towards the gym creature, towards anything he could destroy.
But the gym creature moved with impossible speed. It was suddenly in front of him, its tendril-hand shooting out, not to touch him, but to clamp over his mouth.
The scream died in his throat.
Strangled. Silenced.
He tried to bite down, to tear the tendril away, but it was like trying to bite solid iron. The creature's other hand shot out, grabbing his throat, not to choke, but to hold him. To force him to watch.
The shadow-figure loomed over Hana's fallen form. It looked down at her, then back at Yuki, its faceless form radiating triumphant malice. It raised its claw again, slowly, deliberately, and plunged it into Hana's chest.
Yuki thrashed against the gym creature's grip, his silent screams tearing at his mind, his vision blurring with tears of impotent rage. He could feel the creature feeding, not just on Hana's life, but on his terror, his helplessness. It was drinking his agony like fine wine.
The alley scene dissolved, melting back into the dusty gloom of the gymnasium. The creature still held him, its tendrils clamped over his mouth and throat. The physical pressure was real now, bruising. The psychic pressure was overwhelming, flooding him with the echoes of Hana's final moments – her terror, her pain, the crushing weight of his own failure.
The creature's vertical maw gaped open wide, the screaming faces inside straining towards him. It wasn't just showing him the memory; it was reliving it through him, savoring his torment.
Yuki's eyes darted around the gym, desperate for an escape, a weapon, anything. His gaze fell on the high windows. Through the grimy glass, he could see the school grounds outside. Students were leaving. Groups walked past, laughing, talking, oblivious.
He was here. Trapped. Being tortured. Forced to witness his sister's murder again and again.
And no one could hear him scream.
The creature tightened its grip, the tendrils digging into his skin. The silent screams of the faces in its maw merged with the echo of Hana's final cry in his mind, creating a symphony of agony only he could hear. The hunger radiating from the creature intensified, ready to feed, to consume.
He was going to die here. Not quickly. Not cleanly. But slowly, painfully, his fear and grief feasted upon by this monster, his final moments a replay of his greatest failure.