Itsuki sat on the ground at the front of the classroom. The sunlight spilled through the windows, the silence in the school felt heavier with every passing minute. The clock on the wall now read 6 p.m., yet the sun still burned bright outside.
He had no idea what was going on anymore.
At that point, his only priority was simple: stay sane. Because solitude like this—one that felt endless—could break anyone. He'd heard stories of people losing their minds, some even harming themselves when left in solitary. He couldn't let that be him.
He sat still, eyes drifting across the room. Sometimes glancing out the window where the world still looked so... normal.
"From all that's happened these past few days, this has to be because of some kind of demon,"
he muttered. It was the only explanation that made any sense—but even then, he knew nothing about them. Not their goals. Not where they came from. Not how to get rid of them.
He had seen Amane do it once, but he had no idea what she'd actually done.
As he turned toward the window again, his gaze fell on his bag.
That's when it hit him.
"My phone!"
He rushed to his seat, rummaging through the bag until he found it. His hands moved fast—he dialed his mother's number.
The call rang once… then disconnected.
He tried again. The same result.
Next, he tried Seiji. Still nothing.
"Fuck…"
he whispered under his breath. There was no point getting frustrated—it wouldn't change anything.
As he placed the phone back in his bag, something else caught his eye—his headphones.
He stared at them for a long second.
"Maybe…"
It was a long shot. But it was still a shot.
He plugged them in and turned them on. Luckily, they worked.
"Yes…"
Sliding them over his ears, he scrolled through his playlist until he found the same song he'd listened to when he first saw the demons.
"If I'm right… if any of this is connected, then when I play this, I should see something—anything."
He pressed play, closed his eyes, and waited a few seconds—just letting the music sink in.
Then he opened them.
And everything changed.
The world outside, once bright and familiar, was now pitch-black. No sun. No moon. No stars. Just a void—an infinite darkness, eerily similar to the one that haunted his dreams.
And the classroom—
It wasn't a classroom anymore.
The clock on the wall had grown enormous, its hands replaced by severed human arms, one long, one short. The body of the clock oozed blood, dark streams dripping down the wall and pooling on the floor, the air reeked of rot, black cobwebs clung to every corner, and floor was covered in blood all round.
He gagged, covering his nose with both hands. The floor felt sticky beneath his shoes. Even the sight of the room made his skin crawl and itch.
Then he made the mistake of looking at the clock again.
The sight hit him like a punch to the gut. The arms moved stiffly, twitching each time the second passed. He dropped to his knees and vomited, turning away so he wouldn't see it again.
He was trying to breathe, to think, when he felt it—
A hand on his shoulder.
He spun around, stumbling backward, heart hammering.
"Amane?"
Her expression was calm, almost unimpressed.
"Took you long enough,"
she said, stepping carefully over the mess he'd made.
"How are you here right now?"
"For the same reason you are." she replied
He was glad to see her, but as usual, the way she gave answers when she was asked questions still pissed him off.
"That doesn't answer anything.'
He exhaled, forcing his voice to stay steady.
"Can you please not be vague right now and just give me a straight answer?"
Amane studied him in silence, face blank, before replying quietly:
"Because of who we are—and what we mean to these demons."
"Who we are and what we mean?"
"Yes. The same reason we can see them at all. The same reason we can even be here."
Itsuki's eyes darted around the room again, careful not to look at the clock.
"What… is here, exactly?"
She walked to her usual seat and sat down.
"You know how there are demons, right? There are also places like this. Think of them as the demon domains or dwelling—pockets they create when they possess a place. Buildings. Homes. Anything. They usually form in areas thick with corruption. It makes it easier to attach themselves to people… or, in our case, kill sorcerers who are around them."
The word stuck out.
"Sorcerers? Is that who you are?"
She rose from her seat, walking slowly toward the classroom door.
"That's a question for another day. Right now, we need to focus on getting out."
"Fine,"
he muttered, following behind.
They stepped into the hallway. The walls were lined with ancient markings, dark symbols that glowed faintly beneath streaks of dried blood. Cobwebs hung thick like curtains, and the air was damp and heavy.
"How long have we been here?"
Amane stopped, turned to him.
"We both got stuck here around the same time. It's been… about a month. For the outside world at least."
He froze.
"A month? That doesn't make any sense."
He tried to remember, but his memories blurred together—days looping, details dissolving. The most he could recall was a single day. Maybe two.
"Maybe she's lying,'
he thought.
"No, she isn't the kind of person who would joke about something like this.'
She started walking again, leaving him behind until he caught up.
"So everyone in the school's been missing for a month? That's impossible."
"Not everyone,"
she cut in.
"Just you and me."
"That still doesn't make any sense."
Amane turned once more, her tone firm.
"Then let me make it simple. You and I are special—that's why this demon wants us dead. Everyone else you saw—the students, the teachers—they weren't real. Everything you saw repeating—the order they moved, the clock, anything else that seemed out of the ordinary—it was all symbolic. Representations of the demon's nature and its influence on this place. And the only way out…"
She met his eyes.
"…is to kill it. Before it kills us."
Itsuki just stood there, speechless.
"What the hell has my life come to?'