"Grimm!" Sayaka's shout cracked like a whip. "What the hell is this? Why did the door open? What are you doing to us?!"
Static hissed through the walls. Then that velvet voice returned, smooth, patient, cruel.
"Ohhh, my careless tongue… I forgot to mention, didn't I? Such a poor host." Grimm's chuckle rippled like shards of glass. "The candles on that altar you see? They are not symbols. They are you. As long as they burn, so do you. When they go out…" He let the pause bleed long, heavy, cruel. "…you follow."
Ayaka's breath hitched. She stared at the row of flames on the altar, her hands trembling. "So Mika… Haruto… they're really…?"
"Yes," Grimm purred. "The flame dies, and the body follows. No accident, no chance. Only the rules of this house. Only me."
The group turned as one toward the altar. Flames trembled like fragile hearts. All but one.
Toru's candle glowed pale and steady. Unyielding. Wrong.
Sayaka pointed at it, her hand trembling with rage. "Then why is his different? Why does it never flicker? Why doesn't it obey?!"
Grimm's laugh was low and delighted. "Ahhh… the exception. Every play needs one. A spark that refuses the script. Don't you think it makes the drama so much sweeter?"
"What are you saying?" Toru snapped. His voice cracked, raw with panic. "That I'm not one of them? That I'm not human?"
"You burn differently," Grimm whispered, his tone dropping low, intimate, sliding straight into Toru's skull. "And difference… is what makes the audience watch."
"Stop it!" Yume cried. She clung to Toru's arm, tears streaking her face. "Don't listen to him! He's trying to turn us against each other!"
"But isn't it working already?" Grimm teased. His laughter oozed out from every wall, sweet and venomous. "Look at them, Toru. Look at their eyes. How long before they decide your flame should be snuffed out?"
Tsubasa's jaw was clenched tight, his voice ice. "If his candle doesn't follow the rules, then he's not the same as us."
Sayaka's voice broke into a bitter laugh. "Not the same? He's the reason we're cursed! He's the reason this is happening!"
"That's not true!" Yume screamed. "If he wanted us dead, Sayaka, you'd already be gone. He caught your candle when it almost went out. If he were the Extra, you'd be nothing but another gap on the altar!"
Sayaka's mouth twisted, fury clashing with the truth.
Ayaka stepped forward, her hands shaking, eyes wet. "Please. Fighting won't save us. If we rip each other apart, we'll die faster. That's what Grimm wants."
"Oh, my clever little Ayaka," Grimm crooned. "Always the voice of reason. And yet… tell me, do you really believe what you're saying? Or are you just trying to keep your own flame alive a little longer?"
Ayaka froze. Her lips parted but no sound came.
The house answered for her.
Drip.
Something warm landed on Tsubasa's shoulder. He looked down. Red. Blood.
It dripped from the ceiling, thick and slow, spattering against the altar. The flames hissed but did not die. Instead, they shook violently, bending low as if bowing.
All of them. Except one.
Toru's burned brighter, whiter, washing their faces in ghostlight.
Sayaka recoiled. "See? Even the blood won't touch his! He's not like us—he's a monster!"
Toru's stomach turned. His throat locked. "I—I didn't ask for this! You think I want this candle?!"
Yume clung tighter, screaming through sobs. "He's not the Extra! He's not!"
Reina's soft laugh cut through, calm as ever. "Isn't it beautiful?" she whispered. "The way one flame can unravel everything. The way suspicion is stronger than any execution."
"Shut up, Reina!" Sayaka spat, her voice raw.
"Why?" Reina tilted her head, smiling faintly. "Because I'm telling the truth?"
The air grew heavier. The walls creaked. Then—
"…hurry… before it's too late…"
The whisper seeped from the walls. Mika's voice. Fragile. Broken. Impossible.
Yume screamed, covering her ears. Ayaka staggered back, pale as chalk. Tsubasa's jaw clenched, fists white.
The corridor groaned open wider. Blood trickled down its walls in steady streams, pooling on the floor. At the far end, the skull-carved door pulsed faintly, like lungs dragging for air.
"No…" Ayaka whispered, shaking her head. "Not another one…"
Tsubasa straightened, jaw locked. "We don't have a choice. If we stand here, it'll only get worse."
Sayaka laughed bitterly, clutching her arm. "Oh, we have a choice. We can finish the Extra right now and be done with it." Her eyes cut to Toru.
"No!" Yume screamed again.
The altar flames bent low. All of them guttered, fragile, trembling.
Except Toru's. His burned defiant, throwing long skeletal shadows across their faces.
Grimm's voice slid back, velvet and hungry.
"Ahhh… how I love this stage. Every flame waiting to be snuffed out… every pair of eyes waiting for the cue. But not every flame obeys… does it?"
The corridor pulsed again, the door twitching like stretched skin.
"Step forward, students," Grimm purred. "Lesson three awaits. Knock, and see who the house will devour next."
The skulls on the door grinned wider. The walls dripped thicker, the floor squelching beneath their shoes.
And Toru's candle flared so bright it drowned the others.
Every face turned to him, suspicion twisting into fear.