From that pair of eyes, no emotions that a human should possess could be felt.
After drawing closer to the other party, that intense chill further confirmed the other party's identity.
It was something that had already died, yet had reappeared through the power of a Horror Story, an eerie existence maintaining a state that was both alive and dead.
Feelings of fear began to grow uncontrollably, trying to break through the cold, detached façade the two of them displayed on the surface.
Even though Maki and Kaguya knew that they had to remain calm when facing such things, their bodies would still instinctively shrink back when approaching these non-human abominations, producing an irrepressible sense of fear due to the proximity of death's threat.
However, having gone through the tempering of the Shirakawa Apartments after all, now, whether it was Maki or Kaguya, both could easily maintain a composed attitude throughout, without revealing any flaws.
"Today's analysis work ends here. You may rest for now. Come to the research area tomorrow to assist with the work."
As he said this, Professor Vernon slowly turned around and directly walked into his own office.
At the instant that door closed, Maki, who was closer, quietly observed that office and saw cabinets filled with various files.
Based on previously known information, this Professor Vernon had seemingly been the unquestioned boss of the research institute while he was alive. Perhaps some very useful information could be found inside that room.
However, how to sneak in was probably a problem worth thinking about.
While thinking this, Maki suddenly realized something. Lowering her head to look, she discovered that the doll that had originally been hanging at her waist, hidden beneath her coat, had already disappeared. Quite obviously, in just this short span of time, Takumi had decisively manipulated the doll to slip into Professor Vernon's office.
'You're really good at seizing opportunities, aren't you.'
Maki curled her lips slightly, then turned and slowly left the second floor together with Kaguya.
Although she really wanted to go to the surveillance room to see what the other party was doing right now, with no mission assigned at present, neither she nor Kaguya could go to the monitoring area located within the command preparation room. As a result, they could only set that thought aside for the time being.
However, when the next opportunity came to enter the monitoring area, she would definitely replay it and see exactly what that guy was doing.
That bow-wearing fat woman… ugh, the two of them actually shamelessly bathed together, and she even secretly watched Takumi peek several times. Now the two of them had to stay together in a narrow holding cell for twelve hours…
Maki's steps came to an abrupt halt. She subconsciously turned around in a circle, bitterly wanting to stomp her foot hard, yet fearing that doing so might attract something and not daring to act.
It was uncomfortable. It was infuriating. It was maddening.
Why did that idiot end up encountering something like this? He was already a pervert to begin with, and yet he just had to run into someone like that, someone like that…
Lowering her head and looking at her pitifully modestly rising chest, Maki's fist involuntarily clenched again.
He had clearly said before that he liked her, had even pushed her down and wanted to do this and that to her. Yet after encountering that fat woman, he suddenly looked so energetic. Sure enough, men are just like this by nature. That deviant Takumi!
As her anger surged, Maki could not help but recall the ancient parasite of Takumi that she had seen in the surveillance footage, and her face once again turned flushed.
That size was really not quite right, was it?
If that day I hadn't kicked him and had instead just gone with the flow…
No, no, why am I even thinking about something like this? The key issue right now should be how to deal with the current situation. The information she and Kaguya had obtained so far was still quite fragmentary, while Takumi had very clearly come from somewhere else, and he should have more information on his side. They needed to find a way to exchange information with each other.
However, even if they wanted to exchange information, now was not the right time. They would have to wait until the next time the exploration personnel set out.
So before that, they needed to find ways to gather more information, at the very least to increase their understanding of this research base.
Finally calming down, Maki let out a breath and forced herself to shift her attention back to the task at hand.
Although all kinds of thoughts were tangled in her mind, in reality this adjustment process only took a few seconds. And while Maki was adjusting her emotions here, on the other side, Kaguya maintained a calm expression the entire time, yet could not help but recall… yes, recall the scene she had seen earlier in the shower room.
So boys could actually have such an exaggerated form. It felt like she had gained some rather astonishing knowledge.
Mm, to have emotional fluctuations because of something like this really was not calm enough. She must not dwell on it too much, must not dwell on it too much. She needed to focus on the task at hand and concentrate on clearing the current dungeon.
Although her facial expression did not change, Kaguya—who simply could not erase the image data of that super-giant ancient parasite from her mind—was, in fact, already close to losing her composure.
Kaguya, who appeared as if nothing were amiss on the surface, turned to look at Maki and asked. "Do you have any ideas for our next move?"
With an unruffled expression, Maki looked at Kaguya and answered slowly. "During periods without an active mission, our range of activity is limited to the second-floor dormitory area and the third-floor recreation area. We can't go back to the first-floor research area. And during sleeping hours, we must return to the dormitory area. So I suggest we investigate the third-floor recreation area and see whether we can find any clues there."
The two of them turned and walked together toward the third floor.
Behind them, at some unknown moment, the office door that should have been closed quietly opened a crack. From behind it appeared Vernon's somewhat aged face, his hairline receding and his cheeks covered with stubble, staring expressionlessly at the two as they departed.
Under the desk in the office, a blood-colored cloth doll lay silently beneath it, quietly hidden and completely motionless.
As for Takumi's own situation at the moment when the two girls were going off to gather information—well, his situation might not be very easy to describe.
At some unknown point, his side-sleeping posture had turned into sleeping on his back.
Takumi stared wide-eyed at the unfamiliar ceiling, forcing his mind to repeat a serious, self-disciplining thought in an attempt to calm himself.
However, the more he tried to control his thoughts, the more they slipped out of control, gradually drifting from forced composure into increasingly inappropriate and distracting ideas.
As for why this was happening, the reason was very simple: a very cute pink-haired girl was lying on top of him.
"Mm…"
Perhaps because she was having a nightmare, she had even wrapped herself directly around him, holding him tightly.
Takumi did not move at all.
The fresh scent of shampoo in the girl's hair, the warmth of her body temperature, the smooth sensation of her skin—and, of course, that indescribable softness—all stimulated Takumi's nerves at this moment, leaving him completely unable to fall asleep.
Did this count as a kind of enjoyment, or a kind of torment?
This question caused Takumi to fall into deep thought.
The thoughts looping in his mind had already drifted into the kind of embarrassingly inappropriate tune that would be socially disastrous if played out loud in public.
Even so, Takumi did not do anything. He restrained the various thoughts in his heart very well and maintained a calm state of mind.
As for the reason, it was very simple—because on the ground beside Takumi lay a corpse.
A corpse dressed in yellow-and-white striped clothing, shattered and mangled as if the entire body had been run over by a steamroller and completely crushed.
Before Takumi's thoughts could fully drift in a distracted, wayward direction, it suddenly appeared beside him, completely suppressing all of his wandering thoughts.
He smelled the stench of blood, coming from the gap beneath the room's door.
Scrape—scrape—
The sound of something being dragged across the floor rang out.
Vaguely, from far away, there came desperate screams and wails of agony.
Gunshots thundered.
Then they quickly fell silent.
Scrape—scrape—
The dragging sound rang out once again. This time, it seemed a little closer. Takumi could faintly tell that this was probably the sound of some kind of metal object being dragged along the ground.
What was outside?
The temperature in the surroundings seemed to be gradually dropping.
Fujiwara Chika, sleeping on top of him, continued to breathe evenly, looking completely unaware of the approaching danger.
Scrape—scrape—
The sound of something being dragged was getting closer and closer.
Takumi extended his left hand. Cracks surfaced on that battered wristwatch, and a black umbrella immediately emerged from it. Takumi was just about to open it.
Scrape—scrape—
The piercing friction sound was inching closer.
Takumi's motion of opening the umbrella suddenly stopped.
He noticed that from inside this umbrella protruded a small red shoe, as well as a deathly pale foot wearing that shoe.
This Obsession Item that could conceal its user was already on the verge of losing control.
How could this be? It had only just been taken out—how was it already about to lose control? Shouldn't it only gradually start losing control after being used?
Not understanding what had happened, Takumi quickly put away the Obsession Item and then planned to try whether another Obsession Item could help him deal with the situation in front of him.
Then he saw a black shadow suddenly float up from beside the bed. He sensed something rising from next to him, just staring straight at him without moving.
"…"
All movement stopped at this moment.
Takumi closed his eyes, as if he were truly asleep, lying motionless on the bed.
Chika, who did not know what she was dreaming about, tightened her embrace even more, making it hard for Takumi to breathe and even causing him to feel a trace of pain.
Even so, he continued to lie there silently on the bed, eyes closed, not making a sound, and kept pretending to be asleep.
Until the gaze beside him disappeared.
Until the chill enveloping the cramped room gradually dissipated.
Feeling reassured, Takumi suddenly realized that something was wrong.
Why hadn't his blessing taken effect?
Whether it was the corpse that had suddenly appeared, or that thing that had been staring at him just now, he had only sensed their existence after his eyes had noticed them. Yet the blessing showed no reaction at all. It did not sense goodwill or malice, did not distinguish between human or non-human. There was nothing—he felt nothing at all.
Even… the Chika sleeping in his arms, who was hugging him tighter and tighter, as if she were about to crush his chest, he could not sense her either.
Takumi opened his eyes and slowly lifted his head, looking down toward his own chest.
He met a gaze.
A pallid gaze streaked with blood, fractured and broken.
And from that gaze was transmitted an incomparably intense hatred and resentment.
"I… want all of you…"
In the next instant, Takumi opened his eyes and sat up in a clean corridor.
Just now, whose dream was I in?
He slowly stood up.
And now—have I woken up from the dream?
Takumi turned his head and looked toward one side of the corridor.
Two slightly blurred figures appeared in the corridor at this moment, walking as they seemed to be talking about something.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---