Returning to the stone-pillar plaza, then going back again to the forward passage.
It was still the same fire department entrance.
They retreated again, then returned once more.
The scene before their eyes still did not change.
After going back and forth like this five times, what appeared before Takumi and Fujiwara Chika was, as before, still that same door.
"It seems… there really is only this one path."
Takumi let out a sigh, looking at the utterly incongruous fire department entrance—something that clearly did not belong in this cave no matter how one thought about it—and felt a genuine sense of helplessness, as though trouble had come knocking.
"So, are we going in?"
Fujiwara Chika, standing to the side, asked cautiously. Judging from her expression, she did not seem particularly afraid of this cave; instead, there was even a hint that she wanted to give it a try.
Takumi understood this very clearly. After getting through the initial stage of fear, Chika had begun to place herself into the role of a Call of Cthulhu investigator, using this mindset to reduce her own sense of fear. Correspondingly, her level of excitement had risen slightly, but it was still far from the point where she would try to do something recklessly suicidal.
However, given the current situation, it really did seem that they would have to go inside and investigate.
For that reason, after hesitating for a while, Takumi turned back to look for the two people resting in the stone-pillar plaza and asked the pair who called themselves Susan and Rex about it. The result was exactly as expected: what the two of them had seen in their several attempts was likewise the entrance to the fire department.
"It looks like we really can only go in and take a look."
After a final round of consideration, Takumi still chose to move forward.
Although he had already learned a great deal of information by now, there were still many gaps across different aspects. This abrupt fire department might be hiding some clues worth searching for seriously. Of course, obtaining those clues would definitely require taking some risks—and in the worst-case scenario, something major could even go wrong.
"I'll go first and check the situation inside. You stay at the entrance. Don't close the door. If you encounter anything that you feel is abnormal, squeeze this doll once, and I'll know that something might have gone wrong. Do you understand?"
When they reached the fire department's main entrance, Takumi thought for a moment, took out that blood-colored cloth doll from his watch, and placed it into Chika's hands, giving her a serious set of instructions. Only then did he carefully move up to the doorway, glance inside through the transparent glass door, and, after confirming that there was nothing strange inside, gently reach out and push the door open.
"Mm, I'll guard the door properly."
Fujiwara Chika nodded very seriously, then hugged the cloth doll to her chest.
Takumi was just about to say something along the lines of "Be careful not to damage the doll," when he suddenly felt a strange soft sensation coming from his body. He immediately found himself at a loss for words, so after a brief moment of silence, he chose to say nothing. He simply nodded at Chika and then set off.
On the other side, Maki was still staying in the command room, observing Kaguya's actions, and therefore did not communicate with Takumi any further.
Thinking back to how, during the previous mission, he had fought side by side with Maki inside the apartment building, yet this time was cooperating with Chika instead, Takumi felt a subtle sense of dissonance. However, he quickly reined in his thoughts and carefully stepped into the building.
The temperature inside seemed to be slightly lower than outside.
Under the white lighting, the white floor appeared bleak and pallid, inevitably reminding Takumi of that thing that had dragged him into a rift and killed him.
Along both sides of the long, narrow corridor were rows of rooms. Judging from the signs above them, they should have been different offices. Yet for some reason, the text on those signs appeared blurred and indistinct. Takumi could barely make out the word "Office," but had no way of clearly determining the specific affiliation or purpose of each room.
It was as though the people who had once been here could no longer remember these details, causing what had been reconstructed to gradually become distorted.
Takumi tried opening one of the doors, but it was useless. It was not that the door was locked and could not be opened; rather, the door itself was merely decorative. Only after trying to open it did Takumi realize that this door and the wall were essentially one and the same—a false door that could not be used.
Was it because these doors—and this place itself—were manifestations of obsessions replaying their memories, that for them, those places whose details were no longer remembered simply did not exist at a fundamental level?
Fujiwara Chika, guarding the entrance, was still peering around cautiously from behind.
Meanwhile, Takumi continued forward along the corridor and soon reached its end, where there stood a door that was clearly different from the others, likewise left slightly ajar.
He heard sounds coming from within that door: whistling, breathing, and the synchronized sounds of physical movement.
After giving it some thought, Takumi took out the black umbrella and opened it, ensuring that he was covered beneath it. Then he quietly approached the door and peered inside through the gap.
It looked like a training ground.
Takumi saw a running track, cluttered with various obstacles and appearing rather chaotic; a wall with windows fashioned to resemble a three-story building, seemingly used for climbing training; and beyond that, he could vaguely make out the corner of a swimming pool, which looked considerably deeper than a normal pool.
More than a dozen firefighters were training there. Under the direction of another firefighter standing to the side, they were doing push-ups in time with the sound of a whistle.
Within Takumi's Blessing of perception, not a single one of them registered as human.
In other words, was this place a field formed from the memories of a Rescue Team that had lost their lives here?
Takumi's brows knit tightly together.
A similar Rescue Team had existed in the Shirakawa Apartments as well, but the obsessions of those rescue members had only caused a single floor to appear flooded with water. That was completely different from the firefighters here, whose obsessions had conjured an entire area out of nothing. Admittedly, this was because the key core of the Shirakawa Apartments' Rescue Team obsession—Kyosei—had retained self-awareness and was able to exercise restraint. But that also meant that the Rescue Team members existing within the Red Nut Grey Cave instance were, in terms of danger level, likely higher than those in the Shirakawa Apartments.
Should he try going inside to take a look?
Takumi weighed the options in his mind.
It seemed that these firefighters were merely repeating things they had done in the past. Coupled with the cover provided by the black umbrella, there probably would not be much of a problem, and he should be able to blend in for a short period of time.
However, when Obsession Items and the power of the uncanny influenced one another, the rate at which Obsession Items lost control increased dramatically. To be honest, he was not sure whether he could hold out long enough to find the next route inside the training base.
Perhaps it would be better to first think of a way to lure these things out?
If he could draw these firefighters away from the building, then he would not need to rely on the Obsession Item and could investigate and explore inside directly.
Just as Takumi was thinking this, he suddenly felt waves of pain coming from his shoulder. He immediately realized that something had happened on the cloth doll's side, quickly shifted his viewpoint over, and then saw that on the opposite side of the building entrance, a group of Tourists were walking along the top of the cave, approaching the fire department one after another.
At the very front of these Tourists was Dennis, holding up his phone, talking while moving the screen around, as if he were livestreaming.
Had that reckless newcomer already turned into an elite monster so quickly, able to lead a whole group of monsters out for a team battle?
Takumi retreated rapidly, pulling back to a distance where Chika could clearly see him. He then raised a hand to signal her to run over immediately and not continue staying at the doorway.
At this moment, the two players who had originally been waiting in the stone-pillar plaza had also run forward, clearly forced to act by this group of Tourists. Seeing Chika preparing to enter the fire department, they hurriedly waved at her, likely afraid that the girl might lock the door and leave them trapped. Chika did not do that. Instead, she quickly ran toward Takumi's direction, carefully controlling the sound of her footsteps so as not to cause too much disturbance.
Running in behind Chika was the player named Susan. When she came in, her gaze flicked covertly around the surroundings, and then she revealed a somewhat surprised expression. Rex, who ran in even later, had no unusual reaction. He simply locked the door without hesitation, and only then carefully retreated away from the doorway.
"You know this place?"
At this point, having already moved far from the training area entrance, Takumi first carefully confirmed that there was nothing here eavesdropping. Only then did he quietly ask Susan, while also ensuring that the corner of his eye remained on that half-closed door to the training area, making sure that if anything happened, he could immediately notice it and open the black umbrella to hide himself.
"This is the City Fire Department in Y State, Y City. The interior there hasn't really changed for decades. I've been there a few times, so I remember it."
Susan nodded at Takumi and spoke with complete certainty.
This player had been to a fire department?
Takumi could not help starting to think about her occupation in real life. However, before he could ask, the player explained it herself.
"I'm an explorer. I mean, in the real world, I'm an explorer. I've traveled to many places for exploration and run into all kinds of accidents. Because I'm experienced, I work with some fire departments and attend certain meetings—for example, exchanging cases with some firefighters about rescue operations under extreme conditions, like mountain rescue, cave rescue, and underwater rescue. I've been to this fire department, and I've been there at least three times, because they have a lot of caves over there, and my experience is useful to their newcomers. I just didn't expect that I would see this fire department again in a place like this—at least, a portion of this fire department's area…"
As she said this, Susan's face showed a somewhat puzzled expression.
She seemed to have developed a trace of familiarity—not only with this fire department, but also with the stone-pillar plaza where she had stayed before, and with the Heart, the Artery, and the Large Space she had walked through—each of them giving rise to a strange sliver of familiarity.
However, she did not voice this matter. For Susan, who was falling into the sacrifice game for the first time, the stimulation she had received today was simply too much. Although she had Rex, an old player, pointing out experience to her, being able to calm down and explain her familiarity with this place was, more or less, already the limit of what she could come up with at the moment.
"Let's leave the rest of the discussion for later. Right now, we need to move. You'd better have a few Obsession Items that can keep you alive—I don't have the ability to protect you."
Takumi actually wanted to ask a few more questions, to see whether he could obtain any valuable clues. However, not far away, those Tourists had already passed through the door and stepped into the corridor, chatting and laughing as they approached beneath the ceiling. The act of closing the door did not seem capable of stopping them, and Takumi noticed that among these seemingly normal Tourists, some of their gazes were already locked onto his group. It looked as though they had already discovered them, only being squeezed within the crowd and unable to come over immediately.
They had to act.
Drip—
An almost imperceptible sound of a water droplet falling rang out beside his ear. Takumi had no time to confirm the source of the sound and could only quicken his pace, running toward the entrance to the training area.
The Tourists were still approaching at an unhurried pace. With every step forward, it seemed as though the temperature of the entire corridor dropped by a degree.
Takumi, however, had already reached the half-closed entrance to the training area first. Moving closer, he first confirmed that the whistling sounds and the noises of physical activity inside had not stopped. Then he carefully edged up to the doorway and looked inside.
The next moment, he saw more than a dozen expressionless faces, staring at him indifferently through the crack in the door.
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