Takumi slowly walked down the spiral staircase, heading toward the grand living room of a luxurious villa below.
He could hear the din of voices continuing to rise, as if many people were moving about in the hall, talking and laughing.
On the floor laid with high-grade animal-skin carpets, slight depressions appeared from time to time, while the flames in the fireplace continued to burn silently.
Standing in the middle of the living room, Takumi looked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows on one side of the house. Through the reflection in the glass, he saw one finely dressed figure after another. He saw the mayor, handsome and well-presented in a suit. He saw the guests around him laughing loudly. He saw several scantily clad female companions, and then… uh, and then some others who were also scantily clad, but seemed to be under 1.3 meters tall—
No, this was impossible to keep watching. One thing was encountering the unnatural horrors typical of Horror Stories—but this was way too fucking degenerate.
Takumi did not want to look even one more second.
In short, this place was the mayor's Land of Regret.
It was unknown what kind of clues might be left here.
Takumi opened a door on one side of the living room and walked inside, discovering that it was a small office.
The noise from the living room was growing more and more unbearable. While inwardly lamenting just how utterly degenerate these people's desires were, Takumi walked over to the desk, and then noticed a letter placed on top of it.
[My respected grandfather, Anthony Tovan:]
[I have already made full preparations for tomorrow's ribbon-cutting ceremony.]
[I have also already spoken with Patrick and the people on the fire department's side. Once the ribbon-cutting ceremony is over, they will be sent to XX Prison. At that point, however you wish to make use of that cave will be entirely up to you.]
[Regarding the rumors that there are man-eating monsters inside the cave, I have already instructed the online response department to prepare countermeasures. At the latest, you will be able to see results by the day after tomorrow. Those stupid people will soon be unable to tell which news is real and which is fake.]
[In addition, I did not participate in your cooperation with the military, so please rest assured on that point. However, the personnel under my command responsible for road control discovered a miniature camera that was secretly installed by someone from the fire department. As for how to locate and deal with this person, what do you think? Should we wait until after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, or detain him first right now?]
[As for the arrest of Wilbur, it may be more difficult than expected. He has gone to Russia. Our people could easily alert him, so I have only assigned someone to keep him under surveillance. However, judging from his recent communication records and online activity, he does not seem to have any intention of exposing the situation inside the Red Nut Grey Cave. That guy seems to be—uh—simply drowning his sorrows in alcohol, drinking all day like a complete wreck. Of course, I know this could also be an attempt on his part to mislead us, so I will not relax the monitoring of him.]
[The location of the ribbon-cutting ceremony has been set at an open area 800 meters away from the cave entrance, far removed from that godforsaken place. Even so, I still believe that there is actually no need for you to attend this ceremony. Of course, if you insist, I will always follow behind you, my respected and beloved grandfather, Anthony Tovan. Your will is the direction in which I move forward…]
After roughly the first third of the letter—which could barely be said to contain anything of substance—the remaining two thirds were nothing but increasingly elaborate forms of flattery directed at Anthony Tovan. The wording was so restless, so florid, and so nauseating that Takumi started getting goosebumps all over his body in less than ten seconds. Yet in order to make sure he did not miss any potentially useful information, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and read the letter to the end—so much so that by the end, he was on the verge of throwing up.
"The more this goes on, the more it reads like some pervert confessing his love to his beloved husband… but considering how twisted these upper-level people are, could that actually be real?"
As soon as that possibility occurred to him, Takumi immediately felt like he was going to vomit.
{Takumi-kun, how are things on your side?}
Just as he put the letter down and was about to leave the area, Takumi received a message from Maki.
{I'm fine here. What's wrong? Did you find anything on your side?}
While quickly replying to Maki, Takumi walked toward the doorway. Then he noticed that a twisted, misshapen figure was moving in the direction of the office. Judging by the tattered suit on that thing's body, it seemed to be the mayor.
{Ah, I'm doing pretty well here too. I was just checking in on your situation. Did you find any clues?}
Maki's voice sounded slightly unsettled. Takumi could clearly sense that the girl was forcing herself to stay calm while talking to him.
{I found a letter. It was written by the mayor to Councilor Anthony Tovan. From the looks of it, these upper-level people are planning to dispose of everyone involved once they finish exploiting the Red Nut Grey Cave. I haven't uncovered anything more specific yet, but I think I should be able to dig up more useful information. What about you? Did you find anything?}
Holding up a black umbrella, Takumi stood by the doorway, watching that thing open the door and come in. He brushed past it, then slipped out before the door closed.
After being used repeatedly, the black umbrella showed faint signs of losing control again. From the edge of the umbrella, black-red drops of blood began to drip. Takumi returned to the main hall, put away the umbrella, and then entered a corridor on one side of the hall. Before long, he arrived at a ticketing lobby.
This was the newly built ticket hall for the Red Nut Grey Cave scenic area. From the promotional boards near the entrance, it was not hard to tell that the place had originally been scheduled to open on the day of the ribbon-cutting ceremony. In other words, the new scenic entrance was a full eight hundred meters away from the actual cave entrance. For a single cave, they had developed such a huge area—there was nothing to say except that these rich people really had nowhere else to spend their money.
Here, Takumi saw Rex, who looked somewhat exhausted.
"Phew—Mr. Takumi, it's really great to see that you're safe."
Rex, who seemed to have just gone through some intense exertion, smiled as he spoke to Takumi.
"Did you find anything? I only came across some things that weren't very useful."
Takumi first surveyed the area to make sure there wasn't some bizarre creature lurking somewhere. Only then did he move a bit closer and ask Rex.
"Unfortunately, I didn't find anything either, and I was chased for quite a while by a group of very frightening guys. But look—over there, it seems like someone is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Do you think there might be clues there that we need?"
Panting, Rex wiped the sweat from his forehead and then pointed toward the entrance of the ticketing hall.
Takumi followed the direction of his finger and saw, outside the transparent glass doors, an open-air plaza where a gathering that looked like a press conference was underway. Many reporters were seated on chairs, and on the platform a potbellied man was picking up a microphone, apparently about to deliver a speech.
The color of the sky was changing rapidly.
Even while indoors, Takumi could feel a spreading chill that was becoming increasingly pronounced.
A torrential downpour suddenly roared down.
And at the very instant the curtain of rain fell, Takumi saw something—some indistinct figures emerging from behind the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
They seemed to be wearing tourists' clothes; they seemed to be wearing rescue-team firefighters' uniforms. Vacant and dazed, they wandered soundlessly, then drifted straight into the venue.
Whenever one of those things touched a person, that person vanished instantly, disappearing along with the thing itself.
The panicked crowd seemed unable to see those things at all. Amid screams of terror, people scattered in all directions, only to make contact with them even faster, and then vanish one after another.
After everyone had disappeared, those wandering phantoms likewise lost all trace of themselves.
Yet the rain showed no sign of stopping. On the contrary, it intensified, pouring down in sheets that blanketed the ground.
Within the torrential rain, Takumi saw a figure.
Blurred and indistinct—a slender figure that seemed to be wearing a white dress.
That person reached out a hand—toward the dissipating phantoms—stretching it toward the final one that had yet to fade, the one that seemed to be locking eyes with her.
But in the very next instant, that phantom vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a thin, gaunt figure standing alone in the same spot.
Takumi realized something and could not help but step forward.
Then, in the following moment, the woman's figure disappeared completely. At the same time, the roaring flood surged forward, sweeping toward the ticket hall and crashing violently into the glass doors. With just the very first impact, cracks of all sizes began to spread across the surface.
"Something's wrong—we have to go!"
Rex hurriedly jumped to his feet. After shouting to Takumi, he turned and ran.
Takumi took a step backward.
Within his field of vision, the thing that was almost completely pressed against the glass doors was staring straight at him.
A deathly pale face; eyes in which the pupils were almost invisible, leaving only the whites; and an incomparably intense resentment and hatred that seemed on the verge of overflowing.
Fuck, why is it you again.
Having already recognized that this thing was the female ghost beneath the Great Rift—the one that liked to "squeeze toothpaste"—Takumi did not hesitate for a second and bolted. He could clearly sense that its attention had now locked onto him completely. The difference from the time at the research base was that the ghostly thing appearing before him now did not seem to be its true body, but merely a manifestation of resentment—something akin to an avatar. Because of that, it was unable to immediately drag Takumi into the rift to carry out an execution.
But even so, the deep resentment emanating from the other party was already enough to explain many things.
Back then, was the incident that occurred at the ribbon-cutting ceremony connected in some way to Andres's wife?
After she learned of her husband's death, did she know that someone wanted to make use of that cave for something? Who told her about it? And why did she possess the ability, at a critical moment, to guide eerie forces to attack the ribbon-cutting ceremony venue?
So perfectly timed.
Just right—everyone connected to this matter, including the mayor, the senator, and the park director, was present.
As if someone had been arranging all of this behind the scenes.
Like a perfectly timed dramatic ending, in a sudden manner, drawing almost everyone related to the incident into it.
This thought made Takumi involuntarily think of Kyosei's message at the Shirakawa Apartments. He had said that what happened in that apartment also seemed to have a similar situation. And also of the mysterious person who called himself "KP," whom Takumi saw in an illusion at the very end of everything.
Although thoughts churned in his mind, Takumi's footsteps showed no sign of slowing.
He quickly ran back to the corridor from earlier. At this moment, the end of the corridor was no longer the mayor's home, but had turned into a small-town street that looked distinctly Nordic in style.
At this moment, the street was completely deserted, carrying a faint sense of desolation. Takumi had no intention whatsoever of appreciating the scenery. While running, he put on the Rescue Team Badge, then quickly rushed to the door of a residence, took out the blood key and inserted it into the keyhole. He then opened the door, revealing Wilbur's office behind it—the place Takumi had discovered during the second run and that was considered relatively safe.
The thing behind him was still closing in rapidly, and Takumi could feel its approach. That thing did not seem to be obstructed by walls or similar obstacles; it could always approach Takumi along a straight-line distance. As a result, no matter how long Takumi ran, he was completely unable to shake it off. Instead, the distance between them was being rapidly shortened.
Get inside. Close the door.
At this moment, Takumi's explorer outfit showed signs of partially transforming into rescue gear, but under Takumi's own subjective will, the change was suppressed and did not fully complete.
It seemed that, for the time being, he could no longer sense the presence of that thing.
Takumi let out a slight breath of relief. Then, as he noticed something, he raised his head.
He saw that thing's eyes.
Clinging to the ceiling, with its head tilted back, that thing was staring straight at him with a fixed, unblinking gaze.
In the very next second, it disappeared right in front of Takumi.
Not because it had let Takumi go.
But because a rescue team member whom Takumi had summoned—and who had landed on that small-town street earlier—shouted, "I am human," successfully drawing that thing's attention away.
In addition, this time Takumi did not let that thing destroy the rescue team member. Instead, while its attention was diverted and it was moving toward the rescue team member, he cancelled the summoning. There was no telling what else he might encounter next; losing a summoned entity like that would still be a poor trade.
That said, this thing really was rigid to an absurd degree. As long as someone said something like "I am human," it would definitely rush over. If an audio file were set to automatically play that sentence, it felt like this eerie entity could be toyed with at will.
Thinking this, Takumi removed the Rescue Team Badge and put it back into his watch space. He stood up, brushed the dust off his body, and then looked around this place where he had once stayed during the second run.
Just like last time—there didn't seem to be much difference.
Speaking of which, why had that thing's resentment been drawn to the ticket hall just now, and why did it look like it had locked onto me directly?
The reason Takumi had paid attention to what was happening outside the door was because of Rex's warning. Even if Rex had not warned him, Takumi would have noticed that place very soon and investigated it anyway. Still, coincidences like this were not a good sign.
Takumi decided to return to the ticket hall.
He had never found a place where he could use the power distribution zone key item.
Logically speaking, this thing should be somewhere in the ground-level area of the Red Nut Grey Cave, near the cave entrance. But up to now, Takumi had never been able to find it. Attempts to use the blood key to lock onto the target had also failed. Because of that, he guessed that he might find clues in the area where the ticket hall was located.
He inserted the blood key into the door lock.
He opened the door. Inside the hall, one shattered, disjointed thing after another turned its head, and together they all looked toward Takumi.
"Sorry to bother you."
He closed the door again, turned the key again, and opened it again.
A friendly tour guide was leading many tourists as they walked toward Takumi.
"Sorry, wrong place."
He closed the door again and turned the key again.
My luck shouldn't be this bad, right? I'm a man who can pull three golds in a ten-pull.
Thinking this to himself, Takumi opened the door again and finally saw the ticket hall—its floor coated with a layer of water, and the whole place looking like a complete mess.
The resentment of that white-dressed eerie entity was no longer here. It seemed to be drawn here only at moments when the [Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony] was being reenacted. At other times, there did not seem to be anything wandering around here. For now, it could be considered relatively safe.
He stepped out through the shattered glass doors.
He entered the scenic area beneath the gray, torrential rain.
White fog spread through the surroundings, concealing many areas. Takumi could faintly sense that if he stepped into those areas, he would directly enter other people's Land of Regret.
He did not find the entrance to the Red Nut Grey Cave in this area. Clearly, as an area presented as a memory fragment, this place was unable to create an entrance to the Red Nut Grey Cave—not even a fake one.
But he did indeed find the power distribution zone—or rather, the location of the power distribution room.
It was a low, single-story building beneath the curtain of rain—a small bungalow specially constructed with a dedicated rain shelter.
...
She inserted the key taken from Wilbur's office into the door lock and gently turned it.
Click—
After the crisp sound, Kaguya cautiously stepped into the power zone. Her crimson eyes swiftly swept over the surroundings, observing carefully. Only after confirming that there were no abnormalities did she quickly slip inside, then close the door behind her.
Good—she had successfully slipped in.
It seemed that no one was stationed here on guard, which was truly suspicious. As a research base studying eerie entities, shouldn't the power zone be one of the most heavily secured areas? After all, if the power were to go out, leaving everything else aside, the defensive measures of the quarantine zone would very likely fail. And once that place failed, weren't they afraid that something might burst out from inside and massacre the base?
Thinking this, Kaguya fixed her gaze on the extremely complex electrical system inside the building. She cautiously walked a circle around the interior of this moderately sized structure. After confirming that nothing was hiding in the shadows, she quickly noticed a document posted near the main entrance.
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