The footsteps outside Room A-0174 had stopped.
He fell asleep. Nothing felt like. His back was itchy. That surely wasn't right cause he hates it. Whatever one hates isn't right.
Haruka didn't care anymore. He couldn't care more either.
He woke up as usual.
Everything had started feeling repetitive.
Training.
Classes.
Information.
Alastor.
Again.
And again.
And again.
He needed something different.
So he went looking for it.
The fourth floor had always been strange.
Students weren't supposed to go there.
The academy called it a forbidden section.
Haruka had heard rumors about it before.
Guards were supposedly stationed there.
Hoping the crate might possibly be there, he thought of something.
Nobody was allowed near it.
Nobody knew what was inside.
Which was exactly why he wanted to see it.
He reached the fourth floor.
Nothing.
No guards.
No teachers.
No students.
Just an empty hallway.
Haruka slowly walked forward.
The more he walked closer the more it started to smell bad. Really bad. This kind of smell vibrates the neurons hard enough to make them want to die.
Then—
He stopped near the corridor.
Where the guards were supposed to be standing is where, something was written across the wall.
Haruka stared at it.
Letters.
But they didn't form words he recognized.
Some of them were repeated.
Some weren't.
And the writing was written out of—
Blood.
Haruka frowned.
"...This might be some kind of code or cipher..."
He pulled his notebook from his backpack.
"I'll note it down and start from scraps from my room."
He carefully copied everything.
Every letter.
Every space.
Every mark.
Cipher 01:
KHOOR GHDU SOHDVH FKHFN XS BRXU ORYHG RQHV
WKHB PLJKW EH GHSUHVVHG ZKR NQRZV ZKHQ WKHB
PLJKW EOHHG
Haruka looked at it again.
He didn't try to solve it.
He simply copied it.
Then he noticed something on the floor.
Another set of markings.
This one was arranged differently.
Numbers.
Haruka crouched down.
He followed the sequence with his eyes.
There were groups separated by small spaces.
He pulled his notebook closer.
Cipher 02:
9-14-20-8-5-4-1-18-11-14-5-19-19-1-14-4-5-13-16-20-9-14-5-19-19-15-6-22-15-9-4
12-9-22-5-19-15-21-18-11-9-14-7-15-8-2-5-12-15-22-5-4
15-8-2-5-12-15-22-5-4-16-5-1-3-5-12-15-22-5
1-14-4-2-12-15-15-4-9-19-23-8-1-20-25-15-21-19-8
1-12-12-2-18-9-14-7-15-8-11-9-14-7-15-8-2-5-12-15-22-5-4
Haruka stared at it.
"...Another one. Written in blood. No wonder it smells so fucking bad in here. "
He copied it exactly.
Then—
He noticed something stranger.
There were markings around the numbers.
Two eyes.
One nose.
Two toes.
And several finger-shaped marks.
Haruka looked at them for a few seconds.
"...What the hell?"
He crouched down again.
He started copying the arrangement.
Not changing anything.
Not interpreting it.
Just recording it.
Cipher 03: STRANGEST ONE
Wkh wdwwhuhg nlqj frppdqgv wkh vlohqw, bhoorz vnlhv; Iohh iurp klv jdc h, frqfhdo brxu iohvk lq vkdgrzv ghhs, Dqg vhh n wkh sdwk ehiruh brx zdnh iurp pruwdo vohhs.
And this one looked very messed up. Words written by blood aligned with human body parts, taking their 2nd words and we get that cipher. Too disgusting to watch yet too arranged to take off the eyes.
He noted down the name of limbs and the words.
Haruka looked around the hallway.
Still nothing.
No guards.
No teachers.
No students.
Just the three strange messages.
He closed his notebook.
Put it inside his backpack.
Then walked away.
Room A-0174.
The door opened.
Haruka stepped inside.
Saito and Yume were still at training.
He was alone.
Haruka dropped his backpack beside the table.
He pulled out his notebook.
Opened it.
Three pages.
Three completely different-looking codes.
He sat down.
Placed the notebook on the table.
Then pulled out some scraps of paper.
A pen.
And his phone.
He looked at the first cipher.
Then the second.
Then the third.
He leaned closer.
And began studying.
"Well I have to figure out something. Cause there shouldn't be any dumbass who uses blood to write ciphers or codes. Especially the last one terrifies me. "
"Ah that now answers my inner thoughts, so that's why there were no guards, after I think the killer needed some limbs and blood to write the code. Funny."