Akira reached for Nicole's favourite pencil.
The familiar weight between his fingers gave him a strange sense of reassurance. Not because he believed it was enough to save him.
His first experience in a dungeon had already taught him better than that, and that dungeon had been far more straightforward than this madness concocted mass filled with chaos and a dash of crazy salt.
The pencil had limitations. If its tip was blunt, the cursed graphite would be as useless as a certain Hokage's disciple
And even at its best, Akira had no idea whether it would work against whatever this dungeon might throw at them.
Still, having something was better than having nothing, especially in a situation where one wrong move could lead to death.
His gaze shifted toward the open door at the end of the hallway. That seemed to be the direction the dungeon was pointing them toward.
Not only was it on the opposite side of the hallway, similar to the previous classroom test, but it was also the only door that was wide open.
"Well," Akira said, breaking through the silence. "We're not going to learn anything by standing here, so it's better if we just get going."
The others looked at him, their emotions varying from nervousness to determination.
"We need to reach the next area, whether that's another Eerie Game or something else. Staying here forever isn't going to help us."
Akira took a deep breath, steadying his nerves, and then took another step forward. Nobody had even gotten the chance to say anything before he moved.
Sakura wasn't surprised.
Why would she be?
She remembered something Akira had told her back in their first dungeon, after he'd helped her out of a desperate situation.
Back then, she'd been overwhelmed by nerves and practically frozen in place. Akira hadn't comforted her with some reassuring speech or promised that everything would be fine.
He'd simply given her a few words that had somehow stuck with her until now.
There would never be a moment when a person could guarantee that they wouldn't hesitate. So why wait for the hesitation to disappear? Sometimes, you simply had to move before fear could convince you to stay.
And just like she'd done before, Sakura followed Akira's example.
The others followed as well, whether because they wanted to or because they didn't want to be left behind.
As they walked through the hallway, Akira kept his attention on the students around them. Nothing happened, and that was what made everything strange.
There wasn't even the slightest reaction despite them moving through a hallway occupied by entities.
Honestly, Akira had expected at least something.
The students from the previous hallways, the cafeteria, and even the classroom where they'd taken the test had reacted to them in some way.
Their gazes had followed them. Their attention had lingered even after they'd walked away.
These students didn't.
A girl briefly glanced at Akira when he entered her field of vision before looking away. A boy Ike walked past didn't even look back at him.
Another student opened his locker, removed a pair of indoor shoes, and continued on his way as though nothing unusual had happened.
They weren't acting like normal students.
Heck.
They were normal students.
Akira was sure of it now.
Unless something happened that drastically changed everything, these students acted exactly like normal students. Almost perfectly.
No.
Perfectly.
The joking atmosphere from earlier had completely disappeared.
Nobody was willing to risk attracting attention when they didn't understand what these entities were capable of, so the group continued through the hallway in silence.
Eventually, they reached the open classroom.
There was no reason to knock or announce themselves. The door was already wide open, and they could only stare inside.
That had been the plan.
But there was something they hadn't expected.
Something they could only make out once they got close enough.
Beyond the doorway was nothing.
Not darkness in the ordinary sense. There was simply no visible classroom, only an endless black void similar to the one that transported them between rooms.
"Hah," Ike muttered. "Now that's reassuring."
He swallowed.
"Whoa."
Akira glanced at him.
"You got balls. I'm convinced now."
He wasn't smiling as he reached into his school bag. He crouched slightly and pulled out his pencil case, rummaging around for a moment before taking out an ordinary pencil and a ruler.
He hesitated between the two before ultimately choosing the ruler.
It was longer.
Karuizawa couldn't resist asking, "What are you doing?"
"We're checking."
"Checking what?"
"If it's safe."
The group was fairly certain by now that these students wouldn't react to them.
Even so, Sakura and Ichinose kept watch behind them to make sure nothing approached from the hallway while Akira focused on the void.
He held the ruler out and slowly pushed it into the darkness.
Nothing happened.
Akira moved it around, swinging it from side to side and tapping it against the floor beyond the doorway.
He watched carefully, waiting to see whether something would grab it, break it, burn it, or perhaps even eat it.
Nothing.
He moved it again.
Still nothing.
Finally, he pulled it back.
The ruler was completely intact.
Akira examined it carefully, checking the markings and the surface. The numbers were still going in ascending order, there were no cracks, and its colour hadn't changed.
His conclusion made several people twitch.
"So it's not an instant dead zone."
"That's what you got from that?"
Sakura couldn't help saying it, slight exasperation entering her voice.
Akira ignored her as he looked into the darkness again. There was no sound or movement, or any sign of danger.
He hesitated for only the briefest of seconds before thrusting his arm into the void.
Nothing happened.
Akira closed his eyes, trying to feel whatever was on the other side, but again, there was nothing.
If he was being honest, it felt exactly like this side of the room.
"So there really is no—"
Before he could finish, Sakura grabbed the back of his uniform and yanked him backward.
"Akira-kun!"
Akira stumbled slightly as he regained his balance, his attention immediately shifting toward his arm as though checking whether anything had happened to it.
There was nothing. No pain, no injury, and no strange sensation lingering on his skin.
Meanwhile, Sakura looked like she was struggling to decide whether she wanted to lecture him or hit him.
"What are you doing?!" she demanded.
"Checking."
"With your arm?!"
"Would you have preferred I stuck my entire body inside?"
"Yes—No! That's not the point!"
Sakura's face had gone pale from a mixture of anger and fear. The others nodded in agreement, with Ichinose looking particularly concerned as she glanced between Akira and the void.
"Akira, you could have been injured," Ichinose said.
Ike pointed toward the darkness, his expression somewhere between disbelief and frustration.
"Seriously, dude! What if something was on the other side? Like, what if there was a monster standing there waiting for you to stick your head inside so it could take a massive bite out of you?"
Akira stared at him for a moment before a small smile appeared on his face.
"Thank you, Mom. Thank you, Dad. Thank you, Uncle. Thank you, Sister. And thank you, Aunts."
Nobody knew who exactly was supposed to be who, and judging by the looks on their faces, nobody particularly wanted to ask.
Several people merely felt their eyebrows twitch at Akira's bizarre naming convention.
"But as you can see, there is currently no monster on the other side," Akira said, looking back toward Ike with that same faint smile.
He would never admit it, but he was a little touched by how concerned everyone had been.
Even if he had already been prepared to lose an arm if something went wrong, he had needed to be certain before taking things any further.
Now he was.
Before anyone could react, Akira leaned forward and stuck his head through the void.
He immediately pulled it back out.
Sakura froze.
For a moment, she simply stared at him as though her brain had completely stopped processing what she'd just witnessed.
Sakura.exe processing.
Sakura.exe processing.
Sakura.exe processing.
Then her fist connected with the side of his head.
Akira staggered.
He had been sucker-punched.
And honestly, he probably deserved it.
He rubbed the side of his head as he looked at Sakura, only to find her standing there with an expression that suggested she was genuinely considering whether punching him again would be worth the consequences.
"Reckless."
Akira blinked.
"So reckless."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"Why are you so reckless?!"
Sakura seemed so angry that she'd run out of anything else to say. The same word kept coming back to her as she stared at him.
"Reckless. Reckless. Reckless."
Akira couldn't help wondering when exactly she'd gotten this strong.
Had the reward from the previous dungeon really been that much of a buff?
And why hadn't he felt any different?
Ike, meanwhile, let out a laugh of disbelief as he shook his head.
"And you called me the one with balls."
Akira looked toward him.
"What?"
"What if there actually was a monster on the other side waiting for you to stick your head through?"
"If there was a monster on the other side—"
Akira paused, glancing toward the void.
"No. If there was such a thing, it wouldn't still be here after I stuck my arm through."
Ike stared at him for several seconds.
There was something almost unbelievable about Akira's willingness to test something dangerous simply because he wanted an answer.
Ike couldn't decide whether it was bravery, insanity, or some horrifying combination of the two.
Eventually, he shook his head.
"Let's just stop talking about monsters and whatever."
"Agreed."
"The next thing you know, one might actually—"
"If you keep talking about it like this," Akira interrupted, "I feel like the dungeon might interpret our wariness toward them as eagerness for one."
Ike slowly turned his head toward Akira.
Akira slowly turned his head toward Ike.
They stared at each other.
Neither said a word.
But the look between them said everything.
Isn't this what you wanted?
Before either of them could say anything else, a desperate voice suddenly echoed through the hallway.
"Run!"
Everyone froze.
"Everyone fuckin run!"
The voice was getting closer.
"It's coming!"
Footsteps echoed from somewhere down the corridor. The students who had previously been normal suddenly stopped, the hallway becoming eerily quiet
They all turned in one direction, the one direction they all were in
"It's coming!"
The sound grew louder with every passing second. Yet this time Akira understood
Akira's expression immediately lost its amusement. "The next challenge is here, and it seems this type will ve more physically demanding"
The students suddenly screaming in pure 'fear' running towards their direction while screaming one phrase, "RUN TO THE CLASSROOM!
Ike's face went pale.
"THEN, WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?!"
"Are you stupid?!" ×4
The group, pulling and pushing ike into the void all yelled simultaneously, "We need to get to the classroom!"
As they ran into the classroom, Akira looked at the end of the hallway, a shadowy figure holding a staff like object was closing into the 'students'
His eyes met the void, and goosebumps rose on his skin
End of chapter 8