A piercing, chaotic noise erupted simultaneously from the radio and outside the window.
It was the sound of soldiers marching forward.
The sound of hundreds of soldiers surrounding a school, tightening their encirclement step by step.
BANG!
A gunshot rang out—soldiers shattering a lock, kicking open the door, and storming inside.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The radio crackled with continuous gunfire, screams, and wails.
The terrified shrieks of children, the sound of stumbling footsteps fleeing in panic, followed by an adult's desperate shout—cut short by another volley of gunfire.
The stench of blood began to spread.
Yet the soldiers advanced without hesitation, some even muttering under their breath, "What a waste."
[To think there were still so many survivors… I gave her so much time.]
A voice filled with disappointment and confusion echoed from the radio, accompanied by a faint sigh.
[It seems only a purely artificial monster like "Alice" can truly slaughter efficiently.]
Another voice chimed in, cold and clinical.
[Both Yoryama and shirakawa placed too much emphasis on the "human" aspect. That was our oversight. But then again, we had no prior experience.]
[Unless… she knew the source of her power? Is that why she spared them? No… no, impossible. A brat couldn't possibly be that clever.]
[Well, it's too late now. This specimen is nearly mature. Once we capture her and deploy her in America, our job is done. Heh… I can't wait to see the chaos when a true anomaly spreads unchecked.]
As the voices mused, the cries of the children and adults had already faded into silence.
The soldiers pressed deeper into the school.
A school that appeared normal on the outside but was now a twisted, blood-soaked nightmare—corridors littered with corpses, walls smeared with grotesque scribbles.
Some soldiers began encountering… things.
Reports crackled over the radio—phantoms flickering in their vision, whispers brushing past their ears, cold breaths against their necks.
A soldier who entered the second floor suddenly found himself on the third—or was it the fourth? Another blinked and realized he was already standing inside a classroom he hadn't yet entered. All of them felt it—something else among them, something that didn't belong.
But soon, as explosives were planted and buildings collapsed in thunderous roars, the anomalies weakened. The unnatural phenomena couldn't truly harm the soldiers. Their advance grew smoother.
ZZZT—
[We've reached the old school building—the last intact structure. All others have been searched and demolished.]
[Proceed. Capture the target alive. If extraction fails, initiate Protocol 2.]
[Yes, sir!]
The sound of doors being kicked open. Soldiers storming inside.
Then—screams.
Gunfire erupted in a frenzied barrage. Panicked shouts filled the radio.
They had encountered something in the depths of the building. Something far worse than mere illusions.
[Stop wasting time! Secure the target! Initiate Protocol 2 if necessary!]
A man's icy voice cut through the chaos.
More soldiers poured in.
The radio devolved into incoherent noise.
But then—amidst the bedlam—Takakai heard it.
A little girl's scream.
He'd recognize that voice anywhere.
It was her. The same mononoke that had killed him multiple times at the start.
[Hachiya Chiyo.]
Her shriek pierced through the cacophony, drowning out everything else.
[Target acquired!]
[Protocol 2 engaged! Prepare the serum!]
[Do it! Just keep her alive long enough for transport!]
WHOOSH!
[Direct hit! Target neutralized!]
[Behind us—THAT BLACK THING—IT'S COMING—]
[Sedate her! And cut off her legs—make sure she can't move if she wakes up!]
BANG!
Silence.
Only the occasional gasp of a dying soldier, the weak groans of the bleeding-out.
But no one cared. Compared to their prize, their lives meant nothing.
[Mission accomplished, sir! Target secured!]
A booming, triumphant report.
[Excellent. Take her to the dockside barracks. The Navy's already been notified—transport begins this afternoon.]
[Ah, and the casualties?]
The familiar man's voice now dripped with satisfaction.
[None, sir.]
The reply was just as vigorous.
[None?]
A pause. Confusion.
[Correct, sir. Zero casualties.]
The soldier's tone brooked no argument.
[Zero… Ah. I see. No need for… compensation, then. Hah! Very well. Keep her sedated until I arrive. I'll inspect the specimen personally.]
The man chuckled, as if privy to some inside joke.
But the soldier's next words froze the laughter in his throat.
[Sir… there truly were no casualties. The entire unit has returned intact. We're escorting the target and the survivors back to base now.]
The air grew heavier. Colder.
Takakai's eyes swept the room, but nothing seemed out of place.
[Survivors? What the hell are you talking about?]
The man's voice cracked with disbelief.
Then—static.
[Report… distance to base… 3000 meters…]
The soldier's voice was flat. Robotic. Devoid of all emotion.
[No, that's impossible! The serum suppresses all living resistance—unless… No. NO!]
The man's confidence shattered into panic.
[Report… entering… 1000… ZZZT…]
[This makes no sense! The monitors showed her vitals stable! And those survivors couldn't have—]
Rage. Helpless, sputtering rage.
[ZZZT… 300…]
[ZZZT… 100…]
[Arrival… ZZZT… entering… ZZZT…]
The transmission disintegrated into noise.
Takakai had already found the hidden exit—a narrow chute concealed behind a bed, leading downward.
"Turn that thing off. We're leaving."
Hayasaka blinked. "We're not listening to the rest?"
Kaguya reached for the power button—then paused. "It… won't turn off?"
"Then we move. Now."
Takakai didn't wait. He dropped into the chute, landing in a cramped, pitch-black passageway—likely within the school's walls.
The corridor outside was lined with classroom doors, their labels faded: [Class 1], [Class 2].
Kaguya and Hayasaka followed.
"Can you still hear the radio?" Takakai asked.
Both shook their heads.
But he could.
[I have to run… The barracks… No, no, no—why?! Why would she choose to die?!]
The man's voice spiraled into hysteria.
[They're coming… NO! STAY BACK—AAAAAH!]
A final, guttural scream.
Then—a giggle.
A little girl's giggle, buried beneath the static.
It's here.
Takakai knew. The core of Shirasawa Elementary's curse had latched onto him through the broadcast.
He sprinted down the hallway, scanning doors—red, purple, red, purple—all forbidden.
At the stairwell, a knocking echoed—real or imagined, he couldn't tell.
Then, at last—a green-marked door.
He shoved Hayasaka inside. "Stay. Don't make a sound."
Her protests died as his Blessing's crimson glare pinned her in place.
Kaguya kept pace as he ran. "That broadcast marked you?"
"Information has a price," he replied flatly.
Now he understood.
Shirasawa Elementary hadn't just become a Crimson Moon anomaly by accident.
It had been engineered.
The military had used Hachiya Chiyo—alive, then dead—to turn the school into an inescapable hell. Researchers, children, all trapped. Then, when they thought they could harvest their weapon…
They'd doomed themselves.
An entire division, perhaps tens of thousands, wiped out by their own creation.
Almost funny, in a horrific way.
A shadow flickered at the corridor's end. Small. Childlike.
Takakai stopped beside a purple-marked door—the one the rules had warned never to approach.
He drank from a vial of swirling crimson liquid.
"Get ready. It's here."
Kaguya tensed. "Where? I don't sense anything—"
"Of course not." Takakai's voice was eerily calm. "It's not after you."
Then—he shoved her.
Kaguya stumbled.
Her head hit the floor, rolling to a stop, expression frozen in confusion.
The shadow stood before Takakai.
Without hesitation, he wrenched open the forbidden door and lunged inside—dragging the shadow and the headless girl with him into the abyss.