episode_0010

“Ugh… blblblblb!”

“If you don’t be quiet, you’ll all die.”

“…”

Firebringer closes her mouth only after hearing my muttering.

While blocking her mouth, I sink into thought.

I’m glad I checked after all.

I listen to the mechanical voice echoing in my head.

Right. It’s 0% again.

If this is the case, my hypothesis is correct.

Still blocking Firebringer’s mouth with one hand, I start organizing my memories about how I came to think this way.

*

Since the survival rate became 0%, I started to think that this voice wasn’t so useless to me.

I guess you could say it’s an indirect notification of impending threats.

I check the survival rate again while with Eclipse.

Unlike when I met that guy who only laughed, the survival rate returns to normal.

I don’t know exactly how this survival rate works, but it seems that my survival rate drops when I encounter a threatening presence or when I’m about to miss someone who could be helpful.

“…”

Isn’t there a way to utilize this better?

If I could foresee impending threats…

“…”

I recall Firebringer’s story.

She went crazy for some reason.

If I can know that timing, I can intervene appropriately and change her to my liking more easily.

But how can I know that?

While pondering for a moment, an idea popped into my head.

Shouldn’t I just put myself in a life-threatening situation?

From that day on, wandering around the orphanage every day became my daily routine.

To keep checking when the survival rate drops to 0%.

And the moment my survival rate changed to 0%, I jumped into the orphanage without a moment’s hesitation.

*

Anyway, my guess was right.

“Be quiet. Got it?”

Firebringer nods after hearing my words.

I slowly take my hand off her mouth, and Firebringer takes a long breath and looks at me.

“Hoo… how, how did you get here…”

“I kept checking.”

To see when a crazy person would come and cause an accident.

“Ah…”

Firebringer looks at me with a surprised expression after hearing my words.

“…To that extent…”

“What?”

“Ah, no.”

She shakes her head and looks at me.

“Th, thank you.”

“It hasn’t even started yet.”

I did contact Eclipse, but I don’t know if she’ll arrive on time.

I lift my wrist to check the time.

Of all times, the incident happened when Eclipse was out buying today’s food.

I send a text message to Eclipse.

A reply comes back soon.

Nothing can be done.

Now that it’s come to this, I should aim to hold out until Eclipse arrives.

“Let’s get out of here for now.”

Surprisingly, staying in one place for a long time isn’t a good choice.

When pursuers or indiscriminate killers are roaming around, the best way is to go into hiding in a place they’ve already visited.

In that sense, it’s hard to say that this place is safe.

And, my goal is to go out and wait for Eclipse.

I leave the room with Firebringer.

-Drip… drip…

The sound of thick blood dripping from the ceiling.

“Let’s go.”

“B, but the other people are still inside…”

“There’s nothing we can do for now.”

“If, if you could protect them…”

“I’m not a hero.”

Firebringer looks at me as if pleading, but I had no choice but to answer her pleading words coldly.

Unlike Eclipse or Firebringer, I’m not a gifted one.

Just a regular person pretending to be a gifted one.

“…”

At my words, Firebringer looks at the hallway with a worried expression and then sticks close to me.

“O, okay.”

And soon, if Eclipse comes, she’ll be able to solve the problem somehow.

The mechanical voice starts to be heard in my head again.

Unlike before, the probability has increased.

That means it was the right answer that I met Firebringer here.

Thinking so, I move my steps toward the exit,

“…Damn it.”

I couldn’t help but utter profanity as I looked at the scene in front of me.

The door was blocked.

It felt like something dirty and sticky was covering the door.

I reached out my hand to try to tear it off, but instead of being torn off, it felt like it was only stretching like a rubber band.

“…Sh, shall we burn it?”

Firebringer raises her hand, and a fire starts in her hand.

“Okay, do… don’t try. No, don’t do it.”

“Yes…?”

Firebringer looks at me, seemingly perplexed by my abruptly changed attitude.

But I had no choice.

Because the moment she started a fire in her hand, the voice was heard in my head.

I don’t know why, but her burning this place is directly linked to death.

“…”

There’s no choice.

“Let’s go inside.”

“Uh…”

“I’ve got a good idea.”

Actually, I didn’t come up with anything, but since burning that thing is the wrong answer, I have no choice but to think of a new method.

“…”

I go back to the hallway.

-Drip… drip…

Is it because blood is more viscous than water?

The sound of blood falling regularly from the ceiling to the floor felt a bit stickier.

Now that it’s come to this, the first thing to do is to grasp the situation.

I approach the fallen corpse.

“…”

Firebringer takes a big breath, and while looking at her, I reach out my hand to the corpse.

A deep wound on the back.

He died from being cut by something.

“…The cut isn’t clean.”

And a pretty dirty cut.

It’s more accurate to say that he died from being torn apart rather than being cut by a knife.

“Do you happen to know anyone who tears things apart?”

“Someone who tears things apart…?”

Firebringer looks at me as if she’s bewildered.

“Uh, no.”

“…”

I search my memories, but I also don’t have anyone in particular that comes to mind.

In other words, it’s not a character from .

If that’s the case…

“Let’s keep going. Be prepared to fight in case something happens.”

“A, alright…”

Firebringer nods and stands behind me.

“…”

“…Yes…?”

“Nothing.”

It seems like she wants me to protect her, but if we actually fight, she’ll have to protect me.

Eclipse, when are you coming?

I desperately call out for Eclipse who isn’t coming in my heart and pass through the hallway.

Besides the corpse in the hallway, nothing else was visible.

Not only that.

It was quiet.

Something was strangely quiet.

“…”

Firebringer sticks even closer to me.

Something’s strange.

“Hey. Isn’t there a curfew at 9 PM?”

“It’s not that, but… usually everyone’s inside.”

Firebringer answers my question in a timid voice.

If that’s the case, then this is strange.

It’s too quiet and clean.

If people were all dead, there should be more blood or more corpses at the very least, and there should also be traces of resistance.

But this feels more like someone attacked an orphanage with few people.

“…It’s too quiet.”

And it’s not just me who’s thinking that way, Firebringer also mutters and looks around.

“There should be children too… could it be that they’re all…?”

“Calm down.”

I calm Firebringer who’s turning pale.

“It’ll be alright. There aren’t many corpses.”

“…Th, that’s right.”

She breathes a sigh of relief.

Firebringer and I continue to move our steps and climb one staircase.

Then, sounds start to be heard little by little.

-…help me…!

-…please…!

Sounds like they’re shouting for help.

Firebringer glances at me and slowly moves toward the side where the sound is coming from.

The emotionless voice echoes in my ear.

Firebringer stands in front of the classroom I greeted before,

“…Hoo…”

She takes a big breath and opens the door.

-Creak!

The door opens,

Numerous people were sitting on chairs.

Children sitting on chairs with terrified expressions, looking around.

They were the young children I met while looking around the orphanage.

“O, Onni (older sister)…!”

“Ki, kids…!”

The children sit on chairs and look at me and Firebringer who came inside the door.

“Onni…! Save me…!”

The children look at Firebringer, sobbing.

And there were also children who recognized me.

“Teacher…!”

I’m glad I didn’t take off my mask.

“We can’t get up…!”

“What?”

Firebringer mutters with a bewildered expression and looks at me, and I hurriedly examine the children.

Their lower bodies were stuck to the chairs.

It was like that dirty and sticky thing that was blocking the door.

“Onni! Save me…!”

The children look at Firebringer while sobbing.

Firebringer hurriedly approaches the children, and she hurriedly starts a fire in her hand.

“Wa, wait a moment…! I’ll free you now!”

She starts melting the children’s chairs, and the children shed tears.

“Waaah, Onniiii…”

“Yeah, yeah…”

I take my eyes off Firebringer and look around.

That guy isn’t visible.

I recall the guy who was wearing a good-natured smile.

Where is that guy?

“…”

The one who made Firebringer go crazy and become a villain…

“…”

The one who made her become a villain?

A thought pops into my head momentarily.

Why did Firebringer, who had that kind of personality, suddenly go crazy and become a villain?

That’s probably because there was something that provided her with a reason to become a villain.

And if there’s something that provides a woman with such a timid personality with the spark to become a villain-

-Thud… thud…

Footsteps are heard.

Firebringer stops breathing, and the other children also look toward the side where the sound is coming from with terrified expressions.

“He’s coming…!”

There was no need to specifically say what was coming.

The children stop breathing, and I move my legs.

Soon, a man with a good-natured smile appears.

Just as I expected.

It was the man I had predicted.

“I came because I heard a commotion.”

The man appears from beyond the door,

“There were still people-”

-Thwack!

Before his words could end, I punch him in the jaw and throw away my mask.

“Kyaaah!”

“It’s a monster!”

“I’m scared…!”

The children who saw my face scream,

“Hehe…”

As if we had made a promise, I chuckle and look at the man.

The man looks at me with a bewildered expression, holding his jaw.

“You did well.”

“…?”

A question mark hangs over his expression, and a question mark also hangs over Firebringer’s expression.

“You did a good job following my instructions.”

With the man still unable to come to his senses while holding his jaw, and Firebringer widening her eyes.

I have to take the initiative here.

“It’s a chance to catch Eclipse!”

At the same time,

-Crash!

The window breaks and the hem of a black dress that was roughly sewn flutters.

“…”

With her black hair fluttering, Eclipse was looking at us with a cold gaze.