Takakai could feel the ram's head gradually fusing with his own skull.
The viscous flesh was still alive, silently writhing and seeping into his face, invading through every pore.
However, this thing couldn't completely corrupt Takakai himself. Even when he didn't deliberately resist and was almost robbed of his sense of self by the ram's head's power, it still couldn't completely erase Takakai's consciousness. That was why he had been able to seize the [Outstanding Student] badge at the critical moment.
The reason was simple: Takakai was simultaneously wearing the rescue team badge, with a rescue team uniform constantly manifested on his body. By utilizing the mutual cancellation of two different types of corruption forces, combined with a certain degree of resistance developed after undergoing multiple corruptions, he could now withstand the ram's influence while maintaining clarity of mind—even intentionally allowing the corruption to spread to some extent while staying conscious throughout the process.
Although doing so was still quite uncomfortable for him.
Unfortunately, controlling his actions in that state remained quite difficult. Otherwise, he would have liked to try grabbing a few more student badges. Speaking of which, the texture of this badge... could it actually be made of pure gold? It seemed quite valuable, but now that he was dating Maki and Chika, money probably wouldn't be a concern for the rest of his life.
While pondering this, Takakai still hadn't removed the ram's head mask. Maintaining this state could provide him with certain advantages within the school. Despite knowing the dangers of this item, he chose to keep wearing it.
Additionally, the second rescue team member he had summoned was now conducting investigations in the archives under his command.
During the time Takakai and Miko had gone to Class 2-001 in search of the [Outstanding Student] badge, he hadn't forgotten about the rescue team member left near the archives. After giving the order to enter and investigate, it was now time to check the results.
Shifting his perspective to the archives, he could see that this small records room had been completely turned upside down. Numerous documents were piled on the table, while the rescue team member silently flipped through page after page, discarding those that were too blurry to read and keeping only the legible ones.
These documents could only be found when the lights were on. When the rescue team member had entered the archives during the blackout earlier, the entire room appeared burned down, with nothing of value remaining. But when the lights came on and the school entered its [daytime] state, everything returned to normal—except that most of the documents remained inexplicably blurred.
The rescue team member picked up one of the readable documents. To Takakai's surprise, the name on it was Kawako Kyoko.
[Enrolled Student: Kawako Kyoko]
[Student ID: ■■■■■]
[Class: Second Year, Class 015]
[Evaluation: Average → Problem Student]
[Current Status: Deceased]
[Recommended Action: None]
[Disposition: Sent to biology classroom as dissection material]
The record wasn't long—just a single page—with a photo of Kawako Kyoko attached, along with another picture showing her transformed into a mannequin.
Realizing something, Takakai ordered the rescue team member to investigate more thoroughly. Soon, several more files were found. Takakai quickly confirmed that all these clearly written records belonged to Miko's classmates, and every single one listed [Current Status: Deceased]. It seemed these archives documented the fates of living people who entered this place, and based on the current findings, all of Miko's classmates except one had already died.
Wait, there seemed to be one still alive.
[Enrolled Student: Shigeno Rika]
[Student ID: ■■■■■]
[Class: Second Year, Class 015]
[Evaluation: Average → Problem Student → Bad Student]
[Current Status: Under reflection]
[Recommended Action: This student shows extremely poor aptitude, refuses discipline, and is disrespectful to teachers. Should be humanely eliminated upon discovery.]
[Disposition: Awaiting her exit from the classroom]
What was going on with this Shigeno Rika? She had already been demoted to [Bad Student] but was still alive? Moreover, according to the record, she had already triggered the death penalty but hadn't been executed?
It seemed necessary to go back and check on her situation. The fact that she was still alive might mean she had discovered something special.
But before that, they needed to find his and Miko's own records to see what information the archives contained about them.
The rescue team member resumed searching, and this time, it took considerable effort before finally locating Takakai's file.
However, this record was anything but ordinary.
[Enrolled ■tudent: Tak■kai■■ Hai■ & Le＃]
[Stu■■nt ID: ■■■■■■■]
[Enrolled Cl■ss■10*cewv1500sdv]
[Evaluation: Average → Problem Student → BadBadBadBadBadBadBad TeacherTeacher■■]
[Current Status: Unavailable]
[Recomm■nded■actio■fr■e＆■dv@r废jk优■p;■■■]
[Disposition: None/Bury him deeper]
What the hell? Records could be filled out like this?
Staring at the nearly illegible, chaotic document and the severely distorted photo that barely resembled him, Takakai felt utterly baffled.
Could it be that this thing couldn't obtain clear data about him?
Was it because of this watch?
Takakai instinctively looked down at the tattered watch on his wrist.
The rescue team member then began searching for Miko's record, but after an extensive search, nothing was found. Yotsuya Miko's file didn't exist in the archives. All 23 of her classmates who had been dragged into this place had records, with only Shigeno Rika's status showing as alive—the rest were all dead.
From the time they were pulled into this place until now, only about an hour or so had passed.
In such a short time, 22 young girls had perished in this eerie school building, leaving Takakai deeply unsettled.
After combing through the entire archives, the rescue team member found one more document—different from the others—appearing to be a floor plan for the school's fifth floor.
[Second Year Division Layout Plan]
[Class zone division completed]
[High-tier zone: Class 001]
[Observation zone: Classes 005-008]
[Control zone: Classes 002-004]
[Lower-tier zone: Classes 013-024]
[Special zone: Classes 010-012 (restricted area); Class 009 (quarantine zone)]
[Remarks: The Second Year division's zoning is now complete. Coordination with the German counterparts has also been finalized. Preparations for student recruitment can now begin. The preliminary phase of the project has been successfully accomplished. The empire's future will be forged through our efforts.]
[—Fujii Goro]
Judging from this document, it seemed the entire second-year division on the fifth floor had been designed for some experimental purpose from the very beginning?
Takakai felt a deep sense of unease.
He couldn't help but recall the research facility in Red Nut Cave—the place that had nurtured the Red-clothed Specter, that terrifying core obsession.
Was Fujika Middle School a similar place?
Using middle school students as test subjects... It was hard to find words to describe such a thing.
No, it was probably even worse than that.
Takakai had long wondered why the three Japanese schools—Hayate Elementary, Fujika Middle School, and Yoruyama High—were combined with the German Bedos Academy to form this massive dungeon complex. Since these schools could merge into a single dungeon, it meant they must have shared some connection during their transformation into supernatural sites—just like Red Nut Cave and the research base.
But if so, what exactly was the nature of their connection?
After seeing this layout document, Takakai was beginning to form an idea.
Perhaps all four institutions had been engaged in the same type of research—studying the supernatural and attempting to harness its power.
It might even be that Shirasawa Elementary, Fujika Middle School, and Yoruyama High constituted a continuous research pipeline, collectively sharing supernatural intelligence with Bedos Academy and applying it in their experiments, ultimately creating the hellish landscape of [School Ghost Stories].
If that were the case, then what role did [Alice] play in all this? Were the "good children" and "bad children" in her game rules connected to the "good students" and "bad students" in Fujika Middle School? Moreover, from the beginning of this dungeon until now, he hadn't found any trace of Alice's presence. What exactly was she? Could the specter that grabbed his hand at home have been Alice?
As he pondered, Takakai looked down at the umbrella in his hand.
Huh?
Hadn't he already stored this umbrella in his watch's dimensional space? Had he forgotten to do so?
Puzzled, Takakai put the black umbrella back into the watch's storage, then turned to look at Miko, who had been sitting quietly by the toilet stall door.
She had been unusually silent—probably just exhausted.
"Feeling better now?"
Takakai asked.
Click!
The bathroom lights went out at that moment, plunging the entire school building back into darkness.
[I'm fine, just resting for a bit. Should we move on now?]
Miko stood up in the faint candlelight and smiled at Takakai.
"Good. Let's go. We need to try returning to the classroom to check the situation."
Takakai nodded slightly and turned to walk out of the bathroom.
[Understood, teacher.]
Miko's voice sounded softly behind him, followed by her light footsteps as she followed closely, step by step.
Tap—