The voice that came from behind belonged to Sekino Rika.
It sounded exactly like her usual tone when speaking to her classmate - ordinary, unremarkable.
But it shouldn't be here.
Not at this time.
Not in this place.
Rika should still be confined in the hospital ward, impossible to appear here.
At that moment, Miko almost instinctively turned her head before suddenly coming to her senses and stopping the motion.
However, the seemingly useless "Hitori One" who had only served as comic relief suddenly halted. In the real world, Hitori took a deep breath as a faint light appeared in her pupils. Inside the scenario, her construct picked up a stone from the ground and threw it in a certain direction. The entities targeting Miko immediately changed direction, chasing after the stone instead.
This was Hitori's Blessing obtained from a shrine scenario - an extremely rare case of a Twilight-grade Blessing that could still function effectively in Red Moon scenarios.
Its effect was simple: select an object and swap its identity with a designated person.
For example, if a player accidentally triggered a supernatural rule and was about to be eliminated, Hitori could use this Blessing on them to swap the player with a nearby object like a cabinet, stone or even a spiderweb. When the entity activated the elimination rule, it would target the object instead while ignoring the actual rule-breaking player.
The reason this Blessing could bypass scenario difficulty restrictions was because its target wasn't supernatural entities but players themselves. Regardless of scenario difficulty, player attributes remained consistent, and most wouldn't resist Hitori's Blessing, allowing it to often produce miraculous effects.
Right now, she had swapped the identity of a random stone with Miko's, making the pursuing entities mistake the stone for Miko and interrupting their pursuit.
"Watch out!"
Kumami immediately turned around, directing her bronze eye at the newly appeared entities.
What they saw were all of Miko's classmates - each wearing patient gowns, their expressions dazed and vacant. Their figures had become semi-transparent, with no trace of humanity left - only the endless resentment characteristic of supernatural entities.
[Come, Miko-chan, come join us, Miko-san...]
The things continued whispering.
[Let's all become Alice's good friends together...]
[Everyone come love Alice, come be Alice's friends...]
[You come too, come with us, come become Alice's good friend...]
All of them whispered while crowding around the stone, their forms almost completely overlapping as they circled it endlessly.
"They..."
Miko could see the threads connecting these things to the hospital, as well as the ethereal umbilical cords linking them to something in the sky above.
They were no longer human.
All of Miko's classmates who had been dragged into this scenario had permanently become part of it - transformed into the same kind of monsters.
Again...
This was always their fate...
All Miko could do was silently mourn in her heart.
"Just one 'treatment session' turned them into this? And it seems they can use their living memories to try converting others too. What a disgusting mechanic. Staying in the hospital area basically guarantees quick death. Alright, stop staring - let's go! They won't stay fooled by Hitori's Blessing for long. We can't afford to waste time here."
After observing the entities' behavior, Kumami quickly grasped the situation and urged Miko to keep moving.
Takakai took one last look at Sekino Rika, Ogawa Kyoko and the other girls he'd briefly encountered across loops before turning away resolutely.
Ordinary people without any special traits simply couldn't survive in crimson Moon scenarios.
After four loops, these normal high school girls had only demonstrated various creative ways to die without contributing meaningfully.
Even a player like Takakai with supernatural abilities still struggled immensely, dying repeatedly until finally having reliable teammates changed his solo struggle.
Infiltration of the target building proved more difficult than expected.
Previously unseen surveillance cameras densely covered the exterior, complemented by numerous patrolling guards - many sporting Alice-style ribbons that marked them as devoted fans.
Takakai and Kumami first conducted a thorough perimeter reconnaissance to identify potential approach vectors.
Takakai tested distractions by throwing stones to create noises. Each time, at least two guards would investigate the source location thoroughly.
When Kumami tried destroying a camera with a small stone, all guards immediately went berserk searching the area, forcing them to retreat. Then orderlies arrived to investigate, leading to a tense game of hide-and-seek before two administrators appeared.
These administrators seemed capable of directly detecting their presence within a certain range, marching straight toward them. With too many enemies to handle, the group was forced to circle all the way around the hospital's outer perimeter before returning.
The damaged camera had already been repaired.
"Problematic. Our options are replacing guards or administrators?"
After over thirty minutes of failed attempts, Kumami frowned.
"Administrators clearly have special detection abilities. Let's test what makes their identity unique."
Takakai nodded, steeling himself for the challenge.
Their next attempt involved Kumami smashing another camera to lure out the search parties. As expected, they soon encountered the well-dressed administrators.
These entities had blank faces - as if they'd forgotten their own appearances.
When Kumami immobilized one, all other entities went berserk searching so intensely they couldn't even undress it. Takakai simply sliced the uniform open with his cleaver, then for good measure placed his ram head mask on the administrator before retreating.
This chase lasted nearly ninety minutes as dusk deepened into night.
Miko stayed behind under "Hitori One's" protection, using the mental link to guide Takakai and Kumami's escape routes from a distance.
Exhausted, they rested briefly before checking the results - finding the uniform-damaged administrator torn to shreds, its remains slowly reforming on the floor.
"They seem more disorganized now?"
After ten minutes of observation, Kumami confirmed the building's security had slackened noticeably.
"These guards and orderlies were brainwashed into being Alice's fanatical followers. The administrators likely underwent even more extreme conditioning, to the point they forgot their own faces. Well, being fans doesn't necessarily equate to being diligent workers. Without administrators enforcing rules, their discipline collapses."
As Takakai theorized, Kumami prepared for another attempt.
Unable to assist directly, Miko could only watch from afar with "Hitori One," repeatedly fending off her transformed classmates with Hitori's help.
Sekino Rika and the others' physical bodies clearly remained hospitalized - it was their corrupted consciousnesses that sought out Miko through their memories, trying to convert her.
Strangely, they never targeted Takakai or Kumami, focusing solely on Miko - likely because as their classmate, she left deeper impressions in their memories.
As time passed, after Takakai and Kumami disabled a third administrator, the entities began blatantly trampling flower beds - completely disregarding previous rules.
Noticing this behavioral shift, Takakai decided to take a risk - stepping out directly in front of an orderly.
The expressionless entity rotated its head 180 degrees to stare at him while its body remained facing away.
When it didn't immediately attack, Takakai experimentally raised a hand and declared "Alice is amazing!"
The orderly's face immediately lit up with satisfaction before walking away, completely ignoring him.
Did I just feel Hirano's gaze from the hospital?
So praising Alice gets their approval, but why don't my converted classmates trigger the same reaction? Wait - those girls effectively died during conversion. Hirano only monitors living rule-breakers.
With security sufficiently degraded, the team finally infiltrated the building - the culmination of hours of intense effort where even with two skilled players cooperating, they'd nearly been caught multiple times.
"Finally..."
Takakai exhaled deeply, exhaustion making him want to collapse on the spot.
"Don't relax yet - no telling what's inside."
Equally drained but still sharp-eyed, Kumami took point as they approached a side door at around 8 PM - during the hospital's third treatment period.
With the lazy search parties still absent, she carefully turned the handle, slowly opening the door with a creak to reveal...
A pristine white corridor illuminated by sterile lighting.