For a brief instant, Takumi nearly jumped straight out of his chair.
After the first three loops of Fujihana Middle School, the psychological trauma Alice had left on him was practically immeasurable. At this point, it was already close to rivaling the month of torment he had suffered back in the Red Nut Grey Cave. Especially because this time, he had clearly already sealed Alice away—yet this damn thing had somehow appeared again anyway. It was like a ghost that simply refused to disappear, enough to make Takumi utterly unable to stay calm.
But very quickly, he realized that this situation was different from before.
There was no aberrant aura.
This Alice carried no aberrant presence whatsoever.
No—
More accurately, she had no presence at all.
She seemed to be nothing more than an image.
In reality, this thing did not exist at all. It did not exist anywhere in this world.
And yet Takumi could still see her.
Could still perceive her existence.
And that was because…
'A curse?'
Takumi let out a long breath. Through his own senses, he had already more or less figured out the situation.
Information related to core obsessions had always been extremely dangerous. Because core obsessions were deeply connected to the Instance itself, information related to them often carried terrifying levels of contamination. Either simply knowing about them would establish a connection, or once you learned the information, you would immediately be locked onto even in the next loop. They were troublesome in the extreme.
And the information connected to Hirano Sōsuke's core obsession was equally dangerous. However, the danger did not come from Hirano Sōsuke's obsession itself directly harming the players. Rather, as players gradually learned more and more about his life, they would slowly begin experiencing the same thing he once experienced.
'In other words, after the day he destroyed Idol Alice, an Alice remained inside Hirano Sōsuke's mind forever, huh? That's really not something anyone can laugh about."
Takumi had already seen through the true nature of this "Alice.'
This thing was completely different from every Alice they had encountered in the previous three loops. It was not an Aberration. It was a part of Takumi himself—the image of "Alice" created by his own imagination, born from the memories of the previous three loops.
In other words, this thing was essentially a special kind of curse. It forcibly carved out a portion of his brain and used it to construct the personality known as Alice.
And as the curse deepened further and further, there was a good chance this thing could gradually begin influencing his perceptions and actions as well.
And the reason he ended up suffering through something like this was because he had dug too deeply into Hirano Sōsuke's past. As his contact with that core obsession grew deeper and deeper, he was inevitably influenced by its power, and in the end, he encountered the same curse the other man once suffered from.
One thing was certain: the Alice who had been destroyed back then had truly, absolutely hated Hirano Sōsuke. So much so that she used this kind of method purely to disgust and torment him.
As for Takumi now… honestly, he found it pretty disgusting too. This thing was basically like Yoshikage Kira's Third Bomb—it only existed within his own perception, merely appearing on his retinas. There was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
[Hehehe, teacher really does hate me, huh? Even though Alice wants sooo badly to become friends with teacher.]
The blonde girl had already walked up beside Takumi, speaking with a soft laugh.
"..."
Takumi ignored her completely.
He simply turned his head and looked toward the entrance.
Miko and Mai were sitting in the audience seats behind him. The two of them had clearly seen something as well. They had only recently regained consciousness, though he had no idea whether what they saw was the same as what he had seen—whether an Alice had also appeared inside their eyes.
{Takumi: How is it over there?}
He did not speak aloud rashly and instead used the mental link to ask first.
{Miko: I saw two trials…}
{Mai: I only saw one. Those people were sentencing that man, and the verdict was death. But in the end, I don't think the sentence was ever carried out. That Fujii Hiroshi probably had some sort of connection with people higher up. I'm wondering whether, after the Fujihana Middle School experiment failed, someone else continued it afterward.}
The two of them had seen different things. Miko seemed to have witnessed two separate trials—one involving the victims, and another involving Hirano Sōsuke himself. Kumagai Mai only saw the latter, but she was an experienced veteran player after all. She immediately inferred quite a few things, and they actually matched up with the memories Takumi had seen.
But that also meant the two of them had seen less than he had.
Mai was one thing, but Miko's perception is clearly far stronger than mine. So why didn't she obtain more information than I did this time?
[So why is that? Teacher, have you found the answer yet?]
Alice's giggling voice sounded from behind him.
He had indeed found the answer.
Or rather, he had already suspected it before.
Identity.
Every time he entered an Instance world, he seemed to possess some sort of hidden special identity.
And the identity he possessed this time was probably… the teacher who had rescued Hirano Sōsuke and later chose to live in seclusion away from the world.
The Hirano Sōsuke who had already become a core obsession probably did not give Takumi any special treatment during their interactions because Takumi did not resemble his teacher in appearance—or perhaps because he did not behave enough like him.
But when it came to investigating information and obtaining corresponding clues, this identity could still exert its effects. It allowed him to see things other people simply could not see.
As for why Alice had consistently called him "teacher" throughout every loop, perhaps… it was because she could detect the hidden identity he carried.
[Teacher really is beloved by fate.]
Alice's figure walked past Takumi's side. The sound of her laughter made him unconsciously clench his fists.
[No need to worry about supporting your parents in old age. Born already inheriting a villa and a huge amount of savings. Obtained the Black Watch cheat ability. Every time you enter an Instance, you receive hidden advantages other people can never obtain. Teacher is completely adored by fate, isn't he? Even though the hardships along the way are far greater than what most people experience, the happiness teacher can seize is also far beyond what most people could ever have. Alice is honestly starting to feel a little jealous of teacher.]
Because this Alice had been formed from Takumi's own memories and consciousness, this creepy thing obviously possessed his memories as well.
However, she apparently did not know the true nature of him being a transmigrator. Otherwise, given this thing's personality, there was no way she would refrain from mocking him with it.
…Forget it. Better not dwell too much on that kind of thing. More importantly, he needed to focus on what came next.
Takumi already had a plan in mind for what he needed to do next.
Although, truthfully speaking, he was not particularly confident it would succeed.
But under the current circumstances, he no longer had the luxury of continuing to hesitate and drag things out.
{Maki: I've already spoken with Oba-san. The Shinomiya family is about to start mobilizing immediately to gather all kinds of case records and clues left behind from decades ago. But even if everything moves at maximum speed on our side, publicly reopening the case would still require at least over a month of procedures.}
{Maki: Can you explain what exactly your idea is, Takumi-kun?}
{Takumi: We don't actually need to hold a genuine public retrial process. We only need to hold a single trial and formally define the nature of the incident. That alone will be enough.}
{Takumi: Of course, the case will ultimately still need to be publicly reopened before all of society. But that can come later. We only need to complete the critical trial first. The real key is figuring out how to ensure that the live broadcast of the trial can be played inside the Fujihana Middle School Instance with absolutely zero interference.}
{Mai: You're planning to hold a courtroom reality show exclusively for Hirano Sōsuke alone?}
{Maki: Th-That… would something like that actually work?}
{Takumi: We can hire a real judge, assemble a professional jury, lawyers, audience members, and perfectly recreate the entire process. None of that is difficult. And more importantly, once the trial is completed, with our influence, we really can make the truth public to society afterward. We can do it. We will do it. We're showing him exactly how we intend to do it. So this will absolutely work. Because this is precisely what he longed for. And if that still isn't enough, we can always kill a few Japanese politicians to spice things up for him.}
{Maki: Takumi-kun, Fujiwara-san seems a little unhappy right now.}
{Takumi: Ahem… the Fujiwara faction is excluded, obviously. How could I possibly lay a hand on my future father-in-law?}
{Mai: I think I understand what you mean now. In that case, Gotō-san, could you bring Aoyama-san into the mental link? Honestly, I never expected that even while trapped inside an Instance, I'd still be able to maintain normal communication with the outside world. Anyway, you need people, right? And preferably people with at least some guaranteed level of quality. Well then, when it comes to connections, I suppose I can still be somewhat useful.}
Takumi could not immediately figure out what exactly Mai intended to do.
But very quickly, as Aoyama Nanami's voice also joined the mental link, and after she exchanged a few words with Mai, Kumagai Mai gave her a number to call.
What happened next genuinely shocked Takumi.
Ring, ring, ring— ring, ring, ring— beep—
"What?! Kumagai-onee-san is still alive?!"
"Acting? Yeah, I get it. Ohhh, so that's the plan. We'll arrive tomorrow. All seven people from the Slacker Crew can make it. Hahaha, yeah, that's all we've got left now. Can't be helped. But 'the lawyer' is still around, so we can absolutely make it feel authentic!"
Ring, ring, ring— beep—
"Kumagai-san is actually still alive? Understood. We Red Moon-level players are one body. Both I and my team members will participate."
Ring, ring, ring—
"Heh. Performing in the real world in an attempt to break the core of a Red Moon-level Instance… what a bold experiment. I understand now. To make this method possible, my Obsession Item capable of manifesting thoughts into reality will be indispensable. Of course I'll go. No player has ever obtained a Red Moon-level blessing before. This is history in the making."
More and more people began mobilizing into action.
As a veteran Red Moon-level player, even though Kumagai Mai had disappeared inside the "Campus Horror Stories" Instance for several months, once she proved she was still alive, one player after another began moving. At this very moment, they all started heading toward Japan.
Their goals might differ, and their positions might not completely align. But without question, with these people entering the stage, the situation ahead was gradually becoming clearer.
"Hehe, looks like I'm still somewhat respected after all."
After contacting everyone she could reach, Mai walked down from the audience seats and spoke with a grin.
"To be honest… yeah. You're way more influential than I ever imagined."
Takumi, who had never expected that he could somehow recruit an entire group of Red Moon-level players to act as performers, genuinely no longer knew what to say.
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