Something else was in the stairwell.
The moment Takakai stepped inside, he sensed it.
Though the footsteps were nearly inaudible to normal humans, they stood out clearly to his enhanced hearing.
It was approaching.
From somewhere above, descending toward them.
A chill crept up his spine.
Even with just one faint footstep, he could already foresee the coming danger.
"Move fast! Something's coming!"
Takakai bounded up the stairs with Miko piggybacking, her face buried in his back to avoid the rushing wind.
Hitori matched their pace effortlessly—even overtaking them briefly. Her guitar-summoned decoy raced ahead to intercept whatever was coming down.
1.7 seconds.
That's how long it took them to ascend from the first to second floor.
By then, Takakai could clearly hear the descending footsteps reach the third-floor landing. Hitori's decoy had charged up to the third floor before vanishing abruptly—so suddenly even Hitori didn't notice when the connection severed.
But Takakai noticed something else:
The footsteps above perfectly mirror mine.
However fast he climbed, the thing descended faster—likely covering from the fifth to third floor in under two seconds.
Does it move at double the speed of whoever enters the stairwell?
Wait—if it syncs with my steps, what about Hitori? Is there another entity matching her rhythm? And Miko—she's not stepping, but she entered the stairwell. Does that count?
No time to ponder further.
Hitori slid into the second-floor hallway first.
Takakai followed closely—
Just as Miko, sensing something, looked back.
Down the stairs toward the first floor.
She saw it.
The thing crawling around the corner.
Was that...a person?
In the stairwell's oppressive darkness, at the turn's farthest point—
A pallid face peered up at her.
Dark red stains spread across the steps.
Whispers reached her ears—students discussing urban legends:
[Hey, heard the one about footsteps chasing people in stairwells?]
[Yeah yeah! If you don't run fast enough, a bloodied girl in uniform catches you. She begs for help, but answering or ignoring gets you gutted!]
[Wait, my version's different! It's a bloody baby that follows silently. Get caught, and you're trapped forever!]
[Ew, why's it both a baby and a student?]
[Rumor says some dropout got pregnant, hid it, then went into labor in this stairwell at night.]
[Gross! Then what?]
[Hemorrhaged bad. Dragged the umbilical-corded baby behind her, too out of it to notice. When she finally looked back and saw the trail of blood and the baby "chasing" her...]
[She freaked and fell to her death? Lame! Who'd believe that?]
[All our urban legends end with "something haunts this spot now." But this one's extra messed up—perfect for the Occult Club's next zine!]
[Ugh, stop reading that creepy club's stuff!]
Miko blinked—
And the visions cleared, leaving only the crawling thing staring up at her.
An infant? A doll?
She couldn't see its expression in the dark, but she felt its gaze locked onto her face.
Then—looking up—
A girl descended from above.
Swaying. Dripping blood. Intestines spilling from her skirt.
The metallic stench flooded Miko's nose—
Then vanished as Takakai carried her into the second-floor hallway.
The entities disappeared as if never there.
Yet Miko's face showed no relief.
"...It's a trap."
Sliding off Takakai's back, she spoke softly after a long pause.
"What did you see?"
Takakai knew better than to doubt Miko's perceptions.
"The stairwell...has threats from both directions."
Pale-faced but composed, Miko explained:
"The one descending moves fast—easy to get caught. The ascending one's slower, which is why we made it up safely."
"But the lower one starts from the first floor."
"Meaning unless we find another exit, leaving means facing it. This...this is designed as a death trap."
Her voice trembled slightly.
The despair and hatred radiating from those entities still haunted her.
Had Takakai been slower...
"Don't dwell on it. We're alive. No trap is perfect."
Takakai ruffled her hair reassuringly.
Miko instinctively closed her eyes, leaning slightly into the touch as he smiled—calm and unshaken.
After all, he'd expected danger the moment they chose nighttime exploration.
This razor's-edge survival felt more familiar than the tedious daytime investigations.
"U-um, I f-found something."
Hitori's timid voice interrupted.
She stood by the second-floor bulletin board—where they'd first found the survival rules.
Now, a new notice had appeared.
No—not a notice.
A crudely made, handwritten magazine titled in dripping crimson letters:
**[OCCULT TIMES] xa