Almost at the same instant that Takumi's expression changed, Kaguya immediately turned her head toward the direction of his gaze.
Maki's reaction was a little slower, but she also quickly sensed something was wrong. She immediately picked up the wall clock, ready to strike it at any moment.
"Don't. That won't work."
However, Takumi then waved his hand, signaling for Maki not to waste the chance to rewind.
Since the previous rewind had failed to shake off that thing, it was certain that even if they rewound again, the situation would not improve.
Ultimately, the wall clock's rewind was, in essence, a power belonging to the Shirakawa Apartments themselves, and that thing was undoubtedly the true core of the apartments. There was no reason the underling could suppress the boss. Therefore, for Takumi, who had already understood the taboo, no matter how many times he rewound, it would be useless.
He did not know whether a rollback could take effect. Theoretically, its priority should be the highest, but this thing's power lay in understanding. Tch—now was not the time to be thinking about such matters. That thing was still merely standing there, making no move. They could not act in any way that might provoke it. Having finally obtained a clue item, at the very least, they had to hold on until they acquired more information.
"Is it something that cannot be mentioned?"
At this time, Kaguya stepped forward, calmly gazing at Takumi as she asked.
Takumi gave a light nod.
"Is it right here?" Kaguya asked again.
Takumi blinked. At that moment, he noticed that the figure standing in the room earlier had vanished. He initially thought the other party had simply left for now—but as he turned his head, he saw the figure standing on the ceiling, directly above him, watching him in a pose with its neck completely twisted.
"…"
So he nodded once again.
"Is it safe?" Kaguya continued to ask.
Takumi knew she wanted to know whether his current condition was dangerous, whether it might endanger others. He lowered his head and thought for a while. He reasoned that he could see this thing because he had witnessed a key scene, so as long as he did not speak of it, the thing should not undergo any further change. Although this eerie being was, in theory, the most terrifying existence within the Shirakawa Apartments, it still had to obey the rule of information interaction. He had received the information, but had not yet responded—thus, under such circumstances, a temporary balance could be maintained.
Thinking of it that way, the outdated first version of the rules was not entirely useless after all—unfortunately, by the time he learned of it, it was already too late.
"Don't ask. Don't mention. Don't think."
Takumi slowly spoke, solemnly addressing those in the room.
It seemed that yellow-red blood mixed with pus was dripping onto Takumi's body, but upon closer inspection, there was nothing there.
And then, before Kaguya and Maki could think any further, Takumi took out the key to Room 304 and the cassette tape.
He briefly recounted his experience in Room 109, deliberately avoiding all content involving the child. Green, having already turned the clock once, now sat pale-faced in the corner, refusing to listen to anything. Yamamoto Hiroshi, due to his age and slow mental response, could not comprehend much either. Only Kaguya and Maki were able to quickly grasp what Takumi described and think deeply about it.
"The key to 304 and the cassette tape… Sanchez from 109 investigated quite thoroughly. Following in his footsteps, we'll come to know the truth hidden in the deepest parts of this apartment complex step by step… It's just, I can't see how such truth could help us leave this place. On the contrary, the more we know, the harder it seems to escape from here."
Standing against the wall, Kaguya pondered for a while before slowly speaking, a faint trace of worry showing in her eyes.
"That's true. But right now, we don't have any other clues to work with. Maybe Room 309 could serve as a new investigation direction, but we know nothing about the situation on the third floor. Hmm… However, since Takumi-kun mentioned that the stairways on the second floor all lead to the third floor, I think we can already make exploring the third floor the main focus of our next stage."
Knowing that certain topics could not be discussed at the moment, Maki clapped her hands lightly and spoke up, shifting the group's focus to their next course of action.
After that, the people in the room discussed briefly. Throughout the process, both Kaguya and Maki completely avoided the topic of the child. It was clear that the two of them already understood just what kind of taboo Takumi had touched upon.
It was already getting rather late, and the light outside the window had begun to dim.
Takumi, who had gone through two explorations, and Maki, who was injured, both needed rest. Thus, today was no longer suitable for further exploration.
As for whether they should attempt to take action during the night, everyone reached the same conclusion—no.
In this eerie apartment building full of lurking dangers, moving around at night was far too risky; it would be far better to use that time for rest.
"Takumi-kun, are you sure you're really all right?"
Before night fully fell—around 17:30—everyone returned to their respective rooms to prepare for the coming darkness. Before going back to her room, Maki, with bandages wrapped around her head, stopped and looked worriedly toward Takumi on the other side.
"I'm fine. For now, there shouldn't be much of a problem. Don't worry."
As Takumi spoke, he raised both hands, bent his arms, and placed his fingers over his head, forming a heart shape.
"Ha, who's worried about you? If you're fine, then stop looking so weak and lifeless already. We still have to continue our investigation and exploration tomorrow. And could you please stop doing such disgusting gestures? A man doing that sort of thing isn't cute at all."
Maki immediately furrowed her brow, snorted, crossed her arms, and turned around to enter Room 208.
A textbook tsundere indeed.
Seeing her reaction, Takumi couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Turning around, he stepped toward the door of his own Room 204. But before he could actually enter, a voice suddenly sounded behind him.
"And also… don't push yourself too hard, okay? If you're really not in good condition, staying behind isn't a bad thing either."
When Takumi turned his head again, Maki had already closed the door to Room 208, and he could no longer see the expression on her face.
She clearly wanted to show concern, yet couldn't bring herself to say it directly—she just had to express it in such a roundabout way… Still, that's exactly what makes a tsundere, isn't it? Somehow, she really seemed like the type who'd be fun to tease.
With that thought, Takumi felt much better.
If only, upon returning to his room, he hadn't seen that thing standing at the corner of the corridor, his mood might have stayed that way.
Moreover, the reason Takumi kept referring to it as that thing was not because he was deliberately avoiding certain descriptive terms, but because, in his vision, that was truly the only way to describe it—he simply could not make out its exact form.
Judging by its physique, it looked like a child of about five or six years old—very short, very small—and its entire body appeared indistinct and blurry, making it impossible to discern any features. It could barely be described as a vaguely humanoid mosaic.
If one looked closely, there was a sign that the figure's form was gradually becoming clearer. But Takumi wasn't about to go courting death, so he continued to adopt an attitude of ignoring it.
Ignore her.
Pretend she doesn't exist.
As long as he maintained that attitude, there would be no problem.
Would there really be no problem?
Thinking of something, Takumi stopped walking and instinctively wanted to turn his head to look at it—but in the end, he held himself back and simply continued walking toward the living room.
Could such a thing really be possible?
Could everyone just take an attitude of indifference, standing by idly and unconcerned before an act of cruelty happening right before their eyes?
Takumi wanted to deny that thought, but in the end, he couldn't find any reason to convince himself. So he simply stayed silent, continued pretending not to see the thing behind him, and walked into the living room just like that.
Kaguya, holding a wall clock, was already standing inside the room.
When she saw Takumi come in, she merely asked coldly whether the main door and the living room door had been locked. After receiving an affirmative answer, she nodded slightly and said nothing more.
It was worth noting that the hole in the door of Room 204's living room had already been repaired by Yamamoto Hiroshi. Though he had merely nailed a wooden board over the hole, it still completely sealed off the corridor from the living room, ensuring that nothing from the hallway could peer inside anymore.
The light outside the window was almost gone.
On the wall clock inside the room, the time was already nearing 19:00.
It somehow felt as though time within the apartment flowed a little faster than normal—perhaps it was just his imagination.
With the corner of his eye, Takumi glanced at the small, blurry figure standing at the kitchen entrance, which looked even more indistinct under the dim light. Then he closed his eyes, leaning against the wall and preparing to rest. After all, as the vanguard of today's explorations, his mental exhaustion was no small matter. Takumi estimated that even if he slept straight through until eight o'clock the next morning, it wouldn't be a problem.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---