Takumi saw what had happened in the past.
Dim light. A shabby little apartment. A man drinking beer with a face full of rage.
She couldn't cry out loud, because crying would make Father angry. When Father got angry, he hit people—with slippers, with chairs, with sticks, with whatever was at hand.
"You worthless burden! A waste of money! Trash!"
He would shout these words while hitting.
"How the hell did I end up with a daughter? I wanted a son! Don't you get it? A man needs five blessings—money, a car, a house, a son, and a wife! How could you give me a daughter instead? Are you trying to make me die without heirs? What's the point of me spending money to raise something like this if she's just going to marry off and not even carry my name?!"
He also hit Mother—he'd curse while yanking her hair, push her to the ground, and punch her again and again.
"It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be living like this!"
Mother also hit people. She used sewing needles to stab, her nails to scratch, and screamed louder and sharper than Father ever did.
There were countless reasons to get beaten.
Leaving the house too late in the morning meant a beating. Coming home too late at night meant a beating.
Speaking too loudly meant a beating. Even being seen by others in the hallway wasn't allowed.
So hungry.
Because there was rarely food to eat.
Father and Mother said this was to "recall the bitterness and cherish the sweetness"—that learning to endure hunger was part of growing up.
[Bang, bang, bang!]
The sound of knocking came again.
Father owed a lot of money. When the debt collectors came, he pretended not to be home.
He said he'd win next time. He took all the money from his job and almost never brought any home. He also stole Mother's earnings, and if she refused, he'd beat her—then she'd come to beat me.
If Father got caught outside by the debt collectors, he'd be beaten too. And when he came back, he'd hit me and Mother even harder—and then Mother would hit me as well.
The teacher once told me that parents are a child's safe harbor.
What is a harbor?
Does it feel pain?
…
Takumi opened his eyes.
It seemed as though his vision had been affected somehow—the scene before him was blurred beyond recognition.
A wave of dizziness struck his head, and though there seemed to be sounds echoing faintly in his ears, he couldn't make out what they were.
His limbs were numb, and even as he struggled to move, his body felt unbearably sluggish, as if all his senses had dulled, making control over his movements nearly impossible.
From beside him came the muffled wails of a woman.
Someone was struggling desperately nearby, unable to break free from whatever bound them, rolling and convulsing across the floor.
Where was this place?
In a haze, Takumi tried to sit up, but no matter how he struggled, he couldn't manage it.
"You disobedient dog."
A voice suppressed with anger sounded, accompanied by a chilling touch.
A pair of hands seized Takumi's face and forcibly pried open his mouth.
A needle and thread pierced through his lips, pulling hard as the thin thread tore through flesh.
"Mm…"
No sound could come out.
All the strength in his body to resist had vanished.
Only the unbearable pain remained—vivid and excruciating beyond measure.
It hurt… it hurt so much…
The needle pierced again, in and out.
Takumi could only hear the anguished wails of a woman struggling beside him—the muffled, choking cries of someone whose mouth had been stuffed with something—and the same piercing, maddening pain spreading through his own body.
No… it can't go on like this…
He had to do something… he had to do something…
He absolutely couldn't… just die here like this…
From the fogged chaos of his mind, he forced out a fragment of thought.
Takumi struggled, giving everything he had, enduring the searing sting of boiling water on his skin, enduring the agony that felt like his flesh was being sewn together with thread. Bit by bit, he grasped the rescue team badge in his pocket.
There was no time left to adjust the fine pin on the badge.
Clenching his teeth, Takumi drove the pin on the back of the badge straight into his shoulder, burying it deep into his flesh.
The indistinct noise in his ears suddenly shifted—it became the shouts of young men running drills, then both sounds overlapped, blending into a chaotic, piercing cacophony, before turning into a shrill roar and a violent tremor.
Takumi fell to the ground.
His vision cleared somewhat. He could barely see that he seemed to be inside a room grotesquely distorted in shape.
The walls were uneven—some sunken, some bulging, some tilted, crossing over the floor and ceiling.
Tables and chairs were inverted on the ceiling, plates were set upon the walls, and the stove was broken clean in half—one side slanted upright on the floor, the other stretched sideways along the wall, connecting directly to the window. The rest of the furniture and decorations were the same—not a single one was in its proper place.
[Buzz——]
Takumi saw kettles boiling, steam constantly gushing out.
One after another, kettles of boiling water were placed all around the room—so many that it looked completely wrong.
So many that the entire room was filled with scalding mist and suffocating heat.
"Hah… ugh…"
Takumi couldn't get up from the ground.
His clothes and pants were completely soaked—soaked through by boiling water.
A distinct, sharp pain radiated all over his body. Takumi could feel that much of his skin had fused with his clothes; every small movement tore it open again, staining his clothes with dark red in no time.
"Hah… mm…"
Takumi couldn't speak.
His mouth was sewn shut with dense stitches, and blood continuously trickled from the wounds; each breath brought a fresh surge of agony.
It was fine. There was still good news.
Takumi told himself that in his heart.
For one, his severed right hand—its wound had now been scalded shut by the boiling water, and it was no longer bleeding much.
There was also a woman struggling on the ground not far from him.
That was Maeda Miwa—or rather, an old player who had infiltrated this game under the false identity of "Maeda Miwa," a bastard who had tried to use him and Kaguya, these newcomers to the game, as tools to do all the work while she sat back and reaped the benefits.
Her condition was far more miserable than Takumi's.
Dense stitches not only sewed her mouth shut but extended along her entire body, leaving stitch marks everywhere. The burns on her were far worse than his—large patches of flesh had peeled away, making her look almost like a boiled monkey.
If her mouth hadn't been sewn shut, honestly, even now—when the pain was nearly unbearable—Takumi would have laughed at her properly.
But before he could, the woman suddenly snapped her head around to look at him.
"It's all your fault!"
Though she hadn't spoken, Takumi could easily imagine the words she wanted to say.
He really wanted to curse back, but his own mouth was sewn shut as well. So after thinking for a moment, he raised his hand with effort and gave her the middle finger.
Seeing the fury burning in her expression, Takumi felt quite satisfied.
But in the next instant, the woman actually pushed herself up from the ground—on all fours—and rushed toward him at astonishing speed.
What the hell? Burned like that and she can still move like this?!
Takumi wanted to dodge, but he too was severely burned. Even gritting his teeth, he could barely roll to the side—there was no way to evade her completely.
[Bang!]
The enraged woman tackled him to the ground and then raised the knife in her hand.
It looked ordinary, but it was far sharper than anything from the real world—a single light stroke could slice through bone. It was the same blade that had severed Takumi's right hand.
Now, as he saw her thrust the knife down, his heart pounded wildly, and he desperately twisted aside—only to see the blade pierce the floor right beside him, sinking into the concrete as easily as if it were sand.
That's definitely not a normal knife! Could it be an Obsession Item?!
While Takumi was reeling in shock, the woman yanked the knife free and prepared to stab down again.
He couldn't keep dodging—he wouldn't be able to avoid it anymore.
Clenching his fist, Takumi swung his left arm before she could strike again, landing a hook straight across her face.
[Thud!]
Caught off guard, the woman's head snapped back, blood spurting from her mouth as her lips tore open on the spot.
As strength inexplicably returned to his body and his clothes began gradually transforming into the rescue team uniform, Takumi suddenly got up and pinned her to the ground.
Judging from her earlier fight with Shinomiya Kaguya, although this woman was an experienced player, her physical strength wasn't actually that impressive—her advantage lay mainly in speed. The fact that Kaguya's quick counterattack had been enough to kick her over back then proved as much.
And considering how she never stuck with Tanaka and the rest of them, perhaps she had never been good at direct confrontation at all—hence why she pretended to be useless, hiding within the team to enjoy the fruits of others' labor.
If that was the case, then the most effective strategy Takumi could think of at that moment was to pin this woman to the ground and give her a thorough beating.
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