[Alice…]
It was as if he heard someone's voice sounding beside him.
[Alice…]
A voice that seemed to be calling softly, yet also sounded like someone talking to themselves.
[Alice… I'm here…]
A voice that sounded right by his ear, carrying a low snicker, as if introducing itself.
Takumi opened his eyes.
He looked toward his side and saw Maki, her long brown hair spread out in disarray as she slept leaning against him.
The girl was not sleeping very peacefully; from time to time, she furrowed her brows. It was probably because she had been teased a bit too much earlier. After all, she had endured quite a shock yesterday, and today she had not managed to rest well either, so she was probably still feeling uncomfortable now. Of course, this was also Maki's own choice—who told her to rush out at such a critical moment?
Takumi then looked to the other side beside him. Chika was also leaning against him, her head resting on one of his shoulders as she slept.
Chika was not sleeping very peacefully at the moment. From time to time, she unconsciously shifted her body, to the point that her shoulders had already slipped out from beneath the blanket, and even the slender cord looped around her neck was partially exposed as well.
She had forgotten to untie the cord before going to sleep. But honestly, she did not really know how to untie it anyway, since it had been tied casually together with Maki. They would have to wait until Chika woke up to see how to remove the cord. It was even possible that they would have no choice but to cut it directly.
Pressed down on both sides by two sleeping girls, Takumi very much wanted to get up for a moment, but in the end, he could only lie there obediently on the bed.
Come to think of it, his current pace of life was truly degenerate. He had actually done something as scummy as fooling around with two girls at the same time—and was even enjoying it this much. Good grief, what a heinous sinner he was. What exactly was this overwhelming sense of pleasure without the slightest trace of guilt supposed to be?
However, if that was the case, it felt as though Kaguya was growing even more distant from the few of them.
Takumi could not help but sink into contemplation.
In a certain sense, Kaguya seemed to be the only proper person in this little group who was not messing around in romantic relationships. Huh? Strange—why did he suddenly feel like tearing up? That was truly odd.
No, no, this was not the time to be thinking about such things.
Takumi frowned slightly. He always felt as though he had forgotten something—something that seemed important, yet also did not seem that important.
The only thing he could confirm was that he was growing drowsy again. After all, having "battled" continuously with two adorable girls for several hours, even with the enhancement of an S-level body, he was still somewhat unable to endure it. Thus, after that brief moment of clarity, Takumi let out a yawn, closed his eyes, and fell asleep once more.
The night remained deep.
People were immersed in their dreams, waiting for the arrival of the next day.
However, some dreamed sweet dreams, while others were trapped within nightmares.
Yotsuya Miko opened her eyes somewhat dazedly and discovered that she had returned to school, sitting in the classroom.
'Am I… in class right now?'
Her consciousness was still very unclear; everything seemed to be proceeding entirely on instinct alone.
Looking around, the students seated nearby, for some reason, all had faces that appeared very unclear, as though a layer of filter had been placed over them, rendering them blurred.
It seemed… she did not see any classmates she recognized?
Miko, still in a daze, tilted her head slightly.
However, because she was in a dream, she only felt somewhat puzzled about it and did not do anything, simply continuing to sit in her seat like that.
The teacher at the podium was still speaking.
She could not hear clearly what she was saying.
No matter what, she could not make out the surrounding sounds.
What… was going on?
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap—
The teacher at the podium suddenly began to applaud.
The surrounding students followed along, applauding and cheering together.
Startled by the sudden burst of applause, Miko could not help but raise her head in confusion, looking toward the figure that everyone was watching.
That was…
[Hello, everyone, I'm Alice]
Amid giggling laughter, it drew closer.
[Alice likes making friends the most. Everyone should become good friends with Alice]
A smiling voice, filled with innocence, incomparably happy.
[Everyone should stay here with Alice and leave behind the happiest memories, leave behind the most beautiful moments]
Amid everyone's cheers and exclamations, under everyone's gaze, a laughing voice, happily laughing.
Who was that?
Under the bright lights, Miko instead felt only a bone-chilling sense of terror.
No.
It was as if she could hear a voice in her mind speaking to her.
No, no, no, no—
Don't look!
Absolutely don't look!
She lowered her head, burying it completely into her embrace.
She could not look at that person, could not look at her appearance, could not fix her gaze on the other party…
If she saw it… if she saw it…
[Why aren't you raising your head?]
The smiling voice sounded beside her ear.
[Why not take a look at Alice?]
[Don't you want to become Alice's friend?]
[Alice really wants to become good friends with you~]
A childlike, innocent laugh.
A clear voice, as though it contained not the slightest impurity, completely pure from the moment of birth.
As if, from birth until now, it had never been stained by any filth, a voice that made one feel incomparably drawn to it.
But that was not right.
What she saw was not like that.
What she saw was not such a thing.
That was…
Blood…
A sharp needle pierced in through the temple, penetrating the eyeball, little by little protruding from the eye, while that eye was swiftly soaked in blood, trembling incessantly.
The teeth were pulled out one by one, then sharp nails were driven into the gums; then a hammer was raised high and brought down, hammering the nails in.
After sawing open the scalp, a dulled small knife and a ballpoint pen were carefully used to pry open the skin; gradually, little by little, a layer of skin was peeled off.
Of course, the most important thing is to secure the hands, feet, and body.
If they keep moving around, how can they become good friends?
After the things are dug out, they must be sorted and placed properly.
The dirty blood must be cleaned away; an unpleasant odor cannot be left for the friends.
Every friend must be made to feel happy—only then is it what should be done.
The gifts must be carefully prepared.
Friends and guests must be properly entertained.
If one is impolite, Father and Mother will become angry.
Father and Mother must not be made angry.
Oh dear, oh dear, the fingers are moving around again.
Can Alice help you take them away for a little while?
No…
No, that's not right, what exactly…
The chaotic consciousness had already completely awakened.
The only thing she could hear by her ears was the shrill wailing that filled the classroom.
The smell of blood was spreading continuously.
Amid nauseating, sticky sounds, the singing voice continued.
She was singing:
[Stepped on the cat, stepped on the cat~]
Then she laughed softly again.
As if she were not within this bloodshed.
As if the countless miserable wails had nothing to do with her.
As if she had only just come into this world, unstained by any filth, so pure and spotless.
She heard cheering rising from somewhere far away.
In places that could not be seen, someone was shouting, someone was applauding, someone was cheering.
And that laughter drifted past around her.
Then suddenly, it stopped by her ear, even the sound of breathing blowing against her ear.
She was speaking to her, whispering softly:
[Alice wants to become your friend, is that okay?]
Knock, knock.
From somewhere came the sound of a door being knocked.
[Alice wants to talk with you, is that okay?]
Knock, knock.
A sound as if it were very close to her.
[Alice is coming in now, excuse me~ hehe~]
Creak—
The door was opened.
…
Even long after waking up, her body still found it difficult to move in the slightest.
As if the blood throughout her body had been frozen, she was stiff from that indescribable sense of terror.
Miko panted heavily; only after a long time did she finally climb out of bed.
She could already see faint light filtering in from outside the window.
At this time, it should already be morning; it was time to get up, wash up, and go to school.
"Was it only a dream?"
The girl reached out to smooth her somewhat disheveled hair, exhaustion impossible to conceal in her gaze.
This strange dream—the one who called herself [Alice], seemingly a little girl, yet seemingly not even human at all—did not seem to be the first time. It was just that each time, the contents of the dream would rapidly be forgotten after waking; at most, only a faint sense of fear would remain, and she would only vaguely remember that she had dreamed of such a person.
Why would she have such a dream?
Miko let out a sigh, drew open the curtains, and looked outside, toward the sky—toward those things that were still floating there, only now extremely faint, so faint that they were almost impossible to make out.
There was one thing Takumi did not know: unlike him, who could only clearly observe the existence of those things at dusk and then could no longer see their specific outlines once night fell, this girl was now able to see these eerie phantoms all day long. No matter the time, no matter the place, nothing would affect Miko's ability to observe these strange entities.
This fact weighed heavily on the girl's heart.
Come to think of it, why had she started dreaming about these strange things?
And although the dreams were different every night, they always involved that one called [Alice]?
Miko could not help recalling a mysterious ritual called the [Alice Game] that had recently become popular in her class, said to help people make good friends. Quite a few girls had been drawn to it. Some girls who wanted to find boyfriends had even tried the ritual multiple times, and many people claimed that it really worked.
Although, in Miko's own view, the ritual was truly childish and boring—drawing a hexagram on the desk, holding a candle and lighting it, then silently reciting things like [Alice, Alice, please help me, please help me find good friends]—she could not see anything magical about it at all; instead, it only made her feel extremely embarrassed.
She had indeed watched several of her classmates carry out the ritual, but the problem was that during the process she had not seen anything strange happen at all.
Forget it, forget it. It was only a dream; there was no need to mind it.
Thinking this, Miko opened her bedroom door and stepped into the hallway.
Then she could not help lowering her head, looking at her feet—at the footprints that extended all the way from the stairway entrance and continued until they disappeared right in front of her room door.
"Huh?"
The girl froze slightly.
Where in her house could such footprints have come from?
Had her slippers gotten wet without her noticing, and she had failed to wipe them clean?
She stepped out of the room and closed the door.
As Miko walked farther away, the room returned to silence. Only the faint morning light illuminated the somewhat plain bedroom of the girl.
And the figure sitting in front of the bed, head slightly lowered.
It was unknown when it had sat there—perhaps it had already been there for a long time—sitting on the floor beside the head of the bed, leaning forward with its head lowered, almost resting against the pillow.
[Shh, Alice has come to disturb you]
[Be good, be good, and rest properly~]
It seemed as though someone was speaking softly, laughing in a low voice.
Yet within the empty bedroom, there was no figure at all, nor did any sound ring out.
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