Yoshino Rika was indeed still alive.
Even now, she remained alive, still maintaining a clear state of mind.
Although for her, this way of surviving was not very comfortable—and in fact brought her tremendous pressure.
"Ha… ha…"
She could not suppress the heaviness of her breathing.
Her heartbeat was violently intense—so intense that Rika felt as if her heart was about to leap out of her mouth.
Those things were standing right in front of her.
As long as she lowered her head, she could see their feet, each one covered in mottled bloodstains, standing right before her, completely surrounding her without leaving even the slightest gap.
They had already discovered her presence.
They had already blocked off every direction she could possibly escape.
Yet they had not killed her.
Those aberrations had not done anything to Rika. They had merely surrounded her—simply encircling her where she stood—and then remained completely motionless.
As for why Rika could only see those things' feet right now, the reason was very simple: she had put a trash can over herself.
Earlier, after Takumi had left with Miko, Rika and the other classmates had also cautiously left the classroom and begun exploring the Teaching Building. Before long, however, one of the girls traveling with them opened the door of a certain classroom—only to release a group of students whose bodies had been gouged open from the chin down to the chest, their bodies drenched in blood.
In the chaos, several students died. Those who survived ran toward the other end of the corridor. But after entering a hall and discovering a staircase on one side of it, the girls rushed toward the stairs despite Rika's attempts to stop them—only to be taken away one by one by something that emerged from the staircase.
After going through another round of desperate escape, the last few surviving girls eventually arrived at the area where Classes 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the Second-Year Division were located.
That was an extremely strange area—one that made people feel uncomfortable the moment they saw it. The four classrooms were lined up together, and the walls of every classroom were made of glass. Moreover, it was one-way transparent glass. From the corridor surrounding the four classrooms, one could clearly see inside the classrooms, but from inside the classrooms, one could only see walls of mirrors in a bizarre arrangement.
It was as if the students in those classrooms were monkeys in a zoo, put on display for people to watch. Merely seeing such a scene made one feel uneasy all over.
How could a place like this even exist?
At the time, Rika could not help but have such a thought.
However, although she felt strong resistance toward this place, the few girls still had no choice but to enter the classroom. The reason was simple: their candles were about to burn out. Without Takumi there to help them light their candles, it was impossible for a few young girls like them to snatch candles from the Aberrations. Coincidentally, every desk in these classrooms had a candle on it, and there were no Aberration students visible at all. It seemed as if these classrooms existed purely as safe rooms meant for resupply.
Driven by this idea, the group walked inside. They took several burning candles and used them to relight their own. After that, one of the girls, out of curiosity, walked toward the wall at the edge of the classroom, wanting to see whether the glass wall inside the classroom allowed them to see the corridor outside.
But when she raised the candle to illuminate it, she discovered that the glass wall inside the classroom was actually a mirror. It only reflected the interior of the classroom.
And then she noticed that the classroom was actually filled with students—students with deathly pale faces, their hands and feet cut off and placed on the chairs. All of them turned their heads at the same time and stared directly at her.
In the end, only Rika managed to escape from that classroom.
It couldn't be helped. At the time, she had been the only one who noticed the reckless behavior of the companion beside her and ran over in an attempt to stop her, but she was still a step too late. Because of that movement, however, Rika had happened to run to the position closest to the door, allowing her to escape successfully.
When she turned back to look, she discovered in horror that the classroom which had been empty just moments ago was now filled with people. The students whose seats had had their candles taken were now each holding one of the girls. With saws in their hands, they were sawing off the girls' arms and legs.
At the same time, another student holding a saw was walking toward the door, staring straight at her with unblinking eyes.
Terrified to the point that her soul seemed to shatter, the girl could only run blindly. Yet in her panic, she ended up running back to the corridor area where the classroom she had originally come from was located. Then she realized that Aberration students were closing in from all directions.
Just as despair overwhelmed her, the bell suddenly rang. Then, when the lights turned on, all the students quickly disappeared. Realizing that she had to return to the classroom she had started in, Rika hurried back as well, sat down in her seat, and began reading.
By this time, none of the girls sitting around Rika were alive anymore.
She sat there trembling, reading among the corpses of her classmates, listening to their voices as they read aloud without the slightest fluctuation in tone, feeling the fear in the depths of her heart grow stronger and stronger.
Soon, when the bell rang once again and the lights went out, the classmates who had just been fleeing together with her—those who had still been chatting and laughing with her a little more than an hour ago—rose one after another and fixed their gazes on the only living person left in the classroom.
She ran toward the classroom door, but the two girls fused together, like some kind of lump-like flesh monster, were already blocking the doorway.
She then ran toward the back door of the classroom, but there too a girl without a head was blocking the way.
More and more Aberrations gathered around.
Shadows also began to sway outside the window. Aberrations from other classrooms were starting to come over as well.
In the end, in despair, Rika could only run toward the corner of the classroom. Because she moved too hastily, she fell to the ground, accidentally knocking over the large trash bin more than one meter tall placed at the back of the classroom, and the fallen trash bin ended up covering her body.
And her former classmates had already completely blocked off her retreat.
With no other option, in her despair Rika shrank her entire body into the trash bin, hoping to use it as her last line of resistance.
Strangely enough, after those students surrounded her, they actually stopped moving. They simply stood around her without moving at all.
Why they had stopped, Rika honestly did not understand at all. But recalling what she had done, the girl quickly realized that it was very likely that the act of covering herself with the trash bin had prevented those things from taking further action.
If that was the case, could she try moving with the help of the trash bin?
With that thought, Rika tried to move her body, but she discovered that the trash bin had become incomparably heavy. At most she could only lift it slightly, just enough to ensure that air could come in so she would not suffocate. Other than that, there was nothing else she could do.
As a result, she became trapped there.
Even until the bell rang, even until the lights lit up once again and the students returned to their seats, Rika still could not move and remained completely trapped inside that trash bin.
Thus she remained there the entire time inside that foul-smelling trash bin, together with scraps of paper, fruit peels, and things like toilet paper, staying like that for dozens of minutes. Even when darkness descended once again and those things surrounded her again, she still could not find a way to get out.
So in the end she chose to give up and simply stayed quietly where she was, waiting for a faint hope to arrive.
Step—
As it turned out, it seemed that hope really did arrive.
"All students—yes, I'm talking about you—no lingering inside the classroom. All of you go out and get into the corridor to stretch your bodies."
Takumi's voice sounded out in the darkness.
The students who had originally been surrounding Rika slowly stepped back. They actually obeyed Takumi's command and simply walked out of the classroom.
Was she saved?
Rika, who had already been on the verge of despair once again, took a deep breath, almost bursting into tears on the spot.
"Hiding inside a trash bin actually prevents attacks?"
Takumi's voice sounded again, carrying a hint of surprise.
[Maybe it's some kind of unwritten rule among the students.]
Miko's voice sounded as well. Although Rika did not know why, she somehow felt that Miko's voice was slightly different from how she remembered it. But being able to hear the other girl's voice again now made Rika feel that it was truly wonderful.
And just as the girl finally let out a sigh of relief, the two people who were gradually approaching continued their conversation.
"An unwritten rule? What do you mean?"
[I'm only guessing, but roughly speaking… locking yourself inside a trash bin probably means admitting that you are useless trash, an irredeemable Bad Student. So the other students no longer need to compete with that student and no longer need to regard her as a rival. That's why she becomes safe.]
"That sounds really strange. But if someone really gives up on herself and becomes a Bad Student, then that student should be even more likely to be killed, shouldn't she?"
[That should indeed be the case. At times like this, other students could indeed handle that student according to the student rules. But since this school has a strict hierarchy, it is very likely that deciding the fate of a Bad Student requires an Outstanding Student or a Good Student to speak first. Those lower-ranked students wouldn't dare overstep their authority. If they did that, higher-ranked students might regard it as disrupting the order of hierarchy and target them for it. So at times like this, the student locked inside the trash bin instead gains a certain amount of safety time.]
"Is that so? Something like that is really hard to understand. But I really didn't expect it—you're actually pretty good at thinking things through, kid. Your brain works quite well."
[Hehe, thank you for the compliment, teacher.]
While they were talking, the two had already arrived in front of Rika.
Through the gap in the trash bin, Rika could see three pairs of feet standing in front of her.
One pair was clearly much larger—one glance was enough to know that it was Takumi. Another pair was much smaller and should be Miko's. The last pair was almost pressed tightly against Miko's feet, standing on tiptoe just behind her…
Huh? Weren't there only two voices just now? When did a third person appear?
Rika slightly widened her eyes and opened her mouth in confusion, wanting to say something.
But before she could speak, she heard a sound first—a barely perceptible chuckle, followed by a very pleasant girl's voice.
[Student Yoshino Rika is already a Bad Kid. Everyone, handle it according to the usual rule.]
Then someone blew into the trash bin, blowing onto the candle that Rika had placed beside her.
The weak candle flame went out in the next instant.
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