The sun was practically almost set, but I had successfully made it back home.
I opened the door with the key Alice had given me, and it was empty. This morning I had left Alice behind, but now she was nowhere in sight.
Alice's place was a four-room bungalow. It was impressive for someone like Alice to own even an apartment of her own. If I remembered correctly, I did ask her about it. Her response?
"I have a job, dofus, and it's better than anything in the world."
It was simple. Even if I pressured her more, she wouldn't say anything. Just as Shinomiya-sensei had said, Alice had a tendency to hide secrets and keep them to herself.
Do I find that concerning? Of course I did, but I couldn't force her out of it.
I laid on her soft couch and stared at the blank TV. I didn't turn on the AC, the ceiling fan, or the TV. I just laid there, exhausted.
"I'm tired…"
I fell asleep.
I had a dream, nothing else—the same dream I had always had: my powers going haywire and hurting my mom. Before I could go any further, I woke up. I hadn't even removed the uniform, and here I was, sweating in it.
I checked the wall clock.
"Ten minutes past nine? That's not bad," I said, then my stomach grumbled. It was a sign I was hungry. I hadn't eaten since lunch break and that ice cream.
"Let's go to the convenient store."
I had practically mastered my way around this area of town. Besides, right near where I came from school, I noticed a convenient store not far from my place.
The town was silent. I walked on the empty road; the energy was rather subtle, as if the supernaturals I would commonly sense had simply disappeared. The street lights flickered, most likely faulty. I could barely sense anything.
"Is that a good thing?" I asked myself, but in the end, I didn't have an answer.
My stomach growled again, and at that moment, I rushed to my designated location. I made it, opened the sliding door of the convenient store, and walked right in.
The entire place was empty. Ever since I left my house, I hadn't laid eyes on anyone. Everywhere was basically empty, but there was one man standing by the counter. I walked up to him. At first glance, he looked like an ordinary guy, most likely in his thirties, but a closer look revealed how exhausted he appeared.
At that moment, I felt displeased. If I were to buy something in this situation, wouldn't he get mad?
"Welcome," the man suddenly said from behind me, and I was spooked.
"Weren't you over there…? Anyways, I came here to buy something, if that isn't a problem?" I composed myself, returning his sudden greeting and getting straight to the point.
"You're so young…" the man smiled. He sounded enthusiastic but looked the opposite of his words. I felt pity for him.
"Is that so?" I replied with a tiny smirk and started my hunt for what I needed to buy.
One by one, I picked items that could be helpful for making dinner tonight and made sure to keep replying to the worker.
"Yes… you give off a different vibe compared to others," the man said politely.
"I get that alone. What do you think about it?"
"I'm not sure what exactly you wish for me to say, but there's that feeling in you when you know you're an outsider. I've been given that look before."
"Ooh, then we are birds of a feather?"
"N-no. The difference is, you look very handsome, and I'm sure you had tons of friends," the man awkwardly laughed.
But I made sure not to sound rude in any way.
"Friends nowadays aren't all that important. In the end, they are leeches, in my opinion," I said, picking a bar of pickles and dropping it in the basket the man had given me.
"I-is that so? D-does that mean you don't like friends?"
"No, I didn't say that, but they can be a drag."
"I-i see… I've always been alone all my life, so I wouldn't know." The man's tone slightly changed; it was clear he was frustrated.
I continued shopping. If I said anything else, it would probably make the situation worse.
"Ooh, meats… everything feels so much cheaper here compared to the big city," I scratched the top of my head and took the bag of meat, placing it inside the basket.
At that moment, the air around me changed. Out of nowhere, the entire atmosphere felt tense. Without thinking too much, I walked up to the counter, placed the basket down, and waited for the man to finish pricing.
All I could do was stroll around the convenient store while he priced every single item I bought. Maybe I bought a little too many items.
"Is this town always so quiet?" I asked the man, my voice echoing through the empty store. He replied hesitantly:
"W-well, yes. Ever since people started dying around this time, a curfew was put up."
Dying? It wasn't uncommon anymore, but why enforce a curfew if the civilians didn't even care about what happened? Someone died right in front of them, and they acted nonchalant, even recording it.
If we deduce that these deaths are caused by supernaturals, it wouldn't matter—but does that mean they attack better at night? No, that wouldn't make sense, because I sense them every day, no matter the time frame.
"Why hasn't anyone tried to stop it?"
"S-stop it? That's impossible because whatever is causing those kills in the first place is non-existent."
As he said those words, I stopped strolling. With the way he phrased it, could it be that he was aware of supernaturals?
"Especially around this area, a lot of people died, you know. And the majority of them died immediately—or during the period of entering this store. Can you believe it?" I couldn't see his face, but he sounded anxious. An awkward laugh echoed, but I paid no mind to it.
At that moment, I felt the urge to relieve myself.
"Um, where's the toilet?" I asked.
"Just by the end of the row you're currently in," the man replied. I followed his directions, and he was right. I was pleased by the sight of the toilet. It didn't seem to be classified by gender—just one toilet.
But it didn't matter. I opened the door and froze.
My breathing pattern changed. My eyes widened, and my jaw slowly dropped. All I could do was stare in horror, my hand on the bathroom door. I couldn't move, and at that moment, I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time.
Fear.
"U-um… you said people died in this area, right?" I spoke, my voice cracking from the shock.
"Why yes…" the man replied, his tone calm yet tense, almost as if I was interacting with a different person.
"The last time they were seen before they perished was in this exact store, right?"
"Yes."
I slowly calmed my breathing and covered my nose with my left hand.
The bathroom light—and the entirety of the store—began to shake. The lights flickered out of control.
My eyes landed on a sight I could never have hoped to see. On the bathroom seat was the picture frame of a young blond girl, while on the ground and walls were… corpses.
A guy's chopped head was placed on the seat. Bodies hung on the walls, and candles were lit—they weren't going to fade anytime soon, almost as if something otherworldly held them in place.
But the most shocking reveal of all was among the corpses: the body of the man who had died this morning.
"H-help me…" I heard the whisper of a little girl, and my eyes widened once again. Among the corpses was a little girl.
I was too shocked to even express my disgust. I closed the door and ran back to the worker—but he was nowhere to be found. My basket of bought items was gone too.
"Everything is for a purpose," the man suddenly spoke right behind me before I could react.
A sharp, sudden pain erupted from my chest. I slowly checked to see the cause.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!?" I screamed in pain. The man had pierced his hand through my chest, barely missing my heart.