The nearest rooms to Takumi and Shinomiya Kaguya were 204—the one with the broken lock that couldn't be shut—and, across the corridor, 209, where that difficult-looking white man had hidden himself and bolted the door.
Room 204 could only be left ajar, and if whatever was coming up to this floor turned out to be dangerous, it might just barge straight in. Room 209 was locked from inside, and the tall man in there looked like a hardened convict—not someone easy to deal with. Knocking for help there wouldn't be a good idea.
From 205, right next to 204, a terrified, incoherent woman had just fled.
That left only the other direction—203 and 208, both equally close.
Takumi suddenly turned, his gaze sweeping across 203 and 208, locking quickly on 208, which was nearer, its door half open rather than tightly shut like 203.
In the past—or rather, in his previous life—people often said he was someone with an overactive imagination. He liked to observe, liked to spin wild thoughts from what he observed, and for that he had been shunned as a weirdo during his student days. Back then, he knew well enough it was only imagination, so in the end he chose to write stories, to channel that gift into creation.
At that time, he knew clearly his delusions were only delusions, not reality.
But now, he had no way of confirming whether this was just imagination, or whether he had really sensed the signs of looming danger.
The only thing he could trust was that he didn't have a second life to gamble on whether this was real or not.
"You…"
Shinomiya Kaguya, hearing the abnormal sound, didn't yet understand the situation, nor did she have Takumi's train of thought, so she made no move.
Seeing Takumi dash straight for 208, she was first startled, unable to grasp the reason for his action.
But the next instant, recalling Tanaka's strange behavior earlier, this brilliant girl's pupils contracted slightly as she realized some ominous possibility. She immediately looked toward Shijō Maki not far away, signaling her with her eyes, then turned and sprinted toward 208—reaching the doorway even faster than Takumi, her speed leaving him stunned.
"Get in."
Grabbing the handle and pushing the door open, Shinomiya Kaguya didn't step inside right away, but spoke to Takumi instead. Shijō Maki was already hurrying over; clearly Shinomiya Kaguya meant to wait and go in together.
That meant even if he went in, she obviously wouldn't shut the door right away.
He had to admit—though he'd always thought of himself as an otaku who loved 2D girls—in that moment Takumi did consider, if only for a fraction of a second, whether to shove Shinomiya Kaguya aside, rush in alone, and lock the door behind him.
But the thought lasted less than a tenth of a second. Then Takumi strode forward without hesitation, brushing past Shinomiya Kaguya without a word and going straight into the room.
Well, first, her speed was faster than mine. She could easily have pulled off that kind of scummy main-character move before me, but she didn't—she even made way for me. If I did it now, it would be way too dishonorable, and not just because I'd probably lose. Second, she was a beautiful girl, and looked calm and rational—not the kind of traditional deadweight female from horror movies. With her help, survival chances definitely went up, and again, not just because I'd probably lose. Third, my dream had always been to become the harem protagonist of otaku stories, not some grimdark lead. Whoever wanted to be that kind of protagonist could have it—it wasn't going to be me, and not just because I'd probably lose.
Alright, the truth was, if he really dared do that, she'd absolutely take him down on the spot with a string of combos. In a 2D world where muscle and weight didn't matter as much, this Ice Princess Kaguya's combat power might not be as absurd as her maid's, but she was still completely out of reach for this 3D otaku guy. In reflexes, strength, speed, he couldn't match her at all—he'd have to be out of his mind to go against her.
Rushing through the doorway, he found the layout inside similar to 204: corridor to the left, bathroom to the right, only this room looked a bit larger.
Standing at the entrance, Shinomiya Kaguya's brows were tightly furrowed, while Shijō Maki was already sprinting at incredible speed—so fast that Hiroshi and the black guy, still holding up the blond woman, looked stunned, shouting toward Kaguya without understanding what was happening. Hiroshi had even let go of the blond woman and started moving this way.
"They're here…"
Shinomiya Kaguya muttered softly; she had already heard the footsteps landing in the 2nd floor corridor.
Shijō Maki reached the doorway in a flash, rushing inside without stopping, nearly colliding with Takumi standing guard in the corridor.
And at the very instant Shijō Maki rushed in, Shinomiya Kaguya closed the door without the slightest hesitation.
[Click!]
With the crisp sound of the lock, the three inside were cut off from the corridor.
"What did you see?"
Takumi had been watching Shinomiya Kaguya's face all along, and in that last instant before the door shut, he caught the change in her expression. Without hesitation he asked.
"…"
Shinomiya Kaguya gave no reply.
She only made a silencing gesture toward Takumi, then lowered her head, pressing one ear against the door, staying perfectly still as she listened to the sounds outside.
So Takumi also fell silent, standing motionless against the wall. His nerves inevitably tightened, and even his breathing slowed. Beside him, Shijō Maki did the same, though her expression looked steadier.
1 seconds, 2 seconds…
Takumi silently counted in his heart.
51 seconds, 52 seconds…
All around was silence, so quiet that the only sound was the faint, deliberately subdued breathing of the three.
599 seconds, 600 seconds… ten minutes.
Takumi had counted 600 seconds, and in that whole time, he heard nothing.
Hearing nothing meant that the voices he had still heard in the corridor when they shut the door had now vanished completely. Separated by nothing more than a not-so-thick iron door, every sound outside had disappeared. And for ten whole minutes, no one had come knocking or called out even once.
Outside the door, everything had fallen silent.
Takumi kept his silence too.
He could notice that Shinomiya Kaguya's body had been tense the entire time without the slightest bit of relaxation.
So right now he would not, just because of a moment of silence, lose patience and open his mouth to ask, but rather continued to maintain silence, continued to wait.
Only he could not help but wonder, could it be that there was some problem with this room's door, that because the door was shut, he could not hear the sounds outside.
Could it be, in fact, that they had chosen the wrong room, that they should not have chosen this room that could be locked, that this room was the trap, the place they should not have come.
Once such a thought appeared it was very hard to suppress. Takumi was in the first place a person who somewhat liked to indulge in wild imaginings, and now placed in this near-tormenting silence, he could not help but let his mind run even wilder.
Until he heard a very distinct sound of a door opening.
It came from outside the room, from the corridor. Judging from the position of the sound, it could be confirmed that it came from the direction of Room 204's door, the sound of the main door being opened.
Takumi slightly tilted his head, looking toward Shijō Maki who was standing beside him.
From the slight tilt of her head, she too seemed to have heard that door opening sound.
So, there was in fact no soundproofing; the noises in the corridor, they could actually hear them clearly.
So outside, it was merely that silence had fallen.
At this time Shinomiya Kaguya pulled out an old-style cell phone from her bosom. Clearly at the start she had said her clothes had no pockets, so no one knew from where she had taken out this phone that looked somewhat aged. Then she pressed a few buttons on it and turned the screen toward Takumi and Shijō Maki.
On it was a text message being composed, the content very short.
[I didn't see anything]
That was all the message said.
And whether it was Takumi, or Shijō Maki at his side, both already understood the meaning Shinomiya Kaguya wanted to convey.
Before the door had closed, in that last instant, Shinomiya Kaguya had looked toward the stairwell. She had heard the footsteps reach this floor, yet had not seen anything emerge from the stairwell.
Takumi felt his heartbeat speeding up.
From the time he woke up and came to this place, until now hiding in this room, altogether about half an hour had passed.
Up to this point he still had not personally witnessed anything that could be called eerie or abnormal.
But in this moment, Takumi already felt a kind of indescribable oppression, and a fear toward that unknown something, that yet-unseen source of footsteps.
Director, what happened to the promised safe time, how come you start pulling this kind of trick right at the beginning…
Of course, even so, his habit of making sarcastic quips in his mind still had not changed.