Chapter 10 - Kotan: Truth

1

Sprawled out on top of the desk, Takuro scanned the room. He’d already read the spine of every book on the crowded shelves and counted all the bulbs in the chandelier. Unable to find anything else to do, he just waited for time to pass.

“What do we do now?” Takuro asked Hiroshi, who had been pacing the room nervously for a long time. But there was no answer.

Takuro sat up and looked around, but Hiroshi seemed to have disappeared. He could have sworn Hiroshi had been investigating the bookshelf only a minute ago. Where could he have gone? The only way in or out of the room was blocked by the desk Takuro was sitting on. There was no way anyone could have gotten past him.

Takuro found Hiroshi’s endless, incomprehensible lecturing to be irritating, but now that he’d suddenly disappeared, he felt a little uneasy. He looked around the room again and realized the bookshelf had slid to the side, revealing a square hole in the wall.

A hidden path?

Takuro was curious, but Hiroshi reappeared through the hole just about the time he jumped off the desk to go investigate for himself.

“It’s no use. I checked the attic as well, but couldn’t find anything that would do. I give up,” Hiroshi said, his shoulders drooping.

“You can get to the attic from here?”

“Yes. Would you like to see for yourself?”

Ignoring the question, Takuro looked around the room again. How had he not noticed it before? The authentic Japanese desk. The sliding bookshelf. Now the hidden path to the attic. He remembered seeing a room exactly like this in the game he’d played the night before.

The similarities didn’t end there, either. The entrance hall they’d first stepped into, the child’s room where the monster suddenly attacked him and Mika, the recreation room where he’d been hiding until he heard Hiroshi... It was all just like it was in the game.

“Could it be...?”

Takuro pulled open the desk drawer. Just as he’d expected, it contained a portable safe with an LCD panel embedded in the upper section of the lid. Underneath that was a panel with buttons that would make letters appear on the panel when pressed.

“It seems we can open the electronic lock by typing in four letters, but, unfortunately, I don’t know the password. There’s likely a hint hidden somewhere in the mansion.” Hiroshi pushed up his glasses and shrugged a little. “I checked all the unlocked rooms, but found nothing in them that would lead to the password. The hint must be somewhere else.”

Takuro ignored Hiroshi’s babbling and tapped four of the buttons with purpose. The lock gave a short electronic chirp, and the lid popped open. Inside was a piece of paper folded up small.

“How did you know the password?”

Hiroshi rarely showed emotion, but Takuro saw clear surprise on his face for the first time. Cracking the code was easy. He’d just input the same password from the game. Ordinarily, one would have to go into the recreation room and wipe a bloodstain off of the piano in order to get a hint from the numbers written on the keys underneath. Hiroshi easily would have been able to figure it out, but Takuro had locked the recreation room from the inside while he was hiding in it, preventing him from getting in and finding the clue he needed.

Takuro was naturally good at just about everything, but he could never beat Hiroshi in terms of grades no matter how hard he studied. It felt good to see him stumped for once. Takuro would have loved to gloat, but he decided to keep the truth to himself. It would be a pain to explain. Instead, he took out the piece of paper from the safe and unfolded it. On it was a rough sketch of the floor plan of the mansion, just like the map that could be found in the game. It even showed the route to the attic. There was also apparently a second hidden path they hadn’t discovered yet. Takuro opened his mouth to proudly tell Hiroshi what he’d realized, but...

“There’s a second hidden path,” Hiroshi announced. He’d found it before Takuro could even put it into words.

I hate this guy.

Takuro softly clicked his tongue so as not to be heard. If everything was just like in the game, the mansion should have an annex. The path to it should be behind the creepy mannequin in the back of the entrance hall—the map confirmed that much. They’d need to head there in order to escape.

“We don’t have time to loiter. Let’s go right now,” Hiroshi said excitedly and began pushing the desk out from in front of the door.

Seeing that the monster wasn’t outside, the two boys departed the study. Takuro followed Hiroshi to the first floor, being careful not to make a sound. The fact that the monster could pop out from anywhere didn’t seem to phase Hiroshi.

I can respect guts like that.

Takuro couldn’t help admiring him at least a little as he forged further into the mansion. But that wasn’t the only thing on Takuro’s mind. He wasn’t all that shaken up by Mika’s death, despite seeing the gruesome way she’d been slaughtered. He wondered why.

He figured it must be because everything seemed so far removed from reality here. Realizing that it mirrored the video game he’d played the night before only made it feel more unreal. What if this was just a game, too? Or even a continuation of his nightmares? If the monster killed him, would he just wake up? Questions like that kept pulsing through Takuro’s mind.

But despite those thoughts, he was a mess of nerves descending from the second floor to the first. No matter how fictional it all seemed, the horrible scene at the bottom of the stairs was too much. He’d rather not have to see it again if it could be helped. He steeled himself before heading to the entrance hall, but there was no trace left of Mika’s body. Still, there was no denying what had happened. The red splashes staining the white walls told the story.

Takuro and Hiroshi stepped off the last stair and into the entrance hall proper. It almost felt as if Mika’s warmth still lingered. Takuro’s whole body shivered. They turned around coming off the staircase and headed to the back of the entrance hall—a large white wall across from the front door. Pushing the creepily smiling mannequin to the side, Hiroshi began feeling the wall with his palm.

“At first glance, I see nothing of significance, but this is the only part covered with wallpaper made to look like stucco rather than the real thing,” he muttered as he pulled something small from his pocket. “This is a fragment of a broken plate from the dining hall. I picked it up, but I never expected it to be useful in this way.”

Hiroshi pierced the wallpaper with the sharp tip of the shard and sliced open a wide swath of it in one swift cut. This too was just like in the game, but Hiroshi was through the hole in the wall before Takuro could even offer a word of advice.

Beyond the hole in the wall was a door. It was small, just barely big enough to let a person through. There was no doorknob, so it seemed like there had to be some trick to getting it open. Takuro was about to say something, but yet again...

“I see. So that’s how it works.” Hiroshi took out a screwdriver from his pocket. “There was a similar door in the attic. The knob was secured by two screws that looked like they would be easy to remove. By extension, I think we should try collecting that knob and attaching it here.”

He really is smart.

It pained Takuro to admit it, but it was true. He’d agonized over the solution to this for ages before giving up and looking the answer up in an online guide, but Hiroshi had figured it out within seconds.

“I’ll go back to the study and retrieve the knob from the attic. While I’m doing that, could you go to the guest room on the second floor and bring Takeshi here? I’m sure it’ll encourage him a little if you tell him we’ve found an escape route.”

Takuro hated being ordered around, but he wasn’t foolish enough to let that dictate his actions now. Realizing that he would be able to escape the mansion if he left things to Hiroshi, he decided to play along without resistance. He needed to get maximum value out of every pawn available to him.

2

“Well, see you back here soon.”

“Yeah. Watch out for the monster.”

When Takuro and Hiroshi parted ways, Takuro headed for the guest room where Takeshi was hiding. He couldn’t smell the horrible stench of the blue monster anywhere nearby, so he proceeded inside. He discovered Takeshi upon opening the wardrobe, quaking in his boots just like he’d predicted.

“C’mon. We’re going.”

Takuro didn’t care how Takeshi felt. Grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, he dragged him out of the wardrobe. He rolled out onto the carpet, balled up like a pill bug.

“Get up, Takeshi.”

Takuro kicked him in the back, but he just continued to shake. He looked like he had no intention of going anywhere.

“We found a way out. If you’re not gonna get up, I’m leaving you here.”

Honestly, Takuro couldn’t care less what happened to Takeshi. He wasn’t particularly smart or brave like Hiroshi. He was just useless baggage. But he would still make a good human shield if he tagged along.

“Get up already. Don’t piss me off.”

“...ved?” Takeshi whispered hoarsely, still balled up in the fetal position.

“Huh? What’d you say?”

“...Are we really saved? I doubt we can escape that monster.”

“Hey, this is my house. I’m not gonna let that thing have its run of the place.”

“...”

“It’s fine. I told you we could escape now. What’s your problem? Do you not trust me?”

“...No.” One of Takeshi’s eyes peered out from the crook of his arm.

“What?”

“I don’t. I can’t trust a single thing you say.”

Takuro was sure he must be hearing things. Takeshi had always followed him like a puppy and obeyed his orders blindly. This rebellion was surprising, to say the least.

“Where do you get off—”

“How could I believe you? I’ve never trusted you.”

The fear must have broken him. It must be the fear talking. That’s what Takuro assumed, but he was soon proven wrong.

“I was just putting up with it because I didn’t want to get on your bad side. I didn’t want to end up like Naoki and Shun. All I had to do was say what you wanted me to and I could copy your homework, enjoy delicious food on your dime, and have fun with the masses of girls that flocked to you.” He continued angrily, as if all of his pent-up frustration had finally come to a boiling point. “And it’s not just me. Everyone feels the same. Some people know what you’re really like, and they just grudgingly follow you around because they’re afraid of you. Others just want to use your and your father’s power. No one actually likes you. Honestly, I... I hate people like you!”

Who the hell does he think he is?

A flash of heat ran through Takuro’s body as his rage ignited.

“Shut up, you piece of trash!” Takuro shouted and kicked Takeshi in the stomach as hard as he could. “I listen to you for once and this is the thanks I get?! Who are you to lecture me?! Get off your high horse!”

Unlike a soccer ball that would fly off satisfyingly when he kicked it, Takeshi just laid there on the floor like a sack of potatoes. That made Takuro even angrier. He continued to kick Takeshi in the stomach, and Takeshi coughed up brown goop after a few blows. Getting vomit on his favorite sneakers really sent Takuro over the edge.

He knew why he was so angry. If it were just baseless slander, he could have laughed it off easily. But the fact that Takeshi’s words rang true pissed him off. Takuro was always surrounded by friends. But did he have anyone he could spill his heart to? Even his favorite thing, soccer, had started to bore him recently. Everyone was too afraid to go toe to toe with him while playing. It was like they let him win, and there wasn’t any fun in that.

I’m not the most popular guy in class. Everyone just thinks there’s something to gain from being close to me.

A wry grin crept across his lips.

Would anyone even mourn my death? The new kid would probably be overjoyed.

His toes began to sting from kicking Takeshi so hard. He knew he couldn’t afford to waste his energy on this, so he finally relented.

“...Are you satisfied now?” Takeshi, curled up on the floor, asked between ragged breaths.

“Can you just hurry up and leave? I don’t want to get caught up in your mess.” He paused to wipe the mucus from his mouth. “That monster’s actually Naoki. He’s out for vengeance.”

“Naoki? Now I know you’ve really lost it.” Takuro put his foot on Takeshi’s head and snorted. “Naoki’s dead. There’s no way he can get ‘vengeance’ or whatever.”

“He’s come back as that monster. Maybe he can’t pass on until he kills you.”

“Do you even hear yourself?”

It’s no use. He’s gone completely mad.

Takuro lifted his right foot off Takeshi’s head, squatted down, and peered at his face.

“I’ll ask you one last time. Are you staying here?”

Takeshi nodded.

“All right. Then have fun,” he spat and stood up.

There was no use saying anything more. Giving up on Takeshi, Takuro left the room. As he closed the door behind him, the door to the room just on the other side of the stairs burst open.

A familiar, horrifying creature appeared through the doorway. It was licking a white, crooked pole of some kind like it was a popsicle. Green saliva spattered in every direction. Takuro decided not to linger on what exactly it was. But the monster stopped, seeming to notice him. It stared in his direction, its long tongue wrapped around the white rod in its hand.

“That monster’s actually Naoki.”

Takeshi’s proclamation flashed through Takuro’s mind. And certainly, its sluggish mannerisms remind him a bit of Naoki.

“Are you... Naoki?” Takuro doubted it could understand him, but he had to ask. “Are you doing this because you’ve got some sort of grudge against me?”

Naturally, the monster didn’t respond. It just continued to lick the pole with an indifferent look on its face.

“That’s Mika’s bone, isn’t it?”

Takuro’s right arm, which she’d held tightly until he’d pushed her away, still felt a little warm for some reason.

“No one actually likes you.”

Was that true even for Mika? Had she... Had she been the only one to truly care for him from the bottom of her heart? Takuro felt lost. Sadness over her loss suddenly threatened to drown him like a massive wave.

“Why did you kill Mika?” Takuro demanded, his voice trembling. “Mika had nothing to do with us.”

Sadness and intense anger filled him.

“It’s me you hate, right?”

Before he realized it, he was clenching his fists.

“If you want to kill someone, kill me.”

He began walking toward the monster.

“Go on! Kill me!”

The monster shoved the entire bone into its mouth and crushed it one bite. It then let out a sickening belch.

“Rahhhhhhhhhh!” Takuro screamed and charged forward.

Kicking off the floor with his left leg as he approached, he hammered his right shin into the monster’s belly. The sudden attack must have taken it by surprise because it toppled over backward.

“Give Mika back! Give Mika back! Give Mika back!”

Takuro jumped on its chest and began slamming his fists into its face. Right, left, and right again. None of his punches seemed to bother it, but he continued to wail on it nonetheless.

“Damn you! Die! Die! Die—”

Suddenly the monster sat up. Takuro slid down its slimy belly and tumbled to the floor. Scratching its cheek, the monster slowly stood up. Apparently Takuro’s assault was nothing more offensive than a mosquito bite. Once standing, the blue giant grabbed the open door with both hands and ripped it off its hinges. It then took aim at Takuro.

He quickly twisted his body to avoid the massive projectile. The door hit the floor and shattered into splinters that flew in all directions. The force behind it boggled the mind. If it had actually hit Takuro, he was sure it would have crushed him to death. Looking up, he saw the monster stepping backward. But rather than retreating, it was reaching for another door.

It doesn’t want to eat me... It’s just enjoying killing me.

That made him shudder. He knew he had to run, but unfortunately his arms and legs were covered in a thick liquid from grappling with the monster. It was so slippery that he couldn’t gain any traction on the floor. Every time he tried to stand up, he’d slip and end up right back where he started.

“Takuro, hurry!”

As the monster raised the second door high above its head, Hiroshi came sprinting down from upstairs. He charged full speed toward Takuro, scooped him up, and continued on to the first floor. Where did he hide such strength in his wiry body? Takuro was utterly baffled as Hiroshi carried him into the entrance hall.

“Where’s Takeshi?” Hiroshi asked as he ran.

“I couldn’t find him,” Takuro lied.

“We’ll have to leave him, then. Right now we need to prioritize losing the monster.”

He glanced back to see the monster practically sliding down the stairs, fangs bared.

“Now! Hurry!”

Putting Takuro down, Hiroshi dashed toward the secret door. He quickly attached the knob from the attic and twisted it to the right.

“I just hope this works...”

And, as if answering Hiroshi’s prayer, the door opened up into a new area behind the wall.

“Let’s go.”

Hiroshi slipped through the door first, and Takuro followed right after. It was too dark to see anything, but they couldn’t falter now.

“Takuro, careful!” Hiroshi shouted.

Takuro could feel the monster’s right hand racing for his neck. He nimbly dodged by jumping forward and away from the door. With his momentum, he crashed into Hiroshi and they both tumbled together into the dark passageway.

The monster’s roar echoed down the hall after them. They looked back toward the door and could see the monster’s giant eyeballs peering at them through the frame. The doorway was small—just large enough for a single person. The monster was trying to shove its massive head through, but appeared to be stuck.

“Are we safe?” he whispered hoarsely.

As if in reply, the monster began headbutting the wall. The entire building shook as the wall started to crumble. It would be only a matter of time before it broke through.

“Apparently not. Let’s go.”

Hiroshi pushing at his back, Takuro ran through the narrow, tunnel-like passageway with the faint light shining in from the door as his only guide.

3

How far had they run? A kilometer? No, perhaps it was only a few meters. Takuro’s stamina was reaching its limits, though, and things were only getting darker as they moved further along. He could barely tell if he was walking in a straight line anymore. He’d lost all sense of direction.

“This mansion gets more confusing the more we learn about it,” Hiroshi said, breaking the silence as he walked behind him.

His breathing wasn’t as ragged as Takuro’s. For a delicate-looking guy, Hiroshi was apparently quite strong. Takuro couldn’t deny it after he’d carried him out of danger like that.

“Confusing? What do you mean?” Takuro asked as he felt along the wall. The bare concrete was cool and had a slightly calming effect on him.

“I believe we’re walking underground now. However, judging from the distance we’ve gone, we must be far outside the Jailhouse grounds by now. Where could this possibly lead?”

How am I supposed to know?

“No point wasting your brainpower on it. This mansion is full of mysteries. You have any idea what that monster was?”

“There is a chemical plant across from the mansion. At first I thought hazardous materials were leaking from the site. Perhaps even something strong enough to cause genetic mutations. However, if that were true, we wouldn’t just be seeing the effects in here. The whole area would be affected,” Hiroshi replied evenly, as if reading from a script.

“Okay, but that thing wasn’t human. If it was just big, I might buy that theory. I mean, lots of people are over two meters tall.”

“The current world record holder is a Turkish man measuring at just over 251 centimeters, or about eight feet and three inches, apparently.”

That was a brainiac for you. His head was filled with useless facts.

“But no one’s ever had blue freaking skin before. Come on. It must be an alien. I bet they’re building a base here and plotting world domination or something.”

Of course, Takuro didn’t really believe that. But he was willing to humor any theory over it being Naoki’s ghost.

“Oh, no. Blue-skinned humans do exist.”

He’d said it so nonchalantly that Takuro did a double take.

“What?”

“It’s a condition called argyria. The chronic intake of silver leads to an accumulation of it in the body, particularly in the skin. It’s ordinarily colorless, but when exposed to sunlight, those deposits turn blue. The exact shade of blue that monster is, I believe.”

“If it’s some kind of condition, isn’t there a treatment for it? Why does it have to live here in secret?”

“There’s no known treatment for argyria. Short of peeling the skin off, the condition is permanent. However, avoiding sunlight minimizes the effects.”

“Oh. You mean—”

“Yes. Perhaps that is the reason for the window coverings throughout the mansion.”

Takuro found what Hiroshi was suggesting to be strangely compelling. At the very least, it was more convincing than alien conspiracies or ghosts.

“But why the person living in this mansion ingested so much silver—that I don’t know. People have long believed silver and gold to have health benefits, so perhaps they drank a lot of supplements containing those metals. Or perhaps somehow silver got mixed into the water supply—”

Hiroshi cut off there. His eyes squinted as he peered into the dim light in front of them.

“Is that the exit?” he asked.

Takuro wasn’t so sure. If they were still following the game, their goal was a ways off yet.

A fluorescent bulb giving off a bluish-white light hung from the low ceiling. Under it was a small door just like the one they’d come through. But unlike that door, this one already had a knob. It shone with a cold brilliance as Hiroshi gripped it. He turned his wrist, but it wouldn’t budge. The door was locked.

“We’ve come this far only to find a dead end? No, this looks suspicious...”

Hiroshi was looking at a glass-enclosed space about the size of a phone booth next to the small door. No one was inside, however. What looked like a small camera was suspended from the ceiling. Other than that, it was empty.

Hiroshi opened the glass door and walked inside without a hint of hesitation. He must have tripped a sensor doing so, because the camera turned to him with a high-pitched whirr. A computerized female voice echoed from a speaker hidden in the support pole. It wasn’t in Japanese, so Takuro had no idea what it was saying. Surprisingly, however, Hiroshi nodded slightly.

“Hey, did you understand that?” Takuro rapped on the glass door and asked.

“I’m not very good at French so my comprehension is a bit shaky, but I believe it said, ‘Facial scan complete. Please enter the four digit passcode into the panel below.’”

His confident expression belied his modesty. Takuro could only stand in awe of Hiroshi’s talent. He hadn’t even been able to tell what language it was.

“I don’t see a panel, though...”

As if responding to his muttering, a section of the glass lit up and displayed the numbers zero through nine in neat rows. Takuro stared at the high-tech device, the likes of which he’d only seen in science fiction movies and cartoons. If there had been a mirror nearby, he would have been able to see the silly gawking expression on his own face.

“...What is this?” he uttered in astonishment, still staring agape at the device.

There’d been a similar event in the game he’d played the night before, but it was much easier to believe in a fictional world. Facial recognition systems and optical keyboards really did exist, but they weren’t exactly household items. And they certainly didn’t belong in this decrepit mansion that had supposedly been abandoned for over 20 years. Cutting-edge technology in a place like this was pure madness.

In the game, inputting the right passcode here would open the entrance to the annex. The code to unlock the safe in the study had been the same as it was in the game, so Takuro figured it was safe to assume that this code would be the same, too. But he couldn’t remember the right four numbers for the life of him.

He did, however, remember the arithmetic notebook in the child’s bedroom. In it was the hint to the puzzle: the equation DCBA=4(ABCD). But Takuro was stuck past that. He was drawing a complete blank on how to solve it. He’d cheated by using a guide to clear the puzzle when he came across it the night before. The safe had used an actual word for a password, which made it easier to remember. But there was no way he could recall four random numbers he’d only glanced at.

That meant they’d have to do it the honest way. They’d actually have to solve it in order to get into the annex. Takuro closed his eyes and pictured the equation in his mind.

It was logical to think that A, B, C, and D were representative of four different integers. Multiplying them would yield the inverse order of said integers—D, C, B, then A.

Maybe it would be easier to work out on a piece of paper. But it was somewhere to start. Even though the number the letters represented was multiplied by four, the total number of digits remained the some in the product. That meant A had to be either 1 or 2. Knowing D would be multiplied by four, however, meant that the first integer of the solution had to be even. Thusly, A had to be 2.

All right, I can do this.

A times four would yield D, so did that mean D was 8? No, the hundreds place might get carried over and end up making it 9. Wracking his brain, Takuro continued working it out in his head until...

“I see. So that’s how it works.”

Takuro could hear Hiroshi’s voice echoing from inside the box. He looked over and saw him confidently reaching out for the panel.

First, he pressed “2.” Takuro had come to the same conclusion on that one. Then he tapped its neighbor, the “1” button.

“Hey. Are you sure that’s right?” he asked worriedly.

Hiroshi pushed up the frames of his glasses.

“I’m quite sure,” he answered flatly.

Then he pressed the “7” button.

“Did you find the arithmetic notebook in the child’s room, too?”

“Arithmetic notebook? Oh, you’re right. I hadn’t realized it, but that was supposed to be a hint as well, wasn’t it?”

“You mean there was another one?”

“Yes. Objects that struck me as out of place led me to these numbers. First, the birthday cake and portrait of Jean de la Fontaine that I found in the dining room. Fontaine was born in 1621, and his birthday is the eighth of July—the seventh month of the year. Then there was the world map in the wardrobe of the guest room. There was a pin stuck in part of the Atlas mountain range in Morocco. The highest mountain pass through that area is Tizi n’Tichka, which is 2,178 meters above sea level.. Lastly, there were pictures of temples from the Shikoku Pilgrimage hanging in the attic. If memory serves, Tairyū Temple is the 21st stop and Gōshō Temple is the 78th. Do you see now? All these oddities have the numbers 2, 1, 7, and 8 in common..”

Hiroshi quickly finished his explanation and tapped the last number, the “8” button. There was then an audible click as the door unlocked, but the fluorescent bulb hanging from the ceiling suddenly went out when it did.

“What happened?”

Hiroshi jumped out of the box and the illuminated panel on the glass disappeared, leaving the room in complete darkness.

“Hold on. I can light the way with the flashlight I found in the great room—”

Hiroshi was interrupted by the soft sound of something scratching against concrete echoing from elsewhere in the passageway. Takuro gulped. He knew what was about to happen. He remembered it from the game last night.

“We gotta run! It’s coming!” Takuro shouted.

“...Huh?” Hiroshi asked, still fumbling in the dark for a light.

Once he got his hands on it, Hiroshi flipped on the flashlight. It illuminated the monster’s face, smack in the middle of the rest of the darkness. It was standing idly across from them like it had been there watching them the whole time.

“Let’s go!”

Takuro pulled Hiroshi by the arm and dashed off as fast as he could down the passageway again. Relying on the light from Hiroshi’s flashlight, they scrambled back through the cramped space. They couldn’t even spare the time to look behind them, but even then, they could tell the monster was right on their heels. The giant had to crouch down in order to follow them through the two-meter-high tunnel, but it was keeping up with them just fine.

“Why are we turning back?” Hiroshi shouted as he ran. “That door I just unlocked was about the same size as the one at the beginning of this secret passage. If we’d gone through it, the monster would’ve at least been stalled.”

“It was pitch black on the other side. No way we were gonna get anywhere in that. The monster would have just gobbled us up while we were getting our bearings. We gotta flip the breaker first.”

“Do you know where the breaker is?”

“There’s an iron door in this underground passage. That’s the breaker room.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ll explain later. Just hurry! If that monster catches you, it’s all over!” Takuro shouted, continuing to run as fast as his legs would carry him.

4

Run! Hurry!

Anxiety gripped Anna as she watched Hiroshi and Takuro run through the underground passage. It so consumed her that she could think of nothing else.

The person streaming the game, a user by the name of “T,” apparently wasn’t used to action games. Their control of the characters was jerky and sloppy. There was lots of wasted movement, allowing the monster to close the distance little by little. At this rate, it was only a matter of time until a game over. They had to do something before the worst possible ending.

Shun was desperately typing away at his keyboard in an attempt to notify the player of the real danger involved with what they were doing. The WakuWaku Movie site allowed real-time comments to be sent to its streamers.

This is an emergency!

Press the pause button!

Please pause the game.

Shun’s comments flooded the box.

If the player paused the game, it would effectively stop time in the game world. That would give them a chance to explain what was going on to the player.

I’m the game’s developer.

I’ve found a critical bug.

This is dangerous.

Please pause the game before you get a game over.

But it seemed the player was too engrossed in the gameplay to be reading the comments. Shun was trying to get their attention in the comments section, but he was also worried that commenting too much might distract them and result in a premature game over. He was between a rock and hard place.

I have to do something too!

Anna, unable to just sit there any longer, stepped away from Shun’s desk and went back to the laptop he’d let her borrow. Praying for Hiroshi and Takuro’s safety, she navigated to the WakuWaku Movie site herself. Her idea was to gather as much information as she could on this T person. First, she checked their profile section.

Shun had said that the majority of the game’s downloads had been to computers in town. They figured locals were coming across the game while searching for information or gossip on the Jailhouse monster. Chances were that T also lived somewhere nearby. Anna was hoping that by combing through their profile, she might be able to figure out who it really was.

She checked their activity history, which indicated they were frequently on the site. Soccer broadcasts, local festival reports, new product reviews, karaoke skill boasting—their viewing history was all over the place. She couldn’t determine a pattern. This was their first time streaming a game too, apparently.

Past videos of their live streams were all archived on the site so that viewers could catch them after the fact. There were over 20 of them on T’s account. Anna clicked on one in particular. The title was “Trying to Play That Famous Song.” They’d arranged a famous song everyone knew into a piano solo and played it live. It was a common type of video for the site.

But Anna hadn’t chosen this one at random. It wasn’t the piano that interested her. No, it was the date of the stream that had caught her eye: it was originally broadcast three weeks ago. That was the night Takuro had forced Shun to jump out of the classroom window.

Her fingers shaking, she pressed play. Before a grand piano sat a boy in a tuxedo. She couldn’t see his face, but something about him seemed familiar. His thin, delicate fingers swept over the ivory keys. The familiar melody tickled Anna’s ears. He was actually pretty good. Anna had also played back in elementary school, so she had a decent appreciation for his talent. When he entered the climax of the song, the boy began to move in rhythm with the music. For a brief moment, his face was visible.

“Oh!” Anna gasped.

She clicked back on the time bar and replayed the section. Pausing on the part where she could see the performer’s face, she realized she recognized him.

“...How?”

It didn’t make sense. This was T? The person streaming the game? The one who held the lives of their classmates in his hands? This was really him? Shun turned around, picking up on Anna’s distress. When he looked at the monitor, his jaw dropped. But of course it did. The owner of those delicate fingers dancing atop the piano was none other than Takuro.