Chapter 13 - Level Up

1

When Hiroshi hit the top of the stairs, a giant statue of a goddess stood before him. Including the altar it was enshrined in, it was over five meters tall. Hiroshi looked above it and saw a dome-shaped ceiling stretching out overhead. It was like he was in a replica of the Roman Pantheon.

The pounding of the rain was growing louder. If he could hear it this well, that had to mean there was only a single wall separating him from the monsterless, peaceful world outside. He wanted to leave immediately, but he’d have to reunite with Takuro and make his way back to the main building first.

At the goddess’s feet lay the eyeball monster, wings spread. It looked like it was being punished, or perhaps pleading for help. Either way, it made for a very disturbing impression.

Hiroshi stepped away from it and looked around the rest of the room. It was a lot like the chapel his grandfather had taken him to as a child. Did that mean someone revered the goddess up on the altar? He glanced up at the statue again. There was an innocent look in the goddess’s eyes. Surely it wasn’t the monsters that worshiped her.

Passing between the rows of benches lined up facing the altar, Hiroshi headed for the double doors in the back of the room. About halfway there, a piece of plastic on the floor caught his eye. He picked it up and studied it. It was the keycard fragment Mika had given them. It had to be. It fit perfectly with the two pieces Hiroshi already had.

And with that, he had the completed keycard in his possession. He breathed a sigh of relief, but it was brief. He suddenly felt an alarming presence behind him. He quickly turned around. There stood Takuro.

“Hey. You’re safe, huh?” he said with a smile.

“Takuro, I have all of the keycard fragments now. Let us return to the entrance hall immediately.”

“No, that’d be a waste of time. Do you know why I tossed that piece after finally getting it back from the monster?” Takuro stood there with his hands in his pockets, rolling his shoulders and grinning widely.

“...Why is that?” Hiroshi asked, unsure.

“Because you can’t open the front door with it,” he spat in reply.

“I don’t follow.”

“Don’t you remember what you said? The monster learned all kinds of stuff from the tablet and evolved. Of course it noticed the keycard taped to the back. Investigating Shun’s game would have revealed that it opened the front door, too. So the monster ate it on the spot.”

“Then this card...”

“It’s something my father had with him. He went all kinds of places for work. It’s probably the key to the company garage.”

“That can’t be...”

“We all thought it was the right key because Shun reacted to it. But if you think for a second, it wasn’t like he got a good look at it for himself. He just assumed it was the same one because it was blue.”

“...”

“The monster knew that it wasn’t the real key, though. It was just playing with us.”

“I see... So that’s how it is. This is extremely unfortunate.”

Hiroshi placed the key in his pocket and took out the box cutter, pointing it at Takuro.

“Hiroshi? What the hell are you doing?” Takuro asked, his expression tense.

“Please do not get any closer.”

“What? You scared of me?” Takuro laughed and shrugged. “You don’t think I’m a monster too now, do you?”

“Then how did you know the card was a fake?”

“I...” He tried to answer, but couldn’t. “I wonder. I don’t really know.”

“The monster’s memories are mixing with yours from before your death.”

“Don’t be stupid. I’m not a monster. Here, look. I’m still injured to prove it.”

Still smiling, Takuro stuck out his right arm. And indeed, the painful-looking teeth marks in his upper arm remained. So did the gauze on his cheek.

“If I were really the monster or whatever, I wouldn’t be hurt like this, right?”

Hiroshi shook his head. “You must have bitten yourself to recreate the injury. I won’t be fooled by such simple deception.”

“They’re not that smart, man.”

“Perhaps they weren’t before. But eating humans has made them smarter.”

“You’re so stubborn. I’m not a freakin’ monster. You really don’t believe me? After all the crap we’ve been through together?”

“Then take off the gauze. You may have been smart enough to fake the arm injury, but perhaps you overlooked the one on your face because you never had the opportunity to observe it directly.”

“All right, fine. I’ll show you.”

He tore off the gauze, but, just as Hiroshi had suspected, there was no injury.

“...What?” Takuro asked quietly, touching his cheek with a look of shock on his face.

“I do not doubt that you thought you were telling the truth. You genuinely believe you’re human, but that’s false. You are a monster with Takuro’s memories.”

“How did you know?”

“Have you heard of mydriasis?”

Takuro cocked his head. Standing his ground, Hiroshi explained.

“Mydriasis is the excessive dilation of the pupil. When I turned the lighter on Takeshi in the room with the fireplace, I thought it was strange, but I became sure of it after running into Mika on the second floor of this building. Even with the flashlight shining in her eyes, her pupils remained dilated. They didn’t contract at all.”

“...”

“And the same goes for you. I am sure it is hard to tell without a mirror, but your irises are pitch black right now. All of the monsters I saw underground were the same way, too. And so I’m forced to conclude you’re one of them. Do you understand?”

Covering the eyes took away the precious sense of sight. Even full-body costumes had openings for the eyes so that whoever was inside could see and move freely. This was the same principle.

“You may be able to change everything else at will, but not the eyes.”

“I should have expected as much from you...” Takuro chuckled. “I just can’t beat you.”

With those words, all emotion drained from Takuro’s face.

“...Why?” He asked in an uncharacteristically low and hoarse voice. “Tell me why.”

2

Mika appeared from the shadow of the altar. She was unharmed, the same as Takuro. She drew closer, one slow step at a time. Her eyes too were pitch black. In her arms she held a small monster. It was the blocky creature with rabbit-like eyes that had bitten Hiroshi’s calf. It was sound asleep in her embrace.

“Takuro...”

She touched his shoulder and whispered something. Takuro patted her hand and nodded. Then he turned back to Hiroshi.

“The basement is on fire. Apparently all of the other monsters have been wiped out.” He continued, his voice devoid of feeling. “Why did you do this? Who asked you to? We never caused you any trouble...”

Before he could quite finish, Takuro transformed into the monster. And he went straight for Hiroshi.

Hiroshi turned on his heels to flee when an ear-splitting boom roared through the room. He was thrown backward violently enough to slam him into the wall and knock the wind out of him. He looked around to try and figure out what happened. There was a great hole in the floor. Flames were shooting up from below. He recalled the massive stores of flour kept in the basement. If enough of it had gotten kicked up and there was a fire, it must have created a dust explosion.

The chapel was now in shambles. The benches were blown to pieces, and the goddess statue was leaning diagonally. A section of the ceiling was even caved in, letting in a torrent of the pouring rain. Takuro and Mika had been blown back by the explosion, too. They were both groaning in pain as the rain drenched them. The small monster was licking Mika’s cheek. It seemed to have taken a liking to her. Takuro was back to his human form, as well, perhaps an effect of the impact.

Suddenly, their surroundings grew brighter. The rain clouds had parted enough for the face of the full moon to be seen overhead. Bluish-white light now poured in through the ceiling along with the rain. Fully awash in the moonlight, Takuro looked unsettled for a moment. Then he began laughing loudly.

“The light doesn’t bother me. I feel nothing. I see... By ingesting a human, I’ve gained a body that is resistant to ultraviolet light.”

Heavy rain poured down on him as he smiled victoriously. His voice was growing deeper and less human by the second.

“We have finally achieved bodies capable of adapting to this world. We no longer need to hide in such a place. Surely if we explore the world, we will find others like ourselves. We are no longer threatened with extinction. No—our time has finally come.”

As it laughed, Hiroshi slipped past and took a firm hold of the goddess statue. It was a mere two meters from the tallest part of the altar enshrining the statue to the hole in the ceiling. It wasn’t an impossible distance.

Realizing Hiroshi’s intent to escape, Takuro’s form changed horribly. Within moments, Mika followed suit. They came after Hiroshi as he attempted to scale the statue. But he couldn’t afford to be caught. Hiroshi desperately climbed higher.

One of the monsters jumped up onto the altar. Its legs were thicker and shoulders broader than the other. This one was most likely Takuro. The one that had ingested Mika was watching from below with the smaller monster.

But Hiroshi was in bad shape. His stamina was wearing thin. His hands, wet from the rain, couldn’t keep a proper grip on the statue. He needed to hurry, or the monster would catch him. But the more he panicked, the more he lost control over his own body.

“Ah!”

His right hand reached out for the goddess’s breast, but only grabbed empty air. He instantly lost his balance. His left leg, which he’d been using to valiantly hold himself in place, slipped in the rainwater, and he was immediately sent plummeting towards the floor. He landed straight in the monster’s waiting arms. It was the worst possible situation. Hiroshi prepared himself for death, but the monster merely stared at him. It quickly shrunk, transforming back into Takuro.

“Be careful, Hiroshi. You’d be dead right now if I hadn’t caught you,” Takuro said jokingly.

“...Why?”

Why did you save me? You’re a monster.

“The dumb monsters are afraid of anyone crazy enough to try climbing their sacred goddess, so now’s your chance. Hurry up and go!” he shouted, sounding much more like Takuro than the monster.

“Takuro, come with me!” Hiroshi shouted back. “I met Takeshi in the basement. I suspect he retained his ego just like you.”

“I heard from Mika. He killed all the monsters, right? That took some balls. He wasn’t so bad after all.”

“Once we escape, we can search for a way for you to remain in your human form, or—”

“No,” he said, cutting Hiroshi off. “I’m happy you’d invite a monster like me along, but I gotta turn you down.”

“What?”

“This one’s afraid of heights. She just likes to put up a strong front,” Takuro said, nodding toward the other monster. “I can’t leave Mika alone. She gets really lonely, even though she’s always acting tough. Isn’t that hilarious?”

Another explosion erupted from below. Pillars of fire now shot up from all around. The rising clouds of dust and smoke that came with them concealed Takuro from sight.

“Takuro!” Hiroshi called.

“Now hurry! It was fun playing on the same team, Hiroshi!”

There was no time to hesitate. He had to make it out alive. Resolute, Hiroshi grabbed on to the statue again. He could see the hazy moonlight up above. That would be his goal.

Blood oozed from his palms. He could hardly breathe. His vision dimmed, and he nearly fainted over and over again. But everything below was now completely engulfed in flames. If he fell again, it would be certain death. Perhaps it would be easier to just let go... But Hiroshi was determined to survive, for Mika, for Takeshi, for Takuro.

Finally standing atop the altar, Hiroshi sucked in a lungful of fresh air from the outside and leaped up toward the full moon. Grabbing the lip of the hole in the ceiling, he pulled himself out of the mansion. Now he just had to scale a pillar down.

The giant statue slowly crumbled below, sinking into the sea of flames as if in acknowledgment of his escape.

3

By the time Shun and Anna were released from police custody, the full moon was gone. It had sunk below the horizon, and now the eastern sky was beginning to lighten. Following their parents, they left the moldy-smelling station. Anna, perhaps blinded by the rising sun, timidly hid behind Shun’s back.

The detectives that had questioned them wouldn’t say anything about the Jailhouse investigation. Not even a word about whether their friends had been found or if they were all right. Even Shun, who was bad at taking a hint, had picked up on the fact that things must not be going well. He’d discreetly borrowed his mom’s smartphone and had tried to call the Jailhouse tablet, but as expected, there was no response from Hiroshi or the others.

Anna hadn’t said a thing since they left the interview room. Neither had Shun. If he opened his mouth, he knew the conversation would inevitably turn to the Jailhouse whether he liked it or not. He feared that the moment he said it out loud, what he feared most would become reality. And because of that, he hadn’t been able to find the courage to say anything to Anna.

At the parking lot, their parents bade each other farewell and left Shun and Anna to do the same as they headed toward their respective cars.

“See you,” Shun said.

He turned to look at Anna and waved a little with his right hand. That was the most he could manage right now.

“...Yeah...”

Anna was still looking down, refusing to meet his gaze. She’d been like this ever since the interviews. But it wasn’t that surprising. The trauma of being attacked by a monster wasn’t something that she would get over quickly.

After that, Shun turned and jogged over to his mother, who was waiting by the car for him. That was when a familiar face approached. It was the stern-faced police officer he’d first reported the situation to. The long shift must have really taken its toll—his scowling face was much more grim than it had seemed in the dark of night.

“Long night for you, too, kid? That’s rough,” he said, rubbing his brow and unshaven face. “Did you hear about the Jailhouse?”

“No...” Shun shook his head honestly.

His heart was racing. Would this be it? The moment he got the bad news? Preparing for the worst, Shun clenched both of his fists. But the officer’s next words came as a surprise.

“Were your friends really trapped inside the Jailhouse?”

“...Huh?” Shun asked, not understanding.

“The tactical unit breached the building via the attic, but they only found the corpse of Smile’s president. They checked every room in the place, but couldn’t find anyone else.”

That couldn’t be. The monster swallowed even its victims’ bones and licked up every drop of spilled blood, so it was possible that they might never find any sign of the bodies. But where had the monster disappeared to?

“Did you investigate the annex?”

“The annex?”

“There should have been a small door opposite the entrance hall. If you go through the underground path there, you’ll reach another building—”

“No. There was a big hole in the wall, but that was it. Don’t go all kooky on me, kid. You checked the perimeter, too, didn’t you? You should know there was no annex.”

He was right. There was no annex on the property. He didn’t know how, but it was possible that the underground passage worked like a wormhole. Hiroshi and the others had headed for the annex in order to retrieve the keycard. But if the path between the annex and the mansion proper—the underground path—had been cut somehow, they might never be able to make it back even if they eluded the monster and survived. They’d been locked in the Jailhouse for over half a day now. They all had to be at their limits. If they were still alive, they needed to be rescued immediately. But Shun couldn’t see how that was possible now.

Just as he was sinking into the depths of despair, the first few notes of the third movement of Sinfonia Tapkaara reached his ears. Lifting his head, he grabbed his messenger bag. It was coming from his laptop.

“It can’t be...”

Normally the melody would be unsettling, but now it was like a hallelujah. Pulling out his laptop, he opened it with shaking hands. A window for the communications app was flashing. The caller ID read “Jailhouse PC.” He pressed the answer button, and the image of his classmate’s face appeared.

“Good morning, Shun.”

“Hiroshi!”

Shun could hardly see the screen through his tears. It had only been a few hours since their last call, and yet it felt like an eternity.

“Sorry. The tablet broke. But luckily, I found this box cutter and was able to splice a wire back together.” His face was dark and dirty, as if covered in soot, but his voice was strong and steady.

“So you escaped?” Shun asked.

He could see a lush line of coniferous trees in the background and the sun shining on the right half of Hiroshi’s face. It was clear he wasn’t in the Jailhouse.

“Yes, somehow. You must have been worried.”

Hiroshi rubbed his dirty nose and smiled. Seeing that made Shun’s chest burn hotter and hotter.

“Where are you now?”

“The hills behind school. I finally found an area with reception, so I thought I’d try calling. I’m glad I got through to you.”

“The hills? Why are you there?”

“After escaping the Jailhouse, I ran without thinking. I ran and ran, but the cypress forest was endless. Honestly, I thought I was lost. But when I stopped to take a break and study the insects, I realized I wasn’t very far from the school. Then I deduced which way to go based on the sun and the growth of the trees, and descended the hill.”

Shun was astonished. But that was Hiroshi for you.

“I’m so glad... You escaped even without the blue keycard.”

“Oh, you mean this?” Hiroshi said, holding it up to the camera. “The thing is...”

Hiroshi then revealed the earth-shattering truth, and it struck Shun dumb for a moment. He felt an inexplicable unease creep up on him.

“Is Hiroshi okay?” Anna excitedly called to him from behind.

The gloomy aura that hung over her earlier was now nowhere to be seen. Learning that Hiroshi was safe must have lifted a weight off her shoulders.

“Yeah. He’s in the hills behind school. Let’s go get him.”

Shun grabbed Anna by the hand and started to run, away from the adults.

“This key wasn’t for opening the front door to the Jailhouse.”

But everything Hiroshi had just told him rattled in the back of his mind.

“That is what the monster with Takuro’s memories told me... Yes, unfortunately, they were all eaten by monsters. Monsters that had the power to transform into the people they ate.”

It was all a little hard to swallow, but Hiroshi wasn’t the type to lie. Mulling it all over, something else came to mind—the events at the hospital the night before.

“...How nostalgic.”

Specifically, he recalled what Saya had said as she lay in bed smiling.

“It’s been so long since we last saw each other. I never thought they’d still be alive.”

It wasn’t Naoki that had visited her before Shun and stabbed her. She wouldn’t have been able to see him. Even on the off-chance she had powers like Anna, there was no reason for her to feel nostalgic about seeing him.

“They appeared so suddenly. They seemed oh-so troubled, so the master let them live in the mansion while we moved overseas.”

Could it have been a monster that visited her? If what Hiroshi said was true...

“This key wasn’t for opening the front door to the Jailhouse. Apparently it found and ate the real key before we got there.”

“Oh...”

Shun stopped. He finally realized the source of the unease that came over him when Hiroshi first told him everything.

Shun slowly turned to face Anna as she caught up to him. If the keycard had already been destroyed by the time Anna was locked in the Jailhouse, then how had she gotten out? There was no other way to open the door. Either she had to use the key, or everyone inside the mansion had to die.

It can’t be...

His knees began to shake horribly.

“Oh. Isn’t that your mother, Shun?”

It had been pitch black outside the hospital. You could hardly see your own hand in front of your face. So how had Anna noticed Shun’s mother so quickly? Could she have been, all along...

A flock of birds loitering on the edge of a nearby roof all took flight. A shiba inu passing by bared its fangs and growled. Shun stood there stunned, unable to take a step. He felt like he could hear a hoarse voice from somewhere.

“We have finally achieved bodies capable of adapting to this world. We no longer need to hide in such a place. Surely if we explore the world, we will find others like ourselves. We are no longer threatened with extinction. No—our time has finally come.”

Anna was smiling.