Step—!
I didn't move as the sound reached me from somewhere down the corridor. It seemed far away, though in a place like this, I wasn't sure distance meant anything anymore.
Step!
Another footstep followed at the same steady pace.
'It isn't in a hurry.'
I checked my watch.
[00:00]
'...I have six hours.'
My eyes moved to the door, which was still wide open, its handle dented from where it had smacked against the wall. Beyond it, the corridor stretched out in both directions beneath the quiet hum of the lights.
'Right, I have to survive for that long.'
That was how long the teachers roamed before the doors unlocked. I just had to wait until then, and I could walk out of here as if nothing had happened.
But six hours was a long time.
I stood up and made my way over to the door as quietly as I could. The first thing I needed to do was obvious, and after grabbing the handle, I carefully pulled on it. As of right now, I didn't think leaving the room was a smart idea. Especially since I was unfamiliar with the layout. I wanted to remain here and assess my situation whilst planning a way to avoid whatever was waiting for me outside.
Having the door closed would at least make it harder for it to hear me.
Thus, as carefully and gently as possible, I tried to close the door.
But—
Creaaaaak!
A soft creaking sound followed its movement, and I immediately stopped pulling.
"——!"
'Wait, wait... I swear it never was like this before. How is this...?'
Was it my luck again!?
"..."
I kept my hand on the handle, waiting for the sound to fade. It seemed to carry further than it should have, lingering somewhere beyond the doorway even after the door had stopped moving.
Then there was only the hum of the lights.
The steps...
'I can't hear them anymore.'
I listened for a little longer, keeping my eyes on the empty strip of corridor.
Just the silenc—
Step!
My grip tightened.
Step!
Closer.
Step!
Faster!
I immediately let go of the handle, moving behind the door as the footsteps reached the corridor outside.
My shoulder brushed against the wall, and I barely managed to pull my foot out of the way before the sound stopped.
"..."
I stood still.
The door was between me and the entrance, but there wasn't much space behind it. I had to turn slightly to keep my chest from touching the wood, my eyes fixed on the narrow gap beside its edge.
Nothing moved through it.
For a few seconds, I could only hear the lights as they hummed softly in the air.
Then a hand reached around the door.
My lips pressed tightly together.
The fingers were long and slender, curling around the edge just above where I had been holding it. One settled against the wood, followed by another, their joints bending until the fingertips rested on my side of the door.
They extended almost as far as the handle.
"..."
For a moment, the hand remained there.
Then the door slowly moved towards me.
I shifted back as far as I could.
The gap narrowed, and with it, my view of the room. My back was already against the wall, but the door continued to move, its edge drawing closer to my chest.
'...A little more, and I'll have to move.'
My left eyelid twitched as I reached for my nodes.
Nothing.
I kept my weight on the foot nearest the doorway, watching the fingers as the wood drew closer. They hadn't tightened their grip. From what little I could see, it barely seemed to be using any strength at all.
The edge brushed against my shirt.
I tensed, preparing to push back—
It stopped.
"..."
I remained where I was.
The fingers were still resting against the wood. One of them shifted slightly, its tip dragging down until it touched the handle.
Right where my hand had been.
I watched it without moving.
Step.
Something dark moved beyond the gap.
My eyes shifted towards it, catching a glimpse of a long, dark neck. The light reached one side of it, showing thin folds in the skin as it extended upwards, out of the little space I could see through.
I followed it with my eyes.
Still no head.
Then the neck slowly tilted towards the door.
The folds gathered on one side, deepening as it bent, and I eased my head back before I could see anything else.
Getting a better look wasn't worth showing it where I was.
Step.
The sound came from further inside the room.
My eyes returned to the hand.
Its fingers were still curled around the door.
"..."
Only after another moment did they loosen their grip, slowly slipping away from the edge. The last fingertip dragged against the wood as it disappeared.
I waited until it was gone before letting a little air out.
Step.
Another footstep followed from inside the room.
Step.
A little further away this time.
Sweat trickled down the side of my face, but I kept my hands where they were. There wasn't enough room to wipe it away without brushing against the door.
Step.
The sound stopped somewhere near the desk.
"..."
I stared at the narrow gap.
A few seconds passed, and then a few more. I couldn't hear it touching anything. There was no sound besides the hum of the lights, and without the footsteps, I had no way of knowing what it was doing.
'Is it looking around?'
It should've been.
But it had been standing there for a while now.
My eyes moved towards the gap again. I could get a better view if I leaned forward a little, though that would also put part of my face past the edge of the door.
I stayed where I was.
Step!
The sound finally returned.
Step. Step.
The footsteps moved further into the room, towards where the game pods were.
I waited for another before slowly letting some air out.
'Okay...'
It was moving away.
As long as I stayed here and didn't make any noise, there was a chance it would leave. The sound of the door had brought it over, but it hadn't seen me.
At least, I didn't think it had.
Step.
I started to take another breath.
The footsteps stopped.
"..."
I kept my lips slightly parted, drawing in only a little air.
It could've been a coincidence.
From where I was standing, I could see a small strip of the corridor through the doorway. The lights were still on, and there didn't seem to be anything outside. From time to time, they would flicker, briefly dimming the little space I could see.
The way out was right there.
I just had to move around the door.
'...And then what?'
Run?
I didn't know what else was out there. For all I knew, I'd make it out of this room only to run straight into something else.
Staying here was still the better option.
Provided it hadn't found me.
I waited for the footsteps to resume, keeping my breathing shallow.
The pause was getting longer.
Step.
My attention immediately shifted back to the room.
The sound had come from a little closer than before.
Step.
I stopped breathing.
There was a pause between the footsteps, long enough that I found myself listening for the next one rather than anything else.
Then—
Step.
My eyes settled on the edge of the door.
It was coming back.
I could tell from where the sound was coming from. It wasn't moving towards the doorway, either. The footsteps were approaching from the other side of the door, where I couldn't see anything.
I shifted my weight slightly.
There was still a chance it would walk past.
The next footstep came from directly in front of me.
"..."
I waited.
Only the door stood between us now.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. I kept my eyes on the edge, trying to work out whether it was facing the doorway or the wood in front of me.
Then something brushed against the other side.
Slowly.
The sound moved across the wood, stopping just short of the edge.
My gaze flicked towards the corridor.
I couldn't afford to wait much longer.
A fingertip appeared around the door.
It was higher than before.
Almost level with my face.
I watched it clear the edge, expecting it to curl around the wood.
Instead, it continued into the gap, slowly drawing the door away from me as the creature shifted to take a look.
'Now!'
There was no time.
Step.
I moved.
Pushing the door away from me, I ducked past its edge and bolted through the entrance, keeping my head turned towards the corridor.
I didn't look at it.
Even when the hinges creaked behind me, I kept my eyes ahead and ran.
The corridor stretched out in front of me, lined with closed doors on either side. Above, the lights flickered as I turned right, my footsteps ringing loudly against the floor.
'Where...?'
I couldn't see an end.
Just more doors, with the same narrow windows beside them.
Step.
The sound came from the room I had just left.
My jaw tightened, but I kept moving.
For a brief moment, that was the only footstep I heard.
Then—
Step! Step!
The pace changed.
Step! Step! Step!
"Fuck."
I pushed myself faster.
The pauses between its footsteps were getting shorter, but the sound itself remained the same. Each step landed as evenly as it had when the teacher was walking around the room.
Only now, it was keeping up with me.
The lights flickered above, briefly dimming the corridor before it brightened again. I kept my eyes ahead, trying to find a turn, a staircase, anything that wasn't another closed door.
There was nothing.
I was passing one of the classrooms when something caught my attention through the window.
Children.
Or, at least, their outlines.
They were sitting in rows, their small figures barely visible beyond the glass. All of them were facing the front of the classroom, sitting so still that it took me a moment to realize what I was looking at.
Not one of them turned towards the noise.
I couldn't make out their faces.
Neither could I see what they were staring at.
Step! Step! Step!
I was already past the window by the time I pulled my gaze away.
'Don't stop.'
There was no time to look.
I continued to run, passing one classroom after another without any idea of where I was going. Every time I thought I could see the end of the corridor, the lights flickered, and when they settled again, there were still more doors ahead.
I tried to feel my nodes.
Nothing.
My left eyelid twitched as I tried again, keeping my attention on the corridor.
The result remained the same.
"Shit."
I pulled my attention away from them.
The footsteps behind me were getting faster.
I could still hear them over my own, each one distinct enough that I no longer had to strain to pick it out. I scanned the doors to my left and right, looking through whatever windows I could.
I needed somewhere to go.
Running like this wasn't going to—
Click.
My head turned.
The handle of a door to my left shifted downwards.
I was past it before it opened, but further ahead, another door moved slightly in its frame.
My expression changed.
'...That one too?'
I pushed myself harder, my feet striking the floor as the second door slowly started to open.
I kept close to the opposite wall as I passed it.
There was a narrow gap between the door and its frame, but I didn't look through it. My attention was already on the next classroom, and then the one after that.
Closed.
Closed.
Another handle moved.
"Fuck...!"
I ran faster.
Behind me, the teacher's footsteps continued without a pause.
For a little while, I stopped looking at the windows and focused entirely on putting some distance between us. The sounds were still there, still moving quickly, but after several more doors, they seemed a little further away.
Not much.
Just enough that I started looking again.
My eyes moved from left to right, catching brief glimpses of desks and dark interiors through the windows. I was moving too quickly to get a proper look, and I couldn't afford to slow down.
Then I saw a room to my right.
The light above its door flickered as I approached, but through the window, I could make out a few desks.
I couldn't see anyone inside.
My gaze lingered for another moment.
The nearest seats were empty.
'There.'
The corridor dimmed again.
I reached for the handle without stopping.
It turned beneath my hand, and I pushed the door open, slipping inside before the lights could settle.
Clank!
The moment I stepped into the room, I closed the door behind me, my chest rising and falling rapidly.
I kept hold of the handle, listening for the footsteps outside.
It took me a moment to notice the room.
There hadn't been so much as the scrape of a chair when I came in.
Yet...
I slowly lifted my head.
Eyes...
A multitude of them.
They were all staring at me.
My heart stopped.
-x-X-x-
"..."
I kept my hand on the handle.
The children hadn't moved since I entered. They sat with their hands resting on their desks, their small figures barely visible beneath the weak light. It reached their collars and the tops of their hands, but I couldn't make out much of their faces.
Just their eyes.
I looked towards the seats nearest the window.
They were occupied.
'...Right, it's not like there was much of a choice.'
But above all else, there hadn't been anyone sitting there when I had been outside the room.
Step! Step⎯!
My attention returned to the door.
The footsteps drew closer, and I pressed the handle upwards, trying to keep it from moving. For a moment, the sound seemed to come from directly outside.
Something brushed against the other side of the wood. My heart jumped a few beats as I kept myself measured.
'...It shouldn't have seen me.'
I was confident of this. It was fast, but not as fast as me.
My grip over the handle tightened as I waited, basking in the momentary silence as I waited for the steps to continue.
They did.
Step! Step!
Slowly, they started to move away.
Each step matched the rhythm of my own heartbeat.
I waited until I could barely hear them before turning towards the room again.
The children were still staring.
Not one of them had looked towards the door.
"..."
I slowly moved to the side, trying my best to be as silent as possible as I gauged the reactions in the room.
None of their heads turned.
I took another step, keeping my shoulder close to the wall as I watched the nearest boy. His eyes remained fixed on the space I had just left.
'...They're looking at the front.'
There was a desk beside the door, with a chalkboard stretching across the wall behind it. Books and loose sheets covered its surface.
I had been standing right in front of it.
Most of the board had been wiped clean. Two lines remained at one side, written beneath a small heading.
⎯⎯⎯
Classroom Rules.
Remain in your assigned seat.
Do not answer for another pupil.
⎯⎯⎯
Classroom rules?
My gaze shifted back to the children.
The silence remained.
I could hear my clothes whenever I moved, the faint hum of the lights, and the occasional click from the handle as I finally let go.
Nothing from near the desks.
'That's good. It seems like they aren't... trying to get to me.'
That was enough for now.
I knew that I couldn't have remained in the corridor. After all, it was an infinite corridor.
'I guess I can hide here and try to waste as much time as possible before my nodes recover, and I can contact Kyle outside.'
That was probably my best bet for now.
I moved towards the desk, keeping my attention on the nearest row. There was no second door that I could see, and the only other place large enough to hide was a cupboard against the far wall.
'Maybe there?'
I looked at the desk by the front of the class. Most likely the teacher's desk. Moving close to it, I noticed that it was filled with exercise books and even papers.
A particular piece lay beneath the stack of exercise books. The covers of the books were warped and smelled faintly of damp, and as I carefully shifted them aside, exposing the paper, numerous names appeared before my eyes.
'This is...?'
I traced down the names.
[Class 3-C]
1. Rachel Zims.
2. Edward More.
There were twenty-eight names in total.
My eyes went down the page, stopping towards one particular name.
27. Mara Balle.
'It's crossed out.'
Why?
The pencil had gone over her name several times, though not hard enough to make it unreadable. The line continued into the attendance column.
Someone had put a tick over it.
I looked at the other entries.
The same small tick sat beside every name.
A sheet had been clipped beside hers.
[Conduct Record ⎯ Student 27]
Student refused to occupy her assigned seat again.
Claims another girl is sitting there.
Desk inspected and confirmed vacant.
"..."
I read the last two lines again. I was trying to get an understanding of the situation.
'This must be... a real letter written from the past.'
Right, what I was seeing was likely clues to the past of VILE - 303.
My eyes continued to gloss over the paper. I wanted to see if there was more that I could find. Any more clues that could⎯!!
Creaaak!
A faint creak reached me from the corridor. It was muffled, but it was close.
My hand instantly froze.
I listened until I heard a door close further away before looking up.
'It's coming.'
I hastily moved, following the small numbers that had been carved into the edges of the desks. I followed them along the rows, taking a little longer whenever one disappeared beneath a child's hands.
Twenty-five.
Twenty-six.
Twenty—
My gaze stopped.
Near the back, between two occupied desks, was an empty chair.
27.
It hadn't been pushed beneath the desk.
A book lay on the wood in front of it, with a pencil placed neatly along its edge. There was even a small bag hanging from the side.
Everything was there.
Except the child.
I thought back at the paper from before. A name popped into my head.
'...Mara.'
The children beside her seat continued to face the front.
Their books had been pushed to the far sides of their desks.
Away from hers.
The piece of information didn't escape my grasp as my eyes glossed over the desk one more time. That was also the moment I caught sight of a small piece of paper.
"..."
Torn from an exercise book.
There were pencil marks on the outside, most of them hidden beneath the fold. I carefully opened it, listening to the faint crackle of the paper.
Mrs. Vale,
She gets up when you come over.
Then you tell me my chair is empty.
It's not empty.
I didn't move, my eyes staring at the note on the desk.
'What does this mean?'
My thumb rested beneath the last sentence.
There was nothing else written, but the more I looked at it, the more unsettled I felt.
'It seems like there's more to this case than I expected.
I shifted my attention towards the empty seat.
I could see the backrest through the space above the desk. There was nothing beneath it besides its legs and the faint shadow they cast across the floor.
My eyes shifted to the conduct record one more time.
Desk inspected and confirmed vacant.
"..."
I looked back at the chair.
I'd only glanced away, but I found myself checking the space beneath it again.
'...What exactly were you seeing? What do you mean by it's not empty?'
I started to turn the paper over, but right as I did⎯
Step.
My fingers tightened.
The sound came from the corridor.
I listened.
Step.
It was coming closer.
Lifting my head, I looked around me. The children hadn't reacted.
Their hands were still resting on the desks, their eyes fixed towards the front. From where I stood, it almost looked as though they were staring at me again.
I folded the papers and slipped them into my pocket.
Step.
'...It's coming back.'
I moved away from the desk.
The windows were on the far side of the room. I reached them quickly, passing between the children without touching their chairs.
None of their gazes followed me as I moved.
I caught the nearest latch and pulled.
It moved a little before stopping.
I tried again.
The frame didn't move.
There were several layers of paint over the seam, thick enough that I couldn't see where the window was supposed to open.
Beyond the glass was darkness.
"Fuck..."
Step.
I let go.
The footsteps had stopped outside.
My eyes went from the cupboard to the door, then back to the narrow spaces between the desks.
There was nowhere.
Not unless I wanted to get beneath one of the children's chairs.
Click.
The handle moved, my breath paused.
A soft rustle came from the room, and I turned immediately. That was also the moment where my heart froze.
For every... child was looking at me.
Not towards the front anymore.
Their heads had turned over their shoulders, their bodies remaining perfectly straight in their seats.
"..."
I stayed still.
Then the boy nearest me lowered his eyes.
Towards the empty chair, and my gaze subconsciously followed his.
Seat twenty-seven.
'...You want me to sit there?'
He didn't move.
Neither did the others.
The handle slowly returned to its original position.
For a moment, I thought whatever was outside had decided to leave.
Then it moved again.
Click.
The door shifted.
I looked towards the front, where I had been standing only moments earlier.
The rules were still visible on the board.
Remain in your assigned seat.
I looked at the children.
They were all sitting.
Waiting.
Whatever was coming into the room, they seemed to know what to do.
I didn't.
But standing beside the window wasn't going to help me. My hand brushed against the papers in my pocket.
Desk inspected and confirmed vacant.
"...Shit."
There was not much time to think.
I moved towards the chair.
The children watched me pass, their eyes following me now. Up close, I could see the little creases around their collars and the marks their fingers had left against the edges of their books.
I stopped beside the empty desk.
The number was right beneath my hand.
Twenty-seven.
Creak—
I gripped the back of the chair and pulled.
"—!"
It didn't budge.
My jaw tightened, and I hastily looked down. There was nothing caught beneath its legs.
I pulled again.
This time, it slid back with a short scrape.
All eyes remained fixed on me as the door moved, light spilling. Without wasting a single second, I sat down on the seat immediately.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
And as if in synchrony, every child turned towards the front.
But that wasn't the part that unsettled me.
No...
'The seat is warm.'
As if someone had just been sitting there.
"..."
My hands stopped above the desk.
For a moment, I could only feel the warmth beneath me and the wood pressing uncomfortably against my knees.
Step.
The step sounded again. Much closer than it had ever been.
I lowered my gaze to the book rather than the open doorway.
Step.
Something brushed against the front desk.
I adjusted my hands to match the boy beside me, laying them flat against the wood. His fingers were pressed tightly together, and as the footsteps stopped, he lowered his head a little further.
I did the same.
Click.
The door closed.
For a few seconds, I could only hear the lights.
Then something tapped against the desk at the front.
Tap. Tap.
"Mara."
A soft, yet gravelly voice whispered into the air.
My fingers tightened, my heart nearly jumping out of my chest. Lifting my head slowly, I stared at the name written on the cover in front of me.
"...You're back."
"..."
I kept my eyes on the book.
The tapping came again.
"Open your books."
Paper rustled around me.
I opened mine.
"Class begins."
-x-X-x-
The silence around me felt heavier than before.
It was as if all noise had been stripped from the air, leaving only lingering tension.
I kept the book open, my eyes moving over the little rows of numbers written across the page. Most had been worked out in pencil, with corrections in a darker hand beside them. A few mistakes had been rubbed out hard enough to thin the paper.
'...Arithmetic?'
I glanced at the boy beside me. He had opened his book towards the back, where a fresh set of questions waited beneath an unfinished exercise.
"Finish yesterday's work. I'll take attendance."
The voice came from the front, followed by the sound of a page turning. I found the same exercise in my book and reached for the pencil, keeping my movements small as the children started writing around me.
The desk was a little too low for my knees.
I shifted one foot back, taking care not to knock against its legs, and looked towards the board.
Do not answer for another pupil.
'Right... but it called me Mara.'
Sitting here had kept it from coming after me. Whether it had mistaken me for her or simply hadn't noticed me yet was another matter. I wasn't particularly interested in finding out by doing something stupid.
"Rachel Zims."
"Present."
A pencil scratched against paper at the front.
"Edward More."
"Present."
I recognized the names from the attendance sheet. The teacher was going down the list, and as the next child answered, my throat tightened.
What was I supposed to say when it was my turn?
Would it be able to tell that I was a fake...?
My hand subconsciously drifted towards my pocket, fiddling with the paper from before. I still hadn't checked the back of Mara's note.
Keeping the book between my hands and the front desk, I took it out. I opened it beneath the edge of the page and turned it over, exposing a few more lines written along the bottom.
She answers when you call my name, too.
Yesterday you told me not to answer twice.
My breath paused.
"Chris Smalling."
"Present."
The answer came from somewhere ahead of me. I looked towards the boy beside my desk before returning to the note.
The pencil had pressed deeply into the last line, leaving marks I could feel through the back of the paper.
'It's not just someone being on her chair, but speaking for her as well...?'
I folded the note along its old creases as the teacher called another name, my attention returning to the rule on the board.
'...Just what in the world happened back then?'
Could'Mora' have been haunted by a sort of anomaly back then?
No, that wouldn't make sense.
The anomaly was the classroom.
Unless...?
I subtly covered my lips.
"Ryan Klose."
The teacher continued calling names as its soft gravely voice whispered around the classroom.
My head remained low, not once glancing in the direction of the teacher.
Through the corner of my eye, I could distinctly catch a glimpse of its tall, lanky figure, my throat shifting subtly.
"Present."
I finished writing the question and waited for the steps to move on. A soft scrape reached me through the door, followed by another footstep further away.
Step!
'Another one?'
My heart sank.
But either way, there was no point looking for a chance to leave just yet.
By the time the teacher reached the last row, I had copied three questions. I moved to the fourth, keeping the pencil against the page as the child on my left answered.
"Mara Balle."
My fingers tightened a little.
"Present."
"⎯!"
A soft voice whispered close to my ear, my pencil breaking at its tip as I pressed down with more force than I wanted to.
"..."
It had sounded like a little girl. The answer was quiet, but there was no mistaking where it had come from. I could see the gap between my desk and the next one without turning my head. There was nothing there besides the boy's bag hanging from its hook.
He kept writing. At the front, the pencil scratched against the attendance sheet, and the teacher called the last name.
'Was it even talking to me before?'
I thought back to the voice when the teacher entered. You're back. My eyes drifted towards the space beside my elbow again. The warmth of the seat had faded beneath me, but I remembered how it had felt when I first sat down.
I carefully adjusted my grip, holding the pencil at an angle to use the little bit of lead that remained.
'Who answered? What happened to Mora?'
The questions settled inside my mind despite the situation. I already knew that these were the clues to contain this anomaly.
But it wasn't enough.
I needed⎯
"Show your working."
My head nearly lifted as the same voice whispered from ahead.
Strangely, its voice seemed even softer than before.
Around me, the children continued writing, some turning back a page before starting again.
Step.
The teacher started moving between the desks. Its footsteps stopped every few seconds, occasionally accompanied by the faint rustle of paper. I could follow its progress without lifting my head, listening as it worked its way towards the back.
The closer it came, the more my back tensed.
'...Shit, I've been half-assing them,'
I went back the first one, working through it as neatly as I could. The arithmetic wasn't difficult. Keeping my attention on it while listening to the pauses between the footsteps was another matter.
The boy on my right moved his book. It was already near the far edge of his desk, but he shifted it another inch and pulled his arm away from the gap between us. A light scuff came from beside my chair.
My pencil slowed. The boy's shoes were beneath his own seat, close together, and both of mine were still planted on the ground.
Step.
The teacher was a few desks away when something brushed against my trouser leg, followed by a smaller footstep in the gap. I drew a cold breath.
Nevertheless, I didn't react. I kept writing, though my eyes had stopped following the numbers.
'She gets up when you come over.'
The lighter sound moved away from my chair. I could still hear the teacher approaching from further up the aisle, its heavier footsteps stopping at another desk while the smaller ones passed behind me.
I finished the calculation and moved to the next.
Step!
Another step.
But it wasn't from the teacher. They were too soft for that.
And...
'Behind me.'
They were behind me.
I pressed my lips tightly, trying to keep myself from looking. With the teacher coming this way, I wasn't going to turn in my chair to check what had just walked behind it.
A shadow fell across my page as the footsteps stopped.
A heavy silence fell across the room.
Sweat formed against the back of my shirt, my expression shifting as I worked through the next question, taking a little longer than necessary to write each number. There was a faint smell of damp cloth beside the desk, stronger than the smell coming from the books.
"Here."
Something brushed the top of the page. I followed the movement without looking up, my gaze settling on a number in my first answer.
I'd missed a digit.
"...."
I corrected it, my hand steady in the process as the finger remained pressed against the paper.
"...."
It remained there.
Unmoving as I felt a certain gaze on me. It bore down on me from above, each second feeling longer than the last as I forced my heart rate down.
The gaze continued to hover over me, studying every little movement I made as I tried to breathe as little as possible.
Then⎯
The paper lifted slightly, settling again as the teacher moved on.
Step!
The step sounded again.
I waited until it had stopped at the next desk before looking at the correction.
It had checked my work, but the voice beside my chair hadn't concerned it at all. I rubbed my thumb against the pencil and continued the exercise, keeping my arm well within the edge of the desk.
'Just how long is this going to go on for?'
The teacher eventually returned to the front.
For a while, there was only the sound of writing, interrupted whenever someone turned a page. Keeping my hands beneath the desk, I tried to feel my nodes again, hoping that something had changed.
There was still nothing. I couldn't contact Kyle, and when I turned my wrist to check the time, the numbers didn't help.
[00:29]
'...A long way to go.'
I lowered my hand and went back to the questions. From time to time, I glanced towards the gap beside me, but I couldn't hear the smaller footsteps anymore. That didn't tell me whether anything had returned.
"Pencils down."
The scratching stopped, and I carefully laid mine along the edge of the book.
"Class dismissed."
No one stood immediately. The children remained seated while the teacher moved towards the door, their hands resting on the wood as it opened.
I kept my gaze lowered until I heard the footsteps continue into the corridor.
Only then did the chairs start moving. The boy beside me stood and collected his book. He took care not to let his arm pass over my desk as he stepped away, joining the children filing towards the door.
I waited until several of them had left before standing, the seat creaking beneath my hand as I pushed the chair in.
'I'm not staying here.'
The lesson was over. Whatever protection sitting with the children had given me, I wasn't going to assume it would last once they were gone.
But there was something I needed to check before leaving. I followed the last row towards the front, stopping beside the teacher's desk. The exercise books had been moved aside, leaving the attendance sheet exposed.
All twenty-eight names had a tick beside them. I found Mara's crossed-out entry and followed it towards the edge of the sheet. Now that the books were out of the way, I could read the small annotation at the end.
Withdrawn — 11 October.
See withdrawal record. School office.
"...Withdrawn?"
I glanced towards the doorway before checking the dates at the top of the attendance columns.
October twelfth. Thirteenth. Fourteenth.
Her name had been marked present on every day after she'd supposedly left.
I took the sheet, folding it around the papers in my pocket. The school office should have the record. It might tell me who had withdrawn her, or at least why they'd crossed her name out while continuing to call it every morning.
The Guild's description hadn't mentioned any of this. If I had to spend the next few hours here, I needed to know what had happened to the girl whose seat I'd taken.
A chair scraped behind me. I looked back, expecting to see a child who hadn't left yet, but every chair was empty.
Near the back, the chair at Seat 27 had been pulled away from the desk. I could see the gap between the seat and the wood, wide enough for someone to stand there.
I remembered the smaller footsteps moving away when the teacher approached. My gaze shifted towards the open doorway. The teacher had already gone, and I couldn't hear the children anymore either.
Keeping my eyes on the chair, I backed towards the doorway.
I stepped into the corridor without touching the door, my eyes fixed on the seat.
But regardless of how much I looked, nothing appeared to be different about it. More than anything, I couldn't stay here any longer as I moved out of the classroom and followed the children from behind.
First period had ended.
-x-X-x-
I could see the children again a little further down the corridor.
They were passing through a set of double doors, their books held against their chests. None of them had turned towards the sound of my footsteps.
I started after them, keeping close to the wall.
The papers in my pocket pressed against my leg as I walked, and as I reached down to my pocket, something caught my sleeve before I could pull my hand out.
"Hn?"
I stopped, looking for anything it could have snagged on, but there was nothing beside me.
But I was certain I hadn't imagined it.
...The slight crease by the edge of my sleeve was proof of it.
"Don't."
The voice came from below my shoulder, prompting me to freeze as I looked down.
'...Don't what?'
I swallowed silently, staring at the empty space around me.
Still, regardless of how I looked, there was nothing.
But I knew I hadn't imaged that.
'It doesn't want me to go?'
Why?
To protect me or stop me from finding out about the past?
'...But do I even have a choice?'
I did...
If I just waited it out, I'd probably be fine.
But a part of me didn't want to let go. I wanted to see through the story to the end.
I wanted to find out the truth behind VILE - 303.
'Just what is this anomaly hiding?'
The children continued through the doors. I watched the space beside me for another moment before moving, this time keeping my arm close to my side.
I turned my wrist.
[01:34]
There was still no response from my nodes. Following the children wasn't how I had planned to spend the night, but at least they seemed to know where they were going.
'...Did the Guild know about this?'
The crossed-out name, the voice answering for it, the children sitting through their lessons... Had anyone ever tried to find out what had happened here?
'It's possible, but I'm not sure. Nobody probably had the balls to stay here past midnight.'
The entry I'd read on the Guild Database was a description, and not an investigation report. And even if they knew, that didn't mean they had any reason to do something about it. The anomaly wasn't spreading. Access required a key, and following a few precautions kept everyone safe during the day.
As far as containment went, it wasn't a problem.
Being trapped inside it was a little different, though.
I checked the papers in my pocket again before following the children through the doors.
A smaller corridor lay beyond them. The children were entering a room on the right, opposite a narrow window with School Office written across it.
'The layout is starting to change instead of the infinite loop that was present before. Looks like I'm on the right track.'
My steps slowed. Through the classroom doorway, I could see them taking their seats. The desks were arranged differently here, with narrower aisles and a cupboard full of drawing materials along one wall.
There was no one at the teacher's desk.
Near the back, a chair remained empty. I could just make out the number twenty-seven on the desk in front of it.
I checked the corridor before reaching for the office handle, keeping a close watch of the children as they entered the classroom opposite the office.
The handle turned without a sound, and I eased the door open just enough to slip inside.
The room smelled of damp paper. A coat hung beside a closed inner door, its sleeves almost touching the floor, and several folders had been stacked beneath a row of pigeonholes. I left the door open so I could watch the classroom opposite.
The attendance sheet mentioned a withdrawal record.
I followed the labels on the pigeonholes until I found Class 3-C, then pulled out the folder beneath it. Most of the papers concerned absences and requests from parents, and I went through them carefully, stopping whenever the rustling covered the sound of the corridor.
Mara's name appeared near the back.
11 October — Mara Balle.
Withdrawal requested by telephone. Written confirmation outstanding.
There was a reminder beneath it, dated three days later. The office had still been waiting for the letter.
'...So nobody came to collect her?'
It didn't say. I checked the next sheet, hoping to find a signature or an address, but instead found a list of names. I recognized Rachel Zims and Edward More near the top before noticing the heading.
18 October — Classroom 3-C.
All absent.
"..."
My expression sank.
I held the sheet closer to the light. Someone had attached a shorter statement behind it, the writing cramped against the margin.
Mrs. Vale's body was removed from the landing before entry to 3-C was attempted.
Instructions to remain seated could still be heard inside. Witness identified the speaker as Mrs. Vale.
There were dark marks along the bottom of the paper. I rubbed one lightly with my thumb, then looked towards the classroom. The nearest boy was arranging his pencils. Beside him, a girl smoothed the corner of a page with her palm.
I looked back at the statement.
'All absent...? And Mrs. Vale's body was removed? This suggests that she died. But why was everyone else absent?'
The more I read, the more it became clear to me that something more sinister was at play behind the scenes.
Step!
A footstep sounded beyond the double doors.
I slipped the papers into my pocket, taking the attached sheets with them, and returned the folder. There wasn't enough time to go through the rest.
I crossed the corridor and entered the classroom.
The children were already looking towards the front, and I passed between their desks without any of them turning. By the time I reached the empty chair, the footsteps were almost at the doorway.
The same number had been cut into the wood of the desk.
27.
I ran my thumb over it as I sat, then rested my hands beside an unused exercise book. A pencil, a ruler, and a small eraser lay along its upper edge.
"Continue your copywork."
The door closed behind the teacher as I kept my gaze lowered.
Even now, I had yet to dare to look at it.
I opened the exercise book, glancing towards the boy in Seat 26, on my left, to find the correct page. He had already begun writing, and I copied the first line while listening to the chalk move across the board.
The desk moved slightly beneath my arms.
At first, I thought I'd caught one of its legs with my foot, but when I moved both feet back, the wood rocked again.
⎯!
I caught the ruler before it could slide off the edge.
I placed it beside my book and pressed down on the desk, trying to work out which leg wasn't resting properly.
Tok!
A small knock came from underneath, followed by another hard enough to lift the back against my hands.
"⎯⎯!"
The sound echoed loudly in the silence, prompting me to freeze in place as I held my breath at once.
The teacher's voice had long faded.
I leaned forward, easing the table down before the legs could strike the floor. Through the gap beside my chair, I tried to look down, only to be left stumped as nothing appeared beneath me.
But I was certain.
Something was present.
Close to me.
'Should I use my glasses? No, that isn't wise...'
That would just attract the teacher's attention.
Then...?
"Keep writing."
The teacher's gravelly voice sounded once more as the screech from the chalk echoed ahead. I held my breath slightly at the sound, but soon I picked up the pencil, leaving my other palm pressed against the desk.
The pressure eased enough for me to finish another line, though I couldn't tell whether anything had moved away.
"⎯⎯!"
The eraser was next.
Before I realised, it slid past the edge of the desk.
I caught it against the book, but before I could put it back, the ruler moved to the side and fell.
Clack!
Every pencil stopped.
The silence returned.
It was even more suffocating than before.
And all gazes immediately fell on me.
"Mara. Hands on the desk."
The voice came from the front, followed by a footstep. I put the pencil down and spread my hands against the wood. Beneath them, the desk started shaking again.
'...Fuck.'
I braced one of its legs with my shoe and pressed down, trying to stop the shaking.
The shaking was small enough that the books barely moved, but each time I eased the pressure, a leg started to lift.
The teacher stopped beside me, its long shadow casting over the table before me.
Sweat gathered beneath my collar, and I could feel a thin strand working its way down my back as I kept my attention on the page.
"It came from here."
The teacher picked up the ruler and placed it beside my book. The desk knocked against my shoe, and I shifted my weight to keep it from touching the floor.
Something brushed my wrist, then caught two of my fingers.
I could feel smaller fingers trying to lift them from the wood, their grip tightening whenever I pressed down harder.
"Do you need to be moved again?"
I looked at the unused margin of my book, waiting for something beside me to answer. When nothing did, I kept my hands where they were, listening to the faint creaking beneath them.
After a while, the fingers loosened. The pressure under the desk eased with them, leaving me leaning over the table before me.
"Then sit properly."
I straightened slowly.
The teacher remained beside me for another few seconds before returning towards the front. Only when the chalk started moving again did the other children resume their work.
I picked up the pencil, adjusting my grip to keep it from slipping between my damp fingers.
Whatever was beside me seemed determined to get me into trouble.
I glanced towards the boy in Seat 26. He was copying the next line without a single word.
He didn't seem to have noticed any of my actions at all, and as I looked at him, my eyes glossed over his notes before I turned away.
'Quite neat writing.'
But that wasn't important.
The teacher's question bothered me enough that I reached for the papers once it had settled at the front. I kept them beneath my exercise book and checked the sheets I'd taken with the withdrawal record.
One was a request for repairs.
12 October — Desk 26. Removed for repair.
Mara Balle remains absent. Elon Ward claims to have spoken with her at the treeline, though he noted her skin felt remarkably warm. He has been told not to visit her again.
My pencil stopped above the page.
I checked the date again before looking towards the boy beside me.
I watched him finish another word, and then I looked at the letter in front of me.
I blinked slowly as I compared the two.
And as I did, his head slowly turned.
Our eyes met.
-x-X-x-
His eyes remained on mine, empty in the same way as the other children's.
For just the briefest of moments, I froze, my hand tensing slightly.
Did...
Did he hear me?
I glanced towards the folded note beneath my book. It could've been how they were taught to write, but even the spacing looked similar.
'...Did you write this?'
My lips parted as I readied to ask, but—
A certain step stopped me.
Step.
I lowered my eyes and slid the paper beneath the exercise book. The boy continued looking at me while the teacher's footsteps moved between the desks, his pencil still resting against the unfinished word.
Something touched the back of my chair. I kept writing, listening as the footsteps stopped beside us. Through the gap beneath my arm, I could see the boy's shoes facing forward. Neither had moved towards me.
He...
He was still looking at me.
My heart pressed tighter against my chest.
The pressure against the chair increased, and not slightly.
Rattle! Rattle!
The entire chair started to rattle, as if it had suddenly come alive. I immediately shifted my weight to keep it still, but it was difficult. Whatever was behind me was trying to move it even harder.
Rattle!
My heart jumped, the step ahead of me drawing closer.
'Stop. Stop.'
But it didn't stop.
It kept rattling, the things on my desk slowly shifting toward the edge. Sweat trickled down the side of my face as I moved my hands to stop them from falling.
I could feel the noticeable shift in the classroom as the rattling grew worse, and just as another step echoed, the same grave voice whispered into the air.
"Eyes on your work."
The shaking stopped in an instant.
A deafening silence followed.
Until—
The boy turned towards his book, and the teacher's gaze fell on me.
"....."
A suffocating pressure engulfed me from all sides, each second seemingly lasting for hours as I kept my head lowered, my attention on the papers in front of me as I held my breath.
Tik! Tik!
For just a moment, it almost felt as if I could hear time ticking inside of my head.
Step!
My heart jumped.
The teacher approached.
Step!
It was coming to me.
It was...
"...."
It stopped.
It's gaze remained fixed on me from above, studying my every action as I continued to keep my gaze lowered. I thought it would say something, but it never did, as another step resounded a moment later, the back of my shirt damp with sweat.
I waited until the teacher moved away before easing my weight forward.
Only then did I let out a relieved breath as I turned to look at the boy next to me.
He was quietly writing, but something about him felt wrong.
My eyes narrowed, but I soon looked away.
"Next exercise."
For the rest of the lesson, I kept the papers covered. From time to time, I could feel the boy looking over, but whenever I glanced towards him, his attention was on the page. When the teacher finally told us to put our pencils down, I was already watching his hands.
He closed his book and waited for the footsteps to leave the room. Only then did he stand, joining the children making their way outside.
By then, the teacher was already gone.
I followed a few paces behind.
The corridor had changed again. There was a staircase beyond the office now, where I'd previously seen a wall. The children walked towards it without slowing, their shoes sounding faintly against the floor.
Elon stopped beside the office window, his head turning towards the glass. I followed his gaze, but from where I stood, I could only see the coat hanging beside the inner door.
"...Elon?"
He remained there for another moment before continuing towards the stairs. I couldn't tell whether he'd heard me.
'What were you looking at?'
I checked the corridor before entering the office. The folder I'd searched earlier was still beneath the pigeonholes, with several sheets protruding from where I'd hurriedly put it away.
I took it out and went through the pages I'd missed.
15 October — Parent visit.
Mrs. Balle denies requesting withdrawal. States that her daughter has not returned home.
"..."
I checked the date against the telephone record in my pocket. They'd spent four days waiting for written confirmation from a woman who hadn't made the call. Meanwhile, someone had continued marking Mara present.
'Then whose voice did they hear?'
My thumb moved over the folded statement about Mrs. Vale. Instructions had continued coming from the classroom after her body was removed. I placed the two papers together.
Further back, I found the completion slip for the repairs.
16 October — Desk 26 returned.
Elon Ward to resume his original place. Temporary use of Desk 27 ended.
'This is two days before they disappeared.'
I kept a finger beneath the second line as I looked towards the classroom opposite. From the doorway, I could see the empty desk near the back, its chair pushed beneath it just as I'd left it.
He'd sat there before I had.
'...Does he know something? Is he involved in Mara's disappearance?'
Surely he was involved to some extent... After all, he did say he met her during her absence, claiming she had a fever. I checked the remaining pages, but a footstep from above made me return the folder before I reached the end.
I took the two slips with me and followed the children upstairs. The next classroom smelled faintly of wet coats. Elon was already seated beside the only empty chair, his book open in front of him.
Twenty-six and twenty-seven. I sat down, keeping the papers tucked inside my sleeve until the teacher entered.
[02:23]
There was still plenty of time before six. I could keep following him between lessons and check the rooms along the way.
The next few hours passed like that. I learned to leave when the children did and to watch the boy rather than the teacher. Between lessons, I checked cupboards and the papers left on desks, stopping whenever footsteps interrupted the scratching of my fingers against the drawers.
Most told me nothing. Bills, lists of supplies, unfinished exercises. I kept the ones mentioning Class 3-C.
In one classroom, I found a note dated the thirteenth clipped to the register.
Elon Ward returned from the grounds after the afternoon bell. Refused to say who had told him to go outside.
Beneath it, in a different hand:
Claims he was following Mrs. Vale.
Mrs. Vale was supervising detention at the time.
I read it again while the children settled into their places. Had he been following someone, too?
I wanted to ask him, but he never gave me much of a chance. Outside the classroom, he stayed with the others. Inside, the teacher was always close enough to hear.
Once, while I was checking a cupboard, small fingers caught my sleeve. I pulled away without looking, needing both hands to lift a stack of books. By the time I remembered the touch, there was nothing beside me.
[04:46]
I put my wrist down and returned to the page. There were dates missing between the papers I'd collected. I still hadn't found out what happened on the seventeenth, or why the entire class had been marked absent the following day.
I'd meant to check my nodes again, but there was another drawer beneath the one I'd searched.
I opened that before joining the children.
By the last lesson, I had arranged the papers inside my book in order of date. The teacher continued speaking while I went over the entries, occasionally copying a line whenever it started moving.
Elon sat beside me. His handwriting hadn't changed, and neither had the empty look in his eyes.
I was comparing the note to his page again when the teacher stopped speaking.
"Class dismissed."
I turned my wrist.
[06:00]
'Already?'
I lifted my head.
The chair beside me was empty. So were the others, and when I looked towards the front, there was no one standing there.
"...Hn?"
I stood, listening for footsteps in the corridor.
However...
There was absolutely nothing.
The exercise books were gone. I looked down at my own desk, then towards the walls as the room brightened. Where the rows had been, I could see the game pods. The faint hum of my computer reached me from beside the windows.
My office.
For a little while, I remained beside the chair, holding the papers. Then I walked towards the door and pressed the handle down.
Click. Click.
It wouldn't open. I pulled a little harder before letting go.
'...Right.'
Whatever had trapped me before midnight was still keeping me here. The end of the school night hadn't changed that.
I returned to my desk and sat down.
The chair was much more comfortable than the ones I'd spent the night in, and I leaned back briefly before spreading the papers across the wood.
I should've been angry.
I should've been incredibly angry and frustrated about what was happening to me.
A few hours earlier, I'd been throwing chairs at that door.
And yet—
Now, I couldn't even be bothered to think about that as I looked at the unsigned note and stared at it intently.
"What are you hiding?"
VILE - 303?
"...What is the truth behind you?"
This was all I could think about.
-x-X-x-
"Alright, let's summarize the situation."
Tak! Tak! Tak!
I typed everything on the open file in front of me.
Mara Balle, Seat 27, claimed an invisible girl sat in her chair and answered when her name was called. Mara was then supposedly withdrawn by phone, but her mother later denied making the call and said Mara had gone missing.
Tak! Tak—
My fingers continued to dance across the keyboard as I summarized all the information.
After Mara disappeared, Elon Ward, the little boy, temporarily moved from Seat 26 to Seat 27. He claimed to have met Mara outside and said her skin was unusually warm. He later followed someone who looked like Mrs. Vale, even though the real Mrs. Vale was elsewhere.
Tak!
For a moment, my finger paused.
I continued to stare at the words in front of me as my mind drifted back to the events from a moment prior.
The more I studied the situation, the weirder it felt to me.
I continued.
By October 18, the entire class was marked absent. Mrs. Vale's body had been removed from the school, yet her voice could still be heard teaching inside the classroom.
"...Another ghost, maybe?"
No, ghosts aren't real.
Probably an anomaly. Or the classroom?
But how did it come to?
By now, it was clear that anomalies weren't exactly'random'. Anomalies didn't just appear out of thin air. There was a reason for it, and I had a feeling it likely had to do with'Hell'.
Tak! Tak!
During the anomaly, I personally confirmed that something invisible still occupies Seat 27, answers as Mara, touches, moves furniture, and seems bound by classroom rules. I've also noticed Elon's handwriting resembles the note found at Mara's desk.
I paused once more.
This was the most unsettling aspect.
Why was his handwriting the same as the notes that I found?
What was the correlation between the notes and him?
"I know he's involved, but to what extent? Is he the one who caused her disappearance?"
I nibbled my lip, trying to make more sense of the situation.
Eventually, I highlighted a certain part.
"The biggest missing clue is what happened on October 17, right before the entire class disappeared."
October 18 was when they disappeared.
This was the biggest clue.
"If not for the fact that I don't have any connection here, I'd go look for any missing cases that dated back to October 18. That would probably help me out with the situation more. If I investigate the true location of the events, I might be able to find out more."
There was a deep and sinister secret hiding behind VILE - 303.
One that I had a feeling was hiding something deep.
"...The thing I want to know is if I can solve this here, or I have to get out."
I looked towards the locked door, and my lips pulled up a bit.
"It doesn't seem like I will be able to get out anytime soon, anyways."
Six hours had already passed since I had been trapped here. The others were probably looking for me, but since they had yet to be here, it was very unlikely that they were going to find me anytime soon.
'Right, the only way for me to get out at this point is to just wait for my nodes to recover.'
I touched my head.
The pain had subsided quite a bit, but I still could not feel my nodes.
I'd normally be worried about something like this, but strangely, I didn't quite feel that worried. In fact, I wasn't all that bothered inside as I kept glancing at the clock at the end of the room.
'...It'll be a while until it becomes midnight again.'
There was food and water in the fridge, thankfully, which should last me a while. It was normal for me to spend a lot of time in this room. A fridge was a necessity.
For that, I wasn't all that worried about lasting for a while here.
The issue would be that food was limited.
'I hope my nodes recover by then.'
Reaching for my pocket, I popped another pill, hoping it would help me in some way.
I looked around the room and decided to lean back against my chair as I shut my eyes to get some sleep.
My thoughts drifted to the case even in my sleep.
"October 17..."
Just what in the world happened on that day?
***
"Have you seen him at all?"
"N-no... He was like, he told me to, like... go to you guys and come back. I did that, and Jordan was here too, right?"
"Yes."
It had been a sleepless night for a certain squad.
Listening to Mia's and Jordan's recount, Joanna rubbed her forehead. They had been moving the entire night around the old Guild in search of their Team Leader, and yet, despite looking in every nook and cranny of the place, they weren't able to find anything at all.
It was as if he had disappeared completely from the face of the earth.
"Ah, this is giving me a headache."
Joanna rubbed her forehead again.
She wanted to report the situation back to the Guild or the people at the BUA above, but she also understood that the moment she did that, things would spiral in a bad direction. The reporters would quickly dive into the news, and public opinion on Seth would spiral even further.
"What should we do?"
At Mia's question, Joanna's gaze fell on Seth's old office.
Her lips parted. "Have you checked every nook and cranny of the office?"
"Yes. There's nothing there besides the door that leads to... the torture chamber."
Everyone flinched the moment the words left Mia's mouth.
Right, the torture chamber.
"Is it still closed?"
Normally, the torture chamber was closed from midnight to six in the morning. Those were the times when they weren't supposed to go.
Mia nodded.
"Yes. I've checked already. Even now, it's still closed."
"....Hm."
Joanna's brows furrowed.
'Based on what Mia told me before, he told them to leave and get us to come back to him in his office. Given that he's gone and the door is closed, the answer is obvious.'
"He's locked in the torture chambers."
It wasn't Joanna who spoke.
Instead, it was Ariel as she looked in the direction of the torture chambers.
Her words made the rest look in the same direction as Joanna sucked in a cold breath.
It wasn't just here. Everyone had long connected the dots.
'If he's truly been there, then...'
"I think he's fine, to be honest."
It was Ariel who spoke again.
"...I don't think he's the type of guy who'd suffer from something like that. What I'm more curious about is why he isn't out yet. The door's clearly locked, but even we can't open it. Something is clearly wrong with the situation."
"Let me make a quick call."
Joanna reached for her pocket and scrolled through the Guild's contacts before finding a certain name.
'If we can't open it from here, then maybe from the other side?'
She dialed the number.
A soft voice responded not long after.
—Hello?
"Ah, senior."
Joanna's voice contained hints of respect as she answered the phone.
"There's been a situation. It's like this..."