"Ami, let's get out of here quickly. This place just feels… really creepy."
Feeling a chill in her heart, Reiko once again urged Ami, hoping to get her to leave this haunted house together.
But just like before, Ami gave her no response.
By this point, Reiko finally sensed something was off. However, she still didn't connect it to anything supernatural—she only thought her best friend was playing a prank on her.
With a helpless sigh, she shook Ami's arm. "Come on, Ami, that's enough already. There are people waiting in line behind us. Staying here too long isn't good."
The room was silent, save for Reiko's voice and the faint sounds caused by her movements.
When her words faded, the room fell once again into a suffocating silence.
Then, tap. The quiet was broken by a light sound. A second later, the same sound rang out again.
As if some unknown switch had been flipped, the sound began repeating at a steady rhythm.
Hearing the noise so close by, Reiko jerked her head toward the ancient, broken wall clock. Beneath it, the rusted metal pendulum had begun to swing again.
Within seconds, a deep chime rang from the clock.
The ancient bell-like toll filled the room, as though declaring that time, long stopped, had begun moving again.
Reiko's eyes landed on the hands pointing to twelve o'clock. Even someone who never believed in ghosts couldn't help but shiver.
And at that exact moment, Ami—who had been unresponsive—finally moved.
She stiffly turned her head, her face now directly facing Reiko.
"Are you talking to me?" A perfect British accent flowed from "Ami's" lips.
Reiko, whose English wasn't great, didn't understand. But even if she had, she wouldn't have processed it—because the instant she saw the other's face, she froze as though her soul had left her body.
"Ghost!!!"
Two seconds later, with a terrified scream, she released her grip on her friend and stumbled backward in panic.
In her haste, she tripped after only a few steps and fell hard to the floor.
Even so, she used all her strength to scramble backward, desperate to get away from her "friend."
Because "Ami" was no longer Ami at all—but a faceless woman.
Her face wasn't merely blank skin; it looked as though her features had been crudely scraped away with some solid, rough tool, leaving raw, mangled flesh behind.
Her clothing had also changed without notice—now a tattered, timeworn noblewoman's gown, identical to the one in the oil painting.
…
Meanwhile, Ami was experiencing the exact same thing as Reiko.
Even someone who prided herself on her bravery, who believed no haunted house could scare her, now felt on the verge of breaking down.
She kept telling herself it was all fake, just a class 2-3 haunted house set-up, and that the faceless noblewoman was just someone in costume.
But the sudden disappearance of her inseparable friend, the overwhelmingly real visuals, and the suffocating stench of blood and decay all screamed at her that everything happening was real.
She really had encountered something supernatural!
Just as Ami was thinking about how to escape this room, a voice suddenly sounded from directly behind her.
"Hey, did you come here specifically to play with me?"
Ami didn't understand the English, but the moment she heard that oddly familiar voice, her already-pounding heart gave another violent thump. Trembling, she slowly looked up toward the spot where the faceless woman had been standing—only to find that the figure was gone.
Not daring to think, Ami mustered the last of her courage and scrambled toward the door, not once looking back.
"Why are you running? Stay here and play with me forever, okay? I'm so lonely here all by myself\~"
Even as she fled at full speed, the voice reached her again.
It was still in English, yet somehow she inexplicably understood it—despite her grades barely scraping past the passing line.
There was no time to wonder why. Her pace quickened, fear surging higher.
Because the voice stayed glued to her back, impossible to shake off, no matter how fast she ran.
And then came a despairing realization: she couldn't seem to escape this strange room at all.
From the moment she had started crawling and running, half a minute had passed—yet she hadn't gotten any closer to the door.
Just a few meters of distance now felt like an insurmountable gulf.
She runs, it chases, and she has no escape!
Minutes crawled by like years for Ami.
"It's supposed to be a fun cultural festival… why did it turn out like this?!"
Regret filled her heart. She regretted showing off, regretted stepping into this haunted house.
If she hadn't, she wouldn't be going through this now.
Yet even at this life-and-death moment, she didn't blame Eriri—though Eriri was partly why she'd come in the first place.
She blamed only herself for not being firm enough when facing Eriri.
Just as despair was setting in, Ami finally managed to cross what had seemed an uncrossable gulf and reached the door.
Somehow, the unsettling voice behind her had vanished.
Without hesitation, joy flashing across her face, Ami shoved the door open and dashed forward at the fastest speed of her life.
But the place she emerged into wasn't the entrance she remembered. Instead, it was a brand-new narrow passage.
At least the surroundings were back to normal—the black curtains instead of solid walls, the staged props, and the flickering dim lights from the entrance area had returned.
The familiarity filled her with relief. She nearly shouted with joy—this was what a haunted house should look like!
Just then, running footsteps and cries echoed from behind her.
Hearing them, Ami's face brightened and she prepared to turn toward the sound.
But she froze mid-motion, as if remembering something. Wiping her tear-stained cheeks with her sleeve, she patted her face lightly to restore her usual composure.
Only after doing all this did she finally turn around.
The person crying finally came into view—it was Reiko.
Having narrowly escaped that eerie room, Reiko burst into even louder sobs when she saw Ami.
"Ami, I finally found you again… It was so terrifying… I thought my life was over… sob sob sob…"
She opened her arms, about to throw herself into Ami's embrace.
But just then, the memory of what had happened earlier flashed in her mind. Afraid that her "best friend" might still be the faceless monster in disguise, Reiko stopped abruptly, staring at Ami with deep suspicion.
"What's wrong, Reiko?"
Ami blinked in confusion at her strange behavior.
Remembering what had just happened, Ami instantly realized what Reiko feared.
"It's fine, Reiko. I'm Ami, not some monster pretending to be me."
Reassured by her voice, Reiko's guard melted. She rushed forward and hugged her tightly.
"Ami!!!"
Seeing her best friend again after more than ten minutes felt like an eternity had passed.
A sudden urge to cry welled up inside Ami, but she forced it down—she didn't want Reiko to see her in tears.
After discreetly wiping her damp eyes, Ami released Reiko and began exchanging information.
"Reiko, tell me what happened to you in that room."
Through their brief conversation, they discovered they had experienced exactly the same thing.
Looking at Ami's forced composure, Reiko—now a little calmer—couldn't help saying:
"Ami, after what happened, you must be terrified. Don't hold it in. I won't laugh at you."
Ami waved her hand casually, still pretending indifference.
"Nope. I was scared at first, but I'm fine now. Don't worry about me."
Reiko said nothing more. She knew Ami well—stubborn to the bone.
Since her friend insisted, she let it go. There would be no problem—once they left this place, she'd naturally recover.
In the end, though the incident had scared them badly, neither was physically hurt. Even the falls they took while fleeing hadn't left a single scratch.
It was almost as if the whole thing had been staged just to frighten them.
Still, they were certain that room was not part of Class 2-3's setup. The supernatural was real.
And while their bodies were unharmed, the mental trauma was deep. They might never set foot in another haunted house again.
For now, they had no desire to continue exploring. They just wanted to find the exit and heal their shaken hearts.
But as they walked forward with lighter hearts, an even creepier voice than the faceless woman's suddenly came from behind.
"Hey, can you see me?"
Both girls stiffened instantly. Meeting each other's gaze, they saw the same fear reflected in the other's eyes. Their clasped hands gripped tighter.
Then the eerie voice came again—now wildly excited and frenzied.
"You can hear me… you can see me! I'm going to eat you!!!"
"Reiko, run!"
Without a second thought, Ami shouted and pulled Reiko forward at full speed.
Reiko's reaction was just as quick. She matched Ami's pace easily.
Turning a corner, they glanced to the side—and froze.
A hideous creature loomed less than a meter away, its bloated form shrouded in black miasma, its organs exposed outside its body.
Ami and Reiko went pale as death. Their terrified screams rang out as they sprinted even faster.
They swore in their hearts: if they escaped today, they would never set foot in a haunted house again.
Meanwhile, Mirei Shinohara and the others playing ghosts were still stationed eagerly at their posts.
The boy who had run screaming out earlier had boosted their confidence. They didn't know why he was already terrified before they even acted, but they were sure their setup had played a role.
Once they had made their move, he'd fled crying—making their first scare a perfect success.
Now they awaited their next prey.
Then, two piercing female screams suddenly rang out inside the classroom…
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