"Hai-kun... and Auntie... I wonder if their exploration is going smoothly..."
On the 2nd floor, in Room 206, Maki sat in the living room and sighed softly, unable to hide the worry in her heart.
She didn't remember the events of the first loop, but just from Gao Hai's description of 'her and him dying together on the 3rd floor,' she could understand how dangerous the third floor of Shirakawa Apartments was.
Now, Hai-kun and Kaguya had been gone for an hour.
There were still about two hours until their agreed-upon return time.
Please be okay.
Please come back safely.
"Please don't let anything happen... Auntie... Hai-kun..."
Subconsciously, she reached up and touched her lips.
Maki zoned out for a moment, once again recalling the touch she shared with Gao Hai at the end of the last loop.
Her heartbeat seemed to be getting a little unsteady again.
What is this? Could it be that I really... No, no, that's impossible. This is just the suspension bridge effect; it has nothing to do with personal feelings. It's just because he saved my life and I experienced intense emotional changes during a crisis, causing my heart to race and other phenomena, which I'm now misinterpreting as a change in my own feelings. But in reality, it's just a psychological illusion. I don't actually feel that way, that's right, I actually... Ugh, what's the use of thinking about all this...
Feeling her face heat up, Maki reached out and gently patted her cheeks. Then, she couldn't help but think of her best friend, Nagisa Kashiwagi. And, of course, the boy she once had a crush on—the boy who was now with her best friend.
For Maki Shijo's love life, 'tragic' was probably the most direct adjective. Because she couldn't express her feelings directly, she goaded her best friend Nagisa Kashiwagi into asking and teasing the boy, hoping to find out if he had a girlfriend. As a result, something must have short-circuited in his brain, because he went and kabedon-ed her best friend. The two of them became a couple at lightning speed, going from holding hands to kissing to the unspeakable in just about two months. And so, her budding first love, which hadn't even begun, was buried by her own hand due to her own idea.
Of course, she was mostly over it by now. What wasn't hers was never going to be hers. But still, the thought of her most trusted friend getting it on with the boy she used to have a crush on, while she herself was inexplicably thrown into a grand theater of a death game, left Maki with a feeling that made it impossible to smile, like tears were churning in her gut.
Mmm, and you know, if I really think about it, Gao Hai is a pretty good person.
He's reliable, always taking the initiative to explore and shouldering the most dangerous tasks.
He has a decisive and ruthless side; he's capable of great things. After confirming the problem with Lao Guo and the fake Maeda, he acted without the slightest hesitation, eliminating them with utmost speed. If a strong man with such qualities were to marry into the Shijo family, he might be appreciated by the whole family, perhaps even become a vanguard against the Shinomiya family... Wait, why am I thinking about him marrying into the Shijo family?!
Maki shook her head violently, feeling genuinely displeased with her own instinctive thoughts.
However, Hai-kun also has a magnanimous side. Even though that man, Green, committed such a grave act of betrayal, he was still willing to give him a chance to pledge his loyalty. While the consideration of Green's usefulness was a factor, this careful and deliberate side of him truly shows what a capable man he is.
And, he actually has a gentle side, too. Especially when he found out I could remember the events of the previous loop. His reaction back then... it was like he was about to cry.
So smart and so capable, standing tall like steel, yet he occasionally shows a childishly fragile side. What an inscrutable guy. What on earth was he thinking when he said he wanted me to kiss him?
Maki Shijo couldn't figure out the right answer. Or rather, even if she did, she would avoid it for now.
In any case, the only thing she could do now was pray that the two of them would act successfully.
Speaking of which, Auntie isn't exactly a nice person. Acting alongside her, Hai-kun is probably having a hard time, isn't he?
They might be having a really hard time getting along right now, unable to cooperate properly.
With these thoughts, Maki Shijo once again began to pray silently.
Meanwhile, on the third floor.
Kaguya, standing just over 1.5 meters tall, was huddled within Gao Hai's 1.8-meter frame. The size comparison made her look like a big cat, giving Gao Hai the subconscious urge to pull her into his arms. Of course, it was just a thought; he would never actually act on it.
As for Kaguya herself, even in her Ice Kaguya Princess state, a faint blush had inevitably crept onto her cheeks. She felt an extremely intense discomfort from this zero-distance contact with a man.
But neither of them dared to move.
Because hundreds, perhaps even over a thousand, densely packed porcelain doll children were marching through the corridor like an army. And the cabinet Gao Hai and Kaguya were hiding on was right in the middle of their encirclement.
What the hell is with this number?
Gao Hai really wanted to curse out loud.
Seriously, just as they reached the door to 304 and were getting ready to open it, seeing a legion-like swarm of porcelain dolls flooding towards them, Gao Hai instantly got the feeling that 'the damn developers pulled some inhuman stunt to keep players out of an unopened area.'
But cursing inwardly was one thing; they still had to run. So, Gao Hai and Kaguya quickly found the nearest cabinet and hid on top of it. And because there wasn't enough space on top, they were forced to remain pressed together.
How utterly indecent...
Feeling incredibly embarrassed, Kaguya couldn't help but think this.
A full three minutes passed before the vast procession of dolls, carrying schoolbags and holding little flags, finally moved on and disappeared.
Jumping down from the cabinet, Gao Hai recalled the dolls' attire and was involuntarily reminded of the spring and autumn school trips often held in elementary and junior high.
Is this some kind of reenactment of the child's memories?
And did it have to be reenacted in such a terrifying way? With so many dolls, if he hadn't run fast enough, he would have been boiled alive multiple times over. He'd be completely cooked.
"Hah..."
Kaguya, who followed him down from the cabinet, took a slight gasp after landing, finally calming her nerves.
"What's wrong? Is the young lady too tired to go on?"
Gao Hai teased Kaguya before striding towards the blood-red door.
"An utterly boring provocation. I just despise this feeling of constantly having to hide."
Kaguya Shinomiya, quickly catching up, said coldly, the blush on her face rapidly fading as she regained her composure.
Unlike when he was with Maki, Kaguya was not a girl who could easily understand others. Therefore, to cooperate well with a woman like her, it was better to adopt a slightly more assertive or even impolite attitude. Paradoxically, this made it easier for her to get into the right mindset and participate more seriously in the mission.
Having read the original work, it wasn't complicated for Gao Hai to figure out this dynamic, but... it was still pretty awkward. After a few exchanges, Gao Hai felt like he was on the verge of becoming one of those strange characters who smirks devilishly before starting a provocation.
"Get ready. It's possible we'll face an extremely dangerous situation the moment I open this door."
He inserted the key to 304 into the keyhole.
Gao Hai turned back and said seriously to Kaguya.
"Let's do it."
Kaguya, holding the wall clock, had already placed her fingers on its hands, ready to turn them at a moment's notice.
Click!
In the next moment, with a crisp sound, the key turned gently, and the dark red door slowly swung open.
Gao Hai slowly pushed open the blood-red door before him.
The darkness behind the door was partially dispelled by the light from the corridor.
It was a long, narrow passageway.
A foul-smelling passageway, piled high with broken wine bottles and trash bags.
"It stinks..."
Kaguya, with her keen sense of smell, frowned and looked towards the end of the passageway, at its empty terminus, wondering where it might lead.
But Gao Hai was staring at the small, blurry figure standing at the end of that passageway.
And behind that figure, a tall, twisted, and malformed body holding a kettle of boiling water.
He heard its voice.
"[You disobedient mutt!]"
A voice filled with rage, utterly terrifying, yet impossible to resist.
"[That'll teach you to be disobedient! That'll teach you to be greedy! That'll teach you to disobey!]"
A roaring scream that hardly seemed human.
In the next instant, scalding hot water rained down from above Gao Hai's head, drenching him completely.
Boiling steam filled the air.
"Mr. Gao Hai!?"
Kaguya, who hadn't seen anything, turned her head in shock. Not expecting Gao Hai to suffer such a bizarre attack, she unhesitatingly grabbed the clock in her hands.
The hands were spun back violently.
Time began to rewind.
Gao Hai and Kaguya returned to Room 206, back in front of Maki.
But Gao Hai's clothes, soaked with boiling water, were still steaming.
The rewind had not worked.
When faced with a curse triggered inside Room 304, the time-rewinding clock had failed to change Gao Hai's condition.
"As I thought... it's not that easy..."
Gao Hai sighed with resignation and, in the next moment, collapsed to the floor.
The two girls beside him began to frantically help him remove his scalding clothes, cooling and disinfecting his wounds to prevent them from worsening as much as possible.
The first round of the third-floor investigation ended with Gao Hai and Kaguya Shinomiya exploring for over an hour, only for Gao Hai to suffer severe burns without even setting foot inside Room 304, rendering him unable to participate in any further action for the time being.
And the time was still the morning of the first day. It seemed there was still plenty of time and opportunity for the survivors in the apartment to try again.
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