"Wearing the rescue-team uniform allows entry into Room 309 because Kyosei is the rescue-team captain. After the entire apartment fell into Horror Story form, he remained connected with the rescue-team Horror Story and kept his rationality for a long time until Sánchez destroyed everything… Tch. The first floor is the rescue team, the third floor is the root. Maybe because we are on the third floor, the first-floor rescue team has a hard time reaching this place. If there were some way to establish a connection between the third and first floors…"
"Based on the experience from the previous loop, if the degree of conversion is high enough, it is possible to directly call forth the rescue team on the third floor. To break the power clash between the third and first floors and allow the rescue team to appear here, there must be an individual whose conversion is basically complete present in this place. But this requires extremely strong willpower. I think only I might be able to do it—only I can possibly retain my self-awareness while being almost fully converted."
After seriously thinking it through, Takumi presented this opinion.
"I don't agree. If we leave, we leave together. It's not time to act out some self-sacrifice drama."
Without the slightest hesitation, Maki immediately expressed firm opposition.
"I also disagree. It truly isn't yet the point where sacrificing one person is necessary. We need to think again—what clue did we overlook?"
Although Kaguya's personality was cold, she also chose to oppose at this moment. She was not truly emotionless. While there was still an alternative, expecting her to willingly abandon Takumi's life was impossible.
"All right… then we'll treat this as a backup plan for now."
Takumi nodded lightly and did not say anything more.
He had originally genuinely considered whether he should directly put on the badge and try to forcibly retain his consciousness while undergoing complete conversion to summon the rescue team.
But the existence of the rollback cheat meant that once he chose self-sacrifice, the final result would inevitably be everything starting over from the beginning, making it completely meaningless.
So he had to think of some other method.
What if he let that Maeda Miwa put on the badge, let her be completely converted, and then have her summon the rescue-team members?
No—impossible. Summoning rescue-team members required a certain degree of active awareness. And after complete conversion, a rescue-team member would definitely head to the first floor. Even if he also wore a rescue-team badge, there was no guarantee he could command anyone. The risk was great and the hope was small—it had no value for the moment.
Was there really some clue that had been overlooked—something they could use, needed to use, but had ignored and never thought of?
A clue…
Kyosei's message pointed to Room 109, and the 304 key found in 109 led them to Sánchez's last words, which then brought them to the present.
These clues were linked one after another, indeed paving a path of survival for them. There was no reason for a problem to appear at this final crucial step.
So what was the clue they had not used yet… the cassette tapes?
Something long forgotten suddenly resurfaced at this moment.
"Open a door—a door leading to the place where the cassette player is. We overlooked the cassette tapes. The mediation tapes of the residents of 309 and 304—there might be clues hidden inside them."
Takumi, who suddenly snapped awake, quickly spoke to the two beside him.
Maki and Kaguya showed a momentary flash of confusion, but then immediately understood. Kaguya almost instantly walked to a nearby door, inserted the blood key into the lock, twisted it lightly, and opened it. Maki, meanwhile, took out from her backpack the stack of cassette tapes Takumi had placed with her, and followed Kaguya, ready to enter.
Behind the opening door was a clearly second-floor room, with a shallow layer of accumulated water on the floor.
The three did not recognize which room this was for the moment, because its furnishings were somewhat different from the rooms they had visited before. This room contained an old radio. On the table sat a small cassette player.
They entered the room and closed the door.
Before Kaguya could take hold of the cassette player, the door behind them suddenly burst open, and the old man's corpse from Room 201 lunged out.
If Kaguya had not reacted in time and thrown out the Blood Puppet, letting those fleshy wooden dolls entangle the old man, at least one of the three would definitely have been injured in that instant.
"So it was Room 201, the one we never explored because the corpse was too active? Tch. Speaking of it—aside from this loop, we never had the conditions to explore this place without an Obsession Item, so we subconsciously treated it as a death zone and didn't consider it at all…"
Looking at the old man's corpse and only then reacting, Takumi curled his lips, and then could not help but think of Tanaka and that traitorous woman.
If those two were not brain-dead and deliberately sabotaging things, but could lead newcomers to clear the stage like normal veterans, how could it have turned into this situation now.
But resentment in his heart was resentment; now that they had obtained the cassette player, the focus of the matter returned to the information carried by the cassette tape.
Because the Blood Puppet could not trap the corpse on the second floor for too long, the three decided to return to the room where the other people were. They left the room, the last person retrieved the Blood Puppet, then slipped out the door before the old man's corpse stood up, the people outside then closed the door, then reinserted the Blood Key into the door lock, then tapped the door lightly, and after getting a response only then opened the door, and in this way returned to the room where Yamamoto Hiroshi and the others were hiding.
"How is it, did you find anything?"
Green, the most anxious and most afraid of being abandoned, hurriedly asked.
"Quiet, we have an important lead here, we need to confirm the content."
As Takumi spoke, he moved a table inside the room to the center of the room, and then Kaguya stepped forward, placed down the cassette player with the cassette inserted, and then pressed the play button.
No sound, no movement.
"Is it broken?"
Kaguya froze for a moment, not quite understanding what was going on.
"Did you forget to turn on the power?"
Maki glanced twice from the side, looking with some confusion at her Oba-san who was an electronic idiot.
"This… it seems I am not particularly skilled with these old electronic products."
For the embarrassment of this moment, Kaguya lightly coughed and gently glossed it over. And Takumi had already picked up the cassette player, found the power button and turned it on, and unsurprisingly, although this thing had been left in the Shirakawa Apartments for at least one or two years, its battery was still very full, and it immediately began to play the cassette.
[Zzzt zzzt——]
What came out first was a patch of chaotic and meaningless noise.
Then, after this noise continued for several seconds, the coughing of a middle-aged man began to sound from inside it.
[This is the xx Police Station, the time is… (after a segment of standard official statements) now we will conduct mediation work for both sides, so who will first explain the matter. One side finishes, then the other side speaks, do not interrupt and do not quarrel, everyone try to remain harmonious, harmonious and peaceful, all right? We must strive to turn conflict into friendship, that is the harmonious way, right? Then, let this young man speak first…]
The opening words of the middle-aged man dragged very slowly, carrying a somewhat leisurely official tone, making people feel a bit impatient listening to it.
But next, after the voice of this middle-aged man fell, the voice of another young man that followed made Takumi raise his head, becoming slightly surprised.
This voice, could it be…
[You want me to speak?]
[If you want me to speak, this mediation is completely unnecessary. What you should do is cancel the guardianship rights of these parents and send this child to a welfare home. In her current state, anywhere she goes will be better than staying in her family.]
[Young man, don't get excited, don't get excited, speak slowly. Their family of four is doing well, how could she be sent to a welfare home?]
[Doing well? Have you seen the injuries on her body? Do you know what she was beaten into?]
[She is my kid, I will beat her however I want, what business is it of yours, with that dumb-looking face. Hey, still not convinced, huh? Try glaring again. I'll beat you to death!]
[Don't get excited, don't get excited, everyone speak properly.]
[You want to fight, huh? Then come on. I'm not afraid of you, you old bastard!]
[Hey, hey, hey, calm down, you two—]
[Ahhh, murder, murder!]
[Come help, pull this young man away, hey, stop hitting, there is surveillance here, stop hitting already!]
[Hahaha, if you don't beat me to death today, tomorrow I will wrap a bandage and go to your parents' workplace, hahaha, let's see what you can do.]
The voices on the cassette went from calm to chaotic in just a few sentences.
The man's vulgar curses, the woman's hysterical screams, the young man's angry shouts, and the sounds of chairs being knocked over and people tearing and beating each other all rang together in such confusion that it was impossible to distinguish anything of value.
But such sounds did not last long; eventually all the noise gradually subsided, and then started again, and this time the voices were that of the previous young man and another middle-aged man.
[You moved out less than a month ago, and you're already causing trouble at the police station, even fighting in the mediation room? Are you trying to make me lose all face?]
[…I know, but that family, those two people are completely unworthy of being parents. You don't know what they did to that girl.]
[Yes, I don't know. But even if you know, what can you do?]
[It's just that I couldn't stand that matter… How could there be such parents? They let their own daughter go hungry for a full day and night, she even had needle marks on her arm, and in the middle of the night they threw her into the corridor, and she was only wearing a thin shirt, and at that time the temperature was only 6 degrees Celsius. Is this something humans can do…]
[All right, all right, you brat, I know you're a warm-hearted person, but I didn't expect you to go this far, causing trouble at the police station for someone you don't even know. Do you know, after you injured that guy in the mediation room, he went and lay in the hospital, and now it's test after test. I reckon he won't let this matter end unless he squeezes several thousand or tens of thousands out of our family.]
[How can we give him money…]
[You struck first. The audio and video and everyone present can all see it, and the test results really show injuries. You broke his arm, and it was in the police station. Do you know that if this matter is handled strictly, not only will you have to go in, but my job will also be affected. Now we need to pay more money and smooth this matter over. If after his injury gets a bit better he really causes a scene at our workplace, that will be hard to deal with. What do you want me to do? Abandon this family, not raise your sister, your grandparents and great-grandparents also not raising her, and accompany you as some vigilante to kill that man?]
[…Dad, I'm sorry.]
[All right, I know you're a kind child. You're not wrong in this matter, it's just that some rotten people—people like us who have families and burdens really can't afford to be entangled with them. How about this, I'll ask around through acquaintances and get you a spot in the city rescue team. Although it's pretty tough, you're a child who can endure hardship, spend a few years doing well over there, maybe you can even become a squad leader or something. This kind of saving-lives-and-accumulating-virtue work is also suitable for you."
[That child really can't be helped…?]
[How can she be helped? How can you help? Don't think about this matter anymore. Oh right, I already had someone cancel the rental of that room, and the furniture and things were all packed back for you. You don't need to go to that apartment again. Next time you go out and choose a place to stay, first take a proper look at the surrounding environment.]
[…I understand.]
It seemed to be a conversation between a father and son, a heartfelt talk between that young man and his father.
Such a scene could almost be seen.
Seeing a cold, dark night, the young man opening the door and seeing the girl shivering in the corridor, bringing her into the home, draping clothes over her, giving her snacks and hot tea.
Then the next day, the parents who discovered this matter furiously came knocking, and unwilling to let anyone treat this child well, they clashed fiercely with the young man; and the young man, newly stepping into society, was ultimately still just a big boy in his temperament. After being provoked and striking back, he instead became the unreasonable party, and in the end, left dispirited.
From that point on, no one ever opened the door for that girl again.
Until one day, while carrying out flood rescue and evacuation work, the young man who had already grown a lot returned to that place and once again saw that apartment.
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