Grandpa Bull—short for a humanoid teacher-type aberration wearing a rotting, foul-smelling living bull head and a teacher's uniform full of dust and tears.
This thing appeared incredibly suddenly. One second earlier, there had clearly been nothing unusual in the corridor, and the next second, it seemed to refresh straight into their faces out of thin air. But by now Takumi was already used to this sort of thing. With a casual, "Grandpa Bull, thanks for your hard work," he stepped forward and slashed out with his blade, sending the thing's head flying on the spot. Then, with several more rapid swings, he hacked it into pieces right there and then.
Behind him, Miko watched the aberration—already reduced to chunks of meat—still writhing and struggling on the ground, and her face turned even paler.
As for Takumi himself, after checking it over and confirming that it probably had nothing useful on it, he simply picked up the bull-head hood, dug the rotten flesh out from inside it with his knife, and then tied it to his waist.
"Um… why are you taking that thing with you?"
Miko was utterly baffled. Just looking at the aberration made her whole body tremble; she could not understand at all what possible use Takumi could have for carrying it around.
"My teacher identity has been compromised by Alice. In that case, if we run into danger, I won't be able to use the gap in status to deal with it. So if I hack a teacher apart badly enough that it can't temporarily manifest aberrant traits, maybe I can make use of that fact."
Although the situation before them was still full of mysteries, and there were still many things he had yet to understand, Takumi was finally beginning to feel somewhat more at ease now that a powerful Obsession Item could solve most of the troubles they ran into, and a veteran player had appeared to help deal with emergencies.
The first floor of the Dormitory Building was not a residential area, but a shower zone. Just like how the second floor of the Teaching Building was the cafeteria while the first floor was a combination of meeting rooms and a grand auditorium, Fujihana Middle School's dormitory was also a composite structure in both layout and function.
The entire first floor was divided into four different-tier zones: the high-end shower area, the mid-tier shower area, the low-tier shower area, and the livestock washing pool. Among these, the first three zones were further split into male and female shower sections. Only the washing pool—clearly meant for Bad Students—was shared, and it had no partitions whatsoever; anyone passing by could see everything inside. In contrast, only the mid-tier and high-end shower areas had changing rooms, and only the high-end shower area had an access control system. The mid-tier and low-tier areas could be entered and exited freely.
All of this information was displayed very clearly on the floor map beside the staircase—so clearly that Takumi couldn't help but imagine certain anime-style scenarios. But considering just how insane and vicious this middle school was, he quickly suppressed those thoughts.
In the first-floor lobby, Takumi also saw a simple set of shower rules posted on the wall:
[Shower Area Usage Rules]
[1. The high-end area is restricted to teachers and Outstanding Students. Students of other ranks are not allowed to enter.]
[2. The mid-tier area is restricted to Outstanding Students and Good Students. Students who do not meet the minimum rank requirement are not allowed to enter.]
[3. The low-tier area is restricted to Ordinary Students and Delinquent Students. Students who do not meet the minimum rank requirement are not allowed to enter.]
[4. Bad Students may only use the livestock washing pool. Bad Students are permanently forbidden from entering shower areas of other tiers.]
[5. All students must bathe once per day. Failure to do so will result in one warning penalty.]
[6. Students entering the bathing area must enter the correct corresponding zone. Otherwise, they will receive one warning penalty. Higher-rank students are not subject to this restriction when entering lower-tier areas.]
[7. Do not leave water traces outside the shower area. Once discovered, it will be considered a violation and result in one warning penalty.]
[8. Only enter the shower area when there is a need to bathe. Students are not allowed to enter or remain on this floor without a bathing need. Once discovered, they will receive a warning penalty.]
The rules themselves were extremely simple and clear. The usage restrictions for the different areas were entirely within Takumi's expectations. In comparison, it was the final rule that drew his attention, giving him a faint sense of unease.
This rule… feels like a deliberate trap.
It says you can't enter the shower area without a need to bathe, but then it also says you must not enter or remain on this floor. And it doesn't specify how many warning penalties are allowed.
Could it be that simply entering this floor and showing no intention of bathing will immediately trigger a warning penalty? And since the number of penalties isn't defined, could it be that as long as a student doesn't leave this place, this damned place will keep issuing penalties—like one per second or something equally absurd?
Takumi couldn't help but grow wary. For now, the Dormitory Building was still in its dark, dilapidated, abandoned state, so these Shower Area Usage Rules didn't seem to be in effect yet. But if, like the Teaching Building, the dormitory were to light up and shift into another state later, then if he and Miko failed to leave this area in time, they would have to deal with it seriously.
"Takumi-san, these rules…"
Following beside him, Miko showed a slightly uneasy expression upon seeing the rule board.
Although she wasn't particularly skilled at analyzing rules, just looking at those lines of text instinctively made her feel uneasy, sensing that the rules posted on the wall might conceal hidden danger.
"Don't worry. I'm here, aren't I? Leave it to me."
Takumi replied calmly. Taking a few steps forward, he went straight to the entrance of the high-end shower area—the only shower zone with an actual door blocking the entrance.
There was an electromagnetic sensor panel on the door, as well as a keyhole.
Good. That's enough.
Crack!
With the sound of breaking stone, Takumi tore the entire door off the wall with his bare hands and hoisted it onto his shoulder.
Behind the shattered wall, Takumi clearly saw that what was revealed was not the entrance to a shower area at all, but a strange, eerie corridor—exactly the same as the so-called "Floor -1" he and Miko had accidentally entered earlier on the third floor.
So if you take the wrong path, or try to bypass the correct route by breaking walls or floors… you'll end up in that abnormal level?
This dormitory might actually be even more troublesome than the Teaching Building.
With that thought, the moment Takumi clearly sensed the deathly resentment emanating from behind the broken wall, he turned and ran without hesitation, pulling Miko along as the two of them rushed into the corridor on one side of the lobby, heading toward the final staircase.
In the darkness, only faint candlelight illuminated the dilapidated corridor.
Miko followed closely at Takumi's side. Even when he did something as bizarre as carrying a door on his shoulder, she found that she wasn't surprised at all—it simply felt natural, as if it was only to be expected that Takumi would do something like this.
Meanwhile, as Takumi moved forward, his gaze carefully scanned the surroundings. It didn't take long before he picked out something noteworthy from the seemingly chaotic ruins.
That… is a bullet hole!
On the wall along the corridor containing the mid-tier and low-tier shower areas as well as the livestock washing pool, there was a clearly visible bullet hole.
The caliber didn't look large—probably handgun caliber.
Judging from the angle of the bullet hole, the person holding the gun seemed to have entered this corridor from the same direction as me… and fired forward.
Could it be… they were chasing someone?
At that moment, Takumi couldn't help but form that thought.
Ring—ring—ring—
A pleasant bell rang out through the corridor.
The lights suddenly flickered on the next moment.
One after another, distorted students appeared in the corridor, standing expressionlessly as they looked toward Takumi and Miko.
Then, almost immediately, they shifted their gaze to the bull's head hanging at Takumi's waist, and all of them bowed deeply. Some aberrant students even knelt on the ground and lightly knocked their heads, none of them paying any further attention to Takumi and Miko.
"Looks like it works pretty well. Good. My loyal subjects, rise—no, actually, stay right where you are. Yotsuya-san, let's go. We can't afford to miss shower time."
Saying this, Takumi led Miko forward, picking up the pace once more.
But as she followed behind him, the girl felt a faint, unsettling sense of loss.
It felt like… not long ago, Takumi had called her by her name—had called her "Miko."
But now he had gone back to the more distant "Yotsuya-san." Somehow… it made her feel a little disappointed.
Miko couldn't quite explain why she felt that way, so she could only try to push those stray thoughts aside. She simply gave a soft "Mm" and continued following him forward.
And so, Takumi led Miko all the way to the lowest-tier area—the Livestock Washing Pool—which was essentially just a large water basin. As they entered, he casually smashed the light switch, set down the door he had been carrying, turned around, and spoke to Miko with complete sincerity: "Come on, no time to waste. Let's take a quick shower here and get moving."
As he spoke, Takumi casually pulled off his T-shirt, revealing a well-built, very masculine physique.
Miko: ???
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