Far away from the Citadel, beyond the places where the battle between Yoshiro and the Reikosha students had reached, Ishika slowly opened her eyes. She didn't recognize the place she was in. The walls, the floor, even the ceiling were covered in strange crimson crystals that gave off a faint red glow, making the entire room look as if it had been carved from a giant ruby. Ishika slowly stood up and looked around, trying to remember how she had ended up there.
"Where... am I?"
She walked forward carefully. Her footsteps echoed through the strange crystal halls. There were no windows, no signs, and no familiar energy anywhere around her. The farther she walked, the quieter everything became.
Then—
Click.
Ishika stopped.
Someone was talking nearby.
"...Egypt."
She carefully moved toward the sound and peeked around the corner.
A man was standing in the middle of the crimson hallway, casually rolling a pair of dice between his fingers.
"We'll go to Egypt soon," he said. "If everything goes according to plan, we'll meet Hero there."
Ishika's eyes narrowed.
"Hero?"
She took another step.
Her foot accidentally struck one of the crystal fragments on the ground.
CLINK.
The man's hand stopped.
The dice stopped moving.
Ishika froze.
"..."
The man slowly turned his head.
For a second, neither of them moved.
Then—
Without saying a single word, the man immediately walked toward a nearby room.
The door was already slightly open.
He stepped inside.
Ishika waited.
Nothing happened.
She slowly approached the doorway and looked through the small opening.
The room was much larger than she expected.
The crimson crystals covered the walls, but the center of the room was strangely empty.
Ishika stepped inside.
The man she had seen earlier was nowhere to be found.
"...Where did he go?"
She looked around.
Then she noticed someone sitting at the far end of the room.
A man was sitting calmly in a chair.
His attention wasn't on Ishika.
It was on a Rubik's Cube in his hands.
He rotated it once.
Twice.
Three times.
Ishika watched carefully.
The man's fingers moved faster.
Click. Click. Click.
The colors shifted rapidly.
Ishika took another step forward.
"...Who are you?"
The man didn't answer.
He simply continued solving the cube.
One final movement.
Click.
Every color aligned perfectly.
Ishika's eyes widened.
"...0.0 seconds?"
The man finally looked up.
A small smile appeared on his face.
He placed the solved Rubik's Cube on his lap.
"I was wondering when someone would finally find this place."
Ishika stared at him.
The man smiled again.
"Welcome, Ishika."
Her expression immediately changed.
"...You know my name?"
The man leaned back in his chair.
"Of course."
The crimson crystals behind him suddenly glowed brighter.
"And if you're here..."
He looked toward the doorway.
"...then things have already begun."
Ishika remained silent.
The man picked up the dice that had been left on the table.
He rolled them once.
Clack.
He looked at the result.
Then smiled.
"Egypt."
Ishika was trapped in this place, days ago she's wondering in the people body switching to people body then suddenly when she go to the guy body there's a poison inside him and she was poison too... The guy she just enter is the dice guy.