The empty street stretched on. Aside from the solid asphalt pavement, there were only utility poles and walls. Nothing even remotely resembling water. The buildings on either side had no visible entrances, their facades blank and unwelcoming.
"No faucets."
"No pools or rivers either."
"Where the hell are we supposed to find water?!"
Tachibana was on the verge of tears. Her voice cracked on the last word.
Listening to the sounds of Hayato fighting the monster behind her, the grunts and crashes, she kept reminding herself to stay calm. But anxiety continued to churn in her chest regardless. Her hands were shaking. She clenched them into fists, nails digging into her palms.
"Hayato-kun, hold on! I'll check over there!"
Without waiting for a response, she turned and broke into a run. Her heels clicked frantically against the pavement. The sound echoed in the empty street, loud and desperate.
Meanwhile, Hayato calculated the timing and activated the time stop, putting more distance between himself and the creature.
In the blink of an eye from the creature's perspective, Hayato simply vanished. Like he'd been erased from existence.
"GRAAAAAHHH!"
Furious roars echoed through the empty street, bouncing off the buildings and coming back distorted.
Hayato tried climbing over a wall to enter one of the buildings lining the street, but an invisible barrier blocked his path like a solid obstacle. His hands met resistance where there should be none, like pressing against glass.
"Loophole space, huh."
Hayato sighed, frustration creeping into his voice.
"Better regroup with sensei."
Before long, he spotted Tachibana up ahead, running with an awkward, uneven gait. One of her hands was braced against a wall for support.
"Sensei, you're... injured."
"I'm, I'm fine! More importantly, are you okay, Hayato-kun?!"
Her eyes were wide, frantic as they scanned him.
"I'm fine."
Using the streetlight's glow, Tachibana examined him carefully from head to toe. Aside from obvious burn marks on certain parts of his clothes, the fabric singed and blackened, he had no visible wounds. Relief washed over her, so intense it made her dizzy.
"Thank goodness. But I'm sorry, I couldn't find any water. I'm such a useless teacher. I tried climbing the wall but..."
She'd failed. And twisted her ankle in the process. The pain throbbed with each heartbeat, sharp and insistent.
"Sensei, your foot..."
"It's fine."
"Like hell it is."
Hayato noticed Tachibana wasn't wearing shoes anymore. She'd walked this entire distance barefoot. Even with stockings, thick ones at that, walking directly on asphalt was torture. He could see dark stains on the fabric. Blood, seeping through.
"Get on my back."
"No, carrying me will slow you down too much. And he's coming."
Tachibana turned to see the monster emerging from behind them. Even from this distance, she could see the glow emanating from its body, like embers in a dying fire.
Its grotesque, sizzling flesh-exposed appearance hammered at her psyche over and over. Each time she looked at it, the image burned itself deeper into her memory.
She realized that if the monster caught her, she'd probably be burned alive, reduced to charcoal just like it. The thought made her stomach turn.
"Get on."
Hayato crouched in front of Tachibana, his back to her.
"Hurry! We're running out of time!"
She bit her lip hard enough to taste copper and bent down, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her chest pressed against his back as she secured her grip.
Her first time being this physically close to a man. She could feel his warmth, so different from the monster's searing heat. But the solid breadth of his shoulders gave her an unexpected sense of security. Like maybe, just maybe, they'd make it out of this alive.
Hayato's hands naturally supported Tachibana's legs, feeling the weight and warmth against his back. The torn stockings felt rough against his palms. Internally, he noted the difference from Hoshino Ai.
Being older, Tachibana was softer, more developed. She had that mature appeal. Like a ripe peach. Her breath came quick and warm against his ear, nervous and frightened.
Not bad. This feels pretty nice, too.
Hayato started moving at a brisk pace, adjusting his grip to keep her secure.
The creature pursued from behind, the distance between them steadily shrinking. Its footsteps were getting closer.
"Hayato-kun, put me down! You can't move fast like this!"
Her voice trembled with guilt and fear.
"Trust me, sensei."
He broke into a run, muscles tensing as he carried her weight.
[Time Stop] activated!
From Tachibana's perspective, she simply blinked, and suddenly they were much farther from the monster, which was left roaring furiously in the distance. The disorientation made her dizzy.
"Teleportation....?"
"Yea, i can't explain it too much, but it's draining my stamina..."
"This won't work long-term. You'll run out of stamina eventually. We have to find water, or..." She paused, then continued hesitantly, her voice barely above a whisper. "What about blood? Could we use that to kill it? I... I have more blood, so use mine!"
By now, she'd figured out why Hayato had identified water as the key. Water to put out a fire. It made sense in a horrifying, desperate way.
"Setting aside whether human blood would even work, how much do you think we'd need? A blood donation maxes out at 400 milliliters. Losing more than 1200 milliliters causes shock and life-threatening conditions."
And they'd need a lot more than that to douse a burning monster.
"But if we just keep running like this..."
She felt that without water, blood might at least be worth trying. Better than dying without fighting back.
"I already know where to find water."
"Eh? Eh eh eh?! Where?"
Her head snapped up, eyes wide with desperate hope.
She hadn't seen any trace of water this entire time. Nothing. Not a puddle, not a fountain, nothing.
Tachibana looked ahead. The street remained empty as always. Endless asphalt stretching into darkness.
The deep, distant end of the road seemed to swallow everything like an abyss, making her shudder and pull her gaze back. It felt wrong to look at it for too long.
"We're here."
Hayato stopped, setting her down carefully.
Tachibana's eyes fell on the vending machine at the street's edge. The bright lights inside it seemed almost cheerful, absurdly normal in this nightmare.
"Of course!"
"The bottled water in the vending machine!"
When the answer appeared right in front of her, understanding dawned. She'd been thinking only of faucets, pools, rivers. Natural sources. Completely forgetting about bottled water. Something so mundane it had become invisible.
The vending machine that had been there from the start was the answer all along!
"Hayato-kun, your observation skills are incredible."
He'd simply conducted a systematic review of everything they'd encountered from beginning to end. While she'd been panicking, he'd been thinking.
Hayato set Tachibana down. She immediately pulled a 100-yen coin from her wallet with shaking fingers and inserted it into the machine.
But bo response at all. The coin didn't even drop. It just sat there in the slot.
She tried several more times, pushing the coin in with increasing desperation, but the machine remained completely unresponsive.
"Why... why won't it work?"
Tachibana's face went pale. The water was right there, right in front of them, visible through the glass, but they couldn't get it! So close yet impossibly far.
"Let's just smash it."
The teacher spoke with uncharacteristic fury, her voice raw. She even raised her foot to kick the machine, ready to shatter the glass with her bare foot if necessary, but Hayato stopped her in time. His hand caught her arm.
"I still have a coin."
"But... it won't work. It's not about the coins."
Her voice broke on the last word. Tears of frustration welled in her eyes.
CLICK.
The coin dropped in. The sound was almost musical in the silence.
Beep beep.
The vending machine whirred to life, lights brightening.
A moment later, CLUNK. Two bottles of mineral water rolled out, hitting the bottom of the dispenser with a hollow thud.
Tachibana's jaw dropped. Her mind couldn't process what just happened.
What?!
Did the machine just reject my coins specifically? That's way too harsh! Is even the vending machine can racist to someone?!
Hayato didn't explain. Hayato bent down and picked up the bottles, the plastic cold against his palms. Condensation had formed on the outside.
Just now, he'd become completely certain that mineral water was the effective weapon against the creature. The game had confirmed it by accepting his coin from this place when that monster dropped it before.
"Leave the rest to me, sensei."
"Please be careful. Your safety comes first."
Under Tachibana's worried, prayerful gaze, Hayato walked toward the creature once more. His footsteps were steady, confident. The bottles swung slightly in his grip.
It seemed completely unaware of the danger, continuing to bear its grotesque grin. The burnt charcoal smell had grown even more intense, thick enough to choke on.