"Hic...!!"
My feet wouldn't move, so I stood frozen in place, dazed.
As I begged it to save me, the entity smirked and gave me a light push.
"Run, let's play."
It looked exactly like a senior.
Only its outward appearance had changed.
But because of that, its oppressive presence was conveyed exactly as it was, and my entire body refused to listen.
I was fleeing with somewhat awkward movements.
The surroundings were completely filled with desks, chalk, and chairs.
"Haa... haa... ugh!!"
-Thud!!!!
I had tripped over something.
Puzzled, I turned my head.
There, a female student was shedding tears as she slowly transformed into a chair.
"Help me!!! I... I don't want to die like this...."
"...."
"No..., no...!"
A crying girl.
But not wanting to die
"...is the same for me...!!"
was the same for me, too.
I had to survive.
-Thwack!!
"Aack...!!"
"S-sor... sorry!!!"
After forcefully striking the wrist of the girl gripping my ankle, I rose to my feet.
"...!!"
From afar, I heard squelching footsteps.
I was gradually becoming able to make out the sounds.
'I have to run away.......'
The girl had completely turned into a chair.
Though I felt pity for that girl,
I had to survive.
'Run.'
Following the command of my mother's voice ordering me so now.
Once again, the command fell in my mind, and I began sprinting like mad.
I blindly ran down the hallway, went up and down the stairs, and looked for a place to hide.
And every time,
-Bang!!!
After a single gunshot, the air vibrated.
Shortly after, the senior's footsteps approached right before me.
I was terrified; I felt like I would vomit.
'The entity's name... I think I need to change it.'
It seemed in need of revision.
That thing was no longer the homeroom teacher.
'Chameleon.......'
Its appearance, mimicking whatever form, emotion, or situation it desired, resembled exactly that.
Shedding tears, I squeezed between cleaning supply cabinets and crawled inside.
A narrow, dark space.
My chest felt tight; it was hard to breathe.
My breathing felt unbearably loud, causing me stress.
No matter how hard I covered my mouth, the pounding of my heart wouldn't stop.
'I want to live I want to live I want to live I want to live...!!'
Trapped in a narrow crevice, I whispered so while gazing toward the light.
The moment I squeezed my eyes shut, the Chameleon's footsteps became even clearer.
My heart was pounding like crazy, and the fear that it might be heard made me press down on my chest.
I couldn't breathe well.
My breathing was definitely rough, and it was agonizing, as if I might pass out at any moment.
Soon, holding my breath, I watched the senior pass right in front of me.
-Squelch....
The senior, dripping a nauseating black liquid onto the floor.
Black liquid poured crazily from its eyes like tears.
And behind that senior's back, thin black threads were visible.
"...!!"
Only after seeing them did I realize.
'It's being... controlled?'
Its corpse was being manipulated by someone.
As if by a puppeteer.
It was terrifying.
And at the same time, my heart felt like it had dropped.
Because,
-Eeeek!!!
"...!!"
The senior was opening the cleaning supply cabinets next to me one by one.
I lowered my gaze.
"...Hup...!!"
There was a small bucket I had accidentally kicked over with my foot.
I must have been too startled upon realizing the senior was being controlled.
'I feel like I'm going to piss myself... save me... I'm saying I want to live.'
Tears began to well up slowly.
I was finished now.
Forever like this, in an agony I could never escape.
"...Die, die, die, die... again, again, again... die again... ah... ahhh......."
I would die, die, die, die, die and die again.
Until I eventually went insane and became an empty doll that couldn't feel anything.
No, perhaps I would be controlled like the senior was now.
Moving and talking as a living slave with consciousness far clearer than the senior's,
trembling violently in torment and suffering.
To die and come back to life was not a blessing, but a curse.
And once again, I cursed the human... or the entity that had bestowed that curse upon me.
"Here you are...!!!"
The forcefully opened door and the senior's smile brimming with madness came into view.
Watching the black liquid drip down, I pleaded, my eyes brimming with tears.
"I... I want to live... I don't want to die anymore... p-please."
Saying so, I plopped down.
Looking at me, the senior gave a clear answer.
"No."
.....
An answer I felt I had heard somewhere before.
At that, I screamed in shock.
"Please save m—"
Please save me.
Of course, I couldn't finish what I was saying.
Because before I could finish,
-Bang!!!
a hole had been blown through my head.
'I... hate... this.......'
Thinking so internally, I collapsed onto the cold floor.
Red.
Everything before my eyes was so red.
* * *
How many creatures in this world want to die?
Probably almost none.
Because it is an unnatural thing.
To live and somehow reproduce, leaving behind oneself, one's genes—that is the essence of a living being.
At least, that was what I had believed.
Because even after experiencing such horrific pain, I had still wanted to live.
But now, it is different.
"...I want it to end."
Having arrived once again in the white space,
I muttered hollowly.
That I wanted it to end.
That I wanted to stop dying.......
No, to be exact, I wanted to stop reviving.
I wanted them to finally send me to the other side.
A peaceful space with nothing in it.
A space where beautiful angels or a blazing inferno awaits.
A space where everyone gathers to be judged.
A space where my mom would be waiting... such a space.
I wanted to stop reviving now.
If there is a God, please, please, I want to beg for this endless hamster wheel to end.
Please, look upon me with pity.
I prayed with my hands clasped sincerely.
At least, that was what I was doing now.
"...Please, save me... anyone is fine... please, just end me now."
Here, I couldn't hear my mother's voice that drove me crazy.
Only endlessly stretching fog and an endless road.
And utility poles planted at regular intervals, and the rice paddies beside them.
Perhaps, I thought, this might be the road to the underworld.
Even if I tried to move forward, I couldn't.
"...."
At that moment, when I had plopped down, unable to do anything,
a silhouette began to appear from the fog behind me.
"...?"
A silhouette beckoning me to come closer.
A girl who seemed to have exactly the same build as me.
I could see the silhouette of such a girl.
I couldn't see her face, her hair color, or her eye color, but
instinctively, I knew.
That it had exactly the same appearance as me.
If there was anything different, it would be that the silhouette it showed wasn't wearing the Management Bureau's suit.
"...Who are you?"
Unable to stand, I asked, and it seemed to ponder for a moment before jumping up and down and waving its hands, as if trying to say something.
At that, I rose from my spot in a daze and trudged toward the fog.
"...."
"...."
The silhouette said nothing.
Not knowing what it wanted to say, I simply stared blankly at the silhouette.
"N...ice...?"
And finally, it opened its mouth.
Hearing those words, I couldn't help but change from a blank expression to a surprised one in an instant.
The voice that thing was producing was,
"...Mo...m...?"
completely my mother's.
When I asked, the silhouette nodded.
"B-Borr... owed... it...?"
"You borrowed it...?"
When I asked that, the silhouette nodded.
At that, I asked why it had borrowed my mother's voice.
Because if it was my unconsciousness, shouldn't it just use my own voice?
It was pure curiosity, but the silhouette began laughing crazily.
And at that moment, the side profile I saw was not human at all.
"...!!!"
"You... saw?"
A silhouette possessing the sharp feature of an entity.
"You, I haven't... eaten... you... yet."
"...What?"
Drooling, the silhouette—no, the entity—said it hadn't completely devoured me yet.
"You...!! What the hell!! Then, my mom!! You bastard!!"
For a moment, I couldn't contain my rage.
Then why was it using my mom's voice?
Approaching the fog, I couldn't enter, as if blocked by a transparent wall.
The entity strode up to me and grinned.
"Stu...pid."
"...."
"I... didn't... eat... your mom. Received... a request."
Saying so, the entity instantly transformed its arm into the shape of a sword.
I tried to get away in that instant, but,
"I-I'm stuck!?"
My body was stuck to the transparent wall and wouldn't come off.
The entity tilted its head without a word.
"I... don't want to die...!! D-don't come...!!"
Though I said so and tried to put distance between us, my body wouldn't listen.
And moments later,
-Crunch!!!!
Along with the sound of organs being crushed, fresh blood spewed from my mouth.
"Kuh...!!"
"I'll borrow it."
"I don't... want... to... die......."
After saying that, I lost consciousness.
* * *
The corpse of Sion collapsed with a hole in its head.
The Chameleon smiled in satisfaction while looking at the cleaning supply cabinet stained red with blood.
However, soon that smile changed to slight irritation.
Because tentacles began squirming and filling the hole in Sion's head.
At that, it created the bullet hole anew.
The tentacles stopped.
But.
"...It hurts, it hurts... Hu... hungry... Hungry...!!!"
Even though the hole hadn't fully healed,
there was Sion getting up from the spot in that state.