Inside, Yarai's group was making its way back to the dining hall.
"..." Torako was thinking as they walked. "We should try to figure it out, just in case this doesn't work..."
"Huh?" Miyauchi said.
"The people here were annihilated by the same condition as Akagami-san and the others? No... Something is strange!" Torako said, holding her chin.
"We'll have no choice but to go through time," Yarai said.
"What do you mean by 'go through time'?" Miyauchi asked.
"I'm just presuming... something happened in this tower once before. If we can recreate what happened that time, possibly we can get an answer to Fukui's sense of discomfort."
"Huh? S-Something like that is impossible..." Miyauchi said.
"No... We can do it," Torako said. "If we compare the information we've seen so far in this tower... in order to save those two, we'll all work together... What happened in this tower?"
"W-Wait, they never brought that bottle out of the pyramid? That place is the DNA factory... and there were dead bodies..." the vice president said.
"Let's exclude that possibility from the situation right now. I'm not looking at the 'pyramid's' basement facility. We've been caught up in what we saw in the tower. If you look at what happened here, people died in the middle of running. It happened fast. If it killed that fast, once it was unleashed, would anyone infected have been able to make it this far from the 'pyramid'? I think we can restrict it to this tower," Torako said.
"Are you sure you want to say that?" Yashiro asked. "What about this? One day, a scientist from a normal section carried out that bottle... and committed an act akin to indiscriminate terrorism! The infected people wanted help and went to the church... or maybe they tried running outside... in the end, everyone died. Is there anything else besides that?"
"But, that doesn't explain the uncomfortable feeling I have," Torako said. "We have to be overlooking something... I'll think hard about what happened that time... Akagami-san and Sakuma-san are suffering..."
"..." Miyauchi looked grim.
"All right, let's keep going," Yarai said. "I get what happened from the picture that was in the dining hall. Researchers who gathered from countries all over the world lived here. It seems that white, black, and Asian people were here. There was a car outside. They used that car to go back and forth from here to places like the 'Factory' and the 'Spiral'. Judging from the building's facility we first entered into... After coming home, they'd relax at the counter bar in the lobby and have a few laughs in the lounge. And the church was on the second floor. It's possible they held mass there on Sundays."
"Seems like it was pretty perfect... kind of feels like a town..." Miyauchi said.
"On that day, a biohazard broke out! The bacteria had been in a secure case. It's possible it wasn't an accident, but something that was caused by man! The infected prayed to God to be delivered from suffering... and when they weren't, they cursed God," Yarai continued. "They tried to leave by car, but one car that was in a rush caused an accident and a collision happened! Their exit was blocked. They abandoned their cars and they headed toward the gate... However... they'd used up all their strength at the place where they'd exited the gate and most of them died!"
"That sounds pretty convincing," Miyauchi said.
"Yeah, there aren't any contradictions..." Yashiro said.
'That certainly seems to explain everything, but...' Torako thought. "Something's still missing..."
"What?" Yashiro asked.
"I wish I knew... I just keep getting the feeling we missed something..." Torako said.
"Speaking of missing... This latest incident with Akagami and Sakuma... It makes you think of all the other people who died, doesn't it?" Miyauchi said sadly. Torako stopped walking at looked at her with wide eyes.
"... That's right!" Torako said.
"Huh?" Miyauchi said as she and the others stopped to look at Torako.
"That's right... Why has Akagami-san not died yet? It's strange that no one has died, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?" Miyauchi asked.
"Mm, I get it, Fukui. We had to think about the 'corpses'!" Yarai said.
"Yeah, that's exactly it!" Torako said as she started walking again. The others moved with her. "We were focused solely on 'why has a biohazard occurred'... We didn't pay attention to the unnatural state of the corpses."
"Wh-What... What are you guys saying...?" Miyauchi asked.
"It's thank to you I get it," Torako said.
"Huh?" Miyauchi said.
"The real reason for my feeling uncomfortable... We didn't think about the dead bodies that we saw in the beginning. That more than a hundred people died around the gate all at once!" Torako said.
"But weren't you the one who kept calling attention to the fact that they died all at once?" Miyauchi said.
"That's just it! Didn't we say that of the people who caused the biohazard, more than a hundred of them went around with bacteria clinging to them? That kind of thing is impossible with that number of people. Others likely ran from place to place... judging by Akagami-san's condition, it would take them some time to die," Torako said. "But by looking at the situation, it's only likely that over one hundred people were infected all at the same time!"
"Huh? Isn't something like that impossible?" Miyauchi asked.
"No... There's only one way..." Yarai said.
"W-What are you saying..." Miyauchi asked.
"We all saw it," Yarai said.
"The dining hall," Torako said.
"Di... Dining hall...? What do you mean by that?" Miyauchi said.
"With dining halls, there's only one thing people do there," Torako said. "They ate it."
"Ate it!?" Miyauchi said, appalled.
"The biohazard that occurred here several decades ago didn't infect people through contact... It infected them orally!" Torako said. "If it was in their food, then it's possible the bacteria killed them with a fever. It might have been mixed in with the drinking water."
"Whether breakfast or lunch... they were aiming at a time when all the people in the tower ate together," Yarai said. "There's no other possibility for more than one hundred people all dying at one time!"
"Infected orally..." Yashiro said.
"So as long as they haven't gotten it in their mouths... then Akagami and Sakuma won't die?" Miyauchi asked. "B-But how are we going to prevent that? The bacteria moves around, right? Then, while we're here..."
"Let's go!" Yashiro said, taking off into a run.
"!?" the others said.
"Huh?" Miyauchi said.
"Yashiro-san!" Torako called as they hurried to catch up to him.
"The dining hall!" Yashiro said. "There might by some chance be something that had been left behind that could save them!"
"In the dining hall...?" Miyauchi said. "Th-That's..."
Outside, the paraceratherium was stomping down on the spot where Nishikiori had been standing while holding Isurugi Miina hostage.
"Mi... Miina!" Miina yelled, horrified.
"Hiii, Nishikiori-san bit it!" Saitou said. Somehow, he had managed to evade the deadly stomp that had killed Kubo with comparatively minor injuries.
"Mi... Miina's..." Kokonoe yelled. Miina ran forward.
"Miina-chan!" Heero called, alarmed. "We're going, too!" he told his friends.
"Yeah!" they both agreed, even though Quatre was shaking.
"Miina!" Miina yelled, running to where she should have been. "!!" Miina gasped when he saw Isurugi Miina's small body lying on the ground. "Miina...?" The paraceratherium roared as it took another step, about to crush Miina. "Kya—"
"Miina-chan, watch out!" Heero yelled, throwing himself to tackle him out of the way, landing roughly on his shoulder as they slid to safety. "Kuh..." He held his injured shoulder as Miina coughed from all the dust that had been stirred up. It really hurt, but Heero kept going, following Miina over to help Isurugi Miina.
"Miina! Miina, hang in there..." Miina said, kneeling beside Isurugi Miina, who was lying on the ground. "!!" he gasped when he saw that her face was bleeding. She was having trouble breathing.
"Thank God, she's alive," Heero said. It looked like Isurugi Miina and Nishikiori had managed to avoid a direct blow.
"Nishikiori is alive, too," Duo said, checking him as well.
'What awful wounds...' Miina thought, looking at Isurugi Miina. 'At this rate...'
Inside, Yarai's group had quickly collected what they needed from the dining hall and were running back to Akira's group.
"They... They haven't come back yet?" Akira said, getting increasingly more anxious as he watched Rion suffer.
"I-I'm going to see what's going on!" Oomori said. Akira was on the verge of asking her if she'd still lend him her scarf to remove the myxomycete from Rion, when someone shouted to them.
"S-Sorry it took so long!!" Miyauchi said.
"You guys! Did you find something!?" Akira asked. "A spoon or cup!?"
"Yeah... And we found something even better..." Yashiro said, holding up his jacket, which he had used to carry his contribution to the effort to save the girls. "I remembered one thing. I got this!" He held up a chunk of something white.
"Huh? That's..." Oomori said.
"It's table salt!!" Yashiro said.
"T-Table salt?" Akira said. "What can you do with something like that?"
"We'll rub it on their bodies!" Yashiro said.
"Huh?" Akira said.
"Salt has strong antiseptic properties!! If it works, then we might be able to stop the myxomycete's growth!" Yashiro said.
"I see... a repellant!" Mariya said.
"Repellent?" Morita asked.
"In experiments to examine the myxomycete's movements, something it hates is used as an obstacle. I call it a repellent, but I do remember hearing about salt being used," Mariya said.
"If we can halt the myxomycete's growth, we can possibly prevent it from spreading to their mouths!" Torako said.
"Their mouths?" Akira asked.
"If it gets into their mouths, they'll definitely die!" Miyauchi said.
"!?" Akira exclaimed, looking at Rion and Yuki.
"Yeah! We figured out that the reason everyone died so quickly, all at the same time, decades ago, is because they were infected orally!" Torako said.
"I-I see!" Mairya said. "I thought it was strange, but... if it was put in the food or the water, then... The salt is definitely worth testing out!"
"B-But hasn't that salt gone bad or something? How many decades old is it?" Rei asked.
"That shouldn't be a problem. Salt is a scientifically stable substance. Even aging doesn't change its flavor. It's possible to preserve it permanently," Mariya said.
"However, since it's been left for a long time, it's hardened from the changes in the humidity. It's the 'tiger's den salt'," Yashiro said. "Now then, we need to smash it! Everyone help out!!" He removed the chunks of salt from his jacket, and they started mashing them up into individual grains again.
"B-But, can we really do anything with this stuff?" Morita asked.
"I don't know... But, there's no other method," Mariya said.
"Isn't killing the myxomycete impossible or...?" the vice president said as she smashed the salt with a piece of debris.
"But if we can at least weaken it...!" Akira said, working hard to save Rion.
"Then... who is going to touch their bodies?" Igarashi asked.
"Huh?" the vice president said.
"It really is risky!" Miyuachi said.
"Yeah!" Morita said.
"I'll do it," Akira said.
"No, I'll do it!" Oomori said.
"Eh!?" Akira said. "O... Oomori-san!"
"The girls will be embarrassed if a boy touches them. All I have to do is rub this on?" Oomori asked, picking up the smashed salt.
"B-But there's no guarantee that this will help them," Mariya said. "If done wrong, even the CA will be..."
"I really can't let you do that...!!" Akira said.
"Mariya-kun... Akira-kun... I've taken the danger into account," Oomori said. "But, I don't have the slightest desire to die. I'll do it... so that everyone can survive!"
"CA... You..." Mariya said.
Oomori-san..." Akira said.
"Now! If we don't hurry, we might be too late. Everyone turn around, please," Oomori said, clapping her hands together.
"Here, use these to scrape the myxomycete off of them," Torako said, setting down two empty glass jars with lids on them near Rion and Yuki. "Maybe that will help."
"Yes!" Oomori said. They all turned around to give Rion and Yuki privacy while Oomori searched their bodies for the myxomycete and removed it.
"W-Will it really be okay?" Miyauchi asked.
"..." Yarai couldn't say. Torako was wringing her hands nervously as she stood next to him.
Outside, the paraceratherium was still on a rampage.
"Uwaaaah!" everyone screamed as they ran from it.
"Gyaaa!" a man yelled.
"Eeek!" a woman screamed.
"Aaaaah!" another woman cried as the shadow of the beast's foot fell over her. "Gyaa!" she shrieked as it squished her like a bug. The creature roared.
"Uwaaah!" Aikawa screamed.
"It's no good, it's too fast! We're unable to get away!" Katsuragi yelled.
"Shiiit! What's going on here?" Kokonoe yelled, carrying Isurugi Miina as he ran away with Miina and the lolicon trio. "Even that child was attacked by it! Didn't that kid know something?"
"You idiots! What you said is complete crap! You don't know stuff like that even though you're adults?" Miina yelled.
"Damn! Should we toss him aside?" Quatre asked, carrying the upper half of Nishikiori's heavily injured body.
"Listen, hurry, it's catching up!" Duo said, carrying Nishikiori's legs. The paraceratherium growled again as it continued to pursue the fleeing humans.
"Aaaaah!" they screamed. The beast roared and trampled another person, injuring others in the process.
"Gya!"
"Agh!"
"Iyaaaaa!" Segawa screamed when she heard the wounded cries of the people just behind her being attacked. How Shigeno and Matsumoto had managed to get ahead of her while helping Kusuru-sensei, she couldn't guess.
"Don't stop!" Kokonoe yelled as he headed through the gate of the 'building' along with the other survivors. "If you stand still, you'll die!" Segawa ran through the gate just behind him. "It-It's no good, it's catching up!" A lot of people had fallen over from exhaustion. The shadow of the paraceratherium fell over them.
"!" Kokonoe and Heero exclaimed. Suddenly the paraceratherium reared up, roaring.
"..." Kokonoe and Heero tried to shield the two Miinas.
"......!?" Kokonoe waited for the fatal blow to fall, but it never came. "Eh? Wha-What's...?" He looked up and saw that the paraceratherium had turned away and wasn't pursuing them anymore. "It's... It's not coming in? W-Why? With its large size, it should easily be able to step over a wall like this!" He wasn't the only one who was shocked. Miina and Heero couldn't believe their eyes. The paraceratherium kept roaring at them, but it didn't cross the wall.
"Why... Why isn't it coming in?" Segawa asked. She, Matsumoto, Shigeno, and Kurusu-sensei were all panting from the effort of running. "I mean, doesn't it kind of look like it can't come in?"
"Can't come in...? Just why...?" Seigou said. The paraceratherium roared as it paced outside the wall.
Inside, everyone was watching Yuki and Rion, hoping they would get better. Oomori had finished rubbing the salt on their bodies and redressed them. The two girls were still panting and gasping for breath. The others were also keeping an eye on Oomori.
"..." Mariya watched them along with everyone else. 'Seems like the CA's physical condition hasn't changed but, Akagami and Sakuma's conditions are still the same as they were. I'd be good if they would at least return to consciousness.'
"But what are we going to do after this? They haven't woken up yet," Tokiwa said. "At this rate, we can't get into the fourth floor."
"While you're waiting for them to recover, I'll go ahead," Yarai said. "For me, there are other people I want to save. There are people I want to protect." His eyes fell on Torako. There was Kurusu-sensei, Segawa, Matsumoto, and Shigeno, too. He had promised them that he would save them. "Let me go on ahead."
"Yeah... Someone has to look," Akira said. And he wasn't leaving Rion. Yarai turned to leave, but paused for a moment.
"Fukui."
"Uh, yeah," Torako said, standing up to follow him. "We'll be back," she told the others. She joined Yarai, and they went up to the fourth floor together. When they got there the first thing Torako noticed was the huge painting on the wall. It featured a lush garden with different types of animals and at the center was a large tree with a snake in it and two naked people, a man and a woman. "... Adam and Eve?"
"The Garden of Eden... Why the hell is something like that painted on the door?" Yarai asked.
"... Maybe that's what they thought they were creating... an Eden," Torako said. 'Wait... door?' she looked again and saw there was indeed a place for a number combination to be entered. It was analog, with three skinny dials that could be turned to show different numbers. Yarai started trying out different combinations.
"!" Akira gasped when Rion finally opened her eyes again.
"Akira-kun...?" she said, looking up at him.
"Rion!!" Akira exclaimed, extremely relieved that she had woken up. Yuki opened her eyes, too.
"What... What happened?" Yuki asked.
"Sakuma! You're awake!" the president said, also extremely relieved.
"How are you feeling!?" Mariya asked urgently.
"Can you move?" Akira asked. Rion tried to move her hand, but all it did was tremble a little bit.
"N-No... Not yet," Rion said.
"Sakuma?" the president asked. Yuki tried to move her hand and managed to wiggle her thumb.
"That's... That's the most I can do..." Yuki said.
"Well, it's probably better that you stay still anyway... You've only just returned to consciousness..." Mariya said.
'I'm so glad Rion's okay!!' Akira thought, smiling. 'But... I have to get to the fourth floor soon. I need to know what's up there... I have to see it for myself!'
"..." Yarai had already put in a number of combinations, but none of them worked. He punched the wall, frustrated. "Shit... What the hell..." he said, gritting his teeth and furrowing his brow. He was starting to get angry, too. "To think we came all this way, and there's something like this here!"
"Let's try to stay calm..." Torako said. "Maybe—"
"It's a four digit number key," Yarai said. "The combination is ten to the fourth power—about ten thousand... Damn, this is going to be tricky..." He tried yet another combination. "Ha... What's the reason for putting in something like this..."
"To keep people from entering without permission?" Torako said. "Doesn't this mean we've come far enough to find something important? Nothing else was locked..."
'She's probably right...' Yarai thought. "Hang on... A four digit number... It seems like I've heard... That's right! I'm sure it was something Sengoku said.' "Damn, we've got to go back. Even though the goal is right in front of us...!"
"Go back?" Torako asked.
"I think Sengoku might know something," Yarai said, heading back down.
"..." Torako followed him. As they drew close to the others, Torako could see that Rion and Yuki's eyes were open. "You're awake!" she said, relieved.
"!" Akira and the others said.
"Fukui-chan..." Rion said.
"How was it up there...?" Akira asked. "What... What did you find?"
"Nothing, yet. There's a number key on the door. It's for a four digit number," Yarai said.
"A four digit number, huh? That's tricky. It'd take half a day to try out all the combinations," Mariya said, holding his chin.
"... I thought Sengoku said something about a number or something..." Yarai said.
"!" Akira said. "That's right... I saw a number in the church, among the graffiti..."
"Do you remember what it was?" Torako asked.
"... Yeah," Akira said. A look of determination came onto his face. "I've got to get to the fourth floor."
"Then you go ahead with Yarai, and we'll look after Akagami," Miyauchi said.
"..." Akira furrowed his brow. "No... We should all see it together."
"..." Mariya stared at him. 'Could it be... that he knows something?' Akira moved to lift the girls up so he could carry them.
"Wait! Just to be safe... shouldn't you rub salt on your body first, just in case?" Torako suggested.
"But they're better, and Oomori-san is fine," Akira said.
"Oomori-san had salt on her hands when she touched them," Torako said.
"..." Mariya thought about it. "It's probably unnecessary at this point, but... better safe than sorry."
"You shouldn't have to carry both of them. I'll help carry Sakuma-kun," the president said. He and Akira went into the inner room to apply the salt to themselves.
"What's this..." Akira said when he spotted something on the floor. "A model airplane?" Curious, he picked it up and looked at it. 'This was in that room, too? Looks like a jumbo jet...' "Hmm?" 'There's something written faintly in magic marker.' "Numbers...?" He could just barely make it out. '2307...' "!" 'These are the numbers that were written on the floor of the church. Why are they on this plane, too...' He went over everything that had happened in his mind. His eyes widened. "It really is something like that... th-this island..."
"...? What's wrong, Sengoku?" the president asked.
"The moment I saw that picture... I had thought it wasn't like that. But if it really is.. But if it is, we're..." Akira muttered anxiously.
"Sengoku...? Hey..." the president said.
"I-It's nothing..." Akira said. "I was right, we all need to go..."
Soon, Akira and the president came back out, ready to carry Rion and Yuki. But first, Akira handed the model plane to Oomori.
"What's this? A model plane..." Oomori said.
"Yeah... there are some numbers written on its belly. Could you try looking at it?" Akira asked.
"Huh?" Oomori said. She looked at the faint numbers on the plane. "...! Th-This... can't be!"
"Yep, I knew it. Oomori-san gets it," Akira said.
"Wh-What is it, Oomori-san? What is it about the numbers on the model?" Miyauchi asked.
"Th-That is..." Oomori said nervously.
Outside, everyone was still hiding within the walls surrounding the 'building'. The paraceratherium growled again as it paced in front of the wall by the gate they had all run through.
"Wh-What's with that thing!?" Suzuki asked.
"Why isn't he coming over to this side of the gate?" Heero asked.
"Oji-san, please, that a look at Miina," Miina said, wanting Mutou to help Isurugi Miina.
"Right! Lay her down there," Mutou said.
"..." Kokonoe stared up at the beast. 'What does this mean? If you look at the place where we were attacked, there's no mistaking that this area is that thing's territory. And yet it won't climb over such a small fence. Is there something in this place... that makes it unable to come in.
"Wh-What's this?" Kurusu-sensei said.
"!?" Kokone said, turning around to check on her. "What's wrong, Kurusu?"
"Kokonoe-sensei! There's something strange here," Kurusu said, pointing to a spot on the ground.
"Something strange?" Kokonoe asked. The tall grass was obstructing his view. He moved closer to have a look for himself. "... Wh-What is this thing?" he said, looking at the huge metal circle that had bumps on it and a hole in its center.
"It's like a sheet of metal..." Kurusu-sensei said.
"It's got an odd shape," Kokonoe said.
"What is this? Is that it?" Miina asked, coming over to look at it.
"Huh? You know what it is, (fake) Miina?" Kokonoe asked.
"Hey, look at it. Its exterior is round," Miina said, tapping the metal circle with his foot. "There are twelve circular marks. This is a clock, a clock!"
"A... clock?" Kokonoe said.
"Now that you mention it, it really does look like the face of a clock. It's quite a large clock," Suzuki said.
"But what is a clock doing here?" Segawa asked.
"Didn't it fall from over there?" Matsumoto said, pointing up at the circular mark at the top of the front of the building.
"Huh?" Segawa said.
"Look, in the center of that building... a place with a circular impression..." Matsumoto said.
"!!" Segawa and a few other people said when they saw it.
"The size really is just about the same!" Suzuki said.
"Did it fall and roll all the way over here?" Murayama said.
"That's right, aren't large clocks usually in high places like that? For example... Huh?" Takahashi said, suddenly realizing something. "..."
"Huh? What's wrong, Asuka?" Miki asked when she noticed the other girl was trembling.
"H-Hey! Doesn't this look like it?" Takahashi asked, pointing at the building.
"Huh?" Miki said, looking, too.
"Ahh! I-I get it too!" Suzuki exclaimed, also pointing.
"Huh? What is it?" Miina asked.
"I'd been thinking that this tower looked like something from the front, but... It's just like our school!" Suzuki said.
"..." Kokonoe stared at the building in shock. He could see it, too. Now that Suzuki had mentioned it, a lot of the people connected to the middle school recognized it.
"Ko... Kokonoe-sensei?" Kurusu-sensei said.
"Yeah," Kokonoe said. "Because the windows and the mood are different, I didn't notice it, but... when I take a good look, the building's structure and the entire silhouette look a lot like it... the Yokohama Meikyou school that we attended... But... is this... simply a coincidence? Or is it...?"
Inside, everyone was staring at Akira and Oomori.
"If you know something, then spit it out," Yarai said. Oomori looked at Akira.
"... We should put these numbers in the combination," Akira said. "They were in the church, too."
"What? Really!?" Miyauchi said.
"... Let's try them," Mariya said. "They must have some meaning." They all went up to the fourth floor together, with Akira and the president carrying Rion and Yuki. Akira and Oomori immediately went over to the combination lock and started putting in the number. Rion was carefully set down so that she was sitting up against the wall.
"What is this painting? Adam and Eve? In paradise? The Garden of Eden? Why is something like that...?" Mariya asked.
"If it works out, we'll soon know," Yarai said.
"... 2, 3, 0... and 7!" Oomori said, reading it off the plane to make sure it was right, while Akira entered the combination.
"Is it really going to be okay? With those numbers...?" Miyauchi asked. As Akira turned the last number to 7, there was a loud click.
"!!" everyone said.
"H-Hey, that noise just now..." Mariya said.
"It really sounded like it opened!" the vice president said.
"Hey! What's going on here?" Yarai asked. "Numbers that were scribbled in the church... and written down on that model airplane as well. It seems like you and Sengoku noticed something. Just what are those numbers?"
"..." Oomori decided it was time to tell them. "NA 2307..."
"Huh?" Mairya, the vice president, and Miyauchi said.
"This is the flight number of the jumbo jet that we were on," Oomori said, showing them the model. Torako's eyes widened.
"Huh...?" Mariya said.
"The flight number...? Our airplane that crashed and barely managed to land on this island!?" the vice president said. Everyone became uneasy.
"Wh-What does that mean?" Rei asked. "Why is a number like that here?"
'First, a monument with Isurugi Miina's name on it... then 'Rakia' or 'Akira'... and now our flight number...? Could this really be...?' Torako clenched her fists. No, she didn't know that yet. There was still a possibility that she was wrong.
"Perhaps... inside of this door, are all of our answers!" Akira said.
"... Sengoku...?" Mariya said.
"An island that isn't on a map... Just where is this place? Why are there extinct animals here that shouldn't exist in this world? What exactly is it that we've gotten involved in? And thus, our fate as well! All of that is... in here!" Everyone stared at Akira as he opened the door. At first the room just seemed dark, but they entered while Akira picked up Rion. Then their eyes adjusted, and they saw a large images on the wall.
"What is this? A painting?" Mairya said, looking at it. "It's been painted all along the wall. What a strange room! Just what is it?"
"! Look! There's something in the middle of the room," Yarai said, pointing to a wall that appeared to have framed pictures on it.
"Isn't it similar to the picture that's in the dining hall?" Miyauchi said. Yarai and Torako moved closer, and the images came into focus.
"!!" Torako gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.
"... What...!? Yarai said, staring at the image in front of him with wide eyes, disturbed.
"Wh...What is this?" Miyauchi asked, confused and shocked. She wasn't the only one. Everyone was extremely unnerved by what they saw.
"..." Morita and Tokiwa were looking at the wall, too.
"Ah! Ahh!" Rei exclaimed.
"No... No way!" Oomori said.
"Just... Just what the hell is this!?" Mairya asked. "Answer me, Sengoku!!"
"..." Akira looked grim as he faced them.