The sky was dark, and the wind around them was cold, like the dreary weather after a fresh snowfall that froze one's limbs numb.
Asano Kiyoshi looked at the man before him, a flicker of astonishment appearing on his face. He looked at the man and instinctively replied,
"You mean we're already dead, nothing but lingering remnants?"
Hearing Asano Kiyoshi's words, the man said with a sorrowful expression,
"If that weren't the case, I wouldn't be in such a miserable state. Look around for yourself. Look at these people around us. Don't they all look different from 'people'?"
At his words, Asano Kiyoshi looked around. Just as the man had said, nearly everyone nearby differed somewhat from a normal human appearance.
Some had cracks split open directly atop their heads, exposing faintly pulsing pink flesh within. Others had no internal organs at all, with nothing but a layer of skin hanging from their bones, making for a horrifying sight.
Others had huge mouths but exceptionally narrow throats. Yet everyone who looked like that held a large chunk of fresh meat that appeared fat and juicy. At that moment, they kept chewing the meat in their mouths, but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how finely they chewed it, they could never swallow it through those impossibly thin throats.
So, despite each of them holding a huge piece of meat, not one of them was anything but skin and bones, emaciated beyond recognition from hunger.
Seeing the bizarre appearances of the people around him, Asano Kiyoshi was initially stunned. Then, recalling his previous training with Hirako, a bold thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"This... could this be my Inner World?!"
Although this place looked exceptionally eerie and terrifying, completely at odds with the heart of a sunny young