Corpse Mutation

"Where are most of the bruises on your body located?"

To ease the awkward atmosphere in the air, Bai Yuze suddenly asked about the location of the bruises.

"There are many, mostly concentrated on my back. There are a few on my limbs, but they can be covered by clothing."

"Now that you mention it, it seems my wounds are also in areas covered by clothing, as is Yuigahama's burn."

Yukino nodded, analyzing the situation following Bai Yuze's lead.

"I feel like we have specific identities in this strange house. I keep having this feeling that as long as we stay in this room, we don't need to worry even if something catastrophic happens. This feeling is just like..."

"Home!"

Bai Yuze spoke the answer Yukino wanted to express.

"I have this feeling too. I suspect our identities might be the children living in this house."

"Why not the adults?"

Yukino was a bit puzzled; after all, the word "home" encompasses both "children" and "adults."

"Only children don't have to worry about what happens in the future, because if something happens, the adults in the house will handle it. Adults have a lot of pressure and can't afford to be as willful as children."

"Do adults have a lot of pressure..."

A flash of her mother's stern personality and her sister's fake smile crossed Yukino's mind. Without realizing it, the perspective in Yukino's heart quietly shifted...

"Now we need to figure out one problem: where did the people playing the 'adults' in this house go?"

Since there are children, adults should also exist, but currently, only children are in the house. This is clearly problematic. Furthermore, as "children," they are actually injured. Any caring adult would never watch their own child get hurt, unless... this harm was inflicted by them in the first place!

"I don't know. There are too few clues on hand. We can only wait until it's safe to go look for other clues."

The two looked at each other, and the atmosphere fell silent once more.

Yukino sat on the dilapidated bed, closing her eyes to rest, while Bai Yuze leaned against the wall, recalling the rules in his mind.

I don't know how much time passed before the wooden door of 104 was knocked upon.

Thump, thump, thump, thump. Thump, thump, thump, thump.

"Yuze! Yukino! Open the door quickly!"

A voice came from outside—it was Yuigahama's voice!

"Yuigahama-san?"

Yukino was startled. Although she didn't know what time it was, her intuition told her that at most two hours had passed, which was far from the safe time range.

"Waaah, Yukino, open the door quickly! The corpse in room 102 moved! Waaah!"

The sound of crying came from outside the door. Yukino wanted to stand up, but she saw Bai Yuze gesture for her to be quiet.

"Is that you, Yuigahama? Are you okay right now?"

Bai Yuze walked to the wooden door, separated from the person outside by only a single layer of wood.

"Yuze, help me! That corpse is so scary! Open the door quickly!"

"Don't be anxious. Where is that corpse now? Did it run out?"

Bai Yuze asked while crouching down, bracing the door with both hands.

"It ran to 101! It's coming out any second! Open the door quickly!"

The voice outside began to grow impatient, and the force of the knocking increased steadily.

Bang, bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang, bang!

"Is that so? It looks like it hasn't found you yet. Don't worry, let me look for the key first!"

Bai Yuze's tone was filled with comfort, and Yukino couldn't help but roll her eyes upon hearing his words.

"Not to mention that Bai Yuze was currently blocking the door and had no time to look for a key, even if he did have time, this door would need a keyhole to begin with!"

That's right, this door was just an ordinary wooden door with no locking mechanism at all. It could be opened with a light push. Yet, the Yuigahama outside insisted that the people inside open it for her; therefore, the Yuigahama outside was a fake.

As for how to judge if Yuigahama was real? Yukino smiled slightly. Given Yuigahama's personality, she would likely have pushed the wooden door open directly and cried for comfort.

"Did you find it?"

The voice outside continued to ask stubbornly, to which Bai Yuze could only lie.

"If I can't find it, you should go hide in room 105 first. Once the crisis is resolved, we will come to get you."

There was a silence outside, followed by the sound of footsteps walking away.

"Did it leave?"

Bai Yuze was a bit surprised. He didn't expect the thing outside to be so easily fooled, just like an innocent child!

But for the sake of personal safety, Bai Yuze still blocked the door with both hands to prevent the thing outside from forcing its way in.

"It should be gone."

Yukino reminded him, then couldn't help but chuckle.

"Your clumsy words were too fake; only a monster would believe them."

"There's no helping it, I've never lied to anyone in my life."

Bai Yuze spread his hands; he wasn't a professional con artist, so he certainly couldn't come up with a brilliant, elaborate lie.

"Yui-san won't be in any danger, will she... Since there's a monster mimicking her voice to deceive us, it must be trying to deceive her too... What should we do?"

"We can only wish her luck."

Bai Yuze sat down on the floor with his back against the door and closed his eyes, trying to calm his nervously racing heart.

Yukino fell silent as well.

Time slipped away rapidly.

Suddenly!

Bai Yuze heard hurried footsteps echoing in the hallway, and just as he was about to listen carefully to the source of the sound.

Bang!

"Ah!"

The wooden door of 104 was kicked open! And Bai Yuze, who had been sitting behind the door, suffered the consequences.

"Eh! Why are you sitting behind the door?"

Bai Yuze's cry of pain caused Yui's brain to short-circuit for a moment, and after she realized what happened, she asked with a bewildered expression.

"It's a long story, but why didn't you knock!"

Bai Yuze rubbed his lower back; the force of the door opening had nearly crippled him.

"Wuwuwu, Yukino-chan! I missed you so much!"

Yui suddenly lunged toward Yukino, her tone fearful and aggrieved, much like a frightened kitten curled up in a corner crying silently.

And Yukino seemed to truly treat Yui like a cat; she stroked Yui's head and asked in a gentle tone.

"What's wrong? What happened tonight?"

"Wuwuwu... Someone... someone came to knock on the door... It even disguised itself as both of your voices!"

"And then?"

Yukino asked patiently.

"I wanted to go open the door, but the corpse in the room suddenly started moving. It pulled the scalpel out of its neck, stabbed it into the wooden door, and then the knocking stopped.

I was terrified, so I crouched in the corner, not daring to let it out of my sight. I only dared to come find you guys once the agreed-upon time arrived."

Upon hearing Yui's experience, Bai Yuze pushed the door open and ran toward 102. The facts were exactly as Yui had described: the wooden door of 102 had been pierced by a scalpel, and the corpse was standing behind the door, seemingly staring at Bai Yuze through the crack...

Or perhaps, staring at everything outside the door...