The Skin

"You...!"

Koenji's composure vanished, leaving only shock and disbelief on his face.

He pointed at the old woman with a trembling finger. He would never forget the excruciating pain he'd just felt...

"Could I have your seat, please?"

Afraid the same thing might happen again, Bai Yuze quickly spoke up.

Koenji got out of the seat, keeping his eyes fixed on the old woman the whole time, as if he'd encountered a ferocious beast in the wilderness!

The old woman smiled and naturally took the priority seat, even praising him as she sat down.

"Young people these days are so considerate! Much better than we were in our day!"

With that, the old woman closed her eyes.

Her words left everyone on the bus in silence. They couldn't tell whether the old woman was pretending to have amnesia or had really lost her memory.

"I... I want to get off!"

Suddenly, a boy cried out in a trembling voice. His wail was like the final straw that broke the camel's back.

The passengers erupted into chaos.

"Where's the driver?! Stop the bus! I want to get off!"

"I'm not going to this school! Stop the bus!"

"Mom! I want to go home! Waaaaah!"

The crush of passengers grew even worse. Though Kushida Kikyo was frightened, she still forced herself to smile as she tried to calm everyone down.

Soon, everyone on the bus fell quiet...

Because someone had noticed a problem.

There was no driver on this bus!

The bus was so quiet it was terrifying. Bai Yuze was sweating from the shock of what he was seeing, and even stranger, the woman dressed like an office worker who'd been standing beside him had suddenly disappeared.

For some reason, the crush of people from moments ago had suddenly vanished.

Bai Yuze looked around and saw that the passengers had all moved away from him. More precisely, they had all moved away from the old woman, who sat with her eyes closed.

Bai Yuze looked at the old woman before him, finding the whole situation absurd.

She looked so frail she could barely stand, yet she'd been able to kill every passenger on the bus in an instant. If Bai Yuze hadn't spoken up for her... he probably would have experienced the taste of death himself.

That familiar tug on his clothes came again. Bai Yuze turned and saw Kushida Kikyo looking nervous.

He assumed Kushida had been frightened and was about to comfort her, but she spoke first.

"Bai Yuze... do you get the feeling... the old lady isn't breathing?"

Kushida said it with a tremble. From her reaction, it was clear she wasn't lying.

Bai Yuze realized it too. The others were too scared to even breathe, and the bus was frighteningly quiet. The old woman's breathing should have been audible.

But Bai Yuze was standing right in front of her, and he couldn't hear a single breath. Could it be that monsters didn't need to breathe?

Tentatively, Bai Yuze held a finger beneath the old woman's nose. After checking several times, he confirmed that she really wasn't breathing.

"Could this thing be dead?"

Bai Yuze wondered, but he didn't dare touch the old woman's body directly. If she suddenly sprang up and started killing again, it wouldn't be worth the risk...

Screee!

Clang!

The bus suddenly slammed on the brakes. The force threw everyone off balance, and the old woman was no exception.

The falling crowd buried Bai Yuze and the old woman. Once everyone had regained their footing, the bus's front and rear doors opened.

An announcement sounded at the same time.

[Advanced Nurturing High School, arriving at the stop!]

Seeing the doors open, the passengers were overjoyed.

"Aaaaaah!"

A girl screamed beside Bai Yuze, and he felt as though his eardrums were about to burst.

"Y-you... your hands...!"

The girl was too shocked to finish her sentence. The passengers followed her gaze to Bai Yuze's hands.

Bai Yuze was clutching a corpse! No—a hide shaped like an old woman! Its internal organs had long since been removed, leaving only the skin!

"Run!!!"

Someone shouted, and the passengers rushed off the bus.

Some seemed so terrified they'd lost their minds. As soon as they got off, they started howling. One clung to a tree and wailed. Students stepping off other buses were stunned by the sight.

Bai Yuze was also horrified by the hide in his hands!

"Bai Yuze! Hurry!"

After saying that, Kushida Kikyo ran off the bus too.

Bai Yuze came to his senses, but his hand seemed to have touched something. He looked around, and after confirming that all the students had fled the bus,

he fought back his nausea and reached inside the hide. The strange sensation made his face twist in disgust.

At last, he felt the object. Bai Yuze yanked it out, pulling out a vermilion-red sphere.

Without hesitating, he scrambled out of the bus.

"Damn it! Why is there no signal on my phone?!"

"Why has the bus disappeared?! The road we came in on, too!"

"Are we only allowed to enter this school?!"

Some of the people who'd gotten off the same bus as Bai Yuze complained in despair.

This confused the students who'd ridden the other buses. The road was clearly still there. Had the school recruited a bunch of lunatics?

They didn't pay it much mind and simply continued toward Advanced Nurturing High School.

Bai Yuze collapsed on the ground. Feeling the sunlight on his face again, he nearly burst into tears. No words could describe the relief of having survived such an ordeal.

"Bai Yuze! Are you all right?"

Her sweet voice and concerned words were like candied fruit, intoxicating him.

Bai Yuze quietly slipped the vermilion-red sphere into his pocket, then put on a bashful expression and replied,

"Ahaha, thanks for your concern, Kushida. I'm perfectly fine!"

Hearing Bai Yuze's reply, Kushida looked relieved.

"Yo, boy! You seem to have some guts! Did you figure out that monster from the start? Your powers of observation are truly monstrous!"

Koenji had returned to his earlier arrogant self, as if he'd never experienced death.

"What do you mean? I just wanted you to give up your seat."

Bai Yuze played dumb. He understood the principle that a tall tree caught the wind. He'd only done what he had to in order to survive; now it was time to act clueless.

"Hahaha, very modest! Looks like campus life is going to be very interesting!"

Koenji laughed as he walked into Advanced Nurturing High School, paying no attention to the pitying looks from those around him...

"Hey! You must have figured something out, didn't you?"

As soon as he'd dealt with Koenji, someone else stopped Bai Yuze. He turned and saw a long-haired girl with foxlike eyes interrogating him.

"Uh... I explained it clearly. I just wanted that guy to give up his seat..."

Knowing Horikita Suzune's personality, Bai Yuze could only repeat what he'd said before. The result was exactly what he'd expected.

Horikita Suzune thought for a moment before replying,

"That's true. You don't look like a particularly smart person."

"Hey! That's rude!"

Even though he knew Horikita Suzune was nasty and arrogant, her words still made Bai Yuze angry.

Horikita Suzune didn't apologize. Instead, she turned and walked into Advanced Nurturing High School.

Bai Yuze: ...

"Ah... haha... What an interesting person... What do you think, Bai Yuze?"

Kushida Kikyo tried to lighten the mood, but inside, she was already thrilled.

Hahahaha! Horikita, you bitch! That taste of death just now must have been awful, huh? You dared to come to the same school as me? I'll make your life hell, you bitch!

And that guy named Bai Yuze! He's got such a gloomy air about him. He's obviously a shut-in! Just standing near someone like him makes me sick! I wonder what kind of dumb luck let him figure out that old monster's identity!

Kushida Kikyo winked at Bai Yuze, then said playfully,

"Well, Bai Yuze, I'll head in first!"

After saying that, Kushida Kikyo entered the school.

Bai Yuze felt puzzled. Could some buses be normal, while the people on this one had simply been unlucky?

He put the thought aside for now and began looking for a certain figure.

Just then, a voice devoid of emotion came from behind Bai Yuze's neck.

"Are you... looking for me?"

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