The tremendous explosion collapsed at least five or six floors' worth of ceilings and floors.
When Takakai helped Maki out of the rubble, what he saw was a nightmarish expanse—layers upon layers of twisted architecture stretching upward through the flames, endlessly, with no visible end to this distorted building.
"An explosion of this scale… high-grade explosives?"
Maki, her face pale, murmured this before quickly noticing the abnormality around them.
However, due to her limited mobility, it was Takakai who acted first, gripping her shoulders and lifting her like a large ragdoll before swiftly turning to flee, sprinting away from the blast zone.
The surrounding noise grew chaotic.
From within the wreckage, behind countless distorted doors, more and more things stirred, roused by the massive disturbance.
They couldn't afford to be caught.
Without a hanging clock to rewind time, being captured here would mean the absolute end.
"What is this place? No matter which way we go, it's the same twisted structure… Is this really the same apartment we were in before?"
Maki muttered under her breath as she nervously scanned their surroundings.
She had thought she'd seen enough of the impossible today, but this hellish place always found a way to surpass her expectations. The endless, nightmare-like stacking of shattered buildings resembled something out of a disaster film, yet carried an added layer of surreal grotesqueness.
Could they really find a way out—or even locate a hanging clock—in this place?
Doubt was beginning to creep into the girl's heart.
"This should still be [the 3rd floor]," Takakai answered calmly.
"The 3rd floor? How? This place looks nothing like—"
Maki blinked, momentarily unable to process his words.
"No matter what the Shirakawa Apartments used to be, it's now an illogical supernatural realm. The 2nd floor we were on earlier might have seemed relatively normal because it was far from the most dangerous area—Room 304—and not close to the exit on the 1st floor. But in contrast, the 1st floor has been hidden, impossible to leave through normal means. Meanwhile, the 3rd floor's anomalies have spread from Room 304 to the entire floor. This shattered, endlessly sprawling ruin is the 3rd floor now. Well, that's just my theory, but it's probably not far from the truth."
Takakai spoke dispassionately as he continued running, Maki still on his back.
"Room 304… If I remember right, when I looked down through that hole earlier…"
Maki's expression shifted slightly. Though she hadn't seen it clearly, she recalled that at the very bottom of the ruined structure exposed by the explosion was a blood-red floor—and on it, a door. Even without getting a full look, the sight of it had sent chills down her spine.
"Yeah, that's the one. I think the real rooms of the 3rd floor are hidden somewhere in this wreckage. Like the place we were in before, or that hidden area the explosion just uncovered."
As he answered, Takakai couldn't help but think of Old Guo, that veteran player with too many tricks up his sleeve.
What had accelerating the clock given him that was worth risking the apartment's transition into nighttime?
Was there something he could only explore after dark? Some benefit that made him gamble like this? Or was there another reason entirely?
Whatever it was, the guy was way past dead now. Takakai wondered if he'd regretted his decision in the end.
And speaking of which, based on what they'd seen, Old Guo had at least one supernatural tool—something capable of hypnosis or mind control. Probably one of those Obsessions Greene had mentioned. On top of that, the guy had a gun (and good aim), solid combat skills, and freakish durability. That fake Kaguya, while the weakest supernatural entity Takakai had encountered so far—the only one they could actually resist and escape from—still had the physical prowess of Captain America on invincibility mode, judging by how Maki and Old Guo had struggled in close combat. And the fact that Old Guo had survived minutes of that beating spoke volumes.
Hell, the guy even had high-grade explosives in his arsenal. If he'd used those on the 2nd floor… Well, it would've just wiped out all the players, since supernatural entities clearly didn't care about mundane physical damage.
I wonder what would happen if someone brought a nuke into a rules-based horror game and set it off.
After just a brief respite from danger, Takakai's mind was already spiraling into absurd hypotheticals again.
Ahead, the path twisted chaotically—furniture and debris stretched endlessly: beds lying on ceilings, cabinets slanted against walls, half-broken staircases leading upward, doors haphazardly open or shut, scattered garbage bags and rubble.
Thud—
As they moved, Takakai kicked a garbage bag, eliciting a crisp clattering sound.
He looked down at the torn bag and the empty beer cans that had spilled out.
The cheapest, lowest-quality beer sold at back-alley stalls. At a glance, the packaging might look normal, but anyone who'd ever drank could tell from the smell—this was bootleg swill from unlicensed factories, the kind only the desperately poor would drink to numb themselves.
"What's wrong?"
Maki, still on his back, noticed his hesitation.
"These garbage bags… they're all filled with empty beer bottles."
Takakai answered while continuing forward through the distorted rooms.
"Did you figure something out?"
Maki frowned, but nothing useful came to mind. For a princess raised in mansions and castles, the existence of bottom-shelf alcohol was too far removed from her world to draw any meaningful connections.
"Just guesses. The cheapest booze, in this quantity… Could be from a group gathering. Or maybe one person drinking alone. Either way, these trash piles keep showing up—maybe they're traces left behind by a former resident of Shirakawa Apartments. …But that's just speculation. Don't think too hard about it."
Takakai took a moment to organize his thoughts before responding.
"I see… Auntie and I probably wouldn't have considered that. Our environments and perspectives are just too different. But you seem to know a lot about this. Have you drunk before? Are you one of those writers who chugs alcohol for inspiration?"
Still unable to visualize it, Maki shook her head before shifting the topic.
"…No, alcohol just makes me unable to write. But, well, whether it's family gatherings, class reunions, or parties with friends, drinking always seems to be involved. My senses are pretty sharp, so I can tell the difference. Personally, though, I hate drinking—it messes with my thought process."
As he spoke, Takakai suddenly stopped, his gaze locking onto something.
"Really? I've never had alcohol, but my family's already scheduled wine-tasting lessons for after I come of age. Hm? What's wrong? Why'd you stop?"
Maki replied absentmindedly before noticing Takakai's abrupt halt. She followed his line of sight.
A window.
An inconspicuous window amidst the distorted architecture.
But unlike the boarded-up windows on the 2nd floor—or the ones in the room they'd been trapped in earlier—this one was untouched, left in its normal state.
Worse, it was open.
And beyond it… a quiet stretch of starry sky, lit by a hazy crescent moon.
"Outside the window… That's—"
No.
There was no moon. No stars.
The moment she realized, Maki slammed her eyes shut, while Takakai immediately turned and sprinted in the opposite direction.
Outside the window…
What was outside the window…
The image seared into the girl's mind, impossible to forget once seen.
Floating—
No, not floating.
Falling.
Falling upward… like stars…
"Don't think about it. We didn't see any window."
Takakai's voice snapped Maki back to reality.
"How are you always the first to snap out of it…? Ugh, it's like being hypnotized…"
Shaking her head, Maki forced herself out of the bizarre mental loop, though she couldn't help but wonder how Takakai kept resisting these effects so easily.
"Maybe it's a hidden talent I never noticed. Tch—something's chasing us."
Takakai joked before suddenly picking up on an unnatural sound nearby.
Maki spotted it first, yanking his arm to steer him aside just as a wall exploded beside them. A figure wreathed in cold air burst through, its gaze locking onto Maki.
"Holy shit—Refrigerator Bro?!"
Takakai recognized it immediately—the fridge corpse that had lain motionless on the 2nd floor earlier.