Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"..."

I reread the notebook in front of me.

No. 151?

No. 152?

Did that mean someone had come after me?

How did that make sense?

Wasn't I supposed to be the last one?

I hadn't even died.

Then how could I see records written by people who came after me...

No.

I didn't even know if they had actually come after me.

How was I seeing their records at all?

Don't tell me...

"..."

I hurriedly stepped outside the elevator.

The mascot, which had been standing quietly until then, trotted after me.

"Do you know something? Are more people kidnapped here even if I don't die?"

"...?"

The mascot tilted its head.

"I mean, am I not the last one? Is there really a No. 151?"

"...?"

It stared at me like it had no idea what I was saying.

I sighed.

Right.

My fault for expecting an answer.

Let's think.

There was someone after me.

And they said they were going to the second floor.

It sounded insane, but that meant someone was currently on the first floor.

And that person was going to come up to the second floor.

There was only a small chance, but...

What if...

Just maybe...

Someone really came up?

What if I met the person coming from the first floor?

Wouldn't things become easier?

At the very least, I'd have someone to talk to.

The mascot understood me, but it wasn't exactly capable of having a conversation.

"..."

For now, let's read more of the notebook.

I scanned through it.

The contents were still mostly the same.

A maze.

And apparently, there was no method other than wandering until you found the path.

Still, after rereading everything several times, there were a few entries that seemed suspicious.

[83. I think there's some kind of pattern. But even if there is, you still have to wander around to find the path... and the steam makes walking pretty hard.]

[121. I'm ■■, so I've just been walking nonstop. But once it gets hot enough, don't the pipes start making way too much noise?]

[130. I think there might be some cooler areas. I don't think I'm getting out, though.]

Three entries.

"..."

I tapped the elevator wall while thinking.

There was a pattern.

When the temperature passed a certain point, the pipes got louder.

There were cooler areas.

"I don't know."

That was far too little information.

I frowned deeply as I thought.

Then, almost as though it had been waiting for me, the announcement started.

<Further waiting is not permitted.]

<We repeat. Due to the characteristics of the second floor, further waiting is not permitted.>

<If you remain inside the elevator until the doors close, we will not be responsible for any accident that occurs afterward.>

The doors began closing.

Once again, the mascot, which had been standing still, grabbed my wrist and dragged me out.

"I can get out on my own."

"..."

Without answering, it simply pulled me outside.

The moment I stepped out, the elevator doors began to close.

A few seconds later...

Thud.

They shut completely.

"...Phew."

I looked at the closed elevator doors and sighed softly.

Let's wait ten minutes.

Exactly six hundred seconds.

Who knew?

Maybe someone else would come up on the elevator.

Thinking that, I stared at the doors.

The mascot beside me remained completely silent.

It just stared at me.

Exactly six hundred seconds later...

"Nope. Not happening."

Apparently, waiting here wasn't going to let me meet No. 151 or anyone after them.

Maybe...

"...It's like parallel worlds or something."

I didn't really understand the theory.

But I'd seen it plenty of times in movies and books.

Or maybe there was some other rule I didn't know.

The important part was this.

People were coming after me.

And they would act based on what I wrote in the notebook.

"..."

Did that mean people's lives depended on my words?

"Let's stay a little calmer."

"?"

"I'm talking to myself."

In the end, I had no choice but to move forward again.

But that was fine.

I'd already memorized the path.

"Last time, it was left, right, right, left..."

This time, I'd change things slightly.

Time was on my side.

If I died, I could try again.

For someone rich in time like me, this floor was basically something I could clear eventually just by repeatedly trying.

Dying was unpleasant, though.

"If I'm suffering too much, can you kill me?"

"..."

The mascot vigorously shook its head.

As though it couldn't do something like that.

"Is that so?"

Too bad.

This place really was easy to get lost in.

Every path looked almost identical.

If I hadn't memorized my route, I would've gotten lost in no time.

The temperature had risen slightly.

I kept walking without stopping.

"Haa..."

Hot.

I stopped briefly and caught my breath while watching steam hiss from a nearby pipe.

The mascot behind me also stopped.

It quietly stared at me.

"Isn't this hard for you too?"

"..."

It sweated less than I did, so it was probably fine.

It didn't even seem human anyway.

Or was it?

"They say the parts touched by the steam melt, so be careful."

"...!"

The mascot exaggeratedly twisted its whole body to dodge the steam.

Thinking about it, the mascot's body was much thicker than a human's.

How was it so good at avoiding everything?

I watched it weave around the steam, then opened the notebook again.

Maybe more entries had appeared.

No.

Nothing new.

Still, I felt encouraged.

It was awful that more people had been dragged in after me.

But knowing they had solved things more easily because of me gave me strength.

I continued building a map inside my head.

"Right here, then left after this..."

"..."

"Dead end. Then since we came from behind, eliminate the left path and take the right..."

Remembering all of this was work in itself.

After walking for a while, the heat started rising again.

"...Hot."

I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist.

The mascot stretched out its arms.

"What?"

"...!"

"Ah. You'll carry it?"

"!"

It nodded vigorously.

Strangely helpful.

"Thank you."

"!"

The mascot raised a fist proudly, then took my jacket.

If it wanted to help, I wasn't going to refuse.

I wiped sweat from my face with my shirt sleeve and kept walking.

Though I was starting to think this attempt was probably doomed.

We continued.

The heat kept getting worse.

But that was fine.

"If we just find a path to the right here, then we'll..."

A new route...

"...?"

A solid wall stood in front of me.

Wait.

A wall?

"...That's strange."

This wasn't where a dead end should appear.

I should've had at least four more turns before that.

Goosebumps spread across my entire body.

"...Don't tell me."

Did the maze reset with every regression?

Then memorizing the route was pointless?

"..."

For a moment, I thought things were going to become much more troublesome.

Then...

Pssshhh!

Steam hissed from the pipes.

The heat intensified.

"...No."

I shook my head and cleared my thoughts.

It wasn't a big deal.

Nothing had changed that much.

I just had to wander.

The number of attempts might increase.

But I could keep trying forever.

Nothing had become fundamentally worse for me.

Right.

This much...

"..."

The atmosphere suddenly felt strangely quiet.

I looked around.

The mascot was staring somewhere.

"What are you looking at?"

"..."

I followed its gaze.

There was a hallway.

"Doesn't look any different from the others."

"..."

The mascot stared at that path for a moment.

Then it turned back to me and grabbed my arm.

It pulled me in the exact opposite direction.

"Wait. Weren't you trying to take me that way?"

"...!"

The mascot said nothing.

It simply kept pulling me.

"Wait...!"

This was the first time it had dragged me somewhere this aggressively.

The air was still hot.

"..."

The mascot looked back at me.

I stared at it for a moment, then looked away.

"Let's keep walking."

That was all we could do anyway.

"..."

Thud.

My body tilted again.

"...!"

The mascot quickly caught me before I fell.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"..."

It wiped the sweat from my face with its hand.

I'd walked enough this time too.

I didn't know how many hours had passed.

My knees creaked.

My body felt like it was boiling.

Was I going to die again?

"...Would it kill this place to let me die peacefully for once?"

I muttered as I unbuttoned my sweat-soaked shirt.

This attempt seemed over too.

Maybe it was obvious, but ever since I arrived here, I hadn't died peacefully even once.

The gentlest death I'd had was getting my neck snapped.

That said everything.

And this death would probably be miserable too.

"..."

I didn't want to die.

No matter what, dying was terrifying.

It hurt.

Even if I came back afterward, the pain before death tormented me endlessly.

So I kept moving forward, even if I had to lean on the mascot.

I kept hoping.

Maybe the elevator would be around the next corner.

Thinking that, I rounded the corner.

"..."

My vision blurred.

I collapsed to the floor.

At some point, I'd stopped sweating.

It felt like my brain was cooking.

I turned my head.

The mascot stood nearby, holding the coat it had taken from me.

What was it going to do this time?

Before I could wonder any longer...

The mascot knelt.

It brought its face level with mine.

"...?"

I tried to say something.

No sound came out.

I could only stare at it.

"..."

Slowly, it reached out both hands.

Then it grabbed my neck.

For a moment, I felt something cool.

Then the mascot twisted its hands.

CRACK!

Something in my neck snapped.

My consciousness vanished.

Did it kill me?

Why?

Those questions passed through my mind.

But the last thing I saw was the unreadable face of the mascot.

<――――Violation.>

At the same time, a strange voice reached my ears.

Violation?

What did I violate...?

Static crackled.

My consciousness sank again.

"..."

I sat up.

As if it were perfectly natural, the mascot was standing there staring at me.

When our eyes met, it tilted its head repeatedly.

I remembered the face of the mascot that had just killed me.

Had it understood what I'd asked?

But it had said it couldn't.

And what was that "violation"?

Thoughts swirled through my head.

I hurriedly spoke.

"Just now... no. I mean... wait. Do you actually understand what I'm saying?"

"...?"

The mascot only tilted its head.

"..."

For now, I thought back on what the mascot had done in the previous attempt.

It had killed me.

The attempt before that, it had supported me.

Overall, every action it took seemed to be for my benefit.

More precisely...

Maybe I could think of it as a helper.

Then, if there was meaning hidden in those actions...

Inside the now-familiar elevator, I began walking in circles while reading the notebook.

Aside from killing me and supporting me, what else had it done?

There was one thing.

The path it had stared at without saying anything.

Something unusual.

If there was one strange detail...

"...!"

I hurriedly opened the notebook.

The same three entries that had bothered me before.

[83. I think there's some kind of pattern. But even if there is, you still have to wander around to find the path... and the steam makes walking pretty hard.]

[121. I'm ■■, so I've just been walking nonstop. But once it gets hot enough, don't the pipes start making way too much noise?]

[130. I think there might be some cooler areas. I don't think I'm getting out, though.]

Steam from the pipes.

But the path the mascot had looked toward...

"..."

I straightened up.

My eyes met the mascot's blank face.

"Hey."

"...?"

It tilted its head.

"I think I know how to get out because of you."

"???"

The mascot tilted its head even more.

Fundamentally, this place was designed like a time attack.

No.

Let's be precise.

It was designed to make people think it was a time attack.

Unlike me, everyone else only had one life.

Naturally, they focused on escaping before the heat killed them.

But that wasn't the answer.

"Thanks to you, I figured out how to find the exit."

If I thought about it carefully, there had always been a way out.

And it was an incredibly simple one.