Chapter 9

# Chapter 9

Whoooosh...

I sighed while staring at the shore where the cheerful sound of waves filled the air.

"First, let's get our heads straight."

"..."

The mascot silently patted my back.

I wrung seawater from my soaked dress shirt and thought.

What exactly had happened?

First, the moment the elevator doors opened, a wave as large as a house poured inside.

The mascot somehow dragged me out while I was still completely disoriented.

And now we were here.

Good.

Perfectly understood.

Honestly, we hadn't suffered any huge losses.

My clothes were merely soaked.

And I'd almost become a corpse after being swept away.

But since I hadn't actually become a corpse, it wasn't a big deal.

"But..."

There was another problem.

I looked at the mascot, which was desperately fanning the notebook dry with its hands.

Then I looked back toward the sea.

"How does a notebook in a place like this not have waterproofing?"

That was the problem.

The notebook wasn't waterproof.

The contents were completely soaked.

It was difficult to make out what had been written.

Clicking my tongue, I quickly flipped through the pages.

"..."

Impossible.

I couldn't read it.

Even the sections that were barely legible had smeared so badly that understanding them was difficult.

The only things I could identify were scattered words.

Let's see...

"Deep sea... something... careful..."

Most of the readable fragments seemed related to danger.

Deep sea.

Something.

Careful.

Did that mean there was something in the deep sea I had to watch out for?

Even I thought that was a ridiculous deduction.

I lowered the notebook and thought.

Should I just die and restart?

If I asked the mascot, maybe it could somehow do it.

During one of the previous regressions, it had killed me before.

If it could just kill me again...

"...?"

The mascot must have noticed my gaze.

It stared at me.

I stared back.

Then I looked away.

No.

There was no need.

I focused.

A translucent window appeared before me.

[Remaining Regressions: ??]

Let's not throw my lives away carelessly.

Judging by this alone, my regression wasn't necessarily infinite.

It would be better to think of each life as an opportunity to learn something.

"Let's go."

The moment I finished speaking, the mascot straightened its shoulders and stepped ahead.

"You're taking the lead?"

"!"

It nodded vigorously.

"...Thanks."

The mascot nodded again and started walking.

As I watched it move, I finally took in the surroundings properly.

A sheer cliff.

Waves rolling onto the shore.

Despite the enormous wave that had struck us earlier, the sea was now strangely calm.

It was a beautiful coast backed by steep cliffs.

Aside from the overcast sky.

"Phew."

For now, there was nothing to do except walk along the beach.

I followed behind the mascot.

Sand crunched beneath our feet.

Waves crashed softly nearby.

Compared to the first floor, where every footstep mattered...

Or the second floor, where standing still too long meant being cooked alive...

This place felt much easier.

At least, that was what I thought.

Until I finally spoke again roughly two hours later.

"...It doesn't end."

"..."

The mascot turned to look at me.

Something was strange.

No matter how large the beach was, having the same sheer cliff and shoreline continue endlessly didn't make sense.

"Wait."

"!"

The mascot stopped.

"Are we going around in circles?"

"..."

It nodded slowly.

"You feel something strange too?"

"!"

The mascot nodded.

So it had noticed the same thing.

Good.

I used my foot to draw a huge X in the sand.

Then I looked at the mascot.

"Let's go."

Let's test it.

If we really were circling around the same area, we'd eventually see the X again.

We started walking.

Less than thirty minutes later...

We stood before the X carved into the sand.

"..."

"..."

"Well, at least now we know we're walking in circles."

"!"

The mascot nodded vigorously.

Fine.

Let's assume we're trapped in a loop around this place.

Then how do we leave?

I looked up.

Climb the cliff.

Was that possible?

"Can you climb that cliff?"

"?"

The mascot didn't have a real face.

And yet somehow, I felt like it was looking at me as if I were insane.

"Right. Stupid question."

"!"

Yeah.

Sorry.

I watched it stomp its foot, then looked back at the cliff.

Fine.

Climbing was impossible.

"..."

Sea to the left.

Cliff to the right.

And an endlessly repeating beach ahead.

I took out the still-soaked notebook and tried reading again.

The mascot watched me for a while, then started searching the area on its own.

Three words.

Deep sea.

Something.

Careful.

There wasn't much I could infer from only those.

"..."

I looked at the rolling waves.

The elevator the mascot had dragged me out of had disappeared without leaving any sign it'd ever been there.

And the moment we'd entered the third floor, we'd been hit by a wave as large as a house.

I didn't even know whether there were tides here.

If I couldn't climb the cliff...

Didn't that mean the only option was to go into the sea?

But how?

I couldn't breathe underwater.

"Can you breathe underwater?"

What a stupid question.

If the mascot couldn't even climb a cliff, how could it possibly breathe under...

"!"

"You can?"

The mascot nodded enthusiastically.

Wait.

How does someone in a mascot costume breathe underwater?

No.

Maybe because it's a mascot, it doesn't need to breathe in the first place?

My brain felt like it was short-circuiting.

Still...

Good news was good news.

"Then can you go in there and check?"

"!"

The mascot nodded powerfully.

Then it splashed into the sea.

Did that costume not absorb water?

I wondered briefly.

Then the mascot completely disappeared beneath the surface.

"..."

It's coming back, right?

What if it doesn't?

Anxiety suddenly rose in my chest.

It was the only being here I could communicate with.

I started tapping my foot nervously against the ground.

Calm down.

Stay calm.

It'll be fine if I wait.

I waited.

Then...

Splash!

The mascot walked back out of the sea.

"Are you okay?"

"!"

It nodded vigorously.

I breathed out softly.

Then I looked at it again.

"How was it?"

"!!!"

The mascot started bouncing up and down.

What was it trying to say?

Then it pointed at the ocean.

Then its nose and mouth.

"Uh..."

"!!!"

What?

The mascot pointed at its nose and mouth again.

Then at the sea.

I still didn't understand.

"It's hard to breathe?"

"!!"

"There's something inside?"

"!!"

It shook its head violently.

Then it pointed at my face.

Then the water.

Then it repeatedly dipped its own head into the sea and lifted it back out.

"You want me to put my head underwater?"

"!"

The mascot nodded hard.

Are you insane?

Why would I suddenly stick my head underwater?

"!!!!"

But the mascot looked so frustrated that it repeatedly pounded its own chest and pointed at me.

Fine.

I could try once.

"Okay. Wait."

"..."

I slowly lowered my head into the sea.

What did it expect me to...

Breathing was easy.

And I could see perfectly.

"...?"

Breathing was easy?

And I could see perfectly?

I lifted my head in shock.

The mascot was waiting with its thumb raised.

"I can breathe underwater?"

"!"

Apparently, I could.

Then...

"So I'm supposed to go inside."

"!"

I'd never gone scuba diving in my life.

Even so, my feet steadily carried me farther into the water.

Maybe what happened on the second floor had given me a compulsion to keep moving quickly.

Cold seawater rose around my body.

When it reached my chin, I hesitated.

"Okay, okay! Stop pushing me!"

"!!!"

The mascot shoved against my back.

I had no choice but to keep going.

I took a deep breath and submerged my head.

"...Whoa."

I was standing beneath the sea.

Not floating.

Standing.

My feet remained planted beneath me as though buoyancy simply didn't exist.

It felt like walking through an underwater tunnel.

I looked around while moving.

It was beautiful.

And disturbing.

Glowing stones illuminated the blue water.

Fish...

"..."

There weren't any.

The environment existed.

Yet there were no living creatures to inhabit it.

Nothing.

So completely nothing that it felt unnatural.

"One floor was fire, and now it's water."

I grumbled and kept moving.

The mascot passed me and walked ahead as if all of this were perfectly normal.

After a while...

"..."

For the first time, I found evidence of another living person.

Not the person themselves.

Only writing.

I gently pushed past the mascot, walked closer, and read the words.

[110. The notebook got completely soaked, so I'm writing here instead. If you try climbing the cliff, you eventually hit something like a ceiling. Looks like the deep sea really is the answer.]

[140. Writing this while heading back. I'm going first. A lot of people died here too, and now I finally understand why there are no bodies. There is ■■ ■■.]

Censorship.

It had been a while.

Thinking that, I looked forward.

"...!"

The mascot was urgently pointing ahead.

I followed its gesture.

And met the gaze of something directly in front of me.

Its mouth was already wide open.

Before I could even think, Huh?

The mouth snapped shut.

I felt my body being severed at the waist.

Then my consciousness ended.

Or...

I would've been grateful if it had ended there.

Inside the darkness, countless mouths tore into me.

There are mouths inside its mouth?

The question barely formed before sharp pain ripped through every part of my body.

I opened my mouth to scream.

"Grrk... ggrrrk..."

Only the wet bubbling of blood came out.

Before I could form another sound, one of the mouths bit into my jaw.

CRACK.

My lower jaw was torn away completely.

I couldn't breathe anymore.

I couldn't even scream.

My mouth stayed open as I endlessly screamed without sound.

Then...

"..."

Another mouth bit into my head.

My skull broke with a horrible crunch.

Only then did the pain finally stop.

***

"...!"

The instant I opened my eyes, the first thing I did was grab the notebook and raise it above my head.

"Protect this!"

I shouted at the mascot staring blankly at me.

It immediately lunged forward, hugged me, and stuffed the notebook deep inside its costume.

At the same moment...

The elevator doors opened.

A massive wave poured in.

This time, I reacted immediately.

I threw myself into the water.

My eyes opened wide.

For a moment, I saw something pitch-black.

Then the wave hurled me onto land again.

"Puha!"

I gasped for breath.

The mascot had been swept ashore beside me.

As though we'd rehearsed it, it immediately pulled the notebook from inside its costume and handed it over.

I hurriedly opened it.

"..."

After reading everything...

I slowly closed the notebook.

This floor was going to be difficult.