"Exterminating humanity—is that a boast or..."
Yukino walked out of the interrogation room with a solemn expression; the words of the Task Force member made her very uneasy.
However, her attention quickly shifted to Hayashi, and she questioned him with eyes full of doubt.
"Also, Hayashi! You seem to know a lot of things. What are 173 and 096?"
But clearly, Hayashi did not want to answer her question, as it involved his identity as a transmigrator.
Under Yukino's surprise and Yuki's confused gaze, Hayashi snapped his fingers.
Burning heat!
It was as if he had been thrown into a raging fire to burn.
A beautiful serpent was summoned by Hayashi.
She had a human head and a snake body, her eyes were enchanting, and her snake body coiled around Hayashi. Her charming face rested on Hayashi's shoulder, and her captivating eyes were full of curiosity.
She seemed to be wondering why Hayashi had suddenly woken her up.
"You... Yumeko!!"
Yuki cried out in surprise. It wasn't strange to use a cursed tool to summon an [Anomaly], but neither she nor Yukino could summon anything more than a phantom image of an [Anomaly].
Not a lively and alluring snake woman like the one before them!
"Eat me!"
Hayashi said to Yumeko. Compared to being shot, being swallowed by her was painless.
This was a profound realization Hayashi had gained from being swallowed multiple times by Yumeko back at Hyakkaou Private Academy.
"?" Yumeko looked confused.
"!" Yukino's eyes widened.
"!" Yuki was extremely shocked.
Although she didn't understand why Hayashi suddenly acted this way, as an existence manifested from Hayashi's Mad Gambling Authority, she had to obey his command absolutely.
So, although her charming face showed confusion, she still swallowed Hayashi in one gulp... In an instant, time rewound to the moment Hayashi had just arrived at the interrogation room door.
Yukino had just pulled out her tablet, preparing to retrieve the background information of the person being interrogated.
'Strange... why do I feel like I've done this before?'
This thought inexplicably flashed through her mind. This feeling of déjà vu made Yukino feel very strange.
But upon reflection, she was absolutely certain that she had not reviewed the interrogated person's information beforehand in her memory.
So what was the deal with this strange sense of déjà vu?
Was it an illusion caused by a disorder in the brain's memory analysis function?
...But before Yukino could fully figure out what this strange feeling was.
Hayashi suddenly stopped at the door of the interrogation room, and then... turned around and walked up to her!
(O_O)!
Hayashi's sudden movement nearly caused the slightly distracted Yukino to bump into him, startling her. Yukino asked doubtfully:
"What's wrong? The target for interrogation is inside. Do you have any questions?"
"No need for the interrogation, Yukino. You need to tell Director Elysia that something big is about to happen."
"Huh?"
Amidst Yukino's surprised tone.
The perspective shifts to the other side—
----
At Hyakkaou Private Academy, with the help of a big shot leading the way, Yuuki Asuna smoothly passed through the first dungeon, returning safely to her home.
However, her mood was not calm.
After encountering those strange events, her worldview was reshaped.
She had been confused, but beneath the facade of a well-behaved young lady, a resilient core personality was hidden.
Especially after returning, she clashed with her mother over her future life plans, having a massive argument with her mother for the first time ever.
Having broken through the dogmatic constraints she had faced since childhood, she suddenly felt that her perspective on the world had changed.
Especially when recalling how Miss Yuki invited Hayashi to join their organization.
Although the "[Anomaly]s" were terrifying, they also made her feel the 'realness' of her own life's existence!
She suddenly felt like joining Yuki and her group.
Moreover, Yuki had said that she would have to enter the dungeon again in the future; she couldn't escape it.
Since she couldn't escape, she should face the fear!
Thinking this, Asuna turned on the computer in her room.
The first step to eliminating fear was to look at more terrifying ghost and monster pictures online!
'If I look at enough pictures of demons, ghosts, and monsters, I won't be physically afraid of those "[Anomaly]s" anymore!'
While comforting herself, Asuna, who had strong initiative, found a Supernatural Forum.
Then she discovered that a terrifying picture had been continuously trending on the Supernatural Forum recently.
The picture showed a tall, pale monster.
Its face was photographed very clearly, as if the photographer was afraid others wouldn't see the skin texture on its face.
The thin skin seemed to cover only the cheekbones. It looked like it was crying, yet also screaming... giving Asuna the feeling that "it was about to scream and rush out of the picture the next moment!"
"...It's... it's alright. It's just a skinny person, not... not too terrifying, right?"
Asuna comforted herself, intending to continue searching for more horror pictures to build her courage. Suddenly, the comments below the picture caught her attention.
"My people, who understands this? What's going on with this picture? It keeps popping up on major forums. We see it often, not just on our Supernatural Forum, but even on normal forums."
"Is it a new supernatural picture that's gone viral?"
"I don't know, it's pretty popular, but this thing isn't that scary, right? Why is it trending? I don't get it!"
"The two upstairs—this isn't about whether it's trending or not; it's a virus! It has popped up several times while I was playing games!"
"Exactly, it's a virus! And by the way, my grandpa and the others don't use computers or phones, but they've seen it on TV!"
"Awesome~! It's even more powerful than the Panda Burning Incense Virus from before. Which Big Shot from the Supernatural Forum made it? It can infect TVs!"
"I don't know, it's messing with people! I was watching a Director Zach art-action movie, and it suddenly popped up! I went limp!!!"
"Haha—that brother is really miserable, but this virus is truly messed up. It suddenly appears and frightens people everywhere there's internet—on phones, computers, and TVs."
"The big shot who developed this virus is a true talent!"
"Talentless garbage is more like it! Garbage!! I almost went impotent..."
"Guys! I think I saw that skin-and-bones thing from the photo! It... it looks like it's rushing toward me!"
"Yes, yes~! I see it too, brother, so scary~ oh~ haha."
"See my ass. The person who invented this virus is a bastard, ****..."
"***..."
"Stop cursing! Damn it, that thing is real! I—"
...The person didn't finish typing, and the people on the forum didn't take his words seriously. After all, it was a Supernatural Forum, and there were plenty of people who liked to play tricks and scare others.
However, Asuna had seen a real [Anomaly].
Subconsciously, she glanced at that person's IP address.
Tokyo!
She didn't know the exact location; surely it wasn't near her house!
Just as this thought flashed through Asuna's mind.
She suddenly heard the sound of something exploding in the distance.
Wait... it didn't sound like an explosion but rather the sound of an electromagnetic railgun violently tearing through reinforced concrete, like what she'd heard on military channels.
And it wasn't just one spot or two; it was a series, like firecrackers going off...
'What's happening!?'
A question mark flashed in Asuna's mind, and an instinctive sense of unease spread through her heart.