Four eyes met.
"Woo—!" A strange, wailing cry rang out.
It charged towards the mother and daughter at a terrifying speed.
Hide? Impossible, they had already been discovered! Run? They couldn't outrun it at all.
A bone-chilling coldness rose from the depths of her genes; the biological perception of danger continuously sounded the alarm, as wave after wave of danger signals surged from her spinal cord into her brain.
But it was too late…
In an instant, Asuna only felt sharp claws tear open the flesh of her abdomen, and endless pain invaded her brain.
'It seems I'm going to die!'
"Asuna!!"
Just then, her mother's angry voice came through. Following the sound, Asuna saw her mother's terrified yet furious expression.
'It's a pity that I was still arguing with my mother before I died…' A trace of regret flashed through Asuna's mind.
"Let go of Asuna!"
Kyoko shouted furiously, simultaneously grabbing the flowerpot from the nearby windowsill and hurling it towards the pale figure with the wailing cry.
Clang—
The sound of the flowerpot dropping rang out. Kyoko had barely made her move when the monster's hand—slender and long like a bamboo pole, yet capable of tearing steel rebar—impaled her heart, skewering it like a sugar-coated hawthorn.
"Mom—!" Asuna cried out in agony.
Although she had conflicts with her mother, it was merely the desire of a fledgling bird to leave the protection of its parents and take control of its own life.
But now, her mother, Kyoko, had died right in front of her!
Asuna covered the hole in her abdomen, her eyes filled with pain, sorrow, and terror.
But clearly, the pale monster had no time to heed her current emotions.
Pfft—
Like shaking a rag, it tossed aside the corpse of her mother, Kyoko, and aimed its hand at Asuna once more.
At this moment, Asuna finally managed to get a clear look at its face: the skin and flesh on that wailing, skeletal face was twisted into an expression of fury—a terrifying, fleshy look that made it seem as if she, the prey, was the aggressor... it was chilling and dreadful!
'If only I were as powerful as Hayashi-san and had also obtained a cursed tool in the Mad Gambling instance, I wonder if I could deal with this monster...
Hayashi-san, save me; I don't want to die!'
This was the last thought remaining in Asuna's mind.
Subsequently, she was swallowed by immense despair, like fish meat on a cutting board, awaiting the arrival of death... Time reversed.
"Ugh~~!"
Sitting back down in front of the computer, Asuna, who had been browsing the forums, clutched her head in pain.
"So painful…"
Asuna didn't know why, but she felt as if her head was about to shatter; it hurt so much, extremely painful. She also faintly felt the phantom pain of being torn apart by sharp claws.
Vaguely, she seemed to see a terrifying, pale white figure sprinting toward her.
"What is that? It looks like the monster from the forum just now."
The phantom pain didn't last long, but Asuna, quickly recovering, felt boundless fear rise in her heart.
Because the phantom pain was too real, as if she had truly been torn to shreds once.
'Could this be the ability of precognition!?'
With this doubt flashing in her mind, Asuna felt she had to do something.
'I can't just sit here and wait for death!'
Thinking this, Asuna decisively rushed out of the room.
"You..."
Seeing Asuna suddenly rush out of the room, her mother wanted to scold her for being so flustered, but Asuna was in no mood to argue now.
"Mother, give me the car keys!"
Asuna said to Kyoko with an anxious expression.
"Hmm? What happened?"
Perhaps Asuna's overly anxious expression influenced Kyoko; this time, she didn't scold Asuna, asking instead with a somewhat solemn tone.
"..."
Hearing this, Asuna paused for a moment. She couldn't possibly say that she felt she had gained the ability to predict the future and had seen fragments of future memories.
And in those memory fragments, she saw herself and her mother being torn apart by a pale white monster!
No!
If she told the truth, her mother, who had never encountered any strange events, would definitely not believe her, and arguing to explain would only waste precious escape time.
"Father! Father was in a car accident! He's being rushed to the hospital; we need to go quickly!"
Asuna had a flash of inspiration and said decisively.
"!"
Hearing this, Kyoko's mind went blank. For a moment, she seemed unable to accept the news, nor did she harbor any suspicion about its truthfulness.
After all, the genuine panic on Asuna's face was too convincing.
Kyoko figured that only if her husband were in trouble would Asuna be this panicked.
"Mother, the keys!"
Seeing her mother frozen, Asuna quickly reminded her.
"Alright..."
Panicked, Kyoko didn't think twice and immediately handed the house car keys to Asuna.
She was then led by Asuna into the sedan parked in the courtyard.
It wasn't until she was sitting in the passenger seat that Kyoko Yuki finally recovered her senses and asked Asuna with confusion.
"Asuna, when did you get your driver's license? Why didn't I know?"
"...I don't have a license!"
Asuna's answer made Kyoko instantly widen her eyes. Just as she was about to tell Asuna to let her drive.
She saw Asuna, without instruction, release the handbrake, shift into reverse, and then slam the accelerator!
"Ah!"
With Asuna's sudden acceleration, Kyoko, who hadn't had time to fasten her seatbelt, nearly slammed her head against the window.
"Asuna, let me drive!" Kyoko yelled anxiously at Asuna.
"There's no time!" If her mother was anxious, Asuna was even more so, because she could already faintly hear the sound of something exploding in the distance.
Bang! Bang!!
Following the memories of watching her father and older brother drive, Asuna suddenly felt that driving was quite easy, especially after shifting into drive and bumping the car against the family's flower bed a few times.
Amidst her mother's screams, Asuna quickly drove the car onto the road.
"Asuna, the speed! The speed! It's too fast!"
Kyoko, who had obediently fastened her seatbelt, pointed at the speedometer showing the furious speed and shouted at Asuna.
If she could, she really wanted to take over the driving, but given Asuna's current reckless driving and speed, Kyoko didn't dare touch the steering wheel.
She was afraid that even a small interference would cause them both to crash and die.
"This should be fine, right?"
Flooring the accelerator and reaching a speed of nearly 200 kilometers per hour gave Asuna a sense of security.
Asuna had just let out a sigh of relief.
"Fine? It's a huge problem! Slow down! Do you understand? Slow down!!"
Her mother yelled, her voice trembling nervously.
Just then, Asuna subconsciously looked in the rearview mirror, and then she discovered, terrified, that monster!!
It was running after them!
Its speed far exceeded the speed at which she was driving!
After a short while.
Thud!
A dull sound rang out, as if something had landed on their car.
"What was that sound?"
Kyoko asked, looking confused.
"..."
In response, Asuna took her foot off the gas and looked up at the car roof with despair.
Like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, she slumped in the driver's seat, despair coating her beautiful face.
She accepted her fate and said a single sentence to her mother.
"I'm sorry, Mother; I shouldn't have argued with you."
Asuna's sudden, despairing apology confused Kyoko greatly; all these sudden events made her brain unable to process everything, and before she could say anything.
She quickly understood why her daughter was showing such an expression of despair.
Tear!
The sound of metal tearing rang out from above as a pair of slender, ghastly white hands ripped open the car roof like tearing tofu skin.
Revealing the terrifying monster.
"Mon... Monster!!"
Amidst Kyoko's screams, Asuna despairingly closed her eyes. She didn't want to see her mother die again.
The version of herself in the precognition fragments wasn't saved, and now she figured no one would come to save her either!
Just then.
"Good thing I made it!"
A familiar voice suddenly rang out beside Asuna's ear, causing her to freeze slightly. This was... the voice of Hayashi-san.
Was it... auditory hallucination?