Chapter 87: Elyssia B's Journey to Find the Solution. I.
Elyssia was standing in the middle of the torrential rain, her body soaking wet and heavy. She was panicked, eyes wide as if unable to believe her eyes.
In front of her were thousands of copies standing and moving. They overlapped like distortions. She looked left and right around, trying to find her friends.
* "What is this? Why so many? Where is everyone? Clearly running right beside me?"
Swallowed saliva inside in anxiety.
"How could they disappear? And what the hell is that in front?"
Her eyes observed her own copies moving chaotically and passing through each other.
* "Everyone disappeared, and they appeared before my eyes, some coincidence?"
She was trying to calm down, facial muscles relaxed, breathing slowed. She rubbed her eyes with two hands, thinking she was having hallucinations... Opened her eyes but the copies were still there.
She frowned in suspicion.
"Am I hallucinating? In this trial there's even that?..."
"But very possible, this trial has everything."
Turned back and observed behind her back, in front of her were roads with houses on both sides extending to the end of vision and being filled by her copies.
"Let's see, currently I just ran outside and everyone disappeared. Then in front of me I meet people wandering and looking exactly like me, bodies also wet."
Opened eyes wide when she just thought of something:
"Could it be the trial doesn't allow going outside, and here, this whole place, are all my copies who broke the law so they are here."
Smoothed her platinum hair to be less obstructing.
"Not very good, but what kind of things are these copies? Trial created them to provide more clues?"
"These things even pass through each other, expressions and mouthing words like the real thing."
She stroked her chin thinking, eyes still observing:
"They are my copies, but stuck here. If I am also a copy then it's truly bizarre."
She saw a copy walking toward her. She instinctively went into an alert state, eyes staring fixedly and backing away.
But then that copy accelerated and ran toward her. Unexpectedly, that copy ran right through her body, making her surprised.
Turned back and looked with panicked eyes, but it had merged into the copies behind.
"Passed right through me? Could it be I am a copy?"
She shook her head, denying her thought.
"No, I see them. Meaning I am different, and they cannot see me. Maybe I am the original."
Feeling her body was quite uncomfortable due to being wet, she turned everywhere and looked around and complained:
"Soaking wet. These houses can serve as shelter from the rain. Although knowing the trial will have some dangers, but only through danger can clues be found."
…
She began to walk in the rain, passing through the copies, initially a bit panicked, but then she regained her spirit and walked straight through them.
Ran to a house and stepped into the porch. She looked back at her wet body and back at the black sky. Both hands flicked rainwater on her hands, then tried to wring the parts of the shirt she could grab, so her body would be a bit lighter.
* "The rain is truly terrible, this trial is made too detailed."
She turned around and stepped near the door. Raised her hand and prepared to knock, but seeing the door already opened a bit, she stiffened. Frowned slightly and observed.
* "Door not closed? Can I just walk in like that?"
She suddenly remembered.
* "And since this is a trial why worry?"
She pushed the door inside, her eyes opened wide when seeing the surrounding scene was very familiar, no different from the house she once walked out of.
"Huh? Why so similar? Could it be this is the house where our group appeared?"
She turned her head back and looked outside but there were no copies. Frowned slightly, but she seemingly didn't care.
"Clearly I remember the direction I ran out of the house was different. Why am I here now?"
She turned back and looked into the house. Thinking back that the trial can happen however it wants, she brushed those thoughts aside and stepped inside.
She walked slowly, lightly, making no sound. Each small footstep was accompanied by multiple observations around the room with an alert look. Her nerves were very tense, now if someone scared her she would probably faint.
Knock... knock…
Startled. She cast her eyes to the right and looked up. It was the back of the man holding a sword in one hand, one hand knocking on the last room's door.
Opened eyes wide realizing it wasn't good, she knew if she stepped more strongly now she would certainly die.
* "Not good, must retreat. Don't know where the people of this house are, but just retreat."
She slowly backed away very deliberately, trying not to make a sound. Eyes staring fixedly not leaving the man's back.
She stepped outside, and immediately turned and ran in fear.
* "So lucky, wasn't discovered."
Then she suddenly stiffened, realizing something…
All the copies had disappeared, not a single thing left. In her vision were only houses with large black shadows that even her eyes could not see.
A panicked look was clear on her face.
* "Huh? Where are the copies? Why can't I see them?"
Taking slow steps forward, her ice-colored eyes darted back and forth observing.
* "They only appear once?"
But then her panic gradually lessened, because feeling this was very suspicious, but currently she hadn't seen anything strange.
* "Truly suspicious, surely there must be some reason they disappeared."
She turned back, the direction behind her initially was the house she stepped out of, now it had disappeared.
"Could it be because I entered the house? But why?"
She was quite confused and tried to remember.
"Or is the issue lying in entering the house?"
Having no good harvest, she brushed them aside to think later.
She continued walking in the night and approached a house. Stepped on the porch and into the eaves, sheltering from the heavy rain.
She felt something was not right, constantly looking around.
* "Truly strange, why is this place so similar to that other house?"
Staring at the door, head full of confusion.
* "This door is also the same, don't tell me inside the room is also the same? Clearly the house shapes are different."
She saw the crevice on the door, so she moved close and closed one eye, one eye looked inside.
The room shape was still the same, nothing changed.
Opened eyes wide in panic, but not yet over.
Inside, Takeshi, Airi, Ayaka and especially there was another Elyssia in there. They were going from the stairs down to the bottom.
Takeshi: "In the paper what does the number 245223 mean? Also some other numbers lower down."
Elyssia: "I think it's a form of reminder by numbers."
Takeshi: "Sounds too hard, right?"
Outside, Elyssia was panicked to the extreme, she didn't understand why inside there was another Elyssia. Eyes trembling slightly, feeling quite cold.
* "H-How can it be...? Why is there another me inside?"
* "Could it be a monster transformed? If so everyone is in danger."
She instinctively raised her hand and grabbed the doorknob wanting to rush in and warn everyone. But she was quite panicked, not daring to enter.
She remembered the previous room she entered, the scene was exactly like that, also had the man, but no one inside.
* "Could it be they are dead? Impossible, if dead then loop back to the initial point. So can only be they are hiding somewhere and observing."
* "These three rooms are all the same..."
She turned back and looked at other houses, voice trembling:
* "Could it be all these houses are like that?"
* "I am here, but inside there is another me, so maybe other houses are all like that, and also have another me and everyone in there."
She opened her eyes wide as she just deduced, but then narrowed them in confusion.
* "Possibility my thinking is right for sure. As for why, no clue, in general surely there will be a reason for everything, it's a trial."
She nodded thinking.
* "So that's the reason outside there are many copies of me, they are like me stepping outside and just being panicked."
* "But why I can't see them anymore then surely it's because of entering a house or not. Maybe I have become like those copies, now can't see anyone."
* "So these houses need people who step out like me to enter and explore or find something?"
* "But thinking of the reaction of the copies inside meeting their own self already feels not okay. Entering smoothly is impossible, because the simplest thought is something transformed and that alertness will never be lost until I go."
* "Should I go in now? Or find another house. Or if all run outside, meaning the house is empty, then it would be safer."
She turned and stepped down into the rain, not wanting to go inside.
…
She walked... walked... walked to who knows how many other rooms, looked inside and still saw people in there. She had to turn away. Not clear how long, she stood in the rain with a discouraged look.
"Why does every house have people? Just like here every house is a group, a copy house, inside are copies."
"Possibility I should enter houses with people, searching like this is not okay, must confront."
Approaching a house, she did not hesitate to step up and look inside, inside no one was there. Making her extremely happy, immediately pushed the door inside, she entered slowly but still didn't forget to be alert.
* "So lucky, found it. Just planned to give up."
Stepping inside, she could only hear the rain from outside and thunder. Inside was nothing. She looked up, fearing there would be the man there. But luckily there wasn't.
* "Truly no one?"
CRASH!!!
Suddenly, the door from the crevice at the stairs was burst open. Airi, Ayaka and Takeshi immediately ran one after another outside with a panicked look.
Both sides stood stunned looking at each other. Elyssia stood still in surprise, two eyes wide.
Takeshi, Airi and Ayaka running to the opposite side were also very surprised.
WHOOSH!!!!
But the surprise scene hadn't even had time to fully play out. The man's sword tore through the wind and flew, aiming straight for Ayaka's back.
STAB!!!
The sword immediately pierced through Ayaka, her body arched according to that stabbing force, two eyes opened wide in horror.
Elyssia standing in front was the most surprised, she was the one witnessing the man launching the sword and stabbing Ayaka.