Chapter 123: Chapter 111 Fury
“Could it be that my eyes are playing tricks on me?”
“N-Nanae, Komachi, just now, weren’t the keys of that grand piano playing by themselves…?”
Eri gently shook Nanae’s arm with a dazed expression.
“Oh…嗯，yeah, I think so…”
Nanae nodded numbly; she was lost in the excitement of revealing the rumored campus ghost story, but who would have thought that such a thing as spirits actually existed.
“…What are you guys talking about?”
Shaking voice arose behind them. Komachi looked up at the slender and grotesque figure sitting on the piano chair blankly. Shaky, she raised her hand pointing towards the direction of the grand piano.
“Can’t you see that monster?”
In Komachi’s eyes, the monster had human-like hands, but its skin was deathly pale — like a vampire from movies—and even though it appeared to have a head, there were no facial features. Its slender fingers resembled a walking stick insect pressing upon the keys.
Obviously, the melodious sound of the piano came from this monster.
Now, the monster turned its head toward them. Although there were no features on its face, Komachi understood that he was staring directly at herself and her two companions.
“What, what monster?”
“Don’t joke around, Komachi.”
The two middle school girls huddled together in fear.
Seeing the monster stand up from the piano chair, Komachi immediately snapped out of her daze and cried, “Run, run!”
“Eh?”
Noticing their lack of movement, she couldn’t wait longer and grabbed Eri closest to her, turning to run away.
Eri and Nanae staggered; Nanae tripped over her feet, fell onto the floor, and let out a cry.
“Nanae!”
At the sound of her outcry, Komachi widened her eyes, looking back. She ran away with Eri, taking two steps back before trying to help up the fallen Nanae. But the monster had already reached behind Nanae.
Nanae propped herself up with both hands, ready to get up, when suddenly, she realized that the light became dimmer, as if someone stood behind her casting a shadow.
She instinctively looked back.
Her pupil dilated, a long fingered, gigantic hand rapidly enlarging before her eyes.
Snap!
“Nanae!?”
Komachi’s eyes narrowed as she watched the monster violently slap Nanae against the wall, causing her to fall unconscious.
Eri had not yet figured out what happened when she saw her friend suddenly fly upward and crash onto the wall.
She saw the dark red blood oozing from the back of Nanae’s head, and let out an extremely high-pitched scream which made Komachi’s eardrums ache.
However, this scream also stirred her from the shock of seeing her friend being attacked.
The monster already had its focus on Eri and Komachi again.
Komachi gritted her teeth hard, grabbed Eri and began running towards the staircase, two teardrops floating in the air.
“W-Wait, Komachi!?”
Eri’s cries halted to a mumble as her brain went foggy. She could not see the monster like Komachi, and felt everything in the school becoming eerie.
“Stop talking! Just survive for now!” Komachi shouted with tears.
The warmth from the palm holding her slightly steadied Eri’s frantic heart. She remained silent, only running on and fleeing with Komachi, their hasty footsteps and breathing sounds alone filling the air.
Without the time to check if the monster was chasing them, the two ran straight ahead, not daring to slow down their pace in the least.
The music room was on the third floor, and Komachi dragged Eri all the way from the third floor to the first, joy clearly showing on their faces as they were about to exit the building.
Suddenly, however, layers of black ripples emerged from the ceiling, and a white, terrifying figure emerged—a head without features.
Komachi stopped her steps abruptly, but since Eri could not see the curse spirit, unaware, collided with her back, and they both fell to the ground.
The curse spirit from above blocked the entire exit of the building.
“Why did you suddenly stop?”
Eri held a part of her head that became reddened, mumbling in confusion.
“You can’t see that four-armed monster…” Komachi’s bitter voice echoed loudly, “It’s right in front of us, blocking our exit.”
“Monster? Why can Komachi see it while Nanae and I cannot?”
“I want to know too!”
Struggling, Komachi got up from the ground, pulling Eri up along with her.
Then, she quickly turned around, and started running in another direction with Eri.
There wasn’t only one entrance to leave the building, as they could also leave from the exit that led to the courtyard.
Suddenly, her run stalled from the pull coming from behind, nearly sending Komachi off balance.
Instinctively releasing her hold, she looked back and found that Eri was bound by the hideous tentacles-like appendages, which she realized were the extended fingers of that monster.
Eri’s panicked face froze as something akin to rough nylon ropes seemed to have gripped her limbs and waist tightly, forcibly stopping her in her tracks. This caused intense pain to her skin.
She instinctively lowered her gaze to see those stick-like fingers on herself, and then looked back, finally sighting the monster who had knocked Nanae away — the same monster she and Komachi had been fleeing from.
A monstrous impact stimulated her brain, and the girl instantly fainted.
Fainting from fright, Eri was effortlessly dragged back by the curse spirit. Komachi suddenly came to her senses and lunged forward, grabbing her comrade’s free hand.
But how could a middle school student resist a curse spirit?
She could do nothing but be dragged along with Eri closer and closer into a deep abyss.
“Komachi!”
A sudden burst of swift footsteps accompanied by a shout filled with surprise and anger sounded. Hope flashed in the despairing girls’ eyes.
She was very familiar with this voice.
It’s her brother!
But immediately after, the light in their eyes dimmed.
Facing such a monster, even if her brother arrived, what could he do? They would likely die together beneath the power of this creature.
Yet, dying beside her brother was better than going alone into the darkness.
Jeering at her own dark thoughts, Komachi shouted with all her strength, “Brother! Run!”
Before her words faded, Hachiman Hikigaya’s silhouette rose high behind the monster. His enraged appearance was unlike anything she had seen before; his face was contorted in anger.
On his hands blazed blue flames.
