Meiji sensei's insides slithered towards me.

I ran alongside it, chasing it as it gradually accelerated towards somewhere.

There was no sign of the Replica near the infirmary anymore.

Then where is this corpse being drawn to?

I felt that by following that answer, I could find the main body of this "Homesick" thing.

Ah, this is frustrating.

It's the first time I've felt this irritated.

I could have given up if it were out of my reach, but does it feel this bad to have someone die right in front of me?

If the heart in those "insides" was still beating, maybe I could heal her with Healing—but when I looked at it up close, it had rubbed against the hallway and was a mess, so it was pointless to even hope for such a thing.

Then for what purpose? What does Shimakawa Yuya desire by pulling such a thing?

I know it's meaningless to blame him.

Yet I couldn't help but think about it.

This must be an escape to avoid facing Meiji sensei's death directly.

But the passage of time robs me of even that escape.

The accelerating entrails were finally about to surpass my full-sprint speed.

Even so, I can't just let it get away and make Meiji sensei's death completely worthless.

"I have no choice but to do it...!"

I jumped onto the mass, hooking my fingers into the undulating intestines and clinging to it like an embrace.

The intense smell of raw blood and the still slightly lukewarm, slimy sensation clung to my entire body.

If I hadn't gotten used to zombies, I would have vomited immediately.

Even with me clinging to it like this, the mass didn't slow down; rather, it accelerated even more, to the point of hovering slightly.

On the other hand, perhaps finding my presence a hindrance, the entrails shook its body, pressing me against the walls and floor.

Every time we scraped at high speed with a zzzzzt, a burning pain ran through me.

"Guh... If you think you can shake me off with this much, you're dead wrong...!"

As it repeated, my flesh was exposed and scraped away, and my calves were scraped down to the bone.

But something like this, I just need to heal it all at once later.

No matter how much you try to hinder me, it's useless.

I will follow you. I will uncover your whereabouts.

Where are you going. Where will you devour this ruin of a life.

This is one of the final pieces.

If I just know your true identity, I can find a way to escape this floor.

So it's not useless. Sensei dying wasn't useless.

I tell myself that.

While doing so, it arrived near the school entrance—and suddenly changed direction.

I put strength into my arms so as not to be shaken off.

But the small intestine I was hooked onto reached its limit and tore off with a snap.

"Whoa!? Gah—my back hurts..."

My body flew through the air and slammed into the wall.

Meanwhile, the lids of the shoe lockers lined up at the entrance opened and were about to suck in Meiji sensei's remains.

"Sensei!"

Of course, that was no longer Sensei.

I just reflexively called her that.

I kicked the ground hard to quickly approach the shoe lockers, and thrust my arm into the inside that was trying to swallow everything.

It's clearly deep.

Normally, it shouldn't even fit my elbow.

As I thrust my arm further up to my shoulder, my fingertips touched something like cloth.

When I grabbed it, I realized it was someone's arm.

"I'll drag you out just like this!"

However, the moment I put strength into my hand, sharp fangs suddenly sprouted from the top and bottom of the inside of the shoe locker and bit my arm off.

"Kuuh... Damn it, I was so close!"

The fangs disappeared while I was glaring at them, and the shoe locker itself returned to normal.

I use Healing to completely restore my arm and wounds.

Perhaps because I took too much damage, it wasn't a full recovery, but there's no problem moving.

Ah geez, my uniform is sticking to me with cold sweat, it's gross!

After that, I kicked the place where Sensei's remains were sucked in and slashed it with Dreamer, but I couldn't even leave a scratch on it.

It looks normal, but this is clearly not a normal object.

"Even if I go in alone, I don't know if I can defeat it... huh. I have to go back and call everyone for now."

Well, now I know the trick.

It's too weak to call it proof, but if everything is connected, the path to the second floor will open.

If I tell them that—will it clear Rea and the others' sorrow even a little?

◇◇◇

What awaited me back at the infirmary was the freezing atmosphere I expected.

A girl's sobbing echoed in the room.

Rea and Ushizawa san clung to the relatively calm Gii, shedding tears.

However, Rea raised her head upon hearing the sound of the door opening and rushed over to me.

"Erikaaaaaaaa!"

I hugged her as she jumped into my chest.

There was no room to care about being covered in blood.

"U-uuh, Sensei is... Meiji sensei is...!"

I patted her back gently.

In the corner of my vision, I saw Mitsurugi san hugging her knees and looking down, and Shimakawa kun leaning against the wall, staring at the floor.

I also noticed blood splattered on a part of the floor, and that Gii's hands were stained red.

However, Meiji sensei's corpse was nowhere to be seen.

The closed curtain—is the body laid on the bed inside?

No, now is not the time for that.

First, healing Rea's heart is the top priority.

"I couldn't protect her, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Erika... it's not... but, but..."

A tearful face with red, swollen eyes stared at me.

She wasn't blaming me.

She just had eyes that didn't know where to direct this anger towards such an unreasonable death.

Currently, there isn't much I can do.

Just to affirm her pain, accept it, and hug her gently so her wounds might heal even a little.

◇◇◇

A while after that—Rea's feelings finally began to settle down.

Although, that just means relatively settled; her heart was still in a vortex of grief.

"Ugh... uu... I'm sorry. Even though you... fought for Sensei, Erika..."

"...I don't know if this will be any comfort, but I've found a clue to escape from here."

"Eh...?" Rea widened her eyes in surprise.

Mitsurugi san and Ushizawa san also looked up, and Shimakawa kun directed his gaze this way as well.

"Can we definitely escape?"

"I can't say 100%. But, if the one blocking the stairs to the second floor is Shimakawa Yuya turned monster, there is a possibility we can escape from the first floor if we defeat him."

"From the way you say that, does that mean that lump of meat really was my brother?"

"It was a replica created from the main body, though."

The fact that it persistently targeted only Meiji sensei might not have been a coincidence either.

What remains in him after killing all the targets of his hatred is the loneliness of losing his parents.

To fill that, he unknowingly drew in a familiar human—if you think about it that way, it makes sense.

"Guu... Then where is the main body?"

Gii, who opened her mouth for the first time since I returned, had a darker tone than I expected.

I don't think her association with Meiji sensei was very long, but does she have some thoughts on the matter?

"The entrance. I suspect he's in the opposite direction of the exit to that red hallway Rea and I wandered into."

A few days have passed since we were trapped in this school building, but we only wandered into that alternate space "at first" and "just now."

The monster named Homesick—one of its abilities might be the generation of alternate spaces.

"But Erika, if we go in the opposite direction, won't we be attacked by a huge horde of monsters?"

"If the reason the monsters tried so desperately to drive us out was to protect the master of this floor—doesn't that make sense?"

"True... but how do we get in there? Back then, we were suddenly attacked by monsters and got teleported before we knew what was going on."

"A red hallway reminiscent of evening. Monsters crowding around and using violence. And the place we escaped to from them is the infirmary."

"... hearing that reminds Ai of Nanase san's story."

"So it reflects my brother's trauma."

Exactly as Shimakawa kun said.

Thinking about it that way, I can also imagine what triggered Rea and me to be dragged into Shimakawa Yuya's domain.

"Ah—could it be, the reason we got in there was because I screamed?"

I nod.

Nanase san's scream asking for help.

Perhaps that is stuck in his brain and won't leave.

The evocation of trauma acts as a trigger, calling us into his domain.

"Gii! If you know how to get in, all that's left is to defeat him!"

"Right, I'll call Marin and Hiyami san right away. Also, I'd like to put two more people in the party and bring them along."

The number of members that can be put in a party increases by one for every 10 levels.

My current level is 41, so I can bring up to four people.

Assuming Gii and Rea are fixed, I need to choose the remaining two from Shimakawa kun, Ushizawa san, and Mitsurugi san.

"You're going to where my brother is, right. There's no reason for me not to go."

"Understood, Shimakawa kun is the first one. The other one is—"

I direct my gaze at Ushizawa san and Mitsurugi san.

Both of them, partly due to the shock of Meiji sensei's death, don't look like they have the expressions of people who can fight at all.

No, that goes for Rea and Shimakawa kun as well, but Rea wants to be my strength, and Shimakawa kun has a strong reason to want to see his cousin.

In that regard, Ushizawa san and Mitsurugi san have no reason to actively fight on this floor.

Even if they bravely acted tough and said they could fight here, it would be meaningless if they couldn't move after seeing zombies being chopped to pieces in reality.

Considering the experience points would be dispersed, they would just be a hindrance.

"If it's impossible to fight, you two can stay here. There's also the matter of that lump of meat, and I think two people are safer than one."

"Ai can... fight, if Ai tries her best..."

"There's a possibility you might die like Meiji sensei, right?"

"If you join the party, even if you die, I can revive you. Having said that, since the MP consumption is intense, there's a possibility you'll be left as a corpse for a while, though."

"As a corpse... Ai, Ai is..."

Ushizawa san trembled violently in fear.

The sight of Meiji sensei's dying moments must be burned into her mind.

"Ushizawa san, since Kuragane san says that, there's no need to force yourself to go. Let's have just one of us join the party and stay here. That's fine, right?"

"Of course."

I think one of Mitsurugi san's great qualities is that she says things like that clearly without trying to act like a nice person.

After that, I had them discuss it lightly, and for now, I decided to put Ushizawa san, who wants to meet her friend, in the party and have them stay here.

I also put Shimakawa kun in the party while I'm at it.

He was surprised by his suddenly lightened body and the spear that suddenly appeared in his hands.

"So this is my weapon. Even though I've never used a spear before."

"But it feels familiar in your hands, right?"

"Yeah, it's a strange thing. With this, I might... have to kill my brother."

"I think that will be when you accept that Shimakawa Yuya is already dead."

"...Right. Once I see his completely monsterized form, I'll probably be able to give up."

The fact that he was the first to raise his hand might also be to make himself give up.

He's already seen a figure worse than a corpse stuck to the wall.

Moreover, Shimakawa Yuya even took Meiji sensei's life.

There should be more than enough material to give up on his survival.

"I wonder... if I can fight properly."

Rea puts her hand on her chest and voices her anxiety with a nervous look.

"You don't have to force yourself to step forward."

"But if I'm going with you, I want to be of use to you, Erika...!"

"I appreciate the sentiment. But at first, your level will be low, so I think I'll have you watch from the back for a while. Of course, Gii and Shimakawa kun too. Once your levels go up while Marin, Hiyami san, and I are fighting, and you gain the confidence to fight yourselves, then join in."

"Y-yeah... I'll gain confidence as soon as possible."

"Hehe, no need to rush."

"I'll keep an eye out so Rea doesn't do anything reckless. Erika, you can go wild to your heart's content!"

"Thanks, Gii. You're reliable."

When I patted Gii's head, she smiled and narrowed her eyes comfortably.

Perhaps thanks to eating human souls or something, she seems resistant to grotesque scenes, and to be frank, Gii's presence is quite reassuring.

I've already sent a message to Marin calling her over.

I haven't given her a detailed explanation yet, but including Meiji sensei's death, that can wait until we join up.

I went out into the hallway to check the situation, but for some reason, there are few monsters today.

I can see Ghoul Mothers and Skeleton-type monsters along the way, but those two should be able to defeat them without any problems and reach the infirmary.

It's convenient—or rather, it feels eerie.

I can only think of one reason why the number of enemies would decrease at this timing.

But there's no point in holding anxiety.

Since there's no path other than defeating the master of the floor, if a massive amount of monsters appear, we have no choice but to defeat them all.

Having finished scouting the hallway, I returned to the room and headed straight for the closed curtain.

Just standing nearby, a thick smell of blood drifts over.

Seeing this, Rea let out a small "Ah...".

It's not like I was putting it off.

It just wasn't an atmosphere where it could be touched upon.

Laying the corpse beyond the curtain is barely keeping everyone's minds calm—it was that kind of tense situation.

But I can go now.

So as not to open the curtain as much as possible, I slipped my body inside.

On the bed lay Meiji sensei in a gruesome state, looking completely unlike a human corpse.

A close analogy might be a slaughtered cow.

Her face was split down the middle, her ribs were splayed open, and only her brain, eyeballs, and internal organs were cleanly removed.

The fact that everything from her thighs down was left completely intact made it feel even more "human" and disgusting.

Even I, who was mentally prepared, felt sick; I can only imagine how shocked Rea and the others, who witnessed it in real-time, must have been.

I crouched down, brought my face close to what seemed to be her head, and spoke to her.

"Why is it that only good people like you take the burden upon themselves, Sensei. When the bad guys don't feel a shred of guilt."

Meiji sensei said she drew Shimakawa Yuya to her.

Indeed, it's unnatural that only Meiji sensei would be targeted twice in a row.

But that must have been Sensei's wish.

Perhaps because of her special position as a school nurse, someone unrelated to Kaisei kyou entered this school—that was the beginning of all the misfortune.

"I'll kill as many of those guys in this school as I can. Since you're a good person, Sensei, I don't know if that will make you happy, but I'd be glad if it made you smile a little."

While talking, I thought this was so unlike me.

But even if we only knew each other for a few days, I couldn't help but feel sentimental.

When I stood up and turned around, Gii was observing me through the gap in the curtain.

"Peeping is bad taste, Gii."

"...Guu."

Perhaps knowing it was bad, Gii gave a reply that seemed apologetic.

Furthermore, she asked me a question.

"Did Erika like Meiji sensei?"

"Hm? I don't know. It's not a relationship where I can clearly say I liked her... but I do think she was a good person."

"Are you sad she died?"

"...Yeah, I'm sad."

"I see, then that's fine."

"How did you feel, Gii? I don't think you interacted with Sensei that much."

Gii thought for a bit, and answered like this.

"Very sad."

That was an unexpected answer.

Even though she didn't seem interested in human life or death.

"The me who is not me is saying she's very sad."

"What's that."

"I don't know. Probably, before I became me, I liked Meiji sensei."

"...I see."

I don't really get it.

But it seems it's a fact that Gii holds some kind of special emotion towards Sensei.

Inuzuka san's emotions? No, there's no way she was close to Sensei.

Then who is it that feels that way?

Gii is still a being full of mysteries.

◇◇◇

One hour later, we were at the school entrance.

Everyone except Ushizawa san and Mitsurugi san, who remained in the infirmary, was gathered here.

"It's eerily peaceful."

Marin said while observing the shoe lockers.

"To think we wouldn't encounter monsters up to this point. Could it be they noticed we're coming to attack them?"

Hiyami san says something ominous.

But unfortunately, I shared the same opinion.

"If the opponent is also planning for a decisive battle, that's perfect. Let's scatter them with brute force."

"I agree. Fighting without thinking is more suited to my nature than worrying about unnecessary things."

Leaving Hiyami san aside, I really hate having the same thought as Marin.

In contrast to Marin and Hiyami san, whose fighting spirits were brimming, Rea and Shimakawa kun were stiff with tension.

"I-It's finally starting, isn't it..."

"No matter what kind of ending this has, I won't regret it. Anyway, I'm going to see my brother...!"

"It's good to be fired up, but don't lean forward too much. At first, you just need to watch us fight."

When I said that, Rea gave a strong nod, "Yeah!"

I'm anxious... but Gii will probably calm them down.

"Okay, here we go."

I'm the one who suggested it.

So I'm the one who has to scream.

To stimulate Shimakawa Yuya's trauma as much as possible, I scream in a "familiar" voice—

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

My high-pitched voice echoes through the hallway.

Then, with a clatter, the lids of the shoe lockers opened all at once.

And then they repeatedly opened and closed with a flap-flap, emitting a siren-like sound from within, Wooooooon!.

The flickering of lights.

The hallway dyed red.

And a rumbling of the earth approaching from afar.

"It seems it has begun."

"Everyone, let's go!"

We dashed out into the hallway.

At the end of our line of sight, we saw a horde of monsters filling the hallway.