Chirem Act 6-14.2
===
Act 6-14: A Pitiful Girl
TL : Cnine
ED/PF :
R1[1-3], R2[4-6]
Part 4
「Uhm...」「Yes...」
At my suggestion, the two nodded, and the three of us turned back and retraced our steps down the corridor. The labyrinth was enormous, yet path selection didn’t seem all that complex. Despite all the backtracking, we hadn’t run into a single group behind us. If anything, that suggested we’d wandered far off the intended route.
Ein and the others might have already cleared the labyrinth and made it outside. Considering that, perhaps retiring really was the sensible choice— Lost in those thoughts, we safely returned to the three-way junction―― When it happened.
――AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
「Eeeek?!」
「W--- What's the matter?」
From the darkness beyond the straight corridor behind us, a strange echo drifted forward. It carried a grotesque resonance, eerily similar to a scream, and we all spun around at once.
What was that just now? Breeze? No, nothing like that had happened before. Then was it some kind of mechanism? A trap exclusive to this route?
Even as I desperately forced my mind to work, the echo refused to fade. Instead, it steadily grew louder. It was coming closer. The heavy sound, bouncing again and again off the jagged rock walls, gradually climbed in pitch until it transformed into the sobbing cry of a small child.
「What is this... A girl crying? Don’t tell me this is another gimmick?」
「It’s getting closer... No, I hate this… it’s scary. Rakuichi-kun...」
The voice sounded less scary and more just… painfully sad. And somehow that made it even creepier. It was way too real to be some cheap trick.
Does that mean... it’s real? Did a little girl’s ghost get attracted here by the spooky vibes?!
「Hiccup... Hiccup... Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...」
Then, wobbling out of the darkness we were all staring at, came a tiny sobbing girl. Head down, bawling her eyes out. She was somehow wearing an aggressively adult black high-neck bikini with massive flares, completely wrong for her age. Her hair was tied into a little bun, and she kept wiping her face over and over as she shuffled towards us like she might topple at any second.
「There she i-… Wait a second. That stature. Those horn-like shapes on her head, like coral… Don’t tell me… Chris? You really followed me here?」
「Fue?」
The second I realised who it was, I yelled. In a space previously owned entirely by crying, my voice echoed like a starter pistol. Chris stopped dead and looked up, her face absolutely ruined by tears and snot.
「... UWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!」
「WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~~~ EH?!?!?!?!」
In the next instant, Chris charged at me with a piercing scream, like a war cry. I instinctively covered my face with both arms… Yet no blow ever came. Instead, a soft plop of impact pressed gently into my stomach.
When I cautiously lowered my guard and looked down, I saw Chris with her face buried against me, her small shoulders quivering as she shook.
「I-I finally… Found someone! Hic, I was so scared!」
「C... Chris?」
「Y-Yuri’s nowhere to be found… I can’t get out… bats and ghosts keep appearing… I was so scared… So scared...」
「Okay, okay! I get it! You were scared, and being alone sucked! But hey, we’re here now. You’re fine!」
「Y-Yeah! That’s right! Everyone’s here, so chill out, Chris-senpai!」
「Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.」
She must've been really scared. When we tried to comfort her, Chris just burst into even louder tears. Classic crying spiral. Still, what on earth was she trying to do coming here anyway?
With Elsie’s help, we gently soothed her, little by little, until her trembling finally eased.
「From now on, we’ll go together. All right?」
「I’ll hold your hand the whole way. I’m bad with spooky places too, so let’s encourage each other and aim for the goal together, okay?」
「Uhm...」
Chris did stop crying, but her usual bold, domineering attitude had completely vanished. She’d gone quiet, like a cat borrowed from someone else’s house. It seemed she really was hopeless when it came to frightening things.
Even so, she didn’t want to retire. No matter how much we recommended it, she stubbornly refused to nod in agreement. Was it sheer obstinacy, or was she trying to protect her pride as a senior? After embarrassing herself this badly, it felt like both her pride and stubbornness were already in tatters.
In any case, we decided to continue through the maze as a group of four, Chris included. Given the circumstances, Elsie and Silvia finally let go of me and began properly helping with navigating the labyrinth.
We searched for clues, solved the riddles, and kept close to Chris, who screamed and sobbed every single time a mechanism activated. Choosing the right path again and again, we advanced steadily. The puzzles were not particularly difficult, and once we put our backs into it, we moved along smoothly, never once running into a dead end.
Then, about ten minutes after Chris joined us, a glow appeared ahead. Light spilt through a hole at the end of the corridor.
「Ah, ah! T-The exit!」
「Chris, wait!」
Thinking it was the finish line, Chris tore her hands from mine and Elsie’s and sprinted towards the light.
But I knew better. Haunted houses always save their biggest trick for the finale. And the very moment people relax, when they think it is finally safe and let their guard down, is when they are most completely defenceless.
In short――
BZZT!
「E-Eh?」
A harsh crack echoed through the corridor, like a circuit breaker snapping off, and the glowing exit vanished right before Chris’s eyes.
Darkness claimed everything. Chris was left completely alone, trapped in a pitch-black world. The sudden reversal sent her into a panic. Tears welled up as she stumbled about aimlessly, while an ominous presence thickened the air around her, pressing in from all sides.
And then, almost immediately,
「GRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!」
「WOOOOOOOOOO!!」
「KYYYYYAAAAAAAHHHHH!!」
A woman drenched in blood, a man whose body had decayed beyond recognition, a grotesque creature made up of nothing but an enormous head, transparent ghosts, and countless other nightmarish beings burst into view all at once. They emerged from the ceiling, the walls, even from within the hot water itself, closing in on Chris from every direction.
「GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
This was exactly the scenario the organisers had intended.
Taken utterly by surprise, Chris finally reached her limit. Her scream, wild and inhuman, echoed throughout the cavern, and as terror overwhelmed her, she lost her balance and tumbled backwards into the hot water.