While I had gone down the staircase to protect the other children, my preferable option would have been to tell a nearby adult about the situation and leave it to them.
Unfortunately, this kindergarten was far from ordinary.
The Matou were quite rich and wouldn’t leave me in some shoddy kindergarten.
No, this place was huge and as such, the basement’s entrance was situated quite far from any classroom and it was hard to see from the usual angle.
It was most likely built like this so that nosy kids like us wouldn’t develop any strange ideas about urban exploration.
The other kids surely would have not needed my guidance if this was a small institution, after all.
If I had chosen to search for help, I was afraid that whatever danger lurking down there would have already done what it intended to do by the time I got back.
Simply put, I absolutely could not allow that to happen!
Furthermore, that janitor was very suspicious.
If the treasure hunt had simply led to the bathroom or the janitor’s closet, I would have just laughed it off as a mere prank and went on with my day.
However, he actually laid a trail down to the basement…
What was he planning!?
I wasn’t sure if he was an independent actor or if more of the staff was in on this malicious conspiracy.
Thus, even if there was someone nearby, I would not necessarily call out to them in fear that they might be in cahoots with the suspicious janitor.
The only adults I could rely on in this situation were the police, who would presumably have no motive to work alongside the janitor, but it would take far too long for them to get here…
Immediately, I turned back and gazed at the other side of the door to check if there was someone behind there that would shut the basement door close should I fully enter.
I brought my right leg forward to prevent the door from closing and prepared to bite my own tongue in case I was too slow to evade.
However, there was no one there as I hesitantly let my tongue slip from my bite unwounded.
I checked around some more before I decided to bite my tongue anyway as it began to bleed profusely from the wound.
Grimacing from the pain, I closed my eyes and spat out the blood as I made a few small crimson puddles on the staircase steps, laying out traps for when the situation called for it.
I then reached into my mouth to stain my hand with blood as I slowly went down the stairs, smearing the blood across the wall in a single line that connected with my initial blood puddles.
This scene would have been horrifying had anyone else witnessed it.
In fact, if even one of the kids had just turned to look back at this current moment, they probably would have nightmares for weeks.
Huh, how ungrateful that would be.
I was just being cautious, that’s all.
The best scenario would be that I was indeed overreacting and if that was the case, explaining all of this blood wouldn’t be too hard as kids my age do all sorts of stupid shit.
It would be a perfectly reasonable story for me to have run down and slipped, managing to catch myself before I fell at the cost of accidentally biting my tongue hard enough to bleed.
As for this connected smear of blood on the wall and the blood on my hand?
Well, what do you expect a child to do when the inside of their mouth starts bleeding?
Of course, they touch it and get the blood smeared all over their fingers!
The Blood Path was indeed unsustainable for me in the long run as I could not keep repeating such excuses to people’s faces, especially when it started to involve other people getting hurt.
They’d eventually catch on or think I was suicidal.
In addition, it definitely helped that I’ve intentionally built up not only a reputation for being the smartest of the children here, but also the most physically clumsy in case I ever needed to fall back on it to justify my wounds.
Regardless, I continued down the steps as I remained wary for any surprise attacks.
But it seemed my worries were truly unfounded in the end as I saw Shirou, Tenko, Ryu, and the others languishing upon a pile of chocolate chip cookies.
“Wait, the cookies are real?” I said, baffled as I hid my blood-stained hand behind my back and approached the pile.
Tenko noticed me and grinned mischievously, “Heh, that’s what you get for doubting us.
No cookies for you, Shinji!”
“Is that so…” I muttered with a snort as I gave the cookies a second look.
‘Hm, they do look weirdly delicious.’
I haven’t had such treats for so long.
Even though Byakuya himself was an alcoholic, he only ever gave me a super healthy and balanced diet.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s nothing wrong with a little boy like me yearning for sweets either.
Noticing my gaze on his cookie, Shirou glanced at me and smiled.
“Here, you can have some of mine.” The boy offered as I naturally accepted.
Tenko looked annoyed at this exchange as he had just said I wasn’t getting any cookies, but since it wasn’t from his share of the loot, he didn’t care to stop Shirou.
I inspected one of the chocolate chip cookies as I brought it close to my nose and took a whiff.
‘Ugh…’
The smell was pretty weird.
However, that’s to be expected since it was just lying here on a pile atop the floor of a humid basement.
Actually, now that I think about it, that’s really gross.
Even if that janitor wasn’t some killer, giving foods in this kind of condition to a group of toddlers was definitely still a crime, just a much less severe one as I naturally relaxed, the tension in my shoulders easing from this realization.
“Hey,” Ryu called out to Tenko with a smile.
“I found something pretty interesting, we should take a look.”
“Huh, what is it?
I want to go too!” Shirou asked as he heard the tall boy’s words.
“Uh, sorry.
I was just talking to Tenko.” Ryu continued awkwardly as Tenko gazed between them.
‘Oof…
looks like your protagonist charisma hasn’t developed yet.’ I lampooned as I maintained my usual calm expression at Shirou’s dejected face.
The boy and his taller friend soon left us to discuss whatever it was that the latter had found.
“Shirou,” I patted his shoulder.
“Come on now, don’t be so sad over something so minor.”
“What does minor mean?”
He giggled in response, grinning as he took another cookie.
“You’re right, Shin.” The ginger-haired boy said, pulling a random nickname out of the blue as he chomped down on the cookie.
“Do you really not want any?” He asked after swallowing, glancing at the cookies he had given me earlier as I merely held them in place without digging in.
“Nah, it’s gross.” I shook my head.
“You might not care about it so much, but eating something that’s been left on the floor for so long is not good for you!”
“…What?” Shirou seemed startled at the revelation.
“Am I going to explode or something!?”
“Well, it’s not that bad.
I’m just saying that you shouldn’t be surprised if you find yourself repeatedly going to the bathroom after this.” I explained with a shrugg.
“Those things have germs and shit.”
He gasled loudly, “Y-You said a bad word!”
“Relax, dude.
I said shit, not fuck!
That just means poop.”
“Oh,” he appeared underwhelmed by this, but his expression quickly shifted into one of pure disgust.
“These things has poop in them!?
No wonder you didn’t want any…”
After coming to this conclusion, Shirou didn’t hesitate to dump all of his chocolate chip cookies back on the pile before taking a few steps backward as he recoiled.
“Wait, it’s not actually…!” I paused as he gazed at me expectantly.
“Nevermind.”
It’s probably best he doesn’t continue eating that.
I didn’t really care whether he thought there was someone’s shit in it or not.
Shirou wiped the crumbs off of his hands as he then asked me, “So who was that?”
“Who do you mean?” I raised an eyebrow at his sudden line of questioning.
“The one who took Tenko away, who was that?”
I gave him a weird look, gazing at him like he had just contracted brain damage.
“Dude, that’s Ryu.
He’s the tallest kid in this whole kindergarten.
You used play hide and seek with him all the time.” I said helplessly.
“Really?” He asked with eyes as wide as saucers.
“But…”
“I don’t remember him at all.”
Ryu means Dragon, hence why he resides in the Dragon’s Lair.