“Pfft!”
The dinner fork pierced through Shirogane Kei’s palm without mercy.
Searing pain shot through her.
Shirogane Kei’s body trembled violently, but she bit down hard on her teeth and didn’t make a sound.
Fresh blood stained Shido Makoto’s hand as it ran down the fork.
Something grotesque happened.
The puppet across from them, which had been about to plunge the dinner knife into its own chest, froze mid-motion.
A black, gaping hole suddenly appeared in the palm of the hand holding the knife—identical in position to the wound on Shirogane Kei’s hand!
“Clang!”
The dinner knife slipped from the puppet’s pierced hand and clattered to the floor.
In that instant, every puppet in the dining hall—including the one that had attacked the Artist—snapped their heads around in unison.
Their hollow gazes all fixed simultaneously on the wounded puppet.
“Crack…
crack…”
The sound of breaking bone echoed out.
The wounded puppet’s body began to twist and fold grotesquely.
Its arms were wrung like rope, its head forcibly rotated a full one hundred eighty degrees, its chest cavity collapsing inward entirely.
Finally, it slumped in its chair, motionless.
Only then did the eerie power that had been tormenting Shirogane Kei completely dissipate.
Although the wounds on her arm and fingers continued to bleed, that bizarre sensation of sharing pain with another body had vanished.
The crisis was over.
Shido Makoto released Shirogane Kei’s hand and placed the blood-stained fork back on the table, still moving with extreme caution.
He glanced at Shirogane Kei’s face and her mangled hands, his eyes flickering, but ultimately he said nothing.
He shook his head and mouthed to her: Don’t speak.
Shirogane Kei stared blankly at her own pierced right hand, her mind still in a state of complete shutdown.
But she knew—she was alive.
The Artist stood nearby, her mouth hanging open in shock.
Everything that had just unfolded had completely shattered her understanding of reality.
The Programmer was utterly stunned.
That student had figured out the rules of that bizarre curse in mere minutes?
And found a countermeasure?
This…
was this even human?!
He stared at Shido Makoto’s unnervingly calm face and couldn’t help but think that this kind of person was far beyond his ability to manipulate.
All he wanted now was to distance himself from this monster as far as possible.
[20:00]
Dinner time ended.
As the grandfather clock chimed, that familiar female maid rose from the corner once more, announcing in its emotionless tone:
“Dinner time has concluded.
Please return to your rooms promptly.”
With that, it turned and vanished into the darkness beyond the dining hall.
The four of them rose as though saved, immediately fleeing the dining hall.
“Your hands…
we need to bandage them right away!” the Artist said urgently, watching Shirogane Kei’s hands continue to bleed.
He pressed firmly on both sides of the injury to stop the bleeding through compression, then wrapped it tightly with the cloth and tied a knot.
Throughout the entire process, Shirogane Kei let him handle her without resistance.
The wound on her fingers was secondary; the sharp pain in her arm and palm nearly made her lose consciousness, but she gritted her teeth and didn’t make a sound.
The Artist also tore a piece of fabric from her skirt, wanting to help bandage Shirogane Kei’s arm.
“Go back to your room first,” Shido Makoto stopped her.
“The hallway isn’t safe.”
He supported the unsteady Shirogane Kei and said to the Artist: “You head back to your room and lock the door.”
The Artist hesitated for a moment, then nodded and walked briskly into Room 104.
In the hallway, only Shido Makoto, Shirogane Kei, and the Programmer with his darkened face remained.
“I…” The Programmer was about to say something.
“Get lost.”
Shido Makoto said only one word.
The Programmer’s face twisted slightly.
He glared at Shido Makoto with venom, his eyes seeming as though they would devour the other man alive.
But in the end, he didn’t dare do anything.
He turned and fled back to his Room 101 in shambles, slamming the door shut behind him.
Only Shido Makoto and Shirogane Kei remained at the end of the hallway.
Shido Makoto supported her as they walked to the door of Room 105.
“Go on inside.
If you need to replace the bandages, call me.
Be careful not to get an infection,” Shido Makoto advised.
“Senior, how did you figure it out?” Shirogane Kei asked softly.
“It was just a guess.”
“What guess?”
Shido Makoto fell silent for a moment, as if organizing his thoughts.
“A reversal of the rule,” he said slowly.
“If it can transfer the damage it sustains to you, then in reverse, you would likely be injured when I hurt it as well.”
“So all we needed to do was attack the hand holding the weapon, and we could very likely drag things out until dinner ended.”
“I didn’t choose to snap your hand directly also because I was considering the noise rule.”
“Of course, if simply piercing your palm didn’t work, I would have done that.”
Shirogane Kei listened, understanding only partially.
Such unrealistic thinking, such insight to grasp that single thread of life in a moment of absolute desperation…
She gazed at the young man before her, and a nameless emotion stirred in her heart.
“But…
why would the other puppets attack it?”
“For the same reason—the rule,” Shido Makoto said with a slight smile.
Shirogane Kei suddenly understood: “After the dinner knife fell to the ground, it also created noise!”
Shido Makoto nodded affirmatively.
“But…
Senior…”
Shirogane Kei looked at her newly bandaged hands, hesitating slightly as she asked: “Weren’t you…
afraid of being wrong?
“Died,” Shido Makoto answered calmly.
“But I had a Plan B.”
“Plan B?”
“If this method didn’t work, I would have grabbed a chair and smashed it at the puppet.”
“Huh?”
Shirogane Kei stared at him blankly.
Shido Makoto patiently explained: “One, I could interrupt its attack.
Two, I could test how the noise-maker is actually determined.”
“If that situation occurred, the noise would technically originate from the puppet’s vicinity, but the source of the noise would be me.”
“I’m not certain how the rule actually works.”
“But if reality doesn’t match what Senior expected…,” Shirogane Kei said hesitantly.
“I would die,” Shido Makoto answered calmly once more.
“But even if I might be wrong, I won’t simply do nothing.”
Shirogane Kei’s heart was struck forcefully by those words.
“Well then, go inside,” Shido Makoto released his supporting hand.
“Rest well.
We have a harder battle to fight tomorrow.”
With that, he turned and walked toward Room 106 across from her.
“Senior!”
Shirogane Kei suddenly called out to stop him.
Shido Makoto paused and looked back at her.
The girl stood in the doorway, bit her lower lip, and spoke seriously: “Thank you.”
She bowed deeply.
“And…
I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” Shido Makoto seemed confused.
“I’m sorry for being so weak.
I’m always causing you trouble.”
Shido Makoto heard her voice quaver slightly, as if she were on the verge of tears.
He didn’t actually feel that way.
He simply believed that since the three of them were now a team, saving her was saving himself.
“Staying alive is never trouble.”
Ultimately, he left behind only these words, turned, and walked into his own room, locking the door firmly behind him.
Outside the door, Shirogane Kei lifted her head to look at the tightly closed door, standing motionless for a long while.
She pressed her injured right hand against her chest, feeling the sharp pain radiating from her palm, yet her heart was filled with profound peace.
Stay alive.
She nodded firmly to herself, then walked into her own room.
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Oshi No Ko: Co-starring with Kana Arima
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