Chapter 3

Chapter 3 . When the Siren Sounds (3)

CRASH—!

The moment the book was torn, I kicked back my chair and sprang to my feet.

I meant to run right then.

“Urgh……!”

But something like a steel bar caught me hard across the waist.

When I looked to see where it had stretched out from, I saw the 「Thing in the Old Military Uniform」.

What blocked my path was its abnormally long arm.

“Kh……!”

When I tried to shake it off, its blade-like fingers wound around my upper body.

The cold sensation of metal touching the nape of my neck.

Along with that chilling feeling, the warning from the rulebook came to mind.

---

Up to five barter attempts are safe.

Attempts beyond that may provoke the aggression of the 「Thing in the Old Military Uniform」.

---

No, I’m only on my fourth!

---

For your safety, barter attempts with the following items are prohibited.

---

Don’t tell me books are prohibited items too.

Why the hell……!?

I struggled with all my might to escape the thing tightening around my throat.

But it did not budge, like an actual steel bar.

Worse, its surface was sharp, so all I did was scrape my skin.

If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve just crawled into the 「Recycling Bin」.

Then I would at least have had a fingernail’s chance of surviving……!

Regretting it, I squeezed my eyes shut.

But nothing happened.

Only my own groans circled intermittently around me.

……What?

At the strange silence, I opened my eyes.

Its fingers were still gripping me.

But it did not seem to intend to tear me apart and kill me. It looked closer to trapping me so I could not run away.

While I was still bewildered, I belatedly realized that its other hand had come to my side.

It was holding out the tattered book in front of me.

And between that bundle of paper was a stiff sheet made of a completely different material.

What is this?

Could it be a ticket……?

Half in doubt, I looked toward the main body.

There was a single sheet of paper placed in front of it.

It was a loose page torn from the book I had offered.

I kept my eyes fixed on it and slowly stretched out my arm.

The fingers gripping my body were thin and loosely spaced, so I had no trouble reaching outside them.

When I took the book and the ticket, the hand imprisoning me loosened.

It withdrew its hand from me, then huddled its limbs back into the same position as before.

Freed from its restraint, I faltered for a moment before grabbing my bag and turning around.

Then I crossed the lounge, neither too quickly nor too slowly.

When I glanced back at the exit, it was quietly staring down at the loose page it had torn from the book.

“Haa…….”

As soon as I came out into the corridor, a long breath spilled from my mouth.

I’m alive…….

I thought I was definitely going to be ripped to death.

I gathered up my strength as it drained out of me and looked at the ticket.

It was an ordinary paper ticket.

Only, the writing on it was still unreadable.

I did not try too hard to read it and simply put it in my pocket for now.

The thought that I could leave now made my heart lift a little.

But then a shadow appeared on the polished marble floor.

I reflexively turned around.

CRACK—!

At the same time, something hard struck down on my shoulder.

“Urgh……!”

It felt as if my shoulder blade had been smashed.

The sensation was closer to impact than pain.

I staggered hard, then instinctively rolled my body away.

After rolling blindly across the floor and lifting my head again, I could not help being confused.

What had suddenly attacked me was not an unidentified monster, but a man.

The man was holding a fire extinguisher.

And as if to show me what a fire extinguisher was for, he swung it at me again.

WHOOSH—!

The heavy lump of metal passed narrowly in front of my face.

“What are you doing?!”

I shouted, but the man did not care and pressed in on me.

The fire extinguisher flew at me again and again, cutting through the air with a murderous sound.

If I had not happened to turn around, it would have hit me in the head.

Why?

Why is this man attacking me?

No, where did he even come from?

The fire extinguisher came flying at my body, so I had no choice but to block it with my arm.

BANG—!

With a rough sound, my foot slipped.

When I collapsed onto the floor, the man raised the fire extinguisher high.

It was aimed precisely at my head.

At that pure malice, I suddenly realized.

This man had attacked right after I succeeded at the barter exchange.

He must have been waiting near here all along.

Waiting for someone to succeed at bartering and obtain a ticket.

Now that I had accomplished that and was standing there defenseless, there was only one thing left for him to do.

Take my ticket and escape from here.

In other words, this act of trying to kill me was also an act meant to keep that man alive.

I clenched my teeth and rolled again.

The fire extinguisher narrowly grazed past my ear.

What do I do now?

Do I fight back?

My left shoulder, where I had taken the direct hit, felt strange. It would not do for fighting.

There was almost no strength in my left arm.

Then should I run?

What if there are other people nearby?

What if that man shouts, “That bastard has the ticket!”?

While I was agonizing, the man charged again.

I rolled my body once more.

The fire extinguisher struck down on the empty floor.

CLANG—!

The fire extinguisher hit the marble and bounced back with a metallic sound.

At that moment, a warning phrase written in the rulebook came to mind.

……Will this work?

Damn it, whether it works or not, I should just try.

I turned around as I was.

When I ran down the corridor, the man cursed and chased after me.

As I sprinted with all my strength, the restaurant and café area soon came into view.

Those shops had glass walls facing the corridor, allowing their interiors to be seen clearly.

I leaned my back against one of them.

Then the man who had chased after me like a mad dog swung the fire extinguisher again.

I glared at that bright-red hunk of scrap metal, then dodged it by a hair.

Instead of me, the fire extinguisher struck the glass behind me head-on.

CRASH—!

Shards of glass scattered with the sound of rupture.

At that moment, the man’s half-rolled-back eyes trembled.

It seemed he had only now realized what he had done.

---

■ Individual Precautions inside the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Sounds」

One. Strictly observe public etiquette within this special zone.

If you damage property inside the railway station or threaten railway station employees, the 「Railway Police」 may punish you.

---

Something like a rope grew out from among the glittering shards of glass.

It was the same thing that had blown off the woman’s head in front of the ticket counter.

As if he knew the danger of that rope just like I did, the man glared at me.

“You bastard……!”

Just as the man was about to curse me out, the rope split him in half.

SWISH—!

With that, I learned the cause of death of the middle-aged woman from earlier.

The 「Railway Police」 punished those who violated public etiquette.

Yelling and threatening the ticket counter employee.

And smashing a shop window with a fire extinguisher.

No matter who looked at it, these were acts that seriously harmed public etiquette.

I turned my head away so I would not see the man die.

Then I held my breath.

Was I truly innocent?

What if it treated me as a misdemeanant who had caused a disturbance too?

I saw the 「Railway Police」 slithering toward me like a water snake.

Among the shards of glass, I squeezed my eyes shut.

A brief silence passed.

When I opened my eyes again, the 「Railway Police」 had already vanished.

I was the only one alive in the corridor smeared with blood and glass.

At the sight before me, a question came before relief.

Did I kill that man?

I had led him into it.

But this was self-defense. He brought it on himself.

He was the one who tried to kill me first.

No, forget it. It’s all my fault.

I’ll call it that, so please just let this be a dream.

Please, I want to wake up from this filthy nightmare.

“……Urrgh!”

Nausea suddenly surged up.

I wanted to throw up everything in my stomach.

But at the thought that the 「Railway Police」 might come back, I clamped a hand over my mouth.

Then I ran blindly into the restroom I could see across the corridor.

Only after seeing the layout inside did I realize this was the women’s restroom.

But there was no time to turn around and leave.

“Urp, uweeek!”

I went straight into the nearest stall and shoved my head into the toilet.

All I had eaten over the past half day was coffee, so all that poured out was stomach acid.

After vomiting my insides out like that and gasping for breath, it happened.

RATTLE—!

At the sound from beside me, I looked back and forth between the ceiling and the floor first like someone gone neurotic.

Fortunately, there was no rope crawling in through the gaps between the restroom partitions.

Then what was that sound just now?

Did I hear it wrong?

Or is someone here?

The moment I thought that, my head went cold.

When I first came here, I had been glad to see other people.

But not anymore.

In just a few dozen minutes, the world I lived in had changed.

So I had no choice but to adjust to it.

I held my breath for a while, then sprang out of the restroom stall.

There was no one outside.

So I looked around to find the source of the sound.

The rows of restroom stalls in front and behind me were mostly open by about a handspan.

But for some reason, only one stall had its door shut tight.

My heart sank.

Then the disgust I had felt earlier surged up again.

I turned that fear into hostility and took a step.

Someone is hiding.

If I don’t want to get caught again, I have to catch them first.

They must have locked the door from inside. Will it open if I kick it?

No, if I do that, the 「Railway Police」 might kill me.

Then how do I drag them out?

I looked around for a suitable tool.

Then I found my reflection in the mirror.

In the mirror, my clothes and hair were all disheveled, and I was panting like an almost-mad man.

……That’s me?

Once I faced that sight, my excitement cooled in an instant.

Only then did it occur to me that I might be the uninvited guest here.

There was no way someone targeting me would lie in ambush in the women’s restroom.

“Haa…….”

I barely regained my reason and rubbed my face with dry hands.

This must be how people go crazy.

To think my first thought had been to drag them out without warning.

Only after calming down did I look at the tightly shut door.

I did not know who was inside, but I had no desire to meet them.

So I tried to leave quietly.

But before long, my steps stopped.

Other people made me uneasy now.

But the one who had spoken to me when I was trembling, and the one who had handed me this rulebook and opened a way to survive, had also been another person.

I sighed again and approached the closed stall.

I pushed the door lightly, but it did not open, as if it was locked from inside.

So I knocked.

Knock, knock.

Naturally, there was no answer.

Right. Why would they answer when they don’t know who I am?

I considered speaking to them, then stopped.

Instead, I slid the leaflet with the rules under the partition.

I planned to pass it on before leaving, in case they might need it.

I had already memorized all of it, and in this situation, I figured I’d be a real bastard if I only took from others.

But just as I bent down to slip the rulebook inside.

BANG—!

The door flew open, and something struck me in the head.

“……!”

More startled than hurt, I stepped back, then reflexively grabbed the person who had burst out from inside.

There was resistance, but it was not strong.

No, she was desperate, but I could restrain her well enough.

The one who had just burst out from inside was a girl in a school uniform.