It was overcast, as if it was preparing for rain. It's been a week since Takakawa, who had been absent from school for three days for some reason, went to school again.

In order to make it easier to keep track of his friend Morino, Sakiya puts on an old-fashioned sports jacket and also puts on his father's peaked cap. In this way, even if you are an acquaintance, you may not be able to recognize yourself easily.

After Morino got on the bus, Sakiya was only one person away from her and got on the same bus. In this way, he sat for three stops and followed her to the western part of the city.

The western district has long been home to light industry factories, but business has not flourished because it has been neglected by the government's economic development plan. Although the size and style of the roads and houses are side by side with the city center, they are empty and deserted because of the small number of residents. This became even more evident when Morino turned into the path behind the residential area.

After a while, Sakiya found that only one of them was himself and Morino on the road. Out of nervousness or caution, Morino would look behind him from time to time, and Sakuya had to pull away. Whenever she realized that Morino was going to turn back, she immediately hid behind the corner, thinking several times that she had been discovered, but it turned out to be completely none.

At the end of the trail, you will see the old factory fence fenced, and at a glance, you will see that the road has not started again, and there is a large amount of steel waste piled up in the open air, as well as a few rusty machinery, like a garbage disposal site. A few weeds stubbornly crept out of the concrete floor, and the few trees that occasionally appeared in front of me wilted under the hazy sky.

There are no figures.

There are three vans outside the door of a factory.

Morino skillfully opened the small unlocked door by the barbed wire, and only did Sakiya tiptoe inside when he saw her enter the factory. She felt uneasy, but her determination to explore Morino's secrets and save her friend made her move forward without hesitation.

Far away from the main entrance, Sakiya finds a window that can peek into the factory from the outside. An entire row of windows had been made of wood and pasted with newspaper, but in one place the glass had been broken and had not yet been repaired, and although it was pasted with newspaper, there were no sticks. Saki learns what she did on TV, wetting the newspaper with saliva and poking a hole lightly.

The sight peeking through the finger-sized hole was shocking.

The floor and walls were painted in red, and there were still traces of the pattern in the center of the floor, but it was impossible to tell what it was, and at first glance it seemed hopeless, terrifying, and disgusting, like a huge slaughterhouse on display, with half-dried blood, dug out internal organs, broken limbs, and inhuman heads, like Guernica's abstract paintings.

I don't know if it's an illusion, or if those huge amounts of red are really blood, I don't feel anything when I don't see these things, but when I saw it with my own eyes, Sakiya was so smoked by a heavy nauseating fishy smell that he couldn't breathe.

Twelve people in black robes and holding what appeared to be ritual utensils in their hands stood there, not seeing Morino. It wasn't until the thirteenth black-robed man walked in from outside the field of vision that Sakiya guessed from her height and movements that she was Morino.

No one spoke, and an eerie silence enveloped the field like darkness, and even the light could not penetrate the cold in it.

A group of men in hats in summer uniforms came into view, and they placed six oil drums in a pattern on the ground according to a certain pattern. As they lowered the oil drums, there was a violent slapping sound from several of the oil drums. What's hidden inside? Sakiya thought with a pale face. The answer was soon revealed, and the man in the hat opened the lid of the oil drum, and two men, one woman, a total of three adults, suddenly came out with their heads out.

They cried loudly, cursed, and begged for these strange people to let them go, and the noise of despair made Sakiya hold her ears unbearably, barely daring to look at them anymore, and not daring to imagine what they had been through and what they were going to go through.

No one answered them, and the screaming adults were like piglets before execution, and the accustomed pig killers would not be interested in talking to them before slaughter. The men just sat in a circle and stared at the people with only one head visible in the oil drums, and the sound of their breathing seemed to suck their despair.

"No...... Don't kill children, children are innocent. Let them go, please, let them go! The object of the adults' pleas for forgiveness has changed from everyone to their own children.

And kids? Sakiya looked desperately at the other three oil drums, where no heads came out and there was no movement. There's a baby in there? He's dead? Or unconscious?

Sakiya felt that her heart was blocked by a sticky black substance, and she couldn't tell whether her excitement was sad or angry, she couldn't speak, and her hands and feet were numb in the cold.

This is the ritual, the evil sacrifice.

Until the cattle cried hoarsely, almost losing their minds, and their drooping heads could no longer see any vivid expressions, but stared blankly at the ceiling. The execution began.

Morino was there, and she was the thirteenth black-robed man. Sakiya heard the voice in her heart say this. She didn't look any further, just sat on the ground with her legs crossed, her head hung as if she was about to be buried, leaning against the wall, her back to what was happening inside.

Neither running away nor making phone calls could do it, and was deprived of a sense of powerlessness.

A strange red light swelled through the room, almost piercing the walls and glass, as if a blazing flame was burning inside.

The sacrifice screamed hoarsely and fearfully, and the others began to cheer. Sakiya is propelled by a mixture of despair, struggling to raise her head in order to witness the final scene.

Like burning light and shadow, it shook as if it were stirred by a strong wind. One of the shadows swelled up, climbed along the walls, spread to the ceiling, and grew wings, limbs, and a head like life. It was only a shadow, but it almost covered the entire space. People had to crawl at its feet, and even the swaying light seemed to tremble at the breath.

All voices disappeared from the realm of the world at this moment.

Sakiya peeps through the peephole and sees its hideous expression.

It also sees the horror and despair on Sakiya's face through the peephole.

With a whoosh, along the passage where the lines of sight met, a huge alien shadow turned into a gray mist and swooped down on her.

Before Sakuya could even think of dodging, a sharp burning pain rose between her chest and abdomen. ,

She fell to the ground and convulsed, a roar of anger faintly ringing in her ears.

"No!"

"Why, how can this be?"

"It fled! Didn't you say that restraint is foolproof? ”

"Son of a bitch! Come out of here! Didn't you ask for a sacrifice? Here, eat them! ”

Angry footsteps walked to the window.

"There's a hole here, and the restraint has been destroyed!"

"Only one node has one chance, find it out for me!"

Then, a loud laugh of hysteria interrupted the angry shouting. Sakiya's consciousness began to blur, but she could still hear that it was the sacrifices who were rejoicing in their aftermath of the disaster. They didn't die? That's great.

"The sacrifice is not complete, it can't go far, it must be parasitic on someone. There are more suitable hosts here! ”

"It's nearby! Find me, find it all! ”

There was a rush of footsteps, and people ran out of the factory.

Sakiya's mind isn't very clear, and she instinctively wants to escape from this place. She couldn't do anything herself, and she heard her soul crying powerlessly. In the confusion, a figure came to mind, as if she could be safely comforted by jumping into her arms.

It's Mom. The biological mother who has died.

Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! Sakiya muttered.

It seemed that the call had worked, and the sanity began to wake up. She saw the shadow beneath her feet move on its own as if it had been breathed into life. It stood up and became the obscure woman.

When she saw her mother's face excitedly, she couldn't help but pour a basin of cold water on her head.

It is indeed the mother's facial features, but it is cold and inorganic, like a mask poured with white cement, and a strange and cruel life is hidden inside.

The smell emanating from the room made Sakiya feel an unbearable feeling of hunger.

There is a voice speaking to the soul.

They must be eaten.

Sakuya subconsciously knew that "they" were people who were buried in oil drums.

Inside, there are not only adults and children who have never seen before, but also some kind of delicious stuff filled in oil drums.

It was to summon the condiment that the demon had deliberately concocted.

Dishes carefully crafted with condiments and the human body.

Knowing that Kando can't do that, Sakuya can't stop the turmoil of the soul. The mind is still dizzy, because the hunger is even more dizzy, and the command to eat is unconsciously given.

Transformed from Sakuya's shadow, the monster in its mother's shell turned into a shadow once more, burrowing back into the room through a thumb-sized peephole, and swallowing the sacrifices that wept with happiness because of the escape from Sakuya's desperate gaze.

No, don't, don't! She found herself unable to do anything, not even to make a sound. Obviously, as long as you persevere, as long as you suppress the pain, you may be able to save someone. The great remorse kept her from tears.

Along with the oil drums, the sacrifice rolled and squeezed in the shadows, and was crudely chewed, splashing blood and stumps.

The satisfaction of being full.

The vision began to blur, and Sakiya felt like a shipwrecked passenger, unconscious in the waves, being carried by a wave of **, and drifting with the current.

When she woke up again, she was already walking on the overpass across the road not far from her home, and the cap on her head had fallen somewhere.

She was in a daze, and even her internal organs seemed to be hot, but she didn't know what it was, and she couldn't help but clutch the placket of her sports jacket, as if she couldn't resist the bitter cold of winter.

They were killed by me.

My heart was clenched and I almost burst into tears.

Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded behind him, injecting a glimmer of fire into the haze and cold.

"Sakiya?"

She turned around and unexpectedly saw Takakawa-san. Gazing at her surprised but concerned gaze, for a moment, she felt saved.

Everything that has happened is a dream, right? You can forget it, right?