Having already thought of how to introduce himself, Takumi lightly tugged at his collar, then opened his mouth: "My na is Takahashi Takumi, 19 years old."
"I live in a detached residential district on xx Street, dropped out of school, living alone. Every day I play gas until 23:00 before washing up and sleeping… cough, cough, no, it's because of gaming that I am a person who likes to imagine, so I once thought of combining the notices and guidelines posted in places like hotels and supermarkets with horror stories, writing them into works. I thought that maybe it could beco popular and make famous in one stroke."
"Only, before I had the chance to put this idea into practice, this situation happened, so when I saw that set of living guidelines, what I felt was a kind of interesting familiarity. As for that man called Tanaka, his deanor and actions were already quite suspicious, and from the mont I entered here I had a suspicion—because that voice told , this was my [first ga], which ant that such things had already happened many tis before, and there must exist veterans who had gone through this more than once and accumulated much experience. And that Tanaka, I suspected he was such a person."
"So I decided to observe his actions. If he acted abnormally, then sothing bad was very likely to occur. And for the sake of my life's safety, in that kind of situation, I thought it best to imitate him."
Although halfway through it almost turned into the classic speech of so hand-obsessed pervert, Takumi in the end still managed to give his explanation. Though it might not be enough to completely earn their trust, at least it was enough to account for his behavior.
Incidentally, the matter of planning to write rule-horror stories was not entirely fabricated. First, Takumi in his previous life had indeed entertained such an idea, and second, in the notes left behind by the Takumi of this world who had disappeared, there were similar contents. So Takumi had not lied—whichever way one looked at it, what he said was true.
"…Is that so?"
Shinomiya Kaguya gave a slight nod, without making any comnt on Takumi's answer, her expression giving no hint of whether she accepted it or not.
"No need to beat around the bush, Oba-san, you should be able to tell this man is a sharp one. Moreover, he very obviously knows who the two of us are—his look at us was clearly different from how he looked at the others. Your na is Takumi, right? You know what my na is, don't you?"
On the other side, Shijō Maki at this ti slowly spoke.
She stepped closer to Takumi, twirling the fork in her hand twice. The first half of her words were directed at Kaguya, but the latter part was asked directly of Takumi.
"I know, Miss Shijō Maki, you are the daughter of the Shijō family, and she is the daughter of the Shinomiya family. In my first year after dropping out of school I once traveled across all of Japan, and when Shuchiin was holding an event that allowed outsiders in, I entered once. On a ranking list I saw both of your nas."
But Takumi only answered unhurriedly.
Traveling across Japan, entering Shuchiin during an event open to outsiders, all of this was content left in that notebook. As for whether he had actually seen a ranking list, that was sothing Takumi fabricated, though such a degree of fabrication was insignificant.
"So you know clearly both my and Oba-san's identities, and you truly did enter the place where we attended school. Now again we appear together in this strange place. Have you considered that what you said in fact adds suspicion to yourself?"
Shijō Maki stared into Takumi's pupils, her tone gradually turning colder.
"Indeed so, but this is the truth. If I were to deny it, that would be the mistaken action. As for suspicion upon , I believe all of us here understand. Though this matter appears like a kidnapping, the forces behind it have already clearly gone beyond what common sense can asure. Whether it is that eerie voice, or the sensation of one's body being deprived of movent, I think these are things I need not emphasize again."
And facing this short-statured yet imposing girl, Takumi simply continued to speak calmly, his expression and manner showing no wavering.
The room for a ti sank into silence.
Shijō Maki folded her arms, her gaze fixed tightly on Takumi.
Standing at the side, Shinomiya Kaguya made no movent, but her eyes too were observing Takumi, silently making her judgnt of him.
"…Fine then, Oba-san, I think this guy can probably be trusted for now. But that said, are you really 19 years old? Sohow you seem even calr than those people in their late twenties."
In the end, it was Shijō Maki who sighed, then waved her hand as she spoke, her tone much more casual.
Takumi knew that he had already gained this prodigy girl's basic trust—probably equivalent to unlocking about 10% of her favorability. By contrast, Shinomiya Kaguya on the other side still maintained her silence, clearly still keeping her guard up toward Takumi.
"Perhaps it's because my life experience is relatively rich, or maybe because I had already long looked forward to such adventure story scenarios, ah haha…"
Rubbing his own head, Takumi let out a sowhat dry laugh, casually saying words that were very insincere.
"But in any case, at least for now, I think we need to cooperate properly, at least figure out our present situation. Although I do have confidence in my own abilities, and Oba-san is at my side, still, you—your na is Takumi, right?—you're rather sharp. I think you should be able to see that whether it's or Oba-san (referring to Kaguya), we both possess exceptional physical ability and senses. So long as you don't play any tricks, we can work together. How about it?"
On the other side, Shijō Maki at this mont had already made her decision. She showed Takumi a sowhat proud smile, and stretched out her hand toward him.
So this counted as directly deciding together with Kaguya's opinion?
Takumi could see that Shinomiya Kaguya at his side was sowhat displeased with Maki's decision. Until now she had not in fact completely let down her guard, and so could not propose cooperation as decisively as Maki had. However, even so, Kaguya did not show any objection, but instead chose tacit acceptance.
"Though I probably cannot match the two of you, I will do my best to be of use."
In any case, he had been temporarily, basically accepted.
In this mystery-shrouded, eerie and dilapidated apartnt, one transmigrator and two beautiful girls thus ford a temporary alliance, becoming an investigator squad, and began a true rule-horror ga.
At this mont, Takumi, full of emotion, could not help but think to himself: 'Eh, how co I suddenly feel that having these two cute and capable JKs as teammates actually feels kind of like otaku wish-fulfillnt?'
Even now, even as the three in the room had barely reached a preliminary agreent of cooperation, outside in the corridor it remained utterly silent.
That uncle called Hiroshi, that black guy, that blonde girl so scared she could barely walk—after Kaguya closed the door, their voices had vanished from the corridor, never once sounding again.
What the situation was now outside in the corridor, no one knew.
For the mont, however, those inside the room did not need to trouble themselves with such matters.
"In short, rule-horror is, when all is said and done, a survival thod summarized in all aspects under the premise of avoiding direct description of so terrifying entity. Only, as for the set of guidelines we now hold in our hands, I suspect it is already outdated, at the very least unable to deal with the present situation."
Sitting down around the tea table in the room, Takumi looked at the two identical A4 printouts from 204 and 208 placed on the table, and slowly opened his mouth to analyze.
"Leaving aside the matter of the rules saying dayti is safe—after all, we haven't yet confird the situation in the corridor—there is already one thing that explains a lot, and that is this rule confirming that the people inexplicably dragged into the Shirakawa Apartnts are all above 20 years old, while the three of us here, not a single one has yet reached 20. Just this point alone already contradicts the rules, so I suspect that inside this apartnt an abnormality once underwent an imnse change, to the extent that the rules used by the original survivors here have already beco inaccurate, no longer able to help us avoid every danger."
"After all, from the ti we ca to this place until now, though we haven't gone to many spots, whether inside the rooms or along the corridor, we haven't found any trace of recent life, have we? The people who were once capable of leaving behind these rules couldn't have just left a single list and done nothing else. If they were still here, no matter what, we ought to have found all kinds of traces. But now the situation is nothing like that at all. So, I think we should find a way to test the rules on this list, to determine which ones have already lost effect and which ones can still function to protect us."
"Of course, this is only my personal thought. What do you two think?"
As Takumi said this, he sat obediently on the stool, his expression guileless like a well-behaved little student in an elentary classroom.
But although his attitude looked so modest, in his heart Takumi still carried a slight sense of pride.
After all, I am a transmigrator, and moreover one who has struggled and suffered in society; my experience and way of thinking are definitely superior to these schoolgirl otakus who don't even know what rule-based horror stories are, right?
Since that's the case, from here on it depends on my wisdom, together with the assistance of these two, to work hard and overco the present trial!
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