Once again, a new day begins.
Now, as I repeat the self-introduction that has become completely ingrained in my mouth after countless repetitions, I piece together all the information I’ve gathered so far.
I haven’t been as proactive in collecting information as Elaine, but even so, I’ve already been repeating the same day for nearly a month.
The materials stored in my head are enough.
What remains is how to stack these materials into a solution.
By the time morning roll call was over, I formed a hypothesis.
I still couldn’t determine what the source of the infection was, whether ordinary people were disappearing and being replaced by grotesque humans, or if the original humans remained, merely infected by something like a virus.
What I focused on was the regularity of how the grotesque humans were increasing.
There was no pattern in which ordinary humans were being replaced by grotesque humans, but there was still a pattern.
According to Elaine, the first grotesque humans replaced the students.
However, by the time I regained my senses, even the faculty members had been replaced.
And on the day Elaine disappeared, even the students of Class A had been replaced.
That was clearly strange.
Why did the students of Class A only get replaced last?
Why had the teachers not been replaced up until a certain point?
There was a pattern in the infection.
And the pattern meant a direction.
Not an abstract or conceptual direction, but a physical, spatial direction.
In the structure of the academy, Class A, as the name suggests, is located at the very end of the hallway.
The teacher’s office is located in the middle of the hallway.
Therefore, if I trace the flow of how the grotesque humans spread, they were clearly spreading from the opposite end of Class A’s hallway.
The conditions under which humans became grotesque humans were random.
However, where the change began was certain.
Having concluded this, I headed straight to Class F.
.
.
.
It was right after the morning roll call, and the time was still somewhat chaotic.
If I were to find the source of the incident, now, before all the students leave, would be the crucial time.
I opened the door to Class F and entered the classroom, saying,
“Excuse me, I am Allen Zest, the homeroom teacher of Class A. A theft has occurred in our class, may I investigate for a moment?”
I felt numerous eyes—those of both students and grotesque humans—turning toward me.
They seemed taken aback by my words and couldn’t respond properly, but I took advantage of the moment and immediately moved to action.
“Well then, I’ll take that as consent and begin my investigation. Thank you for your cooperation.”
This was a forceful method that used the authority of a teacher.
Since I’m a teacher, it’s the kind of power I can use.
There’s no need to find the source of the infection all at once.
What’s important is to spot something suspicious and at least pay attention to it.
Since there’s plenty of time, if something seems odd, I can track it more carefully in the next loop.
However, as I was about to finish searching the classroom…
“It’s the base.”
A familiar, distorted voice calling me.
“Even if Limoire Laidog were a student of Agetoth Academy, would there be any justification for allowing such a monstrous personality?”
She—no, it—spoke, delivering the kind of complaint a student might naturally express.
But unlike the typical student complaint, the grotesque human’s gaze that was glaring at me contained something entirely different.
Suspicion.
Seeing me suddenly appear and behave strangely, they were suspicious that I might have figured out the true nature of the bizarre humans.
“Perhaps the student’s name or what was stolen from the building is known by you?”
Pretending to ask for the student’s name or the stolen item, they were naturally cutting off my escape route.
Surely, if my answer seemed suspicious, they were planning to pounce on me immediately.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you that. Right now, I’m worried that there might be bullying happening inside the academy. I hope that’s not the case, but if it turns out there really is bullying, and I ended up disclosing the victim’s personal information, wouldn’t that just cause them further harm?”
“That’s a strange thought.”
But the bizarre human didn’t seem ready to back off easily from my hastily made-up excuse.
“If you’re afraid harm might come to the victim, isn’t withholding information even more harmful to the victim?”
The suspicion deepened.
The eyes of that strange student began to tear into such sharp slits they could almost cut through sound.
Faced with the menacing demeanor of that bizarre human, I…
“Are you daring to suspect a teacher right now?! You insolent brat!!!”
…Decided to go all in.
“!?”
“How could you!!! Back in my hometown, we have a saying: Gunsabu-ilche! It means that the monarch, the teacher, and one’s parents are one and the same! That is to say! You must treat your teacher with the same reverence you would show your ruler or your parents!!! Have you never heard that even stepping on a teacher’s shadow is forbidden!? And yet here you are, not only refusing to obey your teacher’s instructions without a second thought, but also daring to question and talk back!?”
“Y-Yes¿¡”
“No excuses!!! When an adult scolds you, you’re supposed to get down on your knees and say, ‘I’m sorry’! Where on earth did you learn to try and wriggle your way out with lame excuses like that!?”
I have no time to waste on pathetic beings like that grotesque creature right now!!
The grotesque human blends in among normal people, pretending to be one of us. But the moment it thinks its true identity has been exposed, it’ll stop at nothing to kill whoever figured it out.
But conversely, that also means that if it believes its cover is still intact, it will cling to its human disguise no matter what happens.
“Ah, Nia. I didn’t… I just…”
“This is exactly the problem with today’s youth! Wait—are you the one who stole the item!? You’re trying to stop me from investigating because you’re afraid I’ll find out, right!?”
“No!! I still haven’t done something like that!!”
“Then why are you trying to stop me, your teacher? Or do you think this has nothing to do with you just because it’s someone else’s business? That even if someone’s precious belongings are stolen, or someone’s being ostracized, it’s none of your concern? How selfish can you get!? People these days are always going on about individualism, but look at this! No sense of community at all! Society really is going downhill!”
“U-Uhhh…”
“When I was your age, we couldn’t even imagine acting like this! But young people today only care about what’s convenient for themselves… Wait—are you crying? What are you crying for? What did you do so well that you think you can cry!? I’m saying all this for your own good! You hate hearing what adults have to say that much!? There’s an old saying: ‘Listen to your elders, and rice cakes will come to you in your sleep’! You couldn’t buy this kind of precious advice with money if you tried! And yet you sit there scowling instead of being thankful… Hey! Look at those eyes! You look like you’re about to eat your teacher alive!”
“Ahhhuhuhuuung!!”
In the end, that grotesque monster had no choice but to flee, pretending to be a pitiful student, utterly overwhelmed by my overbearing behavior.
Phew. Mission accomplished.
The way the rest of the students in the classroom looked at me was colder than if I were some kind of psychopathic serial killer, but whatever—by tomorrow, my reputation will reset anyway.
More importantly, I need to make good use of the time I’ve just bought to investigate Class F.
.
.
.
So, I finished investigating Class F at the cost of my social reputation.
Bye-bye, my lovely reputation.
Let’s meet again after midnight.
But even after thoroughly searching Class F, I found nothing suspicious.
Could my hypothesis have been wrong?
No. There’s definitely a pattern to the infection.
The appearance of the bizarre human clearly started from Class F, then gradually spread down the hallway in the opposite direction, eventually reaching the teachers’ office and Class A.
…The upper floor!
Viewed flatly, the structure of Building 1 stretches in the order of Class 1-A, B, C, the teachers’ office, D, E, and F.
But if you look at it in three dimensions, there are spaces stacked from the 2nd to the 5th floor above.
Did the bizarre human descend from the upper floors rather than starting on the 1st?
I tried to push past the students who were looking at me like I was a bug and the bizarre humans to head upstairs.
“That there is the teacher!”
But right then, the bizarre human, cowardly bringing teachers from the office at just the right moment, forced me to flee into the underground tunnels to avoid the teachers trying to drag me away.
Cowardly wench.
.
.
.
And so, the next day.
It was only after another day had been reset that I investigated the lecture rooms at the ends of the 2nd and 3rd floor hallways—right above Class F.
But there was nothing there.
However, it wasn’t without any gain.
Because every time I inspected the empty lecture rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors, I could feel the increasingly hostile gazes of the bizarre humans watching me.
Their blatant attitude, if anything, was proof that my investigation was heading in the right direction.
After finishing the 3rd floor, I returned to the underground cave to reset their wariness, trying to lower their guard once again.
The next day, I investigated the 4th floor.
Starting from the 4th floor, there were lounges, recreational facilities, convenience areas, and spaces for club activities.
At the very end of the hallway was the clubroom. There was nothing suspicious there either.
However, as I investigated the 4th floor, the hostility from the bizarre humans became more and more overt.
Eventually, after checking the 4th floor, I had no choice but to return to the underground cave once more to reset their suspicion.
And now, only one place remained.
Probably… This was the answer.
The last room at the end of the hallway on the 5th floor.
A storage room locked with a padlock, no longer in use, where old supplies and teaching materials were piled up—only its exploration remained.
The first day of the final loop had begun.