Chapter 9: First Day of Academy (9)

Creeeak—

Clunk.

I shut the door to the storage room and looked straight ahead.

The inside of the storage room was nothing like I had expected.

Instead of dust-covered supplies and old teaching materials, instead of the musty stench of mold, the room was clean and orderly, like a space still in regular use.

The warm scent of sunlight filled the air, creating a cozy and familiar feeling.

It felt more like a club room than a storage room.

The appearance of the room was so ordinary, so peaceful, that it was hard to imagine it as the source of all the recent strangeness.

But the thing in the center of the room made it unmistakably clear that this was the right place.

“─────.”

It was a grotesque creature pretending to be a student by wearing a school uniform.

But unlike the other bizarre humanoids outside, whose appearances were at least human even if their behavior was not, this one was visibly monstrous and revolting in its form.

Its skin hung loose and wrinkled, grotesquely twisted as if it had crudely thrown on a human’s hide like an ill-fitting costume.

The eyes and mouth, not even covered by the skin, were filled with nothing but a pitch- black void.

If the others it had spawned were “bizarre humans,” then this one could only be described as a bizarre being.

“I was hoping it would be a cursed object or something instead of a monster…”

“──.”

At my words, the creature gave me a chilling smile— like someone forcing a puppet to grin by shoving fingers into its mouth.

I knew it instinctively.

Defeating this thing would finally bring an end to this nightmare of a first day at the academy.

“Haa… No helping it. I’ve come this far, I can’t turn back just because I’m scared…”

Creak… Creakk…

The grotesque being twitched unnaturally, like a marionette that hadn’t been maintained for years.

“Slow movements… That’s at least something!!”

I drew the self-defense knife from my coat and rushed at the creature in a surprise attack.

Becoming a teacher had only ever been a means to involve myself in this world’s main story.

I had no interest in the responsibilities of a teacher.

Duty? A sense of mission?

I never planned to have those, never cared.

To me, Everlight Academy was just a playground to enjoy this world, and the students were mere NPCs.

Honestly, ever since arriving at Everlight, I had treated the other teachers and students with a gamer’s detachment.

Arrogantly, smugly, as if I were the protagonist of the world.

That’s why— when I finally realized this world wasn’t my personal playground— I couldn’t accept it and tried to run away.

But I was wrong.

The other teachers and students weren’t just props meant to praise and support me.

This world wasn’t made for my amusement.

Elaine isn’t some soulless NPC.

And I’m not the protagonist.

“This is about setting things right! So don’t get in my way!”

Just as I expected, its reaction was slow.

It tried to respond to my movement, but my knife was faster.

My knife traced a silver arc through the air and sliced halfway through its neck.

Got it!

Seeing the thick, black, tar-like liquid gush from the severed neck, I was certain of my victory.

I never thought such a crude trick would work on a monster, not a human…!

Crack. Creak.

…Or so I thought—only for the grotesque creature to twist its joints unnaturally and turn its body.

Before it could properly grab me, I quickly withdrew my knife and put some distance between us.

“…This damn academy never lets anything be easy.”

The thing stared at me, twisting its joints with inhuman movements.

Then, all of a sudden, it charged at me.

With a burning pain, its claws grazed across my face.

“…It could move that fast!?”

I threw myself away to escape its reach, but this time it twisted its waist 180 degrees and lunged at me with its body contorted.

“Uwaaagh!!”

Crash!

The monster and I tangled messily together.

At some point, our fight devolved into an all-out brawl.

Its movements were utterly unpredictable.

I should’ve known from the moment I saw this inhuman creature wearing a human skin—that it wouldn’t obey the physical limits of a normal person.

Even with its neck half-severed, it kept lunging at me with its head dangling, or it would twist its waist 180 degrees and charge at me.

These erratic, incomprehensible actions made it nearly impossible to dodge its attacks.

Thankfully, its speed itself wasn’t anything special.

I’d only been caught off guard initially because I didn’t expect it to move so fast.

Plus, I had a self-defense knife, whereas it was unarmed.

That gave me an advantage.

It wasn’t some grand weapon like a longsword, but having a blade when the enemy is barehanded gave me a significant edge.

Using the knife, I continued slashing at its limbs again and again, and with every wound, black liquid poured from its torn skin as its movements began to slow.

The slower it got, the easier it was for me to drive the knife into its body.

Maybe this grotesque creature had no biological weak points, because no matter where I stabbed or cut, it kept moving— but even it had its limits.

So I let my guard down for just a moment, and my focus wavered.

Creaaaak.

“Just die already!!”

The moment I slammed down on the back of the guy sprawled on the floor, his arm bent outward in a way no normal human could manage and grabbed my hand.

“Let go!! You monster!!”

I tried to pry off the hand clutching my arm with my left hand, but in that instant, even that arm was seized by the grotesque creature.

The creature laced its fingers with mine.

Was it trying to have a contest of strength?

Thinking that, I put my weight into the hand holding the knife and tried to drive it down to stab—

Crreeaakk.

The creature’s arm rotated 720 degrees.

With my hand still locked in its grip.

“Gaaaaah!!!”

In all my past and present lives combined, I had never experienced such pain— my arm felt like it was being shredded like a rag. I screamed and dropped the knife.

But even then, the monster didn’t let go.

It stayed locked in the handclasp, not allowing me to retreat, and I collapsed on the spot.

The situation flipped in an instant.

With both arms completely twisted, I could no longer resist or escape the grotesque being.

It climbed onto my fallen body.

Its half-torn, 180-degree-rotated face stared down at me.

From the empty void of its eyes, I felt an enormous malice I could never have imagined.

Then, the grotesque being let a thick, black fluid drip from its neck straight into my mouth.

I shook my head from side to side to keep the liquid out, but the moment I resisted, it twisted my arm again.

“Aaaggghhh!!!”

The sensation of my muscles being torn apart made me scream, and in that moment, the thick black liquid forced its way between my lips like it had a will of its own.

Screeeech.

I could feel the black fluid invading my body.

A terrifying sensation that my very existence was being replaced by the grotesque creature.

After coming all this way, was it really going to end in failure…?

Was I going to die this pointlessly?

I tried to cling to my unraveling sanity and resist, but as an ordinary human, I couldn’t suppress the creature’s corruption, and my mind began to drift away from reality.

Just as my vision started to go dark—

Bang!!

“Don’t hurt my teacher!!”

With the sound of a powerful kick, the door burst open and Elaine entered the storage room.

Then, swinging the wooden bat in her hands with all her might, she smashed the grotesque being’s head clean off.

Whoosh!

Crack!

Once wasn’t enough.

Vroooom!

Flaaash!

Vrooooom—

Smack!!

Elaine’s wooden club finally smashed the grotesque creature’s already half-torn head, sending it flying.

As soon as its neck and head disconnected, the thing reverted back into an ordinary human skin, as if it had never contained anything inside, and collapsed on top of me.

At the same time, my fading consciousness returned.

But more than the fact that the grotesque creature had been defeated, I was shocked by Elaine’s sudden appearance and asked,

“…Elaine? How did you get here…?”

“All the grotesque people in the academy suddenly started melting, so I figured you must’ve done something and went looking for you.”

Ah. That explains why, even though a decent amount of time had passed since I entered the storage room, no more grotesque people had shown up.

When Professor Freshian melted, the other grotesque ones must’ve dissolved with him.

The outside world must be pure chaos by now.

“More importantly, did you get your memories back?”

“No. Actually… the truth is… I didn’t die that day.”

“…What?”

“That day, I talked big about dying and all, but when it came down to it, I got scared and just hid all day. The next day, I was too embarrassed to face anyone, so I pretended I’d lost my memory.”

“…Ha. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Elaine turned her eyes away and blushed, and I couldn’t do anything but let out a hollow laugh at her confession.

If only my body was in better shape, I would’ve stood up right away.

It was frustrating not to even have the strength for that.

“…Still, thanks for saving me.”

“More importantly, what was that monster I just killed?”

“Probably the source of all this.”

“…Wait, does that mean we’ve actually solved this whole anomaly?”

“Probably…”

Just then, the human skin covering me began to melt.

The melted skin seeped into my own and was absorbed.

[You have defeated the ghost tale, purified the grotesque, and absorbed its desire.]

[By absorbing the desire, a Gift has awakened: Observation]

And then, a translucent window appeared before my eyes.

“P-Professor! Are you okay!? Professor!? Professor!!”

…Is this some kind of status window?

Elaine screamed in panic, looking at me as I lay there, now covered in the melted skin.

With her on the verge of tears and the sudden appearance of a status screen—

It was all overwhelming, but one clear thought rose in my mind.

“I’m okay. So calm down.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah. You asked if this whole anomaly is over, right? It is. Not probably— definitely.”

Elaine’s eyes grew as round as marbles.

And gradually, those eyes filled with joy.

I smiled back at her from where I lay on the floor.

My whole body throbbed with pain, but my heart had never felt lighter.