Crimson blood slowly seeped out.
She couldn't understand.
Pain was meaningless to her—born from endless bloodshed and death, no amount of suffering could faze her.
What she couldn't comprehend was this situation. Couldn't comprehend that person.
When that figure broke through the frenzied fans, knocked down the security, and stood before her, all she imagined was another obsessive admirer resorting to violence in their pursuit.
But what that person did next was draw a gun and fire at her.
Bang!
The gunshot rang out. It took Alice a stunned moment to realize what had happened before she staggered back—only to be pierced by two more bullets, collapsing onto the stage with wide, disbelieving eyes.
That figure had already stepped over her body, rushing backstage without so much as a glance her way.
Amid the fans' roars and screams, the sounds of pursuit and gunfire, a chaotic battle erupted between that person and her followers. But Alice's consciousness remained frozen on those three bullets piercing her body, on the moment the muzzle had been aimed at her.
Why?
Alice couldn't understand.
Everyone adored her.
Everyone was hopelessly infatuated with her.
No one had ever shown her hatred or rejection.
Her entire existence had been smooth sailing, never encountering true hostility. Even the families and friends of victims—those who'd lost loved ones and could no longer love her—were incapable of mustering intense hatred toward her. This was her innate ability, her birthright, as natural to her as breathing.
So why did this person exist?
Incomprehensible.
Completely incomprehensible...
She remembered that night—after losing her [Living Body], her spectral side began intensifying, forcing her back to Fujisaka Academy, the place of her birth.
To regain full control of the school, she manipulated selected fans to dismember her, hiding the pieces in four locations. During this process, she recalled the assailant's identity—a survivor of Fujisaka's experiments.
Then, he came after her.
He tracked all four fans into the school's underground research zones.
Having encountered most of the specters during his student days, Hirano Sousuke navigated the now-active horrors with little difficulty, only occasionally delayed.
He eliminated the first fan. The second. The third...
Only at the fourth did an anomaly emerge—Alice's power began distorting his perception, subtly eroding his mind.
Bang!
Yet he pulled the trigger without hesitation.
[Why don't you like Alice?]
Finally, she asked the question.
More than the pain of death, more than her fans' casualties—this was what truly baffled her.
[I will never like you. Never be your friend. My only purpose here is your annihilation—ensuring you can never harm anyone again. Nothing more.]
His voice was ice.
[Hehehe, but Alice wants to be friends~ Let's be friends, okay?]
Still unaware of his uniqueness, she intensified her mental assault, trying to break him, to reduce him to another mindless admirer.
She failed.
Even as a Fujisaka survivor with some resistance, he shouldn't have withstood such sustained erosion.
Yet he remained unshaken, his will steel—immune to her every effort.
[Why won't you be Alice's friend?]
She asked again.
Bang! Bang!
He ignored her, finishing off the last fan.
[Everyone wants to be Alice's friend~ Alice wants to be friends with everyone~ Why not you?]
Her voice warped with potent hallucinations, ravaging his senses.
He stood firm, utterly unmoved.
[My only purpose is your destruction.]
He spoke to the darkness.
[Even if I don't yet know how to eradicate a bodiless consciousness like yours.]
[I will destroy you—Fujika's last abomination.]
[A monster incapable of understanding true friendship, humanity, or emotion—your only fate is obliteration.]
He searched for her remains, but her illusions thwarted him.
Meanwhile, Alice—utterly baffled by his hatred—abandoned all pretense.
[Why destroy Alice? Alice is a good girl~]
[Alice only did as told~ Only tried making friends~]
[Besides, you can't destroy Alice~ You can't even leave here~ Die here, and you'll just become another specter~ Then you'll never destroy Alice~]
The taunts continued, accompanied by visions of slaughtered students—relentlessly assaulting his psyche.
He saw them again—those helpless years of survival, begging not to be chosen.
Nightmares he'd spent years fleeing, yet never escaping.
But now, facing them anew, he realized—he didn't need to run. These horrors held no power over him anymore.
So when Alice unleashed her full fury, he only smiled—devoid of fear.
Drawing his gun, he declared:
[Lie all you want. Justify. Rationalize.]
[Even if I die here, I won't become like the others. My corpse, my will, my Remnant—all will hunt you down.]
[I will never be your friend—only your executioner. Death is your sole redemption. That's why I'm here.]
She couldn't fathom such hatred.
In her world, everyone could be her [friend]—except this impervious, death-defying anomaly who'd etched his resolve into his very Remnant.
That night, Alice's cognitive dissonance forced a temporary shutdown, allowing Hirano to escape—though not without severe psychological damage, leaving his memories of their confrontation fragmented.
Afterward, flaws appeared in Alice's rules—now including [those who can't be friends].
But it didn't matter.
Such people were rare. Just him.
Everyone else would always love Alice, always want to be her friend.
So why not ignore this insignificant exception?
Bang!
The gunshot echoed again.
Amid the ruins, Hirano fired once more—blowing apart Alice's head.
She toppled backward, crashing to the ground.
Like a living thing, blood pooled beneath her—yet she kept twitching, refusing to die.
[Alice... just wanted... friends...]
She struggled to rise, reaching for Takakai.
Bang!
The third shot slammed her down again.
[Alice... did nothing... wrong...]
Still, she persisted.
Bang!
Her body fissured—oozing not blood, but a viscous black ichor filled with screaming faces of the dead.
[A...lice...]
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!—
The barrage shattered her beautiful facade completely.
From the black ooze emerged a grotesque monstrosity—a writhing mass of flesh and screaming mouths, lunging to devour Takakai.
[AAAAAAAAH—]
No trace of beauty remained in its shrieks.
Pure malice radiated from this abomination—revealing its true nature: only slaughter and torment.
This was Fujisaka's magnum opus.
The culmination of countless sins.
Stripped of her lovely shell, [Alice] was just this—a disgusting, wretched thing.
Takakai saw the malformed heads covering its body—
Teachers. Researchers. Fans. Politicians. Military officials.
All who'd enabled Fujisaka's evils.
All who'd profited from them.
They had birthed [Alice]—and in truth, she was the amalgamation of their sins.
Bang!
The final gunshot.
The monster crumbled layer by layer.
Turning, Takakai saw only the gun left on the ground—and Hirano's retreating back, vanishing into darkness.
Picking up the gun, he felt it dissolve—and the rescue team badge on his chest transformed. He could now summon a third member—a police officer.
Was this... Hirano's lingering will to save others?
The officer's presence had faded.
The ruins' countless corpses were gone.
The rumbling intensified.
Miko awoke, pushing herself up to see the dissolving monster—its umbilical cords snapping apart.
Above, agonized screams echoed—the severing cords seemed to inflict great pain on [Takamagahara]'s entities.
But with Hirano's passing, their influence here had ended—leaving them to wail helplessly.
This place's story was finally concluding.
"Hm?"
Something remained.
Approaching the nearly vanished corpse, Takakai saw a door—labeled [Specimen Storage].
Locked.
Inserting the Blood Key, he turned it with a click.
Inside was a sterile white room—under 10 square meters.
And a girl.
Golden-haired, petite, with aqua-blue eyes—once beautiful, now devoid of her hypnotic allure.
One eye missing. Face scarred. Right arm severed. Legs gone. Left pinky absent. Rotting stench. Blood-crusted hair from torn scalp.
At Takakai's entrance, she shrank into the corner—not fearful, just blank.
[Alice will obey.]
Her voice was hollow.
[Alice will listen to teachers. To adults. To everyone.]
[Don't hit Alice. Don't take Alice's things. Alice will learn to make friends. Alice will do right.]
[Don't hurt Alice. It hurts. Alice doesn't want to hurt anymore.]
This was...
No distortion. No madness. Just a faint remnant—a wisp of a soul long gone.
Researchers materialized behind Takakai, dragging the trembling girl out.
Needles pierced her eyes. Blades split her skin. Whispers filled her ears. The torture continued—until her final breath.
Then she was discarded.
No longer needed.
They'd extracted what they wanted—the prototype of [Alice], destined to ruin countless lives.
And she was left in that locked room—rotting to bones, waiting for a door that never reopened.
"...Another kid, huh? Next time, pick a better place to be born."
Sighing, Takakai gathered the broken remains.
This remnant was so weak he could barely sense it.
Exiting, he watched the white room crumble with the monster's corpse.
Seeing what he carried, Miko's eyes darkened—her perception revealing the past.
"Hey—stop daydreaming! Over here!!"
Kumami's shout came from Fujisaka's miraculously intact gates.
Sinister energy was reforming in the ruins—Hirano's final shot had nearly annihilated [Alice] and the remaining specters, but their regenerative instincts were kicking in during the dungeon's death throes.
The bones in Takakai's arms had vanished.
Meeting Miko's gaze, he nodded—and she instantly understood, wrapping her arms around his neck as he lifted her effortlessly.
Their tacit agreement was... nice.
"Hold tight—we're moving!"
Black ooze surged from the ruins—
But Takakai was already sprinting forward, not even grazing the grasping hands within.