The area outside the hospital—namely, the third region of the current "Fujihana Middle School" regional Instance.
On the surface, the place looked like a severely run-down district filled with buildings of every kind and size.
But upon closer observation, the entire area was actually incredibly distorted and chaotic.
Shanty buildings like those from a slum stood mixed together with towering apartment complexes and traditional Japanese villas. Roads abruptly shifted from four lanes into six lanes, then suddenly narrowed into single-lane roads or even muddy dirt paths. Different sections of the district didn't even connect properly with one another.
As Takumi walked through this twisted and chaotic place, he gradually felt a strange sensation, as though he were walking through one fragmented memory after another.
From every building came sounds of crying and mournful sobbing.
Missing-person posters were plastered across walls, utility poles, and scattered across the ground, though both the words and faces printed on them had already become blurred beyond recognition.
He could feel the suffocating despair.
Feel the coldness permeating the entire world around him.
And because of that, Takumi finally understood what this place truly was.
At the same time, he began to vaguely understand why the core Obsession of this Instance—the man named Hirano Sōsuke—had been unable to find peace.
"Mr. Takumi... this place..."
Miko's voice trembled slightly.
The girl walking beside Takumi could likewise clearly feel the overwhelming atmosphere of despair spreading throughout the area.
She looked toward those houses as though she could see directly through the walls themselves—see the figures curled up inside, see those who had lost parents, lost children, lost lovers, lost friends...
See the way they could never let go.
See the wounds covering their bodies.
"Let's keep moving forward. Only after reaching the end of this place will we truly see what happened back then."
Takumi's gaze had already shifted toward the far end of the road—toward the final destination this twisted land ultimately led to.
Originally, he had assumed this place would lead to Fujihana Middle School itself, to the place where everything had begun.
But as they continued forward step by step, he realized the ruined Fujihana Middle School merely sat quietly beside one of the side roads branching off nearby.
As for the main road, where countless roads intertwined and fused together...
What lay ahead was an enormous building glowing with extravagant splendor.
A courthouse.
"Sounds pretty lively in there, doesn't it?"
Mai, who was walking at the very front of the group, slowly spoke up at that moment.
At this point, only Takumi, Miko, and Mai were traveling along the road.
"Gotō Number One" was not with them. She had remained behind the hidden door inside the hospital, responsible for reopening it once the group returned.
The region known as "Hiromoto Psychiatric Hospital" appeared to possess some sort of "invisibility" characteristic toward the outer regions.
The moment Takumi and the others left the hospital, they immediately lost sight of the way back out. And within the outer residential district, they were completely unable to locate the psychiatric hospital itself.
Only when "Gotō Number One" opened the hidden door from inside the hospital could they find the route back and see the hospital's location again.
Perhaps it was because, for the victims harmed by the idol Alice and for the families of those victims, the existence of this psychiatric hospital had never once been exposed.
As a result, no matter what, the region formed from the obsessions of those victims could never actively reach the hospital on its own.
Unless the hospital itself opened the entrance.
Unless the hospital itself chose to reveal its presence.
And when that happened...
It was likely the moment the hospital began preying upon victims—the moment the director and his accomplices made their move.
Speaking of which...
How exactly had Fujii Hiroshi obtained the research materials from Yoruyama Middle School?
Thinking back to the notes left behind in that hidden room, Takumi kept feeling that what Hiroshi had truly wanted to write was:
'I trusted the wrong person.'
He just never finished writing it.
The "wrong person" he trusted...
Could it have been those neither-human-nor-Aberration things within Takamagahara?
Somehow, Takumi felt it probably was not that simple.
Then… could it be KP?
Takumi couldn't help but think back to what he had seen at the very end of the Shirakawa Apartments and the Red Nut Grey Cave—those things hidden within the process by which the Instances formed and evolved, the entities that called themselves KPs, the ones that guided situations from bad to even worse.
The KP inside the Red Nut Grey Cave had very likely even borrowed Susan's body at the end to speak with him directly, referring to him as the "actor of the curtain call."
Tch. Come to think of it, there had to be a KP secretly pulling strings behind the scenes of the "Campus Horror Stories" Instance too, right?
So what role was this time's KP playing?
A researcher guiding Alice toward breaking through her limits and destroying Fujihana Middle School?
Some passerby who led Fujii Hiroshi toward carrying out his insane experiments?
Or some other role entirely?
Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't a good one.
What exactly was the relationship between the KPs and the Sacrifice Game?
Partners?
Master and subordinate?
Still, trying to catch hold of their traces was simply too difficult. It was almost impossible to find evidence of them inside an Instance. Even so, the research materials Hiroshi had obtained could indeed be considered one possible clue.
He wondered whether there might already be a KP hiding somewhere in the dark at this very moment, secretly observing him.
While he was lost in thought, the three of them had already arrived before the magnificent, gold-plated courthouse.
A cacophony of noise could be heard from within.
It sounded as though countless people were shouting.
As though countless people were crying.
All kinds of emotions churned endlessly behind the doors, twisting together into something like a distorted vortex.
At that moment, Miko—having sensed something unusual—turned her head, only to jump in fright.
Only then did she realize that countless figures had gathered behind the three of them.
Those shadows from the region of distorted architecture.
The lingering remnants left behind by the victims' family members and friends.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they had all arrived before the same destination.
Takumi had already guessed what he was about to see.
But even so, he did not hesitate.
He reached out and pushed open the doors.
The next instant, his vision split apart.
He saw a trial.
He saw Hirano Sōsuke standing there in handcuffs, expressionless.
He saw countless hateful gazes.
From the judge.
To the police officers around the courtroom.
To the lawyers.
To the audience seated behind them.
Aside from the section occupied by the families of Alice's victims, every single person present was staring at Hirano Sōsuke with eyes overflowing with almost fanatical rage.
[Death penalty!]
[There can be no other possibility besides paying for his crimes with death!]
[A criminal like this must die!!!]
Furious roars rose one after another, so loud they nearly pierced through Takumi's eardrums.
And the fractured overlapping scene brought him an even stronger wave of mental stimulation.
Because there was another trial as well.
At the exact same time, he saw another trial unfolding.
[It's nothing more than slander.]
[It doesn't constitute a crime at all.]
[Such accusations are utterly immoral. How could you treat the deceased this way—especially such a pitiable young girl?]
In this trial, the defendant's seat held Alice's corpse, already covered with a white cloth.
Meanwhile, the plaintiff's seats were filled with those silent figures.
And every gaze directed toward those figures was filled with hostility, growing more twisted by the second.
The two trials proceeded simultaneously.
The sounds and images of both trials poured into Takumi's sight and hearing at the same time.
[The criminal entered the concert venue armed with a handgun. After killing two security guards, he rushed onto the stage and cruelly, inhumanely shot Miss Alice to death. Everyone present witnessed the scene personally. The evidence is conclusive. Without question—guilty.]
[Miss Alice lost her parents at a young age, which caused her to develop a strong emotional attachment toward this lady's maternal warmth. That is why she reached out to touch her neck. As for the lady's death by suffocation, it has absolutely nothing to do with Miss Alice. It must have been a problem with the woman herself. Without question—not guilty.]
[The criminal used the backstage passages and maintenance corridors of the concert venue to continue fleeing, repeatedly firing at fans and killing multiple people. Numerous witnesses and surviving victims can testify to this, and the forensic evidence collected on-site is equally conclusive. Without question—guilty.]
[Miss Alice merely visited this gentleman's home to meet with a fan. Whether it was late at night is completely irrelevant. In fact, because of idol activities, staying up late at night is perfectly normal. As for this gentleman disappearing after Alice left, only for his dismembered remains to be found in the sewers the following day, that naturally has nothing to do with Alice. The abandoned bloodstained knife is the same. The fact that Miss Alice's fingerprints were found on it proves nothing. By comparison, this gentleman's wife and mother are far more suspicious. Without question—not guilty.]
[The criminal prepared guns and ammunition in advance, deliberately studied the layout of the concert venue, and carried out extensive planning. He had fully prepared himself for the massacre he intended to commit. This was a premeditated atrocity. Without question—guilty.]
[Although the notes and documents discovered among Miss Alice's belongings are indeed written in her handwriting, they absolutely were not written by her. That's right—not written by her. They were fabricated to frame her. Miss Alice never once planned to harm anyone. Without question—not guilty.]
[A person guilty of such monstrous crimes deserves only one punishment: death. No second possibility exists. Verdict approved.]
[A kind and beautiful girl like Miss Alice deserves only one verdict: innocence. No second possibility exists. Verdict approved.]
Cheers erupted from both trials at once.
Everyone was celebrating the triumph of justice.
Every face overflowed with fanatic ecstasy.
Takumi was not surprised in the slightest.
The existence known as "Alice" had already twisted everything beyond recognition.
An outcome like this was only natural.
But still…
Those silent figures remained silent even now.
And Hirano Sōsuke, who likewise had not spoken a single word from beginning to end, seemed to have kept his gaze fixed upon those silent people the entire time.
Step—
Takumi took a step forward.
Inside the empty courthouse, thick with dust, every shadow and every voice had already vanished without a trace.
For an instant, it almost seemed as though Fujii Hiroshi's figure flashed past among the officers escorting Hirano Sōsuke away—but when Takumi looked again, there was nothing there.
Takumi continued walking forward.
Step by step, he approached the defendant's stand.
Then he stepped into it and slowly sat down in the defendant's seat.
He could almost feel those countless gazes converging upon him from all around.
Could almost hear the whispers.
Could almost sense those twisted emotions.
And also…
The one thing the man who had once sat in this seat had cared about from beginning to end.
"So that's how it is. Your obsession was never really about Alice at all. What you wanted… what you could never let go of… was simply this."
And at that moment, he finally understood everything completely.
For the first time, Takumi truly confirmed what it was he absolutely had to accomplish.
To be honest, though…
The difficulty of it all seemed far greater than he had anticipated.
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