Editor’s Survival Guide — Chapter 3
Episode 1. When the Siren Wails (3)
Crash—!
The moment the book was torn apart, I kicked back my chair and sprang up.
I intended to run just like that.
“Ugh……!”
But something like a steel bar caught me across the waist.
When I looked to see where it had come from, I saw the 「Something Wearing an Old-Style Uniform」.
What blocked my path was one of its abnormally long arms.
“Ghk!”
When I tried to wrench free, its blade-like fingers coiled around my upper body.
Cold metal touched the nape of my neck.
Along with the chill that ran through me, I remembered the warning in the rulebook.
—
Up to five barter attempts are safe.
Further attempts may provoke the aggression of the 「Something Wearing an Old-Style Uniform」.
—
No, I’ve only made four!
—
For your safety, barter attempts involving the items below are prohibited.
—
Could books be prohibited items too?
Why in the world……!?
I struggled desperately to escape the thing constricting my neck.
But it would not budge, as if it truly were made of reinforcing steel.
Its surface was so sharp that all I managed to do was scrape my own skin.
If I had known this would happen, I would have just crawled into the 「Recycling Bin」.
Then I would at least have had a fingernail’s sliver of a chance at survival……!
Regretting my choice, I squeezed my eyes shut.
But nothing happened.
Only my own groans drifted intermittently through the air.
……What?
At the strange silence, I opened my eyes.
Its fingers still had me in their grip.
Yet rather than intending to rip me apart and kill me, it seemed closer to keeping me trapped so I couldn’t run away.
I stared blankly before belatedly realizing that another of its hands had come up beside me.
It was holding the tattered book out in front of me.
And among that bundle of paper was a stiff slip made of entirely different material.
What was this?
Could it be a ticket……?
Half doubtful, I looked toward the creature itself.
A single sheet of paper lay in front of it.
It was one of the pages torn from the book I had offered.
Keeping my eyes fixed on it, I slowly extended an arm.
The fingers gripping my body were thin and widely spaced, so I had no trouble reaching through them.
The hand imprisoning me loosened when I took the book and ticket.
It withdrew its hand, then huddled its limbs together once more, returning to its original posture.
Now free of its restraint, I hesitated briefly, collected my bag, and turned away.
Then I crossed the lounge at a pace neither fast nor slow.
At the exit, I glanced back. It was silently gazing at the single page it had torn from the book.
“Haa…….”
The moment I stepped into the corridor, a long breath poured from my mouth.
I survived…….
I had been certain I was going to be torn apart and killed.
I pulled together my rapidly weakening body and looked at the ticket.
It was nothing more than an ordinary paper ticket.
The writing on it, however, remained unreadable.
I didn’t go out of my way to read it and simply slipped it into my pocket.
The thought that I could leave now lifted my spirits a little.
Then a shadow appeared on the gleaming marble floor.
Reflexively, I turned around.
Crunch—!
At the same instant, something hard slammed down on my shoulder.
“Ugh……!”
It felt as though my shoulder bone had been shattered.
The sensation was closer to shock than pain.
I reeled violently, then rolled on instinct.
After tumbling blindly across the floor, I raised my head again and could only stare in bewilderment.
What had attacked me out of nowhere was not some unidentified monster, but a man.
The man was holding a fire extinguisher.
And as if eager to demonstrate its intended use, he swung it at me again.
Whoom—!
The heavy lump of iron narrowly skimmed past my face.
“What are you doing!?”
I shouted, but the man ignored me and kept pressing his attack.
Again and again, the fire extinguisher came flying, cleaving the air with vicious sounds.
If I hadn’t happened to turn around, it would have struck my head.
Why in the world?
Why was this man attacking me?
No—where had he suddenly come from?
The extinguisher hurtled toward my body, leaving me no choice but to block it with my arm.
Bang—!
My feet slipped with the violent impact.
When I collapsed onto the floor, the man raised the extinguisher high overhead.
It was aimed precisely at my head.
Faced with that pure malice, I suddenly realized something.
This man had attacked immediately after I succeeded in the barter.
He had been waiting somewhere nearby all along.
Waiting for someone to succeed in the barter and obtain a ticket.
Now that I had accomplished it and was standing defenseless, he had only one thing left to do.
Steal my ticket and escape this place.
In other words, this attempt to kill me was also an attempt by that man to survive.
I clenched my teeth and rolled again.
The fire extinguisher narrowly swept past my ear.
What did I do now?
Should I fight back?
My left shoulder, which had taken that direct blow earlier, felt wrong for a fight.
I could barely put any strength into my left arm.
Then should I run?
What if other people were nearby?
What if that man shouted, “That bastard has a ticket!”?
While I agonized, the man charged again.
I rolled once more.
The extinguisher smashed into the bare floor.
Clang—!
It struck the marble with a metallic ring and rebounded.
At that moment, I recalled a warning written in the rulebook.
……Would it work?
Damn it. Whether it worked or not, I had to try.
I turned around at once.
When I sprinted down the corridor, the man cursed and chased after me.
Running at full speed, I soon reached the restaurant and café area.
The walls of those establishments facing the corridor were made of glass, leaving their interiors fully visible.
I braced my back against one of them.
The man, who had pursued me furiously, swung the fire extinguisher again.
I kept my eyes on that bright red piece of scrap metal and dodged at the last possible instant.
Instead of me, the extinguisher struck the glass behind me head-on.
Crash—!
Glass fragments scattered with an explosive crack.
At that instant, the man’s half-crazed eyes trembled.
It seemed he had only now realized what he had done.
Read only on MUGEX
—
■ Individual Precautions Inside the 「Railway Station Where the Siren Wails」
One. Strictly observe public morality within this Special Zone.
If you damage property inside the railway station or threaten railway station employees, the 「Railway Police」 may punish you.
—
Something like a rope grew out from among the glittering shards of glass.
It was the same thing that had sent the woman’s head flying in front of the ticket counter.
Perhaps he knew the danger of that rope as I did, because the man glared fiercely at me.
“You bastard……!”
The instant the man tried to curse me, the rope split him in two.
Whoosh—!
With that, I learned what had caused the middle-aged woman’s death earlier.
The 「Railway Police」 punished those who violated public morality.
Shouting and threatening the employee at the ticket counter.
And smashing a shop window with a fire extinguisher.
Anyone could see that both acts gravely violated public morality.
I turned my head so I wouldn’t see the man die.
Then I held my breath.
Was I really innocent?
What if it treated me as a petty offender who had caused a disturbance too?
I saw the 「Railway Police」 slithering closer like a water snake.
Standing among the shards of glass, I squeezed my eyes shut.
A brief silence passed.
When I opened my eyes again, the 「Railway Police」 had already vanished.
I alone remained alive in the corridor, which was now covered in blood and glass.
At the sight before me, a question arose before any sense of relief.
Had I killed that man?
I had deliberately led him into it.
But this was self-defense. He had brought it on himself.
He was the one who tried to kill me first.
No, enough. It was all my fault.
I would accept it as such, so I only wished this would turn out to be a dream.
I desperately wanted to wake from this filthy nightmare.
“……Urgh!”
A wave of nausea suddenly surged up.
I wanted to empty my stomach on the spot.
But the thought that the 「Railway Police」 might return made me cover my mouth.
Then I blindly rushed into the restroom visible across the corridor.
Only after seeing its layout did I realize it was the women’s restroom.
But I had no time to turn around and leave.
“Uhp, bleegh!”
I went straight into the nearest stall and shoved my head over the toilet.
Coffee was all I had consumed in the past half day, so I brought up nothing but a great deal of stomach acid.
I had just finished retching my guts out and was gasping for breath when it happened.
Rattle—!
At the sound beside me, I looked back and forth between the ceiling and floor like someone suffering from a nervous disorder.
Fortunately, no rope or anything of the sort was crawling between the restroom partitions.
Then what was the sound I had just heard?
Had I imagined it?
Or was someone here?
The moment I thought that, my head went cold.
When I first came here, I had been glad to see other people.
Not anymore.
In the span of only a few dozen minutes, the world I lived in had changed.
I had no choice but to change with it.
I held my breath for a while, then burst out of the stall.
There was no one outside.
So I looked around for the source of the noise.
Most of the restroom stalls lined up ahead and behind me had doors hanging open by about a handspan.
For some reason, however, exactly one door was shut tight.
My heart dropped.
Then the revulsion I had felt earlier surged up again.
Turning that fear into hostility, I took a step forward.
Someone was hiding in there.
If I didn’t want to be attacked again, I had to seize them first.
They must have locked the door from inside. Would it open if I kicked it?
No. If I did that, the 「Railway Police」 might kill me.
Then how was I supposed to drag them out?
I looked around for a suitable tool.
Then I caught sight of myself in the mirror.
The man in the mirror had disheveled clothes and hair and was panting like a lunatic.
……That was me?
Confronted with that sight, my agitation abruptly subsided.
Only then did it occur to me that *I* might be the intruder here.
There was no reason a person targeting me would lie in wait inside the women’s restroom.
“Haa…….”
I barely regained my reason and rubbed both hands over my face.
So this was how a person went mad.
My first thought had been to drag someone out without warning.
Finally calm, I looked at the tightly shut door.
I didn’t know who was in there, but I had no particular desire to meet them.
So I tried to leave quietly.
But I stopped after only a few steps.
Other people made me uneasy now.
Even so, it had been another person who spoke to me while I trembled, and another person who handed me this rulebook and opened a path to survival.
I sighed again and approached the closed stall.
I pushed lightly on the door, but it appeared to be locked from the inside and did not open.
So I knocked.
Knock, knock.
Naturally, there was no answer.
Right. Why would they answer when they had no idea who I was?
I considered speaking, then decided against it.
Instead, I slid the leaflet containing the rules beneath the partition.
I thought I would pass it along before leaving, in case whoever was inside needed it.
I had already memorized it all, and if I did nothing but accept help from others in a situation like this, I wouldn’t be much of a human being.
Just then, as I bent down to push the rulebook inside—
Bang—!
The door flew open, and something struck me across the head.
“……!”
More startled than hurt, I staggered back, then reflexively grabbed the person who burst out from inside.
There was resistance, but it wasn’t strong.
No, it was desperate, but I was strong enough to subdue them.
The person who had just sprung out was a girl in a school uniform.