Chapter 1 - Prologue ①

That event happened four years ago.

It was after the end of the long h*ll of high school entrance exams, and I, Kazuma Miyoshi, a first-year high school student, was finally going to attend the high school at the start of the spring. On my way home from buying my high school uniform, I was on the Toho Line of the Sapporo subway.

The high school I was entering was one of the best in the city for university entrance, and although it was a public high school, its deviation score exceeded 70. It was particularly popular with male junior high school students, and its acceptance rate was twice as high as other schools.

Well, the reason was simple: it was a former girls’ school that had become coeducational the year before.

Still, it was a relief to pass the entrance exam.

But that joy gradually became unfamiliar, and recently the fatigue from studying like an idiot has been closing in on me.

“Haah…”

I sighed and my eyelids grew heavy.

On top of that, I’ve been playing a game late into the night as a backlash from studying, and now I’m being chased down by sleepiness.

By the way, the game I was playing is a battle royale game called “PUBC.”

This game is really deep and enjoyable, but because of it I haven’t slept at all.

Tonight I want to watch a certain broadcaster’s stream, so it would be better to sleep earlier.

“I’ll just sleep for a little bit…”

I muttered this and closed my eyes while holding the bag with my uniform inside of it.

After falling asleep from exhaustion, I woke up after what was probably sufficient time.

For some reason, the sound around me was too loud and I woke up.

Is there a festival going on? Or are female high school students recklessly filming TILTOL? Or is it an old man with a weird head that I often see in those videos?

Well, the subway is not a noisy place… As I raised my heavy eyelids with some irritation to check the situation…

What I saw was a desperate figure trying to escape from something and running down the subway car’s corridor.

It was a young man in his mid-20s, wearing a suit and his tie seemed out of place in this situation.

His face was pale and sweat was dripping down it.

He looked around restlessly and then suddenly stopped in front of me.

“Please, you have to help me!”

He said this in a hoarse voice and grabbed my shoulder.

At the same time, I heard the sound of something heavy coming closer from behind him.

All of them were in a terrible state, kicking aside others and desperately trying to escape, and I was forced to wake up due to the screams of children and the startled cries of adults.

The people who were desperately trying to escape all ran towards the front of the train.

What happened? Did we derail? Or is there a fire?

But the subway shows no signs of stopping or any smell of burning. Maybe my nose is just messed up, but it’s obvious from later events that this is not the case.

As I was also unable to move in front of these people, a man shouted in a loud voice.

“It’s a murder!!!!”

At this moment, everyone around raised their voices at once.

“Run!”

“Hurry up and go forward!”

“Stop the train!”

“What are you doing, conductor!”

“This is bad!”

“What are you doing!”

“Kyahh!”

“Help!!!!”

People were screaming and were rushing all over the place running away from a certain direction.

The screams were so loud that I was forced to cover my ears.

…Wait, did he just say murder?

I was so startled by the unfamiliar word that I doubted whether this was a dream.

But when I pinched my cheek, it hurted.

Finally realizing that this was the real world, I stood up and tried to move, but I was in a state where I couldn’t move at all because there was no space to move around because it was too cramped.

My legs trembled with agitation and abnormal palpitations, and I had no idea what to do. In any case, I was dragged along with the flow where others were going.

When I turned around, I saw people running towards me from behind, and a faint black shadow sneaking up in the distance.

Wielding a bloody knife and cutting down one by one the people who were unable to move, lying on their sides…

Even carving up the handrails and seats of the train with blood…the man approached steadily.

There were probably five more minutes until the next station. Even if the police and station staff were waiting in perfect condition, they would not be able to catch up in time.

It’s too long.

No matter how far I run, I will be cut down.

It’s the end.

The situation was desperate.

Just when I was looking forward to enjoying my new high school life after surviving the hellish exams…

I can’t believe that I have such bad luck. It’s the worst. How did this happen!

I don’t want to die. I don’t want to be killed. I have things I want to do.

Realizing that I would die as I saw these thoughts flash before my eyes like a slideshow.

—That’s when it happened.

“Kyahaaah!!!!”

A woman’s loud scream from the back car.

I immediately turned my head in that direction and saw a high school girl who was about to be slashed, desperately trying to escape as she was chased down by the murderer.

Perhaps because she was so scared that her legs gave out, she was unable to move and was struggling to escape, but she was too slow no matter what.

If I had left her for just ten more seconds, she would have also been killed.

Damn it, should I go help?

But I might die. This isn’t a game. If I’m hit once, I’ll die.

I was scared, but it was too unpleasant to see a person dying right in front of me. I may be able to protect myself, but if I run away in this situation, I’ll be too heartless.

I don’t know what to do with the thoughts racing through my head.

—But for some reason, I started running towards her.