The room seemed to shrink around them, the shadows thickening, pressing against their minds as Alvia's voice faltered over the last line of the manuscript. The horror in the room was palpable, a living thing. The tale they had just read wasn’t simply a story—it was a grotesque echo of their current reality, seeping out of the paper like blood from an old wound.

Alvia's hands trembled as she lowered the pages, her eyes wide and unfocused. The story was too precise, too familiar, a haunting reflection of what they were enduring. Jetto's voice, strained and raw, broke the silence. “So someone needs to die, but not at the hands of the ghosts,” he murmured, the realization sinking in like a blade through flesh. The room shifted with the weight of his words, each person looking to the others, fear and doubt roiling in their eyes.

Zen inhaled sharply, his chest heaving with the shallow breaths of someone barely holding it together. He nodded, a thin sheen of sweat clinging to his brow. The acknowledgment was a silent agreement, the first crack in the dam. Sora, unable to hold herself upright, dropped onto the frayed mattress. The creak of the bed’s old springs snapped through the tension, making Min and Elicy jolt as though struck. They exchanged quick, panicked glances, trying to suppress the rising hysteria bubbling in their throats.

Subaru was gnawing on his fingernails, the tips already torn and bloody. His left hand was clutching at his chest as if trying to keep his heart from bursting out. “We… have to kill someone ourselves?” His voice wavered, the question hanging in the thick, suffocating air.

“No… no… why do we have to do something like this? Why did we get stuck with something like this?” Akihiko’s voice cracked, a thin whimpering sound that made everyone flinch. Tears were streaming down his face, catching the dim light like liquid diamonds. His breaths came in ragged gasps as the room’s suffocating dread wrapped around them all.

Asahi stood off to the side, her gaze blank and unfocused, swaying like a marionette with cut strings. But then something shifted. Her eyes flicked to Rester, and before anyone could react, she lunged, her hands like claws wrapping around his throat. The force of her sudden attack sent them both crashing to the floor. The thud reverberated through the room, snapping Yu and Harumi into stunned paralysis.

Rester’s eyes bulged, his hands scrabbling at Asahi’s iron grip, nails scratching at her skin but finding no purchase. She snarled, her voice cracking with rage and grief. “You felt great when Katsuki died, didn’t you? You said it was okay—one of us gone so easily! You should be the one to die so the rest of us can live in peace!”

Erano’s face turned ashen, her eyes wide with shock as Asahi’s words echoed in her mind, twisted and insidious. A strange silence fell over the room, punctuated only by Rester’s strangled gasps. Then, like a whisper passed from one to another, a terrible idea took root, slithering through their thoughts.

“We just have to kill someone. One person, and we will all survive,” Sean muttered, his voice low and cold, barely louder than a breath. Yet, in that silent, suffocating room, everyone heard it. The simplicity of the statement clawed at their reason, gnawed at their morality, and planted seeds of fear and suspicion. The words coiled around their hearts, squeezing until every beat felt wrong.

The thought burrowed deep, festering in their minds as Asahi continued to choke the life from Rester, whose eyes were rolling back, limbs twitching in desperation. Yu and Harumi, once desperate to intervene, hesitated now, caught between instinct and the monstrous seed growing within them.

Jetto moved first, breaking the paralysis. He strode forward and grabbed Asahi’s hair, yanking her back with a brutal jerk that sent her sprawling. Rester gasped, a horrible, wet sound as he coughed and dragged himself away from her. The tension snapped but only shifted—no longer fear of the unknown, but fear of each other.

The eyes in the room changed. The desperation that clung to them all now had a predatory gleam, a silent, shared realization of what they might have to do to survive. The air was heavy with it, crackling with the possibility of violence.

Alvia's voice cut through the heavy silence like a knife. “This is not my story,” she said, her tone low and trembling. The room fell silent as all eyes snapped to her, their expressions a mix of confusion and fear. Alvia raised the trembling sheets of paper and pointed to the name scrawled at the end of the last page. “Stara. It says Stara here.”

A collective murmur rippled through the group, whispers like the scraping of leaves against glass. Ray, pale and rigid, stepped forward. His voice quivered as he spoke, “Stara wrote a story about herself? And what is this doing here in your room then?” The question hung in the air, thick and suffocating.

Shane’s eyes narrowed, dark with suspicion. “Or… it’s a ploy of the spirits,” he muttered, voice deepening as he spoke. The room grew colder, and a shiver swept through them all. “I don’t think we need to kill anyone. They’re just greedy. They just need more bodies to move around. To make their puppets.”

Himura’s nod came slow and cautious, but the agreement was short-lived. Emo’s face twisted in anger, eyes wide and glistening with desperation. “What do you know?” she snapped, her voice sharp and raw. “Me, Erano, and Zen have been dealing with this spirit for a long while!” Her voice rose to a scream that rattled the air around them. “How do we end this? Stara must have tried the same thing, and that’s why this script is here! She is showing us a way!”

“No! You are wrong!” Subaru’s shout cut through Emo’s hysteria. His eyes were blazing with fury, his breath coming in harsh, uneven gasps. “We don’t have to side with committing a murder! The whole reason we’re taking all this trouble is to find a way out of this mess, to survive with all of us! No one needs to sacrifice anyone!”

The words barely left his mouth when Asahi’s eyes lit up with something dark and unforgiving. She whipped out a small, glinting needle and flung it at Subaru. Reflexes kicked in, and he ducked, dragging Alvia down with him. The needle sliced through the air and embedded itself in the wall behind them with a dull thud.

“Ugh…” Alvia’s pained gasp was barely audible as her knees buckled, but she stayed upright, eyes squeezed shut from the shock. The room erupted into chaos.

Elicy lunged forward, seizing Shane’s arms in a death grip. Her eyes were wide, glassy with mania, her mouth curving into a smile that was all wrong. “It’s okay if you die here, you know. You’ll be saving lives!” she said, her voice trembling with an unnatural glee. Shane’s face drained of blood, terror seizing his limbs as he fought to pull free.

“No! Get off me!” His voice cracked, raw with fear, as he tore her hands away and stumbled back into Himura, who steadied him with a quick, firm grip. Himura’s eyes darted around the room, landing on the others with a mixture of dread and determination. He pushed Shane behind him and raised his voice. “Don’t touch us! Don’t come near us!”

The command only sparked more chaos. Yu’s face twisted into a mask of rage as she lunged toward them, nails curled like claws. But Jetto was quicker, grabbing her from behind and yanking her back. She fell hard, the sound of her body hitting the wooden floor echoing like a gunshot.

“Stop this madness!” Jetto shouted, his voice cracking as he glanced back at the others. “Boys, get out! We’ll be right behind you!” Shane and Himura exchanged a glance, then bolted for the door, their footsteps pounding like thunder.

Yu scrambled up, eyes blazing with fury. She lashed out, a swift kick connecting with Jetto’s shin. Pain shot through him, and he staggered back, cursing as he tried to regain his balance. “Gah! What the heck!” he spat, hopping on one foot as a cold sweat drenched his face.

Rester moved in quickly, grabbing Alvia and pulling Jetto with him toward the door. But Erano stepped in their path, eyes cold and unforgiving. “If you hadn’t come here, if you hadn’t joined the club, we would all be safe,” she hissed, her voice dripping venom. Her pupils dilated as she roared, “JUST DIE!” She shoved them back with all her might, and Rester stumbled, pulling Jetto and Alvia with him.

Emo appeared behind them, a heavy wooden box raised high above her head. The light caught the jagged corner, casting a wicked shadow on the wall. Before the box could connect with Rester’s skull, Subaru slammed into Emo with all the force he could muster, his shoulder colliding with her midsection. The box clattered to the ground as she crashed into the wardrobe, a strangled cry escaping her lips before she crumpled to the floor, groaning.

“Out! Let’s get out!” Subaru gasped, grabbing Ray by the wrist. He cast a desperate look at Rester, who nodded, eyes filled with determination. They pushed past Erano, their feet pounding the wooden floor as they raced for the hallway. The noise of their retreating steps was swallowed by the cacophony behind them—panting breaths, shouted threats, the scrape of limbs against the floor as those left behind grappled with the horror that had taken hold.

Subaru’s grip on Ray tightened, the unspoken promise to keep moving pushing them forward. Behind them, the room seethed with the madness that had gripped them all, the air still vibrating with the echo of violence and fear.