[The Black Shadows]
That was what the children called those things.
Even now, Takakai had never truly seen one. Not in his fragmented memories of previous loops, not even after breaking through the cognitive block. Perhaps he had encountered them before, but any memories involving these entities remained erased, locked away where even his restored awareness couldn't reach.
Kaguya remembered.
Unlike Takakai, her role in this dungeon granted her the ability to perceive the inky horrors.
Why her?
Takakai's gaze involuntarily flicked to her modest chest.
...I did kind of grope her earlier when pushing her away. Not that I felt anything. It's like with Maki's thighs and ass - no, wait, Maki's different. We've crossed that line. Kaguya and I haven't.
Does that mean her assigned identity here is a child?
Shaking off the inappropriate thought, he tightened his grip on Kaguya's arm and pulled her forward, sprinting through a doorway into—
—a cavernous, auditorium-like space.
Chairs and benches lay scattered haphazardly.
To Takakai, the room appeared completely empty.
But Kaguya saw.
Tendrils of black mist coiled up from the seats.
Whispers slithered through the air.
And most disturbingly—she understood them.
"Someone saw the Black Shadows!"
A timid voice trembled with fear.
"Don't look! If we don't see them, they can't get us!"
The brave words undercut by a quavering tone.
"Only people who see get taken. We didn't see. We're safe."
More voices joined in, a chorus of nervous murmurs growing louder.
"A teacher's helping her escape. Will they make it?"
"No way. They'll disappear. Or turn into dogs."
"I thought only repeat rule-breakers become dogs?"
"That teacher let all his naptime kids run off. He's definitely dog food."
"The Black Shadows also turn people into dogs. Yesterday's dinner looked just like Hanako. She got taken after opening a window. Next day—bam—doggie stew."
"Yeah! The Black Shadows torture whoever they catch. Some never come back. Others return... changed."
The children's voices chased them even as they fled.
Black Shadows.
An apt name for the thing that had lurked outside the window—invisible until the moment Kaguya opened it.
Then the reset erased her memory of the encounter.
Only those who remember seeing them become targets?
Or is it those who realize they've seen them?
Regardless—
Don't get caught.
That writhing mass of black lines, that grinning thing—
Even its gaze carried a weight that made her bones ache.
"T-Takakai, I hear children talking."
Kaguya forced her voice to remain steady.
"Children?"
Pausing at the auditorium's exit, Takakai frowned.
Then—
He summoned a toy box.
From its depths emerged a garishly painted shaman doll.
"Wololo! Aieee-yah!"
The doll charged past them, hurling nonsense chants at the pursuing horror.
"Wow, a shaman!"
A child's awed gasp echoed.
"Wow, the shaman died."
The disappointed follow-up came instantly.
The entity hesitated—briefly baffled by the toy's sacrifice.
Takakai used the distraction to empty his pistol's clip in suppressive fire mode.
As expected, bullets passed harmlessly through the shadowy mass.
No physical form. No wonder it didn't need to open doors.
Use a suppression round? Only seven left... Too risky without proper intel.
Time for Plan B.
A Rescue Team member materialized, lunging at the shadow.
1.7 seconds later—
Casualty confirmed.
But the diversion bought them precious meters.
Toys. Rescuers. Both trigger its "confusion" state.
They burst into a mansion-like antechamber with multiple branching paths.
Doors flanked both sides. A long corridor stretched ahead.
No time for deliberation.
Takakai produced a 20-sided die.
"Which route gives us the best chance to shake pursuit?"
He rolled.
Clatter.
The die came to rest.
D20 = 1
Takakai: "...You've got to be kidding me."
Creak—
Both side doors swung open simultaneously.
Black Shadows oozed through each entrance.
From the corridor ahead—
Footsteps.
Dark shapes shambled closer.
Of course.
The Black Shadows were never solitary hunters.
They moved in packs.
"Behold the miracle of the Dice God," Takakai muttered darkly.
Keeping one hand firmly on Kaguya, he raised the other—
—and summoned a door from nothingness.
They dove through the impossible entrance—
—as utter darkness swallowed the antechamber behind them.