Chapter 49: The Hierarchy

Tap, tap, tap...

The sound of their footsteps echoed in the silent hallway.

Once they entered the dormitory area, Yukinoshita Yukino, who had previously seemed a bit carefree, became cautious.

It felt like a completely different world from the lobby. The windows in the hallway were boarded up for some reason, and only a few faint rays of light pierced through the gaps, casting shadows that gave the place a creepy vibe, as if some unknown creatures were wriggling in the darkness.

As they walked, Yukinoshita Yukino and Hikigaya Hachiman searched several rooms ahead. The furniture inside had not been moved and was kept very tidy, with everything neatly arranged. It was clear that the children who lived in these rooms must have been very clean.

"It's really strange. Are there no cursed spirits here?" 

Yukinoshita Yukino opened another room, finding no trace of a cursed spirit inside. However, compared to the previous rooms, this one was a bit messy, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. 

She closed the door and continued deeper into the dormitory.

"Is it possible that the cursed spirits are concentrated somewhere else?" Hikigaya Hachiman suggested.

"Even if that's the case, we need to check the entire dormitory area first. We can't let any stragglers slip through," Yukinoshita Yukino said, subtly frowning, a sense of unease creeping into her mind. "Let's speed up and confirm everything."

The two of them checked each room one by one but didn't find anything unusual. There wasn't even a shadow of a mosquito. 

Back in the hallway, dust floated in the narrow beam of light as they walked through it, opening another room door. 

"Something feels off." 

Yukinoshita Yukino frowned. 

"Did you notice that the rooms are getting messier inside?" 

Chairs and tables were knocked over, things from the desks were scattered everywhere, and the bedding on the double bed had been dragged to the floor. The yellowing pillows had a few black mold spots, and the sheets had faint dark red stains. 

Compared to the earlier neat rooms, this one looked like it had been ransacked by thieves. 

"Honestly, it's already strange that some of these rooms are still so clean after being unoccupied for who knows how long." 

Hikigaya Hachiman couldn't help but comment, then paused as he realized something. 

They both sensed that something wasn't right. Leaving the room and returning to the hallway, it was still empty, exuding a sense of deathly silence. 

"There are only three rooms left. Let's split up to check them." 

Yukinoshita Yukino clenched her fist, noticing a thin layer of sweat forming in her palm. As the situation grew more bizarre, she began to feel a bit nervous. 

However, when she stood at the door of the third-to-last room, she froze in place. 

The wooden door was covered in deep scratches, as if someone had clawed it with their fingers. There were faint bloodstains left behind as well. 

Pushing the door open revealed a complete mess. Blood handprints were smeared across the white walls, dragging down long streaks of blood. The furniture was mostly damaged; chairs were broken in half, and the double bed was flipped over, with the bedding torn into strips, leaving chaotic bloodstains everywhere. 

The whole room was shrouded in a bloody madness. 

All three of the last rooms were like this. 

"What on earth happened here…" 

The black-haired girl's eyes were filled with shock and confusion. 

"These rooms are really "clearly categorized," huh?" 

Hikigaya Hachiman said softly, as if he had realized something. 

"Could it be that the kids living deeper in the rooms have a lower status in the orphanage?" 

"...You mean, the kids at the bottom of the hierarchy were bullied by the others?" 

Yukinoshita Yukino quickly understood his meaning and inferred new information from it. "If that's the case, it's way too much." 

From the bloodstains in the rooms, it was clear that things had gone beyond bullying and crossed into criminal territory. 

Given the well-equipped facilities in this orphanage, it should have been a charity place that treated orphans well, so it was shocking to find that such horrible things had occurred here. 

"This is just our baseless guess, and it could also be caused by the curse spirits." 

As Hikigaya Hachiman spoke, he suddenly heard a faint noise near his ear. He asked in confusion, "Did you hear something?" 

"Noise?" 

Yukinoshita Yukino frowned. "I didn't hear anything… Wait, on the wall behind you!"

The girl suddenly widened her eyes. On the wall behind Hikigaya Hachiman, which was covered in bloody handprints, another handprint appeared. At the same moment the print showed up, she also heard the noise Hikigaya had mentioned—it was the sound of a palm lightly tapping against the wall.

Both of them immediately became alert, and the creature that had revealed the handprint seemed to realize it had been discovered. The bloody handprint quickly spread across the wall, extending to the floor and closing in on the two of them, as if an invisible monster was crawling down from the wall.

"This room is too small. Let's get out!"

Yukinoshita Yukino decisively shouted. After experiencing the last fight with Hayashizaki by her side, she had finally become sharp and quick in this regard.

The two rushed out of the room, and at that moment, the once silent hallway suddenly came to life. Closed doors began to swing open one after another, like a row of dominoes falling in reverse, and the shadows in the corridor started to wriggle with the tremors of the building.

"Who... is there?"

"Who... is there?"

"Who... is there?"

Accompanied by a crackling sound like static, a hoarse and trembling voice echoed from each room, and strange-looking cursed spirits popped their heads out from behind the doors.

"No wonder we didn't find any cursed spirits before; they were all hiding!"

Hikigaya Hachiman gritted his teeth. This was going to be a problem. The two were at the end of the hallway, with no way to escape behind them, and it seemed they were surrounded by cursed spirits.

While they were still in shock, the cursed spirit that had been in the room crept closer, reaching out a blood-covered hand and grabbing Yukinoshita Yukino's ankle.

"Yukinoshita, look out at your feet!"

Just as Hikigaya Hachiman was about to use his technique to deal with the cursed spirit, Yukinoshita Yukino suddenly lifted her captured right leg. She pulled out the cursed spirit hiding below and then stomped down hard, crushing its head along with the floor tile beneath it.

"Ah?"

The boy with the dead fish eyes let out a surprised sound that felt oddly familiar.

Before he could process what just happened, he saw the girl turn to the window boarded up with wooden planks. With a rush, she smashed through the boards and the window, leaping outside.

"Come on out!" Yukinoshita Yukino called.

What kind of monster are you… 

Hikigaya thought to himself while quickly climbing through the window before the cursed spirits could rush in.

Before long, a group of cursed spirits that had been stuck in the window Yukinoshita Yukino had broken were now spilling out. The wall couldn't hold up under the pressure and burst open, sending up a cloud of dust.

One by one, the frenzied, zombie-like cursed spirits charged out from the dust, rushing towards the two of them.

…

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