Time trickled by bit by bit. After a whole day of work, I finally made it home.

“Sara, you there?”

“……”

“Sara… already asleep? No, no, no, my precious daughter’s definitely still gaming at this hour!”

“Dad, my teammates are busy right now. Just make yourself comfy, okay?”

“I— You brat… If your mom wasn’t working so far away, you’d never dare act like this.”

“Ugh, see? I died again… This is all your fault, Dad! Look, you made me wipe and go back to the lobby.”

“Oh? So the one at fault for this whole thing is me, and you’re still blaming me?”

It felt so happy, this kind of life I could lose myself in… Honestly, sometimes our father‑daughter relationship felt more like two friends.

I’d even thought, if my daughter could stay by my side like this until the day I die… that would be perfect.

…

No one knew how much time passed before Sara, who’d been crouched on the floor, swayed and pushed herself up.

Just now, while she’d been wandering around the building, a wave of intense dizziness had hit her. Her head felt like it had been split open by a blade, the pain unbearable.

“Don’t come back… whatever you do, don’t come back…”

“Dad?!”

In that instant, as her consciousness started to drift away from her body, the voice suddenly echoed in her mind.

It sounded like her father’s voice, but the words were so abstract she couldn’t grasp what he meant.

In her memory, he had never said anything like that before.

But it really was his voice… as if it was trying, with everything it had, to reach her from somewhere incredibly far away.

An uneasy chill tightened in her chest, and Sara hurried forward.

The building around her was changing.

It was like time had twisted, leaping hundreds of years in a breath. The whole place had turned into a ruin.

The brown walls and ceiling were crawling with mold and dust. The floor that had been under renovation was now covered with tiles, but the air was so damp the tiles were bulging, cracking, and peeling away.

Another world…

That was all this scene could bring to mind, just like what she’d seen before in the shopping mall and the subway.

Was Dad trying to tell me not to come back… But who, exactly?

Sara bit down hard on her lip, as if forcing some half‑formed answer back down her throat.

Even in this altered building, ugly monsters were still lurking.

Lying deeper down the corridor was a fat creature with a head full of brain and intestines, its whole body deathly pale.

Its head was so small it made you question if it even had a brain.

It was so obese its features had sunk deep into the flesh, making them impossible to make out. Its whole body was wrapped in skin that looked like it had already rotted through, so the giant thing looked like a massive malignant tumor.

“Move!” Sara shouted.

The bloated monster didn’t seem interested in attacking. It just lazily rolled over on the floor. But its sheer bulk blocked the entire corridor, making it impossible for anyone else to pass.

“If you don’t move, I’m gonna shoot!”

Sara pulled out her handgun and threatened it, but she wasn’t planning to fire. She barely had any ammo left, and she wanted to save those precious bullets for truly vicious enemies.

When her threat did nothing at all, she had no choice but to pull the trigger.

To make sure she could kill it with a single bullet, she carefully aimed at the monster’s head.

Bang—!

The gunshot boomed, and the monster roared.

It wasn’t a scream of pain, but a roar of rage.

A second ago it’d been staying put. Now it suddenly charged at Sara. Its bow‑legged, lumbering stride matched its heavy body, rotten flesh shaking violently as it closed in.

The raw force of it made Sara’s heart clench. She turned and bolted.

No way. There’s no chance I can take that thing down with what ammo I’ve got left.

I am not getting crushed under that thing! With that thought, Sara’s feet flew, like someone had greased the floor.

Just imagining that reeking, pus‑oozing mass of flesh, with fluid seeping from split skin, brushing against her was enough to give anyone goosebumps.

If it touched her, she might even catch some incurable skin disease.

As she was running for her life, Sara suddenly felt something strange under her feet.

The floor warped in an unnatural way. She was catapulted forward and slammed hard onto the rubble‑strewn lobby floor. The impact was so brutal she couldn’t move for a moment. The monster was still right behind her, and it was about to crush her flat!

“No!”

Awooo—!

Sara shouted, and at the same time the monster roared.

This time it was a scream. The broken floor gave way and collapsed, and the monster dropped through.

Once she finally forced her body to move again, Sara crawled to the edge of the hole and looked down. The creature lay on the level below in a big starfish sprawl, as if it had passed out.

The way the building kept changing left Sara more and more lost. No matter how she searched, she couldn’t find a way to the outside, so all she could do was wander, checking every place she could enter for useful clues. That was how she happened to find a room that looked like an abandoned hospital reception area… or maybe a therapist’s office.

What’s this…? There was a sheet of paper on the long bench, covered in dust.

“We found the girl. Should we bring her in?”

It looked like a note, but on the back—when she flipped it over, it turned out to be a photo. And the subject of the photo, shot from afar, was Sara herself.

“What the hell is this?”

The face of that middle‑aged man who’d claimed to be a detective flashed through Sara’s mind, and her mood slowly steadied.

Was this that guy’s doing? So it really was him… Something’s here.

There was movement deeper inside. Someone’s in there. Did that pervert follow me?

His brain was so full of lust he’d take a photo like this, obviously…

Sara opened the door at the end of the lobby and quietly peeked inside. The person in the office wasn’t the detective, but a young man wearing glasses. Guess not… No. Even so, I can’t let my guard down.

“Who are you?”

Sara stepped into the room and aimed her gun at him.

The man was laying out tarot cards on a big desk. He looked up, gave her a slight smile, then waved a hand in greeting.

“Bit sudden, don’t you think? Aren’t you gonna introduce yourself?”

“Hmph. Are you a doctor?”

“I am, but… fine, what I’m doing now basically counts as a profession that ‘treats’ people.”

“Don’t change the subject. Is this yours?”

Sara held the candid photo out toward him. He nodded honestly.

“Yeah, it’s mine. A nosy friend gave it to me, and I tossed it. I’m not planning to kill you, Sara.”

“You know who I am?”

“I do. But don’t worry. I’m your friend.”

“I’m not convinced. That friend who gave you the photo—is he a detective?”

“Heh… That guy has nothing to do with me.”

“Then what about the woman named Lilith?”

“Don’t you dare mention that damn woman in front of me!!!”

The man who’d looked so gentle a second ago shot to his feet, losing his composure. “That lunatic… ah, excuse me. Whatever she is, that woman’s still your mother!”

“What are you talking about?” Sara asked, brows knitting tight.

Her father had said that her mother, who’d died young, had been a smart and exceptional woman.

So then, does that mean the real…

“You can’t remember anymore.” The man slowly walked toward her. “My dear buddy apparently never told you either… Tsk, tsk. The reason he’s hiding the truth is to make you behave. And he’s used plenty of other underhanded tricks on top of that.”

“I won’t let you insult my father!” Sara flipped the safety off her handgun.

The man took off his hat, revealing silver hair. He shrugged. “That’s not good. Calm down.”

“You know about my father too?”

“Of course. I know everything.”

“Then tell me. What’s really going on right now? What are those monsters?”

“Do you like them? I hope you really enjoy this. Things are only gonna get more fun from here.”

“Knew it… You’re the same as that woman. You’re all insane!”

Gun trained on the silver‑haired man—Vincent—Sara slowly backed toward the door.

“Wait, I’m not done talking yet,” the silver‑haired man called after her.

Sara chose to ignore him. She didn’t want to be in the same room as this weirdo, didn’t even want to breathe the same air.

She was furious, that was all.

For some reason, the client who’d hired someone to track down Sara seemed to have found her first. Which meant the perverted man’s job had suddenly become meaningless.

He had tried to call the client to ask what they really wanted and what to do next, but he couldn’t get through.

So… what the hell was going on?

He’d thought about just going home, having a drink, and crashing in bed. But halfway there, he changed his mind, turned the car around, and drove back.

Smiling wryly to himself, the man muttered, “If you see injustice and don’t act, you’re a coward.”

“Hah. Weird things are happening around that girl. Don’t be scared—go help her. Otherwise you won’t sleep easy afterward. Do something. That girl’s your current job. If she dies, you don’t get paid.”

After that little pep talk to himself, the detective floored it toward Tsubaki Ku’s apartment.

After groping her way around for what felt like ages, Sara finally reached the building’s front entrance.

She pushed the door open and stepped outside. The night wind, cool and fresh, flushed out her lungs. The moldy stench that had seeped into her body vanished in an instant.

“Thank god. My place is still the same as always.”

Looking at the lights shining from the buildings lining both sides of the street, Sara let out a long breath, then broke into a run toward her apartment.