Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

Maki and Kaguya made no comment on the culprit that caused the deterioration of Shirakawa Apartment.

At this moment, they were more concerned with the secrets left behind by the man in his last moments, which could very well involve the end of everything in the apartment.

Could something important be hidden under this dusty bed?

Just as Maki was about to act, she felt Kaguya Shinomiya's phone vibrate in her pocket.

Hey?

What's going on? Someone called her?

Making a phone call in a place like this?!

Maki took out her phone, but without any intention of turning it on or making a call, she threw it on the ground and then gestured for Kaguya beside her to leave quickly.

Even so, their actions were still a step too slow. The phone that had fallen to the ground turned on automatically, the screen lit up, the caller ID showed "Shijo Maki", and it was answered immediately with speakerphone enabled.

Mice have gotten into the house again...

A somber woman's voice came from the phone.

Mice have gotten into the house again...

A sound, like a sigh, echoed softly around the two of them.

Boom!

The enormous, twisted, and sinister female head suddenly fell from somewhere and crashed onto the side of the bed, its head facing directly at the bottom of the bed, staring straight at Maki and Kaguya, who were currently under the bed. Then, its mouth slowly moved, emitting sounds.

Mice have gotten into the house again...

The next moment, the huge head slowly rolled under the bed, blocking out the light coming in from outside and making the entire space under the bed even darker.

Chapter 53: The countdown to perfect completion begins

A mouse has gotten into the house...

Amidst the somber murmurs, Gao Hai suddenly raised his head.

The blurry figure beside him disappeared at that moment.

Instead, there was a sense of being watched by something extremely terrifying, as if it were a premonition that something incredibly cruel was about to happen.

"Who is speaking?"

The young Black man, Mamer, looked around in shock but couldn't find the source of the sound.

"Has something happened? Should we ring the bell?"

Startled, Green immediately looked at Maeda Miwa, who was also looking terrified in the corner, swallowed hard, and was about to step forward to force her to turn the clock.

"What's the rush? Just wait!"

But when Gao Hai roared in the next moment, Green dared not act rashly.

The clock cannot be turned yet.

At least for now, we can't turn the clock immediately.

Enduring the rising temperature and increasingly damp feel of his clothes, and forcing himself to ignore the growing sense of being watched in the room, Takahashi frowned, watching Maki and Kaguya running quickly through the doll's eyes.

The blood puppets, whose limbs had been replaced with wooden joints, had tightly held the woman's head, keeping it outside the bed.

crunch - crunch -

More and more cracks are appearing in the wooden joints of those blood puppets.

One minute, no, 30 seconds, maybe even 20 seconds, and this obsessive object that can delay the strange action will completely shatter.

Is it because the level difference is too large?

"Grandma, let's divide the work: one of us will look for the item, and the other will tear off a page from the calendar!"

Princess Zhenfei ran and shouted.

"I'll tear off a page from the calendar, and you find what you're looking for."

Less than half a second later, Kaguya darted out like an arrow, rushing out from under the bed.

Without the slightest hesitation, Zhenfei began to run through the dark space under the bed.

They have very little time to utilize.

The anomalies within 304 have begun to detect them and are gradually taking effect. Even using artifacts to temporarily hinder them won't buy much time; they must find that [precious item] before that happens.

Based on Gao Hai's experience exploring the first floor, items of significant importance, once found and possessed, will not disappear with the clock's rewind. Therefore, as long as you find that item, grab it, and then rewind, you will definitely be able to take it with you!

"You'd better make sure you time it right, Hai-kun."

Princess Zhenfei looked down and whispered to the doll on her shoulder.

Where could the item be?

A precious item that a child would cherish, a toy? Considering my current size and the gigantism of this place, that thing should be quite conspicuous. I need to find it as quickly as possible!

Thinking this, Shijou Maki quickly scanned her surroundings.

Meanwhile, Kaguya Shinomiya had already run out from under the bed. She suddenly bent down and picked up a rubber band that had fallen to the ground along with the woman's head. Then she quickly ran to the boundary between the bedroom and the living room.

The calendar is hung in the living room near the kitchen door.

There is no door separating the bedroom and the living room in this house; there is only a door frame.

After Kaguya ran out, she quickly stuffed one side of a rubber band—which was like a thick rope to her at the moment—into the gap of the bedroom door frame, then pulled hard, leaning backward and stretching it up as if she were drawing a longbow.

On the rubber band, a sharp scalpel, a symbol of obsession, was held by Kaguya, the handle pressed against it.

Calm your mind.

In an instant, all other sounds were forgotten, and all focus was placed on the rubber band in his hand and the blade about to be launched.

For Kaguya, shooting an arrow and hitting its target was a very simple task.

Because she once shot the arrow that she dreamed of, and at a very young age, she naturally shot a perfect arrow. Since then, hitting the target has become something that Kaguya can do at will, almost instinctively.

whoosh-

The blade flew out in an instant, piercing the thin string that hung the calendar on a nail.

The calendar fell and crashed to the ground with a thud. Before the man sitting at the table could even turn around, Kaguya had already run to the calendar and grabbed the edge of a page.

[No. 15]

This is the date on the calendar.

tear-

Without the slightest hesitation, Kaguya grabbed the edge of the page and ripped it open, revealing the number "16" underneath. She then grabbed the rest of the page and continued tearing it.

According to Sanchez's last message, the crucial stage cannot begin until the 17th.

Therefore, we must tear out this last page!

[A mouse has really gotten into our house...]

The man, who had already turned around, fixed his gaze on Kaguya.

The girl did not turn her head to look at the man, nor did she meet his gaze.

Even so, at the moment she was being watched, she clearly felt as if she were being stared at by something extremely terrifying. Her movements involuntarily slowed down, and even her thoughts began to become somewhat discontinuous.

No... I must...

There really are rats... Rats dig holes... Rats will find out... They will find out...

A muttering voice came from above.

The man standing above Kaguya raised his foot high, about to stomp her to death on the spot.

Meanwhile, Princess Zhenfei had stopped in front of a toy doll.

"Is this the thing...?"

Princess Zhenfei stared at the tattered doll in front of her, missing an arm, with one leg broken, and its clothes filthy, and for a moment she didn't know how to describe it.

It's really too shabby.

In Shijo Maki's memory, she had never seen a doll made like this before.

Is this what is precious to that child?

The doll sitting on Maki's shoulder nodded gently.

Gao Hai can see that memory.

Seeing the dirty child looking enviously at the neighbor's child wearing clean clothes and the pretty doll in the child's hand.

Her parents would never buy her such things.

However, she eventually got a doll, which she picked up from a garbage dump. Although it was tattered, it was a small doll that she could hold in her arms.

This is the only toy she has ever had since she was a child.

Click——click——

Amidst the shattering sound, the woman's head was forced under the bed, its gaping maw wide open towards Zhenfei. It truly deserved to be called a gaping maw, as the mouth tore the head apart, opening almost 180 degrees—a range no human could possibly achieve, like a nightmare come true.

And even with its mouth wide open to this extent, an almost screaming sound could still be heard coming from it:

[The disobedient one—]

The next moment, Maki's hand touched the dilapidated doll that was about the same size as her.

Kaguya, in the living room, bit her tongue so hard that her mouth was full of blood, forcibly suppressing her consciousness through the excruciating pain. She bent down and suddenly tore off a day from the calendar, which was almost the size of her, revealing the dark red number 17.

The wall clock inside the room stopped ticking at that moment.

One second, two seconds, several minutes, or even less than a second in an instant?

Time seemed to stretch out infinitely at this moment, and then shrink infinitely.

The entire 304 page was rapidly darkening; everything began to go awry and was heading towards collapse.

At that moment, the woman and the man in the room seemed to undergo some extremely strange changes.

Click——