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

After confirming the supplies they had brought once more, Gao Hai took out the strange graffiti and gestured for Kaguya to come forward. The two of them reached out and pressed their fingers on the bizarre figure drawn on the graffiti.

I want to attend Hayashi Elementary School.

Gao Hai thought to himself.

A chilling aura gradually gathered in the next moment.

The lines on the graffiti seemed to come alive at that moment, gradually wriggling and slowly changing.

The surrounding scenery became blurry and increasingly indistinct, as if the entire world had shifted from a high-resolution state to a low-resolution state, and even showed signs of collapse and disintegration.

The pitch-black light began to spread.

On the graffiti, a dark red color suddenly emerged from the black lines.

Gao Hai saw a smiling face.

The blood-red smiley face graffiti was somewhat similar in style to his earlier graffiti, but it gave him a more unsettling feeling.

He felt as if the face in the graffiti was watching him, smiling at him.

But then, the graffiti changed again. The black and red lines gradually twisted and merged, transforming into another form.

This time, he saw a strange creature, whose appearance he didn't know, that seemed to have blood-red teeth.

The thing's mouth seemed to be dripping blood.

The thing seemed to be chuckling softly, making a strange laugh.

The thing turned its head. It seemed to have no eyes, but it seemed to have seen Gao Hai and the person observing it.

hum-

A dull thud spread throughout the room.

The figures of Takami and Kaguya had already disappeared from the room.

Along with that graffiti, it vanished into thin air, disappearing into the darkness beyond the real world.

slam-la-

The torrential rain outside the window still hadn't stopped.

Gao Hai could hear the rumble of thunder, accompanied by faint flashes of lightning.

He slowly sat up from the single bed, which had a slightly musty smell.

The lighting inside was very dim, making it difficult to discern the surroundings.

This is a small bedroom with a tiny single bed in the corner. The sheets and blankets have faded a bit from washing. Next to the bed is a small bedside table, and against the wall at the foot of the bed is a row of bookshelves. When Gao Hai sits up from the bed, he can see an old wardrobe and a vintage wooden door.

His gaze swept across the room before him, finally settling on the desk next to the bedside table, and on the desk, an old-looking desktop computer.

computer?

Gao Hai was stunned for a moment.

The replica of Hayatei Elementary School dates back to the 40s. How could there be computers here? Especially home computers that only started to become common in the 90s and 00s?!

Gao Hai looked around again and confirmed that he had not seen anything particularly strange or alarming.

After carefully confirming that he didn't see any rulebook or anything like that and that there were no strange noises around, he moved on the bed, his feet touching the ground, and then got up to go over and check the situation.

Brother, brother!

Then he heard a knocking sound behind him, a knocking sound on the window, and the anxious voice of a young girl.

Look back.

Gao Hai himself had no intention of turning back.

But upon hearing that sound, an extremely strong urge to "turn around and look" compelled him to turn around, to look at the window next to the single bed, and at the figure standing outside the window, reaching out and knocking on the window.

Boom——

Amidst the deafening thunder, a blinding flash of lightning illuminated the pitch-black outside the window.

The figure tapping on the window grinned at Gao Hai, smiled gently, and continued to tap on the window, speaking to Gao Hai.

Brother, I'm home! Open the door!

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Game Between the Two in the Dark Rain

Splash—splash—

The torrential rain, which seemed never to cease, continued to pour down even now.

The air was damp and chilly, and you could even feel the stickiness in your throat with each breath.

Kaguya Shinomiya groggily opened her eyes and found herself lying on a very large bed filled with many dolls.

The room was dark, with only a faint light coming in from the windows on either side of the bed. It seemed to be nighttime, and there was almost no sound other than the rain. Outside, only the streetlights flickered faintly.

Kaguya turned around and looked at a monkey doll lying diagonally next to the pillow, seemingly smiling and looking back at her.

She slowly sat up in bed.

jingle--

Then Kaguya felt something touch her forehead and heard a crisp sound like something colliding with itself.

Is this... a star?

The girl observed through the dim light from the window and saw crystal-clear ornaments hanging from the ceiling above the bed. These ornaments were mostly shaped like stars, crescent moons, spheres, or snowflakes, and they would sway and collide with each other with a crisp sound if touched lightly.

She looked back at the bed she was sitting on, and at the various toys piled on it, such as animal dolls and other toys, including a few typical Japanese dolls that were clearly meant for young children.

Kaguya lowered her head and looked at the bed she was in. It was obvious that the duvet cover and pillows were a size smaller than those used by ordinary people. It seemed that the place where she woke up was a child's bedroom.

I did not see Gao Jun.

After carefully observing her surroundings, Kaguya confirmed that she did not see Takami.

He is not in this bedroom.

...Does that mean he and I have been separated?

Kaguya's expression gradually became serious.

She had encountered a similar situation in the Red Nut Gray Cave. Back then, she and Maki found themselves in the research base after entering the instance, while Takami was left alone deep inside the cave. Although she and Maki didn't face any major dangers in the research base that time, Takami encountered numerous perils. Now, she was facing the same situation again, being separated at the start, and this time in a Red Moon-level instance. This made Kaguya extremely vigilant. After all, who could be sure that something terrible might befall her this time?

However, it seems that at least for now... nothing unusual has been observed.

Sitting on the bed, Kaguya cautiously looked around several times, but she couldn't see anything that could be described as "abnormal," nor could she find anything like a rule table that she could refer to.

Therefore, after a brief moment of hesitation, she slowly moved to the bedside, intending to get out of bed and conduct a further investigation of the room.

[■……]

Just then, Kaguya vaguely heard a sound, like something breathing softly, coming from under the bed.

Right now, under the bed where I am sitting.

The sound was like the even breathing of a sleeping person, so faint it was almost inaudible.

Kaguya stopped moving at that moment.

From that very moment, from the moment she heard that strange breathing, the room suddenly changed, becoming different from what it had been just moments before.

She could almost hear faint laughter coming from inside the house, children whispering, and someone running around inside. Even though she couldn't see clearly, even though she couldn't see any trace of them, Kaguya could still feel that someone was with her.

"call……"

Her breathing became uncontrollably heavy.

Even though she had already explored the dungeon twice before, the strange and disorienting sensation she felt at this moment still made Kaguya feel quite uncomfortable.

She tried to calm herself down, her gaze sweeping around her until it finally landed on the dolls on the bed.

Regardless of the circumstances, players will always find a rule table at the start of the dungeon to guide their actions. Whether this rule table is genuine or not, or whether its contents are outdated, the rule table itself will always exist.

Furthermore, the location where the rule table can be found is generally safe, or at least relatively safe, at the beginning. While there are players who investigate in the wrong direction at the start of a dungeon and die before finding the rule table, in most cases, players are able to successfully find the rule table at the beginning of the game.

Regarding why this universally applicable rule in the Twilight, Dark Night, and Red Moon level 3 dungeons has been so consistently effective, no dungeon has violated this rule so far. Even in the Fujika Middle School dungeon, which contains the unconventional and bizarre monster [Alice], Gao Hai received a set of rules at the beginning, although those rules were created by [Alice] herself to lure people to their deaths.

Therefore, I should be able to find the rule table here.

So, when I tried to get out of bed, the room underwent an unusual change. In other words, could I find the corresponding rule table on this bed, and find the clues that I would definitely get after entering the instance?

Kaguya carefully moved her body on the bed, trying to make as little noise as possible, until she reached the pile of dolls.

Reach out, pick up a small bear plush toy and put it aside, then remove another puppet toy.

After a little while, Kaguya finally found a small notebook hidden among the pile of dolls.

Turn the pages of the book.

The childish words written on that paper, the kind only a young child would use, were thus brought into Kaguya's view.

Xiaohua is a good child, Xiaohua is a well-behaved child.

Good children sleep at night and lie in bed to sleep well.

Good children don't leave the house and don't cause trouble for adults.

Shh, shh, go to sleep now.

[Once she's asleep, the darkness won't bother Little Flower.]

Once you're asleep, you won't hear the dark, guttural noises anymore.

[If Little Flower falls asleep, she won't be snatched away by the dark creature.]

Little Flower, are you asleep?

Rumbling--

The thunder outside the window trembled dully at that moment.

The lightning suddenly illuminated the dimly lit room.

At that moment, Kaguya saw, in that fleeting glimpse of light, the thing standing in the very center of the room, casting its shadow upon her.

Rumble--Rumble--

The dull rumble of thunder temporarily drowned out the sound of knocking on the window.