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

Realizing this, Gao Hai knew that his next investigation would likely focus on that classroom. However, this wasn't bad; getting back up where he had fallen was something Gao Hai was quite familiar with.

"Four Palaces, keep a close eye on the movements behind you and report every 30 seconds."

As Gao Hai said this, he opened the door and returned to the corridor he had passed through countless times. He then noticed that the mirror in the distance of the corridor had been smashed by someone, and there was more graffiti on the walls than before.

"There are more children's voices now. Although I can't see them, I feel like they're everywhere now, in every room..."

Kaguya spoke softly from behind, her tone hesitant.

Kaguya Shinomiya, who couldn't fully perceive those things, frowned. Walking at the back of the group, she had heard very obvious sounds of children playing and making noise since returning to the hall, as well as the loud noises of various things being thrown, smashed, and destroyed on the ground.

They're like a bunch of crazy kids, causing chaos everywhere.

Although she couldn't help but have such thoughts, Kaguya still didn't see any children, and a few doubts and suspicions gradually arose in her heart.

Hayasaka Ai, standing in the middle of the group, remained silent. She was unsure of her role and simply followed carefully behind Takami, slowly making her way forward with him.

Gao Hai quickly opened the door and entered the [Teacher's Office], which he had visited before. He first summoned the firefighters and had them search the office for legible text to see if they could find any clues.

Hayasaka, who was walking behind, took the soft cover off the somewhat dirty sofa cushion in the living room, wrapped it around her waist and tied it up, making a temporary skirt that completely covered her thighs and knees.

Gao Hai didn't pay much attention to the fact that the girl's fair thighs were being blocked. Instead, after signaling the two girls behind him to be on guard, he opened the classroom door and found that the situation inside was no different from when he had come before.

Did I misunderstand?

After frowning and thinking for a while, Takahashi decided to let Hayasaka and Kaguya come into the classroom with him, while the summoned firefighter stayed in the office to continue the investigation.

"There aren't any extra graffiti or anything like that here, and... I can't hear the children's voices here anymore."

Kaguya entered the classroom and spoke to Takahashi.

"What about the previous office? Did you hear anything in that office?"

Gao Hai, without attempting to open the observation room with the magnetic card again, inquired.

"...No, I could still faintly hear children's voices there, but they seemed quite far away. But after entering this classroom, I couldn't hear any children's voices at all. It's like this place has isolated those sounds?"

As Kaguya spoke, she carefully observed the room and stayed by Hayasaka's side, not straying too far from her.

"It's less like isolation and more like being freed from some kind of constraint. Because the Butcher is sealed away, have the Children lost some kind of rule that restrains their actions? If so, it might be much more difficult to get clues from them."

As Gao Hai spoke, he glanced at the two doors on the side of the classroom that he hadn't opened yet.

One of the doors leads somewhere unknown, while the other looks somewhat similar to the door to the [nap room]. Come to think of it, now that students are free to run around, school-related scenes such as [classrooms] and [offices] have disappeared. Could it be that the many [dark] nap rooms that once existed are now also empty?

Staying in the nap room might have been dangerous before, but now it might be safer.

Thinking this, Takami turned and met Kaguya's gaze. They understood each other perfectly, needing no further explanation, already knowing their roles. Takami quickly walked to the door of the nap room, while Kaguya followed, carefully keeping watch over their surroundings, and also pulling Hayasaka along to accompany her.

These two have become very adept at working together.

Mr. Gao's reconnaissance skills were already at a professional level. Although my young lady didn't seem quite professional, her awareness and actions were already excellent, and the two of them had great teamwork. Without my knowledge, how many times had they already faced danger together?

Just a few days ago, I was still wondering if Mr. Gao would harm my young mistress, wondering if he possessed some kind of legendary hypnotic ability. I never imagined it would be like this. How much suffering, how much blood and sweat has my young mistress endured, behind my back? I'm such an incompetent maid…

Hayasaka's emotions and mindset had basically recovered completely by this time.

She slowly focused her attention, and as Gao Hai prepared to open the door to the nap room, she imitated Kaguya, keeping a watchful eye on her surroundings and observing the entire classroom for any suspicious signs.

Then, she heard a faint, almost hallucinatory call.

Hey, hey, look here!

The girl's gaze shifted slightly in response to the voice.

Then she noticed that a crack had appeared in the wall on one side of the classroom.

And a woman peeking out from the dark room behind the wall, grinning and waving at him.

Chapter 30: Strange and unknown phenomena are gradually emerging.

Hello, are you a new student?

What's your name?

Come talk to me, let's become friends!

Amidst the faint sounds of laughter, Hayasaka's gaze gradually became unfocused.

Who is that person on the other side...?

You can't see the other person's face clearly, and you can't seem to recognize their voice, but you can sense that the other person is your friend, someone you can trust wholeheartedly, someone you don't need to doubt at all, your best friend.

From the day I enrolled here, it has become my good friend...

After studying here for a long time, I became very, very close friends with her, and I wholeheartedly wanted what was best for her...

So, what needs to be done is actually quite clear; all I need to do now is—

Snapped!

Kaguya reached out and patted Hayasaka on the shoulder.

The girl's consciousness suddenly cleared at that moment.

She didn't attend school here.

She has never made any friends here.

Even though these were all fabricated memories that never existed, Hayasaka had such a vivid realization just now, genuinely believing that there was a close friend of hers there.

But now, there's no one there anymore; it's just an empty wall.

"Young Miss, what was that just now...?"

Hayasaka shrank back slightly, the fear of having her thoughts directly altered once again enveloping her, leaving the girl momentarily at a loss.

"Don't think about it, don't look at it, don't let those things occupy your mind."

After issuing a warning, Kaguya Shinomiya immediately began to check on Hayasaka's condition. Through a combination of sensing malice and sensing normality and abnormality, she quickly determined that Hayasaka was only slightly dazed and otherwise unharmed, and had not been affected in any further way.

Upon noticing the anomaly, Takahashi immediately stopped and turned his gaze to the direction Hayasaka had been looking, which was the direction from which the hidden door had been opened.

At that moment, in Gao Hai's vision, the wall seemed to ripple slightly, like the surface of water after a drop of water had fallen. But upon closer inspection, he found that nothing had changed on the wall, as if it were all just an illusion, merely his own delusion.

That thing just now didn't quite match the "dark" characteristic; it must be something new that hasn't appeared before.

It didn't target me, nor Kaguya, but instead set its sights on Hayasaka? Neither Kaguya nor I sensed its presence, meaning it only targeted Hayasaka. Does she possess some characteristic that neither Kaguya nor I have? Or was she just unlucky enough to be chosen?

Since we can't determine the specific answer, the only thing we can do now is to leave this classroom as soon as possible.

However... although a terrifyingly dangerous monster was successfully sealed away, the chain reaction that followed now seems increasingly worrying.

Gao Hai guessed that the disappearance of the "Butcher" might have caused some things that were originally subject to the rules to expand their influence and appear in places that were previously restricted by the rules. That's why their team is now encountering things they haven't seen before in known areas they've been to before.

As for whether the Keeper (KP) might be causing trouble... that's unlikely. Although Gao Hai doesn't have a good impression of that KP, he's certain that guy has his own set of aesthetics and pride. Secretly targeting his rewind ability is already quite shameless; if he were to constantly cause trouble during the dungeon and arbitrarily change the various rules and settings, it wouldn't fit the image of a KP who is extremely confident in his script and utterly detests changes in circumstances.

Hehehe... Hahaha...

As Gao Hai was thinking this, he heard laughter coming from all around him, seemingly from the children sitting in their seats, laughing at him.

[Class is starting, students!]

Gao Hai heard a voice speaking.

The voice came from beside him, from all around him.

The voice came from his mouth.

He stood on the podium.

He was facing the students.

The children smiled as usual.

Everything today seems no different from usual; everything is as it should be.

But no matter what he said.

Regardless of what he was saying.

The children just kept smiling.

Motionless.

There wasn't even the slightest sound or movement.

She just sat in her seat and smiled at him.

So the teacher asked:

Why are you all so quiet? The teacher is teaching, so everyone should participate actively and engage in the lesson!

The children then moved together, spoke together, and talked together:

Okay, teacher.

Their voices were in unison.

Their tone was lively.

Their expressions were identical.

The teacher couldn't be happy with such a response.

Although he was reluctant to describe his students in this way, he really had the illusion that he was teaching a class to a group of puppets or machines.

This feeling is getting stronger and stronger.

The sunlight outside the window was incredibly warm, and everything seemed perfectly normal.

But the teacher, who was giving the lecture, felt increasingly uneasy, and even felt a chill run down his spine under the gaze of the students.

Why do I have this feeling?

The teacher was puzzled.

Then he noticed that the students' eyes weren't actually on him.

They were looking at his side, smiling in a certain direction beside him.

But isn't there nothing there?

The teacher turned to look around, but saw nothing.

[Students, what are you looking at?]