[■■…■…]
A sound reached her ears.
[■…■■■…]
Indistinct.
Garbled.
Harsh and grating.
A sharp, screeching noise piercing through the haze.
Her consciousness was muddled.
Thoughts refused to form clearly.
Where am I?
What happened before this?
Don't fall asleep…
No matter what, I can't just sleep like this…
Wake up… Hurry, wake up… I have to wake up now…
I…
I have to—
"Ugh… Uuu…"
Groggily, Kaguya finally opened her eyes.
It was dark.
Pitch-black.
She couldn't see a thing.
In this suffocating darkness, Kaguya could only feel the oppressive heat and a pungent, rotting stench.
That smell… It was familiar. Had she smelled it somewhere before?
Where was it…? Somewhere I've been… Somewhere I just was…?
Am I still there? Did I not escape?
Her mind struggled to function, as though her very cognitive abilities were deteriorating, her memories slipping away like sand through her fingers.
What's… happening to me?
She tried to stand, but something heavy pressed against her from all sides.
A crushing force made it hard to breathe.
What… is this?
She couldn't move. There was no space to move.
The things around her felt alive—warm, with coarse, thick fur brushing against her skin.
Not human… An animal?
Something large, with a pelt. A cow? A sheep?
And… what about me?
Have I changed too?
"Uu…"
Another whimper escaped her.
She realized she couldn't speak—only make faint, animal-like noises.
Have I been stripped of my voice?
And… am I covered in fur now too?
Her mind flashed to the horror stories she'd read about a certain Rule—one where victims were stitched into animal pelts, their minds warped until they believed they were beasts. Many who survived the ordeal were never the same, their sanity shattered beyond repair.
Has that… happened to me?
"Uu…"
Still, no words came.
And the sounds she made… They sounded familiar. Like something she'd heard before.
Creak—
A sharp noise snapped her attention away.
A sliver of light seeped into the room.
A door had opened.
At the end of a path lined with cages—dozens of them, big and small—stood a door, now ajar.
Oh…
This place.
The kennel.
Memories flooded back.
She had come here on the "advice" of her so-called "friends."
She had discovered the "dogs" here were likely transformed humans.
She had noticed her "friends" acting strangely.
She had tried to use Hedal's Rampage Blessing to break free—but they hadn't attacked.
Instead, they screamed.
Some yelled [Teacher!], others [Someone snuck into the kennel!], others still [Someone's trying to steal your dogs!]—their voices so shrill they nearly ruptured her eardrums.
Then, something grabbed her legs.
And the door at the far end of the kennel opened.
That was the last thing she remembered before waking up here, trapped in the dark.
Now, with the light on, she finally saw where she was.
Inside a cage.
Surrounded by dogs.
No—
Not dogs.
People.
People turned into dogs.
And she was one of them.
I… became a dog?
Her thoughts grew more chaotic. She tried to speak, but only a soft whine escaped.
Then—
A tall, hulking figure stepped through the door.
The stench grew worse.
Beyond the reek of feces and rot, something foul clung to this thing—something worse than death.
What… is that?
Her Blessing felt weakened, but she could still sense the malice radiating from it.
The aura of a horror.
The kennel fell silent.
Not a single whimper remained.
Only—
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
The thing's footsteps.
Slow. Deliberate.
Each one sent a chill down her spine, making her instinctively lower her head and tremble.
What is everyone so afraid of?
She soon found out.
[Awooo—! Awooo—!!]
A dog's agonized shrieks filled the air.
A filthy, bloodstained hand reached into a cage.
It grabbed a small dog by the head.
The creature knew what was coming—it thrashed, howled, but the grip was ironclad.
It was dragged, kicking and screaming, back through the door.
What… is it going to do?
Kaguya saw the thing's blood-soaked apron, its stained overcoat.
She had a terrible guess.
And when she heard the chopping, the splattering, the boiling water—
She understood.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Blade meeting cutting board.
Splash. Splash.
Water rinsing away blood.
Hiss—
The stove ignited.
Bubble. Bubble.
Something cooking.
Thirty minutes later—
The smell of meat.
The sound of chewing.
It ate it.
That thing took the dog inside and cooked it.
No—not a dog.
A person.
A person turned into an animal.
Maybe a player? Maybe someone who wandered in? Maybe even a child from Shirasawa Elementary, transformed long ago.
It didn't matter.
The horror was the same.
If I stay here… I'll be next.
I'll be picked. I'll be slaughtered. I'll be eaten.
I have to escape.
I have to get out of here!
Trembling, Kaguya forced herself up, pressing against the cage bars.
She didn't know how much power Hedal's Rampage Blessing still had in this state, but she couldn't stay.
She couldn't wait for death to choose her at random.
With all her strength—
BANG!
She slammed against the cage.
Nothing.
Not even a dent.
Of course.
In the children's minds, a dog can't break a cage.
She remembered now—the rule of this place.
What children believe to be unbreakable is unbreakable.
If I'm trapped here… there's no way out.
As despair settled in—
Thud.
The footsteps returned.
The thing had heard her.
It was coming back.
Kaguya shrank into the mass of dogs, hiding as best she could.
But she could feel it—
The hunger in its gaze.
The malice locking onto her.
It's targeting me.
Her body froze.
What do I do?
What CAN I do?
Maybe… when it opens the cage, I can run?
But would that even work?
In its domain, in this twisted form…
"Uu…"
A whine—not hers—cut through the silence.
A golden retriever, half-grown, stood in a nearby cage.
It wagged its tail weakly, letting out soft, pitiful sounds.
The footsteps stopped.
The thing stood still.
Then—
It turned.
Walked to the wall.
Grabbed a lever.
Clunk.
Something rattled.
From a small pipe in each cage, rotting meat scraps and vegetable peels spilled out.
The dogs surged forward, fighting for the slop.
Even the golden retriever joined, though Kaguya could feel its disgust.
It was pretending.
Playing the part of a hungry dog.
[Eat… Eat…]
A man's voice.
Gravelly. Insane.
[Eat until you're full… Eat until you're plump…]
The thing was speaking.
[Plump meat… tastes better… You'll taste better… Tasty… Hehehe… So tasty…]
Its laughter was worse than silence.
Then—
It turned.
Walked back to the door.
Closed it.
Darkness swallowed the kennel once more.