When it was Masashi's turn, Maruo asked him, "Gennai, do you have any last words? You may not get another chance."
"I actually have two pieces of bad news for you," Masashi replied, saying something that puzzled Maruo.
"Oh? And what might that be?" Maruo was curious to see what tricks Masashi had up his sleeve.
"The first bad news is that you might not get the chance to carry out that pointless ritual."
"What do you mean?" Maruo's expression turned cold.
"Can't you hear it?"
"Hear what?"
"The sound of police sirens."
"What?" Maruo's face went pale as he rushed to the window to look outside.
After a moment, he turned back to Masashi, sneering. "Do you really think someone's coming to save you? I told you—no one would know about this place."
"Is that so?" Masashi replied nonchalantly.
Seeing Masashi's confidence, Maruo began to feel unsettled. He turned back toward the window and listened carefully.
The seconds ticked by in tense silence, and everyone strained to hear any sounds outside.
Finally, Maruo's face turned ashen, while the others began to look hopeful, their expressions brightening with joy.
They could hear it—police sirens, faint but unmistakable, growing louder. For the first time, these teens found the sound utterly beautiful. If their mouths weren't bound, they would have cheered.
"This can't be happening! How could they have found this place? No one should know this location but me... unless it was him…" Maruo muttered, watching the red lights getting closer.
"Yes, it must have been him. I should have realized this sooner." Maruo's face was ghostly white as he turned around.
If they were anywhere else, he could have easily abandoned everything and escaped. But not here; this house was surrounded by mountains, with only one road in and out.
This old house was even a place "he" had helped him find. So all along, "he" had been setting up locations for Maruo's killings, just for this day.
Seeing the teens' expressions of hope, Maruo suddenly laughed—a pale, haunting smile that sent shivers down their spines.
"You're all happy, aren't you? But don't forget, you're still in my hands. If I can't escape, neither can you."
The students, who had been filled with hope, instantly turned pale again. As they looked at Maruo's smile, they felt an icy dread settle over them, terror reappearing in their eyes.
"Dying alone would be too lonely, so you're all staying here with me," Maruo said, stepping toward the person nearest to him with a scalpel in hand.
That person was Rumi.
As Maruo's hand inched closer, Rumi looked at Masashi with eyes full of unspoken affection. She glanced over at Kazumi, then closed her eyes, resigned.
Kazumi struggled, her body shaking, tears pouring down as she desperately tried to get closer to her friend.
"Hey, would you like to hear the second piece of bad news?" Masashi's voice suddenly cut through the tension just as Maruo was one step away from Rumi.
Maruo stopped, turning to look at him, then smiled. "I've been waiting for you to speak. You seem to care a lot about this girl—that's wonderful. I despise you, so I'm going to kill her right in front of you, and then it'll be your sister's turn. You'll be the last one to die, and I'll make sure it's the most painful death possible."
"Do you think I'm saying this just to stall until those useless cops get here?" Masashi smirked.
"Isn't that your plan?" Maruo glared at him.
"Sorry, but you guessed wrong," Masashi replied with a sinister grin.
Seeing Masashi's smile, Maruo grew wary. But it was too late.
A hand—a hand that shouldn't have been there—gently gripped Maruo's wrist, the one holding the scalpel.
With a loud crack, Maruo's wrist bent into an unnatural position before he could react.
The searing pain made Maruo's vision go black.
Then, he felt a heavy blow to his chest, as though struck by an iron hammer. He heard the sound of his ribs breaking, and then everything went dark.
"The second piece of bad news," Masashi said with a cold smile, looking down at the unconscious Maruo, "is that these ropes couldn't hold me at all."