In the year 20XX, deep within a remote forest, a white facility stood alone.
Ryo woke up on a bed. His memory was completely blank, except for his name.
Nine other men were in the room, all looking just as confused. They were all around nineteen and had also lost their memories.
A woman in a white coat appeared and announced, "You will now undergo a psychological test."
But the test was extremely strange. Questions like, "Who in this group is the odd one out?" and "If you had to sacrifice so
Ten Men Who Lost Their Memories - Bonds Submerged in Blood
Entrance Hall.
The red emergency lights illuminated a sea of blood.
Takeru's corpse no longer moved. His eyes, wide open, stared up at the ceiling. The reddish-black stain spreading across the floor slowly, steadily expanded its reach.
The smell of iron.
Silence.
At the center of it all, Shutarou was on his knees. His gray sweats, soaked with lukewarm blood, clung to him heavily. Drops of blood fell from his fingertips, drip, drip.
(*I*)
A single phrase echoed in his head.
(*I killed him*)
A single tear spilled from his vacant brown eyes. There was no emotion. His body was simply reacting. The world had gone silent. Ryou was shouting something. His mouth was moving. But Shutarou couldn't hear a thing.
In the distance, someone's footsteps stopped.
No one tried to approach.
The other participants huddled against the walls, staring at Shutarou. In their eyes was unmistakable fear, and poorly concealed disgust. It wasn't the way you looked at someone you'd shared meals with just yesterday.
It was the way you looked at a murderer.
"...Don't move. Think about this rationally."
It was Kazuki who broke the silence.
Leaning against the wall, arms crossed, he coldly surveyed the group. The narrow eyes peering out from beneath his bangs showed not a hint of agitation. If anything, he seemed eerily calm, as if he had been waiting for this situation.
Ryou spun around as if startled. His friendly face was a mess of tears and sweat.
"What's rational about this?! Shutarou just... Takeru just...!"
His voice trembling, Ryou tried to rush over to Shutarou.
"That's exactly why."
Kazuki's sharp voice stopped Ryou in his tracks.
"Have you ever wondered why he was able to move so fast? That leg strength isn't a normal human's reflex speed. It was the same when he stopped that thug at the beginning. And those tone-deaf remarks during the psychological test. What if all of that was intentional?"
"Wha..."
Ryou's face went pale.
Kazuki took a step forward. His voice was terribly calm, and for that very reason, it carried a terrifying persuasiveness in this abnormal space.
"Doesn't it all add up? A role meant to agitate the group from the start and accelerate the killing... the so-called 'Tenth Intruder'."
Those words sliced through the entrance hall like a cold knife.
Driven by fear, the other participants began to stir restlessly. As if seeking a leader to protect them, they gathered behind Kazuki. Gou let out a low growl.
"I knew that damn brat was the most suspicious one."
"We're gonna be killed... We're next!"
The voices spread like a wave, and suspicion turned into conviction.
"Don't screw with me!!"
Ryou shouted, his throat trembling with rage.
"Shutarou did it to protect me! Because Takeru tried to kill me! You all saw it!"
"Then let me ask you."
Kazuki fixed Ryou with an icy stare.
"Why was he able to move so fast at that moment? Why did he choose to kill? There must have been other ways. He intended to kill from the start. Am I wrong?"
"That's...!"
Ryou was at a loss for words.
(*It's true, that speed...*)
His mind understood. What Kazuki was saying was logically correct. But his heart was screaming. *No.* That was a desperate, self-sacrificing act to protect his best friend.
Desperately, Ryou grabbed the shoulders of Shutarou, who was still on his knees.
"Hey, Shutarou...! That's not true, right?! Tell me the truth! You did it to protect me, right?! Say it wasn't on purpose!"
Shutarou swayed like a doll as Ryou shook his shoulders.
He slowly lifted his head.
His vacant eyes weren't looking at Ryou. They were fixed on something far away, on nothing at all. He was staring only into the deep, deep darkness within himself.
"I... killed him."
A hoarse voice muttered the words.
The strength drained from Ryou's hands.
"Huh...?"
"I did it. This is reality."
Shutarou couldn't look Ryou in the eye. He simply presented the truth.
At that sight, something inside Ryou snapped.
A crunching sound echoed in his head. The last thread, held together by his desperate desire to believe in his best friend, had broken.
"So you did it...!"
The words of rejection flew from his mouth against his will.
The moment he said it, Ryou was horrified.
(*No.*)
(*That's not what I meant!*)
"N-No... I didn't mean... I wasn't trying to...!"
Just as he tried to frantically take it back,
"This is the truth. When you get emotional, everyone makes errors in rational judgment."
Kazuki's triumphant voice cut through everything. The corner of his mouth twisted slightly.
The other participants began to distance themselves from Ryou as well. Their eyes said, "He might be an accomplice of the intruder."
Ryou collapsed to the floor in tears.
The fact that he had doubted Shutarou. The fact that he couldn't save his best friend. That self-loathing became a sharp blade, mercilessly slashing his heart to pieces. He pressed his forehead against the floor and let out a voiceless sob.
"Shutarou... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
Even those words of apology couldn't reach Shutarou now.
Isolated, Shutarou slowly turned his head and looked up at the participants surrounding him.
Murderous intent. Hatred. Fear.
Everything outside of himself was an enemy.
Powerlessly, he let both arms hang limp. His blood-soaked hands looked as if they were craving even more blood.
"Enough."
He murmured quietly.
"Kill me."
It was a plea.
A cry from a soul driven to despair. Gou clenched his fist and stepped forward.
"Yeah, I'll kill you. I'll beat you to death right now—"
"Wait. That's inefficient."
Kazuki raised a hand, stopping Gou. He stared at Shutarou as if looking at a lab animal.
"We don't know when or in what form the next 'Judgment' will come. We can kill him when we need the next sacrifice. Until then, it's rational to isolate him as a hostage."
He picked up the torn psychological test results and dusted them off.
"There's an isolation room in the basement. He won't be able to rampage there. Our safety will be secured. Let's decide by vote. Those in favor, raise your hand."
The participants looked at each other at Kazuki's words. But dominated by fear, they had no strength to resist. To avoid becoming the next target, hands went up one after another.
"Stop it... Are you guys insane...!"
Ryou raised his tear-streaked face and protested. But his voice was so small, it was drowned out by the unanimous, cruel decision.
"It's decided. Gou, take him to the basement."
"Got it."
Gou and several other participants approached Shutarou. They grabbed him under both arms and dragged him out of the entrance hall. He offered no resistance. Only his toes dragged through the blood on the floor, drawing a red line.
"Stop!! Let him go!! I'll go instead!!"
Ryou screamed and tried to run after them.
But Kazuki stood in his way.
"The result of your emotional outburst was cornering him. If you interfere any further, rationally speaking, we'll have no choice but to consider you a 'dangerous element' as well."
Ryou stopped moving.
He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. The taste of iron spread through his mouth. The tears of frustration wouldn't stop. The powerlessness of not being able to save his best friend crushed his entire body.
He could do nothing but stand there, rooted to the spot.
The stairs leading to the basement were pitch black.
A musty, cold air crept up from below. With each step down, it felt like the light was vanishing from the world.
The door to the isolation room was made of thick iron.
Wordlessly, Gou threw Shutarou inside.
His body collapsed onto the hard cushioning floor with a thud.
"Behave yourself."
Gou's low voice stabbed into his back.
*Clang.*
The heavy iron door closed, and the sound of a lock clicking into place echoed.
Total darkness.
His vision was completely stolen. No sound. Everything outside of himself had vanished.
Shutarou lay on the floor, unable to move. Takeru's blood dried, crackling and stiffening on his skin.
(*I'm alone.*)
Loneliness and guilt pressed down heavily on him in the darkness.
He reached out a hand. His fingertips traced countless scars on the floor. Deep gouges, marks left by human fingernails. And here and there, traces of dried blood caked onto the surface.
(*Did someone suffer here?*)
Imagining what had happened in this room in the past, a cold terror crawled from the back of his neck down his spine.
The abyss of despair.
Everything before his eyes went black.
—It was then.
Something burst inside his head.
The sound of a starter pistol. The signal to begin.
A huge cheer.
Vivid images flashed back in his mind.
A track and field meet. Blue sky, white clouds. The smell of dirt. The feel of his uniform.
A teammate was running. He fell, trying to pass the baton to the next runner. He clutched his leg, his face contorted in pain. Screams from the spectators.
His future self stood up.
(*Don't give up.*)
He started running. He rushed to his fallen teammate and offered his shoulder.
"Get up, we're going together."
Those were his own words. He carried his teammate on his back and ran down the track. They were slow. Everyone else had long since finished. But the spectators all stood up, tears streaming down their faces, cheering them on.
When they broke the finish tape, his teammate cried and said "thank you" over and over. He couldn't breathe, but he thought, *I'm glad.*
He hadn't abandoned anyone.
The next memory.
A rainy day. A soaking wet school uniform. Sitting on a park bench with someone. Words of a promise.
"I'll definitely protect you next time."
Who had he said that to? Who was it he wanted to protect?
(*I can't remember.*)
But that passionate feeling alone was soaked into the very core of his being.
He didn't want to abandon anyone.
He didn't want anyone to die.
That was his primal conviction, the one thing that hadn't disappeared even after losing his memory.
In the darkness, Shutarou slowly opened his eyes.
Tears ran down his temples and dripped onto the floor.
"It's... not over yet."
He spoke aloud, reaffirming his own will.
"I'm going to save everyone."
For the first time, a strong, faint light dwelled in his once-vacant eyes.
At that moment.
*Knock, knock, knock.*
From beyond the wall of the isolation room, a dull knocking sound, muffled by concrete, echoed three times.
It came from the unverified basement sector.
Shutarou's heart leaped in his chest.
Someone was there.
At the bottom of this hell—.
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