The Same Person (6)
“……”
The other side of the door was silent.
The frantic banging that had been going on just moments ago had stopped completely.
‘…She must have passed out, right?’
Any damage done to Ellie gets transferred straight to that doppelganger. If Ellie fainted, then it definitely lost consciousness too.
‘Ellie…’
I looked down at the real Ellie lying in front of me. Her head had lolled to the side, eyes half-open. A thin trail of drool slipped from the corner of her mouth, but her chest rose and fell steadily. She was breathing. She was alive.
She hadn’t taken any serious damage. Most likely she’d only passed out from the choking and the panic of struggling to breathe.
Then, suddenly, a warm, damp sensation spread across my knees.
“H-Huh…?!”
“……”
The bedsheet beneath her was slowly turning a grayish color. This was… urine.
“……”
“……”
Ellie didn’t move. She just lay there, mouth slightly parted, breathing softly.
“E-Ellie…? Hey, Ellie…?”
“…Mmm… ngh.”
When I gave her a gentle shake, she let out a sleepy murmur. She was conscious, but barely. Her mind wasn’t fully back yet.
‘No time to waste.’
I couldn’t afford to stay here nursing her. If the doppelganger on the other side of the door woke up, I’d have to strangle her all over again.
I grabbed a towel, quickly wiped the bed, then carefully cleaned her legs as well. After laying a fresh towel down, I settled her back into place.
“Ellie, you awake?”
“……Mmm.”
“I’ll be right back. Just wait here, okay?”
“……Yeah.”
I wiped the drool from her lips and brushed her cheek. Her temperature felt normal. She’d be fine.
I pulled the blanket up to her neck, grabbed my bag, and headed for the door with duct tape, string, and an eye patch in hand.
Creaaak…
I opened it slowly, half-expecting the doppelganger to be faking unconsciousness. From our last test I already knew it couldn’t overpower me physically. If this was a trap, I’d just crush it with force.
And then—
“Haa…”
“……”
Right there in the doorway lay another Ellie, eyes rolled back, drooling, body twitching. A second puddle of urine had already formed beneath her.
“Pissed herself here too, huh…”
“……”
The dormitory hallway was soaked. The manager could deal with the mess later.
Ssst! Ssst!
Squeeze.
I stuffed a cloth into its mouth, taped it shut, covered its eyes with the patch, and bound its arms and legs with string.
“Whew… Better move before anyone sees.”
It was right after lunch period. Everyone should be back in class by now. As long as I avoided the occasional teacher, I’d be fine.
Creaaak.
Thud.
Click.
I shut the duty room door and locked it with the master key. The room sat in a quiet corner on the fifth floor. With its mouth taped shut, no one would hear a thing even if it made noise.
“Mmph…?”
The fake Ellie tied to the chair opened her eyes. I’d already bound her here earlier before stepping out to see Teacher Rapori. The sound of the door must have woken her.
“Mmph?! Mmmph!!”
Her mouth, eyes, and limbs were all sealed. Realizing her situation, the fake Ellie thrashed violently in panic.
A monster that feeds on emotion, huh. How ridiculous.
“You awake?”
“U-Uuugh!!”
The moment she heard my voice, she understood everything and began struggling even harder, muffled screams pouring out.
Seeing Ellie’s face twisted like that stirred a strange, twisted sense of pleasure in me. When I tested the fake Lana, her different reactions had been entertaining. But this one was mimicking Ellie’s actual mannerisms, giving me an entirely different kind of thrill.
“Eyes covered, mouth sealed tight. You won’t be turning into some rat and scurrying away this time, will you?”
“Uuuuugh!!”
“Still, you can probably turn into a rat if you want.”
I brought the “gift” I’d received from Teacher Rapori right up to the fake Ellie’s face.
—Squeak.
It was a pet carrier the size of two encyclopedias. Inside, a long-haired white rat scurried around, making tiny noises.
“Huuuuh?!”
Only then did the fake Ellie realize what I intended. She thrashed harder than ever, but the ropes held her fast.
Before using the rat…
“By the way.”
“Uuuugh!! Uuuuugh!!”
“You really pissed me off today.”
I recalled the final page of Ellie’s diary I’d seen that morning. Since its legs were broken, the doppelganger must have jumped from the rooftop later. Remembering how Ellie had suffered and died because of it, I had no intention of letting this thing go peacefully.
“So… let’s have a little fun first.”
“Huuuuuugh!!!”
“Don’t worry. If you feel pain, Ellie feels it too. …You won’t feel any pain.”
“Huuuuuuuugh!!!!”
Thud.
I set the carrier on the desk and slowly approached the fake Ellie.
Time to forgive and kill it.
“Huu… ngh… huu…”
“Haa.”
I wiped the sweat from my brow. It had been a satisfying, refreshing session. That should more than make up for the trouble this thing caused me. Because of it I’d lost 300,000 Cocoon and even had to endure Teacher Rapori’s “physical examination.”
“Huu… ngh… huu…”
The fake Ellie, still gagged, breathed roughly. Since I needed to feed it rat fur next, I peeled the tape off its mouth and pulled out the soaked cloth. A string of saliva dripped from its small lips.
“Please…”
At that moment, the fake Ellie’s moist eyes looked up at me. Flushed cheeks, drool trailing from her parted lips. Now that her mouth was free, she trembled and pleaded.
“Please… stop now… ngh, my head… feels like it’s going to break…”
“……”
The voice was exactly like Ellie’s, sobbing as it spoke. This was… too much like the real Ellie. It felt strangely unsettling.
Did I go too far…?
Would the real Ellie be okay…? She seemed to have fallen asleep before I left. I might have overdone it a bit.
Well, if she was asleep, there shouldn’t be any problem.
“Don’t worry. I’m done now.”
“R-Really…?”
I turned and picked up the pet carrier from the desk. The moment I set it down in front of the fake Ellie, her face went deathly pale.
“W-Wait!! I’m sorry!! I’m really sorry!! So please don’t do that!!”
“……”
“Ngh! I’m sorry!! I-I won’t ever appear in front of you again!! So please…!!”
Ellie’s voice, begging. I ignored it and snipped off a tuft of the white rat’s fur with scissors.
“I didn’t even do anything!! Not to your girlfriend!! Not to you!! Ngh… so why are you doing this to meee!!”
“You didn’t do anything?”
“That’s right…!!”
The fake Ellie cried out, tears streaming, looking genuinely wronged. But I knew it was bullshit. If I hadn’t stopped it, this thing would have killed Ellie in the future.
Grab!
“Uuuup!!”
I pinched the fake Ellie’s cheeks with one hand, forcing her mouth open, then pushed the rat fur inside with my index and middle fingers.
“Uuuuup!! Uuup!!”
She thrashed and tried to clench her jaw, but it was useless. I’d already confirmed the method with the fake Lana test. Once something was shoved deep into the throat, the jaw lost its strength. She couldn’t bite down.
“Uuuuuuup!!!”
Following the same technique, I drove my fingers all the way to the back of her throat.
“Uuup…!!”
Just before she could gag, I shoved the prepared water bottle straight into her mouth.
“Gurururup!!”
Gulp, gulp.
Her throat was already open. The water poured in and the fake Ellie swallowed desperately.
“Phaaah━!!”
When I pulled the bottle out, she gasped for air, water spilling from her nose and mouth, eyes brimming with tears. She looked at me with trembling eyes.
“N-No…”
“It was disgusting, but fun.”
A moment later, the fake Ellie’s body began to writhe grotesquely, changing shape. I gently lifted the white rat from the carrier.
—Squeak.
Soon enough, the fake Ellie had fully transformed into the white rat.
“Squeak!! Squeak!!”
The moment it became a rat, it frantically tried to bite at its own stomach. But I was already prepared.
“Not happening.”
Crunch!
“Squeeeak!!”
I squeezed the white rat in my hand with all my strength.
Crack.
What burst was the fake white rat.
After finishing off the doppelganger, I placed the white rat I’d received from Teacher Rapori back into the carrier. Since it was still alive, I had to return it.
“Haa… Refreshing.”
Still, this incident had been quite profitable. After all, I’d managed to vent all the frustration that had built up from dealing with Lana and Ellie. For a while, I probably wouldn’t lose control and trigger a dead-end ending.
“Ah, right. The diary.”
Thinking of dead-end endings, I immediately pulled Ellie’s diary from my bag. Nothing verified whether a ghost story had been properly resolved better than the diary.
Flip, flip.
I opened it and started reading from today’s date. After all, Ellie had been strangled and even wet the bed today. If she was having bad thoughts, I figured I should comfort her tomorrow as well.
So I checked the diary.
[Month □□, Day □□]
……
………
…………
……………
More importantly, what do I do…
I wet the bed three times…
“Eh…”
My eyes locked onto one particular line in today’s entry.
Three times…? Ellie only wet herself once…
The earlier parts matched my memory exactly. The part where her hair was pulled, I bit her neck, she hid in my room, and I strangled her. The problem was what came after.
…………
……………
Should I even write something like this…?
But Ares told me to write down everything strange
When I opened my eyes, the bed was damp…
This is probably…
What’s happening to me…?
Scary…
Was it because I was being strangled…
But when I think about it, I kind of want to try it again…
Ares’s hands were thick and big
My heart’s still racing
After writing the diary, I passed out again
Scary scary scary
My body started tingling and then suddenly…
When I came to, the bed was wet again…
What’s going on…?
Is this okay…?
It’s scary, but at the same time my heart races
I’m still short of breath from the afterglow
I passed out again…
This time it was intense from the start
When I woke up, there were teeth marks all over my body…
What is this…?
It’s strange, but I don’t feel any disgust
Come to think of it, the neck Ares bit was completely fine…
Ares said the wound must have appeared on the doppelganger ghost
Then this is…?
Probably Ares…?
What do I do about the bed…
I passed out again
I’m not even surprised anymore
It just feels languid and dreamy, making it hard to write
But I have to write the diary since I promised Ares
By the way, it’s amazing…
Is this Ares…?
What do I do what do I do what do I do…
It’s completely different from doing it alone
Amazing…
More importantly, what do I do…
I wet the bed three times…
The teeth marks increased again
…As expected, Ares seems to like breasts
Thank goodness
I like Ares…♡
Like like like
I like him so much…
I think I’ll be able to sleep soundly for a while
I should change the bedsheets
“……”
After reading the entire entry, I closed the diary and shut my eyes for a moment.
Well… I guess I did go a bit overboard.
But… how did she find out?
“This is bad…”
Cold sweat ran down my back.
It should be fine, right…? After all, I did it to the doppelganger, not the real Ellie. According to the academy’s rules, it should be safe.
More than that…
Since Ellie now knew what I’d done, wouldn’t her advances become even bolder from now on?
That worry came first.
“Haa… I should’ve shown some self-control, you idiot…”
I pressed a hand to my spinning head and staggered slightly.
Just then—
Clack.
“Huh…?”
Something brushed against my foot.
“What the…”
It was an object I’d never seen in this room before.
A small puppet doll.
With familiar blonde hair tied at the nape.
“This is… don’t tell me…”
The puppet doll had appeared exactly where the fake rat had died just moments ago.