The Senior Is an Anomaly

After clearing the Staircase Maze anomaly with my senior, we emerged into the central corridor. The space was wide open, and the emergency staircase nearby would make it easy to escape if anything unexpected happened. Still, after defeating the tutorial boss and stepping out, I found myself staring in confusion.

“This is… the first floor?”

At some point we had descended all the way down. I was sure the spot where I’d been with my senior was on the fourth or fifth floor.

“Tsk.”

I hurried toward the emergency staircase. My heart hammered against my ribs.

“Senior! Are you safe?!”

My voice echoed emptily through the deserted stairwell. Just as I feared, no answer came back.

“What the hell… Are you guys even human anymore?”

Only then did I remember that I had turned off the gallery’s shared view right before my senior was about to get hit. Of course they didn’t know. That’s why they were talking like this.

“I’m perfectly fine, but Senior…! Senior got attacked by an anomaly and her chest was pierced right through!”

The gallery members still refused to sympathize with me. I know my MBTI test always comes back heavy on the T, but damn.

These guys are even bigger T bastards than I am.

Maybe it was because they had already lost their physical bodies. They were far colder, more rational, and their empathy was basically nonexistent.

“Playing favorites my ass. I have zero interest in horror anomalies that’ll kill you the second you open your eyes. It’s Senior or nothing.”

“Are you all psychopaths?”

By then I had reached the fourth floor. Ignoring the gallery, I panted heavily and threw the door open. The black cage appeared, along with the ghost anomaly timidly poking only its head out.

“Huk!”

This was the place. A pitch-black stain had spread across the floor. A bad feeling crept over me as I scanned the hallway and asked the anomaly.

“Wh-where’s Senior?”

“Kihit!”

The creature pointed left with one of its long, sharp nails. I turned my head that way and saw something moving.

“Junior~~”

“Senior?”

My senior slowly approached from the end of the corridor.

“A-are you okay?”

“Mhm. Just give me a second~? My clothes got a little torn, so I need to fix them before we go~”

What a relief. From what I could see, the chest area of her shirt had been ripped wide open. It must have happened when the anomaly attacked her. She held her jacket closed with both hands so her skin wouldn’t show. Since we were still a bit apart, I asked the gallery in a low voice.

“She definitely got attacked by an anomaly… Does Senior have some kind of healing ability? Or does her skill set change every round so you guys don’t know either?”

“Note?”

I dug through my pants pocket and pulled it out.

“What is this?”

“…Huh?”

Then that would mean Senior was…

“Junior~~ I knew you could do it~!”

Senior approached with a bright smile. For some reason, goosebumps rose all over my body.

And then—

Creak.

The emergency exit opened.

The insane anomaly who believed she was my wife barged in.

“Hmm? Junior, didn’t you subdue her before you left~?”

“Who is this woman? If you left me behind to secretly chase after another woman—”

“K-kihiiit?!”

“I told you to wait there…”

“I felt an ominous energy, so I followed despite the rudeness. My apologies. That red-haired woman is especially dangerous, so please come to my side at once.”

Our Senior is dangerous?

Come to think of it, she hadn’t even glanced at the staircase ghost and was only staring fixedly at Senior. The staircase ghost was stuck between them, trembling and reading the room. This was clearly a one-on-one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠staring contest.

“Hmmm~ Isn’t the dangerous one you~? You suddenly tried to shatter my core~?”

Core? So Senior really was an anomaly after all.

“This person is my colleague. She is not dangerous, so do not be wary of her.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes. Therefore I would like you to apologize for attacking her earlier.”

“…….”

The anomaly shut her mouth. With no other choice, I turned to Senior.

“Senior, please calm down for a moment too. She’s not hostile and we can communicate properly—”

“Hmmm~ I’ll hold back for now, since it’s our junior’s request~”

Thankfully Senior took a step back.

“You too.”

“…Understood. If that is your wish—”

Then she walked over with quick steps.

Squeeze.

She clung to my left side and gently linked arms with me.

“What are you—”

“Please let me stay like this for a little while.”

I tried to pull away with force, but she didn’t budge an inch.

Sigh, whatever. It’s not like my arm’s going to wear out.

I gave up and let her have my left arm. But a moment later—

Squeeze.

“S-Senior?”

“Yes~? What is it~?”

Senior wrapped herself around my right arm as well.

“If both of you do this at the same time—”

“You don’t like it~?”

“N-no, that’s not what I meant.”

For a long while the two of them stayed completely still.

“K-kihiiit…”

The only one looking at me with pity was the staircase ghost.

After the awkward standoff finally ended, we gathered our things and headed down to the first floor.

“Just a moment~?”

Senior walked back and forth along the narrow path right outside the abandoned building, retrieving small devices. She called them cognitive impairment devices. She had set them up before the operation to keep people from approaching the building where the anomalies were hiding.

“All done~ Shall we head back~?”

We climbed into the large black van. Senior took the driver’s seat and started the engine. The staircase ghost anomaly went back into the cage. Finally, the married-woman anomaly…

Squeeze.

“Yeah, yeah. I won’t let go, so get in first.”

She boarded the back seat with me.

I gave the gallery window a small nod, then turned off the shared-view function. If it stayed on I would probably blurt things out without realizing. Since the anomaly sitting beside me couldn’t see anyway, I decided to browse the gallery carefully with my hand.

“We’re heading straight to headquarters~?”

“Yes, Senior.”

On the way I figured I should check all the alerts piled up in my status window.

The clear rewards for Tutorial Stages 2 and 3 had arrived. The EXP requirement from levels 1–10 was 100, while 11–20 required ten times that—1,000. The jump in required experience was steeper than I expected.

Each stat seemed to rise by a fixed amount. Just looking at the numbers didn’t tell me how much stronger I had become, so I decided to ask the gallery later.

Anything else?

I scrolled further down the notification window.

That was a normal early-game bonus. Then there was one more.

Pioneer?

Something mysterious had popped out. It seemed this title was given when you cleared the tutorial in a unique, unconventional way rather than the standard method. The effects stacked every time you earned it.

This looks pretty good, right?

I still wasn’t sure how high these numbers actually were, so I posted it to the gallery.

While watching the gallery members’ reactions I almost laughed, but the anomaly gently resting her head on my shoulder brought me straight back to reality. I held it in.

Stay sharp!

This was only the beginning.

I activated the status window. Then—

It appeared?!

The long-awaited ability draw ticket had arrived.

Alright~ Let’s go~ Let’s go~

I pressed “Yes” with a heart full of excitement, hoping for an absolutely broken ability.