You? To Me?
“Huff... is this... huff... the last one?”
“Yeah, no more orders coming in.”
“Finally...!”
Even after that, the flood of orders kept pouring in without end.
Thanks to that, the two of us—Backy especially—were dead on our feet. We might as well have spent hours loading and unloading cargo.
I handed my exhausted companion an almond water and an energy bar.
“Good work. Take this one, and if you want more, come by and grab some.”
“C-can I really!?”
“Of course.”
Otherwise, these things would eat people alive. Even if only to cut down the victim count, sharing them out was the right call.
Whether or not it understood my reasoning, Backy covered its mouth as if deeply moved.
“Sniff, yes! I'll come visit often, if only to repay your kindness!”
“Work it off.”
—Shoop!
With a crisp salute, Backy vanished into the dimensional boundary, and I pulled up the gallery to check how the users were reacting.
Fufu, honestly, it exceeded my expectations
That unique texture of chocolate and almonds melting in your mouth..
I always wanted to try one myself, and thanks to you, Newbie, my wish came true (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
I think I'll be buying them often from now on, hoho
The users were buzzing away about energy bars and almond water.
Some of them had even left me personal messages.
“Come on, 'repay a debt'? That's just embarrassing...”
Feeling oddly self-conscious, I scratched my head. Getting praised for a little bartering did something strange to my mood.
“Anyway, they all seem to be enjoying themselves. Time to see to our own business.”
I rose from my seat and looked back over my shoulder.
The odds and ends I'd received in trade were piled so high they nearly touched the ceiling. Time to dig out whatever was actually useful.
Toward the end there I'd just been accepting things at random, so I honestly couldn't remember what all I'd traded for.
—Clatter, thud thud.
“A dagger, a teacup, wet wipes... I really did trade for a mountain of stuff.”
Since I'd bartered with all sorts of anomalies, the haul ran the entire gamut.
Household necessities, pillows and sleeping bags, weapons for combat. There were even talismans and other oddments whose purpose I couldn't begin to guess.
I'd been rummaging around for quite a while when—
“Oh, now this could actually come in handy.”
It was a piece of reinforced gear worn by the members of the Management Bureau, the place I'd glimpsed once before.
Not the full-body suit—just the helmet. And even that looked a little different from the helmets those agents had worn. Unlike their suits, which had carried a faint reddish tint, mine was pitch black from top to bottom, and the whole thing had a far more menacing air about it.
Not that I particularly needed it to be intimidating.
“In any survival game, protecting your skull comes first...”
Defensive equipment from the Bureau itself. I could run into an anomaly at any moment, and when I did, this ought to stop my head from getting split open at least once.
I pushed the reinforced helmet onto my head. Whether it auto-adjusted to its wearer or not, despite its rather generous size it settled over my skull with a perfect fit.
“Well? Do I look cool?”
“Your response seemed a little slow there?”
Maybe it didn't look that great on me. Whatever—as long as it performed, that was enough.
Next I grabbed a bag for rations and a set of throwing daggers.
Backrooms had told me—hostile anomalies roamed this place. I could cross paths with one mid-exploration, so a deterrent weapon was a must.
“A gun would've been nice, but this isn't bad either.”
“Yeah, let's go.”
With my pockets stuffed full of daggers, I set out to explore the Backrooms.
ItMovedItMovedItMovedItMovedItMovedItMovedItMoved
WhatDoIDoWhatDoIDoWhatDoIDoWhatDoIDoHelpMeHelpMeHelpMeHelpMeHelpMeHelpMeHelpMe
Day three of the exploration.
That was when I noticed something off.
“Backrooms, there are anomalies here, right?”
“Then why can't I see a single one?”
Three whole days, and I hadn't spotted an anomaly—hell, I hadn't even seen an ant.
Which was obviously not a bad thing.
If we fought, the odds of me losing were about as good as toast landing jelly-side down. The fewer encounters, the better.
But failing to find any at this point was actually a problem. Who was to say one wouldn't suddenly ambush me from behind?
“It's making me a little anxious. Can't you tell me where they are?”
“I see.”
If even Backrooms didn't know where the anomalies were, there was nothing to be done. All I could do was stay as alert as possible.
Gripping a dagger in my pocket, I pressed on with the exploration.
“Backrooms, if I get ambushed, protect me, okay?”
“That's reassuring. My wife, through and through.”
How long had I been walking in search of an exit and an anomaly?
—Shff!
“...Huh!”
Something black had slipped out of sight around the corner up ahead.
I tore after it, and it vanished again into the next room. Dagger in hand, I kept the chase going.
—Badabadak!
“Obviously! Lose it now and I'll never find it again!”
Just as I answered Backrooms's question—
“KIIIKEEEG—!?”
A metallic screech set my nerves on edge somewhere up ahead. Almost certainly the anomaly's scream.
Seizing that opening, I dashed around the corner.
“An anomaly after all.”
“Grrrrlll!!”
The thing was raking its claws wildly down the wall.
It looked like wire twisted into the rough shape of a human. There were no eyes, no ears—no discernible features anywhere—and its body was black from head to toe. In a word, it punched every button on the uncanny valley.
“Nice work. No running away now.”
“Sreeee!!”
The anomaly pressed its back to the wall and stared at me. Whether it could actually see me, eyeless as it was, I couldn't say.
“Yeah. I can't afford to let it go.”
I flipped my dagger into a reverse grip.
I didn't hesitate to fight. Guilt, fear—inside a creepypasta, all of that was nothing but hypocrisy.
If I didn't kill, I died. That was the mindset a human needed when facing an anomaly.
And I, of course, was human.
“It's fine. There might be more than one of them, so I want to build up some experience while I have the chance.”
It wasn't as if I intended to fight for no reason.
What if that anomaly wasn't a lone individual? Then we'd inevitably cross paths again, and depending on the circumstances, I might be the one ambushed next time.
If I got careless leaning on Backrooms and the two of us failed to react in time, things would go very badly. I needed to learn how to handle this thing precisely so that situation never came to pass.
“If it looks like I'm about to go down, jump in. Got it?”
Taking Backrooms's worry as a blessing, I glared at the anomaly and tracked its every movement.
The dangerous parts were the sharp edges on its hands and feet. As long as it didn't skewer me with those, I'd be fine.
I also had to watch out for it grabbing hold and strangling me.
We'd been locked in a long, silent staring contest when—
“KIIKIGIK!!”
“Here it comes...!”
The anomaly came shrieking toward me with a sound like nails dragged across iron, and I calmly ran through my options.
It's going to attack with both arms. Block it? No, with a dagger I'd get overpowered. Dodge first, then cut down the right arm—
But contrary to my expectations—
—Shaaaaak!
“Kiiiik...!!”
The charging anomaly dropped flat onto the floor and, as if riding a slide, skidded to a stop right at my feet.
“...Huh?”
Just as the anomaly and I were both staring at each other in bewilderment—
—Bzzzz!
My phone, tucked away in my bag, began to vibrate.
DontKillMeDontKillMeDontKillMeDontKillMeDontKillMeDontKillMeDontKillMeDontKillMeDontKillMeDontKillMe
A shitpost whose meaning I couldn't begin to parse. And yet the color of the background in that photo was so painfully familiar.
It was the exact palette of this very place where I stood—the Backrooms.
“Don't tell me... you wrote this?”
“KIIKIGEEG!!”
“...You? To me?”
“Grrrrrrll!!”
—Nod nod!
The anomaly shook its head furiously, as if in agreement.
...Why on earth?