At 3:30am, I got out of bed. Taking a pen and notepad from the drawers, I silently left the bedroom. Hopefully I didn't wake anyone up, but knowing Shimada and Nakajima, the two of them were probably only pretending to sleep to begin with.

Technically, the sixth day had already begun, but there was about six hours until the challenge would officially start. Everything I've prepared so far has been for this day. There were just two or three more loose ends I had to finish tying up now.

I sat down in the living room and began writing away. I scribbled furiously, writing, crossing, rewriting, trying to get it right. Not because I didn't know what I was doing, but because I didn't have the courage to put it down properly.

It felt like my hand was bound stiff with heavy chains. Chains that vomited out of my head and locked around my arm, curling it in a deep paralysis. Even so, my hand wouldn't stop jittering underneath the weight of it all.

I stared at the chicken scratches on the paper.

Is this what fear does to a person?

I haven't felt anxiety like this in a long time.

If anyone saw my hand right now, they'd be laughing.

They wouldn't understand why it's shaking so violently.

I clutched the pen harder and sucked a breath through my mouth.

Feelings that matched what I felt from <that> began swelling in my heart, gripping my body with an existential mortality that had become so foreign to me since I left that place.

If it wasn't for Nakajima, I wouldn't be forced to do all this.

My rationale had been slipping. I hadn't gotten any sleep in three days. My head had been pounding since yesterday, and the sharpness of my mind had considerably decreased.

In this rare moment where I wasn't under danger, the sweet temptations of rest began dragging my body to sleep. It felt good to give my mind a break, but I couldn't let my guard down. I had to stay awake, or else there was a chance I'd die.

I put the pen down, drearily reading over what I forced myself to write.

It was like biting through wool or plastic. Reading through it was like trying to rip apart a chunk of corrugated cardboard with your bare teeth.

Even so, I swallowed that bitter pill, making me wide awake from reading over these weak scribbles carved into the paper on my lap.

...alright.

That should be enough.

This...

This is how I want it to be.

At 4am, I left the living room to go to the teacher's living quarters. It was a small building off to the side of the outdoors school, occupied by the staff chaperoning us. You needed an ID pass to get through the front entrance, but for me that wasn't necessary.

Letting me into the building was Chabashira-sensei, who had her long hair down and was still wearing her silk nightgown. I was surprised by how pretty she looked without her ponytail. It seems she was planning to go back to bed after this.

"Takanori-san... you can be really unreasonable sometimes."

Instead of greeting me, the first she did was berate me. However, because of how tired she looked, I couldn't take her glare seriously as usual. If anything, I just felt bad for her...

"Sorry. I had to choose this time because I didn't want anyone else finding out about this."

"I can't help but have a bad feeling about this... you know that 4am is the murder hour, right?"

"I think that if I tried to kill you, I'd be the one dead instead."

"Just what kind of image do you have of me...?"

Chabashira-sensei yawned, hugging her torso. It only made her barely covered breasts look bigger.

"You look like the type of woman who could kill. Or should I say, can kill?"

Chabashira-sensei sighed, determining it was pointless trying to argue with me so early in the morning.

"...I'll take it as a compliment."

"That's probably for the best. As for the reason why I called you out here..."

I took out the notepad and handed it to her. She raised an eyebrow.

"If I don't ask for this back by tomorrow, please send it to my mom."

"...what exactly is this?"

"I can't exactly tell you. Sorry."

Chabashira-sensei stared at the notepad for a few seconds, before nodding.

"I see... I'll make sure it gets safely delivered to her then."

"Thank you. And once again, I'm sorry for waking you up so early."

"It's fine. To be honest, I'm more concerned that you aren't sleeping at this hour..."

I haven't been sleeping at this hour for a long time. It feels like my body could buckle under me any second now.

"Please make sure you get some good rest."

"I will."

Just a little, I thought I saw Chabashira-sensei maybe smile.

"Goodnight, Takanori-san."

"Goodnight, sensei..."

Just as I was about to leave, I keeled over.