Just as Ave had predicted, there was indeed a large circular hole in the ceiling, as well as a pull-down ladder leading up the shaft. 

By the time the rest caught up with Gee, she had already hoisted herself up the ladder and gestured for them to climb upwards too. “I can see light above me!” 

“Lila, are you able to climb this yourself?” Ave asked concernedly while placing his foot firmly onto the last rung. 

“Big sis Mori can carry me up!” she replied in a cheerful voice. 

“M-me…?” I said hesitatingly. “Nico can be—” 

Lila ran to me and jumped onto my back, wrapping her little arms around my neck. “Let’s go, let’s go!” 

Nico gave me a thumbs-up sign and chuckled. “Don’t fall midway, we won’t go back down to retrieve your bodies,” he said jokingly before disappearing up the shaft. 

“...hold on tight, alright?” I said quietly. Feeling Lila’s comforting warmth on my back, I took in a deep breath and began steadily climbing up the flimsy metal ladder. 

“Big sis Mori,” I heard her whisper into my ear softly, her warm breath fanning my cold skin. 

“Hmm?” 

Lila remained silent for a while. “Mori…you have such a unique name, I wonder what it means?” 

I paused for a moment, thinking whether I should give her an honest answer. “I got my name from a phrase humans usually say to evoke Death—‘memento mori’.”

“Memento mori…what does it mean?” 

“Mm, something like ‘remember you have to die’, I guess.” 

“Oh…” Lila remained quiet for a while before whispering, “but I like how ‘Mori’ rolls off the tongue, it sounds so natural and beautiful. You have a beautiful name, Mori.”

I furrowed my brows, then smiled faintly. “...is that so? That’s…the first time someone said my name is beautiful, so thank you, Lila.” 

She gave me a confused look. “Really? Poor big sis Mori…” 

“No, it’s not really a big deal…” 

Our surroundings became much brighter, and I slowed down to glance up. 

“Girls!” Nico’s silhouette, backed by the blinding sunlight, waved at me from the top. “Are you two okay down there?”  

I nodded my head, while Lila shouted “Big bro Nico!” happily back. 

Ave appeared at the top too and squatted down with his arms outstretched. “Lila, grab onto my hand so that Mori can heave herself up. Ready? One, two, three!” 

Together, we managed to climb over the threshold and rolled onto the soft grass outside the ventilation shaft. No one spoke for a moment as we all tried to catch our breaths. 

“Where’s Gee?” I asked, lifting my head off the ground to glance around at the group which was clearly missing one person. 

“She was already gone when I came out,” Nico said with a puzzled look on his face.

“…that idiot went ahead first.” Ave sighed and pointed at the dilapidated school building in the distance. “I stayed behind to help you guys, so I don’t know where she went.”

“Let’s quickly catch up to her then.” Nico pulled me to my feet and helped Lila up too. “Or else, we might not have any food and water to ourselves.” 

Ave chuckled bitterly. “Can’t deny, that sounds like what she would do.” 

When we reached the crumbling front gates, there was no sign of Gee anywhere. In front of us was the overgrown school field; on the opposite side lay a partially collapsed concrete block, exposing the abandoned classrooms on the west wing to the elements. 

“I-It’s only been a week since we left…” Nico mumbled in shock. “Holy shit, this place looks straight out of Afghanistan or something.” 

Ave surveyed the ruins and let out a heavy sigh. “...I hope the cafeteria and convenience store are still intact. Come on, we’ll head to the foyer first.” 

Everyone else agreed silently and we trekked across the field to the main entrance. It had been blocked almost completely by rubble, leaving only a tiny gap at the top that can possibly fit a person at a time. Ave volunteered to go first and slipped his upper body through the hole. 

“How’s the situation inside like?” Nico asked curiously as he held onto Ave’s waist. 

“Looks like the ceiling has collapsed completely on the west wing side, and there’s a lot of debris around, but otherwise I think the east wing is safe.” Ave wriggled his body out and wiped the sweat beading on his wrinkled forehead. “Where did Gee go? She couldn’t have gone in there alone…could she?” 

Nico frowned. “Maybe she went to the gym behind—” 

He was suddenly interrupted by a piercing scream that punctuated the air.  

Lila gasped in panic. “Big sis Gee!” 

“Gee!” Ave snapped his head upwards and desperately searched the upper floors of the east wing for any movement. 

Nico squinted his eyes too. “It sounded like it came from the top floor…Mori?!” 

“Wait for me here!” I swiftly scaled up the pile of rubble and squeezed through the gap. Dropping down onto the cracked floor, I sprinted across the foyer and up the stairs. 

The scream was abruptly silenced, and I immediately sensed Gee wasn’t alone—there were at least three other presences lingering upstairs, and if my intuition was correct, they didn’t belong to the monsters.

“There are other survivors…?” I skidded to a halt on the staircase landing in between the fourth and fifth floor, which was where the presences registered the strongest. 

The fifth-floor corridor had noticeably less debris compared to the lower floors, and there was trash strewn about in the corners; with my suspicions confirmed, I cautiously crept up the last flight of stairs. 

A faint yet distinct metallic scent wafted into my nostrils, and I bit my lip instinctively. 

It was the smell of blood. 

On the last step, I paused and pressed my back against the east wing wall, straining my ears for any inconspicuous noise. 

“...others…”

I caught a muffled whisper coming from the last classroom. Without hesitation, I stepped out from behind the wall noiselessly and faced the decrepit corridor. 

Fresh crimson blood stained the floor; on the exterior classroom walls were streaks of bloody handprints, as if someone had dragged their hands against the wall in a desperate yet futile attempt to resist. 

But what caught my attention immediately wasn’t the blood—it was a message scrawled all over the corridor in black marker ink, repeating the same line over and over again. 

Vita vincit omnia ¹A corruption of Mors vincit omnia, the line Mori says when the monster in Ch.2 was slain. Now, who could have known this and used it to mock Mori directly?