Chapter 7: Outside

"Time to move."

The plan we ultimately chose was the one I proposed: "Escape outside Arius." With almost no risk of direct combat—and considering how dangerous surrendering would be—this was judged the safest option. Minato-senpai, who had originally advocated surrender to avoid unnecessary fighting, didn’t object. Mayu-senpai, whose hatred for them ran deep, persuaded us with a single line: "We retreat for now—when the time comes, we avenge ourselves."

Thinking about it calmly, the world beyond Arius had to be far larger. Surrendering to deranged enemy soldiers or charging at them in a suicidal attempt made far less sense than simply escaping. It was strange we hadn’t realized that sooner.

But it couldn’t be helped. None of us knew what existed outside Arius. We never imagined there could be anywhere else for us to go. When you don’t know something exists, you can’t even imagine it. Even I wouldn’t have considered it if the squad leader hadn’t told me about the “outside” last night. That was how completely our world had been confined within Arius.

We simply didn’t know.

What waited beyond this dim, narrow world of ours?

The thought was thrilling—and terrifying.

"No enemy in sight."

"Good. Move out."

The sun had already set, and darkness covered everything. Only the moon illuminated our path. A full moon—perfect for taking our first step toward a new life.

Just like last night, there wasn’t a single person around besides us. With the battlefield having shifted and both sides drawn to it, that much was understandable. But it was odd that we hadn’t even seen the slum children—none of them. With all the destruction here, word should’ve spread everywhere by now. And no matter how horrifying the scene was, I couldn’t imagine they’d ignore the treasure trove left behind: ammunition, rifles, bulletproof vests—all the valuables the soldiers had abandoned. People in the slums aren’t exactly known for restraint. Most wouldn’t last a day before coming to scavenge.

And yet for two days now, we’d seen absolutely no one.

Which could only mean—

"…They sealed off the area?"

"Exactly. Those bastards must’ve finally realized the magnitude of what they’ve done and are trying to cover it up."

Before we left, the squad leader explained it was because the massacre would affect post–civil war governance. Of course it would. You can’t rule properly after doing something like this. Even if the victims were students, fear-based rule never truly works.

But that’s only if they want to govern properly. If they have no intention of restoring Arius as a functioning academy—

"Hah? Like I’d know. There’s no making sense of a madman’s brain."

…Fair enough.

I must have let something show on my face, because the squad leader shot me a sharp glare, and I quickly stopped thinking about it.

"What matters is this: the battlefield is still under enemy control. At the very least, they’re running some kind of operation here."

"…So what do we do?"

I didn’t care what the enemy commander was thinking. What we needed to figure out was what was happening here—and how to get past it if something was happening.

But coming up with countermeasures wasn’t a grunt’s job. No matter how mature I thought I was, I was still a rookie. Situations like this were better left to Minato-senpai and the squad leader—people with actual field experience.

Even as reserves, we weren’t exempt from deployment. I had served longer than Mayu-senpai and had apparently been deployed a few times. And the squad leader—our instructor—was rumored to have made quite a name for himself before taking this position. Though to be fair, I’d only ever heard that from him directly… so who knows how true it was.

A-anyway! If it was them, they’d surely come up with a good plan!

…Or so I expected.

"Well, yeah."

"Mhm."

"We break through head-on."

They were all muscle brains.

"There they are!"

"Stragglers!"

"It’s the former Student Council!"

"Already calling us former…!?"

After walking for a while and getting just far enough from the forward base, we ran into an enemy scouting unit. We managed to get through the first encounter by hiding—muscle brains or not, they could at least manage that much. But if we ran into them two or three times, we were bound to be noticed eventually.

"They just—won’t—quit…!"

"Mayu-senpai…! We can’t fight right now…!"

As expected, we were ambushed. The lack of allies nearby likely meant they’d either been captured or were surrounded and couldn’t reach this area.

What I couldn’t understand was how the enemy knew we were here. Maybe they’d gathered troops because this was originally our faction’s territory, but even then, the number of soldiers sent after us was excessive.

It was as if they were certain we’d be here.

No—that wasn’t it. The real question was why they were going so far to crush a squad like ours. From a strategic point of view, we were nothing—just one small reserve-unit squad. To put it bluntly, we weren’t even worth swatting like flies. So why go all-out?

"Why…!? Why send this many after just four people…!?"

"How should I know!? Ever heard ‘a lion hunts even a rabbit with full strength’!?"

"Li–lion hunting… what?"

"Look it up!"

Still, I felt like there was more to it.

There had to be a reason—why people like us, the former Student Council faction, the anti–New Student Council remnants, were not allowed to exist at all.

Not that thinking deeply about it would help. It was probably something obvious—covering up the massacre, or eliminating potential guerrilla threats after taking control. I didn’t need to think hard to guess that much. Anything beyond that didn’t matter to us. We were just grunts. Knowing the truth wouldn’t help—and didn’t matter.

What mattered was surviving this moment and claiming our freedom.

"Squad leader! How much longer!? We don’t need to shake them off this hard, do we!?"

"Almost there! Relax! Nobody goes in there without getting lost!"

"Are we going to be okay!?"

"I’m here! I’m the exception!"

We slid under a fallen metal tower, keeping right behind the squad leader as we ran. Then we saw it: the eerie, sprawling cemetery—and the entrance leading underground.

"That’s it!"

"Hah… haha… I’m so… tired…!"

Spread out before us was the entrance to the underground cemetery—
the catacombs.

I’d heard about it. When we died, we’d either rot on the roadside or, if we were lucky, get tossed in here. That was the rumor, anyway.

"…It really does have a creepy atmosphere."

"Let’s hurry. The pursuers—wait, they’re… not coming?"

"Did we scare them off?"

"Very funny."

I touched the stone wall; the surface crumbled like decaying chalk. It was extremely old… but could this really lead outside?

If it did—
it was certainly an atmospheric entrance. Was it the entrance to hell?
Or maybe heaven…

"Don’t move."

A silver-white gun barrel pressed against the back of the only adult among us.