A bizarre supermarket, just moments before closing.
The lights go out, and the store goes dark.
Na-na-na-na, na-na-nan-na-na-na, na-na-nan~
Amidst the lively signature jingle, I could feel the panicked breathing of the high schooler whose mouth I've covered, transmitted as vibrations. My entire body was being taut with tension.
And beyond the noise of music and those vibrations, in the distance, a faint scraping sound sets my nerves on edge…
Scre-e-e-e-k.
A metal door opening.
If there's a metal door somewhere in this supermarket and not glass…
'…The staff area.'
That's the sound of employees coming out.
'Ha.'
Swallowing a rising groan, I turned my head and peeked out from behind the display…
Waddle, waddle.
Figures in store uniforms start appearing in the dark interior, one by one… Like balloons shaped to mimic human forms, these bizarre 'employees' waddled along.
[ LOOKY MART ]
The logo of Looky Mart, imitating Lucky Mart.
A clumsy mock-up pinned to their caps and chests flickered briefly under the light, then faded back into the darkness.
In that moment.
"Hurry, let's go. They said they're closing."
"Got it."
Someone passed by the liquor section right beside our hiding spot, heading to the checkout.
"…!"
It's two or three of those past-era shoppers still in the store.
Then… one of the 'employees' who entered the liquor corner bumped into them, lightly.
Tap.
"Oh, sorry."
The employee's head turned.
"Welcome to Looky Mart!"
"Let's hurry."
"Thank you for shopping with us!"
The shoppers felt nothing amiss.
They just walked past the employee and went on to the checkout… The high schooler whose mouth I was covering kept breathing raggedly.
"Goodbye, dear customer!"
The employee figure, head still turned, creaked out of the liquor corner. Then, in that strange, shuffling gait, it headed down the aisle again… Past the snack corner.
Right beside the display we were crouching behind.
Screek, screek.
"..."
"..."
The eerie noise sounded like balloons rubbing against each other. We practically flattened ourselves to the floor, holding our breath.
Screek… screek.
The sound grew distant…
"..."
'Ha.'
Tap-tap!
One of the high schoolers tapped the hand covering their mouth. He was a tearful mess but he continued to keep quiet.
"You won't scream anymore, right?"
He nodded silently.
When I let go, the student gasped as if he'd been suffocating.
"Th-those weird employees… We can't let them see us, right? Right? The leaflet said…"
That's right.
Once Looky Mart's business hours end, the employees start pretending to continue the store's operations and act bizarrely.
If even one of them catches sight of you, every single employee on that floor will come after you.
To survive in Looky Mart after closing, you have to move around like you're in a survival horror game.
But… is it really safe dragging these two clueless teenagers around?
'No matter how I look at it, the gear I was given doesn't seem prepared for that scenario.'
They must have assumed we'd get out during operating hours. Surely the Disaster Management Bureau has some contingency plan in place, but it still felt like there were too many variables.
'Damn it.'
Cold sweat trickled down my chin.
Should we just hide out? What's Agent Bronze planning? It looks like maybe we should stay hidden for now?
Wait!
'He seems like he's about to take out that employee…'
Agent Bronze, pistol in hand, was eyeing the departing employee quietly. It looked like he was plotting an escape route but that employee might be in the way.
…Should I help him?
If Braun were here, I'd have asked him to activate his 'Lights Out' ability… No. The fact that this method, which I couldn't even use right now, was the first thing that popped into my head as my top priority… I had to cut that train of thought right there.
'Think, just think…'
I racked my brain desperately, trying to sift through my memories of the as fast as I could.
So, after closing time, Looky Mart…
...
No, wait.
[ 20 : 25 ]
"Agent…!"
I crawled over to Agent Bronze and whispered urgently.
"There are still five minutes left until closing. Business hours aren't fully over yet!"
"…!"
"The doors should still be open."
We can leave right now!
Agent Bronze quickly glanced past the escalator by the checkout. Seeing that the escalator out of the basement floor was still running, he made a quick decision.
"Let's move out. Now."
Then, seizing the high schooler who'd latched onto him, he started moving swiftly.
"…!"
Right. Each of us needed to take one.
I turned back to the high schooler whose mouth I'd just been covering. He shook his head in panic.
"I'll run on my own, I'm faster than them…!"
"..."
Maybe I should've tried to look a bit more trustworthy? No, this isn't the time to think about that!
I started running along with the high schooler, pushing from behind so he wouldn't fall behind.
We dashed past the empty checkout counters, barreling through the escalator where shoppers were still riding up, making a mad dash toward the exit before closing time.
"Ah!"
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I think I missed a step."
Unaware of the crowd, we jostled our way between the shoppers, heading for the exit just before the store closed.
And at the first-floor entrance…
"..."
Something was standing in front of the doors.
It looked like it used to be a cardboard cutout advertisement.
The classic, trustworthy grin of a blonde, middle-aged caucasian man, presumably the famous entrepreneur who founded Lucky Mart, giving a thumbs-up.
But…
It was alive.
– Mmph!! Uuuurgh! Mmph, mmph! Uurgh!
Whoever it was had been forcibly flattened into a shape like a standee, as if a human corpse had been pressed into a two-dimensional form and then reanimated.
Though it was smiling, its eyes were still rolling around, tears and saliva dripping.
It was looking at us.
…It recognized us.
Its eyes roamed desperately, as if begging for help—or perhaps trying to pass on its torment to someone else—and the standee shook...
Fuck!
"Hiiek."
"Quiet."
Up ahead, I could see Agent Bronze calming the high schooler he was guiding.
'Ghost' was such an all-encompassing word. It lets you encapsulate that kind of monstrosity in one term.
'This is insane.'
Still, we had to 'block' that thing's line of sight.
'To do that, first…'
I needed to create a diversion.
Holding back a groan, I grabbed the high schooler's shoulder.
"You read the leaflet, right? We have to steal something. We each have to do it ourselves."
Before blocking the entrance ghost's view, you have to make it mistake you for just another shopper.
Steal one of the items a shopper has already checked out and keep it on your person.
Make sure no fuss arises during the theft.
"But if we get caught…"
"If you steal something that won't be noticed, it's fine."
I glanced at the entrance.
There weren't too many people, but those who'd heard closing was near were finishing up at the registers or leaving.
'If we just slip out among them, we might block its view without doing anything else.'
But I wasn't about to take that risk.
"The fishing line."
"Yes, sir."
I immediately pulled out an item I had on me.
A spool of fishing line… and a small, red, goldfish-shaped lure on the end.
========================
Dark Exploration Records / Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau / Items
Toy Bait
An item with a red lure attached to the end of a transparent fishing line.
When used, it can draw the attention of supernatural entities categorized as Fracture-sanctioned or below.
The more powerful and closer to the 'source' the entity is, the weaker and less effective it becomes.
Item usage condition: 7th-level or higher civil servant of the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau, or someone with special authorization.
========================
The instant we steal something, I'll use this to divert the standee's attention. By taking turns with Agent Bronze, we could buy enough time for both high schoolers to get out.
Agent Bronze readied the fishing line and gave me a signal with his eyes.
"Start stealing."
I nodded and turned to the two teenagers.
"W-We can't steal…"
"Listen, kids. They can't see us anyway, so as long as it's not something super noticeable if it goes missing, we'll be fine."
People rarely pay attention if something disappears from a bag or box— especially if they've already bagged it.
'So we should pick something they're least likely to notice…'
Something small, like a daily necessity.
Something they bought because they needed it, but they're not particularly interested in.
Something they won't use or eat right away.
"..."
I approached a shopper sitting in a chair near the entrance.
'It'll be easier if they're not moving.'
Probably waiting for someone, this person had the store's eco-friendly tote bag on their lap, eyes closed for a moment.
I quickly examined the tote bag.
'Great.'
Then I slid my hand inside… and pulled out something stuck to the interior.
Dental floss.
"There are a few more in there."
"…!"
"When I took this one, I almost pulled out the others. So just grab them carefully, okay? Nice and easy."
"..."
Swallowing hard, the high schooler reached in with a pale face, and succeeded in pulling out the floss I'd placed on top.
"…I-I got it!"
"Nicely done!"
Clutching the dental floss, the student backed away, visibly flustered. Then both of us turned to look at the one person left.
The other high schooler, who'd been sticking close to Agent Bronze.
"..."
He approached with a worried expression, unable to hide his nerves.
"It's alright, stay calm…"
"Oh, come on, I know that already! Please just be quiet!"
"..."
He seemed almost panicked.
The high school student who yelled at me, perhaps wanting to finish quickly, squeezed his eyes shut and reached out.
Then he shoved his hand into the tote bag and snatched the floss.
"Got i…"
The student pulled his hand out, beaming.
Wait, if you yank it out so suddenly—
Thud.
The student's hand brushed against the shopper's cheek.
"Oh my god!"
"…!!"
Startled, the shopper who'd been sitting with the tote bag on her lap toppled backward off the chair.
"Huh—huhhh?"
The high schooler reacted in shock and reflexively clung to the tote bag.
"M-Mom, are you okay? Wait— gah!"
Someone who seemed to be with them ran over, grabbed the tote bag to help the shopper up, then saw the tote bag floating in midair, held by the high schooler, and freaked out.
'Shit!'
I immediately grabbed the student and yanked him back. The tote bag fell to the floor, spilling its contents everywhere.
The bag's owner let out a scream.
"There was a—a person here, but he disappeared!"
People around us started to buzz with confusion. Their eyes turned on us.
"What are you talking about? You must be mistaken…"
"No, Dad! Something was wrong with my bag!"
"There was some boy holding my bag! Huuuuuh…?!"
Damn it.
Under normal circumstances, shoppers would not notice you. But they can sometimes perceive you if there's physical contact. If communication is possible, there are a few methods you can try to get their help in escaping.
Up to that point, it seemed hopeful.
But…
"Excuse me! Someone help!"
"Huh? What day is it today? What's going on? Why am I here? Huh?!"
Still, if a shopper sees you and senses something off or goes into a panic, you must quickly get away from them.
"Run."
The employees are coming.
Simultaneously, Agent Bronze and I pushed the high schoolers and started sprinting toward the opposite side of the exit.
…Because something was waddling out from the escalator, from the far edge of the checkout, from the restrooms.
Screek, screek.
I could hear it.
Screek-screek-screek-screek-screek-screek-screek-screek.
That squeaking, rustling sound—like balloons rubbing together—pursued us from behind like madness. And it was multiplying.
Instinctively, we dashed toward a wide and complex area. …Through the checkout counters and into the store aisles.
'Damn.'
I glanced at my watch.
[ 20 : 29 ]
It's over.
Closing time was almost here.
'We have to hide.'
We had to give up on the exit for now.
Before the store finished closing, the shoppers disappeared, and even more employees appeared. We've got to shake them off within sixty seconds. To do that, we had to hide…
'Four people is too many!'
I locked eyes with Agent Bronze.
He glanced upward once, nodded, and veered quickly to the side, guiding one of the high schoolers away.
"Ah…!"
"Over here."
I took the other student and moved in the opposite direction. We sprinted so hard we were gasping for breath. The manic squeaking still echoed behind us, but it had definitely diminished.
'They're going after Agent Bronze's group more!'
He must have purposely drawn them away. I shoved my worries aside, silently grateful, and ran like a madman.
Vacuum cleaners, cosmetics, bowls, kitchenware, bleach… All sorts of display racks repeated endlessly throughout the massive supermarket, until—
We ran right into another employee.
'Damn it.'
Screek, screek.
They chased after us. Each time, I immediately changed direction with the student and kept running.
"Hahh."
The high schooler was panting raggedly.
I could taste metal in my mouth.
But in this labyrinthine mart, it felt as if employees and corners were spewing out endlessly…
'God damn it!'
Screek-screek-screek-screek-screek.
We rounded corner after corner of shelves.
'This won't work.'
We needed somewhere to hide.
We had to find a moment when no employee would see us, somewhere we could slip inside without any prep—where two people could stay hidden!
Then, as we turned another corner…
'…!'
I saw it.
[Electric Mixer 50% Off]
A mobile display stand.
'Got it.'
I pushed the high schooler under the giant mobile stand stacked with mixers. Then I squeezed in there as well.
And, we held our breaths.