Why is my Isekai in the Slice of Life anime was become a Horror Story?

Chapter 28: Illusions and Truths of a Distant Past

He was in a dream.

In a fleeting moment of clarity, Takakai suddenly realized this.

Everything around him bore the hazy tint of a dream. In the dilapidated room 204, he saw Shinomiya Kaguya resting on the bed. Beside her was himself—the version of him whose head had been crushed by a truck.

So that's how it is.

In an instant, Takakai finally understood his identity.

Room 204 wasn't devoid of a corpse; rather, someone had taken the place of the corpse. That someone was him.

The identity he held on this room wasn't that of a "resident" but a "corpse."

Even though he was alive—with breath, a heartbeat, and body heat—by the mechanism of this apartment building's judgment, he was essentially classified as the "corpse of the room."

Why?

He wasn't a corpse. He was alive, wasn't he?

Unseen bizarre phenomena like the "knocking monster" could affect him. Strange entities capable of mimicking human forms could recognize and hunt him. Opening the windows polluted his mind, and the doll-like children he encountered on the third floor had once boiled him alive, vividly killing him.

All of these events clearly proved that Takakai was entirely alive.

Of course, his will was stronger than most, so aside from being "killed" by the children in an unavoidable scripted scenario, he could resist and fight back. But that didn't negate the fact that he was a human capable of feeling pain, hunger, and even dying.

In other words, had he simply taken on a new 'identity'?

Like exploiting a bug, he was pursued by the powers of the Horror Stories like any regular player. He had to care for his safety, act cautiously, and meet basic needs like eating and using the bathroom. However, beyond this, he had an identity that ordinary players did not.

An identity more in line with the building's rules than that of a "player"—one that the building somewhat accepted: the "corpse."

This identity didn't help him when directly facing threats within the apartment, because he was still alive and could easily be exposed. But regarding the invisible rules of the building, he had, in a way, infiltrated and disguised himself as one of its designated roles.

The advantage of this was that if he needed to act at night, neither he nor Kaguya would be hunted by the corpses. Although other nighttime dangers remained, the most troublesome and unavoidable problem—the pursuing corpses—was something they didn't need to worry about.

While not a massive advantage, it was undeniably useful.

But why?

Why did he gain this identity?

Takakai slowly sat down, gazing at the corpse lying on the bed.

He knew exactly where the appearance of this corpse came from.

It was the image he had imagined of his own body after death in his previous life. Based on the final scene he saw before losing consciousness, he had deduced that the truck's wheels had crushed his head and then mangled half of his chest. Since it was an overloaded truck, Takakai thought his post-death appearance would undoubtedly be gruesome. Thus, he had envisioned this very scene.

And now, in this lucid dream, the corpse he saw was identical to what he had pictured.

"Is it because of you?"

Takakai lowered his gaze to the watch on his wrist.

That strange object, of unknown origin, mysterious and dangerous, but also the very thing that had given him a chance to be reborn.

It was connected to a massive city.

A city long dead, where corpses endlessly replayed the scenes of their lives. Everything within it reenacted the moments leading up to its destruction.

Could it be that this watch had altered his initial "player" identity, trapping him in this "bug"?

If so, did that mean to clear this game, he was forced to act during the night? To uncover the real truth, to find the correct path to survival, were there things he could only discover at night that would lead to accurate answers?

And what was the meaning of this lucid dream he was experiencing now? Why, at this moment, had he fallen into such a strange dream, where he could see his "disguised identity" in this scenario? Was this dream his own, or did it belong to something else?

Takakai turned to face the door to the living room of room 204.

The corpse on the bed and Kaguya remained motionless.

He, however, had walked to the door.

Reaching out, he grasped the doorknob.

Creak—

The door slowly opened, revealing a hallway shrouded in darkness.

Takakai could see every object in the hallway, every floor tile, and even the cracks in the walls.

In that moment, the darkness seemed incapable of obscuring his vision.

So he stepped into the hallway, closed the door behind him, and continued toward the front door—the one Sun Dajun had repaired.

Outside the door, faint voices seemed to echo.

Takakai took another step closer and pressed his ear against the crack of the door.

[Team 1 reporting, a total of 25 people on the first floor have been evacuated.]

[Team 2 reporting, a total of 27 people on the second floor have been evacuated. We are escorting the residents of Room 204 out now; this is the last group on the second floor.]

[This is Command. Team 3, what's your status? The weather is deteriorating rapidly, and the flood peak is expected to arrive sooner than predicted. What's the situation there?]

The voice of a young man, vibrant and energetic, mixed with the static of a radio transmission.

From a distance, Takakai could hear faint sounds of a loudspeaker outside, accompanied by the wail of sirens and the pounding of torrential rain.

[Room 304 has an issue. The family refuses to open the door. They are declining evacuation.]

[What? What's wrong with them? Damn it, the water is already halfway up the first floor, and they're still not leaving!]

[Sir, there seems to be something unusual about this family. Requesting permission to break down the door and asking for backup from Teams 1 and 2 before they leave...]

Amid the chaotic noises, Takakai caught the sound of hurried footsteps rushing down the hallway outside.

This seemed to be an echo from some moment in the past.

When had this happened?

What had really occurred in 304...?

Click—

Before he realized it, Takakai's fingers had instinctively rested on the door handle.

The deafening noise of the storm outside vanished without a trace.

In the next moment, Takakai had stepped out of Apartment 204, into the hallway.

"Old man, let me help you down."

A voice brushed past his ears, faint and distant, as if carried from far away.

Takakai turned his head and saw two figures emerging from Apartment 204 behind him.

The hallway was now crowded with more people appearing around him.

Their faces were indistinct, their forms flickering and unstable.

Takakai strained to observe their appearances but could only vaguely make out that they were wearing orange-yellow rescue uniforms.

Rescue workers… evacuating residents… flood… storm…

Suddenly, he remembered when this was.

"Let's go, old man."

The two figures descended the stairs.

At that moment, Takakai realized he had unknowingly walked to the first-floor hallway.

In the faint sound of rushing water, dirty, muddy streams had already risen to calf height.

The blurred figures moved through the hallway, heading toward the building's main entrance.

Takakai noticed other silhouettes climbing the stairs.

"What's going on upstairs?"

"It seems like in Room 304, they found… how is that even possible…"

"Restrain the person and get them out without damaging the scene. How did a routine evacuation turn into this?"

Bang!

A heavy explosion echoed from upstairs.

The furious cursing of a man intertwined with the heart-wrenching screams of a woman.

The chaotic sounds overlapped, reverberating endlessly, making it nearly impossible to discern what was happening above.

Takakai couldn't see what was happening inside.

His vision seemed to be locked on the two figures in front of him, slowly moving toward the main door with him.

The noise from upstairs grew louder, gradually descending, heading toward him.

The man's screams continued, sounding as though he was desperately struggling.

The woman's cries grew more and more piercing, more shrill.

There were also countless whispers, faint sounds, as if voices were murmuring something in the dark.

Rustling—

The large door was right before his eyes.

Takakai wanted to turn back, to see the figures behind him, but he found his body gradually stiffening, unable to move. All he could do was face forward, facing the open door and the blinding light outside, which made everything blurry and impossible to see clearly.

"We're almost out."

A voice from beside him spoke.

Yet, Takakai's footsteps came to a halt.

Someone had grabbed the hem of his pants.

It was a small hand, seemingly that of a child.

He didn't know when it had happened, but that hand was firmly gripping his pants, preventing him from moving another step.

Who…

This time, Takakai finally turned around.

Rustling—

The sound of rushing water grew louder.

And in that moment, Takakai saw the image behind him, saw the small figure holding onto him.

Bang!

In a sharp, agonizing pain, Takakai opened his eyes.

He saw light shining through the crack of a locked window, and on the clock hanging on the wall, the hour hand pointed to 8:10.

"Hey you, you finally awake, what's going on?"

Kaguya stood beside the clock, her voice tinged with concern.

What's wrong with me?

Takakai blinked, fully awake, and then felt an uncomfortable sensation on his body.

His clothes were almost completely soaked, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

What… is happening?

Takakai moved, and immediately felt a sharp pain in his thigh.

"..."

He realized something, and pulled up the hem of his pants.

And there, he saw the source of the pain.

A small handprint.

A tiny, dark purple handprint on his skin.

It was so clear that Takakai instantly remembered, in the final moments of his dreamlike state, that small hand had reached up from the water and dragged him down.

Knock knock—

Suddenly, a soft knock sounded from the damaged living room door.