At times, a deep resounding noise echoes on the dark floor. Perhaps that happens whenever the ship changes course, or perhaps it’s because the ship had hit something. But despite that, in a place where only the sound of machines can be heard, the girl came alone. “What is this? I can’t get through on the phone” she mutters.

There’s still ten minutes left before the promised time. Perhaps she came early so she can calm herself down before meeting Hirata.

After realizing that the phone would be useless, Karuizawa pocketed it again with a bored expression and leaned against the wall.

And with time, what conclusion did she draw from this? But whatever it is, unfortunately, Hirata would never hear it. As the time reached 4PM, the only door that’s used on the floor opened with a loud thud. The ones who appeared were the three girl group of Class C. The girls led by Manabe. And one more. A girl whose aura resembled Sakura’s. Probably the girl called Rika.

It’s all right. Manabe called out as she set foot into the room. And soon, she found the figure of Karuizawa. Naturally, Karuizawa had also noticed them. “W-w-why are you here?” Karuizawa trembled at the unexpected appearance of these people. But in a narrow space with only no escape route, escaping is also difficult. “I just saw you entering this place. Yeah, this is a good time so I want to introduce you. This girl is Rika. Karuizawa-san, do you remember her?” Manabe asks.

She then pulls Rika, who was hiding behind her, to the front. And had the two of them come face-to-face. Karuizawa averted her gaze and pretended not to know, but from her behaviour, it’s obvious she does remember her. “Hey Rika, the one who pushed you before. It’s Karuizawa-san, right?” Manabe asks Rika. “Yes…it’s this person” she replied. Having heard the answer, Manabe smiled a happy smile from the bottom of her heart. On the other hand, Karuizawa, having realized the danger of the situation, became anxious and confused. All I need to do now is to watch the miserable events that would soon unfold here.

Even if Karuizawa encounters a more severe torment than expected here, I have absolutely no intention of saving her halfway here.

“Apologize to Rika”.

“Huh? Who would apologize? I’ve done nothing wrong” Karuizawa retorted.

“To act tough even in this situation, that’s pretty impressive. But I think I more or less understand” Manabe replied to her.

“……what do you understand?”.

“That odd and terrified attitude. Karuizawa-san, you were a victim of bullying weren’t you?” Manabe asks her.

“….”.

The fact that she was so desperately trying to hide was figured out by a person she did not even know well.

“I’m spot on, aren’t I? I knew it, I had that sort of feeling about you. From the start” Manabe continued.

“T-that’s not true…”

It was a terrible denial, but even for a good actor, they would not be able to convince her. It’s not like Manabe had a good eye for observing such things. But because I had already told Manabe all about it beforehand. That Karuizawa had been bullied horribly since childhood. That she carried a severe trauma from it. It’s pointless to deny it to someone who already knows the truth.

“If you kneel and beg now, I might forgive you. That’s what you’re good at right? Kneeling” Manabe tells Karuizawa.

“I-I w-won’t do it. Besides, I’ve never done it before” Karuizawa replies.

She tried to pass by Manabe as if to escape, but Manabe simply grabbed her long hair and pushed her back towards the wall, slamming her into it.

Having been put at ease by a place for revenge having been prepared for her, controlling Manabe would surely no longer work. What we agreed on in our chat was for her to simply ‘meet’ with Karuizawa.

She should have been hesitant to use violence as a means for revenge. But upon meeting face-to-face, all the stress she must have been holding up inside her, along with the expectation of her friends around her to get back at Karuizawa, it made sure Manabe would not be satisfied unless she made Karuizawa suffer.

That is precisely what I had been aiming for.

There was an experiment in the 1960s known as the Milgram experiment. Also known as the Eichmann experiment, it involved conducting tests involving a ‘teacher’ role and a ‘student’ role in isolated facilities. The ‘teacher’s role is to administer a low electric shock to the subject to the point that fear and pain of the shock would be remembered by them. Then, the person assigned the ‘student’ role would be separated from the ‘teacher’ via a glass with a device that allows the shock to flow to the ‘student’ being installed. The switch would then be entrusted to the subject assigned the ‘teacher’ role. This completes the preparations for the experiment.

Then the experimenter gives the ‘student’ a series of questions to answer to the ‘teacher’. For every time the ‘student’ answers wrong, the ‘teacher’ is to continue administering the electric shocks. And with each mistake, to raise the voltage of the shocks as well. Finally, the switch can go up to 450 volts which is powerful enough to be fatal to humans. On the flip side, the weakest was 45 volts and amounted only to a mild itching. However, contrary to the ‘teacher’s knowledge, the device was only a fake and the ‘students’ were made to act out in pain through screaming that would be heard on the other s

Even if the current flows to the subject there would not be much reaction initially, although each time the voltage is increased, the pain would increase from screaming, to moaning and finally silence. Subjects who were assigned the ‘teacher’ role were not threatened by this and continued to raise the voltage despite understanding the other party was suffering in pain. Nearly 66% of the subjects raised the voltage to the point where human beings would have been killed. The experiment clearly shows that ‘depending on the circumstances, any person is capable of showing cruelty’.

“It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! Let go of me!”. Karuizawa screams in pain from having her hair pulled, but Manabe only laughs comfortably. Right now, the closed environment is this lower level of the ship. The ‘teacher’ role has been assigned to Manabe and the ‘student’ role to Karuizawa as per the experiment. I’ve prepared a stage as similar to that of the Milgram experiment as I could. Normally, even with these conditions, it would be insufficient but, given the history between the two of them the results of the experiment should still hold true here.

The suffering and pain of Karuizawa, who had been acting tough only a while ago, would feel very good to them right now.

“Haah”.

“Uwa~ Shiho, you’re using your knee to kick her too much you know”

Manabe continues to use her knee to attack the area around Karuizawa’s stomach. Naturally, Manabe, who’s not used to kicking like this, has slow and sluggish movements and her kicks should not hurt that much. But for Manabe, the pain in Karuizawa’s voice is the greatest reward.

It seemed she’s having the time of her life and whispered to Rika, who had been taking her distance from them until now.

“Come Rika, you should try it too”.

“I-I’m fine…”.

“We’re doing this for you, you know? It’s ok, no one’s looking anyways”.

Rika seemed to be rejecting taking revenge directly, but this closed environment won’t let her. ‘You’re also my friend aren’t you?’. If something like that were to be uttered here, it would difficult for her to continue rejecting it. If that anger were to be directed at her, she would be the victim tomorrow. She can’t deny that she might be met with the same eyes from Manabe later.

“Uuunn…I’ll try doing it”.

Pechi. With a dry and light sound like that, Rika slaps Karuizawa with a slap that would cause no pain.

“L-like this?”.

“That won’t do. You need to make it stronger, like this”.

Pan! A high sound like that resounded as Manabe strikes Karuizawa’s cheek like that. In response to that, Karuizawa suffered. And as instructed, Rika slowly repeats her slap.

Slowly, the force of her slaps increased steadily.

“S-s-s-stop…”.

“Haha…this is fun…haha”.

It seems rather than Manabe. She would have been a more appropriate person for the Milgram experiment. Karuizawa, who had been putting up a strong front until now, began to show pain.

“Please, forgive me already…”.

She then begs for forgiveness. Seeing that figure must have been unbearably comfortable and pleasant I suspect.

Almost as if she had never been that afraid in the first place, Rika began to punch and kick strongly. Furthermore, the interesting thing is, places that they had initially not touched, such as beneath her uniform and beneath her hair, places that normally couldn’t be seen. They started targeting those places as well.

Karuizawa, who had already collapsed in fear, simply shed tears while hiding her face. And as to not be noticed, I who had been observing the scene, moved without making a sound. Then quietly opened the door to the emergency staircase to not alert Manabe and the others. For a while longer, Manabe’s distraction will surely continue. It doesn’t matter whatever happens. Once something has been thoroughly destroyed, it saves you trouble while rebuilding it.

I quietly and slowly closed the door behind me as Karuizawa’s screams were blocked by the door and soon could no longer be heard.