scary monsters ~endless halloween night~ 1-5 "of course. an assassin...!"

[mandytl]

Location: Headmaster’s Office

Crowley: … Keep it down.

As you all know, our academy is currently facing an unprecedented emergency.

Two-thirds of our student body are nowhere to be found…

Every method we’ve tried to leave the campus grounds has proved futile.

But what’s even more surprising is—

Rook: The “time”.

Crowley: … Someone noticed, then.

Sebek: Time? What do you mean?

Rook: Everyone. What time do you think it is?

Ace: Uh, now?

Let’s see, it’s… wait, I can’t even use my phone. And I don’t carry a watch.

Riddle: I glanced at the clock when I woke to see that it was just before midnight.

After that, I searched the dorm and gathered everyone here, and so… I’d say it’s more or less sometime past 1 a.m.

Crowley: Have a look at the clock on my desk.

Riddle: … Huh?

Silver: What wrong, Riddle? It’s rare for someone so strict about punctuality to get the time wrong.

It’s just before midnight.

Riddle: B-But that doesn’t make any…

Ortho: Ah! I knew something funny was going on!

I was supposed to be installing an update from 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m, but after booting up, the time read 11:50 p.m.

So it wasn’t an error? I figured with Nii-san gone that maybe it was a bug or something…

Rook: It's a small wonder that you were so confused. We’re at our most vulnerable when we sleep.

Normally it’s quite difficult to get a feel for how much you’ve actually slept.

But I can typically guess how much I’ve slept, with only a margin of error within 10 minutes.

“How many hours one was unconscious for” is something that is essential for a hunter to be aware of.

Leona: That’s one repulsive skill you’ve got.

Rook: Why, a skill? I assure you, it’s nothing to boast about.

Trey: That uh, wasn’t a compliment…

Rook: I fell asleep at 11:00 p.m. last night and then woke when I felt something was wrong. Six hours in total.

After that I assessed the situation and relocated, so… it should currently be six in the morning.

Sebek: Hm? It should be shortly after sunrise, then.

Silver: Yet it’s still dark outside, without a single cloud in the sky.

Rook: Exactly. It’s strange.

Clocks have stopped ticking and day won’t break…

It’s as if time itself has halted on our very campus.

Silver: T-Time…

Riddle: Halted?!

Crowley: … We’ll have to investigate the cause for more details.

But as it stands… Hunt-kun is likely absolutely right.

Jamil: Half the student body vanished and here we are, stuck on campus with no means of communication.

Moreover, with the anomaly of time stopping… It can't be an accident or coincidence that these events have coincided.

We might want to consider this as us being under some sort of attack.

Sebek: Of course. An assassin… ! How dare they lay their insolent hands on the school Malleus-sama attends! I won’t tolerate it!!

Ruggie: Oh, yeah. Beyond our princes like Leona-san and Malleus-san…

There’s heaps of media talents and millionaires makin’ the place famous. Makes sense they’d wanna go after this place.

Trey: A bunch of ordinary people vanished too, though, like Cater and Deuce.

Riddle: Exactly. We can’t rule out the possibility of our suspects wanting to squash our up-and-coming magicians.

Ortho: Mmnh. It’s a little hard to profile a perpetrator at this point, with so little information…

Floyd: Oh, I got it.

Halloween hasn’t ended yet.

Jamil: Huh?

Floyd: If the date didn’t change it’s literally still the 31st.

Which means Halloween isn’t over.

Riddle: … Is that a joke? Now’s not the time for such absurdity.

Floyd: I’m being totally serious.

It’s not like they’d have to stop time on October 31st to capture our students or their parents.

So basically, the culprit is some guy who doesn’t want Halloween to end, am I right?

Riddle: That’s nonsense! What would they even stand to gain?!

Floyd: Like I’m supposed to know.

But Halloween’s a super fun holiday.

I get why someone would wanna keep it alive.

Jamil: … Since the offender hasn’t made any demands, Floyd’s interpretation makes the most sense right now. However…

Silver & Rook: ……

Ace: Uh. W-Whoa, hold up. You mean if this keeps up…

It’s literally gonna be Halloween forever?!

Mutter mutter…