**Episode 001: Betrayal**

“Ha… Ha… Ha… Ha…”

We were desperately fleeing from monsters through the city, where accidents had occurred, cars were wrecked, and buildings were slightly damaged in various places.

It happened on our way home after finishing high school when we stopped by the supermarket. As we walked towards our homes, a phenomenon that could only be described as a whirlpool suddenly appeared on the main street of the bustling city. From within it, entities resembling human shadows emerged from the ground, taking on a tangible form.

At first, everyone halted at the sight of this unusual group. The group started walking in a line, each seemingly approaching a person. A police officer approached them, attempting to stop their movement, but unbelievably, he had his upper body devoured by one of those shadows.

In that moment, chaos erupted, and people frantically fled from the shadows. I was one of the victims. You might not understand what I’m saying, but it unquestionably happened right before my eyes.

If dozens of those monsters were to gather, we, who had just awakened and were still weak, had no choice but to run. I was accompanied by four classmates from the extroverted group.

Originally, I didn’t intend to be with them, but I ended up going along without refusing.

“Voooh!”

A voice from behind gradually approached. Glancing back, I could see the distance between us and those creatures slowly shrinking.

Although the alley wasn’t very wide, it was spacious enough for about five of those shadowy monsters to line up side by side. The sight of those five lined up creatures forming a column and chasing us was terrifying enough.

Others were also glancing back, their faces gradually turning pale as the pursuing monsters closed in.

“What do we do!? If we don’t do something, they’ll catch up!”

In the midst of this, Yamada, a member of the extroverted group who couldn’t stand it any longer, shouted.

Certainly, if we did nothing, our future would inevitably be getting devoured by them sooner or later.

“Ha… Ha… But there’s no choice but to run, right? Ha… Ha…”

“Ha… Ha… Yeah, that’s right. There’s no other option, right? Ha… Ha…”

The girls in the group, Takatori and Shinozaki, responded to him, expressing their dissatisfaction with the guy who verbally stated the obvious, all the while catching their breath.

“Ha… Ha… But, you know, if we don’t do something, we’ll end up getting killed by them. Ha… Ha…”

The fear of death was irritating them.

“Ha… Ha… Yeah, you’re right. Ha… Ha… At this rate, someday… Ha… Ha… we’ll be killed by those things. Ha… Ha…”

Souta, the central figure in the group, also shared the same opinion. Of course, I thought the same. To survive, we needed some kind of plan.

“But… Ha… Ha… right now, I can’t think of any strategy that can break through the current situation. Ha… Ha…”

“Sorry… Ha… Ha… I also can’t think of any plan to overcome the current situation. Ha… Ha…”

“Ha… Ha… Yeah…”

Everyone’s expressions turned despairing and dark at my response.

For a while after that, we continued running in silence.

“Ah…”

At that moment, Yamada seemed to have thought of something and let out a voice.

“Ha… Ha… What’s wrong?”

“Ah… There’s only one way for us to survive.”

“Huh, really!?”

Everyone’s expressions brightened at the good news brought by Yamada. I didn’t expect such a fantastic solution to come from the most foolish-looking guy like Yamada, but at this point, anything would do if it meant survival.

“Yeah. With this, we should definitely survive.”

Since a while ago, there was something off about his words, but in my desperate attempt to escape, I couldn’t realize the true nature.

“What kind of method is it?”

“Well, you see. It’s like this!”

As soon as asked by Souta, Yamada, exerting what seemed to be his last bit of strength, moved vigorously.

“Huh?”

And the next moment, the ground was in my field of vision.

It took me a while to realize that I had been tripped by Yamada. I didn’t expect an attack from an ally, especially considering we were dealing with monsters.

I fell to the ground and rolled over, still not fully comprehending what had just happened.

“Damn it! I’ve been had!”

“What are you doing!?”

Souta stopped and confronted Yamada.

“It’s just getting rid of useless non-combatant production roles! If we hand this guy over, we’ll be saved!”

“No, I can’t! I’ll go back for help!”

Yamada intended to use me as bait to save himself, but Souta tried to run towards me.

“Shut up! Let’s go!”

“It’s too late! Let’s go!”

However, Yamada and Takatori immediately ran towards Souta, forcibly pulling him away and running off. Perhaps being a team of two gave them an advantage, as Souta was dragged away.

“Damn it! Sorry, Rokudo!”

Souta shouted an apology towards me with a regretful expression, looking at me.

It seemed I had been completely sacrificed as a pawn as I had expected.

I deeply regretted following these guys.

“Damn it…”

I quickly got up, and the monsters were just a few meters away.

“Darn it! I won’t forgive them!”

Fueled by anger, I quickly navigated through a narrow path before the monsters could attack. They chased after me, obediently reducing their numbers.

“…Ha… Ha… Maybe I can somehow escape like this… Ha… Ha… Ah…”

But just as I muttered those words, that hope was crushed. The reason was that the path ahead opened up into a dead-end plaza.

“Why did it come to this…”

I mumbled to myself as I looked back.

There, a multitude of shadowy monsters were infiltrating the dead-end one after another.

Faced with impending death, a series of events leading up to this moment flashed through my mind like a slideshow.