How To Survive A Cute Ghost Yandere
Chapter 28: Not right now, anyway

Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Not right now, anyway

’Damn it.’

Eiros gasped for breath, pain radiating through his entire body. His face was drenched in blood, seeping endlessly, and his body wouldn’t budge an inch, bound tight by black slime locking down every part of him.

His head throbbed with pain, and his vision blurred along with it. He bit down on his lip, forcing himself to stay conscious.

He struggled to glance around at his surroundings. His view was upside down—no, not just his view, his entire body was actually upside down.

His feet were up, his head hanging below. He was stuck against the ceiling, held there by that disgusting black slime.

’What just...!’

What had happened earlier suddenly flashed through his mind. The moment they’d tried to flee but failed. The black slime had swallowed them up so fast, no resistance had been enough, and Eiros remembered they’d all gotten separated from each other in that instant.

His body suddenly tensed.

’Are... the others still alive...?’

He pushed that dark thought away.

First off, they were the main characters. They wouldn’t die that easily.

So Eiros decided to assess his situation first. He looked around, upside down as he was.

A dark, cavernous room, filled with black slime crawling across every surface.

"...!"

Besides himself, Eiros found countless other bodies hanging there, helpless. All of them unconscious, riddled with wounds everywhere.

His gaze wandered—if everyone was here, the other protagonists should be here too.

But Eiros couldn’t spot them. Not because they weren’t there, but because the room was too dark, too packed with students dangling everywhere.

Hard to pick anyone out quickly.

’First things first, I need to get out of here no matter what.’

He took a breath, steadying his scattered thoughts. Since his body had been wounded while being dragged in here, that actually worked in his favor—the ability of Remnant of Red Light made him stronger the closer he got to death.

That was probably why he’d regained consciousness so quickly.

’Now, what do I need to do to get free?’

While Eiros was thinking it through.

His gaze suddenly landed on something in the middle of the room. A student, his face utterly devoid of any emotion.

’...That... where have I seen him before?’

Unlike everyone else. That student wasn’t hanging at all—he simply sat there, trapped in the same black slime, but completely motionless, as if he’d fully merged with the slime itself.

The student then lifted his head, staring off in a particular direction. Then, following that gaze, the black slime rippled, showing signs of movement.

"...!"

Next, Eiros watched several students get dragged in, forced against their will. Not just students—he also spotted a helpless professor among them.

’He’s the mastermind!’

All of this fell completely outside Eiros’s understanding—this wasn’t anything he knew from the story’s plot, so he couldn’t afford to act freely and had to think with a cool head.

Just as he was about to do something, Eiros suddenly felt a cold touch against his face. That familiar wintry scent followed close behind, and those fingers moved, sealing his mouth shut, firm and precise.

Another hand came, wrapping around his waist down to his stomach.

"Need some help, darling?"

A whisper sounded close to his ear, followed by the sensation of short, shallow breaths.

Eiros froze for a moment, and after a while, the hand loosened slightly as he spoke in a low voice:

"...Erness?"

"Yes, it’s me."

The answer came quickly.

Right then, Eiros felt everything turn dark and dizzying. His body felt as though it wasn’t in its own place, but then, suddenly, he also felt his body settle right back into place.

And when his awareness returned, everything became perfectly clear. He was no longer in that laboratory at all—instead, he found himself in a quiet, dark room, filled with all sorts of objects used for experiments.

"...?"

For a moment, Eiros couldn’t say a word. He just stood there in silence, his body upright, no longer inverted. His pupils darted around his surroundings and found Erness, arms crossed behind her back.

Standing there, Erness still looked as beautiful and sweet as ever. Then, as their eyes met, Erness smiled, raising both hands and spreading her fingers wide.

"Surprised?"

Taking in their situation, Eiros felt his heart sink, the air around him, already cold, now growing heavier still, his face draining of color.

The exact situation Eiros had least wanted had now come true.

His body rigid, Eiros refused to let Erness slip from his sight for even a second. His hand clenched around empty air, bracing for whatever might come next.

But contrary to what he’d expected, Erness, noticing Eiros’s guarded stance, pouted, clearly displeased.

"...Why are you so stiff? Acting like I’m about to kill you? Are you really this scared of your own girlfriend?"

But Eiros’s expression stayed frozen solid, refusing to let his guard down even slightly. That made Erness blink, then laugh, amused.

"Hehe... What’s with that face? Besides, I’m not going to kill you."

"......?!"

"Not right now, anyway."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just what I said. I’m not going to kill you here, darling. I mean, how could I possibly kill someone who has a Stigmata that lets him come back from death?"

But even with Erness saying all that, Eiros couldn’t let his guard down or bring himself to trust her.

That was far too dangerous a thing to do.

So, gathering his courage, Eiros decided to speak up:

"What exactly is your problem?"

"Mhm?"

"I don’t get it. What is it that makes you so obsessed with killing me?"

Now that Eiros thought it over again, it was genuinely strange. If it was just about the real Eiros’s attempt to assault her, wouldn’t killing him once or twice have been enough for her?

So why was Erness only growing more aggressive in her approach, openly determined to kill him outright?

Erness stared at him for a moment, then her expression shifted into something so innocent it would’ve shaken anyone to their core. But Eiros held himself back, staying on guard.

"You’re sick, darling."

"Huh?"

"...Like I said, you’re carrying a dangerous illness. Something that’s going to torment you, make you crave death more than anything else in the world. But with that Stigmata, you won’t be able to die. You’ll become immortal, suffering alongside that illness forever."

"I don’t understand."

That sounded ridiculous.

This body was sick? Suffering that badly? Tormented forever?

"How do you even know that? What does it have to do with you? What makes a psychopath like you care about someone’s condition?"

Eiros gave a bitter smile. But Erness didn’t answer that at all—she just let out a small sigh and smiled sweetly as usual, then responded with something entirely different:

"The early symptoms are, you’ll start noticing yourself slipping further and further from sanity. For now, you won’t feel anything at all, but the moment you start realizing something’s wrong with yourself, you need to be ready. That’s when it all begins."

"What makes you think I’d believe any of that?"

"I never said you had to believe me, darling. But whether you believe it or not, you’ll feel it soon enough, sooner or later."

Erness turned around, seemingly done discussing that topic, glancing back at Eiros over her shoulder—Eiros, who stood there, his expression a tangled knot of emotions, hard to make sense of.

"I think we’ve rested long enough. Don’t you want to do something about your new friends?"

Eiros blinked, his focus snapping back quickly.

’Right... this isn’t the time for this. The system’s quest still isn’t complete. That means the Saintess is still in danger.’

He bit his lip.

But how? That monster had managed to capture a Radiant-tier professor. He, still stuck at Awakened tier, what could he possibly do?

Right then, Eiros felt Erness’s gaze settle on him, casual, as she spoke:

"If you can save the professors and let them fight alongside you, we’d be able to buy some time. By then, a tower keeper should be arriving, right?"

***