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The campsite’s exit opened onto a maze-like city, with tall buildings rising all around them. The overall design appeared to be largely inspired by Venice, with many streets consisting of water-filled canals.

Bridges spanned from one side to another, some angled steeply with stairs leading to higher or lower areas. Kelp and anemones clung to the ground, remnants of the city’s time submerged, while the stone walls were covered in small creatures like barnacles.

Yet, the strange twists and hidden cavities throughout gave the city an eerie atmosphere.

“It looks like a really large area… How many floors deep does it even go?” Frey muttered as he surveyed the surroundings.
“Well… they gave us a few weeks to search, so it makes sense that it’s this big,” Kasumi replied.
“Be careful where you step. There’s a lot of slippery kelp on the ground, so—”
“Kya-?!”

With almost divine timing, just as Crim warned about the kelp, Freya, who was a few steps ahead, caught her sandal in some seaweed and tripped. She reached out to grab a nearby wall to steady herself, but the wall gave way under her weight. The water trapped on the other side burst free, drenching Freya in the process.

“Freya!!”
“Hya?!”

Crim quickly lunged forward, grabbing Freya’s wrist to pull her back from the rushing water. But due to Crim’s small frame, they ended up spinning in a circle, and it was Crim who got swept into the water. The current quickly dragged her away.

“…ya.”
“Crim?!”

Freya, still disoriented, looked around in confusion, only to see Crim calling her name before vanishing into a hole in the ground nearby.

◇◇◇

Some time after Crim was swept away…

“…There.”

The water pushed her into a hole leading to a room below. After flipping in the air, she managed to land safely on her feet, though the water splashed everywhere around her.

“Hmm… I got carried quite far away… and this place gives me the creeps.”

Crim looked around the room and started trembling. Broken ornaments and a multitude of animal and fish bones were strewn about, creating an eerie environment she could barely handle.

As she stood there, panicked, a Magius Orb eventually flew into the room.

“Hey, Crim, are you alright?”
“Ah, Ryu— Producer?!”

She nearly blurted out Ryunosuke’s real name but caught herself just in time, remembering that the stream had resumed when they left their campsite.

“Nice, it looks like you’re alright.”
“Mhm. How are things on your end?”
“We’re on our way. Just follow the Magius Orb, and we’ll meet halfway—plus, I can record you while you do.”

Crim felt a wave of relief wash over her. Thankfully, she hadn’t been stranded too far from the rest.

Crim chuckled, seeing all the comments praising Ryunosuke. But as she took a few steps forward, she froze.

Suddenly, a primal fear gripped her, her instincts going wild.

There’s something there.

She spotted a shadow writhing in the darkness. A faint cracking sound, like shells breaking, echoed through the room.

“Hey, are you okay?” Ryunosuke’s voice came through the Magius Orb.
“…Sorry, I got careless. I think it saw me.”
“I see. We’ll hurry on our end, so try to run while following the Magius Orb as best as you can.”

Crim nodded to the Magius Orb, keeping her eyes on the shadow as she began to retreat slowly. Then, the figure finally emerged into the light.

“……Hie—”

The moment she saw what it was, a terrified squeal escaped her lips, and her face contorted in fear. It looked like a bluefin tuna… except it had arms and legs, walking on two feet.

Its limbs were muscular, and its skin glistened as if covered in oil. The body of the bluefin tuna was unnervingly photorealistic, creating a grotesque and creepy contrast with its human-like limbs. And it was staring directly at Crim.

“No…”

A primal fear overwhelmed her as the creature locked its large, round eyes on her. The grotesque fish became fully aware of her presence, and its wide mouth slowly began to open…

“GYOOOOOOO!!!”
“GET AWAYYYYYYYYY!!”

Throwing away all dignity and shame, Crim turned and sprinted as fast as she could. This seemed to intrigue the monster, much like a cat chasing after a moving object, and the tuna began to run after her.

Wait, why is that thing so fast?!

The monster had the perfect running form of an Olympic athlete, despite being a fish. It was even faster than Crim, who could outrun top players like Sorleon. There was nothing more terrifying than a fish monster moving that fast on land.

The idea of outrunning a tuna sounded absurd, but the fish itself was at least three meters tall, and with the added height of its legs, it towered over Crim, easily three times her height.

On top of that, it was running faster than a car on a highway, chasing her through the dimly lit ruins. Its grotesque appearance only added to Crim’s overwhelming fear.

The flood of comments continued, but Crim had no time to pay attention to them.

“Get it away from meeee!! It’s so groooosss!!”
“GYOOOOOOO?!”
“I want my mommyyyyy!!!”

It seemed like the bluefin tuna (placeholder) took offense at being called gross and sped up even more. The sight of it made Crim regress in age as she continued running mindlessly, her panic mounting with every step.

Afterword:

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
“I want to see the character design team in my office.”
“Right away”