"Huff, huff...

huff...

huff...!!"

"......Shit, damn it... shit, shit...

Manager...?

Manager, come on, say something.

...Manager......"

"You idiot...

He's dead already."

Clang.

A loud noise snapped everyone out of it.

Someone dropped the shovel he was holding.

The shovel was smeared with reddish-black blood.

No, not just the shovel.

All six construction workers' clothes were blood-soaked, too.

One of them cried out to the silent dead body of the manager, which was drenched in blood.

"...Manager...

...Manager...

oooh...!"

"Shut up...!

He's already dead!

It was self-defense!

Right? Self-defense!!"

The fight had started after the manager yelled at them for drinking beer inside the office.

There were 'no drinking' and 'no smoking' signs everywhere.

The manager harshly scolded anyone who broke that rule.

So it was the six workers' fault for disobeying.

But they drank because they were stressed out by the anti-dam protesters.

...That's why they said things to provoke the manager.

They told him to step out.

And the others went along.

The construction workers toiled hard and long hours.

That's why they instigated the fight with the manager, to release their stress.

They had expected to just curse at each other, or to end up in a wrestling match.

...But things escalated.

Or to put it more accurately, the manager exploded all of a sudden.

The manager had to deal with the residents' protests as well.

So he was under just as much pressure... or maybe even more.

But how he changed was not normal.

The manager was calm at first.

But he gradually became more aggressive

and it was like he transformed into someone completely different.

No,

it was like he was possessed by something evil...

The men who instigated the fight sobered up when they saw his behavior.

Then...

the manager picked up a shovel that was nearby and tried to smash his opponent's head in with it.

He managed to avoid the hit, but if he didn't, his head would've surely been split open.

The manager kept pounding on him with the shovel.

Even as he frantically tried to avoid the hits.

By this time, the workers had realized this was beyond a simple fight, so they tried to hold the manager down.

But the manager turned on them with the shovel too.

One of the men tried to protect himself by crossing his arms above his head.

...But there was no way that could have blocked a shovel swung with such force.

Blood spurted out, and the man groaned in pain.

By this time, the six men had realized

the manager was not his usual self.

This manager would try to bash in their brains without hesitation.

Since their opponent was using a shovel as his weapon, they had to find some kind of weapon too.

One of them grabbed a huge hammer.

Then the others realized they needed to find something as well.

To restrain the manager in that condition, it was better to arm themselves.

"...It wasn't supposed to be this way...

...Waaaaah..."

It didn't take that long for the madness to infect the six workers.

It was only a matter of time before they went from restraining him to lynching him.

By the time they realized what had happened, the manager was already a lump of meat.

His face was swollen. Shreds of skin had been torn off and his muscles and skull were visible too.

...Obviously, he was quite dead...

"Fuck!

He almost killed us, remember?

If he hadn't attacked us, we wouldn't have fought him,

right?"

The leader of the six, the one who instigated the fight, tried to bring the rest to his side, but nobody replied.

And so, the leader became frustrated.

He was the one who started the fight.

The rest simply joined in.

...He was the main perpetrator.

Maybe that was why he was feeling so exasperated. He sensed that he was the one at fault.

"D-Don't just stand there like a limp noodle!!

It's too late!

We killed him, and there's nothing we can do about it!!

We're all murderers now!!

Buck up!"

"You ain't thinking about turning yourself in and doing time, are you?!

Fuck you!!

I can't go to the slammer at my age!!"

"We're hiding it!

We're hiding this corpse and pretending nothing happened!!"

...Some of them knew he was on probation for an assault incident once before.

So if he got into trouble with the law again, the punishment would be more severe than they could imagine.

That was why he was trying desperately to find a way out.

If he was alone with the manager's body, then he wouldn't have behaved this way.

All he would have to do was to hide the manager's body and pretend nothing happened.

But there were six of them, including him.

They were partners in crime, and witnesses too.

If even one of them turned himself in out of guilt, he'd be in big trouble...

"B... But...

even if we hide the body...

they'll find out sooner or later..."

"Instead... we should plead justifiable self-defense

and they might end up pardoning us..."

"Don't be so stupid!!

Look what we've done! Look at his face!!

Who would think this is the result of self-defense?

His parents wouldn't even be able to identify him in this condition, you idiot!!"

"B-But... even if we hide it, everyone's going find out tomorrow morning when the manager doesn't show.

It's hopeless...!"

"What's hopeless is your damn brain, you shithead!!!"

He slapped the other man in the face.

...The leader had such an evil look in his eyes.

"Listen well, dipshits!!

We're all murderers, okay?!

Keep griping now, and we'll all get slammed with five or six years!!

Just one of you here try and blab!!

We'll all be locked up!!

Don't underestimate the pen.

If you're prepared to be caught anyway, then run like your life depends on it!!

You can resign yourself to it later when it's time to pay the piper!!"

His visage turned more and more demonic.

It was the same expression the manager had just a few minutes before.

...Was he possessed by the same thing that possessed the manager?

The five men started to think that way.

Now that they considered it... all the villagers in the anti-dam protests had the same expression on their faces too.

The real name of Hinamizawa was Onigafuchi Village.

People said that wicked demons lived there, and sometimes they possessed people.

...The men couldn't help but to recall that exaggerated story often told by the demonstrators.

The manager swung the shovel after his expression changed to that demonic one.

There was no guarantee this man wouldn't do the same.

In fact, he was still squeezing the hammer in his hand, glaring at everyone and threatening them.

If someone suggested surrendering,

he'd probably smash their head in with it.

"I know.

......To make sure nobody betrays the rest,

I have an idea.

Heh heh heh.

It'll make it easier to hide the body, too!"

"Wh...... What is it?"

"Heh heh heh.

We're gonna...

cut up the body, into six pieces."

"Wh-What..."

They all wanted to object to the idea.

Killing him was a serious crime itself.

Dismembering the body would be too much.

But if anyone objected, he'd be killed on the spot.

So no one said anything.

"We'll all cut him up together.

Remember what the manager used to say?

Teamwork!

We're all in this, together.

We'll each take a body part and hide it responsibly.

What do you think, huh?

This way, we're all equally guilty, right?

Heh heh heh, I won't let anyone give themselves up!!

Heh heh heh heh heh heh!!"

"...........Ooh..."

The five men were all taken in by his ghastly face

and they could even feel the fear of the Onigafuchi demons creep up their backs.