Of course, they were still inside a room. The scene just described was merely painted on the walls and reenacted through the décor.

Except for the rain and thunder, those were real.

“I’ve got to say, Class 3 – W outdid itself!” Kimei shouted, mostly so that Henry could hear her in spite of the harsh wind.

“I don’t know if this is better. Want to try searching for a way out?” Henry screamed in return.

“I can’t swim!”

Kimei blew out the lantern, which had managed to stay on despite the heavy rain and strong winds and water splashing from the side of the boat. The weather stopped as soon as the flame was extinguished.

Red surrounded them the moment the lantern was back on. The pavement and the walls and the ceiling were mixed together in a horror show of flesh. Raw, soggy, squishy walls of meat with bloody blemishes and bulging bumps. Bright veins coated the room, pulsating with a slow and faint hum. Tuft of black hair, remnants of skin, familiar-looking bones, drafts of limbs, and organ-like structures. The room was everything the insides of an animal could contain, blended around in unrecognizable shapes. Their feet sunk into the flesh below.

Despite the fear that froze his limbs, Henry managed to put a hand over his mouth to stop the gagging.

“Never mind the room… I think we changed genres entirely. Did I already tell you how I prefer slice of life?”

“Look!”

Unlike the previous two, this room had a way out. A mushy corridor laid with teeth.

“You know, it’s funny. We were looking for a way out, and now that we have one, I regret asking.”

“Do you think this is real flesh?” Kimei boldly stepped closer to the possible exit.

“I think I don’t want to know!”

“And those teeth, they are way too big and sharp to be human.”

“Ignorance is bliss!!”

“I guess we have to go through the corridor.”

“I’m fine with trying out more rooms. I’ll turn off the light.”

“Don’t! What if the next ones don’t have an exit?”

“Still better than this.”

The room began to agitate. The shape of a hand appeared on a wall as if pushing from the other side. The hand pushed more and more, until it stretched the flesh and managed to put out the outline of an arm. A big smile appeared on the wall above it.

“The teeth corridor is a wonderful idea!” Henry began running.

“What a well-done effect!” Kimei was pushed into running.

Blood splashed around with each step of their frenzied run. Henry’s run was frenzied; Kimei’s run was more like a light jog enjoying the sights.
They turned a corner, where a vampire yuki-onna was waiting for them in a white mist. A terrifying scream later, Henry’s, they turned around and ran the opposite way, where a zombie werewolf jumped out with a growl. They ran past it and kept going without a direction. But alas, their fleeing attempt came to an end when a new monster came from above and sent them both to the ground-flesh. It was a humanoid figure made up of countless faces, but with only one pair of eyes and mouth that kept swapping between which face to use.

“Your journey ends here.” One of its faces echoed.

“W-what are you?”

“I’m the declining birth rate.”

Henry screamed.

“I noticed that the other two were mixes of classic monsters. How come?” Kimei asked with student-like wonder.

“We spent most of the budget on the flesh.” The eyes and mouth were sucked back inside the body before sprouting on a different face. “We put the monsters together to save on the costumes.”

“Smart! Their costumes were very realistic.” She felt inspired.

“Do you want to see them…” The declining-birth-rate-monster raised its hand towards Kimei to make its mouth and eyes sprout closer to her, “Face to face?”

“I’d be delighted to!”

“I think that was supposed to be a pun-based threat…” Henry whispered to her.

Regardless of their intention, the vampire yuki-onna and the zombie werewolf appeared out of the flesh next to them.

“Amazing!” Kimei was amazed, “It’s hard to show that someone is a vampire and yuki-onna hybrid from the clothes alone, especially since the former looks like a simple woman, but you managed to mix the two seamlessly by making the kimono bat themed!”

“I can absorb body heat and freeze your skin with a simple touch.” The vampire yuki-onna's voiced oozed out of her mouth.

“Classic vampire! And the zombie werewolf! It is so cool to see an actual wolf skull in that half of your face. Many people mistakenly use raccoon skulls without realizing the difference, but you clearly value the attention to details.”

“Touch the blood,” the zombie werewolf growled, “It’s real!”

“Woah!” She happily dipped her finger in the massive, gaping wound the zombie werewolf had in its side and stirred it around.

“I think I’m with the wrong crowd...” Said Henry, the only one wearing normal clothes.

“On the contrary, we value your presence here.” The vampire yuki-onna spoke, and the air turned cold. “We wouldn’t be able to have fun without a screamer.” She smiled.

“You’re so welcome…”

“What about you,” The face monster asked Kimei with one of its faces, “What are you supposed to be?”

“I’m glad you asked, Debira!" Kimei turned to Henry, "Declining-Birth-Rate, get it?" She smiled enthusiastically. Henry was not able to react. 

"I am Dark! Fighter! Kimei! A secret alien creature that has taken on a human form to conquer the planet and rule the galaxy!”

“That is… cool.” You can guess it was the vampire yuki-onna who said that. “What do you do to people?”

“She convinced me to go through this rite where I need to collect papers. I was almost eaten alive by alligators and yet I’m still doing it.” Henry was secretly looking for pity.

“Savage.” It was the zombie werewolf’s turn.

“By collecting papers, do you mean this one?” Debira spat out the pink paper with a big eight drawn on.

“Exactly this one!” Kimei grabbed it. “Thank you so much!”

“The least I can do for a fellow monster!”

They both laughed. Henry began questioning whether he still wanted Gimei’s number, but it was too late to back down now.

“If we have the paper, we can leave, right?”

“Already?” The only ear of the zombie werewolf flopped down.

“Yes, sorry, we have to finish this rite before the school closes.” Kimei explained. “But I promise we’ll visit you again!”

“We?” Henry looked at her.

“How do we get out?”

Debira smiled. Its face sprouted next to the lantern, before blowing out the light.

Turning it on again, they were back outside, in the schoolyard. In full daylight.

POSTFACE

- (UN)RELIABLE INFORMATION

Culture festival: A festival of culture. A periodic commemoration of the qualities of society. A day or time of celebration, marked by feasting, ceremonies, or other observances dedicated to that which is excellent in the arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc. Child labor but ok.

Yuki-onna: A monster from Japanese mythology. If yuki means snow, and onna means woman, what could yuki-onna mean? That’s right! She’s the counterpart to the snowman! *insert joke about snowballs*

Kimono: Something to wear. That’s the literal translation of the word, so I have to assume a swim ring that looks like a unicorn also counts as a kimono.