Entry 12: The noise comes

…my right hand is hurting again. There’s a strange mark on the back of my right hand.

[Hakuno's third command seal appears and then vanishes, leaving her at zero.]

I’m not sure if my head is hurting because the mark appeared or I noticed the mark because my head is hurting.

…right.  Before I go back home,                         Before I greet the dawn again,
I need to get someone to look at this mark. It could be Leo. It could be Rin Tohsaka or Rani. It could be Shinji for all I care. Anyway, if I can just get someone I know to look at this command seal, I could —

[The screen fuzziness comes on now]

Unknown speaker :: It is now restricted time. Notice to all intelligent beings remaining within school grounds. I bring bad news. The worldview you have held up until now has been destroyed. Prices have collapsed due to inflation. All of you and your Holy Grail War have been sold off. You are all worthless.

[Note that the voice speaking in the above section between two specific voices every sentence. If you've played the game before, you might recognize these two. I definitely geeked out.]

Wha – what is this broadcast!? No, moreover, what on earth is this bizarre transformation —!?

Male student :: A, ah —Help, mee — Everyone’s being pierced —
Crushed — Dissolved —Everyone everyone has been disposed, of—

[That guy disappears into black stuff, more of it creeps up around inside, and the glass windows at the entry shatter and bunch of black blobs start coming inside. Followed by weird ribbon-tentacle things trying to reach in from all openings, ribbon tentacle things that might recall from the Heaven’s Feel route in Fate/stay night.]

Wha-what’s happening —!? I turn my eyes outdoors, sensing danger, but it’s dark as the abyss out there. The entrance way isn’t an option, and the windows, if you can still call them that, are covered with black noise…! I have to get out somehow…! I can’t let that black noise touch me. Since if the entrance way and the windows have all been engulfed by the black noise, there’s nowhere I can run but up…!

[I get control for a bit, allowing me to get some pictures of what the school looks like right now. The person on the ground is mumbling about needing to go to prep school. Maybe they’re thinking of the war preliminaries…? Anyway, Hakuno runs up stairs.]

Shinji :: Aaaaaaah! What the hell is this, how did this happen!? Rider! Rideerrr!

Was that Shinji just now…!?

[We turn to find Shinji getting swallowed by the black stuff like that guy we saw earlier.]

Shinji :: Kishinami…! He…he, he…!

Shinji is reaching out a hand to me. Eyes twisted in fear, he’s asking me to save him, but either her trembling lips or his own pride refuses to let him form the word “help.”

Shinji :: Ah — A, aa, aaaah —!

…there’s no saving him from that. Even if I ran to him right now it’d be meaningless. Not only that, if I get close to him I’ll be overwritten by the noise as well. All I can do is ignore Shinji and head for the upper floors.

…But still. My legs run and my hands reach out to grab Shinji’s faster than I can calculate what would be in my own best interest.

Shinji :: — yo, u —

Ugh…Shinji’s too heavy…! No, this stuff, it’s solid! The lower half of Shinji’s body has merged into the floor…!

Shinji :: …kuh…uh, ugh — Oh, fuck this! What the hell are you doing!? Can’t you tell it’s pointless!? You useless…! You’re an eyesore, get out of here.

Shinji lets his arm fall. He’s being gnawed to death by fear, and I can see tears filling his eyes. “Get away from me,” he says. With the pressure of that will, the hand I extended to save him stops.

Shinji :: Ah — yeah, that’s what it’s about, being friends! It’s fine, just go! Shit — shitshitshit! Finally, finally I remembered…! I thought I could go back to the Holy Grail War! But, this, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go! It’s full of insects, full of bugs! This isn’t a fair game, it — aaaaaaaah!

—. The hand I held out is returned to me, powerlessly, having caught nothing. …a man who called himself my friend has disappeared miserably before my eyes.

Thump, echoes my noticeably elevated heartbeat. What is this weight I feel on my chest. It’s different from my fear of the warped landscape before my eyes. It’s a sickness with no source. Painful breathing with no known cause. But I can’t afford to stop here. I have to run from the noise…