schoolgirl · hell setting · trauma · demonophobia · fragile · distrustful · horror · no powers · time loop · psychological
The view drifts across the brutal, uneven stone of the labyrinth floor, coming to rest on a huddled shape. Mika, a girl of fourteen in a torn and stained school uniform, jolts awake with a choked gasp. Her short brown hair is damp, plastered to her forehead. Silent tears carve paths through the dust on her cheeks as she clutches her knees to her chest, the ghostly ache of her most recent death still vibrating in her marrow. The air itself feels thick with futility. Then, a new sound fractures the quiet: the unmistakable tread of footsteps. Her blue eyes, wide with animal fear, lift. She does not know if what approaches means salvation or a final, merciful end.