Mindreader in a Nightmare Game

The moment the female ghost's hand grazed my hair, her inner thoughts exploded with pure joy.

"I touched her! She's so soft and fluffy that I'm gonna die! My life's complete, Mom! I touched a human!"

Once she succeeded, the whole army of ghosts could no longer hold back. They rushed toward me in excitement, flinging detached arms and dragging their broken legs behind them.

"This human is so well-behaved that she actually lets ghosts pet her!"

"If she gets to touch her, I want a turn too! I'm touching her next!"

"Lemme pet her! What's the big deal with just one pat?"

My head spun, and cold sweat ran down my spine.

That wouldn't do. I knew that if they kept it up, I'd probably be rubbed bloody by sheer enthusiasm even if they didn't rip my head off.

I darted back several steps toward the door and twisted the handle, but it was locked from the outside.

"No! The tiny human won't let us pet her anymore, but I didn't even get my turn…"

"Don't go, tiny human. Come here and let me hug you."

"I must look too scary. Even the tiny human doesn't like me…"

From the way the ghosts stopped in their tracks and huddled timidly together, they actually looked kind of… pitiful.

For some reason, I actually felt bad.

"Well… If you could tell me how to get out of here…" I guessed that I had to let them touch me again.

I saw the way their eyes instantly lit up, or maybe, only the ghosts who still had eyes.

Overjoyed, they busily scurried around the classroom and grabbed random junk before piling it in front of me. The pile included fragments of a notice, a notebook, and the rope they untied from the neck of the hanging ghost.

What on earth was this mess?

When I opened the notebook, words in various colors and handwriting styles leaped off the pages. Without exception, every line was filled with nasty insults and mockery.

"Know your place, Piggy Clark."

"You're last in the class, so why are you wasting paper on a notebook?"

"Drop out. You don't deserve to be here."

I frowned. What on earth was going on?

…

After several attempts, I confirmed that though I could hear the ghosts' inner thoughts, I couldn't directly ask them for the game's solution.

Whenever I brought up anything related to the game's content, the ghosts would go completely blank as if someone had unplugged their senses. It seemed that if I wanted to end the game, I'd have to do it on my own.

As I recalled all the survival-horror novels I'd read, I rested my chin in my hand and sank into deep thought.

The ghosts sat in a huddle around me and pretended to think hard, too.

But…

"Why is everyone sitting here and spacing out? Well, I'll space out too!"

"What should I eat for lunch… and for dinner…"

"The tiny human looks so soft… I really like her… If only I could pet her again…"

"Tiny human…" The last comment trailed off with giggles.

Listening to the ghosts' chaotic inner thoughts, my brain slowly began to melt like a pot of mush.

Just then, the shy female ghost who had approached me first pieced together the notice fragments and proudly presented them to me.

"You're a huge help. What's your name?" I offhandedly asked as I gratefully took the notice.

She shook her head and looked blank with confusion.

"Don't you remember your name?" I asked.

She shook her head and drifted away, looking melancholy.

I grabbed a few other ghosts, who all gave the same answer. Without exception, they knew nothing about their names or pasts, so I had no choice but to refocus on the clues at hand.

The notice was roughly pieced together, but I could vaguely make out that it was a school notice issued to students.

"Campus… Fully enclosed management… No communication devices allowed…"

This was a fully enclosed boarding high school. Before completing their studies, the students could not set foot outside the school grounds.

That meant these students likely couldn't contact their parents at all during their three years of high school studies.

After struggling through the fragmented, barely readable notice, I still couldn't pick up any clear clues. Compared to semi-enclosed schools, this high school mostly enrolled left-behind children.

Parents who couldn't pick up or drop off their kids for various reasons would usually send them to this fully enclosed boarding school with low tuition fees.

So, how had the students turned into these ghosts?