The Trembling of Penglai Academy!

Kazuma Shingū

Illustration: Hirofumi Nakamura

“Penglai Academy” is a solitary island in the South Pacific, 1,800 km south of Tokyo—Utsubune Island. At its center stands Penglai Academy High School, an enormous residential institution with 200,000 students. Including faculty and staff, the population reaches around 300,000. Everything here is excessive. Under the banner of autonomy and self-governance, countless clubs, hobby groups, committees, unofficial organizations, and even illegal factions operate in secret, allowing students to live a uniquely eccentric school life—this legendary series, originally born from PBM (Play-by-Mail) and later expanded across various media, returns once more. Set in the 2020s at Penglai Academy, an unexpected new student stirs up fresh chaos.

Episode 04: The protagonist—who clearly has no idea how to save this school, just like the author—has entered the old library! (Part 4)

We had noticed for a while that the fog or mist creeping across the floor was gradually growing denser.
But we all avoided admitting it, so afraid were we of facing that truth. After all, everyone here is a girl. Me, Princess Zien, Senior Ami, Kyō… and Taito-kun—well, let’s just say he holds honorary status as the “Honorary Girl.” We’re cute! Cute is justice! Anyone got a problem with that?
Wait—wasn’t Ap-chan male or female again? While pondering such trivial matters…

A soft rustling sound had been echoing from behind us all along.
That noise—the crawling, creeping, approaching sound…

“…Chaos?”
“So you’re saying what now?”
“No… I mean…”

But that blissfully ignorant moment eventually came to an end. At the very instant we reached the spot on our map indicating a staircase leading underground—our eyes locked onto it!

Scream!
Mine and then Kyōta-kun’s.
His voice was half an octave higher, but mine won in volume.
That massive thing—the size of three bookshelves combined, slick with greasy, repulsive greenish slime—had been crawling from behind us just moments ago, yet suddenly appeared right before our eyes!
Cheater!
Game Keeper, that kind of trick is unacceptable! Get the supervisor here! Wait… no, better not!

“Run!”
“Which way? North White River!”
“…Left!” A split-second decision. As expected from my beloved Princess Zien—her beautiful hair, graceful fingers, slender long legs…
“Hold on, Soyo-san, you’re describing her too vividly—you’ll end up getting caught by it! And besides, nowadays, even the slightest over-descriptive writing in light novels gets people mad!”

Slither… slither… crash… crash…
Warts—countless warts! Body fluids!

“Everyone, hurry! Hurry!”
“That corner—we’re almost at the stairs!”

Slither… sliding down… Ahhh—the countless thin limbs—plop, plop… they’re clinging to my shoes, ankles, legs! At least it’s tentacles this time!

“Kitten-chan!”
“I don’t want any more of this!”

I was gasping for breath—I couldn’t go on anymore! Seriously impossible! I mean, really, seriously impossible!
Slither—splat—crash… crash… squish…

“This way, Soyo-san! Just you now——”

Impossible, impossible, impossible! Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible! Muri Vederchi! But the reading is “goodbye!”
Having fully immersed myself in pretending to be Bocchini and escaped reality completely—only then did I finally collapse right in the middle of the narrow spiral staircase. The door slammed shut with a loud bang behind us, and I realized that the presence chasing us had vanished.

“Everyone okay? Kitten-chan?” Princess Zien’s gentle voice cutting through her heavy breathing. Ah, truly a gentleman indeed!
“This underground level is tough—heard it was bad but didn’t expect this!” Senior Ami clung to the spiral staircase railing, pale-faced—but still not out of breath.

“Still,” Kyōta-kun said, “that thing… the one rumored to have caused countless destructions of the Return Corps… its true form is… impossible! So huge? And surface area—was all that just skin?”
“Yes! Yes! But please don’t remind me!” I trembled violently. The spiral staircase wobbled slightly too. “I mean, how many people does this thing even equate to? I’ve heard ordinary leather-bound books use up an entire cow!”
“Not quite so extreme,” he replied. Hmm… wait—Wi-Fi’s acting up again… Well, roughly speaking, one head of cattle could make about a dozen thick-volume King James Bibles. Of course, not all the hide is usable—you’d have to cut out only the best parts…"
“So what about the leftover skin and meat, bones, organs?”
“Maybe other companies use them? For food, perhaps…”
“I see… that’s efficient… so somewhere in this old library there must be a facility for processing meat?”
“Hmm… maybe they transport it outside. But did you notice that bookmark ribbon? It was made of the same material as the playing cards.”
“Oh right! Right! When I felt those ribbons wrapping around my legs, I thought I was done for!”
“But who would ever imagine such a transformation?”
“Digestive tracts aren’t to be underestimated. The total surface area of just the small intestine is roughly equivalent to one tennis court. If you cut it lengthwise like that…”
“So what about the printed text on the pages?”
“Probably using a branding iron—after all, it’s skin.”

…We were deeply engrossed in this lively discussion when we finally noticed Princess Zien and Senior Ami staring at us with extremely displeased expressions. It felt as if they were slowly inching backward from where we sat halfway up the staircase.

“Princess Zien, you look pale—okay?”
“Oh… ah yes, I’m fine! Let’s keep moving!”

Of course my Princess Zien is a wonderful gentleman!

※

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※Next installment scheduled for November 1st.

Penglai Academy’s Trembling! Serial Page