When Nogi Girls’ High School was selected for special conscription, police and municipal slaughterhouse staff arrived to seal off the campus and transport students to the facility. Caught off guard, Aoi boarded the bus to the slaughterhouse still in her school uniform. She tried everything—calling, emailing the school’s suggestion box, contacting government hotlines, and even researching ways to apply for a deferment. But when she saw the girls ahead of her in line being beheaded and dismembered, she finally realized escape was impossible.