Chapter Text
“Damn, how’d ya even figure that out? Looks like there really is somethin’ going on inside that hard-headed green shell of yours.”
Karasu: “By the way, Hiori, have you found anything yet?”
As Hiori was about to answer, the floor below him suddenly opened up and quickly closed before he could even react or scream he was already in a foreign room.
Hiori felt himself landing on a soft cushion. It was pitch black for a few seconds, until dim red lights shone in the entire room and revealed the setting; it seemed to be a backyard, or rather the cabin house’s backyard in which there were oak fences around it and by the corner was a small dog house obviously not large enough to fit an adult German Shepherd.
The ground was of damp dirt as it was lightly snowing.
All of a sudden, from the pitch black darkness inside the doghouse, a human wearing a realistic dog suit came crawling out and acted as if it was really one. It was crying, panting, and even barking with the low voice of a huge shepherd.
As it got closer to Hiori he saw that the humanoid dog was crying blood and when it was close enough he backed a few steps away, terrified and confused.
The humanoid dog then stopped walking and did a W-sit, still panting with its tongue out.
It stared at Hiori for a few moments before saying something.
“Libera te tutemet ex inferis.” (Deliver me from hell)
“...!”
SHUT!
The lights in the place turned off making it pitch black once more.
Hiori, whose senses were on edge after all this scary shit happening to him while he was alone, paused stone cold and gulped his own scream.
-
“Stop breathing so heavily.”
Isagi and Rin were smushed up in a small box barely able for them to stand up in. They were both sitting against one another, their legs folded. Rin towered over Isagi, and Isagi was forced to huddle up to Rin’s chest because of the lack of space.
Moments ago, Rin was just explaining the lore of the Devil Dog and how it correlates to this crime scene to Karasu and the rest until the door of the closet behind them mysteriously opened up and a figure muffled both their mouths while dragging the two inside; Karasu was still kneeling, trying to check up at Hiori while being jumpscared as well the woman corpse during this time so he didn’t notice them.
“...I wouldn’t if we weren’t literally just kidnapped away from Karasu, what the hell?”
‘What the hell just happened? Who or what pulled us into here? Where did the stuff inside this closet go? What the actual fuck?’ Isagi continued panting.
DOOG DOOG, DOOG DOOG, DOOG DOOG
Isagi could feel and even hear Rin’s heart beat which he thought was his at first; it was so intense yet faint.
‘...So loud. It feels as if his heart is about to pop out of his chest. This prick… is he… ?’
“Are you scared?” Isagi peeked up at Rin.
“No. Thrilled would be the right word. I wouldn’t be as lukewarm as you to be scared.”
“Yeah, right.” Isagi scoffed, feigning bravery.
After a few seconds, a mysterious voice resounded throughout the closet and spoke again.
“Don’t speak, don’t scream. No matter what you do, don’t try to open the closet door.”
“Wow, thanks Rin, thanks a lot. That’s really helpful advice on how to get us out of here.”
“That wasn’t me.”
“...Then who?”
“A person who doesn’t do anything, but gets everything is called what?”
“Lucky.” Rin answered.
“Jackpot!”
From above them, red lights lit the closet dimly. Isagi then felt a slimy liquid run down his head as he looked above.
It was a humanoid dog with a smile full of teeth on its face, it panted like an actual dog leading it to secrete saliva outside of its mouth. The creature’s eyes glew red, and that was where the dim lighting came from; not only that, a stream of endless blood seemed to pour out of its eyes.
Right at that moment, Isagi used every muscle in his body to stop himself from screaming. Thankfully, when the light grew brighter, they realized it was just a mascot, a Halloween stature.
“Hello, dear investigators! It is I, Lucky the German shepherd. You’re probably wondering where I am and how the hell am I talking to all of you, but that is the least of your concerns right now.”
“I have a riddle for the pair of you, answering it correctly within my allotted time of choice grants you freedom from this Compartment of Hell, otherwise and/or failure to give me the answer I am looking for will result in… you don’t want to know.”
Isagi was about to say something in response but quickly noticing, Rin put his hand against Isagi’s mouth.
“...?”
Rin made a ‘sh’ gesture with his other hand and glared at him before mouthing ‘He told us ‘Don’t speak’, dumbass.’`
“I was there before everything and am the origin of all that is existing; you cannot see me as you cannot grasp me; I am unreachable yet around everyone all the time; what am I?”
‘...! I saw a riddle like this on social media, come on Isagi, think…’
“You’ve got 2 minutes and 2 chances! To finalize an answer, call out my name and say it. Timer starts now, fellas; you may speak, but only whisper.”
“Hey, Lucky. The answer’s nihility.” Rin spoke without a doubt.
“Not quite. Love the confidence, however!”
Isagi slapped Rin’s hand which was still on his mouth lightly before pushing it away.
“We’ve got only 2 chances, asshole! And you wasted one of them, let’s at least discuss first before answering… we’ve got 2 minutes anyway.”
“Tsk. What’s your guess anyway? If you even have one.”
“God. I saw this on twitter once, trust me.”
“Is that your only explanation? Seriously?”
“I mean, well yeah, I saw it there word for word plus if you think about it, it does make sense.”
“...Fine, we’ll try it.”
“Lucky, we’ve got a new answer for you. We’re thinking it’s God… ?”
The light from the closet disappeared and so did the humanoid dog mascot. The entrance of the closet banged open and they both quickly got out.
Standing outside, the doors of the cabinet shut tightly by itself after puking Isagi and Rin out.
“Oh thank God, I thought you shit stains ghosted me.”
“Speaking of shit stains, you should probably check your pants for one considering how fucking pussied out you look right now, trash NPC.” Rin spat back.
“Shut yer damn trap, My Chemical Nuisance wannabe. Anyway, where’ve you guys been? Have you seen Hiori? He’s still not here. I’m worried for that slick.” Karasu gulped before continuing.
“He disappeared in thin air all of a sudden when I knelt down and checked, I didn’t see him; and when I tried standin’ back up, the corpse of the woman over ‘ere charged at me before I knew y’all disappeared.”
Isagi: “Wasn’t he supposed to be checking the vault? Also, we got snatched by something into the closet and had to answer a riddle about God. Don’t know what that could connect with in this room.”
“...God? That’s strange, I mean we do have Hell, but ain’t nothin’ here Godly.”
“Enough panicking, let’s summarize the crime scene so far. We’ll come back to Hiori later.”
“Alright. Wait, let me get my notepad and pen ready.”
Isagi scribbled what sequencing Karasu said:
“The man has high blood pressure – the man and the woman were supposed to try out bdsm today to spice up things in their stale marriage – the man has a stroke right after the lady cuffs herself to the bed – the woman panics and tries to help the man screaming franctically for help – their dog who most likely came after playing outside their home went in the room through the dog door – it approaches the woman confused and then the man and when the dog realized its other owner was dead he ate the man’s fingers out of hunger – the woman yelled at the dog scaring it away – the dog panics and runs around the room – moments later it returns to the lady, the bite marks on the woman’s wrist was from the dog realizing the woman’s problem and tried to free her but instead did more harm by biting at her wrist to which – the lady violently kicks the dog away – being threatened the dog attacks the woman by biting her neck off realizing its abuser and owner was restricted anyway – afterwards the dog panics more and runs around the room leaving it dishelved; the dog then leaves the room explaining the larger trail of more muddy footprints leaving the room — Conclusion: the dog killed the woman, and a stroke killed the man.”
“Rin, what do you think? Is it correct?” Isagi, after writing all of it down, asked Rin who was staring at a phone screen.
“...Yes. It seems right enough. And I was right, the couple has been abusing the dog, Lucky.” Rin showed the phone he finally got to unlock to both Karasu and Isagi; it was displaying text messages between the man and the woman, them both scheduling their sex time in the man’s hidden cabin in the middle of a forest called Sierra woods. Rin also showed pictures in the woman’s phone gallery displaying them recording their satanic rituals including the dog being abused for it (forcing it to become vegan and eat the herbs they used for satanic rituals, beating it to submission, using it as an offering, etc.) which explained the unusual aggressive behaviour of the German Shepherd, causing it to eat and kill both its owners.
“I agree with Rin.” A hand from below the bed grabbed Karasu’s foot before revealing itself.
Karasu freaked out and kicked the hand away.
“Yeowch! You darn asshole, it’s me Hiori! I just returned and this is how fuckin’ you treat me? Geez…” Hiori grouched in pain, finally getting out from the bottom of the bed.
“Oh, it’s you.” Karasu hid his concern yet still helped Hiori up.
“And where’d ya go, bubblehead? I thought you ghosted me again.”
“Oh, shaddap! It was dang one time through text, I told ya I fell asleep, besides, didn’t you have that green onion ninja to go with you back then anyway?”
“Anyways, I finally unlocked the vault, it had a journal in it planning to light the dog on fire for their satanic ritual after they had sex! I disappeared ‘cause the floor below the bed suddenly opened up right when I tried to unlock the bed, and I dropped in somewhere that seemed to be like a grassy-snowy outside backyard with a doghouse however the sky wasn’t blue and was rather red, after that a human dressed as a dog while crying blood came out the doghouse and cried in front of me muttering something; I only understand about a half of what it said. The floor then elevated and brought me up again.“
Karasu: “...What?”
“I’ve got the same reaction, pal. I wish I was makin’ this stuff up, I thought I was finna die with the same way I was totterin’ out of fear down there.”
“Me and Rin also had a similar encounter with a humanoid dog except we got dragged in the closet! It asked us riddles, though, in which the answer to it was God. What did the dog say to you?”
“What did the fox say?” Karasu slipped in a small pun, giggling to himself.
“I think it’s a Latin quote from a sci-fi horror movie I know, but I don’t remember the exact time. It starts with Libera and ends with infer… something. I think it meant ‘Save me from hell’ or something like that. Ah, sorry guys, my memory’s real blurry today.”
“It’s fine, don’t push yourself.” Isagi responded until Rin, who was silent all this time reviewing the written summary and investigating a bit more, spoke up.
“4 minutes and 56 seconds left for investigating, you guys still wanna keep wasting time or what?”
“...!” The three shot up and finally became serious, all of them forming a circle to discuss things.
Karasu: “Well, we’ve written the summary already. I think we’re all set for the questions the host has for us unless Rin, have you found anything wrong with it?”
“No. It’s fine at best.”
“Hiori, take a peek.” Karasu took the notepad from Isagi’s hand and gave it to Hiori.
“Seems good ta me.”
“Alright, then let’s start.”
“I’ll count 321 and we’ll chant pink lollipop altogether, sounds good?”
Hiori and Isagi nodded in response while recalling all important details from the crime scene. Rin threw a blunt thumbs-up.
“3, 2, 1.”
“Pink lollipop, pink lollipop, pink lollipop.”
And with the digital clock hung right above the entrance of the room stopping at 3 minutes and 17 seconds, the girl’s voice boomed throughout the room.
“Good morning, dear humans! Did y’all miss me while I was away?” The Borei guide yawned through her microphone.
“Anyways, it seems you guys are ready for the interrogation! Giddy up, investigators, for y’all have a total answering time of only 20 minutes. There are a total of 10 questions, with the first 4 being about the crime scene’s backstory, the other 4 about the crime itself, and the last 2 are a secret! When you finish a question, we will automatically move to the next one. By the way, they will only be verbally said once to you so be all ears.”
“Are y’all ready? I don’t care if you lot aren’t, ‘cause I’mma start the test now!”
The digital clock reset its timer and on it presented 20:00.
The 4 tightly shut up their mouths and prevented from moving to focus as much as possible to the question going to be announced.
“What is the man’s affiliation with the woman? Clue: They know each other very well~”
The digital clock started moving and quickly flipped to 19:59, lessening more and more as time passes.
Hiori: “They’re a couple right?”
Rin: “Yea.”
Isagi: “Does it have to be ultra specific? What if they’re married?”
Rin: “Still a couple.”
Karasu: “Let’s go with couple.”
Isagi: “Alright.”
‘This is more chillax than I thought.’ Isagi eventually eased down.
“And your answer is… bababa-BINGO, correct! A little tip from me, don’t overthink it, just hit it! Now going next,” The timer paused once again.
“What is the dog’s name and when is the couple’s anniversary? Clue: Calendar!” Timer start.
“The dog’s name is…”
“Lucky.” Rin intersected Isagi.
“ And the anniversary, ten-!”
“October 31 is the pair’s anniversary.”
‘This guy…’
Isagi: “What’s your deal? Just answer normally, dude. We’re all in this together anyway.”
“I am. It is not my fault you’re too slow.”
“Stop bein’ childish with the banter now, we’re in too deep to lose to you fucktards for acting like dumbasses.” Karasu’s eyebrows knit.
‘Alright, that’s it. I’m answering ahead of him. He may be petty but I can get pettier.’
“Bullseye. Thirdly, we have…” Timer pause.
“What activity did the couple prepare for their anniversary, which is today for their time? I’m not giving any clues, this tongue is still too young!” Timer continues.
Rin: “BDSM.”
Isagi: “Sex.”
“...”
Rin: “Sex shouldn’t be considered ‘cause it’s way too broad.”
Isagi: “So you’re a sex connoisseur now?”
“Aye, calm down now, let’s just use both of yer answers, ‘kay?” Hiori comes between the two of them.
“Hey host, BDSM sex is our final answer.” Karasu finishes the fuss.
“...!”
“We have a damn timer, shitheads. Remember?” Karasu points at the digital clock above the entrance where they came from.
“...Yea, right.” Isagi pouts.
.
.
.
“And for the final question!”
“This crime scene took inspiration from 3 movies! Can you guess which ones they are?
Clue: Since this one’s hard, I’ll give yall a huuuuge lift! The first one is two words with the both of them starting at G, the second movie has a title as long as how it has been around! With 6 letters, it got published in the 70’s. And finally, for the final and most recent one, only one person can know this for only one of you lot got into hell, and got delivered from it! That’s all. Now, start!”
“Shit, I don’t know nun’ about horror movies. Take the lead, no.1 perv.” Karasu glanced at Rin.
“I always have. Anyways, the first two movies are definitely Gerald’s Game and Devil Dog: The Hound from Hell. However, the third, a few comes to mind, and I’m unsure of them…” Rin says with a hand on his chin.
“It’s the Event Horizon, without a doubt!” Hiori chimed in from being silent all the while; Rin and Isagi had their fair share of arguing over answers, in which Karasu was there to tie them so their time was not wasted too much.
“I got flashbacks about it when I got dropped from the floor earlier. It’s one of my favorite movies to binge durin’ lonely holidays.”
“Oh, yeah! I watched that with you once. Now I remember.” Isagi nods in agreement.
“So, Gerald’s Game, Devil Dog: The Hound from Hell, and Event Horizon, is it?”
“Yup!”
“Alright, missy, we’re good to go.”
Waiting for a few seconds, there was only silence.
No feminine voice spoke over the speakers to announce their victor, instead, the doors to the cabin door barged open and a dozen of armed figures wearing red tracksuits and differing black masks with shapes on them threatened the four.
BANG!
“Get down and put your hands up in the air where we can see ‘em!”
In the knick of a second, they surrounded the boys and tied them with cuffs before forcing them to stand up and walk with their backs bended towards the floor.
While walking, officers stood in between each of them so they wouldn’t speak.
‘It looks rough but they’re holding me pretty comfortably, and the cuffs don’t hurt too bad. I guess this was in the contract details too, huh? Wait, are these the same fuzzy cuffs the woman on the bed was wearing?’ Isagi wondered to himself while walking.
The boys realized they walked into a much wider and empty area. They finally got released and saw the place; it had dark turquoise tiles above and the ceilings were ridiculously high. There were endless bundles of beds all around despite there being only four of them… but wait.
The more they walked inside, they recognized 3 familiar faces just lounging around in one of the beds despite there being countless.
The first one had an overly pretty face for a man as he dried his hair with a blow dryer. He was being hit on by another guy who seemed like he had a leek vegetable for hair. The third one was just lazing around, complaining and sulking about how the pink soldiers took his phone away.
However, they all had one thing in common; they all wore green track suits with numbers of their own at the back.
“This is just bothersome and boring. Reo didn’t get in either, let’s just leave.”
“Yea, that’s easy for you to say ‘cause Reo paid for your ticket! Let’s just wait til’ the first batch of players finish so we can start.”
“...!”
“Karasu, that you?”
“Yo! Long time no see, hehe.” Karasu tried to walk to Otoya but was immediately blocked by a barrier of officers.
“Halt! Your payment for the second floor is still not fulfilled. Do you wish to continue or get lost?”
“Oh right, there’s separate fees for each room.”
“Exactly. For all of you to proceed, an additional 30,000 yen is needed.” Another soldier spoke up as a ticket machine arose from the ground.
“Line up for your tickets, please!” The officer instructed.
“Thank God we already got part of our bids from NEL…” Isagi chuckled.
“Isn’t your salary above a hundred fifty million? What do ya have to struggle about? Tsk.” Hiori rolled his eyes and nudged Isagi as a tease.
“Don’t worry, it’s fine to be broke. Been there done that.” Isagi pat Hiori on the back.
“Oh, to hell wit’ ya!” Hiori chuckled as he went forward to pay for his ticket and followed along Karasu who went first.
Isagi casually paid for his with card and Rin did so as well.
Isagi turned back and noticed an officer whispering briefly to Rin but thought nothing of it.
“Chigiri, Nagi! I didn’t think you guys would be here.”
“Oh, Isagi?” Nagi perked up a bit but continued napping.
“Isagi! Oh it’s been so long, did Kunigami come along with you? Since he’s from bm and all.” Chigiri stopped blow drying his hair.
“No, only Hiori agreed to go. The rest said they were busy sadly.”
“Aw, shucks.”
“By the way, have you guys seen Nanase? He was supposed to come with us, but didn’t make the cut the first time.” Isagi asked.
“Nanase? The guy who’s always wearing a bandana? I don’t think so. We were pretty msuhed up in a crowd so we couldn’t look around much.”
“Oh I see, how long were you guys here?”
“About 5 minutes, waiting for you guys. That’s why Nagi over here is so bored.”
“Dear participants of the 1st house, please follow suit of us officers for your uniforms.” The pink soldiers lined up to escort the four.
“Whoops, gotta go.” Karasu and Hiori bid Otoya, whilst Isagi bid Nagi and Chigiri. Rin already went ahead to change his clothes.
-
When everyone was here, they all hurdled up in a circle; some sitting on the bed, some on the floor.
They all chatted (except Rin of course) casually, waiting for instructions.
“Isn’t a total of 4 people allowed each time? Why is there only three of you?” Isagi suddenly asked.
“Ah, Otoya brought a girl with him, but she caused a scene ‘cause she didn’t wanna go to the haunted house anymore. Since we already started they couldn’t replace her with another person. A shame since her ticket was already paid for.”
“...Is that why Otoya’s still fawning over you?”
“...Pretty much, yeah.”
“Fawning is too strong a word, window shopping sounds more right.” Otoya curled the green part of his hair.
A deep male voice spoke loudly throughout the huge space in the middle of their chatter.
“Greetings, contestants. Welcome to the Borei Games, in which all of you will undergo a series of challenges. In the end, lies a great reward for the worthy survivors.”
“With no further ado, I’ve got no more words since the first batch took all their fucking time assing off, so let’s get into the thick of it.”
“Once you’re ready, enter the area ahead.”
The metal double doors on the other side of the room suddenly barged open automatically and within was a light too bright they couldn’t see anything in it.
Rin went ahead without regard for others. Isagi caught up.
“Excited much, Rin?”
“Yes. Excited for all of you to leave me alone for good.”
“Up tight as usual, Mr. I-slip-on-my-own-drool? I bet if you stuck a lump of coal in your ass for a week it would turn into a diamond.” Otoya nudged Rin with a giggle.
“Shut.”
They soon entered the light and revealed a larger room; so tall you couldn’t see the below of it. They looked up and saw a highway separated into two, in the middle of it was a guillotine and a rope between it.
“This is…”
.
.
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Which squid game game is this? (NEXT EP CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE SERIES LOL)
A. Sugar Honeycomb
B. Tug of War
C. Marbles
D. The Recruiting Game