Chapter Text
(Heeeeyyyy...)
(Hiya.)
(Just a random question, but do you know what a majority vote is?)
(Chapter 1, part 1 - Prologue)
(Loading game…)
It starts like this: A man is kidnapped into a Death Game with 20 other people. He does not make it out alive.
Let’s take it back.
Shin Tsukimi, for the most part, is a normal guy. Sure, maybe all his friends live on the internet, and maybe his only real-life connection ghosted him two years ago, but -- it’s fine. He’s fine. Shin works part-time at a convenience store to support his meager income as a freelance programmer. He has bright teal hair. He is a normal guy.
(The thing is, no matter what he believes, normal guys don’t get sucked into Death Games.)
Time passes.
Shin Tsukimi is knocked out on his walk home from work.
Shin Tsukimi sees a glaring 0.0% next to his name. ( Certain death. )
Shin Tsukimi is scared.
Sou Hiyori greets the rest of the participants.
There is a Practice Round. (Kazumi Mishima expires.) There is a laptop, and there are cards, and he lays out his plans like a spider spins web.
The Death Game goes like this: Sara Chidouin brings them together. Sara Chidouin tears them apart.
Joe Tazuna expires.
( Certain death, Sou thinks. I don’t want to die. )
(The click-click-click of a button press echoes in his ears. He ignores it.)
The Sub-Game begins. It is three days, and it feels like years.
(It is three days, and it feels like no time at all.)
Kanna is there. If he is the stars, she is the moon. (Ha. Tsukimi . Moon-viewing.)
He bends her into something he can use, and she bends him in turn. (Certain death.)
( Kanna. Don’t you betray me. )
( I love you too!! I love you!! Sister! )
There is an Arbitration, and a doll and her doppelganger expire. He curses Sara Chidouin for stringing them along, yet not having the strength to kill them by their own hands.
They work together. For a moment, they win.
(Rubble. Despair. You know the rest.)
There is a Second Main Game. His plan falls apart. He cannot let Kanna die here. Shin Tsukimi rears his ugly head, and begs Sara Chidouin to vote for him.
She looks at him with hatred in her eyes, and he can tell she is thinking about her dead best friend.
He dies knowing that Kanna did not. He dies knowing that it is not in vain.
(Just a random question, but do you know what a majority vote is?)
(Loading save file…)
It starts like this: A man is kidnapped into a Death Game with 20 other people. He does not make it out alive, but he does not make it out dead either.
We’ll go a little faster this time. You already know how this goes. First Game. Second Game.
(Certain death.)
Sara Chidouin is clever and cruel. He sees what the others do not, and that is of a ruthless killer who will take any chance she gets to stay ahead.
(Why do they trust her?)
(Why do they trust her, but not him? )
Sara pushes the Doll Reko into the pit. She does not hesitate. He curses Sara Chidouin for being ruthless and cruel to her allies.
Shin Tsukimi begs her to vote for him. Kanna is pleading too, and can't they see that she's a child, she's Kanna, they can't kill her, please --
Sara does not listen. (She does not hesitate. There is nothing but a dull curiosity in her eyes.)
He hates her more than anything else in the world.
His 0.0% taunts him. Isn't this what you wanted? it says. To cheat your own fate?
There are coffins. Midori. Sou Hiyori. The truth comes to light. His thoughts all spiral back to Kanna-Kanna-Kanna and it hurts so much , he’s going to kill them.
There is a computer (what the hell , Midori?), and there are Dummies, and more stupid fucking puzzles. He is so angry. He is so tired.
He is sitting in the Gallery. There are arms around his neck, choking, suffocating --
“Sorry, Sou, but I’ve got to escape my fate too.”
This is wrong, he thinks, but he does not know why. This can’t be how it ends. His vision goes dark.
Now, typically, the story would end here. Our… hero? has perished. Fortunately for you, this story is not typical .
(Sitting in Maple’s Room, Sara Chidouin receives a Game Over screen. Reload tab. Her save is gone. Huh? )
Sou performs an activity known as “opening his eyes." It’s not as impressive as he might have hoped.
Everything is dark. More than that, really -- there is an absence of anything here. Including himself, actually. The sound of a keyboard echoes like rushing water. It sounds eerily like the click-click-click of a button. It’s hard to think. Everything is ones and zeroes and pull yourself together, dammit.
He is alone, until he isn’t.
“You know,” A disgustingly familiar presence announces, “I’d ask if you know what a majority vote is, but I think you’re all too familiar with them, ahaha…!”
(Chapter 1, part 1 - Prologue End.)