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Sasuke assisted Naruto as they entered the building the signages indicated.
This would be their 5th game in whatever world they currently have. Naruto's wound on his leg still isn't completely healed, but they don't have a choice. Their visas would expire tomorrow. They need to win this game.
He just hopes it's not a game of Hearts.
It had been about two weeks since Sasuke entered this world. It had been mostly a normal day for him, he had been home off from work in an empty house--which was the norm for him. Both his parents were abroad on some business trip, and his older brother have long distanced himself from their family.
His brother was supposed to be the successor of their family's company, and he had been a genius since he was young. Sasuke had been constantly compared to him. He'd always tried to catch up to him, but never succeeded. And when he left, because apparently he wasn't interested in the family's business or their father's approval--both of which Sasuke tried so hard to get his whole life, his parents seemed to just decided they didn't have any sons. They didn't even tried to pretend they would at least consider him.
He had been freshening up in his bathroom, having overslept, when he had heard this loud eerie sound. The light then went out, and when he got out of the bathroom, he was there.
He was confused for a few hours until he was lead to his first game. It was a game of Spades, and fortunately, he was able to survive. That was where he met Naruto, and after they have helped each other during the game, they decided to form an alliance. They learned more about the games as they played more, but unfortunately, they couldn't avoid being injured or losing some of the other alliances they've formed.
They each took a phone to register to the game, and waited for other participants to enter.
As they did, Sasuke looked at each of the other people there. He could see at once who were the first timers, and those who've been here for a while. There were two female students, an old man who seemed to be a businessman--obviously confused, a three bulky men grouped in a corner--he was sure they were allied, and a pink haired woman who he couldn't really read.
Another young man entered and took the last phone, and the registration was finally closed.
'Ten participants.' Sasuke thought. He wondered how many of them would leave this place alive and whole.
'Welcome players. The game will commence shortly.' His phone sounded.
The phones lit up and they were sent their instruction.
'4 of Diamonds' Sasuke sees in his phone. A game of intelligence.
And then a new paragraph flashed in his screen.
"Fuck, is this a riddle?" Naruto exclaims beside him.
Sasuke reads the message.
'Prison break' the game was called.
'There is a prison with 10 prisoners, each placed in separate cells with no form of contact. There is an area in the prison with a single light bulb in it. Each hour, the warden picks one of the prisoners at random, even if they have been picked before, and takes them out to the lobby. The prisoner will have the choice to flip the switch if they want. The light bulb starts off.
'When a prisoner is taken into the area with the light bulb, they can say "Every prisoner has been brought to the light bulb." If this is true all prisoners will go free. However, if a prisoner chooses to say this and it's wrong, all the prisoners will be executed.'
Sasuke stared at the message, a little confused, but also feeling the dread. This was an all or nothing game. They can all live or die. They have to solve this riddle.
The message then disappears, before Sasuke could reread it, and another messaged flashed,
'The prisoners have two minutes before they are put in their cells. This game will last 24 hours.'
And then it disappeared once more.
"What the fuck??" One of the bulky men exclaimed.
"What's happening???" The businessman shouts.
"24 hours??? This is the first time there's ever been this long of a game!"
"I didn't understand--"
"Did anyone get the riddle??"
"I couldn't even finished reading it!!"
Everyone was already panicking.
"Sasuke, did you get it??" Naruto asks him. His friend wasn't the best in Diamond games.
"We have to plan on how to know if everyone has been brought to the light bulb area." Sasuke tries to say.
"How do we do that???"
Sasuke tutted and looked at everyone, but everyone else seems to have been overcome by their emotions. They don't need this. They have to think. He looks at the timer and they've already wasted about 45 seconds. Only a minute to go.
"Does anyone have paper and pen?" Suddenly, the pink haired woman asks over all the ruckus.
But no one seems to have heard her. Sasuke, noticing she wasn't panicking, shouted to get everyone's attention, and repeated the woman's question.
There was immediate silence from him. And then belatedly, one of the female students dug into her bag and gave Sasuke a pen and paper. He immediately passed it on to the pink haired woman.
She sat on the floor then and started writing, both Naruto and Sasuke looked over her shoulder to read what she was writing.
She was writing the riddle word for word. She had already memorized it, but seems to be reviewing it. Sasuke knew at once that they would need this woman's intelligence.
"Do you have an idea?" Sasuke asks as she finished writing. The others have started gathering around them.
"Yes, but… well, knowing these games, I know they'll try to disrupt us. But it's a simple solution." She says.
At which Naruto looked at her incredulously. It might be a simple problem, Sasuke allowed, but with their lives on the line, it wasn't exactly simple to even just think.
"Tell us your plan." Sasuke tells her.
"We have to pick someone, and only that one who can turn off the light." The woman says. "Every time they're brought to the light bulb area, if the light is turned off, they have to turn it on. And everyone else have to turn it on only once. If you've already turned it on before, you can't turn it on again."
That honestly sounded like another riddle for Sasuke at the moment. But the woman looked very confident.
Another of the bulky men spoke out. "What does that do?? You have to explain it to us!"
"Wait, we don't have time! There's only 30 seconds left!"
"I don't understand it but I'm going with her plan! Now choose someone!" Naruto says.
"How can we just trust our lives with the rubbish she said??"
"Because all of us will die if we don't do anything, and no one else is offering a plan!"
"You." Sasuke exclaimed loudly. "It's your idea. You'll be the only one allowed to turn it off." He said, trying to take on the leader role, because someone has to, or else they will all die.
"Everyone else aren't allowed to turn it off! And you're only allowed to turn it on once!" Naruto says after him.
"And please no one say that everyone has gone to the room if you're asked." The woman adds hastily, and before anyone else can complain, red dots of light started appearing in each of their foreheads, and a female voice announces,
"Please choose one cell and enter in the next 10 seconds."
Everyone understood at once, and everyone started running to the first room they can reach. It was a very effective way to separate everyone. It happened all so quickly that Sasuke barely saw Naruto and the woman being entering different doors as he himself ran towards the still opened door closest to him.
'Fuck, they didn't give us time to plan at all.' He thought, feeling that dread once more.
This was a tough game. He still wasn't quite sure of the woman's plan, but it was the only thing they have right now. He just hopes everyone else got the instructions, and would follow through.
It was scary to have to depend your life on strangers.
And the game masters, as always were cruel. He wasn't sure what was happening to other 'cells', but he was kept in complete darkness have the time, and then have had to fight a snake, and avoid getting electrocuted when they flooded his room. He can imagine the others are getting other forms of torture. It was probably a way to distract people from the plan.
He was dragged into the light bulb room two times in those 24 hours. The first time, the bulb was already on, and the second time the bulb was turned off.
And after what felt like months being stuck in that hellish place, the 24 hours was finally over. He felt terrified then.
Did this mean they won?
Or did they lose? Will he be murdered in this room? Or when he got out?
The door to the room suddenly opens, and Sasuke had to close his eyes to the sudden light.
He cautiously went out, and then made his way to the light bulb area, there he found the pink-haired woman on the floor, as if she had just lost all her strength. She was looking a little worse for wear, but she is alive.
One by one, the other participants also appeared.
Sasuke unconsciously started counting. There were only six of them left. The businessman, one of the female students and the last guy to register was gone. Naruto looked more wounded than he was before, but he is alive, at least at the moment.
"Congratulations." Their phones sounded at once.
'We won.' Sasuke thought, now sinking to the floor as well.
They got their card, and the other players started leaving after they had a moment to breathe. Sasuke and Naruto stayed though, with Sasuke just looking at the pink-haired woman.
"What’s your name?" It was Naruto who asked first.
The woman abruptly looked up, seemingly unaware that there were still other people there.
"Sakura." She says, and then exhaled. She started standing up and Sasuke found himself helping her up.
"Are you okay?" He asks her.
"Yeah." She says. "It's just… being responsible to everyone else's life is… it wasn't an easy weight to bear."
"But you did it, though." Naruto said, now grinning at her. "You saved us all. I'm Naruto, by the way. That's Sasuke."
Sakura started shaking her head. "If you two didn't intervene and got everyone's attention, I wouldn't have been able to do anything."
"Well, someone had to take control of the situation or we'd all die." Naruto tells her. "And Sasuke's always been bossy."
Sasuke just rolled his eyes at him.
"What was the answer though?" Sasuke asks her.
"Not everyone has been to the area." Sakura says. "Either because the game designed the rotation for them not to, or because they died in their cell." She explains.
"But how did you know?" Naruto asked, looking still confused. Now that they've survived, Sasuke had finally realized the answer, though.
"I was the only one who can turn the light off." Sakura says. "No one can turn it on more than once. I only turned it off seven times. So that means not everyone was able to get in there."
Sasuke nodded, that was what he realized. And it could only have worked if everyone cooperated, which obviously they did.
"But what if they didn't put you in this room as much as the others?" He asks. He still didn't understand that bit.
"Yeah, I was afraid of that." Sakura tells her. "But since it was a 24 hour duration, with only 10 participants, if we really were rotated randomly, it was more likely that all of us would have been brought here at least once. And when they suddenly placed a venomous spider in my room, I also thought it was likely some people would end up dying in their room before they are able to go out."
Sasuke nodded once more. They still took a risk, but the probability of them all having been able to be brought to this room was rather low when you think about all those factors. And in the end, she did get the right answer.
Naruto was still looking confused. But Sasuke ignored him for the moment and turned to Sakura.
"How many games have you played?" He asks.
Sakura looked at him seriously. "This is only my second one." She says.
"This is our fifth. I assume you don't have anyone with you."
"No. Not anymore." She says, and there was pain in her eyes.
Naruto had looked at both of them now, understanding what Sasuke was thinking.
"Do you want to be allies with us?" Sasuke asks her. "Naruto isn't exactly good with Diamond games."
"Hey!"
Sakura looked at both of them, and slowly nodded.
Sasuke didn't exactly know why, but he was relieved to see her agree.
They could really use her intelligence and quick thinking even under pressure, of course, but it was more than that.
Somehow, he had this confusing feeling--something telling him he shouldn't leave her alone to fend for herself.
END