Chapter Text
…
??? : Nene? Nene!
[My eyes open to the sight of Emu shaking me restlessly. My forehead really hurt, and I couldn't help but put a hand over it as soon as I raised my head from the table..]
Nene : Um.. Emu, where are we?
Emu : I dunno! We ended up here after clicking on that Untitled song! Rui is looking around the place, and Tsukasa hasn't even woken up yet!
[My eyes dart around the room I was in, which looked much like a typical classroom. ..How did I end up here? We clicked on that weird untitled song, and now.. ]
Nene : This is..
[I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a bit scared. There was no reason for an untitled song to suddenly pop up on my phone, and now we're in this strange Sekai..]
??? : Everyone, I found something.
[Rui walked up to the table around which me and Emu were gathered, presenting us with devices which looked like tablets.]
Emu : Rui, did you make these for us??
Rui : Fufu, no I didn't. I happened to find these while looking around.
Nene : Who.. made these, then?
Rui : I'm trying to figure that out, too..
[Rui turns them around, and they appear to have our names on them..]
Rui : Oh.. so this one is mine, this one's for Emu, and this is yours, Nene. I'll give Tsukasa's to him when he wakes up.
[Rui hands me the tablet which read "Nene Kusanagi", and I tried to turn it on..]
Nene : ..!
[As soon as I did, the screen flashed on, and showed a profile which contained my name, height, and even my likes and dislikes. The bottom of the screen read "Ultimate Actress" in bold]
Nene : ..Who made these? And however did they get our information?
[More importantly, what does.. ‘Ultimate Actress’ mean..?]
Emu : Says here I'm the Ultimate Acrobat, whatever that means.. this is a bit creepy!
Rui : Mine says I'm the Ultimate Inventor.. Ah.. I am quite honoured.
Nene : Still.. this is all so weird..
…
??? : Huh.. Aah!
[Tsukasa jerked awake from the seat beside us, and we all turned to face him.]
Rui : Ah, so you're awake, at last.
Emu : Good morning, Tsukasa! Do you know what's going on?
Tsukasa : HUH?? WHERE ARE WE???
[I instinctively put my hands over my ears..]
Nene : Stop shouting, jeez..
Tsukasa : EMU, IS THIS ANOTHER WEIRD SEKAI?
Emu : We don't know, Tsukasa-kun! I was hoping you'd know..
Rui : Tsukasa.. are you perhaps.. scared?
Tsukasa : O-OF COURSE NOT! I am a star, stars are never scared! Hahahahaha!
[I rolled my eyes slightly at their bickering.. However did I end up in this circus?]
Nene : Rui, give him the tablet.
Rui : Ah.. yes. I almost forgot about that.
[Rui hands him the tablet which had "Tsukasa" written on it]
Tsukasa : Eh? Woah! It says here that I'm the Ultimate Performer! Did I become a star when I was asleep?
Emu : It's your Ultimate!
Nene : ..Ultimate?
Emu : I'm the Ultimate..umm..Acrobat, you're the Ultimate Actress, Rui's the Ultimate Inventor and Tsukasa's the Ultimate Performer! Let's call them our..Ultimates! Hehe! It has a nice ring to it!
Rui : Ultimates..?..Okay. That sounds nice..
[Emu jumped happily while announcing our so-called ‘Ultimates’, and I couldn't help but wonder how they could be so carefree, even at a time like this..]
…
Nene : G-guys.. don't you think we should be investigating this place? We still have no idea whatever on Earth is happening here..
Rui : The door's over there. Shall we head out?
Emu : Yes! Time for a super cool movie investigation!
Tsukasa : Hahahahaha… Huh? Wait! Where are you all going without me!
[I resisted the urge to scoff, and our troupe heads out of the room. As we did, we bumped into more people..]
??? : Ah? Tsukasa! You're here too? And Rui? What the hell is goin' on? This another prank of yours?
??? : Calm down, Akito..
??? : E-eek! People!
[..Wait.. aren't these people from my school? And who's that blonde girl?]
Tsukasa : Oh..Toya! And there's Akito and An here too! Come!
An : No.. not at all!
[Tsukasa pulled the three into a stifling hug.. As he did, I instinctively took a step back, hoping I wouldn't get noticed..]
Akito : H-hey! Get the hell off me, dude!
[Ignoring the boy's remark, Tsukasa looked towards the blonde haired girl who stood on their right.]
Tsukasa : Eh? who are you?
??? : K-kohane..
[Okay, then.. this girl seems quite timid..]
An : Who's.. this..?
Akito : You're Emu, aren't you? I met you that day..
Emu : My name is Emu Otori! Wonderhoy!
Kohane : Hi, Emu..
Emu : Hellooo!
An : And.. Nene's here too! Nice to see you here!
Nene : ..Hello..
Akito : Kusanagi.. You're a classmate of Toya's, right? Hello.
[Akito smiled at me, and offered me a hand. I shook it reluctantly,for the sake of politeness. …What was that?..His attitude was completely different than when he was talking to Rui and Tsukasa..Two-face..]
An : What are they doing here? Isn't this supposed to be our Seka-
Kohane : A-An!
An : Oh, wait! We weren't supposed to talk about this, were we? Uh.. please ignore that!
Emu : Ignore what?
[They.. know what a Sekai is?]
Rui : ..Hm? Do the four of you happen to have a Sekai as well?
Toya : Indeed we do, Kamishiro-senpai.. does your troupe has one as well?
Emu : Yeah we do! It's like a big fluffy wonderland! So wonderhoy..
[So.. we're not the only ones with a Sekai, and.. these people from my school have one, too? And for some reason, we're all here? This is getting..]
An : Um..what's wonderhoy?
Emu : …
[Oh dear..]
Emu : WONDERHOY!!
An : A-AAH!
[I watched as Emu tackled the girl to the floor, surprising her. She didn't seem very bothered, and returned the hug almost instantly..]
Akito : That girl's a machine gun!
Rui : Astute observation, Shimonome..
Akito : Just.. shut up or something!
[So noisy..]
Rui : Ah..! Why must you tell your dearest friend to 'shut up'? Woe is me..
Toya : ..Let’s not fight, now..
[In the meantime, An gently pushed Emu off her, getting to her feet..]
An : Anyway! How did you end up here? If the Untitled song appeared on our phones, isn't this supposed to be our Sekai?
[..?]
Nene : Um..It appeared on our phones as well.. Clicking on it was what caused us to reach here. Though, this doesn't look remotely like our Sekai..is it yours?
Kohane : Our Sekai doesn't look like this, either..
[Seriously..? Where are we, then? I'm getting a really bad feeling about this..]
Tsukasa : This is getting weird! Really weird!
…
[We all went completely silent for a short while, as if thinking about something. I studied the reactions around me, and some of them seemed unfazed, some were thinking of something, some seemed a bit scared, while the others were quivering in their boots..]
Toya : ..Did you all also find these tablets?
[Does he mean the ones we found in the classroom?]
Emu : Oh, yeah we did! Mine opened something like a profile.. it called me the Ultimate Acrobat!
Kohane : ..Do your tablets have a password as well?
[..Hm? A password..?]
Rui : Hold on.. we'll check..
[I switched on the tablet in my hands, and tried to get past the profile screen. It asked for a password. A similar thing happened to the rest of my friends..]
Akito : Jeez.. why give us these tablets when they're not even going to tell us how to open them?
Rui : Hmm.. I might be able to do something about the passwords. It will take some time, however.
Nene : Rui..
[I sure do hope he does not attempt to hack the devices..]
Kohane : E-eitherway.. what are you guys doing here?
Rui : We were just looking around the place. You?
Toya : We were planning to find where the gym is, since we found a note which told us to do so.
[A note..]
Nene : ..Can I see it?
An : Here you go!
[An hands me the note, and it did in fact say "Go to the Gym" in bold.]
Emu : Can we come with you? Pleasseee?
[Do I have to..?]
An : Sure!
Akito : Do we have to take these losers?
[That remark earned Akito a smack on the back from An.]
Akito : Okay, fine! Jeez!
[We ended up looking around with them. We talked about ourselves a little, though I stayed mostly silent, as Tsukasa doted on Toya, who he claimed to be his..'younger brother'.. whatever that means.. I found out that the four have a group called the Vivid BAD SQUAD, and that they dream of surpassing an event called the RAD WEEKEND with their music. On the way there, we came across many empty classrooms, and tried to look around a little, only to find nothing. This place is really giving me the eerie feeling..]
Kohane : Look.. I think that's the gym.
[Kohane points to a big, orange door in the middle of the hallway. Above it was a signboard which read "Gym".]
Rui : Let us go in, then.
[Should we really?]
Nene : No..
Akito : Why?
Toya : Well.. something bad could be-
An : We won't know unless we try! We're going in..
[There was a brief feeling in my head, telling me not to open the door, and yet, I could do nothing about it..]
…
[As An and Akito pushed the doors open, I was greeted with the sight of a large number of people, some of whom I recognized, and many others which I didn't.]
??? : Hm? More people are here.
??? : Oh, big brother!
[So.. many.. I could faint..]
Tsukasa : Look! Saki!
[Tsukasa made a beeline for Saki, dragging Toya along with him. I snickered a little at the face Akito made in response.]
Akito : Hey! That Tenma..
Rui : There's.. more people too? What is this place?
Emu : I dunnoo.. When can we leave? I wanna start practicing for our next show already! Hey! Akito! How do I get outta here?
Akito : How the hell am I supposed to know? We're stuck here too, genius..
An : Let's go talk to those people! Maybe they know more about this place!
Emu : Okay! Let's see! Hmm.. oh! Mafuyu!
[Emu ran towards a purple haired girl whom I didn’t recognize, jumping her and tackling her down to the floor.]
Emu : WONDERHOY!!
??? : Oh! Aha.. it's just you, Emu.
[What was..]
Emu : U-um! I'm sorry! Don't hurt me! Uh.. Nevermind that!
[Why does she look so scared of her..?]
…
[It's quite noisy.. I've never been good with social interaction.. I try to hide behind Rui, and make myself smaller and less visible.]
Rui : ..Is everything okay?
Nene : ..Scared..
[He gave me one of his rare, affectionate looks, before his face turned serious.]
Rui : Everyone.
[Rui spoke suddenly, breaking the chatter in the room.]
??? : What..?
Rui : ..I believe that you are all as confused as we are? Instead of chatting among ourselves.. Why don't we introduce ourselves, and share what we know about this place?
[He's somewhat good at taking control of situations.. way better than I'll ever be, either way..]
??? : O-kay! Sounds good! I'll go first! A-hem! My name is Minori Hanasato! I found this tablet which says that I'm the Ultimate Unlucky Student.. Anyways! I'm a member of the idol group More More Jump!
??? : I am Haruka Kiritani, Ultimate Idol, and also a member of More More Jump.
??? : Shizuku Hinomori. This.. thing said that I am the..Ultimate Model. I am in the group More More Jump! It's a pleasure to meet you!
??? : I am Airi Momoi, the Ultimate.. hostess.. ehe.. I am a member of More More Jump!
[Other than Minori, I'm sure I've heard about the More More Jump girls before on television. They must have been members of other idol groups earlier.. They're quite the big deal. I can't help but notice how they hesitated to say her Ultimates,however..]
??? : I am Ichika Hoshino, the Ultimate Vocalist, though I wouldn't go far enough to call myself that. Me and my friends have a band called Leo/need.
[Ichika..]
…
[Ichika spotted me, and smiled softly. I could do nothing else but wave back shyly..]
??? : Shiho… Hinomori, of Leo/need. Ultimate bassist.
??? : My name is Saki Tenma! I'm the Ultimate Keyboardist! I really don't know what I did to be called that, but whatever! I am a member of Leo/need.
??? : I am Honami Mochizuki, Ultimate Drummer and a member of Leo/need. Nice to meet you!
[I have seen Saki on a few occasions before.. I hear she used to be unwell when she was younger, and was only recently discharged from the hospital.. I had been friends with Ichika for a while, and having them here was a relief. The others, I did not know so well.]
Akito : The name's Akito Shinonome, says here I'm the Ultimate Street Performer. I am from Vivid BAD SQUAD.
Kohane : U-hm.. I am Kohane Azusawa, the Ultimate Photographer..! I am not very good at talking to new people, so.. Ah! I am a member of Vivid BAD SQUAD.
Toya : My name is Toya Aoyagi. I am from Vivid BAD SQUAD. And the tablet said I was the Ultimate… Classical Prodigy.
An : An Shiriaishi! I'm the Ultimate Musician! Hehe.. with a title like this, maybe I can surpass RAD WEEKEND! I am from Vivid BAD SQUAD!
[I have already met them before, so there isn't much to say.. most of them are my schoolmates, too..]
Rui : I am Rui Kamishiro, the Ultimate Inventor. I am a member of WonderlandsxShowtime, which operates at the Theme Park. Fufu.. It's a pleasure to meet you.
Emu : My name is Emu Otori, and I wanna make everyone smile! I am also in WonderlandsxShowtime! Hehe! Wonderhoy!
[This is going well..]
Tsukasa : HAHAHAHAHA!
[Ah. Here comes..]
Tsukasa : I AM-
Nene : ..He is Tsukasa Tenma, Ultimate Performer and a member of WonderlandsxShowtime.
Tsukasa : HEY! Let me do my own introduction!
Nene : We don't have time for this…
Tsukasa : Fine! I shall save my wonderful performance for later!
Saki : Okay! Me and Toya will watch whenever you perform! Right?
Toya : Right.
Tsukasa : Ah! My heart! Truly my two biggest fans!
Shiho : Stop it already. Green hair hasn't introduced herself yet.
Nene : O-oh!
[I guess it's my turn, now..]
Nene : U-um.. My name is Nene Kusanagi. I am the Ultimate Actress, and a member of WonderlandsxShowtime.
[Phew.. that was hard..]
??? : My name is Kanade Yoisaki, the Ultimate Composer. I am a member of the online group Nightcord at 25:00, or N25 for short. However, I would request you not to disclose this to other people..
??? : Hello. I am Mafuyu Asahina, a member of N25! I am also the Ultimate Lyricist. I hope we can be friends!
[Why is she..]
??? : I am Ena Shinonome, the Ultimate Artist! I am also a member of NIIGO.
??? : Mizuki Akiyama! Ultimate Fashionista! A member of Nightcord, and I prefer to use they/them pronouns, so please respect that!
[They seem a bit.. strange.. The way Mafuyu smiled after her introduction was very..odd..to me. And Ena.. did she say Shinonome? I didn't know that he had a sister..]
Honami : I believe that's everyone, yes?
Ichika : Yes, it is…
[That was stressful.. Though, all these people seem nice, and I stepped up from behind Rui, feeling a little less scared..]
Saki : ..Do any of you guys know why we have another Sekai now?
Shiho : Saki..
Saki : Oh! E-eek!
Haruka : Your Sekai? But the Untitled song appeared on our phones..
Ena : What the hell is happening? It appeared on our phones, too..
Mizuki : Hey.. wouldn't it be kinda cool if our Sekas merged, or something?
Mafuyu : No, it wouldn't..
[So.. we all have Sekais?]
Akito : I still believe that Rui kidnapped us, or something.
Rui : Fufu.. what reason do I have to do that?
Airi : Honestly? You might be right. He seems like a kidnapper.
An : Don't say things like that!
Shizuku : I am a bit..
[Noisy..I tried to drown out the noise and commotion in the room.]
Ichika : E.. Eek..! Is that Miku?!
[I saw Ichika's face light up.. wait. Miku? Here?]
[I turned to face the stage, and there stood, in fact, Hatsune Miku. She looked starkly different from the Miku in our Sekai, wearing a laced, two-toned black and white dress, split at the middle, with her hair braided in ponytails of the same two colours, one of her irises being red while the other black.]
??? : Hehe! You're all finally here!
Kanade : .. Miku..? Why do you look like that?
??? : I am not your Miku, all right?
[Then.. who is this..?]
An : Miku.. where are we?
??? : Wrong! Not Miku! MONOMIKU! I am Monomiku!
Emu : That name is.. wonderhoy! I like it!
[This is.. getting..]
…
[Maybe she can tell us?]
Nene : Erm.. Monomiku.. is this a Sekai?
??? : Correct! Absolutely correct!
Shihoi : Whose Sekai is this? And why are we here in their Sekai, anyway?
Monomiku : Nope! Can't answer that, sorry!
Honami : Could you give us our phones? We have band practice.. We'd like to leave, if possible..
Shizuku : We, too, have a concert to organize.
Monomiku : Don't worry!~ Your phones are safe with us! I can't give them to you, though!
[What..?]
…
[Without my phone, I couldn't leave the Sekai. How.. am I supposed to get out..?]
Shiho : You can't just take our phones like that..
Mizuki : Yeah! That's an invasion of privacy!
Ena : Right..
Monomiku : Don't worry! We aren’t looking at your embarrassing selfies.. yet.
Saki : Hey! That's rude..
Monomiku We simply do not care~
Toya : ..What do you mean by 'we'?
Monomiku : Oh! Right.. I forgot to introduce you to the rest of them! Come on in, now!
[Onto the stage came a Rin, a Len, a Luka, a MEIKO and a KAITO, all of their outfits having the same two toned design.]
Tsukasa : WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM? WHY DO THEY LOOK SO SCARY?!
Minori : I don't like them.. we want our Virtual Singers back!
Monomiku : Hehe! These are Monorin, Monolen, Monoluka, MonoMEIKO and MonoKAITO! These are NOT the Virtual Singers of your Sekais, just to be clear!
[Why..? Why have I been brought here? Why.. can't I leave?]
Kanade : .. Why have you brought us here?
Monomiku : I was just coming to that! So, you see-
Airi : Get me outta here! We need to practice for our performance! I need to practice a lot if I want to become as good as Shizuku, you know?
Monomiku : …
An : Yeah! I have an exam to study for! You're gonna make me fail!
Monomiku : …
Honami : Please-
Monorin : NOW! NO MORE INTERRUPTIONS!
[Rin's high pitched, cheery voice proved effective in shutting the mouths of everyone else in the room, causing all eyes to turn towards the stage.]
MonoMEIKO : We have some important information to give you~ Don't we, Monomiku?
Monomiku : .. Yes! That's right!
Monorin : So anyways! This place right here is called the Despair Sekai!
[Despair doesn't sound very nice..]
…
[I could feel a pit forming in my stomach. I didn't know why, but I could feel something bad coming. I was almost certain of it. I tried to whisper something to Emu, but she didn't seem to hear me..]
Emu : Why is it called Despair Sekai?
Tsukasa : Yeah! Couldn't you have given it a better name.. like.. Pegasus' Broken Wing and Translucent Tears Sekai!
Monoluka : The hell..? That makes no sense whatsoever. I'm not even a huge fan of ‘Despair’ Sekai, but its way better than whatever you just said.
Monolen : .. Questions are for later.
Monomiku : Thank you, Monolen! Hehe, you have been brought here to participate in a very despair-inducing activity indeed ~!
Kohane : What.. do you mean by that?
MonoKAITO : Guess, guess..~
Emu : Are you gonna make us watch horror movies non-stop?
[Emu.. listen to me.. this feels so wrong.. I'm scared..]
Monomiku : Hm.. Incorrect! This is a… killing game!
…
[Whatever words I had in my mouth died down as soon as I heard that. The entire went so quiet, that if a pin were to be dropped there, you could hear the sound of it falling.]
…
[The pit in my stomach only got wider and deeper. It must be a lie, it has to be.. because.. why would they..?]
Tsukasa : .. Killing game? You probably meant, .. drilling game..! Right?
Minori : .. Right! We all make pronounciation mistakes.. it's okay!
Monorin : Nuh-uh! Killing game! K-I-L-L-I-N-G!
Murder game! People are gonna die!
…
Kohane : No…
Mafuyu : I..
Mizuki : You can't be serious..!
Monolen : She is serious.
[.. What.. the hell? Killing game..? Killing.. killing game.. I clicked on that song, and now.. I'm in some.. killing.. killing..]
Monomiku : Now! Let me explain the rules! You're all stuck here for the duration of the game! The only way to leave is if you kill someone~ if a murder occurs, a trial will be held, and if everyone guesses murderer correctly, they will be safe and the murderer, or blackened, will be punished! If you choose the wrong person, however.. I'll punish everyone besides the blackened!
Saki : .. Punished..?
Monoluka : It means that she'll kill you.
Ichika : I..what..? You wouldn't..
Monomiku : Yes I will, and I'm completely serious.
An : You have to be joking..
Monomiku : I'm not. I could show you a demo.
…
[Killing.. blackened.. punishment… This is.. too much..! It's way too much!]
Akito : Why, you..
Toya : Akito!
[Shinonome suddenly charged towards Monomiku, and punched her square on the face. I could almost hear the sound of it. Deserved.]
Ena : Akito..
Monomiku : …
[Monomiku lay on the ground, unmoving.]
Ena : Is she..
Monomiku : …
Akito : She's done for! Let's find our phones and get the hell out of here!
Monomiku : Wrong.. again.
Akito : H-huh?
Monomiku : What you just did warrants punishment, you know..
[Monomiku suddenly takes out a knife, keeping it near Akito's throat.]
Shiho : What the hell?!
Toya : No.. NO! GET THAT KNIFE OFF HIM!
An : WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MONSTER?!
Akito : … What..?
[The knife remained fixed near his jugular, and I could almost feel my own neck bruising.]
…
Haruka : Stop it! Why are you doing this?
[She couldn't actually.. kill.. him.. There's no way.. there's absolutely no way.. he's just a teenager..]
Monolen : ..He didn't know about it.. don't you think you should spare him?
…
Monomiku : .. Fine. I'm sparing you, just this once.
[Monomiku removed the knife from near Akito's neck, causing him to stumble back.]
Akito : …
Toya : Akito..! Oh, thank goodness..
Ena : Akito! Don't you dare do something.. like that.. again..!
An : You scared the shit out of me..!
Akito : I'm.. fine..
[We all stood wordlessly for a while, processing what was happening around us.]
…
[She just tried to.. kill.. that Shinonome..]
…
[At that moment, the gravity of the situation seemed to hit us. I heard Minori scream, followed by someone else. I could hear sobs, wails, cries of pain and despair resonate throughout the room, while I was too stunned to let out a single noise.]
An : ..I can't do this.. my dad will be worried for me! Please!
Tsukasa : I am.. a star! You can't make a star do this!
Kanade : I.. have to compose..
Shizuku : No.. ! Please, spare us!
[Their pleas blended in with the commotion in the room, making them almost inaudible. I involuntarily scanned everyone's expressions, and they all had some degree of despair on their faces.]
Saki : This.. is a joke, right? Tell me this is a joke, please!
Monolen : ..How many times will you make me repeat myselves?
Ichika : Stop.. it..
[The teardrops finally started rolling down my cheeks, yet, my mouth remained firmly unmoving.]
…
[It's.. just so surreal.. so unbelievable.. a killing game.. The fact that I might die.. that my friends might die..]
Minori : My dog is gonna be so scared! Let us go, please!
[...]
Mafuyu : You cannot.. make us do this..
[...]
Monoluka : Shut up, crybabies.
[.. Huh..?]
…
[The noise in the room seemed to die down almost instantly. It had died down almost as instantly as everyone's cheerful expressions once the killing game was announced.]
Akito : The hell you calling crybaby? I'll show you what's..
Ena : Akito. No. Not again.
[Ena's voice was hoarse from crying..]
Monoluka : How long are we gonna drag this on? Send them to their rooms already.
Monomiku : But why? Look at how despair-filled they all look! The mastermind must be having a great time watching all of this~
Tsukasa : .. Mastermind?
Monorin : Of course! This is a Sekai, you know. Of course it has a owner. The owner of this Sekai is the mastermind behind the killing game! It was their desire to have all of you do this~
MonoKAITO : The mastermind is one of you guys, you know?
…
[What..?]
…
[One of us.. wanted this? One of us.. wanted us to kill each other like mindless creatures?]
…
[Nobody was talking anymore. They were all looking at each other with nothing but suspicion in their eyes. Years of trust between us has been significantly weakened, just by a few words. My own eyes started to daft towards people I didn't know well, reflecting coldness in them.]
…
[Anybody could be planning to kill me right now. They could be planning to kill my friends. Emu. Rui. Tsukasa. They..]
…
Monoluka : .. Are you done yet?
…
Monomiku : I'll be more than happy to see you off for tonight!
…
[It was for a good while, that we stood like this. Some of us had cried their eyes red, and were being comforted by our friends. Some had more extreme reactions, like puking and even fainting, and yet, I could barely register any of it.]
…
[It didn't matter. My life up until now.. didn't matter.]
Mafuyu : .. I'll be going to my room.. okay?
Monomiku : Of course! Follow me ~
…
[One by one, they all left for their rooms, till only me and my troupe remained.]
Emu : … This.. is not wonderhoy at all!
Rui : I know, Emu..
Tsukasa : …
Nene : U-um-
Tsukasa : Rui, is this a prank of yours?
Emu : Yeah! Please say it is, Rui! I'll be so relieved!
Rui : .. I wish it was…
…
[Great.. now even conversations among our own group are awkward..]
Rui : I'll go to my room, okay? I need some time to process all of this.
Tsukasa : .. Me too. See you all tomorrow.
Emu : Yeah..! Good night!
Tsukasa : .. The star.. wishes you all good night! Hahaha..
[They're trying to be cheerful for all of us..]
Nene : Good night.
[I waved them off and headed towards the dorms, and found my own room without much difficulty. I suppose the rooms were arranged in the orders of our classes back at school, for my room was in between Toya and An's. How do they know what schools we go to, anyway?]
Nene : …What's this?
[Right below the door's knob was something like a scanner. 'Please put your Monopad here!' It said.]
Nene : Monopad.. could it be that thing I found earlier?
[I took out the device from my pocket and placed it above the scanner. Soon enough, the door opened with a click.]
Nene : Ah.. I guess I should go inside, now.
[The room looked much like my room back at home, except that it had a loudspeaker on one of the walls, to make announcements and the like, I supposed. The bed looked comfortable to sleep on, and there was a gaming console in the room, with a vide variety of games. There appeared to be a bundle of scripts of some shows we have performed as WonderlandsxShowtime on the desk, and the keys to my room were kept right next to it. I went around opening drawers and looking around the room.]
Nene : A drawer in my nightstand? I wonder what it could have..
[As soon as I opened the drawer, I saw a box with an axe inside of it, and a note which said "Happy Killing!"...What the hell? I decided that I'm never opening that drawer again.]
Nene : Now.. about this..
[I sat down on the bed and switched on the tablet, or Monopad, which was still in my hands. As soon as I did..]
MonoKAITO : Ta-daa~
Nene : Huh? E-EEK!
[MonoKAITO suddenly appeared out of nowhere, startling me.]
MonoKAITO : I suppose you have tried to unlock the Monopad before, yes? The password for your MonoPad is nenegamer420, no capitalization. Don't tell anyone! Come on, now. Open the Monopad.
[That password sounded.. horrible.. But I had no intention of properly conversing with that thing, so I did as he said and typed the password into the.. Monopad.. or whatever.]
MonoKAITO : Great! Now, your Monopad has a map of the entire Sekai, along with the rules which have to be followed for the duration of the killing game. It also has a Notes section where you can write whatever comes to your mind, I guess..
Nene : .. Can I contact my parents-
MonoKAITO : No. There's no way to contact anyone through the Monopad. ..I'll leave now! You can do.. whatever, I guess.. Bye!
[MonoKAITO left as soon as he came, leaving me by myself.]
Nene : I.. should check the rules..
[I went to the rules section of the MonoPad.. or whatever..]
GENERAL RULES FOR THE KILLING GAME
All participants are to remain in the Sekai at all times till the game is over.
Nighttime is from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. The gym will be closed during nighttime, and water supply will be cut off.
Sleeping anywhere other than in the allotted dorms will be seen as sleeping in class and will be punished accordingly. You are free to sleep in another person's dorm.
Violence against Monomiku and the other Monosingers is strictly prohibited and will lead to punishment.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served to you. Other than that, the kitchen will always remain open. All participants are required to have at least one meal a day.
You are free to explore the Sekai at your discretion without much restriction.
RULES CONCERNING CLASS TRIALS
A body discovery announcement will play as soon as 3 or more people discover a body. There will be no announcement if less than 3 people see a body, but the time at which the body is discovered by these people will be considered the 'Body Discovery Time'.
After a body is discovered, you will get some time for investigation. During investigation time, all parts of the Sekai which are normally open will be accessible. For example, you will get to investigate the gym at nighttime, if a body has been discovered recently.
A class trial will be held as soon as the investigation is complete. All are required to attend every class trial, and failure to do so will result in punishment.
A single culprit can only murder two people, at maximum.
If the culprit is found successfully by the innocents, they will be safe and the culprit will be punished, and if not, everyone except the blackened will receive punishment.
Accomplices are allowed, but they will not receive any privileges. If the blackened is found incorrectly, only they will get to leave the Sekai alive, while everyone else, including the accomplice, will be punished. If the blackened is found correctly, only the blackened will be punished, and not their accomplice.
[I switched off my tablet screen in frustration. This is just.. sick! They can't make us do this! We're just.. highschoolers.. The mastermind who came up with all of this must be.. fucked in the head. Why can't I just contact the outside world!?]
…
Nene : I wish I never told you guys to click on that Untitled song. Emu.. Rui.. Tsukasa.. I'm sorry.
[I could feel a stray tear fall from my eyes, rolling down my cheek and wetting the pillow. After it followed many more.]
…
[I don't know when I fell asleep, but I must have, at some point, because the next day, my eyes opened to the sound of..]
Monomiku : Good morning, everyone! It's Day 2 of the killing game! Breakfast will be served in the cafeteria! Don't be late~