“Whoa! A lion! A lion!”
“You baka! Calm down!”
“Quiet!”
And so.
The baka was extremely excited about the lion, but Hibana and Yo immediately grabbed his right and left shoulders, stopping him. If they hadn’t stopped him, he probably would have smashed through the iron bars and gone to touch the lion, but even the baka would stop if he was restrained.
“…I see. So, we have to avoid the lion and make it to the goal, right?”
Tama calmly observed the lion and the iron bar labyrinth. She seemed to be looking for a route, so the baka was impressed, thinking, “That’s amazing.”
After all, this labyrinth was made of iron bars. It was good that you could see through it, but it was so see-through that it was hard to tell what kind of path it was. The baka had good eyesight, but he couldn’t turn what he saw into a flat map in his head. Because he’s a baka.
“…This labyrinth doesn’t connect to the exit.”
And so, Tama came to that conclusion. The baka could only be impressed, thinking, “That’s amazing.”
“To the exit? …Ah, I see.”
Furthermore, Yo seemed to understand something just by hearing Tama’s words. The baka still didn’t understand anything.
“Hey, what do you mean?”
It seemed that Hibana didn’t understand anything either. Seeing Hibana angrily approach Yo, the baka felt a little relieved. ‘It seems I’m not the only baka!’ he thought.
“Ah. Well… I think that probably some of the walls of this labyrinth are designed to move.”
Yo said, and then glanced at the wall near the entrance. There was a lever, like the ones often found on heavy machinery, installed in the position where a light switch would be in a normal house room.
“There’s a lever there. Probably, using that will change the path.”
“A lever!? Really! Can I pull it for now!?”
“You baka! What do you think you’re doing, you baka!”
The baka’s hand moved when he saw the lever, but Hibana smacked the back of his head with a loud thwack!, stopping the baka again.
“Kabashima-kun. I think it’s better to move carefully. If the iron bars move, there’s a chance that the space where the lion is and the space where we are could connect.”
Tama said to the baka with a sigh. Then, she glanced at the lion and frowned.
“That lion seems strange. I think it’s probably been given stimulants or something.”
“Or maybe some kind of demonic magic is being used… This is a demon’s Death Game, after all. There’s no telling how the lion has become so ferocious. There’s no doubt that the lion will attack humans. You should move as if your life depends on it.”
Yo said, and then, as if saying “Oh well,” he took a pen out of his pocket.
“Hmm… What should we do? For now, let’s look at the walls that seem like they might move, within our visible range. And then, let’s figure out the position of the levers… Tama-san, can you help me?”
“Okay.”
Then, Yo and Tama crouched down on the floor and started drawing a map on the concrete floor.
…Which meant that the remaining two, who couldn’t do brain work, were left with nothing to do.
“…Hey, Hibana.”
“What?”
The baka spoke to Hibana, who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.
“We’re bored, aren’t we?”
…The baka tried to talk to her, but Hibana clicked her tongue and decided to ignore him. It seemed that she thought she was being made fun of. The baka didn’t mean to say, “You can’t do brain work!”, he was just purely bored.
“Just waiting around is kinda…”
Since there was no reply, the baka continued to talk to himself. Hibana looked annoyed.
“…Okay! I’m bored, so let’s sing!”
“Stop it! It’s going to be loud! Shut up!”
But when the baka tried to start singing, Hibana stopped him. When the baka reluctantly stopped singing, Hibana clicked her tongue again and went back to the wall.
“…Well then, yeah. I’ll go for a little walk.”
Since there was nothing else to do, the baka decided to do something quiet to kill time… namely, take a walk.
“Huh? A walk…?”
“Yeah. Tama, Yo. I’m going for a little walk!”
“Huh? Oh, okay. Currently, the space where the lion is and the space where we are aren’t connected, so it should be fine… Ah, but don’t touch the levers.”
“Got it! I’ll take a walk without touching the levers!”
Hibana was suspicious, but since Yo gave his permission, the baka decided to go for a walk cheerfully. For now, he wanted to see the lion, even if it was through the iron bars!
When he looked, as Yo had said earlier, there were levers here and there on the walls. But the baka was a baka who followed instructions, so he didn’t touch the levers. He even raised both hands in a “I won’t touch them!” pose.
With his hands up, the baka walked seriously, but cheerfully, between the iron bars. …As he did so, the lion eventually noticed the baka and approached him.
“Whoa, it’s a lion…!”
The baka’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the lion. The lion approached the baka through the iron bars and stared at him. He could hear the lion growling, and the baka was very excited. After all, it was a lion. It was really, truly, a lion!
Letting out a sigh of admiration, the baka carefully observed the lion…
That’s when it happened.
“Huh?”
Crunch, the lion bit into the iron bars. Then, it started to thrash around. It seemed that Tama was right, this lion was very agitated.
“Don’t thrash around so much. Eating iron bars isn’t tasty.”
“Hey, hey,” the baka tried to calm the lion, but the lion didn’t seem to be listening at all. This lion seemed to be even worse at listening than the baka.
And so, the lion thrashed even more, growling, and its eyes, filled with hatred and madness, stared intently at the baka…
Crack!
Finally, the iron bars broke.
“Whoaaaaaa!?”
“Kabashima-kun!?”
When the baka shouted, Yo and Tama immediately looked at the baka, and then they realized that the lion had broken through the iron bars.
“What the heck…! So, there wasn’t even a guarantee that we’d be safe if we were on the other side of the iron bars! Damn it! Kabashima-kun! Go to the right immediately!”
“Hurry! I’m going to move the iron bars! Quickly!”
And so, both of them analyzed the situation and started to move to save the baka.
…But the baka couldn’t move immediately.
“W-waaaaaaaa!”
The baka, who was pounced on by the lion, was a little scared. The lion was cool, but if it attacked him, it wouldn’t be cool at all.
…And so, the scared baka, instinctively, threw out his hand.
Bokoo! The baka’s right straight punched the lion’s cheek.
Instantly, the lion was blown away, and with a loud crash, it hit the iron bars in the back, its eyes rolled back, and it could only twitch…
…And then, it died.
This world was a jungle. In other words, the one with the stronger muscles wins. That’s how it is.
Everyone was silent.
Tama, Yo, and even Hibana were stunned into silence. And the baka was pale, thinking, “I messed up!”, and the lion was silent forever.
“…Sorry! I accidentally killed the lion! It was sudden! It was sudden!”
The baka was confused and started running around the lion’s corpse, shouting, “Waaaaaaa!”, but Yo stopped him.
“U-um…”
And as Yo and Hibana rushed over, and Tama came leisurely from behind, the baka was starting to calm down.
“…I really didn’t think you could take down a lion with your bare hands…”
…Yo said with a wry smile, and when he glanced at the lion’s corpse, Tama and Hibana nodded with indescribable expressions.
“Kabashima-kun. How are you? Have you calmed down?”
“Ah, yeah… Thanks, Yo, you’re a good guy.”
And so, the baka calmed down. He was surprised when the lion attacked him, and he was also reflecting on the fact that he had instinctively punched it to death.
But, according to Yo, “It’s not a problem even if the lion died…”, so the baka also switched his mindset, thinking, “Then, it’s a jungle. Sorry, lion. I’ll get stronger for your sake!”
“…At this rate, it seems like it’s true that you tore off your collar with your bare hands.”
Tama muttered, looking at the lion’s corpse. The lion’s skull was, well, crushed from its cheek to the top of its head. Every time Tama poked it, the area felt like the bones were cracking.
“Yeah… Ah, should I demonstrate? There’s a good iron bar here…”
“No, you don’t have to do that, you baka, do you?”
“Look, like this.”
“I said you don’t have to do that, you baka!”
When I showed Hibana the iron bars I had bent into a squiggly shape, she got really mad at me. I thought, “There’s no need to get so angry!” and proceeded to bend the iron bars, kyui! kyui!
“Look, it’s a poodle!”
I bent the iron bar into the shape of a poodle. Well, it’s basically a balloon animal, but made of iron.
“I don’t need that!”
“Really!? But the kids in my neighborhood love these! Oh, I can make a flower too!”
“Where the heck is your neighborhood!? That’s totally impossible!”
Hibana was yelling and screaming, while Baka was in shock. Yo gently stepped between the two of them.
“Hey, Yo! Isn’t this cute!?”
“Well, yeah, it’s well-made. But that’s not the point…”
Then, Yo asked with a really pained expression.
“…Um, Kabashima-kun. I’ve been wondering… when did you get that Unique Ability?”
“Huh?”
Baka tilted his head, a bunch of question marks floating above it, as Yo asked hesitantly.
“That Super Strength. From what I’ve heard, it sounds like you had it before this Death Game started…”
Hearing that, he remembered. Baka looked back at the past, hm, hm, and then…
“Ehhhh… even if you say that… I’ve always been like this…”
That was the conclusion that was perfectly normal for Baka.
…That’s right! This Baka had this Super Strength from the beginning, regardless of the Death Game!
Thanks to that, he’s been fired from his job several times! Even at his current workplace, they treat him with a “Well, you’re like a heavy machine, right? Hahahaha” kind of attitude!
That’s Kabashima Tsuyoshi! Also known as Baka!
Now then.
Baka tried his best to explain, “My Super Strength is something I’ve always had,” but… Yo, Tama, and Hibana all started to look troubled.
“So, does that mean you have another Unique Ability besides Super Strength?”
“Huh, I don’t know…”
That’s right, “Unique Ability.”
Everyone except Baka seems to have something called a “Unique Ability.” Or at least, that’s what they were saying, or something like that.
But Baka doesn’t have any awareness of his “Unique Ability.”
“Nothing’s changed, though…”
He tried throwing a straight punch into the air, but he didn’t feel any different. There was really nothing he could be aware of.
“…Was there no explanation about your Unique Ability in the room you were locked in at first?”
“Huh, no, there wasn’t…”
“In the safe. Really, there wasn’t?”
“I didn’t even look at the safe…”
Even when Tama pressed him, Baka couldn’t do anything. Baka doesn’t know anything, and he doesn’t understand anything. Because he’s a Baka.
“…Then, how did you get out of the room… ah.”
“Oh, right… Kabashima-kun broke down the door to escape the first room…”
That’s right. Baka is a Baka. Because he’s a Baka, he left the first room using a method that was definitely not the intended one. Because of that, it seems he lost the information he was supposed to get!
“Aaaah… damn it! I should have destroyed the safe and taken the contents!”
“No, it was written to read it on the spot and throw it away.”
“I’m a Baka, so I wouldn’t understand it anyway! It would have been better to have Yo or Tama read it and tell me, right!?”
“Well, I’m happy you trust us… but, ah, where do I even start… Anyway, this is a dead end.”
Next to Baka, who was holding his head, Yo sighed as if to say, “I’m the one who wants to hold my head.” But even Yo patted Baka’s back to comfort him, so he must be a good guy after all.
“…Well, there’s still the possibility that you ‘gained Super Strength by rewriting your awareness’,” Yo added. Baka could only tilt his head again, but Yo explained with a wry smile.
“If you suddenly became strong enough to bend iron bars, you wouldn’t be able to act normally. Even turning a doorknob or walking. …So, maybe you need to gain that experience or memory, or something like that, to handle the power.”
“It’s a strange story, though. …But, there’s no way to confirm it. Damn it…”
Yo was trying to smooth things over, and Hibana seemed to be convinced, or rather, had given up.
And Tama was…
“…Is it possible that you have two Unique Abilities?”
“You… is this your second time? Have you participated in another Death Game before this one?”
Tama had a sharp look in her eyes.