“Hmm…?”
Kabashima Tsuyoshi woke up. He blinked his eyes open and stretched out his body with a big yawn.
“…I feel like I was dreaming something, but I forgot it.”
After a sleepy yawn, he thought, “Well then…”
“…Where is this place, by the way?”
Kabashima was, surprisingly, not in his own room. Nor was he in the break room of the construction office where he had just started working.
He looked around, question marks popping up all over his head, when he heard a jangling sound near his neck.
“Huh!? What’s this!?”
Following the sound, he saw a metallic collar on his well-trained neck muscles. A chain extended from the collar, and the chain was connected to the wall.
…And on the wall at the end of the chain, there was an explanation. Kabashima wasn’t good at reading long sentences, but he did his best to read it.
‘Awake, are you? Well then, if you’re reading this, it means you’ve noticed the collar. By the way, if you haven’t noticed yet, take a look at your left arm. We’ve prepared a clock for you.’
After reading that far, Kabashima looked at his left arm. There was something like a wristwatch. However, instead of 12 numbers and two hands on the dial, there were only two areas labeled ‘Day’ and ‘Night’, and one hand. It seemed to be a little past the middle of the ‘Day’ area.
‘The ‘Day’ and ‘Night’ each correspond to about ’90 minutes’ in human terms. And, although I’ll skip the details, if you’re still in this room when the clock hand reaches ‘Night’, you will die.’
“Eeeeeeeh!? I’m gonna die!?”
Kabashima was shocked by the following shocking sentence. He was very shocked. So shocked that a voice came from the bottom of his stomach. The walls vibrated, and the light from the bulb hanging from the ceiling shook. It was his proud loud voice that he was praised for at work, “You really have a loud voice!”
‘As for me, it would be boring if too many people died before the game even started. I would like you to escape from here.’
“I want to escape too! I don’t want to die!”
Kabashima, who was completely conversing with the explanation, nodded with strong determination. The chain swayed greatly as his head was shaken, making a heavy jangling sound.
‘As you can see, your collar is fixed to the wall. However, the only thing connecting the collar and the chain is a single padlock. And the key to that padlock is somewhere in this room, within the reach of the chain that binds you.’
“Is that so!?”
‘Search for it. Before your life is lost!’
“Okay! I understand!”
Kabashima felt like he was being encouraged by the explanation and cheered up. It was Kabashima’s trait to cheer himself up even when he wasn’t being encouraged.
Well then.
Kabashima stood up and looked around.
The floor, walls, and ceiling all appeared to be made of concrete. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling, swaying and casting light into the room.
The room wasn’t that big. About four and a half tatami mats, perhaps. The only notable things in it were a closet, a desk, and the bed where Kabashima had been sleeping.
Looking further, there was something like a screwdriver and a desk calendar on the desk. There were also some oddly shaped blocks.
…That was all. There was no key to be found.
Kabashima just tilted his head, question marks popping up all over, looked at the explanation again, tilted his head, and then…
“…I don’t get it!”
He ripped the collar off with a Baki! sound.
This was Kabashima Tsuyoshi, also known as “Baka’s” main weapon.
His strong style was to solve everything with his muscles.
The collar, mercilessly torn off by Baka’s muscles, rolled onto the concrete floor with a karan sound.
Thus, Baka was free. However, the door to the room remained closed. This troubled Baka.
He could just break the door, but since he was in the construction business, he knew how difficult it was to build a building. It would be a shame to destroy it.
“Heeeey! Is anyone there!?”
So, he tried knocking on the door while calling out. He hoped someone would open it for him. …But, unfortunately, there was no sign of the door opening.
Should he just wait here? His boss had told him, “Don’t move so quickly!” he recalled, and he waited blankly in front of the door, but still, there was no sign of the door opening. Moreover, not even a single sound could be heard. It must have been a very good soundproof facility.
Meanwhile, the clock hand was rapidly approaching ‘Night’. If he was still in this room when it became ‘Night’, he would die, right?
Then, there was no choice. “I guess the repair costs will be deducted from my salary again…” Baka thought, and then he tackled the steel door with a Baki! sound, breaking it open, and went out of the room with a dejected look.
Baka went out into the hallway. It was a very ordinary hallway with fluorescent lights.
There were several doors, and each had a tag with some kind of mark on it, like a nameplate, but unfortunately, Baka didn’t understand them.
But.
“Ahhh!? This is a ♀! I know this one!”
There was a mark he recognized. It was a ♀. A ♀. Which meant there was a woman inside, right?
“Are you okayyy!?”
So, Baka opened the door. It wasn’t out of ulterior motives. No, he did have some ulterior motives. But, because Baka was Baka, he remembered his boss’s words before his ulterior motives, “Listen! You have to protect women and children first! That’s what a man does!” Baka was Baka, but he was a good Baka. Therefore, he thought, “If there’s a woman, I have to help her!” and he broke down the door with a tackle out of pure goodwill. This was the second door that had been sacrificed. On the other hand, Baka’s shoulders were completely unharmed.
But.
“…There’s no one here!”
There was no one there! It was empty!
…The room was generally the same as the room Baka had been in. The closet was open, and inside, there was something that looked like a safe, and some oddly shaped blocks were fitted into the safe, but well, Baka didn’t really understand that.
But, there was something Baka did understand.
There was a chain attached to the wall, but it wasn’t connected to anything. In other words, the person who had been here had removed the chain using the correct procedure, unlike Baka who had destroyed it along with the collar.
…Which meant that there might have been a way to open the door from the inside. The key to the padlock might have been somewhere, but Baka just couldn’t find it.
Baka was dejected again, thinking, “I really am a Baka.” Baka was the type of Baka who was aware that he was a Baka.
While he was thinking, Baka heard a creaking sound.
“…Hmm?”
Wondering what it was, he went out into the hallway, and what do you know.
Water was rushing towards him from the direction he had come from!
“Uwooooooah!?”
Baka ran. He ran at a speed of about 9.50 seconds for 100 meters. The power of a desperate situation applied to Baka as well. It was the power of a desperate Baka.
Then, Baka found a staircase in front of him, and he ran up it with tremendous leg strength, ran up, ran up…
He suddenly came out into a wide space.
Under the light of a bright chandelier, in the Great Hall with a dark blue carpet…
‘Now, the game starts. Participants, do your best.’
Such an announcement was made, and then it cut off.
And, as the heavy sound of a bell rang out, lingon, lingon, eight people with stunned expressions were looking at Baka.
“…Ah! There are people! Good!”
…So, Baka was relieved and had a big smile on his face!
Of course, Baka was the only one who was relieved. The other eight were not relieved at all. Rather, it was the opposite.
“…W-what are you!? Who are you!? Answer me!”
An old man approached him with obvious caution. His expression was fierce, and sweat could even be seen on his forehead.
“Eh!? Me!? Uh, I’m Kabashima Tsuyoshi! Nice to meet you! And, who are you, old man?”
A bright greeting was the way to go in these situations. That’s what Baka had learned. And it was one of Baka’s few things he remembered. Even in this situation, he would greet people, that was Baka’s style.
“W-what is this guy…”
“Eh, so, I’m Kabashima Tsuyoshi… Kabashima is my family name, and Tsuyoshi is my given name…”
The old man who he greeted didn’t return the greeting or introduce himself. Baka felt uneasy and lonely about that, and he looked at the other seven people.
…The other seven were also looking at Baka with eyes of unease, impatience, and suspicion.
Baka identified them as, “Uh, big brother, big brother, big sister, big sister, girl, old man, thug…” He counted eight people, including the old man who had just spoken to him. Okay.
“…What’s going on here? And, are all the people here friends of the old man? Introduce them to me, I’m lonely being alone.”
Baka bravely calls out to the old man. However, the old man slowly increases the distance between them. How lonely!
“U-um… where should we even begin to explain this?” the gruff middle-aged man muttered, and beside him, the thug-like young man nodded with an indescribable expression.
The quiet-looking young woman took a half-step closer to the sexy older woman next to her. She looked anxious. Meanwhile, the sexy older woman was looking at Baka with eyes that might as well have been looking at trash.
The nervous-looking young man just stared at Baka with completely bewildered eyes, and the friendly-looking young man was calmly observing Baka…
“…Let’s explain. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise. Isn’t that what this night time is for?”
A young woman stepped forward. Her black hair, cut at shoulder length, swayed as she fixed her cat-like, clear eyes on Baka.
And then.
“We are people who gathered after being tempted by a devil. Each of us has a wish we want to fulfill… and to achieve that, we will end up killing each other. It seems that’s the way it is.”
“…I don’t get it!”
Baka stopped thinking. Or rather, he wasn’t really thinking much to begin with.