“S-Self-introductions? Are you a Baka? How can we introduce ourselves among people whose backgrounds we don’t know!”
The moment Baka suggested it, a nervous-looking guy snapped at him. Well, he’s right. Baka is a Baka.
“But if we don’t know each other’s names, it’ll be inconvenient, right!? If we can only say ‘Hey!’ when we want to call someone, that’s inconvenient, right!? That’s how workplace accidents happen, you know!?”
But Baka didn’t back down. He was a little worried, thinking, ‘Am I wrong here!?’, but he still made his point.
…Then.
“That’s true. Well, it seems like it could be life-threatening if we have inconveniences during the ‘Game’ … How about everyone uses a fake name?”
A friendly-looking guy said that, and then he pointed to his collar and said,
“For example… I’d be ‘Yo’ or something.”
“Yo?”
“Yeah. It seems my collar is the ‘Sun’.”
“Eh? Your collar is the Sun?”
Baka tilted his head, wondering, ‘What does that mean?’ Then, the friendly-looking guy… ‘Yo’, showed him the mark engraved on the round gem embedded in the center of his collar, ‘☉’.
It was a bit different from a double circle. It was a mark like a dot in the center of a circle. Baka didn’t recognize it.
“I think this is called a Planetary Symbol. My collar has the ‘Sun’ mark on it.”
“Hoooh.”
He had never heard of Planetary Symbols. Baka was impressed, thinking, ‘Everyone’s so smart.’
“So, I’ll go by ‘Yo’. Well, it might be strange to say this, but… nice to meet you.”
Then, ‘Yo’ gave a wry smile.
… ‘Yo’ was a handsome man. He was tall, though not as tall as Baka. And his sincere demeanor was likable. Baka thought, ‘He seems like a good guy, he must be popular with the ladies.’
“Then, I’ll go by ‘Tama’.”
Next, a cat-like girl announced her name.
“Tama!? You do look a bit cat-like!”
“…Whether I look cat-like or not, it’s ‘Tama’ from the ‘sphere’ of ‘Earth’.”
Look, Tama showed him the gem on her collar, which also had a mark. It was a mark with a cross inside a circle. Baka thought, ‘Come to think of it, the police station’s mark was something like this…’ That was a diagonal cross, but this was a vertical cross.
…Tama was a cat-like girl. Her black hair, cut at shoulder length, and her clear, cat-like eyes made her look like a black cat. Baka thought, ‘She seems cold, but she’s actually kind, she must be popular with the ladies.’
“Well, I’ll go with ‘Hibana’.”
The next to announce his name was a thug-like guy. With his spiky, styled blonde hair and his overall bad-boy look, Baka thought he probably had tattoos.
“I’m Mars, right?”
And on the gem of his collar was the mark ‘♂’. Baka smiled, ‘Ah! I know this! It’s the male symbol!’ It was Baka’s nature to feel relieved when he encountered something he knew.
…And then, a sneer interrupted Hibana’s self-introduction.
“Hibana, huh. You do look like you’ll disappear in a flash.”
A sexy lady chuckled. She was wearing a mini tight skirt and a top that revealed her chest. Her long, wavy black hair. And a nice body that didn’t pale in comparison to any of it! She was undoubtedly a beauty.
“What was that!? Hey, you damn woman! What did you say!?”
“Oh dear, your fuse is short, isn’t it? Truly, your name reflects your nature, or rather…”
The sexy lady shrugged and laughed through her nose. Baka could only fret, ‘Don’t fight so much, I’m worried…’
“Well, I’ll go by ‘Venus’. The symbol of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. It’s a perfect fit, right?”
The gem on the collar of the sexy lady who called herself Venus had the mark ‘♀’. This was apparently the mark of Venus.
“Ah! I saw this mark in the hallway earlier!”
“Huh?”
“There was a room that’s already flooded! And this was on the nameplate! It said ‘Female’ so I thought a woman was locked up, so I broke down the door to check, but no one was there!”
So, this Venus must have been in that room. And, since Venus was smarter than Baka, she must have escaped before Baka! Baka smiled, ‘I’m glad she’s safe.’
“…Just to ask, besides the collar, what else did you break?”
“Eh… Two doors… The door of the room I was in, and the door with the ‘♀’ mark… I guess that’s going to be damages, deducted from my salary? But it’s better than breaking down a wall, right…?”
…But then, remembering, Baka became dejected again. How much would the damages for two doors be…? And the collar…
“Ah, um, may I go next?”
“Ah, yeah. Sorry, old man…”
A somber-looking old man gently interrupted the dejected Baka. He was also quite the silver fox. He had an intellectual air, but his build was rather sturdy. He was taller than Yo, but shorter than Baka.
“Well then, I shall go by… let’s see, ‘Tsuchiya’.”
“Huh? Old man, is that your last name?”
“No, it’s a fake name. My mark seems to be ‘Saturn’.”
The gem on the collar of the somber old man, now Tsuchiya, had the mark ‘♄’. Baka just thought, ‘It’s kind of squiggly.’
“…So, that leaves three of us. Um, what about the elderly gentleman over there?”
Tsuchiya turned the conversation to the old man who had first spoken to Baka. He seemed difficult, and Baka thought, ‘I’m not good with him.’
The old man was deep in thought with a difficult expression, but eventually, he opened his mouth.
“Then, I shall go by ‘Amagi’. The Planetary Symbol is Uranus. That is all.”
He said only that and then closed his mouth again. So Baka, tiptoed closer to Amagi and peeked at the mark on his collar.
The gem on his collar had ‘⛢’. It was like the arrow of Mars’ ‘♂’ mark was pointing upwards, and like the sun mark on Yo’s collar, there was a dot in the center of the circle.
“Then, how about the young lady over there?”
Tsuchiya turned the conversation to a quiet-looking woman. She had chestnut-colored hair braided to the side, and she was wearing a blouse and a long skirt.
“Ah, um, well… I’ll go with ‘Mina’, please. Since my mark is Mercury, ‘Water’, so ‘Mina’. How is that…?”
The gem on the collar of the woman who called herself Mina had ‘☿’ engraved on it. It was like the circle part of Venus’ ‘♀’ mark had two horns sticking out.
“I think it’s great! Nice to meet you, Mina!”
“Ah, y-yes. Nice to meet you too, Kabashima-san…”
When they shook hands, Mina timidly shook his hand back. So in Baka’s mind, she was recognized as, ‘She’s a good person!’ Well, Baka was simple.
“…Well then. I guess I’m last?”
And the last one left was the nervous-looking guy. His clothes looked a bit expensive, so he might have come from a good family.
“Now, what should I call myself? My mark is Neptune. When I think of the sea, Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ immediately comes to mind, but…”
“Eh? Sister, wheeey…?”
It seemed this nervous-looking guy was smart. Therefore, Baka didn’t understand anything. Baka tilted his head in confusion. If he had too long of a name, he wouldn’t be able to remember it.
“…It seems this Baka wouldn’t be able to understand a difficult name. It’s extremely simple and regrettable, but I’ll go by ‘Kaito’.”
The guy who looked at Baka decided to go by ‘Kaito’ after all. Baka could remember that. ‘He’s a good guy!’ Baka smiled. Well, again, Baka was simple.
“And me…”
Now. And as Baka was about to announce his name…
“No, we already know your name, so you don’t need to announce it. It was Bakashima, right?”
Kaito stopped him with a sneer. Well, he did remember saying, ‘I’m Kabashima Tsuyoshi!’ a few times.
“It’s Kabashima, not Bakashima. Well, I was often called Bakashima at school and work, and recently I’ve been called ‘Baka’ for short, so ‘Bakashima’ or ‘Baka’ is fine! Call me whatever’s easier to remember!”
“…Were you bullied?”
Kaito, who had been making a face as if he was making fun of Baka, started to look worried, perhaps because Baka was too positive. He seemed like a good guy after all.
“…Well, if that’s the case, I’ll call you that. Nice to meet you, Baka-kun.”
“Yeah! Nice to meet you too, Venus!”
Unlike the worried Kaito, Venus smiled and called him ‘Baka-kun’. When he was called by a nickname, it made him feel like they had become friends, so Baka was happy.
“U-Um… well, if Kabashima-kun is okay with it, then I guess it’s fine…”
Yo gave a wry laugh. Tama and Tsuchiya sighed quietly, while Kaito let out a loud one. Mina was flustered, and Hibana and Amagi were silent!
Now then.
“Alright! Let’s confirm one more time!”
After everyone finished introducing themselves… Baka decided to match names and faces again.
“Okay, first is the Sun’s Yo!”
“Yeah. Nice to meet you.”
The friendly, handsome guy is Yo. Got it.
“Then, Earth’s Tama!”
“Yup.”
The black cat-like girl is Tama. Got it.
“That thug over there is Mars’ Hibana…”
“Who are you calling a thug!? You wanna pick a fight!? Huh!?”
The thug is Hibana. Got it too.
“Venus’ Venus! Right?”
“Yes. I am the goddess of love and beauty, Venus-sama.”
The sexy beauty is Venus. Got it down.
“And old man Tsuchiya is Saturn!”
“Yeah. Nice to be working with you.”
The渋い old man is Tsuchiya. Okay.
“Uranus? Old man Amagi!”
The old man is Amagi. Amagi didn’t reply, but no one else commented, so it must be right. Okay.
“Then, Mercury’s Mina!”
“Yes. Nice to meet you, Kabashima-san.”
The quiet-looking older sister is Mina. All good.
“And, um, Neptune’s Kaito!”
“Yeah, that’s right. Geez, with a baka like this around, I can’t see this going well.”
And the nervous-looking older brother is Kaito. Perfect!
“…So, um, what are we doing now? A break?”
“That’s right. And then, when it’s noon, we have to start the ‘Game’… I think that’s how it goes.”
Yo explained, and Baka confirmed the schedule for now.
Rest until noon. When it’s noon, play the game, clear it, and when it’s night, come back here and rest… That’s how it should be.
But.
“I have a proposal.”
Amagi spoke up.
“…How about we kill this Baka-shima here and now?”
Some of the characters are garbled and unreadable, but they are all Planetary Symbols. Also, the Earth’s Planetary Symbol could not be used due to the nature of “Shōsetsuka ni Narō,” so it is not in the text.
I intend to write in a way that it won’t be too much of a problem even if the characters are garbled, but if you search for “Planetary Symbols,” you can find them, so please take a look, as it will make the story easier to understand and help with your deductions. Please keep that in mind.