“Now then. Let’s decide which team goes into which room…”
Once the teams were set, the next step was deciding which room each would enter. After all, there were nine rooms. That’s a lot. Baka wasn’t very confident in counting past three. No, he could probably count a little higher than that. He could probably count up to five without making a mistake. Maybe.
“Then, we shall enter this room. Is that alright, Yo-kun, Tama-san?”
Amagi was the first to choose a room. Yo and Tama seemed to have no objections, nodding in agreement.
“Then, we’ll take the one next to them.”
“Then, shall we take the one next to that? Right, Kaito, Hibana, is that okay?”
…And so, each team decided on their door. Baka, feeling a bit down, thought, “Which room was this again? I can’t remember which door is which anymore,” but then he smiled, thinking, “If possible, I’d like the room with the pot… ehehe.”
Just then.
“…Tama-san. Could I have a word with you?”
Amagi beckoned with a slight wave of his hand.
Tama tilted her head as if to say, “Me?” and Yo looked a bit wary, wondering what was going on.
“…Does that mean just the two of you? If so, I’d like to join. If two people from our group of three are talking alone, I can’t help but feel anxious.”
As Yo stepped forward, Amagi nodded.
“Understood. Yo-kun can join us.”
Amagi had actually allowed Yo to join!
“O-oh…? I thought he was a stubborn old man…?”
Kaito looked at Baka suspiciously after seeing that. He was probably thinking, “This isn’t what I was told.”
In response, Baka shook his head vigorously, conveying, “I don’t know that old man Amagi either!” The wind from his shaking head made Mina’s braids flutter, and Mina exclaimed, “Whoa!” in surprise.
Baka watched Amagi, Tama, and Yo head off and tilted his head, thinking, “Old man Amagi seems rather calm this time.” What could have brought about this change?
A little while later, the three returned.
“Sorry for the wait.”
“Hey, hey, Tama. What were you talking about?”
The fearless Baka immediately approached Tama and asked her directly.
And then.
“We were talking about Amagi-san’s Unique Ability.”
Tama told him so matter-of-factly!
“…I thought it would be better to know if we’re going to be playing this Game together. However, I don’t want too many people to know about it,” Amagi said with a slightly grim expression, nodding. It seemed that was really what they had been talking about.
“I see… Indeed, some of our Unique Abilities might be more useful if we know each other’s, while others might not. And some might put us in danger if they’re known,” Tsuchiya said, nodding in agreement. …Then, he seemed to hesitate for a moment, probably wondering whether to reveal his own Unique Ability.
Tsuchiya’s Unique Ability was the ability to create shields. So, revealing it could act as a deterrent, but not revealing it might make opponents underestimate him. It was a difficult decision. Baka groaned.
“…We still have a little time, right?”
Tama glanced at the clock and then approached Baka and the others.
“Could you show me your collars for a moment?”
…And so.
“Hmm… Other than the marks engraved on them, there doesn’t seem to be any difference,” Tama said after checking Baka’s and Kaito’s collars, and was now checking Hibana’s collar.
Hibana was much taller than Tama, so Tama had her hand on Hibana’s shoulder, looking intently at the collar, which was about at her eye level.
…It was more that Tama was small than that Hibana was tall. From Baka’s perspective, she was really tiny!
“Could I see Tsuchiya-san’s, Mina-san’s, and Venus-san’s as well?”
“Well, I don’t mind. Go ahead,” Tsuchiya said, crouching down for Tama since he was even taller than Hibana. By the way, Baka had been sitting properly in a seiza position, saying, “Can you see now!?” Tama had been circling around Baka, saying, “This is kind of fun.”
“You can look at mine too,” Mina said, standing in front of Tama, fidgeting but allowing Tama to observe her. Mina was taller than Tama, but not by much, so Tama seemed comfortable.
“…I think I’ll pass, okay? At least, don’t touch me. It might be that kind of Unique Ability,”
“Ah… I see. You’re right. Sorry, I was a bit thoughtless,” Venus said, looking a little worried. Tama looked at Venus’s collar without touching her. …Venus was quite tall. That was because she was wearing high-heeled shoes. With heels, she was almost as tall as Kaito.
Baka thought, “Well, I’m the biggest one here!” with a bit of pride. Well, being big wasn’t always a good thing, so he couldn’t be too proud…
Now then.
Once Tama’s collar observation time was over, the bell signaling noon finally rang.
“…Well then, let’s go,” Tsuchiya said, and the three teams each headed into their respective doors.
“We are the Twin Maidens.”
“We will answer up to 20 questions that can be answered with YES or NO.”
“Through the questions, guess the name of the thing we are imagining.”
“Whoa! It’s the twin sisters!”
…And what Baka and the others saw there were the “Twin Maidens.”
The Twin Maidens were, as their name suggested, two women.
The two had very similar appearances, and they were breathtakingly beautiful.
Their beauty was like that of a manufactured object. …In fact, they might actually be manufactured.
“I see, I see. We have to find the answer with 20 questions… I see. So, it’s a battle of wits,” Kaito said with a grin. It was probably because it was his area of expertise.
“A battle of wits!? Does that mean I’m completely useless!?” Baka was shocked. It was his weak point!
“Hibana! Are you good at this kind of thing!?”
“…No,”
Hibana was also bad at it! Baka nodded with a satisfied smile, thinking, “I knew it! I think Hibana is probably the second biggest Baka here!”
“I see… Then, I guess I’ll be the main force here,” Kaito said, his expression twitching as he moved right behind Baka. …Baka’s role was to be the vanguard, but Kaito’s role was to fight from behind.
Then, the Twin Maidens began to explain the rules.
“You have up to five attempts to answer. Once someone gives an incorrect answer, they cannot answer again until everyone else has given an incorrect answer.”
“And the person who gives an incorrect answer will have their cage locked.”
“If someone answers correctly, the key to all the cages will be given to that person.”
“120 seconds after that, the floor beneath the cages will collapse.”
Baka had heard the rules once before. But, just like last time, he didn’t understand them!
“Underneath the floor are poisonous snakes. If you get bitten, it could be fatal.”
“Hick…”
“Whoa… Seriously, damn…”
…But, Baka could tell that Kaito and Hibana had turned pale after looking at their feet. So, Baka looked at his feet too.
“Whoa… They’re wriggling around,”
The floor was made of iron fences. And below that, he could see snakes wriggling and intertwining.
“Hey, hey, are these the kind you can pickle in alcohol?”
“This isn’t the time for that! Can’t you see!? Are you a Baka!?”
Kaito scolded him. Baka was dejected. At the same time, he thought, “I wonder if they’d taste good grilled…” Baka was already starting to get a little hungry.
“Now, enter the cages. Once all of you are inside the cages, the key to the exit will appear in the basket in front of you.”
“If you can find the answer with 12 questions, we will give you a special reward.”
The Twin Maidens smiled beautifully. A beautiful, yet cruel smile.
Were these Twin Maidens really demons after all?
“…Damn, we have to enter the cages to get the key to the exit. If we don’t move forward, we’ll die from the poison in our collars. And if we fail, we’ll get bitten by poisonous snakes… It seems we have no choice but to do it,” Kaito said reluctantly as he entered a cage. Hibana silently entered the cage next to him. So, Baka entered the cage on the opposite side.
“Now, let’s begin.”
“The thing we are imagining is ‘food’. Now, please ask your questions.”
And so, the Game began. Baka watched Kaito and Hibana thinking about something and then…
“A question!”
He raised his hand sharply.
“Are you two one-egg sausages?”
…And then, it took several seconds for Kaito, Hibana, and the Twin Maidens to understand the meaning of the question.