Metoya Translation

1. Gimmickry Mansion (The 77th Time)

(0/22)

In a Japanese-style room with tatami mats, Yuuki awoke.

(1/22)

By counting the number of mats, she could accurately grasp the size of the room. It was twelve mats. Shoji screens and sliding doors (fusuma) partitioned the room, and on the solid walls hung scrolls written with skilled calligraphy. The lighting hanging from the ceiling was slightly dim, and in the center of the room, there was something like an irori fireplace installed; no matter how you looked at it, this was a Japanese-style room. Even if you took a photograph of any corner of this room and cropped it, you couldn't wipe away the Japanese atmosphere. It was a zashiki room that was Japanese through and through.

Inside that room, Yuuki woke up. It wasn't her home, and she didn't remember checking into an inn. Yuuki had no memory of going to sleep in a room like this.

She looked at herself. Yuuki was dressed in an outfit that could hardly be called everyday wear. While it would be classified as Japanese clothing—a kimono—it was sleeveless with the sides boldly open, and the hem was strangely short, giving it the appearance of a mini-skirt; overall, there was very little fabric. Even in the scant fabric that existed, there were mesh sections here and there, revealing the creator's intention to expose as much bare skin as possible. It was what you would call a "Kunoichi" outfit. The garb of a female ninja. Yuuki, who naturally did not possess a background setting of being a descendant of ninjas, had no recollection of putting on these clothes either.

An unfamiliar place. Unfamiliar clothes.

However—that was precisely what was "business as usual" for Yuuki.

Yuuki had already experienced this kind of thing seventy-seven times. Events of the underworld where young women were abducted to some closed-off space, forced to play dangerous "Games" with no regard for human life, and the proceedings were broadcast to collect viewing fees from an audience. Yuuki was a regular player in these.

Yuuki aimed to clear ninety-nine games in this world. Not for money. Not for honor. If asked why, there were complex circumstances that Yuuki herself couldn't explain in a single bite, but regardless, she was aiming for it, and this was her seventy-seventh time. She could finally see the goal.

It certainly wasn't smooth sailing, and several troublesome problems were surfacing—but this was not the time to think about that. If placed in a "Game," one should concentrate only on that. Yuuki exhaled lightly, pushed all the trivial matters out of her mind, and sharpened her five senses.

Now then.

There was one thing she noticed immediately.

To be honest, she hadn't even needed to sharpen her senses; she had noticed it right after waking up. There was a presence of someone else around the room. Voices, footsteps, the sound of clothes rustling—faint sounds that were felt more than heard.

There was someone nearby. Multiple people, at that.

The thought of whether they were enemies or allies flashed through her mind. The probability was high that they were allies. The reason being that the game's starting point was a Japanese-style room—meaning a room without locks. It would be a strange setup if "Enemies" could freely intrude while the player in the room was yet to wake up. She didn't know if these presences belonged to other players or Non-Player Characters prepared by the Management, but it was unlikely that a battle would ensue immediately upon waking.

However, she couldn't completely rule out that possibility, so Yuuki prepared herself. She checked her Kunoichi outfit, but found no weapons. No shuriken, no kunai. She looked around the room once more, but again, there were no weapons. The large pot hanging over the irori seemed the most promising as a weapon, so Yuuki moved close to it.

The presence drew nearer. The voices became audible more clearly. They were the voices of young women, and she could pick up fragments of the content. "...Probably one person per room..." "...For now, we're going around in order..." "...Seems like an escape type..." aside from the content, the volume clearly indicated they weren't wary of being heard, so Yuuki judged the danger to be low. Lowering her guard, she waited for the group outside to arrive.

Eventually, the sliding door to the room opened.

"Ah... You're already awake."

Someone said.

Young women in Kunoichi outfits, just like Yuuki, peeked in one after another.

(2/22)

There were eleven of them in total.

Including Yuuki, that made twelve. It might be too early to conclude that the total number of players was twelve, but for the time being, that seemed to be all the girls who had been put to sleep in the rooms in this vicinity.

The players introduced themselves to one another. First, Yuuki gave her name along with the number seventy-seven, but there was no favorable reaction from the girls. Yuuki had been in this industry for a very long time, so recently it was becoming common for her name to be known, but it seemed that wasn't the case this time.

Conversely, there were no faces Yuuki recognized either. Likely, they were all meeting for the first time. When she asked about their play counts, most were on their third or fourth time; the majority seemed to be beginners who had only recently started gaming. Now that she looked, they all had innocent faces.

"There wasn't any particular explanation of the rules," one of the girls said.

"We're talking about how it's probably an escape type, but..."

"Yeah. I think so too," Yuuki agreed.

The rules of the game varied each time, but the most typical among them was the escape type, where the goal was to get out of a closed space. If you were thrown into a building without a proper explanation, it was standard practice to consider that first.

Yuuki and the others left the room. There was a long, single corridor with rooms lined up on both sides. The total number was twelve, the same as the number of players.

One end of the corridor connected the rooms, but it also extended further. There were no lights in the corridor, relying only on the light leaking from the shoji screens, so the further away from the rooms it got, the darker it became, until it was eventually covered in complete darkness. What lay beyond could not be discerned from here.

This dimness peculiar to Japanese houses is a hotbed for all sorts of ghost stories and an object of awe for people of this country. This corridor was thickly drifting with that terrifying atmosphere, clearly giving off a "do not go there" vibe, but it seemed they had no choice but to go. "Let's move," Yuuki said, and the other girls nodded.

The players walked down the corridor. The path was barely wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side, so they walked in a formation of two columns of six, like a group of elementary school students walking to school.

Without prompting, the players began to chat.

"My head's still a bit fuzzy." "Oh, really? Actually, me too..." "...It's incredibly dark, I wonder how they're filming this." "Infrared, maybe? It feels like a waste since the costumes don't look vivid..." "...Whoa. Don't touch my shoulder." "Ahaha. Are you a little scared?" "I'm not scared." "......"

Some might think this an unguarded attitude in the middle of a killing game, but this is a normal scene. Even on a stage of life or death, players usually chat if they have spare time. The idiom about three women making a crowd is not just for show. No matter the situation, humans want to connect.

However, in this specific case, perhaps they were also afraid of the silence. Ghosts don't exist...

Eventually, Yuuki was spoken to by the girl walking next to her.

"Hey, Yuuki-san."

Yuuki wasn't very good at chatting, but ignoring her would be unnatural, so she replied,

"What?"

"This is the first time we've spoken like this, isn't it?"

"...? I think so."

Yuuki looked at the player. She didn't recognize the face illuminated by the dim light.

"Sorry about the other day. My Boss, that is."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, that thing—"

The girl distorted the corner of her lips in a showy manner.

"The matter with Miss Awahime."

(3/22)

A sudden agitation struck Yuuki.

"Wha— You are—"

"Oops."

The girl put a single finger in front of her mouth. The pose for "secret."

"Please stop making a fuss. It'll be troublesome if it gets out that I'm a member of the 'Mikkai' (Secret Meeting)."

Yuuki observed the player once again.

I'm sorry to say this, but she didn't look like a very good person. Judging people by their faces might not be good, but she had quite a villainous mug. Her eyebrows were shaped like the legs of a cockroach or a camel cricket, her eyes were glossy like frog eggs, her nose had an edge like a knife possessed by a cocky middle schooler, and her lips were rich in color like a vampire who had just finished a meal. Taken as a whole, she probably belonged to the category of beautiful women, but there was an indescribable unpleasantness, a nasty aura leaking from her whole body that screamed "this is definitely a bad person."

During the self-introductions, she had heard the name. Takami, was it?

"...You."

Yuuki lowered the volume of her voice. She adjusted it so the other girls wouldn't hear the conversation.

"Are you one of Shirou's associates?"

"Yes."

Takami admitted it readily.

Shirou. "Mikkai."

That was one of the "troublesome problems" Yuuki was currently harboring. She, that organization, and Yuuki were in a hostile relationship.

"Mikkai"—a mutual aid group where excellent players gathered to share skills. Yuuki had received an invitation from its leader, Shirou. However, Yuuki, sensing something suspicious about the human known as Shirou, refused it and, carried away by the momentum, went out of her way to declare hostility.

"Are you hiding it? That you're... a member of 'that'?"

Yuuki matched her phrasing. "Yes," Takami answered.

"Lately, our name has been spreading little by little. Players keep popping up asking to join the team. It's annoying to deal with each one, so I've decided to hide my identity."

"Why hide it? Didn't you want it to be known?"

Indeed, that was supposed to be Shirou's story. To make the existence of "Mikkai" known to players, she spread Awahime's walking technique as a promotion.

But, "It's not like we refuse everyone who comes," Takami said.

"We don't just let anyone in. It has to be someone with special skills... In the first place, I was against doing public relations activities. Since our motto is 'few but elite,' there's no point in recruiting widely and generally. It's better to adopt a method where we scout the excellent ones ourselves."

Takami continued speaking fluently.

"In fact, we were doing that in the beginning, and it was going well. Yet despite that, a sudden change of direction... because of that, we had a falling out with Miss Awahime... it's just been a disaster. Honestly, I think this was a blunder by the Boss. Don't you agree?"

"Is it okay to make such blatant criticism?"

"Well, it's not okay. Naturally, please keep this a secret from the Boss."

"......"

It was something she thought during Awahime's time as well, but—this team called "Mikkai" didn't seem to be monolithic. It seemed they were each moving with their own agendas. A group gathering excellent players to share their skills... Perhaps a collection of excellent individuals implies a lack of cohesion.

"By the way, Yuuki-san. How have you been lately? Feeling good?"

"Because of you people, I had to move."

"Apparently so. I heard from the Boss. That you were moving large luggage out of your apartment."

"...Since I've run into a member, I want to ask. Do you people intend to do something to me?"

"Who knows? I don't know," Takami turned her palms upward.

"You say 'you people,' Yuuki-san, but the one deciding the team policy is the Boss... Even if you ask me, I cannot answer."

That day Awahime came to Tochinoki Manor—about a month and a half had passed since the date Yuuki declared hostility to Shirou. During that time, Yuuki had completed three games, from the seventy-fourth to the seventy-sixth, but there had been no sign of "Mikkai" making a move since then.

"What do you think, Yuuki-san? I heard you declared hostility to the Boss... Do you intend to do something specifically?"

"No. As long as there's no move from your side, I won't do anything."

Yuuki tried glaring at Takami.

"Conversely—if you try anything, I won't show mercy. Tell your Boss that carefully."

"Understood," Takami answered without seeming particularly intimidated. "I'll tell her... If I make it back alive, that is."

(4/22)

As they walked down the corridor, it gradually grew darker, until finally, it was pitch black.

However, as they continued to advance, it began to brighten again. Eventually, the single corridor ended, and rooms partitioned by shoji doors and fusuma appeared. Light leaking from the inside gave Yuuki and the others visibility.

They had likely moved to a different wing of the building. The path Yuuki and the others had walked was a connecting corridor linking two wings.

To proceed, Yuuki opened a fusuma as a representative.

Then—

From above, a large pot fell down.

Yuuki and the others jumped back instantly. The pot, which must have been tied to the fusuma with a string or something, fell onto the tatami right at the entrance of the room and shattered with a flashy sound. Although some fragments flew out of the room, thanks to their quick retreat, no one was injured.

"...I guess that says 'Welcome to the Game',"

Yuuki said, kicking a shard of the pot.

It felt like the game was finally starting in earnest. Traps like this were typical of escape-type games. Blowdarts shooting out from gaps in the walls, spears growing out of the tatami, poison mist spraying from the ceiling—they tried to threaten players in a wide variety of ways. Even in the corridor until now, they hadn't been proceeding without caution, but strengthening their guard even further, Yuuki and the others stepped into the room while moving the shards aside.

It was a vast room, seemingly big enough for a boss battle to start if you went to the middle. There was no furniture of any kind, just completely empty. At a glance, there didn't seem to be any fittings like a veranda or an entryway that would connect to the outside. That room was also partitioned by fusuma and shoji, so Yuuki and the others opened them and moved to the next room.

That, too, was naturally a Japanese-style room. Unlike the previous one, there were items that piqued interest like chests of drawers and closets, but Yuuki and the others decided to leave a detailed search for later. First, they would go around the building once.

Moving from room to room, room to corridor, and corridor to room in that manner, Yuuki and the others realized the vastness of this building. It wasn't like a cozy old folk house. It brought to mind the castle of a feudal lord. Just doing a lap to grasp the general shape of the building took about ten minutes. The number of rooms, large and small, was in the dozens. It was vast enough to be worth exploring.

And, there were unnaturally no routes leading outside. Japanese houses are supposed to be characterized by an openness that borders on defenseless, but this building was more closed off than Japan under the rule of the Edo Shogunate. No entryway. No veranda. No garden. Of course, no windows. The few connecting corridors had both walls solidly plastered over. It was a completely closed space. Had they remodeled and blocked all the exits, or had they built a building without exits from scratch? Either way, it was a lot of work. One had to admire the strange passion of the Management.

"I wonder if there's a hidden door somewhere?"

One of the players offered such an opinion.

"See, we're dressed as Kunoichi. If you say ninja, you say trick house (karakuri yashiki). Maybe there's a revolving door attached somewhere..."

Ah, that makes sense, Yuuki thought. After all, the game name is "Gimmickry Mansion." That must be it.

However, if that was the case, the situation was terribly troublesome—walls, floors, everything around them became a target for searching. Even though it was already a vast building, they had to suspect every single part of that space. It was said that in the dawn of video games, there were occasionally unkind specifications where you couldn't proceed without checking your feet to find items every step you took on the field map, and this was a brutal setting perfectly matching that.

"Well, for now... shall we search from the places that are easy to search?"

The one who said that was Takami.

"There were lots of obvious things like closets and chests, right? Even if they don't connect directly to an exit, there might be some kind of hint."

It was a far more reasonable opinion than playing without any guidelines. Everyone agreed, and they scattered to various parts of the room they were currently in to begin the search.

(5/22)

Opening the closet and peering into its depths, Takami let out a huge yawn.

Let's search from the places easy to search—she was the one who proposed it, but her heart wasn't in it. She thought it was tedious. She didn't like this kind of plain searching—though at this rate, it seemed the majority of the game would be such work. This game was a complete miss for Takami. Though, making contact with Yuuki was a stroke of luck.

While moving between rooms, the players continued their search.

In the midst of that, Takami stopped moving her hands and looked at the other eleven girls. Selecting a random target, she approached her back softly from behind and, with enough force to potentially generate a 'thud' sound effect, put her arm around her shoulder.

"Wah...?!"

"Yo. How's it going?"

Disregarding the other party's surprise, Takami pressed her body closer.

"It was Nanase-chan, right? That's no good, you have to pay attention to your back too."

"Wh... what are you doing, all of a sudden?"

"Well. I got bored... thought I'd chat a little."

Of course, that wasn't the reason.

No, well, that was also the truth, but—

Takami was looking for new members for "Mikkai." During the game, if there was free time, she would talk to other players and try to find promising girls. Takami opposed Shirou's policy, but as a member of "Mikkai," she was working seriously.

That said, it seemed unlikely she would recruit this girl named Nanase. The moment she failed to notice Takami's approach even though Takami hadn't particularly erased her presence, she was already hopeless. The condition for joining "Mikkai" was possessing a special skill that would help other members, and the person's skill as a player wasn't that important, but even so, in Takami's experience, those who were trash as players were trash at that too.

—Trash is trash no matter what they do, huh.

That was Takami's view on human beings.

"Nanase-chan, you said this was your second time, right? Why are you participating in the game?"

"Um... I wanted a lump sum of money..."

A common reason, Takami thought inwardly, but kept her voice bright. "Ah, there are a lot like that, girls like that."

"Is that so..."

"Yeah. Huge numbers of newcomers like you come in regularly. There were a lot of people playing their first game, first-timers, right?"

"Ah, yes. This time is totally different. There are people with over seventy times..."

"Right, right. The very first time is a special specification, usually a game with a large number of people, mostly beginners. People drop out fast in this industry, see, so they have to replenish regularly. They recruit a bunch at once and throw them straight into a single game. What was Nanase-chan's first game like?"

"Umm, let's see... It was something called 'Underground Hotel', set in a grand hotel. They told me the game name later, though..."

A game name I'm hearing for the first time, Takami thought.

Takami did this kind of inquiry often, so she was knowledgeable—but recently, a massive number of games for recruiting beginners were being held. New players were increasing at a furious pace. It seemed the Management wasn't just maintaining the number of players, but trying to increase it. Did they intend to expand the scale of the show? Perhaps an ambitious person had taken a key position in the Management.

She chatted with Nanase a bit more after that, but she didn't seem to possess any notable skills. Cutting the conversation short appropriately, Takami set her sights on the next girl. Approaching from behind, arm around the shoulder—using this procedure, she tried hooking everyone except Yuuki.

There were two who detected Takami's approach in advance.

One was a girl about elementary school age. Overall, she gave off a somewhat ephemeral atmosphere. Pure white skin that must have been raised bathing in fluorescent light rather than sunlight, a beautiful face reminiscent of intricate sugar craft, and a slender body that could rival a medieval noblewoman. Her name was—

"Why did you participate in the game, Sana-chan?"

When Takami asked, she returned a truly interesting answer.

"It's a contract with the Management."

"Contract?"

"I am to continue participating in games until I clear twenty of them."

"...Why did it come to that?"

"I was sick, here."

Sana tapped her own heart.

"It was an intractable cardiomyopathy. I was in a state where my life was in danger unless I had a heart transplant surgery at a hospital overseas."

"Ah... The kind where the surgery alone costs hundreds of millions of yen."

"Yes. At that time, I received a proposal from a person from the Management... That they could cure me."

A rare case, Takami thought. It was her first time meeting a human with an incurable disease requiring a heart transplant, and also her first time meeting a human who relied on the Management to cure it.

"But, usually for things like that, don't people solicit donations? I see them on street corners sometimes."

"Not everyone can collect money. If you find a skilled supporter and get picked up by the media, it goes well... but the majority of cases aren't like that."

"Heh. It's a tough world."

Takami laughed cynically.

"So, in exchange for the heart transplant, you signed a contract to act as a player."

"Correct."

"Did your parents agree? To their daughter appearing in a killing game."

"No way. Without telling my parents, they whispered it secretly only to me. Officially, it's treated as a disappearance, so I'm already separated from my family."

"All alone in the world at that age? That's rough."

"Exactly. But, there was no other way."

It was a very interesting story, and she sympathized with her circumstances, but if asked whether she would invite her to "Mikkai," she had to say no. She seemed to be doing okay as a player, but there was nothing to see in terms of special skills. Praying for her future happiness, she politely parted ways.

The other one was a girl about high school age. While Sana had an ephemeral impression, this one was sharp. A type of girl who looked like she had a harsh personality. She looked like she could be the vice president of the student council.

"Mononobe-chan, how's it going?"

When she spoke to her, Mononobe directed a harsh gaze at Takami.

"...What is it? Everyone is searching seriously. Please act properly."

"So stiff. If you don't relax a little, you won't last."

Hmph, snorting with disdain, Mononobe returned to the task of checking the drawers of the cupboard in order.

"Hey. Let's talk more," Takami persisted.

"Mononobe-chan, why did you participate in the game?"

"......"

"You said it was your fourth time, right? That means you weren't tricked. You're participating of your own will. You don't look like the type to do that at all, though. A serious-looking girl. Even though you seem to have no connection to this industry..."

"......"

"Is there some complicated circumstance? Being threatened, or in debt... Ah, that's it. Maybe you're actually addicted to hosts or something."

"I was framed."

Perhaps hating being thought of as host-addicted, Mononobe answered.

"My high school was a historic all-girls school for rich ladies... but the inside was just muddy. I was framed by a hostile group and got expelled."

"Hmm."

"So, I definitely couldn't tell my parents something like that. So I ran away from home... To live alone, I chose this industry."

"I see."

The runaway girl pattern. This, too, was a common circumstance for players.

"Mononobe-chan, how old are you now?"

"Sixteen."

"Still a minor. That's rough, at that age."

"Not really. I thought it would turn out like this eventually."

"...Oh?"

"I'm the type who makes enemies easily. With this look, and this personality."

Saying that, Mononobe tossed her hair.

"But, I am me. I can't become someone else. I'm living in defiance, thinking it can't be helped."

"Heh, is that so..."

Takami nodded.

She looked like a normal girl at first, but this one smells surprisingly good, she thought.

"Mononobe-chan, I think you're suited for this industry. I've seen a lot of players, so there's no mistake. I guarantee it."

"Thanks for that..."

Mononobe answered coldly.

"So, how long are you going to keep talking? Please get back to work."

"Yes, yes."

And there, the conversation with Mononobe ended.

Regarding her as well, she seemed to manage somewhat as a player, but not enough to invite to "Mikkai." In the end, in this game, she couldn't find any girls she wanted as new members.

So—Takami decided it was about time to go home.

(6/22)

During the search, traps large and small bared their fangs at Yuuki and the others. Shuriken flew out when drawers were opened, parts of the floor became pitfalls, and caltrops were scattered in dark places in the corridor. The players sometimes dodged those traps, and sometimes took them, receiving wounds on their bodies.

However, despite the hardships, there were no results. Not only could they not find an exit, but no voices were raised saying they found clues leading to one. A sense of futility and a stagnant atmosphere began to flow among the players.

"...Huh?"

At one point, one of the players said.

"Are we missing people?"

"Eh?" "What?"

The Kunoichis exchanged glances.

Indeed—one person was missing. Inside the twenty-tatami-mat room, there were only eleven people. Twelve girls at the start of the game, and one had decreased.

Yuuki and the others briefly checked the adjacent rooms and corridor, but there was no sign of the twelfth person. Someone had disappeared.

Who on earth? Yuuki looked over the other faces—and immediately knew the identity of the missing one. After all, she was a memorable girl.

It was Takami. That villainous face was gone.

"It's Takami-san." "Takami-san is gone."

The girls said to one another.

It seemed she had left a strong impression on everyone else too. She had been frequently talking to other players during the search, so that was understandable.

"Until when was she here? Her..."

Yuuki asked, but there were only vague replies like, "Well, I can't say for sure..."

Why did she disappear? Surely she didn't just get separated. Did she decide to act alone voluntarily? Or did she fall into a pitfall without anyone knowing? Or—did "Someone" attack Takami and take her away? In the last case, the problem was significant. It indicated that this game was not merely an escape type.

"She was chatting a ton with the other girls, right? Does anyone remember which room she was talking in?"

When Yuuki asked around with that opening, it seemed the last person talking to Takami was the serious-looking girl named Mononobe. "If that's the case, then I suppose I was the last," she said.

"If I recall, it was a room lined with many large cupboards. I remember her opening drawers one after another."

"So she disappeared somewhere between that room and here."

"Do you intend to go back and search for her?" Mononobe asked.

"She might be caught in a trap and stuck..."

The person from "Mikkai" was an enemy to Yuuki, but that was a personal circumstance. In an escape game, other players are allies, and even if not, Yuuki's play style was to sell favors if she could. Thus, Yuuki and the group decided to retrace their steps and look for Takami.

The method was quite primitive. Looking quickly around the room for Takami, if she wasn't there, checking the floor and walls for pitfalls or revolving doors, and if she still wasn't found, calling out stupidly "Takami-saaan, answer if you're there," and if there was still no reaction, moving to the next room.

Although they checked all the rooms with this procedure, Takami was not found.

"Well, she probably decided to move alone."

They reached that conclusion, and the party decided to return to searching the rooms again.

To be honest, Yuuki wasn't that worried about Takami. She didn't know much about her, but she was a member of "Mikkai," so she should be reasonably skilled. She wouldn't be such a fool as to get caught in a trap and left behind, or abducted by some "threat" lurking in this mansion. Surely, she watched for a gap in Yuuki and the others' attention and decided to act separately. Takami must have also mastered the silent walking technique originating from Awahime, so disappearing secretly would have been easy.

But, for what purpose?

While thinking like that, Yuuki acted with the party that was down by one person. Going around rooms in order, checking noticeable places. Some time passed, and when they were walking through a certain dim corridor—

It happened.

"...Guh!"

A voice echoed in the corridor.

Looking, one of the players was sitting on the ground.

Piercing her left leg was a bear trap with jagged blades. It was a trap. From where the blades pierced, white fluffy stuff overflowed and spilled onto the wooden floor. "Anti-decay treatment"—due to the effect of that treatment applied to all players, blood overflowing outside the body turned into a substance like white cotton.

"S-Sorry."

The player whose leg was eaten said.

"Leave me and go ahead. Once I get this off, I'll chase after and join you..."

The bear trap was fixed to the floor via a chain. It seemed to be a mechanism to restrain whoever got caught in the trap right there. She was trying hard to remove the blades, but they were bitten in deeply, and it didn't look like they would come off easily.

"I'll help too."

Yuuki said.

"You can't get that off alone, right?"

"Eh..."

"Everyone, go on ahead."

When she told the other players, there were scattered, silent nods, and they did so.

After seeing them off—after confirming that there were only two of them left there, Yuuki looked at the bear trap. Rubbing the metallic surface with her hand, she said, "This hurts, doesn't it?"

"I've been caught many times too, so I know."

"Is... is that so..."

With a somewhat awkward demeanor, the girl answered.

"I know how to take it off too. Wait a second..."

Once a bear trap closes, parts called leaf springs act as a stopper, so it won't open easily. Trying to just pry the jaws open is useless; first, you have to press these down. Yuuki put her weight on the leaf springs attached one on each side of the bear trap, and then when she applied force to the blade part, it opened easily. After confirming the girl caught in the trap pulled her left leg out, Yuuki closed the jaws again.

"Thank you, very much..."

With a voice showing signs of pain, the girl thanked her.

"It's fine, no need for thanks," Yuuki answered.

"Because—actually, you could have taken it off yourself, right?"

Yuuki didn't miss the slight change in the girl's expression.

She continued.

"You got caught in the trap on purpose, didn't you? To conveniently become alone."

(7/22)

Yuuki stared intently at the player.

She was a girl about elementary school age, with an ephemeral impression. Pale, and overall bonier. "Sana-san," Yuuki called her name.

"Well? Was it on purpose, or not?"

"...No, um..."

"You can answer honestly. I'm not blaming you or anything."

She tried to exude a sense of reassurance, but Sana didn't answer.

So, she decided to present physical evidence. Yuuki thrust her hand into the bosom of her Kunoichi outfit and took out a piece of paper folded into quarters.

"Is the reason this?" she asked.

"Wh...?!"

Visibly, Sana's expression changed.

"W-When did you—"

In a flustered state, Sana searched her own bosom.

However, when a piece of paper similar to Yuuki's came out, she tilted her head, "...Eh, wait...?"

"I didn't steal it. I found this one too."

It was in the third room after resuming the search. Since then, Yuuki had also been looking for timing to separate from the group.

Yuuki opened the paper.

A simple map, like one you'd find on a real estate flyer, was drawn there. A mark was placed on one point on the map, and below it, (7/8) was numbered in a fraction.

Clearly, it was something indicating a hint for game progression.

"...So that was it. I'm sorry. for doubting you..."

Sana opened her piece of paper too. It was a different map from Yuuki's, and the numbering was (3/8).

"I want to hear your opinion. What do you think this is?"

"...What do I think? It's exactly what it looks like. Isn't it the location of an exit?"

Yuuki had the same guess. "What about the meaning of the numbering?"

"Both have 8 as the denominator. I think there are a total of eight similar pieces of paper."

"In other words, there are eight exits too."

"Yes. ...This isn't a story where they kindly prepared as many as eight, is it?"

"Probably not. Only one person can pass through per exit, most likely."

In other words, based on these hints, only eight people in total can escape.

To consider that the upper limit of people who can clear—is still premature. There might be other hints indicating escape routes, and it wasn't even decided that these papers indicated exits. They might just be hints for the next stage.

However, Yuuki saw the expectations as high. Eight people out of twelve—that was "typical" for a setting of the number of clears.

"Takami probably found this too and disappeared..."

Furthermore, this was the reason Sana deliberately got caught in the trap. She tried to separate from the other players skillfully and go look for the exit. Yuuki, as well, decided to hitch a ride on that scheme.

"Do you have an idea where the place on the map is?"

"Yes. When we circled the building, I hammered the layout into my head."

"Impressive. As expected of a fifteenth timer." Yuuki mentioned the count she heard during the self-introductions.

"You too, Yuuki-san. Since it's your seventy-seventh time..."

"Of course," Yuuki answered and stood up. "Well then, shall we go? Before the other girls notice..."

Sana stood up too. However, probably due to the pain in her left leg, she grimaced, "...gh..."

"Can you walk?"

"I'm fine..."

Although she said that, she looked obviously in pain. The blades of the bear trap had pierced quite deeply, and she probably wouldn't be able to walk normally. She would have to move while dragging her leg, using the wall for support.

So, Yuuki took Sana's hand, pulled her body close, and lifted her. With a refined movement akin to stopping a shoulder throw halfway, she carried her on her back.

"Wah...?!"

To the surprised Sana, "I'll take you there," Yuuki said.

"I glanced at Sana-san's map earlier, but that place was the room with the large hanging scroll, right? The one with the tiger painting."

"Wh—no..."

"Was I wrong?"

"No, I think that's it, but getting carried is..."

"It's fine, it's fine. My exit is close to there too. It'll only be part of the way, but I'll drop you off."

It was something she expected from her physique, but she felt almost no weight from Sana's body. Yuuki began walking down the corridor with light steps.

"Thank you," Sana said.

"It's fine, really. ...Still, wasn't it forceful? Feeding yourself to a bear trap..."

"...I suppose. Was it clumsy?"

"Considering the movement afterwards, it's not a good move."

"The moment I found the trap, I thought 'This is a chance,' and just did it on the spur of the moment."

"Making quick decisions is good, though..."

Yuuki said, adjusting Sana on her back. "Even so, Sana-san, you're light. How many kilos?"

"Thirty exactly."

"Ligh—... No, for an elementary schooler, is that normal?"

"I think I'm on the lighter side. I'm not a healthy child..." Sana answered. "Also, I'm thirteen. I don't go to school anymore, but technically I'm a middle schooler."

"Seems like you have some complicated circumstances."

"Very much so. Actually, until about a year ago, I had a heart disease..."

She listened to the circumstances Sana carried. That she suffered from an intractable heart disease and was in a state requiring a transplant. That she narrowly escaped death thanks to the Management's medical care. However, in exchange for that surgery, she had to complete twenty games.

Yuuki thought, so there are cases like that too. Not scouted, not participating voluntarily, but participating under a "Contract" with the Management.

"That's tough," Yuuki stated her honest impression.

"Truly. Though there were no other options."

"Can't you manage to bail or something? Like fleeing overseas."

"It's impossible. I'm living constantly within facilities managed by the Management... I can go outside if I get permission, but surveillance eyes are always stuck to me. Even if I managed to steal a moment and escape, knowing the Management, they probably embedded a transmitter inside my body anyway. I don't think running is realistic."

That makes sense too, Yuuki thought.

"The only saving grace was that I had an aptitude for 'Games.' Somehow or another, I've managed to make it this far."

"That's amazing. Before starting as a player, you were living in a hospital, right? Even though you aren't blessed with physique either."

"My intuition is sharp. After all, I've crossed the line of death more than anyone else. Though, I don't think I reach anywhere near you, Yuuki-san."

Then, Sana shifted the conversation to Yuuki's background.

"Seventy-seventh time, right? Doing it that much, do you have some kind of contract too, Yuuki-san?"

"No, I do it of my own will. But I have set a goal. I'm aiming to clear ninety-nine games."

"Do you get something if you achieve it?"

"Nothing in particular."

She omitted the "Achiever's Privilege" since it would make the story complicated.

"I just decided it as a goal for the sake of having a goal. How should I put it, I wanted a rail. Saying 'life on rails' sounds boring, but a life without any is anxious in its own way. So, I tried laying it down like that myself."

"...In the world of killing games?"

"In the world of killing games. ...From your perspective, Sana-san, you might find it offensive. Someone throwing away their life voluntarily."

"......"

Sana paused before answering, "Honestly, I can't say I don't think that."

"Coming to this world, I was surprised. That there are so many people participating willingly..."

Yuuki couldn't help but smile bitterly.

It wasn't a smile of sarcasm. It was a smile of self-deprecation. Before a human with such desperate circumstances, she couldn't possibly assert the logic of her beliefs. It was a surrender before the battle even began.

"That's a proper way of looking at it," Yuuki said.

"So, you should just mow down such good-for-nothings and grab your freedom."

"I don't think of you as good-for-nothings, but..."

Yuuki turned the corner of the corridor. It was just a little more to the location on the map.

"When I become free, I want to travel," Sana said.

"In my current state, wherever I go, there's surveillance, and it's cramping... Once I clear twenty times and get released, I want to travel around the world as I please."

"I see. I hope that comes true."

"Yes. What about you, Yuuki-san?"

"Eh?"

"Once you finish crossing the rail—once you achieve ninety-nine times, what will you do after that?"

Yuuki was at a loss for words.

She had never thought about it. If everything was settled successfully, that moment should arrive eventually, but she had never turned her thoughts to it.

And—even thinking about it now, no image of "after that" floated up. She didn't know. Not at all. Would she return to being a trackless human like in the past?

"...Umm..."

Anyway, Yuuki fabricated an answer.

"I try not to think about that. You know, it's like talking about family or lovers on the battlefield; I personally think it becomes a death flag."

"Ah... that's true. I'm sorry for asking a weird question."

"No, no, not at all..."

While saying that, a lump remained in Yuuki's chest. The depths of her heart were loudly issuing questions. After achieving ninety-nine times, what on earth will I do?

She wanted to take time to think about it immediately, but—

At that moment, from far away, she sensed the presence of someone.

(8/22)

Time goes back a little.

(9/22)

Takami disappeared, Sana was caught in a trap, and to rescue her, Yuuki also left the group. The players, now totaling nine, went around rooms continuing the search.

The moment they stepped into a certain room, all players peeled their eyes in surprise.

Clearly, there was a strange object.

Tables, chairs, cupboards—every piece of furniture existing in that room was piled up. On top of the bookshelf positioned at the summit, books that must have been the contents were stacked, increasing the height even further. If a person climbed on top, their hands would reach the ceiling.

And—in the ceiling directly above it, there was a circular hole.

The meaning of the situation was obvious. Someone piled up the furniture, climbed it, and went out through the ceiling.

Who on earth? There was only one candidate. Takami.

"Could it be, an exit...?"

It was natural for the players to make that guess.

Of the nine, Mononobe climbed the mountain of furniture as a representative and examined the hole in the ceiling. A space expanded beyond, and on the edge of the hole, a lid of the same size was lying. Both the hole and the lid were mechanically processed into a clean circle. It wasn't like someone forcibly opened a hole with a saw or anything—the ceiling here must have been structured to open from the start.

She observed the space beyond the hole more closely. It was a vertically long space. It reminded her of the inside of a chimney or a well. There was a ladder on the wall, so when she climbed up the space relying on it, she hit a dead end halfway. A shutter with an X mark was down, blocking the path. Mononobe tried banging on the shutter and applying force sideways, but it didn't look like it would open with ordinary effort. Since there was an X mark, it was natural to think "cannot go."

Because Takami passed through, this shutter must have come down. Does that mean it's a passage usable by only the first arrival? Mononobe gave up, climbed down the ladder, and returned to the room.

Then, the other eight were looking at each other with some intent.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Ah, Mononobe-san. Something like this was dropped nearby..."

What they showed while answering seemed to be a map. A mark was placed, pointing to exactly the point in this room where the furniture was piled up. It was obviously a key item of the game—probably something Takami possessed. Did she leave the group because she discovered this?

Also, below the map, the number (1/8) was assigned.

"What do you suppose this number means?"

"Likely that there are seven other similar maps," Mononobe answered. "It is natural to think there are the same number of exits."

"Beyond the hole, was it an exit?"

"Probably. But, the shutter was closed halfway. Likely because Takami-san passed through. It seems exits used by someone get blocked."

"Eh, does that mean..."

"Also, there are only seven exits left."

A silent time passed. Everyone must have understood the rules. This game was a battle for limited exits—

One of the girls broke the silence.

"Ah, then, Sana-san and Yuuki-san are—"

Mononobe felt a sensation like being struck hard on the head.

Probably, the other eight felt the same. Without even coordinating, everyone's thoughts aligned.

"...Let's chase them, right now!"

(10/22)

"We've been noticed."

Yuuki said in a hushed voice.

"Eh..."

"Keep your voice down. It's still far, but they might hear."

Currently, Yuuki was carrying Sana. In other words, they were in a close posture, and originally they weren't conversing in that loud of a voice anyway. However, suppressing the volume of her voice even further, "Noticed, you say..." Sana said.

"There are footsteps. Intermittently, flap-flap-flap."

Yuuki fell silent for a while. In the silence, from a distance where it could only be heard faintly, hurried footsteps sounding like flap-flap-flap could be heard.

"...Indeed," Sana answered.

This hurriedness was not normal. The tone was different from simple exploration. If there was a circumstance where footsteps like this should ring out, only things related to that piece of paper came to mind. Was a new paper discovered and a scramble occurring? Or was Takami found and playing tag with the girls? Or—did they sense the reason for Yuuki and Sana's disappearance and were chasing their whereabouts?

Specific circumstances were hypothesized, but in any case, retreating quickly would be best—since she was carrying Sana, she couldn't sprint lightly, but Yuuki increased her speed as much as possible.

Soon, they arrived at the room indicated by Sana's map. When she opened the fusuma, a large hanging scroll greeted them. There was no mistake this was the room. At a quick glance, there was no place that looked like an exit. It must be hidden somewhere. Finding it would have to be done by Sana herself.

"Good luck," Yuuki said, and "I appreciate it," Sana answered.

With that short exchange as the last, she parted with Sana. Becoming light, Yuuki ran with a silence and swiftness truly like a ninja, and soon arrived at the location of her own map.

She stepped into the room. It was a six-mat room with no particular characteristics. There was no doubt the point indicated by the map was here, but where and in what form the exit was prepared, details up to that point were not shown. She had to check the floor and walls thoroughly to find it. Just when Yuuki was about to start the work,

"—Found her!"

She heard a shout from a distant room.

(11/22)

Sana peeled up the tatami of the floor.

(12/22)

You could say she was lucky. Not long after starting to search the room, she was able to find a suspicious place. Since her leg was injured, she couldn't walk around, and what she checked was mainly the floor surface, but between two certain tatami mats, she discovered an unnatural cavity. It was a mark like a screwdriver or something had been thrust in.

Sana pulled out the ornamental hairpin (kanzashi) inserted in her hair, thrust it deep into that cavity, and flipped up the tatami. Unpainted floorboards, likely assumed not to be exposed usually, appeared, and she saw a hatch door attached there.

An exit—!

Joy overflowed in Sana's head. Grabbing the handle and lifting the door with a heavy weight, a vertically long space revealed itself. There was a ladder on the side. The space extended quite deep, and since there was no light, she couldn't see to the bottom.

Sana's luck ended there. Before she knew it, footsteps had approached right nearby, and along with the fusuma of the room opening, a girl in a Kunoichi outfit appeared. It was the player named Hinoe. Seeing Sana's figure, her eyes first opened wide, and next, she opened her mouth fully, and,

"—Found her!"

She echoed that shout into the surroundings.

And, she ran toward Sana. She didn't ask Why are you here?. She didn't ask Is that door perhaps an exit?. She just shot a terrifying gaze at Sana that seemed to say I won't let you do it. As expected, it was already known. That this exit had a capacity of one person.

Sana stared at the darkness beyond the door. If she jumped in right now, she could retreat from the room—however, she didn't know how deep this hole was. What if it was about ten meters? Crashing into the floor and dying right before the goal wasn't funny. There was also the bitter experience of the bear trap earlier. Where was the guarantee that she wouldn't be jumping the gun this time?

Hesitating was the one thing she shouldn't have done in this situation, but Sana dabbled in it. She allowed Hinoe's approach and was punched hard. Unable to take a proper fall, Sana fell on her back. Hinoe straddled her.

Furthermore, it was unfortunate news for Sana, but footsteps consisting of multiple people could be heard from outside the room. They were approaching here. They heard Hinoe's report earlier. The fact that she shouted to inform them meant they were united, and there was likely an agreement to eliminate Sana and Yuuki. Under the original rules, all players should be enemies, but Sana and Yuuki's "head start" like behavior seemed to have united them. Sana didn't have the combat skills to defeat multiple people. If reinforcements arrived, Sana's chances of survival would vanish. Before that happened, she had to defeat Hinoe and get out—

Sana thrust the kanzashi she still held in her hand into Hinoe's eye.

Hinoe couldn't help but lean back at this. Sana threw her weight onto that body, and this time Sana mounted Hinoe. She tried to deal a follow-up with the kanzashi—but her wrist was grabbed by Hinoe. Her grip strength was strong, and receiving pain as if her wrist were being crushed, Sana dropped the kanzashi. Hinoe gripped her other hand tightly and punched Sana's face. Perhaps because one eye was crushed and her sense of distance was vague, it wasn't a clean hit, feeling like a glancing blow, but it still shook Sana's head strongly. She clearly felt the difference in power. For Sana, who had lived a sickly half-life, this kind of infighting was her greatest weakness.

In that manner, the time where she struggled to attack continued. Sana's heart fired words of dissatisfaction one after another. This bitch—resisting me. I heard you talking to the other girls. You're participating in the game for spending money? You carefree bitch. From my perspective, it's unbelievable. Which one should grasp life, an imprudent one like you or a desperate one like me? Isn't the answer obvious? It's exactly as Yuuki-san said. I hate people like you so much. I won't lose. Yield—to me!

Sana delivered a headbutt to the bridge of Hinoe's nose. Seeing Hinoe flinch unsteadily, I can do this, Sana thought. A human with a small physique like herself lacked "pressure" even if she made a fist. She had to smash something bigger—in other words, her head—into her. Sana grabbed both of Hinoe's shoulders, and repeated contact and separation. Her vision shook violently. Her brain was shaken. All thoughts scattered in every direction, but only the will to continue attacking braced itself desperately so as not to be shaken off.

I can't lose. I won't lose. Only six more times. I will definitely survive and obtain freedom. For what? I don't know that. I just don't want to die. That's all.

"I'm sorry, Sana. For not giving birth to you healthy..."

Sana remembered her mother's face, apologizing while scrunching up her face in tears.

She remembered her own feelings at that time well too. It wasn't anger at her mother for giving her an unhealthy body. It wasn't sadness either. She was just cold.

Basically, I'm going to die, right? That was the only thing she thought. Relatives came to Sana's hospital room by turns and offered words of sympathy large and small, but it was obvious that doing so wouldn't amount to a single second of lifespan. I don't need that kind of thing. Take it home, it's annoying. Rather than dying wrapped in unsparing sympathy, I want to survive even if I end up all alone.

That was why she became a player. She took the devil's cold hand rather than warm human hands. A hard fate where she was forced to play twenty consecutive life-risking games. But, she was far, far more fulfilled than back then. There was no longer a need to take meals from a tube in her wrist. Although there was surveillance, she could walk outside on her own two feet. She became estranged from her family, but she wasn't lonely. She made friends in the game world—all of this was something she couldn't achieve when she was in the hospital room.

It might be a strange way to say it.

But by entering the world of the shadows, Sana finally knew a normal human life.

Like I'd lose such a precious thing—!

Gathering all her remaining physical strength, she delivered a particularly strong headbutt. Hinoe rolled back her eyes, collapsed, and didn't twitch after that. She was out. She had fainted.

The realization that she defeated her welled up little by little. While expanding and contracting her chest seeking oxygen, Sana thought. Um, so, what was I doing again—? The macro situational awareness she had set aside in the corner of her head returned like reading a hard disk. Right, right. It was the middle of a game. I have to escape quickly. With a body where the sluggishness hadn't yet fully left, Sana crawled across the floor toward that door—

A lead bullet pierced that body.

(13/22)

At the smoke rising thickly from the muzzle of the matchlock gun.

Mononobe stared with cold eyes.

(14/22)

A matchlock gun. A form of gun from the past. "That" which Mononobe held at this moment had a very short barrel and a shape close to a pistol. It was called a "Tanzutsu" (short tube).

During the search, Mononobe had discovered this from a drawer in a certain room. It was stored carelessly together with matches for ignition. Mononobe wondered what kind of weapon it was for, but kept it just in case—I see, they assumed this kind of situation.

Unlike modern guns, it could only be fired once, and since she didn't have spare gunpowder or lead balls, Mononobe threw it away. Since the match cord was still lit, she carefully placed it on the table so it wouldn't ignite the surroundings.

Mononobe stepped into the room and walked with brisk, large strides toward Sana. She was still alive. Although a hole was opened around her chest and she was spilling white fluffy stuff onto the tatami, she was still crawling, aiming for the door under the floor. Mononobe stepped on Sana's back, first stopping her movement.

Then, she took out a kunai from the bosom of her Kunoichi outfit. This, too, was something she found during the search. It was originally used as a trap, but thinking it might be useful for something, she kept it. Stabbing the kunai deeply into Sana's neck, Mononobe finished her off.

It serves you right.

Mononobe was the first to arrive at this room upon hearing Hinoe's report, but soon other girls rushed in one after another. There were three of them in total. The other four were probably searching for Yuuki. When the three of them saw the figures of the collapsed Sana and Hinoe, they gasped, "...Woah..."

"You did it, Mononobe-san."

"Yes. The exit still remains, you know."

Mononobe answered and looked at the door installed under the tatami.

Due to the course of events, Mononobe and the others were in a cooperative relationship, but that didn't mean they could share this exit. Only one person could pass. They hadn't made any particular agreement on what to do when it came to this.

"I won't use it, so someone please go ahead," Mononobe said.

"...Is that okay?"

"I still have things left to do."

Just as Mononobe answered, a shout was heard from a little distance away.

"Found her! It's Yuuki-san!"

It said.

Mononobe's eyes gleamed. Pasting a look of joy on her face, she flew out of the room.

(15/22)

Watching such behavior of Mononobe through the screen.

Same as always, the agent thought.

(16/22)

A mansion huge enough to make one dizzy lay sprawled on the earth. The ninja mansion that was the stage of "Gimmickry Mansion."

Around the mansion, many black cars were parked. They belonged to the Management's agents. To welcome the players who escaped the mansion and cleared the game, they were waiting here. They passed the time chatting with fellow agents or viewing the footage of the game being broadcast.

Mononobe's agent was the latter.

She was watching the game footage on an eight-inch tablet that balanced portability and screen visibility. It was showing her charge just now, and even though there was a situation where she could have achieved a game clear right away, she threw away that chance and headed toward Yuuki. An amusing person as always, the agent thought.

It was about two months ago that she scouted her on a street corner. Looking at her clothes and demeanor, she had the atmosphere of a girl from a good family, but for that, she was walking in an area with poor public safety, and the strange look in her eyes that somehow gave one the chills weighed on the agent's mind. So, she invited her for tea and casually brought up the topic of her background.

Then, Mononobe began to speak as if a dam had broken. Roughly, the circumstances were the same as what she told the player named Takami earlier. At a high-class girls' school with muddy internal affairs, she was framed by people from a hostile group and forced to drop out. She told it with a tone of voice inviting pity, as if to say please sympathize with me.

When she checked behind the scenes, it immediately turned out to be complete nonsense. Simply put, she was doing the bullying—fierce stuff where using the word "bullying" was too lukewarm. The testimonies of everyone concerned were mostly consistent, and there seemed to be no room for doubt. Later, she met Mononobe again and asked about that, but she dismissed it as malicious demagoguery. She had many enemies. There was no end to the bunch blowing things out of proportion— She supposedly heard that evidence remained perfectly on the school's surveillance cameras, but the agent decided not to ask how she explained that. Convinced that this girl was undoubtedly suited to be a player, she scouted her for the game.

Apparently, Mononobe liked this world. So far, the agent had brought her offers at a pace of once every half month, and she participated in all of them willingly. During the games, she was truly lively. Sometimes, as she just showed, she would go so far as to ignore clearing the game to go attack other players. Surely that was the essence of the human named Mononobe. A sadist of disorder.

However, the person herself pretended to be innocent to the end. She feigned the attitude that to live alone away from her parents, she was doing this job reluctantly and unwillingly. No, she wasn't just feigning. She believed it. In her head, it had become that she lost her social standing because she was framed by her peers, and was being forced to do terrible work after being invited by a pimp-like broker. She wouldn't admit the cruelty within herself, or the responsibility arising from it, even if she died. But she did exactly what she wanted to do. Her mind was skillfully split.

The agent thought deeply.

Why is a human like this alive, I wonder?

(17/22)

Yuuki was having trouble finding the exit.

It was only a six-mat room. There weren't that many candidates for hiding spots. However, when things aren't found, they really aren't found. While she was fumbling around, time passed, and finally, one of the pursuers stepped into the room and,

"Found her! It's Yuuki-san!"

Came to report.

She looked at the map Yuuki held in her hand. She didn't ask What is that map?, but ran straight toward her— As expected, she seemed to understand the situation.

Yuuki went on the counterattack. Using the momentum of the opponent coming toward her, she drove a fierce palm strike into her chin, shaking her brain. She thought it would be a lucky break if she became disoriented, but unexpectedly, she rolled back her eyes and collapsed on the spot. A knockout. It wouldn't last long, probably a few minutes at best, but for the current Yuuki, it was sufficient time. Not wasting a single second, Yuuki searched around the room.

However, shortly after, further reinforcements arrived. This time, four people. In their hands, they held weapons: a kunai, a short sword (tantō), a chain-sickle (kusarigama), and shuriken, respectively. They probably repurposed things used as traps.

The four took a formation surrounding Yuuki. Slowly, she was cornered against the wall.

"Hey, hey..."

The one who gave a greeting mixed with intimidation was Mononobe.

"Long time no see. Yuuki-san. We searched for you."

"...Hello."

"Staying in this room means..." Mononobe glanced at the fainting girl. "Can we assume there is an exit here?"

"Want to search together?"

"No, that's fine. We'll do it ourselves."

The four readied their weapons respectively.

In opposition, Yuuki also took out a weapon from her Kunoichi outfit. A kunai. She hadn't failed to assume a situation like this. She had secured at least one weapon.

I have no choice but to do it—she steeled herself. If this exit was taken by them, she would have to start from finding the next hint again. Whether she could find it or not was complete chance. Rather than that, fighting here, and whether she won or lost, bringing it to a matter of her own responsibility was Yuuki's preference.

Yuuki thought of the numbness existing throughout her left arm gripping the kunai. Something that clung to Yuuki constantly these days. A time bomb she didn't know when would explode.

Yuuki looked intently at the eyes of each of the four directing warlike gazes at her. When observing people, she placed the most importance on the eyes. She believed it was the part where character appeared most. These four probably didn't have much of a background, Yuuki thought. The same eyes as her past self. Recently, Yuuki had started doing this routine. Staring at the eyes of the opponent she fought. And asking herself.

Is it here?

There was an answer. Not here. Not yet here.

"Like I'd let you beat me."

Yuuki muttered softly.

"I won't give it to you guys. I can't lose it yet."

"Ha...?"

At the same time Mononobe moved her eyebrows, Yuuki moved.

It was a swift movement. The god-speed walking technique originating from Awahime. With that, Yuuki closed the distance in a single breath to the girl gripping the short sword among the four opponents. She reacted and tried to swing the sword—but Yuuki had already come closer than her effective range, so she couldn't counterattack well. Receiving a stab from Yuuki's kunai in the neck, she collapsed while scattering white fluffy stuff on the tatami.

Before that body reached the ground, Yuuki targeted the second one. The girl holding the chain-sickle. It was a weapon where a sickle and a weight were connected by a chain, characterized by being able to perform varied attacks—but she didn't seem to know how to handle it, and simply swung the sickle to attack. Yuuki lightly parried her blow and dealt a kunai strike to her neck as well. The third one was the girl holding shuriken. Well, it wasn't a practical weapon to begin with. She attacked with a feeling of 'just throwing it for now', but it didn't hit Yuuki even without dodging. Stabbing her chest, she made her crawl on the spot.

And the fourth one—.

Namely, Mononobe attacked with a kunai in hand.

She dodged the thrust. Both weapons were kunai. It was a weapon operated similarly to a knife, and no special technique was needed to use it. The pure ability of the two would decide the victory.

Sweating from their foreheads, the two fought. Due to the "anti-decay treatment," parts that would be decisive damage were few. The arm gripping the kunai, and the head where the central organs were gathered, those two. Thrusting, dodging, thrusting, dodging, thrusting, dodging—

The one who landed a blow first was Yuuki.

She slashed Mononobe's face diagonally.

A kunai is not that sharp on its sides. It's a nuance closer to striking than cutting. Even so, it tore open Mononobe from her right temple to her right eye, dyeing her face in the color of agony.

However, far from losing her will to fight, Mononobe's face became even more ferocious, and she charged at Yuuki with her whole body. Yuuki, who had just finished the motion of attacking, couldn't respond immediately, was pushed down by Mononobe, and her back hit the tatami.

There was a strange sensation on Yuuki's right elbow.

(18/22)

She looked.

The part where her right elbow was touching was unnaturally depressed. A switch.

With a menacing rumbling sound, part of the wall moved.

A passage appeared.

Both Yuuki and Mononobe stared at it with dumbfounded faces. Unexpectedly, before the conclusion was reached, it was found—the exit.

The one who moved first was Yuuki. She shoved off Mononobe who was covering her and ran toward the passage.

"—I won't let you escape!"

Shouting, Mononobe also chased after her.

She heard the sound of cutting wind. Looking back, Mononobe had thrown her kunai, so Yuuki ducked and dodged it. Her feet stopped for just a moment, and in that gap, she was grabbed by Mononobe. Both fell to the floor.

Their bodies were already inside the passage. The floor was boarded just like the corridor, and walls on both sides were painted with white plaster. The width felt a bit cramped for two humans fighting like this.

Since she threw the kunai earlier, Mononobe had no weapon in her hand. In contrast, Yuuki also dropped her kunai when pushed down on the tatami earlier, so she was bare-handed. It meant the only thing they could rely on in the end was their own flesh. The two fought, punching and kicking freely.

In the midst of that, Yuuki secretly shifted her body deeper into the passage. Frustratingly gradually, but she was moving toward the exit. It wasn't just heading toward the goal. She had a calculation that doing so would be convenient for repelling Mononobe. If she went to a certain point, she should be able to peel Mononobe off. It should be set up like that. Considering the rules of the game.

As she thought, after going a certain distance, she was able to discover a red line drawn on the wall. That is the borderline. If she crossed that, it should work out somehow. But at this rate, it was bad. This exit was for one person. If two people tried to pass together, likely, it would close before that. She had to separate Mononobe temporarily. Yuuki extended her leg and kicked Mononobe, and using the recoil, she rolled backward. Getting her body across the line, she took some distance.

Yuuki raised her body. Mononobe reached out her hand toward her.

At that moment—it happened.

An iron lattice with a frame extended from inside the wall.

Just as I thought, Yuuki thought. The moment one person passes, this path is blocked.

With a terrifying speed that considered safety measures not one bit, the iron lattice extended. While catching Mononobe's arm that was on the route, it reached the wall on the other side. Mixed in the metallic crash was the sound of her arm bones shattering.

"Gah...?!"

Mononobe's face distorted in pain again.

Her arm was bent in an impossible direction. That must hurt, Yuuki thought. Since it hit with quite some force, the bones might be pulverized. But there was nothing Yuuki could do for her. She headed for the exit silently—

"Don't run!"

Hitting the iron lattice with her uninjured arm, Mononobe shouted.

"This woman! I'll kill you! I'll definitely kill you! You *****! If I ******, I'll *******!"

Perhaps due to the intensity of her anger, parts were not words. Staying here would only provoke her, so Yuuki hurriedly left the place.

Proceeding for a while, a cheap steel door appeared. When she grabbed the doorknob, it turned without resistance and opened outward. Light accompanied by warmth, immediately recognizable as a product of nature, poured down. As expected, it seemed to be inside a mansion, and the scenery of a vast garden jumped into her eyes. Yuuki took in the all-you-can-breathe air to her fill, and let out a sigh of relief.

Thus, Yuuki's seventy-seventh game ended.

(19/22)

Crossing the threshold of the mansion, an agent was waiting. Put into her car, Yuuki returned.

In this game, although there were pinch situations, she didn't suffer any major injuries. In cases like this, the procedure until now was to go straight home, but the recent Yuuki didn't do that, and stopped by a hospital managed by the Management. She had her whole body examined thoroughly to confirm it hadn't gotten worse than before.

And—.

The place she returned to was not that six-mat room.

(20/22)

Yuuki woke up on a bed.

(21/22)

It was a large bed. It was big enough that one would have trouble judging if it was a single or a double, and it supported Yuuki's body leisurely.

Around it were numerous interior items with a nice atmosphere. A wall-mounted wooden frame with indirect lighting built inside, a cute chest of the same height as the bed, a bookstand of the type where books are leaned diagonally, a three-legged mini-table with a foliage plant sitting on it, and so on. It was a bedroom.

It was a stylish bedroom that would never come from Yuuki's taste. In fact, Yuuki was not the one who arranged these furnishings. It was the agent. Because she didn't have the time to choose each one herself, she left it to her.

Yuuki picked up the mobile phone that was nearby and set a timer for three minutes. Finishing her usual habit of three minutes of prayer and reflection on the game, she took the Kunoichi outfit folded by her pillow and got off the bed. This bedroom was adjacent to a walk-in closet. Hanging the outfit on one of the hangers that hadn't found a partner yet, Yuuki headed to the living room.

At the point of the bedroom and closet earlier, it was already far wider than the former six-mat room, but when it came to the living room, it was even vaster. Stylish interiors were scattered here as well, producing a comfortable atmosphere, but there was, how to put it, a disguise of living presence like a showroom seen at furniture retailers or model homes. Yuuki felt somewhat unsettled—though, it might just be because it hadn't been long since she came here.

This was not the stage of a game.

It was Yuuki's current home.

Room 107 of Tochinoki Manor, which had been her dwelling for many years—she took the minimum luggage from there and moved here. She didn't choose the house herself; she had the agent arrange everything, including the interior. This stylish atmosphere was due to her taste.

The reason she moved was to secure safety. The player who had been frequently entangled with Yuuki lately—Shirou. The group she organized, "Mikkai." They had grasped the address of Tochinoki Manor, and it was a situation where they could meddle anytime. That wouldn't do, Yuuki thought. That guy is dangerous. She had to keep her as far away as possible—based on that thought, she moved to this residence far away from Tochinoki Manor.

She drew the curtains in the living room and looked outside.

It was becoming night. The sun was setting, and the sky was dyed red. For Yuuki, this was when her main activity time began. Yuuki opened the window to let in the outside air, stood in the kitchen, brewed instant coffee in a mug, and sat at the table while sipping it.

This residence was in the suburbs, and there was a lot of nature around. The rustling sound of vegetation blown by the wind and the ringing voices of bell crickets singing somewhere flowed in from outside.

It was a calm time.

About a month and a half since moving here, such time had continued. Except for running into Takami in the previous game, there had been no contact with the Shirou faction. Of course, they never visited directly, nor did they call. That was it.

That was, well, expected. Even though she declared hostility—it didn't mean something would happen immediately. For Shirou, there was no particular reason to harm Yuuki, and the same went for Yuuki. They were simply on bad terms, with no particular reason to fight each other.

If they were to fight—.

It would be when Yuuki closed in on the ninety-ninth time.

At that time, she couldn't predict what kind of action Shirou would take. To prevent Yuuki from taking the "Privilege" first, there was a possibility she would release an assassin like she did to Awahime. Or she might attempt to dispose of her personally within the game. In any case, a reason for Shirou to eliminate Yuuki would be born. A reason for battle would arise.

If that happened—Yuuki would have to consider countermeasures.

Hire a bodyguard in opposition—offer an even higher price to that assassin to buy them off—or perhaps hiring an assassin herself as a counterattack might be an option. Committing illegal acts outside the game wasn't Yuuki's stance, but if the other side came at her, she had no choice but to respond. Even if she had to bend her principles, she had to protect herself.

While vaguely steeling herself for such a future, Yuuki finished drinking the coffee. Placing the mug in the kitchen sink, she headed to the entrance, put on her shoes, and went outside.

She walked idly around the house. This was a high-class residential area. Large houses suggesting wealth were lined up.

"......"

While walking, Yuuki stared at her left hand.

There was still numbness.

Yuuki's left arm was harboring a bomb. The nerves in the upper arm were on the verge of snapping, and it was in a state where it wouldn't be strange for it to stop functioning at any time. It was a long time ago that the fact was revealed by a detailed examination at the hospital, but recently, evidence accompanied by reality had appeared in the form of a gradual numbness.

Losing parts of her body was not a first. When she lost the fingers of her left hand, she replaced them with prosthetics. When she lost the vision in her right eye, she compensated by training her sensory abilities. However, she thought this time was not a story on that level. This left arm was just the beginning. It just happened to be the first part to scream. Due to the damage of repeated games, Yuuki's whole body was fatigued. Just as her former master had become, a fate where the body breaks down all over was waiting for Yuuki.

This time was okay.

But, that moment wouldn't be far off, Yuuki thought. It wasn't that she was told so at the hospital. It was Yuuki's sixth sense. If one is immersed in a world like this for a long time, it would be strange if it didn't sprout. Every time there was a chilling situation in the middle of a game, every time she faced someone, Is it here? Is it this guy? she had developed a habit of asking. Someday someone will appear and decisively break me.

Soon, I will be greatly impaired.

(22/22)