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Newly Written Short Story "Yarn, Drowning"

"Heh, hehehe..."

Keito chuckled under her breath.

It's a perfect strategy, she thought to herself. No one will ever notice. No one will ever realize that Keito is hiding in here.

Keito was lurking in an underfloor storage space on "Deck 15" of the cruise ship. It was a place where she was unlikely to be discovered. The entrance hatch was covered by a carpet, making it invisible from the outside, and it wasn't an area where people usually entered in the first place.

She would hole up in this storage space until the very moment the game ended. That was Keito's plan. A fierce battle seemed to be taking place up above even now, but she had no intention of going out of her way to participate. All she had to do was hide until everything was over. Right after the game's rules were revealed, Keito had come here carrying a massive stockpile of water, food, and other daily necessities she had prepared in advance. Although they were supposed to unite and stand against the Killer faction, she had no intention of abiding by that. They no longer had the leeway to take roll call anyway, and no one would notice if they were down one person. She never tackled things head-on. Always seeking the back routes and loopholes—that was Keito's life motto.

Now, while she was taking a nap in her safe zone, Keito was awakened by the suspicious sound of water. Shining her flashlight around, she saw water dripping from the hatch on the ceiling of the storage space.

What is it? Did someone spill something up there? Even as she wondered, the volume of dripping water increased, the onomatopoeia changing from a drip to a trickle, and from a trickle to a pour. Furthermore, the water falling to the floor didn't stay in place; it was flowing toward the corner of the space. That meant the floor was tilting.

Gradually, Keito also realized that the briny scent of the sea was drifting in the air. It can't be, she thought, but when she tasted the water, she was met with a pungent saltiness. It was seawater.

At that point, even someone like Keito realized the severity of the situation. She frantically opened the hatch—but as she did, a massive amount of seawater poured down on her. Keito's scrawny body was completely powerless against it; she was swept away by the raging torrent, struck her head against the wall, and instantly lost consciousness.

And then, the game ended.

A rescue diver unit organized by the administration was deployed to the sunken lower half of the cruise ship to conduct rescue operations for the submerged players. Because sensors were embedded in the players' bodies, locating them was a simple task.

Eventually, a girl with a scrawny physique was rescued. Her heart and breathing had stopped, so the administration staff began CPR. While one performed chest compressions, the other turned on the AED.

"This one hit her head."

One of the staff members said while attaching the AED's electrode pads.

"She probably bumped it against something while she was drowning. If this is what knocked her out, she's got some serious dumb luck."

"Dumb luck? Don't you mean bad luck?" the other replied.

"Yeah. If she was swallowed by the water while unconscious, she wouldn't have wasted oxygen by struggling pointlessly. It means she has a better hope of surviving than if she had drowned normally. Normally, this amount of time submerged would be fatal, but this one just might make it."

At that moment, the AED issued an announcement.

Shock advised. Charging—.

"Well, the rest is in God's hands."

The announcement continued. Delivering shock. 3, 2, 1.