We were brought to the surface and taken to the game arena. We were Team A, starting from our side. Team B's doors were on the other end of the building. The preparation phase had begun.
I selected myself as the leader. I was looking at the tablet.
Lie asked, "Which door are we choosing?"
First, I asked Tou his name. He had a cute face and was short. Then I turned back to the tablet.
"The middle door is too obvious. Left or right makes more sense. It doesn't matter much."
Both of them agreed. I set the left door as the correct one. Tou had no line of sight to the tablet.
I opened the shop. Fifty points for a camera placed anywhere. I looked at the traps: bear trap, spikes, robot rage. Robot rage increased the robot's speed and made it focus on the opposing team for ten minutes. In the abilities section, there was an option to change the correct door's location once, one hour later, for a hundred points.
Lie suggested, "We should get it."
"It's too expensive. I'll take it."
The system announced that Team B's preparation was complete. Both of them turned toward the sound. In that moment, instead of the door change ability, I purchased two cameras. My points were gone. I ended the preparation.
A map appeared. I placed the cameras in the two mission rooms.
We started the game with red buttons. A thirty-minute timer began ticking. Heavy footsteps echoed from the center—the robot was active.
"What should we do?"
Tou: "We should defend and wait by the doors."
Lie: "I don't have a plan. I'll think."
"Defense is pointless. Hide while we're on red buttons. The early phase is for gathering information. No one is going to enter a door without intel. Hide or do missions. I'll take center, Lie goes left, Tou goes right."
They agreed.
If I don't know what you are, I'll make it known.
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I didn't go to the center corridor. I circled behind Tou, came up beside him, and tapped his shoulder.
"I know you're the traitor. You were on your way to tell them our door."
He flinched, started to deny it. "No—"
"I don't work with traitors. You're no longer part of this team."
I turned my back and walked away. He looked crushed.
Even if he wasn't a traitor, I just made him one. He'll resent me now. He'll join the other team and tell them our door is the left one. But they won't believe him. Because I confronted him so boldly, they'll think the left door is fake and that Tou is feeding them false information. They'll believe the real door is either center or right. The left is a decoy. I made my own real door look like a trap.
I returned to the center corridor, hid, and watched. The opposing team had also realized defense was pointless. They were focusing on missions while on green light. I checked the board: Tou had switched sides. The first step was complete.
20:10. I checked the cameras. The mission rooms were empty. There was a screen on the wall—missions were completed there.
Shouya was in the left room. Lie and the Leader were in the right one. I read the missions: the left room required a team switch to be performed once, the right room required dodging five of the robot's attacks. The antidote wouldn't unlock until the mission was done.
The left room's mission gave me an idea. I headed to the left corridor and ran into Lie.
"Tou is on the other team now."
"You said he was the traitor."
"I'm going to leave the team for a short time, grab the antidote, and come back."
"How?"
"I'll go into the mission room and let myself get caught. I'll switch to Team B. Normally, it's risky, but there's trust between us. While I'm on the other team, they can't harass me with the buttons. I'll complete the mission while on green light and take the antidote. When the lights switch, you bring me back."
Lie was convinced.
I entered the left mission room. Shouya was staring at the screen. He tensed up when he saw me. I waved at him, smiling sweetly. He got angry and pressed my button, switching me to Team B. "Mission complete" appeared on the screen. The capsule opened. I took the antidote and put it in my pocket. Shouya tried to grab it from me, but he remembered the rules and backed off.
As I was leaving, he grabbed my arm. I said calmly, "You're going to die," and walked out. He froze in place.
I moved toward the area where the robot was and set an ambush. I waited for the Leader to come. He arrived, examined the robot, saw it was slow, and started the mission. I approached from behind and shoved him hard. He lost his balance. He couldn't dodge the robot's swing. His head was severed. Blood splattered. I didn't care. I walked away.
20:25. I went to where Lie was hiding.
"Press my button."
She saw the bloodstain. "What happened?"
"The Leader was killed by the robot."
She nodded and pressed my button. I returned to my original team.
Good. Now we have an antidote.
Tou and the other one were nowhere to be seen. Three of them remained. The lights had switched. Now we were green, and they were red.
Seiko. What are you thinking?
They hadn't shown themselves in a while. I was uneasy. The next thirty minutes of the game were beginning.