Once I was ready, I left the storeroom and headed back toward the hall. After rejoining my friends, we all left the temple together and made our way toward the village. Everyone seemed calm. After what I had seen, I tried to act calm as well.
Lie was trying to analyze the situation.
"Do you think something will happen this evening, Rei?"
"I don't know, there's no telling. Tomorrow is Friendship Day again—maybe something will happen then."
"I see."
We bought food from the village market and took care of our needs. Outside the temple, our day seemed to be passing normally. It felt like time given to us to relieve stress. As time passed, our friendship appeared to be growing stronger.
Meanwhile — The Young Man's House
"The days are passing. If it keeps going like this, our share of the points will be smaller. What should we do?"
The same female voice could be heard.
"Don't worry, I have an idea."
"What idea?"
"I'm thinking of using the phones we got from the dead bodies."
"I see. Do you think it'll work?"
"We'll see. Our opponents aren't stupid, but I'll need something from you."
"What do you need?"
The woman pulled out four phones from her pocket, keeping one in her own pocket.
"Why are you giving me four of the five phones we took from the bodies?"
"It's called a long-term strategy, idiot. Distribute these non-player phones to the players who are our men. Even if they see they have the icon, we can use fake phones. We can use phones under someone else's name."
"So the user doesn't have to be the one using it?"
"No, they don't. We're going to take advantage of that. You go hand these out to our people."
"Alright, I'll do it."
One Hour Before Nine in the Evening — Rei's Side
Lie was looking at me with curious eyes, as if she had a question on her mind. I looked at her and waited for her to speak. When I looked at her, Lie decided to ask her question.
"Rei, I've been wondering about something."
"What is it?"
"We only need to worship to win, right? So why don't we just not form friendships with anyone? We do the worship and leave right after. That way, the game would end after a while, and we'd all get a certain level of points. Doesn't the game have that kind of advantage?"
Akari was listening to the conversation. After hearing what Lie said, she gave her own opinion before I could speak.
"We're not doing that because we want more points."
"Akari's right."
"Oh, right. I understand, thank you."
"It's almost nine, let's head toward the temple."
We made our way to the temple in a short time. There were ten minutes left until nine, and everything was as it had been. When worship time came, everyone worshipped in turn. Afterward, we split into groups of two again. From a distance, I could see Yua trying to talk with Haru and Akari. I told Lie I was going to do something again.
"What are you constantly doing, Rei?"
"I'll tell you later. You distract them so they don't notice my absence."
Lie nodded in approval, trying to draw eyes toward herself. Meanwhile, I headed toward the storeroom again. I opened my inventory and put the priest robe back on. I wanted to continue exploring the corridor. This time, I entered the underground corridor through the second entrance. The second entrance was narrow and frightening, just like the previous corridor. I kept moving forward. A priest passed by me—thanks to my disguise, there was no problem.
I was curious about the room further ahead; I hadn't gone there on my previous trip. When I was sure no one was around, I advanced toward the wooden door ahead. I opened the door quietly. When I opened it, a man was chained up with his mouth covered. His body was covered in wounds. On the wooden table were various torture tools, cutting instruments, and needles. Just from the room alone, I could tell the man's future was bleak.
When I entered the room, the man's eyes opened. His mouth was covered, so he couldn't scream—I could only hear faint sounds. I could feel him begging me to get him out. I couldn't remove the thing in his mouth; he might scream from the stress. But I decided to calm him down.
"I don't know why you're here, but I'll save you. Just stay calm and keep holding on."
I slowly checked the man's pockets. His own phone was in his pocket—either they hadn't taken it, or they had forgotten to. The man was trying to make sounds. I turned on his phone and checked the icon; he wasn't a player. Then I put the phone in my pocket.
"Stay calm. Like I said, I'll come back to save you. I can't open your mouth, but I need to use this phone. I'll come back later."
The man understood that stressing wouldn't help. I could sense he was thinking that at least he wasn't being tortured right now. He stopped trying to scream and nodded his head slightly. It was clear he was tired; he looked like he hadn't eaten in a while. The water bottle in my other pocket came to mind.
I took the water bottle out of my pocket. I told the man I'd let him drink it if he wouldn't scream. The man nodded quickly. I removed the thing in his mouth, checked to make sure he wasn't screaming, then pressed the water bottle to his mouth and let him drink. It was obvious the man hadn't had water in days—he drank all the water in a few seconds. Then he looked at me.
"Thank you..."
"Who are you? You shouldn't be one of the other priests?"
"Never mind that. Why are you here?"
"I don't know. I owed that old man money, I think. After I told him I had to pay late, I found myself here."
"I see. I need to close your mouth now. I'll come back. But before that, do you know who attacked you? I mean, has anyone been here trying to torture you?"
"Yes. The old man came and slapped me hard across the face once."
"When did that happen?"
"A day ago. My other wounds are from a week ago, before I was brought here. Why are you asking?"
"Just curious, it's nothing."
I closed his mouth. I left the room and kept walking through the narrow corridor.
The system must be watching even this place. After the old man is eliminated, he'll get angry and pressure the others to prepare a trap. The old man will steer them into taking unnecessary steps because of the pressure. I should use the old man's elimination. As far as I remember, the system doesn't specify exactly what someone was eliminated for—that will make it harder for them to understand what happened.
It's a good thing the priests don't talk much among themselves; otherwise, my job would have been harder. The head priests must be telling everyone in advance how to behave—otherwise, I would have had to mimic their voices. That would have been difficult for me. Now I need to go upstairs and return to the storeroom.
After walking through the narrow corridor for a short while, I headed toward the storeroom. After changing my clothes there, I returned to the hall. The young man who saw me smiled, came over, and touched my shoulder. He fixed his eyes on me and started talking.
"Rei, I don't see you around much. Are you going to the cafeteria?"
"Yes, I get hungry. I keep picking up a strange smell around here, so it's better to spend time near the cafeteria. Besides, there aren't many people there at these hours."
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"I see. Well, keep enjoying yourself..."
The young man left me and went over to his friends. As I walked toward Lie, I was thinking to myself. At the same time, I could see Yua still talking with Haru. I could tell from his face that Haru was continuing to play his role. Maybe Yua had a thing for cute-looking boys.
I could also see Akari continuing to observe the surroundings. When I reached Lie, she got up from near the older men and came over to me. I whispered that she had done a good job and stroked her head to satisfy her. Lie liked this gesture; she looked at me quietly and nodded.
I called everyone over and told them we were leaving. We all left the temple together and moved on. Behind us, the old man called out.
"We'll be expecting you again!"
We all politely continued playing our roles and nodded. Seeing us nod, the old man put a fake smile on his face, then disappeared from sight. We turned forward and kept walking.
I wonder how you'll feel the next time you're expecting us?
I said it out loud to myself. My friends looked at me. Akari reacted.
"Are you angry, Rei? What happened?"
"Nothing happened."
I bent down toward the box in front of the statue.
"What are you doing?"
They were all watching me. I selected the old man as the person to report. On the paper, I wrote that he had committed violence against the man underground, then I placed the paper into the box and closed it. Haru reacted to what I was doing. Lie was more aware that I had been up to something, so she watched silently.
"Rei, what are you doing? You'll get eliminated, stop!"
"No problem."
I confirmed the complaint by fully closing the box.
A player has been eliminated!
A loud old man's voice was heard from the temple.
"WHAAAAAT!"
I turned forward and kept walking. Lie immediately started walking beside me, and the others came up to me as well.
"Rei, what did you do?"
"I exploited the violence loophole."
"How so?"
"Forget it, it's a long story. Look at the result."
Akari, understanding the situation, gave her opinion.
"I see. You disguised yourself as a priest and found something in the underground corridor. Am I wrong?"
Since she was right, I didn't answer and kept walking. Haru laughed and teased me.
"Are you staying quiet now?"
"I said forget it, let's go."
"You're right, you did well."
"By the way, what are you and Yua talking about?"
"The same things. She seems to be trying to get close to me."
"I see."
In a short while, we went to the room we had rented and took care of our needs. Since we had spent a long time at the temple, the hours had passed quickly. We needed to sleep early, so we fell asleep fast.
When we woke up in the morning, we washed our hands and faces. While Haru was washing his face at the sink, he pulled out his phone from his pocket to check his worship level. When he turned on the phone, he couldn't see the icon—this wasn't his phone. When he checked his other pocket, he found a small piece of paper. He opened the paper and began reading.
The Note:
Haru, it's Rei. After my last action, I think they're going to act recklessly. So as a precaution, I took your phone and replaced it with the fake phone I found. Keep yourself close to Yua in solitary settings. They're not aware of your intelligence level or who you really are, so I think they'll try to execute a trap I've been thinking about on you. Through certain seemingly friendly gestures, if Yua wants to join our friendship group in some way, keep playing your role. Pretend to be slowly convinced, then accept her offer and send her a friendship invitation from the fake phone. After that, I'll add you to the friends group.
After reading the note, Haru understood the situation. He had no intention of betraying anyone; he had nothing to gain from it—our goals were the same. He had convinced himself, for once, to be human.
Morning — The Old Man's House
"FUCK! HOW CAN I BE ELIMINATED? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?"
A female voice could be heard.
"Grandfather, calm down. I don't know, but we'll handle it—don't worry."
"I DON'T CARE, ALRIGHT? I WANT THIS GAME TO END FAST! DO SOMETHING, OR YOU'LL HAVE NO PLACE IN THIS TEMPLE!"
"Okay, Grandfather..."
Rei's Side
We came to the temple again before nine o'clock. This time, we didn't hear the man say welcome. After we finished our worship, a notification came about it being Friendship Day. Once again, nothing could be understood from the crowd of sounds. We had split into groups of two again. I deliberately called Akari and Lie over to me and we moved to the garden, creating an individual setting for Haru.
"Why did you call us, Rei?"
"I have a plan, that's why."
"What plan?"
"They're going to set a trap for Haru—I've prepared a trap against their trap."
"I see, so you want us to wait here, right?"
"Exactly."
Seeing that Haru was alone, Yua seized the opportunity and started talking to him.
"How are you, dear?"
Yua sat down right next to Haru, trying to seduce him. Haru continued playing his role accordingly.
"I'm fine, senpai. How are you?"
"I'm fine. Has your morning been going well?"
"Yes, it's been going well, senpai."
"Good..."
Yua gently stroked Haru's shoulder.
"I was going to say, since we're this close and I also have a friend, why don't we all form a friendship together? It seems like you haven't formed a group yet. You don't need to ask them, right?"
"But wouldn't that be a problem?"
"It won't be a problem. At worst, we'll merge three and three afterward and become six friends. Six is an even number, isn't it?"
Haru pretended to think and answered.
"You're right, senpai. We'll be six people. It seems like there's no need to rush."
"Exactly. You know I don't like my grandfather, I don't want to be with them."
"Yes, senpai."
Haru pulled out the fake phone from his pocket and sent a friendship invitation.
A sly smile formed on Yua's face, thinking she had baited him. She accepted the friendship invitation and immediately pulled out the fake phone she had taken from the bodies, trying to open the screen. Haru was watching her during this time. But before Yua could open the screen, a robotic voice was heard.
A player has been eliminated!
"WHAT! WHAT'S HAPPENING?"
Yua immediately looked at Haru's phone and saw that there was no icon.
"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THIS PHONE?"
Yua tried to snatch the phone from his hand. Everyone was looking at them. Haru quickly fled toward the garden.
Yua didn't chase after him. She was aware that if she kept reacting, she would disturb the customers. So she clenched her teeth and quietly left the temple. Meanwhile, Haru came over to the three of us and looked at Rei.
"I did it, Rei."
"Yes, I heard."
I held out his own phone to him. Haru took the phone and turned on the screen.
"Come on, let's form a friendship."
I sent friendship invitations to all four of us. When the third invitation was accepted, Haru noticed that a short countdown timer appeared.
"Apparently, when it's an odd number, they give a very short window to increase it."
"Exactly. The trap was about this."
"What do you mean?"
"First, I seized an opportunity and eliminated the old man. Because of his personality, the eliminated old man would pressure the others to do something—he would be overflowing with revenge. He didn't know exactly who did it, but he was certain it was one of us. So he pressured Yua and the others to do something. The temple was his inheritance, so they partly had to fulfill his wishes. I could tell the temple belonged to him because he was the head priest and the oldest. If they didn't do what he said, he could get angry and kick everyone out of the temple, so they wanted to partly comply—otherwise, they couldn't earn points. I used the old man to pressure them, which pushed them to set a trap against one of us even though it wasn't necessary. They couldn't try it on me, and it seemed they wouldn't on Lie or Akari either. Yua was close with Haru. If she acted innocent and talked about not liking her grandfather, wanting to form a friendship would be a convenient excuse. That's why I knew Yua would target Haru. They had planned this beforehand—I didn't mention it to you, I'll explain later. But they knew I had figured out the second trap, though they didn't think I'd realize they were directly targeting Haru."
"Ha, they targeted me? When?"
"I'll tell you later."
"Alright, continue."
"From there, they used the only way available to eliminate someone at this point in time—the time window in the friendship system."
They all kept listening to me with curiosity.
"By using the time window, it was possible for them to transfer between friendships. Thanks to the information I gathered, I was able to figure out that they might also have fake phones. That helped me better understand the trap they could pull. The trap Yua planned was as follows: At a suitable time, she would first talk to Haru. I deliberately pulled the three of us into the garden to create that suitable time for her. Yua would seize the opportunity and talk to Haru. Acting innocent and using her dislike of her grandfather as an excuse, she would bring over her middle-aged friend who hadn't spoken with the others to build trust. She was aware that Haru hadn't joined a friendship yet, so she wanted to form a friendship group with him. I believe she likely said her own friend would join shortly, making us six people in total. If Haru's phone had been normal, she would have accepted the invitation when he sent it. Then she would pull out her fake phone and send a friendship invitation to that fake phone. Then she would accept the sent invitation from the fake phone herself. This way, the group would become three people, and a short countdown timer would start. Even though there was a non-player in the group, no notification would come until the timer ran out, because odd-numbered groups didn't count as a friendship. Then she would immediately go to the priests she had arranged, ask them to send friendship invitations, accept one, join a two-person friendship group, and become three people. There's no rule in the game about not moving to another friendship while already in one—she was going to exploit that. After that, their timer would start. To solve this, she would send an invitation to the person she had brought with her, making the group four people. Since there are other players besides the young man, the young man wouldn't be left hanging afterward, so forming a four-person group wouldn't be a problem for them. Once the four-person group was formed, Haru would remain in the same two-person group with a non-player. Within a short time, since his friendship included a non-player, he would be eliminated. He wouldn't have been able to run to us during that time because we were in the garden. Because I understood the trap, I left a note for Haru in the morning and swapped his own phone with the fake phone. This way, I set a trap against their trap. When Yua tried to set her trap, Haru would send the invitation from the fake phone. Accepting the invitation, Yua would be instantly eliminated because she formed a friendship with a non-player. And that's exactly what happened."
Everyone who had listened to my long explanation seemed astonished that I had foreseen all of this. Lie scratched her head, feeling stupid.
"I could barely understand it..."
"No problem. But we still need to be careful. Even though their mastermind Yua has been eliminated from the game, she'll still tell them what to do."
After what I said, I could feel I had become intimidating in their eyes. Lie couldn't make eye contact and nodded in agreement. Haru was looking at me as if in admiration. Akari, on the other hand, remained calm and expressionless.
"Good job, big brother..."
"Big brother?"
After his trauma came to mind, I thought this was a compliment. I took a deep breath and looked up at the blue sky. The game was still going on.