After Gyoma disappeared from sight, I continued walking. A notification came to my phone. I pulled my phone from my pocket and checked the screen—I saw that Lie had replied to my message. I tapped the message with my finger.
Message:
Thank you for reaching out to us, Rei. We're doing well. We're all having a good time in the village. As you said, we're expecting you to come here soon. Everyone sends their regards. You're missed. Take care of yourself.
When I read the message, a faint smile came to my face. I quickly sent a reply in return.
Message:
Don't worry. Speleus didn't say I could never return there. After I play the first game, I'll teleport there and see you all. You keep taking care of yourselves too.
After sending the message, I felt better. I put my phone back in my pocket and started walking. I had seen that the next game was twenty-four hours away. I wanted to observe my surroundings and gather information. Maybe I could find a mass-level weakness to bring down the king—that way, I could manipulate the masses.
When I reached the city center again, there was a modern building resembling a church in the distance. Some people were entering the building. Since that area was crowded, I walked toward the building. When I asked a random man what this place was, he briefly said it was a religious building and cut the topic short.
After entering, I spent some time examining the interior. The people in charge here were seating individuals in machines, claiming they would bring enlightenment to their minds. Then they handed them a piece of paper, telling them with a sincere face to fill out their signatures if they wanted to visit again or become members of the building. I understood at first glance—this was a secret religious organization.
I could tell that my eyes were different from the others'. The other people couldn't perceive the lies here. I continued watching the people for a while. Generally, hopeless individuals came here—they instilled hopeful thoughts in them, spoke of hope being found here, and swayed their minds. This way, the person became even more attached to the organization. I could notice that almost the entire crowd was devoted to this place.
As I kept watching for a while longer, one of the head officials inside approached me. He wore a large black hat and was middle-aged. He had green eyes, a small amount of mustache, and glasses. I couldn't see his hair because of his hat.
"Is there a problem? I've noticed you've been watching this place for a while."
The man seemed to have realized I had been observing. I needed to come up with a random excuse—otherwise, he would realize I hadn't been drawn in and would kick me out. I didn't want to make enemies. I thought it would make sense to express that I was curious about working here. Besides, I also needed to earn money.
"No. Are you looking for help here, by any chance? For cleaning or similar work? I was looking around for that."
After hearing what I said, the man assumed a more innocent expression, kindly smiled at me, and patted my right shoulder.
"Hahahaha! If only you had found me sooner, if you had such a concern."
"Anyway, yes—we do have an opening for a cleaner. In fact, we genuinely need one these days; no one was doing this job. If you'd like, you can start today. We can agree on three hundred game coins per day."
"That would be great for me."
"Good. Then head toward the manager's office. From here, turn right, then left. I'll be there in a few minutes."
I nodded in confirmation. After going to the room and waiting a short while, the man came inside. He asked me to sign an agreement form—after I signed, my job was arranged. He stated that it wouldn't be a problem if I didn't come on tournament days, and also that I didn't need to stay for hours—I could leave as soon as the cleaning was done.
"Pleased to meet you, Rei."
"Pleased to meet you too."
Zimbaria gently extended his hand. I shook his hand and took my work supplies from the storage. First, I was told to clean the history hall. After cleaning for thirty minutes, I had free time. I had become curious about this organization, so I began examining the history room. There were symbolic emblems related to the organization around, and historical objects believed to be connected were kept in glass cases for viewing.
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When I turned my face to the right, I saw a painting related to the organization's past. Various texts were written on the painting. This place had been founded a year ago. It contained writings stating that there was a single path to enlightenment, meant to be the light of the people, the hope of the people.
I could understand that the concepts they used to manipulate people and direct them to their cult were hope and light. I thought that if Akari were here, she would understand this better than I would. I wanted to see them as soon as possible, but I had learned very well that I mustn't rush. I took a deep breath and composed myself.
I knew that such organizations had their own hidden powers. I thought it might be logical to infiltrate this organization—that way, I could also gain the power to manipulate the masses. Before that, I needed to learn what the public was complaining about.
If I could understand the public, I could steer them. If I could steer them, I could make them do what I wanted. I needed to understand them. One of the first steps of this was infiltrating this secret organization. I planned to advance here over time and join their ranks.
"There doesn't seem to be any more dirty areas today. I'll drop off the supplies and leave the building."
I went to the storage and placed the cleaning supplies back where I had taken them from, then went down to the lower floor again. There was another floor beneath the ground floor. Only officials could enter this area, or non-officials could only be brought in by officials. There were loads of X symbols around—they probably called themselves X. After collecting my pay into my account, I left the building and started walking. The sky was dark as always, but this time it was cold. I could hear the sound of crows—crows were the most common creatures in this region. That wasn't surprising.
X Organization, huh...
Interesting. If I use this, I can gain power. I need to learn what the public is complaining about, but before that, I need to focus on the upcoming game.
If I can bring my teammates along—if I win in the later games—they can play with me if they want. Or I'll just go to them. If I fail in my mission, I'll probably have to say goodbye to my friends. I'll focus on this with all my seriousness.
After this game, I'll meet with my friends and tell them about my plan to take down that man. They won't be idle anyway. I had prepared a special theoretical plan for the capsule game while I was in my room—I want to show it to them.
I continued walking through the city. A few more tall buildings appeared before me—when I asked people, they said these were corporate buildings. They were probably buildings belonging to some individuals who held power in the city. I would keep that in mind.
As I kept walking, I suddenly ran into the twin girls.
"Oh, what are you two doing here? It's been a long time."
The twins seemed surprised to see me. At first, they hesitated because I had used them, but when they remembered they had won the Island Game thanks to me, they decided to talk.
"We live here, Rei. What are you doing? Are you here for the tournament?"
"Yes. Did you two join the tournament?"
"We did. I hope we end up on the same team—or at least face each other late."
"You're right."
"How's Haru doing? Have you seen him?"
"No, I haven't."
"Alright then, have a good day."
The twin girls waved their hands and walked away. I turned my face forward and kept walking. Seeing some of the old faces had felt good, but I hadn't expected to find them in this region. The people here were probably from the seventh floor or were elite individuals. Maybe the elites couldn't even access this place because I had broken the first system.
Given that there was a second system, if there were elites, they could only be from the other planet—and I could guess these were superior individuals. But still, elites from our world could be here. When I thought like this, Itsuki came to my mind. It wouldn't be overly surprising if I ran into him here. I could feel he wanted revenge on me.
It seemed like there could be loads of intelligent people here. For a pervert like Itsuki, this place could be considered a very fine spot. I stopped thinking about these things and kept walking. I was heading toward my room. While walking, I checked my phone—the next game similarly stated that I would be teleported somewhere. A few hours had passed since I had been out and about; I could see it had been about seventeen hours. I would go to my room and sleep. I wanted time to pass quickly.
As I kept walking, I ran into Gyoma. Gyoma smiled and waved his hand at me—I waved back in return.
"Rei, are you heading to your room?"
"Yes."
"Did you hear what they said about the first game?"
"What did they say?"
"The first game in tournaments is apparently made especially difficult to quickly weed out individuals. The aim is to eliminate a lot of people. It's definitely going to be something really tough—I'm excited now, ahhh!"
I found his excitement about the difficulty interesting. Maybe he was someone similar to Itsuki, I thought.
"Also, this game is supposed to be about ourselves, so the name will be announced in five minutes."
"Five minutes? I see. Thanks for the info."
"No problem. I'm going to the restroom."
"Alright."
What does "about ourselves" mean, I wonder?
After returning to my room, I lay down on my bed and stared at my phone. I was curious about the name of the game. After waiting five minutes, an update was made to the content of the message.
Metacognition Six Card Game
I was looking at the updated name of the game. When I saw the name, I couldn't figure out what kind of game it would be, but the concept of metacognition had caught my attention.
What kind of game could it be?
I was tired. I didn't want to think any further. I closed my phone, got into bed, pressed the button stuck to the wall beside me to turn off the light, and quickly fell asleep.