The Twins' Side
"Someone has definitely already started secretly swapping team members. What should we do?"
"It seems like we're already late. Besides, this is a basic strategy, they'll think we're doing the same thing. We can make it look that way without even doing anything. They won't blindly believe we're a team anyway."
"Right."
As the twins were talking to each other, the other girl on their team continued playing with her phone. The twins didn't seem pleased with her. This was normal, the girl didn't seem to care about anything at all, but they were aware they had to tolerate her for now.
Meanwhile, Rei's side proceeded with a similar decision. They had formed their team late, the others might have already made deals. If they had made deals, they would reveal what they were thinking. So instead of trying, they decided not to do anything about it, knowing that others wouldn't immediately believe their team was still the same.
Rei's Side
"We haven't even seen a single button yet. The buttons don't seem to have been placed in obvious spots."
"You're right, but someone has probably already found some by now. Those who want to stir up the game will search for buttons, and some might even deliberately not press them even if they see them."
"From what I remember, the game started at midnight. According to what they said, it should be twenty-four hours for each day, so someone needs to be eliminated by midnight again. Even if everyone votes equally, everyone could be eliminated, though that's a hard scenario to happen."
"I'm sure the others also thought that using the abstain option was safe. Others besides us will think the same way, it's not that hard to figure out after all."
"I think we should keep searching for buttons, Ayame. Even if the odds are low, there's a chance the game could end on its own this way. Besides, a little chaos in the game doesn't seem like a problem, after all, we need to eliminate the others to win."
My face started to take on its usual expressionless form. While talking, I was looking into Ayame's white eyes with emotionless eyes. Ayame seemed to have noticed the change on my face, even if I couldn't detect curiosity in her eyes, I could tell from her body language that she was intrigued.
"What happened to your face, Rei?"
"Long story, just assume I'm focused."
"Alright, you know best, but you'll tell me later, right?"
"Alright, maybe I'll tell you."
Potential Teams
1: Rei, Ayame, tattooed man
2: Itsuki and the other two women
3: Old man, Zei, bald man
4: Twins and gamer girl
The number of buttons pressed wasn't written anywhere. We had left the tattooed man alone. While the two of us were alone in the corridor, we kept walking to find buttons. I looked at Ayame and continued speaking with my expressionless face.
"Leaving that man alone might be a bit risky. He could secretly swap teams, and we would think he's still on our team but the person on our team could be someone else. In short, he could betray us when we're alone."
"You're right, but at the same time, I think putting up with that man would have been hard. Is there a solution for this?"
"There doesn't seem to be one for now. I checked the voting section on the phone, you can send the game to a person on your team until they accept to use it. So probably, after the game is used, if that person is on your team, the game becomes invalid. If it weren't like this, we could check who is on our team, but it seems like they thought of that."
"I see, that's a shame."
We entered the room next to us to search for a button, we started examining the surroundings. Like the other rooms, it was an ordinary room, there was a bed, but it had been stated that the third floor was the lodging floor. According to this, sleeping here could be a rule violation. When I realized this, I turned my face to Ayame.
"Ayame, these rooms are probably a trap for shelter."
"Yes, I realized that too. If someone ignores what the system says and thinks they can sleep here and does so, they'll probably commit a rule violation. And there was a cafeteria on the second floor, we can only eat there. So we all actually have to move to the other floor, I don't think anyone would want to go hungry. When they realize this, everyone will quickly press the buttons."
"You're right. Let's keep searching, is there a button in this room?"
"Alright."
We continued searching the room for a while longer to see if there was a button. When Ayame looked under the bed, she saw a red button. When she saw the button, she told me with slight joy that she had found it and pressed the button with her left hand. When the button was pressed, the color of the button changed from red to green.
"Good, we've found one, Rei. I don't think there are any more in this room."
"I don't think there are either, let's get out of here."
When we left the room, we heard the robotic system voice. The moment both of us heard the voice, we turned our heads in the direction of the sound. It was being announced that all buttons had been found and therefore we would be moved to the next floor. We hadn't been told anywhere that we needed to go upstairs, so we were waiting in place for instructions, not knowing how we would get up. Then we were suddenly teleported. Everyone was near us, the moment we were teleported, everyone was very surprised, we hadn't expected this. The tattooed man was the most surprised.
"WHAT THE FUCK! HOW DID I GET HERE!"
"Calm down players, you were merely teleported here. There's no point in reacting further, it's not like you just arrived in this universe. You are momentarily on the second floor!"
After the system's logical speech, everyone seemed to have calmed down a bit. It was right, we hadn't just arrived here, such things could happen here. Instead of reacting to these, we needed to keep our reasoning stable. For the system to continue speaking, everyone stayed quiet and kept listening to the voice.
"A floor-specific rule has been added!"
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"In a scenario where everyone uses the abstain option, if no more than three people other than those using the abstain option vote, meaning in a situation where the vote count is three or less, everyone except those who voted will be eliminated!"
When they heard the floor-specific rule, some players had hesitated. Fortunately, this rule was floor-specific, meaning it was only valid on the second floor. This rule reduced the reliability of the abstain option on the second floor. If on this floor one, two, or three people voted and the others used the abstain option, everyone who used the abstain option except those who voted between one and three would be eliminated. So a player could win the game even alone. However, according to what was said, when the fourth person came into play, this rule would be deactivated. I had understood the information that the game didn't have to end with three people.
We were back in the hall of the second floor. This time there was a medium-distance hall in front of us. The layout of the floor was the same, the ceiling was high again as before, the walls were long. When we looked at the ceiling, it could be understood that there was yet another floor. Behind the corridor, white student desks could be seen, that must have been the cafeteria. The players who were hungry ran quickly towards the cafeteria. Everyone was walking fast because they were hungry. Ayame, me, and Itsuki kept walking at just a patient pace. Itsuki was walking next to us, when looked at from a distance, she was acting as if she were on our team.
"How's the game going, Rei?"
"Good, how about you?"
"We're doing great."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, I've already planned moves that will make things difficult for you. Though on one hand I want to beat you, on the other hand I want you to beat me. If I beat you, my interest will disappear, and then there won't be anyone left to catch my interest. I mean, the world will become very boring, you understand? So thoroughly crush me, I enjoy that!"
Ayame looked at her with her white eyes after hearing Itsuki's words.
"Rei, this one seems to have lost her mind over you."
"Am I making it that obvious, Ayame-san?"
"Where did you hear my name, from Rei?"
"Yes, I heard it while you were talking, my ears are good. Or maybe Rei and I are secretly working together, who knows?"
I answered by stepping in.
"There's no such thing."
"Alright, I'll go then. See you, Rei, be careful okay? Don't get eliminated by anyone other than me."
"Alright, alright, go on."
Itsuki moved away from us and returned to her teammates. We were watching her departure with our eyes. When she got far enough from us, we turned forward and kept walking. The cafeteria resembled the dining areas in students' schools, this place was a lighter color, there were white walls. It was a circular area, in the center of the area there was a food section. It said stocks would be replenished, which meant we could take from our plates and eat as we wished. Because of this, some seemed to be taking more. We moved a bit faster so there would be some left for us too. I preferred healthy foods, Ayame had preferred the same. We were sitting at a table, the two of us, the tattooed man wasn't next to us, he was eating his meal rudely on his own. Sitting across from each other, we were eating our meal with Ayame. The others also found themselves a table and were eating their meals, everyone seemed hungry.
Itsuki's Side
Itsuki, Daito, and Zei were eating their meals together at their table. When they met the bald man, they had learned that his name was Daito. Daito had told them that he used to be connected to the mafia. Itsuki, seeing this as an opportunity, acted curious and created a conversation, their relationship seemed to be improving.
"Using the abstain option on this floor seems riskier, Daito."
"You're right, I'm sure everyone will want to leave this floor after eating their meal."
Zei joined the conversation and expressed his thoughts.
"We're going to use the votes when there's little time left in the twenty-four hours, right?"
"Yes, it's not yet clear who we'll use them on."
"Oh wait, we need to be a team. Did we form a team, Itsuki?"
When Zei remembered this, he had said it standing up out of excitement.
"Calm down, I've already sent team invites to the others. I mean the old man and the women at the same time, we're a six-person team."
"Oh right, it was sent from the phone too, wasn't it? Good, for a moment I thought we forgot..."
Rei's Side
"We have one hour, Ayame. I'll send a team invite to the twins after we finish eating, the others are already six. They have to accept."
"You're right, they have no choice but to accept."
After talking, I took my phone out of my pocket. After unlocking my phone's screen, I sent a team invite to one of the twins. This meant we needed to be six people. The twins would understand this signal, and they did. I received a notification that one of the twins had accepted the invite, she would send a team invite to her other sibling. Then an invite would be sent to the gamer girl, this way we would simply become six people. There was no problem.
A short while later, the twins came to us and strangely said that the other girl didn't want to join our team. They said they tried to convince her but she just kept looking at her phone. This was ridiculous, if she did this, she would be eliminated too. After a brief moment of surprise, the four of us along with the twins had come to the girl. The tattooed man was apparently too stupid to understand the situation, he was still eating his meal as if nothing was happening.
The twins looked at the girl and started speaking angrily.
"Hina! Why aren't you joining the team, are you stupid? If this keeps up, you'll be eliminated too!"
Hina continued playing games on her phone without making eye contact. One of the twins seemed to be barely holding herself back from hitting her even though violence was prohibited. We had learned that the girl's name was Hina. We were all staring at the girl's indifferent attitude.
"Pff, I don't care. I don't feel like playing, I'm not joining the team."
"What do you mean you're not joining, you'll be eliminated, idiot!"
"Doesn't matter, I'll just play with my phone."
"Ahh, this girl is driving me crazy! What should we do, Rei!"
"If she doesn't want to, she doesn't want to. The only way out of this situation is for all of us to search for buttons."
Hina continued playing with her phone indifferently. The others could understand that this was the only way out, but we had little time left, still we had to try or we would all be eliminated from the game. We had to deal with this troublesome girl. I turned my face to Ayame.
"Ayame, let's split up, we need to find the button. Twins, you split up too, let's all find the button."
"Alright!"
I ran over to the tattooed man and told him about the situation.
"WHAT! THAT BITCH! LET'S FIND THE BUTTONS RIGHT AWAY!"
John threw himself into searching the rooms in the other corridor with all his strength. The other members, seeing us stressed, were watching us carefully trying to figure out what was going on. Everyone had split up and was searching for buttons, while the other girl continued playing with her phone as if nothing was happening. I could guess there was a button in the cafeteria, I started searching everywhere quickly.
The Old Man's Side
"Haha! Look at that, clearly the girl didn't want to be on a team, they've gone out to search for buttons!"
The women next to him also joined in his laughter when the old man laughed.
"Do you think they can find them, sir?"
"Who knows, we'll just sit and watch. If we try to stop them, it could be considered violence."
"You're right, sir!"
Itsuki's Side
Zei, thinking this was an opportunity, looked at Itsuki with curious eyes and expressed his idea with an ambitious tone, touching Itsuki's shoulder. Daito, meanwhile, was observing Zei's excitement in this short period, it was clear that Zei really couldn't control himself.
"Itsuki, what if we stopped them!"
"No, of course not, violence is prohibited, Zei."
"But if we just hold them back, prevent them from entering."
"No, even holding or pushing could be considered violence, we can't risk it. They're already in a risk themselves, we just need to wait."
"I thought we finally had an opportunity!"
Rei's Side
I was running around quickly, I had already found one button. I headed to the rooms in the corridor, I hadn't seen any more buttons in the cafeteria. Due to my past, my stamina was good, I was moving fast without getting tired. You wouldn't think that girl would practically try to get herself eliminated. Since we all assumed we would definitely form a team, we had taken our time and eaten our meal slowly, so we had little time left. We kept running around searching for buttons.
When I checked my phone, I had found another button when there were five minutes left until time ran out. Clearly, because we were searching separately, we had found the buttons quickly, but still there was little time left. The robotic system voice was heard from the ceiling of the cafeteria.
"All buttons have been found, we are moving to the third floor!"
I took a deep breath, I was starting to calm down. We had saved ourselves from a difficult situation. When I looked from a distance, that girl was still playing with her phone, she resembled a live bomb carrier in my eyes. Why was she acting like this?
"That indifferent girl really pushed me..."