When we were all teleported to the third floor, it was clear that we had gotten used to being teleported by now. No one showed a strong reaction, we were just looking around. There were multiple doors in the corridors ahead, and aside from that, the long walls and the building's style were the same. This time the ceiling was lower, as if telling us there were no more floors above. We all waited for the system's voice, waiting for the new rule to be announced. Shortly after, the robotic voice made itself heard.
"Welcome to the third floor! A floor-specific rule has been added!"
"On the third floor, you can predict the people who have used their prediction right during this voting process. You can only choose one person per prediction. If you guess correctly, that person is eliminated and your prediction right continues. If you guess incorrectly, you will both lose this floor-specific prediction right and you will not be able to use the prediction right that everyone uses in the normal process during this voting period. It will be announced when you guess incorrectly and lose your rights."
After hearing the rules, everyone could notice that their options had expanded. We could now predict the people who had already used their prediction rights while on the third floor. This had made the game even more dangerous. When Itsuki heard the rule, her eyes faintly lit up.
After hearing the rule, everyone moved on to inspect the rooms. Everyone was automatically individual, but they all went to the people who had previously been their teammates. They had split into different areas, six versus five. It was six versus five because Hina had randomly entered a room she felt like. We were five people in the room, one of the twins looked at me and spoke, slightly showing her anger.
"If this girl was going to act like this, why didn't she do it in the first round? Is she stupid?"
"She might not have felt like it, and anyway, I don't believe she actually wants to play this game. She's probably planning a trap like I'm thinking."
"What kind of trap?"
"A simple trap. Act bad, draw votes onto yourself, but use your own prediction right, eliminate the others. That logic. Meaning she might be trying to draw votes onto herself to use her prediction right. And to do that, she might be someone who would even take risks in the previous round. If in the coming times you can tell that she doesn't want to wander around on this floor much, then it means she's planning the trap I mentioned. But I can't be certain, I'm just predicting for now. Because other than this, if she actually does want to play the game, I currently don't think there's another logical reason."
"I see, that makes sense. She might want to draw votes onto herself and use her prediction right like you said. So what do we do now?"
"There's not much to do right now. I checked my phone, it's been three hours since the game started. I don't think we can convince that girl either. Instead of wasting time for nothing, let's find the buttons and move to the other floors. New things being added to the game could be both good and bad, but if we want to get somewhere, we have to do it."
"You're right..."
Itsuki's Side
"Guys, I have an idea."
"What is it?"
I whispered my idea into their ears.
"Understood, that makes sense. Let's do it!"
Rei's Side
For a while, the five of us set out to search for buttons. We weren't sleepy, so sheltering didn't seem to have much point either. We were aiming to find the buttons and speed up the game. I continued searching for buttons with Ayame. Ayame was quiet, but I was aware that she wasn't quiet for nothing. Within forty minutes, we found all the buttons and were teleported back to the first floor.
When we were teleported to the first floor, this time everyone remained indifferent, after all we had gotten used to being teleported by now. It also wasn't a place we were seeing for the first time. We were aware of the truth question, so we waited for the system to send the truth question to the phones.
When the notifications came, everyone in the hall opened their phones and answered the question about whether they had voted or not in a short time. After everyone had answered the questions, the digital screen on the first floor showed how many votes had been cast. There was no floor-specific rule for the first floor. Everyone was looking at the screen just in case, but everyone was expecting zero votes. However, instead of zero, it showed six votes. Everyone except Itsuki's six-person team was surprised for a short while. The tattooed man, naturally, reacted more strongly.
"WHAT! SIX VOTES? SINCE WHEN, DAMN IT!"
Others besides Ayame and Rei had started to think they were in danger. It was clear they wanted to use their prediction right to put themselves under protection. After all, six votes were shown, so the six votes were probably directed at a single person. But who they were directed at wasn't clear. For this reason, they got stressed and wanted to protect themselves. After looking at the number six on the screen for a short while, I called out to the others. When I called out, they looked at me. I told them not to do anything and to come to the room with me. The determination in my voice was evident. Everyone except Hina followed me towards the room. Itsuki and her team were silently watching us enter the room from behind.
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"Rei understood immediately, huh. Well, the trap wasn't that secret anyway. The real secret is something else. Go on and struggle all you want..."
When we entered the room, I stood in the middle of everyone. I told them absolutely not to use their prediction rights for now because it was a trap. The twins and the tattooed man were slightly surprised when they heard it was a trap. Ayame continued listening to my speech. One of the twins, not fully understanding, asked me what she was curious about.
"Rei, how exactly is it a trap?"
"They want to use the third floor's rule. They tried to create fear with the six votes information. Out of fear, everyone will use their prediction rights because they want to protect themselves, but that's exactly what they're waiting for. In this situation, they aim to identify the people who used their prediction rights out of fear and eliminate them on the third floor. We can't equalize the votes by doing the same thing because Hina doesn't listen to us. So the votes would be six against five, that's also been calculated. The important element here is this: If the six people cast their votes for a single person, they will aim to end the game on the third floor. If the voting continues on the third floor, during the voting process everyone will be forced to use their prediction right because we can't know who the six votes went to. That's why everyone needs to protect themselves, but in such a situation, they can use the third floor's special rule and eliminate us. In short, if the voting ends on the third floor or is prolonged there, we lose no matter what."
"What do we do then!"
"The answer is simple. We need to end the voting or prolong it on the first or second floor. This way they can't use the third floor's rule. The second floor's rule also doesn't take effect because they cast six votes, so the second floor rule is considered invalid. Therefore, in the same way, if we use our prediction right on the first or second floors, they can't withdraw their votes. In that case, all six of them are eliminated because when we all use it, since a vote was inevitably cast for one of us, they will fall victim to the prediction right no matter what."
"Understood, that's very logical! Then we can still survive!"
"That's right, but Hina doesn't seem to be on our side, so we can't complete the teams. Everyone, set out to find the buttons again quickly before an hour passes. After all, they're not placed in hard spots. Come on, hurry up, time is ticking away, we need to be fast!"
Everyone nodded in approval, left the room, and set out to search for buttons. I was left alone in the room with Ayame. I couldn't quite tell what her white eyes were thinking, but I could sense that she was curious about me. She looked at me and began to speak.
"I also sensed it was a trap, it's good that you explained it. Because of my eyes, they don't really listen to me, or you could say they're afraid to listen. By the way, it seems like you didn't explain the full part. It looks like you don't want them to feel their stress."
"You're right, if you understood, I can explain it to you too. Actually, their strategy has a counter move as I mentioned. Still, they could prolong the voting on the third floor, but that's also risky for them because if the voting continues on the first or second floor, as I said, all of them are eliminated. Since we have the advantage on two floors, they only have the advantage on one floor. Since the floors seem like they'll change through buttons, which floor the voting will continue on is uncertain. But probability-wise, since we have the advantage on two of the three floors, the odds are better for us. On top of that, special floor rules will come again with transitions, and whether these rules will be good or bad for whom is uncertain. It's not impossible for a rule similar to the one that came on the third floor, about predicting who voted, to come to the second floor as well. So, since there are also uncontrollable factors, the move they made is actually risky."
"You're right, I thought the same."
"But the problem starts here. If it's risky, either they're idiots or they're aware of it. Since they've thought this through, they can't be idiots. The only answer to why they would do this despite not being idiots is that the votes were distributed as one vote to each person, not to a single person. Meaning, they deliberately used the votes equally for everyone instead of casting six votes for a single person."
"You're right, I think so too. They must have distributed the six votes equally instead of using them in a single way. This way, the move stops being risky, and their win conditions on the third floor also close. But they've zeroed out their risk. However, the important part is that the others can't think of this, and we still have to end or prolong the voting on the first or second floor no matter what. By doing so, they close off another one of their win conditions, but they haven't taken any risk. At the same time, their prediction right trap is still in play. If they figure out during the game that someone has used their prediction right, they'll pull the game to the third floor, then eliminate that person."
"Exactly. Even if we understand that it's as you said, we still have to prolong or end the voting on the first or second floor no matter what. Because we can't be completely sure that what they did is in this way. To avoid taking risks ourselves, we need to make sure the voting doesn't continue on the third floor as they want. Still, they might have cast votes for six people."
"Apparently, we still need to get the votes used on the first or second floor. Since the votes are equal, they won't be eliminated due to the prediction right because no one can be the person with the most votes. Even if we think like this and cast one vote for someone, we can't know whether that person used their prediction right or not. To find out, trying the person on the third floor would mean taking a risk by paying a penalty and revealing our aim. So, even if we assume everyone has one vote and cast one vote for any person on the first or second floor, making that person the highest with two votes, we still can't know if they used their prediction right or not. And anyway, they'll probably use their prediction rights at the last moment on the first or second floor. This move doesn't work either, therefore."
"I already figured out earlier that it doesn't work. This way, since everyone received equal votes, they won't be eliminated from prediction rights, there's no risk in this move. Judging by the fact that they did it this way, they think the system will continue the game in a situation where the votes are equal, because the elites are watching the games, they don't want boring games. They both avoid risk and keep their traps going. Their real aim was to create psychological pressure on us and direct us into using our prediction right."
"Exactly. We've thought it through well, now let's go find the buttons too."
"Alright."