𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇spirit seeker◇

"i check it, i wreck it, i turn it around."

"everyone, please take the card you obtained while exploring and touch it to the screen." slowly reaching into your shirt pocket, you held up the card. "keymaster." you tried to press it to the screen, but nothing really happened. "you have your card, yes? now, i will begin to explain. the basic rules are profoundly simple. one person will be selected by majority vote, and that person will die. that's all."...you had to choose who died? was this meant to tear the group apart?

" the vote will be split into two parts. through the first round, the preliminary vote, half the total will be chosen as candidates. currently eleven are alive, so this will be five. a final vote will be held using these, deciding the ultimate victim. in short, the victim is decided by gradually narrowing down from eleven people, to five, to one! of course, even those not chosen as candidates will participate in the vote itself! please, do kill of your own volitions!" why did you have to be apart of this? you could try and make light of it all you want, but where would that get you?

"however, there are holes in this game. we do not care for intentless games of luck. such worthless acts of using rock-paper-scissors to fairly decide of the victim are forbidden! and so, everyone, please take out your cards!" you looked down at your card again, sighing. "there are four roles given by the cards. the first is the commoner. this is a meaningless card with no power at all. the second is the keymaster. and oh my! it's a terrifying role indeed, for if chosen as the victim, everyone will perish!" what? you can't die. you would've been fine dying, it didn't matter, but now if you died others would too. gin. kanna. sara. joe. they were all just kids.

"third is the sage. by holy divination, they know who the keymaster is. a very lucky role! congratulations to its owner! fourth is the sacrifice. amazingly, this curious card allows the person to survive only if chosen as the victim! which means if they're not chosen, they die! however, there are two positives as well! the sacrifice alone gets two votes, and also.. if they win, they can escape alive with a person of their choice! well, but in that case... al the others will perish. so good luck! there is one keymaster, sage, and sacrifice each. all the rest are commoners. committed it to memory, yes?" you had to know this was going to happen. were you really ignorant enough to even try and convince yourself everything would be okay.

"so at minimum, two people will die. everyone do your best not to be one of them! there is still time left until the main game begins. please spend your time freely here. even after begging yourself to let any hope you have go, that way you could try and avoid being let down. but you couldn't. if you gave up now, people were bound to die. what if you stayed in your room? would the keymaster being dead mess up the game? what if it would help, make one less person die. obviously, they wouldn't allow that. was it worth it to try?

you were snapped out of your thoughts by miley's voice. " it's now time. please head to the grounds via the door near the screen, everyone. i wish you luck. ehehehe... ahaha..." there was no choice, was there. your legs felt weak as you walked towards the door. your hand held the door knob, trying to breathe. nao... gin.. reko... there were people relying on you. you can't be scared. taking one last deep breath, you opened the door. there were a few people already out of their waiting rooms, and eleven weird desks about waist-height. you walked towards one of the desks, walking past everyone else.

"...here we are." keiji was the first to speak. "..! you guys... that was fast.." q-taro looked weak. you could hear nao making noises of distress, just as she had done in the kitchen. "..hmph. all of you, so pale.." gin rushed over to you, clinging to your arm again. "why... is this happening..." sou was as timid as ever. "ehehe... ah, so you'll take part after all?" you made eye contact with miley, refusing to drop it. "miley..!! you..!!" she only giggled at the baseball player's panic. "ahaha... please take a good look at those desks, everyone. a rather interesting setup, isn't it? ehehe... they are reverse hourglasses. most curious indeed. when these hourglasses have reached the top, the discussion will end. you have seventy minutes until the preliminary vote. after that, you can discuss for twenty more minutes before the final vote. well then, shall the discussion begin?"