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AKUJI REACHED THE NEXT level as quickly as possible, everyone else following behind her in surprise at the fact that this schoolgirl seemed to be the smartest and strongest out of all of them.
They raced across the parking lot, weaving between cars and other vehicles dotted around. Even though there was no time limit to the game, they could starve to death and die of thirst - plus, nobody wanted to stay in a game longer than needed.
Once everyone reached the next door, the announcer told them, "To unlock this door, you must solve this number series puzzle: what letter is next in this sequence? O, T, T, F, F, S, S, E..."
"Another number one? This is bullshit!" Somebody exclaimed.
"No, this is easy! It's N for nine. You need to follow this girl's logic–" A different person pointed to Akuji– "they're in the order of one to ten again."
"N!" Everyone shouted, more than happy to jump on the first answer that made sense.
Luckily, it was right and the door opened, otherwise they would most likely descend into angry hysteria. The crowd rushed down the stairs and made their way to the next door. Looking over the side of the car park, Akuji noticed there was only two more levels after this one. They were completing the puzzles rather quickly, and she was glad.
"If you want to unlock this door, you must answer this question. There is a certain crime, that if it is attempted, is punishable, but if it is committed, is not punishable. What is the crime?"
Again, everyone began to murmur amongst themselves. There were multiple guesses made but they were shot down almost as soon as someone suggested it.
"Don't you realise?" Somebody said, "It's suicide. If you are dead, you cannot be prosecuted."
"Suicide's illegal?" Another questioned in surprise.
But there was no point in questioning it as the door had already opened and people were already rushing toward it. In Akuji's opinion, this did not seem like much of a diamonds game (the puzzles were reasonably easy) but Akuji had never played a diamonds game before, so she was not sure.
Still, it seemed like the game was to become increasingly more difficult as the next door they reached had a harder puzzle: "What does this message say? G, T, Y, O, R, J, O, T, E, O, U, I, A, B, G, T. A hint is allowed for this puzzle if most players agree. However, it will provide a physical challenge for all players."
"Give us the hint!" Someone instantly exclaimed.
Another turned on them angrily, yelling, "Are you stupid? We haven't even tried to figure it out yet! Why would you try to make it harder for us?"
"No, maybe they're right." Someone said, "How are we supposed to figure out this puzzle with just some stupid letters?"
