Black & White-English Version

33-Joker, part 2

"Is it a joke?" I asked, looking Nakamura in the face.

"Joker is the name of our association, of which you're also a member now." He sat down comfortably on the sofa. "And now I'll explain who we are and what the B.R.E.A.D. project is about specifically."

Nakamura took out a remote control and pressed a button; the lights went out and images were projected onto the wall, followed by graphics.

"As I told you before, B.R.E.A.D. is all about testing the human mind to see how it responds under certain circumstances and how that affects what actually makes us human. Namely, specific hormones like epinephrine were also tested, otherwise known as adrenaline, or serotonin, of the two main ones. And the latter, as you may have guessed, was at minimal levels during the test, although there were some exceptions." Nakamura smiled at us. "But we'll talk about that later."

He pressed the button again and a map of Tokyo appeared, followed by pictures.

"Why are you showing us pictures of Tokyo?" I asked him.

"Because that's the core of the project, that's what the Joker association got together and invested about $2 billion in assets."

"I don't get it." I said.

"Do you get it, Mr. Chishiya?" Nakamura looked at Chishiya.

"Actually, not yet." Chishiya was strangely confused.

"Indeed if you didn't get it either, that demonstrates the full and utter success of the test." 

Nakamura looked back at the images that scrolled on the screen, showing some iconic places in Tokyo and the Arenas of the Games. "What you are looking at, is not the real Tokyo."

"What?" My eyes widened in amazement.

"It is a very faithful copy of the city and it took five years for its realization; not to mention all the constant updates to make it almost identical to the real one and all the modifications necessary for the construction of the Game Arenas."

"So, we've been in a fake Tokyo for the past nine months?" Chishiya asked.

"Exactly." Nakamura scrolled through the slides and showed us photos of what had been the idealization projects, showing sketches and cash estimates. "Some of you stayed longer than others and you didn't arrive all together, but in groups of about 50 people at a time. For example, Miss Jen arrived exactly two months after you Mr. Chishiya, together with Arisu and his friends Karube and Chota, who didn't survive the test."

I was still in shock from all those revelations and my mind refused to believe everything Nakamura was telling us, just because it seemed absurd.

"Project B.R.E.A.D. lasted 3 years, 7 months and 12 days."

"Wait a minute." I said. "Are you telling us that this madness has been going on all this time and that the whole world doesn't know about it?"

"That's right." Nakamura smiled, satisfied. "The Joker Association is an expert in working in the shadows. In addition to scientists, builders, technical and planning teams and many other people, we also have professional hackers."

"There are still two things I can't figure out." Chishiya seemed to have come to his senses. "How did you get us here without us noticing it and this B.R.E.A.D. what has it enabled you to find out."

"Do you remember anything from the moments before you found yourself in Borderland?" Nakamura asked us.

"Fireworks." Chishiya and I answered together.

"Very good." Nakamura looked first at me, then at my boyfriend and continued. "Each of you has been assigned to a ninja who-"

"A ninja?" I interrupted him, again incredulous.