" so... that means no coffee for me? "
KAORI was planning on doing what she does every single day. Until fireworks and a strange blackout brought her onto a place where she would have to play some twisted games to survive.
" i don't know who's in ch...
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"LONDON," Chishiya stated, his voice monotone but raspy.
A delicate bell rang, "Correct answer. You earn a point," and the number one popped just under Chishiya's picture.
Kaori didn't even have the time to look over at him that her picture was framed with the white square, "Question : Glossectomy is the removal of which body part?"
Now, that was an unexpected question. Some people in line gasped, certainly understanding that the level of difficulty could significantly increase at any given moment.
The timer started and Kaori focused her gaze on the medical term written on the screen, ignoring how some players were leaning over their cubes to take a look at her. They were certainly praying for her to figure it out or else they would be screwed.
Glossectomy. Hm, okay so yes, ectomy means removal or excision in greek. Gloss... that's the word I need to analyze.
She scratched her head in frustration, why couldn't it be latin, ugh, it wouldn't take so long for me to figure out. Her eyes closed and she brought herself back to childhood, when she would spend most of her afternoons and weekends at the local library, reading books about Greek Mythology which, eventually, awakened an interest for literature and old languages such as latin and greek.
Her eyes opened wide in realization and she immediately pressed the buzzer, "The tongue."
She was barely surprised when the joyful bell rang, "Correct answer. You earn a point."
A surprised gasp came out of Kuina's mouth, "How'd you figure it out? Are you a med student or something?"
"No," Kaori chuckled, "I just used the word's etymology. It's from the ancient greek, actually."
This time, she did catch Kuina and Aguni looking impressed and she covered a satisfied smirk when a feeling of pride invaded her chest. Maybe it was a bit narcissistic of her but she always loved seeing the looks on peoples' faces when they would realize she was smart.
I don't look dumb, I'm just way smarter than I seem to be.
The rest of the first round went by smoothly —both Aguni and Kuina finding the correct answers to their respective questions, even though three other players were unfortunately eliminated.
At the beginning of the second round, their allotted time going from a minute to forty seconds, the first player got his answer wrong and Kaori had to channel her inner rage as best as she possibly could not to step off her cube —not that she could actually do that with the rope tied to her necklace, and slap him across the face.
And, by the end of the second round, Chishiya, Aguni, Kuina and herself each had two points and there were only nine players left.
"Round three is about to start," the voice spoke, "Allotted time for each participant : 31 seconds."
