YOU, ME & DEATH ━━ polyam ann & kuina

𝟯𝟮 gas

   THE PLAYERS HEADED over to the staircase tucked away in the corner of the lobby and ascended to the first level of the parking lot. There were random cars and vehicles parked here and there but after peering into the windows, Tomoko realised they were empty. The players reached the door to the staircase on the other side, assuming the puzzle they had to solve was behind it.

Tomoko stared at the door with narrowed eyes. The person at the front of the group grasped at it, looking for a handle, but soon realised there was none. The door was a simple, smooth surface — and it was locked. The crowd of players looked around at each other, looking for answers. There was none until the same announcer voice spoke up.

"To open the door, you must figure out the logic used to decide the order of the following words: gun, shoe, spree, door, hive, kicks, heaven, gate, line, den."

The voice did not give any more information nor help, and so everyone began to murmur amongst themselves, thinking hard.

"Maybe it's something to do with escaping?" Someone suggested, speaking loudly to address everyone in the game, "We have to escape this game. And kicks and shoe could mean to run away."

"But how the hell would hive fit into it?" Another person challenged.

"Gun, too, and line and heaven. That doesn't fit." A third agreed.

"Maybe it links to the different games we play in Borderlands!" Someone different shouted in triumph, thinking they had figured it out. "Gun is the King of Spades, and we have to get out of this game by unlocking the doors. If we lose and die, we go to Heaven."

Many people nodded in agreement and someone else added, "I played a game where I had to defeat different animals. They all hid in dens; maybe that's what that one means."

"But how do the other six link to it?" Another questioned.

"Dammit, you're right." The person who first proposed the idea cursed, "We have to figure out ten ways these words link to the games."

"Ten!" Someone scoffed, "This is bullshit! It's impossible."

While these discussions had been going on, Tomoko noticed the school girl she had helped earlier had been silent the entire time. She was attempting to solve the puzzle on her own. The girl had begun muttering the words under her breath, as if that would help her solve the puzzle, and when they mentioned the word ten, it seemed she got it.

"One, gun. Two, shoe. Three, spree..." 'School Girl' muttered. Then, she raised her voice, exclaiming, "I have it! Each word rhymes with its numeric position in the list."

Before anyone could challenge her or praise her, the door opened. Everyone stared in surprise that such a young girl had figured out something that adults couldn't. But whilst everyone was motionless, Tomoko had already marched through the door and was heading up the stairs to the next level.