Project Honkai

6

Salmon lady passes out the playing cards to each group. I take a gander at the people I'd be playing against. Cerise has a neutral expression, Mel looks confident as ever, and Purple hair has a wide mischievous grin across her face. Now that I think about it further, it was kind of obvious that she was the key bearer. How the fuck did we actually manage to get the vote wrong? Well, guess we're screwed.

I accepted my fate of being disqualified later on and start thinking about where I'd go, since I would lose my free home. Should I just travel around the world? Ew, that's too much work. Do I camp in the woods? With the wild animals? Fuck no.

I then hear a loud noise, snapping me back to reality. I dart my eyes to the sudden noise, furrowing my eyebrows in slight annoyance. An irritating ringing went off in the atmosphere. It was like an alarm, blaring in my ears. I cover my ears and shut my eyes tight, trying to ignore the sound, but it just keeps ringing. It keeps getting louder and louder, making even just existing unbearable.

It keeps getting louder

and louder

and louder.

And then it just suddenly stops. My arms relax as they droop down to my sides. I lazily open my eyes, only to be meant with a blinding light. "The fuck," I muttered under my breath. I was in a completely different boundary than where I was a minute ago. It was a completely white space, its vastness being ominous. There was a large orb like object in front of me, radiating a blinding light which is brighter than my future. I take a few steps forward and find a figure standing in front of the large orb. They were holding their hands out as if it were some kind of offering. I couldn't exactly see the individual's appearance due to the bright light, but I could make out a few things. For one thing, they were wearing a dress, not like the idol uniforms, but instead like a wedding gown. Their hair was tied into pigtails with loops.

I step a bit closer to the figure, slowly approaching them. I put a hand up, attempting to shield my eyes from the powerful light, but it doesn't really help much. As I walked closer to the orb, I noticed bits of glass scattered across the ground.

Suddenly, the individual turns around and notices me. Our eyes meet and suddenly a light, even more blinding than the orb thing, shines in my eyes. I shut my eyes, being blinded by the sight. "You do not belong here," a soft voice said. It was a very gentle voice. At the very sound of it I felt relaxed, as if I were listening to a calming music box.

I open my eyes to find myself back at the courtyard. Everyone acted normal as ever, as if nothing ever happened. I narrow my eyes down at the playing cards. Mel shrugs carelessly and slumps down onto the floor, sitting in a criss cross apple sauce position. I follow him, sitting while hugging my knees. "So," Cerise speaks up. We all just stare at the playing cards in silence for around three seconds.

To be honest, I don't know a thing about cards or anything like that.

I stare up at the sky, taking in the unnaturally saturated blue. I think back to a few minutes ago. Well, that was weird as hell wasn't it? I then directed my thoughts at the figure. They had a sense of familiarity within them, but I don't remember ever meeting them. I decide to brush it off for now and focus back on reality.

Looking back to the group, Mel started shuffling the cards and passed around five cards to each person. Confused on what was happening, I poked at Cerise's shoulder and whisper to her, "What are we doing??" She looks at me with a warning look, seeming to be indignant that I wasn't paying attention to their earlier conversation, and says with a passive aggressive tone, "We're playing Old Maid."

Ah.

Unfortunately for me, I have no idea how to play this maid game or whatever it's called. Sure, I saw it in some shows and read it in some books but I don't know the rules! I look over at the cards I was given. They look pretty cool I guess. I glance over at what everyone else is doing. Purple girl put two cards and tossed them onto the concrete. Following her moves, I threw two cards that kinda looked alike to the side. They probably aren't important.

I held my remaining cards as if it were a fan so I looked like I knew what I was doing. Everyone else did the same. Cerise then looked at me for some reason so I turned to her direction. She took one of my cards and set two of her cards off to the side. Copying her, I did the same to Purple haired girl. I stole one of her cards and put two of mine down. This same sequence went on and on, until I had no cards left. I tried only putting cards down every once in a while, so it didn't seem obvious that I had no idea what to do.

The entire game was filled with just pure silence, even now. After I put my cards down, Mel broke the silence and looked at me with a passive aggressive smile, "You won."

...

WHAT THE FUCKCJHCJANDJS

I start sweating vigorously. I won? How? I sit there, speechless, until I remembered. I immediately brighten up, it wouldn't matter anyways, we got the vote wrong! Wait... but then I wouldn't get my free shelter!! I probably looked insane, my expression changing within every second, but fortunately no one batted an eye.

Purple girl stood up and started laughing hysterically like some sort of psychopath. I had the urge to call her an 'edgelord' but I held myself back. Cerise widens her eyes at what was happening right now, her expression being a mix of confusion and concern. Purple pulls out the key from her hair and sticks her tongue out. Bro is NOT Junko.

She runs over to Salman haired lady and exclaims, "I won, I won!" She waves around the key as if it were some kind of trophy. Honestly this is the most amount of emotion I've seen her expressed in the past hour. Salman lady leans forward and puts her index finger on her lips, examining the key in Purple girl's hand. She snatches it out of Purple's hands to take a closer look. A smug smirk spreads across her face as she tosses the golden key into the air.

"Sorry to break it to you missy," Salman lady shakes her head, "That nice lookin' key you have there... is a fake!"

HUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH??? The Purple girl's face turned from excitement to pure shock and despair. Her mouth hung open and her eyes expressed all of her thoughts. She stumbled down onto her knees, tears streaming out of her widened eyes. To be fair, I myself was also pretty shocked, but it really wasn't that deep.

Mel walked up to her, a soft smile on his face... Which quickly disappeared as he starts kicking the hell out of her. "You goddamn loser! You fucking ruined our plan once again. You're nothing but useless aren't you?! You're just a weight dragging me down. You're pathetic, Mother should've never let you come with me!" Damn, big switchup.

Instead of being an upstander like how elementary school taught me, I instead just walked away and went up to Salman lady. "So who was the key bearer then?" She shrugs carelessly, "Someone else in another group." I am then left standing there, absolutely dumbfounded.

Wait... I won the round didn't I... OH..

Well, turns out I'm progressing to the next, final round! Good for me I guess!

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(author here, sorry for the long wait! felt some burnout and stuff and yea!)