This is a story about a deranged world.
Goodnight. Goodnight. Goodnight.
Goodnight.
Paper.
An escape game?
God in heaven...
How does it go again?
Who are you?
My name is Yuki.
Nice to meet you.
Only one room had no one in it.
Is it simply an empty room, or is someone hiding somewhere?
I'm sure we'll figure it out if we keep playing.
Let's begin by introducing ourselves according to established practice.
That said, most of us have met before.
Huh?
Um, do you all know each other?
Yes. We've played together in several games until now.
You're the only one we don't know.
What's your name?
My name is Yuki.
This is my tenth game.
I took a bit of a break, but I should be pretty useful.
Nice to meet you.
Is that all?
Huh?
What do you mean?
What skills do you possess? What can you do?
We can't decide how to treat you until you tell us that.
Skills?
I'm pretty confident in my ability to find traps.
I have decent combat skills.
I guess I'm not great at stuff that relies on knowledge.
I didn't really go to school.
How's that?
We get the picture.
My name is Mishiro.
This is my eighth game.
I take pride in my exceptional leadership skills,
so I'm usually the group leader.
Go ahead.
I'm Kotoha.
This is my fifth time participating.
Um... hopefully I can help everyone with my knowledge.
"Hopefully" isn't good enough.
Aren't I always telling you to speak more confidently?
That attitude simply won't do when we're risking our lives.
Sorry.
Um, I'm finished.
I guess I'm next.
I'm Chie.
This is my fourth time, I think.
I'm sort of a jack-of-all-trades.
I can do everything, but I'm not exceptional at anything.
Nice to meet you.
I'm Keito.
This is my sixth game.
I'm good at quickly identifying the winners.
Nice to meet you.
Now...
As for how we'll proceed,
I assume everyone's okay with me leading as usual.
Also...
What is it?
Could you tell me why you think you should be our leader?
Because I'm fit for the role and trusted to do it.
Simply ensuring your own survival and leading others
require different ways of thinking.
Nobody here knows you.
We'll all feel more at ease with a familiar face leading us.
Am I wrong?
Also, I have some doubts about you.
As far as I can tell, you don't look like someone on their tenth game.
Your movements are not polished at all.
I even doubt you have decent combat skills.
Are you calling me a liar?
No. I simply believe you should say things that actually add up.
Fine. Mishiro-san. I accept you as our leader.
Then it's unanimous.
Let's begin the game.
My movements are not polished, apparently.
We'll each use one flashlight.
It would be wise to advance in a line.
First to take point will be...
I'll do it.
That's unusual.
Kotoha-san, your attitude is commendable,
but I believe this type of decision should be made impartially.
You're right.
We're fighting for it?
We'll use rock-paper-scissors.
We're going down.
Right.
What is it?
There's our sixth player.
She must've woken up before us and fallen while wandering around.
No...
What is it, Kotoha-san?
Um, that...
"That" doesn't tell me anything.
A light?
Oh...
She was lighting her way, yet she fell into a hole.
In other words, this hole is a pitfall that opened when she stepped on it.
This is a landmine game.
She's definitely dead.
There's a puddle there.
What are you doing?
Sorry.
Her light's... batteries are out.
What are we going to do now?
We'll probably encounter more landmines going forward.
I feel like a dog.
It can't be helped.
Safety is more important than appearances.
Right.
Keito-san, wait.
What is it?
The area up ahead looks suspicious.
We might want to go around it.
Could you tell us why?
There's a security camera.
It's in a pretty obvious spot.
So what if there's a camera?
There are plenty of them in here.
It's the obviousness that's the issue.
Doesn't such an obvious camera make you think there's something there?
You're saying they're showing us where the trap is?
But why?
Because it's more interesting that way.
We're turning back, everyone.
Wait.
This way's suspicious, too. Let's turn back.
There's no camera this time.
What makes you say that?
A hunch, I guess.
A woman's intuition.
I'm not trying to fool anyone.
I really do have a bad feeling about it.
It's like I sense something.
Based on the games I've played so far, it also feels like something should happen—
Yuki-san, I'm not emotionally prepared to accept you yet.
What are you talking about?
I understand how you feel.
However, I ask that you make the courageous choice.
Then we'll take an equal step toward you.
If you have something to say, why don't you just say it?
The batteries...
You couldn't back down.
After all, you lied about this being your tenth game.
You needed to make some effort to act the part.
Detecting danger was a clever play.
As long as we keep turning back, your lies won't be exposed.
Though I wish you wouldn't do this in a slaughterhouse where we might live or die.
That's quite the imagination.
You're suited to playing this game, Mishiro-san.
Keito-san, don't mind her. Please proceed straight ahead.
Are you sure?
Yes.
You don't have to listen to her.
Um...
To the opposite wall. Go on.
Okay.
Yuki-san, I'm ready when you are.
If you're willing to apologize, then it's water under the bridge.
I'll think about it.
No "landmines" exploded after that.
The group safely found the stairs and descended to the third floor.
Kotoha's flashlight went out right after that.
So far, three batteries had been consumed, leaving two usable batteries.
Considering the rate of consumption, there clearly weren't enough to reach the exit.
Faced with this reality, Mishiro said only one thing.
"Let's pick up the pace."
We can't keep going like this.
At our current pace, we'll run out of batteries halfway through the second floor.
We'll end up rushing through the last floor and a half, and turning back would be crazy.
We have to suck it up at some point.
It's likely the traps become more extreme the lower we go.
So it's better to suck it up early, and it's more interesting as a game.
It's not too late.
We notice on the fourth floor, we take action on the third.
That must be the strategy they have in mind.
At this rate...
There were no flaws in her logic.
The explanation was pretty clear, if I say so myself.
Regardless, nobody listened to Yuki.
It didn't matter that what she was saying made sense.
Yuki the player had already been judged and graded.
She truly felt like a ghost.
After that, uh...
What happened next?
That girl named Kotoha stepped on a landmine.
Oh, yeah. It was like something out of a movie.
She put a weight on it.
But...
she got caught in the rope.
Kotoha-san!
Kotoha!
Kotoha-san!
What about the other side?
You're kidding.
Kotoha-san! Can you hear me?
Kotoha-san!
She's alive.
She's done for.
Keito-san, turn that off.
We shouldn't leave her exposed forever.
What?
We're abandoning her?
We're not abandoning anyone.
Does that look alive to you?
She's alive.
The Preservation Treatment means that shouldn't be enough to die of blood loss.
Her head doesn't seem to be damaged, either.
I don't mean literally.
I mean she's dead as a player.
What?
Landmines are effective on the battlefield
because wounded soldiers decrease the whole unit's effectiveness.
"I feel sorry for her." "How could you be so cruel?"
Bring those thoughts into this game, and we'll all die and lose everything.
Then I'm going alone.
Wait.
What? Will you miss me?
Leave your flashlight.
I'm disappointed.
No, I'm disappointed.
None of you understand this game at all.