anguish ; yttd

𝐭𝐰𝗼

I walked through a door and found myself in some sort of smoking hallway. There was even a vending machine with cigarettes stocked in them.

At a time like this, I thought, Melyssa would definitely be the type to convince me to smoke...

I tried shaking off that thought and went into the room that was connected to the hallway. It was labeled "GAME" so hopefully something exciting would be in there.

Inside, I saw a dart board with a large vent at the top of it. There was also a large rectangular hole in the floor. It was a bit of a letdown..

There were two doors right beside the dartboard, a red and blue one. As the red one was the closest, I tried entering that one first. The door was shut fast.

"Can't even explore everywhere, huh?" I mumbled to myself. Maybe it was a good thing. For all I knew, a major trap was in there waiting for me.

I decided to take a look in the blue room, which opened easily. This room had a bunch of human shaped figures sitting in chairs. There was even a huge painting of an odd man at the corner of the room.

I began to investigate the figures in the seats. In a way, they kind of felt like dolls..

Asunaro worked with dolls, humans, and artificial intelligence apparently. I'd read a little about it when I hacked into some of their personal files.

When I searched one of the dolls, I found a letter lodged in the seat. It read "To (Name). If you're not them, don't open this! There might be a punishment!"

As I was about to open it, a voice from behind me made me nearly jump out of my skin.

"Whatcha up to (Name)?" I turned around to see Keiji and quickly slide the note in my pocket. Behind him, Joe came as well and gaped at the sight in front of him.

"Ah, it's nothing," I said. "I was just investigating these.." I touched the doll that was in the chair by me, "...things."

"You touched it?!" Joe looked at me like I was a mad man.

I stifled a laugh. "It's just a doll. It's harmless."

"Hmm." Keiji looked as if he'd been studied me. In a way, he really did have the aura of a policeman. Instead of drilling me any further, he just flashed a grin. "Okie-dokie. You investigating on your own?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "I was the odd one out."

"Be careful," Keiji warned. "Don't end up falling victim to a trap."

I nodded. "Right."

It didn't seem like there was anything else worth investigating. I was also really about the note that was apparently "for me."

As I exited the room, Q-Taro and Kai walked in, having a small conversation with each other. I made sure no one else was around and slowly walked forward as I took the letter out of my pocket.

If this is (Name), hello there! Long time no see! I wonder if you've missed me lately. By now, I'm sure you know I'm not truly dead. You were always super smart. Apologies for deceiving you for so long. Yet, I am extremely excited. If this is you reading this, then congrats, you made it past your First Trial! I'll be hoping you don't perish during the Main Games so I can finally meet you in person again soon!

- love, your dear brother, Sou Hiyori

I stared at the note, not even knowing how to react. Did that mean Sou was a part of all this? I didn't really care or anything, but it still bugged me. And what were these "Main Games" he was talking about?