Souls In Hiding

Deadly Escape Rooms

The world was quiet. Too quiet. Shuichi opened his eyes to find himself blind. When focusing, he could feel a thin strip of fabric around his eyes. Oh for fuck's sake! Why can't I just wake up to a normal day?!

"Hello again Shuichi." The disembodied voice of Monokuma echoed around the walls."Now I'm sure you know what you've done, but you and your followers entertain me. So instead of punishing you for trespassing, let's see if you can pass my little set of tests." But we were about two days from Mors? How were we trespassing? "If you get through this alive, you can save Kokichi and your group of friends. If you don't get out, however, each of you will die from either starving or... well, you'll see." Monokuma chuckled, leaving no more sound in the room as footsteps grew faint with a door groaning shut.

Using his strength, Shuichi ripped his arms from behind his back, some rope snapped which he only just realised was binding his hands and feet. The rope fell to the ground, soon joined by the blindfold wrapped around his face. Nothing else was in the room with Shuichi except for a singular wooden egg lying before him and a note.

Your task is to open this egg without damaging it in any way. The longer you take the less time you have to save your friends.

Upon further inspection, Shuichi hoped to find an easy way to open it but instead just found a small line where the egg should split. Attempting to pry it open succeeding in only sore fingers, whilst twisting it resulted in frustration. No matter what he did to the egg Shuichi wasn't getting anywhere. Out of frustration, he curled his fist around the egg and slammed it into his knee. His hand clicked, the egg feeling larger than before. 

Shuichi opened his palm to see the egg now in two parts, a small key hidden inside. Oh, so you have to 'crack it' to open it. Nice. Wasting no more time investigating the small puzzle, Shuichi dropped everything but the key and rushed to the door.

Pushing through to the next room, Shuichi came upon something terrifying. Kaede stood on a trapdoor in front of him, a noose around her neck. Her face looked wet as she quietly sobbed. "Shuichi! Please..." Her voice was broken and tired.

"I'm coming Kaede!" When Shuichi stepped forward, the floor below him fell. Whooshing caused him to jump backwards, an arrow nicking his cheek before thudding into the wall. A classic arrow trap. All the tiles look the same... how do I figure out which are safe? Shuichi held his chin in thought. It was then that he realised that not all the tiles looked the same, there was the smallest difference in a few. 

The more each tile gets stepped on, the more it wears down, so that means... Shuichi made his way across the deathtrap, only stepping on the faded patterns. No more arrows shot at him as he safely reached Kaede. Unwrapping the noose, he ripped it down and wrapped it around his waist. "Might come in useful?" He explained to the confused girl before him.

"Thanks for saving my life Shuichi." She kissed the boy's cheek, interrupted by grinding stone behind them. An archway revealed itself, the boy grabbed Kaede's wrist and ran through to the next room as Kaede chanted a self-healing spell. 

Shuichi and Kaede shared yet another confused glance as they approached three identical Tsumugi's each tied to their own chair. Before anyone, or thing, could say anything a loud snap forced into their ears. Surveying the room Shuichi noticed a large boulder above the collection of Tsumugi's hanging on with only a few ropes holding it in the air. Each rope was slowly being burned away, which caused the snapping sound they heard earlier.

"Please save me..." The middle Tsumugi begged. 

"No, save me! I'm the real one!" Said the left one.

"I have an idea! What species are you?"

"Shapeshifter," two answered.

"Human," said another. Shuichi and Kaede shared a nod, knowing they'd narrowed down the true Tsumugi's identity.