Laters better than never.

Chapter 3 (botanical garden 1/1)

As the group entered the botanical garden, they were greeted by the sight of three circular tables placed in the center.

Surprisingly, there were no other players around.

One of the tables caught their attention, covered in various tools and accompanied by a sign that said, "Feel free to use any of these."

"Are we going to tear something apart"Arisu couldn't help but question, while Karube examined the table and picked up a sharp tool, confidently declaring it as his choice.

Chota, on the other hand, pointed out the intriguing collars on a separate table, expressing his fascination, "those look pretty cool" he said.

Arisu, intrigued by the mysterious collars, crouched down to get a closer look, while whispering "what the..."

Shibuki then grabbed a phone, causing the rest of the group to follow suit.

The phones beeped and displayed a message about face recognition, accompanied by a loading bar.

A voice announced, "Entries accepted."

Suddenly, a screen in front of them lit up, displaying the words "Welcome! Sponsored by Shinjuku Natural Botanical Garden!"

The voice then echoed again, instructing them to put on the goggles and proceed to the garden.

They noticed a sign pointing the way and then returned their attention to the tables, where they put on the collars with attached goggles.

Their faces appeared on the screen, along with an ID number.

Above it, the message read, "Registration in progress, current participants."

Arisu looked at Chota and asked, "What is this? My goggles recognized Chota, and the target cursor turned red."

"Yeah, when we look at eachother," Chota concurred. 

"It appears to be a tracking mechanism," Shibuki added.

"What are they expecting us to do this time?" Karube pondered.

"Registration is now closed. The game will commence. Difficulty level: seven of hearts," the AI voice resounded, displaying an image of the 7 of hearts on the phone screen.

"Hearts," Karube repeated. 

"Hearts? Isn't that..." Arisu began, recalling what the man had told him.

"The suit of the playing card typically indicates the type of game it will be. Clubs involve team battles, diamonds test your intelligence, and as for hearts..." 

"You play with people's hearts and you tear them apart..." Arisu concluded.

  "Seven. Isn't that quite challenging?" Karube inquired.

"Hearts are the worst," Shibuki declared.  "

What should we do?" Chota asked, his voice filled with worry. 

Suddenly, the voice spoke once more.

  "game. 'hide and seek'," it announced.

"rules: one person will be the wolf, and the other three will be the lambs. If a lamb is found by the wolf, they become the next wolf and must hide so that the lambs cannot find them." 

"Clear condition. The player who remains the wolf at the end of the game is the winner."

"Time limit, fifteen minutes. Once fifteen minutes have passed, the collars fastened to the lambs' necks will explode," the voice finished.