DR★F3: Despair RPG

Chapter 3: Is cheating wrong?

***** Chapter 3: Is cheating wrong? *****

The next morning, I woke up much later than usual. Strange... wasn't there supposed to be a morning alarm? Maybe I slept through it. No wonder, I really needed some well-deserved rest after the extreme workouts I've been through.

I headed to the dining area right away and was met with a positive atmosphere. "Look who finally woke up!" Jin cheerfully pointed out my arrival. I replied "Good morning," to which Sakari laughed and told me it was already past noon. Embarrassed, I sat down in the corner with some food and forced it inside me.

Not long after, Maria sat down next to me, or rather moved away from Usashi, who was also sitting close. All three of us were in a pretty awkward silence broken only by the sounds of my eating. "So... Has Goro not announced the next round yet?" I attempted a conversation. Maria replied. "No, but Ryuko appeared and told us he would announce it in the evening." That sure was weird. What was he up to?

"Your name sounds a bit exotic, Maria. Are you from around here?" I asked.

"No, no. I was here as an exchange student from Russia. Just my luck that it happened to be during this disaster..."

Me and Maria seemed to get along better than I had hoped. Although I was forcing myself to talk to her, and could see she wasn't quite comfortable yet, and was trying to hide the bruises on her face, we could have fun together. However, Usashi interrupted us.

"You two should stop. Don't forget either of us can die before we get out of here." She said in a cold tone and left the room.

Maria almost shivered. "I wanted to say thanks to her again, but Usashi is kind of scary. I just can't approach her..." I knew what she was talking about, she definitely looked like a completely different kind of person from us.

With nothing to do, I really spent most of my day just chatting with the girls, Sakari and Fubuki to get to know each other. I learned that Sakari was already studying fashion in college, while the Momo twins were only in Junior year of high school. Cho had a foreign accent because she was here on vacation and could only speak Japanese a little. Most of all, we all shared how we missed our family. I did wonder how my parents were doing, but somehow I wasn't all that concerned about them. I wonder if that's because...

Before long, Akihiro came into the room and called us to the hall for Goro's announcement. After we were all there, the mastermind smiled and began another of his dramatic speeches.

"Welcome back, my dear contestants! I hope you rested your bodies, but even more so, I hope you honed your wits, because you will need those for the next round. The next stat I will be judging is... INTELLIGENCE!"

A door unlocked and opened, showing us a glimpse of a small room with two pedestals opposite of each other in the middle.

"That," Goro explained, "is the Knowledge Duel room! There, you will be called two people at the time and compete against each other. I will ask you questions, and whoever answers correctly will gain EXP!"

Oh no... If it was a test of knowledge, I wasn't sure I could win. My memory wasn't that great, especially under pressure.

"Let's begin the first series of duels! First duel - Jin vs. Fubuko!"

The two girls looked at each other anxiously and Jin sighed. Fubuki wished his sister good luck and they they parted. We had to wait for a few minutes before the door of the room opened again and out came a confident Fubuko and a depressed-looking Jin.

While two others were called inside, we all asked what it was like. Jin told me the details. "Fubuko is way too good! I didn't stand a chance. I couldn't answer any of the questions, but Fubuko knew almost everything. Oh man, I'm gonna lose if this keeps up!"