Ayanokoji PoV
" We should go now. Everyone's already gone to the gymnasium. " I told the depressed Horikita, who refused to get up from her seat. Initially, I planned to leave her but I felt that would be too cruel of me to do so.
Horikita and I don't classify each other as ' friends' but I don't feel comfortable leaving her alone like this. Furthermore, the class might lost points if the people decided not to attend and follow Lumine's instructions.
"....." Horikita still didn't respond.
I sighed. I had no time for this. She can grieve his death later but not now.
" This might be insensitive of me but...." I grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her from her seat. " You can grieve later. This isn't the time."
I expected Horikita to flail around in protest, muttering slurs, and screaming angry sentences in an attempt for me to let her go and leave her alone. I thought that she was the type of girl to do that.
But to my suprise, we made our way to the gymnasium in silence. Of course, I kept my grip on her arm and pulled her along and she didn't fight against it, rather, her face was still sullen and it almost feels like that the Horikita I'm pulling along is nothing but an empty doll.
Her brother truly holds that much importance to her....
We finally made it to the gymnasium and lined up with the rest of Class D. A few classmates of mine gave me a few nods of acknowledgement for staying and bringing Horikita along. Even Chabashira-sensei gave me an appreciative gaze but she quickly turned back to her stoic expression and stared blankly at the stage.
I glanced at Horikita, who was beside me, and she still didn't show any reaction. I decided to leave her be for now and focused on the people around me.
My eyes scanned the area for the different classes and I quickly spotted Ichinose who was.....wait....do we count as acquaintances? I do not wish to assume our relationship if she does not reciprocate and merely saw me as another guy that she was coincidentally kind to.
Yep, it's definitely safer for me to classify her in the category of ' someone I know' instead of acquaintances.
Anyways, moving on from Ichinose, I looked around further and spotted a boy with shoulder-length magenta hair with sharp magenta colored eyes. He had the air of someone to be feared but I wasn't sure to what extent.
I don't really know his name. But his class is most likely Class C.
Anyways, time to search for someone else that hopefully belongs to Class A.
I further scanned the area with my eyes and found myself staring at a girl with a fragile-looking stature with lilac colored hair and a black beret on top of her head. She wore a calm expression and she had the air of someone with ' absolute superiority' and could become a troublesome person to make an enemy out of.
Unlike Horikita who simply possessed a superiority complex.
This petite girl with lilac hair was different. She calmly gazed around her surroundings, ever-so calculating, as if gathering a person's strength and weakness simply by looking at them. Or perhaps I'm overestimating her abilities. But the fact remains that she's a person I do not want to involve myself with in any given context.
She's definitely someone who belongs to Class A, despite her clear disability because she's currently supporting herself with one cane and I'm confident that it's not just for show. She looked fragile enough to assume that she has a physical problem, but it's amazing that she can exude such a superior aura despite looking fragile.
Shockingly, I came to realize that she was currently staring back at me.
For a split moment, her eyes showed recognition but I quickly ignored that by averting my gaze towards the stage since I was embarrassed to have been caught red-handed. I hope this small blunder will not come biting me in the back later.
A few moments later, the gymnasium lights blacked out and a spot light was shined upon the stage.
How dramatic...
" Hello, everyone! " The director stood on stage and greeted us cheerfully. But we were far from reciprocating such positive energy...
" Aw, come on! Wear a smile on your faces! We're going to be playing a game after all!" She laughed and I managed to hear my classmates grumbling about how psychotic and annoying she is.
" Ahem, " Lumine clears her throat, " Well, that aside, I will now begin the introduction of your first death game. Pay close attention." She said with a smirk.
" The game is called ' Protect the murderer!' and as the name suggests, protecting the murderer should be the main objective." She said.
' Protect the murderer'? How peculiar....
Lumine pressed a button on her remote and the reel started playing. She began to show us visuals of how the game will follow while explaining the general rules.
" In each class, there will be an assigned murderer. And everyone else will be assigned with the role of ' ordinary citizens'. " She explained, " Ordinary citizens will be given daily tasks that MUST be completed or else they will suffer the loss of class points, and if you're already zero, then obviously you will go to the negatives and I'm sure that Class D in particular, have zero wish to endure such a painful journey." She laughs at us mockingly.
Some of the students from other classes glanced at us, and my classmates looked embarrassed to say the least. Ending up with 0 class points total at the start of the month IS indeed a pitiful sight to see.
" The class murderer's job is to eliminate as many ordinary citizens from the other classes by shooting them with this gun. " Lumine pulls out an advanced looking toy gun that's similar to the types used in laser tag ( Thank u internet-sensei ) though I haven't experienced playing it.
" Ordinary citizens will wear headbands with camera attached, emergency headlights, and also night vision goggles. The class murderers will be given the same items as the citizens while also possessing the ability to control most of the areas around the school like shutting doors and messing with the lights temporarily. " She said.
" Huh? W-Wait, are you serious?! The class murderers are allowed to mess with us like this? "
" They have too big of an advantage!"
" Shouldn't we possess anything to protect ourselves with?"
Many students from different classes expressed their concerns regarding the abilities of both ordinary citizens and class murderers.
" Hmmm..." Lumine feigned a thinking expression before shrugging, " Dunno!"
" HAH?!"
But Lumine ignored their noises of protest and continued explaining the rules.
" Now for the main objective. I already mentioned that it's just as the title suggests, but I'll explain further. The class murderers from their respective classrooms should be protected at all cost with the help of their own civilians. The civilians must do everything they can to conceal their class murderer's identity because at the end of each round , a meeting will be held in your own respective classrooms. You must figure out the murderer from the different classes and kill them off to win the game. To achieve victory, your class murderer must be kept alive at all cost. THAT is why the game is titled as is." she said.
" So the civilians have some use after all...." The lilac haired girl loudly spoke.
" Indeed, perhaps they might not be just some useless lamb waiting to be slaughtered. kukuku." The magenta haired boy also commented with a weird laugh.
" Ryuuen-kun, that's not a very kind way to refer to your classmates. " Ichinose remarked with a smile.
" Oh shut up. I have no interest in hearing anything a girl like you has to say." The guy who I now recognize as ' Ryuuen ' had said.
" Fufu, why don't we let the director speak? You and Ichinose-san can save your little quarrel for later." The lilac haired girl interjected.
" Care to join in the little ' quarrel' then, Sakayanagi? You might prove a more interesting opponent in a verbal argument. After all, you're useless when it gets physical, kukuku!" He laughs.
' Sakayanagi' so that's her name. I'll be sure to remember it along with Ryuuen's name.
The three of them had a staredown. The air felt uncomfortable with Ichinose's everlasting smile, Ryuuen's malicious stare, and Sakayanagi's smug know-it-all expression.
Would it be right to assume that these three are class leaders?
Lumine clears her throat, abruptly stopping the staredown between the three.
" Could you three do that AFTER my explanation? If not, then would you like a punishment?" Lumine asked, innocently.
" Hah, continue." Ryuuen instantly said. I didn't expect him to give up that fast...
Could something have happened back at his class too?
Sakayanagi and Ichinose also agreed and awaited Lumine's continuation of her explanation.
" Very good! It's great that you remembered that valuable lesson that I PERSONALLY taught you, Ryuuen! As an 'educator' of this facility, even if it's just a guise for my own entertainment. I feel so touched!" Lumine said.
Ryuuen glares at Lumine but kept his mouth closed. There was definitely something he wanted to retort but it seems like he's also well aware of Lumine's psychotic behavior and complete lack of empathy.
" Anyways, continuing on..." Lumine presses the remote again and begins to show us the next visuals. " There are three ways to win. The first, is for the class murderer to kill off most of the civilians from other classes without getting caught. And the second method, is to vote whoever you may think is the other classes murderer and eliminate them from the game to win. Your own class murderer can also attempt to hunt the other class murderer's themselves and kill them off but that won't be easy now, won't it? And now for the rewards!" Lumine said.
Huh? Did she skip over the third option?
" The rewards in winning the game with the first option, your class will receive 200 class points plus a game protection point. " She said.
A game protection point? Everyone must be wondering about that too.
" Oh, right. Game protection points are special points that can have you skip an entire game if you do not wish to participate, though you will not reap any rewards so that's the downside. A class game protection point will apply to the entire class and you only need one to enable it." She explains.
Everyone quickly nodded.
" Now, the rewards for the second option, is that the class will receive 400 class points plus class protection point AND an additional reward for the class murderer, which is 100,000 private points. Isn't that nice?" Lumine said.
Everyone's eyes widened at that. The second option definitely caught their interests, and are now most likely hoping to be assigned with the murderer role to reap such benefits.
Although the second option rewards handsomely.....it's also quite difficult. To pinpoint all the class murderers and eliminate them via vote or kill......it's a difficult task all on its own. And extremely risky if others begin to suspect you....
High risk, high reward. A fair trade, I suppose.
" Um, miss Director Lumine?" Someone raised their hand.
" Hm?" Lumine looked towards them.
" You said there were three ways to win....but I think you skipped over the third one and its rewards, or was I mistaken?" They pointed out.
Good. Seems like I wasn't the only one who noticed.
" Ah, I'm glad you pointed that out. I was waiting for someone to point it out because the third option....is quite cruel." Lumine smiles the moment she said the word ' cruel'. How fitting, considering she killed someone without hesitation and justified her action by correlating it with the so-called ' rules'.
" But first, I'd like to explain one more detail in the voting system. You see, the class will obviously decide on who to vote off but the voting system doesn't work by majority wins. Rather, it's the minority who'll win the entire decision. So if one person were to vote someone different from the rest of the class, whom agreed to vote on the other person. Then that one person who's the MINORITY vote.....will win." She said.
" WHAT?!" Everyone was shocked.
" W-W-WAIT WOULDN'T THAT BE AN EASY WAY FOR SOMEONE TO BETRAY THE CLASS!"
" THE MINORITY WINS? ARE YOU SERIOUS!"
" THAT'S A HUGE ISSUE-"
" If you truly trust your classmates, then it SHOULDN'T be an issue, yes?" Lumine interrupted. " All you have to do is to discuss on whom to vote and agree. That's it! "
" .....I see...." A bald headed boy spoke, " Does this peculiar voting system relate to the third option?" He asked.
" Yep! As expected of a smart man like yourself, Katsuragi!" Lumine applauded. " You immediately connected the dots."
' Katsuragi', huh. He's standing right next to Sakayanagi, which means he's also from Class A.
" Now, just like what Katsuragi said, the voting system DOES have a connection to the third option, which I personally LOVE to call....the ' traitor route'. " her smile brightens, " If ever someone decides to betray their class and sacrifice their class murderer. Then the traitor will be rewarded with 500,000 private points AND their own personal protection point which only applies to the traitor alone. It's the easiest route for anyone to take, no?" She said.
But is it really worth it? 500,000 private points may sound like a lot but for us in Class D, it's only a temporary privilege that will eventually run out because currently we remain at zero. Therefore, the only choice we will likely agree on is the first and second choice....
That is....
If there's truly a selfish one among us.....who'd choose the easy route for their own selfish pleasure.
Everyone in the gymnasium was silent. They were most likely thinking about the third option in fear of there being an actual traitor who'd choose such an option.
Director Lumine said that the third choice was cruel.....but.....
I feel as if she was only referring to it being cruel for Class D alone, who has zero points.
" Oh, and there is actually one secret behind the traitor route....but....." Lumine giggles, " Whoever decides to become traitor, then I wish them luck in finding out the secret."
Secret? Now she's adding more fuel to the fire....our every growing curiosity as human beings will compel us to reveal any hidden secret if and when it's possible.
She's purposefully trying to lead one of us in choosing the traitor route...
Is it because it's her favorite route because it's fun?
Or....
Is it because it's the best route.....to win it all?
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We were shortly dismissed and promptly returned to our respective classrooms. Director Lumine said that today was a 'free' day and it's our chance to discuss a plan on how to win this death game.
She also added that additional details that she'd forgotten to explain will DEFINITELY be explained tomorrow.
But for now....
" I'm the class murderer." Kushida confessed immediately.
We have to create a plan that'll protect our class murderer at all cost....
CHAPTER END!
Basically a game fusion of Amogus and Werewolf but I added my own twist to it by turning it into a game that depends on absolute trust.
I hope the idea was to your liking and if there are any missing details that you'd like to be answered then pls comment here so I can explain it in the next chapter XD
Yep, I purposefully did that just in case cuz I rlly feel invested rn.....I already planned 3 games for this fic so ye.
Pls forgive me if the future ' big brain' tactics I came up with are not up to par cuz I'm not used to writing such things. But do expect the tactics to be more simple in explanation and method cuz that's how I write. Simple.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
KawaiiLumine, out~