At the man’s voice, the girl across from him looked away. Yimo finally let out a breath of relief and turned to face the man who’d struck up a conversation.
He was a man in his twenties, weighing well over a hundred kilos. His T-shirt showed a long-haired anime girl with blue twin tails, and he wore track pants. His naturally curly hair was a mess, like a bird’s nest, and a translucent label reading “Solo Fan” hovered above his head.
His appearance wasn’t the best, but he seemed friendly and easy to approach.
“Hey, Kirito, bro! Looks like I’ve found an ally this round. How about we team up for now?”
Kirito?
Oh, right. Yimo remembered. There’d been a screen to set a nickname before the game started, and he’d entered “Kirigaya Kazuto.” Sure enough, those translucent characters were floating above his own head, too.
So that’s what it was… a nickname.
Once he’d figured that out, Yimo glanced again at the girl who’d made such a strong impression on him. Her nickname was “Dusk”—a little poetic.
“Kirito, bro, quit staring. If she’s pretty, she must’ve spent points on her looks. Where do you think you’d find a beautiful girl like that in real life?”
“Only in 2D is anything possible!”
“By the way, bro, how many games have you played?”
“I pulled an SR card this round. I’ll carry the whole team with you along for the ride!”
Hearing that, Yimo thought of the card he’d drawn and grew curious. “Oh? What does it do? Let me see what you’ve got, Solo Fan.”
“Oh, and this is only my second game. I’ll be counting on you, bro!”
As he said the second sentence, Yimo edged a little closer and lowered his voice.
Solo Fan gave him a thumbs-up and declared loudly, “No problem! This is my thirteenth game. I’ll carry you!”
At his words, several people nearby looked him over, each with a different expression.
The blond delinquent pair, on the other hand, had quieted down a lot. The blond boy was trying to coax the Little Delinquent, and she seemed to have suddenly taken an interest.
After he finished speaking, Solo Fan seemed a little intimidated by the others’ stares. Still, he puffed out his chest and lifted his chin. “It’s pretty obvious the Survivors have more people on their side this round. Why don’t we all get together and talk things over?”
“Then we can take on the Killer together and end the game as soon as possible. We’ll all get our hands on the points—that’d be ideal, wouldn’t it?”
After he finished, Solo Fan patted Yimo on the shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Honestly, this is only my third game, too. We’re in the same boat. But try not to make yourself look too useless, or they might target you—and then you’re in trouble.”
Yimo nodded but said nothing, watching how the others reacted.
By now, Yimo was already taking the game seriously.
After all, there was no way he could explain this away as a dream anymore.
Of the remaining people, only two responded to Solo Fan: one who looked like a high school student, and a woman in her thirties who looked like a young wife. Both came over.
The delinquent boy-and-girl pair didn’t join them. Of the others, there were two left.
One was a muscular man with the nickname “Horse Hunter.” He wore black shorts and a tank top, and a scar marked his shaved head. He bared his teeth at Solo Fan and sneered, “Tch. They’re just a bunch of brats.”
The other was Dusk. She didn’t react to Solo Fan’s words at all. She was busy examining something in the corner of the room, paying no attention to anyone.
Horse Hunter went over to her, looking intrigued. “Hey, beautiful. Wanna team up?”
“Stick with me, and I’ll make sure you survive this game. We’ll kill those little brats playing house!”
At that, Dusk looked up at him with narrowed eyes, clearly annoyed. “Get lost.”
Her voice was ice-cold. Horse Hunter froze for a moment, then clenched his fist and raised his hand to hit her.
But Dusk didn’t even look at him. She was waiting for the game to begin.
“You little bitch, you’re asking to die!”
“Apologize to me now, and I might let it go!”
“Otherwise, if I get my hands on you—”
“Heh heh…”
At that, Dusk suddenly stood up. Horse Hunter was more than a head taller than her, but she didn’t seem intimidated at all. Calmly, she said, “Are you so sure you got Survivor, and I didn’t get Killer?”
At Dusk’s words, Horse Hunter suddenly fell silent. “Fuck…!”
Dusk ignored him and went to stand somewhere else, leaving Horse Hunter there to stew in his anger alone.
Just then, the delinquent boy had finished coaxing the Little Delinquent. He led her by the hand over to Horse Hunter and said, “Big bro, you look like a real badass. We’ll follow you!”
“What a bunch of useless losers, huh?”
“By the way, big bro, what’s going on here? Mind explaining it to us?”
Horse Hunter hadn’t gotten anywhere with Dusk. He turned to look at the delinquent pair. They didn’t look like much in a fight, but they were still better than the others. He decided to let them tag along for now. They might come in handy.
But before he could say anything, the system’s announcement rang out.
『Teams assigned. The game begins.』
『The Killer’s movements are restricted for 10 minutes.』
At the announcement, no one else seemed to react much. Horse Hunter, though, suddenly grew excited. A bloodthirsty red glint flashed in his eyes as he stared at the empty space in front of him. He reached out and swiped at the air a few times, as if trying to do something, then paused in confusion. Turning to the two in front of him, he said, “Stick with me. Once we beat the game, we can get out.”
“Heh heh heh. I’ll keep you safe.”
He was about to turn and look toward Dusk, but she’d already opened the room’s door and left on her own, the first one out.
As soon as the game began, Solo Fan hurried everyone along. “Time’s precious. Let’s get moving. We can talk on the way.”
Then he took the lead and hurried outside.
He was fat, but surprisingly fit.
Yimo followed close behind, with the woman and the student after him.
The high school student glanced at the delinquent pair and couldn’t help warning them, “If this is your first time playing, you should run too! That guy’s the Killer!”
“You really will die if you lose the game!”
The high school student meant well, but the delinquent boy didn’t see it that way. He even gave Horse Hunter a deferential little bow, then yelled arrogantly at the student, “Fuck, who the hell do you think you are?”
“Standing there telling everyone what to do? I’ll kill you first!”
Then he flashed Horse Hunter a cocky look. “Right, big bro?”
Horse Hunter laughed. “That’s right! I’ll take you with me and kill every last one of them!”
The high school student pressed his lips together. Urged on by the woman ahead of him, he quickly followed her out of the room.
Yimo was the third to leave the room. Outside was a dim mine tunnel. The ground was uneven and hard to walk on, with a set of rails running through it. Wooden crates filled with ore were piled around them. Beneath the thick dust, it was clear they hadn’t been touched in who knew how long.
A safety lamp hung at regular intervals along the tunnel, but the light was dim, and the lamps flickered out now and then. Visibility was poor.
The first thing Yimo did after leaving was look for Dusk. He thought it was too dangerous for a girl to be on her own in a place like this.
But when he looked both ways down the mine tunnel, there was no sign of her.
Instead, Solo Fan grabbed Yimo and said, “Kirito, bro, quit looking. We need to move.”
“We’re short on time. Besides, that girl might be more dangerous with a knife than any of us!”
“Your own life comes first!”
