Transcendency: Chapter 7
Title: Transcendency
Pairing: OT5, Matsumiya
Genre: AU, Angst, Dark Fantasy
Disclaimer: Plot is mine, Arashi is not. Unfortunately.
Summary: Down the rabbit hole they fell.
Author's Note: Slightly shorter chapter tonight but got to love a cliffhanger. On a side note, I can confirm that Kento's cameo in the previous chapter shall not be his last.
The boys’ confidence in the games was growing as the days and weeks went on, their previous victories lulling them into a false sense of security that they could successfully face whatever challenges came at them. But while the games no longer frightened them the way they used to, a new threat to their survival lurked on the horizon. Their supplies were starting to grow sparse as more time passed; reconnaissance missions to the shops within walking distance of their hotel revealed that most places had already been picked clean, leaving them at a loss as to what they were supposed to do to keep themselves alive.
Gathered in Jun’s room early one morning, the five of them discussed their plan moving forward.
“We’re definitely starting to get the hang of the games,” said Sho. “But if we really want to survive in this place long-term, we should look into becoming more self-sufficient.”
“What did you have in mind?” Ohno asked.
Sho didn’t answer immediately, his gaze fixed on the torch sitting between them. The filaments inside the bulb were starting to flicker and fade as the last useable battery they had neared the end of its life.
“What if we could create our own source of energy?” he pondered. “I’ve been reading up on hydroelectric generators and believe that with the right source material, we should be able to build a small one ourselves. If it works, we’ll finally have some power around here.”
“Really?”
“That’s amazing!”
Murmurs of excitement spread through the group at the prospect of having electricity again. It almost felt too good to be true. But while many of them were keen on the idea, the person among them whom they expected to be most thrilled about the notion remained suspiciously quiet. They stared at their friend in concern.
The sound of their conversation had long-since turned to a distant drone in the back of Nino’s consciousness as he slipped in and out of awareness. He sat near the bed in perfect silence while he fiddled with the tendrils of his flower puzzle. As he shifted and twisted the metal pieces around, his every attempt to solve it ending in another dead-end, he was reminded of the convoluted puzzles from their ryokan challenge.
“Um, Nino?”
He blinked himself out of his trance-like state when he felt someone shaking his shoulder. He startled back to awareness, glancing around at the bewildered faces of the others.
“What?”
“Didn’t you hear what Sho-chan said?” Aiba asked. “We have a plan to make our own electricity! Isn’t that exciting?”
“Yeah, no that sounds great,” Nino replied distractedly, not really listening or understanding the context. To him, it sounded like typical Aiba-nonsense.
His focus returned to his puzzle but rather than try to solve it, he merely ran his fingers over the various curves of the metal as he attempted to sort out his equally ravelled thoughts. No matter how hard he tried to focus on his handheld puzzle, he couldn’t stop himself from sneaking glances at the semi-complete deck of cards that was sitting on Jun’s nightstand. In keeping with his promise, he’d given up the seven of diamonds card to the younger the night they won. But despite the days that had passed since their game, he was incapable of forgetting the blasé stranger they had encountered. He’d been so different to all the other people they’d met in the games so far. From his fluke-like actions to that last smile he’d given them before vanishing from their lives, he proved impossible to disregard. The more Nino reflected on it, the more he confused himself. He was torn and couldn’t for the life of him figure out if he was just an airheaded player with luck on his side or if there was more to him than met the eye. Regardless, the man had inadvertently embedded himself in Nino’s consciousness and it was driving him mad.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Jun remarked as he passed him a cup of stove-brewed coffee. He stared at his unresponsive friend for a moment longer before pouting. “You’re doing it again.”
The accusation heavy in his tone had Nino looking up again. “Doing what?”
Jun crossed his arms, his expression alone enough of an answer. Nino sighed and rubbed his eyes in an effort to get himself to focus on his friends and what they were saying, rather than his own troubled thoughts.
“Sorry, just thinking about that guy from the other night.”
“You mean Zakiyama?” Jun asked.
Sho sniggered. “Wasn’t it Yamazaki?”
Realising his mistake, Jun’s cheeks tinged red. He laughed it off along with the others and turned the focus of the conversation back to Nino. “What about him?”
“I can’t help feeling like he knew more about this place than he was letting on,” Nino admitted.
Despite the smile that graced his lips at the younger’s slip of the tongue, his amusement didn’t last long. His brows knitted together as he once more found himself contemplating everything the stranger had said and done.
“Like why did he willingly give us the card after we won? He clearly knew about the games before that night, so why would he not want to keep it himself?”
“Maybe he didn’t think it meant anything,” Aiba offered.
Nino cocked his head in uncertainty. “Then why would he say we deserved it?”
“He could have been being nice, considering we did solve most of the puzzles. Maybe it was his way of saying thanks. Who knows? He was kind of an airhead,” Sho pointed out.
“You’re probably just overthinking things,” Jun agreed.
Ohno looked at Nino in confusion. “I thought you would be happy that we got another card. Why the sudden paranoia?”
“I am, I just…I don’t know.” Nino sighed again as he replayed the diamonds game in his mind. “Something just seemed off about him.”
“He seemed harmless to me,” Aiba replied, and the others nodded.
Nino pursed his lips, not saying anything more. A part of him knew they were probably right; sleepless nights coupled with countless hours of trying to figure out these games had left him imagining things. His paranoia was kicking into overdrive, likely making him see things that weren’t there and enemies where there were only allies. If his friends all believed that Yamazaki wasn’t hiding anything, then he trusted their collective judgement. They were in a far better mindset to be judging peoples’ characters than he was right now anyway.
Determined to let go of his suspicions for the time being, he felt himself relax immensely. It was only afterwards that he realised what he had nearly missed in their earlier conversation. He stared at Aiba with barely contained enthusiasm.
“Wait, what did you say about electricity?”
“Oh, now you pay attention to me.” Aiba grinned widely at him. “Had you bothered listening earlier, you would know that Sho-chan has figured out a way to turn water into electricity.”
He didn’t even try to stifle his amused giggle at the way Nino’s eyes bulged out of their sockets and his mouth fell open in amazement at the declaration.
“It won’t turn water into electricity,” Sho corrected him. “I said we might be able to create a working prototype that could convert the mechanical energy of flowing water into electrical power.”
“Right, that’s what I said!” Aiba laughed.
While Sho futilely attempted to explain the science to him yet again, Nino remained shellshocked by the news. Ohno stared at him, waving his hand in front of his face with no reaction. He then turned to Jun in both concern and amusement.
“I think we broke him.”
Jun chuckled. “Figures the news that he might be able to play his games again would send him into a state of shock.”
Though Nino registered their teasing in the back of his mind, his heart was too busy fluttering with excitement for him to react to them. Despite what they thought, it wasn’t merely the idea of playing his beloved games again that had him so thrilled. He missed the simple pleasures of normal life-drinking something cold, eating with lights on, bathing in hot water-all things they had taken for granted in their old world. If there was even the slightest chance that they could regain those things, it would make their existence in this place that much better.
He turned to Sho, his expression still frozen in shock. “Are you serious?”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” said Sho.
“Too late,” Jun whispered teasingly to Ohno. The latter sniggered.
“It’s just a theory for now,” Sho went on, ignoring them. “Even if it does pan out, I have no idea how long it might take to actually get it working, or how powerful it will end up being.”
“Still, it’s a promising idea,” Aiba remarked. “If it gets things back to normal around here, I say it’s worth a try.”
Nino rose to his feet in an instant. “What are we waiting for?” His sudden movement and excessively loud shout took his friends by surprise. He stared at Sho intently. “What do we need?”
Sho hesitated as he tried to recall the extensive list of materials he’d read about for the construction of a basic generator. He’d barely finished speaking before Nino was out the door, calling back over his shoulder for the rest of them to hurry up.
“Guess we know what we’re doing today,” Jun said as they dragged themselves to their feet.
They followed their overly eager friend down the stairs and out the lobby as he led the search for what they would need. He was practically running by the time the hardware store came into view. His friends commented on his zealous behaviour the whole way, joking that he was even more energetic than Aiba. But still they followed him, his stone-hard resolve to make their dream a reality inspiring them all.
Entering the shop, they were surprised to find it trashed. It wasn’t unusual to find convenience stores and appliance shops in a similar condition, typically due to repeated raids of multiple players, but they hadn’t expected a hardware store to be a target. A closer look revealed there was more to the mess than they first believed. Although many of the shelves were bare, it was clear that most of the stock was actually still inside the building. The floor had become a minefield of dangers, with nails, saws, splintered wood and glass, and other dangerous items littering the ground. Paint of various colours was splattered across every surface while the empty cans lay haphazardly discarded among the other debris.
“This place is a dump,” Aiba exclaimed as his wide gaze scanned the toppled shelves and messy floor. “What happened here?”
“Maybe it was an arena recently?” Ohno suggested.
“If it was, our dear game master clearly hasn’t had time to clean up yet,” Sho said sarcastically.
Not at all disheartened by the store’s state, Nino remained determined in his mission. “Spread out. See if you can find anything that isn’t broken.”
Shrugging, his friends did as they were told and split up to search the aisles. While Ohno and Sho searched the right half of the store, Aiba, Jun and Nino scoured the rest of the shop. The aisle signs were mostly useless considering most of the items were not where they were supposed to be anyway, leaving them to rely on their eyes and wits to find what they needed.
They were only a few minutes into their searching when they came across something that was most definitely not on their list. Aiba’s shriek carried in the air and made his friends’ blood run cold. Forgetting what they were there for, all four of them spun around and raced through the store until they found him. He was standing paralysed in the middle of an aisle, a shaky finger pointing at the graveyard ahead of him.
Lying in the wreckage were a number of bodies. Most looked identical to the corpses they’d seen so often in this world; blank expressions, a single charred hole on the top of their heads. But among the familiar scenery was one man who was out of place. His neck was swallowed by a scarlet stain that was so thick, it almost hid the deep slash across his throat. The gushing of blood reached all the way down the front of his shirt. He was freshly dead; his body was yet to show any signs of decay while the blood looked only recently dried. It didn’t matter that they had seen many deaths since coming to this world-witnessing the outcome with their own eyes never got any easier.
“Guess Oh-chan was right about this place being an arena,” Jun whispered, recoiling from the grim sight.
“Why did only one of them die differently?” Ohno wondered.
“It must have been part of the game,” Sho deduced. “This guy must have been the target of a manhunt or something.”
“I don’t think he lost,” Nino spoke up.
He crouched down by the body, his gaze narrowed on the jagged slit across the man’s throat. He experimentally kicked the debris away from his hand. His friends stifled a collective gasp at the knife that was revealed, still clutched in his blood-stained fingers.
“He did it himself,” Jun breathed in disbelief.
“How could someone do that to themselves?” Aiba whimpered.
“Survivor’s guilt perhaps?” said Sho. “Or his death might have been completely unrelated to the game that took place here. He could have been nearing the end of his visa and chose to end his life by his own hand instead of waiting, or maybe he was just tired of playing. It’s impossible to know how long he’d been fighting for.”
“Perhaps he felt death would be easier than going on alone,” Ohno murmured without warning. He closed his eyes in wistful reflection. “What a lonely existence.”
Uncomfortable silence followed his musing as the four of them reluctantly contemplated exactly how painful the man’s loneliness must have been to drive him to suicide. Nino looked to his friends, meeting each of their eyes for a split second. The disbelief he read in their gaze was enough to assure him that while they were sympathetic to the man’s plight, they could never truly understand it. Nino was relieved by this. They had each other, after all-excruciating loneliness was not something any one of them ever considered before.
He was not so fortunate. Every night his nightmares offered him a fleeting vision of what life without them would be like and it tormented him. Even in his imagination, existing without his dear friends was unbearable but the guilt of knowing he would live on without them made it that much worse. It was like having a thousand tiny needles injected just beneath the surface of his skin-every move he made, even the slightest involuntary twitch of his muscles or the contracting of his lungs to simply breathe brought about a pain like never before, a pain he was helpless to stop. It was a feeling he could feel long after he roused from his slumber. He gazed empathetically at the man ahead of him, a lump forming in his throat. He could imagine exactly how agonising his existence must have been and the relief he must have felt to finally bring an end to it all.
Although their discovery dampened the mood considerably, the boys did what they could to shake off their discomfort and focus their efforts once more on the reason they’d come. They split up once again and resumed the search for what they needed. They scoured the wreckage of the store, looting it for all its worth. Spools of magnetic wire, bags of cement, vinyl tubing, rivets and screws of various sizes-everything they would need to get their prototype built. With arms full of materials, Nino was beginning to make his way back to the others when something caught his eye. He picked up the pocket blade from the floor. He stared at it for a moment, then tore open its packaging and tucked the tool securely in his pocket.
“Do we need that for the generator?” Ohno’s voice sounded behind him, startling him as he suddenly became aware he was not alone.
“Probably not,” Nino said honestly. “But you never know when it might come in handy.”
He said nothing further, walking past the elder with confident strides. He reunited with the others with pleased grins as they compared what they had found and checked that they had everything they needed. Ohno stared after him, his expression tight. Though he was certainly curious, if not concerned for what his friend was thinking he might need such a knife for, he chose not to question him further. It was neither the time nor the place to interrogate him. Resolving to keep an eye on him in the meantime, he padded over to join the rest of them.
Having gathered what they came for, they returned to their hotel. All thoughts of Nino’s hidden takeaway and the bodies they’d found disappeared from their minds as the excitement of what they were about to build took hold once more. They set up their materials on the roof and got to work. Using the hotel’s cistern as a power supply, they assembled the prototype according to Sho’s directions. Their first attempt proved, if nothing else, that the five of them were anything but handymen. It was clear Sho’s instructions for the build were based solely on theoretical readings rather than any practical experience; while he was able to spout near incomprehensive technical gibberish about the mechanics of converting the kinetic energy of moving water to electrical power, he found himself confusing a spanner with a wrench. The others didn’t fare much better, however. Ohno and Nino both received at least three electrical shocks while attempting to dismantle the motor; Aiba nearly sliced clean through his finger when he was trying to position the turbine, while Jun managed to drop a mallet on the former’s shin, resulting in a heated exchange that ultimately left both boys incapacitated for the remainder of the day.
After nearly three hours of poor communication and botched effort, their ‘prototype’ was finished. It was the perfect representation of their amateurish skills. The tubing fell apart the moment they attempted to switch on the water. Having neglected to install any kind of valve to control the flow, all five of them were saturated the moment they turned it on. The tubing practically exploded and high-pressure water gushed from the opening. Amidst the startled screams, the boys slipped over each other and their own feet as they frantically tried to switch off the device. Needless to say, they were all disheartened in the aftermath. Four of the five of them were ready to throw in the towel.
“We can’t give up,” Jun encouraged them. His voice was optimistic as he tried to convince them not to abandon their plan altogether.
“Easy for you to say,” Aiba grumbled, holding his badly bruised leg. “You can still walk.”
Jun blushed sheepishly at the reminder of the accident. “I said I was sorry.” But while embarrassed, he refused to let it discourage him. “Come on, we’re not really going to let a few mishaps stop us, are we?”
There were a couple of grumbles and none of them bothered to meet his gaze. Jun pouted. He stared at each of them hard, daring them to look up. Nino shifted uncomfortably under his scrutinising stare. He could hear the accusation and disappointment in his voice as he questioned whether he was really going to give up so easily, but Nino couldn’t bring himself to respond. Jun sighed heavily.
“I don’t believe you guys. We knew creating our own power source wouldn’t be easy-if it was, everyone would have electricity by now. But we have to keep trying. Just think about how great it will be once we have it working! We’ve been able to accomplish so much already; we can do this too. I know we can. If we work together, there’s no limit to what we can do.”
His every word was laced with a powerful passion. Try as he might to ignore it, Nino felt a flicker of motivation reignite in his heart and from the looks exchanged around him, he knew he was not alone in feeling so. Not that it really surprised any of them all that much. Jun had always had a certain influence like that. An optimistic smile graced his lips as his friends were swayed into persevering.
Over a dinner of cold rice and stale biscuits, the five of them revised their plan to become self-sufficient.
“The generator didn’t work because we had no idea what we were doing.”
“The solution’s simple then,” said Sho. “We need to learn the science behind what we’re building.”
Jun nodded and looked to the elder. “You read about this technique in the library books, right? If you bring back as many as you can find on this sort of energy conversion, then we can study them together.”
Nino tried not to groan at the thought of studying. It never appealed to him even when they were in school but he knew as well as the others did that if they were going to make this thing work, Jun was right. They couldn’t just blindly assemble bits and pieces and hope for the best-they had to know what they were doing.
“Since we’re going to all this trouble, maybe we should try growing our own food too,” Aiba suggested. “There’s plenty of space on the roof to build a greenhouse. We’d just need to track down some seeds or something to get it started.”
“Wouldn’t it take forever to grow stuff though?” Ohno asked.
“Time moves differently here. If food decays faster, maybe it’ll grow faster too.”
“It’s worth a try,” Nino agreed. “Even I’m starting to get sick of this packaged stuff.”
He frowned at the stale biscuit he’d been nibbling on. After another mouthful of the unsatisfying snack, he tossed the rest back down onto its plastic wrapper and resigned himself to an empty stomach that evening.
“It shouldn’t be too hard to track down what we’d need for it,” Sho spoke up. “And the university library has plenty of horticulture books at our disposal too. I’ll bring some of those back as well.”
In agreement with their revised plan, they decided to call it a night, excited for what the near future would bring now that they were motivated by realistic goals rather than the fleeting excitement of something beyond their expertise.
The days left on their visa passed by in a blur. Their leisurely existence turned to hours of sweat and hard work as they pooled their efforts to not only get the generator working, but to become fully self-sufficient in this new world. After their first failed attempt, they revised their prototype and took measures to improve the design. While Sho returned to the library to gather as many textbooks that he could find with information on what they needed, the others looked for new materials. They split up and scoured the city in an undertaking uncannily similar to their mannequin game, only this time they were searching nearby homes and shops for various pieces of equipment. They looted not only the neighbourhood hardware store but every appliance shop they could find, and even ransacked a few cars for engine parts. They stole tarp and glass panels from the windows of homes for their makeshift greenhouse and raided every garden in search of seedlings.
The hotel’s roof had turned from a spacious clearing to what resembled a cross between a conservatory and a miniature mechanic’s workshop. On one side were hedgerows of sprouts and potted saplings growing beneath the cover of a vinyl tarp. While they had yet to see any evidence that things would grow at a faster than normal rate, the boys were thrilled simply to see their crops had not died on them. Tools, soil and spare parts littered the rooftop, a mismatched path leading from the greenery to the bucket-sized generator they managed to put together. It took several dozen attempts and nearly twice as many electrical shocks before they finally started to make progress towards their goal of a functioning generator. With every failed attempt, the engineering expertise that once only Sho had even a basic understanding of soon began to make sense to all five of them as they learned from their mistakes. Before long, it felt as though they knew exactly what needed to be done.
While Sho and Aiba worked to strip down the old motor they’d found to its necessary parts, Nino affixed the turbine to the motor’s main rod using the welder. Jun cut a series of precise openings at either end of the piping that would be used to drive the water against the turbine and turn the generator; after which, Ohno carefully heated the pipes with a blowtorch and bent them as needed to fit the storage tank.
They wired up the motor wires to the electrical socket they’d taken from the hotel. Attaching them to the top of the piping, Sho signalled for Aiba to open the valves. He did and stepped back alongside the others, each of them holding their breath. The sound of water gushing through the piping could be heard but for the first few minutes, that’s all there was. The boys tried to ignore the pang of disappointment they felt as yet another prototype failed to produce energy. Then they saw a flicker of light ahead of them. The screen on the phone they were attempting to charge switched on as electricity was pumped back into the device. Cries of triumph echoed loudly from the rooftop.
Their celebrations of a breakthrough may have been cut short when the battery died again only a few minutes later, but it mattered not. They’d had their first taste of victory in their battle for self-sufficiency and while their generator was not yet powerful enough to produce a sustainable flow of energy, it gave them hope for the future to come.
---
“Cheers!”
The boys clinked their glasses and took long, satisfying sips of the chilled beer. It wasn’t much but it tasted like heaven. After another couple of revamps, they’d managed to stabilise the flow of electricity from the generator, enough so to power an entire room in their hotel at a time. They’d seized the opportunity to use their newfound energy; the refrigerator hummed to life with a whirr and the lights flashed on with a burst of almost blinding colour.
“I’d almost forgotten what this was like,” Jun exclaimed. His gaze sparkled proudly as he looked around at the lit fairy lights strung above their heads.
Wanting to celebrate their first proper success with the generator, they’d put together a small setup on the roof. Gazing out at the spectacular albeit mostly dark view of the city below, it almost felt as though they were bragging as they sat fully illuminated not by an arena’s light but by their own hard work and ingenuity.
Glancing at the generator, Aiba threw his head back with an excited shout of, “This is the best!”
“This is just the beginning,” Sho chuckled. “In time, we’ll get power working to the entire hotel. We’ll have hot water again and electricity in every room. Who knows? We might even be able to rewire some of the cars downstairs to work off hydropower.”
Nino grinned widely. Lounging back against his chair, he tucked both arms comfortably behind his head. “It’ll be as good as the real Tokyo in no time.”
“Or even better,” Ohno beamed. “Here we have unconditional freedom. There are no laws, no social constructs or expectations. We can do whatever we want. Once we have proper power again, it’ll be a paradise!”
“You mean aside from the deadly games?”
Ohno shrugged. “They’re not so bad. As long as the five of us work together, I think we’ll make it through any game.”
His friends could only smile at the uncharacteristic level of optimism lacing his tone, though they couldn’t bring themselves to deny his claim. Truthfully, they agreed with him. Their time in this world thus far had proved, if nothing else, that they were undoubtably a formidable team. It wasn’t just in the games either-by combining their intellects and their efforts, they managed to achieve the impossible. They learnt not only to scavenge for food but to hunt for and even grow their own supplies; they had adapted to this harsh and unforgiving world, and succeeded in creating a power source for themselves. They could rely on one another to keep sane despite the deaths they were exposed to every day and still managed to bring happiness to each other’s lives. They had learnt to overcome unimaginable obstacles and always had each other’s backs. Even Yamazaki had commented as such in their last challenge. They mightn’t always make it out unscathed-there would always be scares and close calls, injuries and losses-but as long as they stuck together as five, Nino was confident they could make it through anything.
---
With only a day to spare on their visas, they had sought out a new arena with much haste. They had only been following the arrows for a few minutes through Ueno Park when they suddenly realised exactly where they were heading. The boys looked to one another, their faces saying more than words could ever hope to. But while their tension was running high, they continued onwards regardless. It wasn’t like they had much of a choice anyway, what with their visa date hovering on tomorrow’s horizon. They’d spent so much time recently dedicated to building their new greenhouse and generator that they’d let the days slip away from them; now, on the eve of their expiration, they were forced to play whatever challenge they were unfortunate enough to stumble across that evening.
Making their way through the spacious parklands, they didn’t stop until they stood before the zoo entrance. They took a deep breath and entered, passing through the invisible border of their next arena. They followed the signs to the illuminated information centre. It was there they registered themselves into the game and waited alongside the handful of other players already there. One man looked almost like a rockstar with his leather jacket, shoulder-length hair and fingerless gloves. He introduced himself as Daigo; when he spoke, his expressions were littered with excessive acronyms that only he seemed capable of understanding.
Standing at the forefront of the group was an older couple-Shimura and Yamase. The latter was probably closing in on fifty while the former was in his sixties. Nino couldn’t tell if they were an actual couple or just comrades in the games, but it was obvious from their proximity and the way they would regularly look to one another as the wait continued that it was not their first time meeting. They weren’t the only players with a prior connection either. There was a pair of women standing to their right; they reminded Nino of a comedic duo. One was short and of a stout build, with glasses and a mushroom style haircut, while the other was tall and thin with an androgynous appearance. They were talking amongst themselves. Nino caught bits and pieces of their muffled conversation, including their complimenting the looks of the five boys who’d just arrived and them trying to recall the last time either one of them was at a zoo.
Doing what he could to ignore the other players, Nino crossed his arms and turned to survey their surroundings. He shuffled his weight uncomfortably as he looked to the countless enclosures around them. There was a huge building in the distance-probably an aviary or reptilian house of sorts. The air held a pungent scent and from the quiet echo of bird calls sounding in the wind, he didn’t doubt for a moment that this place wasn’t nearly as empty as the aquarium had been.
“Something tells me your expertise will come in handy for this one,” he said coyly as he nudged Aiba beside him.
His friend gave a bashful smile, looking torn between pleased and worried for the challenge to come. Sho’s gaze scanned the wide paths and nearby enclosures. He clicked his tongue. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say this one’s going to be physical.”
“If it is, I’m guessing that guy won’t make it very far,” Nino muttered under his breath and nodded in the direction of Shimura. He was easily the oldest one there. With his slightly hunched posture, thin-framed glasses and whimsical smile, he reminded Nino of his grandfather.
The registration countdown came to an end, with their phones declaring a total of sixteen players. The ten of them frowned and looked around at each other, confused by the headcount that did not appear to match the number of them there. They weren’t given time to question it, however, as the game was announced.
“Game: Lion’s Den. Difficulty: Nine of Clubs.”
“Another clubs game,” Aiba exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief. “That’s great, we work best together anyway.”
“Nine is quite a high difficulty though,” Jun murmured. His expression was tight with nerves and there was no missing the way his throat twitched as he stared down at his phone screen.
Nino couldn’t be sure if it was the game’s difficulty that was causing the younger so much unease or their current location. If it was the latter, he couldn’t say he blamed him. For as long as his friends knew him, Jun had been a target of an uncanny hatred from just about every creature he ever encountered. They’d witnessed him get bucked by a horse on a school excursion, savagely scratched by a neighbourhood cat, and chased by one particularly persistent cicada. All incidents were unprovoked, with Jun having done little more than be in the same vicinity as the animals. It was something neither he nor his friends truly understood-no matter what the animal was or how he acted around it, every encounter almost always ended in bloodshed.
The roller door of the information centre suddenly opened, revealing a handful of numbered rental locker keys on the otherwise empty desk inside. The players took them and headed over to the row of lockers a few metres away. Only three of the keys they had matched the lockers in front of them. Inside the first locker was an arsenal of construction tools. There were pliers, a hammer, some pieces of wire-all things one might expect to find to help make repairs. The second contained basic first-aid supplies. In the third locker, however, was a handgun. Upon checking it, they found it contained a single lead bullet.
Their phones beeped.
“Rules: players must survive nine rounds against nine beasts. Clear condition: defeat all nine beasts before midnight.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Nino watched the colour drain from both Jun and Aiba’s faces. He felt a pang of sympathy for his friends, understanding their individual reluctance for the game they were about to play. Jun was undoubtably worried about being the one most at risk of injury or worse should the creatures they were about to face share the same level of detest for him as the rest of the animal kingdom did. On the other hand, while Aiba’s expertise gave them an advantage, his innate love for all animals would undeniably prove problematic when it came to actually fighting them.
The lampposts began to flicker without warning. The players looked over their shoulder, a nervous energy sweeping through them as the game began. The harrowing sound of fences breaking followed, as did a chorus of animal calls. It was nearly impossible to make out the individual creatures responsible for the assortment of growls, roars, screeches and squalls that thundered through the zoo. It was so loud, the players couldn’t be sure if it had come from the speakers or was echoing from the enclosures surrounding them.
Arming themselves with what they could from the lockers, the group took up a fighting stance in preparation for their first opponent. Nino kept close to his friends, his grip tight on the hammer he’d taken to protect himself. Having it gave him little confidence but it was better than nothing. The intermittent flashing of the lights and continued noises sounding all around them was unsettling and made it hard to focus. Indistinct shadows appeared on the ground, fooling them into believing something was there when it wasn’t.
A harrowing roar caused the very air around them to tremble. Frightened silence swept over the group. Their faces turned ashen, their blood running cold as fear set in. The ground beneath their feet shook as an unseen monster came barrelling through the darkness towards them. It came to a skidding halt at the edge of the path, each breath a heavy exhale that had its whole muscular chest heaving. The flickering lights caught on the long canines of the great ape while it flexed its knuckles against the pavement. As it locked eyes on the players, its deafening howl nearing drowned out their loud, terrified screams.
“Run!”
Pairing: OT5, Matsumiya
Genre: AU, Angst, Dark Fantasy
Disclaimer: Plot is mine, Arashi is not. Unfortunately.
Summary: Down the rabbit hole they fell.
Author's Note: Slightly shorter chapter tonight but got to love a cliffhanger. On a side note, I can confirm that Kento's cameo in the previous chapter shall not be his last.
The boys’ confidence in the games was growing as the days and weeks went on, their previous victories lulling them into a false sense of security that they could successfully face whatever challenges came at them. But while the games no longer frightened them the way they used to, a new threat to their survival lurked on the horizon. Their supplies were starting to grow sparse as more time passed; reconnaissance missions to the shops within walking distance of their hotel revealed that most places had already been picked clean, leaving them at a loss as to what they were supposed to do to keep themselves alive.
Gathered in Jun’s room early one morning, the five of them discussed their plan moving forward.
“We’re definitely starting to get the hang of the games,” said Sho. “But if we really want to survive in this place long-term, we should look into becoming more self-sufficient.”
“What did you have in mind?” Ohno asked.
Sho didn’t answer immediately, his gaze fixed on the torch sitting between them. The filaments inside the bulb were starting to flicker and fade as the last useable battery they had neared the end of its life.
“What if we could create our own source of energy?” he pondered. “I’ve been reading up on hydroelectric generators and believe that with the right source material, we should be able to build a small one ourselves. If it works, we’ll finally have some power around here.”
“Really?”
“That’s amazing!”
Murmurs of excitement spread through the group at the prospect of having electricity again. It almost felt too good to be true. But while many of them were keen on the idea, the person among them whom they expected to be most thrilled about the notion remained suspiciously quiet. They stared at their friend in concern.
The sound of their conversation had long-since turned to a distant drone in the back of Nino’s consciousness as he slipped in and out of awareness. He sat near the bed in perfect silence while he fiddled with the tendrils of his flower puzzle. As he shifted and twisted the metal pieces around, his every attempt to solve it ending in another dead-end, he was reminded of the convoluted puzzles from their ryokan challenge.
“Um, Nino?”
He blinked himself out of his trance-like state when he felt someone shaking his shoulder. He startled back to awareness, glancing around at the bewildered faces of the others.
“What?”
“Didn’t you hear what Sho-chan said?” Aiba asked. “We have a plan to make our own electricity! Isn’t that exciting?”
“Yeah, no that sounds great,” Nino replied distractedly, not really listening or understanding the context. To him, it sounded like typical Aiba-nonsense.
His focus returned to his puzzle but rather than try to solve it, he merely ran his fingers over the various curves of the metal as he attempted to sort out his equally ravelled thoughts. No matter how hard he tried to focus on his handheld puzzle, he couldn’t stop himself from sneaking glances at the semi-complete deck of cards that was sitting on Jun’s nightstand. In keeping with his promise, he’d given up the seven of diamonds card to the younger the night they won. But despite the days that had passed since their game, he was incapable of forgetting the blasé stranger they had encountered. He’d been so different to all the other people they’d met in the games so far. From his fluke-like actions to that last smile he’d given them before vanishing from their lives, he proved impossible to disregard. The more Nino reflected on it, the more he confused himself. He was torn and couldn’t for the life of him figure out if he was just an airheaded player with luck on his side or if there was more to him than met the eye. Regardless, the man had inadvertently embedded himself in Nino’s consciousness and it was driving him mad.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Jun remarked as he passed him a cup of stove-brewed coffee. He stared at his unresponsive friend for a moment longer before pouting. “You’re doing it again.”
The accusation heavy in his tone had Nino looking up again. “Doing what?”
Jun crossed his arms, his expression alone enough of an answer. Nino sighed and rubbed his eyes in an effort to get himself to focus on his friends and what they were saying, rather than his own troubled thoughts.
“Sorry, just thinking about that guy from the other night.”
“You mean Zakiyama?” Jun asked.
Sho sniggered. “Wasn’t it Yamazaki?”
Realising his mistake, Jun’s cheeks tinged red. He laughed it off along with the others and turned the focus of the conversation back to Nino. “What about him?”
“I can’t help feeling like he knew more about this place than he was letting on,” Nino admitted.
Despite the smile that graced his lips at the younger’s slip of the tongue, his amusement didn’t last long. His brows knitted together as he once more found himself contemplating everything the stranger had said and done.
“Like why did he willingly give us the card after we won? He clearly knew about the games before that night, so why would he not want to keep it himself?”
“Maybe he didn’t think it meant anything,” Aiba offered.
Nino cocked his head in uncertainty. “Then why would he say we deserved it?”
“He could have been being nice, considering we did solve most of the puzzles. Maybe it was his way of saying thanks. Who knows? He was kind of an airhead,” Sho pointed out.
“You’re probably just overthinking things,” Jun agreed.
Ohno looked at Nino in confusion. “I thought you would be happy that we got another card. Why the sudden paranoia?”
“I am, I just…I don’t know.” Nino sighed again as he replayed the diamonds game in his mind. “Something just seemed off about him.”
“He seemed harmless to me,” Aiba replied, and the others nodded.
Nino pursed his lips, not saying anything more. A part of him knew they were probably right; sleepless nights coupled with countless hours of trying to figure out these games had left him imagining things. His paranoia was kicking into overdrive, likely making him see things that weren’t there and enemies where there were only allies. If his friends all believed that Yamazaki wasn’t hiding anything, then he trusted their collective judgement. They were in a far better mindset to be judging peoples’ characters than he was right now anyway.
Determined to let go of his suspicions for the time being, he felt himself relax immensely. It was only afterwards that he realised what he had nearly missed in their earlier conversation. He stared at Aiba with barely contained enthusiasm.
“Wait, what did you say about electricity?”
“Oh, now you pay attention to me.” Aiba grinned widely at him. “Had you bothered listening earlier, you would know that Sho-chan has figured out a way to turn water into electricity.”
He didn’t even try to stifle his amused giggle at the way Nino’s eyes bulged out of their sockets and his mouth fell open in amazement at the declaration.
“It won’t turn water into electricity,” Sho corrected him. “I said we might be able to create a working prototype that could convert the mechanical energy of flowing water into electrical power.”
“Right, that’s what I said!” Aiba laughed.
While Sho futilely attempted to explain the science to him yet again, Nino remained shellshocked by the news. Ohno stared at him, waving his hand in front of his face with no reaction. He then turned to Jun in both concern and amusement.
“I think we broke him.”
Jun chuckled. “Figures the news that he might be able to play his games again would send him into a state of shock.”
Though Nino registered their teasing in the back of his mind, his heart was too busy fluttering with excitement for him to react to them. Despite what they thought, it wasn’t merely the idea of playing his beloved games again that had him so thrilled. He missed the simple pleasures of normal life-drinking something cold, eating with lights on, bathing in hot water-all things they had taken for granted in their old world. If there was even the slightest chance that they could regain those things, it would make their existence in this place that much better.
He turned to Sho, his expression still frozen in shock. “Are you serious?”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” said Sho.
“Too late,” Jun whispered teasingly to Ohno. The latter sniggered.
“It’s just a theory for now,” Sho went on, ignoring them. “Even if it does pan out, I have no idea how long it might take to actually get it working, or how powerful it will end up being.”
“Still, it’s a promising idea,” Aiba remarked. “If it gets things back to normal around here, I say it’s worth a try.”
Nino rose to his feet in an instant. “What are we waiting for?” His sudden movement and excessively loud shout took his friends by surprise. He stared at Sho intently. “What do we need?”
Sho hesitated as he tried to recall the extensive list of materials he’d read about for the construction of a basic generator. He’d barely finished speaking before Nino was out the door, calling back over his shoulder for the rest of them to hurry up.
“Guess we know what we’re doing today,” Jun said as they dragged themselves to their feet.
They followed their overly eager friend down the stairs and out the lobby as he led the search for what they would need. He was practically running by the time the hardware store came into view. His friends commented on his zealous behaviour the whole way, joking that he was even more energetic than Aiba. But still they followed him, his stone-hard resolve to make their dream a reality inspiring them all.
Entering the shop, they were surprised to find it trashed. It wasn’t unusual to find convenience stores and appliance shops in a similar condition, typically due to repeated raids of multiple players, but they hadn’t expected a hardware store to be a target. A closer look revealed there was more to the mess than they first believed. Although many of the shelves were bare, it was clear that most of the stock was actually still inside the building. The floor had become a minefield of dangers, with nails, saws, splintered wood and glass, and other dangerous items littering the ground. Paint of various colours was splattered across every surface while the empty cans lay haphazardly discarded among the other debris.
“This place is a dump,” Aiba exclaimed as his wide gaze scanned the toppled shelves and messy floor. “What happened here?”
“Maybe it was an arena recently?” Ohno suggested.
“If it was, our dear game master clearly hasn’t had time to clean up yet,” Sho said sarcastically.
Not at all disheartened by the store’s state, Nino remained determined in his mission. “Spread out. See if you can find anything that isn’t broken.”
Shrugging, his friends did as they were told and split up to search the aisles. While Ohno and Sho searched the right half of the store, Aiba, Jun and Nino scoured the rest of the shop. The aisle signs were mostly useless considering most of the items were not where they were supposed to be anyway, leaving them to rely on their eyes and wits to find what they needed.
They were only a few minutes into their searching when they came across something that was most definitely not on their list. Aiba’s shriek carried in the air and made his friends’ blood run cold. Forgetting what they were there for, all four of them spun around and raced through the store until they found him. He was standing paralysed in the middle of an aisle, a shaky finger pointing at the graveyard ahead of him.
Lying in the wreckage were a number of bodies. Most looked identical to the corpses they’d seen so often in this world; blank expressions, a single charred hole on the top of their heads. But among the familiar scenery was one man who was out of place. His neck was swallowed by a scarlet stain that was so thick, it almost hid the deep slash across his throat. The gushing of blood reached all the way down the front of his shirt. He was freshly dead; his body was yet to show any signs of decay while the blood looked only recently dried. It didn’t matter that they had seen many deaths since coming to this world-witnessing the outcome with their own eyes never got any easier.
“Guess Oh-chan was right about this place being an arena,” Jun whispered, recoiling from the grim sight.
“Why did only one of them die differently?” Ohno wondered.
“It must have been part of the game,” Sho deduced. “This guy must have been the target of a manhunt or something.”
“I don’t think he lost,” Nino spoke up.
He crouched down by the body, his gaze narrowed on the jagged slit across the man’s throat. He experimentally kicked the debris away from his hand. His friends stifled a collective gasp at the knife that was revealed, still clutched in his blood-stained fingers.
“He did it himself,” Jun breathed in disbelief.
“How could someone do that to themselves?” Aiba whimpered.
“Survivor’s guilt perhaps?” said Sho. “Or his death might have been completely unrelated to the game that took place here. He could have been nearing the end of his visa and chose to end his life by his own hand instead of waiting, or maybe he was just tired of playing. It’s impossible to know how long he’d been fighting for.”
“Perhaps he felt death would be easier than going on alone,” Ohno murmured without warning. He closed his eyes in wistful reflection. “What a lonely existence.”
Uncomfortable silence followed his musing as the four of them reluctantly contemplated exactly how painful the man’s loneliness must have been to drive him to suicide. Nino looked to his friends, meeting each of their eyes for a split second. The disbelief he read in their gaze was enough to assure him that while they were sympathetic to the man’s plight, they could never truly understand it. Nino was relieved by this. They had each other, after all-excruciating loneliness was not something any one of them ever considered before.
He was not so fortunate. Every night his nightmares offered him a fleeting vision of what life without them would be like and it tormented him. Even in his imagination, existing without his dear friends was unbearable but the guilt of knowing he would live on without them made it that much worse. It was like having a thousand tiny needles injected just beneath the surface of his skin-every move he made, even the slightest involuntary twitch of his muscles or the contracting of his lungs to simply breathe brought about a pain like never before, a pain he was helpless to stop. It was a feeling he could feel long after he roused from his slumber. He gazed empathetically at the man ahead of him, a lump forming in his throat. He could imagine exactly how agonising his existence must have been and the relief he must have felt to finally bring an end to it all.
Although their discovery dampened the mood considerably, the boys did what they could to shake off their discomfort and focus their efforts once more on the reason they’d come. They split up once again and resumed the search for what they needed. They scoured the wreckage of the store, looting it for all its worth. Spools of magnetic wire, bags of cement, vinyl tubing, rivets and screws of various sizes-everything they would need to get their prototype built. With arms full of materials, Nino was beginning to make his way back to the others when something caught his eye. He picked up the pocket blade from the floor. He stared at it for a moment, then tore open its packaging and tucked the tool securely in his pocket.
“Do we need that for the generator?” Ohno’s voice sounded behind him, startling him as he suddenly became aware he was not alone.
“Probably not,” Nino said honestly. “But you never know when it might come in handy.”
He said nothing further, walking past the elder with confident strides. He reunited with the others with pleased grins as they compared what they had found and checked that they had everything they needed. Ohno stared after him, his expression tight. Though he was certainly curious, if not concerned for what his friend was thinking he might need such a knife for, he chose not to question him further. It was neither the time nor the place to interrogate him. Resolving to keep an eye on him in the meantime, he padded over to join the rest of them.
Having gathered what they came for, they returned to their hotel. All thoughts of Nino’s hidden takeaway and the bodies they’d found disappeared from their minds as the excitement of what they were about to build took hold once more. They set up their materials on the roof and got to work. Using the hotel’s cistern as a power supply, they assembled the prototype according to Sho’s directions. Their first attempt proved, if nothing else, that the five of them were anything but handymen. It was clear Sho’s instructions for the build were based solely on theoretical readings rather than any practical experience; while he was able to spout near incomprehensive technical gibberish about the mechanics of converting the kinetic energy of moving water to electrical power, he found himself confusing a spanner with a wrench. The others didn’t fare much better, however. Ohno and Nino both received at least three electrical shocks while attempting to dismantle the motor; Aiba nearly sliced clean through his finger when he was trying to position the turbine, while Jun managed to drop a mallet on the former’s shin, resulting in a heated exchange that ultimately left both boys incapacitated for the remainder of the day.
After nearly three hours of poor communication and botched effort, their ‘prototype’ was finished. It was the perfect representation of their amateurish skills. The tubing fell apart the moment they attempted to switch on the water. Having neglected to install any kind of valve to control the flow, all five of them were saturated the moment they turned it on. The tubing practically exploded and high-pressure water gushed from the opening. Amidst the startled screams, the boys slipped over each other and their own feet as they frantically tried to switch off the device. Needless to say, they were all disheartened in the aftermath. Four of the five of them were ready to throw in the towel.
“We can’t give up,” Jun encouraged them. His voice was optimistic as he tried to convince them not to abandon their plan altogether.
“Easy for you to say,” Aiba grumbled, holding his badly bruised leg. “You can still walk.”
Jun blushed sheepishly at the reminder of the accident. “I said I was sorry.” But while embarrassed, he refused to let it discourage him. “Come on, we’re not really going to let a few mishaps stop us, are we?”
There were a couple of grumbles and none of them bothered to meet his gaze. Jun pouted. He stared at each of them hard, daring them to look up. Nino shifted uncomfortably under his scrutinising stare. He could hear the accusation and disappointment in his voice as he questioned whether he was really going to give up so easily, but Nino couldn’t bring himself to respond. Jun sighed heavily.
“I don’t believe you guys. We knew creating our own power source wouldn’t be easy-if it was, everyone would have electricity by now. But we have to keep trying. Just think about how great it will be once we have it working! We’ve been able to accomplish so much already; we can do this too. I know we can. If we work together, there’s no limit to what we can do.”
His every word was laced with a powerful passion. Try as he might to ignore it, Nino felt a flicker of motivation reignite in his heart and from the looks exchanged around him, he knew he was not alone in feeling so. Not that it really surprised any of them all that much. Jun had always had a certain influence like that. An optimistic smile graced his lips as his friends were swayed into persevering.
Over a dinner of cold rice and stale biscuits, the five of them revised their plan to become self-sufficient.
“The generator didn’t work because we had no idea what we were doing.”
“The solution’s simple then,” said Sho. “We need to learn the science behind what we’re building.”
Jun nodded and looked to the elder. “You read about this technique in the library books, right? If you bring back as many as you can find on this sort of energy conversion, then we can study them together.”
Nino tried not to groan at the thought of studying. It never appealed to him even when they were in school but he knew as well as the others did that if they were going to make this thing work, Jun was right. They couldn’t just blindly assemble bits and pieces and hope for the best-they had to know what they were doing.
“Since we’re going to all this trouble, maybe we should try growing our own food too,” Aiba suggested. “There’s plenty of space on the roof to build a greenhouse. We’d just need to track down some seeds or something to get it started.”
“Wouldn’t it take forever to grow stuff though?” Ohno asked.
“Time moves differently here. If food decays faster, maybe it’ll grow faster too.”
“It’s worth a try,” Nino agreed. “Even I’m starting to get sick of this packaged stuff.”
He frowned at the stale biscuit he’d been nibbling on. After another mouthful of the unsatisfying snack, he tossed the rest back down onto its plastic wrapper and resigned himself to an empty stomach that evening.
“It shouldn’t be too hard to track down what we’d need for it,” Sho spoke up. “And the university library has plenty of horticulture books at our disposal too. I’ll bring some of those back as well.”
In agreement with their revised plan, they decided to call it a night, excited for what the near future would bring now that they were motivated by realistic goals rather than the fleeting excitement of something beyond their expertise.
The days left on their visa passed by in a blur. Their leisurely existence turned to hours of sweat and hard work as they pooled their efforts to not only get the generator working, but to become fully self-sufficient in this new world. After their first failed attempt, they revised their prototype and took measures to improve the design. While Sho returned to the library to gather as many textbooks that he could find with information on what they needed, the others looked for new materials. They split up and scoured the city in an undertaking uncannily similar to their mannequin game, only this time they were searching nearby homes and shops for various pieces of equipment. They looted not only the neighbourhood hardware store but every appliance shop they could find, and even ransacked a few cars for engine parts. They stole tarp and glass panels from the windows of homes for their makeshift greenhouse and raided every garden in search of seedlings.
The hotel’s roof had turned from a spacious clearing to what resembled a cross between a conservatory and a miniature mechanic’s workshop. On one side were hedgerows of sprouts and potted saplings growing beneath the cover of a vinyl tarp. While they had yet to see any evidence that things would grow at a faster than normal rate, the boys were thrilled simply to see their crops had not died on them. Tools, soil and spare parts littered the rooftop, a mismatched path leading from the greenery to the bucket-sized generator they managed to put together. It took several dozen attempts and nearly twice as many electrical shocks before they finally started to make progress towards their goal of a functioning generator. With every failed attempt, the engineering expertise that once only Sho had even a basic understanding of soon began to make sense to all five of them as they learned from their mistakes. Before long, it felt as though they knew exactly what needed to be done.
While Sho and Aiba worked to strip down the old motor they’d found to its necessary parts, Nino affixed the turbine to the motor’s main rod using the welder. Jun cut a series of precise openings at either end of the piping that would be used to drive the water against the turbine and turn the generator; after which, Ohno carefully heated the pipes with a blowtorch and bent them as needed to fit the storage tank.
They wired up the motor wires to the electrical socket they’d taken from the hotel. Attaching them to the top of the piping, Sho signalled for Aiba to open the valves. He did and stepped back alongside the others, each of them holding their breath. The sound of water gushing through the piping could be heard but for the first few minutes, that’s all there was. The boys tried to ignore the pang of disappointment they felt as yet another prototype failed to produce energy. Then they saw a flicker of light ahead of them. The screen on the phone they were attempting to charge switched on as electricity was pumped back into the device. Cries of triumph echoed loudly from the rooftop.
Their celebrations of a breakthrough may have been cut short when the battery died again only a few minutes later, but it mattered not. They’d had their first taste of victory in their battle for self-sufficiency and while their generator was not yet powerful enough to produce a sustainable flow of energy, it gave them hope for the future to come.
---
“Cheers!”
The boys clinked their glasses and took long, satisfying sips of the chilled beer. It wasn’t much but it tasted like heaven. After another couple of revamps, they’d managed to stabilise the flow of electricity from the generator, enough so to power an entire room in their hotel at a time. They’d seized the opportunity to use their newfound energy; the refrigerator hummed to life with a whirr and the lights flashed on with a burst of almost blinding colour.
“I’d almost forgotten what this was like,” Jun exclaimed. His gaze sparkled proudly as he looked around at the lit fairy lights strung above their heads.
Wanting to celebrate their first proper success with the generator, they’d put together a small setup on the roof. Gazing out at the spectacular albeit mostly dark view of the city below, it almost felt as though they were bragging as they sat fully illuminated not by an arena’s light but by their own hard work and ingenuity.
Glancing at the generator, Aiba threw his head back with an excited shout of, “This is the best!”
“This is just the beginning,” Sho chuckled. “In time, we’ll get power working to the entire hotel. We’ll have hot water again and electricity in every room. Who knows? We might even be able to rewire some of the cars downstairs to work off hydropower.”
Nino grinned widely. Lounging back against his chair, he tucked both arms comfortably behind his head. “It’ll be as good as the real Tokyo in no time.”
“Or even better,” Ohno beamed. “Here we have unconditional freedom. There are no laws, no social constructs or expectations. We can do whatever we want. Once we have proper power again, it’ll be a paradise!”
“You mean aside from the deadly games?”
Ohno shrugged. “They’re not so bad. As long as the five of us work together, I think we’ll make it through any game.”
His friends could only smile at the uncharacteristic level of optimism lacing his tone, though they couldn’t bring themselves to deny his claim. Truthfully, they agreed with him. Their time in this world thus far had proved, if nothing else, that they were undoubtably a formidable team. It wasn’t just in the games either-by combining their intellects and their efforts, they managed to achieve the impossible. They learnt not only to scavenge for food but to hunt for and even grow their own supplies; they had adapted to this harsh and unforgiving world, and succeeded in creating a power source for themselves. They could rely on one another to keep sane despite the deaths they were exposed to every day and still managed to bring happiness to each other’s lives. They had learnt to overcome unimaginable obstacles and always had each other’s backs. Even Yamazaki had commented as such in their last challenge. They mightn’t always make it out unscathed-there would always be scares and close calls, injuries and losses-but as long as they stuck together as five, Nino was confident they could make it through anything.
---
With only a day to spare on their visas, they had sought out a new arena with much haste. They had only been following the arrows for a few minutes through Ueno Park when they suddenly realised exactly where they were heading. The boys looked to one another, their faces saying more than words could ever hope to. But while their tension was running high, they continued onwards regardless. It wasn’t like they had much of a choice anyway, what with their visa date hovering on tomorrow’s horizon. They’d spent so much time recently dedicated to building their new greenhouse and generator that they’d let the days slip away from them; now, on the eve of their expiration, they were forced to play whatever challenge they were unfortunate enough to stumble across that evening.
Making their way through the spacious parklands, they didn’t stop until they stood before the zoo entrance. They took a deep breath and entered, passing through the invisible border of their next arena. They followed the signs to the illuminated information centre. It was there they registered themselves into the game and waited alongside the handful of other players already there. One man looked almost like a rockstar with his leather jacket, shoulder-length hair and fingerless gloves. He introduced himself as Daigo; when he spoke, his expressions were littered with excessive acronyms that only he seemed capable of understanding.
Standing at the forefront of the group was an older couple-Shimura and Yamase. The latter was probably closing in on fifty while the former was in his sixties. Nino couldn’t tell if they were an actual couple or just comrades in the games, but it was obvious from their proximity and the way they would regularly look to one another as the wait continued that it was not their first time meeting. They weren’t the only players with a prior connection either. There was a pair of women standing to their right; they reminded Nino of a comedic duo. One was short and of a stout build, with glasses and a mushroom style haircut, while the other was tall and thin with an androgynous appearance. They were talking amongst themselves. Nino caught bits and pieces of their muffled conversation, including their complimenting the looks of the five boys who’d just arrived and them trying to recall the last time either one of them was at a zoo.
Doing what he could to ignore the other players, Nino crossed his arms and turned to survey their surroundings. He shuffled his weight uncomfortably as he looked to the countless enclosures around them. There was a huge building in the distance-probably an aviary or reptilian house of sorts. The air held a pungent scent and from the quiet echo of bird calls sounding in the wind, he didn’t doubt for a moment that this place wasn’t nearly as empty as the aquarium had been.
“Something tells me your expertise will come in handy for this one,” he said coyly as he nudged Aiba beside him.
His friend gave a bashful smile, looking torn between pleased and worried for the challenge to come. Sho’s gaze scanned the wide paths and nearby enclosures. He clicked his tongue. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say this one’s going to be physical.”
“If it is, I’m guessing that guy won’t make it very far,” Nino muttered under his breath and nodded in the direction of Shimura. He was easily the oldest one there. With his slightly hunched posture, thin-framed glasses and whimsical smile, he reminded Nino of his grandfather.
The registration countdown came to an end, with their phones declaring a total of sixteen players. The ten of them frowned and looked around at each other, confused by the headcount that did not appear to match the number of them there. They weren’t given time to question it, however, as the game was announced.
“Game: Lion’s Den. Difficulty: Nine of Clubs.”
“Another clubs game,” Aiba exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief. “That’s great, we work best together anyway.”
“Nine is quite a high difficulty though,” Jun murmured. His expression was tight with nerves and there was no missing the way his throat twitched as he stared down at his phone screen.
Nino couldn’t be sure if it was the game’s difficulty that was causing the younger so much unease or their current location. If it was the latter, he couldn’t say he blamed him. For as long as his friends knew him, Jun had been a target of an uncanny hatred from just about every creature he ever encountered. They’d witnessed him get bucked by a horse on a school excursion, savagely scratched by a neighbourhood cat, and chased by one particularly persistent cicada. All incidents were unprovoked, with Jun having done little more than be in the same vicinity as the animals. It was something neither he nor his friends truly understood-no matter what the animal was or how he acted around it, every encounter almost always ended in bloodshed.
The roller door of the information centre suddenly opened, revealing a handful of numbered rental locker keys on the otherwise empty desk inside. The players took them and headed over to the row of lockers a few metres away. Only three of the keys they had matched the lockers in front of them. Inside the first locker was an arsenal of construction tools. There were pliers, a hammer, some pieces of wire-all things one might expect to find to help make repairs. The second contained basic first-aid supplies. In the third locker, however, was a handgun. Upon checking it, they found it contained a single lead bullet.
Their phones beeped.
“Rules: players must survive nine rounds against nine beasts. Clear condition: defeat all nine beasts before midnight.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Nino watched the colour drain from both Jun and Aiba’s faces. He felt a pang of sympathy for his friends, understanding their individual reluctance for the game they were about to play. Jun was undoubtably worried about being the one most at risk of injury or worse should the creatures they were about to face share the same level of detest for him as the rest of the animal kingdom did. On the other hand, while Aiba’s expertise gave them an advantage, his innate love for all animals would undeniably prove problematic when it came to actually fighting them.
The lampposts began to flicker without warning. The players looked over their shoulder, a nervous energy sweeping through them as the game began. The harrowing sound of fences breaking followed, as did a chorus of animal calls. It was nearly impossible to make out the individual creatures responsible for the assortment of growls, roars, screeches and squalls that thundered through the zoo. It was so loud, the players couldn’t be sure if it had come from the speakers or was echoing from the enclosures surrounding them.
Arming themselves with what they could from the lockers, the group took up a fighting stance in preparation for their first opponent. Nino kept close to his friends, his grip tight on the hammer he’d taken to protect himself. Having it gave him little confidence but it was better than nothing. The intermittent flashing of the lights and continued noises sounding all around them was unsettling and made it hard to focus. Indistinct shadows appeared on the ground, fooling them into believing something was there when it wasn’t.
A harrowing roar caused the very air around them to tremble. Frightened silence swept over the group. Their faces turned ashen, their blood running cold as fear set in. The ground beneath their feet shook as an unseen monster came barrelling through the darkness towards them. It came to a skidding halt at the edge of the path, each breath a heavy exhale that had its whole muscular chest heaving. The flickering lights caught on the long canines of the great ape while it flexed its knuckles against the pavement. As it locked eyes on the players, its deafening howl nearing drowned out their loud, terrified screams.
“Run!”