"VROOOM!"
The thick, heavy saw blade began to move.
"Whirrr—whirrr... Whirrrrrrrrrrr!"
After a brief acceleration, the saw blade overcame the friction from the caked-on matter and began to spin wildly. In the process, many scattered bits of flesh and clots were flung off the blade. Most of it splattered onto the floor, but a small portion hit the two of them.
"What is this stuff... Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey..." the girl couldn't help but cry out in alarm.
But before she could even feel disgusted by the filthy gore, the pressure of death began to descend.
The severely rusted mechanical arm started to lower.
The chainsaw edged toward their heads!
Watching the wildly spinning saw blade, now clear of flesh, get closer and closer, Nijika curled into a ball like a stressed kitten, trembling uncontrollably. Just looking at the approaching chainsaw sent intense phantom pains through her body, as if she could already experience what it would feel like to be sawn in half.
Pain.
It hurts so much!
She couldn't bear to look anymore.
She felt that if she kept watching, she might not be able to stop herself from pressing the button to escape this terrifying ordeal...
So, with what little strength she had left, she turned her head away to look at the person beside her, at Fumiya Jin.
And then...
She was astonished to find Fumiya Jin leaning back relaxedly against the chair. Except for the finger hooked with hers, the rest of his body was completely at ease. He had his head tilted back, calmly watching the gradually approaching saw blade, his expression composed and serene. It was as if the thing above his head wasn't a chainsaw that could kill him, but a ridiculous plastic toy.
"?"
Nijika was stunned.
Is he really not scared at all?
He just looks like a high schooler around my age... but he's way too calm, hey!
And also...
He's not even looking at me?
If I suddenly pressed the button, he might not even notice. He probably wouldn't even have a chance to take me down with him, you know?
How could he be so daring!
Does he trust me that much? Trust a... stranger? To the point of entrusting his life to such a flimsy, laughable trust?
Isn't he being a bit too naive! A boy like this would probably get cheated out of his entire fortune by a wicked woman, his body left battered and bruised...
Nijika Ijichi truly found it hard to understand. But she had to admit, when she was the object of that trust... as the beneficiary, she couldn't bring herself to hate it.
This guy is just too naive, too foolish.
So dumb he's almost... cute.
"As long as you promise, I'll believe you." — The words spoken just half a minute ago replayed in her mind.
"Trusting someone so easily is too reckless..." Nijika bit her lip, grumbling to herself.
But as she listened to the roaring sound above getting closer, she subconsciously hooked his little finger even tighter.
...
However, what Nijika didn't know was that Fumiya Jin wasn't facing the chainsaw at all. While he did glance at the chainsaw, he was mainly looking at the countdown timer above his head.
The chainsaw was descending at a steady pace. If it were really going to kill him, at this rate, he had twenty seconds left to live at most. But the countdown timer above clearly showed over two hundred seconds remaining, with no sign of jumping ahead. It was rock-solid.
So what was there to be afraid of?
A simple fear of the chainsaw?
What a joke.
He was someone who had spent nearly a week in a hellish situation where he thought he was going to die, tortured to the brink of insanity. No matter how ferocious or terrifying a tangible threat was, it couldn't compare to the self-inflicted terror of a person facing their death as it approached step by step, without any clue as to why.
So right now...
Just a stupid chainsaw. Give me a break.
...
"Bzzzz... bzzz... bz... bz."
It felt like only a few seconds.
And yet, it felt like centuries had passed.
The saw blade's rotation slowed down more and more, until it stopped. Then the mechanical arm jerked powerfully, pulling the entire chainsaw and the arm back up into the ceiling.
"Click—"
The iron shackles on the armrests of both chairs opened in an instant.
"Thump..."
The girl, who had been frightened limp like a marshmallow, instantly slid off the chair and fell into the pool of blood. Their interlocked fingers were only pulled apart at this moment.
"Urgh..." she let out a subconscious cry, but her voice was already hoarse.
When the chainsaw had been at its closest, less than 10 centimeters from the top of her head, she had finally lost her nerve and screamed her lungs out like she was on a roller coaster... now her vocal cords throbbed with a dull pain.
But...
At least...
"We survived?"
She gasped for air in short, rapid breaths, still unable to fully process it.
Just then, a sound came from her side.
Fumiya Jin stood up from his chair.
And then...
A hand, stained with a little blood but still largely clean and slender, was extended to the girl.
Nijika froze for a moment, then slowly lifted her head.
Fumiya Jin was smiling. "Looks like I didn't trust the wrong person."
Nijika bit her lip.
Suddenly, she found the calm smile on his face to be a little... annoying.
"Are you an idiot or what?!"
She couldn't help but curse at him.
And then...
Pouting, she used her remaining strength to lift her grimy little hand, intending to grab his. But she quickly realized her hand was covered in blood.
She had no choice but to wipe it on a still-clean spot on her skirt. Only then did she take his hand, letting him help her to her feet...
...
...
"Rumble—"
A thick, unusual sliding iron door slowly opened.
Fumiya Jin looked out... and saw a long, narrow corridor whose end disappeared into darkness. White mist swirled in the air, blurring the light from the yellow bulbs that were spaced every two or three meters along the corridor's ceiling.
Both sides of this extremely long corridor were lined with large sliding iron doors just like this one. A quick glance revealed at least thirty or forty of them...
Could it be that trials were underway in all of them?
"BOOM—" A loud noise suddenly came from directly across the way.
The sliding iron door opposite them slowly opened.
Fumiya Jin's heart tightened.
Although he and the girl had just escaped one disaster, the countdown timer still ticking down above their heads was hardly reassuring. This was why, after comforting the girl for a few moments, he had rushed to open the door to find a way out.
And now, seeing the opposite door open, Fumiya Jin immediately shouted "Stay alert!" to Nijika behind him, then stared warily ahead...
"BOOM—"
The door opened completely.
The mist thickened slightly, then dispersed to the sides.
Inside the doorway stood an exquisite girl, half-covered in blood, her eyes cold. She had long, dark brown hair that reached her waist, the strands at her temples stained with blood. A few locks from the side were combed back and tied into a small ponytail.
Despite her disheveled state, with blood even seeming to seep from her forehead, the beauty radiating from the girl's delicate features and figure, as well as her icy-glamorous aura, was not diminished in the slightest. Instead, it gave off the stunning impression of a bloodthirsty goddess.
The girl's face was completely unfamiliar to Fumiya Jin; he was sure he had never seen her before.
But when he saw the school uniform she was wearing... he was shocked.
Shuchiin Academy?
She goes to the same school as me?
So she's also a... player?
Fumiya Jin suddenly realized something, and his gaze shot through the gap under her arm, toward the back of the room behind her...
He saw a blurry figure lying motionless in a pool of blood.
"Bzzzt—"
[Game over. Congratulations on becoming an official player. Commencing settlement.]
His vision suddenly went black.
His consciousness instantly blurred.
In the final moment, he saw the girl look toward him.
A glint of danger flashed in her sharp, gem-like eyes...
_____
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