After finishing the rules, Ushiuma ignored Kanzaki Rei entirely, dropped flat on the floor, and promptly began snoring.
Rei looked around the break room. There was nothing—nothing at all—to pass the time.
So he picked up the phone.
An old-fashioned model. No internet. No apps. The only built-in game was Snake.
"Why is it Snake…?"
Rei stared at the long serpent formed from black-and-white pixels and fell into thought.
A single delivery rider already had enough brute strength to kill him instantly. Add to that the pile of bizarre rules, and it was obvious this instance leaned far more toward puzzle-solving than combat.
He wasn't particularly fond of deduction games, but even he knew one basic truth:In a puzzle game, nothing exists without purpose.
How do you find out what a game is for?
You play it.
He pressed confirm.
The game began.
A black pixel snake chased randomly appearing circular pixels across the screen. Each one it ate added a segment to its body.
At the bottom of the screen, the left side showed the score, while the right displayed a timer bar.
At fixed intervals, a large flashing pixel would appear. When it did, the timer bar began to shrink.
A normal pixel was worth 5 points.A large pixel could be worth up to 25 points, with its value decreasing as the timer drained.
Once the score reached a certain cap, a square pixel appeared.
Guide the snake's head into that square, and you advanced to the next stage.
Simple rules. The strategy was equally simple:Eat the large pixels as fast as possible to keep the snake short.
Of course, there was risk.
Once the snake grew longer, it was easy to fixate on the big points and slam headfirst into your own tail.
Even so, it was still just a mini-game. Rei quickly reached Stage 10.
Stage 10 marked a brutal spike in difficulty.
The snake moved far faster than before, and the screen filled with obstacles.
Just as Rei was fully focused on chasing a large pixel, he suddenly felt a hot breath against his ear.
He paused the game and turned his head.
Ushiuma's massive head loomed right beside him.
"So," Ushiuma said, wearing an expression of complete expectation, "you played it anyway."
"…Is this game forbidden?" Rei asked.
"Doesn't matter," Ushiuma replied, shaking its head."You humans can't resist games anyway."
Then it added flatly,"Once you start, don't stop. And you're not allowed to lose."
"…I have to clear it?"
"After you reach Stage 20, you're allowed to exit," Ushiuma said."But if you ever open the game again, you must clear it to the end."
It paused.
"By the way, the highest record I've seen is Stage 24."
Rei glanced at the top of the screen.
10 / 25
"How many people kept playing?" he asked.
Ushiuma didn't answer.
It only looked toward the wall—at the dense rows of lockers pressed together.
Each one of them had once belonged to more than one owner.
"…Alright."
Rei shrugged and resumed the game.
Ushiuma didn't go back to sleep. It stood beside him, watching.
One stage.Two stages.Three.
Rei changed tactics, slowed down, played it safe.
Little by little, he reached Stage 20.
At Stage 20, the difficulty exploded again.
The snake now moved more than twice as fast as in Stage 1.Obstacle placement became viciously precise.Large pixels spawned erratically, making high-value farming nearly impossible.
Worst of all—
The screen began spawning pixel clusters covered in spikes.
Rei didn't know what they were, but they looked very much like mines.
By the time he barely cleared the stage, he was drenched in sweat.
"Impressive," Ushiuma said approvingly."No wonder your massages are so good."
If Ushiuma tried Snake itself, it probably wouldn't even clear Stage 1.
Thankfully, the curse of games was meant for humans. Ox-things like it were exempt.
"So," Rei asked, wiping his sweat away,"what's the reward for clearing it?"
"No idea," Ushiuma replied."Some say it's a huge cash bonus. Others say it's a promotion."
"And some say," it added quietly,"it's a ticket."
"A ticket?"
"Yes. A ticket to leave the Bloody Restaurant.To leave this city."
For the first time, longing crept into Ushiuma's voice.
Rei silently exited the game.
He was curious—but not curious enough to get himself killed.
After all, he wasn't a cat.
Suddenly, Ushiuma stood upright.
"Work's here."
Rei looked toward the front door.
The wooden panel at the bottom slowly pushed open.
A skeletal hand reached inside, placed a slip of paper on the floor, and vanished instantly.
Ushiuma strolled over, glanced at it, then lifted its chin.
"You're lucky, human."
It gestured for Rei to pick it up.
Rei did.
Order: One Mutant-Eyed Salmon Head PizzaAddress: Merlin Residences, Building 3, Room 503Time Limit: One hour
"Why am I lucky?" Rei asked.
"You'll find out later," Ushiuma said impatiently."Now go. Deliver your first order."
Under its supervision, Rei put on his uniform, grabbed the phone and the map.
The moment he stepped out of the break room, the wooden door closed behind him—silently.
A chill crept up the back of his neck.That vague sense of danger made his skin crawl.
"Cornered from both sides," Rei thought bitterly.
He turned toward the delivery cart.
A sealed package rested on top.
Opening it, he found a square cardboard box.On the lid bloomed a blood-red iris.
Rei hesitated for several seconds—
Then opened it.
His scalp went numb.
More than a dozen salmon heads, each bearing a different number of eyes, were crammed together atop a nine-inch pizza base.
Black, wet eyeballs stared straight at him.
They looked alive.
Their gaze was impossibly deep—so deep it felt as though his soul were being dragged into it.
SMACK!
Rei slapped himself hard across the face.
The pain snapped him back.
When he looked again, the fish heads' eyes were dull, pale—dead.
The strange pull vanished, replaced by overwhelming nausea.
Name: Mutant-Eyed Salmon Head PizzaType: ItemQuality: ExcellentEffect: Temporarily increases the player's Perception. Low chance to gain the "Spirit Vision" state. Permanently reduces Sanity.Notes: When you look up at the stars, what you see may not be heaven— it may be hell.Can be taken out of the instance: Yes
An item.
And one that could be taken out of the instance.
Rei stared at the system prompt, a dangerous idea forming in his mind.
But now wasn't the time.
He slammed the lid shut, cutting off those faint, lingering gazes.
"Merlin Residences…"
He checked the map.
Roughly six kilometers from the Bloody Restaurant.
Before, that distance was nothing. He could easily run a half-marathon.
Now?
It was a problem.
Even if he could endure it, his lungs couldn't.
"—khh—"
Rei grabbed his throat.
It felt as though a lump of lead were lodged inside.
He'd been forcing himself to endure the discomfort all this time—just to avoid showing weakness in front of Ushiuma.
He'd already lost the contest of flesh.
But the contest of will—
That had only just begun.