week 0 - training facility

[murdergame]

blood match week zero



week zero

When you first wake up in your room, an announcement will play on the television.

You’ll be spending your first week before the game officially starts at a vast facility that has been completely submerged underwater. This facility consists of a central hub surrounded by four smaller spherical buildings. You can get to each subsection by either taking a shuttle or walking across a long glass tunnel.

Setting
Competitors
Private Conversations

Comments

[onewith]

Umm... it doesn't really work that way...

[She says, as if she knows.]

[chronic]

Why not?

[ He looks sad. ]

[onewith]

Most ghosts are very, very angry... [Or very, very afraid. Or both.] Too angry for pranks like that.

[chronic]

You think? [ He considers it. Mostly he had felt bored as a ghost. Or spirit, or whatever he'd been. But he'd also been pretty pissed off most of the time, so maybe that makes sense. ] Have you ever met a ghost?

[onewith]

Mm.

[She nods, then brings one finger up to her lips.]

That's a secret, though... Don't tell the others.

[chronic]

Haha, really? That's super cool. I'd be telling everyone if I were you.

[ Still, he nods. ] But I'll keep it a secret.

[onewith]

It... isn't a pleasant story.

[To say the least.] Thank you, though... I can tell you a little more about it, if you agree to only use that knife on food while we're underwater.

[chronic]

Hmmmm.

[ He looks at it, then puts it down. ] Okay. Deal.

I'm Kenny, by the way.

[onewith]

[Success! Mayu smiles, and it would be a lie to say she didn't look sort of relieved.]

My name is Mayu. Have you eaten yet, Kenny?

[chronic]

Well, no. I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat before I thought maybe I should just flood the place.

[onewith]

Pick out some food that you like, and while you're eating I'll tell you the story.

[chronic]

Okay. [ And then, because he is a gentleman and she is a nice young lady: ] Do you want me to get you anything?

[onewith]

[A nice lady who will laugh like a maniac when he ends up dead, probably... sorry, Kenny.]

Maybe some water... I'm not very hungry. Thank you.

[chronic]

[ He has always had terrible luck with girls.

He gets up. When he returns, it's with water for her and cake for him. A very healthy dinner. ]

Alright, I'm ready.

[onewith]

[The healthiest. Not that she can blame him; she probably would have done the exact same thing at his age. She takes a sip of her water before she begins.]

There is a legend that many years ago, there was a village in the Minakami region of Japan, where I grew up. People from that area call it the Lost Village... I heard about it a long time ago. They say that after a terrible tragedy, the village was swallowed up by the darkness, and now even if you follow old maps you'll never be able to find it.

Do you think that something like that could really happen, Kenny?

[chronic]

Well.. yeah. [ There's a lot of things he believes in. This, so far, doesn't ask him to stretch his beliefs too much. ] I guess. I mean, it sounds like the beginning of a folk tale.

[onewith]

A folk tale... [Mayu closes her eyes for a moment or two, and nods.] That isn't... too far off.

But I'm glad you believe in it. Because, that village really exists. Sometimes, people would go missing in that area... they would never be seen alive again, and their bodies would never be found. People who had heard the legend began to say that they had been spirited away and became trapped in that village.

They were right...

[chronic]

[ He believes her; after all, he's been brought into unidentifiable parts of reality, as well. But it's not quite the same as what she's saying, which he's never heard of before. ]

...How do you know they were right?

[onewith]

My sister and I... we were lost there. The people who brought me here took me from that village. [Her expression is almost sad - but at the same time, it also looks like she might smile.] They rescued me, only to put me in a place like this, and they left my sister behind... that's not very fair, is it?

[Her grip on her glass of water is tight and viselike.]

It's not very fair at all.

[chronic]

...No... That doesn't sound fair.

[ That sounds... impossibly cruel. He's not sure what's worse: having to play a death game with your sibling, or having to leave them behind and play it on your own. ]

But... Who's it unfair for...? Would you want to have her here?

[onewith]

We promised... we made a promise that we would always be together. [Mayu sighs and tilts her head to one side.] I don't want her to be alone in that village... it's full of the spirits of the villagers who were massacred when they were swallowed by the darkness.

And I don't want to be alone here, without her... It's frightening. ["Frightening," she says, like she doesn't just plan to emulate the more vengeful spirits from All Gods' Village to get out of here.] To think that they've done this... not just to me, but to so many more people. It's so scary...

[chronic]

Oh.

[ He gets it. He wants to see his own sister again, too. He'd do just about anything to make sure she wasn't alone. ]

...So... if you want to see her again, you'll have to win. Right?

[onewith]

To win something like this...

[Her hand comes to rest over her chest and she shrugs.]

To sacrifice so many people to see my sister again... I don't know. [She's not going to straight-up tell a kid that shes' going to kill him.] Maybe, if I wait just a little longer... maybe they aren't done. Maybe they'll bring her here, too. And we can be together again...

But everyone wants that. You must have someone you want to see too...

[chronic]

Haha. Me?

It doesn't matter. [ He picks at his plate of cake. ] I'll outlive all of you no matter what happens.

[onewith]

What... do you mean by that?