.................
Order 10
[November 7th (Sunday) 00:40 pm]
Slowly opening my eyelids, I saw an old incinerator in front of me.
Yumeto took a deep breath and called out to Yuna and Fuka who were nearby.
"It's okay to open your eyes now."
At those words, Yuna and Fuka also opened their closed eyelids.
"Ugh! The light in my eyes hurts!"
Fuka looked up at the blue sky with a dazzling look.
"But it's nice to be able to see with your eyes, At last, I can see everyone's faces.... right?"
A subdued voice escapes from Fuka's mouth.
"Tokisada really died too. I thought that if I opened my eyes, he would be there."
"... Now let's think about the next order."
Yumeto said while clenching his fists.
"The next order should come soon."
"If the order didn't come, then the dead Miku was the king, right? I don't think Tokisada-kun is the king, and Seiichiro and Satoshi aren't too?"
"Maybe the king is not dead. With this order, the king was able to open their eyes and act. That's why they didn't get caught by Seiichiro-kun or Satoshi-kun. And if those guys were kings, they won't fall into my trap, I think."
"So that means there's a king among us who are still alive..."
Fuka exhales and dusts her dust off her plaid skirt.
"The person that Yumeto-kun thinks is the most suspicious is Souta-kun, right?"
"...…Yes. But I don't completely confident for him to be king. I can hardly guess that he is the culprit in TV dramas."
"It would have been nice if there was a great detective in the class, but wouldn't it be more like a manga then?"
"Fuka-san, who do you think is the king?"
Fuuka groaned at Yumeto's question.
"Hmm, Takeshi-kun, who the police marked as a suspect, and Iori-san, who came to school early in the morning. It's true that Takeshi-kun was on good terms with Tomoki-kun, who committed suicide, and Iori-san that feels like she's the king for me."
"Feels like?"
"Yeah. Iori-san got an email from the missing Sousuke-kun and said she was called. I think it's actually the other way around."
"Does that mean Iori-san summoned Sosuke-kun?"
"That's right. For example, meet him somewhere, kill Sousuke-kun, and then steal his cell phone. Then, if you use that mobile phone to text your own mobile phone, you can make the excuse that you were summoned, and you can mislead Sousuke-kun as the king."
"..... Certainly, But .... is there such a possibility?"
Yumeto's eyebrows moved.
"But then there's the problem of where to hide Sousuke-kun's corpse. I don't think the police have found it yet."
"That's easy. If that Iori-san invites you, most men will reach and follow her anywhere, right? All she has to do is called him to a place where it's easy to hide and kill him."
"I don't think Iori-san is the king."
Yuna opened her mouth while blinking her eyelids.
"Iori-san has hardly ever spoken to Tomoki-kun who committed suicide. If the king's goal is Tomoki's revenge, I think that's strange."
"But it's possible that the relationship happened when Yuna wasn't look. Yuna wouldn't even know if they interacted outside of school."
"That's...that's right, but..."
"Who do you think is the king, Yuna-san?"
Yumeto asked Yuna a question.
"I don't know who the king is, but if there's someone I'm interested in, it's Hisashi-kun."
"Hisashi-kun from Narumi-san's group?"
"Yeah. Hisashi-kun, he looks like an idol, but he's the type that doesn't stand out much. He used to be like that, but I feel like he's become less conspicuous since the King's game started."
"Does that bother you?"
"Yeah. I think he's deliberately trying not to stand out. If the king is among us, it's not good to stand out, right? If you find him, the king's game will be over."
"It certainly bothers me that he's acting inconspicuously. If it's a strategy....."
Suddenly, a ringtone rang from Yumeto's pocket. At the same time, Yuna and Fuka's mobile phones and smart phone also play ringtones.
Yumeto stiffened his expression and checked the screen of his smartphone.
[11/7 (sun) 00:46 pm.
Sender: King
Subject: King's Game
Text: This is a King's game that played by students in Class 2A of Akaikeyama High School.
The King's orders are absolute, so please obey them within 24 hours.
*Withdrawal is not permitted.
*Order 10: Find the 10 King's Letters hidden in the school grounds and have everyone read them. Those who disobey orders will be punished.
END]
"... I see. Is that so?"
"That?"
Yuna looked at Yumeto with a puzzled look on her face.
"What do you mean by that?"
"A previous order. The King was the only one who kept their eyes open, while walking around the school and hiding the King's letters."
"Ah... so that's how the order came about."
"Yeah. And then we found out that the King is inside the school. No one can enter the closed school from the outside. In other words, among us.... "
Yumeto's words were interrupted. His eyes reflect the figure of a tall boy approaching here. The boy's shirt is stained red and he has a knife in his hand.
"Oh...Satoshi-kun..."
Yumeto muttered the boy's name.
Satoshi tilted his head slightly and smiled tensely.
"So you were in a place like this, Yumeto."
"Yuna-san, Fuka-san, step back!"
"It's okay. I'm just here to say thank you."
Satoshi raised his hands toward the alarming Yumeto.
"You really hid the key inside the gym. As soon as I opened my eyes I knew where it was. I never thought it was taped to the wall like that."
"If you opened your eyes, did that mean you couldn't get out until then?"
"Yeah. That's why Seiichiro-kun died."
Satoshi brushed his bloody bangs with his thin hand.
"At first, we were looking for the key together, but in the morning, all of a sudden, he hit me with a metal bat. He was really selfish."
"And you killed Seiichiro-kun..."
"Yeah. I was just swinging the knife around, and it seems like it got stuck in his neck. Well, even if he's doing his thing, as long as we keep our eyes closed, I can do anything."
"Satoshi-kun..."
Yumeto felt uncomfortable with Satoshi talking in front of him.
.... Different from the usual Satoshi-kun. He's not irritable, and I think he's full of confidence.
"Hmm? What's wrong? Transfer student."
Satoshi's tone changed.
"Well, with this order, there's no need to fight, let's work together to find the King's letter."
"..... I don't want to fight, but I'll look for a letter with my friends."
"Hmm....you can't help but be wary. But I quite liked you, you know"
Also, Satoshi's tone changes.
"Liked?"
"Yeah. I don't know myself too. So you can rest easy. I don't want to kill you anymore."
Saying that, Satoshi turned his back on Yumeto.
"I'll look for the letter with Souta-kun. Let's do our best so that we can both survive."
Yumeto and the others stare dumbfoundedly at Satoshi's back as he leaves.
...................
"That's strange...."
"You mean Satoshi-kun?"
Fuuka asked Yumeto a question.
"Yeah. It seems like his personality has changed again. I think he used to be an insidious type or an angry type, but just now it felt like different from those two things. I'd say he's the confident type now."
"Indeed, I feel like his way of speaking has changed. Besides, didn't he talk like Seiichiro on the way?"
"He did. Perhaps, by killing Seiichiro-kun, he might have a some change of heart."
Remembering Satoshi's attitude earlier, Yumeto's mouth went dry.
.....As expected, you should be careful with Satoshi-kun. He already said he wouldn't kill me, but if his personality changes, it doesn't matter. There must be some personality that hates me.
"Anyway, let's stay away from Satoshi-kun. Even if he's not the king, I think he's dangerous."
"That sounds better. So, what are we going to do now? This order won't work if we don't cooperate with other groups. It seems like it would be bad if everyone didn't read the King's letter."
"Yes. For now, let's go to Class 2A's classroom. other groups may be there by now."
Yumeto and the others started walking towards the school building.
...................
When I entered the 2nd grade Class A classroom, I found Takeshi, Miki, and Hinako from Hideyuki's group.
Seeing Yumeto and the others, a pale-faced Takeshi approaches them.
"It looks like you survived."
"Instead, Tokisada-kun died."
Yumeto said in a dark voice.
"It looks like Miku-san died over there too."
"Yeah. We were running away together, but Seiichiro killed her. I didn't see her get killed because I had my eyelids closed. I could only hear Miku-san's screams."
"Seiichiro-kun died too. He was killed by Satoshi-kun. No...I might have killed him."
When I told him that Seiichiro and the others were locked up in the gymnasium, Takeshi let out a deep breath.
"Is that so? In a way, you saved us."
"I didn't mean to do that. I just wanted to protect my comrades. And I couldn't forgive Seiichiro-kun for killing Tokisada-kun. That's all."
"That's right. You can't help but to protect you comrades... right?"
Takeshi stared at Miki and Hinako sitting on chairs in the corner of the classroom.
"I became the leader in place of the dead Hideyuki-kun. To tell the truth, Miki-san, the vice-chairman, is better than me, but the chairman's death seems like a shock for her and she's losing her mind for now."
"Miki-san?"
Miki is still sitting on her chair, bowing her head. She didn't even react to Yumeto and the others who entered the classroom.
"Miki-san liked the chairman. It may take some time for her to recover. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, it looks like we won't have to fight for this order, so we're saved this time."
"Yes. Conversely, it's an order that can't be cleared without cooperation. It seems like everyone has to read the King's letter."
Fuka, who was next to Yumeto, opened her mouth.
"Yumeto-kun, why did the king give such an order? Is the order this time not difficult?"
"Is it hidden somewhere so it hard to find?"
"No. I don't think so."
Takeshi handed Yumeto a black envelope.
"This was on your desk."
"On my desk?"
"From the king's point of view, they probably put it on Tomoki's desk, who committed suicide. Until you transferred to this school, it was Tomoki's desk."
Yumeto opened the paper inside the envelope. Red characters are written in the center of the paper.
'You can't find me. That is...'
"That's it? It looks like it's over in the middle."
"Yeah. It seems that there are ten letters from the King, and it must be from this to continues in other letters. Either way, we must collect them all."
"Here's another one."
Suddenly, I heard a female voice behind me. Turning around, Narumi is standing in front of the door. Narumi approached Yumeto with her plump lips still in the shape of a smile.
"So this is the King's letter. It was on the desk in the library where we were hiding."
Yumeto received a black envelope from Narumi. The paper inside has red characters written on it just like before.
'Don't be afraid to die. Even if the body perishes,...'
"This also seems to be on the way."
"If you don't find all of them, you won't understand the meaning."
Narumi poked Yumeto's left breast with her index finger.
"Well, this time it's an order that requires everyone to cooperate, and this time we can get along with Yumeto-kun. Can you show us that letter too?"
"Oh, yeah"
Yumeto gives Narumi the letter he received from Takeshi. Narumi draws her neat brows slightly back into eyebrows and lowers her gaze to the king's letter.
"... I see. 'You can't find me' ... huh? The king seems confident that they won't be caught."
"As you can see from this letter, it seems that the king is inside the school. In other words, anyone other than the missing Sousuke can become king."
"That's true. Sousuke-kun was killed somewhere and was made a suspect. But I guess the king thought it was okay for it to be found out now."
"And the king threated the police so they can't investigate anymore."
"In this case, it means that we, the parties involved, have no choice but to find the king ourselves. Oh....by the way, who was the one who died due to the previous order?"
"Tokisada-kun, Miku-san, and Seiichiro-kun."
When Tokisada's name was mentioned, Yumeto's heart ached.
".... So there are 12 people left, I guess."
"Hmm, Seiichiro-kun is dead too. I wish this would be the end of the king's game, but it's seem impossible. The king won't forgive us for not being able to stop the bullying."
Narumi put thumb nail to her lips and clicked her tongue briefly.
"Narumi-san, where are Yohei-kun and the others?"
"I'm making them look for letters in the clubroom building. I've come to tell you about it. That's why our group will be in charge of the clubroom building."
"Then we'll look for the school building. Where will Takeshi-kun and the others look for?"
"Shall we also looking for a school building? There seems to be a lot of hiding places."
Takeshi answered Yumeto's question.
"Are you going to ask Souta and the others to take care of the playground and the gymnasium? They will probably cooperate with this order. If everyone doesn't read the king's letter, they will be punished."
..................
"Ah, Yumeto-kun, there you are."
Yuna pointed to a black envelope on the shelf in the science room.
"This is a letter from the king, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It's a black envelope, so I think it's not a mistake."
Yumeto opened the shelf and picked up a black envelope. When you open the paper inside, you can see the same red characters as before.
'Let's all start again!'
"Let's all start again... huh? What are we going to start?"
"As expected, it seems that you won't understand unless you collect all 10 letters."
"..."
"Hmm? What's wrong? You look weird."
"No, it's too easy to find..."
Yumeto turned his gaze to the shelf where the letter was.
"If it's hidden in a place like this, it's easy to find it. In the previous playing card order, it was more cleverly hidden."
"It's because of the time, isn't it?"
Fuka waved her short bob hair and walked over to Yumeto.
"It was during the previous order that the King hid the letter. At that time, only the King could open his eyes and act. But if the King is among us, It's impossible to spend so much time on it. Now everyone is in a group somewhere, and yet if you're away from the group for hours, you'll quickly find out who the king is.."
"They don't need to worry about that. The king can give orders as they pleases. If you don't have time, there was no need to hide the letter if time was tight. But the king made the order that seem easy to clear like this."
Yumeto gripped tightly the letter from the king he was holding.
...Many of the orders up until now have been orders that made us fight each other. But this time the order is different. The king's purpose is...
"Anyway, let's find all the King's letters, and maybe we'll know something."
Yumeto and the others continued searching for the king's letter.
..................