At some point before Jacob's arrival in this world.
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Suddenly, the camera that had been trying to focus worked, and it immediately honed in on the feet of what seemed to be two students.
"It worked!"
"What?"
"Is this phone yours, Asahi?" one of the girls asked.
"Nah, it's the one I found," Asahi replied as she tried to focus the camera.
The surroundings were silent, devoid of any humans nearby. One of the girls exclaimed as if they had been attempting to record repeatedly but without success, "Are you recording?"
"Yes!" Asahi answered, pointing, "I think the camera is working."
It was then that the two of them started to walk, seeking some relief in their desperate situation. The surroundings were silent, with no cars on the road.
"Let's see... The city is empty."
"Everyone disappeared from Tokyo!"
Trying to document what was happening to them, Asahi said, "We're in Harajuku, but there's no one here."
"Yes," her friend replied, not even knowing how to react.
These two girls were the same ones at the Beach; one was the one who had somehow taken her own life, and the other seemed to be her friend.
...
The recording cut off, and the two of them appeared in another part of the city. Several hours had passed since they had started recording.
"Everyone disappeared, and it's been five days already," Asahi said, looking haggard.
Her friend approached from a distance and asked, "Are you making another video? What are you going to do with it?"
"Leaving a record!"
"And for what?"
"Maybe someone might see it..." Asahi stopped talking to her friend and continued speaking to the camera: "After that, we met a person. Then we were taken to that place, and now we work there."
After a cut, the recording returned to the entrance of Minami-Aoyama Station. Both of them descended into the dark place as if they feared nothing.
"Momoka, I can't see anything!" Asahi said in a slightly scared tone.
"Momoka!"
"Momoka!"
...
"What's wrong, Ann?" Jacob asked this question as if he already knew the answer, so he waited calmly for her response.
"The fingerprints indicate she stabbed herself, but this is absurd. Why would she commit suicide?" Ann muttered, still not fully understanding what was happening.
"Because she's one of the game administrators. Maybe she had no way out." Jacob lifted the girl's lifeless body from the ground, looked at everyone, and said, "Wake up. This isn't a world where we indulge our carnal desires or hide. This is a world that will seek to kill us all."
"As this is the final game, we'll most likely enter the next phase of the games, and that's when we'll have no choice but to rely on ourselves, the companions by our side, and win the games that are to come."
Jacob's final words left everyone frozen: "And remember, we are not the enemy. As long as we win the games, we can consider ourselves free and, hopefully, return to our world."
This is the first time Jacob's words hold a different meaning, the only occasion when he openly expresses a desire to return to his world after having concealed these thoughts in something he would never dare to reveal in this place.
Jacob's actions prevented the Beach from becoming a place of death and destruction, where players would only seek to kill each other. He had understood the game from the beginning and wasn't deceived by the purpose of the Ten of Hearts, which was to cause chaos on the Beach. Everyone had realized that without his intervention, dozens would have died senselessly.
Beep-beep! Beep-beep!
"[Ten minutes left!]"
Behind Jacob, everyone walked slowly, watching as the girl in his arms was revealed to be the true witch.
"An easy game..." These were Jacob's last words before he threw Momako's body into the flames.
Usagi, who had remained silent beside Jacob, took out her cell phone, and seconds later, it rang.
"[The game is over, congratulations!]"
But this was the first time no one celebrated or felt happy. They had fully grasped the world they were in. In this world, there's no place where everyone can be safe.
The flames suddenly began to spread across the Beach, burning down buildings, completely destroying the palace everyone loved and enjoyed day after day.
Many took different paths; Jacob did the same with those who wanted to follow him, and among them were most of Aguni's men.
"Take the cars and let's go," Jacob said as he looked at Aguni in the distance and shouted, "Are you coming or staying, Aguni?"
However, Aguni remained still, looking at those who chose to follow him, and said, "See you in the center of Tokyo, where it all began."
Beside him, Kurabe had taken the Ten of Hearts card, along with the entire deck, just to give them a certain relief.
Shuntaro Chishiya looked at the cards in Kurabe's hands and said, "Now I really think gathering those cards is pointless... But even so, we have all the cards, and I still wonder what the administrators want us to see."
"Do you think he knows?" Kuina pointed to Jacob in the distance.
"He might know, but even if he does, it might not be useful," Chishiya shook his head.
Beside Jacob, Usagi was watching the video on Asahi's cell phone. In the car, Airisu, Kurabe, and Ann were together. The others followed behind, all heading toward where Jacob had stored his car.
"We'll take a detour. We need to get our weapons and supplies to prepare," Jacob's smile was subtle. Everything had turned out better than he had thought.
Not only did he gain followers, but he also had in his possession cards that might not hold much value but could serve him in some way.