Stepping outside into the fading light, Tang-Ji was almost blown away by the arctic breeze. Trembling in the freezing cold, she felt as if an intruder was persistently trying to claim its territory on her exposed skin. Besides a half-torn winter coat she had on, she wore only a single layer of clothing to protect herself from the cold, nor did her stockings help against the icy grip on her leg. She could feel her fingers slowly going numb, and she fumbled them clumsily as she sought refuge within the folds of her damaged coat, desperately trying to preserve whatever warmth lingered beneath.
In the wake of the recently resolved battle, Kazami was now faced with another unexpected turmoil.
Standing face-to-face with Ukiyo, his eyes searched for answers. "Mai, why didn't you tell us sooner? Instead, you decided to fool us, pretending to be a programmed machine. What are your true intentions here?" He asked with a mix of confusion and frustration in his tone.
Ukiyo, or rather, Mai, met his gaze with a solemn expression. "Maybe we're all cold machines that are stuffed in human skin." She noticed his glares intensified. "Sure, I'll be your marionette for the sake of all the other puppets on TV." She murmured with a small sinister smile perking at her lips.
"I had my reasons. The world outside the game is not as forgiving as you might think. I'm a Japanese idol, and my association with V.I.R.M. brings its own set of challenges. I couldn't risk revealing my identity," she explained.
Kazami frowned; his skepticism was becoming apparent. "But why play the game in the first place? And why hide your true self from us? You must have known about this, this plan to trap hundreds upon hundreds of players within this death game; why didn't you try to stop them? Or is it because you're working with them?"
Mai sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. "I wanted to experience the game like everyone else, free from the expectations that come with being a celebrity. I yearned for a taste of a normal life, even if only in a virtual world. As for hiding my identity, it was a way to protect myself from the potential backlash and unwanted attention. And if you're wondering if I knew that we would all be stuck in a death game, then my answer would be that I didn't. All I was asked to do was promote the game as an idol. I was asked by the developers to take on the role of an NPC travelling guide and a singer to help new players get a better feel for the game." She paused. "Or so I was told."
Kazami's expression softened. "So, I presume your goal is the same as ours—to clear the game?"
Mai nodded. "Yes, Kirizkuuk. In this virtual facade, we're all players with the same objective, are we not?"
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As Tang-Ji leant against the frigid outer wall of the mansion, she began tracing her finger along the vapours of her frosty breath. The sensation of the ice-cold surface was slowly beginning to seep through the fabric of her clothes, sending a shiver through her whole body.
"Aaaaa–Achoo!" She sneezed violently against the unforgiving wall. 'Kazami and Ukiyo haven't come out yet; I wonder what's taking them so long,' she thought to herself. She had been waiting painstakingly in denial, truly believing that one of the few individuals who really understood her couldn't be deceiving her. However, she was also somewhat glad that Ukiyo was a real person.
Despite her winter coat, it was still freezing outside; she could tell that a storm had recently passed as the mansion's gate and trees were coated with thick powdery snow, some of which turned into grey slush from where footsteps had been imprinted.
'Did someone come through the gate?' She wondered, feeling a little light-headed from the cold. Closing her eyes momentarily, she felt as if the cold was embracing her with anger, like a fleeting whisper of winter's icy grip, wailing against her spine. As soon as she opened her eyes, she was taken back to the first flakes falling.
'I wish to be held in a warm embrace.'
Tang-Ji didn't have an exact measurement of time, but from her guess, it was probably well past midnight. She was in her house on the top floor, looking down through the window of her room. The sky was ink black, and the only light was coming from the distant moon and the lamp hanging on the metal gates. Their ghostly white rays illuminated the bits of snow falling; it was such a serene scene that it almost seemed 'beautiful,' despite foreshadowing the violent storm that was soon to come. "So much snow..." She huffed, releasing more white vapour. "It's like it's Christmas…"
Tang-Ji blinked a few times, not quite lucid yet, causing a few snowflakes to fall off her eyelashes like dust. The snow wasn't heavy yet; she might be able to wait it out for the night as just another flurry. However, she knew staying would mean risking everyone's life, so she decided to swallow her exhaustion and continue on.
Cocooned in the half-broken waterproof tarp that was her only defence against the weather, she imagined it would be alright to journey, even if she was caught outside in another snowstorm. She was sure that as long as everyone stuck together, they would be able to overcome any obstacles that blocked their path. The thought caused a weak smile to creep onto her face, and she was filled with relief.
Slowly, she slumped down into the pit of snow, giving in to the blistering pain in her legs. With her hand now resting on the snow's cold yet soft surface, her pupils began dilating as she slowly entered a trance.
Moments later, she found herself gently rolling over onto her side and tucking her head further inside the layers of warmth. She tried to fall asleep again.
Cold. That was her first impression when she woke up once more, later in the night. It was snowing harder now, the wind roaring furiously as it beat against the trees.
As she jolted herself awake, memories trudged about in her mind—slow, languorous, and incoherent.
"Cold… so cold," she mumbled.
She wasn't sure what she was seeing anymore. Was it the night sky, or was it just her vision growing dark? It didn't really matter, did it? Everything was just the same, the same… everything…
"Cold. Dark and cold. Dark."
Her eyelids drifted closed, and all she could see was darkness, her last lucid memory being a soft thud ringing against her ear. She groaned weakly, feeling as if she were lying on a very cold pillow, as her consciousness slowly faded away.
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Tang-Ji's eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the dim light of the small shack. The throbbing ache in her head was accompanied by a damp sensation on her forehead, causing her to search around blindly for something to dry herself with. Confusion clouded her mind as she tried to piece together her surroundings. The biting cold of the snow didn't seem to be present, and then the realisation slowly sank in—she was no longer out in the storm. However, she felt as if her body was completely drenched, and the clothes she was wearing were completely soaked from the snow.
Finally adjusted to the lack of light, Tang-Ji looked around to see that the shack was tightly packed with makeshift furniture. Pushing herself up from where she lay, Tang-Ji realised that the surface was not hard, but rather that it was surprisingly plush and comfortable. It was a bed—not a clean bed, but a dingy one—that simply did the job. Across from her, a small wooden table held a flickering oil lamp that barely shone through the darkness. A few worn-out blankets were strewn across the floor, and the air carried the faint scent of burning wood from a feeble campfire struggling to stay alive in the corner.
As Tang-Ji's gaze roamed the room, she noticed a figure nearby. Her vision was still hazy, but as he turned, she recognised him—Kazami. Questions swirled in her mind. Why was he here? How did she end up in this shack? The last thing she remembered was the freezing cold and the relentless snowstorm.
Struggling to sit up, Tang-Ji swung her legs off the makeshift bed, only to be met with an eerie discovery. She could see through her own body, like a translucent ghost. Shock crept onto her face as she turned to look back at the bed, where her physical form lay motionless as if her soul were separate from her body.
"Huh?" she gasped, stumbling backwards. The realisation hit her like a train. She was no longer in her own body. Confusion and fear filled her eyes as she tried to make sense of the inexplicable situation.
'What happened to me?' She tried touching her own body; however, her fingers slipped right through her arm, no longer able to feel the smooth, warm sensation of human skin.
"Hey Kazami, what's going on? Where is Ukiyo?" She asked. Kazami turned back towards her, his gaze empty and direct, like he wasn't looking at her but through her. Tang-Ji attempted to call out again, but her voice fell on deaf ears. She waved her hands in front of her face, watching them pass through each other.
She continued to yell out Kazami's name, but to no avail, as Kazami continued to be unresponsive to her voice. All she could do was observe his interactions with her body, still laid out on the bed.
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"Hey… Fu Hua, you should undress." Kazami called. "You might think it's embarrassing, but if you stay like that, your fever will get worse." Kazami began to make his way to 'Tang-Ji's' still body, walking straight through her ethereal form.
'Fu Hua?' Tang-Ji thought to herself. 'Who is this person? Why does she look like me?'
"Alright." Tang-Ji's body groaned softly, her once-still form now beginning to move.
She meekly took off her soaked jacket and reached for the clasp of her skirt. Kazami swiftly turned his gaze away before she noticed his wandering eyes.
When she tried to step out of her skirt, Hua's body tumbled from the bed. With her body in such poor shape for the first time in her life, Hua didn't know how weak she had become, now lacking the strength left to remove her clothes on her own. Kazami, who caught her on his chest before she hit the floor, also seemed to understand that.
Kazami could feel Hua's body heat through her clothes. He clicked his tongue; her temperature had grown higher since the last time. Hua's condition was worsening by the second. He didn't want her to do anything unreasonable—any more than this, and she might die. Kazami knew what he had to do and gulped.
"Fu Hua," he said nervously. "Those clothes—should I help you out of them?"
Tang-Ji's jaw fell open as she watched the two huddle on the floor. She would have hit him for making such a boorish suggestion, if she could, that is.
Hua blushed heavily, her sapphire eyes widening from embarrassment. Even though she was embarrassed by the idea of showing her skin directly to Kazami, she knew that she couldn't undress on her own.
"Sure… please do." She nodded reluctantly, avoiding eye contact with Kazami. Kazami himself was just as embarrassed, but he forced himself to make the suggestion. He was earnestly worried about Hua, and it wasn't like Hua didn't understand that. That was why she decided to entrust her body to Kazami.
Hua set aside her own concern, suppressing her own embarrassment, and accepted his suggestion. In this situation, it was out of the question for Kazami to be strangely conscious of the situation and stir up her own shame. Right now, he was the only one who could help Hua. For the sake of her pride, he'd strip her clothes off quickly and professionally. He had to focus; having any guilty thoughts was forbidden in this moment.
Kazami steeled his resolve and reached for Hua's stockings. He started by gently pulling down the fabric that clung to her skin. 'Having those glued to her skin like that is probably unpleasant,' Kazami thought as he began to unfasten Fu Hua's garter belt that the stockings were attached to, putting a finger into the space between one stocking and Hua's thigh, brushing gently against her leg, and continuing to roll the stocking down.
Witnessing what Kazami was doing to 'her' body, Tang-Ji was mortified. She could see the strain in Kazami's eyes as he tried his best to avoid eye contact with any off-limits areas. 'Well, I guess he is a man…' Tang-Ji thought as she cringed.
Kazami rolled down more of the damp black cloth, revealing more of Hua's clear, unblemished legs. As much as he tried not to, the sight of Hua's slender, supple legs caused some bad thoughts to form within Kazami's mind. He swallowed the thought and tried to continue in earnest, finally stripping off one leg.
Continuing his work, both of Hua's legs had been made bare, their entirety exposed to his eyes. The sight was mesmerising, and Kazami burned the image of her unblemished, beautiful legs into his brain. Kazami wiped his face as he tried to keep his composure. 'How the hell am I meant to be professional in a situation like this? I can already feel a 'disturbance'. Kazami thought nervously. His heart pounded so heavily just from removing Hua's stockings that he thought it might just explode from his chest.
As he unzipped her skirt, Kazami made sure that his hands didn't wander, lest he receive the full extent of Hua's fury. He glanced up at Hua briefly to make sure that he was in the clear before he pulled off her skirt, only to see her flushed, bright red face. Immediately he looked back down, his face now as flushed as hers from an overwhelming desire to comfort this adorable creature. In one swift, gentle motion, he removed her skirt and forced his unclean intrusive thoughts away, his eyes now locked squarely at the ceiling.
Kazami continued cautiously, trying his best to avoid eye contact with her. He elevated his body and took the button of Hua's shirt in one hand. Starting from the bottom of her neck, he undid her buttons one by one without touching her skin. It was hard to grasp the buttons of her shirt, as they had become so damp from soaking up all the snow and now clung tightly to the plump shape of Hua's chest. Forced into such a delicate situation, Kazami had to avoid rushing or being rough in any way.
Finally unfastening the last button, Kazami took her shirt's collar in his hands and unwrapped the front of her top smoothly, flinging cold water across the room. He moved to her left arm and pulled off the damp fabric, exposing Hua's shoulder as if pulling away a veil that concealed her skin.
As he moved onto the next arm, Hua's breathing pattern changed subtly, her voice now letting out quiet, but not quite silent, whimpers as Kazami continued undressing her. Peeling off the rest of the wet shirt, the light now exposed her lace brassiere, which held her breasts tightly. Kazami blushed harder at the young woman's softness as her white belly squirmed and contracted alluringly with each breath. Kazami wished he could bash his head against a wall, just so the impure thoughts would go away, so that he could get away from the risqué thoughts he was having about his friend.
Now completely exposed, save for her underwear, Hua's entire body glistened lightly from the moisture left behind from the snow and cold sweat. His work was done, now all Kazami had to do was find a way to preserve her body heat or cover her with some form of blanket.
But before he could do anything, Hua reached for Kazami's sleeve and pulled it softly. "Hey, Kazami… please undo my bra." Kazami's eyes went wide, and his face was now glowing red. "It's really hard to breathe... Just unfasten the hook." She muttered meekly with rough breaths. Even though her face was turned away from his, he could tell that she was just as embarrassed as he was. Kazami observed how Hua's chest rose and fell heavily. It was probably true that the brassiere that held her chest down could be painful for her, especially in this weakened state.
Kazami swallowed. "D-do you really want me to do that?" He asked nervously.
"Yeah, it's fine... If it's you, then I don't mind." She replied. She was in pain, and he couldn't reply with reluctance.
"Y-Yeah… got it. Leave it to me." He said, feigning as much calm as possible.
Slowly and gently, he inserted his finger underneath the hook and unfastened it with a snap. In an instant, the bra fell off, and Hua's breasts, which had been held back, sprang out softly before Kazami, with his eyes closed, swiftly wrapped a towel around her.
"Now, get under the blanket quickly," he said, his eyes still tightly shut.
"Sorry… Kazami. For troubling you," Hua mumbled.
"It can't be helped. You caught a nasty fever after lying out in the snow for so long." Kazami replied in an attempt to distract Hua from the awkward situation they were in; however, what came out of her mouth next was unfathomable.
Fu Hua stood up, the towel still wrapped tightly around her. "Hey Kazami..." she whispered softly.
He sat alert, waiting for her to continue.
"Do you want to… do it with me?"
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Tang-Ji cried out as she sat up in the snow. "Where am I? What happened?" she whispered as her eyes darted around her surroundings. Upon careful observation, it seemed that she was still outside of the mansion, albeit wet and cold and covered half in snow.
The memories of the dream moments ago flooded into her mind. The dream of that shack, of Kazami and that girl, 'Fu Hua'. That girl looked exactly like she did. 'That was a dream, right?' She didn't have long to contemplate, as the coldness and wetness set in, its grasp chilling her body to the bone. 'I hope that wasn't foreshadowing for stuff that's about to happen. I'd die from embarrassment if Kazami saw me naked like that right now.'
However, she couldn't deny that she needed body warmth from another person in order to survive, even if she had to get it from Kazami. As she tried to push herself up to a standing position, her arms gave way, and she fell face-first into a fresh pile of snow. The situation seemed awfully familiar.
Again, she pushed herself up to try and stand, but this time she met Kazami's face right in front of hers. She let out an ear-piercing scream and dashed away, something unthinkable for someone who was just falling over herself. "Jeez, Tang-Ji, is that how you treat your friends?" Kazami asked, rubbing his ears because of her piercing screech.
Tang-Ji's knees began to buckle as her outburst of strength began to leave her. However, before she could again feel the icy embrace of the fresh snow, Ukiyo appeared beside her and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her up. "You'll be alright now, Tang-Ji. We have a blanket for you." Tang-Ji let out another shrill screech, this time out of relief.
Tang-Ji wrapped her arms securely around Ukiyo's figure. Ukiyo did not seem to mind but was shocked at how quickly Tang-Ji seemed to both recover and lose her strength. The girl holding her was ice cold to the touch, and Ukiyo softly returned the hug.
Kazami frowned, somewhat envious that Ukiyo received a hug while he received disgust and near-deafness. "Are you alright, Tang-Ji? Hurt anywhere?" He muttered, breaking up Tang-Ji's celebration.
Tang-Ji glared at him, her eyes teeming with distrust. "I'm alright… Just a bit cold and wet," she winced, her gaze now softening. Suddenly, Ukiyo threw a blanket over Tang-Ji's head from behind; it was fluffy and warm. Ukiyo nodded at her, as if telling her, 'You know what to do with this.'
She looked around, now securely wrapped up in her thick, fluffy blanket. "Is it over?" She said it quietly. There was a large hole in the side of the mansion where the trio seemed to have escaped from.
"Yep. It's all over now, and I sure am glad." Kazami let out a tired groan. He turned to Ukiyo now. "Any ideas where we go from here?" Ukiyo nodded and pointed over the horizon, east of the mansion they just came out of. "And what's over that way, Ukiyo?' Kazami said, seeming to be unimpressed by the vague answer.
"The second delve," she replied bluntly. "It is the second stage of this world and takes us a step closer to our exit." She motioned towards Kazami and Tang-Ji, asking them to follow her to the entrance of the delve.
Tang-Ji piped up, "Wait, I think we should warn other players about this place. We all almost died today. I think we should make sure nobody else falls into the same trap." Kazami nodded and made his way to the two large doors of the building.
As he wrote the sign, memories of the place filled his head. He had hoped there would have been some good in that house of horrors, but he found nothing but danger and fear. He dropped a text box at the side of the door, hoping that other players, if there were still any left, would see it and not rush into danger like he had.
DO NOT ENTER!!!
BOSS ROOM AND DANGEROUS MONSTERS AHEAD!!!
MAKE SURE YOU ARE PREPARED!!!
Kazami stepped back from the door and admired his surroundings one last time. He glanced over at Tang-Ji, and for the first time since the death game started, he gave a genuine smile. 'Funny. No matter how dangerous of a situation I'm in, snow always reminds me of home,' he thought to himself before turning his back away from their snow tomb.
"Let's go before we freeze to death in this god-forsaken place." Kazami shivered and wrapped his arms around himself.
"Then let's be on our way," Ukiyo replied coldly.