My name is Ginto Isanaku.
I can't believe how it all started, if you're asking me. One day, I was a normal 17-year-old kid, watching anime like any other kid, and the next...
My life had changed.
It all started six months ago, when a mysterious package showed up at my door...
Six months ago...
"Bam! Take this! Flaming Fist of FURY!"
The TV in the living room played my favorite action anime, showcasing an amazing fight scene. As the fight wore on, I got up to get popcorn from my fridge.
I live in Tokyo, by the way. In Harajuku. My house wasn't too spectacular. I lived with my parents and my older brother, Shintaro. He was an avid gamer, and a bit on the bigger side.
"GINTO!"
Speak of the devil.
I got up to see what he wanted, and as soon as I went inside his room, he showed me a letter he'd gotten. It was written in a formal language, from one of the top headquarters in the world: Zenith Studios.
The Apex of ALL things gaming and entertainment. Shintaro read the letter.
"Hello, Shintaro Isanaku. We are inviting you to participate in the upcoming Death Game project this weekend. If you accept, please call this number below."
080-6666-1234
Me and Shintaro shared a look.
"Dude!" Shintaro yelled. "WE get to be part of their new big GAME! That's so amazing! I wonder what it's like? Do you think it's a virtual reality laser tag game, or a dungeon simulator, or—-?"
I stopped him right there. "We? I didn't get an invitation!"
Shintaro looked at me with a confused expression on his face. "What do you mean? Your invite should have come in the mail!"
I scratched my head. "Nope. Not ringing a bell."
He pointed down to the last part of the letter, which surprised me.
"P.S., we are also formally inviting your brother, Ginto Isanaku, to participate in the game. A separate letter for him should come soon."
He set the letter down, smiling at me. "See! You're gonna be a first-hand player in one of the most anticipated games of this decade!"
The thought did excite me. They were a top-tier entertainment company, and the Zenith brand was the company that produced all the anime that I watched.
"Okay, I'll wait for my invitation," I said, hopeful. "Hope it comes soon, I don't want to be late!"
But days flew by, and nothing ever came in the mail. Since it was summer and I had no friends of note, I continued to check outside every single day, and yet, there was nothing. No mailman ever came to the door.
But on Friday night, right before the game was supposed to start, something happened.
I was busy inside my room, drawing anime characters, when I heard the opening of a car door. Someone walked up to my window and left a package right outside of it.
I was confused, since typically the mailmen left any mail at the front door, but before I could question it, he was gone.
I opened the window and picked up the package, which felt surprisingly heavy. There was a letter attached to the top, which read:
"Hello, Ginto Isanaku. You have been invited to participate in the upcoming Death Game. Please take this package and make your way to the nearest warehouse at once. The games will begin shortly."
I scanned the rest of the page, and there was something at the bottom that made my heart stop.
"Friendly Reminder: DO NOT open the package until you've arrived at your nearest warehouse."
Well, damn. I knocked on Shintaro's door and he came out, sporting a letter with the same message as mine.
"I got a package too! I wonder what's inside!" he said, lifting it up. "Think it's a video game console?"
"Ha, that'd be rich," I replied. Something didn't feel right. Inside of the box, it felt almost...like if there was a ball inside.
Either way, I ignored it. Our mom watched us walk out of the door as she watched the news on TV.
"Hey, you two! Where are you going?" she asked.
"We're going to participate in the Death Games!" Shintaro answered. "Made by Zenith Studios themselves!"
She gave us that "mom" look of worry. "But it's almost past 11 pm! Why would a game start so late?"
"Don't know, mom! But it's time to game!" Shintaro didn't even wait for a response, he just left the house.
She sighed, and I gently squeezed her shoulder. "Bye, Mom!"
She kissed me on the cheek in response. "Be careful, honey! Don't get hurt out there!"
I wasn't. It was just a game...right?
But then again, should I really have trusted the name "Death Game?
There was a warehouse in Shibuya, which was about a 20-minute walk. While the walking didn't bother Shintaro, I was nearly drained halfway through.
"C'mon, man!" Shintaro yelled. "We've got some games to play!"
I was basically on the floor by this point, and exercise was never my strong point. "Yeah, I know! Just give me...a minute. Or 500."
Shintaro groaned and basically dragged me along. "Come ON, bro! We've got to be there on time!"
After about 10 more minutes of painful dragging, we arrived at the warehouse. It was empty, and we were the only ones there.
"Is this some prank or something?" I asked. There wasn't a single hint of any game or even equipment in sight.
Shintaro put a hand on my shoulder. "Patience, brother! The good thing about games, they ALWAYS surprise you!"
He looked around, and he saw a red button on one of the walls. "See, we probably press this button, and then fake robots attack us or something."
"Wait!" I called out. "Are you sure—-?"
He hit the button, and I could hear a male voice coming from somewhere I couldn't tell.
"Welcome, to the Death Games!"
Shintaro smirked. "See! Told you it was just a little trick!"
I didn't feel great about the situation, and what I heard the voice say next only worsened my suspicions.
"Countdown to the Games: 10..."
"Oh hell," I blurted out.
"9...8...7..."
"Dude, this is gonna be so fun!" Shintaro remarked, a big smile on his bulky face.
"6...5...4..."
"Please don't be hard, please don't be hard..." I muttered to myself.
"3...2..."
We both braced ourselves for whatever the games would entail, but the voice's tone began to change. It got lower and more distorted, like something you'd hear out of a demon.
"1..."
Just when I began to have second doubts...
"0." It spoke in a cheerful voice, and the air around me grew thick.
"BEGIN!"
Before I could even react, a holographic barrier appeared between me and Shintaro, separating us.
"Shintaro! What the hell is this?" I asked, panicking.
He put his hand on the barrier, and it gave him a shock. "Woah! Dude, that's real! Okay, maybe it's part of the game!"
I took a breath to calm myself, and I looked around. "What now?"
As if the voice heard me, it responded with:
"Open...your PACKAGE!"
I hesitated, but I gave in it the temptation and ripped open the package.
I wish I didn't.
"WHAT THE HELL?" I exclaimed, jumping back.
Inside of it, there was a HUMAN HEAD, eyes wide open, staring at ME.
"SHINTARO! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"
The head rolled out of the box, and I immediately got away from it. Shintaro walked up to the barrier and squinted to get a better look.
"Woah! Cool head! Is it real?"
"It's twitching! Why is it TWITCHING?"
It only uttered one word: "R...run."
"AHHHHHH!"
Shintaro waved me off. "I'm sure it's just some prop they're using to scare you! It's nothing you should take seriously—!"
Blood began to come out of its mouth, and I nearly fainted. Shockingly enough, it managed to say one more line.
"Behind...you..."
As much as I didn't want to, I turned around, and there was a gun to my DAMN FACE.
"W...what?"
It belonged to a kid who seemed around my age. He had a rough-looking face and hair, and for some reason, he was dressed in a black combat suit.
"Sorry," he said. "But I've gotta win this PRIZE!"
Right before he pulled the trigger, I jumped out of the way, hitting a wall.
"Ow!"
And the voice spoke again, and I fully realized what was happening.
"Round one of the Games has begun! Your goal..."
He pointed his gun at me again.
"KILL THE OTHER OPPONENT."
I managed to roll out of the way right before he shot again. Shintaro watched the entire thing, almost as if he was confused.
"Is that gun fake too?" he asked.
I slapped my head, even as the kid reloaded. "No! No, it's not fake! He is trying to KILL ME! Help!"
The kid approached me, gun in hand, and he aimed right for my head.
"Sorry, it's no help for YOU."
And then he pulled the trigger.
When I didn't feel a bullet tear through my skin, I was surprised. I opened my eyes and found a barrier between us, and the kid was banging on it.
"Hey! No fair, let me kill him!"
I stood up, looking around the room. The speaker began to activate again.
"1-minute timeout! We're not monsters."
There wasn't much I could do, so I took a minute to calm down a regroup. Whatever I walked into, I made a big mistake.
Shintaro continued watching me, still baffled. "Is this all part of the game? Those are props, right?"
He wouldn't be any help, so I scanned the room for any signs of a weapon. Or ANYTHING that would get me out of here.
All the while, the kid continued to bang on the barrier. "Hey! Once this drops, your ass is mine!"
While he did that, I kept looking for a tool to help, and I finally saw it: the package.
"Aha!"
There was a small knife inside, which I quickly grabbed. It wasn't a gun, but it would have to do for now.
"The barrier shall drop...NOW!"
And just like that, nothing was standing between me and the guy with the gun.
"Come here! It's time for my payday!"
He aimed the gun at me, but before he could pull the trigger, I used every anime skill I learned up to that point and threw the knife at his head.
"AHHHH!"
It impaled itself right in his eye, and he dropped the gun and pulled out the knife, holding his eye. "What have you done?"
Shintaro just stood there with his mouth open. "Woah."
The kid screamed and went for his gun, but I had already got my knife just in time.
"I'll bury you!"
I channeled my inner anime and kicked him in the face, but he pulled my leg down, and we both hit the ground painfully.
"My back..." I said, holding it. "I'm way too out of shape for this..."
He didn't even wait to grab my knife and try to stab me with it, but luckily, I was able to stop it from reaching my neck, but only barely.
"Any last words?" he asked, wearing a smug smile.
"Just two," I replied. "REVERSE TECHNIQUE!"
I rolled from under the knife and got behind him, grabbing his gun and pointing it at him.
"Now stop!" I demanded.
But it was clear he wasn't. He laughed and got up, preparing to charge at me with the knife.
"How sweet. You're an innocent little child, you've never killed before!"
And he ran right at me, knife held high. "That's my advantage! It's why I'll win!"
As he came at me with the knife, my life flashed before my eyes. Right before the blade came into contact with my eye, my body seemed to react on its own.
BANG.
When I realized what happened, I saw the kid wobbling on his legs, holding his chest.
"You...what have you...?"
When he removed his hand, I saw a giant bullet wound in the middle. He dropped to his knees and fell to the ground.
I was in shock.
"GINTO ISANAKU WINS! Now transporting participants to the next phase."
"Huh?" I wondered, as the room began to shake. "Next phase?"
I couldn't even comprehend what I meant before a tube enveloped Shintaro.
"Ginto?" he called out. "What's this?"
"Shintaro!" But a hole opened in the floor below him, and he fell through it.
Soon after, another tube trapped me, and I was falling down a hole as well.
"HEY! This...is...unsafe...!"
After a few minutes of sliding through the tube, I could see what appeared to be an underground city, made of metal and full of people, wearing color-coded uniforms.
"Woah..." I thought.
And then, I slid out of the tube and into a small pool, where a group of guards found me.
"Participant 3117, Ginto Isanaku, welcome!" one spoke.
I got the water out of my ears before swimming to the edge of the pool. "What is this? Where am I?"
The lead guard stepped aside, allowing me to take in the full city. "This? This is your new home, until you win the games, or you die."
He pointed to a nearby tube, which appeared to be transporting the corpses of participants. I saw the guy I killed being dragged through one.
"Welcome to Death Central," he said. "Home of the Death Games."