"Is she dead?" asked a boy with orange hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a dark blue hoodie.
"She probably passed out after seeing the blood" the pink guy said.
The tall girl with dark blue hair and glasses fainted after seeing Yako and Natalie's dead bodies. She was the first to wake up, but now she would be the last. Pink looked at Orange and frowned in confusion.
— Why are you so wet?
— I think it's just water. I don't know why, though.
His hoodie weighed more than twice as much as normal. It was very difficult for him to move.
— Why don't you take it off? It must have something to do with the dead bodies.
The bully guy entered the circle of people, staring down at the pink.
— I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation about wet hoodies, but I'm getting tired of not knowing your names. Why don't we introduce ourselves first?
— We are in the middle of an investigation right now.
— If you're in such a hurry, I can give you all nicknames. You're Pink, I'm Spike. How does that sound?
— We don't have time for that.
— Do you happen to have a better idea? Because memorizing every name would be way worse.
— Okay, but not now! Let's investigate first.
— Oh, really? If you're so smart, point your finger at the culprit.
— I have an idea of who the murderer is, but I need more evidence. We also need to measure the corpses's temperatures.
The gyaru took a step forward.
— I can do that.
She touched their faces to feel the warmth coming down. Some people were quite disturbed because she was touching dead bodies so carelessly.
— They have died hours ago.
Some were visibly shocked, others showed no emotion at all. They all looked at each other, suspicious, scared, or feigning concern. One of them could have killed them both.
— The boy's blood is at room temperature. The girl's is much colder. She's also wet, for some reason. It's like she's been dunked in a puddle of ice.
"H-Hey, there's something really weird here. Why is everyone suddenly wet?" asked the blond guy.
The bully girl pushed the depressed girl forward until she was in the middle of the circle.
— Tell them what you're thinking, loser.
— I-I'm sorry! I...
She looked at everyone, clearly uncomfortable. The bully girl looked at her with disdain.
— If you apologize one more time, I'll kill you before anyone else does.
— I-I'm sor- I m-mean... people, c-can you look at your phones, please? I received an i-important email...
Everyone checked their phones, opening their mailboxes. They all started identically:
"Welcome to another exciting school year, dear students! I am proud to announce the start of an exciting killing game! You are all the prestigious 18 players of this game. I sent one of my creations along with you, so they are not a real person. In other words, there is an impostor among you!
Each of you has a very specific power to use to your advantage, so use it wisely! No one can see the power on each other's phones, so don't worry about nosy people! One of you has a power that gives everyone the option to vote someone out. The student who gets the most votes disappears for a day. If they have killed someone, they are forced to confess to their crime.
You are all trapped in this school until only one survivor remains. What will happen then? It's a secret! If anyone leaves the school and doesn't return by the beginning of the next day, they will die a horrible death! I won't specify any details about this, so you'll have to check it out for yourselves. None of you can interact with outsiders, as they have disappeared forever!
The stock in the kitchen is unlimited, as is the energy. Plus, you don't age! How marvelous, you don't have to worry about time!
Have a great year!
Your power is: ________
Description: ________________________
Sincerely,
God of Distortion"
Depressed girl: "We are doomed forever! We will die one by one until only one person remains! Don't worry, I will sacrifice myself for you, so now there are 15!".
Bully girl: "Shut your mouth, midget, I'm trying to think."
— I-I'm sor- I mean...
The blond guy walked towards her and crouched down. He patted her head with a reassuring smile.
— You don't need to sacrifice yourself, okay? We'll get out of this together.
— B-But I'm dead weight!
— You're not dead yet, and you'll definitely not die here. Because we'll protect you.
— R-Really?
— Yes, I promise.
Mint green airhead: "Guys, aren't you missing something? What if everything in the email is a lie? What if a serial killer broke into the school and killed them while we slept?"
Nerd nihilistic guy: "Ho, you're capable of critical thinking. You're now a bit less useless in a world where the line between usefulness and ostentation is nonexistent."
Purple nerd girl: "People, am I seeing things or... is she invisible?"
— You're technically not seeing things if she's invisible.
They stopped to look at the airhead again. Only her shiny green hair and clothes were visible. Somehow, it was even brighter. It was glowing.
Airhead: "Oh, you're right! I hadn't noticed that before, thanks for pointing it out!"
Bully girl: "Now you're an actual airhead."
Nerd guy: "Technically, her head is just invisible, but it still exists."
— Shut up.
She picked up the small book he was reading and threw it out the window.
— I must say that's rude. I challenge you to calculate the kinetic energy applied to the book and-
The bully guy covered the nerd's mouth with his hand.
Bully guy: "Now we know the airhead's power. How about we call her something related to her power? Like airhead, glass mannequin, clothes rack, western bush, drive-through..."
Orange: "That last one's brutal..."
Pink: "Okay, we understand you want to nickname everyone!"
— Oh, you haven't heard half of my ideas yet. I got plenty for you, darling.
Purple girl: "Wait, where are you going?"
Everyone looked at the guy in the hoodie, who was leaving the classroom.
— I don't have time for this shit. This God of Distortion is trying to trick us into not leaving school.
Dark green: "Why would he do that? We all fall unconscious, right? How could that happen? And the powers he gave us? They're definitely not natural."
— They filled this room with sleeping gas, of course. As for the powers, they just used some psychedelics on us while we slept. I'm too old to believe in anime bullshit. The world won't grace us with such powers, because there are no such powers.
Spike: "You don't look very old to me."
— I'm 17. I repeated one year.
— Hah, loser! I'm 18, suck it!
— Is this a competition? Anyway, I'm going home. I won't die, I promise. If I do, this is how things should be. There must be several hitmans going after us anyway.
The depressed girl ran to him.
— Y-You're saying there are people after us? Let me take your place, please! I'll be a good sacrifice, I promise!
— Leave me alone, you're only thinking about yourself. You want to die, admit it. You're not trying to help anyone.
The girl remained silent and motionless, with her mouth half open.
— Anyway, guys, it was nice meeting you. I'd rather die disobeying orders from overlords than die as a slave to entertainment. Besides, if I die, you'll know the God of Distortion is not fucking around. Bye, bye.
Before he closed the door, the airhead grabbed his hand.
— Please, don't leave us. We're scared. Two classmates just died, there can't be a third.
— You're the one who's scaring me, jeez. It's weird to feel something I can't see. It's okay, I'll be here before midnight, okay? I just need some time alone.
— Are you telling the truth? Please tell me you are...
— Yeah... yeah, I'm saying the truth. I promise I'll be back, don't worry.
He closed the door. She stood there for a moment, thinking about everything. Misota, the brown-haired guy, put his hand on her shoulder.
— Are you okay? We're all in this together.
— Yeah... I'm okay. Let's go back to what we were doing! Nicknames, right? Let's think of a nickname, everyone!
Spike: "I'll tell you my ideas in a heartbeat, my dear friends! But first, we need to wake up this sleepless sack."
Everyone looked at the person he was pointing at. It was the tall girl with dark blue hair who fainted after seeing blood.
— Wake up, sleeping bag.
He slapped her on the face to wake her up. He used so much force that her glasses flew off. She woke up, but something strange happened. His entire body turned to ice. Everyone was shocked. Not only was someone invisible, now another person turned into ice.
Pink: "Now we know another power..."
Gyaru: "Someone big, go warm him up."