"Damn! Ibuki finds this game super difficult to beat Chiaki in too!" Ibuki shouted after dropping her controller. "You'll get better, I promise. After all, all professional gamers started out somewhere." Chiaki said with a smile. Hope Peak Academy's Class 77-B Chiaki and Ibuki had been spending the last few days on their luxurious Jabberwock Island school trip playing a wide variety of video games all day in Chiaki's cottage. From platformers, to racing, to adventure, to shooting games, they've played just about every genre in the book. Of course, however, Chiaki being the Ultimate Gamer has the peak of advantages against the Ultimate Musician, Ibuki.
"Hey Chiaki, do you ever wonder if Hajime would be interested in playing with us? Ibuki would love to see Hajime lose to a prodigy gamer like you!" Ibuki said, picking up her high spirits. "I dunno. I never really considered if Hajime would be interested in gaming." Chiaki replied. "Well why don't we go ask him right now! I'll go find him!" Ibuki cried. "I wouldn't go find him now since it's getting late and I think we're both pretty burnt out from-'' before the pale high school girl could finish her sentence, Ibuki had already charged out the door on the hunt for her classmate. Chiaki lifting up her cat hood, feeling slightly concerned about Ibuki running around the island in the dim night. For some reason she had a knot in her stomach that something catastrophic was soon to arise upon her friend. Chiaki grabbed her backpack and serenely left her cottage.
The punk rock girl had charged all the way to the beach located on the first island, not knowing quite why she came all this way to find Hajime, when he was most likely in his cottage. "Why did I make my way over here?" she murmured to herself. "Oh well! Ibuki could use a midnight walk along the beach!" The musician began aimlessly wandering about the beach, enjoying the cool, summer breeze, not even paying attention to what was around her or where she was stepping. Before she realized it, each step she took on the sand grew softer and squishier like she was walking on jell-o. "Huh. Ibuki has never been on this part of the beach before. Oh well! New environment leads to a new adventure!" She cheerfully said with a wide grin. Ibuki continued her walk along the unstable sand completely unaware of the danger she would eventually encounter.
Meanwhile, Chiaki, still fixated on the whereabouts of Ibuki, began wandering along the hotel area. Completely oblivious to her surroundings, the gamer bumped into a person, causing her to lose her footing and fall on her butt. "Ack! Ow, that hurt…. Oh, sorry Chiaki! Are you ok?" Chiaki rubbed at where she had a light bruise on her butt and looked up. The man himself, Hajime Hinata, was standing right before her pale eyes. "Hajime! I'm alright. Did Ibuki run into you by any chance?" Chiaki spoke as she got up. "Ibuki? I haven't seen her all day." Hajime said softly, reeling from the surprise of Chiaki. Chiaki didn't show any expression, but deep down, she was worried something horrific was happening to her friend. "I have no time to explain, but we need to find her." Hajime nodded his head and the duo began making their way to where Ibuki might have traveled: The First Island.
Back on the wobbly beach with Ibuki, she began imagining all the fun things she would do tomorrow! She would start off her day eating the cooking from the Ultimate Cook himself, Teruteru, then she would ask Gundham, the Ultimate Breeder, if she could play with his Four Dark Devas of Destruction, following that she would eavestrough on Peko and Fuyuhiko's conversation that is always every Tuesday and Friday at 1 PM sharp. All these ideas kept floating into the unique girl, when her train of thought was interrupted by her right foot being sucked into the earth, along with a loud slurping noise that invaded the strong ears of the Ultimate Musician. "What the heck? That's not normal." she said with a puzzled expression. Ibuki looked down at the ground to see her shoe had been swallowed by the floor which didn't even look like a beach anymore. It was just a vast flat of wet sand and mud.
Out of impulse, Ibuki placed down her left foot, which met the same fate as her right foot. The ground had consumed the musician's ankles and below! "Hey beach, Ibuki is not a delicious, edible treat to be eaten, so she would appreciate it if you let go of her now." she said as she tried pulling her feet out. The clay had an iron grip on her feet and no matter how hard she tugged, she made no progress in getting her feet free from the sand. "Ohhh! I get it now! The beach is challenging Ibuki to a brawl! Ibuki accepts this challenge and she shall prevail!" After shouting those words with confidence, Ibuki began to aggressively pull against the suction of the muck like she was playing tug-of-war. "Urrrgggg! Come on! Ughhhhh! Let go of me you stupid mud!" She shouted. Her pulling only made the situation worse as the clay continued to smoothly trickle up to her knees, sucking her in deeper and deeper with even louder gurgles and slurping from the mud. Ibuki, who was not taking the situation all that seriously, continued to fight against hungry sludge.
Ibuki decided to stop fighting against the mud to think of a new plan since clearly tugging wouldn't do her any good. Completely unaware that she had now sunken to her thighs. "Well… I could just press my hands against the mud and kick my legs up towards the surface! Alright, let's do it!" With her newfound determination, Ibuki began doing just that. She pressed her hands against the sand while trying to kick her legs to propel her out of the quaking mud. At first Ibuki's plan proved to be effective against the hungry mud, being able to lift up her legs back up from her shins, which were plastered in brown mud, but Ibuki wasn't concerned about that right now. She was ready to finish what she started! She continued her plan for another minute before her hopes were shattered when the mud consumed both her hands.
"Damnit!" She shouted out of frustration. She ended up sinking even further into the thick and sticky mud up to her waist, her legs completely vanished from her eyes. It was then Ibuki started worrying for her life "Heh, heh, heh…" She nervously laughed. "Ya know, this kinda reminds me of that one thing in that game I played with Chiaki earlier that she told me not to walk in. What was it again?" She was frozen in place, thinking of what was causing her these sensitive feelings of remembrance. "Oh that's right! Chiaki told me not to step in any of the quicksand in that one adventure game or Ibuki will sink and drown!" That's what this reminds me of!" Ibuki said in a way trying to calm herself down as if she was making a joke. That "joke" however would prove to be her worst mistake. It only took a few seconds for a lightbulb to click in her fluid mind, since she was standing there, making no slight movements, and yet she was still sinking deeper and deeper.
"Holy crap! I got myself caught in quicksand!" After shouting those words, Ibuki began to struggle and thrash around intensely, trying to think of a way to get out, sweating drops of anxiety that she might drown here and nobody will know. She continuously fought against the mud in hopes of getting somewhere out, but it was only making her sink further into the depths of the quicksand. "SOMEBODY! HELP ME! IBUKI IS IN QUICKSAND! I'M SINKING!" She screeched, now tears beginning to stream down her face. Ibuki hadn't felt this intense fear and panic in her entire life. Even she noticed how out of character it was. She continued her boisterous cries throughout the silent and hush night, but it wasn't helping her stay afloat as the sand was now hugging her chest.
Chiaki and Hajime had just crossed the bridge to the first island, both smooth and quiet as a shadow. Their soundless steps were eventually invaded by the vibrance of a screeching high school girl. "Did you hear that?" Chiaki said in a worried tone. Hajime stood still for a second to confirm he did in fact hear the same thing. Sure enough, he too heard the sound of screaming. "Could that be…" Hajime trailed off. "Ibuki!" They both said in sync. "It seems like it's coming from the beach! Let's haul ass there now!" Hajime cried. Like there was no tomorrow, the pair darted their way to the beach, praying that they aren't too late. Deep down however, Chiaki was still mentally distressed since she had a strong feeling something atrocious was happening since the start, and the gamer would soon learn she was absolutely correct.
"Let go of me already! Ughhh! This is bad! Extremely bad!" Frantically said Ibuki. She was now up to her breasts in the sand and was starting to feel fatigued and exhausted from the struggling, but she really didn't want to give up. "If I let the mud win and give up now, all my friends won't know where I went. I won't even be able to enjoy more time with them! I can't eat any of Teruteru's delectable food anymore, I can't play with Gundham's cute hamsters anymore, I can't figure out what Peko and Fuyuhiko are talking about! I still have some much left to accomplish!" Ibuki mentally stated. Those thoughts made her thrash and struggle even more, but she hadn't gotten the slightest hint that her struggling was only making her sink deeper into the brown sludge.
"Hold it!" Ibuki heard a voice that clearly wasn't hers, but clearly from somebody she knew. She jerked her head to the side to see Chiaki with Hajime in tow running to her aid. "Please! Get me out of here!" Ibuki said, still fighting the muck. "Ibuki, stop struggling! It only makes you sink faster!" Chiaki shouted. Ibuki now realizing that makes so much more sense to why she hasn't made any progress getting out herself, stood still as a statue. Chiaki got close to Ibuki, taking off her backpack and pushing it to the side, of course careful to make sure she wouldn't sink into the muck either. The gamer began examining the scene in front of her. "If only this was a video game, escaping quicksand is as simple as spamming the jump button." Chiaki muttered. "But unfortunately, this is not a video game…" the gamer said with a sigh. Hajime was still in place, trying to think of something to free Ibuki from her muddy grave. "Ah! I know what to do!" Chiaki made eyes with Hajime, who was making a serious face she had never seen before. "Chiaki, is there a rope of some kind in your backpack?" Chiaki began to think and recalls shoving a long, sturdy rope inside her backpack. She looked over to her right, where she placed her backpack. She rummaged thoroughly and sure enough, found the exact rope she stashed inside.
"Right here!" She tossed Hajime the rope and he quickly got to work, snatching the 9ft long rope. "Grab on, Ibuki!" Hajime said as he was about to toss the rope to Ibuki. "Wait!" Ibuki cried. "How will I grab onto the rope if Ibuki's hands are completely encased in this stuff?" Hajime realized the technicality surrounding this escape plan and needed to think fast before the clay swallowed Ibuki whole. "Ibuki, you're gonna need to use all your strength to recover your hands!" Hajime cried. "I have to do what!?" Ibuki said in a startled voice. She was worried that if she agitated the sand any longer, she would completely submerge. "I need you to pull your hands out of the quicksand so you can grab onto the rope! Otherwise… we won't be able to get you out." Hajime said, feeling a little shaky. Ibuki, knowing that it's now or never, began using all the strength she could to free her hands. The mud was like glue, and did not want to let go of it's victim by any means. After a minute of wiggling the tar-like mud, Ibuki managed to free her right arm, which was completely caked with mud. That didn't matter now. Now she could grab onto the rope and be free from her muddy grave! The wiggling caused Ibuki to sink deeper and her shoulders succumbed to the sand. Only her right arm, neck, and head were above the surface.
"Take this!" Hajime shouted while tossing the rope. Ibuki grabbed ahold of the rope and Hajime began pulling her out of the hungry mud. Chiaki stood behind Hajime and began pulling with all her might. "Don't let go!" Hajime shouted. "Okie dokie!" Ibuki happily cried knowing she was going to be saved now. A fight between the three students of Class 77-B and the grasp of the perilous quicksand had commenced. After a war that seemed to last an eternity, when it was really only a few minutes of struggling, the musician was finally free from the muddy clutches thanks to strength of Hajime and Chiaki "I'm free! Oh how I missed being on solid ground and not in this quagmire!" Ibuki shouted so happily. Ibuki turned over to her heroes and jumped on top of Hajime, giving him a strong and forceful bear hug. "Oh Hajime! You shall forever be in Ibuki's debt! I would've been a goner if it weren't for you!" Ibuki cheered. "T-thanks Ibuki… can you please… get off me? I can't… breathe." Hajime said, hoping she would listen since Ibuki was coated in a thick layer of mud that was getting on his clothes and because he really couldn't breathe. "Oh! And how could I not thank Chiaki! Ibuki would like to say thank you! Thank you!" Ibuki said ready to dash into Chiaki. "You don't need to hug me. A thank you is enough." Chiaki said, stepping backwards.
"Why don't we head back to the cottages and call it a night, ok?" Chiaki said after giving out a distinct yawn. "Agreed! Ibuki can't wait to share this story to everyone at the restaurant tomorrow morning!" Ibuki happily said. They began walking back to the cottages together. It wasn't until then that Ibuki had a good look at herself and realized her entire body apart from her head was drenched in mud. While she was bummed about her uniform being ruined, she was just glad she would live to see another day and it was all thanks to the people that were so important to her.