PROLOGUE

Chapter 5: Let the game begin

Day 1

Tartarus Keep

17:00

Like the rest of my classmates, I was unable to pinpoint what emotion I should adopt in response to the situation. On one hand, it looked silly, hilarious in fact. The bear itself was half-adorable half-malicious, and its squeaky voice looked as if it belonged to some comedy talk-show in the 80s. The way it sat solemnly on the throne like a true Overlord, despite its hiney only a third of its size, was also something hard to take seriously.

"Goodness," uttered Yume in disbelief next to me. "Are you seeing what I am seeing, Amelda?"

"I'm seeing it," I replied, eyes as wide as an owl.

"Am I dead?" asked Inori dreamily. "Is this place heaven or hell? Because I am certain that bears do not talk in human language in the world of the living."

"Refrain from making such odious remark," admonished Hijiri. "Do not take life and death so lightly. No matter how much you want to be there, don't pull us into it."

"It might be a dream still," Akihiko started. "Somebody hit me with all you've got. Let's see if I can wake up." The fellow offered his arm to the ladies, most of whom looked a bit too shocked to even react. Even in this kind of situation, his lady's man instinct refused to bulge, much to my annoyance. Then, El Viento stepped forward. "Wow, you're not my type," he said, examining the mass of muscles that was about to fulfill his wish. "But I think I can live with that."

The Luchador seized the Librarian, spun him one hundred eighty degrees before dropping him head-first to the ground with a thud. She did all of that in quick, mechanical motions that only took three seconds.

"How was it?" I asked, frowning.

"Ouch," the Librarian replied, reaching for the back of his head painfully. "Definitely not dreaming."

"I think it looks very cute," said Minako out of nowhere.

"I think so too," Ashley concurred. "Aw, I would give anything to cuddle it."

"Hell no," Eliza disagreed. "Looks more like a defect in the toy production line. Besides, stay away from that thing. It might be radioactive."

"I am offended by your comments," said the black and white bear still sitting upon the throne, pretending hurt. "As your Overlord, I think to deserve some more respect."

"Respect is earned, not given," said Kazuki calmly as he dropped playing the flute for a moment. "Kidnapping us is not a good way to earn it." He then proceeded with his instrument as if nothing had happened. The music he played was both dark and melodramatic as if heralding something really bad was going to happen.

"I agree with Kazuki over here," Rin acknowledged. She turned to address Monokuma as fiercely as she could. "It is a criminal offense to hold others captives against their will. You had better release us right here and now and your sentence will be alleviated. Failure to comply and the law will take its merciless course."

"Oh, I don't think so, you prissy law enforcer," Monokuma sniggered. "I am the only law around here, and you are my loyal subjects. You have no choice but to bow down before my rule, for I am Overlord Monokuma, Master of Tartarus Keep, Archduke of Hope's Peak Academy."

"And what if we refuse to bow down?" El Viento barked, cracking her knuckles menacingly. "What are you going to do?"

"Sheez," said the bear, frustrated. "You lot are so pushy. I let you into my place, providing hospitality and utility, and that is all you have to say to me?"

"These hardly matter when our freedom is all but taken away," I replied. "On another note, what kind of utility that does not include phone signal and wifi?"

"Oh, quit bitching about it," Monokuma seemed to have reached the peak of his patient as he threw his arms around and jumped up and down on the throne. "Kids this day and age are so dependent on electronics. Just think of the scenario and you will see it is much more dramatic for outside influence to kept at a minimum. And by minimum, I mean, non-existent. I have given you all an e-handbook, haven't I? That should be enough for the time you spend here."

"Then why are we here?" asked Fitzgerald coldly. "What is the meaning of all of these? Surely, there must be a motive behind this, otherwise, you would not have gone to such length."

"Finally someone asked an intelligent question," said Monokuma excitedly. "Someone give this guy a star for that. As for your answer, I have an important announcement to make. But before that, is anybody here a fan of The Hunger Games?"

I raised my hand. No one else did. So many awkward stares came. Even the bear was staring at me, despite his eyes never blinking.

"What?" I flustered. "I am just being honest here." Knowing the plot of the novels and seeing how it resembled our situation, I had a rude awakening. In The Hunger Games, twenty-four teenagers drawn from satellite districts were trapped in an arena where they killed one another until one remained standing for the entertainment of the sadistic people of the Capitol. Could it be…?

"Never liked that novel," said Monokuma. "So unrefined. I mean, what is the point of throwing a bunch of kids in an arena and just make them kill each other without any rhyme or reason like that?" I sighed in relief. Perhaps this was not our fate, after all, having to kill one another for the sake of survival. My hope was chopped into a million pieces when the bear continued, "So that is why we will have trials in this game instead. That's much better."

"Trials?" asked Rin suspiciously. "For what?"

"What kind of game are you talking about," said Kai, almost cheerily. Apparently, she never read The Hunger Games, for anything who did would be able to put two and two together and realize what Monokuma meant. "Will it be fun?"

"And now my faithful subjects," Monokuma boomed as he dropped the bombshell on us. "It falls to me to inform you that the 23rd Mutual Killing Game has begun."

"Killing game?" Tatsuya stammered. "But k-k-killing what?"

"Not 'killing what' - 'killing whom' is what you should ask," Monokuma corrected.

"Alright, then. Killing whom?" asked Akihiko. Had it not been for his ways around books, the fellow might as well have been classified as the Ultimate Lady Killer.

"Each other of course," said the bear. "Wouldn't that be despairingly fun, having the people you just made friends with dead at your feet and their blood on your hand?"

"And by killing, what do you mean?" asked Ashley, confused.

"Stabbing, strangling, drowning, clubbing, poisoning, hacking, shocking, crushing, cursing, etc. You are all Ultimate Students, aren't you? Use your imagination. In short, anything that causes another person to cease all bodily functions."

"And why in the name of God are we doing that?" I said out loud.

"Upupupupu," Monokuma sniggered. "Do you really want to know why? Tell me then, what is which you all desire now, the one thing you would give the most to have it for yourselves?"

All of us stood silently at what he said until Fitzgerald raised his voice. "To get out of here."

"Another star for the Private Detective," Monokuma cheered. "You are quite the smart-ass, aren't you? Anyway, if you want to escape from this place, then all you need to do is simply to kill someone else. Explaining the whole thing to you lot will take too much time and saliva, so do give your e-handbook a check. I've uploaded all you need to know right there."

We all did, including Minako who seemed quite perplexed by the piece of technology in her hand. I guessed that was what happened when you lived in the forest for so long, but luckily Ashley was there to provide her with some assistance. As I opened up my e-handbook, I could tell another category had been added next to the list of students, namely Mutual Killing Game Rules. Clicking on it revealed a list.

Rule #1: Violence against your liege Monokuma is strictly prohibited and will be punished accordingly.

Rule #2: Damage to monitor, speaker or camera is also strictly prohibited and will be punished accordingly.

Rule #3: Night Time is designated between 10 pm to 7 am. During this period, all doors will be locked. Opening requires Electro-ID. Should this happen, Door Usage History will be updated.

Rule #4: All students have been allocated a room with their name on the door. Breaking into other people's rooms will be considered foul play and not allowed. Those who commit murder this way will have their rights null.

Rule #5: Some doors cannot be unlocked for a period of time. After each trial, a number of previously locked doors will become accessible.

Rule #6: In the event of a murder taking place, all students are offered two hours to investigate and collect evidence, following which a trial will take place. In the trial, one person will be voted as the culprit. If the true blackened is voted, then only they will be punished. If the blackened manages to convince others of their innocence and the vote falls to someone else, all students aside from the blackened will be punished and the Mutual Killing Game concludes with the blackened allowed to leave.

Rule #7: Only one person is allowed to kill at any point in time. The maximum number of victims is two. Failure to abide will result in direct intervention from Overlord Monokuma.

Rule #8: Further rules can be added at Overlord Monokuma's discretion.

"What is the meaning of this?" Yume blurted.

"Are you kidding us?" El Viento hollered in outrage.

"I understand that we all want to get out here," said Hokuto, simmering with anger. "But to kill someone else to achieve it? That's just stupid. Do you really think we are that desperate?"

"Alright, alright, Monokuma," said Ashley, toying with her hair nervously. "We are scared now, happy? That's a…nice prank you got there. Very…uhm well set up, and I like the atmosphere. Old castles give off a creepy vibe. But it's not funny anymore. So why can't you get over with this and tell us what this is actually all about?"

"Upupupupu," Monokuma chuckled deviously. "Are you really that dumb? Or perhaps you are in denial. Whichever way, do know that I am dead on serious about this affair."

"You bastard, you will never get away with this," barked Rin. She pointed an accusing finger at the bear. "People will notice that we have gone missing, and the police will come to arrest your bear ass. You just wait."

Monokuma was wholly unperturbed. "Are you so beary sure about it? What if I tell you, that for a good reason, no one will come to save you bastards, that you will be here, away from the society, and no one will miss you?" I searched for a sign of threat in the way he delivered. It was normal for kidnappers to tell their captives there was no chance of being rescued so as to sap away their will to resist, despite they themselves were desperately evading the law enforcers on their back. However, there was none of that quality in it. It felt as if Monokuma was merely stating the fact.

"This is insane," I said. "Absolutely lunatic." And here I thought that one guy in a clown costume and having bad makeup all over his face was the epitome of madness.

"Since I am a bear, human mental conditions do not apply to me," it replied. "So suck on it."

"I will not stand this," shouted El Viento as she rushed forward. Within the moment, she seized the bear from its throne which looked tiny in her hand and threatened it, "Gilipollas. I am not playing this stupid game of yours. Let us out or meet your maker."

"I don't think that would be wise," I warned. "The rule clearly states that violence against him is not allowed. Please, you need to calm down." As much as I wanted to see his beary ass handed to him, the whole thing seemed too serious to ignore, and if the rule said about punishment, then it would be foolish to not take it by its word. El Viento was really pushing the boundary with this action.

"This is not helping at all," added Eliza. "He's just an avatar, controlled by the one who is behind this. Destroying the bear won't solve any of this."

"Listen to your friends," Monokuma laughed, completely unfazed by his predicament. "They have made good points."

"Screw all of that," El Viento cried in frustration. She raised the mechanical bear high, preparing to slam it to the floor. "Your wrongdoing ceases here. I will destroy you!"

Before she could do anything else, a massive figure appeared, almost twice her size even though she herself was the largest person among the students, looming over the throne like a small mountain. Without any word, the Ultimate Luchador was hit by tremendous force, dropping Monokuma in the process. As she flew back off the stage, Akihiko, Rin, Inori (quite a surprise) and I tried to catch her, only to get all knocked down in the process. At the very least, we all shared her pain and the fall was less damaging. Yume also tried to help, but with the wheelchair, the fellow wasn't able to reach high (might be considered lucky for that).

"What the hell is this?" Hokuto exclaimed as we scrambled to get ourselves up. El Viento, on the other hand, seemed to be out cold. Perhaps it was a good thing that she was unconscious because that meant she would not be breaking any more rules and jeopardizing herself.

On the stage right now stood four other people, all wearing the same black and white suits and a mask resembling Monokuma on their face. One of them was the giant earlier, the second a man carrying a sword and shield, the third woman wielding two knives and the last one a woman with a glowing staff.

"My faithful subjects," said Monokuma. "Meet the sentinels of Tartarus Keep: Rook, Knight, Bishop, and Queen. As the Overlord of this place, I require that bit of extra protection. Nevertheless, they will not interfere in the Mutual Killing Games, so don't worry and proceed with murdering your friends in pieces. Upupupupupu. You see what I just did there?"

Laughing at your own joke did not make it any funnier, especially when the situation was anything but comedic.

"What is your purpose in this?" said Fitzgerald. "Why are you holding us here for? What is in it for you?"

"Must I explain everything for you bastards?" asked Monokuma.

"If our death is what you are looking for, why not kill us all?" I countered, remembering what President Snow said about the Hunger Games in the book, about how it was a means to raise false hopes and complacency among the oppressed populace.

"Consider this a work interview." Said Monokuma plainly. "All of you come in, not all will make it till the end. Anyway, I think that's my role here done. I am a busy bear, you know? Got to do all those things that overlords do. So for now, goodbye."

With that, the bear disappeared and the sentinels with it, leaving all of us in a state of utter shock and dumbfoundedness.

"This is bad," Inu stammered. "This is…very bad. I don't want to die. I got to get out of here."

"Calm down, dude," said Akihiko. "Let me help you." He attempted to put a hand on the shaky shoulder of the Ultimate Chemist but was replied with a violent gesture.

"No," Inu was hysterical. He looked at us as though we were predators ready to devour him. "Get away from me! Someone here is going to be the victim, and it's not going to be me! All of you,…stay back. "With that, he stormed off from the chamber. Seeing him so shaken up by the whole thing made me sad, especially when I realized I had not told him how successful his jelly juice of doom was.

"That was uncalled for," said Inori worriedly. "Do you think he's going to be alright?"

"Let's just leave him be for a while," said Fitzergard. "He'll come to his senses one way or another."

"This is quite a shocking turn of event indeed," remarked Hijiri keeping a cool façade. "Where do we go from here?"

"Until we have a better grasp of our situation," I suggested, dropping a quick glance at the door where Inu just left, "and of ourselves, it is best that we consolidate and wait."

"No way," Hokuto refused. "I am getting out of this place. I'll dig a tunnel if I have to. I cannot stand such disregard for human lives they are playing here."

"How do you do that?" said Tatsuya who had been quite silent in Monokuma's presence. The fellow looked a bit shaken up but had fared quite better than most, his eyes looking at others as though with the intent to study. His stammering in front of others, however, had yet to be cured. Perhaps he was better thinking than talking. "Just…look at those…people with him. I don't think we want to…mess around with them."

"And what if there is no way out?" said Rin confidently. "I agree with Mason over here. We need to pull ourselves together. And that means we need some clear house rules among us."

"Aren't the ones Monokuma gave us enough already?" asked Kazuki. "This is feeling more like a prison by the minute."

"No way I am following any more dumb rule around here," Eliza pouted.

"Me either," said Ashley.

"Just because you are the police officer doesn't mean you are automatically in charge," added Hokuto derisively.

"That is counterproductive," Yume pointed out. "It will only strengthen Monokuma's idea of homo homini lupus. Once the rules are broken, there will be no turning back. If we are to prove him wrong, then earning each other's trust is a better way."

"Fine, fine," Rin waved her hand, frustrated that her proposal was met with negative reception. Just like in the US, I could tell that obsessed law enforcers were not welcomed in Japan, though I could not say the same thing to masked vigilantes. "Have it your way."

"All of this, can't be real, can it? How do you think about it, Minako?" asked Ashley. The Ultimate Herbalist was sleeping peacefully on the floor right, oblivious to the ongoing debate. I did not notice when, but I could tell she probably did not hear much from Monokuma. For some reason, the sight someone being so at peace calmed our nerves and sapped away our will to argue against each other. Perhaps ignorance was bliss after all.

"Just look at her," said Kai. "So sweet. I wish I could be like that, sleeping through the whole time and forgetting about this nightmare ever happening."

"Maybe we should just wait," said the Ultimate Flautist finally. "And let's hope Monokuma is just exaggerating things. Let's not…do anything we might regret."

"That would be wise," agreed Hijiri.

"I'll go with that," said Eliza.

"I suppose it is the optimal course of action under the circumstance," Fitzgerald remarked.

And so we separated with all of us except Inori and Yume going back to our respective room. The Ultimate Patient would like to spend some time in the botanical garden for her health's sake while the Ultimate Baker wished to hit the kitchen to see if he could whip up something. Two persons weren't going anywhere without some help, so it was up to the three strongest persons available to provide some assistance: myself, Hokuto, and Akihiko. After a quick game of rock paper scissor to determine who carried who, I got the right to pick and went for Minako without fail, leaving the others with a buffalo to deal with.

I headed back to the corridor I came from with the herbalist balling herself like a kitten in my arms, the air changing from sweet-scented to stale. Akihiko and Hokuto followed behind and I could hear them whining about their labor. The ever-presence of cameras and monitors unnerved me even more as I looked at them knowing a murder-obsessed stuff animal was on the other side. When I went through here the first time, I was half-excited half-afraid. Now, the only feeling I was capable of was apprehension.

"Hanako, I'm scared," the Ultimate Herbalist suddenly clutched my collar saying in her sleep, "Don't…don't leave me."

"I won't," I said softly to her. As an accountant and participant of many military-themed summer camps in the past, I honored integrity and a straight-to-the-point attitude above all else when it came to people, but as a friend (not that I had many friends in the past), I thought I should be tender sometimes. "I am here for you."

"I just had this very strange dream," said Minako faintly. "A black and white talking bear told us to kill one another." I wished it was a dream as well, especially considering how ridiculous the whole concept was with the medieval castle and cosplaying bodyguards, but I was too practical for that.

"It's okay," It told her, remembering what my mother used to say when I had nightmares. "Everything is alright. Dreams come and go like the wind. But as long as there are people who care about you, you are not alone."

With that, Minako fell back to sleep and stayed that way until I reached her room. I used the E-handbook she was carrying to open the door and dropped her on her bed, before placing the device on her desk and leaving.

19:30

After a quick nap, I went for a bath before heading back to the main hall with the board game I picked up earlier from the storage. It was only my first day, but I was determined not to let the scenario of my high school years repeated itself where I shunned the rest of humanity and received the cold shoulder in return. As I entered, I noticed one of the tables was full of foodstuff from fried chicken, braised lambs, pork chops to cupcakes and cookies. Eight other people were also there eating away, Kazuki, Yume, Hokuto, Rin, Ashley, Akihiko, Inori, Minako, and Kai. There was no sign of the others and I knew for a fact that Minako was still sleeping while El Viento was still recovering from the beatdown she received from Monokuma's bodyguard.

"Wow, who cooked all of these?" I asked, amazed at the abundance of food on display.

"We don't know," said Yume between mouthfuls of custards. "All of these just appeared out of nowhere. We were all confused, and then the bear showed up and said our food would be replenished regularly."

"At 7 am, 12 am, and 7 pm, to be exact," Akihiko added.

"I guess they want to keep us alive a bit longer for their twisted game," said Rin. That part was true, but I supposed I should feel glad they weren't going to starve us to death unless one of us committed a murder.

"I have never tasted so good before," Inori claimed as she chewed up the excessive content in her mouth which caused it to visibly inflated. Life was short, so I could not blame if someone enjoyed it to the fullest, as long as others did not have to suffer for it.

"Well, you can't fight on an empty stomach," I remarked and joined them. At least I now knew I would not be starved to death in this place, though other possibilities of meeting my maker were not to be discounted yet. One of which was once again confirmed before my very eyes.

"Arrgh! It burns!" Akihiko exclaimed as he clutched his throat and desperately took a full swig of a cola bottle. He ended up choking on the amount he was pouring and laid on the floor spasming like a fish out of water for several seconds until Inori, Kai and I helped him up. Across the table, I could see a certain Ashley Wiltarrow smirking. I did not know which was a bigger deterrence to our survival: Overlord Monokuma or the Ultimate Pranking Queen. At least the bear gave us plenty of time to prepare ourselves. This girl struck with neither warning nor mercy.

After the meal, I invited the others to a board game of one of my favorites: Dead of Winter. I explained the rules to them and gathered quite a positive reaction. The announcement of the Mutual Killing Game had a profound shock on all of us, so playing a friendlier game where the loser didn't necessarily lose their life might just be the morale boost we needed.

Three of us declined to play. Kazuki preferred to add a new layer of entertainment to the game by providing the atmosphere with a brilliant dark melody from his flute which sent chills up our spines. It fitted the theme of the game quite nicely. Minako also declined out of her religious belief that the dead should be more respected. Rin simply said no without any given reason, simply saying it was not for her. Though seven players still seemed a bit too many - the game's optimal number of players being 4 to 5 - I thought we could manage that by using the hardcore missions which were more difficult to achieve.

"So, let's begin," I said cheerfully.

"Alright, bring it on," Ashley whooped.

Our first mission was to survive for a set period of time. I went first. And of course, in my very first roll in the game to move my survivor from the colony to the grocery, I got the teeth (tooth). Ouch!

Moving on from that, things got sour when one of the survivors at the colony was infected, potentially causing the disease to spread to others unless the next would-be victim was to be put down voluntarily. The other option was to roll, in which there was a fifty-fifty chance that the infection would be prevented without further casualty.

All of us went for the latter. And none of us rolled the blank side. Our overconfidence in luck turned against us and four more were lost to the jaws of the undead until I, with a heavy sigh, decided to sacrifice the last of my survivor to finally stem the plague once and for all. As if to mock us for our failure of epic proportion, Kazuki even briefly played a comedic note 'Wew wew wew' before reverting back to the music that sounded like the ones in those horror theme park.

"Well, that was…scary," said Akihiko.

"I'm sorry," Kai flustered. "I didn't think it would spiral out of control like that."

"Me too," Inori moaned.

"Damn it," cursed Hokuto. "I thought I could save everyone from that one, but the dice were not in my favor. I should revise my safety procedures after this."

"Well, at least Amelda was there to make the right decision," said Rin. "For what it was worth. I'm not sure we can win after this, though."

And she was right. The setback at the beginning was so severe the whole game was unwinnable from then on. We managed a few more turns before it was game over. It ended up being the fastest game I had had. None of us, Rin being the betrayer included, was able to complete out personal objective. The first game was a total bust.

"Don't fret," said Yume optimistically. "Why don't we have another go at it? I'm sure we can do it better."

"Lesson learned," said Akihiko. "If someone is infected, just kill them."

"Right," Kai confirmed.

"No more chance-taking this time," said Hokuto.

The second round went smoother. We had better exposure rolls as we moved our controlled characters around and the cards we collected proved useful. But not all was rainbow and unicorn even when the players were obviously winning, for the game system put a traitor in the midst whose condition of victory was the total defeat of all the others. Ever wary, I saw Ashley hoarding more resource cards than she should. That and the grin she wore on her face gave it away that her mission was to work against us all along.

"I call for a vote to exile Ashley from the colony," I said, surprising everyone else. Since this was the first time playing, the others were unfamiliar with this unique system.

"Me, why?" demanded Ashley.

"You have way too much stuff on your hand," I told her sternly. From the very moment we met, I had not trusted her - it was my job to determine the trustworthiness of my clients right away, after all - and now it was time for me to channel that mistrust into productivity. "Our colony has suffered two crises because you have not contributed your part. You let your people die on purpose. We are in the last round here and our morale stands at a mere two. I bet you are planning on delivering the final blow right here."

"Ashley is the traitor?" asked Hokuto. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I almost let my guard down."

"That's so mean," Ashley claimed.

"I too am quite suspicious of Ashley hoarding the resources," said Akihiko.

"But should we judge her so quickly?" asked Inori. "Maybe she has a reason to."

"I'm with Amelda," said Kai.

"Guys, we need to stick together," said Yume. "We are having a perfect run here and exiting her might cause it to fall apart."

"The run is far from perfect," I corrected him. "In fact, we are close to losing here. One treacherous move things will fall apart as you said."

So we did a vote. With four in favor of (Kai, Akihiko, Hokuto, and myself) and three against (Ashley, Inori, and Yume), the Pranking Queen was finally evicted. As it turned out, she was loyal all along (at least her secret objective indicated such, though winning the game with at least four dead survivors was far from a friendly objective).

We won this round anyway, despite the traitor remaining undiscovered. With the primary group mission accomplished, we looked at each other's secret objectives.

"Done," said Hokuto. "Construct four barricades in the colony to keep people safe."

"Me too," Kai chimed in. "Having four barricades and one gasoline to burn them all down." The miner's face lost some color upon hearing that.

"I got mine," Yume claimed happily. His objective was having four food cards on hand, which caused me to almost suspect him as the traitor in the group. Though my judgment was wrong anyway, I was glad that I didn't call to vote for his exile.

"Easiest one here," said Akihiko, holding a card with the title 'Martyr'. "Just need one survivor and one gasoline. Man, someone here is desperate to become Thich Quang Duc."

Despite her exile, Ashley did manage to finish her objective of having full barricades at a non-colony location. I helped her out of guilt of unjustly calling for her eviction. It did not prevent me from accomplishing my secret objective, however, as it only required to kill ten zombies. With one of my survivors armed with a shotgun and another with a hunting rifle, it was, as Yume would have said, a piece of cake.

The traitor was revealed to be Inori all along. She claimed her rejection of her secret objective was because, since she was not going to live for much longer, it would be pointless to try and prolong it by sending all the others to their doom. I guessed some people here took this game too seriously, yet hearing that made my heart ache a bit being reminded about her incurable condition.

In the third and final round, we were doing well. No one died to bite. We had plenty of food and weapons and the zombie numbers never reached a critical level. It was as if we were going to win this one handily as well.

And then I purposefully screwed things up by withholding food and dropping junk items into crisis prevention stock, adding a half a dozen sound tokens at numerous places for good measure. What happened next was catastrophic. Because we failed to prevent a crisis, the zombies broke into the colony, turning it into a charnel house and killing half the number of survivors. To make matters worse, all locations where I made noises attracted a swarm of zombies, which saw even more survivors losing their lives. And topping it all was the waste pile becoming a major source of pollution. All of these led to the plummeting of morale from seven straight to zero.

Why did I do such a face-heel turn? Because I was the traitor on this round!

I was playing the hidden serial killer who, during the zombie apocalypse, re-emerged in the guise of a decent person, only to revert to their original self when the time came.

"Looks like this round goes to me," I said proudly.

"Oh, I should have known," Hokuto said. "He was too good to be true."

"Yeah," Ashely added. "Mister goodie two shoes here expelled me when I was innocent, and when he is working against us, we all have faith in him."

"Perhaps it is time to take a stand," said Akihiko. "A stand against tyranny and iniquity."

"Right at you," Kai concurred.

And now they were all looking back at me menacingly. This might not end well for me. Panicking, I turned to my trusted allies for help.

"Yume?"

"I can't," said the baker. "They do have a point."

"Rin?"

"A taste of justice isn't so bad once in a while," said the Ultimate Policewoman. "You betrayed their trust, Amelda. I think you deserve it."

"Inori?

She just shrugged. Of course, I forgot.

"Guys, it's just a game," I tried to explain.

"Get him!"

And so I ran for my life with four people hungry for vengeance in hot pursuit. My athletic build gave me a headstart, but within the confine of the castle that had become out prison, there were preciously few places to run to. I withdrew my previous sentiments. This was exactly like Mario Kart: it destroyed friendship as fast as a military tank rolling over a civilian car.

And that was the end of my first attempt at making friends. I hoped they would forgive me someday.

One day.

Not now.

Good Lord, how could they be so persistent? I ran for half a mile already, haunting over tables and flipping chairs in my wake to slow them down, and none of them looked to be letting up. No need for the expansion, this was going to be a long night indeed for all of us.

PROLOGUE ENDS

Author's note: This is it, the announcement of the Mutual Killing Games. If you don't know about the game Dead of Winter, you can try googling it. The ruleset is available online in PDF format. Some references are also made to The Hunger Games. Great series (except the last one which was meh) I hope you have read.

With this story, I want to maintain the cheesy tone, but also make it more realistic. One example is that the killing game will be overseen by human members of Ultimate Despair instead of robots like in the games. My aim is that this will add more weight to the conflicts later on between the main cast and the twisted organization that imprisons them. Tell me if you like this or not.

The next chapters will focus more on Free Time Events. Other than the character you sent to me, which one do you want to see? Put it in the reviews.

Does anybody know Thich Quang Duc? I was going to put Joan de Arc there, but she got sentenced to being burned alive, whereas this person here immolated himself out of his own will.

Thank you very much for reading. I wish the best to all of you.