Real Account 3

Moment of Peace (2/2)

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"Hey, why am I the one being used here for art?" Kyo asked, he was currently standing in the center of Yuichi's room with his arms folded.

"I need new subjects for art," replied Yuichi, his eyes not coming off of his sketchbook.

The two were simply just in the same room in silence. Kyo allowed Yuichi to draw him but having two quiet types together felt weird, they say silence is golden but right now it's a little agonizing.

"Are you almost done?"

"Yeah, just a few more final details to be made." Shortly after Yuichi stood and showed Kyo the very detailed drawing, impressing the other teen.

"I know you were good but getting a front row seat and being a subject is an interesting feeling. Not every day a famous person wants to draw you." Kyo said as he stretched and arched his back a little.

"Thank you for coming..." Yuichi said, he put his sketch book down and glanced at Kyo. "What are your thoughts about the time limit?"

"My thoughts huh? I think it's a lot of pressure, hell right now we are only wasting time." Replied kyo, "not only that who knows what other people are thinking or feeling right now, some must be at their breaking point, others giving into their desires, accepting their undecided fates."

"Hm.. do you think someone will go on a killing spree? Lowering the competition to make the games impossible to play?" Yuichi speculated but shook his head, discarding his own idea. "Then again, I doubt Marble would allow that to happen.."

Kyo gave a small nod, agreeing with him. Marble would definitely not allow such a thing, people are already dying thanks to the games, just having a murderer on the loose seems like it won't go well since he wants the games played in the first place.

"Regardless, we shouldn't be worrying about what other people are doing or thinking. We only have ourselves." Kyo said and the two headed out together.

Yuichi wanted some inspiration so he and Kyo went off to the arcade.

"Do you like arcades..?" He asked.

"I'm not too crazy about them, however, I do like some of the small games they have to offer."

After getting tokens to split among one another Kyo looked at the crane game nearby. Yuichi noticed and looked at him, "I didn't take you as the plushie type."

"I wouldn't say I'm into them, I was just thinking maybe if we get out of here, this will too." Kyo replied, "my sister loves these."

"Ah, I see," Yuichi looked at the pink cat plush toy Kyo tried to get with the claw.

"Do you have a sibling?" The other boy asked, giving him a side glance.

Yuichi shook his head, "unlike you and Futaba, I'm the only one in the group who's an only child." He replied, "I sometimes think having a sibling would be nice but also I'm not too bothered by it."

Yuichi looked at the stuffed animals for a moment "My mother and I have a great relationship though, she supported me a lot on my art career."

"Did she now? Mine supported my hobby of being a writer." Kyo replied, putting a coin in the crane game. "I don't write as much anymore but I tell stories to my little sister."

Yuichi put his hand to his chin, an idea seeming to come to mind. "Hey, if you ever get back into it, maybe we could make something together."

"If we get out of here, I might take you up on that offer." Replied Kyo, getting the plushie.

They both had a fist bump as a way to solidify their promise or well proposal to one another.

The two walked out of the arcade and there was a sudden loud commotion. There was a large crowd and they approached it, everyone looking up to the sky and their was a woman who was up in the air, being hung by a chain.

"W-what... What happened?" A voice in the crowd uttered.

By the woman was a sign that had "Penalty: didn't respond" written on it.

"Penalty? For what?" Yuichi asked, his voice low and his question unanswered.

"Look! Again!" Someone called out.

A man was hung and then another person, then another, then again. Bodies were showing up over and over at random.

"Don't tell me.." Kyo mumbled.

Marble suddenly appeared above the crowd in a floating patrol car and raised his arms. "Oh! How tragic! It seems everyone is in a life of crime these days!" He chuckled, coming from the car was a banner that read: "Reading and Ignoring Is a Crime."

"Read and ignore? Like when you see that someone saw your message but don't reply?" Yuichi asked, earning a nod from Kyo.

The entire crowd was in clear confusion by what was going on but in their minds they truly knew what this meant.

A new game suddenly began.

"I can see you all finally understand deep down~" Marble chuckled softly and pointed down to all of them. "Now then allow me to introduce the next game! Read and Ignore, Eradication Measure!"

Marble held up his smartphone "At random all 3,056 players will be sending chat messages to each other! The messages will instantly get a 'read' status and a count down of 30 seconds will begin, if you fail to reply it's game over for you!"

Marble chuckled and announced one more thing: "The game ends when half of you are left!"

"What?! This is the most harsh game!" A man yelled out.

Kyo looked at Yuichi and motioned for him to follow him. "Come on, we have to find Futaba." He said, walking off with him.

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The two found Futaba near the dorms, Kyo grabbed her by the wrist and took her along with Yuichi to his dorm room.

"W-what is it?" She asked.

"You heard the new game announcement right? At random we'll receive messages and have only 30 seconds." Kyo replied with his arms folded and Yuchi spoke next after catching on.

"You want us to keep watch on each other, is that it?"

The black haired teen nodded. "Marble said the game goes on until half of us remain, this means when when we're sleeping."

"So we should sleep in shifts! A lack of sleep will only stress us out!" Futaba exclaimed.

"This is a harsh game..." Yuchi said, holding his arm as he looked downward.

"It is, this plan is to keep us safe, like Futaba said, lack of sleep will only give stress. That can lead to sabotage, someone may take another's phone or prevent them from replying at some point. Other teams may be formed but will eventually crumble if they break." Kyo explained, "so keep your phones close."

The two nodded and their operation to stay awake and reply began.

End.