When that girl showed up on my turf that day, she’d looked like prey ripe for the taking. She should’ve been an easy mark. I was supposed to threaten her into giving up her money—no, I probably would’ve had a little fun with her first. (And with me as her partner, she probably would’ve enjoyed herself too!) Yet when I’d called out to her...
“Seriously?! You delinquents are all the same. Do you guys all follow a manual or something? Whatever, just come at me already, you two-bit mob enemy.”
For a moment, I couldn’t believe my ears. Then, a beat later, I came to my senses and realized that the girl was picking a fight with me. “Oh yeah? Perfect—then I’ll kill you and have some fun with your corpse afterward!”
“Oh no, how scary! I’m gonna wet myself!” the girl said, but from the smirk on her face, she was obviously making fun of me. That’s it, you little bitch—you might be easy on the eyes, but a brat like you belongs six feet under!
I took the log I was holding as a weapon and swung it at the girl. She didn’t even try to defend as the log hit her square in the chest—and smashed to pieces upon impact. My hand went numb from the recoil, as though I’d struck a massive boulder.
“Huh...? What just—”
“And there we go, self-defense justified.”
“You brat, what are you—” But I didn’t even get to finish my sentence, because in the next instant, the world around me was pitch-black. Then, as though someone had suddenly turned out the lights, a vast, starry sky suddenly surrounded me.
“Huh?!” What’s going on?! What happened to me? What did she do to me?!
“Where the hell are we?!”
“What did you do to me, you bitch?! Gaaah!”
“Huh? Wait, is that you, Barad?” Apparently, one of my acquaintances was also around here. When my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, I could see some other men I vaguely recognized, and I realized that we were all standing in the middle of a ruin. What the hell’s going on here?
At that moment, a bright light shone down, only illuminating our area. It was so bright I had to squint. What is this, some kind of light magic? It’s like it’s daytime around us, but nighttime everywhere else in the ruin.
“All right everyone, settle down. Attention!”
“Huh?! Who’s... Wait, what?” Underneath the light that was as bright as the sun itself, I turned in the direction of the voice. It was definitely the voice of the girl I’d just tried to attack. Just as I’d suspected, there she was—but she was floating in the air, with nothing to hold her up.
“The hell?! What’d you do, brat?! Wait, I can’t move?! Guh!” I tried to approach her so I could give her a piece of my mind, but my legs were frozen in place, as though rooted to the spot. As it turned out, my upper body was also frozen, right down to my fingertips. I could only move from the neck up.
“What’s going on?! What is this?! Someone help me!”
“Huh?! This is bullshit! What is this?!”
“Nooo, I don’t wanna die! Save me, bro!”
The cries of the other men echoed throughout the ruin—apparently they couldn’t move either.
“All right, listen up,” the girl said. “From this moment on, you’ll be participating in a game where you’ll need to kill each other to survive—ahem, sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Actually, I just have one question for you all: Do you believe in a higher power?”
Huh? What’s this bitch going on about all of a sudden? No doubt the others were thinking the same thing too.
“The Goddess is angry with all of you, you see. Very angry. And it’s because you’re all bad people. Didn’t your parents ever teach you all not to cause trouble for others? Hmm?”
“Shut the hell up, you—”
“You’re causing us trouble right now, brat—”
“So this is all your fault?! I’m gonna murder you—”
One by one, the men who raised their voices in anger fell silent.
“O wayward children, the Goddess has watched over you all this time—mostly for her own entertainment. Now the time of judgment is at hand...and she has dispatched me, her disciple, to mete out your punishment.” The girl pointed to herself smugly with her thumb. I see—she’s insane.
Given the situation, however, I couldn’t entirely dismiss her words as nonsense. At first I’d been in a back alley of the town, and now I was here, in the middle of a ruin. No, not just me—we’d all been transported to this place in the blink of an eye. If that wasn’t the work of a higher power, then what was? Could she...actually be telling the truth?
“Now then, it’s punishment time! If anybody wants to be first to repent, raise your hand! The punishment will go on until all of you apologize and swear to turn yourselves over to the authorities! Until it’s unanimous, you’ll all continue to suffer!”
“Wait, huh?” No sooner than the girl had finished speaking, our feet started to rise up above the ground. I’m floating... No, flying?! At incredible speed, we all rose up into the sky, then were flipped upside down to where our faces were directed toward the ground. Oh, shit... We’re way high up. Because the light from above was illuminating the area we’d just been standing in, I could easily tell just how far away the ground was. It’s like I’m a bird, was my last idle thought before I realized I was approaching the ground at breakneck speed.
I’m falling! “Aaaagh!” I screamed.
“Gyaaahh!”
“I’m dead! I’m gonna dieee!”
The wind pulverized my body as I descended rapidly toward a pitch-black section of ground. Just as I braced for impact, however, my body stopped an inch away from certain death.
“Guh... What happened?” I panted, my entire body drenched in sweat. I thought I was dead... No, maybe I did die. I honestly don’t know anymore.
“All right, children, has everyone reflected on their misdeeds? Hmm... I can’t hear you. One more time, then!”
“Huh...? Gaaah!” Once again, we were all launched high into the sky. Then, once we’d risen to around the same height as before...we dropped like rocks!
“Gyaaahhh!”
“Oh, shiiiiit!”
“I’ve reflected! I’m ready to repent! Just stop this already— Ahhhhh!”