The lights in the courtroom had shut off; even the screens had gone dark. In the corner two silhouettes stand almost face to face.

[https://i.imgur.com/vhZdPMi.png][https://i.imgur.com/7f0AeQP.png]

There’s my awkward self, and then there’s Lily - I had asked her to stay for just a few minutes more. Though I hadn’t known that soon after the voting was over that the Trial Chamber would power down.

[Yuri]: Hi Lily.

I am of course, lying - excuse me, role swapping - about being Seer, and so too about my report where I told everyone that Lily was innocent. I don’t really know if Lily’s actually Town or Wolf; I need to find out so I can decide whether to help the village or to burn it down.

[Lily]: Did you want to talk to me about something?

She stands on her tip-toes as she looks up at me. We can make each other out now in the faint light, and her eyebrows are scrunched and her mouth’s in a thoughtful pout.

[Lily]: Go on. I’ll listen to whatever you have to say.

“I want to protect you! So just tell me your role.”

I thought about saying that. Something bold and dashing, but in reality…

[Yuri]: *Hrk!*

[Lily]: Yuri? Are you choking?

I’m not that confident! When I think about it, isn’t saying something like that the same as a love confession?

[Lily]: A-are you okay! Your face is really flushed!

[Yuri]: *Hrrk!!!* *Hack!!* *Hrkkk!*

[Lily]: Ah! I’ve never done this before. But don’t worry, I’ll save you.

She slips behind me and wraps her hands around my stomach, while pressing herself close into my back.

[Lily]: I’m Heimlich certified! …bend the person over, facing the ground-

[Yuri]: NO! NO! STOP!

Forget about choking. I’m about to have a heart attack.

[Yuri]: I’m okay. I was just stressed from the Trial today, and I cough more when I’m stressed.

[Lily]: Oh.

She sounds oddly disappointed. She moves away, and I’m suddenly disappointed too. Though I’d really rather not be her Heimlich maneuver guinea pig.

[Yuri]: What I wanted to say is that you’re important to me. That’s all this is about.

Lily wears a puzzled expression. I lean in closer.

[Yuri]: I know that you’re definitely Town. So I want you to win the game. Okay?

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

[Lily]: Sure. I guess I get it…

She tilts her head thoughtfully. Now she leans in closer and I have to move away. There’s a faint light that seems to come down from the painted dome in the ceiling, and casts her almost in a halo.

[Lily]: It’s my turn to tell you something. Or rather, I have something I want to ask you.

[Yuri]: Oh? R-really?

She hops on the table-ledge and begins to swing her legs back and forth.

[Lily]: Have you thought about ‘why’ you’re playing this game?

[Yuri]: Most people would say having their life on the line would be reason enough. But I have a different reason that I don’t want to say.

[Yuri]: But if you really want to know, then maybe, I’d tell you… I…you... I...

I’m having a meltdown. I’m having a meltdown. I’m having a melt-

[Lily]: That's interesting. But that isn't really what I'm asking. I mean ‘why’ someone would have twelve of us students play a game of Werewolf where if you lose, you die?

[Yuri]: Oh.

Lily!!! Just because I tease you consciously, doesn’t give you the right to play with my emotions by accident! But I swallow my indignation and think.

[Yuri]: Maybe some rich geezers are gambling on us behind the scenes, or an eccentric old man is living vicariously through us, or we’re in the afterlife and this is just our purgatory. We could be playing a death game for all those reasons.

[Lily]: …did you just spoil that drama that I was going to go see?

[Yuri]: No, these are just common tropes…and I'm being serious about the one I said first.

Have you ever played through an Escape Room before? Were you impressed by the cutting-edge motion sensor technology they had, where you'd wave your hand a certain way and a hidden compartment would pop open? It's very likely there was no such tech. Instead, a person will watch the attempted escapees through a camera and will hit a button to remotely unlock boxes after witnessing the players make the movements that need to be ‘detected’.

In this Death Game, the first trial only started once everyone took a seat, and the chairs themselves seem to be made from simple wood. So I suspect our captors are also watching us through cameras and advancing the game based on what they see, though there must still be some automation involved.

Us being gambled on by callous billionaires is definitely possible. Though maybe I only think that because that’s a big cliche when it comes to these kinds of games…

[Lily]: I want to talk to the others and find what we all have in common. I think the other seven students are going to focus on escaping the building, but at least one of us has to think about the motive for the kidnapping instead.

[Lily]: Figuring out that ‘why’ might give us a clue on how to fight back or escape.

[Yuri]: You’re diligent as always. But if I think of a way to flee, I don’t care about lore. I’m leaving and I’m taking you with me.

[Lily]: Mhmm, that's great. Find a way, fetch me, and then I’ll get everyone else so we can all survive.

“We can all survive.” Even when three of the twelve are already dead, she l clings to the words. But I suppose I'll play along til that wish itself perishes.

[Lily]: Yuri, do you notice anything about the backgrounds of the players here?

[Yuri]: We’re all high school students.

[Lily]: That’s a good observation. But anything else?

She speaks to me as if to a pre-schooler. Hey, it could be important that we’re all close to the same age! I thought I was being clever…

[Yuri]: To be honest, I haven’t talked much to anyone else outside the trials. Except for the [Rat], but that doesn’t count.

[Lily]: That’s right. You always sleep in. If that’s the case… it’s time to wake up!

[Lily]: Let’s go and talk to all the other students and see what we can find.

[Yuri]: Both of us?

[Lily]: It’ll be much easier to find patterns when it’s two people comparing notes rather than just one person lost in thought.

[Lily]: Besides, in a big building like this, it can get a little lonely. Don’t just stand still, come, come on.

She tugs at my hand.

[Lily]: Maybe you’re always late because you always move so slowly.

I smile.

[Yuri]: Okay, okay, I’lll pick up the pace.