[https://i.imgur.com/7fLYm1W.png]
We enter the hotel lobby. There’s a computer by the counter - I press the power button and the screen remains black. Couches are tucked away in the corner, next to frilly potted plants that accent the room.
There’s a newspaper rack, but all the brochures have been removed. Whoever the Gamemakers are they're kind enough to have left a single crinkled-up tabloid magazine. Ah, the person on the cover is that pop star named Shinji. Must be an old issue.
[Lily]: Hm. Interesting.
[Yuri]: Are tabloids really something that someone on the student council should be interested in?
The guy on the cover is supposed to be good-looking, but I find him kind of ratty.
[Yuri]: Don’t tell me you like that beady eyed pest.
[Lily]: Objectively he's handsome. But don’t worry Yuri. He’s not active anymore after that accident, so even if I were interested there’s no way we’d ever meet. At least, I don’t think so.
She tilts her head and crinkles an eyebrow.
[Yuri]: Why would I be worried? I’m not worried!
Ignoring my second meltdown, Lily looks thoughtful and rips the cover off the magazine. I can’t imagine what she’s going to do with that, but before I can interrogate her-
[Lily]: Ah, we got sidetracked!
She greets the other people with whom we’re in the room.
[https://i.imgur.com/Xt3nEVo.png][https://i.imgur.com/ktnGvGA.png]
The [Horse] and the [Ox] stand by a set of wide wooden doors. The Ox pounds on them with his fists.
CRNK CRNK CRNK!
The doors don’t even shudder.
[Horse]: Oh! Hello!
The [Horse] waves at us and the [Ox] grunts his acknowledgement.
[Horse]: These wooden doors stop us from leaving this place! But no wooden door can hold our iron wills!
[Horse]: Can you help us? With four people we might be able to batter them down.
I squeeze one of my forearms. Biologically, there are supposed to be muscle there, but…
[Lily]: Sure. What do you need?
[Horse]: When I count to 3, let’s all push as hard as we can.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
[Ox]: It doesn’t matter how strong you are. We just need more weight.
[Horse]: Ready? 1… 2… 3… Heave!
Someone groans as we push, but the door remains as silent and impassive as ever.
[Yuri]: I get the feeling that this isn’t working.
The windows are all boarded up and welded from without and within so it’d be difficult to get through them as well. At the current rate we’d have better luck punching through the floral wallpaper and hoping that the structure underneath's made from cheap plaster.
[Ox]: We’ll be fine. We just need some tools. You two, what’s the rest of the building like?
[Lily]: We haven’t really looked. Actually, we wanted to ask you some questions - what do you last remember before being kidnapped?
[Ox]: I walking home from the gym, winding down. It was dark, and I blacked out on a side street.
[Horse]: I was jogging, I don't remember where I was, it’s all super duper foggy.
[Lily]: That's notable. A mist rolled in?
[Horse]: No, the weather wasn’t foggy, just what I can picture in my mind! It’s so weird!
[Yuri]: Are you sure you’re not like this all the time?
[Horse]: This is different! Way different! When I’m hazy on math, it’s because I don’t know what to do. But this is something that should be there that I can’t recollect, like a ‘brain fog!’
The [Horse] tackles the door again, frustrated. Something in her jacket rattles onto the ground and I pick it up without thinking.
[Yuri]: What’s this?
The [Horse] rubs the back of her head.
[Yuri]: [Horse], here. You dropped this inhaler.
[Horse]: I don’t really need it anymore. But thanks all the same.
[Lily]: If you have asthma you should take it; it could be deadly if you have an attack without one.
[Horse]: It’s true that I had some close calls when I was younger. But I started to go on morning walks, then morning jogs.
[Horse]: It might have been age or luck, but over time things started to improve. I’m never going to be the fastest, but I definitely won’t be slow!
She lowers her voice.
[Horse]: …I still cough when I’m sick. But I don’t think sickness will be a problem here when it’s just the twelve of us.
She miscounted, since now there are nine. I open my mouth to correct her, and then catch her soft brown eyes. I sigh, and change what I was about to say.
[Yuri]: Why would I keep this? Take it.
[Horse]: Like I said, I don’t really need it.
She hesitates, before slipping it into her knapsack. The [Ox] waves his hand.
[Ox]: Let us know if you find any tools. If we can’t use a hammer or a crowbar, I’m thinking we can construct something and use that as a battering ram.
[Ox]: We’d either want something long, sturdy, thick, and heavy… or something like duct tape to bind a lot of different stuff together.
[Yuri]: We’ll let you know. Just…
I imagine the Ox with a crowbar. Give someone with that rippling physique a few pounds of iron to work with and they could surely shatter any wooden door.
[Lily]: Yuri? Were you going to say something?
If the [Ox] can cleave through wood, he can also shred bone. There’s no malice in his eyes; this is the boy who had made everyone pancakes for breakfast. But I had worried so much about death that I had forgotten about the chance for violence.
[Yuri]: It’s nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Violence isn’t against the rules. It's not directly mentioned at least.
Werewolf Conduct Extra Rules
1. Players may not show their Card to other players
2. Players may not tell their real name to other players
3. Players may not prevent other players from voting
4. Players must vote in all Trials before time expires.
5. Trials begin at Noon and last a variable length.
Violation of the conduct rules results in Death from the Gods.
Loopholes in rules can be worked around. Though I can't tell Lily my real name, she can simply call me by it since she already knows what it is. The violence loophole is not so innocent; if we find a hammer, a crowbar, or another tool that can pry open the entrance I’ll give it to the [Ox] for our freedom's sake. But I must fetch at least one tool for myself meant for war.