Principal Mike handed the manager a note for 500 rupees, which the manager discreetly pocketed. As he prepared to leave the cubicle, he noticed Abhi and subtly smiled at him before walking away without looking back.

Abhi paused for a moment, processing what he had just seen. After about ten seconds, he continued on his way. To Abhi, 500 rupees was a significant amount of money, something he earned after several days of hard work.

Suddenly, he had a realization but decided not to react. He calmly approached Mike.

"Hey, I’m back! I brought the tiffin full of Mom’s favourite snacks, ha-ha! Thanks again," Abhi said as he was putting his tiffin back in his backpack.

"No problem," Mike replied, keeping his eyes glued to the computer screen.

"By the way, who was that person just now?" Abhi asked as he settled into the chair next to Mike.

"The manager of this establishment. He was showing me some of the settings and the registration process, like entering the name, phone number, and other details," Mike replied blandly.

"Wow! It has a built-in registration feature; that's cool. Do you have to enter that information every time? I saw you using the membership card for one of the slots. If it has a similar verification feature like the door, why do you need to register?" Abhi observed curiously.

"Oh, um! I think they had some sort of update, which is why we needed to fill in our information. We don’t have to do that every time," Mike said. "And yes, the membership card acts as an authorization tool, so filling out the registration is essentially unnecessary; we obviously don’t do that each time," he added, sounding somewhat insincere.

"I see, that's very fascinating," Abhi said, leaning slightly forward. He looked down at the floor and clasped his hands to support his head. "Also, one more thing: I noticed you gave the manager money when you returned. Was that because of me? I thought the food and everything else was free," Abhi added softly and slowly.

"..." Mike sighed. "You ask a lot of questions, my friend," He replied, turning in his chair to face Abhi.

"I’m sorry! I was just curious. I didn’t want to burden you with anything. If my being here cost you anything, I'm really sorry. I’ll apologize to the manager, put all the food back, and leave," Abhi said, joining his hands and looking down in shame.

"Don't worry about it, it's all good," Mike reassured him, barely paying attention. "The 500 rupees was unrelated, and even if it wasn't, it’s not a big deal. Don’t stress about it," he added, placing a supportive hand on Abhi’s shoulder.

Abhi looked up and seemed to calm down, though he was still in subconscious shock at how differently people valued 500 rupees compared to him.

"Anyways, let’s play a game."

"Game?" Abhi asked, raising his left eyebrow to express doubt and curiosity.

"Yeah!" Mike replied enthusiastically.

///

"Alright, I'm in," Mike said as he launched the game and started his playthrough.

Abhi didn't say a word; he kept observing intently, resting his head in his cupped palms, with his eyes glued to the screen.

"So, I'm guessing you haven't played one of these before?" Mike asked blankly.

"Nope. This is my first time seeing it. Truth be told, I didn't even know you could play games on it," Abhi replied.

"I see. I'll let you watch me play for a bit so you can get an idea of what it's about. Then I'll give you the controller, alright?" Mike looked back at the curious and engaged Abhi for confirmation.

"Really? I can play too?" Abhi's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Yessir," Mike replied sincerely as he returned to the game.

"Look here. This little guy over here is called the 'Gaming Avatar.' He is essentially 'you' inside the game," Mike explained.

"Oh, so it’s kinda like Lord Vishnu's Dash Avatara?" Abhi asked, enlightened.

"Yup, pretty much like that," Mike answered.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Mike began moving his humanoid gaming avatar around using the keyboard and mouse while teaching Abhi about how everything worked. Abhi watched closely with a willingness to learn and an excited attitude.

"These are your statistics," Mike explained to Abhi. "It's essentially a menu that shows all your game-related stats, such as how quickly you finish the game, how many kills you achieve, your level, and more." Abhi listened attentively, eager to learn.

"So, this game is called 'One of Us.' The premise is similar to a 'find the odd one out' quiz. In a group of six players, one player is chosen to be the 'Imposter.' This imposter's goal is to fool everyone into thinking they aren't the imposter and stay alive until the end of the game, or kill everyone, one at a time" Mike explained enthusiastically.

"That is very interesting. But what do the other five non-imposters do?" Abhi asked while paying attention to the gameplay.

"The ultimate goal of the other five non-imposters, or as we call them, 'friends,' is to complete some tasks between each round. If they manage to finish all the necessary tasks before the imposter kills them, they win. Alternatively, if they successfully identify the true imposter and vote them out of the game, they also achieve instant victory."

"They have the opportunity to kick out one member per round, and there are four rounds total. If they fail to kick out the imposter in those four rounds, only one imposter and one friend will remain. This means the imposter instantly wins as they kill the last remaining friend by default."

"Damn! That’s quite dark. Are you sure it's not scary? I don’t like scary things," Abhi said, slightly creasing his eyebrows.

"Ha-ha, don’t worry. We’re dressed as cats and rats, man," Mike replied with a grin.

"Bruh!" Abhi retorted while chuckling.

"Alright it might be a little scary, but we are all cats, and the imposter is a stinkin’ RAT! it can only go so bad" Mike said, adopting a silly accent.

"Hmm, wouldn’t it make more sense for the imposter to be a cat? Cats kill rats," Abhi pointed out.

"Don’t think too deeply about it, There is a reason for everything in the game. In the original version, the 'friends' were all sheep, and the imposter was a wolf in sheep's clothing. But the model got too repetitive; you can only act like a sheep and do sheep tasks for so long. So, I recommended that the creator add more animals and maybe even other fictional creatures, each with their own unique tasks. Now you can be pretty much any animal and get its corresponding tasks, both as an imposter and as a 'friend.'"

"I see... wait, you recommended the creator to do that?" Abhi asked, raising his brows at the implications.

"Uh, yeah. This game is being developed by one of our ex-students from Kolar. It's not even publicly available to play outside the social circles around Kolar," Mike explained matter-of-factly.

"Wow! That is very impressive. Do all video games here come from Kolar?" Abhi asked curiously.

"Eh, no. I just got this game through the internet right now," Mike said, avoiding eye contact with Abhi.

"Internet..." Abhi said softly while squinting his eyes.

"You don't know about the internet?" Mike asked intently.

"Um, well... I’ve heard about it..."

"That's too deep of a topic, man. I won't be teaching all that right now; let's just play games for now," Mike focused back on the game.

"Okay!" Abhi replied cheerfully.

///

The screen transitions into a pixel art background inside a mansion gallery, offering a wide view of a green garden and other scenery outside. At the centre of it all stands the character avatar: a classy-looking rat in a tuxedo, upright on its two little legs.

“Let’s go! We’re the impostor, he-he-haw-ha!” Mike exclaims enthusiastically.

“So, at the beginning of each game, one of the players is randomly selected to be the impostor, and they stay the impostor for that game. This time, the game is only going to have three rounds,” Mike explains.

“Why only three rounds this time?” Abhi asks casually.

“Since this game is available only to the people within the social circles of Kolar, its multiplayer base isn't large. Sometimes we have to play with four players instead of five, which leads to one less round,” Mike replies.

“Makes sense. Also, if your character avatar is a rat, wouldn’t that expose your identity as an impostor?” Abhi asks with curiosity.

“Nope! The skins are purely decorative. You get a rat skin by default as an impostor in this game because your character is a rat. I could wear a lion's or an elephant's skin, but I would still appear as a cat to everyone else while being a rat on the inside,” Mike explains frankly.

“Wow! That's very cool,” Abhi said, impressed.

“Yeah, it's one of the newer features. The creator of this game is a perfectionist; he wants to make it as perfect as possible before publishing it. My prediction? That won't happen for a decade or two at this pace!” Mike chuckles sarcastically.

“Ha-ha, I know someone like that too…” Abhi replies.

“Oh really? Who?” Mike asked without moving his eyes from the screen.

“…Uhmm… I forgot!” Abhi answered, scratching his head.

“Huh? Well, anyway, let’s change to the skin I actually want,” Mike says, moving his mouse to locate something on the screen.

“You don't want the rat skin?” Abhi asks.

“Nuh-uh… Let me ask you something: What should an impostor do to not look like an impostor?” Mike turns to look Abhi in the eyes.

“Hmm… maybe understand cats better in order to blend in with them?” Abhi takes a moment to respond.

“Correct! And what is the undisputed best way to understand and blend in with cats?” Mike asks rhetorically.

He clicks on his mouse and opens a menu filled with various skins and costumes. He quickly selects one: a skin featuring huge adorable eyes, perky sharp ears, small paws with sharp retractable claws, a wiggling tail, and yellowish-golden fur—all while wearing a tuxedo.

“The undisputed best way to understand and blend in with cats is to… BECOME a cat!” Mike says with a huge grin on his face.

Abhi holds back his urge to laugh out loud.

...….