Accepting the option is one thing, but stopping herself from throwing a tantrum about it, is another. So, she’s kicking her shoes off and unstrapping her axe. Flopping herself onto one of the beds. Staking claims on it. And when Redhead asks what is she doing, she frustratedly declares,

“You cucked me with my best friend, I deserve this!” but his airy attitude about it surprises her to bolt right up when he agrees,

“I guess you do have a point. I was planning on letting the two of you stay if you had nowhere else to spend the night.” then optimistically suggests like an enthusiastic puppy,

“We’re going to be comrades now so let’s get along!” What’s with that 360 degrees change in attitude? He can be surprisingly nice. Wait. No. That’s not quite right. He isn’t exactly a bad person; he was just antagonistic to her with his blatant honestly. It immediately makes Cyan jump on the opportunity,

“Then how come she gets the bed? I’m your teammate, she’s just the emotional support.”

“I am a fragile, delicate, young lady in distress, of course I get the bed!” only to have Cyan scoff at her,

“You’re a kid. Not a lady. Kids go on the sofa.” it’s an incredibly uncomfortable leathery looking thing bolted together with rusty brackets and wooden frames that she has to make a face at it,

“No way. My bones will hurt.”

“So will mine!”

“Go share the bed with your homie-romance partner! Bros before hoes, right?”

“No. Fuck you. You go sleep with him.” she doesn’t want to! Her muscles still ache from squeezing into a bed far too small with Cyan last night. Their childish argument is making redhead chuckle a little, before he pretends to be offended,

“Why am I getting pushed around like a sad appetizer that no one wants!” and it finally makes Cyan realize,

“Wait. Hold up. Is there a double entendre thrown in there?” this time, she perfectly syncs up with Redhead,

“Did you just catch on?” there’s double entendre everywhere! It takes them a few more moments of nonsensical verbal back and forth to finally settle down. Defeated and hyperventilating. They weren’t getting anywhere with words, that’s why, in the end they had to settle it with a good ol’ game of rock paper scissors that Lilith finally wins. So now, Redhead’s slouching on the bed opposite her, with the most obvious -I regret getting involved with you two idiots- expression on his face. Whereas Cyan, beside him, splays out flat on his back with his legs dangling off the edges, probably wondering how they’ve even got caught up in this mockery of an argument. They managed to spend their last half an hour completely unproductively. It’s already past 12 midnight. Even the machine pigeons have returned home.

But Lilith feels rather triumphed. She’s gotten what she wants out of this; a nice comfy bed all to herself whereas Redhead and Cyan have to share. Finally, Cyan gets up, telling them,

“Alright. Fuck this. I’m taking a shower. Afterwards, let’s discuss plans.”

Come to think of it, they didn’t shower yesterday because of all the hectic things that’s occurred. There are still spots of crusted blood on her arm. Although, most of it has flaked off from all moving about with the only prominent traces embedded into her nails.

It takes the sounds of water running to snap her out of her thoughts to realize she’s left alone with Redhead. It suddenly feels awkward now that they aren’t acting like pure idiots. He’s just made eye contact, before flipping his face away to pretend he isn’t stumbling on his tongue, uncertain of what he should say to her. Perhaps wondering if she holds a grudge because he’s stolen Cyan from her. So, she starts,

“What’s your name anyway?” and it doesn’t take him much to get out of his shell after she makes it clearer that she doesn’t. So, he’s tilting his head at her, continuing the conversation,

“I already told you.”

“No, you haven’t.”

He reaches into his pocket, digging out the number tag to show her,

“I have.” that baffles her, “huh?” before something clicks in her head and she puts two and two together,

“Your name’s Twenty-Three?” and she can’t stop running her tongue in sheer surprise, “what kind of stupid name is that! You could’ve just told me you didn’t want to tell me!” but he’s vehemently denying,

“My name really is Twenty-Three!”

“What? So your first name is Twenty and your last name is Three?” it’s so dumb! He knows she isn’t believing him so he’s searching for his name tag to show her this time,

“No. It’s just Twenty-Three.” with the most innocent, oblivious expression like he doesn’t understand why it’s so estranged. Fuck. It really is Twenty-Three. His parents must be tripping balls when they came up with that. It’s a mouth full. Imagine adding moderators to that, Twenty-three's, Twenty-three'd, twenty-three've, the poor boy! She’s looking at him with a pitying gaze, dramatically wiping a none existent teardrop from her eyes,

“Nah.” she concludes, “I’m calling you Bob.” and it genuinely puzzles him,

“How come?” she can’t bring herself to tell him, his parents are morons and he deserves to have an actual name, so she instead excuses,

“I just feel like it.” and she somehow feels even worse when she realizes, he doesn’t snap at her like Cyan would’ve. Instead, he looks a little happy, scratching at his cheek and muttering to himself,

“Bob... Bob. Do I look like a Bob?” Not exactly. Bob gives her a jolly middle-aged Santa type vibe, whereas Redhead, Redhead strikes her as a golden retriever. Sassy as he is pitiful. He’s surprisingly sharp with some things and ignorant with others. But it’s too late to admit that she was mocking him when he flicks his eyes up and tells her with a bright smile,

“Alright then, you can call me Bob.” he sincerely likes the name. She can’t help but to squint. Ah. He’s blinding her. She feels like a piece of shit. Cyan’s coming out of the shower at a perfect timing, so she quickly uses it as means to excuse herself, concluding the conversation with a disingenuous introduction,

“I’m Lilith, and that’s Cyan.” brisk walking away,

“Bob. That’s Bob. Don’t ask for his name, it’s tragic.” she says towards Cyan who’s toweling his hair dry at the door with a confused look on his face, but she’s shutting herself in too quickly for him to question her about it. May the water wash away the grime.

It doesn’t take her long to get distracted from sentimental feelings with the tacky looking bathroom. The toilet’s designed like an antiseptic tank. The shower head is just a pipe, the faucet are gears. But what keeps her attention is the shampoo bottles. They’re shaped like pearls, stored in a treasure chest on the grated shelf. Decorated like it’s been sitting in the ocean depths for far too long, so there’s sea junk growing on it. And instead of having a pump or squeeze dispenser, she’s got to pop it open in her palms to get the soap. It smells nice too, like something sweet she can eat. Pumpkins! Right, that’s what the scent is. It doesn’t taste as good, but at least it foams well. Afterwards, she helps herself to the fancy crème bathrobe and face moisturizer on the ornate sink. Toweling her hair dry before she steps out again.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

There’s a serious mood in the room. Cyan and Bob have relocated to the sofa, few pieces of paper that’s been doodled on splashed across the coffee table. Looks like Cyan was explaining the game and how it works. Scribbling down bullet points of the commonly used tactics they’ve observed. Bob’s taking a sip from the coffee that he’s made, raising an eyebrow at the phrase,

“Big bazonkas Hostess Lady?” ah, that’s where they got to. Lilith flops herself into the arm chair opposite them, it’s actually more comfortable than it looks. Carrying on the conversation, she describes,

“Massive.” raising her hand to shape into two circles before her, “It was blocking my sight from the cards.” then she flattens them like she’s bursting balloons,

“But that was just bamboozle. She’s actually some tanned Kusma brat.” maybe that’s why the Hostess Lady ended up looking like some horny teenager’s wet dream. But Bob definitely got intrigued, with a dazed out look on his face as if he’s trying to picture it in his head. Cyan highlights before Bob's able to drift into his imagination,

“There’s another thing that struck me as odd." to bring him back to the discussion at hand. He's shaking himself into focus to hear Cyan elaborate,

"Despite being a test trial, there aren’t any examinees in the first hall. Not that we can identify at a glance.” that’s exactly what she was wondering earlier, except, he’s got a logical explanation to it,

“We should assume, the existing examinees in this trial, must have already changed into prisoner uniforms. Blending themselves into the crowd to not stand out. And once they’re wearing the uniform, there’s no way to identify them on the map.” he pulls it out to show them the orange dots scattered about,

“Because it’s all part of the trial. A strategy that others have already figured out.”

That’ll make sense. “Not many prisoners will play against you knowing that you’re an examinee.” they tried and got rejected, which leads her to confirm her suspicions,

“Kusma boy must be another examinee.” this way, all the misinformation will line up. Alyss wouldn’t put a spell lock on him if he is one, because he isn’t a criminal. The same way she didn’t spell lock them.

Cyan continues,

“Unless we have some way to differentiate our opponents, fake from real commoner prisoners, like a read ability or something, we can’t confidently challenge or accept games from other players too. We don’t know what type of Magia abilities they may have. Go in blind again, and we'll end up losing exactly how we did.” that's one problem addressed, she tosses in the other,

“So, have you figured out how Kusma boy’s Magia ability work? It has no visual indications of a spell was casted. But the closest I can describe it is that the effects are like being mind controlled. Your awareness just gets changed without you even realizing it.”

Bob finally inputs after scribbling down the key terms,

“From what you two have been telling me. It doesn’t exactly sound like mind control.” putting down the pen, he doubles back on the information again, shuffling through them, before raising his head and brings up a massive contradiction,

“If he can do that, why didn't he just make you give him your money directly. Why bother going through the hassle of tricking you?" he's got a point! Bob speculates instead,

“It’s probably a lot closer to perception control. He's tricking your eyes. Not your mind. When the spell is lifted, you were fully aware of what you think you saw, versus what actually is.” At that, Bob tosses the sheets aside and slouches into the sofa. Sipping on his coffee whilst getting himself comfortable as he ponders,

“But something still isn’t adding up. His spell mechanics still aren’t consistent this way.” kicking a foot against the table ledge, he leans back, again analyzing the paper sheets he’s gathered and retracts his words,

“But I think he did mind control you, just for a split second.”

They’re both getting confused now, so they’re quietly waiting for Bob to elaborate,

“That last part of the game.” he clarifies with Cyan, “You were certain that you were reaching for a Queen. But your priority suddenly shifted to a King. If it’s just perception control, then you would instead, reach for what you think is a queen, but is actually a king instead. You didn’t describe it like that. Plus, perception control wouldn’t have worked. Because you should know where the cards were placed. If it suddenly exchanged places in your hands, wouldn’t it suspicions?” Cyan nods,

“Right. In that moment, it just felt natural that my winning card was King.”

Lilith’s becoming utterly lost, “so, it is mind control in the end? What’s the difference between the two even.” everything just sounds like mind control to her. Bob patiently explains,

“Think of it this way, with perception control, if you see the sexy hostess again, you’ll know it’s Kusma kid, even though you’re seeing the sexy hostess. You have an awareness that your perception is wrong. The same way you’ll see a white tile as grey beneath shadows. But deep down, you know the tile is white. However, with mind control, you do not have that awareness. Like Cyan wasn’t aware that reaching for the King is wrong. He should be going for a Queen.” Cyan suddenly realizes with a gasp,

“That’s why the mind control wasn’t sustained! I realized I fucked up the moment I compared it with my memories and noticed the disparities! He probably doesn’t have the ability to affect memories, therefore it’ll only work for a split second! In other words, once the awareness kicks in, the mind control is broken.” Bob immediately snaps his fingers, excited that Cyan’s on the same page,

“That’s exactly what I think.” straightening from the seat again, “you two were hit by two different spells. One of which, is perception control. The other, is mind control. Perception control is what caused you to see Kusma Kid as Sexy Hostess. Mind control, is what happened to Cyan in the last minute, what made him think he’s going for a King instead of the Queen.”

Lilith brings up,

“But that still won’t explain how did his perception control got broken. It’s only after the game ends that I realized we weren’t playing against a Hostess Lady. Besides, we didn’t know him. Why would he even need to take a different form to us?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Cyan deadpans, “try thinking it from his perspective. If you have an ability to change perception, then wouldn’t you use it to create as much confusion as you can? You can’t be certain if your opponents might have seen a game of yours and know what you’re up to. But you can create an entirely different persona that no one in the hall has seen. There are so many people and you won’t be able to remember all the faces so it’s guaranteed that your tricks will take your opponents by surprise.” fuck. It’s quite ingenious. This way, Kusma boy can swindle the same people over and over again! Bob is addressing her former statement,

“And his perception control got broken probably because he has a limited target effect. He can only change the perception of a set number of people at once. And if he wants to switch targets, he’ll have to lift the effect from his present targets.” She gets it now. Finally contributing after fully grasping the situation,

“This means, he probably isn’t that overpowered either. Because, he’s lost the game before to others. That’s how he ended up wagering his eye and kidney!” he has weaknesses.

“Yep.” Cyan then asks without missing a beat, “so, how do we beat him?” they unanimously turned to look at Bob in silence. But he isn’t following up. He’s awkwardly laughing after a few moments of silence,

“Are you expecting my input on that.” breaking their momentum.

“Well. No shit!” Cyan snaps, “You’re the one that said you specialize in utility Magia!” at that, he immediately takes another sip of his coffee and waves his hand over his face,

“That’s impossible. I’m not a clairvoyant. We’re still speculating at the moment. I’ll need to see it for myself to know! Or experience it for myself to come up with a specific counter.” then he redirects the conversation before they can scorn him for it,

“But that isn’t a big priority right now. There are more than 400 players to play against and our win conditions are already laid out.” he’s showing them a piece of his scribbled paper. The handwriting’s illegible so he’s reading it out loud,

“One, we need to find out how to attain the prisoner’s uniform too so we can blend in with the crowd. Preferably, we shouldn’t be seen in the hall in casual clothes at all. This will solve the problem with real prisoners not playing against us.” then he addresses Cyan,

“Your tails are going to be a problem. It’s easy to tell you’re a Demigod at a glance. Think of ways to hide it.” before going back to his notes,

“Two, we need a way to differentiate examinees from prisoners so we can pick fights that we can confidently win.” he conjures a portal in thin air,

“And three, we need a sure-fire way to win games against commoners that is more reliable than mind games, cheating and reverse psychology.” pulling a gun out from it, he spins it between his fingers,

“In other words, my Magia ability.”

“So, you already have something in mind?”

“Nah.” he laughs, emptying the magazine in his hand, “I’m not Alberto Stein, I need some time to think about what I can do. This isn’t as straight forward as creating a speed buff to make you go faster. While I do that, you two figure out the solutions to problems one and two. If we can satisfy these three conditions, we won’t be losing anymore matches.” immediately, Lilith shotguns the easier task,

“I’ll take number one!” getting up from her seat to dive, stomach first, onto the bed where she’s discarded her clothes earlier and searches for her phone. Leaving Cyan to grumble about how impossible his job seems behind her. Pulling out her chatlogs, she knows exactly who to bug.