Topless Laundryman

POV: Saori Kitagaya

I woke up beside the lake with my whole body covered by a towel I took earlier from a tree branch. I think that it is already given to us after we escape our tombs.

Yes, I somehow escaped from the brink of the death's waiting list. After the dynamite exploded, a crater formed between the ground and my coffin. I've been given thirty seconds of silence after the coffin automatically slides sideways.

That small thirty seconds felt too long. For me, it's been ages since I last saw the outside world. I'm the snow white disregarded by her prince charming, and the frozen rotten milk abandoned in the refrigerator.

I crawled my way up the crater with my soft slim arms that can't carry this one heavy body. It took me five minutes and dirty clothes until I got up to the ground. Compared to when I conserved my air underground, my breath in these five minutes slowly fades, like I'm the cat chasing a rat out of hunger.

"Finally," I whispered breathless, eating the fresh air of nature's aroma like a double patty burger. It took me minutes to claim my breath back while I sweat.

The last thing that I remember is that I planned to clean up myself. War is based on deception, and appearance is one of the essentials. A face can send you a thousand jets or can tame a boar. I might be a zombie, but when I don't look like it, I can conceal my image.

Even if my legs are completely jelly-numb after walking to find a body of water, I took off my clothes and washed them. Even though I know the risks, I still do it in order to manage my time, but a shake hits my head and keeps my eyes rolling.

Slowly and unconsciously, my view turns upside until everything turned blurry and blue. I can't breathe and move any part of my body by an inch. That's the time when I knew that my weakness hits again, and I don't know what happened next until the case where I am right now.

I'm lying on the ground and thought that the water pushed me here, but there is no wave in the lake. I have let my guard down because of my weakness. There's only one possible reason why.

I put my hand on my chest and held the towel as I raise my body. There is no one in my sight… just in my sight. I know there's someone in there, hiding in the shadows and waiting for me to wake up.

I wrapped the towel in my body and stand up to find my vanished clothes. Just right after I decided to observe around the lake, I've already seen one familiar face.

"You…" I stuttered as I flinched back in shock. He has short fine blonde hair and doesn't have a cloth on his body… or it seems like he is washing his clothes out of the dirt. I can see the dirt and water wrapping around his pants.

The moment I stuttered, he suddenly notices me. But when he gazed at me, he quickly averts his eyes away with his red face.

"O… Oh… Sorry… That was… unintentional…"

"You… did you do something to me… while I'm asleep?" I asked with my watery eyes.

"I… I promise I did not! You're drowning… and you know… there's no way I can save you without… seeing…"

"Pervert!" I shouted while showing him my flushed face of embarrassment. "I rather die than be saved by you!"

I quickly turned away while planning to run, but I saw my clothes, from my uniform to my underwear, hanging on the tree, completely cleaned up and partly dry. I can still feel the coldness in the silk as I touch it. Quickly, I claim it and run away from his view, but I didn't take far from him.

How brave of him, a male, to wash a woman's underwear. But complaints aside, I wondered how long I am unconscious for the reason that made my clothes go dry. If this is already too long, then I need to quickly find my fellow players on our team.

Ikeda is just missing as stated in the news, but why is he here, and as a zombie too? The involvement of the management seems not a reason for this. The case is completely kidnapping and… no, even we were abducted to this game.

I can't do the things I wanted to the people here right now. This death game is purely a battle of quantity. A single germ can't fight the whole universe, even inside it has its own universe. If I reduced our numbers, it will also be my downfall.

Just the sound of 'allies' irritates me. This pure concept promotes negative cooperation and dependency. People don't have the same goals. There's always one that will go deviant and avoid any contact with people, goons of Anthropophobia.

Ever since the moment I lost my first and my second family, I've started being independent, a girl that claims the islands of solitude. The NEETs and loners staying in their room and staring at their computers for days won't stand a chance against me.

I put my freezing clothes on after I got my distance. I sit down on the ground while staring at the lake and grasping the contrast of the blue and green from the horizon. My lips parted while admiring the imitation of the perfect quiet nature of the virtual world.

Everything, including the rustles of the wind, the sun-dappled leaves that create flickers on the ground, and the scent of the floral princess, felt very real.

"This is very real," the phrase I whispered, created chaos in my mind. Now, even with the reach of my knowledge, I can't grasp what is real or not. If technology can already give second chances to someone's lives and play God, then the reality I wanted wouldn't exist.

Minutes after, the leaves on my right shake and rustle. I know it would be Ikeda who will visit me. He stopped beside me while I'm still wandering my eyes on the trees' reflection from the lake.

"Uhm… about what happened earlier… I really didn't do anything weird. I just panicked that someone became unconscious while taking a bath. I laid you down and put a towel on you, but what I've seen… it's accidental. Please believe me! I'll forget everything that I've seen…"

He kneel down on the ground and bowed with his elbow on the floor. "I swear! I can't be a man if I violated a vulnerable woman. I'm deeply sorry! I will accept any punishment if you will! Please forgive me, Saori!"

My eyes widened when he mentioned my name. My teeth scratch like I'm freezing. I've already kept my profile low, and yet he still remembers my name within a year afar.

"Any punishment?" I followed with my cover-up soft voice. I looked away with a pout and furrowed eyebrows. He's still topless. "Can you consider putting clothes first?"