Where Are We?

Rin stood stunned, staring at Haruto in disbelief, Haruto was looking back at her with a cold serious look.

"What do you think you're doing?" she growled, her anger barely contained.

Without answering, Haruto calmly walked away, sitting down on the floor and placed the tray in front of him.

Rin's. frustration grew, "What are you doing?" she snapped, louder this time, "We're supposed to share that!"

Ignoring her outburst, Haruto picked up the bread, observing it closely before tearing the top part off of the bottom, glancing at the bottom he noticed a few ant's crawling across it, without a word he started flickering them off, his focus entirely on the bread.

Rin was stunned, watching Haruto carefully removing ants, blowing on it he cleans off the remnants. He then placed the top part back and split it in two, without a word he extended the one half towards Rin, and dipped the other half in gravy before eating it in silence.

Rin's eyes were widened, surprised, hesitantly she walked forward, took the bread and sat down across from him and began eating in silence.

As they ate, she kept stealing glances at Haruto who seemed focused on his meal, out of sudden, Haruto asked "You wanna ask something?" his tone, calm.

Startled Rin, she quickly replied, "No, I was just wondering why they gave us such a less and unfresh meal," her voice, hesitant.

"It's maybe some kind of test, I guess," Haruto responded.

Rin nodded in agreement and continued eating when suddenly, a low buzzing beep echoed through the cell, startling both Haruto and Rin, they paused eating, exchanging confused looks.

Suddenly the beep intensified, becoming sharp and unbearably loud, Haruto's and Rin's eyes widened in shock, they both quickly sprang to their feets, instinctively covering their ears, wincing in pain.

The beep's intensity kept growing, stabbing through their ears and sending shockwaves through their body, Rin unable to bear, collapsed on her knees, screaming out loud, clutching her ears in agony, Haruto's body swaying unsteadily, his eyes wide opened as pain wrecking his head.

Just then Rin lost her consciousness, collapsing face first on the floor.

"Rinnn!" Haruto calls out, trying to reach her, his steps heavy and unsteady as he staggers forward still covering his ears.

Just as he reached her, the overwhelming pain finally overtook him and he collapsed next to her, face first, slipping into unconsciousness.

A splash of cold water hit Haruto's face, jolting him awake, slowly he opened his eyes, finding himself sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, his gaze was directed downwards, his head spinning, his vision blurred, Haruto then groggily shook his head, then tightly squeezed his eyes before reopening them, his vision getting sharpen, bringing his surroundings into clearer focus.

He slowly lifted his gaze up to see two sharply dressed male figures standing before him, dressed in crisp black suits and black gloves, wearing smiley emoji masks that hide their faces, their focus fixed on Haruto.

As Haruto looked in his surroundings and noticed that he was still in the cell, but Rin was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Rin?" Haruto asked, his voice barely above whisper.

"Number twenty two." One of the masked guys said, his voice heavy and thick, using a voice changer, Haruto looked back at him with a hint of confusion, trying to make sense of the situation.

The two masked men step aside, creating a path for Haruto, gesturing him to move forward.

Still confused, Haruto slowly stood up, his legs trembling, before he could steady himself. The two masked men grabbed each of his arms and started guiding him outside the cell.

As the stepped outside the cell, a sudden burst of sunlight hit Haruto's face forcing him to shut his eyes momentarily, the masked mens keep leading him forward, as his eyes adjusted Haruto slowly opened his eyes and was stunned seeing a vast open field enclosed by towering walls on all four sides, there was no roof overhead, allowing the bright sunlight to flood over the area.

As Haruto squinted through the harsh sunlight, he saw two pitch black containment cells against the wall in front of him.

The masked mens then drags Haruto towards one of the cells, opens the cell they roughly threw him inside, Haruto met their gaze with a mix of confusion and defiance on his face.

Suddenly the door slammed shut with a loud clang, startling Haruto and leaving him momentarily stunned. Suddenly he realized something and quickly turned to his left and saw an adult man standing next to him gazing at him, the man appeared to be in his early thirties.

"Hey," The guy greeted cheerfully, a broad smile on his face.

Haruto seemed a bit confused, "Hey, how are you?" he asked hesitantly, trying to make sense of the situation.

The man with a smile turned his back on him revealing the number 46 on his back, as Haruto's eyes took the sight, his eyes widened in realization.

"You must be number twenty two" the man asked, turning back to face Haruto

"Yeah, I am," Haruto replied.

The man's smile widened, "My name is Esamu Kondu, nice meeting you, we are supposed to team up in this first game."

Haruto nodded with a smile, "My name is Haruto Oshima" he warmly Introduced himself.

"Wow you are young" Esamu said, his tone excited, "Are you a high schooler?"

Haruto chuckles softly, "No I'm not, I'm actually twenty four years old" he revealed.

"Wooww" Esamu exclaimed, his voice filled with amazement, "You look like a teenager!"

Haruto smiled and shook his head in modest denial, "No" his expressions turned serious, "What's happening here? Do you have any idea?"

Esamu shook his head in disappointment, "I don't have any idea, i was also brought here just like you"

Haruto nodded, his eyes scanning their cage, "There's another cage next to us" he remarked.

Easmu nodded, "Yeah, and I'm sure our challengers must be locked up in there"

Suddenly their cage jolted, and with slow movement the door of the cage began to open, sunlight flooding inside the cage.

Haruto and Esamu got alarmed, staring outside the door with shocked wide eyes.

As it fully opened, Haruto and Esamu gazed out at the vast open field beyond the cage.

A look of determination etched on Haruto's face with a deep sigh he stepped forward, leaving the cage behind, once coming out he found himself in a vast open field.

Confused, Haruto began glancing around taking the sight of surroundings, at that time Esamu also came out of the cage appearing a bit confused and shocked.

As Haruto looked around, his gaze caught sight of the cage next to him, which was also opened. Haruto started looking at it with a bit of confusion and anticipation.

Just then a young men in his early twenties stepped out of the cage, seeming both confused and confident, walking forward, scanning the surroundings and his gaze landed on Haruto who was standing on a short distance away on his left

With a hint of confusion both young men stood, locking eyes with each other.