Chapter 2

The sound of chatter filled the air, in a white room which was fully lit, with no doors or ventilation so not even air could enter nor exit. As Kaito slowly opened his eyes, his vision was still blurry as he adjusted to his new surroundings.

Eventually, his vision became clear, and his taken in by the sight of his new surroundings. He laid on the ground and gazed at the ceiling…

Oh my word it's the infamous white room, I wonder what will happen?

He thought his inner voice laced with sarcasm.

He slowly repositioned himself in a now seating position. He placed his hand over his forehead as he feels a minor headache. He gazed around his new surroundings. He is taken aback by the sight of multiple people, all of different races and gender.

Each individual had different facial expressions. A few seemed unbothered by the new area they're confided in, while others were more concerned and fearful of their new surroundings. Kaito removed his hand from his head, and he began standing up. Just as Kaito was on his feat.

"KAITO IS THAT YOU!?" a voice from the distance emerged.

Kaito darted around the room, attempting to locate the origin of the voice. In the distance, he sees a boy about his age, light blonde hair, green-ish blue eyes, wearing a school uniform, and approach him. As the individual finally approaches him.

"Long time, no see" the boy said with a smile on his face.

"… Uh… who are you again?" Kaito asked

"You can't be serious?, it's me… Akira"

Kaito continued observing the boy with a hint of confusion, and unfamiliarity.

"… who?" he slightly tilted his head.

"Akira Kishida… you know your best friend from grade school"

Kaito rested his hand upon his chin, still eyeing the boy while trying to memorize him. Kaito's face lights up…

"I still don't know you" Kaito said.

Akira's jaw dropped as he stared at Kaito, the shock was eminent from his facial expression. Akira shook off the sense of betrayal and tried to formulate a different approach of reminding Kaito. A single solution came to mind, and he took a deep breath, and he finally spoke.

"Remember the kid who snuck into the girls' bathroom in fourth grade?" he said with a hint of embarrassment.

"… Oh, the pervert" Kaito said.

"I am not a pervert! It was a misunderstanding!" Akira stated, he slightly raised his voice in embarrassment.

"It's okay, think about this way… you were a hero to all deviants alike. A true man amongst men" Kaito jokingly said, while suppressing his laughter.

Akira glared at Kaito while resisting the urge to argue back, but he realized all attempts would be futile.

"So why are you here?" Kaito asked.

Akira returned back to his senses and spoke up. "Obviously… wishes!"

"I know that, but what wish are you after?" Kaito asked.

"My wish? I'd obviously wish for more wishes"

"How do you know that they hadn't placed a ban on that?" Kaito asked with a hint of skepticism.

"Like they would do that, but since you like criticizing my wish, what wish are you after?" Akira said with doubt and ignorance.

"A new charger" Kaito responded.

"Wha?"

"A new charger for my phone. I swear the amount of times I lost my charger is crazy."

"You're joking right?"

"Well, either that or a new manga…"

While Akira stared at Kaito with a blank expression, Kaito gazed around the room, examining the white, plain room filled with multiple people. He remained disinterested at the people around until someone taught his attention.

Is that the student council president?

Akira noticed Kaito's gaze, and he followed it until he saw a girl about their age in the distance who appeared to be on her phone, texting someone. Akira's eyes widened when he noticed her uniform. An idea formed within his head, and with it, a smirk formed upon his face.

"Hey, Kaito? You never told me you were built like that" Akira teased "so she your girlfriend?" Akira asked.

Kaito gazed at Akira while maintaining his deadpan expression.

"The mere assumption is enough to make sick" Kaito stated.

"Come on, don't be like that" Akira teased.

"Hey, mind giving me your hand?" Kaito requested with a calm expression.

"Sure?" Akira said with a hint of confusion.

Akira brought his hand to Kaito, suddenly with no hesitation Kaito reached his index finger, and instantly, he began bending it backward, threatening to break it.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Akira screamed.

Kaito continued to bend it backward.

"OK! I'm sorry, man! I was joking!" Akira pleaded.

Kaito released his grip on Akira's hand. Akira shaked his hand in an attempt to ease his pain.

"Can't you take a joke?" Akira whined.

Kaito continued to gaze around the room, but his attention was still drawn to his student council.

"… So who is she?" Akira asked.

"She's just a random girl in my class" Kaito responded nonchalantly.

"What's her name?" Akira asked.

"Beats me" Kaito responds nonchalantly.

"Why am I not surprised" Akira sighed.

Kaito continued to look at her from across the room.

"Bro, if you wanna talk to her, just do it" Akira said.

"Nah" Kaito responded.

Suddenly, Kaito felt a sudden pull and realized Akira was currently pulling him in the direction of the student council president.

"What are you doing?" Kaito asked.

Akira groaned while pulling Kaito. "It's…time… ngh… for you to become… ngh… a…man!"

The distance between the student council and the two slowly decreased, as Kaito shows little resistance to Akira's pulling. After a while, they finally reached her. As they stood in front of her view, Akira spoke up.

"Excuse me" Akira said, the student council president immediately shifted her attention from her phone to the two boys standing in front of her.

"But my friend Kaito really wants to speak to you" Akira added on.

Her attention quickly shifted to Kaito awaiting his next words.

"Yo!"

"What?" she said, her voice revealed her annoyance and authoritative tone.

"Since my 'friend' loves meddling" He sighs "I gotta ask a few questions" Kaito said.

The council prez didn't respond but continued eyeing Kaito warily. Akira watched and began feeling overwhelmed by the tension between the two.

"I'll take your silence as a yes, so what is your name?" Kaito asked.

"We're in the same class" She responded.

"What does that have to do with knowing your name?" Kaito asked.

She sighed and responded "it's Sakura. Sakura Yamada"

"Second question, what wish are you after?"

"Why do you care?" Sakura asked.

"Is it wrong to be curious?" Kaito responded.

"Please stop answering my question with a question, it's annoying " Sakura asked.

"If anything's annoying it's your basic rich girl attitu—" Kaito's sentence was cut off.

"OK!" Akira raised his voice in an attempt to intervene. Attempting to stop any upcoming conflict between the two

Sakura and Kaito immediately turned their attention to Akira. They both glared at him, awaiting his next words.

"So, firstly, I'm Akira, and I'm Kaito's best friend"

"Self proclaimed" Kaito stated.

"Kaito having any friends is pretty unbelievable" Sakura stated.

"Well, at least only one of us here is friendless" Kaito countered Sakura's insult.

Akira sighed in annoyance at the brewing conflict between Kaito and Sakura. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves down. He finally spoke up again.

"As I was saying, my name is Akira Kishida, and from a look of things, it seems you hate my friend Kaito. Mind if I ask why?"

Sakura didn't respond and continued glaring daggers at Kaito.

The two boys stared at Sakura and her unwavering silence. Just as when Akira was about to speak up.

"GREETINGS LADIES AND GENTLEMEN" A voice emerged from within room.

The voice sounded very peppy, cheerful, and from the sound of it, it was male. The crowd of people all scoured around the room, all of them trying to pinpoint the sound of the voice. The sound of murmurs and whispers of people in confusion spread around the room.

"Who said that?"

"Where did it come from?"

"I have no idea"

The questions of the people filled the air. Suddenly, the voice appeared again.

"I WELCOME YOU ALL TO MY LOVELY GAME."

The murmurs amongst the crowd increased all, as they all tried to figure out the origin of the voice.

"I bet you're all wondering who I am or what my intention was to invite you all to my little games. But I must inform you I seek only one thing from this, anyone care to guess?"

The people around continued whispering amongst each other. The sound of the mysterious voice humming as it awaiting an answer echoed throughout the room. After a while, nobody answered.

"No one? Well, to put it straight, what I desire most is… EN. TER. TAINMEEENT!!~"

The crowd of people all murmured in confusion as they processed the voice's response.

"You see" The voice comically cleared its voice "Being omnipotent has its many benefits, but over the years I've gotten bored, I tried bringing forth plagues and 'accidents' to spice up my entertainment, but to some avail, you humans somehow persevere." The voice said with some malice within it's tone.

The crowd of people continued to look around aimlessly in confusion.

"So with no other choice, I decided to design a series of games, each one different than the other. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way about life, isn't that right, Kaito Arima?"

Kaito's eyes widened at the mention of his name, Akira and Sakura both turned the views onto Kaito while everyone else looked around in confusion.

"Hey, weird guy!" A new voice emerged.

Everyone turned their attention onto the person who spoke. A man, with a smug expression and roughed up clothing and a few bruises and scars bared his skin.

"I don't care who or what a Kaito is—"

"Feelings mutual about you~" Kaito responded, his voice barely audible.

"Nor do I care about your ob-jec-tives. What I really care about is that wish." the man continued.

"Oh?"

Everyone immediately snapped back into realization as they remember the reason why they were there. The man continued, maintaining his smug expression.

"So tell me, how do we know this wish thing is legit?" the man asked.

"Well then, Ryosuke Takahashi, tell me, what is it that you wish?" the voice asked.

"Make me the winner" he responded.

Everyone in the room gasped and whispered amongst each other.

"I'm afraid that would ruin the fun. Having two wishes in one set? no can do."

The man, Ryosuke, gritted his teeth in frustration after being denied his wish. He decided to try a different wish.

"Fine, make me president" he snapped.

"No, no, no, that's for when you win" the voice responded in a playful tone.

Ryosuke gritted his teeth again.

"Alright then! fifty thousand yen!" he said with anger laced in his voice.

"Is that what you request?"

"Yes!"

The room went silent.

"Your wish has been granted"

Ryosuke and the people around him look for any signs of the money but to no avail.

"Hey! What's the big idea!? Where's my money!?"

"You hadn't specified whether you wanted to be on hand, but if you check your bank account, you should find it."

Ryosuke reached into his pant's pocket and checked his phone for any notification or call about the income of money. He stood there with an irritated look on his face, but just as when he was about to give up a sudden notification.

The room remained silent in anticipation. Ryosuke grinned, and he returned his phone back into its pocket before speaking again.

"It's legit" He said with a smug grin. "Alright, now I wish for—"

"I'm going to stop you right there. The purpose of granting you that wish was to ease your skepticism in my abilities. And now that you have seen my abilities, you will have to participate in the game and win in order to get another wish."

Ryosuke didn't respond. The crowd of people continued to watch Ryosuke while gossiping amongst each other.

"Now, then onto the rules. All of you will be competing against each other in a series of games, all of which have you facing against certain fears. These fears are categorized into 3 groups, A-rank being the lowest, S-rank fears, and lastly Primal fears, be lucky you don't end up with them."

Everyone attentively listened too the rules and premise of the games all while masking their nervousness.

"The games are decided by the fears, and if you lose or fail, it will result in death."

The people gasped, and their collective whispers fill the air. Their facial expressions revealed their concern and shock.

"Any questions?"

Just as when someone was about to raise their hand to ask a question, the voice intervened.

"No one? Great! Because your first game is about to begin. Have fun."

In a blink of an eye, the room changed from its clear white to a dark black room. Everyone looks around, scanning the area as they continued their chatter. Kaito maintained his aloof demeanor while Akira and Sakura both scanned the room.

Suddenly, one by one flame lit torches ignited, engulfing the room with light. The room was black. Its only noticeable features were the flame lit torches hung on the walls and three big buzzers on the wall with different colors, red, yellow, blue.

"Welcome ladies and gents, to the choosing category, this is an event that will only appear during certain games. Now all of you have to decide which buzzer to push. The buzzers will decide the fear of the certain ranks and you'll be forced to play their game. Your objective is to survive and advance, and because I'm feeling cute today, any form of cheating is highly recommended. Good luck deciding"

Everyone immediately began talking amongst each other. A few individuals were sulking in fear while others masked their fear.

Akira, with a concerned look upon his face, turned his attention to Kaito and noticed his calm facial expression.

"How are you calm in a moment like this?" he asked. The nervousness in his voice was highly noticeable.

Kaito nonchalanty shrugged his shoulders.

"So depending on the buzzer we pick, a fear from a certain rank will decide on the game we'll play." Sakura muttered to herself.

Akira's jaw dropped at the sight of the calmness of the two individuals.

"You two are messing with me right now, right?" Akira asked

Suddenly, a commotion within the crowd caught their attention. The gasps of others increased as within the center are two guys who appeared to be engaged in a brawl.

The first man swiftly evaded a jab, and he tried to counter by landing a punch to the second man's face.

"What's going on over there?" Akira asked.

A woman within the crowd responded with a hint of panic in her voice

"We were deciding on which colored buzzers to pick when those two men started fighting"

The brawl between the two men continued to rage on. The two continued to grab each other and attempted to land punches from a regular person's perspective it appeared to be a regular street fight, but from Kaito's standpoint…

"Are those two fighting, or are they performing some weird dance?" Kaito asked.

Just as they fought continued, the mysterious voice emerged.

"It seems you've chosen the yellow buzzer. Thank you."

Near the wall, a woman who appeared to be trembling, her hand hovering over the yellow buzzer, she avoided eye contact with the crowd. The crowd of people all halted and looked in her direction.

One of the men that were fighting began chuckling, his eyes were widened, his appearance was slightly disheveled, but he continued chuckling in hysteria while facing the woman.

"W-What have you done?" He's face forced a smile, he continued to staring at the woman with an unhinged expression.

The woman didn't respond, her voice came out in whimpers, and her lip was quivering, her body trembling.

"Y-You've doomed us" the man continued ranting.

The woman suppressed her tears, that threatened to spill.

The crowd maintained their silence, and watched the exchange continue. A couple of people bursted into tears, and a few remained unfazed while others laughed in hysteria as the uncertainty of the next game installed fear in them

Kaito was unaffected by the current tanspiring events as he waited for the game to begin. Yet a single thought rang through his head…

Why do feel like this already happened?

One of the men who were fighting began to approach the woman who pushed the buzzer when, inspontaneously, the room darkened.