"Alright, alright! I give up! Just stop hitting me...!"
The fake Sora, who had been taking the beating, began crying out in a pitiful voice.
Of course, I didnât stop.
Exploiting sympathy to create an opening is one of the oldest clichés in the book.
Right now, it might sound like itâs begging for mercy, but this creature isnât human.
Who knows what schemes itâs plotting? Letting my guard down would be foolish.
I continued my relentless barrage.
"Iâll give you the key! Iâm really sorry! Please stop!!!"
-Clink.
A key fell to the floor, and the fake Sora that had been my punching bag vanished.
More precisely, it wriggled free and fled far away.
"Who beats someone the moment they see them?! I just wanted to be friends, reallyâ¦! Next time, I wonât forgive you!"
Sobbing, the creature, still wearing Soraâs face, wiped away its tears.
With a hurt expression, it leapt out of the nearby window.
When I peeked outside, it was gone.
It escaped.
I hadnât been able to finish it off.
"Well, it canât be helped."
Since it was gone, I picked up the key the creature had dropped.
Now the question was, what was this key for?
If I had someone like Sora, Shina, Son Nalim, or Anna around, they could have helped me figure out where to use it.
But unfortunately, I was alone.
Even as a noble lady, I now had to scour the school myself to find the keyâs purpose.
What a tragic turn of events.
âMaybe I shouldâve tried to sweet-talk the creature.â
I couldâve been nicer to it. This school was obviously massive, and searching it would take a lot of time.
With no other choice, I briskly walked around the school.
Fortunately, it didnât take as long as Iâd feared.
As soon as I descended to the first floor, I found a door with a keyhole.
I inserted the key I was holding.
[Congratulations.]
[You have successfully escaped.]
"Oh, my lady."
Clap, clap, clap.
The scenery changed, and I heard applause echoing from somewhere.
Before I knew it, I was back in the auditoriumâthe one where the collaboration had started.
Standing at the podium was Kaiser, the host of this collaboration, clapping for me.
"Congratulations on escaping. You did incredibly well."
"Thank you for the compliment."
I smiled faintly.
Looking around, I saw that it was just me and Kaiser in the room.
The absence of others likely meant that I was the first to escape.
"Iâm impressed that you immediately recognized the monsterâs true nature. Did you expect from the start that it would appear disguised?"
Kaiser asked.
When we first started the collaboration, his tone had been formal, but now it was much more casual.
This must be his true personality.
The overly formal tone was probably just for the sake of hosting the event.
But now, with no one else around, he seemed to be relaxing intentionally.
"When I got separated from the others, I had a feeling. Itâs a cliché in horror movies, isnât it? Something always shows up the moment youâre isolated."
"Fair point. By the way, why donât we drop the formalities? I prefer casual talk."
"Oh no, I couldnât possibly be informal with a 'senpai' like you, a veteran in the VTuber industry. Iâm just a rookie."
"â¦Could you stop calling me 'senpai'? It feels weird hearing that."
Kaiserâs expression suggested he wasnât sure how to respond.
"We canât continue the stream until everyoneâs here, so why donât you take a seat and rest for now? You can watch othersâ gameplay since Iâll share the screen. The chat featureâs back on too."
At Kaiserâs suggestion, I began spectating.
On the screen was the fake "Aurora," deceiving Sora and Son Nalim.
Although Son Nalim never realized its true identity, Sora managed to figure it out.
"This game isnât really an escape room at its core. Itâs closer to Mafia."
Watching Soraâs broadcast, I made this observation.
To which Kaiser, handling the broadcast, replied:
"Mafia?"
"Oh, in Japan, itâs called 'Werewolf.'"
"Ah, you mean 'jinrou'? Yeah, youâre right. The game is more like Werewolfâor Mafia, if you will. Solving the gimmicks isnât the point; the key is figuring out who the monster is."
"As I suspected."
I nodded in agreement.
The constant shifts to new spaces every time you passed through a door were part of the design.
There wasnât even a "progress bar" for the game.
All you had to do was identify the monster hidden among the cooperating players, and you could escape instantly.
"So, you escaped first?"
Eventually, Sora, having revealed the fake Auroraâs identity, managed to escape as well.
She approached cautiously, still on edge after her encounter with the "fake Aurora."
"Calm down. If you still doubt me, feel free to sit far away."
"â¦So youâre the real Aurora."
Sora sighed in relief.
�
Iâd barely said two words, yet she already seemed reassured.
I hadnât even bothered to prove my authenticity. It was too much effort.
"So, youâve been watching my gameplay too?"
"Yes. I caught it while watching your broadcast."
"Who was that thing disguised as you? Was it an actual monster?"
"Apparently, it was AI."
"â¦What?"
Sora looked at me, incredulous.
"Even I was impressed. It mimicked my mannerisms quite well."
However, it was clear it hadnât fully read my memories.
It was only imitating the surface-level behavior it had observed.
I guessed the AI had been learning from my actions during the escape room.
Much like advanced chatbot AI, it had become eerily capable of mimicking human speech.
Thatâs likely how it crafted such a convincing version of me for Sora.
But that was it.
When I called it "Sora-ya," the fake didnât reactâproof it couldnât access deeper memories.@@novelbin@@
"â¦Technology these days is terrifying."
Indeed.
Even after Sora and I escaped, the game continued.
Son Nalim, refusing to give up, eventually managed to escape the party room.
She and the other survivors made it to the school, only to face a new set of gimmicks.
Those who solved the schoolâs puzzles progressed to yet another map.
They couldnât escape like we did.
The game wasnât truly about escape roomsâit was about identifying the monster.
Until the monster was found, there was no way out.
[Mashiinaâs the werewolf, right?]
The next to identify the "monster" was Rui.
Her words, "Mashiinaâs the werewolf," essentially meant, "Mashiinaâs the Mafia."
Different countries call it different thingsâMafia in ours, Werewolf in Japan.
Regardless, Ruiâs sharp instincts allowed her to escape third.
"Now that everyoneâs escaped, letâs announce the results!"
After some time, Kaiser resumed his formal hosting tone.
"As mentioned before, the person who escaped last and the one with the fewest betting chips will face the penalty. Here are the escape rankings:"
[Escape Order]
Shiroki Anna: 18+4+2 = 24
Hanabane Rui: 18+4+0 = 22
Ayanokouji Sora: 18+0+2 = 20
Sonarim: 18+0+2 = 20
Masina: 18+0+0 = 18
Asahina Hikari: 12+0+4 = 16
Kazama Izumi: 6+0+6 = 12
Aurora: 0+4+6 = 10ã
"Shiroki Anna came in last."
"I have no regrets."
Anna wore a serene expression.