Team up with Sora.
[player]Why don't we split into groups based on where we're standing right now? Sora and I will go to the room on the left, and you guys will go to the room on the right. I don't know what challenges lie ahead, but the better we know our group members, the better our teamwork.
[Michihito]I agree 100%! Akira is very brave, so I won't feel so scared if he's with me.
[Akira]I only look brave because you are too chicken-hearted.
[Michihito]Akira, what has my image become in your eyes?!
[Akira]...That's something that can only be understood and can't be expressed in words.
After watching the two noisy people leave, Sora and I step into the corridor on the other side. The path had a wicked curve, and we finally reach our destination after going through an unknown number of turns.
The layout here is like a mahjong table version of Alice in Wonderland. The floor is the tabletop, the walls are the edge of the table, and there are large and small mahjong tiles neatly stacked on the side. In this environment, we have become the discordant factors that don't seem to fit in.
[Guardian]Muhahahah! Pitiful sacrifices! I'm delighted to tell you the rules of completing this puzzle. After all, I might be the last person to talk to you in this alternate world. Mahjong is a traditional game in One Han City, and it is no exception in this alternate world. The key you need is embedded in one of these 136 mahjong tiles.
[player]It'll take at least an hour to flip through all these mahjong tiles. There should be some important information you haven't told us, right?
[Guardian]Correct! What an intelligent mortal! You can use your reasoning to find out which mahjong tile the key is hidden in. The puzzle is above you.
I look up and see a logical reasoning problem engraved on the ceiling, except the handwriting... is terrible, to say the least.
[player]Solving reasoning questions is Sora's specialty. It seems that Lady Luck is still on our side.
However, Sora doesn't move at all. He stands there and lets the wind blowing from nowhere mess up his hair.
[player]What is it? Are you feeling unwell?
[Sora Ichinose]I'm still okay, so you don't need to worry about me.
[player]But you look a little troubled. You clearly discovered the secret door's mechanism earlier, but you didn't say anything about it. Why is that? It's just the two of us here, so you can tell me if you don't mind.
[Sora Ichinose]Because I want to become friends with Michihito and Akira.
[player]Hmm... But what does that have to do with this?
[Sora Ichinose]It's just like how everyone is attracted by a Rubik's Cube—feeling happy is a prerequisite for making friends. I just wanted to increase the chance of success. I thought doing this would make them happier.
The boy sighs lightly while frowning, expressing feelings of helplessness and confusion.
[Sora Ichinose]But I think I messed everything up again. It would have been nice if the employee let me bring a Rubik's Cube into the escape room...
[player]But Sora, the Rubik's Cube is not the only thing that you are good at. You'll never make true friends if you pander to them blindly.
[Sora Ichinose]Really?
[player]Those people weren't attracted by the Rubik's Cube, but you who were playing the Rubik's Cube. In my eyes, you have a lot of strengths. You're good at math and can solve any problem related to numbers. You've also read a lot of books and are far more knowledgeable than your peers.
[player]These are all your strengths. If you show people who you really are, I'm certain they'll be attracted to you. That's what happened to me.
[Sora Ichinose]It's as simple as that?
[player]Of course! Making friends isn't that complicated.
How Sora usually acts, his confidence at the Math Olympiad, how serious he is when he studies coffee, how excited he looks when he talks about science... He is far more dazzling in all those situations than he is now.
There are so many amazing things about this child for people to discover. No one will reject such an outstanding person.
[Sora Ichinose]You're wrong.
[player]Eh?
[Sora Ichinose]We first met in the mahjong room of the Temple of Moons. At that time, someone who was playing at your table had to leave early, so I took their place. Although you asked me to play first, your dazzling appearance on the mahjong table had attracted my eyes to you for a long time.
[Sora Ichinose]Thank you, PLAYER. I know what to do now.
Sora raises his head and forgets everything depressing him before. As I look at the slightly red tips of his ears, I feel happy about my choice in teaming up with him.
Oh? You want to know whether we've cracked the puzzle? With Sora helping me, of course we got the key.
[Michihito]Straight-A, what should we do next?
[Akira]Ichinose, are you looking for this?
[Michihito]Straight-A, take a look at this—
[Akira]I-Ichinose...
In the next rooms, Sora won over his classmates with his intelligence, becoming the leader of the team. We solved the puzzles at lightning-fast speed with the help of the strongest member one could ask for. In about half an hour, we have solved the puzzles of four rooms and entered the last room of "Shrine of Another World".
An old picture frame, a cobweb-covered sofa, a tattered bookshelf... There is even an incomplete magic circle that looks like a slowly unfolding net drawn on the ground in the center of the room. Everyone subconsciously avoids this area when walking.
[Sora Ichinose]Although this looks like a trap, we can't solve the puzzle unless we complete the magic circle. Michihito, you and Akira will search around the sofa and the picture frame. PLAYER and I will search the bookshelf. If we're fast enough, we might even break the record for clearing this escape room.
[Michihito]No problem! Leave it to us.
Generally speaking, the last room of an escape room will have more difficult puzzles and mechanisms than the previous rooms. Firmly believing that details are the key to success, I study every item on the shelf carefully.
To my surprise, the designer of this room guessed my mentality perfectly and hid a trap on the bookshelf. After a loud click, the walls on both sides begin to move forward slowly.
[Guardian]Oh! You managed to find the hidden stage. How "lucky" of you! You'll be squashed flat if you can't activate the portal in 30 minutes. Haha! Good luck!
The person who calls himself the guardian talks in an uncharacteristically gentle voice, but I couldn't smile at all. There's no way I can say that I am "lucky" to trigger such a terrible mechanism.
[Michihito]What?! What should we do?! Straight-A, save me!
The constantly approaching walls fill me with a sense of dread, making even me nervous, let alone the boys around me. Fortunately, Sora kept his cool and calmed everyone down without wasting too much time.
[Sora Ichinose]According to the clues we found when we searched separately before, we must activate the magic circle to leave.
[Akira]I found a lockbox in a cushion of the sofa.
[player]In it is a clipping of a poster that says you must listen to the demon's heartbeat to get the code.
[Sora Ichinose]The demon's heartbeat... I get it! There are a number of heart-related books on the shelf.
Sora presses the number on the lockbox and takes out an incomplete magic circle diagram, then I help him complete the magic circle.
[Guardian]Muhahahahaha! You really managed to escape! It seems that the demon king's revival plan will be postponed. Although I'm not happy about it, cunning mortals, congratulations on returning to reality—
The exit opens after the sentence finishes, and the employee smiles politely while guiding us out. Although I know in my heart that the store won't really let us get crushed, I take a deep breath after leaving the escape room. It feels so great to be free.
Each of the four people in our group has a different reaction. Michihito, who was most immersed in the story, was terrified by the final mechanism and was absentminded until after we left the room. Fortunately, he recovered very quickly and started hugging the people around him and cheering when he learned that we broke the fastest record.
Unfortunately, Sora is right next to him, and Sora doesn't seem to be used to such physical contact. He struggles awkwardly, only to be hugged even tighter.
[Michihito]We're saved! We survived!
[Sora Ichinose]Your choice of words is inaccurate. You should say we completed the puzzle.
[Michihito]From now on, you're my "savior". My admiration for you is as endless as a surging river and is unstoppable like a flooding river!
[Sora Ichinose]*Coughing* That's so over the top.
[Michihito]Is this the difference between a straight-A student and me? Can I play escape room games with you again next time?
[Sora Ichinose]Of course you can.
[Michihito]What about other activities? Like playing mahjong or going to an arcade?
[Sora Ichinose]Yeah, you can send me a message or call me on the phone.
[Michihito]Oh, does that mean we're now... friends? I've always wanted to be friends with a straight-A student.
[Sora Ichinose]We're friends as long as you are okay with it.
The boy who has been hugged tightly struggles to regain some freedom in the tight embrace. He then looks at his classmate seriously.
[Michihito]Yes! Of course I am! Akira is willing too. You're both my friends!
[Akira]...Can you be quieter? Everyone in the lobby is staring at us.
[Sora Ichinose]No.
[Michihito]Eh?
Sora, who has broken free from the shackles, stands beside me with a familiar smile on his lips and the long-overdue mischievousness and playfulness for his age.
[Sora Ichinose]I've been getting ready to invite PLAYER to play mahjong together at the shrine tomorrow.
[Michihito]I can go too—
[Akira]No, you can't. You still need to finish your homework.
[Michihito]This is the worst piece of news I've gotten all day...
[Shop Employee]Excuse me, these are the items you stored with us earlier. Please check that you have everything.
The employee returns our belongings to us. The Rubik's Cube pendant that is dangling in the wind on Sora's mobile phone is particularly eye-catching. He grabs the Rubik's Cube and fiddles with it a few times habitually to restore it to normal.
[Michihito]No matter how many times I've seen it, I still think it's amazing every time I see you solve the Rubik's Cube.
This is how Sora usually makes friends, and it helped him make his first group of friends. He looks at the Rubik's Cube in his hand and puts it in his pocket after smiling.
[Sora Ichinose]I can teach you later.
[Michihito]Woohoo! I also want to learn how to solve burr puzzles!
[Akira]Me too...
Our group of two quickly becomes a group of four. Although my ears are filled with the sound of chatter, it doesn't feel noisy to me at all. Sora attaches great importance to his Rubik's Cube, but I know he no longer needs it to make friends.
It looks like we'll have two new friends to play mahjong with in the future. Hmm... It's time to practice my mahjong skills again.
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