A handsome man groggily opened his eyes, confusion clouding his thoughts as a searing headache pounded behind his skull. Clearing his mind, he found himself lying on the floor in an unfamiliar place. He looked around and spotted five other people also getting up, their expressions as bewildered as his own, and a bald corpse lying near the door of the facility.
Suddenly, his pocket vibrated. Curiously, he pulled out a phone—strange, with no buttons, no visible way to turn it off, and no charging port. The screen displayed only two apps: one labeled Player Status and the other Game Mechanics. The first showed the player's status and completed games, while the second outlined the mechanics of the game they were participating in.
He tapped Player Status:
[Player Name: Aozora Kettei
Game Trophy: (blank)]
He understood in his heart that he had transmigrated into this body, named Aozora Kettei. From the looks of it, he was trapped in the death game manga Alice in Borderland. He scratched his hair roughly in annoyance and fear—he was definitely stuck here, and it was going to be a rough time.
His thoughts were interrupted by a shout: "Who dares to play a prank on me?! Do you know who I am?! I am Masatsugu Kito! I am a famous doctor!" It was a burly man, and beside him, a beautiful woman tried to calm him down. An old man looked worriedly at another beautiful woman—clearly family—while an evil-looking man scanned their surroundings cautiously.
Aozora Kettei recalled this plot, though it seemed slightly different. This was the Alice in Borderland special chapter, Retry. He glanced out the window; the town looked abandoned, and it appeared they were in Nations Theme Park. Suddenly, the lights flickered on, illuminating a miniature city of New York. A monotone voice echoed through the space.
[Welcome Participants. This is the Nine of Hearts stage, named "Alien Invasion." You must protect yourselves from the alien invasion by entering a shelter. On the Mechanics App, you have Life and Death Slots for a total of seven slots. As the name suggests, Life Slots let people live and grant permission to enter the shelter, while Death Slots can nullify a Life Slot. You can only use one Life Slot every game, but you may use Death Slots anytime to win. To succeed, you must use all seven slots and avoid every alien invasion. This is a game where those you wish to live, live. Please protect those important to you. The Game starts now!]
[10:00]
[9:59]
[9:58]
"This is ridiculous! What a sick joke!" the old man said. Kettei remembered his name: Yuzuru Horikawa.
"It really looks like a sick joke—like a children's game of musical chairs, where only one wins," added the burly man named Naomichi Taiga.
"I can't take this anymore! Dad, let's leave!" cried the woman named Himari Horikawa, grabbing her father's hand and heading for the door.
"Wait!" shouted Aozora Kettei. Everyone turned to look at him. "You can't leave—there might be a trap," he said, approaching the corpse, which he knew to be fake. He tore off a piece of the body and threw it through the doorway. Instantly, a grid of red lights appeared in the doorframe, slicing the flesh into pieces. Kettei then took the fake corpse's phone and showed it to everyone.
"This game gambles our lives, but it said to protect those important to you. That means we should trust each other—and we can all get out alive," Aozora Kettei said.
But he was met with a rebuke: "Do you really think your explanation is correct? It seems you're selfish and planning to escape here alone," said the evil-looking young man named Masatsugu Kito.
"Then I'll show you," Kettei replied. He unhesitatingly assigned the two Death Slots to the corpse.
"I will believe you!" said the beautiful woman named Nanase Onoue, copying Kettei's action.
"Thank you!" said Aozora Kettei. Truth be told, when he had read this special chapter, he had admired her—she was kind-hearted and beautiful, a proper saintess, though she had been killed after being betrayed by her guide. In this situation, where it was hard to trust anyone, Nanase Onoue had done so without hesitation. Psychologically, when a person is at their lowest, those who trust them, help them, or stay by their side become pillars of support—especially for Kettei, who knew too much about this world and suspected he had been unluckily picked by a bored ROB or some capricious god out there. And the one who trusted him was a kind and beautiful woman.
In his previous life, Aozora Kettei had been an average person—a graduate of a mediocre university, trapped in a monotonous work-eat-work-rest-work schedule, and yearning for love. Now, he felt something stir within him—not just love, but obsession. It seemed he had a megadere tendency. Shaking off his thoughts, he glanced at the other five. They still didn't trust him, and that only steeled his resolve to protect Nanase Onoue from harm.
"Then wait for the next round to see whether my hypothesis is correct. For now, let's all give each other Life Slots," he said. This time, everyone obeyed, assigning Life Slots to one another before entering the shelter.
[0:03]
[0:02]
[0:01]
[0:00]
[Time is now up. The Alien Invasion Will Now Begin.]
As the monotone voice faded, the unidentified flying object in the ceiling began to glow and fired a laser that destroyed the miniature city of New York. They emerged from the shelter and proceeded to Hall Two, where a miniature city of Pisa, Italy, awaited—and this time, there were only five shelters.