Chapter 1: The Miserable One.
Inside a small room, with the door shut close and the only way the air to circulate was through the small opened window, trash such as empty packs of chips and drinks littered on the floor with ants and insects crawling around them.
Sitting atop the messy bed was a teenager, whose face was pale, with sunken eyes, and thinned lips.
He looked at the cellphone in his hand, watching a particular video.
"Brother, brother, she's cute, isn't she? Isn't she?!"
The video showed a little girl holding a small kitten in her arms with a huge smile plastered on her adorable face.
She cheerfully lifted the kitten in the air as she snuggled her head on it.
The kitten's face distorted as it repeatedly meowed uncomfortably. Seeing this, the person behind the camera said.
"Okay. That's enough. Shelly looks really annoyed."
The voice was all too familiar to the shriveled teenager, as he was the cameraman.
The little girl retracted her head and nodded with her head hung low.
"Fine." As she was about to put the kitten on the ground, it suddenly turned its head and licked her face.
"He-he. You're such a nice and beautiful kitten!" The girl's mood shot up to the sky as she held up the kitten, once again, and started to kiss its fur.
"Meow…" The kitten let out a seemingly exhausted meow. It looked obviously annoyed, but it neither pushed nor make a gnarl towards the girl, it's afraid of making the girl sad again.
"What a lovely kitten." The same voice echoed again.
After a few seconds, the video ended.
The shriveled teenager then felt a wet sensation coming from his cheeks.
He put his other hand on his face and found a streak line of tears flowing down from his eyes.
He was unknowingly crying.
Being conscious of this, the shriveled teenager felt suddenly hot in his eyes. He bit his lips and tried to forcibly suppress his feelings, but in the end, it all went in vain as the tears didn't decrease but became intense instead.
"Fuck! Fuck! How could this happen?." His feelings exploded like a volcano.
He cried and sobbed harder.
His life had been normal, he was born in a relatively rich family and had quite an amicable relationship with his family.
He was happy.
But, it all changed a few days ago.
An accident occurred, and that particular accident took several lives, including his parents, and awfully, his happy-go-lucky little sister.
"She's just 5 years old, damn it!" He buried his face in the pillow and yelled.
Their deaths greatly impacted him mentally, especially his little sister's. It heavily encompassed him to the point of making him physically weaker and his health continued to deteriorate, day by day.
At this rate, he would likely become malnourished and meet his end in the next few weeks or months.
While wailing his sorrow and grief, the phone in his hand suddenly vibrated.
He retracted his head from the pillow and used the blanket to wipe off the tears and snot on his face.
Thereafter, he looked at his smartphone.
There, a text box appeared. In it was a long streak of words, written in bold letters.
[Oh, miserable one. Hear me, miserable one. I know that sadness and grief wholly swallowed you. However, what if I told you that you can save your deceased family's souls? Give them the privilege to exclude them from the Judgment Court so that they wouldn't receive any punishment for their sins. Furthermore, if you bring better results, you can give them a better life in their next lives. What do you think, oh miserable one?]
Hearing such claims made Came furrow his eyebrows. He looked at the name of the messenger.
[The God of Souls]
For the first time in these past few days, he felt emotions apart from regret and grief.
Expectations.
His heart started to beat faster, his breathing became fast.
He didn't know why or how, but something inside him kept telling him to accept the invitation.
Was it because of his grief and regret that he didn't care if it's only a part of a scam or prank?
Was it to just somewhat elevate his sadness, or to use this opportunity to cope with it?
Or maybe, all of them?
Still, after pondering about it for a while, he clicked the reply button, in the end.
With a sharp exhale, he started typing.
[If it's going to help my deceased family, then I will happily accept it. Even if it means selling off my properties.]
After a moment, he clenched his teeth as he clicked the send button.
[I'm happy with your answer, oh miserable one. However, you needn't worry about selling the properties you inherited. What I just claimed earlier would become reality if you keep winning the games, but if you lose even once, your life will be forfeited.]
Just after a second, another text from the same messenger came in.
Fast! The individual replied too fast! Cale felt the messenger had already expected his answer beforehand.
Although he was a little agitated and weirded out because of this, he still forced himself to open the message.
Reading the initial sentences made Cale sigh in relief,, but the next sentences brought a shiver down his spine.
If he lost a game, he would die?
That's even worse than selling his properties!
Truthfully, Cale didn't believe the messenger at all. He was like a child who was playing an offline beach cleaning game, he thought of it as helping the world but in reality, it didn't do anything well.
He just wanted to elevate his feelings and cope with them, even if it would cost him money.
However, losing his life was a whole another matter. He preferred not to die.
He was about to reply to reject the notion, but his phone seemed to have frozen.
Regardless of what he did or click, nothing seemed to work.
When all of a sudden, the screen turned black for a moment before coming back to normal.
However, the moment it did, Cale froze up in horror.
[Yes. Even if I have to forfeit my life, I will play the games for my family. Come, and let me play the games!]
There was a reply to the messenger, but he was sure that he was not the one who typed the words.
"The heck…" Cale panicked. He was about to reply to the messenger to explain that he was not the one who just replied when another text came in.
[Very well. Your love for your deceased family makes me have a good impression of you. Oh, the miserable one, I will wish you a good journey on your way. May you succeed to help your deceased family's souls.]
Just after reading the last words of the text, Cale clutched his chest. He felt a heavy sensation weighing down on his chest as if 100 kg metal was brought down on it.
He gasped for breaths but after a moment, he felt feeble before his vision turned completely dark.
Eventually, all of his senses disappeared.
---
One by one, Cale's senses gradually returned. First was his sense of touch, then the sense of hearing, after that, the sense of smell.
Lastly, the feeling of his weight coming back occurred.
He looked around his surroundings but found nothing, but only white space.
The white space seemed to have spanned across for miles, as he couldn't see the end of it.
For some reason, he didn't feel confused or became panicked. He felt tranquil, strangely.
Then, a gigantic screen with bold words written on it appeared in front of him.
It said:
[You're now a student of Class 3-E. Your name is Kiyotaka Ayanokoji . Your mission is to make the main characters' grief for your death. The harder they grief, the higher the points will be.
Special Note: No Main Characters shall die during your stay here. The moment one of them died, you lose.
The time limit for your mission is before the Teacher dies.]