Chapter 1 Missing Part

One day after Daniel ended up on the island.

A woman with bloody short hair and red eyes stared thoughtfully into emptiness. There was no one in the seat where Daniel used to sit. Edison looked questioningly at the teacher.

"Is something wrong, Miss Kane?"

"No... Strange. Miss Young, has no one ever sat here with you before?"

Edisin shook her head with a cold expression on her face.

"I have always sat alone."

Miss Kane frowned.

`Strange. I was sure someone troublesome was there, but suddenly I forgot. It's the first time this has happened to me. Maybe it's because of lack of sleep...`

When the class ended, everyone continued chatting and discussing something cheerfully. Several girls with friendly smiles suddenly surrounded the beautiful blonde girl with charming blue eyes and a shy demeanor.

"How did it go, Chloe?"

The blonde girl's eye twitched slightly.

"Was he nice or did you not like him?" asked the girl with long violet hair, golden snake-like eyes, and thick rectangular eyebrows, looking interested. The blonde girl looked very confused, embarrassed, and slightly frightened.

"He was very nice, but it seemed... we're not compatible, sorry." Chloe said hesitantly, with a suppressed expression on her face, looking at her friends.

"Oh, here we go again. You will never find yourself a boyfriend like this. I tried so hard to find someone for you..." Stella grumbled dissatisfiedly.

"I'm sorry..." Chloe lowered her head.

"Oh, come on, Stella. Look at our Chloe. As far as I'm concerned, she deserves better than any random guy from an ad. Isn't that right, Chloe?" Melissa smiled warmly. She has cute freckles on her cheeks. She had a quite friendly gaze and a charming smile. Chloe's lips curved into a barely noticeable smile. Stella frowned.

"He didn't play in an ad! It was just that one time. Besides, he played a supporting role in a pretty famous movie, you know, that one... You know, I'm sure... Anyway, he played in it! Anyway, we can just forget about it now. There's nothing we can do. Apparently, Chloe needs guys of a very particular kind. How can someone be so beautiful but so insecure? I don't understand..."

"On the contrary, I think it's quite cute. Compare her to Leo or his friends." she pointed with her gaze at the tanned blond guy and the girls on either side of him.

"Have you heard? Leo actually likes guys." the violet-haired girl chuckled.

"There you go spreading gossip again." Melissa shook her head disapprovingly.

"No, really. My good friend told me he saw Leo at a gay club."

"Really?" the blonde girl was surprised.

"Of course, he told me he saw Leo fooling around with everyone there..."

"And what's your friend's name?" Melissa still smiled, although the friendly look in her eyes suddenly turned doubtful.

"Huh?" the violet-haired girl froze.

"You heard me. What's your friend's name?"

"Um... Ga...y. Gay." Stella smirked. The blonde girl widened her eyes.

"Very interesting. Your gay friend's name is Gay."

"I didn't say he was gay." Stella frowned.

"So, let me get this straight. Your friend Gay, who is not gay, went to a gay club and saw Leo, who was openly servicing several guys with his mouth in a public place at that time. Am I understanding correctly?" the smile never left the Melissa`s face, her tone and expression remained friendly even when she asked the question. Stella clenched her teeth.

"Yes, that's right! That's how it happened, Lisa!"

"I don't understand why you enjoy gossiping so much. There's nothing interesting about it. Instead of making up things, you could have just said that you don't like Leo. What's so difficult about that?" Lisa shrugged.

Chloe smirked.

"Okay, maybe I didn't see him. But it doesn't matter, I'm still sure he's gay. How can he be dating two girls and not even sleep with them once?"

"I agree, it's strange. But he annoys you because one of those girls is Scarlett."

Stella snorted, briefly glancing at the girl with red hair and golden snake-like eyes, which were just like hers, and overall their faces were very similar. At that moment, Scarlett was playfully clinging to the tanned blonde and giggling.

"Let her do what she wants. She has her own life, I have mine. I just can't stand him. Leo is the last man on earth I would sleep with." Stella smirked.

"You said the same thing about someone else before." Lisa pondered.

"About who?" Stella blinked her eyes. Chloe also seemed to remember something.

"Yes, you said it about someone..."

"Hm, I don't remember. Maybe about Kevin from the parallel course? Maybe I did exaggerate a bit. Leo is the second to last, and Kevin is definitely the last! Why are all the guys at our institute so disgusting?"

"Well, there are only ten guys in our institute, and on our course, there are only three."

"Only three?" Chloe doubted.

"Leo, Kevin, Rick. Is there anyone else?"

Chloe frowned.

"Sorry... For some reason, I thought there were more."

Melissa also pondered.

"Hm. Didn't we have someone cute? I definitely remember someone. Maybe someone transferred."

The brown-haired with a ponytail tried to strain her brain, but it only made her head hurt even more. So the girl simply shrugged and shook her head.

"Or maybe it was just my imagination."

***

Three days had passed.

During these three days, Daniel either hung in the air or dived into the sea to see what was there. Unfortunately, both the sea and the beach were empty. He found corals, rocks, and sand, but nothing else - no wildlife.

Every ten seconds, he would say the word 'ready,' hoping that something would happen. But nothing did. Daniel was at a loss. He didn't know what to do, how to occupy himself, or whether it was worth continuing to hope for change.

What if the other four players had also received the message, but unlike him, who had accidentally pressed it, simply ignored and deleted it? In that case, Daniel might be stuck on this island for the rest of his life. But what if not for the rest of his life? After all, he didn't have a real body here, so what if he couldn't even die? These thoughts increasingly sent him into a depressed and gloomy state. He tried to fly away from this island as far as he could, but upon reaching some boundary where there was only darkness, he found himself suddenly teleported back to the island.

"What should I do?" he muttered, panic creeping into his voice. The room, the lecture hall, his classmates—all had vanished, replaced by an unforgiving wilderness. "Damn it all, what should I do?!"

He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as his thoughts tumbled over each other. A stupid mistake—a mere click on a link—and now this? Was this some cosmic retribution? Was life really that cruel? He remembered his habitual cheating, his failures to live up to his father's lofty expectations.

His brother, Arthur, loomed large in his thoughts. While he had relaxed in the capital, Arthur had fought monsters on the front lines, risking life and limb. Guilt gnawed at him, mixing with the confusion and fear. Maybe this was a punishment, he thought despairingly, a brutal, ironic twist of fate for his indolence and shortcomings.

The island seemed to mock him, the silence amplifying his isolation. What had happened? What was real? What was the right thing to do? The questions whirled, unanswered, as he stood paralyzed, trapped in a nightmare of his own making.

Daniel sighed.

"Ready," he said wearily.

A square panel appeared in front of him. Daniel absentmindedly glanced at it, but in the next moment, his eyes widened sharply.

The readiness square panel had changed. It showed two numbers.

Readiness: [2/5].

***

"Do you find it strange?" Scarlett said thoughtfully.

"What exactly?" Leila asked absentmindedly.

"That we're friends."

"Hmm... I don't know. Why is it strange?"

"Well, we seem to have... nothing in common. We're interested in completely different things, and our personalities don't really match. Why did we even start being friends? Wasn't there something that brought us together?"

The blue-haired girl furrowed her brows and tensed up.

"I don't remember."

"Me neither. It's strange. It feels like something is missing. But I can't figure out what. Oh well, who cares. Let's go eat?"

Leila nodded. The girls stood up, and the redhead started complaining discontentedly.

"Why aren't there any guys in our group? It's so boring."

***

Meanwhile, in the parallel group.

"Su, what's wrong? What happened?" several girls surrounded a small girl with dark chocolate skin, violet eyes, and two small tails on the sides. She was wearing a red and black plaid skirt and a cute lilac blouse with rabbits on it. The violet-eyed tanned girl covered her eyes with her hands and quickly tried to wipe away the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I... I don't know... It feels like someone... someone I loved... is gone... Waah... I'm sorry..." The girls immediately surrounded and hugged the tanned girl, trying to comfort her.

At that moment, two boys were looking down at them from above. One boy had brown hair, brown eyes, and a button nose. He had a rather average appearance, small eyes like a possum, and fairly long hair for a boy, which he tied up into a small ponytail at the back. He shifted his gaze from the girl to his phone and showed it to the second boy.

"Rick, do you happen to know what's going on? I've been receiving the same message on my phone for a few days now. I mean, I'm a fan of porn, but not when I have to sign up or go somewhere through a link. I keep deleting it, but it keeps coming back. Do you know what it could be?"

"How interesting," the blonde boy with golden eyes smiled cheerfully. His appearance couldn't be called average, but it also didn't make him particularly attractive. He had an intriguing appearance, perhaps even charming, but nothing more. He had predatory and golden eyes like a mongoose. He had a neat and trimmed hipster beard and hair that was styled upwards. He had a quite elongated nose like a dog's. "I receive the exact same message. And I'm thinking of accepting it."

"Accept it? Are you serious?" the brown-haired boy smirked slightly.

"Who knows. Let's see. Maybe I'll accept it, maybe not. It's hard for me to predict what mood I'll be in tomorrow, in a week, or in a month."

Next to them sat two girls who were secretly lusting after them. One girl with bright pink hair and brown eyes was eagerly looking at Rick. She had a bob haircut and bangs that almost completely covered her eyes, two skull-shaped earrings, and a rather large chest, like Chloe's, that was difficult to hide even under her black hoodie. She had a cute face with a mole under her lip and quite big ears. She leaned on her hands and sighed wistfully.

The second girl was leering at the Kevin with a lustful smile. She was quite plump, had freckles on her cheeks, rectangular glasses, crooked teeth, and black hair tied up in a big ponytail at the back. She somewhat resembled an orc in appearance.

"I really want to piss on his face," the orc girl said dreamily, looking at the face of the brown-haired boy.

"I want him to strangle me," the pink-haired girl grabbed her neck, charmingly smiled, and stared at the blonde boy.

"And so, colleagues, today we will thoroughly study 'Landscape Architecture,'" an elderly man with small mouse-like eyes and small round glasses started to smack his lips dissatisfiedly. He held his hands behind his back, and his skin was so wrinkled and loose that it seemed like it would fall apart any moment. He continued to say something, smacking his lips, but the students seemed to pay no attention to him as if he were not their teacher but background noise to avoid silence. Although the man didn't care either way, he continued with the class, speaking to himself.

***

Day 10.

Daniel hung over the island with his eyes closed, resting his head on his hands. Although he couldn't sleep here. He had already tried. Daniel was slowly starting to lose his mind. It was the tenth day.

He had already studied this island several times, at first it made him sick, but in the end he just accepted it. This is the island. Now it's unknown how much time he will spend here. Maybe he will die. Maybe he won't. Who knows. He can't do anything, just wait. In addition, the fact that three out of five people were ready at the moment gave him hope.

Unfortunately, he didn't know if they were on the island right now, like him or not. If they were, they most likely also took on a ghostly form and are now flying somewhere here, but they can't see each other. Well, he didn't care. He just had to wait for two more people. That's better than nothing. Suddenly, one thought came to Daniel's mind.

Hmm, maybe it's time to find out what this 'mask' is and what the 'cheater' skill is?

For some reason, Daniel wasn't particularly eager to reveal his status, maybe the disappointment after finding out his fetish was too fatal for him and he didn't want to be disappointed again. But he had to do it anyway because it's unknown what will happen when the game starts and what will happen to him. Most likely, he won't have time for that. Daniel sighed.

Skill: [Cheater].

Skill Rank: [S+].

Skill Description: [Passive skill 'cheater'. With a 12% chance, the skill owner will obtain a random low-ranking skill upon killing a creature. With a 7% chance, the skill owner will obtain a random medium-ranking skill. With a 1% chance, the skill owner will obtain a random high-ranking skill.]

"Do I... Have to kill? Are you joking? Who do I have to kill? One of the four? But the island is empty. So it means... I don't care. I really don't care. Just give me back my body, everything else doesn't matter. To kill or not to kill. Those will be future Danny's problems, not mine..."

Daniel focused his gaze on the condition line.

Condition: [Mask].

Condition Description: [Your intentions are hidden. The condition owner cannot confirm or deny the answer to a question related to him. The condition owner cannot share information about his status. The condition owner cannot display his feelings and emotions. The user can confirm or deny what is said only if the hidden becomes obvious to the beings around him. The user can also talk about details of their status that are known to others.]

"Wow, just great. Fantastic. Not that I was particularly expressive before, but I don't think anyone will trust me with this condition, and that's not good. Although, again, I don't care. Those will be future Danny's problems. I don't envy you, buddy... Ready." Daniel said abruptly.

Right in front of his eyes, the numbers changed.

Readiness: [4/5.]

***

The girl with long dark green hair and determined, self-assured violet eyes sat in the front row, listening to the elderly man with mouse-like ears. The girl frowned sharply and turned around.

On the back row, there were only two girls - a pink-haired girl and a full-figured orc-face brunette, who lay on the tables with melancholic expressions on their faces.

Seraphina was always quite sensitive. Especially to changes in her surroundings. The girl was a perfectionist, where everything always had to be in its place. And now something inside her screamed that something was missing. Something that had always been here. But the worst part of all this was...

"I can't remember. How is it possible... me? And I can't remember? Something's not right... Could it be that my memory was erased?" the girl thoughtfully looked at the dejected girls on the back row and at the tanned girl sitting in the second row with a drooping and sad expression.

"Is it possible that someone else used to study with us, but that person was eliminated and then everyone connected to those unknowns had their memories erased?"

The green-haired girl shook her head.

"There's no sense in that theory. Why would someone kill my classmates and then erase everyone's memory of it? Too much work. It would have been much easier to kill them and then stage it as an accident, rather than erasing everyone's memory of it. Too much hassle. Maybe it's just my paranoia, or maybe those unknowns disappeared for a different reason. The most important thing is for me not to suddenly disappear." the green-haired girl thoughtfully shifted her gaze to the teacher.

***

It has been two weeks since Daniel arrived here. With a distant expression on his face, he looked up at the sky. He could have enjoyed the beautiful sights of the island or the vast sea, but Danny was drawn more towards the sky. Towards the clear blue sky, just like his eyes, in which it reflected. He wasn't thinking about anything anymore. Not about his parents, not about his status, not even about himself. All that occupied his thoughts now was the sky. The sky that he tried to reach, but every time that he tried the system brought him back to the island. This cursed island.

When was the last time he checked his readiness? He couldn't remember, maybe a day ago, or maybe two.

Suddenly, as if answering Danny's question, a square panel popped up in front of him with a message written on it.

Readiness: [5/5].

"Huh?" Danny jerked in the air from shock. New panels suddenly started popping up in front of him.