Chapter 27: Next Stage

Mana and Haruka were at their second room inside the building. They hastily picked up the paper. Flipped it open and whilst Mana holds the phone, waiting for Haruka to gave her an answer.

"Please open the door." Haruka read. That's what was written on the paper. Nothing more.

Mana, confused by what was written on the paper, began punching in the the words. But, Haruka stopped her from entering the answer 'Please open the door'. On the wall, there was a note. "The participants will be penalized by a five seconds delay if they ever put or answer the wrong answer. Two wrong answer equivalents to ten seconds delay. So on so forth."

They both hesitated after learning that they couldn't just answer thoughtlessly. There was only two options. One, they enter the words written. Two, they just open the door. What's stopping them was the fact that they could answer the second room wrong and be delayed for five seconds. However, with Mana's behavior, thinking of the most possible way was out of the options.

"Let's just open the door!"

Mana had opened the door! Haruka was unable to stop her, her words didn't came out. And to her surprise. The door's lock click opened. Mana smiled at Haruka and winked when Haruka smiled back at her. The two proceeded to the next room.

***

Masamune and Toga. Inside the first room. The interior of the room were the same as Mana and Haruka's room. The two picked up the paper and read the question aloud. "What common English verb becomes its own past tense by rearranging its letters?" Masamune had the phone on his hand. He typed in three letter word and entered their answer. The door opened to the next room opened. "The answer was eat."

Inside the second room. "I saw an unusual book: The foreword comes after the epilogue; The end is in the first half of the book; The index comes before the introduction. Name the book."

The question seemed so easy to Toga and Masamune. They didn't hesitate answering the question despite the consequence they may face upon answering the question wrong.

"The answer's dictionary, right?"

"Yeah."

And the two proceeded immediately inside the next room.

***

Asuka Marika and Genji Satou. Inside the first room. The same as the others too. They began with the paper and the phone. Read the question aloud. "I have legs but not walk, a strong back but work not, two good arms but reach not, a seat but sit and tarry not." Asuka told the Genji their answer. He punched in the answer and as expected of the two, the door opened. The answer they put was 'Chair'.

They began towards the next room. Genji picked up the paper and looked at the question. "I come in darkness, but fill the mind with light. I bring enlightenment to some, while gripping others in the hand of fear. With me it can be a journey of inexplicable joy and sorrow. What I will show you will often be unreachable. Journey with me and what you see may haunt you. Journey with me and you may never want to return home. Journey with me and you will never know when it will end. What am I?" Genji read the question in his mind. It was too long, yet the answer was just one word. Reading it silently, and in his mind helped him to quickly get the answer.

Genji grinned at the thought that what he did just made the question easy to answer.

"I don't have to look at the paper. Your face says it all. You know the answer."

"Yeah. It's dream."

All three groups were now inside the third room. Ms. Principal seeing that all of them were at the next stage of the test spoke: "The participants have passed the easy level. And they are now inside the hard level of questions!"

~

(Hey, what's up? How you doing? How's your Valentine's Day? Ugh! Forget it, that was just a normal day for us loners right? Hope you enjoy the chapter.)