Genesis

As the day began, the chilly and quiet morning only indicated a sign of suspense to the participants. A knock was heard three times at Fujimiya's place.

"It's five in the morning. Who could it be?"

Sighing with disbelief, he walked to the door and opened it slowly. A young man, probably in his mid-20s, stood there wearing a black suit. He had a tattoo on his right cheek, a kanji word meaning "SIN." As the two stood there staring at each other, the guy had a murderous glare in his eyes. Before Fujimiya could utter a word, he felt a heavy blow on his neck and lost consciousness.

After some time had passed, Fujimiya regained consciousness surrounded by Shin, Tachibana, and Sakura, who were calling his name. All let out a big sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness, you're alright!"

Tachibana sounded really concerned, threw her arms around Fujimiya, and hugged him, shocking everyone.

"Tachibana," Fujimiya spoke softly. Tachibana, realizing what had happened, stood up and moved a step back, covering herself, feeling embarrassed by the act.

As Fujimiya looked around, they were in a room with two sets of couches, one a three-seater and the other a two-seater. The room was surrounded by walls of glass on each side. The interior was well-lit, and a big stopwatch was on top of the door, while the exterior was dark, making it hard to see. Fujimiya stood up with support from Shin.

"Where are we?" Fujimiya, who was confused, looked at everyone.

"We were all kidnapped, and when we woke up, we were both here!" Sakura spoke with a tense voice.

A minute later, a sound like a bell was heard from the exterior, and there was light at the exterior, which looked like an auditorium. A man was seen standing; he had grey hair and some casual clothes, and he looked a bit shabby.

"Welcome, all, to the 4th Death March Series, everyone," the man shouted. As he smiled, he pointed a finger to a blank monitor placed on a wall. At the moment, number figures appeared.

"Ten million yen, the total cash prize to be won at this tournament. The second privilege to the top two winners of the tournament will be: you will be granted any wish you want, which can be granted by any human, that is," the man proclaimed.

As Fujimiya and the others were still grasping the situation, it was clear the others, except Fujimiya, were still in shock. The instructor was still explaining the rules when a man wearing a mask walked to him and handed him a note. The instructor could be seen smiling as he read the note. Inaban took three steps back and sat on one of the sofas.

"Ten million yen! That's too much. Just what kind of tournament is this?" Inaban, who spoke in disbelief, was restless. Sakura walked to where she was and hugged her.

"Stay calm, Tachibana. No need to panic," Sakura said with a calm voice, trying to calm Inaban down.

"You can just call me Ina," Tachibana said, smiling towards Sakura. For a moment, Tachibana saw Fujimiya looking at them sideways. She smiled at him and then looked back at Sakura. Tachibana, who had relaxed for a moment, stood up and let out a smooth sigh.

"So, what are we going to do?" the question posed indirectly to Fujimiya by Tachibana.

"We are going to win this tournament; that's what we are going to do," Fujimiya proclaimed confidently.

"Yeah, we're going to win this," Shin supported Fujimiya's resolve, while the others nodded with confidence, putting their trust in one another.

"Dear participants, as you all know, the tournament is a teamwork participation of five personnel per team, but as a tournament, we only require six teams to participate. Out of the 15 registered teams, we'll need to reduce the number to 6 or 5 or even 2 teams participating in the tournament. No hard feelings, but that's how it is, my dear heroes," with a grin on his face, the instructor walked to the table next to him and picked up something.

"Heroes? What does he mean by heroes?" Shin asked curiously.

As Fujimiya looked at the exterior, trying to find out if there were other participants visible to where they were placed.

"Fuji, are you okay?" Shin asked, while placing his right hand on Fujimiya's shoulder.

"Ah, nothing, nothing at all. I was just curious," Fujimiya answered, while looking at the girls.

"Green or red, pick one," with those few words, the instructor left the room. The exterior lights were turned off.

After a few minutes of silence in the room where Fujimiya and the others were, Inaban raised a question.

"So, what should we choose?"

"Let's go with green; it's always a good luck color, to me, of course," Sakura stated, this time with much confidence.

As the others agreed on the color in question, Fujimiya, who was still facing the window with his left hand placed on the window, still hadn't agreed with them nor disagreed. Inaban, who had gathered courage, asked him in a smooth voice, "Himeko, what do you think?"

It was the first time Tachibana had called Fujimiya by his first name. She was even puzzled; she didn't know if it was on impulse or if she had always wanted to call him by his first name.

"When I was three years old, I used to stay at my Grandpa's place. He would always slaughter at least seven chickens and drain all their blood into a bowl. Then, he would splash the blood on the ground unevenly. Whenever I asked why he did that, he would always say that it's believed when a lot of fresh blood is spilled on dry ground, the devil's door will open, and he will bring calamity to the homestead. He then stated that in that way, things could get interesting, and he would be busy. He was a crazy fool. Ah, let's go with red and make this game interesting, what do you all think?"

"Himeko!" Tachibana called with a weak voice, scared of what Fujimiya was saying, for he was not making sense. But they had all agreed to follow Fujimiya's advice before the game had started. They nodded with a smile, except Tachibana, who had a worrying face. After about two minutes had passed, an office telephone, which was at the corner of the room, rang. Shin walked to the phone without hesitation.

"Hello?"

"Press 1 for Red and press 2 for green," the voice sounded as if it were an automated AI.

As Shin placed his index finger on 1, he slowly pressed it, and the phone call was disconnected. After a few seconds, the TV, which was on the left side of the telephone, suddenly switched on with some sort of instructions.

"Dear red teams, in about one minute, a riddle will pop up on the monitor. You're to answer the riddle within thirty seconds, orally while facing the CCTV on top of this TV. Those who get it correctly are the ones who will be able to participate in the main event. Thank you."

"Ten seconds, what kind of riddle is that!" Shin proclaimed with disbelief. Before he could add any words, the riddle popped up on the screen. The riddle was,

"There were three men in a certain kingdom. They were asked to chop off one tree each but should carry two chopped trees when coming from the mountain. Surprisingly, both had carried two logs of chopped trees, and there were no chopped trees laying on the ground. How were they able to make it down the mountain with each carrying two chopped trees?"

"What kind of riddle is this, tsk," Shin proclaimed furiously as he had no idea how to tackle the riddle, and so were the other two. As the timer was still in countdown, 20 seconds remaining, Fujimiya moved closer to the CCTV and raised his hands, showing a triangle sign using his hands. The others looked at him, not knowing what he was doing.

"The men used the basic of triangle," Fujimiya answered confidently.

*FUJIMIYA HIMEKO*

I remember back when I used to visit my grandfather, I was still in elementary school, he would be bragging how he could solve anything through the concept mathematics, for I could only see him as one thing, a mathematical nerd, but often he could teach me various things and I was grateful for all things. Basically, he was the one who brought light to my dark heart until one day he was no longer there with me.

" The men used the basic of triangle."

Confident in my answer, I stood there gazing at the screen. I could feel the others' stares from my back. I answered without consulting them, without even looking at them. For sure, those stares were full of confusion, but I only cared about my ambitions in this so-called game. So for me, friends were only pawns to be used.

Ah. Whatever.

I made up my mind to decide to explain the situation to them, they could lose trust in me.

After explaining the situation, as expected, Shin was the first to regain his composure and spoke up in his usual and shallow voice.

"For a bit, I was frightened," he said.

While the other two nodded.

After some time had passed, the phone rang, and Tachibana-san picked up. Although we didn't hear the caller's voice, the expression on Tachibana-san's face was noted.

"He says we have qualified!" she exclaimed, letting out a smooth sigh.

Why do I feel so uneasy? I thought I could control myself. I just needed to tell them no...

"Fujimiya-kun, thank you, if it weren't for you we could have lost, so thank you," Tachibana-san said with a smile on her face.

Why are you thanking me? I just did it for myself, idiot.

"Y-yeah, th-thank you, Fujimiya-kun," surprisingly, Sakura-san thanked me for the first time.

But I don't understand anything, I'm just doing this for my own reasons, I'm just 'Bored'.

I don't really care about the money. I'm just here to prove my intelligence.

After I closed the door to our room, it was opened.

Standing there was a man in a butler suit, escorting us.

As we were walking through the hallway, Tachibana-san approached me.

"Fujimiya-kun, when it's all over can I meet you at the rooftop?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"You don't have to answer right now, but think about it."

I didn't really know what to say, despite Shin harboring feelings for Tachibana-san, under the pretext that they are siblings.

Whatever, I only observe things on the sidelines. It's going to be interesting.

We entered a well-spacious room. In the room, there could be seen six different booths.

As I was still surveying the room.

"Mashiro-san, why is she here?" Tachibana-san murmured, looking to herself.

Mashiro, our class representative and one of the smartest people in our year, was basically hiding behind a small girl who had a serious look and seemed to have not noticed us.

"Hey, Fuji, can I ask you something?" Shin asked.

"No," I replied.

"Come on, anyways, how did you know the answer to the question earlier?"

Anyone could have known, is this guy stupid or what?

"Basically, the question didn't particularly have an answer," I said, turning to the side facing Shin. "It was basically a mind game to view your interpretation. First, they didn't particularly state how the men were to carry the logs. Second, you are stupid."

"Huh?!" Shin looked at me in shock.

"I'll explain in simple terms. They just needed a suitable answer, so I basically chose the simplest route and used the loophole in their question. The men carried the three logs in a triangle formation, basically carrying two logs each."

"I see, but basically I don't really understand," Shin stated.

Huh, is this guy for real.

Just at that moment.

"Let the tournament officially begin."