I am curious

[Attempt 3: Failure]

[Completion Rate: 40%]

[Reason for Failure: Death]

[This is your 4th attempt]

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The completion rate had shot up by 10%

Was it because he decided to bring Josh along?

Whether or not Josh was the owner it had been confirmed that he had been an important part of the plot.

While this was interesting news, Seb no longer cared about trying to find out the 'true owner' of the trauma.

The reason?

He now had a sure-fire method to clear the tutorial at this point.

It won't be pretty.

It won't be fun.

But it will do the job.

After all that he had gone through who could blame him right?

'The Plan… is perfect'

Once that thought had taken root into Seb's mind it was impossible to shake it

"Heh"

Sebastian couldn't help by chuckle to himself.

Finally, the end of this nightmare was in sight.

How?

It was pretty simple actually!

All he had to do was go and hide in Class 12-B again.

As long as he didn't mess up and provoke the undead students, he would be able to get away scot-free until the end of the trial.

In fact, he was curious to see what would happen to the shooter if he dared to enter that class.

The lines between prey and predator won't be so clear anymore.

"Ha... Ha.."

This is great!

"AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Just imagining the scene of the shooter getting ripped to shreds by those bloodthirsty monsters filled him with incomparable glee.

"AHAHAHAHAHAH! HAHAHAHAH! HAHAHAHAHAH!"

Sebastian. Was. Ecstatic.

He was so lost within his thoughts that he didn't even realize the weird stares he was getting from those around him.

However, as soon as he got up to put that plan in motion, he felt a sudden aching in his chest.

There was just one slight problem with the plan… minor inconvenience actually…

He just had to leave Josh behind.

Easy right?

He had already done it once.

He could surely do it again?

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("Don't forget … me!")

The words that Josh had said before dying kept looping over and over within his brain.

("Hey Seb…you are my best friend…. I will always have your back…")

Slowly the image of this Josh started to overlap with the ones from his older memories.

As previously stated, Seb used to be the 'quiet kid' back in school.

In his own words it was his emo-phase.

If not for Josh always meddling with him, Seb probably wouldn't have made a single friend back then.

'Why! Just WHY! '

Seb sat back down in his seat; his fists were clenched so hard that his knuckles started going white.

In the end, this is what he had been afraid of along.

Yes, He – Sebastian Alaister had been afraid.

He had been afraid of getting attached to the people within the tutorial.

After all they were just bits of data within a simulation or dream realm or whatever this place was.

Once the tutorial was over, they would all just cease to exist.

But…

He had gone and done the one thing he wasn't supposed to do.

Care.

He now cared about whether Josh would live or die.

He couldn't do it.

He couldn't leave Josh behind anymore.

The memory of his last words would continue to loop within Seb's brain haunting him from all eternity.

Seb wasn't sure if he could handle that.

After all geniuses were people too.

And with the amount of mental trauma that he had gone through in his life, actively adding on to it was the stupidest thing he could do.

There was no going back now.

In fact, it was not just Josh.

As Seb looked around at his classmates their figures slowly started to overlap with the versions of them that he had seen at his birthday party.

What was in front of him right now wasn't a product of his own hallucinations.

Yet.

It couldn't have been more fake…

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Sebastian could not run anymore…

… neither could he hide.

In the end there had always been only one choice.

He had to…

… fight back.

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"I am not sure if I should let you leave… you seemed to be distracted earlier. Are you really sick?"

HEH?

What was going on?

Why Is she not following the script?

Crap, did she hear me laughing earlier?

"Yes Ma'am … *Ahem* *ahem* *sniff* … I really am sick."

Seb put on his best act of being sick.

Sometime during the previous attempt, the headache that had been perpetually plaguing Sebastian had gone away. It was just that Josh had been giving him a different type of headache that he never got to notice it.

Without the assistance of the headache, Seb had no choice but to rely on his skills.

"Ok… this is your first time asking so I will let you go… but take someone with you to the infirmary."

Well, Seb had planned on getting help from the start anyway.

Thus, Josh's timely call was extremely helpful to him.

"ME! PICK ME!"

There it was!

"Ma'am, I think Josh can help-"

"Excuse me Mrs Brown but I think I can be of assistance to him"

A crisp yet serene voice sounded out from the last row.

Seb couldn't help but freeze in shock.

The owner of that voice was none other than Anna.

Why the hell was nobody following the damned script this time?

Left with no choice Seb had to utilize his unparalleled improv skills once again.

"Miss… I think I am fainting… I think I will need Josh's help to support me…"

"…"

Damn, why was the teacher giving him the you-and-I-both-know-that's-pure-bullshit look?

Seb was a genius. Naturally, his improv skills weren't something anyone could look down upon.

According to him at least…

Thus, There was no way he was going to take this lying down.

"Ahhh! Someone! Anyone! Help me! I am going to fall! The pain! There's so much pain!"

Despite how ridiculous Seb was acting the teacher didn't laugh.

No matter what the self-control needed to keep a straight face in such a situation was worthy of respect.

Thankfully Josh wasn't a complete idiot and quickly rushed forward to catch Seb.

"Oh, thank you, Josh! Miss now that he is here. I will make a move."

Seb and Josh quickly rushed out of the classroom before the teacher could change her mind.

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The moment they got out however Seb pushed Josh's support away and stood up on his own.

The two shared a glance before cracking out identical grins and bursting into laughter…

"Seb… dude…" Josh could barely get a few words out in between his wheezes. "I have never seen someone suck that bad … at pretending to be sick."

"Shut up… I tried my best…"

"oH mY gOd, I aM fAiNtIng! SoMeBoDy hElp mE!"

"You know what Josh? Fuck You! If you had been a little faster, I wouldn't have to resort to that."

"Ok fine my bad, but it's not like you ever gave me a heads up."

"…Ahem, anyways let us not dwell on the past"

"It's literally been 5 seconds…"

"…"

"Ok fine… so what's the plan?" Josh had no choice but to give in under Seb's relentless glaring.

Seeing Josh retreat Seb smiled again before going ahead to utter words that the people around him would eventually learn to dread.

"Listen up then I have got the craziest, awesomely insane, genius-level plan ever. So first-"

"-How interesting, won't you boys also let me in on your plan?"

Seb and Josh froze in their spots as a smooth and refreshing voice rang out behind them.

They slowly turned around to look at the person behind them.

"…" Seb

"…" Josh

"…Listen Anna I can explain…" Seb waved his arms in the air mimicking the actions of a drowning frog.

"Go on. I am curious. How are you going to explain this to me? You don't seem to be fainting anymore…"

Of course, the voice belonged to none other than Anna.

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"So you are telling us that within 5 minutes, now... 2. A school shooter is going to come up this very flight of stairs and attack the class right next to us..."

Anna massaged her forehead with a palm, trying to wrap her head around what she had just heard.

"Yes...."

"And you need our help to take him down before he starts shooting people?"

Josh was busy pulling at his non-existent beard, trying to look sophisticated while he was deep in thought.

"Yes..."

"This is Crazy!" Anna was no longer trying to massage her head and it looked more like she was trying to pull her hair out.

"This is awesome!" Josh had stopped stroking his chin and decided to smack his fist into the palm of the other hand.

"I know right? It's crazy how amazing the plan is!"

"THAT'S NOT what I meant... whatever there's no harm in trying it out anyways." In front of the enthusiasm shown by Josh, Anna had no choice but to agree.

How had he managed to convince him that he was telling the truth?

He hadn't actually.

Josh probably still thought it was some sort of game, and Anna had begrudgingly decided to play along after noticing the seriousness in Seb's eyes.

Girls are usually good at determining if they were being lied to or not.

After it was decided that they would follow Josh's plan, the two of them immediately went into their hiding positions while Seb stood waiting in plain sight right in front of the stairwell.

He was going to face this trauma head on and show it who's boss!