End of the world (4)

The teenager had pulled out 'scissors'.

I was lucky.

[The player 'Ena James' has won.]

After defeating his son, I turned to the rich man for my next game.

"Do you want to play against me?"

"What?!"

I raised my hands.

"Hey, relax. Anyway, if all of this was just a joke, winning or losing this game won't affect you in any way, while this man here will go to prison for murder."

"Why do you want to play a game then?" The rich man retorted.

Good question.

I raised an eyebrow and decided to put on an act and astutely change the subject.

"Wait, don't tell me you're scared to play against me? How did you get to your position of vice-director if you're such a coward? Don't tell me you got it with money?"

"What?! Hey-"

While he was fired up, I interrupted him.

"Then, let's make a deal, Mr. Vice-director of this hospital. In exchange for playing this game, I will give you one big advantage. Well, except if you're too scared to play?"

"What advantage?"

"For the three matches, I will clearly announce my next move. For the first match, I'm going to play 'scissors'. Do you accept to play?"

There was a moment of silence. I glanced around to remind him of the presence of people watching.

Surrounded by the gazes of everyone, the rich man accepted.

Now that the man was successfully provoked, let's proceed.

[The consent of all the participants of this game was obtained.]

[Game chosen: Rock-paper-scissors.]

[Number of participants: 2.]

[The game will now begin.]

The young woman received the role of the referee once again.

The rich man thought hard about it.

I couldn't be so dumb so as to announce that I would choose 'scissors' and play a game only to lose it.

That meant that if he chose 'rock' while believing me, I could pull out 'paper' and he would then meaninglessly lose one round.

Moreover, I had also chosen 'paper' in the first round against his son so it showed that I knew how to use strategies in this game.

He made up his mind and began to smile, thinking that this round was won in advance.

"1-2-3, rock, paper, scissors."

At the end of the sentence, I pulled out 'scissors' as planned and the rich man also pulled out 'scissors'.

The man with a ponytail watched in amusement while the young woman looked at this in bewilderment.

The rich man was shocked.

His strategy hadn't worked since I had kept my word.

I smiled and said:

"Next, I'm going to pull out 'scissors' again."

This more fun than I expected?

The rich man thought hard.

Maybe this time, I may not keep my word.

If he believed me now because I did as I said once, he would fall into my trap.

Anticipating my next move may not work this time. After all, what if I had predicted his prediction? If instead of doing 'paper' to crush his 'rock' because I said I would do 'scissors', and he did 'scissors' because he had predicted my trap, I had predicted his prediction and did 'rock' in advance?

The rich man continued to overthink when the young woman began.

"1-2-3, rock, paper, scissors."

Then, this time…!

The man pulled out 'paper'. However, I had indeed pulled 'scissors'.

'Damn it! She had predicted my prediction of her prediction of my prediction…'

He bit his nail.

Then, he was faced with a dilemma.

"For this last match, I'm going to play 'rock'. If we arrive at a tie, we can add another match to avoid the situation of both of us losing if you want."

「6. There can only be one winner in the same game. If many people win in the same game or arrive at a tie, it will be counted as a loss.」

He nodded.

Should he believe my words and choose 'paper' or not?

This last round was going to decide if he lived or not. Or else, he would have to…

The rich man stared at me.

Would he believe my words, or would he not this time?

'If she had predicted my prediction, then predicting this would mean that I choose 'paper' and her 'rock'. However, it would also mean that she has kept her word. What if she doesn't?'

Would the rich man believe my words this time?

'What should I do?'

He finally made up his mind.

And me, was I going to keep my word this time? Well, I had already made my decision.

I glanced at the corpse of the dead person on the floor.

I didn't intend to kill anyone if I lost this game. Would I end up dying like the brown-haired nurse or that dog?

Then, the young woman spoke up.

Will I lose?

"1-2-3, rock, paper, scissors."

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

"How…?"

However…

The man with a ponytail burst out laughing while the rich man became as white as a sheet of paper.

I looked at the result.

It was a game that I couldn't possibly lose against someone like him.

He had pulled out 'scissors' while I had chosen 'rock'.

Even thought I had announced my choice each time, he had never believed me.

I had won.

Now, there was only one game left to play.

The rich man stared at me with shaking pupils.

"H-how did you…? Why did you…?"

It's because I trusted you, Mr. Paranoid.

[The player 'Ena James' has won.]

I believed that you would stay true to yourself until the end, and it turns out that I was right.

You should have lived in a world full of manipulators and backstabbers, didn't you? So you didn't think I would keep my word. No, you couldn't think so.

If you had believed me, then I would have stood no chance, but you didn't, so you have lost.

The man with a ponytail continued to laugh in the background.

I turned toward the others. Now, the two people I had defeated didn't have the right to play anymore because of rule 7.

「7. Someone who is counted as 'dead' can't participate in any more games. If they do, the game won't start and its issue won't matter.」

In the air, my ranking changed and went up to third place.

Actually, if I can complete the scenario without losing any games before the others, I should be able to be ranked 1st here. If others had also been active, my ranking wouldn't have gone up so much.

However, everybody avoided my gaze.

After I won these two matches, finding a partner for the third game may be the hardest thing to do.

Seriously…?

Am I going to be stopped here?

Meanwhile, the rich man was panicking.

"No… No…!"

He had lost, he would die if he didn't commit murder now.

With bloodshot eyes, the rich man held his head.

"It can't be like this!"

Huh…

I had a bad feeling and stealthily backed away.

The rich man breathed heavily and raised his head.

His son had already lost. He had also seen the man with a ponytail murder someone, and the young woman kill a dog, so they would survive!

I was also going to complete this scenario, so I would also survive, while he had lost. He had to do something.

"It can't be like this! It can't be like this!" He repeated.

The man with a ponytail grinned.

"It seems like that man has gone crazy."

No, you're the craziest one here.

The rich man didn't seem to hear him, in a trance, and his gaze crossed the red-haired nurse's eyes, who was looking at him with horror.

He reached out and pounced toward her like a beast only obeying his primal instinct to survive. Like a predator in front of a prey, he grabbed her neck.

"Give me your life! I have to live! I'm obviously the one who should live…!"

The red-haired nurse struggled, trying to get out of this deadly grip but in vain.

Gradually, the red-haired nurse's kicks and punches slowed down as her strength waned, her vitality leaving her.

The nurse's face turned purple as she became frozen, her nails scratching his hands had stopped moving and her eyes were widened in sheer terror in the face of death as she fainted.

This was madness.

My mouth was slightly agape as I saw what humanity was capable of. Even though this guy had a loose screw, who would have guessed that he would end up killing someone…?

If we put aside the anomaly of the man with a ponytail who had left prison recently, he was the first one of us to commit murder.

The rich man finally released his hold, breathing heavily.

However, the man with a ponytail intervened and checked her breathing.

"She's still alive. Do it properly."

"Damn it…"

The rich man cursed and grabbed a gun.

Then, his hand trembling, he shot at her in the head.

I became ranked 4th.

The rich man saw the terrified gazes of those around him and tried to justify himself.

"W-what…? It's to survive! You should do the same, or else you will die!"

I looked at the man with a ponytail who was laughing like a madman.

What should I do now?

[8:46]

The timer showed that less than 10 minutes were left.

What should I do…

"Hey, you."

I raised my head to the sound of the voice.

The man with a ponytail was staring at me.

"Don't you need to play a third game?"

He smiled widely.

"I will play with you, but instead of a child's game, why don't we do something a little more interesting?"

He took the gun from the rich man's hand, turned the wheel many times, took out one more bullet, did the same with the one in his hand and threw a gun to me.

"Now, there will be no more tricks. Each gun has two empty slots in random positions. There is a total of six cartridges."

At that moment, I had a very ominous feeling.

"Until one of us dies, let's play at a game of roulette."

I made a strange expression.

This man is crazy.