Campione Scumbag in Mash-up Anime

"You found it, Ren! Hurry, open it!" Yuki exclaimed enthusiastically.

Ren took the scroll. Inside was a rough map of the room, with strange symbols and circles drawn at certain points. There was also faded handwritten text:

"The door to the unseen will only open for those who dare to look into their own shadows. Turn the wheel of fate according to the steps of time."

"A map? It shows there's more than one room." Yuki pointed out. "And this 'wheel of fate'? Where's that?"

Studying the map, Ren swept his flashlight around again. His eyes landed on a large wooden wheel mounted on one of the dark walls.

The wheel had several segments, each with a different symbol, and a pointer in the center.

"That wheel, over there." Ren pointed. "And there are numbers around it, 1 to 12. 'Steps of time'?"

"Maybe it's related to time or a clock?" Yuki guessed. She approached the wheel and tried turning it, but it was locked. "It won't budge. There must be another mechanism."

Ren returned to the scroll. "Look here, there's a small scribble in the corner of the map. It looks like coordinates or directions. 'North two steps, east three steps…'"

They began following the instructions, walking around the room to find a hidden pattern. After a few attempts, Ren found a loose stone beneath one of the statues on the altar. He pulled it out, and a small key fell.

"A key!" Yuki grabbed it excitedly. "This must be for the wheel!"

Ren took the key and tried it on the wheel.

*CLICK!*

The wheel was now free to turn.

"Now we need to figure out the 'steps of time.' Are there any other clues here?"

They searched the room again.

Yuki examined the locked wooden chest. "This chest! There's got to be something inside."

Ren approached the chest. It had carvings on its surface and a keyhole that didn't match the key they found. "The key we got doesn't fit this chest."

"Maybe it's a number code?" Yuki guessed, shining her flashlight on the carvings.

Suddenly, Ren noticed faint writing under the lantern he'd moved earlier. "Yuki, look at this. Under the lantern, there are small numbers written in nearly invisible ink. '0417'."

"0417? A date?"

Yuki tried entering the numbers into a hidden keypad near the wheel, but there was no keypad.

"Maybe it's the code for the chest?"

Ren tried entering the numbers into a combination lock on the chest, but the lock had symbols, not numbers.

"No, 'steps of time'." Ren suddenly recalled the scroll's text. "The number 0417… maybe it's a time. 4:17? Or 0:41:7?"

"The wheel has numbers 1 to 12, like a clock!" Yuki exclaimed. "If 0417 is a time, how do we use it?"

Ren studied the wheel and its numbers. "If it's a clock, then 4 is the number 4. But 17? There's no 17."

"Maybe it's number manipulation? 1+7 = 8? Or 17 is minutes?" Yuki tried pressing buttons around the wheel, hoping for a response.

Ren examined the lantern again. "This lantern… light… dancing shadows… 'white'?" He recalled a small detail from the staff's explanation. "They said light is the key."

Ren turned off his flashlight and directed Yuki's toward the wheel.

When the light hit the wheel's center, a hidden symbol appeared, visible only at a certain angle. It resembled a crescent moon.

"A moon symbol!" Yuki exclaimed. "What's that got to do with time?"

Frowning, Ren thought hard. "Night… clock… Moon… maybe it's related to moon phases or stars?"

He glanced up, hoping for a star projector.

Suddenly, a small alarm sounded from their walkie-talkie.

"You have 30 minutes remaining!" the staff's voice warned.

"Damn, time's moving fast!" Yuki panicked. "Ren, we need to hurry! What do we do with this wheel and those numbers?"

Ren returned to the scroll. "The door to the unseen will only open for those who dare to look into their own shadows. Turn the wheel of fate according to the steps of time."

Then, he looked back at the statues on the altar—six statues.

The first was a samurai, the second a farmer, the third a monk, the fourth a girl, the fifth a warrior, and the sixth was a vague, unfinished statue.

"Six souls…" Ren muttered. "Maybe this is the order we need to follow. Are there numbers under the statues?"

Hearing this, Yuki checked. "No, just weird patterns."

Recalling the phrase 'dancing shadows,' Ren turned off his flashlight.

The room plunged into darkness, with only Yuki's flashlight remaining. Ren took her flashlight and shone it on the statues in sequence, looking for odd shadows.

When the light hit the first statue (samurai), its shadow looked normal. But when it hit the fourth statue (girl), the shadow seemed off. There was a protruding part, as if something was hidden.

Spotting the anomaly, Ren touched the wall behind the statue.

*CLICK!*

A secret panel opened, revealing a small box.

Inside the box was a sheet of paper with a visual puzzle.

It showed an ancient clock with hands pointing to certain numbers, though some were missing. Below it was a series of symbols: Moon, Sun, Star, Cloud.

"A clock puzzle? This must be related to the 'steps of time' on the wheel!" Yuki speculated.

Ren studied the clock image. The long hand pointed to 12, and the short hand to 7. Below it was a small note: "Time will move backward for the brave."

"Time moves backward? So it's not 7:00, but 5:00? If it's backward, does that mean the number 5, or 7 minus something?" Yuki asked, trying to unravel the mystery.

Ren thought again about the number 0417 from the lantern. "If 'time moves backward' and this is the 'steps of time'… 7 and 12. 7 a.m., with the long hand at 12."

He then looked at the symbols below the clock image: Moon, Sun, Star, Cloud.

"This might be a cycle of day or night."

Yuki approached the wheel again. "The wheel has segments with Moon, Sun, Star, and Cloud symbols, just like on the paper! So we need to turn the wheel to the right symbol!"

"But what about the number 0417?" Ren asked. "And 'steps of time'? Could it mean how many times we turn the wheel?"

Suddenly, he noticed a small carving at the base of the fifth statue (warrior). It was a circular arrow symbol with the number '3' in the center.

"Yuki, look at this! A circular arrow with the number 3!" Ren's eyes lit up. "This might be the 'steps of time'! Turn it three times!"