Future Diary Survival Game

Chapter 22: Week 3 - 2

Time passed.

It was the fourth day since we entered the 8th floor.

Everyone had already memorized the thin poetry book by heart.

Now, even if we wanted to study, there was nothing left to do.

Aside from occasionally observing Matets, I was enjoying the rare peace that had finally returned.

That was when it happened.

“Ah…? Aaah!”

Suddenly, Matets made a strange sound and shot up from his seat.

His eyes glimmered with realization — like he had just recalled something monumental.

I see. So he finally noticed it.

Then, he suddenly raised his voice toward Magireta.

“I need to go to the restroom.”

“Eh. And here I was having a good dream.”

Magireta fumbled through the bunch of keys hanging around her neck.

Then she tossed the key to the 8th-floor entrance at him.

He stared at it blankly for a moment.

Clack.

He opened the door.

Matets asked cautiously,

“...Aren’t you going to follow me?”

“I’ve never followed you before, have I? Why would I want to watch you people do your business?”

“I’ll be back quickly.”

Matets stepped out as if fleeing.

So it’s begun.

I gave Aina a glance.

Slide.

Just as we had planned during the second week of study, she vanished as if by magic.

At the same time, the poetry book that had been lying on the table just moments ago disappeared as well.

Aina had taken it.

Yet, no one in the room noticed a thing — neither her movement nor the disappearance of the book.

‘Seriously amazing.’

Anyway, it was about time for an explanation.

Clap.

I clapped my hands, drawing everyone’s attention.

“I have something to tell you all.”

“Huh?”

“What’s going on?”

“But we’ve already memorized the poetry book. What now…?”

Even as they spoke, everyone started gathering around me.

Perhaps it was because I had already given a few speeches by now.

They all perked up their ears and looked at me attentively.

I cleared my throat lightly.

“Just now, Matets betrayed us and went to read a book.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“How can he read outside?”

“Yeah, the questions for the third-week exam are supposed to come only from the books on the 8th floor.”

I responded to that last remark.

“Who said that?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking, who said that the first-week exam questions only came from the 6th floor, the second week’s from the 7th, and the third week’s from the 8th?”

“Well, that’s just been the pattern so far…”

“No.”

Click.

I pointed at the floating Bulletin Board.

“Nowhere on that board does it say that the exam questions only come from the floor we studied on. It only says that the questions will be drawn from the range of books the participants have read.”

“……!”

“Whether it’s the 6th, 7th, or 8th floor — it never mattered. The only reason we assumed the questions would come from the books on that floor was because Magireta locked the doors at the start of each exam period.”

The crowd shivered slightly.

Even Armelia, who already knew what was going on, looked appalled anew.

She bit her lip and said,

“Now that you mention it, it’s strange. Magireta never needed to rely on human-like locks or keys.”

“Exactly. Magireta can open and close doors with a mere gesture. So why would she go out of her way to show us the act of choosing a key from her keyring and locking the door?”

“……”

“She was telling us — this door can be opened and closed normally with a key. In other words, if you borrow a key from Magireta, you can go anywhere.”

At the start of every week, Magireta locked the door.

The restroom was inside, and so was the food.

That was why no one thought beyond that boundary.

We had never considered that we could go outside whenever we wanted.

And if we did — then books from other floors could also be within the scope of the exam.

Someone spoke up, trembling.

“Th-then, are you saying Matets didn’t actually go to the restroom? But the key he got from Magireta was…”

“Yes. It’s definitely the 8th-floor key. If he had asked for a 6th or 7th-floor key in front of us, it would’ve been suspicious. So he can’t access any other floor from the 1st through the 7th.”

“……”

“But he didn’t go to the restroom. There’s a place that doesn’t require a key.”

At that moment, Armelia spoke quietly.

“The rooftop.”

That’s right.

I recalled the conversation I’d had with her while dining near the Restaurant District before the Third Quest began.

— If it weren’t for this situation, I would’ve loved to visit the rooftop of the Tower of Knowledge.

— There’s a rooftop?

— Yes. The 6th through 8th floors are closed to the public, but the rooftop is always open to everyone. There are no guards or doors. It’s a floating garden, full of trees and comfortable benches.

— Oh-ho.

— Visitors who come to the Tower of Knowledge always take their books up there to read. It’s an essential part of the experience — though, of course, it doesn’t apply to us right now.

I spoke to everyone.

“The rooftop of the Tower of Knowledge has no doors and is always open to the public. Reading books taken from the tower while relaxing there is part of the usual visitor’s course.”

“R-right, I remember hearing that.”

“When Magireta turned the Tower of Knowledge into a quest location, she drove everyone out and replaced all the books. That’s all she changed.”

“……”

“In other words, just like the poetry book that was here, there’s probably another book up there on the rooftop — one that someone had taken out to read. Matets went to read that book.”

“That’s bad! We have to chase after him!”

“There’s no need. We already sent someone ahead.”

Only then did everyone look around.

They finally realized that the girl who had been sticking with us was gone.

And so was the poetry book that had been on the table moments ago.

Confusion spread across their faces.

I rubbed my hands together and said,

“I plan to use this opportunity to eliminate that fool, Matets. Everyone agrees, right?”

Meanwhile, Matets was running breathlessly toward the rooftop.

‘Heh. Those idiots.’

Just moments ago, he had been struck by a thunderbolt of revelation.

That lone poetry book on the 8th floor —

It had been a replacement for one that someone had originally taken out to read.

And Magireta had only changed the book itself.

— She didn’t change the spot where the original book had been!

That meant…

‘There should be another book on the rooftop — one that someone was in the middle of reading!’

The question was whether he could actually go to the rooftop.

It was a thought he’d never even considered back when they were studying on the 6th or 7th floors.

The idea that he could go outside.

But during the third week, Magireta had indirectly announced it — by repeatedly letting people out for restroom breaks and lending them keys.

You can go.

You may go wherever you want to go.

“Huff huff.”

On average, about twenty visitors enjoyed reading on the rooftop.

Since the first time we were dragged to the Tower of Knowledge had been around lunchtime, there might even be over thirty.

That meant there were at least thirty books scattered on the rooftop.

I would seize them.

I didn’t need to read them all. I only needed to sneak away with one or two.

Then I’d return to the 8th floor pretending I had terrible constipation.

After that, I would memorize the pilfered books bit by bit under the pretext of “I went to the restroom,” whenever necessary…

“Then that’ll be my victory!”

Memorizing a single thin poetry book to death wouldn’t be enough.

If I memorized at least two or three more, Armelia, no matter how hard she tried, wouldn’t be able to beat me.

A vile smile spread thickly across his face.

Ta-at.

When he reached the rooftop, he swept his bloodshot eyes around.

“…Huh? This can’t be.”

But he couldn’t see a single book.

Surely the Tower of Knowledge had been transmuted to the otherworld at lunchtime, hadn’t it?

Not a single visitor had taken a book out?

For a moment he had a premonition that something was wrong.

While he nervously bit his nails, he spotted a book in the distance.

He hurried over.

And he picked it up.

A thin poetry book.

— If you find me loathsome when you leave, I will kill you.

Author: Magireta.

His neck tightened and his vision blurred.

His head clouded and his heart pounded like mad.

Then a girl’s voice sounded behind him.

“Read as much as you like.”

“You— you!”

Aina.

The bitch who stuck to that damned princess and that irritating man.

Aina spoke coldly.

“Hurry up and read. That will be the last book you ever read.”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Mason read your filthy innards long ago. He’s truly an incredible fellow whenever you see him.”

“W-what… did you say?”

“You were planning to sneak away with a book the tourists were reading, weren’t you? So you intended to secretly finish it in a restroom or something.”

Clack.

His heart sank.

Aina continued.

“You ran here pretty energetically to the rooftop. For someone your age, that was unbecoming.”

“No way.”

“Yep. Here. The thing you’ve been desperately searching for.”

She raised her arm.

There, books tied with string dangled like fruit.

Aina continued.

“I already stashed them when you went out claiming you were heading to the restroom on the first day.”

“…!”

“Now we’ll take turns reading these among ourselves. For the remaining three days, you can live on the rooftop and memorize that one poetry book. Well, unless you already memorized it?”

“What did you say?”

“You’re slow on the uptake. I’ll be watching this rooftop for three days straight. To make sure you never go back downstairs.”

Matets’s pupils trembled mercilessly.

“W-What are you saying? If you stop me from reading, that’s a rules violation!”

“You’ll stop him from reading? What are you talking about?”

She smiled faintly.

“I said read. The poetry book.”

“…!”

“If there were absolutely no books on the rooftop, then yes, that would be a rules violation. But there is clearly at least one book here, right? I’ll even bring you food and drink from time to time, so don’t worry.”

Cornered, Matets’s mind spun desperately.

As we had experienced many times, Aina was a monster.

Charging her head-on wasn’t wise.

He needed to make himself collapse by breaking the rules.

So—

He shuffled to the edge of the rooftop.

Holding the poetry book precariously, he said, “I’ll drop this from here.”

“Hmm. Just as Mason said.”

“If I drop this, there’ll be no books left on the rooftop. If you stop me from going downstairs in that situation, that’d be a rules violation!”

“Try it then.”

“Iigh.”

He released the book from his hands.

The book, affected by gravity, began to fall toward the ground below the tower.

But before it had even fallen thirty centimeters—

Click.

Aina stomped the ground so fast he hadn’t even seen her move.

She flicked out something long and whip-like and snatched the falling book.

She gave the book to a dumbfounded Matets.

“Read.”

People had responded to my persuasion.

In truth, I didn’t need to try very hard.

The widow who had lost her husband in the first-week exam spoke up with venom in her eyes on our behalf.

“Be sure to kill that bastard.”

Thus, Armelia and I were heading to the rooftop.

When we arrived, Aina was standing leisurely by the rooftop entrance.

“Oh. You’re here?”

“Yeah.”

“Take the books we gathered from the rooftop. Can we send them back to the 8th floor now?”

“Sure. Thanks for your trouble.”

I accepted them and staggered.

Roughly thirty volumes — quite heavy.

Aina had handed them over so lightly I had been deceived.

Naturally, my pride wouldn’t let me show it, so I pretended to heft them with a few brave arm curls.

Aina snorted.

“You’re working hard to act like they’re light.”

“They really are light. By the way, what about Matets? Didn’t he resist?”

“He put up a hell of a fight. He threw poetry books past the rooftop about five times. He lunged at me seven times.”

“Did he hurt you? If he ends up injured and then uses that as an excuse to say he can’t study…”

“He wouldn’t. Look over there — he’s fine.”

Indeed, Matets looked fine.

Fine and utterly pathetic.

He was frantically rubbing a branch from the garden as if insane.

His eyes were hollow and his face looked ten years older.

“What is that guy doing?”

“He’s probably trying to burn the poetry book. Does he think that’ll ignite a flame?”

“……”

“It’s not like I’d watch it burn until it caught, since I’d be the one to catch anything tossed off the rooftop in the first place.”

He must have been so cornered he couldn’t consider up to that point.

“You might as well try tearing it to pieces,” someone suggested.

“I stopped him twice when he tried that too.”

“Good grief. What a bother.”

“Yeah. I’m really having a tough time.”

At that moment, Matets recognized me.

“You, you bastard.”

He was drooling from his mouth.

That alone made him look insane, but when he spotted Armelia behind me, he went even more berserk.

“Aaaargh. That woman finally—!”

“Me? What are you talking about. I merely turned your cheap trick against you.”

“Ugh—.”

“You memorized the poetry book, right? How many questions could possibly come from inside it?”

“Grrr.”

Armelia continued coldly.

“The questions you know, we also know. But the questions we know, you will never be able to know.”