In a bedroom of a high-end apartment building located in the Ginza commercial district, Tokyo City, Kyushu Sakura Autonomous Region.
A beautiful girl with delicate, lovely features, fair skin, and long light-brown hair loosely draped over her shoulders was sitting, dressed in neat pajamas that gave her a certain comfortable, homey laziness. At this moment, however, her brow was slightly furrowed as she stared at the lines of text displayed on her phone screen.
[Congratulations, Yūki Asuna. You have been selected to become a "Player."]
[You will enter the Novice Instance in five minutes. Please prepare yourself.]
"Instance? Is this... some kind of third-rate game advertisement?"
Looking at the strange APP that suddenly appeared on her phone, which had an icon resembling an eye and gave off an eerie feeling, a look of confusion and wariness flashed across Yūki Asuna's lovely, delicate face.
The current time was 4:55 AM.
Five minutes ago, Yūki Asuna, who had been sound asleep, suddenly woke up with a start. When she opened her phone, she found a bizarre, unidentifiable APP that had appeared, displaying the strange, nonsensical message above.
Her first instinct, of course, was to try and delete the APP, but she found that as soon as the icon disappeared, it immediately reappeared. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn't completely uninstall or delete it.
"Did my phone... get a virus?"
Yūki Asuna muttered to herself, staring at the unsettling eye icon on her screen. The line of text, "Please prepare yourself," printed in a blood-red color, reflected in her eyes, sending an ominous chill through her heart.
Judging from a rational standpoint, Yūki Asuna did not believe in so-called supernatural phenomena in this world. Perhaps her phone had simply been infected with a virus, and some kind of Trojan horse program had been installed remotely, causing this phenomenon.
But what if it wasn't?
With that thought, Yūki Asuna changed her clothes as quickly as possible and even ran into the living room to grab the sharp fruit knife placed on the coffee table. After doing all this, the countdown displayed on her phone screen was down to the last sixty seconds.
"Huff... huff...."
As the countdown numbers ticked down, Yūki Asuna grew increasingly nervous. Even her right hand, clutching the sharp fruit knife, began to tremble involuntarily.
The moment the number hit zero, a line of blood-red text flashed across the phone screen.
["Player" Yūki Asuna is now entering the Instance.]
The next second, a dark red mist surged into Yūki Asuna's field of vision. She fought hard to restrain herself from screaming out loud due to the sudden change.
The thick mist writhed, forming several lines of text.
[Current Instance Location: ??? Sanatorium]
[Current Instance Time Limit: One Hour]
[Current "Player" Objective: Escape the ??? Sanatorium within the time limit.]
[Hint: When the "Player's" room is closed, it is a safe zone that no "Careworker" is allowed to enter.]
Before Yūki Asuna could re-read the last sentence, the dense, dark red mist abruptly dissipated. What appeared before her was a pale yellow wall, stained and even covered with moss.
"Where is this...?"
Before Yūki Asuna could fully register her surroundings, she heard a voice, seemingly male, laced with a hint of laughter and ease.
"So it really is something like the main god's space. Now this is interesting."
Yūki Asuna was startled by the sudden voice and subconsciously tightened her grip on the fruit knife. At this moment, she was immensely glad that she had, out of the cautious mindset of "better safe than sorry," brought this weapon for self-defense. In that case...
The scene that met Yūki Asuna's eyes the next second caused her thoughts to instantly freeze, her lips slightly parting in shock.
In this room, which resembled a hospital room, there was another person besides her—likely the one who had just spoken.
What truly shocked and disconcerted Yūki Asuna was not the presence of another person in the same room, but his attire.
The man was wearing the kind of heavy black overcoat one would wear in the depths of winter, with a black athletic-style long-sleeved shirt underneath, black pants, and athletic shoes. His face was completely obscured by a black mask and sunglasses, covering him thoroughly.
Even stranger, his clothes looked lumpy and distended, as if something had been stuffed inside them, stretching them out.
And the most absurd thing was...
"A drill... and a... chainsaw?"
Seeing the drill in the black-clothed man's right hand and the very intimidating-looking chainsaw placed beside him, Yūki Asuna was stunned.
"A-are you a 'Player' too...?"
The black-clothed man replied in a smiling voice when he heard her question.
"Yes, nice to meet you. My name is Houseki Yōmei. What's yours?"
"I..."
Yūki Asuna originally intended to answer, but the words caught in her throat. She took a few steps back, gripping the fruit knife tightly, and watched the black-clothed man warily.
"Can I choose not to answer?"
"Quite vigilant, that's good."
The black-clothed man seemed to nod approvingly. Although his voice carried a hint of amusement and he hadn't made any aggressive moves yet, Yūki Asuna, looking at his bizarre attire and the extremely intimidating chainsaw, dared not approach him easily, her body nearly pressed against the yellowing wall.
Is this person... a so-called "Player" like me?
Yūki Asuna lowered her gaze to the fruit knife in her hand, then looked at the drill in his hand and the chainsaw by his side, feeling a strong sense of inadequacy.
She had been congratulating herself on bringing a self-defense weapon, but she never expected such a master to appear.
From the appearance of the strange APP to entering the instance, there were only ten minutes of preparation time.
Where on earth did this person get a chainsaw and a drill?!
While Yūki Asuna was pondering, the black-clothed man already took out his phone from his overcoat pocket and opened the strange APP with the eye icon.
[Player Name: Utsunomiya Asagiri]
[Physical Fitness Level: Outstanding (Professional Athlete Level)]
[Talent: Not yet unlocked]
[Profession: Not yet unlocked]
[Player Level: Novice]