Ao knew everything was impossible. The ship made no sense, those in charge made no sense, even their bodies made no sense. But what she saw easily topped all those. 

What the hell is this? Some sort of respawnable RPG? Bending down, Ao collected pieces of her broken bowl, yet not tearing her eyes away from the child, who was pushing her oatmeal to the burly man next to her. Under brighter light, she could now see that the child wasn’t as young as she had assumed. 

The girl was small, but she could be in her early teens. Stuffed toys were attached to the belt of her loud, cyberpunk-esque outfit. Her hair was also neatly bunched into two fluffy pigtails. She almost looked too pristine.

Someone brushed against her. Ao flinched.

“Careful, you could hurt your precious fingers like that.” Hatsuharu said, squatting down. Fuck, where did he come from?  

Before Hatsuharu could touch any of the shards, Ao quickly gathered them and cupped them in her hands. They nicked at her skin. 

“I can do it by myself.”

“But you’re busy watching that brat and not paying attention to what you’re doing. A lady like you shouldn’t multitask dangerously like that.”

“You noticed her too?” Ao asked.

“But looks like not everyone has noticed.” Hatsuharu discreetly gestured to the tables. “Your guy’s here.”

True enough, the homicidal man from before was there. His wimpy self was now relaxed and confident, laughing too loudly with a small group while carrying his bowl to a table as if he didn’t attempt murder. Just the sight of him brought a scowl to Ao’s face. The bruise on his jaw could be a lot worse. She could’ve finished him off if  it weren’t for that butler noose woman. That was irritating beyond belief.

Lost in her hatred, Ao’s hands relaxed. Hatsuharu picked the shards out and placed them into a tissue paper he held. 

“This is how he acts after he tries to kill someone? What a damn loser.” Ao huffed.

“Well, we’ll just wait and see.” Hatsuharu leered wryly. “You know, I wonder how he’ll react. Must be interesting. His face, I mean.”

Ao found herself at Hatsuharu’s table, where a handful of similar-aged teenagers were at. She didn’t want to be there but had no choice since all the other tables were filled, even though she was sure there were more when she first came in. Ao had a feeling those two were behind that. 

The moment Hatsuharu sat, his supposed girlfriend, Maya, flung herself onto him and showered him with an onslaught of wet kisses. “Ueno-kun! I missed you!” 

She —Ao had to admit— was stunning, but to the point her beauty felt fake and overbearing. They’re perfect for each other. But Ao briefly thought she saw Hatsuharu stiffen slightly at Maya’s touch. It must just be her eyes tricking her, she shrugged it off. 

As Hatsuharu chuckled, Maya shot daggers at Ao. This was exactly why Ao didn’t like to deal with couples. 

Thankfully,  the rest at the table were much less infuriating. One of them, who initially came across as fierce, shifted to give her space. He gave her quick nod then went back to being brooding and obviously jealous at the lovey-dovey couple. The other boy gave a polite smile and the weary girl forced herself to do the same. Ao later learned their names were Dai and Kanon respectively, and Kenji was the envious one. They all knew each other from school.

“Who the hell is she?” Maya demanded, clinging onto Hatsuharu.

Ao brought the bowl to her lips. “Tsukumo Ao.”

“I wasn’t talking to you!” 

“Maya, she’s only here because she wanted to be with me. She’s just a fangirl. Right, Ao?” Hatsuharu tasted her name on his tongue as the lies effortlessly rolled out. Knowing nothing good would come out of it if she called him out, Ao could only suck up her vexation. She “hmm”ed and drank more of the oatmeal. It’d been a while since she last ate. Before her death, she remembered starving for a few days. She wondered why that was such.

“What’s this? You animals are already eating without saying grace first?” The gunner’s voice rang out and broke Ao’s eardrums. “That’s no good! I could shoot you all just for that!” 

At the word “shoot”, the entire hall silenced.

“Put your hands together and close your eyes!” 

No one dared to defy. They hastily followed, urging those around them to do the same in fear of a bloody consequence. Just as Hatsuharu was about to close his eyes, Ao nudged him. 

“Keep them open and peeled. I don’t trust that bastard. If he shoots or does some other crazy shit while we’re vulnerable, we’re all dead.”

Ao wasn’t the only one who knew something was wrong. A small scatter of people kept a tense focus on the gunner as well as their guards up. Cyberpunk was one of them. Grinning, she exchanged a glance with Ao, a knowing twinkle in her eye. Cyberpunk definitely recognised her.

The gunner examined those who didn’t follow his instructions with hostile yet intrigued intensity. Then he reached over his shoulder, grabbed the shotgun on his back and aimed. Ao braced herself.

“The eyes of all look to you, O Lord, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. Thank you for this meal.” The gunner fired. “Amen.”

A blast ruptured the air. It happened so fast that as soon as Ao processed the fact that he had pulled the trigger, bits of flesh and brain spattered into her bowl. Half of the homicidal man’s head was blown off. His severed tongue fell into the oatmeal. A thick plop echoed. 

There were hints of a scream in the suspense, but no one screamed. They knew better. 

“What goes around, comes around. Killing someone else is a big no-no, okay?” The gunner made an “X” with his arms. “You’ll receive rightful punishment for that. Remember our good friend, the first player to be punished?” Giggling, he started to strangle himself. Warmth drained from his face, the muscles in his neck tensed and his pale blue lips peeled back into an unnaturally large cheshire grin. “He strangled his roommate, just like this!” 

Roommate? Ao didn’t see a roommate in her room, but then again, there was a bunk bed. Maybe her roommate left before she came to. 

That aside, the homicidal man was dead, and Ao sighed in satisfaction. It didn’t necessarily mean those two were suddenly heroes, but it at least meant that this was a place with proper consequences. What goes around, comes around. Both the butler and the gunner had said that. So they were referring to karma…

The gunner released his grip around his neck. “Oh, I almost forgot. Virtue’s gonna kill me for this if I don’t do it now! Well then, ladies and gentlemen…” His arms flung wide apart, as if embracing an audience and waiting for applause.

“Welcome…” 

He snapped his fingers and the corpse jerked upright. Except, it was no longer a corpse. It turned into a mannequin, all the gore being replaced by dark red glitter, flowing down and drifting all over. Someone screamed this time. It reverberated around the hall.

“...to Limbo!” 

Ao wasn’t surprised at the reveal, she had guessed it right after all. But hearing it come straight from the horse’s mouth was beyond surreal and unnerving. 

“All of you have died, but were brought back for a very special opportunity. Exciting, isn’t it? You want to learn more, don’t you? So stick around folks and keep your ears stretched! I don’t want to hear a single fucking noise out of any one of you as I talk, got it?” He pushed down his sunglasses, eyeballs rolling grotesquely to look at the woman who screamed. She fainted.

He continued jubilantly. “Don’t get your panites in a twist. You’re not alive. As our wonderful friend over here has just demonstrated, the bodies you’re in are not real, and your real bodies are rotting somewhere on Earth! But as long as you’re here, you should take care of these bodies as if they’re real. You still feel pain, much more pain. And once your body breaks like that, your soul will descend further down. So be careful, okay?”

“Make some fucking sense god damn it! What the hell are you talking about? So what if our bodies are fake? That doesn’t answer anything!” An extremely stupid man in the crowd shouted. “Who are you? What’re we doing here? Tell us!”

At the interruption, the gunner’s expression went deadpan. He pointed the gun at the man, who let out a mangled cry as he realised his mistake. 

“Bang.” 

The man shrieked, then shrieked even more when two hands covered his eyes. A dark stain on his pants spread. On the platform, the gun clattered noisily from being dropped.

“Guess who?” The gunner said with a sing-song tone. “It’s Justice! And you’re going to play games!” Pushing the man to the side, he stepped onto a table to address the crowd better. He had the air of a showman, the maturity of a toddler and the morality of a psychopath. All those combined together created a dangerous amalgamation of a creature whose mere presence could terrify the strongest of men. And with him up close now, even Ao couldn’t stop her heart from racing and her legs from quivering. It wasn’t how he looked. It was his unpredictability.

“It’s simple. If you win all seven games, your greatest wish will be granted. But if you lose just once, you’ll be condemned to suffer an eternal torture.” Justice bared his teeth, a crude imitation of a smile.