While I carefully threaded the glowing white arch, the boy floated above the ground with ease. It seemed guides didn’t need to walk. He looked young, perhaps in his later teens, but I had a feeling he was much older than that. Unlike what it first appeared like, the path did not cut off. It merely was a slide that twisted and turned into a black abyss.
The boy gestured to get on it, to which I froze. Heights were a pretty prominent fear for me. He sighed and continued to talk.
“You’re not going to get anywhere if you just freeze in place,” he stated the obvious. I glared at him.
“Shut up Rin,” thinking of the character from Free. His teeth were definitely similar to the character. The boy raised his eyebrows.
“Is that the name you decided for me? I’ve had pretty idiotic ones like Sharky or Demon,” he looked like he approved of the name. I nodded deciding not to tell him why I picked the certain name. “Cool, now use the slide or else you’ll never get out of here.”
Hesitantly sitting down, the black haired boy shoved me down the slide. To say it was uncomfortable would be an understatement, it was slow and I would occasionally bump into one of the turns. It would bruise later for sure. When hitting the black abyss, it was like falling through water except without getting wet.
I slowly swam up, coming into contact with bright lights and a game show like set. Rin seemed to appear next to me, whispering useful information.
“This is the first test and I should be fairly easy as long as you mask your fear. Also realize that the simulation is fake, because it definitely is,” at his words I nodded. Acting shouldn’t be too hard if I know it’s fake.
“Konbanwa, darlings! Saikin do?” a tan girl with tilted eyes, blonde hair and instead of normal ears there were… cat ears? Also the only thing she said that I understood was darling. Rin seemed to agree as he narrowed his crimson eyes.
“Himeko, this kid doesn’t speak Japanese it’s best to speak in a language she can actually understand. Also the ceiling,”
“Gomen,” she smiled brightly and pulled me out of the black water and into a brightly colored chair. As soon as I sat down an invisible force held me down. In front of me were pastel cardboard cutouts shaped like humans with large stretching smiles cut out on their faces. The short girl spun around like a ballerina and posed towards the “audience”.
“Welcome to the Wheel of Fear! We have this little girl with us and she’s only 18 years old! I’m your host, Himeko! Let’s go over the basic rules shall we?” she turned to me as the cardboards move up and down with crackling speakers playing applause.
“We’re going to spin this wheel… And see what simulation you’ll be put in!” She pointed towards a game show wheel that appeared out of nowhere. It had several cartoon images on it, such as a cliff and spiders. “Now you must be wondering what happens if you fail? It’s very simple, you’ll be electrocuted and die!”
I shivered at her happy tone as the cat girl spun the giant wheel. It landed on a baseball bat and I almost sighed in relief. That couldn't be too bad, right? My guide looked worried however.
“Whatever you do, don’t scream.”
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