Chapter 1: Welcome To Westbridge High
The blaring sound of my alarm dragged me out of a restless sleep. I groaned, slapping at the clock until it mercifully fell silent. The first day at a new school—Westbridge High—was finally here.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes, trying to shake off the remnants of sleep. My uniform was neatly folded on the chair by my desk, my bag packed and ready to go. My parents had been buzzing about how great this school was supposed to be. Honestly, I wasn’t feeling the hype.
Still, I couldn’t exactly skip out on day one. With a resigned sigh, I dragged myself out of bed, took a short shower, threw on my uniform, and headed downstairs for a quick breakfast. My parents were all smiles, chatting about how this was going to be a ‘new beginning’ for me.
I nodded along, offering half-hearted smiles as I scarfed down toast and sipped lukewarm coffee. They waved cheerfully as I walked out the door, backpack slung over my shoulder. The bus ride was uneventful, the hum of the engine and quiet chatter of other students filling the air.
When we arrived, the school loomed before me. Westbridge High was massive, its brick facade almost glowing in the morning sun. Students were milling around the front entrance, some excited, others as nervous as I felt.
I shuffled toward the auditorium, where the entrance ceremony was being held. Inside, the rows of seats were quickly filling up. I found a spot near the middle, surrounded by unfamiliar faces. The headmaster soon took the stage, a tall man with graying hair and a calm demeanor.
“Welcome to Westbridge High,” he began, his voice steady and authoritative. He talked about opportunity, growth, and working together. His words were polished, almost reassuring but I found them increasingly repetitive. As boredom crept in, I caught myself yawning from time to time. I resorted to discreetly checking my phone to maintain my focus throughout his speech.
That’s when it happened.
A faint shimmer appeared in the air right in front of me, like a glitch in a video game. I blinked, thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me. But no, it was still there—a small, glowing hologram floating just inches from my face.
[Survive the tutorial to unlock status window.]
I stared at the words, my heart skipping a beat. I glanced around, but no one else seemed to notice it. They were all focused on the headmaster.
“What the...?” I whispered, waving my hand through the hologram. It felt cold, almost metallic, as though it were alive. My pulse quickened. Was I hallucinating?
Before I could process what was happening, the lights in the auditorium flickered. The headmaster froze mid-sentence, his calm facade faltering as the air around him grew heavy.
Then, from nowhere, it appeared.
A dark, faceless figure materialized on the stage, its smooth, featureless form radiating a chilling presence. The headmaster’s voice faltered as he stepped back in alarm.
The room fell into stunned silence.
And then all of a sudden, the faceless being lunged at the headmaster with inhuman speed. A sickening sound echoed through the auditorium as the headmaster collapsed, lifeless, onto the stage. Screams erupted from the crowd.
The other teachers, still attempting to comprehend the situation, froze as the being advanced. That faceless being’s form shimmered with unnatural power as it lashed out, a horrifying blur of movement. One by one, the teachers fell, lifeless, collapsing onto the stage or the surrounding floors with sickening, hollow thuds.
I froze, my mind struggling to comprehend what I was seeing.
After all the teacher had collapsed, lifeless, the being stood over the headmaster’s body, silent and motionless for a moment. Then, a mechanical voice boomed through the auditorium, loud and emotionless.
『Attention, Tutorial initiated.』
Two glowing circles appeared on the floor near the stage, one green, the other red.
『Please choose your path. Green means you agree to participate in the game. Red means you refuse. Make your decision quickly. The consequences are yours alone.』
As the words echoed, an hourglass materialized above the stage, its sand already pouring at an unnervingly fast rate. The grains glowed a faint blue, each one slipping through the narrow center with a soft, rhythmic hum.
The students around me panicked, shouting and shoving as they tried to make sense of the impossible scene before us.
I stared at the circles, my body trembling. Green or red? Participate or refuse?
“What game? What does this even mean?” I muttered to myself, my voice barely audible over the chaos.
The faceless being turned its gaze—or what I assumed was its gaze—toward the crowd. My heart raced. Was it watching us?
Students began stepping toward the circles, some hesitantly, others in blind panic. A girl near me whispered, “This has to be a joke, right? Some kind of sick prank?”
I didn’t respond. My eyes were locked on the red circle.
Refuse. That seemed like the logical choice. I wasn’t about to sign up for some insane death game. This was all too surreal, too impossible. My gut told me this wasn’t real. It had to be a nightmare.
I stepped forward into the red circle.
For a moment, nothing happened. Relief began to creep in, but it was short-lived.
Pain.
Sudden, sharp, unbearable pain ripped through me. My chest tightened as my vision blurred, my body collapsing to the ground. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.
The last thing I saw before everything went dark was the faceless being, standing there, unmoving.
---
Darkness enveloped me.
[You have died.]
The words echoed in my mind, cold and detached.
[Restarting from the checkpoint.]
[Loading...]
I gasped, bolting upright in bed. My heart pounded as I clutched the sheets, my breath coming in short, ragged bursts.
My room. I was in my room.
I blinked, looking around. The familiar walls, the desk, the chair with my neatly folded uniform—it was all there.
A nightmare. That’s all it was.
But as I looked down at my trembling hands, the memory of that pain, the faceless being, and the glowing hologram felt too vivid to dismiss.
I swallowed hard, but my pulse refusing to slow.
