see right through your beautiful lies ( semi-open )

[dolosa]

[ When you awaken, you're in what seems to be an abandoned warehouse; it looks like the place hasn't been used for its original intent in ages, though the smell of copper permeates the area. The carcasses of corpses lie around here and there - some dismembered, some completely intact - along with creepy, oversized masks of rabbits.

The warehouse itself isn't that big -- there's two floors, and many doors. However, each door is locked, and the only way through is to find a key.

However, you're not alone. There's a girl who seems to be panicking nervously, fiddling with her skirt anxiously as she sits on her wheelchair, glancing every now and again at you, not all that certain as what to do. At least, that's before you awaken, which is when she gasps in sheer surprise. ]

You're-- you're finally awake.

Comments

[dolosa]

Ah, it's...

[ On the floor, so she can't exactly hide it. But what it entails is definitely an article about a family of three attempting a group suicide and only one known survivor. Names aren't listed, though it does state that the known survivor was a TV celebrity. ]

It's... a horrible thing that happened.

[wright_idea]

A...ah. So I see.

[That's odd, though. Why would she have such a strong reaction to this? It's odd that I haven't heard about this, either, although I guess I'm not always on top of celebrity stuff.]

Were you affected by this somehow? A friend, maybe?

[dolosa]

No... it wasn't a friend.

[wright_idea]

I see. You just reacted so strongly... I guess it's not really any of my business.

[He frowns, then picks the file up.]

Shall I just put it back for now?

[dolosa]

I'm sorry. Thank you, Wright-san... for not asking.

[ Rei furrows her brow as her head lowers, biting her lower lip rather anxiously before nodding. ]

Maybe you should... see if you can find anything about that man in the files.

[wright_idea]

Heh. Everybody's gotta have their secrets, right?

[And a place like this, seems like the ability to keep that secret is at a premium.]

Yeah. It might give us some insight on who's behind all of this. Let's keep looking.

[dolosa]

It's not that I was trying to keep it a secret, I just...

[ She doesn't finish that sentence. She doesn't really like talking about it. But she will continue on searching aimlessly; the bottom half of the shelves don't contain any clues about their mystery "liar".

But maybe Phoenix will find something on the upper shelves. In fact, there is one article about our mystery man, a young man around Rei's age named Yu Aikawa. It also mentions a cellphone game called Rabbit Doubt, a game similar to mafia where there is one wolf selected at random and everyone has to guess who that is every single day until either they find the wolf or the "rabbits" win. The article says that he participated in a real life Rabbit Doubt and that he was murdered in the hospital. The murderer's name is supposedly written out in the file but is obscured on purpose for some reason. ]

[wright_idea]

[Wh...what? What kind of sick individual would play this sort of game in real life? And a murder in a hospital! That should've been big news for certain, so why...?

I'm not sure what we've been drawn into, but it's even more serious than I could have imagined.]

Hey... do you know anything about a game called Rabbit Doubt?

[dolosa]

... Huh?

[ She flinches visibly before nodding. ]

It was a really popular game in Japan. A lot of people played it because it was a good mystery game. Lots of people even had meet-ups. I heard that the game got cancelled, but I'm not sure why... I'm sorry.

[wright_idea]

[He frowns, looking at the file.]

Looks like somebody didn't get the message. Or, maybe, a lot of people. Did these real life games usually involve people actually getting killed?

[dolosa]

I wouldn't know about the real life games... I've never been to a real life one, since they never actually held those.

[ Basically, they were "unofficial". ]

B-- but if I were to guess, I'd say yes.

[wright_idea]

[Disgusting... people turning murder into a... a game! How can people like that exist?]

From the looks of things, at least one real-life game did take place -- and our "liar" back there was one of the victims.

[dolosa]

Who--

[ She finds herself reeling, almost unable to speak as her words are caught in her throat. ]

W- Who would do such a thing?

[wright_idea]

[He shakes his head.]

I don't know for certain. But based on the fact the body is here, I wouldn't be surprised if our kidnappers are involved in that sort of thing.

[Which means our lives could be in danger the longer we stick around here.]

[dolosa]

[ A shiver runs down her spine as she finds herself hugging her shoulders. ]

That means... we should probably get out of here before our kidnappers find us. Was there anything else in that file? [ There isn't, but Rei decides to ask anyway. ]

[wright_idea]

Nothing useful. And there's too much here to waste time trying to go file by file to find more useful information. We should get moving. As soon as we get out, we can look into the issue more.

[dolosa]

I see. [ She nods in response, knowing that there's probably nothing to see here. ] So we should exit and go left, then.

[ Which is where the broadcasting room is. Basically, a rather spacious room. At the end of the room are three corridors, one to the left, center, and right. In the room itself, though, to the right side is a table full of monitors that seem to be broadcasting various areas of the warehouse. There's a chair, along with a gruff man wearing a wolf mask sitting on it. He seems to be moving every now and again, so he's definitely alive.

Behind him are weaponry of different sorts, mostly dangerous tools such as axes and chainsaws, though there are plenty of torture tools that you could see in a stereotypical horror manga in there as well. Next to that is a shelf full of rabbit masks, similar to the ones in the room they woke up in. ]

This place is...?

[wright_idea]

[Something straight out of a horror movie, is what. Hang on, is that guy...?]

[He rushes over to the man on the chair.]

H...hey! Are you okay? Are you in the same situation we are?

[dolosa]

[ He doesn't seem to answer immediately, nor move from the spot he's sitting. But he is breathing, at least. Though after a few moments of silence, he finally manages to speak up, his words ominous.

"The liar must die."

Gee, I wonder where we've heard that before. ]

I... I don't think he's okay!

[wright_idea]

Wh...what?

[Exactly like the note from before! But this guy... HE'S the one wearing the wolf mask!]

Hang on a second, what do you mean? Why would you say something like that? Don't you care about yourself?

[dolosa]

[ There's no reply coming from his end at all. It's almost as if he's been turned off by someone, or something as he stares off at the cameras once again. ]

He... he's not answering.

[wright_idea]

[Something's wrong here. It's almost like he's been set here exclusively to intimidate us. Is he even still alive?]

[He checks for a pulse, just in case.]

[dolosa]

[ Barely alive, but still kicking. It'll take some time before he's actually dead, though. ]

Is something wrong, Wright-san...?

[wright_idea]

Don't you think this is all very odd? This man was set here for a purpose, just like the key was put into the pocket of that corpse. Somebody's playing games with us.

[Damnit... he's definitely not doing well. But I can't think of anything I could do to help him right now. If we get out, we could get a doctor to come in, but...]

[dolosa]

Y-- yeah. It's creeping me out. [ She hugs her shoulders, shivering visibly. ] Do you think he's just there to scare us?