If someone did betray it would be rather easy to figure out who–that is if we had enough time, it seems Meadow didn't really keep that in mind when planning, but who could blame her.
This whole situation has just happened so fast it's very disorienting for most people, they haven't even really had the chance to fully process the situation they are in. I'm sure the people in charge of this whole thing did that on purpose.
The group above us has seemingly finished, from what I can tell they had the same plan as us but got it done faster.
"Sorry, i couldn't find another person to give a coin to, i'll do it now" said a boy in a wry tone
A mistake you couldn't really blame him for, I'm sure he asked around as much as he could but having three coins makes it slightly harder.
He started rather close to me so I overheard him introduce himself to a few people. His name was Asher Kim, I believe he is Korean but was born in america.
"Get on with it" meadow replied in response her eyes slightly suspicious
He walked up to the last person and transferred his coin; and with that we finished with 5 minutes remaining, it looks as if the group to the right of us has given up–in a way you could say they finished…
A buzzer rang and who we believe to be Ms. Chacha, because of the notification on our phones, spoke again.
"Con-con-con-congratulations, you have completed the first game, how exciting you worked so hard, you totally deserve a break!" said Ms. Chacha sounding rather sarcastic in her words rather than tone
"But hmmm, where could you take that break? Oh I know! The city right there! A door allowing you into the city will open in ten minutes, take this time to talk to your group and review the game, please check your phones for the results" Ms. Chacha said
"Also there will be 3 other sectors of people, like this one with 4 groups each, you won't interact with them outside the city most likely–so just ignore them" she added
A notification vibrated my Phone once again
[The Coin Toss: Results]
[End Condition & Rewards:
-The game concludes exactly 45 minutes after it begins.
There are no extensions, and once time is up, all coin balances are locked.
-Divisions are ranked based on how quickly they reach a state of internal order and cooperation (e.g. minimal disputes, resolution without conflict).
Stats:
Liar accusations used
-Alpha - 2
-Beta -0
-Gamma -0
-Delta -10
Group rankings:
-Reina Kuroshio - Alpha division
-Li Zhen & Morgan Dale - Beta Division
-Meadow Lockwood - Gamma Division
-UNDEFINED - Delta Division]
The leader was chosen as representative
"Why was Alpha chosen as Alpha if they had two liar accusations? Doesn't that count as conflict?" a boy in our group said out loud.
Meadow glanced over, calm but clearly expecting the question.
"They moved faster," she said. "Two liar calls isn't ideal, but if they resolved things early and cooperated right after, it might've outweighed the risk. They finished first. That's got to count for something."
Her logic was sound. But I had a few more thoughts.
It wasn't just about what happened—it was about when. The system rewarded early order, not perfect order. If Alpha stabilized faster, even with two liar calls, that alone could place them higher than groups that moved slower but cleaner.
Efficiency over purity.
And let's be honest: two liar accusations might even show strength. It meant someone took initiative, rooted out deception, and moved forward. Delta, on the other hand—ten accusations? That wasn't a strategy. That was chaos.
Gamma and Beta both had zero accusations. Clean records.
But we were slower.
Meadow's plan was solid—safe, fair—but safe and fair take time. While we were busy trying to build trust, someone else was already finishing the race.
Meadow spoke up once more, "I'd like for us to gather information on the city and meet up again to discuss it."
"YOU'RE IN LUCK!" Ms. Chacha, somehow being able to hear us, spoke up on the microphone once more. Though this particular comment was random to the other groups since they didn't have the context of our group's conversation.
"There's a special place just for discussions—mandatory every Monday. Yay, bonding time! My absolute favorite," she beamed. "You'll find it marked on your phones—every Division has its own dedicated discussion room. And while Mondays are required, feel free to use the room anytime you need to talk things out, plot, argue, debate, whatever you feel like," she continued.
"The door opens in 3 minutes—oh my goodness, I'm so excited!!" Ms. Chacha said, more enthusiastically than anyone else.
"One last thing, make sure you read the rules of the city. That would be very useful," she winked. "Or don't. I don't care." She blew us kisses.
The door that opened wasn't a regular door—it was something far more unsettling. The section of wall began to glow, pulsing softly like a heartbeat. The light faded in and out, growing dimmer with each cycle. As the glow weakened, the air turned colder, a chill creeping through the room. Then, without a sound, the wall simply vanished—replaced by an open passageway.
Once again, it was something out of this world. Now that people were less tense, they reacted far more audibly, with gasps and "wow"s.
As the door opened, everyone hesitated at first but eventually left the original building.
***
After everyone left, the door that had opened closed once again, matching the background so well that you couldn't see the building anymore. It seems this city is built under an artificial sky—a dome. It was partly cloudy and cold, matching what the real outside world would be like at this time.
Everyone departed and split up—my guess is to explore the city. I had originally assumed they would be scared and would stick together, but I suppose seeing the other sector's participants roaming around lightened them up to the idea.
I once again got a notification
[Email Notification]
[From: Project Bloom Admin
Subject: Welcome to Avereth – Housing Assignment
Welcome, Amari Sorell. You are assigned to Apartment #3-24, West Side Residential Complex, 3rd Floor.
Your watch contains your digital key.
Your phone contains your contact information. As well as the rulebook
Weekly discussion room meetings begin Monday. Attendance is mandatory.]
Looking at the map on my phone, I decided to first go to my provided apartment and then look over the rules Ms. Chacha spoke about.
Looking around, it was bizarre. There were so many flowers—it was a florist's dream.
Since the sky was fake, I decided to check if the ground was fake too. I squatted down to pluck a flower and touch the ground—
To say the least, it was very real.
I began walking into the city. The apartments were a straight shot forward. As I looked around, the architecture of the buildings didn't follow any one theme. They looked like they were pulled from different countries around the world.
After a while, I arrived at the city's center—the hub. There were signs pointing in every direction: toward the Park Zone, Residential Area, Staff and Administration Buildings, Shopping District, Service District, and Entertainment District.
In the hub, there was a large clock tower. It was a sort of leaderboard. It had a digital screen that displayed where all the sector divisions stood. As of now, we all had 0 points—but there was still a ranking.
After walking further toward the Residential Area to find my room, I realized Kana Mori was still trailing behind me.
I stopped walking to give her a chance to go ahead of me, in case she was just headed to the same place. But she stopped dead in her tracks too. When I started walking again, so did she.
Wanting to know why, I turned back and walked up to her.
"Wanna walk with me?" I asked.
"Yeah," she gave a slight smile.
After walking for a few seconds, I posed a question.
"Are you scared?"
She took a second. "Yeah… a little."
There was a somewhat awkward feeling, but it was partially filled by the sounds of birds chirping and an artificial breeze.
"Hey—"
"So—"
We interrupted each other.
"Go on," I said.
"Are you scared?" she finished her thought.
"Sure, to an extent," I replied.
Neither of us sure how to continue the conversation, I asked something simple.
"Where are you from?"
"Chiba, Japan. What about you?"
"Edmonton, Canada," I replied.
I continued, "You speak very good English."
This made me wonder why English was chosen for this entire operation. Then I realized—it's most likely because English is the most commonly spoken language. If they had to choose one, it would be that.
"Thank you—my…" she hesitated. "Mom taught me," she replied.
She was jittery—unsure where to place her hands, shifting slightly. Nervous.
And I was only making it worse.
That's the thing about being calm around someone anxious—it reflects their own discomfort back at them, like a mirror. The more composed I seem, the more out of place they feel. Their awareness heightens. Every fidget becomes exaggerated in their own mind.
I didn't mean to intimidate her—it just tends to happen to some people. Others may feel the opposite.
I thought of purposely stumbling over my words to make her feel more comfortable, but decided against it.
Part of the reason I find myself struggling to speak with her is cultural differences. I thought about asking for her contact information, but I wasn't sure how she'd interpret it—mainly because I'm not that familiar with Japanese social norms. I'll make sure to fix that soon—through research, if nothing else. I'm surrounded by people from all over the world in a place that isn't home
But she was most likely sticking near me for a reason. I assume she wants to be friends.
"Would you like to exchange contact information?" Though I was hesitant, I decided she would be understanding rather than weirded out.
"I'd like that," she responded rather fast.
After that, we exchanged information.
The rest of the walk was far more comfortable—now that she knew I was okay with her and wanted to be friends.
***
[7:00 AM]
After I arrived at my apartment, I simply read the rulebook for the city. It was mostly just simple things, like common law. But there were also special rules.
The room was smaller—larger than I expected, though. It had a kitchen, bathroom, and main room. The kitchen wasn't really separated from the main room by a wall but was still its own space. The room came with a fridge, sink, washer, toilet, shower, and the basic stuff like kitchen cabinets. I'm guessing you have to buy your own things like a bed at the shopping district.
The room also had a closet. Inside were three sets of clothing, all the same color scheme as the one I'm wearing now, but for different occasions. There was one for winter, one for sports, and one for summer. I was also given a patch with the symbol representing Gamma.
According to the rules, it seems we have no choice but to wear these during games, with a few exceptions like scarves. But when we're in the city, we can wear whatever we buy. A note to add is that we can get free replacements for the provided clothing if it gets damaged. That doesn't apply to the clothing we buy.
Speaking of buying things, the coin I had automatically exchanged itself, and I was given 1,000 Clades (or 1,000 USD).
The phones we were provided work like regular phones—calling, texting, games, pictures—though they looked different from phones today: bigger, more advanced.
I wasn't comfortable wandering the city in the tired state I was in, so—even though it might negatively impact my sleep later—I decided to take a nap on the wooden floor.
***
"Don't you understand, Amari? There's no such thing as second place. You either win or lose. There's no difference between last and second. In the end, there's only one left standing—and it won't be me."
"What's broken doesn't get fixed—it gets discarded. Or reforged in fire. And I will break you. Again. And again. And again. Until there's nothing left of who you were... only what I built."
"There will be no 'good attempts.' There will only be perfection. Everything is wrong until it's right."
"I'm sorry…"
***
I woke up from a dream, my back slightly sore. I checked my watch for the time.
[1:00 PM]
A good amount of time had passed. Having nothing else to do, I decided to head out with the goal of buying a bed. Unlike the real world, there is no online shopping here. Though I assume I'll still get the bed delivered after buying it at the store.
Though I was still tired, I wasn't as tired as before. I got up, stretched, and walked toward the door.
***
After leaving the apartment building, I began walking to the shopping district using a back path that distanced me from the hub. There weren't many people out. Most were probably in their rooms, still trying to process everything. But that didn't mean nobody was out.
There she was—Kana Mori again. This time she was in a group with three other people from our division, including Asher Kim. They were chatting amongst themselves, but they weren't paying Kana any attention. I watched as she struggled to inject herself into the conversation. She was smiling along, but she wasn't really there.
I intended to just walk by, but she saw me and came up to me. The group she was in didn't seem to notice.
"Are you going to the Shopping Center, Amari?" she asked.
"Yeah, what about you?" I replied.
"Yes, yes," she said twice.
"I was going to buy some food and a bed. Are you doing the same?"
"Yes, yes." She paused. "Ca–can I come with?" she asked, trying to sound confident.
"Sure."
There was no harm in going together.
As we started walking, I noticed someone staring at me. I looked and saw Asher Kim watching me with an arrogant smirk. His intentions were unclear at the moment, but I decided he wasn't a threat and continued walking.
***
We arrived at the shopping district, where it seemed most people were. It was very pretty—fountains, benches, trees, many buildings including a large mall, cafés, and fast food I'd never heard of. Everything needed. Truly a dream city. One thing that stood out was the flowers once again.
Digital billboards. It looked Asian, but also European—like France, but also like Tokyo. It was hard to explain.
The city being so nice gave me uneasiness. I'm guessing it's beautiful for a reason, and that made me slightly worried about the games in the future.
On the walk here, I found out a few things about Kana. To start, she doesn't mind whether I call her Kana or Mori. I've decided that since she uses my first name, it would be odd to use her last. She loves art—specifically the manga kind. She's become slightly more comfortable talking to me.
"First things first: beds are very important," I said to Kana.
"Agreed. Uhh, I think that store there—'Scott's Furniture'—will do," she said, pointing at a furniture store.
We entered the store and began looking around. I ended up finding a twin-sized bed. I figured it was big enough not to feel cramped, but small enough not to take up too much room.
Now Kana had to find her own bed. As we walked around, I think we found one she liked.
A loft bed—very good for space. Not my style, personally.
She was looking at the loft bed, but she had her hand out like she was grabbing something. I was slightly confused and said her name a few times, but it seemed she was in her own world, lost in thought, imagining something.
"I like this one. I'll get it," she said, acting like she hadn't just stared into space for five minutes.
Looking at her as we walked around, I realized she's often consumed with thought. My gaze stays relatively still, but in contrast, she looks all over the place, not really able to focus on one thing for too long. In addition, she can't really stand still either. I guessed maybe she has something like ADHD.
***
[7:00 PM]
After shopping with Kana, we headed home. I felt we became friends today. As the day went on, we got more comfortable with each other's presence.
I spent the majority of my money on simple things I needed: basic necessities like utensils, food, a bed, blankets, hygiene products—among a few other things. Needless to say, I only had 200C left. Kana had even less, at 25C.
Part of me was adjusting to the new circumstances, while the other part was mentally preparing for the next game. I wanted to relax tomorrow, but I can't sit down without gathering as much information as possible.
I planned on some basic reconnaissance tomorrow.