"Before you claim your prize, you need first to reach victory"
LOCATION: Galaxy TIME: Unknown
She sighed and held onto the glass capsule. She took courage. That is what she should think. Let's investigate. She went back and forth with her memories, and that was all she remembered. The moving-up ceremony until that boy pulled her to a relatively secluded place, which was the school's garden.
That boy was her classmate. They weren't too close, and they also didn't talk much at school, except when there were group activities, but that's all she remembered about him right now.
She was still standing here inside the transparent glass capsule floating in the middle of nowhere. She didn't know how, but she felt comfortable and could breathe well inside.
Gradually, others woke up, and there was a look of shock on their faces. Some continuously punched and kicked the glass capsule. A girl was crying, others were confused, and some even fainted. And their eyes were asking for help. They were 24. She estimated they were about three meters away from each other as they formed a huge circle.
She noticed something strange about their clothes, so she checked herself as well. She's wearing a school uniform. She was wearing a white short-sleeved blouse, dark blue necktie, dark blue skirt with stripes, and black shoes. This was her school uniform—the last clothes she wore during the moving-up ceremony. They were all in school uniforms, but from different schools. Other school uniforms were familiar to her. It seems like they were all teenagers.
There were 12 girls and 12 boys. She also noticed that they're placed in pairs. A boy and a girl have the same design and color of the uniform and are placed adjacent to each other.
Then, that should mean… She turned her gaze to her left immediately. No, the school uniform he's wearing is different from hers. She turned to her right, and she was shocked. She saw her boy classmate. He was the one who pulled her to go to the school garden, then directly pulled out a necklace that shone until the last thing she remembered was that she was stuck here!
What is he doing here?! An anxious question in her mind. How can I not be angry with him when he's the reason that I am here? Or was it really him?
She had no idea. If he has something to do with her current situation, then what could it be?
If their condition was real and not a dream, magic, or hypnosis, she could say that they were not on earth but in space. No one knows how they got here because she also did not know how long she lost consciousness. If she thought that they were indeed in space, not just in a laboratory that scientists are experimenting with or inside a movie or a prank show, then she didn't know what to do. She looked at her classmate again. He was squinting his eyes from waking up. She would have liked to shout at him, but she was trapped here inside. It was scary to move too much because apart from this glass, she could not see solid ground below, but only the dark, the blue-colored abyss that made her knees tremble. Even the ground where she stood was also transparent glass! When he finally came to his senses, their eyes met. He frowned as he gazed at her.
She stared at him, but his eyes appeared to be innocent. He seems to be asking for help and was also confused by their situation. He may have forgotten what he did to her. She strongly felt that what happened to them in the garden and that necklace has something to do with why they are here. She needed to ask him about this.
***
After a few minutes, everyone was awake. How she wished she hadn't woken up because sleeping inside the glass capsule was better than being conscious enough to see their current situation.
*bell rings*
She was startled because of the sound that she heard, which entirely broke the silence. It was the sound that students often hear at school during classes and breaks. She turned around, and the sky lit up for a moment, so she closed her eyes. Moments later, she opened her eyes. There is a hologram coming out in the middle of the 24 glass capsules, forming a huge circle. The image released by the hologram is a large white letter A.
"Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening," a voice came out, with no one to see who spoke.
They did not see anyone speaking. The voice was also strange because it had a male, female, shrill, low, scary, and echoing voice, so she also didn't know if the speaker was male or female. Even with a glass capsule enclosing them, she could hear what the thing was saying audibly.
"Greetings, everyone, it's good to see you, the battle 24." She frowned at what it was saying. "As you can see, you are in the middle of space. It is not an illusion; it is reality. 12 boys and 12 girls, a total of 24. By pair, a total of 12. 24 students from 12 different schools."
So, they were indeed in space. Impossible. She didn't want to believe it, but here she was. If she's here in space, was she supposed to just believe it?
"6 pairs from private schools and 6 pairs from public schools. You are the lucky 24."
What lucky 24?
She never wished to be here in the first place.
Suddenly, the glass capsule disappeared, the reason why they were locked up. It appeared that it dissolved, and they could see each other more clearly. She felt an inexplicable horror. The atmosphere here was somewhat different from that on Earth. Enormous space, pure mixed colors of black, blue, and white with a hint of red, yellow, and white scattered dots. The air was dense but calming and cold enough to send her shivers. She kept herself reminded of this beautiful view in case she trembled with fear every time she peeked below, which triggers her fear of heights.
"Hey, just wait. What kind of gimmick is this? Why are we here? What are you saying?!" questioned a boy angrily, with his silver-gray hair raised. She could hear clearly what he said, even though they were far apart.
"Keep your cool. Well, I understand that you are all wondering where you stand. That is the source of gravity, so your body doesn't float."
She tried to calm down because of what the hologram replied.
"Answer us! What's in it?" a pretty girl with long light brown hair insisted.
"Okay. You, all of you. You were chosen to play this game because each of you experienced a lot of tragic events as a teenager. You are the victims, physically, psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually tortured. You've been chosen based on your past that pulled the trigger for you to enter the game. And I know that all of you desired to change your lives. A life that is better than your old rotten world."
She was left stunned by what the hologram announced.
We? Selected? Me?
Why? Did something bad happen to her? That's why she was chosen for this? If so, what is it? How did the hologram know who she was when she couldn't even remember all things about herself? It also mentioned the game. What kind of game?
This is big nonsense. She should not believe what the hologram says. She pinched herself; it hurt, she was not dreaming. Maybe it's true that they were in the middle of space, but it can all be just an illusion.
"But before you claim your prize, you need first to reach victory. And that is to play the tri-games," the hologram added.
Victory? Tri-games?
"We have no idea what you are saying! Bring us back to our world!" a tall, tanned boy shouted.
"W-What about the people we left behind? Can we live normally again?" worried question of a girl who looked modest.
The hologram spoke again. "You are here with a purpose. You are all chosen because you have been strong in the battle of life. You are the most desperate not just in life, but for life. You have dreams, goals, and plans, but the world has become an obstacle for you to achieve them. This game is the remaining key to fulfilling your dreams."
Have I been unstable in life? How did I become desperate to the point that I went to this point?
She thought.