"Wanderers! May Wanderer No. 1 stepped for------Ouch!" Puppet cried out suddenly. Something hard hit her head from the back. She turned around immediately. Mel stood behind her.
"It hurts, Mel. Why did you hit me suddenly?" Mel remained silent and showed her sketchbook to Puppet.
「 (-_-)(-_-;) 」
「 You forget something. 」
"Huh? What did I forget?" Puppet asked. Mel flipped over her sketchbook and started writing.
「 Time 」
"Time?" Puppet didn't understand. The word struck her mind. Within a second or two, memories floated in suddenly, she slammed her head, "Ah yes! I nearly forgot! Thanks for reminding me, Mel."
「 (^o^) 」
Puppet turned around. "Sorry, Wanderers. I nearly forgot to mention. Please look at the timer above. You have one and a half hours to finish the trial. Once the countdown is over, the trial will end. If there are still Wanderers who haven't picked the ball up, they will receive judgment immediately." Puppet explained.
"Wait!" Keira waved her arm and shouted, "If what you say is true, then doesn't that mean that the larger our Wanderer No. is, the fewer time we have to pick the ball?!"
"What's wrong about that?"
"Of course, it is WRONG! This is not fair for those who have large numbers!" Keira argued.
"Is it? Picking a ball only takes less than 5 seconds. Everyone has around 3 minutes on average. I believe it is already long enough."
"But.......!"
"There is no 'but' in this Mansion. Anyway, we've already wasted a lot of time. Therefore, I now by declare that the first trial 'The Beginning Draw' starts now!" Puppet raised her hand. Numbers floated above in the air, without warning, the countdown had already started. I gazed at the ticker, we had 1 hour, 29 minutes and 59 seconds left.
"May Wanderer No. 1 step forward!" Puppet declared. She looked around.
No one stepped forward.
There was only silence.
"Wanderer No. 1?" Puppet repeated again. No one answered.
"Hello? Please check your room key tag to see if you are No. 1."
"..........." I searched around. Again, there was only silence. No one even moved.
"HELLO?! Hello?! Is there anyone who is Wanderer No. 1? If you don't come out right now, others can't pick their balls!" Puppet warned again. Still, no one replied. Max raised his eyebrow.
"HEY! Who's No. 1? Hurry up and show yourself! Don't waste the--------"
"Err......I'm No. 1."
Surprised, I turned my head. A tiny, soft voice appeared out of nowhere. I searched around. A girl wearing a dress raised her hand and walked out from the crowd. All eyes glared at her, she hid her head and stared at the ground.
"I'm.........sor......sorry that I'm late. I'm just so.......scared." The girl wept. Her eyes were red, she had been crying.
"Never mind that. Just pick a ball, Wanderer." said Puppet. The girl froze, her legs stopped moving.
"Err.....I......" she spoke again. Her voice was so soft, I barely heard what she said. I tried to walk closer, pushing away the crowd. The people started whispering. Her face went pale, "I......I......."
"I what?" Puppet asked, "What did you just say?" She stepped closer, but the girl stepped back.
"I.......I........I cannot......"
"HEY, GIRL! STOP CRYING AND HURRY UP! YOU'RE BLOCKING THE REST OF THE QUEUE! CAN'T YOU EVEN PICK A BALL?!!!" Max scolded loudly.
"I........I'm.......sorry....." The girl wept louder.
"WHAT'S THE USE OF YOU APOLOGIZING! JUST PICK THE—--"
"Mr. Max!" a voice appeared in the air suddenly. I turned my head. Unexpectedly, a man wearing a white coat showed up. It was the guy with the weird name.
"Huh?! Who are you?!"
"My name is C. Mr., may I ask what your Wanderer number is?"
"HUH?! I'M THREE. WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH THAT?!"
"Well, I'm four. You see, my number is right behind you. You're complaining because you are anxious and want to pick up the ball as soon as possible, right? In that case, I should be more anxious than you as my number is larger than yours. But I'm not even complaining. Not just me, everyone in this hall is not complaining except you. Then, why do you think you have the right to complain?" C questioned.
"HUH?! OF COURSE I HAVE THE RIGHT TO COMPLAIN! THIS IS CALLED THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH! YOU GUYS HAVE NO RIGHT TO STOP ME FROM COMPLAINING! ALL OF YOU SHOULD HURRY UP AND PICK THE BALL SO THAT I CAN PICK THE BALL! DON'T YOU SEE THE TIME?! THE CLOCK IS TICKING!"
"HA?! How selfish are you?!" Keira pointed at him and argued, "I'm anxious too! But you can't just rush others on picking the ball. If we pick the wrong ball, we will die! Then, isn't it normal for us to feel scared or spend more time picking the right ball?! Can't you be more considerate?!"
"YOU BITCH! WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!" Max yelled in anger. They started barking.
".....both of you, please calm down. Mr. Max, I will try to talk to the girl. So can you please wait for a moment? Even if we argue, we will only lose time," C explained. Both of them stopped arguing. C is right, we don't have time to argue now.
"Err......Miss! Your name is Luna, right?" he turned around and said. The little girl stepped back, her shoulders were shivering. She shrugged to nod her head. C gave a bright smile.
"My name is C. Nice to meet you, Luna." He reached out his hand to the girl. Luna stepped back even more. C didn't seem to mind.
"I.................."
"Don't worry," C softened his voice, "I know you must be terrified of what's happening here. It is indeed really scary to be suddenly brought up in this strange place. Everything just went so fast. My brain doesn't even understand what is going on. Why can't I just go home? These negative thoughts just keep on flashing inside my mind. But what should I do? It's really hateful, isn't it?" said C. As if the man read her mind, his words were just the same as in her head. Luna stopped shivering, she lowered her guard a bit.
"I understand all of your thoughts and worries, Luna. And I'm sure many of us here feel the same as you. But if we don't do anything here, we can't leave this place anymore. So let us not be defeated by our fears and move on. For now, stop thinking about whether you will win or fail, all you have to do now is to pick a ball. We can all think about what to do later after we pick the balls. But I can't do anything if you don't start the trial."
"I..............." Luna lowered her head. Her hands were still shivering. With bravery, she swallowed her saliva and peeked at the black box, taking a small step. She clutched her shoulders hard, her legs wouldn't move any further. One single step was already a great challenge.
