[𝙸𝚏 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎, 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎.
𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚢, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚠𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛.]

You and the other 3 started to get going to a building. It's really just like some horror movies when you got a invitation to somewhere to do something. You frowned at your thoughts while were listening to Iride's talks. He introduced himself after helping you walk before. He's quite easily to approach. On the other hand, the others two didn't communicate much, which made the atmosphere was awkward.

You began to let yourself get loose a bit, so you did reply to all Iride's comments or Paca's questions.

'If I have to stay here for a long time, why won't try to get to know them better? That won't hurt a fly or something.'

However, Onigasaki's eyes kept boring behind you and you wondered what made him stare at you so intensely. That's why sometimes you shuddered a bit, even Sarayashiki also got notice of your state and asked you with a voice full of worried and a bit angry. After a long walk, you guys got to meet some others people. It looked like they're already familiar with each other. Even you did feel a little awkward around weird faces but you couldn't help but get to know them more since right now, they're your allies.

That night, you knew more people, such as the cute and petite girl, Himiko or the girl makes herself looks like a mad scientist, Roromori. About the boys, it's hard to approach an opposite sex, that's why you only talked to Onigasaki and Iride.
Nevertheless, it's a good thing you knew more faces.
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Have you ever thought of dating someone, (Y/N)?

Hm, good question.

And your answer?

Don't know? I may or may not care too much about it.

Eh, why not? It's fun when you dated someone, y'll know.

Just to remind you that I'm single to this day. And for your information, you should say it depends on people's minds.

Pft— That's really someone's single would say! Hehe, I've already dated someone, do you want some tips? If it was you, it definitely would work out! Because you're so pretty and fashionable!

No, I'm okay by myself. When the time comes, it comes. Just let things be.

What a party bummer! You should enjoy your life while you're still having time. Also, you know I can't always be with you, right?

Surely, I know that too well. But that doesn't mean I have to have a boyfriend or a date, it's really annoying to be honest.

Aw, I'm worried about you. Seriously, you should stop playing games and go outside more. You should have a walk instead of staying in your room to do your streams or writing and reading. You're young but you live just like some old people. I don't ask you to be a social butterfly or something, just... you shouldn't live like this, you always alone, and it really hurts me a lot. So, please, just a bit, try to open up, just a little bit, okay?

Sure, I'll try. Tomorrow. Party. 4.30pm, right?

Does that mean?
Yes, confirm it fast or else, I change my mind.

Yes yes!!! Tomorrow, please attend to the party at 4.30pm!!! Yes, please wear something cute and we're going to go to the party together. How about shopping today? For the party of course!

You're really highing up. Let's go shopping! Ah, but not for me, I already have a lot clothes.

Okayyy, don't worry, it's all on me!

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The next morning, you and the others gathered at a classroom according to Paca's words. You decided to sit somewhere near the window, but it's all occupied. Therefore, you had to sit on the left of Onigasaki's seat. He realized it fast and started to turn his head on your side and keep smiling brightly at you. You're not a religious person but right now, you prayed to God asking for something or someone disturb his grinning face. As if God heard your prayers, Paca immediately showed up with a black folder and a glasses on his eyes.

"Good morning , everyone! Today is the start of a new school term." Acting like a homeroom teacher, Paca pushed his glasses and greet everyone while they were just sitting there and throwing glares at him.

'The atmosphere is so tense enough to use a knife to cut through'

Even Paca started to realize this atmosphere, he stated:
"What a foul atmosphere we have." Then, he just ignored it and went to open the window, letting the wind crawling to the class. Outside, the panda kept its walking. You slowly let your mind drifted out to outside, maintaining your staring at the forest, ignore all Paca's words.

"(L/N)-sama, if you wanted to go outside, please wait for everyone, include you's introductions all done. Therefore, please stop looking outside and started to pay your attention to this class." Paca said. Because he went all his ways just to ask for your attention, you should at least show a little interest for him.

'How tiring' You turned your head to the front of you and yawned a bit. This is torturing. However, if you knew more people, things would turn out to be good. Therefore, you just sat there and listened to everyone's introductions carefully.

"Let's start with the you there by the window. Please state your name and your genre specialty. Please speak in a nice, energetic voice now."

The first one would have to introduce is Iride. He quickly stood up and happily introduced himself as Paca's requested.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Iride Akatsuki! I love nature and traveling, ah... And the pads of animal's paws!!! My specialty is escape games!"
Right there when he's done with his self introduction, Sayashiki shoved her hand at him strongly, which made Iride coughed a lot. She angrily shouted:
"Why are you in such high spirits!?"
"S... Sensei said to do it energetically."
"Have you had no sense of danger?! We've just been kidnapped by this guy!" She continued her lecture, but she's suddenly paused a bit and looked over to the table with a flower vase on it.
"Not to mention taking to such a creepy place." Following her eyes went, you lazily glanced at the flower vase a bit. Unbeknownst to everyone, your face soon had a bitter smile on it, even your eyes looked empty and hollow when you saw the vase on the table. Turning your head away from an unsightly scene, you continued burying your face in your elbow on the table.

Continuing listen to Paca's talks, he just looked over to the one did his introduction before.
"Surprisingly, Iride-sama cleared the 1st stage in an instant with the top number of viewers. Also, (L/N)-sama's calmness and your nonchalant behavior in 1st gained a lot viewers, too."

"My nonchalant behavior?"
"He refers to the moment when you had just dozed off and everyone was looking for a solution. I seriously doubt that would attract any viewers, but still." While you merely stared shocked by the news, Onigasaki carefully clarified for you while maintaining his grin. Your face registered recognition after hearing his justification. But when you realized that everyone's attention was focused on you and only you, you turned right away to your table. They simply turned their heads in the direction of Paca and waited for a new introduction, as if they realized you didn't want too much attention.

The next one is Himiko, the petite girl you got to know last night. She shyly stood up and introduced herself in her sweet and soft spoken voice:
"I... I'm Inaba Himiko . My favorite games are nurturing simulations."
While she was busying with her introduction, your eyes went to her flash grenade around her belt. Curiosity glowed in your eyes. The corner of your mouth unconsciously lifted up, which made Onigasaki's surprised for a while. He looked at you with confusion as he raised his brows a little and blinked. You hadn't smiled in a while, but now your face was beaming and there was a look of excitement on it, similar to when a child had just seen their favorite toys. And, to be honest, your beaming face seems to be very lovely. When Onigasaki realized what he had been thinking, his eyes widened slightly and a flush crept up his face. Onigasaki flashed his eyes to the flower vase while partially covering his face and attempting to calm himself down. He needed a distraction from the things he was seeing in you.

"I like raising animals and working on farms... stuff like that..." While trying to avoid her eyes contact with anyone's, Himiko slowly sat down.

"Thank you, Inaba-sama." Paca clapped his hands a bit and started bowing his head before the shy girl. He expressed:
"The truth is, I listen to your soft-spoken livestreams with a special enthusiasm. As a fan, it is the highest privilege to be able to hear your voice in the flesh like this..." Pausing a bit, Paca continued.
"Surely you could whisper it to me at least one time, right?" "Eh?"
"Say 'I love... Mr.Paca in... into my ear." He lowered his mask face to Himiko's level and began his weird stuff. You about to stand up to help the poor girl, but someone's already faster than you.
A loud noise came up, a teenager boy grabbed Paca's neck harshly and slammed him to ground while was using a pipe, it made the wall crumbled a bit. Much to your surprise, Paca's already stopped the pipe by using his hand. He told the boy with a calm voice:
"It isn't your turn yet, Kudou-sama."
"Shut up!!! You perverted livestock! Self-introduction my *ss! Hurry up and let me the hell outta here!" His loathing for Paca was evident as he yelled angrily, his neck veins popping. You observed the battle that was taking place in front of you. When you realized the man in the vest could easily bend the pipe with his hands, your expression stiffened. You shouldn't underestimate him too much because of his occasionally silly behavior.

"Missy, sit down. You shouldn't jump into their problem at this time; instead, we should wait and see what he does. I expected you to maintain your composure in those circumstances, but you started to lose it. Just relax; I assure you that boy won't face any harm." Your body statement implies that you would be willing to go to there if necessary, but Onigasaki was unable to let this happen. He prevented you from becoming involved because he believed your observing side would be useful at around that time.
You hesitated a bit, but you still sat down obediently. Paca continued his warning why everyone should obey the rules and shouldn't use violent against him. Kudou just smirked and tried to provoke he more, keyword: tried.
"Bring it on, I'd like to see you try."
"Starting this evening, your meals... Please take caution now, okay?"
"I'll put a lot of bell peppers into them..." Paca threatened, but you wondered what on the world is that kind of threaten. As if you both shared the same thoughts, Kudou shouted:
"That's too lenient!!!"
As if screaming wasn't enough to convey his frustration, Kudou went to the extent of kick Paca while the latter was dodging it graciously. He mostly yells in response to assumptions that Paca is looking down on him. After being able to finally breathe a sigh of relief, you quickly raised your guard once more because shouldn't be too careless around that man's attitude.

"Ah yes, this is Kudou Anya-sama. He's a streamer whose specialty is fighting games much like this."
"Anbou, don't go that far. Even if you pick a fight with that alpaca-kun, it's not going anywhere. You already tried plenty of times yesterday, didn't you?" Roromori just had a cat-liked smile on her face while advising Kudou. Her words seem right to be honest, and it's really put a stop to Kudou's outburst. Maybe he wasn't happy with that fact, so he's still cursed angrily.
Now it's Roromori's turn to introduce. She sat up with an amused smile on her face. You stared at her for a while to study her posture a bit.

"I'm Roromori Yuzu. My specialty is speed running through puzzle and maze games. I like researching tropical plants in my free time."
After her calm introduction, Iride perked up at her name. He gazed at her with recognition dawned on his face.
"Could you by any chance be Yuzu-senpai from 'Rororo's speedrun livestream'?"
"That's right. And you are?" After hearing her confirmation, Iride left his seat and walked to Roromori's table, he excitingly introduced himself:
"I'm 'Akki' from the hay fever live!"
"Oh, you're Akki?!!" And their fateful reunion started to bloom. At their antics, you stifled a laugh. It's impossible to worry constantly, and Paca doesn't appear to have intended to hurt anyone. So you made the decision to allow yourself to smile and have fun a little.

After their meeting, Iride and Roromori intended to collaborate via livestream but Paca stopped them from doing so. Sarayashiki grew irritated at the childish behavior of those two and complained. You decided to focus on the attractive woman with the pink hair because you were intrigued by her specialty. Recall that at the previous stage, you guessed that she might be engaging in kira kira games designed specifically for female players.

"I'm Sarayashiki Karin. I do livestreams focused on horror games. you got any problems with that?"

"Fufu, Sarayashiki-sama is so cool, hm~? As expected of this year number one female streamer people would want to be stepped on. The discrepancy of your livestream is also—"

"Shut your mouth or I'll make you into a leather jacket." You sweatdropped by her glaring face and her threat. It's no joke that she would make Paca into an alpaca jacket somehow. Even the man also got scared of her threatening face and couldn't help but shut up and ask for the others's introduction.
"We'll go to the back next."
"I'm Oshigiri Zakuro. I mostly do stealth style games. Now, let's hurry up and be done with this charade." The next one is skinny boy who was wearing a black mask on his face. He started asking a lot of questions, which managed to draw you in. You hummed to reveal that you were interested in his questions.

'He might or might not have a preparation.'

Instead of answering any questions, Paca just fwehed to make fun of the boy's seriousness. You suddenly felt quite sorry for him.

'After this boy, is—' Glancing hestiantly at the man right beside you. He just lifted his eyebrows at your expession gave to him. Then, he questioned Paca about the flower vase beside him.

"I've been wondering 'bout it for a little while, but what's up with this thing?" Pointed his thumb at the table on his left side. Onigasaki just hummed a bit and a thoughtful looks crossed across his face while he was hearing Paca's answer.

"That is an important object for the 2nd stage. You'll understand soon when the time comes."
"Hmm, whatever..."
Throwing a confused face at his mumbles, now it's your turn to lift your eyebrows questionably at him. He just smirked a bit at your expression and started his introduction calmly:
"I'm Onigasaki Kaikoku. I mainly do sengoku period and Japanese-style games. Nice to meet you."
"Thank you. Incidentally, Onigasaki-sama boasts the highest number of subjugations in the 1st stage." As Paca introduced more about Onigasaki, Iride and Sarayashiki looked over him, one was with awe transformed on his face, the others just gave a blank look at him.

"He'll be a very reassuring person to have around in subjugation stages."
"Oh, you think so? Thanks." The corner of his mouth turned up by Paca's compliment. As expected from a laid-back person, Onigasaki didn't show a care to the world at the moment and just rest his hands behind his head with ease.

"Then, the next one, please."
And now, it's your turn. The attention only made you smile a little too awkwardly. As an attemption to calm yourself down, you touched one of your earlobes as you gave your introduction.

"Please address me by my first name, even you, Paca-san. I'm (L/N) (Y/N). Thank you. My favorite game genres are rhythm and role-playing. Sometimes, I also do some streams about horror rpg games too. And that's all about me, thank you for litsening." You quickly sat down after bowing respectfully.

"As would be expected from the so-called cool and calming streamer we have here, (Y/N)-sama also attracted a sizable audience in the first stage. moreover,  because of her gentle voice and calmness, she still draws a lot of viewers even though she only streams a couple of days a week."

"Ah, is that so—? Thank you." The flowery compliments he gave you caused you to scratch your cheeks a little. You didn't have any spare time to do your streams much, but this news is really foreign to you. You let out a sigh and made the decision to take off the shoes that were on your feet because you never like wearing shoes.

"And now, the last one. Aikawa-sama." The attractive boy who was sitting beside the window gave Paca a fleeting glance before going back to sleep, which made him surprise. You were in awe when you saw him able to sleep so soundly. Even while he was sleeping, he sparkled.

"Missy, you shouldn't stare so long at someone's sleeping face. It's rude to stare, y'll know?" Onigasaki asked teasingly. You sighed tiredly at his teasing, then you smiled brightly at him:
"Are you jealous of him since I stared at him but not you?"
"Hm~ Never thought you would have this in you. A new side of the cool streamer, (Y/N) has been revealed! I'm so lucky to be the one make her shows this side of her~" Your sweet smile dropped instantly after hearing his words. Is he really into bullying you that much? Turning your head away from Kaikoku, you decided to focus on Paca with his box? It seems like while you and Kaikoku were talking, Paca was already done Makino's introduction.

"Anyway, with this everyone's finished their introductions. Next, we'll select the 2nd stage."
"Huh?! Hold on!!! You still haven't explained-"
A surprised gasp came out from Karin, she quickly protested. However, it went deaf ears, Paca didn't give a chance for her to ask more, he just continued ignoring her protest and kept talking about the new stage:
"The 2ns stage is called 'The ouja board exchange' and 5 streamers will participate. There are lots in here that I worked late into the night to make, those who draw the Paca-san loli—" "Don't screw with us! Who's gonna do something like that?" Anya shouted again, interrupting Paca's explaination.

"Oh? Do you wish to retire then? In that case, you will be disqualified and subjected to compulsory imprisonment in the 'White room' in the lowest floor of this Genome tower." His face got darkened as he spoke threateningly. Suddenly, a screen lit up and a room designed just like a prison room appeared. The next thing showed up is a boy cowering in the corner of four white walls.

"This is someone from the past who complained about it like you guys. He who abandoned the livestream was always waiting in this room for his comrades to clear their goal. Alas, he had no idea that they'd already failed to achieve the goal." As the story went by, a 'beep' came off, then, that poor boy's body gradually turned into a dry corpse, his skull head fell off and 'crack', just like that, his head crumbled to pieces. You only stared at the screen with your cold gaze while were listening to Paca's warning.
"So he was always waiting for them, who wouldn't come... forever, and ever."
"How sickening." You gazed worriedly at the pink-haired girl who was trying her best to cover her face and her ears just to block all the unsightly sound and picture. You just clicked your tongue at the horrified scene in front of you.
"Stay still." Passing by you swiftly, Kaikoku and the others boy quickly pinned Paca to the ground. Kaikoku gave the alpaca masked man a dirty look while he was stomping his umbrella at the mask's ears.
"Indeed. That was in pretty bad taste, wasn't it?"
"Showing us such a sickening thing! You murdering bast*ld!" Anya growled furiously at him. It hasn't been around 2 or 3 hours but he's already looked like want to beat the hell out of Paca.
"Is it possible that it was all fake?" Zakuro spoke. However...
"It depends. Because we haven't had enough information about this place. When, where, why and what in the world their doings meant. Therefore, it's hard to judge whether it was fake or real. But, I think we shouldn't underestimate that man so much, just be cautious around him." You loudly said, it's been a long time when you had to speak loudly like this. After seeing the fight between him and Anya before, you have already put your guard up around him. The way he explained everything with ease, the way he isn't scared or angry at anything happened to him. That only means he thought he has the upper hand, and he really has it.
Then, Paca slowly spoke again:
"I will take you there if you wish for. And it's no joking that the corpse you guys just saw is real. The corpse was removed from the room just a few days ago, but it hasn't cleaned up yet. That's why there are still plenty of 'traces' left behind."
All of you guys just stared at Paca lying on the ground while he was continuing his words. Each one of you people showing different expressions at the news.
"One piece of advice, you guys should quickly get it through your skulls about the situation you're in right now. Injury and death is only a matter of course. After all, this is a real livestream."

"Do you think there's such a thing as "retry" and "save" in the real word?"

The atmosphere turned gloomy in an instant. Hearing his words really made you remember about someone who used to say things like that.

Just a little remind, (Y/N). Unlike your games, the real world is much more cruel and hard to survive.

There's no 'retry' or 'save' like your virtual world.

That's why please don't do anything so recklessly like that!

After having lived alone up until this point, you now have to face the realization that reality is different from fiction. You've already lived a quiet life for some time and are accustomed to keeping your thoughts to yourself. However, someone who brings color to your life does let you know that your trip hasn't ended. That's why you made the decision to face reality today, and after slightly biting your bottom lip, you said:

"Paca-san? Can I be a candidate/ a participant for that?" Coincidentally, Akatsuki had the same idea as you and you had Akatsuki's thought. In an attempt to get Paca's attention, he unintentionally caught everyone else's as well.

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I don't like going out like this. It's tiring.

You shouldn't spend so much time in your flat! Are you really like to be a shut-in person?! I can't believe after seeing you all our depart years, you've already turned into a completely different person!

It's just... school is boring, everyone has their groups already. And things got tangled a lot. Nevermind, let's get going..

Hey!!! Hold up!! What are you doing?!

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