She only opened her eyes when steps walked up to the bathroomstall and someone knocked on the door.

Before someone could force the friends to open the door, the light went out in the room and the knocking stopped.

At the same time, all four wanted to use their phone as a light source, but suddenly they no longer worked.

"I don't hear anything," murmured Nami.

Arisu stepped past her and listened to the door.

"I'll go check it out," he said.

"All right. Be careful."

Arisu nodded and opened the cabin door carefully.

He stepped out and nobody else was in the Restroom.

Strange, Nami thought and was the first to follow Arisu.

Slowly crossing the Restroom, they went back to the entrance area of ​​the train station.

But there was no one there either.

"What the–", murmured Nami.

A few seconds ago, the room was still full of people.

Nami ran into the  Restroom for women.

"Hello? Is someone here?"

She did't get an answer and since the doors of all cabins were open, it was clear that nobody was here either.

So she left the restroom again.

Her friends looked at her questioningly, but she just shook her head.

Then her gace fell outside.

"What the–"

Nami and the others left the station and stepped back onto the street in front of the building, which, like the train station itself, was completely deserted.

It was as if from now on all people had disappeared.

When the group ran onto the street, on which you now searched in vain a moving car, Nami stepped on your newspaper, which was immediately blowen away by the wind as soon as she raised her food.

"Jesus."

~~~~

Out of breath, Nami arrived at the apartment door and opened the door with a shaky hand.

"I'm back," she called, pulling out the shoes.

She searched in the kitchen at first– her aunt always made lunch by this time of the day.

But the older woman was not at the stove as usual and cooked while the radio ran in the background.

Then she was surely in the living room, Nami thought and left the kitchen.

"Hey, I hope you haven't fell asleep while you–"

The living room was just as deserted as the kitchen. It was strange, but not as strange as the television switched off.

Next, Nami searched in the bathroom and in the other rooms in the apartment, but nobody was there.

The young woman left the apartment and knocked on her direct neighbors– without success.

And nobody seemed to be in the apartments over and below them, since nobody opened the door.

Where were all other people?

This question continuously echoed in her head when she let herself fall onto bed .

Immediately she felt something in her back and pulled out Takumi's small, blue stuffed bunny.

A tear ran down the young woman.

That was Takumi's favorite and now Nami knew her intuition was right. Because without this bunny, the ten-month-old boy never went anywhere.

~~~~

Nami was the first to be back at the train station.

She sat on the bench in front of the entrance and put her bag next to her.

The young woman sighed and waited for her friends.

The second was Arisu.

He stopped on the street when he saw Nami sitting alone on the bench.

"Oh, shit."

"Hey, Did you see anyone?", asked Karube and stopped next to Arisu.

"No, you?"

"No."

Chota also ran towards the others and stopped by his friends.

"See anybody?"

"There's no one anywhere," reported Chota.

"Guys, Nami is sitting there alone," Arisu said nodding towards their friend.

"Oh, no–"

"Shit. What are we gonna do now?"

"Do you guys think–"

"Stop," Karube interrupted his friend. "Don't even go there."

The three walked towards Nami.

"Hey, Nami," Karube spoke to the young woman and sat down on the bench next to her.

~~~~

A few hours passed and it was now dark.

The four friends still sat together on the bench and waited.

Waiting for the other people to come back or for something else to happen.

"Was there some kind of evacuation drill today?", Arisu wanted to know.

"Not that I know about."

"Some sort of event? A flash mob, maybe?"

"The scale of this is way too big for that," replied Karube.

"Guys," said Nami. "What if it's only the four of us left alive?"

Arisu, Karube and Chota looked at Nami for a moment.

"Why would you say that?",asked Chota.

Nami sighed, wrapped her arms around her legs and mumbled, "Forget it."

"Nami–"

Arisu noticed the little stuffed bunny, he gifted Takumi when he was born, in Nami's hand.

"Nami, I promise you, that we will find out what's going on, okay?"

The young woman nodded slightly, hoping he was right.

Arisu, Karube and Chota looked at each other and promised to find out what was going on so Nami could get back to her son.

At that moment, one of the giant advertising screens on one of the buildings came on.

At first it was completely white and after a moment letters appeared.

WELCOME, PLAYERS

THE GAME WILL COMMENCE IN A MOMENT

"Game?" Karube said what everyone was thinking.

The letters changed.

THIS WAY TO THE GAME ARENA

Below it was an arrow pointing to the right.

Nami followed their gaze and something glowed ominously red in the distance. 

"Over there."

“Lights?”

"That's a good sign, right?"

"Somebody has to be there," said Karube. "Let's go."

"OK."

Nami grabbed her bag and the four friends ran off.

~~~~

Nami and the others only stopped when the game arena was directly in front of them.

"That's probably it," commented the young woman. "After all, it's the only building with electricity."

She took a deep breath and walked towards the building. The others followed her.

Nami walked past the car that was parked right in front of the entrance.

She wasn't usually interested in cars, but she immediately recognized that it was a BMW 523.

Arisu's father drove one of these, even in the same color, and it happened one or two times that the group had "borrowed" the car.

They stopped and looked at the small screen above the door.

THE GAME ARENA IS UP AHEAD

Nami jumped slightly when an arrow suddenly flashed at the end of the hallway, showing them the way.

The arrow pointed to an elevator with a red door at the end of the further corridor.

They noticed the window with several cell phones on the sill and a small sign hanging.

The group was initially hesitant to enter the hallway, but since they didn't see anything out of the ordinary, Nami wanted to move on.

Arisu and Karube held the young woman back and entered the hallway with Chota before her.

The four friends slowly approached and Nami imagined she heard several beeps.

They stopped in front of the window and let the sign through.

1 BY PERSON

That was probably related to the  phones, thought Nami and took one of the phones.

FACE RECOGNITION IN PROGRESS

PLEASE WAIT FOR A MOMENT

"It's got face recognition."

"Do we use these phones?", asked Karube.

"There's no signal. And the outgoing call function is disabled."

"Please wait for the Game to start", a voice suddenly sounded. "Currently, there are four Participants. One minute remaining until registration close."

"What the hell is this?"

"A game."

Nami looked up and saw another woman standing in the hallway.

"Huh finally, a person."

"Hey. Uh, do you know where everyone went?" Karube wanted to know from her.

She walked to the group, and Nami heard this beep sound again.

Then she took Chota's work ID and threw it into the corridor, just so that a laser destroyed it.

"What the Hell what that?"

"A laser?"

"Cross the borderline, and you'll never return. You have no choice but to play the game," said the woman.

Nami crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised an eyebrow.

The other woman just ignored the question.

This or she didn't know where the others disappeared.

She also took a phone, while Arisu thought it was a good idea to walk back.

"Whoa!"

"Hey!"

Nami grabbed his shoulder and prevented Arisu from going on and thus also being hit by his laser.

"You heard what she said. Don't do it."

"Oh! I'm so relieved!"

A teenage girl was now in the hallway.

"Jeez, I thought there was no one else–"

The girl also walked up to the group.

The men tried to stop them, but she already crossed the barrier.

She looked at the adults confused until the other woman gave her one of the phones.

"My Condolences."

That their phones chimed melodical and Nami saw that the countdown expired on the screen.

"Registration is now closed. The game starts now."

"Game?", repeated the girl irritated.

"Game, 'Dead or Alive'. Difficulty, Three of Clubs."

"Three of clubs? What does that mean?"

"Can we please not repeat everything," said Nami slowly.

"Rule. Select the correct Door Within the Stulated Time Frame. Clear Condition. Leave the Building Within The Time Limit."

The elevator door opened and another piece of paper hung on the wall.

START

The other woman turned and stepped into the elevator.

"You'll also die if you just stand there."

The girl clutched her bag tighter and followed the older woman into the elevator.

"Well, then–", murmed Nami and also stepped into the elevator.

After Arisu, Karube and Chota also entered the elevator, the doors closed.

The elevator drove up and Nami's view fell on the nervous girl.

"Don't worry," said Nami to her. "I'm sure eyerything is going to be okay."

~~~~

The elevator stopped and the door opened.

A few seconds later their phones chimed again another timer started.

"The time limit for this Room is two minutes."

Nami followed the other in a small square room.

The room was empty, no windows, no nothing. Only two doors with two posters.

"What is this?"

An angel was on one poster and it was 'Alive' writtem on it. A skeleton was on the second and it was 'Dead' written on it.

And now the name of the game for Nami also made sense.

"Is this real a game?" Wiggled Chota and started to record a video. "I think this is real getting exciting. I'm sure this must be doors to art gallery."

"I want to go… Home," murmured the girl.

"It'll be fine. You're with us," Nami tried to calm the girl.

She put her Hand on the girl's shoulder .

"She's right. We'll play the game, get our prize, and go home. Okay?"

"Our Prize?"

"Yeah, I'm sure we're gonna get one."

"One minute remaining."

"Arisu. What door do you think it is?", Karube asked his friend.

Arisu just chuckled and stepped away from the door.

"I actually hoped that you had an answer, you know ", said Nami.

"Well, sorry to disappoint."

"Dead or Alive. Well, it can't be the skeleton, right?" Asked Chota.

"And if we choose the wrong door?" Arisu wanted to know from the other woman.

This time she did not answer the question either.

"The Answer is 'Alive'. Open the door that says 'Alive'," she said instead.

"How do you know?", asked Nami suspicious.

She had a pretty bad feeling with her.

"Because obviously, it's the 'Alive' door."

"Do you guys smell something?" Chota changed the topic.

And now that Chota said it, Nami also noticed a strange smell.

The young woman didn't know what it was, until she saw the smoke that got out of the ground.

"Oh, fuck", hissed Karube.

"Is it a fire?"

More and more smoke came into the room and the group started to cough.

"Thirty seconds remaining."

"The Answer is 'Alive'! Hurry and open the door!"

"Open it yourself!"

"What'll happen if our time's up?"

"We won't get more time. Hurry!"

"Why do you think it's the right one?"

"'Cause we shouldn't choose the 'Dead' door, Right?"

"Twenty seconds remaining."

"I can't take it, I can't Breathe!", the girl screamed and ran towards the 'Alive' door.

"No, wait," Nami tried to stop her.

However, the girl already opened the door.

She entered the room and a laser shot her straight through her head.

Nami gaspedwhen the girl fell to the ground and the door closed again on it's own.

"Is she dead?"

"That poor Girl", murmured Nami. "That can't–"

"Ten seconds remaining."

"Who would do something like this?"

The other woman went to the second door, opened it and entered the second room without any problems.

"Five, Four, Three, Two–"

"Nami!"

"– One."

"Move!"

Arisu took Nami's hand and pulled her into the second room.