I faltered.

"What's this?"

is it bugging out again?

"Is my phone
bugging out again?"

The yellow closed,
and a pixel map began to
draw itself on the screen.

A straight hallway,
with several rooms on each side--

Eerily,
it kinda resembles the hallway
I'm standing in.

I don't remember being
on a map like this,
and I blurted out,
"wasn't I on the Rabbi's Hill?"

There was a blue dot
at one end of the map--

it displayed my avatar,
so that was me.

Scrolling upward,
looking for signs of other players--

And there one was--
a red dot,
the EXTERMINATOR.

╔═══════════════╗

『RULEKEEPER』
your turn!

Use「 Scythe of the Grim Reaper 」?

YES ⋆              NO

╚═══════════════╝

Huh?

doesn't the item name
sound a bit different
from last time?

The crowd was eating me in,

scrounging through
the hallways and headed
toward the cafeteria.

The noise entered my head,
overwhelming my brain
in cacophony.

"Man, math is hard!"

"Gosh, I hate that teacher."

"I give up."

"Hurry up, it's gonna be sold out!"

"Meeting, meeting!"

"Wait, this isn't the way to the lab!"

Cutting through tightly,
I leaned against the wall,

and found solace beside
the vending machine.

Checking my phone again--

somehow, my blue dot
had moved to the right
of the screen,

and had stopped by the wall.

The red dot was coming closer,
closer,

closer--

"Wait," it hit me, 
"maybe... the GPS
on my phone?

Could it be that

this Second Sonata
followed the location
of the players themselves?

That meant that this
EXTERMINATOR person
was another player
in school!

Somehow, I felt
happy to know I 
had a comrade.

Looking around, frantic--

maybe I can find them
if I scouted for anyone
looking at their phones.

But most people were 
using their phones anyway,

so it wasn't efficient.

If only there was an easier way
of finding out...

╔═══════════════╗

『EXTERMINATOR』

sends you a private message!

Read it?

YES ⋆               NO

╚═══════════════╝

I hadn't had the chance
to use any attacks yet.

People usually didn't start
talking after a PvP began.

They talked when it was
well into the battle,
and usually, 
when it was their turn
so they had more time
to type.

Out of curiosity,

I decided to read it.

╔═══════════════╗

fr:『EXTERMINATOR』
to:『RULEKEEPER』

Call off the PvP now.

╚═══════════════╝

"What?"
stricken with disbelief,
"No way."

"It'll cost me
money and Exp,"
I typed back in reply,
"why don't you
surrender instead?"

╔═══════════════╗

fr:『EXTERMINATOR』
to:『RULEKEEPER』

The surrender function
isn't working.
Call it off.

╚═══════════════╝

"What sort of,"
gritting my teeth,

"bullshit is that?"

"Is this guy lying
to troll players?"

╔═══════════════╗

fr:『EXTERMINATOR』
to:『RULEKEEPER』

You don't know
what's going on.
Just do it.

╚═══════════════╝

That made me falter.

Sometimes, I wished
I could hear the tone,
see the face of the person
behind these messages--

But that's impossible.

"What is
going on?"

I messaged, hesitating.

╔═══════════════╗

fr:『EXTERMINATOR』
to:『RULEKEEPER』

Call off the PvP.

╚═══════════════╝

A shiver
ran down my spine.

"Is this guy an emotional
harasser? A cyber bully?"

those were possible scenarios.

But somehow, now,

I just wanted to do
exactly what he said.

╔═══════════════╗

Surrender?

YES ⋆             NO

╚═══════════════╝