"A Snowbound Manor..."
Hearing Chika's murmur, Natsuki thought for a moment and found it really did seem to fit.
An empty castle.
A raging blizzard.
Players trapped in the castle, cut off from all help... It was a perfect match—textbook standard.
The so-called "Snowbound Manor" was an extremely common subgenre in mystery novels. A group of unlucky souls, due to circumstances beyond their control or deliberate human interference, find themselves trapped in a sealed environment with no way to contact the outside world—and then a murder occurs.
For example, an isolated island with no means of transportation.
A villa whose roads have been washed out by a flash flood.
A hotel under quarantine lockdown where no one is permitted to leave.
To this day, Snowbound Manor mystery novels number beyond counting, and many of their classic cases captivate readers to no end. But actually becoming one of the poor souls trapped inside such a scenario was an entirely different matter—not fun in the slightest.
The other players quickly caught on to what Chika was saying.
"That's right. It really is a Snowbound Manor setup."
"Since when did this horror game turn into a mystery game?"
The atmosphere grew tense in an instant.
Several solo players who didn't know each other warily put distance between themselves and the rest.
Anyone who'd watched even a little bit of Detective Conan knew that in a Snowbound Manor case, someone was definitely going to die—and the killer was almost always someone within the group.
At a critical moment, Chika stepped forward.
"Everyone, please don't act like this. We should help each other and clear the game together." The pink-haired girl clasped her hands before her chest, her tone sincere. "The game is dangerous enough on its own. If we can't be open and honest with each other, if we can't trust one another, being alone will only make things more dangerous."
How blinding!
So this was humanity shining at its brightest!
Unfortunately, her words were ultimately meaningless. Knowing that a potential "werewolf" might be lurking among them, no one could truly afford to let their guard down—unless they could somehow prove their own identity.
"How about everyone displays their game panels at the same time? We can take a look at each other's main quests."
A stranger among the players suddenly proposed.
"That won't work." Natsuki shook his head. "I already tried. The display function on the game panel has been sealed—there's no way to show it to other people."
On the way to the castle, Natsuki had already attempted to view each other's main quests with Kaguya and Chika. It hadn't been possible.
The player who'd spoken furrowed their brow: "...So that means someone's main quest is actually different from everyone else's?"
"Um, I have an idea." Kotoriyū Rokka raised her hand. She pulled a small mirror from her pajama pocket and introduced it: "This is a magic mirror I opened from a loot box a few days ago. It can detect lies—super accurately!"
"Eh?!" Chika's eyes went wide in surprise. "Snow White's magic mirror?"
"It's clearly the Evil Queen's magic mirror. What does it have to do with Snow White?" Natsuki squinted. "And this magic mirror is way too small—is it for practicing spot-the-difference?"
Rokka's "magic mirror" was only about half the size of a palm. Anyone with a slightly larger face would struggle to even see themselves clearly in it.
"Take a look."
Kotoriyū Rokka displayed the mirror's attributes for everyone to see.
Natsuki looked over curiously and was surprised to find that Rokka wasn't exaggerating—it really was a magic mirror.
[Item: Magic Mirror]
[Origin: The Land of Truth]
[Attributes: When you look at yourself in the mirror, you will be unable to tell a lie]
[Note: This was a souvenir collected by a certain Grey Witch on her travels. She then sealed the magic of 'Honesty' onto the mirror. Every morning upon waking, she would ask the magic mirror: Who is the cutest person in the world?
The answer, of course, is me!]
Whether or not "cutest" is debatable, narcissism is certainly first place.
"I've already tried it myself. It really does prevent you from lying." Kotoriyū Rokka looked at the mirror, the ahoge atop her head swaying gently. "My favorite thing to eat is tomatoes..."
Under the watchful eyes of all the players, the girl's mouth suddenly puckered: "My lea-least favorite thing to eat is tomatoes!"
"You see? It's exactly like that." Kotoriyū Rokka raised her right hand to rest on her eye patch, her expression serious. "Tomatoes are super scary. All those seeds inside are eggs laid by demon beasts. Once you eat them, they hatch inside your stomach..."
When you don't like something, you can come up with ten thousand reasons—but yours are way too far-fetched!
"Rokka-chan, let me try!" Chika was eager to give it a go.
"Here you go."
Rokka handed over the magic mirror.
Chika took it, looked at her own reflection, blinked a couple of times, then quickly said: "Magic mirror, magic mirror, I hate eating ramen..."
Before she could finish, the words shifted: "I love eating ramen!"
"Of course! How could anyone hate something as delicious as ramen?" Chika's eyes sparkled. "Kaguya-chan, you try next."
Kaguya's dark brows drew together slightly as she looked at the mirror in her hands: "What am I supposed to say?"
A question suddenly surfaced in her mind, making her heart skip.
This magic mirror could help her see her true feelings when she was lost.
"I could never possibly like the boy beside me..."
Kaguya nearly spoke her innermost thought out loud.
No.
She had to hold back.
What if she said it and the mirror didn't deny it? Then what?
Wouldn't that essentially be confessing on the spot?
Surrendering and admitting defeat—absolutely not!
"Magic mirror, magic mirror, I like eating cilantro..."
"No—I don't like cilantro."
Natsuki looked at her in surprise: "You don't like cilantro? That's one of the best flavors out there."
"I can't find a single redeeming quality about it." Kaguya folded her right arm across her chest. "I simply can't get it down."
"What a shame. You're missing out on one of life's great pleasures."
"I don't feel the slightest regret."
"..."
"Here."
Kaguya handed the mirror over.
Natsuki took the small round mirror. No matter how he examined it, it looked like an ordinary mirror—nothing special whatsoever. He quickly said:
"I hate eating cilantro... I love it so much!"
Kaguya: "..."
For the sake of fairness, the other players came forward one by one to verify the magic mirror's truth-telling effect.
"I like math class... I hate it so much."
"I believe the national soccer team can win... deep down, I really don't."
"I hate Tifa... Tifa from the 3D versions is the greatest in the world!"
"I'm not a loli-con... I really am a loli-con!"
For some inexplicable reason, a number of strange answers had slipped into the mirror's responses.
"Everyone's seen the effect, right?" Chika said. "Everyone, look into the mirror and state your own quest out loud... I'll go first."
"Main quest: Survive. Sometimes the one who laughs last isn't the winner."
"There's also a strange countdown at the end. The time is four hours and twenty-three minutes—decreasing every second."
As Chika looked into the mirror and spoke the words aloud, the Honesty mirror showed no reaction whatsoever.
Next was Natsuki.
"Main quest: Survive... countdown is five hours and thirty-four minutes."
Once someone took the lead, the rest followed easily.
The other players stated their main quests one after another.
Kaguya: "Survive... countdown three hours and fifty-eight minutes."
Kotoriyū Rokka: "Survive... countdown three hours and twenty minutes."
Yukino Yukinoshita: "Survive... countdown three hours and forty minutes."
A moment later.
Every single player had stated their quest.
The content was identical across the board—survive.
The only difference was that each person's countdown was not the same.