Ken drove the bike with his grip locked tight around the handle. In that moment… a spark struck through his head.
"…Akio."
Ken's gaze froze, and the realization hit him all at once. He remembered the two doors. He remembered yelling at Akio to go alone. He remembered never looking back even once.
"Damn it… that idiot… I let him go by himself."
Mabushi noticed the tension returning to Ken… and the sweat dripping down his temple despite the cold air. He lifted his head weakly from inside the box and asked in a hoarse voice:
"What now? Why… do you look worse than you did five minutes ago…?"
Ken didn't answer right away. He thought for a moment… a long one. A moment that hollowed his chest.
Then he spoke while staring straight ahead:
"That idiot Akio… walked into the third room alone."
Mabushi raised a brow:
"And… what about it?"
Ken glanced back with half a look, his tone flat but filled with clear frustration:
"Mabushi… that idiot can't clear a test that relies on intelligence and puzzles on his own."
Mabushi stared for two seconds… then said:
"Hah?"
Ken returned his eyes to the road and continued:
"If it were a combat trial… instinctive… something based on strength or reaction… he'd survive easily. But an intelligence test? Or a puzzle? Or anything that needs focus? That's the worst scenario possible for him."
A second passed… then Mabushi's expression exploded in terror and shock at the same time:
"Oooh no… no no no no… you're kidding, right?! A puuuzzle trial?! For that idiot?!"
Ken exhaled sharply from his nose:
"Exactly."
Mabushi raised a shaky hand to his head:
"Maaan… we're dead. Finished. We lost before reaching the gate!"
Ken didn't respond. He only tightened his grip on the handlebars. Mabushi continued, imagining every terrifying scenario:
"Akio right now… right this second… is probably standing in front of the puzzle scratching his head… then screaming at the wall: What is this nonsense?! You expect me to solve this?!"
Ken frowned… because he knew that was exactly what would happen.
Mabushi went on, half hysterical:
"Or… or he'll think the puzzle is a trap… and try to hit it! Then he'll break something… then everything explodes!"
Ken muttered with a cold exhale:
"That's a valid possibility."
Mabushi let out a short, exhausted laugh filled with despair:
"Our entire fate is literally… in the hands of someone who needs three minutes to realize gas is poisonous."
Ken said quietly:
"The problem isn't just that he's slow… he thinks in the exact opposite direction of what he should."
Mabushi covered his face with his hand and yelled:
"Damn it!! Why didn't you throw me at the door instead?! At least… I could scream at them until they understand that I don't understand!"
Ken replied without looking at him:
"You were dying. I was considering going with Akio… and throwing you through the other door, but if I did that you would've died."
For a moment, they both imagined it… Akio standing in a complex room… trying to open the door the wrong way… then shouting at the wall:
"Hellooo?! Anyone here?! I'm lost!! What do I do?!"
Mabushi placed his hand on his head:
"We're done… so done… more doomed than with the beast or the poisonous gas."
A few minutes earlier… when Ken rushed with Mabushi into the dolphin room… Akio's steps trembled slightly as he crossed the whale door alone.
The moment the door closed behind him, a weight settled on his chest. The last image burned into his mind was Mabushi collapsing… and Ken yelling at him to move.
Akio whispered to himself:
'Will Mabushi be okay…?'
He wiped his sweat with his palm, but his worry for Mabushi didn't fade.
Suddenly, the mechanical voice echoed in the new room:
"Welcome, contestant Akio… you have entered your solo trial."
Akio jumped half a step back:
"Whaat?! Solo?! By myself?!"
The voice continued:
"Your test relies on your mental ability… analytical intelligence… and quick reasoning."
Akio blinked… then blinked again… then said in a tiny voice:
"M-my… what intelligence?"
The voice went on:
"You must solve a sequence of linked puzzles to unlock the door. Failure to solve any puzzle will result in a reset… or termination depending on the stage."
Akio's mouth dropped open:
"Puuuuzzles?! Me?! ME?! In a puzzle test?!"
He pointed at himself and yelled:
"Did the system pick the wrong room?! Is this really mine?!"
The system didn't answer. A large glowing screen appeared… then stones in the wall shifted upward to form a massive panel of intertwined symbols.
"Third Trial: Code Breaking."
Akio shouted with a ridiculous expression:
"C-code?! What kind of nonsense is this?!"
[Time remaining: 120 seconds]
Akio yelled:
"What?! Time already started?! How do I break a code when I don't even know what the code is?!"
He froze in front of the cipher panel, eyes bouncing between symbols. He raised one eyebrow… lowered the other… tilted his head right… then left…
"I… don't understand a single thing."
He leaned closer, staring at the symbols for a long moment…
"Alright… since I don't understand anything… then the solution is… to not think like the people who understand something."
He crossed his arms and thought:
'If I were a code… how would I let a dumb person solve me?'
He raised his finger suddenly:
"Yes! That makes perfect sense!"
But logic didn't give him much time.
BOOOOM!
A metal arrow shot from the left wall straight toward his head.
Akio screamed:
"Waaah!!"
He drew his sword in a flash and sliced the arrow in half without thinking. Before he could breathe, a spiked ball dropped from the ceiling and rolled toward him fast.
Akio leapt back:
"Are you people insane?! I'm trying to solve a code here!!"
He hit the ball with his second sword, sending it bouncing away. He turned back to the wall… his mind still a complete blank.
'If Ken were here… he'd solve this in ten seconds… If Ann were here… she'd say this is easy! Then start hopping on the stones… If Mabushi were here… he'd scream at me and call me an idiot.'
Akio lifted his head and said stubbornly:
"I won't let this room call me stupid!"
But the hall didn't care about his feelings at all. The ground shook… and sharp metal spikes shot up beneath his feet, rising and dropping rapidly.
Akio jumped with both legs in the air:
"Heeeey!! No!! Not the feet!! I hate this kind of trap!!"
He landed on a small platform, then quickly looked back at the cipher. He closed his eyes slightly… breathed deeply…
Then smacked his palm against his forehead:
"Aha! I got it!"
He stood with full confidence… despite not understanding anything at all.
But his method was clear:
'If you can't solve the puzzle the right way… solve it your own way.'
He raised both swords… then said with forced seriousness:
"Alright, wall… prepare for the smartest attack in history."
His eyes gleamed… as he actually attempted the first completely nonsensical method of solving a cipher using swords. Akio charged toward the metal door with full force, lifted his blades, and shouted:
"Open uuuup!!"
He struck the door with both swords in a double swing… and the blades bounced back hard.
Akio froze for a moment, then said:
"Alright… the door is strong."
But his stubbornness ignited instantly.
"You won't laugh at me, you cursed door!!"
He ran again, jumped into the air, and swung with all his strength:
"Come oooon!! Open!! Aaaaaaah!!"
This time the sound was louder… and the result was worse. One of the swords cracked… then snapped! The blade flew off like a piece of scrap metal.
Everything froze. Akio stood still, staring at the empty handle in his grip… his eyes were widening… lips trembling…
Then he shouted in a broken voice:
"M—MY SWORD!!"
He fell to his knees. He lifted the broken handle toward the ceiling like he was mourning a fallen warrior.
"Nooooo!! Why him?! Why that sword?! It was my favorite!!"
His voice shook, tears flowing in a completely ridiculous way, even his nose began making sniffling sounds.
"I… I loved it… oh God… oh God whyyyy?!"
He shook the empty handle left and right as if saying his final goodbye. Even the traps paused for two whole seconds, as though the room itself was stunned by the scene.
Then Akio burst into crying again, but in a totally comedic way:
"I want my swooooord!! Why didn't the door break?! Why me?! If Ken saw this… he'd say: I told you you're an idiot."
He wiped his tears with his sleeve, still sniffling:
"Aaah… I've lost… everything…"
He stayed sitting on the floor… mourning his sword as if he had lost a real friend.
A full minute passed since the test started… Akio was still kneeling, clutching the broken sword handle, eyes red from crying.
Even the system had to remind him:
[Time remaining: 60 seconds]
Akio slowly lifted his head… as if his brain suddenly rebooted.
"Sixty seconds?"
He stopped crying immediately. Blinked. Then blinked again.
Then said quietly:
"I'm going to die."
He shot up with incredible speed, leapt across half the room, dodged an arrow that dropped from the ceiling, then twisted his body to avoid a falling stone from the wall. He stopped before the cipher panel… stared at it in silence…
Then said something strange:
"Alright… the system wants me to solve the cipher… and I won't."
He stepped closer, extended his finger, and tapped a random symbol.
[Error.]
"Good. Perfect."
He pressed another.
[Error.]
"Nice. Keep going."
He began tapping random symbols like he was playing a children's game, while the traps rained down around him. But his actions weren't random at all. Akio was watching something… every time he pressed a certain symbol, one of the mechanisms behind the wall moved ever so slightly. A faint sound only someone with sharp hearing could catch.
He whispered:
"Aha… you're not a puzzle… you're a hidden lock."
He turned his empty sword handle in his hand… tracing the stones around the panel. He noticed tiny scratches… small circular carvings…
Then he smiled in a suspicious way:
"Found you."
He kicked the wall below the panel, smashing the stone and revealing a small mechanical box hiding a metal lever.
"A lever?"
He grabbed it tightly and pulled it down. The entire room shook. Stone tiles in the walls shifted over one another.
The system shouted:
[Warning: Activating the lever alters the entire room structure!]
But Akio heard nothing. He kept pulling the lever again and again, like he'd discovered a new toy:
"Perfect! Perfect! Perfect!"
Each pull collapsed another chunk of ceiling. Huge stones fell, beams crushed trap platforms, and the walls broke apart in violent mechanical patterns.
[Warning: This is NOT part of the intended solution!]
"I don't caaare!!"
He yanked the lever with everything he had left. A huge piece of the front wall collapsed… then the ceiling above the door broke… then the metal door shook violently as its hinges twisted.
Akio grabbed the lever, raised his foot, and pushed with his entire body. The door snapped out of its frame completely and crashed to the floor like scrap.
Akio stood for two seconds… stunned. Then raised his fist to the sky and yelled:
"YEEEEES!! I'M A GENIUS!! A GENIUS!! Who needs to solve puzzles when you can destroy the whole room?!"
The system spoke… for the first time… with a broken voice:
[… No… comment.]
Akio released the lever, wiped the sweat from his forehead, then jumped over the ruined door's remains proudly:
"Tell Mabushi and Ken… that Akio passed the test with his new brilliance!"
He dashed into the final room through clouds of dust… while behind him, the chamber remained nothing but complete, unrecoverable destruction.