The rumble shattered the silence—a sudden explosion of synchronized applause that echoed throughout the room. The cheers of the audience rang out, unnervingly close yet with no discernible visual source.
Beneath the cacophony, however, Midnight noticed something off—the intonation was flat, mechanical, more like a cheap speaker effect playing on loop.
At the center of the room sat the source of the sound: a brown teddy bear, its fur so lifelike that Midnight could almost feel its softness. Around its neck hung a tiny microphone, fastened to a thin silver chain. The voice that came through the nearby speaker was shrill—eerily familiar, like those disguised voices used on reality TV shows.
"Good! Good! Very good! Keep up the fun and energy, or you're fired!"
The teddy bear bellowed, its round black eyes unmoving, its paw tightly gripping the microphone. Its fingers—
Wait a second, Midnight thought, his brow furrowed.
Weren't its hands just rounded bear paws? There weren't any fingers at all before.
He was certain of what he'd seen before the fake applause flooded the air.
"Oh? Someone seems surprised over there?"
The high-pitched voice pierced directly into his mind.
"Come on, come closer if you want to see my cute and lovely little fingers!"
Damn it!
Midnight's heart pounded erratically. A chill crept down his spine.
How could this fuzzy creature slip into the most private corners of my mind?
"Just kidding."
The voice continued, softening slightly, though still laced with an undeniable authority.
"Come here, let me explain everything..."
The teddy bear slowly stood up—an unnatural, unsettling movement. Its body expanded, stretching to the height of an adult human. But the transformation was far from smooth; colorful pixels flickered across its fur, remnants of a visual glitch that distorted the scene.
"Hello everyone!" the voice now carried a deeper, more human-like tone, though it still felt artificially tuned.
"To introduce myself, I am Aku no Kuma—but you can call me 'Akuma'!"
Aku... Kuma.
A flicker of surprise and amusement crossed Midnight's face. What an absurd name—clever wordplay that was oddly jarring in the middle of such an unpredictable moment.
"I'm the mascot for this game! So, once again... welcome to the D-DRIVE GAME TRIAL! This sounds fun, right? Let's hear a big round of applause!"
An awkward silence blanketed the room.
The participants exchanged confused glances, uncertainty plain on their faces.
The mystery of the suddenly appearing fingers remained unresolved, and clearly, no one was eager to clap upon such a forced request.
"Come on, players, applause! Why are you just standing there?! I said, CLAP YOUR HANDS!"
Akuma's voice rose sharply, the threat beneath it no longer subtle.
Wait... what the hell is going on?!
For the first time, a wave of deep disbelief crashed over Midnight.
Without realizing it, his hands lifted on their own, clapping loudly and rhythmically as the room filled with an overwhelming thunder of applause. He turned to look around and saw the same thing happening to the others.
On their strained faces, Midnight read a range of conflicting emotions.
Some grimaced in pain, their facial muscles tight. Others hung their heads, despair emanating from their very posture.
A few wore forced smiles—smiles that never reached their eyes. And amidst them were those with the same shocked expression that mirrored his own.
So many emotions tangled in one space, but one thing was clear: their faces were flushed red, as if fire was burning beneath their skin.
I never thought something meant to be joyful could become this cruel and horrifying when it's forced, he thought, a wave of nausea churning in his gut.
"Wow, you're all shocked, huh? No need to be surprised—we're here to have fun! That's why you must give me an even bigger round of applause to liven things up!"
Akuma's voice was chipper, yet to Midnight's ears, it sounded utterly off-key.
What a horrifying form of egotism, Midnight thought.
He had never imagined facing such a manifest expression of psychological disorder. Akuma was a perfect embodiment of a narcissist starved for validation—so much so that he would force others to give it.
The moment the words Ego & ID were mentioned, his thoughts flew straight to Sigmund Freud, the controversial scientist known for projecting his own subjectivity onto his patients.
And this creature before him—a shape-shifting, mind-reading teddy bear—was the living manifestation of that concept.
"Alright then! You're curious, aren't you? You've all got questions, right? Let's start answering them, one-by-one!"
Akuma exclaimed, his eyes sweeping across the room with a mysterious smile.
Wait a minute… no way… that's—
Suddenly, without warning or explanation, a massive screen rose from the floor, casting a cold glow across the dimly lit space. On the screen were ten questions...
And all of them looked eerily like thoughts that had remained hidden in the minds of Midnight and the others—questions they had never dared to speak aloud.
[1. Are you a girl or a boy?]
[2. How can your body shapeshift?]
[3. What kind of games will we play?]
[4. Why is the room darker than before?]
[5. How did I end up here?]
[6. Am I really inside a game right now?]
[7. Will we be allowed to leave?]
[8. Will we die if we fail the trial?]
[9. Who's in charge of this game?]
[10. What happens to the ones who lose.?]
A suffocating silence hung over them.
Akuma chuckled. His mouth curved upward, but his smile didn't match his eyes—it was all too rehearsed, all too hollow.
"Good! Very good! You've asked some excellent questions!"
They said, clapping with unnatural precision.
"But unfortunately… only one of these can be answered per round. So choose wisely, dear players. And well, you probably want to ask me about something."
"What is it? This game? It's not even started yet. This is just a warm-up."
"Okay-okay, without further ado... let's do this."
Exclaimed Akuma, breaking the silence thick with shock.
"So, as a warm-up, you're all probably wondering—what's this massive screen for? Right? Right? Come on, just admit it..." His gaze radiated triumph, as if he knew exactly what was running through everyone's minds.
"Alright! Without further ado, let me explain how it works!"