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My name is Zero. The nine of you have been selected to play a game. The Nonary Game. Your goal is to seek a door that carries a 9. Will you be able to reach it in time? Can you navigate yourself through the Museum of an Alternate Past?

Champ

Gemini

Mitsuha

Cardinal

Ayame

Seraph

Rainbow

???

Pluto

I will be contacting everyone on Discord momentarily. I will also be asking everyone to finalize their characters’ aliases.

Truth be told, Ichigo felt very confused by what was going on.

They knew that sneaking into an apparently haunted and abandoned building was a bad idea, but they couldn’t just leave their fellow classmates alone. Thus, they’ve tagged along and now, they were inside the building, but… several things just didn’t match up.

First of all, there were actually occupants, despite the fact that the entire Vanderboom family had died several years ago. However, it was weird how the estate itself was in such a sorry state… or at least parts of it.

The next thing that was strange was outside - when Ichigo had looked out of a window, they’ve seen that their surroundings had changed. Ichigo might not be the brightest person to wander these realms, but they were pretty damn sure that there wasn’t an forest when they’ve come here.

The last thing - and probably the most unsettling one -, was the forbidding words of the maid Miyuki. What bodies were supposed to drop? That felt… very ominous. The harmonicist decided that they should be very cautious when exploring this place.

… Actually no, there was something else that had surprised them.

Why was a sparrow on their kasa?

Although it felt vaguely familiar, Ichigo doubted that it could’ve come from where they lived - however, the little feathery being felt comfortable enough to hang around them.

Well, in the end, they didn’t mind, so they let the bird do as it pleased.

…

A few hours later, Ichigo was sitting underneath the big tree outside, seemingly just relaxing as they let the bird - whom they just called simply ‘Sparrow’ - eat the seeds and grains from the bowl they were carrying.

Although there was an owlery present, there was nothing better than nature itself… even though it was rather misty. Still, they prefered to spend their time outside and no mist would move them away anytime soon.

As they were so quiet themselves, they picked up the sounds of footsteps fairly quickly and turned their head to the source of the noises. Patiently, they waited for who or what was coming - and thankfully, it was just one of their classmates. It would’ve been bad if it was some of those… questionable tenants that supposedly roamed around the area.

They bowed slightly, but remained seated.

“… G’day. Name’s Sanada Ichigo. ‘N ya?”

… How very much talkative.

Ukukuku… It seems as if we have quite the group of visitors here, Edward! What a rare commodity. As a member of the Vanderboom clan, I will be sure to serve you all with the hospitality only those from Rusty Lake can provide!

Yuki Akiyama, Psychologist

Leong Bae, Korean Drama Actor

Nina Brunelle, Plus Sized Model

Margaux Delacroix, Molecular Biologist

Chika Frietas, Street Performer

Ashley Graves, FX Makeup Artist

Etsuko Hatsu, Fashion Designer

Rumi Komaeda, Shoujo Mangaka

Arlechenno di Mercurio, Stage Magician

Zenjirou Okasan, Clockworker

Yori Omori, Geneticist

Orfila, Toxicologist

Ichigo Sanada, Harmonicist

Shino Shiraishi, Voice Actor

₊*ˈ˚·Aiko☆Starlight·˚ˈ*₊, Magical Girl

Yurei Yuasa, Calligrapher

In hindsight, Hibiki probably should’ve expected something to go wrong. 

With someone like Monoshi running a game about murder for kicks, he should’ve… more or less expected the punishment to be something less pleasant than incarceration. Maybe a full blown execution wasn’t exactly what Hibiki had in mind, either, sure, but some physical punishment…

But that didn’t matter. The execution was there, it was real, it was happening right before his eyes, and the fact that he’d more or less sent this poor kid to this – not that he knew, but even if he did, was there… any other way around it?

The dancer watched in silence, grimacing, his fists tightening and un-tightening and shaking all the while, and he found himself gripping his podium tightly, barely stopping himself from marching right up to Monoshi and decking him across the face for having the gall to…

But if he was going to attack that blonde girl just for talking sternly at him, then who knew what would happen if Hibiki actually attacked the mysterious new conductor.

So when he opened the door, Hibiki stormed out without another word, making his way towards his room… and throwing his fist towards the wall, once, twice… just twice. God damn it, no.

—

Thankfully, with the addition of some new rooms, one in particular catching his interest, the dancer would no longer have to go punching strictly at walls when his blood ran hot.

It was only natural that, after taking some time to cool off in his room - and of course, by cool off, I mean lay back in bed (despite it not being night anymore) and staring angrily at the ceiling, muttering curses under his breath. What a charming dude. - he’d find himself heading straight for the workout area in search of… something. He was a dancer, kind of an athlete, sort of. Of course he’d gravitate towards that area. 

They’ve heard of karaoke before, but never participated in such an event themself, so the room was rather lost on them. Ichigo was glad to see that they got an infirmary now - at least they wouldn’t have to worry to run out of bandages, because they haven’t brought that much with them. Their hands are definitely thankful for this.

The next cabin promised to be actually... interesting. Working out would be a good activity to pass by the time. It would also help them to grow stronger when they’re going back home - and they were pretty much set on that. They wouldn’t let themself get killed nor anyone else - the first pair to fall for this game would be the last, they swore.

However, they weren’t the first to arrive at the room, given how someone was already hitting one of the punching bags repeatedly. Was this training or... just frustration being set out? Ichigo wouldn’t know and they weren’t sure if they shouldn’t just leave for the moment, so they wouldn’t disturb his concentration. 

Sparrow, however, had different plans.

The bird chirped loudly, taking off from Ichigo’s kasa and flying around. Seemed like as if the little feathery animal wanted to spread its wings out a bit. Maybe it was inspired by their classmate? Who knew.

“... Ah, sorry if Sparrow pull’d ‘y outta yer focus.”

For some reason, they felt responsible for the bird’s action that they clearly couldn’t control... after all, it was a wild animal that just seemed to take a liking to Ichigo. Or more like their kasa, really.

“Uh, y’ name was... Kasuga-san, aight? Are y’ here t’ train?”

“Pleasure to meet you as well, Sparrow-chan…!”

He felt like it would be a little too odd to give the bird a shortened nickname too. For a few moments he watched the little creature curiously, wondering why it perched on Ichigo all the time. He wasn’t aware that birds ever formed a connection with a human.

The boy was brought out of that chain of thought when the item the other student had received was held out to him. As soon as he laid eyes on it he jumped, as if shocked with electricity, and stared at it with a mixture of horror and surprise.

How had whoever was doing this found this photo? Even Kiyoshi couldn’t remember where he had last put this. He thought it had gone missing.

“That’s…”

He swallowed painfully, trying to keep tears from coming.

“That’s my family. My mother, father, and my two sisters, Nanako and Namie. Before the, uh…”

And it seemed like as if it did.

Ichigo raised their eyebrows slightly when the blonde jumped in surprise, his eyes fixated on the picture in their hand. When they saw tears slowly forming in his eyes, her eyebrows curled up in worry. Was this... not good?

Luckily, they received an answer a second later. So this was a picture of their family, huh? The harmonicist took another glance at the picture themself. They looked all so tired, but... they certainly looked happy.

Ichigo kept their silence at first, waiting for a moment for him to continue - but it seemed like as if he chose to remain silent on whatever he was about to say.

The kasa wearing student decided to stretch their arm out, offering the picture to him.

“Take it. ‘S important t’ y’, ain’t it?”

“... Families are t’ be treasured, after all.”

It was a rather strange sight, though, to see one of his classmates squatting in front of the Monomachine, staring into the chute. What were they doing…? He recognised the person as Ichigo, who had seemed like a rather pleasant fellow, though Kiyoshi had a little trouble understanding their accent…

Upon being addressed the strawberry-blond boy straightened up like a pole and raised his eyebrows, alert and ready to help.

“Hello! Oh? Um…”

He turned to examine the machine as well. To be honest he hadn’t used it himself, but from a glance he could estimate what was meant to be done with it.

“Well, you see, there’s a slot here to put coins in. And then things come out of that hole you’re looking into. Whether they’re useful things or not I don’t know, but…!”

Kiyoshi’s voice was so smooth and sweet it was reminiscent of an air hostess calming the passengers and providing safety information before liftoff.

As they listened to the blonde’s explanation - what a soothing voice they had! -, they looked at the monomachine shortly. They had seen the slot before, but weren’t smart enough to figure out that coins were supposed to go in there. What coins, though?

... Wait a minute, haven’t they found some when they solved that one puzzle?

Ichigo took out two coins from their pockets and glanced at them for a moment thoughtfully, before they returned their attention back to their fellow classmate.

“I see... Makes sense, yeah. Thanks fer th’ help.”

They bowed a bit to show their gratitude, then straightened themself out again while still kneeling. That procedure was repeated when introductions were made, though this time, it wasn’t out of gratitude, but out of politeness.

“... Sure go a’ead. I dun’ mind it.”

“Nice t’ meet y’ as well, Seki-san. Guess y’ already know m’ name, huh? ‘N Sparrow too.”

As if on cue, the bird chirped loudly and flapped a bit with its wings, before it went back to clean itself.

They decided to insert the coins into the slot that Kiyoshi mentioned and when they were in, Ichigo waited... and began to wonder if they need to do anything else.

The capsules came out and it surprised Ichigo, as evident by their flinching when the monomachine began to make noises. Confused that they got two capsules, they took one and inspected it. When they opened it, they were staring at a picture.

{#046} Pristine Photograph - Though this photograph looks old and the shine has somewhat faded, it isn’t crumpled or scuffed at all. In the picture are two little girls, a woman, and a man. You don’t recognise any of them, but they do remind you of someone. All of their faces look tired, yet they’re still smiling.

“... D’ y’ recognize anyone here, Seki-san?”

It’s been a day since the execution and truthfully speaking, Ichigo was a bit lost on what they were supposed to do now. They’ve explored the new areas already, so they knew they could at least keep themself fit. But otherwise… it was still as boring as before.

Well, boredom might not be the right word, given what had recently happened, but… they weren’t used to not work on the farm for so long. Their body was already itching to do some hard work, anything productive at all.

It was at that time when they remembered something about the trial that had left them confused - the monomachine. People had talked about it, but they were still not sure what it was supposed to be. Thus, they figured they might as well look for it and try to figure it out on their own.

It took some time for them to finally realize that one of the machines in the game room was the so-called Monomachine. Standing in front of it, they inspect it from all sides, but… really, what was it supposed to do? What were they supposed to do with it?

Ichigo knocked gently against the machine, hoping it would answer them - but nothing. Next, they decided to talk to it.

“… Hello.”

No response (obviously enough). Furrowing their eyebrows, they walk around the machine again. Sparrow chirped cheerfully as ever, amusingly observing what their human friend was doing.

When they kneeled down and stared intently at the opening (from where the capsules came from, but that’s not something that they would know), the harmonicist turned their head around when someone walked into the room. They’ve seen the other, but never talked to them… Maybe they could help?

“Uh, ‘scuse me? Hey there.”

Ichigo waved their bandanged hand, still kneeling down but… really, they were still big enough to be at the same height as a small person of around… 5′3′‘?

When it was announced that they got it right, Ichigo felt relieved that they weren’t misguided in their vote. They had hesitated at first when only one of his palms was injured, but with no one else being even remotely suspicious, there was no better bet than this. It also made sense with all the evidence pointed out - especially the hidden wires.

Either way, they caught the culprit, but now was the question… what were they supposed to do? Would they just lock him up somewhere, so he wouldn’t kill someone again? But Monoshi said something about punishment…

Silently, Ichigo waited for an explanation of any sort - but it remained silent in the courtroom. They blinked a bit, unsure if they should go ahead and simply ask what has happened or why he’d killed the girl.

But alas, they hesitated too much and the SHSL Good Luck - Ichigo was honestly unsure what to make of this talent - was dragged away. The harmonicist just looked confused, before their attention was directed to the TV. Wow, so this is what TVs these days looked like? At least, they assumed it was a TV…

Anyway, what was displayed on it didn’t help to clear anything up - though when Endou started to bleed from his ears, the kasa wearer seemed to be taken aback. This was not a good sign. Not at all. This must be incredibly painful-

Oh.

Oh god.

Did they just witness someone’s death? Did they truly just see how someone got decapicated right in front of their eyes?

Ichigo was at a complete loss when the execution was over and Monoshi told them that new cabins had been opened up for them. They ignored their keycard and instead, simply stood there for another minute in complete silence.

Even though he’d killed someone, he… didn’t deserve to die.

When Tarou began to speak, Ichigo turned their head around to face him. So far, the only interaction they had was during the investigation when they asked him to watch over their little experiment. They furrowed their eyebrows when he brought up the fact that Nanami’s hands were clean and she would’ve likely struggled against whoever was trying to kill her.

After a bit more consideration, they spoke up again.

“‘S true, she woulda ‘ave struggled, but what ‘bout th’ wound she received o’ her ‘ead? What if that made ‘er dizzy ‘nough t’ not be able t’ fight against th’ culprit?”

They scratched their cheeks.

“I mean, why else would th’ wire be even hidden away t’ begin wi’? And it did match th’ wound o’ her neck. So we might as well look if someone doesn’t ‘ave marks on their ‘ands.”

At that point, they thought that it might be a good idea to finally reveal what was up with their own hands.

Ichigo raised their eyebrows slightly when Echo told them that she’d gotten a note. Not like anyone could see that due to their kasa, but it happened. Anyway, they were just glad that nothing happened to her, though it’s not like as if they were one to talk; they would’ve done the same.

One of the people she hadn’t conversed with piped up, suggesting that they might do a handwriting check. That was actually a good idea, given the note’s existence.

When he wondered from where the metal wire could come from, all Ichigo could do was shrug.

“Dunno. Didn‘t find anythin’ that woulda match th’ wire. Thou maybe I shoulda mention that it was made up o’ several thinner metal wires ‘n one wrapped around ‘em all. It was as long as m’ forearm.”

For measurement, they held out their forearm, before retracting it. They listened to their fellow classmates introduce themself and bring in their own opinion on the matter. They agreed with Teddie - if someone went as far as to hide this wire in a pot plant, they didn’t want for it to be found.

The harmonicist was a bit surprised when Monoka started to speak, but then looked between said stewardess and Masae. Oh, that was a clever idea and- whoa, those keycards could even do that?! How was that even possible?

… Technology was scary.

“Oh ye’, ‘s true what y’ say, Atoshi-san. They coulda have tried t’ mask their actu’l handwritin’ when they wrote th’ note. Still, K… Kasuga-san? Sorry if ‘m wron’, kinda hard t’ remember all names, but he has a point. Checkin’ our handwritin’ coulda provide useful.”

If your gaze would fall upon the harmonicist as they take their spot in the trial room, you would notice two distinct things about them. The first would be their bandanged hands that were placed on top of the podium - the second was a bit of blood on their kasa where Sparrow was bouncing up and down. If you focused your eyes on the bird specifically, you might be able to see blood on its feet.

Ichigo looked around, noting that they had complete strangers as neighbors. Luckily though, their roommate and Echo were only a bit farther on their left, so they didn’t feel all too lost. Masae was a bit further away, but it was still alright.

It was a bit unnerving to have the portrait of Nanami staring roughly in their direction, but they had to deal with it. Either way, the trial started and Ichigo could already tell that there was no way that they could remember everyone’s name in such a short time.

They regarded their trial neighbor with a questioning look when they said something about olfactory thingmajis. If they weren’t completely wrong, that meant that she wanted to smell everyone, right? Uh… okay.

“Y’ can go a’ead, but yer gonna smell blood o’ m’ ‘ands. I tried somethin’ out while we were all runnin’ ‘round t’ find out wh’ happened.”

To prove their points, they held up their bandanged hands, which had a very faint pinkish taint at the spot where their hand palms were.

It didn’t seem like as if they would explain that instance yet - after all, more people talked and it was kind of hard to follow everything. Echo said something about a knife… the murder weapon?

“I didn’t really looked at th’ knife, but I doubt that was used t’ kill Momotani-san. Y’know, the wound went almost all ‘round, which woulda be sorta difficult t’ do with a knife without messin’ up somewhere.”

“T’ be ‘onest, I found a metallic wire burried in one o’ the potted plants in th’ dining car. It had blood o’ in and when I tried t’ match it t’ th’ wound, it woulda ‘ave matched.”

There was also talk about the plate and the ginger ale… although they couldn’t contribute much to either, they did have one more thing to mention.

“Oh yeah, if y’ wondered from where the arsenic came, one bottle was missin’ from th’ storage. Also, th’ bottle was half empty, so that stuff musta be somewhere. Didn’t smell th’ ginger ale, but it woulda made sense fer it t’ be there.”

Anyway, their roommate was already starting to speculate if culprit and murderer seemed to know each other. Ichigo wasn’t sure why Yuki offered this suggestion, but they were smart, so it surely must’ve mean something.

“I look’d throu’ all th’ public rooms and didn’t find a note anywhere.“

Ichigo was already content to take a step back again, because boy, they weren’t used to talk so much, but then they remembered something.

“… Ichigo Sanada, Harmonicist. Fellow up there’s named Sparrow ‘cause it’s a sparrow.”