Chapter 2, Part One

*For help, see the walkthrough for this chapter*
**Chapter 2, Part One** is the third part of *Kimi ga Shine: Tasuketsu Death Game*. It was originally released on NicoNico on August 7, 2018.

On the third floor, the participants are introduced to three more dolls: Rio Ranger the Floor Master, Tia Safalin the Vice-Floor Master, and the Reception Doll. The participants are forced to play even more games to qualify for the Main Game. Sara also begins having hallucinations of Joe that haunt her during the four days leading up to it. In the final attraction, they lose one more of their number.

## Plot

### Getting bearings on the new floor

Chapter Two opens with three small scenes that take place at a different time than the present.

The first is Gin, lying on the floor next to Q-taro, apologizing to him, his mother, and Sara.

The next is between Kai and the man he works for, Sara's father. The two reminisce on their time together and Sara's father gives him a new apron, thanking him for his service. Her father entrusts Sara to Kai, should it come to it, revealing to the player that Sara is not biologically related to her father. Kai ensures she has his protection and affection. Sara's father begins to lose himself, and Kai comments that he has a bit of tunnel vision when it comes to his Sara.

This transitions into a scene of Joe and Sara chatting in class. He offers to take her out to food in exchange for showing him her homework. Sara chastises him for not doing his work at home, and after a small bout of him complaining, the scene shifts into Sara's hallucination of Joe taunting her for causing his death. Sara pleads with the hallucination to let her be and wakes up from the nightmare in an unfamiliar bedroom.

Sara catches her gaze in the window, realizing how lifeless she looks. Blood begins to pool on Sara's bed sheets, and an apparition of Joe appears in the window. Soon after, blood spreads through the room as Mishima's head and Kai's body fade into the chairs in the room. Sara shouts at "Joe" and injures herself trying to get away from the scene. The apparition of Joe starts to suffocate her, and then Keiji snaps her out of her hallucination, the room returning to normal.

Keiji asks what happened, and Sara discloses her hallucination. Keiji tells her they're on the third floor, and instructs her to sleep a little longer, which Sara is uncomfortable with. Keiji lets Sara rest on his shoulder, and after she falls asleep, he voices his concern for her, making the player aware that he, too, experiences hallucinations.

Upon reawakening, Keiji recommends Sara go and see the others, which she agrees to.
A new mechanic is introduced: the Hallucination Level. This indicates Sara's mental state and will go up whenever she remembers Joe.

When she enters the lobby, Sara hears Reko singing and engages conversation with Alice, who is standing off to the side. He comments that Reko is singing with grief for the dead, and asks Sara what she thinks of Reko. He says that ever since she was a kid, she was very charismatic and harsh to the people around her. Keiji asks if she changed due to Alice's arrest, which he admits to. Reko, Nao, and Gin all notice Sara, and are very glad to see her up and about.

Gin informs Sara that Miley's disappeared, and Sara reckons they should investigate. Keiji and Gin follow her.

They find Q-taro in the ruined corridor, and Q-taro attempts to comfort and cheer up Sara. In the Relaxation Room, they see Alice sitting next to a courtyard with fake foliage and sunlight, which he voices his distaste for.

The final room is filled with monitors. One of them flickers on, displaying an image of Mishima. He begins to speak, recognizing Nao, but not the other participants. Sara asks if he's real or not, and Mishima says that he's an artificial intelligence made from the emotions and memories of Mishima. Keiji comments that there's a photo of him on the back of the monitor. Incensed, Sara looks for one with a photo of Joe, but there isn't one, and Kanna says there's not one of her sister, either.

### Meeting the Floor Masters

An image of a woman with green hair fills all of the other empty monitors and admonishes a person named Ranger for turning on the AIs prematurely. The person in question comes up from behind the participants, and introduces himself as Rio Ranger, saying he will support them on this floor as Floor Master. Ranger calls out for Safalin, the woman on the screen, and she arrives to introduce herself as Tia Safalin, the Vice Floor Master.

Ranger begins to explain the rules of the floor, revealing a second Main Game will be taking place. Sara becomes enraged with Ranger for wearing the accessories of the deceased, and he starts to condescend to the participants, dead and alive.

Upon stepping into the prize room, Sara is met with another doll. Ranger explains that he's the receptionist, and Safalin gives out wallets containing 100 Me-Tokens to each participant. She then says that the participants cannot use their own tokens to buy prizes, and must trade with others to obtain their tokens to use as currency. Safalin then explains that there are nine attractions around the floor, in which the participants will receive clear chips for beating. Each person must earn a total of ten clear chips to proceed to the main game and the attractions can only be played once. Sara must do every attraction before time is up.

Ranger states that there's a grand prize of a ticket to the surface and that they have three days to collect all needed clear chips.

With this explanation, the sub game, the Trust Barter game, begins.

At the prize counter, Sara can purchase clear chips, victim videos, and a ticket to make attractions easier, as well as personal information for the rest of the participants.

Upon returning to the monitor room, the gang finds that a monitor has been broken, and the photo on the back has been torn off. Nao comments that she hasn't seen Sou in a while, casting suspicion on him as the culprit. Kanna offers to search for Sou while the others search for attractions. She promises to keep an eye on him, but Reko and Sara seem reluctant. Alice interrupts the tense atmosphere, stating that the kidnappers want this sort of conflict. Sara realizes that she's been putting the blame for Joe's death onto Sou and Kanna. She and Kanna reconcile.

If Sara hadn't interacted with Kanna before speaking with the Mishima AI, Sara and the others go and complete an attraction in search for Sou. Once they don't find him, they all return to the lobby where Kanna pleads for the others to allow her to search for Sou.

Kanna states that she isn't an innocent party and that she "tipped the scales." She explains that before the Main Game, Kanna had initially pulled the Sacrifice card. Sou told her to toss it away, saying that the rule that implies death if you tell someone else your role is false. He asks Kanna to give him the card and exchanges it for a Commoner card. Kanna thought that because Sou seemed to have knowledge of the Main Game, which proved to be true, he should've been kept alive instead of Kai.

Sara tells the group that she had spotted Sou's Sacrifice card earlier, when he was knocked out, proving that the rule was a dummy, as he did not die. Gin points out that Sou was knocked out before he rested with Kanna, saying the order doesn't make sense. Sara figures that Sou took both the Sacrifice and Commoner cards, set the Sacrifice for Kanna to find, and arranged the trade to put Kanna in his debt. Keiji finishes by stating that it's possible Sou purposefully led Joe into picking up the Sacrifice.

### Looking for Sou

Sara, Keiji, Gin, Reko, and Kanna leave the monitor room, while Nao remains to speak to Mishima. The group decides to search for Sou, and finds his beanie in the Ruined Corridor. They reason that he might be in one of the attractions that had just opened, so Sara decides to search in either Charge Card Battle, Memory Dance, or Arm-Wrestling with a partner of her choice. She doesn't find Sou, but Reko or Q-taro runs back to Sara, having found Sou in his bedroom.

Sou is passed out with wood chips on his head and a plank of wood on the bed, which was presumably used to knock him out, similar to what happened to him in the Hidden Room. Upon waking up, he claims amnesia, only remembering up until before the first Main Game. When told they've already lived through the Main Game, he panics about who died, listing off people who aren't in the room. He mentions Joe, which causes Sara to hallucinate again, and she wakes up in the lobby.

The group lament about Sou's lack of cooperation, and Kanna asks if they'll let her handle it. Keiji gives her the okay, and warns her to be careful. Reko seems hesitant to let her hang around with Sou.

### Further exploration of the floor

The Negotiations mechanic begins. After beating a Death Attraction, Sara can choose to negotiate with one of the options in the lobby, and will have an interaction with one of them. These can vary from a token trade, to a conversation, to organizing deals with others. Sara also has the option to not negotiate. In the first negotiation, Sara can choose to speak with Keiji, hang out with Gin, or organize a trade with Alice to get him Reko's tokens.

Sara goes to see Nao talking to the Mishima AI. He congratulates her for having made such great friends even in the Death Game. Nao voices concern about always being saved by the others, and tells Mishima that she's not going to come back to the monitor room to speak with him again. Mishima, after telling Nao that she's grown strong, shuts off, leaving a crying, but resolved Nao in his wake.

In returning to the lobby, Sara finds Q-taro arguing with Ranger. He tells Sara that the participants are not permitted to return to the first floor. Sara realizes that this means they can't recover the laptop, and Ranger says they'll just confiscate it. Keiji figures that Q-taro wants to find out the truth about Kai.

Sara wonders about Kai's alignment, and Keiji says they can infer certain things about Kai. He posits three possibilities: the first is that Kai was a bad guy, on the side of the kidnappers, which Sara has a hard time believing. The second is that Kai was on the side of the participants, but had communication with the kidnappers. He states that for Kai's First Trial, his task may have been to ensnare the other participants. The last, which Keiji is inclined to believe, is that there's an ally on the side of the kidnappers, a traitor among them, who was in contact with Kai.

Sara asks Keiji if he's aware of a similar case to the Death Game. He brings up an old case from decades prior, about major crime rings fighting for dominance. They executed a plan to form into one single crime syndicate, via a death game. Representatives from the rings fought to the death, and the survivor reigned supreme. The case is referred to as the Hades Incident. However, the organization supposedly collapsed due to the work of the police.

Sara decides to go search for more attractions. She finds Sou and Kanna in the monitor room, and Sou notes that three new attractions have opened up-- Runaway Minecart. Stay on Target, and Hide and Seek. The pair exit, leaving Sara alone.

Sara can choose to speak with Mishima at this point. He has his memories up until the start of the Death Game, knows nothing of the kidnappers, and is acutely aware he is an AI. He asks Sara to watch over Nao.

In heading to the Recreation Room, Sara finds three more attractions-- Quick Draw, Fly Swatter, and Spirit Shutter. She decides to play through more attractions. After beating one, she has the opportunity to negotiate a three-way token trade with Reko and Nao, or have a conversation with Kanna about her sister.

After this, Gin and Keiji show back up in the lobby, Gin injured after an attraction. Safalin appears to offer to treat Gin, but the two elders are hesitant to trust her. Sara suggests they try trusting her and she leads them to the Medical Office. As Keiji treats Gin, Safalin offers a salve to speed up healing and demonstrates its effectiveness by cutting open her own hand and applying it.

Keiji and Gin speak in whispers, Gin asking Keiji if he should show Sara something, and Keiji says he shouldn't. If Sara pushes the issue, Gin will reveal a dog keychain, the same one that Joe wore. Her hallucinations worsen. A thankful Sara asks Gin if she can keep it, which Keiji halfheartedly resigns to. Despite being happy, Sara is still tortured by the memory of Joe's death. With this, Day One ends, and night begins.

Reko signals Sara over to her. She says she found a weird place and wants to show Sara first. She shows her a dark room with a vending machine at the top of a set of stairs, with the number 200 displayed above it. Sara reasons that means they need to put 200 tokens in the vending machine to get it to work. Reko and Sara leave.

Sara does another attraction. In the third negotiation, Sara can choose to trade tokens with Q-taro, talk over tea with Reko, or play with Gin. After this, she goes to bed, but is awoken by a commotion outside. In the lobby, Gin tells her that the old guy has been killed. In the monitor room, Mishima's screen has been destroyed. Kanna asserts that Sou wasn't the one who broke the monitor, as they were together the whole time, even sleeping in the same room. Nao enters the room, and upon seeing the broken screen, asks the group not to search for the culprit. Gin notes that there are no clues this time, unlike when the first monitor was broken when there were wood chips scattered around. The group break up and go back to their rooms. The first night ends.

### The Room of Lies

The second day begins with Sara finding Keiji questioning Reko about the monitor. She denies doing anything and tells of Keiji. Afterward, she takes Sara to the Long Stairs they found before with the vending machine. She shows Sara a red button with "bonus attraction" written above it. This opens a door to the tenth attraction: the Room of Lies. Surprised, Reko states there's only supposed to be nine attractions. She brings up the number of Clear Chips obtained from the other nine attractions. Since there are nine surviving participants, and all attractions must be done in pairs, each attraction will end up with one person unable to do it. The number of Clear Chips is not enough for all of the participants to get ten each. The Bonus Attraction, with its six chip prize, rounds out the number. Reko decides to go into the Room of Lies, and Sara offers to join her, but Reko is hesitant because she feels like she keeps getting saved by Sara.

The two shake hands, and Sara notices that her hand is bleeding. She realizes Reko has been pushing herself through attractions for the sake of people like Gin and Nao.

Inside the Room of Lies, there's a single table with the Clear Chips, a wire rope, and a note that reads "this is the Web of Happiness. In the final attraction, it just might save your life." Sara takes the rope, and Reko takes the chips. After this, the lights go out. Sara grabs Reko's hand and runs for the exit, only to find that once safe, she's left holding Reko's glove. Right when she starts to panic, Reko reappears. They wonder what the "lie" in the room was, speculating it may be the Clear Chips. After this, Sara notices Reko is still wearing two gloves. Reko claims no one grabbed her hand in the room. Sara gives her back her glove after she explains that Ranger gave them all changes of clothes. Somewhat suspicious, Sara heads to look for Keiji.

In the Medical Office, Sara notices a reflection of Joe in the mirror. Looking at him worsens her hallucinations. As she approaches, the hallucination only gets more clear. She pulls back the mirror, revealing a lifelike doll of Joe standing behind it. Safalin appears to admonish her, explaining that the dolls are experiments done by her organization, and one of their purposes are mental relief. As she starts to provoke and manipulate Sara about taking the doll, Keiji interrupts her. Safalin, before leaving, tells Sara that she has a device for relief, should her hallucinations get too bad. Sara and Keiji sit down together, and Keiji asks if she liked Joe. She states he was a close friend to her. Sara remembers that Keiji had said he had someone important to him as well and that he would tell Sara about if they both survived the Main Game.

Keiji tells a story from his time in grade school. He says that as a child, he rode his mother's errand bike when he needed to get places. One day, he fell off, and the bike went into the river. Upset, Keiji started to cry, catching the attention of the neighborhood policeman. He dove into the river to retrieve the bike, then spent hours fixing it. Keiji reveals that the officer was his hero, and what made him want to be a policeman. If Sara asks if they were able to meet again. Keiji, looking unsettled, says there are lots of different policemen in the world. He then makes sure Sara is okay before leaving.

The player has the opportunity to get a game over with Safalin's mental relief device. The device can be used safely once to help Sara forget about her hallucinations and bring the hallucination level down. If the player, and by extension Sara, forgoes the warning and continues to use the device several more times, she experiences mind break, and the game ends.

Sara does another attraction. In the fourth negotiation, she can discuss with Kanna and Sou, or talk about Reko with Nao.

### Finding Kai's laptop

After, Q-taro runs into the lobby to find Sara and asks her to come into the ruined corridor. He shows her a path through the rubble, which leads to a dark room with a monitor and a chair. Keiji comes in after her, revealing Q-taro found Kai's laptop in the room. Sara is confused as to how it ended up there. Keiji reasons Kai put it there himself. They open up the laptop, and the battery is worryingly low.

Sara types in "chidouin" for the password, and it's incorrect. The group figure Kai changed the password since Sou definitely saw the contents. Keiji implores Sara to type in only something she should know. She types in her father's name, and it unlocks. From this, Sara infers Kai knew her father. They check Kai's sent emails.

They find Sou wasn't lying about the emails, but he read them in the wrong order. The group realizes that there must be received emails as well. The first is a cutesy email about Sara going to a board game meet up, with the sender worried she'll make bad friends. This was what the "Sara is looking forward to the games" email referred to. The typing style, along with the sign-off "Thankies a million," alerts Sara to the fact that her father is the one sending the emails. The second is a threatening email, about how Kai betrayed the organization. This was what the "I will stand against even you as an enemy" email referred to. The third is about how the sender, Sara's father, feels unsafe, and how he should discard their house and run. He asks Kai if he'll come with. This is what the "I am prepared to offer myself up" email referred to. Sara realizes that her father knew something was going to happen. The fourth is a frustrated sender asking for a report. This is what the "17 people have been secured" email referred to. The sender confirms that Kai's efforts were futile, and he is aware that Kai was pretending to be his contact in order to deceive him and disrupt the Death Game. The sender says Kai fell for the trap, and that Sara will be captured. The email ends with a sinister "Thankies a million." The email is dated for the day of the kidnapping.

Keiji summarizes that Kai was in contact with two people-- one of Kai's parents, and Sara's father. His plan was exposed and crumbled. Sara realizes that Kai was never a stalker, he was guarding her to protect her from the kidnappers. She remembers what she heard the stalker saying the night she and Joe were kidnapped-- "Don't go home."

The laptop's battery dies.

Keiji wonders if the information that Kai was on their side is beneficial to them. The three decide not to tell the others about the laptop for now, and Q-taro is entrusted with its safety.

### The First Trial room

When she returns to the lobby, Sara finds Kanna alone. She says Alice is looking over a sleeping Sou and asks Sara if she can come with her to a room she found in the Ruined Corridor. However, this room is through a passage in the back, rather than the rubble. Kanna slips up and accidentally refers to Sara as her sister. She says Sara reminds her of her sister, and Sara holds her hand tightly. They come to a room with a set of beds that Sara enters first and finds familiar. When she turns around, she realizes that she's in the First Trial room, however, it's a little different. Kanna enters after her, and upon recognizing the very room her sister died in, she starts having flashbacks to her own First Trial. Sara advises she wait outside, and Kanna complies.

Sara finds a smartphone under the middle bed with a message supposedly from Kanna's sister, Kugie, written moments before her death. In it, Kugie condemns Kanna to Hell and says Kugie hates her. Sara's start causes Kanna to come in, and she's too shaken to do anything to the phone. In a last-ditch effort, she yells to Kanna that someone's coming as misdirection and re-hides the phone under the bed. Sou shows up with Alice, claiming to look for Kanna so the three can trade tokens between them. The group leaves, Sara promises to herself to recover the phone later.

Sara does another attraction. In the fifth negotiation, Sara can talk with Q-taro or trade tokens with Nao or Reko.

After, she decides to go collect the phone. The room is empty, and Sou comes up behind Sara, holding the phone. Sou posits that Sara was going to use the phone to manipulate Kanna, stating the impossibility that Kanna's sister wrote the message herself and that Sara wrote it to put Kanna in her pocket. Sou had seen Sara hide the phone under the bed. But Sara says she only hid it from Kanna for Kanna's sake. However, Sou says Kanna would've come back to the room to search it eventually.

Sou's been mystified by Sara's methods of gathering trust, ever since the Main Game, smugly revealing that he'd never lost his memories. He continues to antagonize Sara until she tries to take the phone back by force. But upon looking at the screen, she finds that the message has been changed to an encouraging one rather than a disparaging one. In her surprise, Sou steals back the phone, vowing to not let Sara do as she wishes anymore.

### Growing distrust of Keiji

In the Monitor Room, Sara finds a disgruntled Keiji demanding an explanation from Q-taro. In following them out of the room and into the lobby, Keiji tells Sara that the laptop's been taken. Q-taro admits to giving it to Kanna. They realize Sou probably orchestrated the trade, and Keiji and Sara go into the Ruined Corridor to find Kanna.

Sou appears, and the mood goes tense. Keiji demands the laptop back, and Sou claims he has some possession over it as the first one to find it, then reveals he has a charger. Kanna says that if she gave Sou the laptop, he promised he'd give her the phone. They trade. After reading the kind message on the phone, a relieved Kanna cries tears of salvation. Sara suspects Sou wrote the message for Kanna.

Keiji brings up that they can't know if Sou's on their side or not, and claims that they've never seen his collar since he always wears a scarf. Changing tactics, Sou says he'll give the laptop back if Keiji trades 50 tokens, enough to buy his personal info, which Keiji seems very hesitant to do. Sou says that it's fine if Keiji gives the 50 tokens to Sara, and goads Keiji into doing so. Keiji remains silent, effectively refusing. Sou mockingly apologizes for teasing Keiji and shows him the collar on his neck before he and Kanna leave.

Things become awkward between Sara and Keiji. She believes that Keiji doesn't trust her, and leaves him alone, hurt and bothered, but trying not to show it. She returns to her room and passes out from exhaustion. Her pillow is damp from crying when she next wakes. She decides to continue with attractions.

In the sixth negotiation, Sara can speak with Keiji about his lack of trust in others, or play with Gin.

After, Gin says he found a pale Nao in the monitor room. Nao reveals that she bought a victim video, but is too scared to watch it alone. Sara decides to watch it with her. The video depicts a woman bound by ropes in a police uniform, who says she was only doing her duties. A man starts speaking and moves into the shot. While only the back of his head is visible, it's enough to recognizably be Keiji. The man says he can't move forward without resolving this first. The woman begs him to press the button, but he hesitates, and the chains pull the woman to death, ending the video. Sara has an anagnorisis, realizing how much the Death Game has affected her, and how she was barely fazed watching the woman die as she was more concerned about the man's identity. Nao hugs her gently to support her.

The second day ends.

### Final day

The third day opens on Alice arguing over breakfast with Safalin, and he and Sara share a meal. Alice opens up about Reko, saying that initially, he thought Reko had greatly changed. Now, he realizes that she's the same as always. Alice brings out a newspaper clipping about how Samurai Yaiba broke up after Alice's arrest, and Reko couldn't bring herself to sing their songs. Alice gives Sara the article after realizing that instead of dwelling on it, he needs to confront Reko herself. Sara continues with the attractions.

In the seventh negotiation, Q-taro is the only option. He offers Sara 40 tokens for ten of hers. He appears unsettled and desperate and refuses to look Sara in the eyes. Sara notices something is off. She can refuse, or comply with the trade. If she gives him the tokens, the player unlocks a game over. Q-taro uses the 200 tokens for the vending machine and takes the chance to escape, leaving behind all the other participants. If she refuses, Q-taro leaves to calm himself down.

Ranger appears to talk with Sara. She asks him about the AIs they can buy, and he says they're detailed reproductions of the participants, with emotional capabilities. Their memories are updated every six months, and their personalities every three years. Ranger reveals that all of the participants have been watched closely for several years. Although the AIs were meant to be updated daily during the Death Game, they couldn't include them in the Mishima AI, since memories of his own death bugged out its code. Ranger leaves Sara, bewildered, with more questions than answers, and she decides to go do more attractions.

In the eighth negotiation, Sara sees a hallucination of Kai, Joe, and Mishima. The safest option is not to discuss. If this is not done, Sara is forced to relive their deaths and her hallucination level increases.

Gin wakes up a fitful Sara from the nightmare she was experiencing. Her hallucinations worsen. Sara figures she needs to put on a brave face for Gin, but he says that it's okay not to smile, and Sara deserves to rest and believe in the rest of the group.

Sara counts her clear chips, making sure she has ten. She does-- she's safe, for now. Sara wakes up in her bed, having fallen asleep without realizing it. Her body feels incredibly heavy, and when she looks around, she sees Miley place something on the chair before leaving. When she wakes up for a second time, she finds four pieces of paper on the chair, with percentages, names, and occupations, just like the one Gin brought in the first Main Game. Because there are 16 names, and 20 participants, Sara reasons a page is missing. She notes one line in particular-- Keiji Shinogi, Ex-Detective. She puts it away and goes to find the others.

Everyone comes to the lobby, each with enough Clear Chips. Ranger shows them a new door, the last part of the Sub-Game.

He starts to split the participants into groups based on the number of tokens they got while trading. Q-taro got the most, and will be awarded a "special privilege." After Q-taro, the top three are Kanna, Alice, and Sou, then Keiji follows. Sara, Nao, and Reko, "the three idiot girls" come second to last. And Gin earned the least.

As punishment, Gin and Q-taro are pinned to opposite sides of a target. The middle-earners are trapped in a cage, and Sara, Nao, and Reko rise up into the Impression Room. They're elevated above everyone else.

It's time for the final attraction-- The Arbitration Room.

### The Impression Room

A timer will begin and when it stops, Gin, the lowest scorer, will be shot with the venom of a Rikuto giant scorpion. Q-taro, on the other side, has the ability to press a button and switch places with Gin. Nao, Reko, and Sara are left to conjure up the means of escape from the Impression Room, for themselves, and Gin.

There are two LCD monitors, one displaying the timer, and one displaying the phrase "Left: 35.5." The girls realize that since this is an attraction, there must be a way to beat it and save Gin. After settling down, they turn their attention to the screens, trying to figure out the meaning behind 35.5.

Nao figures they need to come up with the unit, and Reko thinks they should find out what exactly it refers to. Sara posits it's weight, and Nao says that 35.5 kilograms is the approximate weight of an average grade-schooler. In talking to Reko, they realize the number is probably Gin's weight, who confirms it. Their next avenue of discussion is how to change the number. Reko recommends they all jump in the air, which should cause the weight to fluctuate. Reko jumps, but nothing changes.

Reko gives up, but Nao disagrees. Her and Sara figure that the Impression Room is to penalize the flunking students. She's convinced that their room is connected to a means of rescue for Gin. Reko stubbornly insists that nothing they do has meaning, and to prove it, she jumps again. This time, however, Sara notices an odd noise from the floor. The girls spot a loose tile, and when they pry it up, they find a large pit with spikes in it.

The back of the title says "to rescue." A bit of the tile breaks off and falls into the spikes below, which changes the number on the display to 35.3.  Sara realizes that at the bottom of the pit, there's a scale as well as the spikes. Ranger confirms this. He asks the girls what they're going to use as a weight to lower the number to zero.

Nao realizes that someone is going to need to fall. Their weight will hold down the switch and rescue Gin. Reko is in disbelief that they must sacrifice someone. Safalin notes that they're lucky, because if Q-taro had been in last, all three of them would need to descend to match his weight, instead of just one. Sara picks up on the word "descend." The dolls say they're now burdened with the decision of which of them to sacrifice.

Keiji interrupts Ranger and reminds the girls that earlier, Ranger had said if they did well in the Sub-Game, no one would have to die. Sara brings out the rope that she got in the Room of Lies. Safalin had said "descend," not "fall," and Sara says they can use the rope to stand between the spikes. Nao seems extremely hesitant to use the rope from the room.

Reko pulls firmly on the Web of Happiness, and it snaps. The rope was the lie all along.

Sara, out of options, feels like she must decide on who to sacrifice. The voices of Joe, Kai, and Mishima cuts through her despairing thoughts, saying that her death would waste the feelings entrusted to her, and calling her Steelmind. With renewed vigor, she pushes to keep working to save Gin.

Reko, disheartened, claims there's nothing more they can do for Gin, and this is the end of the line. A suspicious Nao retorts that Reko would never speak like that and that Reko's changed so much from how she behaved earlier, it's almost as if she's not Reko at all! Sara pleads for them not to quarrel, but Nao won't back down. She brings a new piece of testimony to the table: Reko was the one who broke Mishima's monitor.

Nao reveals that despite what she had said earlier in the chapter, she still went to go see the Mishima AI. But she couldn't bring herself to enter the monitor room, at which point she saw Reko, bleeding from the hand with glass embedded in her skin. Sara turns the question of legitimacy to Keiji, who confirms that he saw Reko shatter the screen. Reko continues to vehemently deny involvement.

Time continues to tick down as it's time for the poison to be shot into Gin. All parties panic as Gin cries out in pain after getting stung. Ranger mocks Q-taro over protecting himself over Gin, then reveals that there are five stingers in all, set up to shoot periodically, but one isn't enough to kill someone. He submits that a child could probably handle two.

The discussion continues.

Keiji insists Reko tell the truth about the monitor, but she claims to have no memory at all of breaking it. Keiji recounts the conversation between Reko and Mishima, where Mishima asks Reko to destroy him for Nao's sake, and her resolve. Reko swung and destroyed the screen, but couldn't tell Nao.

Reko, sweating and nervous, claims genuinely to have no idea what he's talking about. To prove her innocence, she removes her gloves, and reveals no wounds on her hands, shocking Keiji and Nao. Reko asks if they were seeing a fake. Sou reasons there must be one and puts forward that a fake Reko was the one who broke the monitor.

Keiji asserts that the Reko in the monitor room was real, and Sou thinks he's wrong and that whomever has a scar on their hand is the fake. Sara reasons that Ranger could've been the fake, since he wears gloves. Kanna says Reko kept her clothes safely hidden, so none of the participants could've dressed up in hers. Since the Floor Masters brought the clothes, Ranger is the prime suspect as the fake, as he would have access to them.

Ranger finds this accusation amusing and claims he would never wear the clothes of a living human. He shows the group an uninjured hand. Nao says they've wasted their time in vain, but Keiji disagrees. He reasons that the Floor Masters can't lie about important aspects of the game. He picked up that when Ranger said that the Reko in the monitor room was the real deal, instead of outright saying there was no fake. Keiji goads him on, but Ranger can't say anything refuting it. Keiji asserts boldly that there was indeed a fake.

He reminds Sara to think about the following: if the Reko with an injury is real, then who's the identity of the fake? Sara realizes the Reko with them in the Impression Room is the impostor-- then recalls how she had noticed Reko's injury before the Room of Lies as well. Reko panics before Alice cuts in, protecting Reko and yelling that, as her brother, he recognizes that she's the genuine Reko.

Nao points out that they can save Gin by dropping the fake. This sends the group into a tizzy, The next main question is: if Reko was swapped for the fake, when and where did it happen?

Sara presents the broken Web of Happiness as proof of the two entering the Room of Lies together. When she grabbed it, the lights went out immediately, and when she ran out, she was left holding Reko's empty glove. This Reko returned with both gloves intact, which Sara uses as proof that the switch was the real lie.

Desperate, Reko asks Sara to prove who she is, if she's not Reko. The number of people on the floor don't match up to suggest that someone is taking her place. Safalin confirms that no human they haven't met is on the floor. And Alice continues to assert that this is the real Reko.

Reko claims that if she's a fake, Sara could be as well-- after all, they went into the Room of Lies together. Reko goes on the offensive, trying to appeal to Nao. Sara invites her to debate her identity's validity with Sara one-on-one. One of Sara's big points is that Reko didn't split the Clear Chips with the others, a display of selfishness the real Reko would never indulge in. The two continue to go head to head, until Reko cuts her off, saying Sara can't tell who the fake really is with her circumstantial claims.

Sara remembers Safalin's phrasing: "no *human*they haven't met." Memories of discussing the AI with Ranger and the doll of Joe in the Medical Office flicker through Sara's mind, and she makes the bold statement that the kidnapper's organization was created to make dolls of real people. Sara claims that the AI of Reko, combined with a doll of Reko, could create an imposter Reko, who is standing in front of them right at that moment.

Doubt begins to pervade through the room at that absurd-sounding conclusion. However, Keiji is open to the idea and asks Sara for proof that Reko is an AI. A curious Sou also brings up that Alice and Reko haven't seen each other since his arrest; That after not seeing each other for so long, Alice should've be thinking that Reko's changed, at least a little. Yet, Alice is confident that Reko is the same as she always was.

Reko promises she'll do anything to prove she's human, and Sara asks her to sing a song. The song is Reko's crowd-pleaser, "Samurai Onna."

They get interrupted by the countdown of the stinger, about to fire another shot into Gin. Q-taro comes to the decision to flip the switch too late, and a second dart hits Gin.

Keiji asks Ranger when the attraction will end, and he responds that it will when someone is sacrificed. Keiji tells Sara that there's an antidote in the Medical Office, and asks Sara to put an end to it all, to which she agrees.

Sara, having finally found the discrepancy between the real and fake Reko, asks Reko if the song she sang is one of Samurai Yaiba's. She says yes, which causes Alice to come to a realization. Sara shows the newspaper clipping detailing Samurai Yaiba's breakup. Reko remembers this happening after Alice's case, but Sara claims that she doesn't feel the emotional trauma it inflicted on her. Sara brings up her conversation with Ranger-- that the AIs have their memories updated every six months, but their personalities are only updated every three years. Therefore, this Reko's personality remains a keepsake of three years earlier, before Alice's arrest.

Reko begins to question her existence; crying, wondering if she really is a fake. Ranger starkly confirms she is. He gives a rundown of the timeline of the switch. He says there were two problems-- the wound on her hand, and the fact that her personality hadn't been updated in two years and eight months.

Alice threatens to kill Ranger if he did anything to the real Reko. Ranger jeeringly expresses sorrow for the fake Reko, already forgotten in favor of the "real" Reko.

The fake Reko sobs, pleading for the others not to kill her. She's alive, too, and she's afraid to die. Sou and Kanna bring up that the doll Reko is just the same as a human at this point, one who can express sorrow through tears. Ranger maliciously reasons they could just sacrifice Gin then.

Reko begs Sara to keep her alive, and Sara has to make an agonizing decision.

### Push Reko (Reko Lives Route)

Sara pushes a weeping Reko to the edge, but just as she's about to tip her over, Nao comes in with the final push, claiming that Sara shouldn't have to shoulder another burden. Gin and Q-taro's restraints unlock.

Sara and Nao look down the pit and sees the doll Reko, make-up leaking down her face from her tears, and notes the lack of blood from any of the piercing wounds. The group demands to know where the real Reko is, but the Floor Masters have already vanished. The Impression Room lowers to the floor.

Sara rushes to the incapacitated Gin, but Nao says that the two of them should search for Reko, instead, and that they should trust in Keiji. Sara, Nao, and Alice run to the Room of Lies, where Ranger is waiting for them alone. Alice demands they give Reko back, but Ranger quizzes him first on where exactly Reko is. He laughs about the fragility of humans, where Safalin appears, with the decapitated head of Reko in her arms.

Alice, incensed, rushes to kill Ranger. He throws the head at Alice, and he catches it, at which point the head blows up. Ranger apologizes that Reko's collar must've exploded, blowing a hole all the way through Alice's stomach. He collapses to the floor, bleeding heavily from his stomach. The sobbing Alice quietly calls for Reko, before succumbing to the injury and dies.

Footsteps approach from behind Sara, and a dumbfounded Reko -- the real Reko -- is left staring down at the bloodied body of her now-deceased brother. She had exited through a pillar in the back of the room. She yells to the dolls that they should've released her as soon as the head exploded, so she could have at least told her brother she was still alive. Ranger asks if that would have made any difference, and Reko shouts it would have, charged with furious determination to kill him. He reminds her that killing a Floor Master means death for all of them, something she doesn't care about. She only wants revenge for Alice.

### Don't push Reko (Alice Lives Route)

Sara can't bring herself to push Reko, even knowing that she's a fake. Reko thanks her, as Nao remains silent, and the third dart readies to fire.

Gin calls out for Sara and help as the counter ticks down on his wails. At the last moment, Q-taro hits the switch and the two swap places. He apologizes to Gin, saying if he'd just pressed it from the start, Gin wouldn't have to be so scared. The Impression Room lowers. Q-taro calls to an unconscious Gin that he can't die because he has parents to go home to.
Nao drags a reluctant Sara out of the room to search for the real Reko. They head to the Room of Lies, where Ranger and Safalin are waiting with two Rekos-- the real on the left, and the fake on the right.

Ranger asks if the girls have ever heard about doppelgängers-- seeing a person who looks exactly like you, a phenomenon considered in some cultures to be a harbinger of death. A noise rings out through the room-- the collars of both Rekos have started going off. Ranger says they only need one Reko, and offers to let one of them pick who to save.

Sara is disenchanted, after having essentially abandoned Gin to save the Doll Reko, and now more lives are being pitted against another once again. Ranger snidely tells her to stop being so self-centered, disabusing her of the notion everything revolves around her, since Nao is the one who he's going to let pick which Reko survives.

Nao freezes up and Ranger produces a knife to break the stalemate-- the same one Kai used to commit suicide. The Reko on the right grabs it and threatens Nao to pick her, lest she get violent. She also says she'll take down Sara, too. Nao reasons she could never do that, because she's still a copy of Reko, and therefore doesn't have the ability to hurt her friends.

Nao picks the Reko on the left, which causes the fake Reko to yell out and attack the real Reko, stabbing her in the abdomen and killing her instantly. Yet, her collar doesn't stop beeping. Ranger figures it's because Nao had already made her choice. The fake Reko realizes that they'd never had any intention of letting her survive from the start.

Her collar explodes.

Alice walks in on the scene, enraged, demanding to know why Reko is in this state. He refuses to believe Reko could die, and Ranger points out all the blood, saying the fake can't bleed. He indicates the fake headless Reko. He then taunts the still disbelieving Alice that Reko has been reduced to a garbage corpse.

Furious, Alice rushes to kill Ranger, who informs him that he'll die if he tries to kill a Floor Master.

### Run out of time (Alice Lives Route)

Even if Reko is never asked to sing, if the notion of her being a fake is discussed, Q-taro will hit the button as in the "Don't push Reko" route. After the Impression Room lowers, the fake Reko will rush to the Room of Lies, where she discovers Ranger, Safalin, and the real Reko. The Doll Reko realizes that she is a fake before Nao and Sara arrive in the room. The scene continues in the same way as the "Don't push Reko" route.

### A proper introduction

A gunshot resounds through the room.

A surprised Ranger is left staring up at the gunshot wound in his forehead, as the Reception Doll, holding a gun, says Ranger's stepped out of line. Collapsing onto the ground, Ranger begs Reception Doll, his father, to fix him. He cajolingly says that he was the Reception Doll's greatest masterpiece when the Reception Doll queries whether he knew why Ranger was so human-like.

The Reception Doll claims that the real reason is that he imbued Ranger with jealousy; an inferiority-complex toward humans. He came to the realization that negative emotions are what makes a person human. However, that extreme humanity made Ranger a monster as well. Although, perhaps, that too is simply human. Either way, Reception Doll concludes that Ranger is a failure, before kicking his head clean off.

Reception Doll apologizes for the unsightliness Sara, Reko, and Nao had to witness and begins to explain the Main Game. Roles have been distributed to the tablets they all possess, but if one finds themselves dissatisfied with their role, they have the ability to trade it to someone else using the tokens they earned during the Sub-Game. Reko halts that conversation and demands to know the man's identity first.

He again makes to introduce himself as a mere Reception Doll, before deciding to do away with those niceties. Then reintroduces himself as Gashu Satou, a researcher into negative emotions, before announcing it's time for the Main Game to begin.

## Available Achievements

*Main article: Achievements*
About to BurstTwist the KnifeScar-a Chidouin
## Trivia

* When Ranger calls out everyone's name at the beginning of the Final Attraction, he stumbles over Sou's name.
* The Web of Happiness is an allusion to the Japanese short story *The Spider's Thread* written by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. It's about a sinner in Hell, who's offered hope and salvation by way of climbing a spider's thread. However, due to being concerned with only self-preservation, the thread which was offered by Buddha, snaps.
* The version of the game released on Steam includes a fixed version of the bath scene CG where the girls are properly wearing their collars while bathing.

## Scrapped Content

* There's a scrapped scene of Sou attempting to steal Kai's laptop from Rio Ranger, however it breaks in the confrontation.
	+ There was an unused CG of the confrontation that was shown off during a Kimiware broadcast.

## References

1. ↑ *NOTE:* If the player took up negotiations with Alice and resolved his storyline with Reko, he lives long enough to see the real Reko alive.