Taichi Nanao/South. Hill. Prison

Combination Lock that Holds Fate

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2

Taichi	(I’m doing pretty well with my new skateboarding technique~. I’ll practise again next week...)
Banri	Oh, it's Taichi.
Taichi	Ban-chan and Chikage-san! Were you hanging out together?
Banri	Yeah, kinda.
Taichi	Don’t tell me... were you guys raiding escape games?!
Chikage	We didn’t mean to raid them though.
	I heard that the game we previously played before was upgraded and the difficulty level increased, but...
Banri	It was a total breeze~.
Chikage	I wanted it to be a bit more difficult.
Taichi	As expected from you guys...!
	Moreover, Ban-chan’s gonna have jailbreak scenes at the next play! Wasn’t that something like role-making?
Banri	...Well, if you say so, I guess it was?
Chikage	Role-making... Then would you like to tag along with us next time?
Taichi	I'm really interested! But...
	I can only see a future where I’m dragging you guys down~!
Banri	Most likely.
Taichi	*sighs*
Tenma	.....
Taichi	*sighs again*
Tenma	Hey! What's up with you?
Taichi	It’s just that we were suddenly told to submit reports by next week~
	*sighs* My tension meter goes down so much...
Tenma	Is that so? My condolences.
Taichi	I never knew there’s gonna be so many reports to finish! Even though I have plays to do too!
Tenma	Well, do your best.
Taichi	Ten-chan, you're acting so indifferent!
Tenma	'Cause it's someone else's problem.
Taichi	Geez~
	...What’s that? Something’s posted on the bulletin board.
Tenma	Hm? Was it there before?
	Oh, it’s a flyer for the Escape Game Club. Our university sure has a lot of unique clubs.
Taichi	It says here that they hold escape games regularly! This looks really interesting!
	This game seems easier to enjoy than the full-scale games that Ban-chan and Chikage-san usually play.
	Alright, let’s enter this! Of course, Ten-chan will join too.
Tenma	Huh?! I never said I’ll join it yet... More importantly, are your reports gonna be okay?
Taichi	Hmm~ It's gonna work out somehow!
	I’m really looking forward to this escape game~!
Tenma	*sighs* ...Where did all the low tension went to?

Taichi	Hmm, where’s the club room of the Escape Game...?
Tsuzuru	Why did I end up joining you guys...
Tenma	You got involved too, huh.
Taichi	Isn’t it good! It’s definitely more fun to do it together.
	Oh, looks like the club room is there!
	*shifts to Escape Room Club*
Taichi	Excuse me~! It’s the Nanao group who made the reservation!
Escape Game Club member	We were waiting for you! Welcome to our Escape Game.
	The game is easy to play, so please enjoy it with everyone.
Tenma	Okay.
Tsuzuru	We'll enjoy it.
Escape Game Club member	Please stand-by in this room for the time being.
Taichi	Got it!
Tenma	Stand-by, huh... There wasn’t any explanation, are we gonna be okay?
Monitor	"Welcome to our Escape Game."
Taichi	Woah! A video suddenly started playing on the monitor!
Monitor	"The door to this room has been locked. Solve the problem on this monitor and try to escape from the room."
Tsuzuru	I see. It’s pretty simple and easy to understand.
Taichi	Alright, I’ll definitely escape from this!
Monitor	"First, check the handcuffs on the wall."
Tsuzuru	Handcuffs?
Tenma	Is it this? Seems like only one side of it is connected to the wall.
Monitor	"And then, decide which one of your friends will be handcuffed."
Tenma	Be handcuffed...?
Tsuzuru	Are they even related to the game?
Taichi	We still gonna do it anyway.
Tenma	But who should be the one be handcuffed?
Taichi	Hmm... Then, Tsuzuru-kun!
Tsuzuru	Why me?!
Tenma	Please help us out, Tsuzuru-san.
Tsuzuru	Okay, okay. Geez... The game hasn’t even started, yet it’s such hectic.
Taichi	Then do it like this...
	Okay, I handcuffed Tsuzuru-kun to the wall!
	Oh, new words are appearing on the monitor! The game is starting!
Monitor	"Rescue your handcuffed friend and escape from the room together within the time limit!"
Tenma	It's getting interesting.
Taichi	Let’s all work together and do our best!
Tsuzuru	Alright, let's do this.
Taichi	Ugh… It’s so difficult! I don’t know~!
Tenma	Damn, the time limit is approaching too.
Taichi	The answer to the previous question is horse... It should’ve been completed with this...
Tsuzuru	No, wait... If you combine it with this keyword...
	That’s it, isn’t the answer number two?
Tenma	You're right!
Taichi	That means the key is in the bookshelf!
	Uhh... Oh, it's this box!
Tenma	Alright, let’s use the key in the box to unlock handcuffs and then escape—
Taichi	Wait, there’s an even smaller box inside!
	It’s being wrapped around by a chain and has a dial-type padlock!
Tsuzuru	There’s also a memo saying, "Solve this formula and unlock the padlock with the three-digit number you found."
Taichi	There's still a question?!
Tenma	Or rather, what's with this formula.
Tsuzuru	The difficulty level suddenly become higher.
Tenma	What are we going to do, there’s only one minute left.
Tsuzuru	I don’t feel like we can solve it in a minute...
Taichi	If it’s like this— I’ll just believe in my intuition and guess the numbers!
Taichi	Wow, that was interesting! Escape games are so fun~!
Tenma	I didn't think we could win the game.
Tsuzuru	Seriously though.
	To think that Taichi unlocked it with the numbers he instinctively put in.
Taichi	Hehe! I was so lucky!
Tenma	So, what numbers did you put in?
Taichi	201! It’s Miguel’s prisoner number, the role which I’ll act in the upcoming play!
	I never thought I could unlock it with that, though~
Tenma	...Are you serious?
Tsuzuru	What a luck you have there, Taichi...

Meena