Ichida's attention was still on the initials written on his wrist, but he jolted back into focus when the young girl accepted the bread and made her way to the register with a smile on her face. It was moments like these that made working here most worth it. Or, so was usually the case. No, today was where the irony struck. Where fate reminded him and many others that life doesn't simply go on with ease. Not for anyone.
Ichida was all smiles as he approached the register and prepared to ring up the girl's puchase. Once he'd reached it and was about to press the button to ring up her item, a blue light spread throughout the entire store, turning everything except for him and the younger girl a dull, blue color. "What is this?" His voice was more of a quiet whisper to himself. Everyone else in the store seemed to have been frozen in time. He could still move though.
He looked towards the younger girl, who also seemed to retain her ability to walk. 'Just us?' he thought to himself, unsure of where he was even leading his mind with this. His hand instinctively reached for the security button, but halted when he realized it wouldn't do any good. This wasn't a robbery. This was something else. He was right. It was. Something far bigger than any robbery.
After a few moments of silence, a small girl appeared in front of the eight people who'd received initials on their right wrists. "Alright, ya little bitches," a somewhat raspy voice said. It echoed, and it didn't seem to have come from the girl in the pink hat that just appeared before them. "Now that everything's set up, let's get this show on the road. Y'all may have noticed the initials on your wrists." There was a slight pause in between this sentence and the next. "Y'all received those because you'll be takin' part in a lil' somethin' the God of Games likes to call 'The Name Game'."
Ichida was in shock. He'd never heard anything like this before, and he couldn't pinpoint yhe voice. In a way, it didn't even seem to be coming from inside the building, but even further into the sky. "Don't worry. Y'all can't hear each other right now, so you can talk all ya want. I don't wanna keep y'all waitin' too long for the fun, so I'll make things quick and simple." A snap of the fingers could be heard, and a sheet of paper appeared before each of them. Written on it was the following:
1. You must kill the player whose initials are stamped upon your wrist in order to advance to the next round.
2. Killing another player's target is prohibited, and will result in disqualification and death.
3. Once you kill your target, you will be considered "idle" until the next round begins.
4. How you kill your target is up to you. Anything goes, so long as the above rules are adhered to.
5. While "idle", you cannot see the initials on the other players' wrists.
6. Non-players cannot see the initials.
7. Committing suicide will result in disqualification, and the player whose target committed suicide automatically advances to the next round. Likewise, if your target should die through any means other than you killing them (either directly or indirectly), you shall advance to the next round.
8. If the wrist with the initials stamped onto it is somehow disconnected from the body (i.e. your arm gets cut off) it is cause for disqualification and death.
9. Initials are based on birth names, so all currently legal names are not put into consideration, as well as legal name changes that may take place during the game.
10. Breaking any of the above stated rules will be punished with disqualification and death.
"As ya can see, the rules are pretty simple. Just kill the person whose name initials match the initials on your wrist, and ya advance to the next round. It won't be so easy to find 'em though, so I've decided to give y'all a tool." With another snap, a world map appeared before each player, with their target's location indicated by a small, red dot. "It only goes up to the state or province, for now. Be grateful for what ya can get."
There was quiet for a moment before he began to chuckle to himself. "Yeah, as though each of you can kill though!" His tone was mocking, and he was clearly taunting the players. "Things will get interesting once those of ya who aren't used to killing people have to kill someone to get your wish, or just to survive. That's the prize after all. One wish. Whatever it is, so long as you win, it's yours."
"I'd love to take questions, but I'm a tad bit lazy, so I'll be sending my emissary, Pocoyo here..." As he said this, the small, pink-hatted girl waved her hand with a smile at each of the players. "...so she can answer all your questions when she comes to you. Don't expect her to come right now though. Ya should all be able to figure things out on your own. Well, ya know your opponent's initials and general location. Shouldn't be too hard for ya now, so I see no more need to continue talking to ya little bitches. With that, I'll leave y'all and wish ya luck. We'll meet again for the second round...if ya survive."
With these words, the blue coloring had left the area and everyone was moving again. He was unable to speak a single word, but he knew he'd have plenty of questions, if that "emissary" girl actually showed up. It all seemed to real to be true, but he'd naturally be skeptical. It was too supported though. This girl that had just come in here to buy bread. She was able to move and react just as he could.
He'd have to either believe that she did something, or that it was all real. Based on circumstances, the latter was a better option. He'd rather be safe than sorry. Though, if it was true, it would mean that the girl he was just about to sell bread to was in danger of being killed. He didn't entirely know what was going on, but he couldn't allow a ten year old to be killed. He didn't know if she knew he was involved, and he couldn't risk it. His initials might be the ones on her wrist.
He shook his head at the thought. Like she would kill him anyway. Hoping that she hadn't known he was involved, he simply went back to processing her purchase. "Here you are, ma'am." His tone was as friendly as could be. Once she reached out for the bread, which he'd purposely held out with his left hand to avoid her seeing the initials on his right, he'd see if she had initials, and what those initials were.