Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner-Chapter 804 - 488: Videotape

A girl’s face appeared on the screen, she was in a dark room, surrounded by black walls, the only light source being the overhead lamp.

Accompanied by a `click` sound, the girl faced the camera, her expression uneasy as she spoke:

"My name is Ootomo Yuriko, I’m twenty-one years old, a student at Waseda University..."

"Why did I come to the New World? Well... it’s inconvenient to say..."

"Fine, it’s because my ex-boyfriend scammed me, that scumbag maxed out my credit card and used my identity to take out loans..."

...

At this point, Kitajou Min frowned and called the owner of the video hall over, questioning, "Is this the latest hit movie? Isn’t this just an AV?"

He was a regular at "Towaya Video Hall Shibuya Store" at No. 24 Ikebukuro Street, often spending his spare time watching movies there.

It was cheaper than the cinema, and you could bring your own food and drink. Kitajou Min liked to buy a grilled meat bento, bring a pack of beer, and eat and drink while watching.

By the time a good movie ended, he would have finished his dinner and drinks, and could chat with fellow movie enthusiasts at the video hall, discussing the merits of the movies, before strolling home.

A good day should end this way. Watching movies was the only joy in Kitajou Min’s life, and he looked forward to the evening every day at work, calling this period the "Golden Movie Dinner Time."

Of course, the prerequisite was that he watched a ’good’ movie.

The "Golden Movie Dinner Time" did not allow for bad films, and Kitajou Min would never waste two hours of his life on garbage.

"I asked for a hit movie, right? Even if you don’t have one, you can’t just use this trash to fool the customers!" Kitajou Min yelled, slapping the small table.

The bento and beer trembled but fell back into place. The other customers nodded in agreement, as they were all there to enjoy a movie and naturally hoped to see a good one.

The attitude of the video hall owner was also strong: "This is the hot tape of the week, several professional critics have watched it, along with some newspaper reporters, headhunters, and regular movie fans at the video hall... they’ve all come to see it."

"This?" Kitajou Min was skeptical.

"Be patient, keep watching, it gets even more exciting later," the video hall owner said. "Don’t you trust the taste of professional critics?"

Since things had been said to this extent, Kitajou Min had to remain silent.

He secretly sulked, deciding he would demand a refund from the video hall owner if this indeed turned out to be a lousy movie by the end.

The ’movie’ continued, seemingly filmed in a mockumentary style, with the actors speaking directly to the camera, displaying very realistic emotions.

The protagonist was a female university student named Ootomo Yuriko, who, due to poor judgment of character, was in massive debt. Thus, she went to the "New World" to participate in a mysterious ’trial.’

This part left Kitajou Min puzzled. He didn’t know what the "New World" was, where the mysterious trial came from, or why a debt-ridden female student would suddenly get involved with such a dubious organization...

But the start of the ’movie’ did pique his interest, mainly because the female lead’s performance was too realistic.

In these times, Japan had not yet released a movie similar to a room escape, where characters with various motives gather to compete for a massive prize in a life-or-death battle, a popular genre that hadn’t yet emerged.

So, having just watched the beginning, Kitajou Min found it novel.

The movie’s visuals cut quickly, revealing that the editor was quite amateurish, seemingly chopping it up randomly.

Various characters kept talking, with no introductions at all, just chatting to themselves. The director seemed quite incompetent as well, filming as if the camera was shoved in their faces. Kitajou Min felt he could do it too.

Through the chatter of a few characters, Kitajou Min learned that Ootomo Yuriko was not the only one invited to the "New World."

This trial involved eight people, each with their own reasons.

As long as they passed the trial, they could obtain a huge prize.

Some joined because of a family member’s serious illness, participating to raise funds for medical expenses; others because they were laid off, joining to cover mortgage and car loans; while others simply loved adventure, pursued money, or had a curiosity-driven mentality...

The story became more and more interesting, and Kitajou Min considered the scriptwriter a genius. The plot setup was very intriguing, potentially creating a new trend, surpassing Agatha’s No One Survives in one fell swoop.

Moreover, the performances of all the actors were very on point; every second the camera lingered on them, their emotions felt very genuine, immersing the audience instantly, unconsciously involved.

The only flaw was the poor directing and editing. Kitajou Min vaguely felt that even with the development so far, something seemed missing...

Soon, the broadcast announced the start of the trial.

The game was simple, just a reverse card-drawing game.

Each person was dealt four cards, making thirty-two cards for eight people, with four joker cards among them.

Each round, players could draw a card from another player’s hand or force an exchange of one card from another player.

If a player collected four joker cards and was left with only four joker cards in hand, the game ended, and that player won, while the other seven players were eliminated.

During the trial, violence was prohibited.

Those were all the rules.

’Players’ was the term Kitajou Min gave them, while according to the movie, they should be called ’Trialists.’

But Kitajou Min felt the term didn’t quite fit; it was just playing a game to win money, hardly a trial, right?

If there were such a simple competition in reality, he would definitely sign up. After all, he could at least try it; who knows, he might win with some luck?

With an entertainment mindset, Kitajou Min continued watching.

Unexpectedly, this game... no, this trial was far more intense than he imagined.

The quickest to react was a bespectacled man who tried to use a strategy of ’drawing cards without exchanging,’ hoarding cards to monopolize them and increase his chances of drawing a joker.

Soon someone else caught on, and the trialists started ceasing the pointless exchanging and continually drew cards from other players to avoid wasting their turns.

Typically, in movies, the protagonist would come up with an invincible tactic, defeating other trialists to win the final prize.

However, the female lead Ootomo Yuriko seemed to break this rule.

She was in a constant panic, praying to draw the joker, but at the start, due to her unease, she chose to ally with other trialists, exchanging cards, wasting many turns. Until the game ended, she had only four cards in hand.

The trialist who collected four jokers was the bespectacled man. After drawing three joker cards, contrary to expectations, he began forcibly exchanging cards.

In the end, he swapped for the fourth joker, hid all four cards under himself, while the other players continued to draw their extra cards, ultimately winning the game.

The movie’s progress bar was nearing its end, and Kitajou Min found it interesting, but not deserving of the hype.

However, the moment the broadcast announced the end of the trial, the heads of the seven other trialists exploded simultaneously!

The room was splattered with brains; this was not a special effect but almost a real shot. Not only was the middle-aged bespectacled man in the movie stunned, but Kitajou Min outside was too.

He leaned back, inhaling sharply.

At this moment, the lower right corner of the screen displayed the camcorder’s prompt.

"Filming..."

The movie continued, showing the bodies being dragged away by staff and thrown into the incinerator, all in one take, without editing.