03. But Then, a Ninja Appeared… But It's a Robot.
We'd been given a one-sided notice that there would be a final trial, and the place they led us to was a vast underground cavern we reached by descending a staircase. Before heading down the stairs, we'd been handed weapons: one ninja sword, two kunai, and four shuriken each.
Considering the precedents from all the trials so far, this was unusual. Sure, they'd given us weapons during training spars before, but every single trial up to now had been fought bare-handed.
So why hand out weapons for this trial all of a sudden...? No way, it couldn't be... "Kill each other now," or some shit like that, right?
I don't want to... I don't want to die... and I don't want to kill anyone. I...
The impending trial and my grim premonition made my hands start to tremble uncontrollably.
Then someone grabbed them firmly with warm hands. It was Nazuna.
"It's okay... Kokuyo."
"Nazuna..."
"We're not dying here today. Right?"
"......"
"Let's survive together—you and me... until we're wrinkled old grannies."
"Yeah...!"
The shaking stopped. Right... calm down and think straight. Even if the final trial is "kill each other," I won't kill anyone... and I sure as hell won't let myself get killed. I already died from a knife in my past life—I'm not doing that again, not as the killer or the victim.
If it's what I think it is... we'll run. Nazuna, Shizuku... Hibana, and a few other kids we're close to. We'll make it work somehow, we have to...
"You've kept us waiting, ninja whelps... The final trial starts now."
A voice echoed from somewhere unseen. At the same moment, something dropped from the cavern ceiling with a thud.
......
......
Suddenly, a ninja appeared.
A ninja? No, not quite. Amid the dust cloud from the impact, slowly revealing itself was...
Glowing blue eyes, an iron skeleton and joints... It looked just like a human—huh?
What the fuck... Robots in this ninja bullshit world?! Are you kidding me right now?!
It was a robot in ninja garb. Towering several heads taller than us kids, its bare metal frame giving off a skeletal, menacing vibe... And yeah, everything about it screamed "robot."
"Allow me to introduce the thing you're looking at... the automatic mechanical puppet, NINJA-37564-E. Commonly known as the 'Massacre E-Type.'"
"It possesses about 50% of the power of our village's weakest ninja... though you whelps wouldn't understand what that means."
"Now, the final trial: defeat it. By any means necessary."
"By the way, not every ninja exam produces even one graduate per trial."
"Most end with that thing massacring everyone—no one worthy of becoming a ninja."
"Good luck."
Once the voice cut off, the Massacre E-Type or whatever let out a creepy mechanical whir—creeeak creak—and started lumbering toward us.
"N-Nazuna... let's run! We can't beat that thing!"
"Y-Yeah... run... we gotta run...!"
The moment we said it, a rumble echoed—gruuumble—and the cavern entrance sealed shut.
...Yeah, I figured. Total cliché, huh?!
Still, no problem. With our Earth Escape, we can burrow through the walls like moles and escape!
"W-What do we do?! This room's weird! Earth Escape isn't working...!"
"What?! So we can't even run?!"
Noisy commotion erupted from the back, near the walls.
Earth Escape not working? ...Shit, for real.
Obviously, we weren't the only ones thinking "run" the second we saw that monstrosity. This trial's been run who-knows-how-many times; they'd have countermeasures for escapees. Probably some seal on the whole cavern blocking Earth Escape.
...Rats in a trap.
"We have to fight! No choice—we fight!"
Someone yelled from the front of the group. Exam candidate #193, "Ikusa." Famous during spars for his reckless charges.
Ikusa raised his ninja sword and charged the Massacre E-Type head-on, just like always.
"Here I goooo! Get readyyy!"
With a berserker roar, he swung hard at the robot—and...
Clang!
"Wha—it's broken?!"
His blade snapped against the robot's iron frame. Then the Massacre E-Type's steel arm slashed out, cleanly severing Ikusa's head like his own sword—without even a scream.
The head tumbled in a parabola... and landed right at my feet with a thud. Rolling expression: eyes wide in terror, unblinking in shock, blood spurting from the neck...
Oh god, my stomach...
"Urp... bleeech... hurlk."
I puked up everything. Panic spread like a virus, screams echoing everywhere.
"KyaAAAAH!"
"No, nooo! I don't wanna dieee!"
"Let us out, pleeease! How are we supposed to beat that?!"
Ikusa's death kicked off the massacre. Blood sprayed from the front lines, the air thick with the stench.
Ahh, we're done for... Me, I'm... gonna die like this. Murdered again, just like my last life. Legs gave out from the mental shock; I collapsed. Bile rose again, vomit spewing.
Haha, hahaha... going insane. Even pissed myself down there—and yeah, inside this body's a 20-something guy soul. But... but I can't help it. Dying the second time ain't any easier.
This wasn't like the previous trials. This was real death. The overseer said it: most trials end with zero survivors.
It's over... all over... we're all gonna die...
"Kokuyo! Snap out of it, come on...!"
"I-It’s... all over... we're done for... all of us, dying..."
"Snap out of it!"
"Should've... run sooner..."
Slap! Something stung my cheek—Nazuna's hand.
The same warm hand that gripped mine before the trial... now slapping sense into me.
...Why?
"Hey, who among us handles ninjutsu the best?"
"Who had the highest win rate in spars...?"
The best at ninjutsu, highest wins...? No question.
"It's you, Kokuyo."
"......"
Yeah... me. I know... but what am I supposed to do? Those were just spars—no lives on the line. Fight that scrap heap called "Massacre"? No fucking way I have the guts...
"Look, if we don't fight... we're all dead anyway."
"......"
"I said it—we survive together till we're wrinkled grannies. Help us, Kokuyo... or we'll all die. Me, you... those kids too."
"B-But... I'm scared shitless. Sweating buckets, legs shaking. Nazuna... I... I..."
"You don't have the courage to fight, right?"
Her words hit like shame; I nodded, head hung low.
...Gonna get mad, huh? Life on the line and I'm just sitting here whining like a kid. Sorry, but I really can't...
Sorry, sorry...
Then she grabbed my hand tight. It was trembling. Not just mine—hers too.
"Scared...?"
"Uh..."
"It's okay, Kokuyo... I'll be your courage."
"......"
"So... just this once... help me out?"
Silly girl. You're scared too, hands shaking like leaves... yet here you are, bluffing big. A kid not even 10 acting tough.
I'm a 20-something guy inside, frozen in fear. But you... you're squeezing out courage, thrashing against death.
If you're gonna be my courage... then let me be yours, you bluffer. Facing down death. Even a coward like me. Okay?
......
......
The cowardly girl took the bluffer's hand and stood.
Together, they advanced toward the approaching death... to fight.