Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 566 Videotape

A girl's face appeared on the screen. She was in a dark room with black walls on all sides and the only light source was the chandelier above her head.

With a crisp 'click', the girl faced the camera and said nervously:

"My name is Yuri Otomo, I'm 21 years old, and I'm a student at Waseda University..."

"Why did we come to the New World? Well... it's not convenient to say..."

"Okay, it's because my ex-boyfriend cheated me out of money. That scumbag maxed out my credit cards and even used my identity information to take out loans..."

……

Upon seeing this, Hojo Satoshi frowned, called over the video arcade owner, and demanded, "This is the latest hit movie? Isn't this just AV?"

He was a regular at the Tsutaya Video Parlor Shibuya Branch, located at No. 24 Ikebukuro, and often came to the video parlor to watch movies in his spare time.

It's cheaper than the movie theater here, and you can bring your own food and water. Hojo Satoshi likes to buy a yakiniku (grilled meat) bento box after get off work, bring a dozen beers, and eat, drink, and watch the movie.

After a good movie ends, he will have finished dinner and a few drinks. He can then chat with the movie buffs at the video arcade, discussing whether the movie was good or bad, before taking a walk home.

A beautiful day should end like this. Watching movies is Hojo Satoshi's only pleasure in life. He looks forward to the evening every day when he goes to work and calls this time his "golden movie dinner time".

Of course, all of this is predicated on the fact that he watched a 'good' movie.

Bad movies are not allowed during the "prime movie dinner time," and Hojo Toshi would never waste two hours of his life on a piece of garbage.

"Didn't I say I wanted a hit movie? Even if you don't have one, you can't just try to fool our customers with this kind of garbage!" Hojo Toshi shouted, slamming his fist on the small table.

The bento box and beer bounced and then fell back to their original positions. The other guests nodded in agreement; they were all there to watch the movie and naturally hoped to see a good film.

The video arcade owner was also very firm: "This is the hottest video of the week. Many professional film critics have seen it, as well as some newspaper reporters, video arcade headhunters, and regular movie buffs... they all came to see it."

"That's it?" Hojo Toshi didn't believe it.

"Be patient, keep watching, it gets even better later," the video arcade owner said. "Don't you trust the judgment of professional film critics?"

Having said all that, Hojo Toshi had no choice but to shut up.

He secretly sulked, thinking that if he found out in the end that it was indeed a bad movie, he would definitely demand a refund from the video arcade owner.

The 'movie' continues, and the filming style appears to be a mockumentary. The actors speak directly to the camera throughout, and their emotions are very genuine.

The protagonist is a female college student named Yuri Otomo, who, due to a bad relationship, incurs a huge debt. Therefore, she travels to the "New World" to participate in a mysterious "trial".

Hojo Satoshi was completely baffled by this part. He didn't know what the "New World" was, where the inexplicable trials came from, or why a female college student in debt would suddenly be involved with such a suspicious organization...

But the beginning of the 'movie' did pique his interest, mainly because the female lead's performance was so realistic.

These days, Japan hasn't released any movies similar to escape rooms, such as a group of characters with ulterior motives coming together to compete for a huge prize and engage in a life-or-death struggle. Such a popular theme hasn't appeared yet.

So Hojo Toshiyasu found it novel as soon as he saw the beginning.

The film's rapid cuts clearly indicate that the editor is highly unprofessional, resulting in a chaotic and haphazard editing process.

Various characters are constantly talking, without any introductions; they're just chatting amongst themselves. The director's skill level also seems terrible; it looks like he's filming with a camera right up to their faces. I think even Hojo Satoshi could have done a better job.

During a casual conversation among several characters, Hojo Satoshi learns that the female protagonist is not the only one invited to the "New World".

There are eight people in this trial, and they each have their own troubles.

A huge reward can be obtained as long as the trial is passed.

Some people participate because their family members are seriously ill and they need to raise money for medical expenses; some are laid off and have no choice but to participate because they have to pay their mortgage and car loan; and some simply like adventure, pursue money, or have a sense of curiosity... The story is getting more and more interesting. Hojo Satoshi thinks the screenwriter is a genius, the plot setting is very interesting, and it might even create a new genre and surpass Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

In addition, all the actors delivered excellent performances. Every second the camera lingered on the screen, the actors' emotions were incredibly genuine, instantly immersing the audience and drawing them into the story.

The only flaw was the poor directing and editing; Hojo Satoshi vaguely felt that things were still a bit lacking at this point…

Soon, the broadcast announced the start of the trial.

The game is very simple; you just draw the joker card, but in reverse.

Each person is dealt four cards, so there are thirty-two cards for eight people, including four jokers.

In each round of the game, players can draw a card from another player's hand or force an exchange of cards.

When a player collects all four Jokers and has only four Jokers left in their hand, the game ends, that player wins, and the other seven players are eliminated.

Violence is prohibited during the trial.

Those are all the rules.

"Players" is the nickname Hojo Satoshi gave them; according to the movie's setting, they should be called "Trialers".

But Hojo felt that the term was not quite appropriate. It was just playing games to win prizes, and it couldn't really be considered a trial.

If such a simple competition existed in real life, he would definitely sign up. It's just a try, after all; what if he gets lucky and wins?

Hojo Toshiyasu, with a mindset of entertainment, continued watching.

To his utter surprise, this game... no, this trial, was far more intense than he had imagined.

The quickest to react was a bespectacled man who tried to hoard cards by drawing cards without changing them, thereby monopolizing all cards and increasing the probability of drawing the Joker.

Soon, some people realized what was happening, and the trial participants stopped their pointless card-swapping and began drawing cards from other players to avoid wasting their turn.

As is typical in movies, the protagonist will surely come up with a winning strategy to defeat the other challengers and win the final prize.

However, the female lead of this movie, Yuri Otomo, seems to have broken this rule.

She was anxious and kept praying that she would draw the Joker. However, because she was uneasy at the beginning of the game, she chose to team up with other trial participants and exchange cards with each other. This caused her to waste many rounds. By the end of the game, she only had four cards in her hand.

The test-taker who collected all four Jokers was the bespectacled man. After drawing three Jokers, he unusually began to forcibly change the cards.

In the end, he got the fourth joker card and hid all four cards under his buttocks, letting the other players continue to draw their extra cards, and finally won the game.

The movie is almost over, and Hojo Satoshi finds it interesting, but also feels it doesn't deserve the hype.

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

Brain matter splattered everywhere in the room—this wasn't special effects, but a scene almost entirely filmed. Not only was the middle-aged bespectacled man in the movie stunned, but Hojo Satoshi, the actor outside the film, was also taken aback.

He leaned back and gasped.

At this moment, a camera notification appeared in the lower right corner of the screen indicating that filming was in progress.

"Filming in progress..."

The movie continues as the body is dragged away by staff and thrown into the incinerator. The entire scene is filmed in one continuous shot without any editing.

(End of this chapter)