Kilii covered her mouth. WHOOPS
"W-Well, you see, that's what Opine did with everyone in the first Competition who didn't get Promoted. She just sort of dropped them into a kind of nonexistence. B-But she put them back into the reincarnation cycle a while back, so it's not like they're gone forever or anything like that! I'm sure that's the worst that would happen to you!" she explained frantically, trying to make things sound better than they were.
"A-And, I don't think Opine would do that to you guys...I-I mean, she left the second group of Tested here and they're fine, right? I'm sure you'll all be okay!"
I don't know, that still seems worthy of angstericalness to me.