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Days at the project were long. They woke up, practiced their skills (hoping that they weren't grabbed at random and taken to be executed just to drive any surviving kids to despair), ate, went back to practice, and checked the line-up of children for next season in a vain hope they'd have a chance to be remembered.
Tsumugi was staring at the frozen, disgusting mess of a meal she was served. She sighed, fiddling with the hem of her skirt as she glanced around at other kids, most of her friends ending up dead and she's been smart enough to not even speak to another human in case she got attached.
She knows that a new shipment of children that arrived today, she can see the hope draining from their eyes as they shiver at a table together. They're probably a bit worked up from the raven haired girl who was impaled on camera before lunch. Tsumugi notes that most of them are brunettes as she pokes at the food she probably won't eat (she's been starving herself to get thinner for a bit anyways). She adjusts her blonde wig and twirls a strand of fake hair.
Half of them will be dead in a week.
One of the new boys, probably twelve, walked up to her and she rolls her eyes. "Leave," Her voice is quiet and timid, but anyone with sense can practically taste the vile in her tone. It's not uncommon for newer children to try to challenge some of the more experienced kids, and Tsumugi had inexplicably not died yet. Most kids knew what was best for them after a word or two and backed off from people who've survived this hell longer.
He narrows his eyes and she can sense this one's stupidity.
His hand pushes the frail girl off her chair, smirking. He punches her and she crumples submissively, waiting for this to end.
Maybe he'll beat her to death and she can go see if Hell truly is better.
The boy yanks her hair and she feels her wig tugged off. Tsumugi's breath catches and her eyes dilate.
Any random bystander can see the fear in the boy's big, brown doe eyes and the realization he screwed up.
The blue haired girl has a surprisingly strong grip considering her sickly thin figure, and both hands have clamped around his neck. Despair is perfectly captured in his expression as his face turned purple.
But this wasn't good enough. Tsumugi clicked her tongue much like what one of the executives (or even Lord Kodaka) would do before beating a child senseless. One hand is firm on her victim's neck while her eyes scan the table.
She picks up the cold food and wonders if it's sharp enough to kill a child.
The boy is breathing in large gulps as Tsumugi straddles him and sharpens the inedible meal with her red fingernails. No one but the new kids really pay more attention than a side glance or two. It's usual for a young one to be stabbed at any meal time.
She drags a sharp end of her make-shift weapon across his neck and he flails. She's more annoyed at the blood that sprays her in the face and stains her cosplay. He's lucky that she has spares of her Enoshima outfit in her closet, or she'd make it more painful.
(At any rate, she's practically doing him a favor to begin with so he's really lucky.)
The body stops struggling and Tsumugi gets up and grabs her wig. It's covered in a bit of dust and blood, but it's better than nothing. She feels cold and exposed like this.
No one notices her (not any different than usual) and she kicks the body to the side. One of the older kids will burn it later and add the ashes to the group shrine to Goddess Enoshima anyways.
She just sits back in the same chair, wrapping her fake blonde hair around her blood soaked finger as the newer kids stare at this monster in horror.
Not that Shirogane really cares, half of them will be dead in a week.