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The banquet should have started thirty seconds ago, Sara thinks. No -- a minute. Two. Five? But Midori isn't back yet.
I'll be back in a minute, he'd said vaguely, disappearing before she’d had a chance to protest, or ask wait, where are you going? And then he hadn't.
Now she’s stuck looking at crumbly brick wall.
It's easy to lose track of time in the dark. From the looks of things, she's not the only one ill at ease. Sou's face has taken on a deathly pallor; Gin's trembling; Q-taro's giant hand on his shoulder isn’t helping much. She’s trembling, too, from fatigue, she thinks. Probably. It’s hard to rest like this, slumped against a coffin that might have recently contained --
She's not thinking about it. Keiji can't be in there. He just can't.
She's not thinking about it --
"I'm back, everyone! Sorry for the delay~!"
The ceiling lights blaze on overhead; Midori’s unpleasantly cheery voice echoes through the chamber. It’s the first time she’s ever felt glad to see him.
"Midori...!"
"Ahaha... were you worried about me? I'm touched, miss Sara!"
He sounds almost like Sou when he says that.
"Bastard," Q-taro grunts. "Leavin' us in the dark like this..."
"What took you so long, meow?! Are we doing the banquet or not, woof?!"
"Settle down!" Midori says. "Of course we're doing the banquet. There are just a few... technical difficulties. Nothing that takes more than an hour to resolve! The drilling mechanism isn't functioning properly, and without that operational --" Sara feels weak; the what? -- "we absolutely can't run the banquet. But there's no use in having dead time, either. Not this kind of dead time, anyway. Ahaha..."
"A backup activity," Sou says, toneless. "You planned something."
For the first time Sara registers what Midori is holding. A... binder? He wasn't holding that before.
"The Floor Masters have quite a few activities in reserve," Midori says cheerfully, like he's reading her mind. "Don't look so down, Shin! I think this one is quite fun. And it's not deadly, if you can believe it. Although it can be. In any case, do you like drinking games?"
"We don't want any of your drinks, meow!"
Midori looks like he's thinking about patting Gin's head, but thinks better of it.
"No actual drinks, of course! You're much too young for that, aren't you, Gin? But a [game of trust]... that sounds much more fun, doesn't it?"
"It doesn't at all, meow!!"
"Ahaha. Say, miss Sara. Have you played never have I ever before?"
Never have I ever? The party game?
It rings a bell. She's been to gatherings where classmates played games like that, right? It's hard to believe just a week ago she was a student like any other, laughing and chatting with everyone at school. Can I copy off ya, Sara? Aw, c'mon...
Who had said that?
"I think so," she says.
"Everyone's played that one," Q-taro says gruffly. Sweat’s beading on his face; whether it's nerves, injury, or the stifling room, Sara isn't sure. "Ya just say things ya never did, but think they might have, right? Tryin’ to get them out.”
Midori beams. "Exactly! I thought we could play something like that. With changes, of course. It wouldn't do to have Gin drink, would it? So instead of alcohol, everyone starts with five points."
"And we're trying to get other people 'out'?" Sara says cautiously.
"Not exactly." Midori flips through a couple pages in his binder, squinting. It's covered in notes and scribblings Sara can't make out at all; his handwriting is terrible. "In this modified game, actually... the person left 'in' is the one who loses."
What the?! "That changes the entire game!"
"I know everything about all of you, miss Sara. Did you forget that? Even by my standards, it wouldn't be fair.” Midori's smile is so bright. “I'll go ahead and outline the rules now, okay?"
He lists them off, finger by finger:
"You'll start with five points: one for each finger. Turns are chosen randomly, mostly. If your statement gets exactly one person out, that person's turn is next. If it gets everyone out, you get to go again. If it gets nobody out... I'll get to go. The game ends when one person is left, or when the banquet's ready. But I wouldn't recommend stalling. Ahaha..."
"What happens to the loser?" Sara says.
Midori's smile is unfaltering. "What indeed! It’d be no fun to tell you now, would it?"
"We don't want to find out," Sou mutters. “Knowing Midori, it’s nothing good…”
"What if we don't admit something, woof? When it's our turn, meow?"
"That would be lying! Lying is a rules violation," Midori says. "Violations are, and continue to be,punishable by death."
Gin's ears downturn visibly. "Do we have to play, meow? Can I sit out...?"
"Absolutely not," Midori says serenely. "Every candidate must participate to continue in the game."
Every candidate? But that means...
"Keiji isn't here," Sara says immediately.
"Ahaha. Still going on about Keiji, hm? He really did a number on you, didn't he?"
Shut up.
"He's alive. I know he is...!"
He has to be. Keiji wouldn't die so easily.
"In the face of overwhelming evidence, you can't admit it... that under that welded coffin lid there's a nice Keiji steak, hm? Sometimes it's hard to acknowledge reality..."
Stop... That isn't...
"Answer the question, Midori," Sou says. "Can we play for him?"
"Ahaha. Well, miss Sara can play for him... if she really insists. Can't you, Sara?" Midori's smile is sharp. "Although I'll understand if you don't want to take responsibility."
She can feel herself go limp with relief. Take responsibility for Keiji?
Sou's looking at her funny, though. Almost as if to warn her…
“I almost forgot!” Midori’s voice practically makes her jump out of her skin. “If the last person left is a candidate, they lose. if the last person left is me, you win! But you also lose if you get me out early. That is, you have to get me out last.”
Wait, what?
Sara’s mouth is dry. “You’re playing?”
“Of course I’m playing! I’m not so selfless as to abstain from a game of my own invention! It’s more fun this way. Ahaha... don't look so dour, Shin.”
-
Midori’s somehow configured the game to run on their collars.
“Just tap to say you’ve done something,” he says, demonstrating on himself. Tap. The collar starts to glow an unsettling green. “I brought Keiji one, too, by the way. Ahaha.” He tosses it to her carelessly, like it doesn’t matter to him whether it works, or what she does with it.
It seems functional; it lights up when she presses it, deactivates when she presses twice.
The metal’s cool to the touch. Is it a spare? Or was it… She can’t see any… char marks, or burnt flesh, or anything. It’s not like she can ask: Was this Mishima’s? Nao’s? Don’t tell me… Reko’s?
It can’t be Keiji’s.
A bit of a blur later she’s sitting in the dirt, watching a bottle spin that appears to have materialized for this exact purpose. Not even a bottle on closer inspection, one of Safalin's melon soda cans. The can is spinning with an amount of force it’s hard to believe a human hand could produce.
It lands on Gin.
Gin and Q-taro nod to each other -- but Gin gives her a look first, a guilty sort of look. She’d seen them talking furtively while Midori flipped through the rulebook. What are they planning?
"Never have I ever... been a baseball player, meow," he announces uncertainly.
Q-taro taps his collar once, clears his throat. Nobody else says anything.
Dimly, Sara wonders: if someone else were a baseball player, and they didn't say so, what would happen? Would their collar explode?
For a panicked moment she wonders if Keiji's ever played baseball.
But moments later their collars blip and stop glowing; since no one’s died, and the collar in her lap hasn’t done anything weird, Sara surmises that… he hasn’t.
She can imagine what he’d say. Relax, Sara. Do I look like a baseball player to you?
Now it's Q-taro's turn to speak. "Never have I ever... had one of those cat plushie things."
Gin dutifully presses his collar again.
And the round continues. They go back and forth like this for some time, Gin and Q-taro trading targets. Never have I ever worn a cat outfit, yeah? Never have I ever had red hair, woof! They're careful not to pick anything that might be true of anyone else.
It's smart, Sara realizes. It's a good strategy. It'll save Gin... and Q-taro, too. From whatever fate awaits the last person standing.
Q-taro is saving himself. That's what you should do.
No, he's saving Gin . And Midori... he probably isn't serious, right? Like with tag from earlier. Surely he needs the candidates alive. For the banquet. For the next Main Game.
Would you bet your life on that?
-
“Ah, congratulations! Both of you are safe for now. It's just the four of us remaining!” Midori says merrily. If Sara didn’t know better, she’d think he really was happy. “Me, Shin, miss Sara, and your friendly policesteak!”
“‘gnore him, Sara,” Q-taro says quietly.
“Miss Sara... I'm sorry, meow. I couldn't do anything for you... woof…”
“You did well, Gin," Sara says. It's true: Gin extracting himself from this accursed game as quickly as possible is all she can ask of him.
“You do have to say one last never-have-I-ever, though, Gin,” Midori says. “Can you manage?”
Gin hisses at him in supremely catlike fashion. Then he turns to Sara, takes a deep breath, and says resolutely:
“Never have I ever... been the Keymaster, woof.”
Pause.
“It's in your hands now, big sis Sara! I know you can save everyone, woof!”
Sara presses her collar instantly. How could she not? The trauma of being the Keymaster that first Main Game… everything that followed… she isn’t likely to forget that.
But the round isn’t ending.
Sou glances at Gin wordlessly -- and he presses his collar, too.
“Myow?! But… wasn’t loner guy a Commoner, woof?!”
“Ahaha! So much for passing the baton to miss Sara…!”
That's right. At the start of the last round... Sou was...
“I was the Keymaster,” Sou says coldly. “Before Keiji took my card.”
Gin’s ears are drooping. “I’m no good at these games, meow... I’m sorry, big sis Sara…”
She’d forgotten about it. On some level, it still feels like Keiji freely gave her his card. But that isn’t right. Keiji took Sou’s Keymaster… to buy her trust. With a lie…
She still hasn’t asked him about it. What would he say? Is he just going to call her cute if she asks?
In her mind’s eye, Keiji smiles crookedly. You would have traded it back if you knew the truth. I’m right, aren’t I? ...Sara.
She’s hearing things. Keiji isn’t here, and she’s hallucinating what he might say, and she’s going to get both of them killed because of it. Focus.
I’ll grill you when this is over with, Sara thinks desperately, and I won’t take cute for an answer!
The Keiji of her mind smiles again. I won’t hide anything from you.
“Well, since multiple people are ‘it’, the next turn will be chosen randomly,” Midori says. He spins the can with a hand that is absolutely, definitely not a human hand.
The can spins at an unthinkable velocity before it slows and… lands on her.
Sou relaxes visibly. He doesn’t want it to land on Midori for some reason…?
...She doesn’t really want it to, either. Just on instinct.
She and Sou can use the Q-taro and Gin strategy, can’t they? Taking turns singling each other out, eliminating each other on the same turn.
But it's harder than she'd thought, picking something that singles out Sou. What's she supposed to say? Never have I ever been named Sou? Even that wouldn't work.
He's... a scary friend of mine.
"Never have I ever... talked to my own AI," she manages. She's not sure where it came from, but it should work, right?
A pause.
"Not good enough, Sara," Sou says, his knuckles white.
What?! "But I've never talked to --"
"Not you," Sou says. "Him."
Midori...? Does Midori have an AI?
He's tapping his collar...!
"You're so smart, Shin," Midori says. He sounds genuinely admiring. "Sometimes I wonder about your winrate."
"I didn't know," Sara says. "How could I have?!"
"You should have guessed," Sou says coldly, pressing his collar as he does. "You think he'd make an AI of all of us, but not himself? He wanted to play in the Death Game, too. He was supposed to. Obviously he'd make one."
“Miss Sara doesn’t really use computers, let alone program them,” Midori says. “Ahaha. Go easy on her, Shin.”
Sou just glares at him.
But Sou and Midori both pressed their collars, so... at least Midori doesn't get to go next.
Unless the bottle lands on him…
It doesn’t, though; it lands on her, somehow, again.
“You’re so lucky, miss Sara,” Midori breathes. “I wonder: when will your luck run out?”
-
She doesn’t mess up this time, or the next, although it’s genuinely difficult to think of ways to single out Sou. Never have I ever been kidnapped at a konbini. Never have I ever worn a beanie for three days straight. Her sentences work, though they’re awkward. Sou’s are more pointed. Never have I ever inspired a Dummy to kill miss Reko. Never have I ever killed Kanna with my deciding vote.
It should hurt more than it does, but he isn’t wrong, and, well... it’s like he said, isn’t it? Sadness ? I can’t even make that kind of feeling anymore.
After a couple turns of this, though, Sou pauses, brows furrowed. This time he’s taking a while to come up with something.
“Never have I ever met miss Sara before this game,” he says finally.
Met me before the Game…?
"That's a good one," Midori says. He doesn't press his collar, which is good; she really doesn't want to consider what that would mean.
Wait. This statement doesn’t apply to anyone. She hasn’t met anyone here before the Game. And according to the rules… if a statement doesn’t apply to anyone , then Midori gets to go.
Did Sou mess up?
It doesn’t make sense. Sou would never intentionally pass the baton to Midori.
Unless he would.
An insane thought occurs to her: they’re working together. It’s not impossible, right? Midori has some kind of relationship with him. And Sou… he doesn’t like Midori, but he likes dying even less. So that’s it; Sou and Midori working together, to get rid of her, after everything she’s done for all of them, after saving their lives --
"Sara," Sou says. It's strained. Like he's trying to convey something with just the tone of the syllables.
Keiji's collar is hot in her hands.
Does...
Has Keiji met her before the Game?
That's impossible. They've never met before. She'd remember someone like him.
But would she really? Everyone else had their memories manipulated by Midori, by Asunaro. It’s not inconceivable she’s forgotten something, too. Something important.
The way Keiji trusts her, or seems to; the way he’s guided everyone else to put her trust in her… it would make sense, wouldn’t it?
(The Keiji of her mind doesn’t say anything. He just looks at her.)
Sou must know that. But how? She can't imagine Keiji telling Sou this. It’s more than he’s ever told her! The Prize Exchange. Did he buy Keiji’s information there? Or is this entire line of reasoning based on a guess? Is he trying to sabotage her? Keiji voted for Kanna; this could be revenge --
"The round's almost over, Sara," Sou says, more urgently.
Her instincts are screaming. But what does that mean?
If she gets this wrong, if Keiji really doesn't know her, who's going to die? Keiji, for "lying"? Or her, for lying for him?
It doesn't matter. She presses Keiji's collar down.
For a brief moment, nothing happens --
But then all the collars light up green, and Midori starts clapping.
Sou looks visibly relieved. So maybe he wasn't trying to kill her with that.
-
They somehow manage to keep up the volley. She thinks she gets it, actually. Sou was reminding her to play for Keiji, wasn’t he? She’d panicked and forgotten. But if they take turns getting each other out, her, Sou, and Keiji, they’ll all be safely eliminated, and Midori will lose.
Or the banquet could just start already. As stressful as this game is, something tells her the banquet’s going to be worse.
It’s almost over, though. Just a couple more turns of her and Sou awkwardly working together, and… they’ll have won, somehow. They haven’t let Midori have a turn all game. But they’re also running out of ways to target each other. She honestly can’t think of anything she knows about Sou she hasn’t said at this point, and it’s not hard to imagine him feeling the same way.
It’s his turn now, though, so she just has to wait.
Several long moments pass. Sou looks like he’s struggling to come up with anything.
Then he looks at her directly, and this time it's impossible to read his expression.
“Never have I ever forgotten Joe,” he says.
That…
…
….
That’s a weird sentence. Who is Joe?
But weirder about it… is the way it doesn’t make her feel anything.
The strange little keychain they’d found in the school bag. With Keiji and… Ranmaru. Is it that Joe guy’s…? Keiji’s voice, tense and distrusting: Give me that. And don’t ever say that name again.
The keychain belonged to Joe. And it was in her bag. Is there some connection to her?
The logical answer is yes. All the participants have had their memories manipulated -- the lanterns prove it. Everyone except her forgot Midori, so it makes a weird, symmetrical sense she’d forget someone else. And at a meta level, Sou wouldn’t say it unless it was true of her. He’s relying on me to figure that out. If we start from that premise, and reason accordingly… then it has to be true, right? I’ve forgotten someone named Joe.
On an emotional level, though, it’s a little hard to believe. She doesn’t feel anything at the mention of this name; she’s not even curious.
If the keychain was in her bag, did they know each other?
She can’t read Sou’s expression at all. He’s just watching her. But she reaches for her collar and presses it anyway.
It’s sort of hasty, but she has a weird feeling. Like she shouldn’t spend more time thinking about this, or something terrible will happen.
Relax, Sara.
“You’re really something, miss Sara,” Midori says. “You two have done a great job not letting me have any fun. And now you’re one statement away from winning this game. I’ve got an offer for you, though.”
“Don’t listen to him, Sara,” Sou says urgently. Like she needs telling.
She has to listen, though. Doesn’t she? If it can save Keiji...
“What if, for your next statement, you pick something true of me? I’d like to play with Shin a little, you see. I promise I won’t kill him. I need him for the banquet, after all. Ahaha.” Midori’s eyes are so wide. He’s telling the truth, though; Floor Masters can’t lie, and besides, she can just tell.
“I’ll give you a coffin’s advantage. An extra vote in the banquet. Trust me, that’ll be very useful for you.” Those words don’t really mean anything to her, but she senses they’re probably true too. “It’s easy, right? Never have I ever been a Floor Master. You can say that, right?”
“Sara,” Sou says hoarsely.
“Oh, I forgot,” Midori adds, like it’s an afterthought. “I’ll tell you where Keiji is.”
“Sara…!”
“Which makes this a great deal for you.”
Keiji...
Does Midori know where Keiji is? Has he known this whole time?
She’s considering sacrificing Sou to Midori just for Keiji’s location? Not even his life. Leaving Midori to toy with him like he’s prey, just so she can triangulate what might be Keiji’s corpse -
It’s only fair, isn’t it? He’d throw her to the wolves just as fast. Faster, even. He’s made his intent very clear. There’s hardly any difference between you two, to me.
But.
Big sis Sara… I know you can save everyone, woof.
“Never have I ever… voted for you,” Sara says, in barely a whisper. “Sou.”
Sou’s face warps unspeakably --
But before he reaches for his collar there’s a crackling sound, and a wishy-washy voice floods the intercom.
“Umm… we’ve got the mechanism working again… Sorry it took so long, awuu… ”
All the lights on the collars deactivate. Midori picks up the empty soda can, crushes it with a crunch.
“You heard Safalin, everyone! It’s banquet time! You played wonderfully, though -- wargh!”
Gin’s rocketing towards her, practically knocking Midori over in his hurry to get to Sara; once he’s there, he tackles her to the ground in a large-pawed hug.
“Shut up, seaweed-head!! You’re terrible, meow!!”
“Ya did good, Sara,” Q-taro says. His breathing sounds a little less labored than earlier; maybe he really is doing better. “Even Sou did good, huh?”
Sou isn’t looking at them. He looks ashen, harrowed. He’s somehow especially not looking at her.
He thought she’d leave him to Midori, she realizes. And she hadn’t, because…
Because you made a mistake.
What? No. She didn’t… that’s… she’d never abandon anyone. Not even Sou --
Kill him before he kills you. He’s going to try. Or do you want to die like Joe?
Joe…?
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-
She comes to on the dirt floor, with a bunch of concerned blurs hovering over her. Even Sou looks worried, though it could be a trick of the light.
“You passed out, meow!! … Stay on the ground, meow!! Big sis Sara! You have to recharge!”
“Ya gotta rest, Sara. Don’t push yerself too far.”
“...We need you for the banquet. Don’t give up now.”
Gin, Q-Taro, Sou: they’re all counting on her, in their own way. She has to honor that.
“Yes…” Sara croaks.
There are so many mysteries she hasn’t solved. They’re all going to get out of there together. Alive. That’s what she believes. It is.
It is.