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A simple, unanimous vote. 14 of them, almost unanimous, but not quite. Almost everyone voted for the right person. Almost one single person voted for an innocent soul. A person who was framed for the whole thing threw a string of unfortunate coincidences.
The chances of Isono Miki dying in a perfect world is 6.25%, or 1/16. The chances of Ken Hasegawa being the one to kill her is .390625%, or 1/256. The chances of Kazutoshi being involved in this wholeness is about 0.024414062% or 1/1048. All of those tiny, seemingly miniscule and unimportant percentages somehow just… mattered. And— … and now the odds of Ken Hasegawa dying are 100%.
The trial room was silent, judging eyes all staring deep into Hasegawa's soul. A small figure stood right next to Ken. Kazutoshi. Tears brimming at the edges of his eyes. Tears he'd usually never let spill out. Before Ken could do anything, a cold, metallic chain clamped around his neck, tight and restricting (this would surely cause neck trauma), prohibiting Hasegawa from taking a full breath easily. The chain started to pull him away to his fate, and in a stupid futile attempt to prevent this, he threw his arm out. Hoping someone- anyone would save him from his fate. A fate he himself sealed with a tender kiss, a fate he himself caused.
A rubber gloved hand grabbed onto Ken's arm, the other hand grabbing onto the podium. Kazutoshi. Kazutoshi was holding onto Hasegawa- trying to keep the latter from getting executed- his expression filled with pain. A traitor it was. Sadly, life wasn't this easy where you could just escape an execution. Hasegawa gasped just a little bit at Kazutoshi holding onto his arm for dear life, but that spark of hope was quickly crushed as the chain around his neck ripped him away from a screaming Kazutoshi.
The hall can was dragged through was dark, pitch black, a complete void, even. Suffocatingly dark, cold, and empty. The only thing that kept Ken from thinking he was dead was the constant reminder of the cold metal chain, clamped around his neck like he was some mutt who deserved to be treated like crap. No, not even a dog could be treated like this. Keizo would surely say that.
The chain dragged him into a classroom with a singular desk and chair in the middle. Mechanical arms whirred around him, dangling on the ceiling like horrifying chandeliers. In the front of the classroom was none other than MonoTV itself, a maniac grin spread across its blue-lit screen, sitting in front of a chalkboard, a piece of chalk in its “paw”.
_Ken shakily walked over to the desk and slumped into it. Looking at the digital screen on the desk, he watched as it greeted him.
_“Hello, Hasegawa, Ken.”
_“To survive your execution, you must answer 10 questions.”
_“Every question you answer correctly will add 3 seconds to your timer. The opposite will happen if you get a question wrong. Failure to answer a question will result in death.”
_Ken shakily pulled out his pen (the pen he used to take Isono's life away from her, the pen that got him into this situation) and prepared himself for the first question to appear. His hands shook with fear, a bead of sweat rolled down his porcelain face. Anxiety slowly suffocating him from the inside out.
_The very first question appeared on the screen in a sleek, black font. Courier New, bolded, font size 14. The timer in the upper right corner indicated he only had 5 seconds to answer. “What is the square root of 1,719,047,690?” Ken thought for a quick second (he didn't have much time to spare), before scribbling down his answer. “41,461.4”. The screen flashed with a green colour as a message popped up on the screen. “Correct! :D” Ken mentally cheered a small bit before the second question, now with 8 seconds to answer it, appeared on the screen.
_“Who was the 11th US President?” Oh- uh- that was a lot easier than the last question. He wrote down his answer with a bit more confidence than before. “James K. Polk.” The screen lit up a green hue once more with the same excited message as before, building up Ken's confidence bit by bit.
_“What is the element that is represented by the symbol Sb?” “Antimony.” Ken scribbled down, the screen shining its comforting green colour, stupidly silly text, and the wonderful thought of having 14 seconds to answer the next question seemed like a dream to have.
_“You've got this, Ken.” Kamimura mumbled quietly from the trial room, staring at the screen which was showing Ken's execution, like it was a movie for all to watch. The Chemist hoping- praying Ken would survive.
_Ken was so close to escaping. Only 7 questions remained for him to answer, and they've been getting easier and easier. So- he should be able to survive this “execution”. Especially with how much time he'd been given to answer them.
_“How many diagonals does a decagon have?” The question stated, “35” Ken answered. Ding! 17 seconds to answer the next one. A smile graced across Ken's face. A small one, but still a smile. 6 questions. 6 questions then he could live and not worry about death for a long time. Living, something Isono was denied because of him, something Kazutoshi almost had ripped away from him, something Mas-
_“Does Kamimura Kazutoshi deserve to live?”
_Ken froze, staring at the screen and utter shock. This- This wasn't a question he could answer- he shakily put his pen onto the digital screen, his breaths coming out in short gasps as he scribbled down his answer.
_“Yes.”
_The air filled with a loud buzzer noise. The screen flashed a bloody red colour. The once comforting “Correct! :D” became “Incorrect, you fucking idiot.” Ken shook, eyes wide in a mixture of fear and confusion. What does it mean by incorrect? Does Kazutoshi- not deserve to live-?
_One of the robotic arms dangling above can turn its pinchers into a sharp, pointed edge and lodged itself deep inside Ken's eye socket and then ripping itself out. A hot, crimson red liquid flowed down the brunette's cheek. Pain. A shockwave of it. A scream of pure agony erupted out of Ken's throat as hot tears made their presence known on the students face.
_The screen showed its next question, almost taunting the poor boy as he attempted to stop the blood from flowing out of his eye. “Is Ken Hasegawa a good person?” Ken messily scribbled out a “No” onto the device, expecting the comfort of the green colour to greet him once again, but he was denied this, instead being greeted with the horrifying buzzer noise and taunting message just once more. A robotic arm grabbed the hand he was covering his eye with and extended it out, a baseball bat slammed down onto the students arm, bending it into an inhumane shape no human limb should ever make. Another scream, more tears, more shaking. Any confidence Ken had built up before was now completely shattered.
_“Does your family still love you?”
_Ken let out a choked sob, picking his pen up again and wrote “I hope not.” in horrid handwriting. The screen flashed the red colour once more, a robotic arm grabbed Ken's uninjured arm, a red saw rose up and cut the brunette's arm clean off his body. Blood spilled onto the floor like a waterfall. Another scream.
_5 seconds to answer the next question. 5. 3 questions remained. He couldn't die here. He wouldn't die here of all places. The pen was lying on the screen. Ken picked up the pen with his mouth and tried his very best to answer the question. “Who held up the sun in Roman Mythology?” “𝐴⃫𝑡⃫𝑙⃫𝑎⃫𝑠⃫”" He couldn't even read his own handwriting. The chair he was sitting down fell onto the ground as a baseball bat slammed down onto his legs, shattering them. Ken wailed, pain destroying every single part of his body.
_The next question appeared on screen, “Why do you still try?” And Ken could barely even move an inch. The whole room filled a bloody red colour as the text “YOU FAILED!” flashed across the screen. The floor opened up from beneath the student as he plummeted down into a dark room, painfully hitting the ground. He sobbed, curling up into a ball and bawling his eyes out. At least until the sound of low growling became known to him. He painfully sat up and looked around him. Black wolves surrounded him, eyes full of one thing. Hunger.
_He could only scream
_One
_Last
_Time.
_…
_. . .
_. . .
_Thump.
_Kamimura fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face as well as mascara. His whole frame shook like some small leaf. Someone tried to hug him- comfort him- but he swatted them away. Curling into a small, shaky, sobbing mess of a person. Why- why why why-
_Was this even fair?
_At all?
_…
_Should he have just died…?