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“Toshiko, how can a girl your age know so much about love?”

The Ultimate Matchmaker has been asked that question for as long as she can remember; at just 8 years old she was already assisting her mother in her matchmaking services. Everyone always looks at her skeptically, always assumes that it’s mere luck that allows her to find successful matches. 

It’s not, it never has been. 

See, Toshiko has a gift- one she was born with. When she looks at the world, she can see the red strings of fate that connect destined lovers. 

At first she didn’t understand what the strings were; in fact she assumed that everyone saw them. It was only when she reached an age where imaginary friends were no longer appropriate that her mother took her claims seriously. 

This led to months of testing in hopes of discovering whatever was different about her. The tests were long and uncomfortable, and no one believed that the strings she saw could possibly be real. She realized that it upset her mother greatly when she spoke of them. 

So eventually she told everyone that the strings were just a silly game she was making up. Of course they were quite angry at her, assuming she’d wasted their time, but her parents were happy to have a normal little girl. 

She learned what the strings actually were by happenstance: through a silly bedtime story that her mother told her. Most of her mother’s stories were pure fantasy, yet she knew as soon as her mother mentioned a string that connects soulmates that this one was the truth.  

It was pure luck that her family’s business happened to be matchmaking- or maybe it was fate. Her mother didn’t take her input very seriously at first (what sane adult would?) but learned that her daughter had a certain wisdom about her that was better left unquestioned. 

As Toshiko grew up, so did her infamy. Wealthy people from all around the world began to flock to her so she could aid in finding prosperous matches for their children. Toshiko (a romantic at heart) loved her job. She knew that her childhood was unlike any of her peers’ but she didn’t care. 

Now, she’s fourteen, and she’s been given the title of ‘Ultimate Matchmaker’ by the UTP. Eden’s Garden Academy has also reached out to her to offer her admission to their prestigious and exclusive school. 

At first, her mother puts her foot down. She insists that Toshiko is too young to leave home, much less to go all the way to America, and that Eden’s Garden will be waiting for her after she’s grown up more. 

However, Toshiko is a stubborn force when she wants to be. She begs her mother for days, and when that doesn’t work she goes on a hunger strike. Finally, her father intervenes and tells her mother that they should allow her to go spread her wings. If schooling in America doesn’t work out, then she can always return back home. 

Months later, after she wakes up in a strange complex, she wishes she listened to her mother when she had the chance.

As she explores the facilities (on her own due to her classmates underestimating her) she realizes that she’s surrounded by fated pairs. It’s exciting; perhaps Ultimates are truly drawn together in a way that can only be explained by fate. She starts scheming up ways to push them together, absolutely dazzled by the potential for so much true love to be explored. 

And then it’s revealed that this is a killing game, and every ounce of joy turns to dread. 

She considers her options; she can’t tell everyone about her sight because they won’t believe her. Additionally, even if she did somehow manage to convince them it would only put a target on all of the couples. Some of her classmates don’t have a fated partner at the Academy, and knowing that someone is out there waiting for them could drive them to take drastic action. 

Every part of her wants to trust in Wolfgang’s belief that no one will fall into Tozu’s trap, yet she knows it’s impossible. In her time as a matchmaker she’s heard many terrible stories of crimes of passion. Despite her age, she knows how violent humans can be. 

She’s terrified. She can’t even investigate a fake murder; what will she do if there’s a real one? And she’s the smallest one there- the easiest target. 

All she wants to do is hide in her room and cry. 

Except her room isn’t even safe- not with the broken lock. When she finds out that they’re all going to get roommates, she tries to offer her services. Hopes that her classmates will listen to her, so they can be paired with the person who’s most likely to keep them safe. 

Of course they don’t listen to her. No one ever does.

Still, being paired up with Ingrid makes her feel safer; the blacksmith is strong and kind, and Toshiko knows she will do everything in her power to protect both of them. 

Though, she still makes Ingrid promise her.

“You have to promise me you won’t hurt me,” she demands of Ingrid after they’ve entered her room. 

“I’ll do you one better. I promise to keep you safe, Toshiko.”

There’s something so warm and earnest about Ingrid that she believes her. As long as the blacksmith is alive, she’ll feel safe. 

In the end there’s three soulmate pairs that end up together: Diana and Eva, Mark and Jett, and Damon and Kai. 

At morning breakfast she watches Grace and Wenona bicker, and wonders if she can push them into swapping with Wolfgang and Ulysses. That way, only Eloise and Desmond will be separated, and they’ll be one step closer to the way things should be. 

“If your current partnership isn’t working out, there’s no shame in trying something new,” she comments to Grace. 

“Mind your business, gremlin!”

Despite her protests, Grace looks at Wolfgang thoughtfully. Toshiko feels relieved that her plan could actually work.

It’s easier to forget why they’re there when they do silly things like plan gaming tournaments. When she feels frightened, she tells herself it’s just because her mother isn’t there. It’s her first time away from home, and she’d be nervous no matter what. 

Ingrid wakes up feeling ill; Toshiko runs into Wolfgang on her way to pick up something from the pharmacy. He’s acting strange, yet she doesn’t question it. 

She fails to save him. 

The first trial is the worst thing she’s ever gone through bar none. Grace’s eyes lack a certain light that Toshiko knows will never be recovered. She wants to reach out to Grace, to validate her feelings toward a boy she only met a few days ago. 

That wouldn’t help- it would make it worse. It’s hard enough to lose your soulmate, the agony is unbearable if you know the truth. 

Eva killed him, and Toshiko hates her. She hates her for what she did to Wolfgang but also for what she did to Grace and Diana. Now they are destined to roam earth incomplete- yearning for something unexplainable that can never be recovered.

Toshiko has to keep the other pairs intact. That must be the reason she’s been given her gift. 

A new wing of the school opens, one containing a library and a computer lab. The computers aren’t hooked up to the internet, but they have silly little games on them as well as word processing apps. Toshiko has never been much of a gamer yet she begins to spend her afternoons in front of the computer screen, engrossing herself in digital worlds. She pretends she’s just a normal kid, with a normal life and no Ultimate title. 

One day, Kai and Damon enter while she’s playing some game about running an ice cream shop. They don’t notice her while entering, so she hides under the table. 

“Why are you following me around?” Damon complains. 

Kai huffs, sounding annoyed at the question. “So I don’t get killed, moron.”

“What if I kill you?”

“Don’t say that.”

Oh brother; Toshiko hears Kai sniffling. The influencer could be such a crybaby! If Toshiko wasn’t able to see the string connecting them, she’d never believe he and Damon could get along. 

Love is weird, sometimes. 

“It’s a possibility. You’ve followed me, alone, into the back corner of this room. I could kill you right now and there’d be no witnesses. No one would ever know.”

Damon’s voice sounds scary; it’s enough to make Toshiko glad that she’s hiding under the desk. 

Strangely, it doesn’t make Kai stay away. Instead, she watches Kai’s black converse take two steps closer to Damon’s brown loafers. 

“You’re too smart to kill me. It would be super difficult to get away with, and you’d totally miss me.”

“I’d forget about you within 2 days of leaving this place.”

“Well that’s just mean!” 

There it is; more of Kai’s signature crying. 

“I just want you to be careful,” Damon admits, his voice gentler than Toshiko’s ever heard. “If I wanted to kill you, you’d have given me the perfect opportunity. You have to be smarter than that if you want to survive.”

“I wouldn’t go anywhere alone with anyone else. I just trust you.”

“You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t trust anyone here.”

“We share a bed- I sort of have to trust you to get any sleep at all.”

That’s a new piece of information. On their first night together, Ingrid carried her mattress into Toshiko’s room. It’s not an ideal arrangement, but it means no one has to sleep on the couch. This the first time Toshiko’s heard of any pair actually sharing the bed. 

“Trust that I won’t kill you out of my own self interest. Don’t trust me.”

“Okay. Fine.”

Despite the frustration in Kai’s voice, Toshiko feels giddy. Damon must have given up on whatever he wanted to do in the lab because she hears him leave the room; Kai follows him, of course.

It’s not the most amicable exchange, but there’s an acknowledgment of trust that Toshiko hasn’t seen in any of the other pairs. It’s progress toward a goal where each soulmate pairing is happy and trusting of each other, and no one wants to commit a murder anymore. After Wolfgang’s murder, it felt like an impossible dream more than a goal that she needs to work towards, but this is proof of what’s possible!

Damon and Kai are probably her most mismatched pair, yet they’re the ones who seem to have had a breakthrough. She just needs to figure out what triggered it, and replicate it with the others. 

She’s filled with so much excitement after eavesdropping that she’s almost able to forget where she is. 

Then Tozu, with his impeccable timing, announces that he’d like them to meet in the dining hall to receive their next motive. 

She hurries to the dining hall as fast as she can, worried of what will happen if Tozu decides that she isn’t following his orders. She’s one of the last ones there, but nonetheless makes it in time. 

“Your next motive will be: The Trolley Problem,” Tozu announces. The monitors around the dining hall begin to play videos of different landmarks. “Around the world, I’ve hidden bombs in some of humanity’s most populated areas. If self preservation isn’t enough to bring out your bloodlust, perhaps concern for those innocents outside of our game will be.”

A populated city square appears on the screen, then suddenly there’s a flash of light. Even though she can’t hear the screams in reality, Toshiko hears them in her mind. Before the dust can settle, the monitor turns off.

“Trafalgar Square, London. If there hasn’t been another murder by breakfast tomorrow, one more bomb will be detonated. We will continue on like that for as long as it takes. Until then, too-da-loo!”

Then, Tozu’s gone. Toshiko feels sick to her stomach; how many people were killed in the footage they saw? She wants the killing to end, but will thousands die as a result? It seems crueler than anything else that’s happened so far. 

“That’s not real,” Desmond assures them quickly. “He’s just trying to get into our heads.”

“Yeah!” Diana agrees, “We have to stick together! It’s the only way we’ll all survive.”

“We have no way of knowing if it’s real or not,” Wenona reasons. 

Eloise, surprisingly, speaks up. “U-um. I agree with Wenona. And if it is real, isn’t it sort of wrong to consider our lives more important than those people’s.? What if a hundred people die? That’s 7 innocent lives for each of our own.”

“Are you offering to die?” Damon asks, point blank. The room goes silent. “No? I’m not either. So I’m going to ignore this motive- that might not even be real- and focus on surviving. Everyone should do the same.”

If anyone objects to that, they don’t voice it. Toshiko decides that Damon is right; she’s certainly not going to offer to die for a bunch of strangers. 

Everyone leaves the room, except Ulysses. He seems to have fallen asleep standing up, so Toshiko walks over to him and taps him roughly on the shoulder. 

“Huh?” He sputters, waking up suddenly.

Toshiko gazes at him, unimpressed. “You slept through Tozu’s motive.”

“No. I think I fell asleep after. I remember the motive.”

“How can you fall asleep after seeing something like that?”

“I don’t control it, it just happens.”

That doesn’t make much sense, but she has no reason to argue with him. 

“Did Wenona leave?” He asks when she doesn’t reply. 

“Yes,” She answers, feeling a little guilty. “With everyone else.”

“Oh,” Ulysses sighs, sounding resigned. “I don’t know why I asked. It was a ridiculous question. Anyway, I better get back to my room.”

Toshiko feels bad for the guy; not only is Wenona his roommate, but also his soulmate. It’s not fair for her to leave him behind. As she leaves, she decides that she’s going to have to work harder in pushing them together. 

For the next two days, they wake up to a new bombing. She cries herself to sleep at night, willing herself to keep fighting. If Ingrid notices, she doesn’t say a word. Toshiko feels thankful to have found a friend. 

Everything hurts too much for her to focus on the soulmate pairs, so she doesn’t. She vows to do so when she’s feeling more up to it. 

Then, in the hall on the second day, she finds Grace alone. Grace isn’t in a soulmate pair anymore, but Toshiko still wants to help her through the loss of Wolfgang in return for not being able to save him.

“Hello,” she greets. 

“Go away, Gremlin,” Grace spits back. 

“Would you like some company?”

“No. Scram.”

“Are you lonely without Wolfgang?”

“I’m going to fucking kill you.”

Toshiko isn’t afraid of Grace- that’s why she doesn’t mind poking at her. Despite the mask the golfer puts up, Toshiko can see the shadow of loss hanging over her features. 

“I’m only trying to help,” she says earnestly. “What you’re going through must be terrible.”

Grace scoffs, “I only knew him for a few days. It’s a goddamned killing game- people are gonna die. It’s not worth crying over.”

Toshiko disagrees with that vehemently. Still, if this the way Grace is choosing to cope then she won’t get in the way of that. 

“Alright. If that’s what you think.”

“Now bugger off.”

Toshiko does what she’s told. She walks down the hall and turns the corner into the library. She had only come this way to see if she could find a collection of fairytales, the kind her mother used to tell her. 

Instead, she finds Jean’s dead body.

A scream rips it’s way out of her; she doesn’t know how long she screams before she hears footsteps. Her classmates, she’s not sure which, are here. 

The body discovery announcement chimes; she falls to her knees; Ingrid picks her up; Diana agrees to stay with her while the others investigate. 

A terrible voice inside her prays the killer is Cassidy, or Diana, or even Grace. Anyone without a soulmate left. She doesn’t want to watch more of her classmates suffer through the unimaginable. 

She doesn’t contribute anything to the trial, not really. She testifies that she saw Grace sitting outside the library just before she found the body, but Jean was covered in blood and Grace was completely clean. It’s an alibi, not an accusation. Damon leads them through all of the possibilities, until only one remains. 

Wenona booby-trapped the library. She denies it, of course, but after they vote she claims it was random. Jean wasn’t a target, just the poor sucker who walked into her trap. 

“I had to do this. That sick motherfucker was just going to keep killing people, and I care too much about the world to let that happen.”

Predictably, it’s Damon who cuts down her logic. “No, it’s self preservation. If this was all about preserving human life, you’d have come clean right away. Instead you tried to condemn us all to death. You saw a motive you felt would justify your actions, and you jumped on it.”

“I wonder when you’ll fall off of that high horse, Maitsu.” 

Toshiko can’t find the strength to watch her execution, so instead she watches Ulysses. He seems sad, but never speaks up. Never asks her why she did it- how she could condemn him too. Toshiko wonders what went on in their room at night; if they were any closer than strangers. 

He flinches as she dies; no one else seems to notice. How will he get through this when no one knows he’s suffering?

There are only three pairs left. She has to do better.  

Just like after the prior trial, a new area of the school opens up. This one contains a pool and a gym; Toshiko doesn’t go near it. 

It’s not only because she never learnt to swim, it’s just that it seems like a bad idea under the circumstances. 

She keeps a closer eye on her pairs; all three of them spend most of their time together. It’s progress, a win that she’s eager to take.

One day, when she’s taking a stroll in the garden to look at some flowers, she overhears a conversation between Eloise and Desmond. 

“What kind of flower is your favourite?” 

It’s Desmond who asks; Eloise takes a few moments to respond. 

“Tulips, I think.”

“Tulips, huh.”

Desmond sounds thoughtful; Toshiko has to hold back her impulse to squeal. The whole thing is like a scene from the bachelor: a date where two potential lovebirds are testing their compatibility. 

She likes the bachelor because she can’t see their red strings; each new connection forged seems like it has a real chance of working out. In real life, Toshiko instantly knows whether or not that will be the case. 

“What about you?”

“Did you know there’s a type of tea rose called Sweet Eloise? I think that’s my favourite.”

Eloise giggles, “You’re ridiculous. How do you even know that? Did you research flowers just so you could say that?”

“What can I say? I like to make an effort.”

As much as Toshiko feels butterflies in her stomach, she walks away. This feels too personal of a moment for her to intrude on. 

Later, in her room at night, she can’t help but tell Ingrid all of the details. 

“It was so wonderful! Isn’t love beautiful?”

“Yes.” Ingrid smiles at her warmly. “I’m sure when you grow up, you’ll find yourself someone to love you just as much.”

“Oh I don’t know if that’s true,” Toshiko says honestly. “But that’s okay! I’ll be happy watching other people fall in love!”

While Toshiko can see the strings of fate connecting everyone else, she sees no thread tied to her. Sometimes, she allows herself to believe that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have one. Yet deep down she knows the truth: in return for her gift she will never experience true love herself. 

She doesn’t mind; guiding people together is her mission anyway. Love for herself would just be a distraction. 

“As long as you’re happy, Toshiko. That’s what you should strive to be.”

Toshiko gives Ingrid a hug; she feels so lucky to have a friend like her. 

Eventually, Tozu gives them another motive. This one scares her deeper than anything else: he promises that anyone who succeeds in killing someone and gets away with it will be able to choose one person to escape with them.

It’s sick and twisted and suddenly Toshiko is terrified all over again. 

Ingrid and her eat dinner with Cassidy in the dining hall. Toshiko has watched the gamer grow less and less enthusiastic throughout the game. The goofball who planned a gaming tournament in the middle of a murder game is long gone- replaced with a shell of a girl. 

“Who would you take?” Cassidy asks quietly. “If you won a trial.”

It’s an awful question. Toshiko doesn’t even want to consider having to pick one of her classmates, “I don’t know.”

“Well, I don’t believe we’ll ever have to know,” Ingrid assures them both quickly. 

Cassidy laughs humourlessly, “It’s ok. I know you’d take each other.”

“I wouldn’t take anyone because I wouldn’t kill anyone,” Toshiko insists. 

“Okay. Let’s change it then. Tozu tells you everyone is going to die no matter what.”

“I don’t like this scenario,” Ingrid interrupts her, fear in her eyes. 

“They’re all going to die,” Cassidy continues without pause. “And you can only save one person.”

“I don’t know,” Toshiko whispers, her eyes filling with tears. 

Her gut screams Ingrid, but it’s such a horrible thought that she doesn’t want to entertain it any longer. It makes her want to rip her own heart out. 

“Whatever,” Cassidy scoffs. “I know you thought of someone. Both of you. And more importantly, I know it wasn’t me.”

“You’re making an awful lot of assumptions!”

She gets up from the table abruptly, ignoring Ingrid completely. “It’s fine. No one would choose me.”

Then, she leaves. Toshiko feels awfully guilty even though she really didn’t do anything wrong. She decides that even though Cassidy doesn’t have a soulmate here, she’ll reach out to her. Make more of an effort to make sure she feels supported. 

By morning, it’s too late. 

Cassidy is found dead, and if that isn’t enough, so is Ulysses. Toshiko feels sick, and terrified. She wants to investigate to bring justice to her friends, but like always she can’t. She hides until Tozu calls them to the trial room, and she watches as her classmates determine the true situation. 

It doesn’t take long for Damon to figure out what happened. Ulysses was drowned in the pool, and Cassidy was hung on the Tree of Ignorance. 

A dark part of Toshiko wonders if anyone really took Cassidy’s life at all; it looks like a suicide, and her words the night before were haunting. Yet, Damon concludes through bruises found on her arms that a struggle must’ve occurred- the hanging was meant to look like a suicide. 

They wonder if there’s one culprit, but that’s ruled out by the timeframe the murders would’ve had to be committed in. They aren’t given the exactly time of death, but know that both took place within the same half hour. 

Tozu informs them, once they realize there’s two culprits, that there is only one blackened. Whomever committed their murder first will be the correct answer; not only do they have to solve murders, but they have to know which one took place first. 

Like always, Damon pokes at every part of the story until the cracks are revealed and they find the truth. Eloise drowned Ulysses, Desmond hung Cassidy. 

No one understands why. Toshiko does. 

She watches the panic on both of their faces as they each try to convince the class that their murder happened first.

If they vote wrong, both of the culprits will walk away. It’s Tozu’s motive- it drove them both to murder. The love that Toshiko has been praying would develop was twisted and used to force a murder. 

Both Eloise and Desmond want the votes on them because at least if they’re executed they won’t have to live without the other. She doubts either of them know who the true blackened is. 

All of it is for naught. Damon discovers that Ulysses died first, and they vote correctly. Desmond screams and begs to be killed instead, falling to his knees in sorrow. 

Eloise simply takes his hand and kisses it before being dragged away. 

It’s their most emotional trial by far; after it’s done Toshiko wants to curl up and cry forever. She can’t, though. 

She has to protect the two pairs left. At any cost. 

The next day, she comes across Desmond kneeling by the flowers in the courtyard. Before she can decide if it’s a good idea to join him, she watches Diana kneel down next to him. 

“I don’t blame you.” Diana’s voice carries across the wind. 

“I killed her for nothing. I swore to never harm a living creature, and I broke that. And she’s still gone.”

Diana places her hand on top of Desmond’s. “It’s not your fault. It’s Tozu’s.”

“Tozu didn’t do that to her. I did.”

“Your hand was forced.”

“No. I don’t deserve to wrap myself in the soft comfort of excuses. I made a choice, and I must live with the consequences.”

“You have to forgive yourself.” Diana’s voice has fallen to a whisper, but still Toshiko hears every word. “She’d want that.”

“Cassidy wouldn’t. And she’d be right.”

There’s silence after that; no more words need to be exchanged as the two sit in a silent mourning. Toshiko wonders if Diana is mourning Eva too, if she wishes that she could extend that forgiveness to her lost soulmate. 

It amazes Toshiko that Diana can be so open to someone who committed such a vile act. She doesn’t understand how deep the love that motivated Desmond is, and yet she forgives anyway. 

Before the games, Toshiko would have thought Diana to be a truly pure hearted person. Now? Now she sees Diana for what she is: endlessly naive. 

Toshiko can’t afford to be naive anymore. 

She avoids Desmond at all costs; there’s nothing she can offer him anymore. Whenever possible, she stays as close to Ingrid’s side as possible. Of course her friend could always betray her, as could anyone, but Toshiko already sleeps in the same room as the blacksmith. And, despite it being foolish, she trusts Ingrid fully. 

One morning, though, Ingrid isn’t there when Toshiko wakes up. This is more than a little concerning because Ingrid would normally never leave Toshiko alone.

She waits a long time for Ingrid to come back, until her stomach starts to growl.

Without any other options, she runs to the dining hall. Ingrid isn’t there; instead she finds only Mark and Jett. 

“Broski! You haven’t eaten anything all day! That can’t be good for you.”

“I’m fine, Jett.”

“C’mon. We never know when Tozu is gonna hit us with some crazy motive. You gotta eat.”

Toshiko stands in the hallway so she doesn’t interrupt them. Mark is so quiet most of the time that she doesn’t have a good read on their relationship. She knows that they’re close, but she needs more details. 

“It’s fine. I’ve gone like, 3 days without eating before.”

“What?” Jett yelps loudly enough that Toshiko worries he’ll attract other people’s attention. 

“I was working on a new set for a festival, and I forgot to eat. Then I went to the festival and I couldn’t take a break to grab something. It’s fine. I wasn’t even that hungry.”

“Dude. That’s not okay. You have to get the proper nutrients. Trust me! I had to be super careful about my diet when I was racing. I’m gonna make you something.”

“It’s fine. If you really care that much I’ll just grab a granola bar. Or something.”

“Nope. As my number one broskii you deserve only the best. I’m gonna make you a lunch so good you’ll be dreaming about it the rest of your life!”

“You’re ridiculous,” Mark argues, but Toshiko hears him follow Jett into the kitchen. 

“Hey Toshiko!” Ingrid suddenly appears behind her, causing her to jump in the air. “Oh! Didn’t mean to scare you!”

Toshiko quickly reassures her, “You didn’t scare me! I was simply practising my jumping technique. Where would were you this morning?”  

“Laundry day. I didn’t want to wake you up, so I just left without saying something. Sorry about that!”

Right, Toshiko forgot about that. 

They enter the dining hall together and eat a simple lunch. About fifteen minutes after they’ve sat down, Mark and Jett exit the kitchen each holding bowls of what looks like chicken salad. It smells really good. 

It’s a little surprising that Jett can apparently cook; Toshiko is jealous that Mark gets to try some. 

As sick as it is, their lives have fallen into a pattern. A few days of peace, then Tozu unlocks a new location, then he announces a motive, and then there’s a murder. 

The next wing is unlocked normally; it contains the music and art rooms. However, Toshiko is thrown off completely when the body discovery announcement plays during their exploration. 

They haven’t even gotten a motive yet? What could’ve drove someone to kill?

Running as fast as she can to the location marked on her Tozu Trinket, she’s devastated to find Jett’s body lying in the pharmacy. 

How could this have happened? Who would kill Jett? How would they get him away from Mark? Nothing about it makes sense. 

She waits for everyone to investigate; it takes the shortest it ever has. You could barely call what occurred after a trial. 

Jett was found in the pharmacy; beside him laid an unused EpiPen; his suit was half off; there were two unfinished smoothies left in the dining hall. 

Damon doesn’t need to link the pieces together any more than that. Mark explains what happened- how he wanted to make Jett the only thing he knew how as a thank you for always taking care of him. He didn’t know about his peanut allergy, so he put some peanut butter in their smoothies to thicken it up. Jett didn’t ask what was in it before he drank it, and instantly started swelling up. Mark rushed him to the pharmacy to try to find something to save his life but by the time he got there, found the EpiPen, and started to take off Jett’s thick racing suit so he could administer the adrenaline it was too late. 

There’s something so dark about the whole affair; how purely accidental it was. It feels like something that could’ve occurred anywhere, not just in a killing game like this. 

Toshiko watches Kai take Damon’s hand during the execution. Somehow, it gives her comfort. 

Down to one pair; she hasn’t completely lost the game and yet she wants to give up. Over and over again she’s failed- not that she’s done much in the first place. She’s just sat back and watched as fated pair after fated pair has been torn apart. 

There’s only one thing left to do; something so insane that it’ll never work. 

And yet, she has to try. 

In the middle of the night, she sneaks out of her and Ingrid’s bedroom and marches up to Kai’s door. She needs to talk to him and Damon, but she can’t risk them being caught. 

She knocks sharply on the door, then waits for them to answer. Eventually Damon does, wielding a tripod. 

“How scary,” she deadpans. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Damon hisses. 

“I want to talk to you two.”

“It couldn’t wait until morning?”

“No.”

Damon sighs, then opens the door. He calls back to Kai, “It’s just Toshiko.”

Just Toshiko. Hidden underneath those words is an implication; Toshiko is not a threat. She is not someone to fear.

Perhaps that’s why she’s still alive, despite Wenona practically declaring her easy bait at the first trial. 

It’s her first time in Kai’s bedroom- it’s just as pink as she’d expected. Yet, she can see glimpses of Damon’s green that have seeped in. A tie laying on the couch; an second blanket on the bed; extra clothes hanging in the dresser. 

The whole thing is oddly domestic, despite the circumstances.

“You can’t kill each other.” Toshiko cuts to the point as soon as she enters. “Or kill anyone else.”

“Okay, that’s like, a little random,” Kai laughs nervously. 

Damon looks at her, clearly unimpressed. “You needed to come here in the middle of the night to say that? After what just happened today?”

“It’s because of what happened today!” She explodes. “And every day we’ve been here! I’ve seen betrayal after betrayal after betrayal, and enough is enough! There were so many pairs who were destined to be together, and they’ve all been separated because of these stupid games. You two morons are the only ones left, so you have to survive! You have to!”

After her outburst, neither man replies immediately. Then, Kai finally says, “Um. What do you mean ‘destined to be together’?”

Toshiko rolls her eyes and sighs, “It’s my talent. I can tell who is meant to be together.”

“Oh, so it’s just superstition. Okay. Goodnight, Toshiko,” Damon dismisses her.

“It’s not superstition! It’s fact!”

“Okay. So you think we should be like, matched up?” 

“Kai, stop entertaining this.”

“I’m not entertaining it! I’m just curious.”

“I know that you two will be together for the rest of your lives,” Toshiko declares seriously. “I just hope that’s a long time from now.”

“Okay. Well, this was weird and a little creepy. Goodnight, Toshiko,” Damon ushers her to the door. 

“You shouldn’t wander around at night, you know,” Kai cuts in. “It’s not safe.”

“I’ll be fine,” Toshiko assures him, then skips out the door down the hall to her room. 

Was it very effective? Probably not. Yet she still feels like she made some progress in a way. Kai and Damon know that she’s rooting for them, even if Damon doesn’t believe in her power. 

She couldn’t tell them the full details, obviously. They wouldn’t believe her, and they might tell Ingrid she’s going crazy. She’s not. 

Tozu wastes no time in giving them their next motive. He bounds into the dining hall at breakfast the next day. 

“Hello, hello,” he greets. “What an exciting trial yesterday, truly! Unfortunately, though, we have been thrown a little off schedule. See, our next wing is not yet ready to be opened. And even worse, you eager beavers skipped my motive! It would truly feel like a waste to not use it, so I’ve decided to give it to you this morning. Please direct your attention to the monitor.”

The monitor flashes on, revealing an old man; he’s tied up, bloody and beaten. Toshiko doesn’t recognize him, but Grace lets out an agonizing scream. 

The old man coughs up a little blood. 

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Grace shrieks, and lunges at Tozu. 

Thankfully, Ingrid grabs her before she can make contact. “Calm down, you know the rules.”

“I DON’T CARE. LET ME GO! LET ME GO!”

Ingrid stands strong, holding Grace in place. 

With a beep, the monitor switches feeds. This time it’s a man who looks a lot like Desmond. He doesn’t seem to be awake, lying bloody on the ground. 

“Dad,” Desmond whispers. 

He doesn’t have the fire that Grace does- he just looks broken. 

Next is a little girl, with a gag in her mouth. Before Toshiko can wonder who knows her, Kai falls to his knees. Damon quickly goes down to meet him, pulling Kai into his arms. 

“It’s okay,” Damon whispers over and over again into pink hair, even if he has no way of knowing the truth. 

Toshiko feels sick; she thinks she’s going to pass out. 

“No,” Diana gasps when a boy who looks around her age shows up. He’s still fighting (with a black eye) but they watch him get knocked out by a punch. Toshiko notices they have the same features. 

Then, it’s her turn. She watches her mother beg her captor to stop, to tell her where her little girl is. 

This is all Toshiko’s fault, she realizes. If she had listened to her mother she wouldn’t never been in this situation. And now she isn’t the only one paying for it. 

Unable to stop herself, she runs to the garbage pin to throw up. She hasn’t eaten much, but it burns on the way up. 

She feels a hand on her back- Diana’s. 

Diana leads her back to the group in time for her to see the end of the next video. It’s a Japanese woman shaking like a leaf, her face dripping blood. 

It must be Damon’s mother. He’s not watching, though, too wrapped up in Kai. Maybe that’s for the best. 

Finally, there’s only one person left. For the first time, there’s more than one person in the video. There’s two kids who look barely younger than her. One of them, a boy, has a scratch on his cheek, but the other one, a girl, doesn’t look to be hurt. 

“Please, where’s Ingrid?” The girl begs. 

The boy seems more sure of himself. “You’re making a really big mistake! Ingrid is gonna save us, and you’ll regret it!” 

Toshiko looks over at her friend; Ingrid is still holding Grace, but her jaw is clenched. She’s never looked so scary. 

“Well!” Tozu cheers as the monitor clicks off. “There you go! Want to find your loved ones? There’s some motivation! All you need to do is win the killing game!”

The goat leaves them in a heavy silence. No one knows what to say, or how to proceed. 

Whatever bonds they’ve made in the killing game could never compare to the ones they’ve made on the outside; Toshiko knows that. This motive, somehow, will pose a bigger threat than the rest of them combined. 

“Do we want to talk about who we saw?” She suggests, unsure of what else to do. “Maybe that’ll help us feel better.”

“Fuck off,” Grace spits, finally able to push Ingrid off of her. Then, the golfer stomps away. 

“That was my brother,” Diana offers after no one else says anything. 

“My sister,” Kai adds. 

Without acknowledging anyone, Desmond leaves the room. 

“I think I need to be alone.” 

Surprisingly, it’s Ingrid who says it. Toshiko watches helplessly as she leaves the dining hall, wanting to reach out to her friend but unable to find the words to do it. 

“I saw my mom,” she tells the three remaining. “You did too, right Damon?”

“Yeah,” the debater answers lifelessly. 

Toshiko can’t help but well up with tears; she hates crying- it’s something babies do. Not mature young women. 

But she misses her mom. She misses her mom so much and she can’t bear the thought that she’s hurting and it’s all Toshiko’s fault. 

Diana wraps her in a hug. “It’s okay, Toshiko. We don’t know that it’s real.”

“My mom didn’t want me to come here,” she weeps. “I had to beg her to be allowed. And now she’s being tortured and it’s my fault. It’s all my fault.”

“No,” Damon says sharply from his place on the ground. “It’s Tozu’s fault. Not yours.”

“We’re going to take that fucker down.” Kai’s voice is so soft that she can barely hear him. “We will.”

Despite the horror they’ve just witnessed, Toshiko gets a glimpse of light. Damon presses a kiss to Kai’s forehead, softer than Toshiko has ever seen him.

“We will,” Damon affirms. 

Diana jumps in, “Yeah! For sure! So don’t cry Toshiko, because we have to keep strong!”

“You’re right.”

Toshiko isn’t sure she believes the words coming out of her mouth, but she needs to try. 

Over the next two days, Toshiko barely sees Ingrid. It seems she’s joined Grace and Desmond in hiding from the rest of the group. 

It scares Toshiko worse than anything before. Ingrid has always been such a calming presence, and one of the people seemingly unable to be broken by Tozu. If she’s fallen, how are the rest of them supposed to continue on?

Then, Toshiko finds Desmond’s body. 

It’s crushed, violently so. She opens her mouth to scream, and she’s not sure she stops until the trial starts. There’s a level of brutality to the murder that she’s not sure she’s seen before. It shakes her to her core. 

It must be Grace. It’s the only option left. The golfer barely fights against the accusations. 

Except it’s not Grace. Damon proves that. 

Toshiko glances at Diana nervously; she feels fairly certain that it couldn’t have been Damon or Kai. So if it’s not Grace, it’s Diana. 

How could Diana do something like this?

“It could only be-.” Toshiko watches Diana as Damon declares who did it, needing to see her reaction.

“- Ingrid.”

What?

It feels like the floor falls out from under Toshiko. 

It can’t be Ingrid. 

“No,” she says quickly. “That’s impossible, Damon. You’re wrong.” 

“It’s the only way the evidence works, Toshiko.” Damon is looking at her with this stupid pitying expression and it just makes her more upset. 

“How do we know it’s not you?” She shouts. “You’re just trying to make us vote wrong so you can escape.”

Kai shuts that down quickly, “That would be impossible. We’ve been together the whole time.”

“You’re lying for him! You have to be!”

Toshiko is desperate. It can’t be Ingrid. It can’t. 

She looks over at the blacksmith, needing Ingrid to tell her that it’s not true. Except, Ingrid won’t look her in the eye. Apparently there’s something on the floor that’s much more interesting to look at. 

They all ignore her, and continue on. Damon lays out Ingrid’s plan, exactly how she committed the murder, and they vote. 

Toshiko votes for Damon because it can’t be Ingrid. 

And then Tozu announces that despite the vote not being unanimous, the majority have correctly voted for the killer. Ingrid is officially the blackened. 

“Why?” she asks, feeling like she’s about to pass out. 

“I had to,” Ingrid states, strangely calm. “I have to protect my family, it’s the most important thing there is. Trial after trial I’ve watched innocent victims die, and I realized there’s no winning this game in any other way. It was either wait to be slaughtered, or fight my way out. I can’t allow myself to die. I can’t leave them alone.”

Kai laughs at her meanly. “So you did it for noble reasons? Give us a break. We all have people we care about on the outside. You’re no any better than any other blackened.”

“I have to take care of them. I have to. If you don’t understand that, that’s just fine.”

“What about me?” Toshiko cries, unable to hold herself back. “What about your promise?”

Ingrid looks dutifully at the ground as she whispers, “I made a promise to them too. I’m sorry, Toshiko.”

Tozu, uncaring of their sorrow, interrupts, “How tragic! Oh well, time for the execution!” 

Toshiko watches as Ingrid gets dragged away; she fends off every sword only to fall into a smelting furnace. She fights to the bitter end to stay alive. 

Of course it’s in vain. And when all is said and done, there are only five of them left.

This is a failure worse than any that came before. While the last pair is still intact, she has lost something worse: her closest friend. 

It’s a reminder that she is alone here and no one will look out for her. That’s how it will be in life too since she doesn’t have a thread of her own. 

“Hey.” Diana places her hand on Toshiko’s shoulder comfortingly. “Are you okay?”

“No,” Toshiko admits. 

“Hey asshole!” Damon shouts at Tozu. “Enough is enough. We’re not playing these sick games anymore.”

“We’ll see,” Tozu laughs, then disappears. 

Unable to hold herself together anymore, Toshiko breaks down. Ingrid killed Desmond. Ingrid is dead. Toshiko is alone. Toshiko has always been alone. 

Everyone, even Grace, sleeps together in Kai’s room that night. It feels somehow like something has shifted. 

Maybe it’s the motives; if they hadn’t killed for the people they supposedly love most, what could make them kill now?

“Hey, gremlin.” Grace walks up to her the next afternoon while she’s playing a game in the computer lab. “Want some company?.”

“I’m fine.”

Toshiko just wants to play her game and pretend she’s in a normal school for a couple hours. 

“Are you lonely without Ingrid?”

“Leave me alone,” she groans. 

“I’m only trying to help.”

Oh. Toshiko remembers back on her conversation with Grace right after Wolfgang died; maybe, in hindsight, she wasn’t the most sensitive. 

“I should’ve suspected you’d be vindictive.”

“I’m not vindictive, I’m serious. If you want company I’m here.”

Toshiko finds herself genuinely shocked by Grace; she would’ve never expected the golfer to offer help so earnestly. 

“You can play with me,” she offers. “It’s a game about running an ice cream shop.”

“That sounds fucking stupid.”

Still, Grace takes a seat. 

Tozu gives them another motive without unlocking a new area. This one is all about targets- Tozu says that whoever kills their target gets $10,000,000. 

Toshiko’s target is Damon; she rips up the piece of paper when she receives it.  

For the first time, no one reacts to the motive. After 3 days of complete inaction, Tozu calls them for an assembly in the dining hall. 

“Welcome, students,” he greets once they’ve all arrived. 

No one replies, so he continues, “I notice that no one is making any murder plans- is my motive not sufficient?”

“It’s over, goat,” Damon speaks for them, as always. “We’ve watched 5 trials- we know the truth now. There is no winning. None of us are dumb enough to take your bait anymore.”

“Well that’s no good!” Tozu whines. 

“So maybe you should just let us out,” Kai suggests. 

His and Damon’s hands are intertwined.

For the first time, Toshiko considers that the games might actually be done. She knows she won’t murder anyone (she wants to protect the soulmates too much) and she doesn’t think anyone left will either. Clearly Damon and Kai are too invested in each other’s survival, Diana is much too self righteous, and Grace wouldn’t stoop to that level. 

No, Grace relishes the moral high ground too much. To murder would mean that she is no better than Eva, or any other blackened, and Toshiko knows that would kill her. She thinks too highly of herself.

It appears Tozu has come to the same conclusion. “Well, if you want to spend the rest of your lives here then that’s your right. I won’t force you out of our garden. However, if you crave knowledge you’ll have to earn it. I won’t be opening up the last wing of the school until there’s another murder. And trust me, what’s inside that wing is to die for.”

With a small giggle, Tozu exits. 

Toshiko and the rest of the survivors look around at each other.

“So that’s it?” Grace wonders. “We’re just fucking stuck here?”

“It’s the same as this morning.” Damon shrugs. 

“At least we’re all together,” Diana says softly. 

Except, they aren’t really. Toshiko thinks of everyone they’ve lost, all that’s been sacrificed so the five of them can stand here together. 

“We’re going to be okay,” Kai affirms seriously. 

The look Damon gives him is so affectionate, so soft, that it reminds Toshiko of why she needs to keep fighting. That even in the greatest darkness, light can shine through. 

She’s lost Ingrid, but the world hasn’t run out of love. Toshiko just needs to keep searching for it, and continue to help it blossom. 

Besides, she’s made a vow to protect all of the soulmates. Even if there’s only one pair left, she still has to stick to that. 

Diana and Grace too- even though their soulmates are gone. Somehow, despite being alone since the very beginning, the two of them have survived. They hold a strength that Toshiko admires, that she wants to learn from. 

Maybe it’ll take years, but Toshiko knows that one day they’ll escape. For Ingrid, and everyone else she failed to save.