Chapter Text
There was a humming around her. Buzzing through the air and through her mind. She was sore. She was tired. She…….she was just stabbed! She had been screaming and bleeding and was shuddering.
She wasn't supposed to wake up.
She did anyway. Sitting up with rapid breaths clutching her stomach in a desperate attempt to keep herself together. She braced forward coughing and gaging at the phantom feeling of her guts slipping out.
She allowed herself a moment.
There were shouts and barks around her from a variety of people but she let herself stay silent. For the first time in her life she allowed herself to be scared. Information could wait. She had to process this. She blocked out everything else.
She let everything in the room become static behind her. She gently pulled at the edge of her white shirt. The same one she had been wearing both at the start of the game and the day she died. It was stainless. Neat. whole. She ran a finger along the seam of it seeing if the texture was real. It was real. It was all real.
She gives a cautious glance up at the rest of the room.
Colorful moving bodies were moving and shouting around her, behind them were washing machines. And on top of the one closest to the door sat an unmoving black rabbit, with red eyes peering into her soul.
They were back here? After all she did she was back here! She was going to have to deal with all that pressure again? All that fighting and leading and expectations and she was getting thrown back on to the stage. She couldn't handle that. she ……she wanted to make thing right. Of course she did. She regretted killing Isono before she even finished killing her. But she had a breaking point. Everyone did!!!
But a restart? If she's restarting? That breaking point is only going to come again sooner.
She catches only a glimpse of orange in the furthest corner and swiftly looks away.
No. She won't. She won't break this time. She didn't want to hurt someone again. She was smart. She could plan better now. Get things organized early. She could prepare. If she knew her limits…..she would not know to let herself take breaks before she reached them. She wouldn't wander at night- she. She will not let it happen again.
“Sasaki!” someone shouted at her with a waving hand, pulling her from her panic. “Jesus Christ! Are you with us?! Have you been listening to literally anything?!” of course Hiroaki would be the first person to greet her. Because of course he would.
He had….said her name? If she hasn't spoken yet- and she doesn't think the rabbit has spoken yet either. He had to have remembered it.
Did they all get reset?
“What's going on?” she asked firmly, falling into her more usual headspace. Personal problems can be dealt with alone later. She had 15 other students here. 15 students she knows are hopeless without her.
“Were back at the fucking start is what's going on! Uhgggggggg! This is so not fair! In fact this is incredibly fucked up. The most fucked up thing this stupid game has done yet! I got out. We got out. It was over. It was supposed to have been over. Why the hell are we back here!” he screamed at everyone around him but pointed fingers at the rabbit. Which. Actually. It was black with red eyes? It was supposed to be white wasn’t it?
“I will explain once everyone is properly oriented.”
“Dude I don't know if I'm ever going to be ‘properly oriented’ to handle the information you give. Just spit it out already. I need to get out of this room. Right now.” Kamimura spoke up frantically and with a twinge of desperation. He didn't look at the rabbit as he spoke. He kept his arms wrapped tightly around himself and buried his stare into the ground.
“I see. Alright then. I encourage you to listen with as much attention as possible.” the rabbit paused waiting to see if anyone would question it. No one did. Even Hayashi stayed still and stern.
“You were the first group to ever participate in this game. You are known as group Pink. or group A.-”
“Pink?! Why- pink?? Of all colors? That doesn't even make sense!?” Hiroaki of course didn't have enough of an attention span to get past 3 sentences into the rabbits monologue.
“I did not chose the group names. “ Monomoko answered. “ You have already participated in the killing game. 5 of you even got to escape. Congratulations.“
Sasaki did a quick look around the room. Only 5 of them got out? And one of them had been Hiroaki?! Who else? Everyone had either a face of shock or guilt…..Wada in particular looked the most defeated at the statement. Tamba looked the most angry.
“Don't ‘congratulations’! Us! We don't get to celebrate if you dragged us all back here!” she shouted.
5 people got out. And one of them had been Tamba?! Sasaki had a lot she would need to be filled in on.
“It is an achievement worth celebrating. However. That was only round one of these games. You will be playing the same game. However this time. There will be more rules. More games and more people.”
More people? She met multiple people’s eyes as she searched around the room. There was still only 16 of them.
“You will meet your other new students in the gym in a moment. As of right now there are no new rules in effect that you are unfamiliar with. If you would like to exit, you must kill somebody and make it through the trial after. Does anyone else want any further explanation?”
“Yes.” Watari spoke up. “How were you able to take us back? Shouldn’t that be like…..impossible?”
“I am capable of many things.”
“It made my fingers disappear once. I don't know what it cant do.” Hayashi huffed crossing her arms. Watari in response got flustered and began pressing the other woman with questions about what had happened.
“Are there any other questions?” the rabbit interrupted Watari’s panic.
“Uh……your a different color than i remember? Is that……normal?”
Sasaki flinched a bit at the sound of Isono's voice. She had been wondering the same thing. She thinks she remembers it gaining a small black spot at some point but she had assumed that it had just always been there and she didn't notice it.
“It gains a dark spot every time someone dies. Hasegawa answered, mumbling, beating whatever response Monomoko had.
For some reason, the second he opened his mouth half the room turned to him with rage in their faces. “You can go ahead and shut up! The last thing we need right now is answers from you! God i hope your the first fucking victim this time.” Hiroaki launched forward at the brunette. Who did nothing against the threats.
“What the fuck! Get off him!” Kamimura stood up instead.
“Don't defend him! He's a murderer!” Tamba shouted back.
“Are there any more questions?” the rabbits' voices boomed. Somehow, despite being completely monotone, it sounded fed up with them already. “I have another group of students waiting for instruction. So I would like to finish this fast.”
“I think…..we're ok. We can help answer things amongst ourselves from here.” Ojima answered, finally giving the rabbit some grace.
“Alright. The door will still be locked until I am done with the Blue group’s orientation. At which point both doors will unlock and you may go meet your peers. Please discuss things amongst yourselves.” and with that the rabbit disappeared.
But the tension remained. It seemed like everyone was already close to either snapping or crying. Several eyes were still fixed on Hasegawa's shrinking figure. Hiroaki and Tamba still had steam coming out of their ears, looking like they were about to pounce on him again.
“Wait!” Sasaki shouted before they could devour the shaking boy. “I want all of us to be on the same page. Someone, one of the winners. Give the full room a recap of what happened or at least just the orders of deaths. Who do we need to be weary of.”
“Oh! Easy! Funny you should ask but, like Ok so, you whack Isono to death with a frying pan. Harada’s tiger gets high and kills Chiba but Harada covers it up so he dies. Okazaki’s fucking crazy and tortures Kamimura and Tsuno. Watari commits suicide but in a way that pins Hama down as the killer he dies. And then Hasegawa fucks around with the rest of us for a week before killing Hayashi and then nearly getting all of us killed. There? That work?" Hiroaki filled in.
“That was…..fast but….sure.” Sasaki responded while filing away the information for a later date.
“You set that door trap?!” Tsuno turned on her heels to face Okazaki who just laughed.
“I have to admit. This was not a twist I anticipated. “ they mutter slyly, with some sort of crazy fascination.
“Ok! no! you can also shut the fuck up! You killed two people. You don't get to talk at all anymore.”
“But I gave myself away during the trial, didn't I? I helped you? I just wanted a little chaos. Not for everyone to perish. That's not something I expected from you Hasegawa." they teased, the boy tensed.
“I'm nothing like you.” he sneered, voice cold.
“When we get out of here I'm assigning Hayashi to lock you both up. We're not dealing with either of your bullshit again.”
“What! That's not fair!” Kamimura shouted.
“You’d rather have Okazaki walking around free?”
“I- no. but Ken doesn’t-”
“They both killed people. They're both getting locked up. end of story.” Hayashi chimed in.
Sasaki kept silent. Shouldn't she be included in that group? But-.....she didn't want to spend her time around two murderers. Even if she was one too.
“What about the other….killers though?” Isono asked regardless of whether or not Sasaki wanted to consider herself guilty or not. In the eyes of the internet idol. She’ll always be a murderer.
The entire room focused on her.
“Both Harada and Hama. were complete accidents. I don't think they're a threat. But you….." Hiroaki looked her up and down.
She opened her mouth to…..defend herself? Admit guilt? The words became lost on her instantly.
“Well keep an eye on you. If you start acting up we’ll send you to the slammer. But right now you're on like. House arrest. You're going to have to prove you're not going to hurt anyone again. You're not allowed to be alone.”
“That's……fine.” she muttered. Not something she was excited about but it was fair and logical. It's what she deserved.
“Alright! Does anyone want to volunteer to be on guard duty? Hayashi is the only one I trust to watch those two but she might need help and breaks occasionally. And we need to assign someone Sasaki duty.”
“I can help Hayashi. Maybe my demon arm can help me find out what evil forces drove them to their actions." Hama volunteered.
“You're stupid. But it works…….i guess I can handle Sasaki.” Hiroaki shrugs after no one else volunteers.
“Great.” she rolls her eyes. This was only going to lead to bigger breakdowns if she had to deal with his uncooperative ass constantly…….but she had to give him some credit. He’s taken charge of the room so far and was doing a pretty good job at getting information across and problems solved. Maybe he grew up a little. He got out of the game after all.
“What do we do about the other students?” she asked before he had the chance to realize she was praising him in any capacity.
“We’ll figure that out when we get there. Hopefully. They’re chill. At the very least we should try to prepare their expectations as best as possible if they ask questions. Answer honestly with everything. They deserve to have all the information we do. Whoever they are, they didn't choose to be stuck in this shit hole. And we will not be taking advantage of them in any capacity.”
“Boo. you're not very fun.” Okazaki grumbled.
“If I had things my way you'd be-” he was quickly cut off.
“The new students.” Hasegawa shot up with lights in his eyes. “I- i know them. I read a few of their records. Ouno Nanae, Ninomiya Youhei, Kumada Erina-”
“That's what you were reciting!? You knew we’d be getting sent back here?!” Tamba shouted.
“No! I just knew there were plans for another group….”
“Do you know anything besides their names?” Sasaki prompted.
“No! We aren’t talking to him. We will literally meet them in like less than an hour. We can figure it out without his help.” Hiroaki shut down the conversation.
“I feel like whether or not he's immoral shouldn't play a factor if he has important information.” She fought against Hiroaki's order.
“I think i remember a few of their talents, ultimate contortionist-”
“No. You. Have lost. Helping privileges. We don't want your input.” Instead of Hiroaki this time it was Yanagi that shut him up.
Actually doing the math…..Hiroaki, Ojima, Yanagi, Tamba and……Wada. Would have had to been the 5 survivors. Hiroaki, Tamba and Yanagi seem pretty pissed. Ojima was…..well…..he's never been big in conversing with these larger conversation. But Wada had been completely silent this entire time. He didn't seem too bothered by Hasegawa, but he also seemed incredibly distant. Like he was barely bothered by anything.
The rest of the room devolved into shouting about how to deal with Hasegawa, Sasaki made her way over to the supposed 5th winner hoping to get a clearer run down on what was going on from someone who wasn’t as clearly was still freshly wounded by the whole thing.
__________
“...this can’t be real...”
His eyes scan the familiar laundry room, the white walls keeping them all boxed in. A harsh light shines down on him from above, the fluorescent bulbs buzzing over his head. His vision is blurry, yet he can still make out the faces of the other teens. Their voices echo through the cramped room- voices of people he’d grown to love, people he’d been made to hate. People he thought were long gone. A set of lilac eyes meets his timid scarlet ones as the student council president makes her way toward him.
No…this can’t be happening, this isn’t real, this-
His fingers find the edge of his sleeve. He’s dressed in his old crimson hoodie and black jacket, the garments worn and faded from years of overuse. His hair reaches down to his shoulders, unkempt as it had been before…
…no…
Pain twists inside his stomach as he fights the urge to vomit. He doubles over with a faint cry, clutching at his midsection in an attempt to stop the ache. Tears prick at the corners of his eyes as he lets himself sink to the cold tile floor. He shouldn’t be here. He should be in his apartment, in the darkness, in his room lying in a pool of tears and cold sweat-
He was dying. He should have been dead.
“Wada.” Sasaki’s steady voice calls out to him as she lowers herself to the floor. She seems just as lost as he is, her gaze uncertain as she attempts to pry for answers. Yet Wada can’t bring himself to answer. His eyes are fixed on the girl’s stomach, the area where she’d been impaled in brutal fashion. He’d seen it happen with his own eyes. It was her punishment for murdering his first friend.
His eyes catch a glimpse of her familiar orange pigtails. His breath catches in his chest as he presses himself against the wall, the tears he’d been holding back threatening to spill over. Sasaki places her hands firmly against his shoulders, trying to bring him back to reality.
“Wada, listen to me,” she insists. “I need you to tell me everything you can remember from the previous game. You were the last survivor, right? The rabbit said that there were five of you total.”
He can’t even bear to look her in the eyes. His small frame trembles as he shifts his gaze to the floor, away from the faces surrounding him.
He can’t unsee any of it. They should be dead right now. All of them. Everyone except…them. Those four.
So why…
Why the hell was he still alive…?
“I-I shouldn’t be here.” The words tumble from his mouth before he can stop them. “I…I shouldn’t be here, I should be dead, I should be dead…”
“We all should,” Sasaki laments. “None of us should be here. That’s why I’m asking you for information. If we have your testimony, we can piece together a clearer picture of what happened. That way, we can all be on the same page.”
His face grows pale in response to her request. That’s…a big ask. A shudder runs down his spine at the thought of being forced to recount it all in detail. Then again…he’s being forced to start fresh anyway. Every mistake, every friend he lost…he’ll be forced to confront it all. His heart pounds against his chest as the events of that hell come flooding back to him. He remembers it all in bits and pieces, like a horrible slideshow in his mind. The motives, the trials, the executions, how each victim met their-
Her.
It only takes a brief glance at her porcelain mask for the trauma to come rushing back. His breathing quickens, tears streaming down his face as he shrinks into the safety of his jacket. He can’t go through that again. He can’t be in the same room as her. With shaking steps, he pulls himself away from his classmate’s arm, making a desperate beeline for the laundry room door.
He’s too weak to get there.
Without warning, his legs give way from under him, causing him to collapse. A set of slender yet strong arms catches him before he hits the floor. Before he can protest, he’s pulled into an embrace, his head resting against a familiar figure’s shoulder. He doesn’t need to look to know who it is. He closes his eyes and buries his face into her shirt, letting the tears stream down his pale face.
“Manami…”
“Shh. I’ve got you. I’ve got you, okay?” Tsuno runs her fingers gently through his hair, her caring voice helping to soothe some of his panic. Isono stands beside her with her hands folded in front of her, her expression one of care and concern. Wada can’t help but notice how the idol tenses as Sasaki rejoins them beside the door.
“She won’t hurt you again, Masa,” Tsuno reassures him. “I won’t let her. I promise.”
His fingers grip onto her sleeves as he slumps heavily against her, his body too weak to support him. As he depends on her for support, he can’t help but feel pathetic. How is she so much stronger than him even after…?
“Hiroaki gave me a brief rundown already, but I’d like to hear from the others as well.” The ever-focused Sasaki steers the conversation back on track, her words forcing him back to reality. Held in her hands are a black ink pen and a small purple notebook. “Yanagi and Tamba don’t exactly seem…approachable at the moment,” she continues. “I doubt Ojima is present enough to tell us anything of note.” Her tone is assertive and composed, yet he can sense the uncertainty in her expression. Despite her outward confidence, she’s just as scared as the rest of them.
“I-I…” The words die on his tongue before he can manage to utter them. He tries to force them out, but they remain stuck in his throat. Goddammit, why now? He forces himself to loosen his grip on Tsuno’s shirt, still dependent on her for support. The pain and exhaustion is becoming too great to ignore. He wants to share everything, yet he can’t bring himself to vocalize it.
“He can’t talk right now. Not when he gets like this.”
The sound of a masculine voice catches him off guard as Hiroaki leans against the wall beside them. The designer who’d been so helpful to him sometimes, yet so horrible at others. He stands over Sasaki’s shoulder like a prison guard, arms crossed and an irritated scowl on his face. The light reflects off his sunglasses, projecting a red glint onto the brick across from them. Wada supposed he wasn’t willing to let her out of his sights, even with himself and Tsuno there. Though he can tell by the slump in Sasaki’s shoulders that she isn’t thrilled about it. Her expression seems less like one of anger and more of reluctant acceptance.
“Maybe we should go somewhere quieter,” Tsuno suggests. Hiroaki is quick to shut down the idea. “The rabbit said it wouldn’t open the door until it was done with the new students, whoever the hell they are,” he reiterates.
Wada can’t help but cringe slightly at the reminder. He would’ve appreciated a chance to get away from the greater group. He can practically feel Okazaki breathing down his neck, even with the distance between them. He just hoped the second group didn’t contain any more people as…unique as them.
“Let’s just sit over here then.” Isono motions to a corner on the other side of the room, away from the crowd of arguing teens. Wada supposed it’d have to do for now. It was better than dealing with the fallout of their past actions.
“Fine by me,” Hiroaki agrees. “I’d rather not be forced to look at those two for any longer than I have to.” He gestures disgustedly toward Okazaki and Hasegawa, who had practically been backed into a corner by the other students. The two had undoubtedly made themselves public enemy number one. Hasegawa in particular seemed to be loathing every second of the negative attention. His expression is one of defeat, his eyes as hollow as they had been in the moments before his death. His last words echo in Wada’s head, sending a shudder down the impersonator’s spine. Following Isono’s lead, he pulls himself to his feet and makes his way over to-
“...d-dammit…”
He’s reliant on Tsuno to keep himself from collapsing again. The superhero wraps her arm carefully around him, her expression one of worry as she sits cross-legged on the floor. Her anxiety gives way to a look of dismay as the reality of the situation seems to dawn on her. Isono and Sasaki exchange confused glances as they each take their spots on either side of Tsuno. Even the seemingly arrogant Hiroaki breaks from his usual facade, a hint of concern creeping into his expression.
“...you haven’t been eating.”
His heart shatters as he hears the sadness in Tsuno’s words. Shame and guilt creep into his soul as he points his gaze toward the floor, unable to look her in the eyes. A part of him had been hoping that somehow she wouldn’t notice. He takes a deep breath, letting his weary frame sink against her. He has a lot to explain to Isono and Sasaki. More than what he initially planned. But the thought of delving into it all is daunting. Too much to wrap his head around on top of everything else. Instead, he lets his head fall against Tsuno’s shoulder, letting her words reassure him.
“...we’ll get through this, then you and I can go get food. Okay?” she promises him. “We’ll make it as quick as we can. As soon as the rabbit lets us go, I’ll make you something to eat.”
He nods weakly, feeling guilty for putting her into this stressful situation. He knows that the coming months will only make that stress even worse.
“What all do you need him to tell you?” Tsuno turns her attention to Sasaki, who in turn provides her notebook and pen for the impersonator to take notes with. He accepts the items with shaking hands, holding them in his lap. Isono sits by his side, her focus on him rather than the black-haired girl seated across from her. She seems understandably set on keeping her distance for now.
“I want you to go over the deaths and motives from the previous game,” Sasaki explains.
Hiroaki’s brows furrow at her words. “Do you really think they’re just going to reuse the same motives as last time?” he scoffs.
“I doubt it,” Sasaki replies. “But at the very least, we can have a better idea of what to expect this time around.” The girl raises a valid point. Now that they’ve endured the game once, they have a better idea of what to expect.
Isono turns to Wada, giving his shoulder a well-meaning pat. “You ready?”
With a slow, shaky breath, he nods. Using Sasaki’s journal and pen, he’s able to put together a rough timeline of what happened. His breath trembles slightly as he’s forced to read it all over. Even in writing, it still doesn’t bear thinking about. He hands the notebook back to Sasaki, who takes it with a nod of acknowledgement. He’s relieved that he isn’t the one being forced to read it out loud. Hiroaki observes from over Sasaki’s shoulder; the impersonator can catch a glimpse of his emerald eyes from behind his red lenses.
“Sasaki killed Isono in the first week. We all know that,” Hiroaki states.
He makes no attempt to sugarcoat the truth. Sasaki’s face pales slightly at the mention of her past crime, though she does her best to keep her composure. Wada can’t help but notice the way Isono’s shoulders tense at the subject. He offers her his hand, the gesture a feeble attempt to reassure her. She hesitantly accepts, intertwining her fingers with his.
“Right,” Sasaki hesitates before reading from Wada’s notes. “The second motive was adrenaline. A lot of people struggled with this one. Kamimura kept collapsing, Yanagi attacked Hiroaki…”
“You were seriously pissed about that,” Tsuno recalls.
“Are we seriously bringing that up again?!” Hiroaki growls in response. “He broke my fucking face. I had every right to be pissed!”
“It’s not important right now. I’ll keep reading.” Sasaki flips to the next page of the book, trying to keep the five of them on task. “The effects of the adrenaline gas caused Harada’s tiger to attack Chiba in the vent. Since she was supposed to be under Harada’s care, Harada was pinned as the culprit and executed.”
“That doesn’t sound fair at all,” Isono protests with a scowl.
“I-it wasn’t, really.” Wada finally manages to find his voice again, his thumb rubbing the back of Isono’s hand. “A lot of people were upset by the verdict.” He shudders as he recalls the sound of Harada’s desperate cries, of Hama’s pleas for his friend to be spared.
“We’ve already determined he isn’t a danger to anyone,” Sasaki clarifies. “Unlike Okazaki.”
At the mention of her name, his blood runs cold once again. Tsuno pulls him in closer, her fingers gripping the edge of his jacket. Wada can tell that the gesture is meant to comfort herself just as much as him.
“Okazaki killed Kamimura and Tsuno,” Sasaki recites. “During that week, the temperature dropped for each day without a murder, though Okazaki wasn’t particularly affected by it. She saw Tsuno as her nemesis and set a trap for her. Kamimura just sort of ended up as collateral.”
Anger fills Tsuno’s eyes at the reasoning behind her prior fate. “Nemesis?! I didn’t even know her!”
“They’re a complete lunatic,” Hiroaki hisses with hatred. “They treated the whole thing like a game. We need someone keeping an eye on them at all times.”
“Hayashi and Hama said they’d handle it,” Sasaki assures them before continuing. “For the fourth week, all lights in the building were turned off. Watari was devastated by what happened with Okazaki. She committed suicide by setting a trap which Hama activated, causing him to be pinned as the culprit.”
Isono’s eyes widen in shock. “She…walked him into killing her? Why would she do that?”
“Because she wanted him to win and escape.” Hiroaki’s voice is laced with emotion, though Wada can’t tell if it’s sadness or anger. “She wanted him to win the trial so that he’d live and all of us would die. But instead all it did was get him killed.”
The idol simply blinks at him, tilting her head in confusion. “That’s the rule?” she asks. “If the killer gets away with it, everyone else dies?”
It’s then that Wada realizes that she’s never actually experienced a class trial. But they don’t have time to address her concerns right now. Sasaki turns to the final page of his account, a look of horror creeping into her eyes at the words on the paper. Wada braces himself to hear it all again, his grip on Isono’s hand bordering on painful.
“...during the final week, power to the medbay was cut off. The games returned, only they were even worse than before. Hasegawa manipulated everyone before setting a trap to kill Hayashi. During the trial, he named several of the new students and expressed his desire to watch everyone die. He would have won the trial had Monomoko not interfered.”
Her words linger painfully as the rest of the group falls silent. Wada’s slight frame shakes against the fabric of his jacket as he recalls the pure hatred in Hasegawa’s voice. He’d meant every word he’d said to them that day. They were supposed to be dead.
Tsuno is the first member of the group to speak up. “I…I can’t believe Hasegawa would do something like that,” she stammers.
“Yeah, well he did.” Hiroaki stands from his spot on the floor, his harsh words as toxic as venom. “He nearly killed us all. He can’t be trusted. That’s why we’re locking him up with Okazaki as soon as we get out of here.” The designer’s head snaps back over to where the greater group is standing. Wada can’t see his eyes, yet he can still see him glaring daggers at the two.
“As for the rabbit, I have no idea why the hell it helped us. It does that sometimes. It acts all friendly with us like it isn’t trying to get us to kill each other.”
“Maybe that’s why it brought us back. To help us. To give us a second chance.”
His eyes meet Isono’s orange ones with a look of shock. To…help them? Is that what she’d suggested? He considers the possibility for a moment, thinking back to its behavior across the game. To the dying lily it had helped him save. To it’s actions during the trial which had undoubtedly saved their lives. To give them a second chance at life…was that what it wanted?
No…what was he thinking?
He forces the thought out of his mind before he can consider it further. They weren’t there for a second chance. They were there to suffer. To die at each other’s hands like they had in the past.
“That’s stupid.” Hiroaki says the words before Wada can say them himself. “If it really wanted to help us, it wouldn’t have put us here in the first place.”
He folds his arms across his chest, turning away from the group and heading toward the front of the room. Wada remains glued to Tsuno’s side, watching the designer as he stands impatiently beside the locked door. As he stares at it in silence, he can’t help but wonder if the other teens are faring any better.
__________
His limbs felt heavy. His thoughts just swirled around in his mind like glitter in water. Completely intangible.
He supposed all thoughts were like that.
But these ones felt hard to hold. Like everything he knows he should logically be feeling or thinking just…..slips through his fingertips. Leaving a dumb level of confusion.
He shifts slightly. There's a wall? Or floor? Against his back that's particularly cold. Whatever he was wearing didn't do much to stop it.
The more he tried to perceive his environment the more solid his thoughts became. To continue the poor analogy, it was like the waters were freezing over. Solidifying. Into tiny sparks of comprehension.
Where was he?
Was the first question to take form.
What was the last thing he remembered?
Was the only one he could really answer.
He had been walking home. That's all he had been doing. He had a pretty good day. Finished one of his projects. Got coffee with a friend. Bought a new hair clip that he found on sale. And was just heading back to his apartment.
He doesn't remember getting inside. But he can't remember getting taken either. He's usually pretty observant. Having weak vision means he had to make up for it in other categories. He's always extra aware of his surroundings. Some of his friends even claimed it was unnerving.
But he hadn’t heard anything weird. He knew it was dangerous to walk home at night, especially in the outfit he had chosen that day. But that's why he carried stuff in case of an emergency. An emergency that there hadn’t been.
So maybe he was home? On the floor? With a body next to him?
A body….next to him?
Multiple actually. He could hear their breaths and soft confused muttering from…. Just about everywhere.
Definitely not home.
He pushes himself into a seated position hoping to get a good look at the room. See if it explains anything.
It doesn't give him much. It's dark. Very dark. He thinks it's big? Like? Big enough that he can't quite make out where the walls are. He's not up against a wall but on a floor like he suspected. It has a slight glossy texture to it. Not tile or carpet, or wood, but like…….a sports court? Or a ball room?
The more concerning thing is that he can indeed make out bodies. The two on either side of him are easiest but he thinks he heard some type of movement across from him too.
Does he try to wake them up? While that might be the nice thing to do there's no telling who these people are. They could be the people that put him here.
Even if that would be….a little odd to put yourself in the same situation as your captor. He doesn't want to take any risks until he has a better grasp on the situation. He needs to let someone start. Take the fall. See what happens and go from there.
So he curls up and brings his knees to his chest as he waits in the dark for more people around him to rise.
He's wearing one of his nicer skirts. The fluffy kind that fall just above his knee. But did nothing functionally wise to keep him warm. He supposed he could have been left with worse.
“What the fuck” someone on the further side across from him actually spoke. Although it was clear from their tone of voice that it was likely not a very…..conscious decision. Said person mumbled something else to themselves, containing a few more curses.
“Hey!” they shouted, voice cracking, they were loud and assertive but didn't seem angry. Definitely scared though. So likely another captive. “Hello!? What the hell is this! Who- who are you people?”
There's definitely more shifting around he can both hear it and see the ever so slight blur of movement as this person starts to try to stand up. Only in the process seems to have found the bodies surrounding them.
“Shut up.”
Yaitabashi was startled by the sudden growling of the person next to him. There were other similar complaints from around the room although most were just noises of fear or unease.
He figured it was pretty safe to assume they wouldn't jump him for being awake.
“How many people are there.” he asks calmly trying to shake out the wavy nervousness, or desperation that may slip into his tone.
“How would i fucking know. It's way too dark to see anything!” the now only standing person responded.
“Well you're the one standing up right? Go find a light switch. Here I'll help.” Yaitabashi got to his feet in a simple manner and took a few cautious steps forward.
“I said! Shut up!” the girl to his left shouted again, this time throwing a fist to the ground. But not really a fist? There was a mechanical whirr and the sound of steel hitting the floor not flesh.
“It might be best to get up actually. We can get more answers with everyone active and thinking.” he nudges her slightly with his foot.
Unexpectedly, she wraps around his ankle with prosthetic hands and another growl.
“I’ll show you active and thinking!” she shouts.
“I- that doesnt even make sense?- ow! Could you let go?...please?”
“Where the hell even are we!”
“That's what im saying like…..”
“We’d have a better chance of figuring that out if you stopped clinging to my ankle so we can find a light switch.”
“A light switch?” she mumbles, finally letting go of him.
“Yeah.”
“No need. My leg glows.” she states like she's telling him what she just made for breakfast.
‘I- what?”
Sure enough he blinks and there's a purple light beside him. Its not big but it lets him get a better sense of who's around them.
The standing dude comes closer at the sign of the light. He has a lot of colors going on. he cant exactly tell why or how but it stood out greatly against the rest of the bodies around them. The girl with the glowing leg, was easier to see as she was on the floor beside him, she has wild purple hair and an athletic shirt with a black jacket.
On the other side of her is someone. They have a long white coat. and were……completely face down on the floor with long black hair falling across them and spilling onto the floor.
“Who….are you guys?” rainbows asked hesitantly.
“Maekawa Azusa, what about you dweeb?” she tilts her head towards him.
“Dweeb?...you’ve only known me for like 3 minutes” he was a little startled by the casual phrasing and lack of fear in her voice.
“Yeah well you talk like a fucking nerd. If you don't give me a name now you're just going to be dweeb for the rest of your life.”
“Yaitabashi Sou” he answers with a sigh.
“Meh, dweeb’s better.”
“Ninomiya Youhei,” the final member of their little trio answered.
At this point the stirring had really begun to grow in volume. There were a lot of panicked shouts and confused cries. Everyone began shifting and chattering. Around them.
The girl to Yaitabashi’s right finally spoke up, rubbing her eyes….”Hello?”
“Hey. get up. What do you remember?” he asks.
“Geez no need to overwhelm everyone dude. Try to chill a bit” Ninomiya suggested.
“No, I want to know what's going on.”
“Then maybe wait for everyone to get up first then ask?”
“Alright, fine. Lets make sure everyone's awake then. Count how many of us there are.”
“Yo! Labcoats." Maekawa immediately turned and started nudging the person beside her upon instruction.
“What's going on? The last thing i remember was just……going home.” the scared girl to his right finally answered.
“We don't have any idea what's happening. Just wake up the person next to you. Keep it going, we're in a circle. Make sure everyone is awake.”
“I…ok! Yeah! I can do that!” She takes on a positive tone and shakes the body to her right. He's got to admit the full on shake instead of poke or nudge is….a level of commitment.
On Maekawa's side, ‘labcoats’ was finally beginning to sit up grumbling frustratedly. Maekawa has not stopped nudging or nagging him.
“We all got a part to play so get your ass moving and tell us what you know Mr. im too cool and professional to help the group nobody here gives a shit you little lazy-”
“Who even are you?” The voice is exhausted and monotone.
“The person who's going to beat your ass if your not standing and smiling like a Disney fucking princess in the next 10 seconds.”
“Maekawa-” Yaitabashi tried to intervene. But whoever the person beside ‘labcoats’ beat him to it.
“AH! HA! You vile silhouettes shall not keep me in silence for any longer! I have broken through your spells! I'm ready to fight for the cause! Everyone! AAAAAAAARRRRRRRIIIIISSSSSEEEEEEEEEEE”
Well. That should. Certainly get the rest of the group up.
“Ow! Shut up!?” Maekawa shouted at the newly awakened magical girl. Actually several people shouted at her.
Actually several people were just shouting. In general. At nothing.
“There's 16….i think…..its still hard to tell.” Ninomiya admitted after having been quiet for a while.
“There are indeed 16 students.”
The room went silent.
A rabbit. A like….bunny rabbit. Like the animal. Sat in front of Maekawa's glowing leg. It was black with red eyes that didn't quite glow but were bright and pierced against the shadowy room.
“Apologies. I was supposed to arrive here sooner to help answer questions and ease your transition. But I was preoccupied. “
“Alright so this is just one giant nightmare and I'm going back to bed. “ a guy who he hadn’t given much attention to yet, because he was too far away to see, spoke up as he…sat back down.
“Im afraid that this is very real. You are not dreaming.”
“Im like. Pretty sure I am though.”
“You are not dreaming. This is a real room with real students.”
“Not buying it. I'm laying back down till I wake back up.”
“That's not even how dreaming works?” muttered a girl from next to him.
“There is no use in arguing with you further. Do as you please. But please listen for this short time being. I need your full attention. If you would like to know what's going on, I can explain your situation. But only if you are quiet.”
“How does the rabbit talk? I don't think animals are supposed to talk?” a high pitched breathy voice somewhere near sleeping guy asked.
“I am not an ordinary rabbit.”
“That much could be figured out.” scoffed ‘labcoats’
“I need you all to pay attention if you want to learn the limits of your environment. “
Everyone did thankfully go silent that time.
“You have each been selected to partake in this game due to your unique stories and talents. It is really quite an honor. 16 other students have played this game before you. But I have come back to play it again. You will join and meet them later. The rules of this game are rather simple. You will stay here on school grounds. There is plenty of space, food, water and other necessities. Including personalized dorm rooms. However, If you would like to leave. You must kill another student and win the following trial.”
“Hey! That actually sounds like it could be pretty fun!” an accented voice speaks up with an excited infliction.
“I didn't agree to play in any type of game like this.” ‘labcoat’ muttered.
“None of you did. You were selected. You will soon find this game is not commonly described as fun. “
“How do you ‘kill’ other students? If they're out of the game do they get to go home?” a more quiet voice he hadn't heard yet asked.
“No. they will be dead. “
“Yeah so if they’re dead they get to go home.”
“No. it will be the students jobs to clean up the body.”
The room went silent.
“......wait……you mean like……actually kill. Like stabby stab. Guns. horror villain type shit go off and actually for real kill people type game?” Ninomiya asked in a rather animated way.
“Yes. i am referring to actual murder. If you would like to leave you must take the life of a fellow student.”
“Then how are those other kids playing twice? Are we just playing against the survivors?” Yaitabashi asked not having the pieces added up.
“Several of them have died. And several of them have killed. But they are all here now to play again."
“How???”
“I'm afraid I can not share that information with you at this time.”
“That's BULLSHIT!” a very loud and angry voice spoke up and marched towards the rabbit. “LET US OUT OF HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT. I DONT HAVE TIME FOR THIS NONSENSE GAME YOU FUCKING BUNNY.” Her silhouette had pigtails and a jacket. As she stepped closer to the faint glow of Meakawa's leg he noticed her multi-colored punk outfit.
“Are there any further questions?”
“LET US OUT!”
“I will be able to be summoned upon command if you come up with any other questions. For now I will give you 20 minutes to introduce yourselves, or get acquainted however you please. Then the gym doors will unlock and you will be free to explore the school and meet your other players.”
“Wait!” the kind girl to his right called out but the rabbit disappeared.
Not left. Or ran off. Disappeared. Just stopped being in that spot.
There was complete chaos around him. Shouting and squealing and….someone was crying? And he was in a dark room with 15 random people, potentially in a building with 31 random other people. And the only way out was to kill someone.
What the fuck was his life.
He sighed, hardly able to stand the commotion around him. They had 20 minutes to make a plan, if they kept using their time to freak out and fight like this it might as well be worthless.
“Everyone! Shut up!’ he shouted. Projecting as far and loud as he could.
“We have 20 minutes. To decide what we're doing here. And arguing about it amongst ourselves isn't going to get us anywhere. Ninomiya, Maekawa, you're the only two names I know. Both of you go and find a light switch. I need to see who I'm working with. The rest of you let's start sharing names. We're in a circle, I'll start and we’ll go right. Once that's over one at a time lets start discussing ideas on how to handle the other students and come up with groups to explore with.”
“Hey! Who the hell put you in charge!? Why the hell should I trust you!?” pigtails shifted her anger from the disappearing rabbit onto him.
“Becuase im a guy who likes to be prepared. Ok? I'm scared just like the rest of you. But we need some sort of plan because if we go out there mindlessly with no idea of what we're doing. People might be uninformed. And if people are uninformed people get hurt. And I'd prefer to get us all out of here alive with minimal injury. So shut up and lets build a basic sense of communication for starters. Its going to get really complicated if we start trying to share information but don't know any names of faces.”
Pigtails scoffed but shut up.
“Im Yaitabashi Sou, you?”
“Yokoi Ruka,”
….
__________
Matthias watches from his spot on the floor as the boy in the green and white skirt tries to organize the chaos in the room. He still can’t wrap his head around the situation or the rabbit’s words. Kill each other? Other students? His stomach turns at the thought, his eyes scanning the room to watch the other students’ reactions. Some of them still seem on edge, while others simply seem angry. A girl with blonde hair and kind blue eyes cries beside him, her knees pulled to her chest. He makes a mental note to try and comfort her once he gets his bearings.
He doesn’t even remember how he got here. Last he remembered, he’d been lying in bed. He has no memory of ever leaving. He isn’t allowed to leave the building often. Whenever he does, it’s only to where they send him.
But now? He doesn’t recognize this place at all. The room suddenly lights up as one of the other students manages to find a light switch. He winces and covers his face with his arm, the sudden harsh light stinging his eyes. With the added light, he can better make out his surroundings and the faces of the other students. To his left was the crying girl, who still seems shaken up by their situation. To his right stands a much shorter girl with an eyepatch and neatly styled multicolored hair. Her hair is styled into two neatly tied buns, one at each side of her head.
He turns his attention to the outfit he’s wearing, a cozy sweater with a cream sweater vest and black jacket layered over it. He…wasn’t wearing this before? Did his kidnappers really go through the effort of bringing him new clothes?? What was the point? He forces himself to move on from it and focus on the matter at hand. The other students are gathered into a circle around him, sharing their names as if it were their first day of school. His body shudders against his will at the thought of hurting any of them. Yaitabashi stands at the front with a stoic expression, his confidence helping to lessen the remaining tension in the room.
He tells himself that maybe it’ll all be okay. They already have a leader taking charge. Maybe they could all just agree to work together and no one would get hurt.
“You there. What’s your name?”
The white-haired boy’s voice is steady, snapping him back into the present. He’s caught off guard for a moment as the group’s attention is suddenly focused on him.
“Ah- it’s Tsukigata!” he announces. “Tsukigata Hideyuki.”
He feels guilty for lying, but he can’t afford to tell them the truth. Not when the truth could get him in so much trouble.
Then again…it’s not really a lie, is it? It’s who he is now. Even if he doesn’t want to be.
At his introduction, the short girl to his right scoffs. “Such a name is unbefitting of someone as delicate and radiant as yourself,” she asserts confidently. “I am the great Ogura Noriko, at your service.”
The students to his far right each introduce themselves, closing out the circle. Until a short boy with messy red hair and shifty purplish-gray eyes disrupts their momentum.
“Why the hell should I tell you my name?” The boy gives a halfhearted scowl, his arms folded behind his head. He leans against the back wall and closes his eyes, seeming almost casual about the whole situation. Like he hadn’t just been kidnapped? He wears a red button up shirt, white dress pants and dark suspenders, clothes which looked fairly new. He has a small white patch at the front of his scarlet hair, which Matthias can’t help but notice.
“Because if we want any chance of getting out of here, we should at least know who we’re working with,” Yaitabashi insists.
The redhead rolls his eyes in annoyance, but reluctantly gives in. “It’s Ikeda,” he says dismissively. “Ikeda Daiki.”
Ikeda? Where had he heard that name before? He swore he recognized it, yet he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Maybe he should ask-
Ikeda.
Oh. That Ikeda. He turns his gaze away from the redhead, hoping his reaction didn’t give anything away. He…probably shouldn’t bring that up right now. Especially since this guy didn’t seem the most approachable. Instead, he hones in on the others’ conversation, needing a distraction from his racing thoughts. Now that they knew each other’s names, Yaitabashi had steered the conversation to attempting to make an escape plan.
“Okay. We have about 15 minutes left before that door opens. I’m assuming that that’s when this ‘game’ thing will start. We need to have a game plan. What’s our course of action?”
“I think we should start by doing a thorough search of the building,” Yokoi chimes in. Her voice is energetic, like a coach attempting to motivate her team. “We might find something useful. Who knows? If we’re lucky, we might even find a way out!”
“That seems incredibly unlikely,” Hirose comments.
“W-we have to try though-!” Denden, the crying girl, finally meets the group’s eyes, her pale face stained with tears. “I-I don’t want to kill anyone-!!” Her body trembles with sobs as she hugs her knees closer to her chest, hiding her face in her arms once again.
Matthias frowns, concern filling his gaze as she watches her curl into a crying ball. The short, punk girl with pigtails across from them seems uncaring, glaring at the girl with a look of disgust. “Quit whining,” she orders. But as the scared blonde presses herself against the wall, Matthias goes and kneels beside her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Surprised, the girl looks up at him with wide eyes, to which he responds with a soft smile.
“It’ll be alright, Miss Denden. Nobody’s going to kill anyone!” He forces himself to sound reassuring, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. “There has to be a way out somewhere, right? We just have to find it! If we work together, I’m sure we can do it!”
He isn’t sure he believes in those words, but he can’t stand to see her upset. He knows that panicking about their situation isn’t going to solve anything. The taller girl sniffles, her sobs seeming to die down a bit. Ninomiya shoots the two a look from across the room, letting out a small scoff.
“That’s…optimistic, but sure. Go off I guess.”
“No. He’s right!” Yokoi pounds her fist against her open palm, her words full of determination. “I know we’re all scared right now, but if we want to get through this, we need to work as a team. That means we need to be on the same page. The other students have been here before, right? Maybe they can help us out? They probably know this place a lot better than we do.”
“Do you really think you should be putting your trust in them?”
“Hm-?”
Surprised, the brunette turns to see Ikeda standing by her side, his bored expression replaced with a smug grin. His eyes lock with Matthias’ for a brief moment, sending a chill down the horseback rider’s spine.
“Did you seriously not hear a word the rabbit said? They died. And if the point of this game is to kill each other, then we can assume they got murdered.” He twirls a strand of hair around his finger, as if what he was saying weren’t completely insane. Like he wasn’t talking about people’s lives. “I dunno about you, but I’d rather not put my faith in a bunch of killers. They might see you and think you’re next on the chopping block.”
“They’re not all killers, though. We can still gather information from them.” Tei’s voice pipes up from the other side of the room. His fists are clenched at his sides, as if it were taking all of his willpower not to start panicking. Matthias didn’t blame him one bit. “We’re going to need that info if we want to have any idea what’s going on.”
Ikeda doesn’t back down. “Even if they aren’t, the fact that most of them died here means that they were too stupid to find an escape themselves,” he mocks.
“How the hell are they even back anyway?” Nishiguchi frowns. “That’s like. Not possible. At all.”
“We’re getting sidetracked.” Yaitabashi’s brows furrow in frustration, his voice carrying above the others. “Yokoi’s right. The only way for us to get out of here is by cooperating. How are we going to go about investigating?”
“There’s an even number of us,” Hirose replies. “We can each break off into pairs. That way, we can cover as much ground as possible without sending people off alone.”
“G-great idea!” Denden cheers.
“Yeah, great idea. At least then when someone dies it’ll be easy to figure out who did it.” Ikeda mocks the blonde with a toothy grin, wiping the shaky smile clean from her face. Matthias blinks at him, while the other students glare at him with varying degrees of annoyance. Why did he seem so against the idea of helping them? A part of him wants to approach the shorter boy, to talk to him and see if he’s really as unkind as he seems. Yet his feet remain glued to the floor.
“Can you shut up?” Kumada barks. “The hell’s your problem?”
“Yokoi. You’re coming with me.” Yaitabashi ignores the other teens’ bickering, shifting the conversation back toward exploring. Matthias can’t help but admire his confidence in the face of danger. He speaks so clearly, making it easy to understand his words. “Ninomiya, you take Maekawa,” he continues.
“Seriously? You’re sticking me with Rainbow Dash over there?”
“Jeez,” the boy scoffs sarcastically in response. “Pleasure to meet you too.”
“Tsukigata,” Yaitabashi addresses him, pointing to the petite girl beside him. “You’re with Ogura. Hirose, you take Denden. Ikeda-”
“Who said I was helping? I’m not going with any of you guys.” Ikeda’s smirk grows wider as he watches Yaitabashi’s green eyes narrow with anger. “I don’t plan on playing nice with you all,” he explains. “What’s the point if we’re all gonna die anyway? I’m gonna go wherever I want.”
“No. No. We’re not letting anyone wander off alone. It’s dangerous. Kumada, you take Ikeda.”
“WH-?!” The blonde snaps her head over to Ikeda, her eyes filling with pure rage- which only seems to amuse the boy more. Her fists clench at her sides, and for a moment Matthias is afraid she might actually attack him. She opens her mouth to argue, but Yaitabashi pays her no attention.
“Akiba, you go with Tei. Isoda can take Ouno, which leaves Shishikura and Nishiguchi,” he finishes.
He then makes his way to the front of the room, waiting quietly for their rabbit host to release them. As the other teens fall into their assigned pairings and discuss how they’re going to divide the building among them, Matthias turns his attention to the locked door. He can’t help but wonder who the other group is and what they’re like. Hopefully as a team, they could find a way to leave this hell with everyone alive.
He hopes that maybe they can help him escape his own hell too.
“You there.”
His thoughts are interrupted by a high-pitched female voice behind him. Surprised, he turns to see Ogura hovering over him, a lively twinkle in her eye.
“Your efforts to console Miss Denden were honorable,” she says to him. “I commend you for supporting a fellow young lady in need.”
“Ah- thank you!” he replies. “I just didn’t want her to be scared. I don’t like seeing people upset.”
The petite girl seems pleased by his response. “Your kindness and optimism are admirable,” she declares. “Perhaps you’ll make for a suitable pupil.”
After what feels like an eternity, the door finally swings open. Matthias’ eyes widen as he catches a glimpse of the rest of the school. It’s…huge. A lot bigger than he expected. It’s honestly a pretty nice building! Yet there’s no sign of the other students. He wonders if they’ve already started looking around. He and Ogura should get a move on too! They had a lot of ground to cover. He turns to Yaitabashi for a signal, watching as the shorter boy gestures toward the now open door.
“Okay, we have a plan. Everyone, meet back up here once you’re done searching. That way, we can-”
“Nnnnnnope. Bye.”
“Ikeda-”
Despite the others’ protests, the mischievous redhead takes his leave. Hirose lets out a long sigh, rubbing his forehead in frustration. “What the hell is his problem…?”
“Screw him,” Kumada scoffs. “If he wants to fuck around on his own, just leave him.”
“Nobody’s going alone.” Yaitabashi insists. “Kumada, just- just join Nishiguchi and Shishikura. The three of you be on the lookout for Ikeda. Everyone else, just stick to what we decided on. Once we’re done exploring, we’ll meet back here and discuss what we found.”
“Let’s roll, team!”
With Yokoi’s declaration, the fifteen of them split into their assigned groups. Matthias watches as Kumada trails behind the others, muttering curses and insults under her breath. He wonders how long they’ll be able to work together without people like her and Ikeda tearing them apart. With the rest of the group gone, his gaze shifts to Ogura, who hasn’t moved from her spot near the back of the room. As his eyes meet with hers, an eager grin spreads across her face. Without warning, she grabs hold of his arm, dragging him through the door and into the building proper.
“Come now, my pupil! Let us go forth and CONQUERRRR!!!!!”
He stumbles behind her, wincing slightly at the pain in his arm. He…admires her enthusiasm! It’s honestly sort of contagious. With frantic steps, he does his best to match the smaller girl’s energy. “Where should we look first?” he asks as he follows her down the narrow hallway.
Ogura takes a moment to think before motioning to a door to their right. “I’d like to see what this room has in store for us. The others seem to have already been delegated.”
She pushes the door open, revealing a storage room with neatly organized shelves, stocked with canned food and other random goods. Matthias follows her inside, his eyes scanning the room for anything of note. There doesn’t seem to be anything in the cabinets, aside from extra blankets and pajamas. At least they had something to make their stay a bit more comfortable.
As Ogura searches the shelves, she turns to him, a look of curiosity in her expression.
“Your accent intrigues me. As a great seeker of knowledge, I must ask. Are you originally from Japan?”
“Ah- no. I’m from Belgium. This is my first time visiting Japan, actually!” He says it so easily, like a script he’s been rehearsing. If he were in her position, he could almost believe it. “I’m here for a competition. I’m a dressage rider!”
The young woman stops in her tracks, dropping the bottle of pills she was observing. “That’s…horseback riding???”
For a moment, he’s worried he did something wrong. But before he can ask, the girl throws her hands onto his shoulders, shaking them with immense excitement. He lets out a yelp, nearly stumbling from the force of her grasp.
“Such a graceful and elegant art! You continue to impress me, pupil! You truly are worthy of my highest blessing.” She then pauses, letting out a soft hum as she seems to think about something. “You need a name,” she declares.
“Eh? I…already have one though? I-”
“NONSENSE!!!” Her voice comes out as a shrill yell, catching the horseback rider off guard. “As part of my sacred ritual, I must give you a name more suited to your new form. Something soft and gentle such as yourself.”
Sacred…ritual? He tilts his head at her in curiosity. “Ritual-?” he asks. “Are you a god or something? You have superpowers?”
“INDEEEEED!!! YOUR EYES DO NOT DECEIVE YOU!! You’re staring at the noble protector of the second dimension’s most beautiful demoiselles!!!!” The girl moves her arms into a dramatic pose as she speaks, as if demonstrating her power to him.
Powers…? Does she really have magical abilities?? He isn’t sure what to think of her claim at first. Then again, if people could suddenly come back from the dead…he supposes anything is possible.
Besides, he wants to have faith in her. He wants to believe that there’s still hope for him. For all of them.
“Now, as for your new moniker…hmm.” The goddess scratches her head, pondering for a while before giving a look of realization. “From this point onward, you shall be known as…Hidemi.”
Hidemi…he actually likes it? More than Hideyuki, at least. For some reason it feels…better. Maybe because it was given to him by a friend.
“It’s perfect,” he smiles. “You’re amazing, Miss Ogura!”
“Brilliant,” Ogura grins. “Come now, Hidemi. The secrets hidden within this school await us! Let us continue searching with the utmost precision!”
“Yes ma’am, Miss Ogura! Lead the way.”