Kido's posture was brittle and her hands twitched, but nobody seemed to notice. Nobody seemed to see. She played with her ipod, sliding her thumb around the wheel, though she didn't have the headphones in. Everyone else was occupied with their own business; Hibiya was trying to show Konoha something in a large book he'd found on the table, and Momo was telling some story to Mary, Seto, and Kano, the last of which interjected occasionally with teasing comments. Each time, Momo cut him off, reprimanding him for interrupting, and he laughed, his shoulders lifting. At one point he turned to look at Kido, shrugging and shaking his head, as if to say, 'see what I have to put up with?'

She stared at him, her eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head at her with a smile. And so he was the first to notice.

Some time later, he detached himself from the group, wandering over to where she sat, and perched on the arm of the chair.

"You forgot to put the ear buds in," he teased, tapping the sides of his head to illustrate. She lifted her head to look at him, but didn't respond otherwise.

"Ahh, but still you're going to pretend you can't hear me? How rude, how rude, my heart is br—" Before Kano could finish his sentence, however, Kido punched him in the stomach. He was slammed against the back of the chair with the impact, and coughed and spluttered for air, ready to keep going as though nothing had happened. But the pain in his gut was spreading, and it wasn't entirely unfamiliar.

Kano coughed again, trying to clear his throat, but there was something hot and bad-tasting filling his mouth. He looked down at her hand, pressed against his shirt, and saw not a fist, but a glint of metal, buried deep in his torso. Huh. It had taken her this long to get tired of him for good?

She stood, and he tipped off the arm of the chair, unable to catch himself as he hit the floor and knocked over the table behind him. She didn't look at him twice as she walked away, approaching the others.

The noise drew the attention of everyone else, and at first they saw nothing out of the ordinary. Konoha was the first to see the blood between Kano's fingers, and he stood up, the motion sudden. His face didn't change, but he dropped the book carelessly, whatever new thing he was learning forgotten in the face of danger.

"Is he dead?" he asked, solemn and curious.

Momo giggled and Seto grinned, replying, "No, this is normal, he's just—"

Before he could say the word 'pretending', Kido shook her sleeve back and looked at the knife, replying, "Yes, probably."

The blood on the knife shut them up, and now the stains on Kano's shirt were more obvious as he bled out on the floor. Kido sighed and looked over at them, fixing her gaze on Mary, who took a step back. It seemed like Kido was about to attack her, but then off to the side, Konoha hoisted Hibiya over his shoulder and turned to leave.

Kido refused to let them escape, and started after them. It was a strange sight, to see the girl confront someone so much taller than her, but she punched Konoha across the face with such force that he dropped the younger boy. As he was trying to recover, blood dripping from his nose onto his white shirt, Kido pulled a gun from the pocket of her hoodie (and where had she gotten a gun? They were too terrified to wonder) and, impassive, shot Hibiya in the head. The boy collapsed, and the gunshot seemed to break the spell over the rest of the members.

Momo screamed and backed up, taking Mary's hand with one of her own and pressing the other to her mouth as tears of terror began to form in her eyes. Kido kicked Konoha over and then knelt over him, bringing the end of of the gun down on his head. While she was distracted, Seto crossed to Kano's body, kneeling next to him. He still didn't believe it. It was a cruel trick his siblings were playing, and his eyes flared red as he searched for Kano's real and living face under the bloody mask he'd so clearly invented. Despite the use of the power he hated, no other image appeared. Kano was dead.

Sickening crunches came from the door way as Kido slammed the gun into his face over and over again, though Konoha had long stopped moving. Momo was trying to comfort Mary, who was sobbing, though the idol was crying with terror as well. Seto returned to them, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Kido paused in her assault, panting with how hard she'd been hitting the white-haired boy, who's face was now unrecognizable. She looked at the remaining three over her shoulder, wiping the blood off onto her hoodie, where it left smears of red across the ipod design. She slowly got to her feet.

Momo looked at her, looked at Mary crying in her arms, looked at Seto's wide eyes and his shaking hands, and in two seconds understood the situation; it was just her. She was the only one who could stand against Kido at this point. She swallowed and stepped forward, releasing her best friend and putting herself between the blood-stained girl and the other two. She spread her arms wide, and though she couldn't see herself she knew her irises were flooded red, though it wouldn't do any good to draw the attacker's attention to her.

Unimpressed, Kido approached her. Momo stared up at her, and cleared her throat. She wanted to say something brave, to shout 'come and get me!' or to mock her. But a hoarse 'thank you' was all she could get out before Kido kicked her legs out from under her.

"Thank you for what?" she asked, her tone harsh and vicious as she stepped on Momo's neck, pressing down hard with her foot. The idol choked, unable to answer. "Thank you for what?!" she demanded again, leaning her weight on her foot. She dropped the gun, not needing it to kill her after all.

Behind them, Mary had fallen to her knees, her face covered with both hands so she didn't have to see her best friend dying. The choking noises reached her ears regardless. Seto wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in the top of her head. "I'm sorry," he whispered, torn with guilt over being unable to face his sister and leader. In the end he wasn't very brave after all.

Momo tore at Kido's foot and ankle with both hands, trying desperately to relieve the pressure, but Kido just pressed down harder and her movements began to slow, the choking noises vanishing. Kido stepped off of her, regarding her corpse with disdain, before approaching Mary, her true target.

There was only one obstacle left, and she placed her hand on Seto's shoulder, suddenly tender and gentle. "It's alright," she told him, "it's going to be okay."

The words were familiar, the same words she'd used to drive off his nightmares and the monsters under the bed when they were children. He looked up at her, hope in his eyes, and she smiled, touching his cheek. In one quick motion, she twisted his head around, snapping his neck.

The crack was audible, loud to Mary's ears due to the close proximity, and she shrieked. The arms around her loosened, and then were gone as Kido pulled his body out of the way. Gentle as before, she knelt next to the little girl, stroking her hair.

"Found you," she said with affection, and Mary's fists twisted in her lap, and she screamed.

Time shifted and everything reset, and still nothing would change in the end.