(A/N: I should add that I'm taking chapter titles from songs from Saw soundtracks - it seemed appropriate. Chapter 1's title is from Papa Roach, Chapter 2's from Kopek, and Chapter 3's from Caliban. This chapter's is from Amorphis.)
"Okay..." Aizawa rubs his eyes, takes another gulp of coffee. Outside Ide's apartment, the sky is flat black, and even with the heating unit on full blast the air is cold and clammy on their fingers. "Tell me again what happened the night he got you both."
Ide is tired and there's a queasiness at the back of his mind that they're never going to work out who's done all this to them. That they're just killing time while they wait for something to happen - arrest, capture, someone else to find Jigsaw first, something. He figures Aizawa probably feels the same, but he says anyway, "Have you forgotten the details already? We woke up in this meat locker -"
"Not that bit. When you were still at the headquarters."
"I've told you all that."
"Well, go through it again!" Aizawa snaps. "We're obviously missing something, we've got to be!" His hands are curling into fists but his eyes, of course, still don't meet Ide's, giving the sense that he's holding off on confrontation, or being passive-aggressive about it. Ide hates him for it, it's like his friend's been replaced with a bad copy, but he can't exactly say that out loud. He reminds himself that with Aizawa being the only person still trusting him, he really can't afford to act like a child, and - trying to sound like he's perfectly calm about everything - starts to speak.
"Okay. We were working late. Me and Matsuda."
"Just you two?"
"Yeah. I... I felt like putting the time in." He doesn't feel like explaining that occasionally, he doesn't want to go home to an empty apartment and an instant meal; occasionally, he's happiest getting things done, coasting on energy no matter how late it is. "No reason why... I mean, it wasn't as if I'd planned it in advance. But you know we all were. We were all getting sick of the dead ends."
"Even Matsuda? He hardly had a finely honed work ethic."
"Yeah, but you know what he - he was like. Sometimes he'd be really keen to do well, show he was as much use as anyone. He was like that this time. He kept saying to me come on, I know we can crack this case. Maybe because the rest of us were all so pissed off with it."
Aizawa still looks disbelieving. "Really?"
"Yeah. He'd been kind of unfocused the last few days, I guess, but now he'd come back from that. I don't know. He always wanted to think he was in an action film, he wanted to catch the bad guys and sometimes he got upset about stuff we saw, so I suppose it was... I suppose it was something like that." Ide knows he's wandering off the point but Aizawa doesn't call him on it and so he keeps talking. "He'd been coming out with... just random comments - just because I was the one who sat next to him, I suppose. Like he was thinking out loud."
"What sort of comments?"
"I don't know. Like how some of the people, there'd been signs they'd been going to do something really bad so maybe Jigsaw had saved some lives by doing what he did. Pointless stuff like that. Or... wondering what it would've been like to die that way. Like with Toyama - the guy who killed the Amane couple, you remember - saying how the problem with it was, there wasn't any smoke so you wouldn't get a chance to choke to death before the flames got you. I didn't really take much notice of it. He's - he always just said what was in his head."
He hates the way he talks about Matsuda now. As if mentioning trivial details about the man or hypothesising why he acted this or that way somehow makes him alive again. Or suggests that there was a bond between the two of them, that they were friends, that Ide would never have wanted to kill someone he could talk about like this. He hates it and yet he still does it. At least, he does it when he's talking to Aizawa and Aizawa is the only person he does talk to now. Perhaps he's pretending that Aizawa can no longer pick up on things like that - ulterior motives, stupid habits - or can't tell if he's holding back on discussing a particular topic. He knows that's stupid - he's blind, not deaf - but he likes to believe it because otherwise he becomes horribly aware of every awkward pause or tremor in his voice or fierce rejoinder to an innocent question and then they just happen more and more often. So, Aizawa hasn't noticed anything, and now he can carry on, calmly, "Anyway. This night, he seemed really keen to stay behind but... I don't think he was actually getting much done, I think he was just reading reports. Not that I was really noticing. I hadn't stayed to keep tabs on him."
"Okay, so the two of you were the only ones there, working in silence - or procrastinating in silence, in Matsuda's case - then what?"
"I realised I was about to fall asleep and decided to call it a night. I guess... I guess I had noticed Matsuda wasn't doing much because I said something like that to him, I said he should go home because he was hardly going to be productive at this time of night. He just... he just laughed and said he thought being hard-working was a good thing. Or something. But he headed out of the building with me right away, like he was looking for an excuse to leave. I supposed he'd liked the idea of working late more than the reality or something."
"And did you see anyone on your way out?"
"I don't... I don't think so. It was foggy out there and... Matsuda was going on about how it was creepy. I assumed it was because he'd been freaking himself out by reading autopsy reports, I said something like how those of us who'd been doing the dull work didn't end up jumping at shadows and he... I think he'd stopped, looking out of the window, and I told him to get a move on. He could've... but he didn't say anything, if he did spot someone."
"You don't know what he was thinking," Aizawa says, more gently. "And even if he had seen anything, it isn't like either of you had any reason to suspect it wasn't above-board."
Ide doesn't explain why he wishes Matsuda had said, hey, there's someone prowling around out there, it looks suspicious. Not so much because then perhaps they could have avoided all this or anything as neat as that but just because the idea that you can protect yourself, if you're observant enough, is still something he desperately wants to believe. Even if he'd ignored the warning then there would be a point at which he could identify it all going wrong.
His throat tightens, and he swallows and forces his voice to stay level. "We... we carried on. Out into the car park. He was still a bit twitchy. He started... he started talking as if he was trying to make conversation, as if we were going to be hanging around. Like he really had scared himself. I said it was too cold to chat and... I suppose I must've gone to my car, but I don't remember."
"And there wasn't any sign of bruising, so they didn't knock you over the head. Probably chloroform or something, then."
"I guess."
"It relies far too much on coincidence, from what you're telling me," Aizawa says at last, frowning. "You'd just decided to stay late on a whim; Matsuda -"
We'll never know what he was thinking, will we -
Aizawa carries on, "It doesn't sound like he had any reason to be there - you decided to leave just because you were tired, it wasn't like the building was being closed up, or anyone else asked you to..." He taps his fingers on the table for a second. "Unless he was meeting someone there... but then why were you involved?"
"You think he'd arranged to - to meet Jigsaw? Or his accomplice?"
"I don't know. Like you said, it's Matsuda. He got jumpy easily. And I can't believe if he'd got hold of something that big, he wouldn't have mentioned it to someone - he didn't have any reason to think there was a spy, not then. Even he wouldn't have been so stupid as to keep it all to himself, surely."
"He would've told the Chief, at least. Hell, he would've been desperate to pass on something which could really help."
"Exactly," Aizawa says. He shrugs. "I mean, we don't know that it wasn't just... bad luck it was you two."
Ide stares at him and then remembers an incredulous look isn't enough any more and says, "You're seriously telling me Jigsaw was looking for someone to kidnap and we happened to walk out of the building at the wrong time?"
"I don't know, okay? But if someone was passing information to Jigsaw, then he would've known about all the detectives on the case. They knocked you both out, so they'd have enough time to record whatever tapes they wanted. Jigsaw talks like it's about morality, but it's just as likely that he wanted to destabilise the investigation."
"Oh, because we were both so vital?"
"Because it left everyone else completely terrified," Aizawa said. "He followed that up with - with what happened to me, and now no one's talking to anyone else and no one wants to be too eager in case they attract attention. Oh, and everyone's keeping information to themselves and our chances of finding the spy have gone down massively."
Ide knows it all makes sense but he hears himself say anyway, "Not if it's me. Then Jigsaw just did you all a big favour, right?"
"For god's sake. What you and everyone who's going on like this seem to have forgotten," Aizawa says, "is that if you were the one screwing us over, you'd be able to do a hell of a lot more within the department then as you are now. All you've done is get yourself put under suspicion. I can tell you they're following up leads related to you, so now you've not only got yourself suspended, you'll probably reveal Jigsaw's identity too. And you've been given any number of chances to tell everyone that Matsuda was trying to kill you, that he cracked under the pressure and it was all his fault. Instead of which, you keep saying you didn't know what he was going to do, that you panicked -"
"I haven't forgotten any of this, you know!"
"Well, you're the one fishing for compliments!"
Aizawa doesn't look at him, but Ide feels small and stupid and - it's not that, it's hearing Aizawa say, it was just random, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time - and he could've done any number of things instead, he could've -
Aizawa sighs.
"I think you were a diversion," he says. "I think the spy was getting nervous. Or Jigsaw was. Which means we knew more than we thought we did at the time."
"We've been through all the deaths with a magnifying glass and there's nothing." Ide feels like the information's written on the back of his eyes but he drags the file towards him, stares down again at the neatly typed list of victims and his own handwritten notes around the names. Much of the comment he's scribbled down is thoughts Aizawa had, he notices. He's barely contributed anything.
Kuro Otoharada- first victim (that we know of?) Warned in past for threatening behaviour towards children/young families, neighbours/rest of apartment scared of him. Gun found in apartment - no sign of struggle - abduction outside home
Takuo Shibuimaru - previous convictions for disorderly behaviour, assault, dangerous driving - active on biking scene, reputation as 'wild card' 'ladies man'. Likely abducted after night out
Kyosuke Higuchi - Yotsuba - poor people skills, discussion with HR re bullying his secretary - 'greedy' 'arrogant' - being passed over for promotion and everyone knew it - gain? Last seen Code Red hostess bar, cf Shibuimaru
Yuji Toyama - high-profile trial - Ichiro and Mariko Amane deaths - first 'serious' criminal - break in pattern or just opportunity spotted? Abduction from apartment, no witnesses (again - break in pattern or opportunity?)
Kiichiro Osoreda - previous convictions for assault, drug possession, long-term addict, landlord & neighbours aware (and frustrated/scared). No witnesses to abduction, no sign of disturbance in apartment
Misa Amane - 1st woman, 1st 'non-criminal', 1st survivor, lost 2 fingers in trap, abduction walking home from subway (prior observation?) 2 months after article in Eighteen (reference to parents' deaths)
Masaaki Shirami- arson = insurance fraud (no arrest made, not a suspect at time of death). Previous convictions for benefits scams, theft. Wife Izumi suspected arson attacks, claimed no mention to anyone else. Trap = fire - reference? Instructions from J to Shirami destroyed in blaze
Keito Nawarami - previous convictions for robbery w/ assault, friends admitted 'plotting something big', abduction in small hours of 24th, last seen semi-conscious at One Forth bar
Misa Amane - targeted again, 'you didn't learn what you needed to' - why? Action she refused to follow through on? Obsession? Repeated victim change in MO or would any survivor still not measure up? Implied she was going out to meet a boyfriend (no phone records/sightings - likely J)
Touta Matsuda
Ide always stops reading at this point, he doesn't need to see his own crime lined up and dissected with all the others. It's pathetic, he knows, it's like he's pretending somehow Matsuda's death wasn't really a death at all, but he can't just sit there and read it and pretend there's nothing wrong -
Kyu Ishida - questioned 2 yrs ago re death Shinko Ishida, ruled accident - J claimed murder for life insurance - police info or connection to family? Cross-ref statements, info held on file. Left house of own accord, phone vanished (suggest call re crime?)
Shuichi Aizawa - Accomplice involvement (links with earlier deaths too?) Mikami claimed to be acting for J. How long? Since beginning? Mikami not = police - two accomplices?
Tayoshi Murao - internal investigation at Kugisawa re embezzlement suspected him, were about to take steps. All claim no discussion with outsiders. Suspect pool? Links with earlier deaths?
Tomitetsu Masanaka - post-death, brother-in-law Shinji Osaki confessed planning robbery of First Capital Bank & that victim also involved with Sugimaru case 4 yrs ago. Spy saw connection? Or Osaki, or other associate, made J aware of crime?
"Everyone knew about these people," he says. "Everyone knew what they'd done, or what they were going to do. We've followed up these leads and there's nothing."
"I still think we're missing something with Amane and Toyama," Aizawa says, calm, measured, and Ide makes himself take a deep breath and stop going to pieces just talking about the damn case.
"I don't see what," he says. "Toyama killed her parents. Sure. Fine. So Jigsaw knew about her from the get-go. That's how he found out about her. He probably had some kind of angel image of her in his head, this poor little orphan girl, and then he saw she was all about - clothes and music and... make-up - and he was disappointed because god forbid a nineteen-year-old girl have any frivolous interests -"
"And she survived his trap," Aizawa said. "She's the only one of these people - apart from us and Matsuda - who had nothing to do with any criminal activity, she was a young innocent girl who'd come back from an awful situation, and she actually made it out alive from his test. And then he went after her again. Doesn't that seem odd to you? She doesn't fit the pattern of a typical victim of his, she's the only one with a connection to an earlier death, and she proved to him she deserved to live or whatever."
"We don't know that it's such an anomaly," Ide says. "How many people have made it out alive? You and I are the only others, and we're - we're not exactly following his recommendations for living a good life, are we?"
Aizawa's face goes very blank.
"Far as I can see," Ide says, "Amane didn't change a thing about how she acted. So he took her again." He hates that he's being like this, point-scoring as if he doesn't want there to be any hope. The only consolation is that if he's right, he's in as much shit as Aizawa is.
"I don't see it," Aizawa says. "You read Amane's interview transcript. The way she was talking - and what she said to the press after - she was pretty much advertising him as a damn self-help technique. Why'd he punish her for that?"
Ide doesn't want to think about what Amane said, mainly because it makes him sick with fury he wasn't there to tell her to her face how stupid she was being. I don't think he's a bad person. He helped me when I needed it. I mean, both when he killed the man who murdered my parents and now… he wants to see people choose the right path. It makes him want to hit something. Still, it had come back to bite her later. She'd shown off her missing fingers like she was wearing a cute new ring, but when they'd found her, later, after the second trap, she'd been lying there sprawled, untidy, unposed, dead face seeming to wear a look of disbelief. Shock, like Matsuda had been shocked -
He's lost it now, he's walking through that corridor again and the air's pressing in on his lungs and there's no point in trying to have intelligent thoughts, there's no point in trying to think at all, he knows it won't work.
"It's getting late," he says, glad again that Aizawa can't see him. "You should go."
"Ide -"
"What?" he snaps, and perhaps Aizawa knows very well what, because he doesn't answer, just starts feeling along the table for his phone.
ooo
For a long time, in the back of his mind, Ide has been asking himself what if he gets me again?
He's waking up and he can't tell where he is. He's lying down, but... but on cold, hard floor. Specks of grit and dirt, hard little lumps, under his back and his arms.
He'd only asked the question when he was very tired and couldn't stop himself. Or very angry and trying to pretend it wouldn't matter, that he'd be fine, that he'd coped once (except he hadn't, he'd screwed up, it was just luck that that had meant someone else's death and not his).
There's light above him, making his head ache. He aches all over actually. He... god, he must have... where did he go to sleep? Dozing at the kitchen table, pretending to work? Stumbling over to the couch and trying to convince himself he was just going to watch TV? Actually going to bed like a normal person even though he would've known it would just mean hours of staring at the light fitting and thinking too much? There must be something, there must be an explanation for where he is - that is, there must be a good explanation, a boring one, come on - he was making coffee he didn't want to drink, and rereading notes he'd read a dozen times, and then his memory just stops -
Even when he was asking the question, he didn't really think that it would happen. He was being pessimistic. Or spitefully pleased that at least the bastard wouldn't be able to get to him again, not so much, not in the same way. He was counting his blessings, because it wasn't like there were very many of them.
Now he sees how stupid that was. He feels like he's shaking so much he can't move, can't even open his eyes for a few seconds. He tells himself for god's sake, just look, maybe I drank so much I actually passed out in the kitchen - or the stairwell or something - just look -
He wrenches his eyes open and above him is a ceiling smeared with dust and mould, lit by a bare lightbulb. The light is harsh and so bright it seems almost black at the edges. It's definitely not his apartment, or indeed any place that looks familiar. A warehouse, he's thinking, something abandoned, because the air is full of the smell of peeling paint, and dust, and mould. His head aches and there's a dry, sick taste at the back of his throat and, and he has to think, he has to stay calm, but his thoughts are sticking, I can't - I can't -
He's scrambling to his feet. From far away, he knows it's really, really stupid to start dashing around when there could be something inches away from you set to kill you if you trip over it, but it's like that's not important, what's important is to get out, to hide, to make this not be happening. Except he doesn't get very far, because something round his ankle pulls him up short and he stumbles, drops back onto his knees. It's a chain, he's barefoot and chained to the wall and that proves this isn't all in his head. It's not a mistake. It really is happening again. And all his bluffing that he'd be fine the next time is just that, bluffing.
He's clawing at the chain even as he can see it's pointless - it ends in a cuff which is tight around his ankle, there's no way he can just slide out of it but - I can't - the metal is clammy and cold against his unmarked hand but the scarred one fumbles, and the sensations are faded on that one like he's reaching through water. He's losing it completely, basically, when he sees movement out of the corner of his eye, and hears someone clearing their throat, and the clank of more chain.
He looks round and sees what he should have noticed immediately. He's not the only one. The room is large and starkly lit from the one bulband sprawled at intervals along it, in the shadows, are more people. The person nearest to him is the only other one who's awake, though. A guy, young-looking, sitting up, blinking in the light. The next second, Ide realises who it is. Chief Yagami's son. Raito, that's it, the name stuck in his mind. Ide has never spoken to the kid before, just seen him a few times coming to or leaving the NPA offices, bringing a change of clothes or a message for his dad. But he knows how smart Raito is - a Tokyo University student who got the highest score in the country on the exam - how well-mannered he is, how much he admires his father. They stare at each other and Ide wonders what expression he's got on his face, because unease is filling Raito's and his eyes are darting about, noticing the grime, the other huddled shapes, the chain, and Ide thinks you're going to die, oh, god, you're going to die and I've got to -
"Where am I?" Raito says at last. He speaks quietly, but Ide hears his voice shake.
"I don't know. I... I think..." The terror is tangling up in Ide's throat, making it hard to speak, but he puts the effort in. "Your father... he's told you about - about Jigsaw - right?"
Raito goes pale, but his expression doesn't change much apart from his eyes widening.
"Yes," he says. "You - do you really mean -"
Ide doesn't see any need to argue his belief. Who the hell else can it be, really? He just shrugs, but the conversation has helped in one respect - he's not actually borderline hysterical any more. His heart's hammering away and he still feels if he thinks too much about the situation he'll throw up, but he can make himself look round the room, at the other people here. He knows most of them - he can spot Ukita, and Mogi, and then he sees Aizawa and it's like a kick to the ribs. Not him too, not - he could - he knows now that when it comes down to it he'll murder someone else to save his own skin no matter what they mean to him, he's proved it once, why Aizawa -
Curled up next to Aizawa, much closer than any of the other people - players, his mind writes in, victims - is a woman. Ide moves as close as the chain will let him and realises it's Eriko. The blood is pounding in his ears and if it wasn't for Raito he'd be losing it again, he can feel it. Aizawa trusted me - he knew what happened to Matsuda and he trusted me to work with him anyway and now - if something happens to her it'll kill him and it'll be my fault -
Raito says, his voice oddly light as if he can't quite believe it, "That's my father."
He's right. Soichiro Yagami is lying sprawled on his side in the far corner, glasses askew. Still, after the discovery of Aizawa's presence it's just the icing on the cake. Ide knows the Chief is disappointed in him - not I'm going to make you feel bad because I'm a sanctimonious bastard, just you made a mistake and did something awful, and I wish you hadn't. Which is almost worse because you can't hate someone for thinking that. Perhaps deep down you can think I'd like to have seen you do any better, but the Chief would have done better, everyone knows that.
And damn it, Soichiro Yagami really is a good man. The last thing he deserves is to be stuck in a death trap along with his only son.
"Do you know them?" Raito is saying to him. "The others?"
"Most of them. Ukita and Mogi and Aizawa -" He indicates. "They work with your father. That... that's Aizawa's wife. And him..." There's one more person, a young man - probably a few years older than Raito - with long dark hair and glasses, looking serious even asleep. "Him I don't recognise."
"Aizawa - he's the one who was - was blinded," Raito says, swallowing.
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry..." Raito actually smiles, awkwardly, like he doesn't have an excuse for forgetting manners. "I'm sure we must have met, if you know my father, but I don't..."
"I'm Ide." He snaps it, and then he turns away, on the pretext of studying the room again. He hears Raito breathe in, and then his voice, calm, diplomatic: "Oh, yes. Dad's mentioned you."
Ide so nearly says I fucking bet he has, but he manages to bite it back. Raito hasn't got anything to do with all of this, and he can't be blamed for drawing conclusions from what he's been told. Besides, Mogi and Aizawa are already stirring, which seems as good an excuse as any to drop the topic of who people are and what they might have done. He moves close to Aizawa, trying not to think about what it must be like to awaken in your worst nightmare and be unable to see any of it. "It's me. Things aren't looking good, I think we're -" He can't say it, it's so stupid, hey, to get put in a deathtrap once is misfortune, but twice is just, is just - Aizawa must have heard the edge of panic in his voice; he reaches out, feeling in that direction, opens his mouth - but then stops, and Ide realises why. His right wrist is handcuffed to Eriko's left.
He freezes - Ide tries not to shudder at what it must be like, forces his voice to stay calm. "It's okay. It's just cuffs. You're -"
Aizawa's movement has woken Eriko - she sits up, mumbles "Shuichi, what's going on -" and then Aizawa, dead white, is saying, "No -" and then he's shouting, "Why is she here? What the hell is she doing here?"
"I don't know, all right? Just calm down, we'll - we'll sort this out!"
You know there's always a way out, he says, fiercely enough to convince himself as well as Matsuda, there's always a way out, we just have to find it. But if we panic, we really will die -
We really will die
His heart is crashing against his ribs and he can't, he can't sort this out because he doesn't know how, he fucked up so badly last time and everyone knows it and he's just going to do it again -
He can't carry on speaking, but he sees Eriko grip her husband's hand and say to him, "Listen - I'm all right at the moment, for goodness sake don't lose your temper -" And Aizawa must be scared because instead of snapping back that he's not losing his temper he just goes quiet and pulls her close to him. He winces as he moves, and Ide realises he himself aches too - he can see his clothes are grimy, there are scratches on his arms and hands like he's been dragged across the floor. Probably he was. There's a stinging ache in his side too - perhaps he got himself caught on a nail, or a stray bit of razor wire or something - but the noise has woken the other people by now, and so he stops thinking about it. Raito is talking to his father; Ukita and Mogi are listening; the bespectacled man is kneeling, muttering to himself. Aizawa turns his head towards the sound.
"It's not just us," Ide tells him. "Ukita and Mogi are here, and the Chief, and his son - Raito, you know? And -"
"It's him," Eriko whispers, so quietly Ide can hardly hear her. She's staring at the bespectacled man. "The one who broke in before, the one who hurt Yumi -"
Aizawa goes still, and Ide sees him grit his teeth.
"You're sure?" he whispers back at last.
"Of course I'm sure!" Eriko is looking round the room again, more frantically, biting her lip. At last she swallows and turns back to Ide. He can see she's trying to put on a brave face, or at least a polite one, but fear keeps breaking through as she says, "Ide-san... you were awake before us. Have you - did you see anyone else? I - I mean, apart from the people here now?"
She's looking pleadingly at him and as he shakes his head he thinks he knows why. Aizawa has grabbed her hand and he's saying, "You mean - you mean she's not here -"
"Yumi and Youko?" Ide says, hating that he's the one spelling it out. "It might not - they could be at your house, if -"
"Youko's with Suzuki-san down the road," Eriko says. "Yumi was in the car - we'd just got back from - from the doctor's -" Ide fills in that what she means is therapist or psychiatrist, but Eriko's carrying on already, "We stopped at the house and I got out first and someone grabbed me from behind, put something over my face. Yumi and Shuichi were - were still in the car -" She's looking at Aizawa now but he just says, numbly, "I heard the door open and - and Yumi was crying, I thought... I thought she was just having one of her bad turns..."
Ide tries to feel suitably appalled at the realisation that his colleague's child has probably been kidnapped by a psychopath and that anything could be happening to her. He is appalled, he is sick with horror that this is happening, that Jigsaw's got the jump on them so successfully, that he's targeting everything that will hurt Aizawa most. But under all that there's - there's resentment. Aizawa and Eriko will survive this, they'll fight their way out because there's no other way to protect their daughter. And everyone else will think that it's so easy, they'll wonder again why Ide couldn't do the same -
There is clearly something wrong with him to even be thinking like this. He turns away from Aizawa and Eriko, tries to tune out the shaky conversations and whispers around him. There'll be a message, because there always is. There'll be a message and then he'll know the worst, at least, there won't be this waiting -
He's glancing round the room, at the rusted grilles and grimy walls, when he spots the TV set lurking at the corner of the ceiling. It's like it knows he's seen it because it suddenly switches on, with a loud hiss of static. More than one person yelps. Ide doesn't know if he makes a sound himself because as the screen glows into life, he can see the face of that puppet, smirking. Watching them from behind the glass. It looks them over as if it's waiting for them to calm down, but then the mouth begins to open and close, and the voice - the voice is the same as always:
"Welcome... both to those I have met before and those whom I know only through observation. You all share a common fault; you all hold true to ideals and refuse to see their flaws. Now you can show me how your ideals stand up when innocent lives are at stake.
"I want to play a game."
Ukita curses under his breath, but everyone else is silent now.
"To win the game, all you have to do is pass through seven rooms. In the seventh room, Yumi Aizawa will be waiting for you."
The picture jolts, changes - now it's a grainy camera feed, showing a small figure standing in the middle of a dimly-lit room. It - yes, it's Yumi, but there's something around her face - another jolt, and it's a different camera, this one showing Yumi's terrified eyes above a band of metal -
"What is it?" Eriko whispers. "What is it, what's he put her in, what's he done?"
"Yumi Aizawa holds the fate of this house in her hands. If her trap is sprung -" Another camera angle, this one showing wires running from the back of the metal cage around Yumi's head, down her back and across the floor - "this house and everyone in it will be blown to kingdom come. While she waits for you, she remains safe. If she loses her faith, or tries to flee, she starts her countdown - and yours as well. She won't wait forever, so you must get to her before her hope runs out."
The picture changes back to the puppet, which shifts a little, turning towards the camera.
"One of you is not what they seem," the voice says, "but all of you have got to admit your faults if you want to be reborn."
Ide feels his throat tighten and takes a slow, shaky breath, trying not to look at the others. The bastard's trying to get them to distrust him even more than they do already - get them to turn on him - or worse, get him to lose it again and do just what he did before.
And the worst of it is, he thinks he might - if it's that or die - he's not just going to let it happen - he's not just going to let someone else kill him -
"Who will be the first to take a step towards enlightenment?" the video is continuing. "You can free others if you sacrifice your own impediments."
The screen flickers off again. For a moment, everyone is silent before Aizawa says, hoarsely, "What did you see? What - what's he done to her?"
The dark-haired man clears his throat, and says, "In the past he has called it a... a reverse bear trap. A typical bear trap would lie open, and then, when triggered, spring shut - like a pair of jaws. This device, however, remains shut, and when triggered it flies open. It is wired into your daughter's jaws, and if she -"
Eriko screams. She screams and she scrambles to her feet to try and get to him and Ide grits his teeth and god damn it, it's not the first time he's heard someone sick with horror at something awful happening to their loved ones but it's the first time it's someone he knows, someone whose house he's been to dinner at, and she needs to stop, she needs to stop screaming -
"How can you do this?" the Chief is shouting. "How dare you do something like that to an innocent child?"
"She won't be harmed!" The man is pale - he cowers against the wall as if he really is just as much of a victim as the rest of them. "He has told you everything you need to know! She must wait for you, she must remain faithful that her parents will save her, and we must find our way to her if we are strong enough."
"Of course," Eriko says, her mouth curling into a smile. "Of course, that's what you do, isn't it? You follow along to check that everyone does what your master's told them to do. I should have -"
"No," the man says. "That's not my duty. I've been brought here to play the game, just like you. I don't want innocents dead -"
"That didn't stop you last time, did it? You shot her down in cold blood and now you're targeting her again, once wasn't enough for you -"
The man's face twitches, and he glares coldly up at her: "Don't you understand? That's why I'm here. I failed my god by harming your child. I asked to be tested, to atone for my sin. I - I did not know that she - that you would be involved again, but I intend to do my utmost to protect her -"
"Protect her?" Eriko hisses. "Do you know how scared she's been? She can't even go to school, she's so terrified. You ruined her life to, what, make yourself feel like some kind of hero? If you really wanted to help her, you'd tell us where that bastard's keeping her!"
"You already know where she is, Aizawa-san. In the seventh room."
"He's right."
That's Raito Yagami, who's looking as pale and sick as the rest of them but sounds half-calm at least.
"Dad, you told me that - all the victims you've seen, they had the information they needed to survive. So all - all we need to do is go through the rooms, like the video said. He's - he's probably told the girl that she just has to wait."
"Yeah, okay," Ukita says, "but how exactly are you proposing we get to the rooms? Seeing as we're all chained to the wall right now?"
Raito smiles, shakily. "It... it said, who'll be the first to take the step, didn't it? And that one of us could free the others?" He's looking around the room. "There'll be something - some kind of key, or..."
Or something else. Ide can fill in the blank, and he bets everyone else can too. But still, they're all looking around. All trying to kid themselves if they just follow the clues then everything will be fine.
"Look, there -" Eriko is pointing to above the door, where the ceiling meets the wall. Crawling along the edge, half in shadow, is a length of chain nailed to the wall, and hanging off it are a bunch of keys.
They all stare at it for a moment and then Ukita scowls and says, "Well, that's brilliant, isn't it. How exactly are we meant to get hold of those?"
"Perhaps if - could we throw something at it?" Mogi says.
"Like what? We don't even have shoes." Ukita stands up - he's nowhere near able to grab the keys but he's squinting anyway, just to get a closer look. Ide finds himself resenting even this, like Ukita's so confident he can spot something no one else can.
"And you'd need to lift the chain off those nails," he's saying now. "It's threaded through the keyring, they're not just going to fall off."
"Then... there must be something else we have to find," Raito says. "That's correct, isn't it?" he adds, glancing at the dark-haired man. "You seem to... to know how Jigsaw operates. What's your name, by the way?"
"Mikami. Teru Mikami." He actually bows a little, as if this is some kind of business meeting. "And yes, you are right. He will give us the information we need. The tools."
Ide tries to focus on studying his surroundings but the stupid thing is, his instincts are actually screaming at him not to. Like that they'll find it, a tape or a syringe or, or a gun and it will tell them what to do and then they'll have no excuse not to do it. He'll have no excuse, except that he's a coward and he doesn't think he can go through with... with whatever it'll be. He glances over at Aizawa, who's sitting, head slumped, staring sightlessly at the grimy floor. Intellectually, he knows it must be horrific not to be able to do anything to help, but all he can think is, you'll have an excuse - when we work it out, you'll have an excuse not to - hell, maybe you won't even be able to, if you can't see -
He turns away, rests his head against the wall, gazes up at the filthy lights. Cobwebs and tiny insects are silhouetted against the glare. Even the ceiling's covered in dirt, dull marks that could be rust or mould or - well, yeah, blood. Spots and lines making up nothing -
Except that suddenly -
He swallows. "Hey..." His throat is so dry no one hears him at first, and he wants to leave it that way, but he makes himself call properly, and then say it: "Isn't that a flower drawn on the ceiling?"
They all glance up, and Raito nods. "It looks like it's meant to be a lotus, don't you think? That would make sense, if we're meant to be searching for... for enlightenment."
Ukita rolls his eyes. "What next, find a cicada for luck? Mogi, can you reach it? Maybe there's something behind it -"
Mogi's already getting up. "Yes - there's a panel - nailed over something else -" He's wrenching at it, and with a creak and a scatter of rust, it comes free and he's reaching warily into a roughly-hewn hole in the ceiling.
"Be careful -" Aizawa is beginning, but Mogi is already reaching around inside the hole. Ide waits for something horrific to happen, but all that does is that Mogi's eyes widen, and then, gingerly, he's easing a hacksaw out of the gap.
Actually, that's quite horrific enough, when you think about what it means.
"For... for the chains?" Eriko says, but her voice is quiet and flat as if even she doesn't believe she's actually correct.
"We can try," the Chief says. "Mogi-san, would you pass it over here?"
"Dad..." Raito begins. "Look, we don't have to - to go along with - I mean, there's got to be other options -"
"It's a saw," Eriko is explaining to Aizawa. "A little one - I suppose one person gets... gets themselves free..." She swallows. "Then they can reach the keys. These chains have locks on them, so..."
"You can free others if you sacrifice your own impediments." Aizawa rubs a hand across his face like he's trying to get rid of the thought. "Seems pretty clear, doesn't it?"
"I don't... I don't think this is going to make much of an impact on the chain," Chief Yagami is saying, slowly like he's testing the idea out. "To be honest, I don't want to try. If this breaks, then we're all trapped here."
"Then what are we meant to do?" Ukita yells. "Wait for someone to volunteer to chop off their own foot? Draw lots? We can't just - we can't -"
"This is Jigsaw," says Aizawa, his voice numb. "Of course you can. If you really want to live." He's shaking. "I... I should... she's my daughter, I should..."
"Nonsense," the Chief says, and he actually sounds so businesslike that for a moment Ide can kid himself that the situation's under control. "You're handicapped enough as it is."
"We can - we could try and get to the keys some other way," Raito says. "There must - can't we -" He glances from his father to the keys, his face suddenly drawn-in and blank as if he's just now realising how bad the situation is. Ide feels viciously glad that someone else is getting it. Although that's not fair, Ukita and Mogi both look sick and Eriko and Aizawa are clearly falling to bits and if the Chief's staying calm then that's good, someone's got to.
"You're not seriously suggesting you're going to do it," Ukita says. "Hell, if someone's going to, why not him?" Scowling in Mikami's direction. "He's the one who got us into this. Or - or - I don't know, someone else who deserves it more than you."
He looks over at Ide. The worst thing is, there isn't even a hint that he's just stressed and picking a fight, or exaggerating because he really doesn't want to see the Chief hurt. He really means it, he wants to see Ide being the one to suffer because Ide's the one who deserves it.
Ide feels like something's closing round his ribs. It isn't like he can argue against it, is it? He killed someone in cold blood because he didn't want to die. Someone who (he's pretty sure) trusted him.
But it's not like he says any of this out loud, because there is no way he's going to volunteer for what the Chief is proposing to do. He just stares back, too scared to actually refuse, but determined not to look away, not to look ashamed -
"Oh, typical," Ukita says. "You're the one who's really got something to make up for here, you know. Though I should've guessed you wouldn't have the guts, not after what you did before."
Everyone is looking. Everyone is looking and mostly they don't even look surprised. Ide tries to take a breath and then he says, "I don't... notice you volunteering either."
"I didn't murder someone else to save my own skin," Ukita snaps. "And you know what, I'm not passing information to the bastard either. Isn't this the way you operate, pretend you're in as much shit as the rest of us but hold back on actually doing anything? I'm just saying, if you did this I might actually start thinking you're not just playing us - god, it even said someone here's faking it -"
"Give it a rest!" Aizawa snaps the words out as if to nobody. "This isn't helping, okay?"
"Hey, it's your kid whose life's on the line! He may have managed to convince you that he's so cut up about what happened but that doesn't mean shit if he's the only one to make it out alive, again -"
"Stop it," Eriko says, her voice shaking. "Stop it, this won't help - I - oh god, I never said I..." She gasps for breath, presses her hand to her mouth. "I can -" But she doesn't look like she can, she looks like she's going to be sick. Aizawa grabs her roughly round the shoulders: "No. No, if anyone does it, it's not going to be you, okay?" He shudders, clearly thinking that he's basically said they have to make someone else do it. But no one calls him on it, of course they don't, because he's a hero, because he made it out alive before, because he's brave enough to actually do what needs to be done -
Ide can feel Ukita still watching him and he closes his eyes like he's kidding himself that makes it all not real. He closes his eyes and he's trying to make himself think say you'll do it - it'll help - it'll prove you're not what they say - It's not working, it's not working even slightly, and all he can think is, I can't - I can't -
Eriko is still crying and Aizawa is saying something else, everyone is speaking at once and the sound roars around him and then it reshapes itself into Chief Yagami saying, "Stop it. I've made the decision."
"Dad..." Raito sound incredibly young, and scared, and Ide actually doesn't hate him for it. Raito may be a super-smart Tokyo-U student, but he's still a kid underneath. The Chief doesn't look at him. He's taking off his tie, binding it round his leg. Makes sense, Ide thinks, like anything about this does. He makes himself keep watching, at least, he's not so much of a coward he's going to pretend it's not happening. The Chief swallows, picks up the hacksaw again. Ide can't really see what he's doing, the - the angle he's going to approach at or whatever. Oh god -
He hears it, though, a wet sound that crawls right down his throat and hits his guts, and the Chief drawing breath and then he groans with pain, over and over and, "Please," Eriko is whispering, "Please, please..." but she never says more than that, she never explains who she's pleading to. Ide wants the Chief to give up, scream, fling the saw away from him, just to make the noises stop, just so they can pretend for a bit longer that things aren't this bad, but he doesn't - glassy-eyed, face dead white and shining with sweat, he keeps on, huddled over the wound he's making, and then all at once he drops the saw and then there's the rattle of chain and Ide sees it, smeared with blood but lying empty on the floor and the Chief drags himself away from it, towards the door. His foot is - well, it isn't completely gone. It trails, a bloody mess, leaving red across the floor. They should be saying something, they should be offering to help, or - or thanking him at least, but they're not, they're all just staring, as finally he reaches the door, clutches at it to haul himself up, grabs at the chain and slides the keys free - then he's throwing them across to Mogi, who catches them, fumbles to free himself and then hurries over to the Chief, grabs him to stop him falling.
"Shit," Ukita is saying. "Shit, shit, for god's sake do something, bandage him up, do something -" There's that, and the blood, and the Chief slumped, but the keys are being passed round - Eriko is the one who slides them across to Ide, and if she pauses for a moment that's probably just his imagination. His hands feel grimy and dusty, and they're damp, the key slides about in his fingers. But he unlocks the chain and struggles to his feet and he would run over to the Chief, help to support him, say something, but Mikami is already there, taking the man's other arm across his shoulders. Eriko has got to the door, is trying the keys in its lock. After a moment it falls open, and she has grabbed Aizawa's hand and dashed through it. It occurs to Ide a second too late that running into the unknown here is a really stupid idea, and he pushes past the others, calling, "Wait -" The door leads out into a dark corridor with another door on the opposite wall. Eriko has just wrenched it open. She and Aizawa step inside, and it slams shut behind them.
