4. Promise

"Dang it!" Kawachi muttered as soon as the screen went blank. Dang it, Kanmuri's gone now. Doubt Kuroyan is going to be on any good terms with me, the two were at least good friends in Harvard...And it's going to suck that Kanmuri isn't around.

Kawachi let a moment of silence pass, thinking of Kanmuri; of how friendly he'd been during the competition and during work. He remembered how much Kanmuri despised Yukino and always called Kuroyanagi with 'senpai' stuck at the end.

He let those feelings pass. He had to keep going, if he was going to save everyone else from Shadow's wrath.

He looked at the cracked mask, re-reading the note. He tore the note off the mask, before exiting the room to get to sign number 4.

Kuroyanagi finally let go of Kanmuri's cold corpse and let it lie on the floor as he got into a sitting position, leaning against the wall. "He's gone..." Kuroyanagi muttered quietly as he let his somewhat blood-soaked hands go through his hair. "Shigeru..."

No one else dared to speak, unsure if whatever they wanted to say next would make anyone mad or not.

"Okay, okay...room 174..." Kawachi trailed off as he walked down the hallway. Eventually he reached the room and he got in there right away. Looking around, he knew immediately that the clock and TV screen were in this room, too, just like the previous rooms. But besides that, this room was completely different-and yet so familiar-to Kawachi.

There were newspaper clippings and photos about the Monaco Cup everywhere. There were pictures of all the contestants in the Monaco Cup, from the Egyptian team to the France team to even the Japan team, all bunched on one wall. There were also words, scribbled onto the wall with what looked like black marker. Kawachi read some of the messages and cringed. None of them were positive.

Why did the semi-retarded baldy win against Shachihoko!? He shouldn't have-IMPOSSIBLE!

I lost. I lost against that stupid kid in the pink hairband! Why!?

I WISH TEAM JAPAN WOULD DIE!

Kawachi took a deep breath as his eyes absorbed the notes he saw. "Wow." Kawachi muttered aloud. "Shadow must have...Seriously hated us for winning..." Looking around, he found nothing else that would help him, so he left the room.

Running over to sign 5, he lifted it to reveal a key with the number 149. He headed in the direction of that room and got there, opening the door and looking around.

There were bookshelves everywhere in the room. Kawachi let out a groan, before heading towards the first shelf to investigate.

"Why has everyone gotten so silent all of a sudden?" Shadow asked, finally breaking the silence. He treaded around the room, seemingly getting closer to everyone before treading away from them. "I thought you would start screaming at me to let you guys out. I'm a bit surprised that you're staying silent. Especially you." He ended, looking at Meister in the eye.

"Shut up." Sophie was heard muttering, but Shadow continued.

"You've lost your father, and I know about your mother. You little helpless thing, I thought you would try to go strangle me when I killed your father...He was a bastard, you know, for abandoning you and your lovely little sister. A bastard." Shadow ended finally, letting out a dark chuckle.

Meister bit his lower lip, drawing blood without meaning to. The masked man seemed to almost casually lick the blood dripping from his lip before continuing to stare back at Shadow blankly.

"Not going to defend yourself? Fine with me." Shadow muttered, turning his back on the older man. "But I know you will crack, eventually. You can't hide behind that mask forever."

Kawachi had only gotten to the third shelf in the room when the clock struck 2:30. Shadow's face appeared on the screen, and Kawachi could only let out a deep sigh of sorts. Dang it. Another one is going to die...

"Time's up for a third one." Shadow responded, before bringing Azuma and Tsukino closer to the screen. "Which one? The creator of 'Ja-pan?' Or will it be the love child trying her best to become successor of Pantasia?" Tsukino's eyes widened when Shadow mentioned the words 'love child,' and Shadow just smirked. "Yes, missy, I know all about you, too. Don't think I didn't do my research."

"Dang it..." Kawachi trailed off under his breath. I can't kill one of my friends! Azuma, Tsukino...I don't know...

"Kawachi." Kawachi looked up as Azuma spoke. "Choose me."

"What!?" Kawachi exclaimed, his eyes widening with horror. "Azuma-"

"We promised that we'd protect Tsukino. Remember, during the Newcomers Tournament?" Azuma responded, smiling a little. "I don't want to break that promise to her. I don't think you want to, either."

"A-Azuma..." Kawachi trailed off. He took a deep breath, before speaking. "Azuma will die." The words felt so bitter on his tongue, but he knew he couldn't do a thing to stop Azuma from that. He knew Azuma would never break a promise. Ever.

One gunshot was all it took for the creator of 'Ja-pan' to hit the floor, dead. Tsukino immediately started sobbing, and Kawachi couldn't help but try to blink away a few tears, either. I have to stay strong for her, dang it! He thought quietly as Shadow lazily blew over the barrel of the gun.

"I'm glad you chose him to die." Shadow spoke, grinning. "Now I'm definitely...Number one. The best of the best..."

"You bastard!" Kawachi finally shouted, unable to control himself. "I'm going to find you! And I'll put a stop to this sick game!"

Shadow merely smirked. "Just keep looking, Baldy. Good luck." The screen went blank after that.

Dead: Yuiichi Kirisaki, Yukino Azusagawa, Shigeru Kanmuri, Azuma Kazuma

Alive: Meister Kirisaki, Sophie Kirisaki, Tsukino Azusagawa, Ken Matsushiro, Kai Suwabara, Monica Adenauer, Shachihoko, Ryou Kuroyanagi