Hey guys! Quick author's note. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm going to be trying our present tense more often! I've always struggled with tenses, between switching back and forth from past to present, so I'm really going to try my hardest to just stick with present as it flows more easily (according to a colleague of mine).
Please bear with any mistakes and be sure to leave me feedback.
The Ultimate Spies (Part 8) (Deadly Life)
"I suppose it's time for my introduction," He said. "My code name is Onyx, and I am the Ultimate Salesman. I'm not too sure about what's going on here, but I think it'd be best to remain as calm as possible for the time being."
Onyx cleared his throat and put his hand on my shoulder. "Allow me to explain," He started. "We could have someone designated as guarding the kitchen during the day. We could pick a different person every day, similarly to how we pick different servers every day. Having a kitchen bodyguard would ensure a 100% survival rate among us, as the bodyguard would oversee proper usage of kitchen supplies, and make sure they don't leave the kitchen. Consider my offer, it won't stand for long!"
Then he realized what he said and chuckled. "Haha, sorry, old habit."
Sonoda shook his head. "I'm not sure what you mean. I have never lied to you, Seizo." He slowly walked towards me.
"The device used on you must've messed with you a bit, making you a little paranoid." He said, inches from me. "You should get some rest and clear your head."
Sonoda...is gone? Just like that?
But why?!
Nadia is already dead. Her body half frozen in the Penguin Exhibit. We're in the middle of her investigation literally right now; so why am I looking at yet another dead body?!
"Wait, wait, wait," Fran says in a frantic tone. "Maybe...maybe he isn't really dead?"
"Y-yeah," Koko says, trying to sound cheerful. "It looks like a lot of blood but maybe he's still breathing and we can get him to the infirmary to get treated!"
For a few seconds, I saw a dim glimmer of hope, like maybe Sonoda really is alive. But it was soon shattered by a familiar sound.
"A body has been discovered! Please gather in the garden ASAP!"
No...NO!
He wasn't my favorite person here, but he didn't deserve to die! Just a few minutes ago he and I were conversing about the investigation.
And now he's just gone, like nothing ever happened.
But seriously, why? Nadia's dead. Her death is enough to make someone a blackened and allow them the chance at attempting to escape.
There was no reason to kill Sonoda. The only possible explanation would be…
"What happened Mari?" Jack questions. By far the calmest one of the bunch, he's currently patting a distressed Mari on the back.
"I don't know, you toad!" Mari answers, pulling away from him. She sniffs and takes off her wet jacket - now matted.
Ah, that's right. When we entered here, the sprinklers were on for some reason. I didn't even notice until now, but all of us are soaking wet in the sprinkler's fertilizer-water mixture.
"Hey, are you all right?" Fran says in a concerned voice. It looks like she's talking to Clara, who didn't look all too good.
Clara shakily nods in response. "Yes...It's just...someone else I was kind of close with died, again." She sighs.
That's right. Silver and her were kind of close and he ended up deader than Sayaka Maizono's career.
And now Sonoda, her 'boss' and colleague of the HFH Enterprise Official Bank is dead as well. I can only imagine how hard it must be on the dancer - even if she didn't necessarily love Sonoda's conniving and suspicious behavior, he was still someone close to her.
Suddenly, I start to realize I feel less and less wet. I look up at the ceiling and the sprinklers are now off. The weather control thing looks like it is now set to be a sunny day, making the water on us slowly evaporate.
Makes sense, as plants need water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide (I think) in order to grow.
The strange this is, though, I don't think I've ever recalled the sprinklers being on during the day time. In fact…
I yawn, putting a hand over my mouth as I open the door to my room. It's been a long day and I'm ready to get some rest…
"Seizo! What's up!"
I look over and to my surprise, spot Takumi walking towards me. He has a big smile on his face and…
Is almost soaking wet.
I raise a brow. "Hey, Kumi. What's up? Were you in the pool or something?"
The escapist quickly shook his head. "Of course not! Probably won't be able to go in the pool for a while. I was in the garden! I've been spending a ton of time there just enjoying the plants and everything. Something I learned is that the sprinklers automatically turn on at night! Plants do need water after all. Unfortunately, I got caught in the downpour and smell like soil and fertilizer…"
I laugh. "Huh, good to know! I'll make sure I'm never in the garden during night time then!"
Takumi sighs, patting down his wet hair. "If only I knew that sooner…"
That's right! The other night, Takumi appeared before me with wet clothing due to his time in the garden.
But it's day time now. The sprinklers shouldn't have come on…Unless they were…
"What's happening?!"
"Another dead body?"
"Please tell me it's Seizo or something…"
Before I could finish thinking, everyone began to pour in one after the other. Of course, their faces immediately dropped upon seeing Sonoda's dead body, with most people either shedding a single tear or just looking generally horrified. The lone exceptions were of course the emotionless members of the group: Isami, Norikazu, and Leonia who simply shook their heads at the scene.
"How is there another murder?!" Akumu says in a sad voice. "There was no need - Nadia's already…" His voice trails off as he just sighs in disappointment.
"Perhaps he wasn't killed for escaping purposes." Isami suggests. "There might've been a scuffle and someone was forced to defend themselves from an attack."
"Yes, but why do you think the killer and Sonoda had a 'scuffle?" Monokuma thinks aloud, caressing Isami's hair.
Isami shrugs. "Not entirely sure, that's something we'll most likely have to figure out in the trial."
…
"Monokuma, where the hell did you come from?" I deadpan, watching Monokuma continue to pet an unphased Isami like a dog.
Monokuma giggles, moving away from Isami and going to the front of the crowd near Sonoda's body.
"When I was a young cub," He says, putting a paw where his heart would be if he was a real bear. "I asked my mother one question: why didn't she become a car saleswoman? It's a reliable career since people will always need to buy cars, plus most saleswomen get health insurance and dental insurance in one policy! Because she was just some soldier, she didn't have any of those benefits and went on to die at a young age."
…
…
…
"Hey what the fuck?" I say with a nervous smile. "Are you ok, Monokuma?"
Monokuma shakes his head. "Of course not! We just lost the only person here with a job that will actually secure him a career in the future! I mean c'mon, we have a runway model, actor, occultist, and something called a photoshoot choreographer?! Bastards, these careers will not be around in the future! You will be replaced by technology and forced to sell your body for money since you spent your whole life focusing on studying one thing at some illustrious school just for the sake of having the name on your resume!"
"Well maybe if we get out of here we can change our minds but for now, you've trapped us here." Leonia frowns, putting her hands on her hips.
"Yeah and where do you get off telling us what to do?!" Takumi yells. "If you really cared about us you wouldn't be trying to get us to kill each other!"
"A-actually occultists are much needed." Shiro shyly says. "People are always wanting to c-communicate with their d-dead family members…"
"Wait a sec." I say. "Shiro. If you're an occultist, why don't you just do one of those ceremony things where you try to communicate with the dead? That way, you can ask the dead victims who killed them and we can avoid all the investigation and trial stuff!"
Shiro shakes his head. "S-Sorry, but I already tried that with Silver and Satoko...I-I didn't get anything, n-no response at all."
"Upupupu…" Monokuma chuckles. "That won't work, not at all! Not in this place and not anywhere else - you'll never get to communicate with Silver, Ritsu, Satoko, Hiiro, Nadia or Sonoda ever again!"
"B-But my powers do work," Shiro sighs. "They just a-aren't working on them!"
Monokuma put his paws over his mouth. "And I oops! Might've said too much there! If you read between the lines you might've gotten a spoiler!"
Hm...
"Monokuma I don't know if you're on crack or what, but can you please just get on with the whole investigation spiel?" I sigh, growing tired of talking with him. "We already have one murder to solve, two is going to take us even more time."
Monokuma nods. "Well of course I can give my usual spiel, but I do have something super duper special that you probably want to know!"
"And what's that?" Taka asks. "The name of the killer?"
Monokuma cackles. "UPUPUPUPU, you wish! No, something a little different. Since this is a very special scenario with Sonoda Eisen, the Ultimate Salesman, being our second victim, I have a special clause! Whoever killed him, whoever that may be, is not considered to be blackened IF two conditions are met! Number one, if they are not the same person as Nadia Levitsky's killer, and number two, if Nadia Levitsky's killer is alive!"
"Wait, so there's a possibility that this killer's murder didn't even matter at all?" Evelyn questions. "That would mean they killed Sonoda for no reason."
"Yes-siree!" Monokuma nods. "If the aforementioned conditions were met - then you only need to focus on Nadia's murder! This one didn't matter at all. However, there is a possibility you will need to focus on this one! If Nadia and Sonoda's killer are one in the same, then you'd of course want to focus on both murders to help find the culprit, and if Nadia's killer is dead then it works the other way around - where Nadia's murder doesn't really matter, since the culprit can't be executed if they're already dead, and Sonoda's is the one you're going to want to focus on."
"So if Nadia's killer is Sonoda is what you're saying?" I ask. "I mean, that's the only way."
"Or remember, it can always be Nadia herself!" Monokuma suggests. "Radical 6 is an option - even if it's a sad one that you all don't want to consider. Sometimes ya just have to. Anyway now, let's take a look at...the MONOKUMA FILEEE!"
This time, he threw it to Leonia, who swiftly caught it. We all gathered around her to take a look at it.
The victim is Sonoda Eisen. The body was discovered in the garden. Time of death is roughly 11:32 AM.
He is surrounded by a pool of his own blood and nearly all the bones in his body are broken. The cause of death is from a fall. Death was immediate upon impact.
I look up at the second floor, quickly realizing how Sonoda died. It was either an accident and Sonoda was the 'killer', or someone pushed him.
Given the current circumstances and the fact that it'd be pretty damn hard to accidentally fall over a railing, I was leaning towards the second option…
"How gruesome," Leonia remarks, slightly cringing at the scene. "The only true semblance is knowing that he died immediately."
"Something that benefits us is knowing all the details," Norikazu says. "The past few cases we've always had one piece of information missing: time of death or cause of death. This time however, looks like we know everything."
"Unlike the other cases though, now we have to figure out why he was killed." Fran says. "The other times we just assumed it was because someone wanted to escape, but this time, I have a feeling that it was for a different reason…"
A different reason, huh…
In here, the two motives that we're given are the main catalysts of murder. The first is the clause that states we can leave this ship and go back home if we get away with it. The second is whatever motive we're given at the time.
The Savior Perk, Traitor/Truce plus harm to our loved ones, and now the Monokuma Fear Challenge.
Honestly, it's still hard to imagine that Nadia was killed because of some challenge that we literally just found a loop hole out of, and now Sonoda is killed too? Like Fran said, something tells me it was for a reason unrelated to either of the two motives.
Instead, we have to think of this as real life. In the real world, people are killed for so many reasons. Revenge, anger, money, self defense, etc…
It's going to be hard to pin down a specific motive since we have so many to choose from, but I'm confident we can do it! After all, I'm on the case, and I've already solved two murders! Not bad for an actor, right?
"Seizo, wipe that stupid ass smile off your face and get to work," Takahashi's gratingly annoying voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "We have two cases to solve now: we don't need you dilly dallying you lazy motherfucker!"
I roll my eyes. "Fine, fine. Let's get to it I guess…"
Two victims, two different cases.
Well, this should be fun.
INVESTIGATION START! (again)
Monokuma took his leave and Takahashi handed out our assignments as per usual. He split us up into three categories:
One category to solely focus on Nadia's murder.
One to solely focus on Sonoda's murder.
And another to focus on both.
Of course, he put me in the hardest category and demanded I investigate both murders…
We all split up into our respective areas and got work.
The first place I want to investigate is definitely the scene of the crime. I think attempting to reenact and visualize Sonoda's death might help us out.
I went up to the second floor of the garden and tried to visualize just what the hell might've happened.
"Need some help, Seizo?" Norikazu asks, standing up from one of the chairs in the garden. He's currently drawing in his notebook like always, but for a different reason.
"Sure!" I nod. "Let me see what you got."
Norikazu nods, bringing his notebook to my face so I can examine it in detail. "I've drawn out a number of scenarios, and based on the angle of Sonoda's body, I believe these two are the most logical ones."
Norikazu has drawn two diagrams. The one on the left is titled "IF AN ACCIDENT". It shows the exact spot on the second floor where Sonoda could've fallen accidentally to his death based on the angle of how his body fell.
The second one is titled "IF A MURDER" and shows what looks like two possible spots where Sonoda could've been when he was pushed by someone to his death. Both of them are, of course, close by to each other.
"Ah, I see." I say. "Sonoda could've been pushed one of two ways. The first would be from his left, and the second would of course be from his right."
Norikazu nods once again, bringing his notebook down from me. "There is a third option, but I believe it to be very unlikely since Sonoda's body fell at an angle. If Sonoda was pushed head on, he would've ended up in a more straight position. Oh, and by the way, Sonoda was pushed with his back to the railing, not with his back to the wall. So he saw the killer push him."
"Hm, but isn't that weird though?" I ask. "If what you're saying is true, then Sonoda was facing the killer when he was pushed, but you also said that Sonoda wasn't pushed head on. When facing someone, most people stand directly in front of the other person. But you're saying the killer pushed Sonoda from his left or his right…"
"This is all just a theory of course," Norikazu says. "But I've had to study angles to perfect my drawing abilities, and based on the several different scenarios I thought over: this is what I came up with. Don't take it as fact, but rather something that may or may not help you find the killer."
"Got it!" I smile. "Thank you, Norikazu!"
Truth Bullet: Drawing Diagrams, obtained!
Truth Bullet: How Sonoda was Pushed, obtained!
"Oh, and another thing." Norikazu says. "Just wanted to let you know, I was in the garden a few minutes before Sonoda's death."
"Really?!" I gasp. "Was Sonoda in here?"
Norikazu nods. "Yes. It's a little hard knowing I might've been able to save him...But anyways, he was investigating Monokuma's Death Flower with...Mari I believe."
"Good to know…" I say. "Good to know indeed…"
Truth Bullet: Norikazu's Account, obtained!
I left Norikazu alone and went back down to the first floor of the garden to investigate Sonoda's corpse.
Takumi and Isami are the ones assigned by Takahashi to investigate the immediate area around the corpse. Isami is investigating Sonoda's body itself while Takumi is off looking at the different plants in the garden.
I approach Isami first, immediately asking if she's found anything of note on Sonoda's person.
Isami nods, pointing to two things nearby the corpse: a piece of paper and...a knife!
"W-wow," I say, surprised. "Where the hell did the knife come from?"
Isami shrugs his shoulders. "I'm not sure. It was just nearby his person when I first started looking around. I do not know if this was Sonoda's knife, or the killer's…"
Truth Bullet: Knife, obtained!
"One thing is for sure though." I note. "This knife wasn't used. Sonoda doesn't have any stab wounds, right?"
Isami nods. "Right. And unless someone here is exceptionally talented at hiding their injuries; none of us were harmed by this knife either."
"So why was it here?" I wonder. "Clearly it must have some purpose."
"Not sure." Isami answers. "However, I did find something interesting. Take a look at that paper."
Isami points to the paper nearby Sonoda, and I carefully pick it up.
It's smeared in blood, but it's pretty legible. However, the bottom part is ripped off, so there's only half a sheet of paper.
Congratulations on your prize! Here is some info on the truth of the order of Monokuma's Face Your Fear Challenge Extravaganza…
And that's it.
"The hell?" I frown. "The truth of the order?"
"Not exactly sure what it means, but clearly it must've had some significance to Sonoda if it was on his person. Might've even played a factor in how he died." Isami suggests.
Maybe…
Truth Bullet: Suspicious Note, obtained!
Something that caught my eye about the note was not only the info on the 'truth of the order' but also, the fact that the note writer calls the info a 'prize'. When I think of prize, I immediately think of the scavenger hunt. But if I remember correctly, none of the prizes talked about any kind of note with information…
Truth Bullet: Scavenger Hunt, obtained!
Truth Bullet: Scavenger Hunt Attendees, obtained!
Truth Bullet: Scavenger Hunt Prizes, obtained!
As I finish up reading the note a few more times, I notice Isami eating something.
"Hey, aren't those the cotton candy grapes?" I dead pan. "...You're really just going to eat them right in front of Sonoda's dead body?"
Isami raises a brow. "I'm hungry. And these are literally the best things in the world. Go ask Takumi, he's the one who introduced them to me." She says with a mouth full of grapes.
I sigh and approach the escapist asshole himself.
Takumi is investigating the Monokuma Death Flower, looking at it with a strange intensity that almost reminds me of when he was a douchebag for a day.
"What's up?" I ask him, trying to see what was so interesting about the flower.
"I'm not sure…" He admits, rubbing his chin in thought. "This plant. It kind of just makes me stop and stare. It's almost like I can't look away!"
I laugh. "Here, I'll help you." I grab him by the shoulders and turn his body around to face the plant next to the Monokuma Death Flower.
Immediately as I did so, the white haired boy gasps in shock.
"OH MY GOD!" He dramatically yells, causing everyone in the garden to look at him.
"T-Takumi, what's wrong with you?" I whisper, trying to divert attention away from us. "You're making a fool of yourself!"
"Seizo, look at this!" Takumi demands, immediately pointing to the plant. "What is this? Take a close look."
I squint my eyes. At first, it just looks like a regular bush, or vines or something. But upon closer inspection, I realized what made Takumi so surprised.
"Those are...the cotton candy grapes, right?" I ask. They're super picked over and only a few are left, but sure enough, it's a grape vine.
Takumi nods. "Yup! Like I said before, my memory has been foggy, but I know for a fact that I've laid eyes on this before. I didn't put two and two together before, but isn't a bit strange how this is right next to the Monokuma Death Flower?"
Ah, I think I see what Takumi is trying to get at here…
Truth Bullet: Monokuma Death Flower, obtained!
Truth Bullet: Cotton Candy Grapes, obtained!
"We'll have to talk about it more in the class trial, but you might be onto something here, Kumi." I nod.
Takumi triumphantly puts his hands on his hips and smiles. "The Ultimate Escapist is back at it again! Do I have your trust now, Seizo?"
I laugh. "Sure you do. I think your strange behavior from before wasn't your fault, but again, we'll discuss it more in the trial. You might've just found a crucial piece of evidence!"
The last person investigating the garden is Mari, who Taka figured wouldn't be of much use anywhere else.
The poor girl is shivering because of her wet clothes, standing next to the weather controller panel of the garden.
"Never noticed this before!" I say, approaching the model. "You must've set it to be boiling hot, right?"
"Obviously." She answers, frowning. "It's freezing almost everywhere on this ship, and then sprinklers just had to turn on to make it even more cold. I'm trying to warm up so I can actually do something useful to help in the investigation."
My eyes widen in surprise. "You want to help in the investigation? Why's that?"
The ginger rolls her eyes. "Don't get the wrong idea; I'm just trying to step up for Takahashi's sake. Apparently he's not feeling very well, so as co-leader, he's expecting me to step it up during the rest of the investigation and subsequent trial."
Hm, that's right...Taka was acting weird earlier.
"I, uh," I started. "Was just wondering how your own investigation was going...are you feeling ok?"
He took a second to respond, and I noticed that his pupils were dilated. "...I'm fine. Leave me alone, I'm trying to clear my head."
"Of what?" I asked.
"None of your damn business, C-Lister...ugh, I mean D-Lister." Takahashi stammered, clutching his head once again.
I frowned. Something's off with him, but if he doesn't want me to worry, then I won't worry! I have far more pressing matters to worry about because of Nadia's murder.
"What's wrong with him?" I ask. "Did you curve him or something?"
"No," Mari sighs. "I have no idea. He's just being dramatic, I think. But whatever, if I have to step it up: I have to step it up…"
Truth Bullet: Unwell Takahashi, obtained!
"What is this thing anyway?" I point to the weather control panel that Mari's been messing with. "This is the only room that has one, right?"
Mari nods. "I think it's because not only can you control the weather, but you can also mess with the sprinkler system. There's a couple of options. You can either have it switched to on permanently, schedule a time for it to turn on and off, or have it switched to off permanently."
"Out of curiosity, what was it switched to when you came to mess with it?" I question.
Mari shrugs. "No idea. Take a look for yourself."
I did just that, moving closer to look at the panel.
Currently, it looks like it's set to a schedule. The schedule is from: 11:33 AM - 11:38 AM.
Only five minutes? Is that really enough to ensure all the plants get adequately wet?
Truth Bullet: Sprinklers, obtained!
"Mari, Norikazu told me you were spotted with Sonoda here before he died." I bring up. "What's up with that: you and the salesman get to fooling around?"
"Hell no!" Mari scoffs. "We were just investigating! I left the room really quick to touch up my makeup. When I re-entered after hearing something heavy hit the ground is when…" She begins to trail off.
I narrow my eyes, giving her a second. "...Um, was there anyone in the garden with you guys?"
Mari shakes her head. "No. Not after Norikazu left. We were all by ourselves in there."
All by themselves, huh…
"Ah, and with the sprinklers: they turned on about a minute after I came back in. The stupid water got into my eyes because I wasn't expecting it, stunning me for a moment." Mari complains. "Then I managed to regain my vision and after a little bit of looking around is when I found Sonoda's body…"
"Which is when you screamed." I finish. "Thanks, Mari. I think I have a better picture of what happened now."
Truth Bullet: Mari's Account, obtained!
I left Mari alone to finish warming up and started towards the door of the garden to investigate elsewhere. However, I immediately noticed something strange next to the door.
"What the hell?" I mutter.
It looks like some sort of tarp that goes over plants to protect them during a storm or something. In this case, it's probably used for plants that don't need to be watered, so the sprinkler system can turn on, water the plants that need to be watered but the tarp can go on the plants that don't need it.
But what is one of these tarps doing next to the door?
Truth Bullet: Tarp, obtained!
After that, I looked everywhere.
Looked in the park, the server room, and even re-investigated the zoo, aquarium, and the garden.
But there was nothing.
All that we had were a bunch of jumbled off clues that made no sense and didn't paint a clear picture as to what the hell happened to both Nadia and Sonoda.
After realizing that we were all out of evidence, Takahashi had us all gather in the garden to reconvene.
"That's it, huh?" Evelyn sadly frowns. "There's nothing left to go off of!"
"We've searched every nook and cranny on the third floor, but we haven't found anything that can really help us out." Akumu says. "This case is making my head hurt…"
"I thought Satoko's case was difficult, but this takes the cake!" Fran says. "Not to mention the fact that we have two deaths to worry about rather than the one."
"Our numbers are getting smaller which is another reason this is getting so hard." Koko sighs. " I can't even imagine how difficult the class trial will be."
"S-Sonoda died for seemingly n-no reason…" Shiro says. "There's really n-no evidence that c-can help us find one…"
"This will never get any easier: investigating like a bunch of junior detectives." Clara frowns. "The killer is making us run around like crazy for this case. They're extremely clever and determined to not get caught."
"Was it suicide, or did someone kill Nadia?" Takumi thinks aloud. "And then was it an accident or did someone kill Sonoda? How are we supposed to figure that out?!"
"I'd much rather be sitting down enjoying a glass of Long Island iced tea, but we have to work harder than ever before for this difficult case." Leonia says. "Or rather, these difficult cases."
"The one thing I'm still confused about is the chandelier incident." Jack frowns. "What was the reason behind that? All of us walked out of there with relatively minor injuries so it couldn't have been to kill us."
"If I find out one of you touched my book while I was sleeping," Isami says ominously. "I won't be very happy…"
"The cotton candy grape supply is dwindling down fast." Norikazu remarks. "Although, it may be for the best. Looking back at it, I'm not sure if the grapes are a good thing…"
Takahashi stays silent, closing his eyes and putting a hand to his forehead. The usual tan boy is looking awfully pale for some reason…
As we all stand around waiting for a certain something, we hear it.
DING DONG, BING BONG
"Okey dokey, folks, I think that's enough investigating for now. I'm getting tired of waiting, so it's time for the long-awaited class trial! This investigation was sooo boring, you all did NOT try enough! You better make sure the trial is more interesting or I'll cook you up like a fried Teruteru!"
We all gave each other a look. A look of anxiety.
In the cases before, we were of course extremely anxious about the possibility of not being able to solve the case and dying there in the trial room. But now more than ever before is a feeling of extreme unrest.
I don't think any of (besides the killer(s)) us have any clue about the culprit's identity. I might have an extremely faint idea, but not strong enough to be confident going into the trial.
There's a very high chance that we could die today. The killer just might get away with their crimes…
I wanted to stay positive but I couldn't help but feel extremely negative. I closed my eyes, trying to curb my fear.
We can do this...we can do this...we can do this…
"Please prepare yourselves for a little nap! I'm going to take you somewhere very special..."
We can do this...we can do this...we…
…
Tiredness filled my body, and I briefly opened my eyes to try and fight it. One by one, my classmates fell to the ground, until I and one other person are the only ones left awake.
For some reason, I feel like I can manage to stay awake for just a few more seconds. My vision is getting a little blurry, but I can manage to squint my eyes and make out the other person who's awake with me.
Takahashi looks like he's about to collapse. The pilot is clutching his head and I can hear him grunting in agony.
"Make it...stop…" He starts to say. "Make it stop!"
He falls to his knees and I can do nothing but watch, my feet rooted in place.
He then falls to the floor, moaning in pain as his body writhes. I can't help but feel bad for him. His veins are popping up out his muscles and he looks paler than a ghost: nothing like the ginger asshole I met when I first woke up here.
I try to call out to him, but the sleepiness is beginning to become too much for me.
I lose my balance and fall to the ground, no longer able to look at Takahashi. All I can hear is his cries of agony, until I hear nothing at all…
And then I become completely unconscious, drifting off to sleep.
…
My eyes immediately shoot open and I rush to my feet. I look around me and it seems almost everyone else is already awake.
"You ready, Seizo?" Clara asks with a sad smile. "Just a few more minutes until we head in."
I sigh. "Y-Yeah. But first, where's Takahashi?"
"Are you blind?" Mari scoffs. "Look behind you."
I do so, and sure enough: Takahashi is laying on the ground, eyes shut.
I frown. Something seems off…
"You guys, did anyone think to check on him?" I ask. "Everyone but him is awake."
"No, we just figured he would wake up eventually like the rest of us." Jack admits. "I mean, we have no reason to think otherwise."
That's true. The others didn't see what I saw.
I slowly approach the pilot, kneeling down to him.
Then I slap him in the face.
"Seizo!" Mari gasps. "What is this behavior?!"
"N-not the slapping…" Shiro cringes. "I know h-he's really mean sometimes, but he's sleeping, S-Seizo…"
"Sleeping?" I repeated. "Then why didn't he wake up?"
The others quiet down, and realize what I'm trying to get at.
Even after being slapped in the face, Takahashi Jirou is still unmoving.
"W-what's wrong with him?" Fran nervously asks.
"He's not…" Evelyn trails off, biting her lip. "Right?"
I can feel my heart begin to pound as everyone anxiously looks at Taka, waiting for him to wake up.
But it's no use. I slap, pinch, and shake the hell out of him: but I get no response. It's almost like…
…
…
…
God fucking damn it, you've got to be kidding me...
A/N: I'm really running out of content for these author's notes lmao, hit me up to join the Discord and let me know what you thought of the chapter!