Ch 5 - Hajime - Despair TV

Hajime's heart was stuck in his throat, threatening to make him retch and make its escape. Makoto was a suspect? And now he's in the trap? So who even is Sparkling Justice? And what had Hajime done to deserve this?

Unless I'm like that guy in the girl's trap. I'm just a game piece to be used so Makoto can win or lose. There's no way for me to survive. But that didn't have to be true. He had his own tape, after all, and he was told to get out. Maybe by killing Makoto he'd be able to escape, or if he lived past Makoto's time limit.

He glanced nervously at the other man, who was still talking.

"And the officer, after all of that, still asks her if she was grateful he didn't kill her. And you know what she said?" There was a pause that went a beat too long; Hajime recognized he was expected to respond.

"Uh, no, what did she say?"

"'He helped me.' What does that even mean? Is she going to turn her whole life around because of that?" Makoto groaned. "It's not like I can do the same thing."

Hajime was grateful for the large space between the two of them; without the ability to hurt Makoto, he wouldn't have to fight off the thoughts to do so. But they were still there. He still had to escape, which meant Makoto couldn't win.

But how was he going to do that? He'd have to be freed from the chain and get to the other side of the room where the door was…but there was also Makoto, who he'd need to pass. Would they fight at the door? Makoto didn't look very strong, so he could probably win in a fight.

I can think of hypotheticals all day, but they won't do me any good if I can't move from this spot. There's supposed to be things hidden around here for Makoto to kill me, I just need to find them before he does.

So Hajime took his time visually searching the room. There still wasn't anything that looked like an X for treasure, no weird shadows or awkward lines to imply hidden compartments. It was after the second or third pass of the mirror did he pause. There was the corner that he had broken when he threw the saw earlier; a catch of the light struck him as odd. Then he remembered Makoto's story.

It's a two-way mirror! Which meant someone was watching them.

He took off one of his shoes and stood up, adjusting his footing for the best pitch possible.

"What are you—"

Makoto's question was answered as the shoe went straight through the mirror. There was another room on the other side, but no person; there was just a yellow camcorder on a tall tripod pointed at the room. A red light slowly blinked.

"That's…." Makoto stood up to get a better look, then scoffed. "Is that all this is for you? Reality TV? Are you getting off on our despair? What the fuck do you want from us?"

Hajime looked down at Sayaka and once more thought of Makoto's tale. All the pieces to the mystery were there…but just out of reach. Why he was in this trap, why these 3 people at once, why Sayaka was already dead. Why they were given such a long time to make their decision instead of mere seconds, deaths from starvation instead of quick and bloody.

There was a reason for every element of this trap, and somewhere among them was the key to freedom.

The security monitor flickered as the two-way glass tumbled to the floor. Now Makoto was using this as an opportunity to start screaming about the unfairness of the situation. A gloved hand turned a dial, lowering the volume.

Like that'll do him any good, Sparkling Justice thought. The rules of the game were very clear, and he wasn't in any position to complain. It was very easy for Makoto to win, he just had to kill someone else in order to live. There weren't even any vats of acid or hydraulics grafted onto his body! If anything, this was one of the easier traps.

There was movement on another monitor; it was the two hostages, squirming with renewed effort. They must have heard Makoto and thought he was nearby. As if he would be able to bust free and heroically save them. They did know it was the same wet-blanket Makoto they were familiar with, right?

The only way he'd be able to carry out justice was to follow the rules of the killing game. That was true of every player of the game, even Sparkling Justice himself.

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