Sina is running, but where? What could be a safe spot giving her enough time to think this wretched game through? The roof might be safe, but it's too many staircases to get there in time. Maybe the surveillance room will be a good idea, because most of the people inside the Beach don't know of its existence. Besides it's not too far away, just one staircase down to the basement and then at the end of the corridor. They can make it there if they're fast eno-
The sound of gunshots fill the air and both Sina and Ichika scream out in surprise, though Sina quickly covers her mouth. The noise of real weapons is always intimidating, and it can never be compared to the feelings while watching a movie.
Because this is no movie or made-up story. It might be a weird parallel-world that she doesn't yet understand, but Sina knows it's about life and death, making her current situation absolutely serious. The gunshots get louder, and it doesn't help that she hears people scream in fear and pain only to be silenced with another shot.
"They're killing everyone!" Ichika whispers with a panicked voice, and Sina feels both their hands shaking. The militia guys - it can't be anyone else, because they are the only ones carrying weapons - are close, and she won't make it to the surveillance room in time.
Without a better plan, Sina quickly pushes open the door next to her and pulls Ichika inside together with her. Just as the door closes, they hear Aguni's men arrive in the hallway, and Ichika whimpers next to her.
Sina covers Ichika's mouth with her hand, pleading her to keep silent with her touch while she tries to hold her own breath. Shots are fired right in front of them, and it's even more frightening when one can't see what is happening. Someone close is begging for their life, but it's no use as the pleading stops with a single shot. There is laughter and more muffled talking, then the noise disappears again.
Ichika grabs Sina's hand to take it away from her mouth and immediately starts sobbing, even though she still tries to not make too much sound. None of them dares to talk, and even though the militia guys are most likely gone, they don't dare to come out of what turns out to be a closet. It is dark and the air is stiff, but it has saved them from the first shooting wave at least.
Just as Sina wants to see if the coast is clear, they hear more footsteps. Both of them tense again, but there are no shots and shouts this time and whoever it is, they quickly disappear.
"I don't want to die here!" Ichika really sounds desperate, and Sina can't blame her. She most likely would have broken down too if she hadn't cried out all her emotions before, but while the feelings inside of her are still dulled, she too is scared with no doubt.
"You won't." Sina wants to promise it, but there's no way she can tell who will survive and who won't. The game has just begun, and they're only at the beginning of the massacre.
A look onto the phone display tells them that 30 minutes of the time have already passed. Two hours are nothing to find a murderer under so many people, thus the militia decided to just kill off everyone without talking. As a Hearts game, this probably is exactly what the game masters have planned, while the answer will be too obvious for the people to see.
This is how Hearts games work after all, don't they? If the people had agreed to think it through at first and find a solution together, the only death needed would have been the Witch. But of course the Witch wants to win that game too, so they manipulate the rest until they kill each other for nothing.
Nothing of it fits together and yet it can't be coincidence. Aguni becomes the new leader, someone dies, a game for the last card starts. Where's the connection?
"What reason would someone have to kill Momoka…?" Sina speaks her thoughts out loud, but it doesn't help to find an answer and Ichika is clueless either.
"Wasn't she just a high schooler? It's no sense to kill a young and innocent girl."
Sina leans her head against the locker at her back. There's no need to close her eyes as it is pitch dark in here anyway, but whatever she thinks off, it doesn't make sense.
The witch could be one of the militia, but who? Aguni would be too obvious, besides he most likely had no reason to kill someone just after becoming the new leader. Maybe one of the creeps, like Niragi or Last Boss? They both seem like they don't care about others, and Sina is sure they would feel no scruples at all. But if one of them really is the witch, then there's nothing she can do. She doesn't even know how to fight; how is she supposed to stand against a machine gun or a sword-wielding weirdo?
"I… I'll check the situation." She whispers after another eternity of waiting and doing nothing and swallows heavily as she carefully opens the door. No shots are fired, and Sina quickly looks around to make sure no one else is here. With a wave, she signals Ichika to come out and she does, while her legs are shaking so hard that she can barely stand.
The floor is covered in blood and the carpets are soaked beyond repair. The sight of it makes Sina feel sick, but at least there is no corpse. Single drops of blood lead to the staircase and she wonders who has died here.
"Where… where are the bodies?" Ichika sobs, and Sina remembers the huge bonfire next to the building.
"Killing the witch is not enough. They have to burn in the Fire of Judgement." She wraps the hoodie closer around youher but it can't help against the cold she feels. "But… Ichika, do you smell that?"
Something is causing the alarm bells inside Sina to ring, and when Ichika starts to cough next to her, Sina realizes what it is. "Fire!"
"What?"
Now that she has said it, Sina can see feint smoke clouds coming from the boiler rooms. The Beach is burning, as if the random killings wouldn't be enough already.
She groans with frustration as she runs towards the surveillance room. The smoke here makes her cough too, and Sina pulls up the hoodie so it covers her mouth and nose. The heavy door hardly opens, but somehow it does and she stumbles into the room. If Chishiya has been here, he's not anymore, but Sina can see a cigarette lying on the floor and the holder is still damp, so at least Kuina had to be here not long ago.
As she looks to the monitors, the cameras show what Sina has feared. There's blood everywhere, in the hallways, in the rooms. People are dragging corpses to the outside while others are still being shot, and it's absolutely terrible. But what worries her most is that some of the monitors already signal fire alarms, and it is spreading. Sina is sure this is no coincidence – whoever has caused the fire wants the people to come out of their hideouts.
"Let's get out of here!" She shouts to Ichika as she hurries out of the room again and grabs her hand again. There's noise coming from the bar, but they don't have time to warn them. Whoever is still in there should notice the fire too soon enough, and the smoke makes it already hard to breathe for her.
"Where should we go?" Ichika asks while Sina takes two stairs at a time, but she doesn't know the answer. She just wants to get out of this, and away from the fire.
The lobby is no safe place anymore, but luckily for her, Sina has seen a back door before that leads from the staircase to one of the backyards. Completely out of breath, she bursts through the door and drags Ichika with her. It's mostly dark here, but the stench is incredible and almost forces Sina to throw up. Ichika isn't as lucky and empties her stomach right next to a huge metal container.
"What… what is this?" She heaves, and Sina climbs up the stone stairs next to her to get away from the dumpster. The stench is rotten and so intense that she wants to flee immediately, but this might be one of the last safe spots on the Beach.
"I don't know. Just… don't open the container."
But no matter how far away they get from the container, there's still an unpleasant smell in the air. Though Sina knows what this is at least. It's human bodies burning to ashes. Innocent bodies that have been killed out of nothing but madness.
Ichika and her both sit down on the stairs and just hold each other. The shooting doesn't stop, and Sina wonders how many people have to die until the witch is found.
"We can't just sit here and wait!" Ichika has started to cry again, and her face is full of despair and pure fright. "If we continue like this, the time will run out and the witch will win. We will die no matter what!"
"Guess we only can choose if we want to die through bullets, fire or a laser." Sina nearly doesn't have any strength left to fight and she is close to giving up. And yet she continues to just sit on those stairs with Ichika while the voice from their phones announces the time again and again, until there are only 45 minutes left.
It has gotten quiet around the backyard, and Sina wonders if someone inside the Beach is already trying to figure out who the witch is, when a loud noise suddenly makes her jump. Whatever it was sounded like a gunshot, only much more intense and dangerous. Sina lets go of Ichika to see where it came from, and only then she realizes the blood on her hands.
Ichika's body drops to the ground and doesn't move anymore, and her back quickly turns red from all the blood.
No matter how hard Sina shakes her and how loud she calls her name, her friend won't move.
"Ichika! ICHIKA!"
