Haruka ran out of his room and ran over to Makoto's room, 1-4, only to find the room was empty. "Makoto?" Haruka's voice came out quivering and ran down the hall, slamming Nagisa's door open. "Nagisa!" The blond looked up.
"What's wrong?! A body was found; Rei came down running and said Mikoshiba was in the gym, saying we had to get there immediately." Nagisa was also throwing his clothes back on, nearly crying. "But…Rei's still alive. So I'm happy."
Haruka's heart started to beat faster. 'Okay, so Nagisa, Rei, and Mikoshiba are still alive.' "Makoto's not in his room." He managed to choke out.
Nagisa ran to Haruka and grabbed his hand. "Maybe he's already in the gym, Haru. Don't jump to negative conclusions!" The smaller started to run to the gym.
Haruka noticed the school was oddly quiet. There was a silent and somber feeling to the dimly lit halls, and Haruka couldn't hear anything other than his and Nagisa's footsteps and his heart racing. 'Please be alive Makoto…' He practically begged. He didn't want Nagisa to see, but he had started to cry. He held back choked sobs, trying to tell himself that Makoto wasn't dead.
As they reached the gym/pool, Haruka nearly fainted over seeing Makoto sitting by Gou, hugging her. He was trying to tell her everything was okay, but she was sobbing and wailing too hard to hear anything. Amakata was standing by a wall, head in her hands, crying quietly. Rei ran up to Haruka and Nagisa, breathing heavy. He couldn't say anything, but he pointed over to a teen lying on the ground, lifeless.
Rin cradled a body in his arms, crying loudly. He rocked himself back and forth, screaming the teen's name, hoping he would just wakeup from a dreaded nightmare. But Rin knew he wouldn't wake up. Mikoshiba looked down at Rin hugging Nitori's body tightly, and stared silently as tears trickled down his face.
Nagisa screeched when he saw his body. "R-Rin?" He reached his hand out to the red-head, only to be stopped by Mikoshiba.
He shook his head, warning Haruka. "I've tried everything; he can't stop crying. To make it worse…"
"Ai! Ai! Ai!" Rin shook Nitori's body, screaming his first name. Haruka knew now how much pain Rin was going through. He couldn't bring himself now to stop Rin. He knew Rin may destroy some of the evidence, but it was worth it for Rin to hug his friend one last time, right?
Mikoshiba bent down towards Rin, grabbing his shoulders gently. "Mats-Rin. He's gone. He's not coming back."
Rin sighed heavily, trying to compose himself. "But this will be the last time I can see him. After this is all over…no more Ai. He'll be forgotten and replaced. I'm not ready for him to disappear." His dull eyes looked over the boy's pale skin.
Haruka also looked over Nitori's body. It looked so peaceful….until you looked at the neck. He had hand prints around the center of his neck, like someone strangled him to death. The swimmer knew that it had to be a slow and painful death for him.
Rin gently set the smaller body down, slowly standing up and letting Mikoshiba lead him away to a bleacher. They were all quiet until the demon tormenting them spoke loudly, forming next to Nitori's body. "Oh? Wow you all are mourning for its death!" It taunted. They all growled quietly at the rudeness of the demon.
Rin nearly ran over and kicked the bird-formed demon. "He's not an 'it'! He's a real person!" He screamed, having to be held back by Mikoshiba.
The thing laughed. "A dead person. Say…you all are forgetting one thing." It cackled.
"What is it?!" Rin screamed, tears falling to the ground.
"You're standing in the room with the murderer."
They all froze and looked around. "Yup! The one who murdered this poor bastard is standing right around you! According with my rules, voting will begin in one hour! You have 1 hour to figure out who killed this one!" It kicked Nitori's body lightly, making his head tilt to the side, eyes still open.
"Don't touch him!" It was Mikoshiba's turn to cry out. He wasn't as close to him as Rin was, but he still considered the boy a close friend.
The thing laughed. "Instead of worrying about me, I'd be worried about figuring out who killed it!" With that, the thing vanished.
The remaining 8 searched around and on Nitori's body, trying to find evidence. They found that his clothes were wet and he was wearing a swimsuit, which was odd considering they were supposed to be in bed, and he was strangled to death. Nagisa noticed blood under his nails, suggesting he fought back and scratched his killer. Other than the swimsuit, he was wearing his black jacket.
Haruka looked down in the pool a few feet away, and saw a piece of paper at the bottom of it. "He had to have been in the pool, or knocked into it." He deducted, reaching into the water and pulled the paper out. It was soggy and unreadable, but Rin said it wasn't Nitori's usual handwriting.
"It could be someone else's." He suggested. He unzipped Nitori's jacket, and gagged at what he saw.
There were bruises covering his torso and a few cuts that were still open, rid of blood. Rin backed away, needing a now composed Gou for support. "Ai…" He whispered, and had to prevent himself from crying again.
Rei was sitting next to the body, trying to find more evidence. He looked at his scalp, noticing there was an irritated spot. It looked like his hair had been pulled roughly, and Haruka found a few hairs floating around in the pool. Rei looked over at the other Samezukas. "Hey, Rin and Mikoshiba, did you guys ever grab Nitori by the hair anytime soon?" He asked.
Rin's eyebrows furrowed. "Why would you ask that?! Sure we'd give him a noogie every now and then, but we'd never grab him by the hair!"
Nagisa picked up Nitori's right arm and looked at his hands. Underneath his nails, covered in blood, was a hair that didn't belong to him. "Hey…guys…" Nagisa practically whispered, pulling the hair out.
It was several strands of red hair.
Haruka flinched when he saw it. It meant one thing: The killer was a red head. "So a red head then? Gou, Rin, Mikoshiba." He listed the red heads in the room.
"Why would I kill him? He's my best friend!" Rin snapped.
"I treated him like a little brother!" Mikoshiba scowled at the accusation.
"I'm too small and weak to do this to him!" Gou cried.
Mikoshiba looked at Gou and hugged her tightly. "You really think Kou is capable of doing this?"
Makoto sighed. "You have a point then. Gou's out."
Amakata looked at her watch. "Well we don't have much time, and we better-"
"Time's up!" The demon appeared yet again, now standing on Nitori's body. "All of the living people line up in front of me!" The thing clapped its wings. Instantly, Nitori's body vanished and the thing plopped to the ground. Rin let out a startled cry and scream. "Oh shut up! Voting time! You present your case, you vote, if it's not the murderer, everyone but the murder dies, yada yada. Decide wisely!"
Haruka cleared his throat. "We found that Nitori Aiichirou was strangled to death. He was probably beaten before he died, and was also in the pool. He fought back, as we found blood and hair under his nails. The hairs were red."
Makoto picked up. "We decided Gou couldn't have done it, as she's too small and weak to pick Nitori's up by the hair. So Rin and Mikoshiba are the only ones left. We still don't know who actually did it."
Nagisa spoke up. "Who discovered the body?"
The two were silent, looking at each other out the corners of their eyes. Mikoshiba sighed. "I did. I wanted to make sure everything was fine with Rin and Nitori, and I found Rin in his room, but Nitori wasn't. His jacket and bag was gone, so I figured he was getting some extra practice in. When I came in, he was like that."
"Yeah, he came and visited me." Rin backed him up.
"So where were you then, Rin?" Rei asked, adjusting his glasses.
Rin shivered. "I was asleep."
"But…you were awake when I came in your room." Mikoshiba cocked his head to the side.
"I was changing." Rin defended himself.
"Out of what?" Amakata questioned.
"Out of…" Rin paused. "My swimsuit."
"Why were you changing out of your swimsuit?" Haruka glared at Rin. "It sounds like you were swimming. Which was what Nitori was doing when he died."
Rin groaned. "Okay, I wanted to swim with Nitori. We thought it would be nice to de-stress after the hell we'd been through."
Mikoshiba looked over at Rin. "Why'd you leave?"
"I wanted to sleep."
"So you left Nitori, alone, in a place where a demon wants to kill us. I don't believe it." Mikoshiba scowled. He crossed his arms.
"But I didn't do it!" Rin cried.
Gou didn't want to ask it. "Rin…could you roll up your sleeve?" She nodded over at Rin, who still wore his black jacket.
Rin shook his head. "No."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
Gou nearly started to cry again. "Seijuro, please." She whispered.
Mikoshiba walked up to Rin and grabbed his arm forcibly. Rin tried to claw his way out, but Mikoshiba yanked his sleeve up with no problem. Rin growled as his scratches were revealed.
"You…" Gou covered her mouth up. "You…hurt…you killed him…"
Mikoshiba pushed Rin onto the ground, trying not to hurt him. "I would hurt you the way you hurt Aiichirou, but I'm not as low as you." He spat.
The demon laughed. "So do we have a vote?"
Rin was sweating and now on the verge of crying. "Please…" He begged.
Mikoshiba looked down at the bird. "Rin.
"Rin." Haruka said, eyes darting around the room.
"R-Rin." Makoto said softly.
"Rin." Rei couldn't look at him.
Nagisa looked Rin in the eyes. "Rin."
Amakata grabbed the hem of her sweater. "Rin."
Everyone looked at Gou as Rin was crying out protests. The boy's little sister started to cry. "Do you have any regrets for what you did?!" She screeched. Rin stopped yelling. "You don't know what Nitori would tell me about you!"
"He was too clingy! Sure he was my friend, but he never left me alone! He stuck his nose into something he shouldn't have! I'm glad he die-"
"He loved you!" Gou screamed at her brother.
The room went silent and tense. Rin froze and looked where Nitori's body was. "W-what?"
Gou clenched her fists and ran to her brother, crying. She pounded on his chest. "He would tell me about how much he loved you, and how he was going to tell you when we were practicing!" She started to choke on her tears. "He had been working up the nerve to tell you for months to tell you, but you didn't care. You just…killed him." Gou stopped pounding and walked over to Mikoshiba, hugged him, and started to cry into his arms. "I vote for Rin."
"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!" The demon laughed. "Execution will commence in 10 minutes. Bastard, if you'd like to tell us what happened, go ahead!"
Rin sighed and began to tell his story.
Nitori woke up from the bed made out of desks and chairs, hearing his door open. "Nitori, let's practice together." He could here Rin's voice across the room. Not wanting to make Rin go practice by himself, Nitori happily obliged. He quickly grabbed his bag and headed out with Rin.
"Why are we practicing now? Mikoshiba-senpai said we shouldn't be out this late with all this stuff going on." Nitori practically held onto Rin's arm, since he was afraid of the dark.
"Nitori, there's nothing to be afraid of. I'm not going to hurt you." Rin sighed and pushed the younger off.
"Sorry. As long as I'm with you, I know I'm safe!" Nitori turned his head, blushing.
Rin sighed loudly. "Nitori, keep your voice down. We have to be quiet or the captain will get pissed and probably hurt us for waking him up and being out of our rooms." He hushed him.
Nitori nodded, and stopped talking.
As they entered the room, Rin sat down on the bleachers and pulled out a journal and a pencil. Nitori looked at the journal, but Rin covered it up. "You practice. I need to write some stuff before I get in."
Nitori shrugged. "Okay, senpai." He took his clothes off and changed into his swimsuit out of Rin's sight. Rin thought the boy had been acting odd lately, like he was shy to talk to him. As the grey-haired teen got in the pool, Rin began to write notes.
Rin looked down at the notes he had written on the people in the school.
Haruka- Good sized, too heavy. Can fight.
Makoto- Same as Haruka.
Nagisa- Small, but can fight.
Rei- Can fight.
Amakata- Small, probably can't fight.
Mikoshiba- Too big, can fight.
Gou-
Nitori-
Rin couldn't fill in the last 2. He didn't want to think of hurting Gou or Nitori. The red-head sighed as he slipped the journal under his jacket lying on the bench, stood up, and called out to Nitori, "Nitori, I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be back." He didn't get a response, as Nitori probably couldn't hear him with the water in his ears.
When Rin came back, he saw that the pool was completely empty. There were no waves or splashes that Nitori could produce. He looked around the corner to see Nitori holding his journal, dressed, reading it. "M-Matsuoka senpai?" He looked horrified. Rin growled when he saw that his kohai was on his notes page.
"Don't you know better than to look through my stuff?" Rin smirked, walking over to Nitori. He didn't know what was going on; it was probably just the demon's influence on the teen, but Rin felt rage surging through his body. He felt the need to kill and to hurt. "Bad boys get punished, Nitori." He lunged at him, and Nitori dropped the journal and cried out loudly.
Rin dragged Nitori over to the poolside and pushed him down. "You aren't supposed to do that!" He screamed, kicking him. Nitori tried to cover himself up, but Rin kicked his arm so hard it nearly broke. He could feel his ribs cracking.
"Let me go, please, senpai!" Nitori sobbed. Every time he tried to stand, he would be pushed back down.
Rin snapped. He didn't know what exactly happened, other than him kicking Nitori into the pool. "Is that all you can say?! 'Senpai' this, 'senpai' that! I'm sick of you calling me that! You're so annoying!" He screamed at the younger, who held onto the side of the pool.
"I'm sorry…" Nitori couldn't help but apologize. He didn't know Rin felt this way about him.
Next thing Rin knew, he was on his kneed with his hands wrapped around Nitori's throat, choking him. "H-hgh…" He clawed at Rin's hand. When he noticed Rin's head was close enough to him, Nitori reached up and grabbed his hair. He pulled as hard as he could and was able to pull out a few strands. Rin yelped.
He grabbed his grey hair and pulled him up, letting him breath for a second. Nitori screamed loudly as he could feel his hair being ripped out and he could see Rin's sadistic grin. 'No…This isn't Rin. It's not him!' "Rin, snap out of it, please!" Nitori screamed, only to receive a slap to the face and being thrown back into the pool.
Rin grabbed his throat again, and held him under the water. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Run screeched, tightening his grip. He could see bubbles forming under the water as Nitori ran his sharp nails up and down Rin's arm, hoping he would let go. Rin saw that he had drawn blood, but he didn't care.
Eventually, Nitori's arms went limp. Rin couldn't tell if he drowned or suffocated, but he was dead. He couldn't tell anyone about his plan. Rin pulled the body out by his hair and laid him on the tiles. Rin went over to the journal he had dropped and ripped the page out. He balled it up and dropped it into the pool, knowing no one would be able to read it if it was soggy.
He looked over Nitori's body, kicking it lightly. "Sorry…Ai."
With that, Rin grabbed his bag and went back to his room.
"There. That's it. That's the truth, are you happy now?" Rin spat.
"Fufufufu!" The demon laughed. "Punishment time!"
Gou was now sobbing and blubbering nonsense, and Mikoshiba glared at Rin with hatred.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. But Nito…Ai, is dead. And I killed him. I take full responsibility." Rin felt a sudden pang of guilt, not knowing how Nitori's death affected the others.
The demon laughed. "Shall we get started?" Its peppy voice boomed.
The lights went out.
Human Soup
Next thing they knew, everyone but Rin was standing behind a giant fence. Rin stood in a glass box, looking around, puzzled. The demon clapped its wings, and water began to drip into the box. Rin backed up into the corner, thinking if he backed away from it, he'd be able to get away. He tried to bang on the glass for help, but it was sound proof. When the water hit ankle-depth, Rin screamed in surprise. It wasn't cool water. It was boiling water.
"No!" Rin screamed at the top of his lungs as the water rose to his waist. He was in so much pain, but he knew the water wouldn't kill him. He knew he would breathe in the boiling water, and as the water burnt his throat and his lungs, he would drown.
As it rose to his neck, Rin was sobbing. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" He screamed loudly. He knew they couldn't hear him. He knew by the time the sun rose, he would be dead.
As it reached to the ceiling, Rin was wading and gasping for air. He knew he couldn't take much longer. He got his last lungful of air and went under the water. He was ready to run out of air. He was ready to drown.
"If you think that's gonna kill you, you're wrong!" He heard the demon cackle.
Rin opened his eyes despite the burning and unbearable pain to see a shark in front of him, with a piranha by its side. Rin let out a muffled scream and breathed in the boiling water a few seconds before they creatures attacked.
The water was filled with blood with no trace of Rin Matsuoka.
After the execution, the remainders sat around a table in the cafeteria. Mikoshiba had managed to convince the demon to let him have the deceaseds' jackets. He arranged the 9 seats around the large round table in the giant cafeteria. The empty 2 seats held Rin and Aiichirou's jackets.
Gou was unstable. She was in her room, screaming and sobbing uncontrollably. The others were barely able to talk. Nagisa tried to cheer them up, but to no avail.
Amakata stood up, holding a book to her chest. "We have to keep the pact, please. We cannot go through that again." She begged. "We'll get out. Together." She smiled.
Makoto's voice cracked. "What if one of us snaps, like Rin? What if we just can't take it anymore…"
Haruka glared at his friend. "No. I won't let you do anything, Mako. I will make sure we all get out alive."
Nagisa looked at the black windows. He ran to them, smiling. "Look, everyone! You can't see it clearly, but the sun's rising!" Nagisa laughed. The others walked to the windows, and indeed the sun was rising.
The veil covered most of the scenery up, but it couldn't stop the sun's beams from shining in as much as it could. It wasn't much, but it gave them hope. Nagisa hushed them, and they could hear the birds singing.
Makoto smiled. "If….When… we get out of here, we all should take a nice trip to the park, yes?"
"Uh-Huh!" Nagisa nodded.
"That would be lovely, to see the beauty of the rising sun." Rei sighed.
"I could take Kou out on a date, or a picnic!" Mikoshiba smiled.
Haruka suddenly spoke up. "So let's make a promise. We'll get out alive. We'll see the rising sun again. We'll see our family." He suggested.
Nagisa put his hand in and giggled. Makoto and Haruka did the same, with Rei following them. Amakata looked at Mikoshiba and giggled. They both put their hands in.
"To the sun!"
Because 2 people (you know who you are) seem to hate Nitori with a burning passion. I, personally, LOVE the little shota, but hey, he got the most votes. I chose Rin as the killer because I love to torture Rintori fans. (which I am...) I got about 80 votes.
45 of them were Nitori.
Yeah. The following characters are still available for murder: Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, Amakata, Mikoshiba, and Gou. :)
Voting is still on my Tumblr, PandaPasta69.