Sara couldn't help it. Her heart scissored itself open at the thought of Joe, and her head equally so at the sight of Shin. Logically, she knew the man hadn't been the one to wrong her, that she didn't even have any solid evidence besides the wrongness in her gut.
Yet Sara had always trusted her intuition.
"That's," the man started, voice cracking on the word. It reminded her sharply of Joe, when he'd yammer on and on for no discernible reason. Shin seemed to notice the storm in her expression. "That's not a welcoming look, Miss Sara."
Sara was sure that any words she could muster would be cruel. She spoke anyway. "Nice of you to join us. Been having fun?"
"Fun?" Shin looked away. "That's… an interesting word to use."
"That's all you have to say!?"
"What else can I say, Miss Sara? It would seem I've made my bed." He ran a hand under his beanie, tussling his greasy hair. "No point crying about lying in it."
Sara's fists clenched. Q-taro, of all people, cleared his throat nervously.
"Just," she hissed, blood thick and boiling, "get out of my sight. Looking at you's making me sick."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't… I know you're upset, but try to understand my side."
"Your side?" Sara rounded on him; this frail, weak, stick-thin excuse for a man. He quailed, seeming half-convinced she'd swing on him. "I don't care about your side! You're not the one who's dead! Tell me the truth, Shin: it was you and her, wasn't it!?"
"We… what?" He took a step back, digging his fingers as far under his collar as possible.
"What Joe," the guilt clawed its way back up her throat, making her glad she hadn't eaten, "what he said. 'The one who did this...' You let her get away with it, didn't you?" Sara was unused to the glacial chill in her throat, chafing harshly against the heat of the hatred in her chest.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Hiyori… You can't blame her for any of this. I can't let you think something like that. If you have to hate anybody besides our captors, Miss Sara, then hate me." Shin's eyes went dark as they lowered. "I'm… the adult here, after all."
"I'll just hate the both of you," Sara said, but it didn't feel like her own voice anymore.
"Enough!" Reko cut between them, and the haze in Sara's head lightened. "Lookin' at the two of you arguing like this… Somethin' about it pisses me off. Cut the shit, wouldja? Either apologize, or stay the hell out of each other's sight. Watching Hiyori snap like that…" Reko swallowed, calming. "It felt like a knee in the gut. If I have to put up with any more yelling, I'm gonna blow a fuckin' gasket."
Reko's words stung. A part of her only grew more enraged. Howdareshe think she understood? That she knew what it was like to be betrayed? To watch somebody she loved die?
The rational part of Sara acknowledged Alice's quiet presence in the room's corner.
"I'm… sorry," she said, and surprised herself by meaning it. "I lost my cool. It won't happen again. Shin," and he looked up at her, reminding her of a kicked puppy; she was acclimatizing to the sting, "I don't think we'll reconcile our difference over…her.But I don't think we should blindly hate each other because of it."
"Right," Shin chuckled, and it was dark and ugly. "Let's save that for the next Game."
When Kanna's life was still whole, her Sister would be the one to remind her of important tasks: cleaning her room, washing the dishes, grabbing her school bag before leaving, and anything else that would slip her mind.
Kanna struggled afterward, adjusting to life as an only child. She would only serve as a bother to her grieving parents, and talking to them seemed too large a gap to breach.
Before, Kanna had an active social life, frequently going shopping with her classmates and singing karaoke. When Kanna tried the same after the accident, she couldn't find joy in it. The pleasure, what little she could derive, was all exhausted; background noise, like the hum of cheap fluorescent lights.
Yet even then, Kanna hadn't learned how to hate. Terror, sorrow, and rage were all regular emotions in the after, but Kanna couldn't blame anybody besides herself for the way her Sister had died.
Hiyori had been the one to teach her how to turn hatred upon the world.
Kanna pondered this as she stared at Shin's relaxed frame, rising and falling and rising again. Did he understand what it meant to hate somebody? To wish for their utter destruction, for their erasure from history?
Kanna rubbed the fabric of her(his)scarf between her fingers. In the quiet moments like this, she was tempted to tear it off, to shed her ugly scales and let herself wither under the sun.
If death bore the face of family, how could she still be so afraid?
She spun her stun gun around in her hands, digging its prongs deep into the flesh of her wrist. Her thumb quivered on the trigger. She shoved it back into the drawer where she had found it.
Kanna felt acutely that she still understood nothing. The bitterness of her own stupidity was, at least, a familiar taste.
Alice grinned when he saw them, at least: a spot of warmth beyond the cold vacuum of everyone's stares. Sara's eyes, in particular, were an arctic night.
Yet something rang lowly in Kanna at the sight of them all, still alive past the looming threat of the attractions. Kanna felt the beginnings of a traitorous smile creep up.
'Wait.'Kanna blinked, looking back over their defiant faces as Rio Ranger announced his arrival with usual morbid enthusiasm.'Everyone made it? Something… seems wrong with that.'
"Wasn't expecting this," said the Dress-up Doll, voicing Kanna's thoughts. A shiver ran through her at the thought of sharing any similarities with him. "You bastards are like cockroaches, y'know that?" He sighed. "Whatever! It might even be more fun like this!"
The fireplace cracked itself open as everyone voiced their objections, Kanna slinking through the noise to Shin's side. At least their eyes weren't boring throughheranymore.
She looked up and noticed the disturbed expression on his face; it seemed he felt the same as her, easy as he was to read.
"C'mon, Mister Shin," she said, grabbing his hand. "Let's get a head-start."
He hummed under his breath, letting her. "Can't say I'm so eager. Something's off. If the pattern repeats…"
"Then a head other than Mishima's will roll," Kanna finishes, expression carefully empty. She wondered when guilt had become a background process.
He sorts them like cattle, Safalin hemming at his side: it's decided through the amount of Me-Tokens bartered. She's with Shin and Alice on the high-rankers side, their presence serving as a convenient buffer against Keiji. It could be worse, she figured. Sara, at least, was sorted to the other side of the room.
Q-taro and Gin - first place and dead last, respectively; Kanna had to wonder just how much that "trust" the tokens represented really meant, if she could beat even Sara in this Subgame - contrasted each other, stood in the middle of the room. Gin's hood barely reached the giant's hip, and Kanna was certain he would die immediately if the man tripped and fell on top of him.
"It's a good thing I've been making friends, eh?" Alice hummed to himself, preening like a peacock. "We'll go far together, Shin Tsukimi. I'll even allow your precocious ward a sip of the glory."
Kanna turned as green as her sweater, hearing that. "I'll pass."
Shin just scratched under his beanie helplessly.
"Come on!" Ranger crowed, motioning Q-taro and Gin to inch closer together. "We're taking a commemorative photo! Get in position!"
A memory came to Kanna, then: of when Hiyori would hide mousetraps in inconspicuous places, baiting her into snagging her fingers and then laughing at her pained tears.
The room turned a blinding, scorching white, and the ground rumbled angrily beneath Kanna's feet. A feeling similar to the dive of a rollercoaster wrapped thorny fingers around her stomach, and Shin's jacket sleeve became her only crutch as the floor settled once more.
She looked up, through the sudden roar and hiss of confused panic.
Q-taro and Gin were strapped to either side of a large target, an aiming laser pointed at the porcelain white of Gin's exposed arm.
Behind the sight, stood Sara, Nao, and Reko on a sheer plateau, the latter two struggling to maintain their footing. The high schooler stood as stolid as ever, eyebrows knit and teeth glinting.
Kanna let go of Shin's sleeve, clutching her scarf to her chest.
She had to wonder: did the trust the tokens represent extend to each other, or to the organization who provided them?
Kanna sat down, back resting against the edge of the wall newly erected around them. It seemed she was in a position where she was in no direct danger, after all.
What could she do to help the low-rankers, anyway?
(And how funny it was, to callSara Chidouina low-ranker.)
"You just gonna sit there, kid?" Keiji asked, looming over her.
Her eyes stayed closed, even as his hundred-eighty-something centimeter, ninety-something kilogram frame blocked out the light her hat had failed to.
"What else is there to do?" she posited. "I don't feel like straining my voice, mister. Sorry."
He chuckled lowly at that. "Alright. Guess I can't force you. Just don't expect any help from me when you get in trouble."
"With due respect, Mister Shinogi," Kanna cracked an eye open to leer at him. "I don't need any help from you."
Humming, Keiji returned to the elevated conversation. Something about matching Gin's weight. Looking up, Kanna was more interested in the terror on Q-taro's face, even when Gin was the one whose life was soon to end.
Kanna didn't quite have it in her to smirk, but a sharp edge deep in her chest smoothed out at the sight. Even a mammoth like Q-taro, all ten percent body fat at one-hundred-twenty kilograms, was terrified of death.
It was just a shame such a young boy would have to die. He reminded Kanna of the weaker her, discovering again how cruel Fate would always be.
Kanna closed her eyes once more.
Reko and Sara had gone into a "Room of Lies." Kanna wasn't quite sure what to make of that.
"That's the reason," Shin murmured gently from beside her. "I was wondering… how we all made it here."
"And it's only caused more problems," Kanna said. "At least none of them are ours."
Shin didn't reply, pushing the side of his fist to his lips, brow lowering.
"Well, it's certainly an ugly atmosphere," Alice remarked. "Indeed, it's a shame. It doesn't seem that Cubetaro Hamburger will give up his life for the boy. I'm not certain it's right for Nao Egokoro or Sara Chidouin to die in his place."
Kanna noticed the missing name, but didn't see the point in provoking one of her very few allies. From the look on Shin's face, he noticed it too.
"A Web of Lies, snapping clean in half," Keiji hummed. "Doesn't that seem like a good omen." Kanna felt the weight of his gaze. Her jaw tightened.
As if on cue, Sara's voice comes clearly through the room. "We can't give up yet!" she shouted.
"It's impossible," Reko bemoaned. "Give up, Sara. There's no way to save the kid, even if we want to!"
Kanna squinted. That didn't seem right, from what little she knew of the singer.
"I- I can't just desert Gin!" Nao cried. "Reko… There's something off with you."
"Eh?"
"No, I can't deny it anymore…" Nao clenched her fists tightly over her chest. "Reko, that's not something you'd ever say!"
"What the hell!?" Alice sputtered. "Who does she think she is, to decree what Reko would and would not say!?"
"Calm down," Keiji said. "I want to see where this goes."
"Reko, you've changed!" Nao continued. "You used to be so- so affectionate and brave! I admired you! What's going on!?"
"Don't act like you freakin' know me! I'm just doin' the sane thing! Who the hell could kill themself for a kid they've known for four days!?"
Kanna quirked an eyebrow. Reko's point was valid. Yet, something chafed in the fact that it wasRekomaking it.
'Are you shittin' me!? Gin and Nao are off the damn table, and Shin ain't a bad guy, neither! Why don't we pick you, Mister Big Shot!?'
That was a life-threatening situation too, wasn't it? It wasn't exactly impossible for Reko to take such a quick turn under pressure, but Kanna still felt a stubborn sense of doubt.
"Both of you, get a grip!" Sara shouted. "You're not solving a thing!"
"No, Sara, that's wrong!" Nao refuted, showing a surprising amount of spine. A sudden throb on the back of Kanna's head proved that shouldn't have been a surprise at all. "Please listen… There's something I've been keeping quiet about. The one who shattered the Professor's monitor," Nao turned her head away, shutting her eyes, "was Reko."
Sara's eyes widened as she stepped back. "Are you saying…?"
"I saw it all. I didn't want to say anything because- because I believe in Reko! But… after all this… I can't just keep my mouth shut anymore!"
"Nao…" Reko whispered. "Have you gone soft in the head!? What the hell are you even talking about anymore!? You've gotta calm down!"
"So you're denying it?" Sara asked.
"Of fuckin' course I am! The hell would I do somethin' like that for!? I think I'd remember if I did!"
"Reko, or whoever you are." Nao's stance solidified. "You're only proving me right by saying that!"
"Hwah!?"
Shin sputtered for a few seconds, trying to raise his voice. "Hey! Do we really have the time for a catfight!? Gin's going to d-" his eyes flickered to the sobbing boy strapped to the target, "g-get… hurt."
Sara pinched the bridge of her nose, drawing in a long breath. "... Nao. Elaborate, would you? Try to keep it brief, please."
"Thank you," Nao sighed, even as Reko sputtered in protest. "I had sworn I'd never go back there, but… I couldn't help it. The idea of seeing the Professor again…" Kanna didn't feel the guilt she should have anymore. She refused to be frightened by that. "But right when I was about to give in… I heard a horrible shattering in the monitor room. That scared me pretty badly, but… I had to know what happened. I peeked inside and Reko was there, blood dripping from her fist. I guess… her gloves didn't protect against sharp glass very well. When I went into the monitor room after that… the Professor… Mishima's AI was gone." Nao's expression tightened. "Now that I think about it, it was soon after that when Reko started acting so strange!"
Sara hummed, sweat pouring down her brow as she mulled over the information. Kanna was almost fascinated, seeing her brain at work; the same one that had plotted her death over and over again when the weakling had shown her nothing but faith.
Kanna wondered how much her trust was worth, if it had been bought and sold so easily.
"Keiji," Sara said. "You did an investigation into the monitor, didn't you? You would know the most about what happened."
After a long pause, his hand on his neck, Keiji grinned. "That's the Sara I know. I'll testify, if you insist." He let go of his neck, spreading his arms. "It's all true. Reko broke that monitor."
"What!?" Reko screeched. "What the hell!?"
"Reko, aren't you of the opinion that derailing the conversation is a waste of time?" The ex-detective's grin widened. "Then let me give my eyewitness account, so we can put this case to bed."
Alice had gone oddly silent, his nose twitching perturbedly.
Reko sputtered, but stopped arguing.
"See, I saw the whole thing. Funny thing is… Mishima was active at the time. Him and Reko were talking for a while, while I was listening in." He rolled his neck. "Mishima's the one who wanted Nao to destroy him. Said that Nao 'needed to stand on her own, without his ghost looming over her.' Reko wasn't too happy about it, but… she acquiesced."
"Of course," Nao murmured. "I suppose I already knew that. Reko… you didn't have to hide it. There was no shame in what you did." She sighed. "I'm sorry… that I got so worked up. I just didn't understand why you were hiding the truth."
"Nao," Reko said, eyes wide and uncomprehending. "Keiji, too… What in the hell are you guys talking about?"
Keiji blinked. "What?"
"A-Are you mistakin' me for someone else or what? I'd remember somethin' that fucking eventful, wouldn't I? I'm not even hurt, for god's sake!" She rips off both her gloves, tossing them into the sacrificial pit. "See!? Clean as a goddamn whistle!"
Kanna's eyes narrowed as everyone else sputtered in confusion. There was a huge gap in Reko's memory; one that even Kanna could attest to, given what she had seen that night. Unquestionably, it was Reko Yabusame that shattered Mishima's monitor. The only thing that would explain the Reko in front of them's confusion was if she wasn't Reko at all.
Kanna blinked.
"Oh."
And just as Kanna moved to speak up, she was cut off the very subject of her next claim. "Hey," Ranger said, an etched scowl held over his face. "What are you bastards even doing? Time's way up, dumbasses."
Kanna sucked in a breath through her teeth. She should have expected this. Every time she tried to help, everything only broke down more, after all.
Q-taro had the power to flip the target, to take the shot for Gin.
Kanna had already known he wouldn't. She had no trust for sale anymore.
Five shots. Rio Ranger must have gotten a rush out of their terror.
"Five shots of venom," Keiji sighed. "I'm not sure someone as small as Gin could survive two. Let's hurry."
"Mreowr…" Gin's voice came out high and strained. "S-Stop it… Lemme down, woof…"
"Right," Kanna said. "I've figured something out, if you'll let me speak. There's one person who would be able to imitate Reko, from what we've seen."
Keiji quirks an eyebrow. "Go on."
"Rio Ranger. He's the one covered in the dead's clothing, isn't he? He's our floormaster, as well. Wouldn't it stand to reason that he would have access to Reko's things? If he took her clothes and makeup, when all the lights are off…"
"I get it," Shin said. "Hey, Ranger, do you have access to our rooms?"
Ranger said nothing, a scowl held across his mouth.
"Is that it, then?" Sara asked. "Ranger's the one? He impersonated Reko?"
Nao's brow twitched uncomfortably. "But that's…" A shiver ran through her. "Ugh…"
"He is the 'Dress-up Doll,' isn't he?" Keiji hummed. "Makes sense that he could pull off one hell of an impersonation."
Ranger stayed quiet for a long moment. Then, he laughed. Long and hard and grating, like piano cord scraping against Kanna's eardrums. "Why," he began, "would I ever wear the clothes of a living human? I wouldn't feel any elation from the twitchin' bastard's misery. Understand this, if you even can: I only give a damn about humans when they're startin' to rot."
"So you're saying that Reko's still the Reko we know," Keiji grunted. "There's no fake?"
"Stupid bastard. Reko's the one who broke the monitor; in all the glory of her stretchy flesh and goopy blood."
Sara growled in rage. "Then why don't you show us what's beneath those gloves!?"
"Sure thing!" Kanna's idea went down in flames as Ranger casually slid his gloves off, revealing unmarred alabaster skin.
"S-So we've been chasing down a lie this whole time?" Nao bemoaned, hands covering her face.
"Not," Keiji began, and a sharp chill rushed down Kanna's spine, "necessarily."
"Huh?"
"Mister Policeman's starting to piece some things together." He grinned. "You floormasters can't tell a lie, can you? No matter how much you try to disguise the truth, you can't outright give us false information. At least, not about anything important."
"What the hell you gettin' at, bastard!?" Ranger scoffed. "'Course I ain't lyin'." He switched his cutout to an image of a cat's smile, his voice turning mushy and infantile. "Would I do that to you?"
"Okay. Then tell me this, Ranger: why did you say, specifically, that Reko's the one who broke the monitor? When all I really needed to know," Keiji cracked his neck, ringing loud in the silence of Ranger's growing rage, "was if there was a fake or not."
Ranger said nothing, knuckles turning white around the wood of his cutout handle.
"Well?"
"... Bastard!"
"So there is a fake Reko," Kanna hummed. "Well, that's enough for me. Go on and push her, Sara! I'm sure you're dying for some stress relief, right?"
"Hiyori!" Alice yelped. "Those sorts of jokes aren't funny, demon child!"
"I'm not doing a thing until we have all the facts, Hiyori!" Sara called back, Reko's tense shoulders easing a little from beside her. "You should learn to do the same!"
"Well, I guess you're right," Kanna admitted, pulse in her throat. "It's not like 'Mister Policeman' has any evidence anyway, right?"
"There's one thing buggin' me," he admitted. "Call it my detective's intuition. That wound on Reko's hand, and we know it was Reko... Where did it go?"
"You're saying," Sara gasped, "the Reko with a wound… is real."
"H-Hey, wait a second!" Reko cried.
"So, by simple deduction, we can reason…"
"Sara!"
"That the uninjured Reko is the fake!?"
Then, in the corner of their cage, fists shaking at his sides, Alice exploded. "What in the hell are you saying!? Have you all gone completely insane!? Reko is my little sister; I've known her all my life! I'm telling you, she is completely real!" He gasped for breath. "So, like, cut it out!"
"What's your proof!?" Sara demands.
"My proof!? My eyes, Sara Chidouin! Reko is the same as she ever was: ferocious and righteous! Everything her damnable brother could not be! You've been swayed by the devil's fiddle if you believe her to be anything less!"
"I…"
"Listen to me. Everything about Reko, I know. We shared a home for twenty years, before I threw it all away. Her mannerisms, speech patterns, even the way she brushes her hair from her eyes: I've seen it all in the thousands! There is absolutely no way to fool me; if even the slightest detail were off, I would know!" Alice wipes the sweat from his brow desperately. "So please… Cease this ridiculous talk of a fake!"
"Sara! Alice can't be right!" Nao cried. "Under any other circumstance, I'd back down, but… Gin is going to die if we don't identify the fake! And all the evidence we've found points to-"
"Damn your evidence, Nao Egokoro! I thought you were good for Reko, but I see I've made yet another error in judgement! If you don't cease your prattling, I'll- I'll-!"
"Alice!" Shin yelped, grabbing the taller man's shoulder. "Calm down! Having a conniption fit won't save Reko, and it won't further our discussion!"
"Sh-Shin Tsukimi, I…"
"That's time, bastards!" Ranger cheered.
"Wh-What!?"
"Looks like it's time for the tiny tiger to take his tincture! Again!"
"The second dart will be fired shortly."
"Stop…" Gin mewled, head low.
"Five."
"Not again!" Shin cried. "Dammit! All we've been doing is arguing senselessly!"
"Four."
"What did you expect?" Kanna asked. "You can't just ask somebody to die. You can talk a big game, but when you really feel like your life is going to end…"
"Three."
"... You just can't do it."
"Two."
"I'll… do it, dammit," Q-taro groaned. "Stop this shit already…"
"One."
"I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll…" Q-taro's eyes fixed upon the switch to flip the target. "I'll…"
Gin was barely even moving anymore. "It hurts…" he gasped. "Mom…"
The room stayed silent, Q-taro's ginger locks falling across his face.
"He won't die if we finish this quickly," Keiji said. "Sara." The girl looked up, sickly pity on her face. "There's an antidote in the medical office. That'll fix Gin right up. But we can't save him if he's already gone."
Ranger laughed. "Keep deluding yourself, cop! It's free entertainment!"
Keiji ignored him. "Bring it home, Sara."
Kanna wanted to puke, their shared twenty-five percent chance of victory ringing like a death knoll over the losers in the room.
"I," Sara started, "have an idea. Reko and I went into the Room of Lies together, on the second morning we were here. But… Reko came out after me, and by a fairly large margin. If there was any time she could have been replaced, that's it."
"What the hell…?"
"The Lie in the Room of Lies wasn't the web at all. It was all a trap from the start."
"Insanity…" Alice muttered. "Utter insanity! Reko, stand up for yourself!"
"Dammit, I don't need you to tell me, Alice!" Reko wiped the sweat from her face, harshly smearing her makeup. "Sara, there's a huge whole in your logic! If I'm a fake, then just who the hell am I!?"
Sara faltered, hearing that. "I…"
"There's eleven of us to account for, including Safalin and Ranger, right? We'd have to be missing somebody if there's a 'real Reko!'"
"Well, is there?" Shin asked. "Ranger, I'm talking to you. Is there anybody besides the eleven of us here?"
Ranger quirks an eyebrow. Evidently, the upper half of his face is allowed to express emotion. "The hell? I ain't tellin' you th-"
"There is not," Safalin cut through. "There are no new humans that will be making an appearance today."
"Seriously? I thought there'd be some sort of cover agent, or something," Shin muttered.
Alice huffed in victory, chest puffing out. "See? This doubting of Reko has all been the product of mass delusion. Our answer lies elsewhere."
Kanna hummed. "Could it be one of the victims? We don't have any sure proof that they're all dead. Maybe somebody watched one of those videos, and it counted as meeting them."
"No," Keiji muttered, though he seemed at no less of a loss. "That's too far of a stretch."
"Nao," Reko said. "Nao, you gotta believe me. Sara's got you wrapped around her finger. You know the both of us went into the Room of Lies, right?"
"I- I…"
"Nao," Sara cut in. "Don't believe her. I'll find a contradiction."
"Big talk, Sara! You've been yanking my chain this whole time, and I'm sick of it!"
"Because you aren't the real Reko!"
"Dammit, Sara Chidouin!" Alice cried. "Don't you have eyes!?"
Noise, noise, noise. A slurry of words and voices and panic buzzed around her. It was almost amusing how detached she felt from it all.
Kanna discovered then, that she was content to let them destroy each other. A sick, sad piece of her mind fed and grew strong.
"Reko," Sara cut through the rising voices, with a tone that could cut steel. She glanced briefly to Gin on the target, quivering violently. "Let's talk, one on one."
"Fine by me. I'll be glad to get you talking with your mouth again, instead of your ass."
And Kanna saw it, the blade that could cut her down, destroy her pitiful attempts at survival and rebellion. Sara Chidouin's largest strength.
"I've known Alice since we were born, so why can't you take him at his word!? How the hell would my own brother get tricked by a fake!?"
"You haven't seen Alice for years, Reko! Ever since he went to prison!"
"That's only two and half years! That may be a lot to a kid like you, but we're grown adults!"
"It's plenty of time for a person to change, Reko. Nobody's going to be exactly the same after two years, especially when they've gone through what you have! But somehow, according to Alice, you're exactly the same, down to the tiniest detail!"
"W-Well," Reko sputtered. "Fine, whatever! But that doesn't change the fact that we were in the Room of Lies together! We both grabbed those Clear Chips, didn't we? Ain't it suspicious you're so set on callin' me a fake!?"
"Both of us? Reko, I let you keep most of those Clear Chips! And I haven't heard from anyone about receiving any from you, like you said! There's not a chance that the true Reko would go back on her word!"
"Aw, shut up! You got no proof of that! Fine, maybe neither of us are fakes! Maybe you're just letting Ranger pull the wool over your eyes! He can still hide the truth, even if he can't lie!"
"Keiji dragged the truth out of Ranger himself! Ranger couldn't deny any of our claims of a fake!"
"Look, Sara, I don't want to argue like this," Reko pleaded. "If I've been replaced, then you have to acknowledge the contradiction there, right? Safalin said it: 'there are no new humans.' It's just the eleven of us, including her and that abomination against good taste. Why the hell can't you see that this is a big pile of crap!?"
"The eleven of us? You aren't going to count the receptionist at the prize counter?"
"That creepy shithead with the mustache? That guy ain't even human! He never moves, and he's called the 'Receptionist Doll,' for god's sake!"
"Doll?"
"Just freakin' quit it, Sara! I'm scared, too, don't you get that!? But slingin' all this shit at me, over the littlest thing… It's freakin' wrong! I ain't gonna take that shit, not even from you!"
"Don't try and shut down the argument, Reko!"
"There's no point goin' on! Tell me, Sara, if I'm a fake, then who the hell am I!?"
Sara went quiet for a long moment, eyebrows twitching in thought, sweat pouring down her forehead.
Kanna stared, mesmerized.
"Hiy-" Shin started, voice near a whisper, low and comforting. "Hey… You're shaking. Are you scared?"
"I…" Kanna looked down at her sweaty palms.
Weakling.
She clenched them shut, nails digging harshly into her palm. "Cut it out. You're annoying."
Shin scoffed. "Fine, fine. Sorry."
"Why," Sara started, eyes wide like Reko was the one proposing an insane idea. "Why did Safalin… specify humans?"
"Huh?"
"Why specify humans? Unless… There are non-humans to distinguish."
"What the hell…?"
"If you took a doll… and placed an AI inside…" Sara looked back up, a new fire in her sunken eyes. "Couldn't you create a perfect fake!?"
A fake? Kanna blinked. An artificial human. Something about the idea rubbed her terribly wrong.
"Hold on, Sara! What the hell are you saying?"
"I've been wondering… What purpose do the AIs serve? Why are there perfect recreations of us all, in doll form? Now I know. This organization… must be making doll copies of human beings."
"What the devil are you trying to say, Sara Chidouin!?" Alice roared. "Have you taken leave of your senses!?"
"Even you were fooled, Alice. Doesn't that seem damning to you?"
"Preposterous! Absolutely preposterous!"
"Sara, I'm not too sure we're on the right track here," Shin said. "I mean, that sort of technology is lightyears ahead of us. How would you even begin to replicate a human being with some strands of code?"
Code? A human mind, the most complex thing ever to claw its way into existence, replicated by lines and lines of perfectly executed code?
Kanna's hands were shaking. Why couldn't she make them stop?
"Well," Keiji grinned. "That's certainly interesting. Very much so."
"Keiji?"
"It's the kind of conclusion only you could draw, Sara. Still, I'll support you all the way. Count me in. Now, we should just convince our companions somehow, right?"
Sara nodded firmly. "Right!"
"Jeez." Shin sighed. "Well, okay then. You'll have an easier time convincing me to jump off a bridge, but… fine, let's give it a shot. But listen to me," his eyes narrowed, "if we screw around, Gin will die. That's final. We need to decide what happens right now, or it's all over."
"You need me to convince you I'm human!?" Reko sputtered. "Fine, I'll do whatever the hell you want! Just cut the crap already!"
Shin nudged Kanna. "Hey, you got any ideas?"
"Me…?"
"Yeah. You're the little coding genius. You'd know more about AI than I would."
Kanna wets her lips. "Right. Completely reproducing a human being's personality… mannerisms, flaws, whims, anything… It'd be an unbelievably massive undertaking. The amount of work it would take would mean years and years of sitting in front of a computer screen. Maybe even a whole lifetime, and there's still no guarantee!" She rocked her head. "No. It's impossible. An AI that could even fool the original's brother? Even if they haven't seen each other for years. It's insane."
"That's true," Shin sighed, "but I'm getting awfully used to insanity."
Kanna's eyes narrowed. "Are you making fun of me?"
"No?"
She huffed, rolling her eyes. "Whatever. Maybe you should start coding; you'd probably be able to pull off an AI clone."
"Me?"
"You do have a head-start on the lifetime of sitting in front of a computer screen."
"Oh, shut up."
"Hey, bastards, hurry up!" Ranger cheered. "The third dose is coming up soon!"
Gin sobbed, moaning wordlessly.
"Oh, yeah, and I should probably mention…" Ranger switches his mask to a grin. "Those five doses are all a different concentration. It only gets worse the higher you go."
"You're saying…?" Q-taro chokes, arms trembling in their restraints.
"Yup! Without a doubt in my mind, the third dose will belethal." Ranger chuckled. "This is your last chance."
"Reko," Sara said tersely. "Answer my questions. We don't have any time left."
"Fine by me! I'll prove that I'm human!" Reko tugged at her collar with a full fist. "Tell me to say or do anything a machine can't! I'll fuckin' do it!"
Sara took a moment to adjust her posture, spine taught and sharp. "What do you value most, Reko?"
Reko hissed through her teeth. "Jeez, asking a hard-hitter, huh? Can I be honest with ya, Sara?"
"Please."
"It's music. I've tossed everything else out the window to chase after it. Gave the boot to crying band members, toured relentlessly until I thought I was gonna drop; anything it took! Can't say I regret it, either. I'm damned proud of myself."
Sara growled to herself. "Let me ask another question. Tell me how you feel about your brother. What does he mean to you?"
"Shit." Reko shut her eyes. "You ain't pullin' any punches, Sara. I- I don't have a goddamned brother anymore. The Alice I knew… never woulda done what he did. The guy standin' down in that cage is as much a stranger as any of you!" She took a breath, rubbing the back of her neck. "Couldn't even bring myself to look into the victim. Would have… made it real, I guess. Maybe some part of me still doesn't wanna be an only child, huh?" She shook her head. "Whatever. That bridge is burnt, Sara. That's what I'm tryin' to say."
Sara hummed, face drenched in sweat. The look in her eyes shifted slowly into one Kanna recognized. Unconsciously, her palms became slick with sweat.
It was the same expression Sara had worn before, when Kanna was still weak.
"One last thing, Reko. Could you sing a song for us?"
"Wha- A song?" Reko blinked. "I- Sure. What song? I'll do a goddamn handstand and drink a glass of water too."
"How about something from your old band? The one you were in with Alice."
Reko scoffed. "Sure. I still got the chops. Listen to this, Sara!"
A beautiful melody rang through the room. Reko's voice was higher and clearer than Kanna had expected, projecting strength and ruthlessness with a cutting clarity.
She glanced around. Alice looked haunted.
The beautiful song, though Kanna couldn't quite discern why, seemed like a death knell.
"There!" Reko said soon after closing the melody. "How's that, Sara!? That was Samurai Onna! I close out concerts with that one. You believe me now?"
"Reko," Sara grinned with the teeth of a vixen, "I got you."
"H-Huh?"
"You noticed it too, right, Alice?"
Alice didn't move, fingers quaking.
"Read this," Sara said, handing Reko a slip of paper.
"This is-!?" Reko choked. "Of course I know Samurai Yaiba broke up! I was in it, y'know?"
"But what you don't know is the state you were in afterwards."
"The state I was in…? Y-You're makin' me out like some kinda damsel, Sara!"
"No, I'm not. Anyone would be a wreck after discovering their sibling is a killer, right? Yet you proudly sang a song you wrote with him at your side. You didn't even hesitate!"
"That's-! I-!"
"What I'm thinking… is that you don't feel the impact of your brother's crime, even with the knowledge of it! The AIs… Their personalities are updated separately from their memories. So a Reko Yabusame that has the information of her brother's crime, yet none of the growth from overcoming it…"
"... Would," Nao choked, "be basically unrecognizable, huh?"
"That's a load of shit!" Reko roared. "You gotta be fuckin' kidding me! That's just conjecture! That's- That's…" She choked, chest rising and falling and rising again. "That's not… I'm not a fake! I'm not… Everything I've been through; everyone who died… The pain of Hiyori betrayin' us…" Kanna's jaw tightened. "It's all…?"
"Reko," Sara said, sighing in what couldn't have been remorse. "You haven't said a word about Alice."
"I feel it! I swear to god, I…!" Reko trembled. "I…? I don't… feel it? I should… I'm…"
She hunched in on herself, looking nothing like the proud Reko Yabusame whom Kanna met four days prior. "It's all… just programming? Was anything… real? What…?"
Ranger sighed. "Jig's up, I guess. Yup. You're a fake, faker!"
That couldn't have been right.
"She's really…?" Shin whispered.
No. It couldn't have been right. Sara was just deploying her usual underhanded tactics. Reko was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and fell victim to her psychotic whims.
You couldn't recreate a person. It was impossible.
You couldn't.
"Wait!" Reko screamed. "Don't fuckin' do it! I'm real too, goddamnit! Don't," she choked, "don't fuckin' kill me…"
A machine. A machine that had been perfectly attuned to a recreation of Reko Yabusame's mind.
There was one for every one of them, with the probable exception of the non-candidates.
"It's not fair," Kanna whispered.
"Hmm?" Shin looked at her, distracted from the horror show high above.
"... Nothing."
"She feels too human," Shin said, wrapping her hand in his own. "This… is like a joke. Some demented satire of a trolley problem. She can even cry…"
"She can cry, huh?"
Sara inched closer to the Reko doll. A horrible, haunted expression warped her face.
"S-Sara…" Reko backed away.
Sara moved closer.
"C-C'mon…" Reko was nearing the hole. "W-We're friends, right?"
Sara moved closer.
"Gin's a kid, I know that!" Reko trembled in terror. "B-But… I don't wanna fuckin' die!" She hiccuped, glancing back at the hole behind her. "P-Please don't…"
Sara pulled her hands up to her chest, palms out.
Nao dived between them, and Reko was lost to the pit.
Q-taro and Gin's restraints released. The mammoth of a man could not meet anyone's eyes.
"Alice! Calm down!" Shin stumbled to match Alice's breakneck pace. Kanna followed behind at a more sedate pace.
"Like hell!" the man hissed. "I need to find Reko! That's all that matters!"
"I know you're upset," Shin wheezed. "But please consider your friend's… lacking athleticism."
"Some exercise will do you good, Shin Tsukimi!" Alice picked up his pace, leaving them in the dust.
"Are you sure that we shouldn't have gone with Gin?" Kanna side-eyed Sara as she passed her and Shin, in as much of a hurry as Alice. "Feels a little lopsided."
"Y-You," Shin gasped, "you followed me. I didn't tell you to."
"I don't want to be alone with two grown men who could easily kill me."
"Y-You're… too paranoid."
"It'snotparanoia." Kanna's brow furrowed as they reached the long, dark staircase. A glowing entryway bathed an alcove in white light.
"Whatever. Looks like we found this Room of Lies."
"You!?" Alice's loud voice pained Kanna's ears as her and Shin entered the room. "Devilish bastard! How did you get here first!?"
"Hey! That'smyword! You can't use it, bastard!" Ranger sneered, leaning against a large pillar in the center of the circular room.
"Damn you, damn you! Where's Reko!?"
"You wanna see her so badly? Answer a little quiz question for me."
"What?"
"What is the current status of Reko Yabusame? One: long since dead; Two: dead as hell; Three: did I mention she's dead?"
"Y-You…"
"Alice!" Sara shouted. "He's got to be lying!"
"Shut up, shut your damned mouth!"
"Humans are freakin' fragile, what can I say? You oughta know that much, Mister Murderer. Don'tcha agree, Safalin?"
On cue, Safalin appeared.
In her hands, was Reko's severed head; pale and frothing with saliva, eyes upturned. Shin's grasp on Kanna's hand became tight enough to draw blood.
'Wait,'Kanna thought through a wince,'why isn't there any blood?'
"In… conceivable," Alice murmured, mesmerized. "Utterly… Such a blatant lie is…"
"Alice…" Shin whispered, reaching for the man's shoulder.
"I'll kill you." Alice stepped out of Shin's reach.
"Hmm?" Ranger quirked an eyebrow, switching his mask to a cat's grin. "Speak up, fruitcake! I can't hear ya!"
The noise that escaped Alice's throat could hardly register as human, piercing Kanna's ears like a rain of arrows.
He charged Ranger. A horrible cacophony of dissonant screeching rang out as Ranger casually tossed Reko's head at Alice's chest.
When Kanna opened her eyes, not remembering when she had closed them, he was on the floor. Blood rapidly pooled across the floor.
Kanna took a step back, pulling Shin's hand with her.
He didn't budge, eyes wide in horror. Kanna realized sharply that this was only the second time he had seen a corpse.
She pulled again. He didn't move, staring at Alice's body.
"Mister Shin!"
He didn't respond.
A gunshot rang out. Ranger collapsed.
Kanna ran.
"We're down to seven, then," Kanna said as Shin returned to their shared room. "Maybe six, if Gin doesn't make it."
Shin sat down, resting his face in his hands.
"That gives us less of a chance against the others, ultimately. We'll have to get somebody on our side. Q-taro, probably: his reputation's shot after letting Gin get hurt, and he's the one who parted with the laptop in the first place. Of course, that means he's probably not very loy-"
"Stop."
Kanna flinched. "I'm… sorry for running. I shouldn't have abandoned you."
"That's… all you have to say?"
"I'm," Kanna's face scrunched up, "not very… brave. And I did try to get you to come with me."
"We're at eight," Shin said, tone unreadable. "Reko's alive. Gin pulled through, too."
"Really? I'm glad!" Kanna sighed. "If we can't escape, then that means there's less chance of us drawing the Sacrifice or Sage. And if we do, there's more potential scapegoats. Again, Q-taro's probably our best option."
Shin was silent for a long, long moment, staring at her.
"M-Mister Shin?"
"Are you serious?"
Kanna turned, eyebrows kneading together. "Huh? What's wrong?"
"I…" Shin's face turned ugly, like an animal's. "No. No, I'm done with this, Hiy- I'm done."
Kanna blinked, the top of her brow going cold and numb, her head light. "... No?" she repeats. "What… do you mean by that?"
Shin pulled his beanie down across his eyes. "I just lost a friend. Reko's lost her brother. Everybody… is going to lose something. I thought we were going to escape, no matter what. All you're doing is telling me how many ways we can fuck over our allies!" Shin splayed out his arms, eyebrows jutting upwards.
Kanna flinched harshly. "Wh-Wha-? I- I…"
"A promise can only go so far," he continued, scowling; looming over her. "How am I supposed to trust somebody who won't tell me anything about herself? Who talks about the others like they're expendable cuts of meat? I'm… sorry," he turned on his heel, neck craned sharply down, "but I can't do it anymore."
Each step he took away from her was another nail to pierce her rotted heart, leaking putrid and yellow. The world span and buzzed around her and ambulance sirens wailed and Kanna couldn't bealoneagain. She would die. She would die.
She would die.
Kanna lunged forwards, grabbing his wrist hard enough to break it, had she been any stronger. He hissed in pain anyway, and a distant, delirious part of Kanna wanted to giggle at his low pain tolerance.
"What? I don't know what else you can expect from me! It's not like I even-"
"Kanna," the name crawls from her lips, corroded and nearly unusable. "K-Kanna. My name… is Kanna. Please…" Kanna wondered when she had begun to tremble hard enough to shake her hat across her eyes. Tears spilled from beneath its brim, and Kanna felt endlessly grateful that Shin couldn't see her pitiful, terrified expression; every bit the little girl she had given all her strength to strangle. "Please don't go. Please. I'm sorry- Pl- I'm- I'm sorry…" Her voice wobbled and cracked, the words trailing into nonsense syllables: sounds existing for the sake of themselves.
Thin, papery arms wrapped around her frame. She buried her face into Shin's shoulder, the ratty polyester feeling better against her cheek than the fine wool of her scarf ever had.
"God," Shin whispered, and she knew then that he'd finally seen right through her; that her final defense had been torn down. "Please don't cry. What the hell am I supposed to do with that? Don't cry…"
Kanna tried to obey. She failed.
"I- I don't understand… I'm doing what I'm supposed to!" she screamed into his ratty shirt. "Why is it always like this!? Kanna's family didn't want her, so they throw her away. She gets a family, but her sister is awful. Her sister becomes so wonderful, and God takes her away… Stop it, stop it, stop it!"
"I…"
"It's going to happen again. I can't- can't afford t-to hope… It'll never end." She sobbed, trembling like the life would leave her. "There's no escape… I had to throw myself away."
She looked up at Shin, smiling shakily. She couldn't make out his expression through the tears.
"Don't you get it?" she whispered. "I can't take it back anymore. Kanna's gone."
"Then why," Shin started, floundering for words, "bother?"
Kanna makes a pitiful sound, confusion prickling her scalp.
He grabbed her shoulders gently, sitting her down. "Why bother with the escape plan at all," he hesitated, "Kanna? Why try to save anyone besides yourself? The First Main Game… You could have taken that Sacrifice and no one would have suspected you. You could have ignored it entirely and still survived. No one would have-"
Kanna laughed, voice raspy and tired. "You're so naive, Shin… Aren't you supposed to be older…?"
"H- Kanna. Please."
Kanna wiped her face, looking away from him. "Alright. Have you seen enough? My name is Kanna, and I'm an only child. Will you please help me?"
Shin stared at her, eyebrows risen and mouth ajar.
A vibration rolled through the bed. Kanna blinked. Shin seemed desperate for a change in topic as he reached into his jacket's inner pocket, fumbling with his voting tablet.
Kanna looked over at her own, trying to wipe the tear tracts before they could crust over.'The First Trade has been performed,'it read.
"I should probably," Shin coughed, "fill you in, huh?"
Three hours.
Three hours to escape. Three hours to die.
Kanna stared down at the "Commoner" displayed across her tablet screen. They could now trade for each other's cards. A mechanic she had abused before was now an obligation. Her eyes trailed to the Ring-Up box in the corner of the room.
She felt tired. Her shoulders ached and her throat itched from the weight of her sobs.
"... You were right."
"Hmm?" Shin looked at her, broken from some reverie.
"I should have focused on escape," she admitted, each word burning like poison in her throat. "I should have… done a lot of things differently. That's why…" Kanna shoved her tablet into her sweater, "this thing's not important anymore. I don't even want to look at it."
"Kanna-"
"I won't believe in any miracle," Kanna said. "I can't. But… it's a little easier, I think, when I don't feel the weight of the Main Game."
Shin sighed, letting his chest deflate. "Okay. We're better off calm, anyway."
"What I said," Kanna started hesitantly, "about Q-taro wasn't wrong. I don't care if you think it's harsh, Shin. He's already proven he'd let somebody else die to save himself. If it weren't for the Sacrifice, he'd be a guaranteed out."
"I thought we weren't talking about the Main Game."
"Be realistic," Kanna sighed. "I'll try with everything I have, but I won't let you sabotage me."
"Talking like that only makes it more likely, you know."
She sighed. "Whatever you say."
Shin went silent for a moment. "Well, where are we going to start? With only three hours…"
"You said Rio Ranger was shot, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Was he destroyed?"
"I don't… think so. Just decapitated." Shin's face wrinkled in distaste. "He was still talking, begging for Gashu to fix him. I," he looked away, "wasn't in a charitable mood, then."
"All I need," Kanna said, "is access to an AI. Let's get back to poking around."
Shin chuckled. "Shady as ever, huh? I guess I don't mind."
Nao, of all people, approached them. The sight of her sent a phantom ache into Kanna's skull; needles of discomfort sliding up and down her gullet.
"Shin," she greeted, "H-Hiyori."
"Nao." Kanna was half-tempted to make a jab about the redhead's violent tendencies, but held her tongue. Those sorts of jokes weren't funny to normal people. "Do you need something?"
"I think you, uh, might need something from me…" Nao swallowed. "I know… we haven't been on the best, er, terms." She straightened suddenly. "But this is more important! Shin's mentioned… Well, I think this is something only you can take care of! Please, if you won't forgive me, then at least hear me out!"
Kanna raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"
"Somebody's… desecrating the professor's memory. It's like they're trying to mess with my head. I know I should probably destroy it, but," she bit her thumb, "something tells me you could make better use of it."
The sudden lack of hostility disoriented Kanna. It seemed Shin had been repairing her burnt bridges. She just hoped he hadn't been giving any sales pitches to Sara.
"... How about we talk somewhere more private, Nao?"
Soon after the announcement of a second trade, a knock rang at the door.
Kanna and Shin looked at each other in silence, gazes trailing back to the door.
"Kid!" Q-taro's voice carried through the wood. "We gotta talk."
"What do you need, Q-taro?" Kanna asks, working the steel back into her voice. It had never been particularly effective, but that's not what mattered.
"... That laptop. I'll pay ya, too. Hundred tokens." He sighed, the sound of shuffling fabrics reaching under the door. "Look, couldja open the door? I'm feelin' like a bit'va jackass…"
"So you can beat us unconscious and steal it from us?" Kanna scoffed. "Are you insane? Go find a bucket and soak your head in it."
"Dammit… Fine, lookit this!" Something bumped into Kanna's foot. "That good enough fer ya? Keep it, if'n ya feel so 'nclined."
She picked it up, Shin leaning over her shoulder. It was Q-taro's voting tablet.
'Sacrifice,'announced itself in boldprint letters, floating over that hideous purple skull.
She scoffed in disbelief. "Alright. Let's hear your terms."
"Are you sure, Kanna?" Shin whispered.
Kanna glared at him. "Careful where you use that name!" She looked away. "And… of course I'm sure. I've got to be."
He sighed. "Okay. I'll trust you."
It was a good thing, Kanna figured, eyeing his ratty jacket for the thousandth time, that his trust was so cheap.
The very final thing that Kanna wanted to do was share even one more word with Sara Chidouin.
"Don't give me such a nasty look," she said, staring down the headlights of the Chidouin Death Glare. She felt glad she didn't sweat too easily. "Let's talk, okay?"
Sara didn't seem too convinced by the artificial sweetness in her tone. Kanna felt a little bitter over that, like a little more of her youthful charm had flaked away.
"About what?" Sara asked, tone flat.
"Thanks, Sara!" Kanna cheered. "Y'see, my friends and I," she gestured to Shin and Q-taro at her sides, "have called a truce! I want to make amends with you as well, Sara. If you'd let me."
Keiji leered down at her from over Sara's shoulder.
'A demon never wants a guardian angel to stare her down, huh?'Kanna tensed, hoping it wasn't noticeable.'Or maybe it's the other way around. I can't even tell anymore.'
Keiji murmured something into Sara's ear, too low for Kanna to hear.
"Well?" Kanna egged, clasping her hands together. "I'd really like it if we could get along again, Sara. I've got something really nice to give you…"
Sara rolled her eyes, plastering a smile across her face. "Oh, C'mon now, Hiyori! Haven't we always been the best of pals!? You're gonna make me cry!"
For a moment, Sara's amber eyes turned a swirling, burning cyan.
Kanna's breath hitched. "D-Don't… use that sort of tone with me, Sara. It's unnerving, coming from you."
Sara frowned. "Look, I'm trying, okay? If you're just messing with my head again…"
"I'm not," Kanna said. "Really. I've got nothing but good faith, even if you won't believe me."
"Moving," Keiji remarked. "It's too bad your promises don't mean much."
"Then I won't prove it with words." Kanna readied the lynchpin. "Let's all settle this over that laptop of mine."
Sara blinked. Keiji's eyes widened.
"See, our old friend just so happened to have changed the password. So, if you wouldn't terribly mind…"
Sara scoffed. "So that's how it is. I guess I can appreciate the transparency."
"Naturally. I'm not hiding anything this time, Sara. There's nothing to lose from letting you see that laptop." Kanna smiled. She felt tired. "C'mon. Let's shake on it. I won't hide anything anymore, and you'll help me out."
"I'll be more than happy to shake hands when we're on our way out of here, Hiyori." Sara crossed her arms. "Not any sooner."
Kanna's eye twitched. "Well, at least shake Shin's hand. He's the reason I'm even speaking to you."
Shin blinked at that. "W-Well…"
Sara sighed. "Alright. Put 'er there, Shin."
"I- really?" Shin grabbed her hand, and his arm was pulled firmly up and down. "After everything? I've… made my allegiance clear, you know."
"I know," Sara sighed. "But what do I get out of hating you? I'm tired, Shin. I don't needmoreenemies, right?"
"I…" Shin looked down at his hand. He grinned. "Guess so."
Q-taro chuckled boisterously. "Tha's what I like ta see? Where's my handshake?"
"C'mere," Keiji said, taking Q-taro's hand and shaking it.
"Yer… part o' the team, I guess..." Q-taro seemed disappointed.
"Hey," a tired voice came from the corner of the room. "I've been watchin' you guys."
Reko came into view, her makeup washed away. She seemed more tangible to Kanna. It made her feel ill.
"Reko," Shin said. "Are you…?"
"I'll be great, if we're done hating each other."
"... Do you want to look at Kai's laptop with us?"
She smiled. "Sure."
Kanna huffed. "Let's all sit down then, if we're having a viewing party."
It went so well, until she accessed the wrong file. One of the files that had been locked behind the "Sara" folder.
The first of the two had been nothing special: just a thank you letter from Kai to Sara. It was nothing that Kanna couldn't handle, even if her eyes itched and her stomach crawled.
But the second had to showhim.
Full green hair ending in a rat-tail. Eyes the color of the sky on her Sister's funeral day. A red and black scarf that had never been Kanna's color.
The others had seen the real Hiyori.
Sibilance formed at Shin's lips, falling to immediate silence.
"What the hell?" Reko rasped. "Ain't I… seen this guy before?"
What had she been doing all this time? Bile rose in Kanna's throat, prompted by her foolishness. Why was she playing nice? With these animals, who would do anything to survive?
Shin's hand squeezed hers.
They were animals. They had to be. Skinwalkers and daemons, in half-human form, waiting to devour her bones.
That was the way of the world.
Kanna shut the laptop, excusing herself to the bathroom.
She didn't think about the warmth of Shin's bony, papery hands as she inserted her tokens into the Ring-Up box.
Kanna stared at Sara's token pouch.
Not for the first time, she wondered who the monster was.
Hiyori's words had always made so muchsense.The world he talked of was one she had seen first-hand since the day she had been born.
So why did her eyes burn?
Why did she feelguilt?Sick, cloying, clay-like guilt casting her body in sludge.
It was Sara's own fault for not blocking her bedroom door.
Kanna tossed the pouch in a drawer. She was sick of looking at it.
Besides, if she succeeded, then she would have no reason to feel guilty. It would be like getting back at her Sister for a mean prank, the way Sara had scared the weakness out of her before they had ever locked eyes.
No harm done.
"Hey, Kanna," Shin said. "Have we ever had a normal conversation, I wonder?"
Kanna sighed. "That's a dumb thought. Nothing's been normal since we woke up here."
"Yeah," he agreed. "Say, when, and I meanwhen,we escape… Do you think we'll ever see each other again?"
"... I don't know. Maybe it'd be best not to."
Shin chuckled. "Maybe. But I think I'd like to at least know more about Kanna. Without worrying about…" he trailed off. "Well, I hope you've got good taste in literature, I mean."
Kanna didn't move her gaze from the laptop. She wondered why she needed to ward away a grin. "And by literature, you mean manga, don't you?"
"Ha. Guilty as charged." He sighed. "No. It makes sense. It's weird for a grown man to spend so much time with a middle schooler anyways, huh? I guess… my promise will be fulfilled, even if I didn't do anything important."
'Didn't do… anything important?'
"Hey," Kanna began, fingers hovering soundlessly above the keys. "Kanna does like Shoujo. And Mecha."
"Huh?"
"... So you'd better have some good ones."
Kanna could feel Shin's wide grin even without turning.
"Nothing but."
Kanna hated waiting. Waiting was the belief in her Sister's return, sat by the window with an old Game Boy Advance; a school day with no social interactions, no lessons learnt; long, slovenly days of meticulous practice on her increasingly expensive computer setup; finishing her food in silence with her parent awkwardly hovering around her, silently watching her deteriorate until she would leave, and their low, solemn voices would pick up again.
Shin returned. "Nao gave word. Sara found Ranger's head. She's got the chip."
Kanna beamed wide, not caring if she looked like a fool.
He matched her. "This is it, huh? Let's go."
Before she could follow, her tablet vibrated. Fate stared back at her, grinning violet.
The tablet fell to the carpet.
"Another trade?" Shin checked his own tablet. "Still a commoner…" He looked at her. "Kanna?"
It had only gotten easier to move on autopilot; surrender control to that ugly cluster of sin throbbing in her chest.
Shin grabbed her shoulder. She didn't move. "Kanna…?"
"It's fine, Shin," she said. "My hand slipped. Let's finish this."
She would escape, or she would die. Kanna had already accepted this.
Before she left the room, she checked the drawer. It was empty again.
No girl should be without a stun gun, said her parents, and Sister agreed.
She didn't think, upon driving it into the back of Q-taro's neck after luring him into the computer room hidden in the bowels of the ruined corridor, that this was their intention. Strange, that they had seen fit to leave her nothing else.
She didn't feel much herself.
She took his tablet. The Sage. Better than nothing.
She left.
The boy, Gin, was healthy and hale again, sticking to Sara's side in stark contrast to her sallow, haunted eyes.
Kanna didn't get it: she had already shed the terrifying burden of death back onto Kanna's shoulders. Why did she still seem so frightened?
Nao's acting chops were better than Kanna had given her credit for. Though, she supposed pretending to be a clueless idiot wasn't the hardest task to be saddled with.
She certainly didn't have to push Kanna so hard when she pretended to betray her in front of Sara and dashed off with the laptop. She could have dented her hat.
Gin yowled in confusion, tugging on Sara's skirt. "Big Sis Nao's a double agent!? No way, woof! C'mon, we gotta chase her down!"
"R-Right," Kanna said, stumbling to her feet. "Ow. She certainly has a talent for hurting me."
They dashed to Nao's bedroom, Kanna dodging the new Floormaster from the prize exchange; the one who had shot Rio Ranger.
Nao nodded at Kanna. Kanna nodded back.
The others burst into the room and gaped at the image of Mishima painted across a screen in the corner.
Objections were raised, on both ends, and the thing in the image of her first victim whispered honeyed words of a map and hope for escape.
Nao plugged in the laptop, despite the others' vocal resistance.
Kanna grinned. The AI swallowed the connection greedily: hook, line, and sinker.
Nao scowled at the thing as it panicked; the backdoor program ravaging its files, disseminating it to raw info and deeming it lacking.
And just like that, it was gone.
"What," Sara started faintly, "just happened?"
"We've got our backdoor, Sara," Kanna preened. "Don't you remember that file on the laptop? ' '?"
"I- I guess you are about that age…"
Kanna's expression dropped. "Are you serious? Why do you always focus on exactly the wrong parts of what I say?" She rubbed her forehead, fingers coming away slick. "That file was a disguise. The 'BACKDOOR' was a means to disrupt this facility's security. The… other part was just a distraction."
Kanna kneeled in front of the table, failing to hide her giddiness as her fingers danced across the slider. "I'm going to analyze the data. Get everybody as quick as you can, okay? This is our only chance…"
"W-Wait! You mean…?"
"I'm not some some blood-hungry freak, Sara. I want this Game forfeited as much as you."
Nao, Gin, and Sara discussed amongst themselves in the corner. Kanna paid them no mind, vibrating with nerves.
This was it. The tablet in her pocket wouldn't matter anymore. Certain death could not apply under aborted circumstances.
Kanna Kizuchi could rise from the grave.
She felt a gaze burning into her shoulder. She sighed.
"Sara, you're in my light. Is there something you need?"
"Don't be rude to Big Sis Sara, meow!"
"I'll be as polite as you want," Kanna replied. "Tomorrow."
The grade-schooler scoffed. "Like you'll keep that promise, woof…"
He moved in close. "Hmm…"
"Uh…?" Kanna stared at him, bemused. "What do you want? I'm busy."
"You smell really sugary, Bucket Weirdo! You should cut back on the sweets!"
Kanna glared. "Go away. I'm out of dog treats."
He huffed. "Just saying, arf… You don't need to treat me like a pet!"
They lapsed back into silence as Gin backed away, sulking.
"Hiyori," Sara said, hovering over her. "U-Uh…"
"Usually you're more composed than this, Sara." Kanna grinned. "As much fun as it is to see you all flustered, I've got important business here."
"Right…"
Kanna worked in silence for a few more moments.
Something poked her side.
"Gyah!" Kanna flushed, fingers slipping off the keys. She turned to glare at Sara's faux-innocent face. "Quit it! Go bug someone else!"
Another moment passed, and Kanna went back to the laptop, trying to remember her place.
Something poked her again.
"Get out!"
One last step. One final measure, and they were home-free. That jittery, buzzing feeling prickled at every bone in her body, lending action to her limbs and lightness to her chest.
She had let Shin handle selling her to the others. Of course, she didn't have to worry about Q-taro, snoozing away on Keiji's back. There was a time when she wouldn't have found that so funny, but she could hardly remember it.
Naturally, Sara and her new sidekick had to follow her to the server room nestled above the AI monitors. They, fortunately, seemed more interested in investigating the room than disturbing her concentration this time around.
"What are you doing, Bucket Weirdo?" At least it was a warranted question.
"I'm neutralizing the security. This technology…" Kanna felt the breath leave her for a moment. "I won't put you to sleep with the details, but… this never should have been possible at our current level of technology." Her jaw tightened. "He said…"
"Ranger?"
"No. Don't worry about it." She turned back to the monitors. "Just make sure nobody comes to stop us. This is going too smoothly for me to feel safe."
"I'll keep watch, Big Sis Sara!" Gin preened. "You can stop Bucket Weirdo if she tries anything shady, right? Dunk that dumb bucket over her eyes, mreowr!"
"It's not a-" Kanna tensed her wrists. "J-Just go keep watch already…"
The room lapsed back into surprisingly comfortable silence, Kanna's fingertips dancing across the keyboard. Ranger's chip was the most beautiful piece of technology she had ever gotten her hands on. If the Death Game hadn't been the most mind-rendingly terrifying experience of her life, she'd almost be thankful for the opportunity.
And then, she did it. The security permissions for the third floor were under her control.
She was winning?
"I- I'm in?" In words barely a whisper, she believed. "I'm in!"
"Hiyori?"
"Sara, get over here!" Kanna beckoned wildly at the older girl. "Check these monitors! It's about to get scary, from here on out!"
"Wh-What am I looking for?"
"I've coded a junk filter. I'll be manually checking the code, so please, please point out any lines that are highlighted in red!" Kanna turned to Sara, eyes wide. "I've never asked you for anything, Sara. Don't let it end like this…"
Sara nodded. "Right. There's no time for grudges now."
It was rough: dodging, weaving around, and rewriting full strands of garbage code pushed her to the limits of her ability. But Hiyori would re-emerge to strike her dead should she fail so catastrophically under pressure. It seemed the threat of boiling water poured down the neck of her blouse had been a fruitful training exercise in the long run, no matter how terrified she had been, then.
The garbage code filtered to small strands and minor errors, then withered away to nothing; clean, beautiful text running down the screen in rivulets.
"It's done?" Kanna whispered, face feeling suddenly hot and starchy. "It's done!?" An incredulous laugh bubbled from her throat, blooming into a flower of jubilation with its buds all along her tongue. "I did it! I really, really did it!"
Losing herself in the feeling, Kanna wrapped Sara's waist in her strongest squeeze.
"A-Ah?"
"If she could only see me here…" She sniffled. "Sister… I swear it was worth it…"
"Hiyori?" Sara looked down at her. "Are you… okay?"
"I," Kanna hesitated, letting the syllable hang about in the soft white glow of the proxy servers. Awkwardly, she let Sara go. "S-Sorry."
"Don't mention it. Really."
Kanna laughed weakly, feet shuffling. "Um… I wanted to say… that I understand. Finally, I think I get it."
"Hwuh?"
"You don't have to acknowledge it. That's the smart thing to do, right?" Kanna leaned back down, fingers brushing against the edge of the laptop. She closed her eyes. "I've… been looking back at everything I've done since I found myself here. No matter how I look at it… I shot first, didn't I?"
"Hiyori…"
"You already know that's not my real name, right?" Kanna asked. "Well, whatever. Just know that… I don't blame you for what you did, okay? Before we all leave this place and never think about each other again, I wanted to say that." Kanna lifted her head, turning back to look at Sara's wide eyes. "I wish… we could have had happy memories together. That's all."
"I-Is this another trick, Bucket Weirdo?" Gin blinked in confusion, neck craned back from his spot at the ladder. "Why're you getting all sappy, arf?"
"Ah," Kanna sighed. "Never mind."
Sara put a hand on her breast pocket. "Hiyori… Thank you."
Kanna giggled weakly. "You… really are a great actress, Sara." She shook her head. "That's enough of that. You've got five people to find, don't you? Get to it. I'll see you in a minute."
Sara nodded. "Understood."
'Huh,'Kanna mused as she gathered up the laptop, cautiously beckoning Sara's hesitant hope and Gin's flat suspicion.'She really does… have a lot of charm, doesn't she?'
Her chest felt warm; cramped and sticky. It brought to mind the image of Sara's knife, flashing in the low light of a dark room as it came down through her blouse.
"C'mon," she managed, pushing past them towards the ladder. "There's no time to waste. Unless you want our collars to go off?"
"Mreowr!? Don't leave us behind, Bucket Weirdo!"
This time, Kanna was the one to paint the hope in their eyes, disbelieving though they might have felt.
This time, Kanna led the way to freedom and light and beauty.
This time, Kanna could feel peace.
Joy bubbled in her veins, vibrating in her hands and legs, only waiting for the others to catch up. The others whomshehadsaved.
"Hey, Shin," Kanna called. "What're you going to do next?"
He grinned, panting as he swiftly treaded the stairs to meet her pace; or die trying, it seemed.
"See a movie, maybe?" He asked. "Something happy. A dumb comedy or some crappy romance flick."
"Do you really want to watch something live-action?" Kanna asked, looking away. "There's… this film I've been wanting to watch."
"Mecha?" he poked, grin growing yet wider. "As long as it doesn't make me cry."
Kanna was smart enough to realize he wasn't really talking about his own tears.
She smiled. The exit was growing near.
Rubble, with sunlight peeking mutely through.
Kanna's saliva thickened on the base of her tongue, cold pinpricks of sweat clawed from the pores across her body.
"No," Shin whispered, beside her. "No, no, no!"
The world buzzed around her. Somehow, she was still shocked. Hadn't she learned? Couldn't she recognize simple patterns?
"This isn't real, right!?" Shin choked, staggering towards the rubble. "It's gotta be a trick…"
"There is no trick," the whistle-thin man from behind the prize counter (Gashu, she remembered. GashuSatou) approached, Kanna's neck craning slowly to face him.
"This is the end of your rebellion. Since long before the beginning of this Death Game, we have been sealed deep underground, using external explosives."
Kanna stopped paying attention. What did it matter? What had any of it evermattered?All she had done, all she had struggled for: it had meant nothing.
Kugie deserved better than her. Shin deserved better.
Kanna felt the burning weight of her voting tablet, of her role.
It had been foolish to defy fate. Kanna Kizuchi would die here, no matter what form she took.
"Hiyori" had been a placebo.
Kanna stood up, letting the laptop fall. Keiji was clearing the rocks desperately, a scowl etched upon his face. It was the most emotion she had ever seen from him.
Q-taro was still unconscious. Kanna didn't really care, though she despised that ugly part of her, that drive to survive under any circumstance.
Sara floated across the grounds like a ghost, her expression likely mirroring Kanna's own; sallow and empty, with no future to hope for, no better day.
"Hiyori," she whispered, the curse coming with no malice. Kanna didn't understand. "Please… Isn't there something you can do…?"
Kanna laughed, short and stuttery and weak. "Do…? I think I'm done… doing anything, Sara. I don't have time, anyway. Maybe I could hack the role card data, but… what's the point?" Bitter tears spilled from the corners of her eyes. "Maybe it's for the best."
"I," Sara's face left her view, gazing somewhere far, far away, "see."
Sara left.
'I just hope,'Kanna sat down, leaning back until she was gazing at the patterns of the ceiling rock,'that Shin makes it. If I can't have anything, then please, whoever you are… Let him have it, instead. I think I'll be okay with that.'
Kanna was scared.
But Kanna was done fighting.
Her tablet vibrated.
'The Fifth Trade has been performed.'Kanna's eyes burst open. She fumbled for her tablet, dropping it to the ground beside her.
Kanna Kizuchi would enter the Death Game, Miley had told her, and invariably lose.
So why did her role card read "Commoner"?
Why was Shin nowhere to be seen?
In a rush of static and a wave of nausea, the world went dark.