deadly games
❝aguni's reality❞
FINDING ARISU BROUGHT A CERTAIN WARMTH TO YOUR HEART. Especially now that you knew he never blamed you for a second. If anything, he felt bad that Chishiya kept it a secret from you. Arisu wasn't mad at Chishiya for betraying him, but he was furious that Chishiya broke your heart.
"I hate to break this to you now, but we only have 30 minutes left." Usagi announced and you finally let go of Arisu. Your best friend started wiping off the tears on your face. After he was done, Tatta handed him a phone.
"Just explain the rule to me." Arisu said.
"Someone killed Momoka. That person has the role of the witch and we have to find him or her, and burn them into the Fire of Judgement." Tatta tried to explain quickly, without getting into unimportant details.
"This is seriously the worst rule ever. But just like those taggers from the tag game, who were made to participate in the game with rules of their own. I'm sure it's the same this time. The witch has to kill the girl to start the game and survive until the end of the time limit. In other words, the witch clears the game if everyone here gets a game over or gets struck by the lasers." Arisu's explanation got you thinking about that idea of yours. After your friend put it that way, it suddenly made even more sense. The percent of you being right, just double increased.
"Just who could be the witch?" Tatta asked.
"If I were the witch, I would join the others in hunting since it'll be game over if I'm caught." Usagi told the four of you.
"So could it be someone from the militants?" Asahi asked.
"Niragi, Last Boss, or Aguni?" Tatta threw the most familiar names.
"Niragi is out of the question. I took care of him." you avoided getting into details about your encounter with Chishiya and Niragi.
"If that's the case, then the militants will kill one another. But it doesn't feel like the purpose of the game." Arisu gave you his opinion.
"The purpose of the game?" Usagi questioned with curiosity.
"Toying with people's hearts. It's a game of betrayal and it's supposed to trick you..." you said more to yourself still analizing the possibility of that person to really be the witch.
"Ten of Hearts... it's not just a physical game. I know that since I've cleared a hearts game before. Y/N knows too, maybe even better than I do, since she cleared three of them. Heart games are utterly wicked. They're designed so that you can't win without feeling disgusted. If the militants win this way, there will not be any conflict."
"So what is it?" Tatta was curious.
"Something's weird. What could it be?" Arisu was trying hard to think about who the witch was. It should be the moment to tell him your idea. You were now almost entirely sure that you were right.
"Arisu... How could you influence the game, if you were the witch? I thought about this question since the rule has been revealed. But that's not exactly the true question. The true question is : if you were the game master, how would you think this game through? And I got an idea. I wasn't so sure that it was possible, but it definitely is. The witch has to be burned in the Fire of Judgement, no matter their status." you spoke and it looked like his face lightened up, but he still hasn't been able to figure the witch's identity.
"After Hatter was killed, Momoka was murdered. Someone who knows the ins and outs at the Beach made this game after calculating the timing." Arisu started putting the pieces you left for him all together.
"They calculated the timing?" Usagi was entirely lost.
"Their deaths did not just occur at the same time by chance, right? The game master had likely been waiting for this moment."
"Seriously?" Tatta said.
"Then who is the witch?" Asahi asked, thinking that you and Arisu had the answer.
"Hatter's death was made known after Momoka died. Those who knew of Hatter's death were only the militants and the executive members." Usagi thought about it.
"I don't think Hatter's death is linked to Momoka's. Sure, the timing is a bit odd, but the witch couldn't have also killed Hatter, considering the fact that he died before the witch was officially selected." you voiced your thoughts.
"But the game master might have known of Hatter's death somehow." Arisu continued.
"Then all the Beach members are suspects." Usagi completed his thought.
"When I passed by the lobby one hour before the game started, Momoka's body wasn't there yet." Tatta confessed.
"So someone moved her body during that time frame." Asahi stated.
"There's no point in asking since the witch can lie." Arisu spoke again.
"Arisu, I already told you more than enough to figure it out." you gave him a little push to think about your words once again.
"The question is... why did the game start now? Why did they wait for Hatter's death before they started the game? It was to throw the Beach into a state of chaos. If that was the case, I were the game master..." Arisu kept thinking about the answer, until he suddenly stood up.
"Arisu." Usagi knew that he figured it out.
"I think I know... who the witch is." Arisu finally realized and you smiled proudly at him.
"It took you long enough."
♤ ♧ ♡ ♢
𝟷𝟻 𝙼𝙸𝙽𝚄𝚃𝙴𝚂 𝚁𝙴𝙼𝙰𝙸𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙶
Back in the lobby, people were gathered. The militants had their guns pointed at every single member of the Beach that still happened to be alive.
It was crazy what a Hearts game made people turn into. People that were supposed to be human, turned into a worse type of creatures. The games took away their humanity, they stopped feeling bad about killing a person, or seeing them die. They lacked empathy just because of a game.
"Stop it already!" Arisu shouted, while he was he was leaning on Usagi and Tatta. You came in front of them, in a protective manner.
From up the railing, Chishiya was watching the entire scene display. He had no idea how glad he was that Arisu wasn't dead, however he still held a neutral expression on his face.
"You guys act like toddlers... It disgusts me." you chose to gave them a piece of your mind. "Only they can't decide on which toy to take, so they take all of them. That's pretty much what you did in this game. The only life that should've been taken away was the witch's, but you took more than what you should've." you spoke and received blank stares from everyone around you. Some of them seemed to agree, some of them didn't.
"Y/N is right..." Arisu said keeping a low voice. "I... I was confined by you guys the entire time, even when the murder occurred. I'm sure you know, I couldn't have been the witch. If you aren't the witch, then there's no need to kill me. Please cooperate with me and search for the witch!" Arisu spoke to Aguni in an almost desperate way. Aguni walked closer to him, walking past you and he hit him twice with the gun he was holding. Arisu fell on the floor and you wanted to fight Aguni, but Tatta was holding you back.
"Stop it!" Usagi shouted and she was able to go to Aguni, but he only pushed her away. As she fell on the floor, her eyes landed on Aguni. "Now I know. The reason why you attacked Arisu, even though he's the only one with an alibi. That's because you're the witch!" Usagi said and she couldn't have been more wrong. The girl only made things worse. After hearing that, Aguni hit Arisu once again. Your friend was caught by Usagi this time.
"Hey!" you tried to get Aguni's attention, while Usagi and Arisu were holding each other, catching their breaths. "Remember our game, Aguni? The first one, I mean. I saved your life and you still didn't repay me for that. You owe me." Aguni had no emotion on his face as you let out the words. "I want you to confess what you did. It took me a while to understand... but it's the only logical way." what you said didn't do anything else than bringing upon you a hit. You fell on the floor, but quickly stood up. You touched your bottom lip and watched the red drops on your fingers.
"You... Are you the witch?" a man asked Aguni.
"Yes. I'm the witch." Aguni confessed and even his militants had their guns now pointed at him. You scoffed. He let go of the gun he used to hit you, Arisu and Usagi with; walking closer to a guy who looked terrified. "Shoot me. Do it!" he screamed the last two words.
"Shoot him!" a man in the crowd said.
"Aguni is not the witch!" Arisu spoke up. "This is a Ten of Hearts game! A game that toys with people's feelings! It's not a game where you win by killing Aguni!" Aguni's body turned around to face Arisu. "You're not the witch. So why? That's because you have another motive." he lowered his voice as he started to speak directly to Aguni.
"Another motive?" Usagi asked.
"The one you killed was not Momoka. It was Hatter. I found out after I saw your eyes. It was as if you had given up all hope. Those eyes. It was the same as mine that day. Those eyes after I killed my friends" the mention of Chota and Karube, made your entire body stiffen. You were also sad that Arisu was still blaming himself for their death. "You're not dumb. Yet you wanted to kill everyone right from the start. That's not like you! You must have had another motive in mind. Ever since I came to the Beach, I thought it was strange. It you had these many firearms, the militants would have gained control over the Beach a long time ago. Yet that didn't happen until now. In reality, you were not in conflict with Hatter at all. Didn't you both actually help each other? You wanted to make sure that dangerous people like Niragi don't go on a rampage. You tried to hold them back." he took a little break from talking, those seconds of silence, you analized every word. How could you be so oblivious? It made perfect sense now. You only figured it out that Aguni killed Hatter, but them being friends came as a surprise. "You... weren't you and Hatter best friends in reality? Then, why did you kill him? For some reason, you couldn't forgive Hatter for what he did. You wanted to stop Hatter and his crazy ways. You wanted your best friend to regain his senses." with every word Arisu let out, he walked closer to Aguni, until they were right in front of each other.
Aguni looked like he was deep in thoughts. He was remembering something while Arisu kept telling him the sad reality.
"What would you know?" Aguni seemed hurt, but he hid it through anger. The anger wasn't because of Arisu, it was because of the terrible truth. Arisu was only his punching bag. Aguni grabbed Arisu's collar and then he went nuts by hitting Arisu over and over again. You walked to Aguni, to hold him back, but he pushed you away. Unfortunately for him, you were a stubborn one.
"Stop it, you asshole! You'll kill him, he is not your fucking punching bag!" you shouted. Aguni ignored you and grabbed back Arisu's collar. Tears were running down on Aguni's cheeks now.
"What would you..." Aguni couldn't finish the sentence for some reason.
"I was also someone who killed my friends. I understand the pain in your eyes. You killed your friend. And you wanted to kill everyone at the Beach, because they were the ones who made your friend go crazy. Your broken feelings. The game master made use of them! That's why this is a Hearts game!" Arisu said. Even though it was the truth, it still hurt Aguni, because he tried to bury it deep down so he could keep going without any guilt.
"Shut up!" Aguni screamed, before realeasing the grip on Arisu's collar, causing the brunette to fall on the floor.
You just watched what was now happening in silence. Usagi and Tatta ran to Arisu, while you just stood up looking at Aguni.
"I misjudged you... and Hatter," you started. "I saw you two as enemies, just like everyone else did. There was no way I could've realized it all by myself, but the signs were there. Instead, I kept telling myself how insane Hatter was. I kept making stupid remarks about him, while you were there. That must've hurt you more than it hurt Hatter. I thought he was always like that... but no one is born that way." you were able to tell Aguni, without getting hit. "I'm sorry."
"If that's true, then Aguni just wanted to kill everyone regardless of the game?" someone asked.
"You're joking." another man said.
"And we went along with that?" this time a militant talked.
"Just who is the witch?" Usagi asked.
"I know who it is. Y/N does too. The identity of the real witch." Arisu picked this moment as revealing who it was. He gave you a look and you returned it with an approving one. "You can always see the game master's characteristics in a game. In a Hearts game, it always makes a fool out of everyone. Maybe... there really was a way to end the game without killing everyone." you knew he was now thinking about the game where Chota, Karube and Shibuki died. That's why you made your way to Arisu's other side. You lowered your body and placed you hand on his shoulder. "A solution where no one has to die."
"Don't think like that now... even if there was a way, we can't turn back time. Instead, we can burn the witch and live on with our lives, while honoring the ones we lost." you said louder, so everyone in the lobby could hear you.
"But what he said... that's impossible. We have to hunt down the witch and burn them in the Fire of Judgement, right?" from the crowd, a blonde girl asked.
"No." Arisu answered, breathing heavily, but still standing up back on his feet. "There's a witch candidate that makes it possible. It is possible..." Arisu's hand started to point to Momoka's dead body. "If the witch is Momoka herself."