"How'd you figure out that he was the murderer?" Ayaka asked you. "When that group of men came, I could see him sweating and threatening people more fiercely, as if he was trying to garner votes, but not too many. It seems that everybody else noticed that. This game seems to be more entertaining than I thought," you remarked.
Soon, you were met with Akira and Banda. You told them the same thing, that you were not the murderer for that round. All the other three people all shook heir heads as well. None of them seemed to show signs of lying, so you shrugged it off. Swallowing the lump of apprehension in your throat, you decided to loiter around the cafeteria.
Banda noticed how you watched as Keiko eat her red snack. "You know, the jack used the same method to communicate with a player who was teaming up with Yaba," he told you. You raised your eyebrows in shock. "Matsushita? He's that dumb?"
"You know, Banda, if Akira suggested that we all team up with every player to kill the king, would you accept?" You questioned him, curiosity getting the better of you. He responded almost instantaneously, "No. I would prefer for the game to be mot fun, and I don't just trust people I meet in here, that including you."
"In a hearts game, there's always a way that people don't have to die. It's just a matter of whether you trust people enough or not. But, I bet that Yaba also wouldn't agree," you sighed, going to the toilet to take a 'piss'.
—————————————————
"So, Keiko. Who is it?"
"M-Me..." her lips quivered with uneasiness. You tilted your head in amusement. There was a small dilemma whether or not to vote for her. If nobody voted for her, then everybody would die except for her, letting her win the game. She probably thought that if she openly told enough people, then she could survive, even if just one person voted for her.
"Does anybody know about this?" You interrogated her, debating in your mind if you should vote for her that round. She nodded. "Yaba has managed to trick some people into voting me, and I believe that the king is one of them. It should be less than half, so I can kill him this way."
You hummed. Yaba did have his ways. There always was a difference between survival manipulation and literal manipulation. Yaba was clearly using her, but he did not plan to kill her unless absolutely necessary. Why did the borderlands have to take in such smart people?
You left the toilet, going back to your original position.
Akira received this information that Keiko was the murderer for that round. "So...do I vote for her?"
"No. Absolutely not. It's better if we decrease the number of people in here, so the chances of being the murderer increases. Besides, we need to get some people out of here to find out more about the game," you reasoned with him. He held up his thumb, showing that he understood what you had just said.
You saw a red light blink continuously on his hearing aid, meaning that the battery was low. You took out the last set of batteries you had, and changed them, before putting them back on Akira's ear. "All done! Can you hear me?" You asked him.
You saw him remove the hearing aid, putting it back onto his ear. He shook his head, not being able to hear properly. You took out the batteries, checking them again. "Oh shit! This is the wrong battery type!" You threw them on the floor.
Using sign language for the first time in about a month, you signed to him, *I used the wrong battery type. I'm so sorry, but for the rest of this game I'll have to use sign language to talk to you.*
*Doesn't that make it better? That way, nobody knows what we're telling each other! But, then I can't listen to what people are saying, unless I lip read, which is hard for them not to notice me watching.* he signed to you, finding the bright side.
"May all the players proceed to their cells for the third voting session," the announcement said. You held Akira's hand, leading him there together. Passing by Ayaka who had convinced other players that Keiko was the murderer, she gave you a warm-hearted smile.
In your cell, you randomly voted for Yaba. There was still a chance that it might have been him and that he was just using Keiko to deceive everybody else.
After the voting session had ended, you noticed that there were multiple votes for Yaba, although very little. It was you, Banda and Natsu.
You held your breath with nervousness lingering at the tip of your throat. You were unable to say a word, as the announcement said, "The murderer for this round is Yaba Oki. As less than half of the players have voted for him, he will be able to select someone to kill."
You widened your eyes in fear, waiting for Yaba to select to kill somebody. It might have just been you. You were an excellent hearts player, and was also a strong competitor. Having you out of the game during the early periods would be a wise decision while others still had the opportunity.
You heard an explosion from another room. You were...alive?
Walking out of the room, you pursed your lips into a smug simper. Keiko made eye contact with you, walking away cutely to her master. Yaba looked at you and Banda, before adjusting his tight blazer and walking away. It was pretty obvious that she had been communicating with you, so you put that off, avoiding nearly being tricked by her again.
Noticing that Banda was still alive, it meant that Natsu had died. "I thought he was going to play a crucial part to this game, but it turned out otherwise," you remarked, ignoring the smell of blood that reeked in his cell.
Skipping off, you had no idea who the murderer was that round. None of the three teammates of yours had given you any information, and you were dying to find out who it was.
Then, you decided to go around to observe the behavior of the other players closely, hoping to find any form of information before the murderer had not a single vote and won the game without any sweat wasted. Out-smarting Akihiko was one thing, and not dying with him was another thing you had to prevent from happening.
Before you could continue walking, you heard someone zip their pants and walk out of the male's toilet. It was the hooded man who was called Kyoto, most likely after the city in Japan. He nudged your shoulder, hitting your shoulder. "Wait. Kyoto, right? Got any info on the murderer by any chance?"
He paused for a moment, before turning around to you. His dark hair, eyes and clothing style was almost the opposite of Chishiya, except for the fact that their personalities were the same. "Yes. I've played multiple games with that guy in the blue shirt. Judging by what I've observed, he's the murderer. Always keeping quiet. Especially this round. Kayami Yuki, right? Don't be deceived by your 'friend'."
You were flabbergasted by what he had just told you. You had a sudden change of perspectives on him.
—————————————————-
"I'm pretty sure he lied to me. No, there's no doubt about it. This shortens my list of people to vote for. Let's see here: Yaba and Keiko are normal, no convincing or persuading happening with those two. It's none of the four of us, neither is it-
Wait." You stopped talking to yourself, noticing a presence behind you. Whipping your head back, you saw Ayaka standing there with some food in her hands. It was a packet of chocolate-chip cookies.
"Ah! Sorry if I scared you. May I sit down here?" She asked you. You said 'okay', in which she sat down happily.
"I think I might know who the murderer is," she exclaimed. "I suggest that it's the woman with the yellow dress. You know, that group of girls. I overheard them talking about who to convince. But, it might have been a diversion since she might have suspected that there were people eavesdropping on her. But, I really think that it's her." She rambled on and on, until you cut her off.
"That does sound plausible. If not here, then who? It's best to go for her. Any idea on who else is voting for her?"
"Other than the four of us, there is that man in the hoodie, who also suspects her, there are those big guys, who suspect her too. This way, there should be more than half of the players voting for her!" She babbled.
"May all the players proceed to their cells for the fourth voting session."
"Click. Clack."
The voting session ended, with the girl selecting to kill a middle-aged man. You decided that it was safer not to vote for her, since that there was a chance that she could kill someone.
——————————————
Three more rounds ended, with Ayaka, Kyoto (the man in the hoodie), and Yaba being the murderers respectively. With that, two more people had died, leaving 15 players remaining out of the twenty people who used to be there.
"As a quarter of the players have died, an additional rule shall be added to the game.
Additional rule: There will be an assassin amongst you. If only one player votes for the assassin, they will get to kill any chosen player, including the king." The robotic female voice announced.
The new rule...changed everything.
In the cell, your role blinked from assassin, to murderer, to innocent. Just what would it be? It landed on 'innocent' once again. You felt irritated, an irk mark forming on your forehead. Just when would you get a chance to kill somebody?
"Why would Akihiko want to make rules that just put him in a disadvantage? It seems like he's getting overconfident about this game, I almost feel sorry for his inevitable death today," you bemoaned sarcastically.
"Rain check on my offer? I can tell you for one that I'm the assassin this round!" He winked at you. You started going in the opposite direction of where he was facing, not engaging with him in the slightest bit that round. "Heyyy it's not so nice to ignore your elder brother!" He chased after you, grabbing onto your arms.
"Think about it. If you work with me, I can even give Akira a confirmed survival rate of 100%! Don't you want to save your dear brother? All it takes is one word that starts with y and ends with s..." He provoked you sneakily. Sly fox preying on a 'dumb' bunny, eh? You shook his hands off of you, rejecting his invitation yet again.
"How about a word that starts with n and ends with o? We're fine by ourselves, even with this extra rule. We don't need you, particularly after what you've done to us!" You were so fucking pissed.
—————————————-
Minutes after you had killed Akihiko, you put Akira on your couch and let him write some of his original stories, which were a work of freaking art. He had always had a strong passion for writing and reading, despite his hearing disability which troubled him in watching things. Hearing aids were always too expensive, so you could never afford them for him.
Even after robbing the Tokyo bank 7 years later, you could not spend the money too soon as the serial numbers were all installed in the system and would leak out the fact that you were the one who robbed the bank.
"Akira? Could you help pass me that packet of chips on the table?" You requested. However, there was no answer. "Akira?" Not a single word was said by him.
You turned to look at him, noticing that his ears were bleeding. You quickly ran towards him, noticing that there were cut and stab wounds all over his ears. "What? Did Akihiko do this to you?"
(Before you killed Akihiko)
"Since you like listening to music so much, why don't you just go deaf so you can't hear anything, especially your sister's beautiful voice?" Akihiko took out a penknife, pushing the blade up. He began stabbing Akira's ear repeatedly, with nary a care about his screams and cries. That psychopath decided that it was enough of torturing him, and chose to drown him out in the pool of water that was overflowing, gushing out of the tub.
(After you killed Akihiko)
You took out a piece of paper, writing down, "Can you hear me?" You read what you wrote down. To your utter devastation, Akira shook his head.
That night, you bawled your little black heart out, not sure what to do for him. Then, you decided that you would drop out of school, and go on with being a little thief to 'earn' money, whilst changing schools and sending your younger brother to a special government-aided school for the deaf and mute for him to learn sign language there.
In the special school, you saw that Akira had actually developed his strong passion for creative writing even further, making you feel like a proud mom that he never had. He seemed to be doing well, and that was all you needed.
However, you still continued reading and learning things to help him with his school work, not giving up and trying your best to support him and give him the best life he could get. You might not have gotten your happy ending, but at least he could get his.
The darkness nurtured you, but it was time to put an end to it.
(Sigh. This game is confusing myself.)