"What are you looking at?" Someone asked. Quickly, I stood up, my eyes going wide with fear as I gripped the note. I paused, staring directly into someone's soul. I should've known it would be them.
"W- what do you want Yamazaki?" I replied, trying to act tough. He wasn't phased, just staring at me with a blank expression.
"What did you find?" He asked, almost as if he was repeating himself. I paused, looking down at the paper, and then up and him. Quickly, I tried to hide it behind my back. Suddenly, I was grabbed by the wrist, him glaring into my eyes. A fear overcame me, as I stared at his intimidating expression. He used his other hand, grabbing the note out of my hand. Why didn't I move? If I had moved, he wouldn't have gotten the paper.
He let go of my wrist, and looked down at the paper. He scanned it for a moment, before he looked to the small hole in the wall. He seemed to be lost in thought, putting the pieces together in his mind. Suddenly, I put my arms out.
"I- I'm not the traitor! I- I would never do th- that!" I yelled out. He rolled his eyes, putting the note in his pocket.
"You really think that I'd suspect you of being the traitor?" He asked. I stared at him, expecting some sort of insult to come out of his mouth, being spat out at my face. "If you were the traitor, then you wouldn't have led the trial. Unless you really wanted to continue the killing game, but that would just be suspicious." I stared at him for a moment.
"W- well... I guess that makes sense." I said. He rolled his eyes, turning around and walking down the hall. "HEY!!!" I yelled out. He stopped moving. Honestly, I wasn't even sure if he was going to listen to me. But he did. Why did he listen? "Th- the note. Give it back." He slowly turned around.
"And what are you gonna do with it?" He said, glaring at me. I held eye contact, though I could feel my hands sweating.
"I- I have to show everyone! The group needs to know that there's a traitor!" I replied. He continued to stared at me, before finally turning all the way around.
"And what will that do?" He asked. "Because I can answer that question..."
"W- well, it'll make everyone understand that-" I began.
"Understand!? That's what you think!?" He snapped. He took a deep breath, taking the note out of his pocket. "Here. You can take it." I stared for a moment, before slowly reaching out to grab it. Suddenly, his palm enveloped the paper. "But... I'd like to say some things first." He said. I nodded. "This note will cause more chaos in this group than any murder. Knowing that someone in the group is not who they seem to be, will make everyone suspicious and split everything in two. It doesn't have to just be Imamura or whatever, everyone will panic. And plus, if we show everyone the note, then she'll probably fucking die and we'll never be able to clear anyone for not being the traitor." He explained, my eyes going wide. I was unable to move, completely flabbergasted that he'd say any of this stuff in the first place. "So... I have a proposition."
"P- proposition?" I asked. He nodded.
"I hold onto this note. If Imamura gets killed, then we know the other is the murderer, though I doubt that it'll happen. This note will help each other clear suspicions, right?" He said. I paused, lowering my arm. I tilted my head down, but continued to stare into his eyes as sweat dripped down my face. I didn't trust him. He probably knew that more than anyone. It was sound logic... I couldn't think of anything wrong with it. Or at least, in the heat of the moment I couldn't.
"Okay..." I said in response. Without thinking, I began walking to exit the building, staring at the ground.
I could feel Yamazaki's presence right behind me. I didn't understand why he was following me. If anything, I could feel myself shaking in absolute terror. What if he stabbed me from behind me? This was the perfect time to do it, since no one was in the hallway.
"Wow! What a pair!" Ressa said, appearing out of nowhere. I screamed, stepping backwards, bumping into Yamazaki's shoulder. He didn't seem to care that I panicked, only kneeling down in front of the red panda.
"You're a devil spawn, you know that right?" He replied.
"Well of course I know that! Didn't I say that at your weird little meeting?" He asked. Yamazaki glanced back of me, before looking back at the robot.
"Why are you here?" Yamazaki replied.
"Oh yeah, that." Ressa said. Suddenly, a horrible aura almost seemed to emanate from him. "Give me that note back, okay kid? Or your going to be in a world of pain, alright!?"
"You wouldn't do that." Yamazaki responded, almost taking the stuffed animal by surprise.
"Huh? What do you mean kid!?" Ressa snapped back.
"I said you wouldn't do that. You've got something planned, right? You want another killing. Your note makes that clear. Killing me off will just make it harder for your little plan to work, huh?" He said. If a robot could sweat, he would be. I could see that Ressa was taken aback, before disappearing without another word. Yamazaki stood up, and took a deep sigh.
"H- how... did you do that?" I asked. Yamazaki turned to me, rolling his eyes.
"It's called having confidence. Something you don't have." He said, turning and beginning to walk away. Angrily, I caught up to him, without even thinking back on the idea of trying to get close to a potential murderer.
"You know, it wouldn't kill you to have some humility. To treat others with respect!" I said glaring at him. He stopped moving all of a sudden, without any warning. "W- what? Why'd you s- stop moving?" Slowly, he lowered his head to stared directly into my eyes. I replied by looking right back, starting to shake a bit, losing my previous thoughts. Why was he so intimidating?
But when I brought myself back, I could almost see what he was thinking. Despite how much he tried to hide it, I could read his face. It was filled with confusion and maybe a tinge of jealousy and self doubt. I could see that he was lost in thought, almost trying to solve something in his own head. Suddenly, he shook his head and continued walking.
I watched him wander away, unable to give myself the courage to follow after him. At least, that's the logical way of thinking about it. Maybe it was just the satisfaction of getting to him. Maybe it was just myself being proud of my accomplishments.
I paused, a sudden realization overcoming me. I joined this academy to forget my past self. To regain confidence and begin to trust others more. And even with this horrible situation, the school is still helping me complete one of those goals. Which is pretty ironic, at least for what's going on.
"HIRANO!!!" Naito screamed, running and pulling me into a hug. I would've jumped out of my skin if Naito hadn't been holding me down.
"Thank goodness! We lost you and we thought that something may have happened!" Otani said, catching up with her. Naito let go of me, looking to the clock.
"We should probably start heading back. The others are probably worrying." She explained. I sighed, getting out all of my pent up stress. We began walking towards the exit, the hospital still being as eerie as before but just a bit less unsettling.
"Hey, what were you doing while we were gone Hirano?" Otani asked. I almost froze, but forced myself to keep walking. Should I tell them? It was important for everyone to know there was a traitor. But... Yamazaki and I made a promise. I don't really care about his promise, but he'd probably kill me if I told everyone. My thoughts raced, conflicted on the decision I was making. My mouth began to open, and...
"A- at first, I just looked at e- everything around me, and then when I- I realized I lost you guys... I h- headed to the receptionist d- desk so you could find me." I said. I felt an uneasy feeling. Lying wasn't something I did often... but... I don't know if I can trust anyone anymore. Maybe... it's best if I keep the secret a little while longer?
"We're really sorry. We got carried away. We promise that we'll never forget about you again." Naito said, a kind smile on her face. One point taken away from my confidence.
We walked back to the hotel, into the dining hall. Everyone looked to us as we entered, with different expressions on their faces. Some seemed tired, some confused, others happy, and the whole array of emotions. I sat down, looking at the group of people in front of me, before making eye contact with Yamazaki. He raised an eyebrow at me, glaring into my eyes. I sighed, before turning my gaze away from him.
"So... should we start telling everyone what we found?" Arima asked.
"I guess that's fine..." Miyazaki scoffed, spinning some hair around her finger.
"Um, alright. So Arima, Miyazaki and I found out that all of the hospital rooms have keys, and the locks are unpick-able. Each room is equipped with a med kit, but also a bunch of sharp tools. Also, the rooms have an emergency lever and a machine that checks your heart beat." Kawata explained.
"We found some cool X-ray machines." Morita blurted out.
"I was exposed to radiation!" Sugai yelled, chuckling to himself.
"No, he was not." Kajiwara added.
"Ressa also appeared at that time, and told us that using the machine three times in a row would give off a lethal amount of radiation." Morita continued.
"I didn't find anything..." Shishido said, bags under his eyes as he almost seemed to be shaking.
"Huh? Why not?" Kawata asked. Shishido looked to Imamura and Tengan out of the corner of his eye.
"It was scary..." he mumbled. Imamura scoffed, almost offended, while Tengan remained silent, her eyes closed.
"We discovered a closet full of medical supplies. That's the only thing that really stood out. Oh, wait, besides the-" Naito began.
"BESIDES THE PRINTER!!! IT WAS PRETTY COOL!!! WORKS VERY WELL!!!" I yelled out, covering Naito's voice. She looked to me, entirely confused.
"Um... okay?" Kawata replied.
"FFFFFIIIIIIIINNNNNNAAAAAALLLLLYYYYYY!!!!" Ressa yelled out, appearing in front of us. "It's finally time for the motive since you guys are so SLOW!!!"
"Motive? What do you mean?" Kajiwara asked.
"You need a reason to murder everyone, right? Well, that's what I'm doing! Giving you a reason!" Ressa said with a lot of enthusiasm.
"Why didn't we get a motive for the first killing?" Tengan asked.
"Because Taguchi gave a pretty good one for me!" He replied. Taguchi shrugged his shoulders, completely calm. "Anyways... your motive is... your deepest darkest fears!"
"H- huh?" Arima blurted out.
"Until someone is killed, you will hallucinate every once in awhile, playing into your deepest darkest fears..."
"B- but, how do you make someone hallucinate-" I began. Suddenly, I felt the world begin to swirl around me. My heart sped up, as I fell to the floor. I felt myself hyperventilating, the images in front of me and the aura nearly causing a heart attack. I held my head, pushing myself to the floor. Stop stop STOP!!!
Why was this happening? Why were they laughing? Why were they all kicking me? Why was this going on? I felt someone grab my shoulder.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" I screamed, unable to control myself as I violently tried to hit the person. Suddenly, Kawata stepped back, a large red mark on the side of his face. My eyes went wide, as I looked to the group of worried faces surrounding me. My gaze drifted to Ressa. What a horrible... little monster...
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