"Wow! He hit it right on the money!" Ressa laughed. "Yeah, this is a motive. You guys are stupid if you think I wouldn't do another motive!"
"We knew you'd do another motive! But how the hell is a pistol a motive?" Imamura said.
"Well, stupid, what's the name of this little place?" Ressa asked. Imamura's eyes went wide. There was no other explanation needed. It was clear what he meant. But, he continued on anyway. "This is the sacrifice dome! Which means... I'm going to need one of you... to shoot yourself in the head! And if you do, you'll get this thing right here..." Ressa chuckled, holding up a piece of paper. "You see... I'll prevent any murder, as long as you sacrifice something right in that room over there." Ressa chuckled, pretending to put a gun to his head.
"B- but we don't have to th- though, right? I- it's a reward for doing i- it, so it's not required..." Arima reasoned. Ressa chuckled to himself.
"Oh no! The reward is only to further you all to doing it! Because if one of you doesn't become a sacrifice within seven days, then let's just say that your experience in this killing game will last a lot longer... it just might not be with the same people..." Ressa laughed.
"HELL. NO." Yamazaki said, coming out of his place in the corner. "I'M NOT GOING THROUGH THIS FUCKING KILLING GAME AGAIN!!! YOU'RE GOING TO LET ME OUT RIGHT NOW!!!" Yamazaki yelled, grabbing Ressa.
"So sorry not sorry Yamazaki, but this is what's going to happen! And by the way, if you don't put me down right now you're body is probably gonna be contorted and snapped in many different directions!" Ressa laughed. Yamazaki angrily glared at Ressa, before placing him down. Yamazaki turned to us all.
"Alright, who's going to do it?" Yamazaki said.
"Huh-" Kawata began, his face filled with utter disgust.
"I'M NOT GONNA DO THIS FUCKING KILLING GAME AGAIN SO ONE OF YOU IS GOING TO HAVE TO FUCKING PULL THE TRIGGER!!!" Yamazaki yelled.
"Y- Yamazaki, calm down-" Arima began.
"Hey, didn't Taguchi say that you were cutting yourself? Why isn't this any different!? It would stop all the pain! And it's your fault Miyazaki is dead! You have to sacrifice yourself now you have to pay for your sins! And you almost killed everyone else! Why don't you just do it and we'll all forgive you!" Yamazaki said, desperately trying to reason with him. Arima stared at Yamazaki with tears in his eyes. Suddenly, Yamazaki was shoved back.
"Yamazaki, why would you say that!?" Otani snapped back.
"Is it wrong to!? It is his fault! And he had to pay for it right!?" Yamazaki said.
"Yamazaki, human life is valuable! You can't just say something like that..." Otani replied sadly. "None of us are going to sacrifice themselves! I'll make sure of it!" Yamazaki glared at Otani, as he backed away.
"You want to repeat this!? You want this whole killing game to replicate itself!?" Yamazaki snapped back.
"If it means we get out alive... that's okay. We can stop the killing game from even starting. We just have to play this right. We don't have to sacrifice ourselves." Otani said, trying to reason with Yamazaki, approaching him with his arms out.
"FUCK THIS!!!" Yamazaki yelled, slapping Otani's hand away. "I HATE THIS KILLING GAME!!! I HATE THIS HELL HOLE!!! I DON'T WANT TO LIVE THROUGH THIS NIGHTMARE AGAIN!!! I'M NOT DOING THIS SHIT AGAIN!!! NOT AGAIN!!!" Yamazaki screamed, grabbing onto his head, staring at the ground with a look of pure fear and fury in his eyes. He started to hyperventilate. But, before he continued, he took a deep breath. And suddenly, he stood straight back up. Tears had fallen down his cheeks. "I'll be going... don't follow me..." Yamazaki said, walking out of the door. Everyone remained silent, unable to respond to the sudden outburst.
"Jeez! I knew this would cause a lot of fighting, but this is entertainment! I'll be back with some popcorn!" Ressa laughed, before disappearing.
"What... are we going to do?" Imamura asked.
"We're going to leave this circus tent alone. I will make sure that no one dies here. No one is going to die. We're going to make it out of here alive." Otani declared. Suddenly, I felt someone grab me by the arm.
"Hirano, we have to go deal with the trash panda..." Kawata whispered.
"Um, hey guys, I'll see you all later. I have to g- go somewhere." I said, running off with Kawata, Kajiwara giving a skeptical look as we left.
"We deal with that thing quickly and then get rid of any evidence that we had ever interacted with it." Kawata explained.
"But Kawata... I- I'm not sure we should do that..." I replied.
"What do you mean?" Kawata responded. I stared at the ground for a moment.
"I mean... what if Araigu can help us get out of here? We might be able to avoid that motive..." I said. Kawata stopped walking, staring at me.
"No, Hirano we can't risk that..." he began.
"But... what if it pays off?" I asked. Kawata had a horribly conflicted look on his face.
"But what if it doesn't!? What if we all die!? What if this gets us all killed by our horrible decision and we'll be dead and-" Kawata ranted.
"But what if it works?" I replied. Kawata stared, sweat running down his face.
"If..." he began. "If Araigu won't help, I'm going to get rid of them. Okay?" Kawata replied.
"Yeah. Just give it a shot!" I said. Kawata sighed, nodding. We wandered back to the room, and opened the door, stepping inside. "Um, where's Araigu?"
"Oh! I'm right here!" Araigu called out, before appearing on the table. "U- um, h- how was Ressa? H- he sounded pretty angry..." They said quietly.
"Um, he gave us a gun? F- for the motive..." I replied. Araigu stared, almost entirely surprised.
"W- wait, that wasn't supposed to be the motive..." Araigu said, staring at the ground in fear. "Was there anything e- else?" Kawata stared skeptically.
"He... wants us to sacrifice someone or we'll be placed in another killing game." Kawata responded.
"Wait, h- he has that kind of a- authority?" Araigu replied. "I- I thought that was the masterminds responsibility!"
"There's a mastermind!?" Kawata yelled.
"Huh? I- I'm sorry, I- I thought you knew." Araigu responded.
"Well, we knew there was a traitor, but having it be confirmed that there's also a mastermind is VERY important." Kawata replied.
"U- um, okay." Araigu replied. "B- but Ressa shouldn't be able t- to say that. U- unless he had proper p- permissions."
"Hey, I have a question." Kawata declared.
"Oh, o- of course." Araigu responded.
"Didn't Ressa say you had backup bodies? Why are you so terrified of 'dying' if you can just replace yourself." Kawata said.
"R- Ressa already destroyed m- my backups, a- and..." Araigu paused, taking a small pause. "I- it does a lot to your psyche to b- be killed..."
"What do you mean?" I replied. Araigu sighed.
"W- well, you may think that Ressa and I- I are only remote control toys, but we're not. W- we're AI's, b- based off of a singular w- word." Araigu explained. "Ressa i- is chaos, and I- I'm control. Our p- personalities formed around th- these words, into who w- we are today. I- I'm like any of you! I- I have conscious thoughts. A- and I feel pain. I- I'm a person t- trapped inside of a little stuffed animal. W- well, I don't think I'm a- an actual person. I- if I was, I- I'd probably have a panic a- attack. B- but I would love to finally b- become human. L- life would be so much better..."
"Oh god it's going to try and transfer its consciousness to us. We gotta get out of here." Kawata said, trying to pull me out of the room.
"N- no! I- I would never! I- I'm not demented like that s- stupid Ressa!" Araigu replied.
"Kawata..." I said, looking at him. He looked at the trash panda angrily, before giving me a sympathetic look.
"I don't trust it..." Kawata mumbled. I took a small sigh.
"Okay... w- we don't have to continue working with i- it." I whispered.
"W- wait!" Araigu called out. "I- I understand... I wouldn't trust me either. B- but I promise I will work v- very hard to get you out of here!" Araigu said. I looked to Kawata. He took a long sigh.
"Fine..." Kawata said.
"Yes!" Araigu called out.
"You have three days! And if you don't have anything by then we're done with this..." Kawata replied.
"O- okay. I'm okay with that." Araigu said, holding out a paw. Kawata hesitantly grabbed it, and shook it ever so slightly.
I smiled, before pausing. I slowly walked over to the wall of body freezers. There were a lot more blue lights than before. Now there were eight blue lights, and an equal amount of red. I looked through each of them.
Furuya. The first victim. Died of poison. Sazama. The first killer. Died from asphyxiation. Shishido. The second victim. Died from a blow to the head. Morita. The second killer. Died from cold water shock. Naito. The third victim. Died from a blow to the head. Tengan. A killer and a victim. Died from blood loss due to a stab to the neck. And finally, Miyazaki. The third killer. Died from... being killed by Ressa.
I stared at each and every one. No. No they weren't killers. They were victims. There was only one killer. That was Ressa. Ressa forced every single one of them to perish. Ressa made it so they all died. It was his fault. Sazama wasn't guilty. Morita wasn't guilty. Tengan wasn't guilty. Miyazaki wasn't guilty. It was Ressa. It was all Ressa. Furuya died. Ressa caused that. Shishido died. Ressa caused that. Naito died. Ressa caused that. Tengan died. Ressa caused that. He took the lives of everyone here.
Well... except for one. Or maybe he had. A singular refrigerator housing the body of a foreign person. Someone we'd never met. Or maybe we had. Who's to say.
"You okay Hirano?" Kawata asked.
"O- oh, yeah, just thinking." I replied. Kawata stared at the body refrigerators for a moment, tears beginning to fall down his face. "W- what's wrong?" Kawata wiped the tears away.
"I'm fine..." he replied. I stared at him sympathetically. He sighed. "I just wish... I'd done a better job protecting them." He paused for a moment. "Did we ever figure out who was in that body refrigerator?" I shook my head back and forth.
"No..." I replied. Kawata stared for a moment, before approaching the refrigerator.
"W- what are you doing?" I asked, staring at him in a panic.
"I want to know who's in here." Kawata replied, pulling on the door. He sighed, realizing it was locked. "It's locked... why didn't I think it would be locked!? It was locked the first time!"
"Well, I- I'm not sure..." I responded.
"Oh crap!" Araigu yelled out, before grabbing me by the hand and leading me to the door.
"W- what's going on!?" I replied.
"It's almost night time. Y- you can't be here at n- night! I- if this room senses any h- heat at n- night you'll be shot!" Araigu called out, pushing me out of the door along with Kawata. And quickly, they slammed the door.
"Are we sure that's why they threw us out?" Kawata asked. I shrugged my shoulders. Suddenly, the monitor turned on.
"Why hello everyone! You seem very sad. Well, bedtime might make you less grumpy! The time is now 10 PM and so you have to go to sleep! Growing boys and girls need their sleep!" Ressa said, before the monitor shut off.
"Well... I uh... I'll see you later?" Kawata said. I nodded.
"Mhm. See you soon." I replied, heading to the front door. I paused for a moment, before turning back to the hotel. Hadn't Ressa said that the room should be fixed by the end of the day?
I wandered back over to the room. I slowly opened the door, my eyes going wide. The room was completely fixed. Everything was back in its place as if it had never been moved. Everything was pristine, and perfect. Honestly, it was hard to even tell it was the destroyed mess it had previously been.
I smiled, walking over to the bed and falling into it. I was immediately enveloped in a sense of relief, that I almost passed out immediately. I quickly threw off my shoes and took off my glasses. I got under the covers, and let myself rest.
-
"Hey, I didn't give you permission to say that they'd be places in another killing game! You can't just say something like that!" They said.
"Oh jeez, calm down! I have no doubts that they'll do it by the end of the week." Ressa replied.
"What about the actual motive huh? Did you just forget about that!?" They responded.
"Yeah yeah, I haven't forgotten about it. Araigu may be useless, but man they can come up with some good motives!" Ressa chuckled.
"And don't disobey me again. This is MY killing game, not yours." They replied.
"Jeez, you must be fun at parties..." Ressa mumbled. "I would also argue it's my killing game, but it's whatever. I'm just excited for all the DEATH DEATH DEATH..."
"..." they couldn't reply to that.
"What is it? Cat got your tongue?" Ressa laughed.
"No..." they replied. "I'm just ready to get all this over with..."
"Aaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww, you're not thinking about rushing this are you? That would be so boring!" Ressa laughed. "The despair is the best part!" He laughed, the laugh turning more maniacal every second. Well... at least this was interesting.
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