I stared at him; a blank look painted on my features as I try to absorb the information I had just been given.
"Look (nickname)—" he stumbled on his words as he tried to cover up his mistake, coughing to annunciate how the word would now be foreign to his lips. "—(name)... I have a dream to follow, and... well..."
He paused staring into my absent gaze with that poker face of his.
"You hold me back from that."
"Huh..." I hummed, eyes now stinging with a familiar liquid "Hold you back?"
My voice was barely noticeable with the mousy tone I was using. However, Hitoshi seemed to understand my mumbles.
"My ideals and yours do not align. We are very different people... you must understand, you are no good for me."
No good for him?
No good for him?
"You have to be fucking kidding me!" I spat at him infuriated with his choice of words.
But regardless of my outburst he didn't seem affected by it at all. In fact, his mouth tipped upwards slightly, all most too small to notice but it caught my eye.
I could feel a drip down my cheek as a tear escaped my eye, solely running down my face as I clenched my fists. He was enjoying this moment.
He was enjoying watching my heartbreak.
Hitoshi Arisu had approached me after his last class of university had concluded for the day and he had taken me to a local park. Being non the wiser, I had assumed we were going on a date and so as I sat down on the peeling paint of the bench, my heart raced thinking of the quality time we were spending together.
It wasn't often we were allowed to go on a date, he would often remind me of his tight schedule. When he wasn't at Uni, he would be at home studying. Alone. So, when he asked to meet after class, I had made sure to look presentable.
A thin layer of makeup was applied to my skin, and I had done my hair up to flaunt the products on my face. My outfit was casual to avoid trying to look over excited about the time we would spend together, and I had decided on a short floral skirt with a spaghetti strap top to match the cool summer breeze floating through my surroundings.
After trying hard to look my best for my boyfriend you can only imagine my surprise when he uttered the words.
"We should break up,"
I had been with him just short of a year and had never seen any problems with our relationship.
Yeah, we rarely saw each other, but we just coped like any other long-distance couple would.
Except for the fact we weren't long distance.
My friends always asked what I saw in him, and now standing in my position, I could understand why they distrusted him.
I looked on in anger as he snickered slightly at my face, glaring up at him. If he wanted to break up with me, he could have been more respectful. I guess his pride and ego over bared all his ethical emotions causing him to laugh at thought of someone else's pain.
I sniffled slightly standing abruptly up from the bench, not wishing for him to see me cry over his pathetic ass. I slowly walked away, wanting to seem unaffected by his revolting actions until his vile tongue spoke again.
"Good luck trying to find a man like me,"
I turned around to face him, hands clenched around my bag straps, anger bubbling inside. My footsteps echoed around the park as I marched towards the pig until we were face to face with effectively no room between us.
I smirked before spitting "I wish I could go back in time to stop myself from meeting you because then I wouldn't have had to suffer learning the language you always speak. Bullshit." and with that my hand slapped his face.
"Baby, it's okay, let it all out" Gina's soft hand comfortingly rubbed soft patterns on my back as she handed me a tissue.
I had arrived at my friend Sana's house hoping to seek comfort after my breakup and found that my other friends Gina and her boyfriend Hibiki had occupied the building as well. As soon as I saw Sana's smiling face at the door, I burst into tears, hiccupping and sobbing as I was guided to the living space.
I had explained the situation to them, and they had acted immediately. Sana had rushed to the kitchen to make tea to calm me down while Gina, talked words of comfort while giving me the occasional reassuring squeeze of the hand.
Hibiki on the other hand sat awkwardly avoiding eye contact on the opposite sofa to me, not understanding how to comfort a person in such a state as I was in.
"He was no good for you baby." Hummed the female from behind me "You deserve so much better than him,"
"I just don't understand," I breathed out in between hiccups as I shook my head frantically.
"He was a bitch," mumbled Sana stood in the door frame to the kitchen, mug of tea in hand, staring right at me with a sympathetic look on his face.
I sniffled and accepted the tea gratefully has the boy sat on the other side of me, taking my hand into his, and circling the ghost of his thumb across the surface.
"He just can't see how amazing you are (nickname),"
"Yeah, just think about how sexy you are babe," winked Gina giving my back a slight slap as I chuckled at that comment.
"See that's what we want to see," nudged Sana "you being happy."
"Forget about Arisu, he is an ungrateful scrawny pig who couldn't see the absolute goddess in front of him."
I swiped my hand at my nose and pondered the words of my friends.
I suppose they were right. Hitoshi never deserved me. I don't think he ever even liked me in the first place. That is why I need to get over him. He is a walking red flag. Even his brother warned me. That should have been the first clue—
My thoughts were cut off when a series of bangs echoed throughout the house. Bright colours flashed outside the covered windows and the culprit of the disturbance was revealed as Hibiki peeled back the curtains to reveal fireworks exploding in the distance.
Then almost as suddenly as the fireworks ended the lights flickered off. The low buzz of energy that had once occupied the room was absent from our surrounding.
It was silent, almost too silent.
A short cough from Gina brought me back to reality as I saw my friends looking out of the window in shock.
Intrigued I stood from my seat, stretching my legs slightly after being sat for so long and shuffled towards the glass pane.
My eyes focused out of the window, and I looked out to see nothing.
All the sounds, people, light that normally occupied the streets of Tokyo was missing.
A sharp inhale projected through my lips as I backed away from the curtains.
We looked at one another in confusion until Hibiki spoke up for the first time.
"Where is everyone?"
"Hello!"
"Hello?"
"Anybody?"
We knew shouting was probably useless, but being at a loss for what to do, made your brain naturally think of the most useless solution.
Roaming the streets of Tokyo, searching for just one sign of life was becoming a chore for my body and our originally adrenaline filled searching pace had now dissipated, leaving us tired and irritated from the lack of answers.
We had regrouped after splitting up for a while to cover more ground but hadn't found anything and started to get sick of searching.
"Ah.." moaned Gina "This is hopeless, everybody has fucking disappeared and we are the only people left on earth!" she threw her arms in the air exasperated and dejectedly sunk to the floor, her boyfriend following after her wrapping a comforting arm around her.
Sana looked over at me before manoeuvring around the couple to speak to me.
"What should we do?" he questioned to which I sighed.
"I don't know Sana... but there is still one place I need to check..." I trailed off toward the end looking down a street as my friend's eyes followed my gaze.
Sana huffed before grabbing my wrist and dragging me away from our other friends calling "(name) wants to go to the dicks house,"
I rolled my eyes at the way he spat with disgust at the end of his sentence but ultimately knew that calling him a dick was truly deserved.
As we approached the building, Sana's grip loosened and eventually his hand fell limp at his side as he allowed me to walk into the residence using the key I had.
The younger Arisu brother had given me one knowing that it was rare for Hitoshi to invite me round and so giving me a key meant I could come and go as I pleased, allowing me to spend time with my now ex-boyfriend. I smiled at the memory of Ryohei Arisu and thought about how many times he had warned me about his older brother's behaviour and yet I turned a blind eye and ignored the warning calls.
Having been told many times by different people that Hitoshi was bad, I had no one to blame but myself for the heartbreak I was currently going through.
As I walked up the stairs, I admired all the pictures the family had on the walls but noticing Ryohei was absent from most, a sad smile formed on my face. Hitoshi had always stood out as the star son and Ryohei's lack of interest in social activities with his family lead them to favouring the elder son. However, due to the many times I had been turned away from the bedroom door by Hitoshi when he claimed he was "too busy" I had begun hanging out with the younger sibling.
During the year Arisu's older brother and I were dating, Arisu and I became close friends, and he taught me how to play his favourite video games so we could play together when I came round. Eventually, every time I invited myself to the Arisu residence, I subconsciously knew I wasn't coming for Hitoshi and even thought every time I arrived, I still knocked on his door, I secretly wished he would send me away so I could hang with Arisu instead.
I chuckled at the memories of me sucking at every video game I played with Arisu as I opened his bedroom door.
The last time I had visited, I left my jumper in his room and thought that it might be helpful to grab it if I was staying at Sana's until we figure out what was going on.
The pink jumper lay draped over his gaming chair where I had left it and I dragged it off to pull it over my head.
I frowned for a moment looking around the room thinking about how I might never see Arisu again and he was probably wherever the rest of the population of Tokyo had disappeared to.
"Let's just go back to my house, sleep on it and search again in the morning," suggested Sana shivering slightly from the cool breeze that was now blowing through the evening air.
I nodded in agreement as the couple stood up from the pavement, keeping each other warm.
We slowly moped back in the direction of Sana's house, spirits low and confusion at an all-time high until Hibiki's voice snapped us out of our thoughts.
"Hey guys, I think there is a light over there..."
My head whipped up and I peered at my surroundings until my eyes landed on a dull white glow.
~Welcome, players the game will commence in a moment~
A sign was hanging above the bank and the text written in it confused me.
"Game?" I mumbled under my breath continuing to stare at the sign until Gina's shout broke my train of thought.
"Hey you!"
Her arms started waving as she ran towards what looked like the figure of a person about to enter the bank. Hibiki instantly took off after her, but Sana and I hesitated before giving each other a look before chasing after our friends.
"HEY!" screamed Gina and the person finally spun around.
It was a woman who looked very dishevelled with greasy hair and grubby clothes. She appeared middle age due to the wrinkles that scattered her face and the stray grey hairs that shone underneath the light. Her face bore a solemn expression as Gina and Hibiki entered the bank, but instead of replying to Gina's call she turned her back on them and walked further into the building.
Huffing, I jogged slightly quicker entering the bank myself, which left only Sana outside.
"I don't know (name)," he mumbled shaking his head "this seems sketchy..."
Though I did agree with him part of me wished to get answers and that part would do whatever it takes.
"Look, Sana, our friends are already inside. We can't do anything about it now."
He looked down at the ground sighing deeply before staring into my eyes which held a trusting look, and he ascended the stairs of the bank.
We walked towards the sound of our friends interrogating the woman and came to a room with a large circular golden table in the centre.
I watched as the old lady walked forward and picked up a device that was next to a sign that read ~ 1 per person~.
"Hey lady I'm talking to you!" complained Gina but the woman took no notice.
A voice on the phone then started speaking *Please wait for the game to commence. Currently, there is one participant. Five minutes remaining until registration closes. *
"You have to play."
Then woman's voice seemed to scratch at the walls, and it was so strained it was almost a whisper.
"What?" questioned Hibiki.
"Now you have crossed the borderline. You can never return."
This ominous sentence rippled through me, sending a shiver up my spine. We must play the game. I reached towards the table and picked up the black phone with a timer counting down from 5:00.
Now the screen read *Currently there are two participants. *
I looked around at my peers who seemed somewhat disturbed and gestured to the phones.
"You heard what she said, you have to play."
They stared at me before also leaning over to pick up a phone, distancing themselves from the old lady. I slumped against a wall, letting myself sink to the floor with my head resting against my knees. I felt a presence slip down next to me and Ginas warm hand rubbed circles on my leg.
I chuckled dryly before looking at her.
"Only this morning I woke up excited to go on a date with Hitoshi, then he broke up with me, then everyone disappeared and now I'm about to play some creepy game with a crazy looking old woman. I cant decide what the worst part of today was..."
She rolled her eyes and stared dead into mine.
"Look, there is one more phone left on that table which means room for one more person in this game. We might not be getting any answers from this woman," we both looked over to see her shaking her head and mumbling to herself "but however joins next will hopefully know what is happening."
I pondered it before agreeing and stretching my legs out in front of me to relieve some tension that had built up.
"Well then whoever the other participant is they better hurry up. I want to get the stupid game over with."
As if I had summoned her, one of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen walked into the room. She was wearing a blue floral bikini top with denim jeans and had what looked like a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. Her hair was dreadlocked and certain strands hand decorative string threaded around them. Her overall appearance was stunning and the smile that adorned her face when she saw us brightened the whole room.
"Hiya" she said waving her hand before reaching for the last remaining mobile device that lay upon.
"Hey, do you—" I started to question her but before I could even get a sentence out the female automated voice rang out again.
*Registration is now closed. The game will commence.
Game, 'Scapegoat'.
Difficulty, two of diamonds.
Rules:
You have robbed a bank, and 1 person is the scapegoat.
To clear the game, you must figure out who the scape goat is and vote for them to be eliminated during the end of game voting. *
A grinding noise screeched through the silence, and we all spun around to see the doors of a huge vault creak open. Inside were 6 chairs all facing inwards around a circular table with 6 buzzers placed in front of each seat. I didn't move until the pretty girl sauntered into the vault taking her place at the table confidently. The old woman then followed still cursing under her breath followed by Hibiki who dragged Gina along with him. Sana and I glanced at each other once more before taking our own places at the table.
As soon as my body connected with the seat. The vault door slammed shut, frightening the life out of me and causing my knee to bash painfully against the surface of the table. I winced in pain as the female I didn't know shot me a concerned look from across the table.
Before I could complain about a bruise forming the announcing voice spoke clearly through the room once again.
*Each of you will be told who the scapegoat is apart from the scapegoat themselves who will be shown a lie on their screen. You are not allowed to reveal what your phone says. Look at your screens now. *
A ping emitted from my phone and I glanced down at the screen seeing the name ~Kimura Hibiki, Scapegoat~ appear across the top of my screen along with a picture of him that had been taken on the staircase of the bank. My eyes departed with the screen as I looked around at everyone else, gaging their reactions.
*Now quickly choose a number between 1 and 3 and buzz your buzzer that number of times to determine which room you will enter. *
Dotted evenly around the room were three doors each with a different heading above them.
The first read: 'Number One, Stash'.
The second: 'Number Two, Spy'
And the third: 'Number Three, Trade'
*There will be 2 players allowed in a room at any one time, so you must choose your number fast before you are left with the last choice *
Everybody quickly pressed their buzzers, and I felt my hands push down three times. My breath released as the announcer's voice spoke again.
*Aoki Gina and Watanabe Aimi enter Stash *
Gina looked hopefully at the pretty girl hoping it was her who picked door number one but to her dismay, the crazy woman lifted out of her seat, trudging to the now open door. We silently watched as the two females enter the room before the door swung shut behind them and the voice spoke out again.
*Kimura Hibiki and Yamamoto Sana enter Spy *
I looked towards Sana, hoping to give him a smile but he just walked into the room, a blank look on his face.
*(lastname) (name) and Kuina Hikari enter Trade*
I smiled at the girl and the stood up and turned to face the door. Just as she was about to enter, she faced me and winked before fully stepping into the trade room. I stood wide eyes for a second before regaining my sense and continuing forward with a rosy hue coating my cheeks.
Once the door shut behind us a hand entered my vision.
"I'm Kuina, nice to meet you (lastname),"
I took her hand in my own and shook it gently replying with "(name), everybody calls me (name). But It's nice to meet you Kuina."
She nodded before facing the computer screen that was built into the wall. I walked up to the computer screen as well and waited for more instructions.
The screens lit up white, and black instructions appeared on both screens.
~Minigame: 2 truths and a lie. Create 3 scenarios based off a theme that will be displayed on this screen and input the scenarios secretly into your phone for approval. Once they have been approved read the scenarios to your partner and let them guess which one is a lie. If your partner gets it right a clue as to who the true Scapegoat is will appear on this screen. You will have 8 minutes. Commencing now.~
The 8 minute timer started decreasing.
07:59
07:58
07:57
"Oh look, it's my turn first." Muttered Kuina pointing at the screen that displayed her name.
The first theme ~family~
"Hmm" mumbled Kuina readjusting the fake cigarette before typing rapidly into her phone.
The phone spoke *processing*. We waited for a moment before a pinging noise was heard and the big computer screen went green.
"Okay then... 1)My mother and father are divorced 2)My cousin is called Joey and 3) I have an older brother." She recited without hesitation, and I looked over to the computer screen to see the same questions displayed.
I glanced down at my phone to see the numbers 1-3 with small check boxes next to them. I looked back up at her face for a moment to see her giving me a determined nod and I pressed 2. I had never met a person named Joey and so I doubted her cousin was called that.
I hoped I was correct as I clicked enter and I stared at the big screen, willing it to light up green. A flash of red appeared, and the correct answer lit up on the screen:
~3) I have an older brother. ~
I looked over at the female, a guilty expression washed over my face but she just stared blankly at me and stated "It's your turn."
The screen showed my name and the theme ~childhood~.
I thought for a moment before typing under the truth section:
2)I was born in Tokyo.
3)I cut my own hair when I was 4.
And under lie I put:
1)I broke my arm at 6 when I fell off a swing
I pressed enter and listened to the lady tell me she was processing my answer before green lit up the room.
I read out the options to Kuina and she thought for a moment, even taking out her fake cigarette and taping it on her chin as if it would give her the answer. She finally tapped her phone screen, and I watched as the room once again lit up with green and the screen displayed the lie I had shown.
"Yess," she said pumping her fist in the air.
The automated voice then called out *here is your 1st clue this person has no further education other than high school. *
I threw my arms in the air and cursed loudly. "That helps with nothing." I knew Hibiki had no further education so this didn't help me at all.
"My turn again"
We played three more rounds -2 of which we got correct- but the clues were no help to me as Hibiki matched all of them. I had concluded that Hibiki was the Scapegoat. But I don't want to 'eliminate' him, I mean what does that even mean? Will there be more rounds than this and an eventual sole winner? I didn't know but what I did realise was there was only 01:13 seconds left on the clock.
My turn had come round again, and I input my 3 statements and waited for the woman to tell me it was suitable to read out. She approved and I raced to get my sentences out, only 00:32 seconds left. Kuina hastily picked an answer and my eyes darted instantly to the screen calling out "Yes!" when it turned green.
*Your final clue is the initials of the person are... (1st initial), (2nd initial). *
What...
I'm the Scapegoat.
Kuina's eyes widened as she watched my reaction knowing that I will die, however for the moment I remained oblivious.
"Shit..." I mumbled watching as the count down reached zero.
00:03
00:02
00:01
00:00
The screen then turned blank and the light switched off in the room leaving us in darkness making Kuina gasp. What was happening?
A neon sign lit up on the wall behind us and my head snapped round to look at it.
~trade~
Read the sign and I wore a puzzled face looking at the equally confused face of the pretty girl.
*You chose the trade room; this means you get the benefits of this room. Look at your phones and you will see that you can swap your title with another participants. Choose carefully. *
I gasped looking hopefully at Kuina who looked extremely relieved causing slight confusion for me as it wouldn't be the end of the world if I got eliminated anyway, I mean there is basically no world out there anyway and its not like I would die or anything.
Kuina had already clicked an answer on her phone, and I knew she must have picked no. So, I sighed deeply before selecting switch. The pictures of the other participants flashed up and without hesitation I selected the photo of the old woman. As soon as I did that the door swung open revealing the other participants already sitting in their seats. Kuina and I separated to take our seats and sat in silence until given further instructions.
*You must remain silent for the next 5 minutes. Now is your opportunity to put the knowledge you have acquired to use. You have 5 minutes to decide who the scapegoat is, if you get it wrong you are eliminated. If you get it right, you are not eliminated. The Scapegoat will automatically be eliminated. Cast your vote now. *
I looked at my friends as they all instantly cast their votes Sana giving me what I thought was a reassuring smile. I took a breath before selecting the old woman. The only person left now to cast their vote was Kuina.
Kuina POV
I looked at my fellow participants, my gaze finally landing on the nice-looking girl, (name). She was originally the scapegoat, but I knew she must have chosen to switch roles once she figured out what role she held. When I first entered this bank, I noticed the young female with a short bob who I think was called Gina comforting (name) about something and I naturally assumed they were friends, so (name) wouldn't give her role to Gina. The Male with pretty hair also seemed friendly with (name) so she wouldn't pick him, and the final young person Hibiki seemed to be in a relationship with the short haired girl so logic tells you (name) wouldn't have picked any of them to bare the title scapegoat. That leaves the odd woman and me.
No matter if I pick myself or not, if (name) picked me I would die either way. So, the only person I could put was Watanabe. My fist connected with the button and my vote was cast. The little jingle chimed through the invisible speakers and the annoying automated voice spoke out.
*All votes have been cast. The scapegoat was... Watanabe Aimi. Now eliminating Watanabe Aimi. *
The pleads for help called out from the woman as she stood up from her chair and ran to the vault door, any hope of trying to evade the fate that was about to befall her. But she didn't even make it to the door when the laser shot through her skull. She slumped to the floor unmoving, at the feet of (name). I quietly sat there; just thankful I had cleared another game. The others didn't understand what had just happened.
A gut-wrenching scream burst from the attractive girl's throat piercing the silence with agony. (names) horror at the scene before her concluded my theory. This was in fact their first game.
The other young adults had similar reactions, Sana was glued to the spot wide eyed, staring at the dead woman but Gina ran to Hibiki for comfort even though he could barely keep himself composed.
(name) shook on the spot causing sympathy to run through me as I remembered what was about to happen next.
*Now eliminating those who guessed incorrectly. Aoki Gina. *
The laser shot through the roof quicker this time and cut straight through the head of the poor girl. Hibiki's breath haltered as he stared at the hole in his girlfriend's head, the skin slowly peeling back around the edge of the wound, a dribble of blood caressing the girls pale face. His eyes teared up, but they had no time to fall as he was soon to be dead as well.
*Kimura Hibiki. *
His body collapsed from underneath his girlfriend's corpse, the two lovers now lying on the floor, still huddled like they were during the moments of their last breaths.
I watched as (names) eyes slowly met Sana's as he mumbled "(name)..."
*Yamamoto Sana. *
Tears fell down his cheeks as his fists clenched upon the tabletop and he sat back in his seat, starring at his friend in sorrow waiting for the laser which pierced through his skull.
The screams of distress were like nothing I had ever heard before and hearing them sent shots of pain through my heart and the girl crippled to the floor, no attempt to control her emotions.
As I sat there listening to her tortured sobs, I knew I had to bring her back to the beach.