It was finally over, and after long hours of debate about what had happened, everything became clear. That didn't mean everything the group had to process was easy; Wolfgang was treacherously killed when he was just beginning to lead the group, all because of the cold and misunderstood Eva, isolated from the group, resulting in falling straight into Tozu's hands, and the benefits of being a traitor. Selfish stupidity? Of course, no one is a cute firefly free from sinning in this killing game.
Damon Maitsu was tired, even if he didn't show it. He was the last to enter and the last to leave the elevator to go to their respective rooms. No one said a word when entering the rooms, and it was not even a good night. It would only be a lie. Now more than ever, no one wants to sleep alone. Eva is the spark that lit the flame in this game, and Tozu can put in the motive he likes someone sooner or later will break to escape.
It's pure survival from now on; Damon had to survive.
For him, for his parents.
He never processed when he had entered Kai's room; the influencer was already lying on the bed to end the horrible day, and he couldn't blame him. Damon had to give him credit; Kai was more helpful than he expected in the trial. Maybe he was not as idiotic as the first impression made him think, but that didn't detract from how unbearable he was. At least no one was there to bother or fight now; they just slept until hunger forced them to get up sometime in the morning.
Before Damon started putting the pillow barrier between Kai and him to mark the border on the bed (as a precaution), someone knocked on the room door. Thinking it was his imagination; he ignored it before they knocked again a few seconds later.
"Who can bother after everything that happened?" Damon thought annoyed.
Kai shared his opinion by covering his head with a pillow, but they kept knocking. Whoever this person was wasn't going to leave.
"Damon, it's your turn to go," Kai said in a low tone, quite tired.
"Why me?" Damon replied, annoyed.
"Because I don't want anyone to see me like this, and with your antisocial presence alone, you will be able to scare away whoever is bothering us. Really can't wait for tomorrow. I just saw someone die less than an hour ago."
As much as Kai was in that state, Damon didn't want to talk to someone else now.
"If you don't, I'll send you to sleep on the couch. I'm so paranoid that I can re-implement the separation from room to half."
"I got it, I got it."
All for not sleeping on the couch tonight.
When Damon opened the door a little to see who the undesirable one who bothered him after everything that happened was, it was the last person he wanted to see. Diana Venicia.
Common sense would tell anyone Diana would have to be in the corner of her room crying for almost being killed by a drugged Wolfgang, adding that she was accused by the group of being in the room because of Eva's plan derived from some resentment; it must have been something traumatic. But no, apparently, that generated something opposite.
And here she is, looking at him with an expression of sadness and discomfort. "Hi, Damon."
"Diana, this is the worst time to come and bother. If you want to talk to Kai, wait until tomorrow. Nights."
Damon intended to close the door, but Diana's foot prevented him.
"I'm so sorry; I know that after everything that happened, it's the worst moment, but I don't want to talk to Kai. I want to talk to you."
"What if I refuse?" Damon asks coldly; he's not in the mood for this.
"Please, it's very important. It's about everything that happened, about Eva." Diana replied.
The mere mention of Eva touched his nerve. He still couldn't concretize a logical theory of how Diana could continue to consider Eva a good person after everything she had done for her. Seeing his situation, and since this was his opportunity to get some opinions about what happened in the courtroom, Damon opened the door and let her in.
"I hope you don't bring any weapons."
"Don't worry, you can check my bag if you like." Diana showed her bag to show that she had no bad intentions. Still, it couldn't be trusted now.
As he moved into the room, Kai was surprised to see Diana sitting on the couch. She was possibly one of the last people Kai expected to bother them.
"Diana? Do you know it's not a good time?" Kai asked, sitting up on the bed.
"I'm so sorry, but I must talk to Damon now. I promise it won't take long." Diana replied, staring at the ground, knowing what she was doing was too much of a nuisance for her friends.
Both Damon and Kai wondered why Diana was so important to be here, so the debater asked the question.
"What do you want from me?"
There was silence. Diana said nothing.
This upset Damon, who thought they were playing a practical joke on him.
But before he could ask her again, with more venom in his words.
Diana hugged him.
She hugs him tightly.
Kai ended up with his jaw on the ground because of how quickly the scene escalated.
"You're not alone..." Diana whispered in a reassuring tone.
Before Damon could struggle to shake it off, asking for explanations, she struck a nerve again.
"You were crying..."
Yes, Damon cried.
He cried when Eva was cruelly executed by Tozu; he didn't think anyone would notice him being in front of everyone, so he quickly wiped those tears to avoid showing signs of weakness. Diana saw it then, and who knows how many more of her classmates, too.
Damon's arms fell to his sides, his bangs covered his eyes, and he remained silent, even when he only whispered, "Walk away."
Diana listened, a little embarrassed that perhaps emotions won her way to show affection to a needy friend. Still, she wanted to show him that he wasn't alone in everything that happened.
"Why do you care?"
"Huh?"
Damon looked at Diana coldly, "Why do you still care about Eva? She used you, and she never had any affection for you or for anyone in this place. Once Eva had the opportunity to escape, she took advantage of it. She blamed you for feeling sorry for her because she was a mathlete outcast by everyone else."
"Damon! Eva was just scared like the rest of us. Tozu deceived her when she discovered that equation and had no choice but to commit murder." Diana defended Eva. Even after everything...
"We were all scared, but you know something that didn't help her. Wolfgang, Eva, and I have different opinions than the rest, and we must automatically be isolated for being a threat to the group, which causes doubts and insecurities. Maybe I could handle it better, but Eva couldn't, and everything that happened with her talent didn't help. Those looks always bothered her."
Diana looked at the floor. "Maybe Eva was wrong to hide her talent, which caused distrust in the others, but—" Damon interrupted.
"They made her feel so insecure that she had to hide in the basement most of the time. Kai and Grace loved to joke about the talent, Wenona didn't help either. And believe me, some looks weren't so subtle."
Damon continued, "That doesn't take away from the fact that they were a minority. As Cassidy said, many could have a good time with Eva despite her talent, but in Eva's eyes, she couldn't trust anyone anymore. It was the same as always. As long as they followed Wolfgang's ideology, every good act like the video game tournament was for nothing."
"Whoa... Now I understand why Eve trusted you." Diana commented on the air.
"Excuse me?"
"You talk like you know Eva quite well, and excuse me if this bothers you, but I also noticed in the past days how you would sneak into the basement to talk to her, even use the gacha machine to give her some gifts. I envy you for that, Damon."
Damon blushed from embarrassment at being seen doing all that for her, although in his defense, he was bored and very good at making money from that game. If he had books, he would never have touched that machine in the first place.
"I trust you."
That phrase sticks with him from when Eva places her trust in him, as the duo of isolated group members who, due to force majeure and because they don't have extraordinary gifts of social skills, connect to help each other escape from a pressing situation. Damon even remembered when she smiled when joking with him.
"Damon, I thought you trusted me..."
"And all for what?" whispered Damon. "To betray me in the middle of the trial when she realized that her perfect plan had been discovered, to tell me nothing about the equation of a cartel in which we had promised to solve together so that ironically she ends up clinging to the life of the podium of the person she murdered in cold blood."
"Damon..."
"The only thing Eva left me with is that I can't trust my back to anyone else, that if I want to get out of this hole, I'll have to do it with my own hands, even if it means winning so many lawsuits on my own.
"Don't say that!" Diana held Damon's hands to calm him down. "You don't have to do this alone. You have us, me, your friends—"
"The same friends who isolated me for having a different opinion. Suppose you are going to follow in Wolfgang's footsteps. In that case, you should know that when Eva dies, it means that one of the threats to the peace of the group attacked and killed him, which means that I will be more isolated as I am the only one who thinks differently, that is of course if you manage to keep the group."
"I'll keep them together, I promise!" Diana screamed, waiting for Damon to stop.
"How? Grace can barely interact with the group because of her bad attitude, and with Wolfgang's death, it will get worse. Mark and Eloise can barely talk about how scared and introverted they are. Toshiko is a 14-year-old teenager who is terrified and traumatized for life. May you have visions of hope and proclaim your fantasy and leadership after seeing a human being tortured to death in front of your so-called friends definitely—"
Damon didn't finish. Something echoed through the room. Kai put his mouth in his mouth because of the drama he watched in the front row.
Diana had slapped Damon to make him stop, and it was as if a snake had injected venom into her heart, which was full of hope.
Damon's expression was surprised, but within seconds, he regained his composure, seeing Diana trembling with rage. "So please keep me away from your hope group. I'll find a way to escape this game in my own way. Saving me will not heal the wound you could not save Eva."
The cosmetologist took a few seconds to speak. "You're a bad person, Damon. I should hate you like some of the people here, but..."
"But?"
"I'm going to save you!" Diana shouted, pointing determinedly.
Damon was silent, completely surprised.
"I don't care how much venom your words have; how big your defenses are to want to be alone. No one deserves to be alone, much less in this situation. I will continue to fight for you and for everyone here. I will be your hope if you reject hope sooner or later."
Damon didn't know what expression to use in the face of such a statement; it was too stupid and childish. But somehow, she managed to move something inside in a certain way.
"You are truly an airhead. You bother too much, but I can't do anything with a mind like yours." Damon sighed angrily, scratching the back of his neck. "Do what you want. I'll make my position clear to you. I will avoid you as much as I can."
It took Diana a while to process everything that happened; she had all the justification to leave Damon aside like the rest and focus on the others, but something about her refused. This went beyond seeing Eva in him. She felt Damon suffered inside, that he pushed people away through his cold and arrogant attitude, embracing that desperation to solve everything alone. Diana didn't want to give up on him; despite everything, they would leave there alive; it was a promise.
"Then I'll drag you and find you to get closer to you. I can even involve Kai in helping me." Diana said with a small smile.
"Don't get me involved in your melodrama!" shouted Kai, throwing them a pillow.
Diana laughed as Damon stared angrily at the wall with his arms folded.
"By the way, Damon, thank you for defending me at trial when no one else believed my version."
"I only did it because I had a hunch. It wasn't to help you or—"
Damon was interrupted when he felt something warm on his cheek. Before he could process it all, Diana shouted that she would see them together tomorrow for breakfast.
If Kai had his cell phone to take a picture of Damon, how he was all blushing and with his hand on his cheek after a girl's thank you kiss, it would have thousands of likes on social networks. He imagined that Damon would not have much experience with girls. Kai admitted that it's funny to see Damon this way, with all defenses down and just as a boy embarrassed and confused by how a girl insists on being his friend.
It's too bad that everything can change tomorrow.
It's too bad that everything can end tomorrow.
Tozu was simply delighted. More teen drama within the game of death.