"K, you don't really mean..." Sinon paused.
"I do. There's an Imposter Among Us, in this very room in fact." I spoke clearly and looked around at everyone.
There was a long pause of silence as everybody looked at each other.
"So, you gonna come clean?" I drew my gun and aimed it at my Sinon.
"Me?! You think it was me that did it?!" She was outraged.
I just let out a chuckle, knowing all to well that she was still herself. I then pointed to Asuna but she ducked as Kirito stood to protect her. I nodded to him and turned the barrel to Sugu next. She just looked me in the eyes and I remembered that she hated TKers just as much as me. I passed Liz and turned my Deagle to Silica's head to which she quickly started to cry.
"That's not funny, K." Liz spoke up and I aimed over to Klein.
"Woah, hey man! Why do you gotta point your gun around like that?!" Klein panicked and held up his hands.
I pointed to Agil next and he kept his arms crossed. I stared at him and he stared at me with unimpressed eyes. I kept the gun on him longer but ultimately put it down and let out a sigh.
"Okay. Whoever it is, we can't make them crack. We'll have to think of some other way to tell who the imposter is." I concluded.
"What about if you initiate the scan with everyone on different sides of the building? That way, you can find whoever it is and call it out." Kirito suggested.
"That'll work. Everyone should split up if we want to be sure." I advised and I moved over near the stairs to see who was going downstairs but no one had thought to just yet.
Sinon came up to me as she looked around for a good place to be.
"Kind of weird to be apart now, huh?" She came up and casually asked.
I almost wanted to be cold just in case it turned out to be her but what she said had me genuinely curious.
"What do you mean by that?" I wondered.
"It's just that we haven't had a visit IRL in a long time, so time apart here sort of feels like time apart altogether." Sinon shrugged.
She brought up a memory about us in real life and I knew for certain it couldn't have been her.
"Aww, not to worry, love. We'll plan something soon when this is all said and done." I rubbed her shoulder and smiled.
"Really? That would be wonderful." Sinon thanked.
"Hey, enough chit chattin' we gotta find out who the imposter is." Agil reminded us as he and Klein both went down stairs.
"Jeez, I just hope it's not me." Klein worried as they got to the bottom.
"Right... I suppose we should probably-" Sinon was about to say.
"Hey, K? Do you know where the bathrooms are? Silica needs to-"
"Along this wall to the right." I told Sugu as she walked with Silica.
"It'll be hard to leave you, but-"
"It's alright, my queen. I'll radio you right after the scan if you'd like." I told Sinon.
"Okay." She nodded and made her way to the other corner of the room.
"I'm going down to the lounge. Offices make me wanna barf." Liz joked as she descended the stairs with her hands behind her head.
"We'll meet you down there, Lizzy!" Sugu called out as she stood and protected the bathroom door.
"Kay!" She yelled back.
I looked at Liz as she yelled.
"Not you." She chuckled and reached the bottom floor.
Eventually Sugu and Silica walked past me when I noticed that Kirito and Asuna were still talking together where the group met.
"Hey, Kirito!" I called to him.
He looked and I beckoned for him to come over. He peeked back at Asuna for a second before slipping away to meet with me.
"What's up, K?" Kirito asked.
"Can you stand at the centre pillar there? Shino and I had to split and I know you two are speculating who the imposter is. Unfortunately, we just can't have that right now until the scan is successfully complete." I explained.
"How long is that gonna take?" He asked.
"Just a few seconds, but our main priority should be to find out who it is." I informed.
"Alright. Just let me know when it's done." Kirito asked.
"I will." I nodded as he walked away.
"Everyone ready?" I asked on comms.
"Ready!" They all answered.
"Alright. Initiating-" I was cut off by a sudden scream downstairs.
"What was that??" I asked on comms.
"We gotta check it out!" Kirito rushed ahead.
"It's Klein, he..." Sugu froze on the comms.
We all collected and went down after him only to find Klein's dead body cut completely in half before everyone.
"K-Klein..." Kirito was frozen.
In that moment, Agil stepped out panicked from the room and paused in sadness when he saw the body.
"What happened, Agil?" Kirito asked.
"I was just with him, and he said he was going to check on Liz. He ran off suddenly and I was trying to find him." He explained.
"Liz?" Kirito turned to her.
"Huh? I was just on the couch." She admitted.
"Not searching?" He asked.
"Oh... no, I guess not." Liz shrugged.
"And you just so happen not to know much about this body?" Kirito persisted.
"I don't know anything about it." She shook her head.
"Why aren't you taking this seriously? Klein is dead and all you can think about is the couch?" Kirito confronted.
"I was over there relaxing. I don't know what else you want me to say." Liz pointed.
"It's gotta be her." Kirito concluded.
"Wait, she has a point. Liz would definitely lounge around even when something important was to be done." Sugu tried to cover her.
"I dunno, Sugu. The Liz I know would have been helping until the task was done." Kirito pointed his Photon Sword to her.
"Even so, what if you're wrong?" Sugu asked and Kirito clenched his handle.
"Then we'll just keep trying until we're right! I'm sure the others will understand, we just need to end this game already!" He shouted.
"So if Liz was the last person he went to see, could it have been possible for anyone else to have seen him before he died?" Asuna tried to figure it out.
"Sugu?" Kirito looked to her, knowing she was down here before us.
"No, everyone went to separate places. Liz... did you really kill Klein when he found you?" Sugu turned and asked.
"No, I-"
"How could you, Lizzie!" Silica cried.
"Silica, I didn't-"
"I definitely think it was her." Agil nodded.
"No, please! This is a mistake!" Liz tried to refute.
"Agil was actively looking for Klein, Sugu was watching over Silica, I was with Asuna, K and Sinon upstairs while you, Lizbeth were all alone on the couch, as you say. It just doesn't add up." Kirito shook his head.
"After I helped Silica to the bathroom, we came downstairs and we looked around the right side a bit." Sugu explained.
"And with the rest of us upstairs, that leaves Liz who was the only one not actively seeking out the imposter." Asuna concluded.
"All evidence points to her." Kirito spoke reluctantly.
"Guys, wait, I-"
"Why Lizzie? I don't understand..." Silica was saddened.
"She knew what she was doing." Sugu scoffed.
"Suguha, I-"
"Just think about it, she's the last person he could have been with." Kirito turned to the others and they started talking more.
"What should we do with her?" Agil spoke.
"Bring her in." Kirito concluded.
"What if we're wrong?" Asuna asked.
"We'll pay the consequence." Kirito nodded.
"That consequence might leave an imposter among us, Kirito. We can't risk that happening." Sugu reminded him.
"Dammit... you're right." He nodded and they talked more.
Liz continued to try to speak up but the interruptions grew to be too much and she hung her head in silence. I just let out a sigh and drew my Deagle. With one easy pop, Liz was gone and everyone froze to look at the body on the ground.
"K!" Everyone yelled as they snapped over to my smoking gun.
"We had to shoot someone. The numbers will dwindle until we know for sure who the imposter is. That's how we'll do this if we have to. Stay vigilant and stay alive. I'm sure we can wear whoever it is down over time." I instructed as I holstered my chrome pistol.
"I suppose that's one way of doing it..." Sugu said under her breath and went to calm Silica.
"Sinon, let's sweep the ground floor." I beckoned her and she nodded.
"We'll come with you, K. We'll watch your back as you move." Kirito suggested.
I thought for a moment but he listened to my instructions before and he'd have no reason to do anything now.
"Okay. Let's stick together then." I nodded and started to follow Sinon who ended up leading the way.
We breached into multiple rooms like an elite team until we came to the break room where there was a fridge.
"We've really perfected our teamwork together, guys! Seriously, we're so much more in sync than when we first started out!" I smiled to them as I fished out a box of donuts.
"Wow, K, I'm glad you think so." Kirito smiled as I opened it up on the table.
"Dig in everyone! You earned it!" I held up a white frosted rainbow sprinkled donut and waited for everyone to grab their own.
"To friends." Asuna smiled and held up her donut too.
"To friends!" Everyone touched theirs together before we each took a bite.
"Ugh, I'm sho glad I got thish one firsht." I talked as I ate.
"Why? Is that one your favourite?" Sinon asked.
"Mhmm! Rainbow shprinkles are the besht!" I smiled and ate the whole thing.
"NOOO!!!" We heard a scream in the lounge and instantly stood up.
We quickly rushed to the source but when we got there, two more bodies laid and all was silent in the room.
"Dammit. They got Silica and Sugu. That could only mean it's-" I tried to say.
"Agil." Kirito concluded and an evil chuckle came from the darkness.
"No, I got rid of that one a long time ago. And look how easily I've broken you all down." The one disguised as Agil stepped forward and smirked.
"Let me guess... DeathGun?" I tilted my head.
"Not even close." He tapped twice on his earpiece and became a red version of my Player1 avatar with a red glowing respirator too.
"Ha ha, very funny. Show us your true self, Zade." I scoffed, seeing that he became a copy of me.
That's when a bullet was suddenly shot into my stomach.
"K!" Sinon tried to get over to me as I collapsed but the imposter aimed his pistol at the others to stop them in their tracks.
"Fools. You thought I was just a figment of your imagination before, I assure you, our encounter was very much real." The red glowing player held up a glossy blacked out Deagle to Sinon.
"Wait... you're from..." Sinon tried to piece it together.
"From when we fought the clones of ourselves in the past. This was K's dark mirror image." Asuna remembered.
"And don't you forget that. K might've taken me down before, but he knew not who he was dealing with. You seemed to put up quite the fight yourself too, Lightning Flash." The red player addressed with his gun.
"What do you mean? What's he talking about?" Kirito hadn't been there.
"Long ago here in Vestige, we had to fight clone versions of ourselves. We thought it wasn't real because of our time in the collapse just prior, but..." Asuna began.
"But it absolutely was. Asuna killed herself right in front of everyone just to prove a point. That she wouldn't want to watch herself die by the hands of another. In any case, this is merely an introduction." The red player looked down at me as I held my bleeding wound.
Sinon rushed over to aid me and I clenched my teeth to face this unknown enemy.
"An introduction to what?" Kirito asked as he stood with his Photon blade ready.
"You're new reality. The name is PlayerZero, and don't you forget it. I've been watching K for a very long time now, even before this silly little game. I know much about him, so don't you go making the wrong move to defend him. I look forward to our fair clash in the near future, Player1. It will happen soon enough, whether you're ready for it or not. We'll be in touch, Zero out." The red player explained before blowing his own head off with his Deagle.
The game ended as I was healed and everyone was left with confusion on their faces. We all looked at each other and the others seemed worried for me as I stood.
"I'll be okay. He said he wants a fair fight, I can agree to that. Whoever he is, I can deal with him myself." I assured them.
"Are you certain, K? If this guy shows up at your house..." Kirito worried.
"Then I'm more than capable of handling it on my own. Don't worry, Kirito, I'll be fine. We'll take a break for now if you'd like to avoid the heat. I'm sure when we come back, we'll know exactly what we need to do." I nodded.
"Sounds good. We'll talk soon." Kirito logged out with Asuna.
"K? About that visit?" Sinon spoke up before I logged myself out.
"Of course, love, we'll plan a day. I'll text you all about it." I smiled.
"I'd like that." She nodded and we both logged out.