𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇mortal middle-management◇

"you've got targets to prove yourself."

"doubt it'd be easy to avoid. these people aren't gonna allow that. and once it begins, everyone will be serious. i don't i wanna die, either." keiji spoke while looking at you, realising you had come out. "hey, you found one of 'em." sara looked at you as you nodded. "i'd.. hate to die, too." she seemed lost in thought. it was silent for a while, and you honestly felt kinda awkward. "nobody wants to die. it'll be an ugly struggle for sure." gin gripped tighter onto your shirt. "i wouldn't mind if it meant someone else didn't have to. but there's a ninety nine percent chance that won't matter. let's go downstairs." saying nothing more, you walked down, noticing there was no light. "it's dark." your heart ached as you heard keiji spoke, feeling a sense of deja vu. for a slight second you could swear you were in the bar again.

"thank you for letting me know." it came out more serious than you had intended, but that wasn't anyone's main concern. you followed the two blindly- quite literally- finding yourself in the hidden room that sou had found. there was no sign of the teal haired man. well, not a conscious man. he lied on the floor, passed out. you gently place gin down, kneeling next to sou. "seems like he was hit in the head. he's breathing though, so. i guess just try to check out the room. despite knowing what to do and doing it multiple times in the past, dealing with unconscious people never failed to make you feel awkward. "gin, can you check outside the room?"

"that's unnecessary. joe's searching the first floor." you tilted sou's head upwards, checking his pulse as well as making sure there was nothing blocking his airway. the most uncomfortable part was moving them into recovery position, but it was important to make sure they didn't stop breathing or something. he was rather slim, so at least it wasn't hard to do. looking slightly upwards, you watched as sara pulled something out from under the desk. another card. you had almost forgotten about the one sitting in your shirt pocket. she looked towards keiji and gin as if making sure they weren't paying attention, then she locked eyes with you. she remained frozen in spot, putting it back under the table. "sara." sou was awake, presumably long enough to see sara with the card. you took note of his tone of voice; he didn't seemed dazed, it was almost intense.

"we don't have any breakfast, sorry." you weren't very good with timing for jokes. "ow.. did i pass out..?" it was now he seemed out of it. "you got whacked in the head. no bleeding, though." keiji answered him before you could. "awful... who would..? i've been had! the laptop's gone.." well that could be a problem. "someone must've stolen it.. did you see what was on it?" sou pushed himself off the floor, rubbing his head. "i couldn't even figure out the password." welp. "must've been inconvenient for someone. so they used confusion to steal it.. someone on the first floor." sara thought for a while, sighing. "we should.. all gather up to talk." keiji agreed, nodding. "we'll round everyone up, then. don't want all of us to be all over the place." you stood with the rest of the group, except sou. "miss sara. were you looking at something earlier?" you watched as she made eye contact with you once again. "..no, i wasn't looking at anything."

"huh.. i see." sara quickly made her way out of the room, obviously panicked. you held out a hand to sou, who accepted the opportunity to get up. "thank you, miss f/n... what about you? did you notice anything.. off?" the two of you followed after keiji, sara, and gin. "you already know the answer to that question, don't you, mister sou?" he didn't respond.

________________________________________________________________________________

"hmph.. such an annoying bunch. apart from this 'nao', this should be everyone?" he seemed to be in a bad mood. not that you could blame him, though. "you're awake." the unnamed man furrowed his eyebrows, glaring at the blonde police officer. "..remove these ropes. so long as you don't want me to crush you." it would be pretty impressive to see him 'crush you' when he was all tied up. speaking of which, where did the ropes even come from? "this guys.. a little riotous." the man seemed to think joe was funny. "heh, all chicken, are you?" he seemed quite cocky until his eyes landed on sara. "you.." he let out what seemed to be a fearful yell. "why is she walking around freely?! hurry, someone capture her!" his cocky persona was gone, he seemed genuinely scared. "w-what's this all-a the sudden?!" the man's panic seemed to spread to q-taro. "this girl is bad news!"

"c-calm down! can you start from the beginning?" sou seemed timid, though it still didn't feel very genuine. "and drop that weird tone of yours." reko seemed especially off. "hmph, look at me. i'm getting so disconcerted." gin held onto your hand tightly. "is this guy playin' a joke on us..?" the man didn't seem to be in a very playful mood. "look, we don't have time to spend on you. but.. i'll allow a little time to make some inquiries, then we'll decide if we're going to untie you." keiji seemed to have insulted him. "hmph! don't act superior, blonde rascal!"

"ooh, scary. you handle the questioning, f/n." what a bother. "yeah, okay." you figured he asked since he knew your line of work. "just so it's clear, we are equals. don't think i'll obediently listen to you." blinking, you gently smiled. "yes, you will. tell me your name." it wasn't a question, but a demand. "and if i don't?" shrugging, you crossed your arms. "then we'll leave without untying you." his eyes widened for a slight second before going back to an angry glare. "you'll untie me right now!"

"seems like a lot of work. i think we'll leave you here." the man struggled in the ropes. "w..wait! they're really chafing me, these ropes! fine... i'll tell you a little." finally. "great. what's your name?" he stayed quiet. "...it's proper for you to give your name first." well, there wasn't necessarily any hardship in doing that. "sure, i'm f/n l/n. good?" despite his obvious discomfort, he seemed satisfied. "..i am... go... gonbee yamada.. call me gonbee." you blinked at him, staying silent. "s'wone old fashioned name." perhaps because it wasn't his. "as if yours isn't cubetato hamburger?!" as much as you wanted to laugh at the name, you continued to just stare at 'gonbee' his angry glare at q-taro would flicker to you ever so slightly. "that's q-taro burgerburg to you!!"

" 'kay, gonbee. what do you do for work?" he thought for a second. "my occupation is.. err.. well. a salaryman." ...right. "do you usually work dressed like a prisoner?" he huffed. before he could make a rebuttal, you cut in. "alright, look. i'm not gonna cut corners with you. i couldn't care less if you get untied or not. i don't care who you are. you'll answer any questions i ask, or we'll walk out of this bar and leave you here all tied up. take control while you have it, gonbee." you weren't very patient. "h..how cruel!! fine, i'll tell you what you want to know... it's true, i was imprisoned for some time after borrowing from people a bit too much.."

"..larceny, then." gonbee had a angry, defeated look on his face. "surely even you've accidentally perma-borrowed a video game or two, right?! that said, i was doing my time as a model prisoner! and yet suddenly i was brought to this place..!" were the people behind this powerful enough to get people out of prison? that was a stupid question, they were powerful enough to make this whole set up in the first place. "why were you hiding?" sara chimed in, she had been the one to find him. he looked like he was going to give her some smart-ass response, but looked at you before giving in. "when i awoke, i thought to myself... yikes! this is a big yikes!... indeed." he certainly had a way with words. "a speaker said something about a trial, but it was all foolish. i had already committed myself to hiding. i locked the red door and lay wait for a long time! just like a tiger... waiting for it's prey!"

"however... several times, i did hear nearby sounds that were too dreadful for this world." sara tilted her head in confusion. "..don't try and feign innocence." you thought about what could've happened that made him especially suspicious of sara, and what the sounds he heard could have been. and then it hit you! "the sounds you heard, were they gunshots? maybe nine of them?" gonbee's eyes widened, and keiji seemed to catch on too. "ah... that would've been russian roulette." gonbee didn't seem to catch onto the fact that it was a misunderstanding. "i waited for the shots to cease, and opened the door to see the situation... and there she stood! the killer wielding a gun..!! and she stubbornly chased me...!! it was you!!..." you realized now that he didn't know sara's name. "errr... so you were scared and hid, got in a panic because of the gunshots... then saw sara with the revolvwe, foamed at the mouth, and fainted?"

"don't give such a biased summary, guys!!"

"a truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent." -william blake