𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇all alone◇

"i'm the one who takes the blame again."

"that's the only place we haven't been downstairs, right?" keiji nodded as gin continued to cling to you. "since the key's here, nao wouldn't have been able to get in without breaking the window.." shrugging, you began to make your way towards the stairs. "might as well check." the three of you headed to the kitchen, and finally got the door unlocked. and there she stood.

in all her glory, nao and the watermelon-sized box. "....please stay away.." she was, obviously, extremely on edge. "hey there, settle down, nao." keiji tried to calm her, which quickly backfired. "you especially, please!!" he shrugged and nodded, taking a slight step back. "..okie-dokie." as much as her grief was taking over, you doubted she'd make any attempt to hurt either of you. "what did you come here for..?! please leave.. f/n!" gin held you as tightly as he could. "..i'm scared, meow..."

"hey, it's okay nao. we're on your side, remember?" she didn't say anything. "what happened, nao?" her eyebrows furrowed and she stared at you. "...as if you don't know that...! i won't.. i won't hand over the professor..!" sighing, you gently put gin down, patting his head before locking the kitchen door. "w...what are you doing?!" you gently held your hand up. "now no one else can come in. i need you to talk to me, okay? keiji, can you wait outside, please?" he looked at you for a second before nodding. "..roger that. want me to take the kid?" gin shook his head. "i wanna.. stay with big sis f/n and big sis nao, woof.."

he unlocked the door and walked out, and you motioned for gin to relock it. "...you really... didn't come here intending to take the professor..?" you nodded. "i promise, nao. i came here for you. we were worried. all of us were." she looked down at the floor, breathing heavily. "f/n... you're right... i'm sorry... that i've cause you so much trouble.. i've been hiding here the whole time with the lights turned off... since if the kidnappers find me, they'll take him.. m..my body... wouldn't stop shaking." sighing, you gently took a step forward. "nao, i know it's hard to hear. i know. but.." she gently nodded. "..i understand.. i understand that what i'm doing is wrong. i've cause you all trouble... i shouldn't be... acting like this forever, should i..? what.. should i do...?"

"when you left, gin ran after you. he ended up in a trap. i.. don't know what you're feeling. i've never.. lost someone i looked up to. so i don't get it. but you can't be exposing the people who are still alive to danger." you stepped closer again, finally being able to gently place a hand on her shoulder. "that wording.." she didn't flinch away from your hand. "professor mishima is dead, nao." it was silent for a second, only a second. "...waaah...." and she screamed. she screamed "no" until her voice ran out, falling to the floor. you kneeled down, holding her. she cried into your shoulder. "...of course... i kept questioning him.. in the dark.. but the professor... didn't say a word.. no matter how busy he was, the professor i knew... always answered my questions with a smile..." she paused, letting out another sob. "..i was in the middle if painting it... a portrait of the professor, that i meant to give to him as a gift... but i can't give it to him anymore, can i..."

"he'd want you to finish it, wouldn't he? losing isn't forgetting... you might lose people, but he wouldn't want you to lose your passion. you knew him better than anyone, right? you should make it out alive, and finish the painting." she gently pulled away from you. "i... i want to paint it...! i can't die... until i finish that portrait..!.... it's sad... but this.. this box... i'll let go of it now..." you held her hand, slowly standing up with her. "good job, nao. c'mon, you should go see reko. she was more worried than anyone." she nodded as you grabbed gin's hand as well and made your way outside. keiji was still there, waiting for the three of you. nao looked at him and paused. "..sorry for what i said.. mr. policeman."

"well, we better give it our all too." nao quickly exclaimed that she was going to find reko before shakily walking away. "a real charmer, huh?" you shrugged, psychology was kinda your thing. the three of you went back into the kitchen to investigate. the yellow box say on the floor. "if you don't wanna peek inside, you can look away." you weren't sure why he thought it would bother you, you worked in forensics. you looked at gin, who was tightly holding your hand. "you go ahead. gin, just focus on me, okay?" he nodded, quickly moving to hug you. "..it's empty." you looked at keiji confused.

he turned it to show you the opening, and sure enough, there was nothing inside. "..not really sure what else we could do with it, then. it's probably a waste of time trying to figure out what happened. for now, at least." he nodded, standing back up. "guess we should look around here, then." the fridge and most of the cupboards were empty, the only thing you found was an empty knife box. there were six numbers on it; 612 in white and 380 is black. "find anything else?" keiji shook his head. "guess that's all for the kitchen. let's just go back upstairs." you found nao, reko, and sara in the back hallway of the second floor. "hey! you found nao! you did good, thanks!"

"i..i'm sorry.. for worrying you..." sara put her hand on nao's shoulder, sending her a small smile. "don't sweat it! especially 'cause you're safe! but nao, we're your buds, right? don't take off anymore, okay?" the artist stayed quiet for a second. "b..buds.." the singer seemed to panic. "y-you don't wanna be? if my makeup's scary, i can take it off..!!" nao was quick to shake her head. "t-that's not it! i'm... very happy." reko nodded, relieved. in the back hallway, there were three doors. straight ahead, a big red door. now the number above it was 02. to the left a locked black door. remembering the knife box from earlier, you looked at the black numbers. sure enough, there was a dial on the doorknob to enter a number.

380 was the correct code, the door unlocked. opening the door, it led to a small room with a large blackboard. there was a single lamp pointing towards it, but there was no writing. the only real thing of interest was an electric paper shredder. "how about it? see anything?" you motioned to the machine, shrugging. "not sure there's anything we can do with it though, it seems too time consuming to check it."

"i'll.. try searching it, meow." you quickly turned to gin, who had a determined look in his eyes. " .haha.. gin seems all fired up. i'll watch him 'til he's done." reko offered as you froze in place. "..no, i'll watch him, it's okay. i've already pretty mych searched everywhere so- so maybe you can find something i missed!plus i'm sure one of you guys could help keiji. oh, and- and the code to the white door should be 612! it's on this box, see? so you guys should keep searching. i've been worki g hard y'know?" you spoke quickly, fumbling over your words. they all just stared at you for a while. "..alright, i'm sure gin would prefer you to stay with you anyways. c'mon."reko, nao, keiji, and sara walked away, leaving you and gin in the black room. you sat down beside him, opening the paper shredder for him to look through the shreds. you say in silence, taking a small pile of the papers to try and piece something together. "..thank you, big sis f/n, woof." you gently smiled at him, slowly nodding. "of course, gin."

"after... what happened, meow, you told me about a boy, woof... how long... how long is it gonna take to get better..? meow.." sighing, you looked back down at the paper shreds. "i won't lie to you, gin. sometimes it doesn't get better. i mean, you get better at coping. i promise that you will feel better eventually. it'll be hard, but i'll be here with you, okay?" he only nodded, going back to the paper scraps. a few seconds later, you heard him quietly gasp. "gin? did you find something?" he looked up at you before quickly shaking his head. before you could try to investigate forward, you notice a bright light coming from outside the room. "i'll be right back." you quickly got up, looking outside the door. the red door was open. the counter above it had hit 00. you slowly moved closer, trying to see if you could make out anything inside. suddenly, you were thrown forward.

your vision went black.

when you were able to open your eyes, you were alone. there was a large table infront if you, covered in different foods and drinks, as if it were some sort of buffet. you locked eyes with a computer screen on the wall that reflected a vision of miley. "ehehe... everyone... how are you feeling." there was nobody else around, so you deducted that everyone else was seeing the same video. "this is a pre-rocorded video... so i'm afraid i can't answer any questions. allow me to thank you, truly, for participating in the main game. this is a waiting room for participants..."

"the last supper roon. you may fill yourself with food before the main game, or form a strategy. use it however you please. those who successfully beat the main game can proceed to the next floor! hooray!"..how many floors were there? were gin and kanna still here? "note that those who do not exit their waiting rooms once the main game starts will die as a penalty. do keep that in mind.. ehehe." how many people would die? why? what was the point? where could you have gone wrong. what could you have done, did you fuck up in a past life? did you anger the wrong person?

"i will now explain the rules of the main game."

"that man is wisest who, like socrates, realizes that his wisdom is worthless." -plato