Tsumugi's feet shuffled around for a minute in confusion. What happened? What just happened before her? Her brain struggled to understand the scene unfolding in front of her. Shuichi was still holding the blue monokub in the air, arms trembling in exertion and the sudden rush of adrenaline. Monokid's head was covered with bright pink blood, and Tsumugi remembered fleetingly that it was this very Monokub that was supposed to be destroyed during Kaede's execution. The irony. Junko was sprawled on the floor, her originally strawberry blonde hair dyed a shocking dark pink color near the roots of the side part where her comically large twin tails were separated.
Well, if one was to look upon the whole truth without sugarcoating it, she was dead.
Tsumugi took another shaky step towards the body. While she had masterminded and participated in numerous killing games in the past, killing the very beginning, the root of all <em>evil</em>, was a whole different thing. She doubted she herself would ever have the guts to actually smash the back of the Ultimate Despair's head with the son of her mascot and brainchild.
"She's dead?!!" Tsumugi spluttered, turning back towards Shuichi, flipping her ludicrously long fake hair.
The Ultimate Detective was still very out of breath, his arms losing momentum as he put Monokid down. He was heaving heavily, and his hair was plastered down to his forehead with a cold sweat.
"Do not..." he flung Monokid to the side, who bumped into the other Monokubs like pins in a bowling alley. "DO NOT TALK ABOUT KAEDE THAT WAY!"
Ah, that explains the sudden burst of energy. Teenage love.
"H-H-Hahh..." the body on the ground moved ever so slightly as Junko moved her finger to point at Tsumugi. "D-D-on't you k-k-know? S-he, S-he, killed her firs-"
Shuichi's head did a 180. "What did you say?"
"D-Der Flo-Flohwalzer..." Junko turned her face towards Tsumugi this time, her mouth fixed in a horrible, evil grin. Tsumugi paled. She knew what this b*tch was trying to do in her final moments.
"ARGHHHHHHH!" Shuichi fell to the ground clutching his head in pain. His already jumbled up brain was connecting dots, reviving his nerves, and giving him memories of what was meant to be. Memories of what he saw in <em>Tsumugi's</em> version of the killing game.
Uh-oh.
"Y-You're not Korekiyo, are you?" Shuichi looked up at Tsumugi, his eyes welling with tears of pain and anger. "J-Junko said the name Tsumugi Shirogane. T-Tsumugi Shirogane, the Ultimate Cosplayer. The Ultimate Cosplayer...capable of looking like anyone. <em>Anyone.</em>"
Why did his rationality and talent have to return at this particular moment? Luck really seemed to hate on her today.
Shuichi stalked up to her and grabbed the end of Tsumugi, tugging with all his might. The wig slipped away, dark blue replacing the teal that was originally on Tsumugi's head. Tsumugi tried to stop him, but it was too late. Shuichi's eyes flickered a reddish glint again. Yellow, red. Yellow, red. It was like a spinning roulette with only 2 colors, and Tsumugi could on pray that it landed on one before something serious happened.
Red, yellow, red yellow...
Red.
Tsumugi could faintly hear the chiming of the bells and see Pat Sajak smiling omnipresently at the back of her eyelids as the bright white words that said "BANKRUPT" flashed in front of her. She should know the most about Wheel of Fortune. With both being reality shows and all. She did her research like a proper aspiring host, with the only difference being her omnipresent smile had to be hidden from the other participants and only happened during the deaths and executions.
She was no longer the host. Now she was the one who had to wallow in the pain of the bad spin.
Shit.
Shuichi screamed as he picked up Monokid again and held it with both of his hands, trying his hardest to bludgeon Tsumugi in the head with it. It was a good thing this was the second time that he had done this, because otherwise Tsumugi would have been caught totally off-guard. Shuichi's blow came from the left side, and Tsumugi felt a bolt go loose on the monokub and hit her squarely below the eye. Ow. That was gonna leave a bruise. As if she didn't have enough problems with hair & makeup already.
"SHUICHI!" she took a few steps back, trying to stop the giant Monokub from hitting her. She thrust her arms out in an attempt to protect herself from being bashed, grabbing Monokid's arms and trying to push them back towards Shuichi's direction. "Stop this! She's trying to control you! Kaede's alive! Remember? Kaede's fine!"
Shuichi didn't seem to be listening.His eyes were filled with red swirls now, fully submerged into despair. He had gone from being a human to a Kaede Akamatsu Bodyguard Attack Titan, who had memories of all the metaverses, able to see the past and future, able to see both what was happening and what was supposed to happen, breaking all the walls to punish anyone who had hurt Kaede. Dude, you're just a detective. Stop it with the Matrix stuff.
"I...remember..." Shuichi muttered. "The giant piano, the hanging..." his pupils rolled back into his head as insanity took over him once more. "YOU KILLED HER! YOU USED HER AS YOUR SCAPEGOAT! KAEDE DID NOTHING WRONG!"
Kaede Did Nothing Wrong. Catchy. They should emblazon it with big bold comic sans on coffee mugs and sell them. Might help with publicity.
The same couldn't really be said about Tsumugi, though. But right now she couldn't dwell on that. She had to dwell on trying not to get her head smashed in.
She crashed to the floor, Shuichi climbing on top of her, the monokub still firmly clenched in his hands. Tsumugi feebly pushed once more, but it wasn't helping much. It was like a deadly game of tug-of-war, one that result in at least one person dying.
"Arghh..." Tsumugi tried to whip the stray hairs off her face as she fought off Shuichi's attacks. It was hard, and she wasn't exactly in top shape. Weeks of staying absolutely still didn't help either.
Smash.
Her left eye suddenly closed shut as the Monokub's arm stabbed it squarely in the pupil, making Tsumugi scream with pain. Warm, sticky blood covered her blood, the heavy droplets falling like freckles on her originally plain face.
<em>Maybe being blind in one eye can help with my character standout. </em> her inner voice said.
<em>Shut up.</em>
<em>Just saying you won't need those stupid glasses anymore.</em>
Tsumugi tried to control her breathing and stop the flow of blood that came from her shattered eye socket. While she knew this could finally give her an opportunity to get more in character when cosplaying Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, she couldn't deny it hurt. Her arms were shaking with the tiredness and the shock, and her body was losing. She was no fighter. She wasn't like Kiyo, Ryoma, or Maki. She didn't have the stamina, didn't have the experience. She was just some lonely weeb who had played with toys way too big for her britches.
Her remaining eye started clouding up with tears as tried to force her remaining energy back to her arms, fighting Monokid for even a few more seconds to sort out her thoughts before she died. If she had to go down, at least she could go down fighting.
She pushed at Monokid, her floaty, unfocused mind almost imagining that it was getting lighter, moving away from her, like he was being pushed away. Like she was winning. It probably wasn't true, but still...
Wait.
Wait.
It was true.
It wasn't only Monokid. Shuichi was slowly being dragged away from her, his swirly eyes widening in shock and surprise. It was obvious this wasn't what he expected. Dark tan muscular arms peeked out from under his armpits, holding him like a squirming kitten as they pulled him away from her. As Tsumugi slowly sat up, trying to make sense of what was happening with her only remaining eye, a dark curly mass of hair poked out from behind Shuichi, covering a wild grin that Tsumugi was strangely familiar with. Once Shuichi had been dragged about 5 meters away from her, the other person got up and raised her hand.
"Yo! The name's Akane Owari! Nice to meetcha!"
