The sun had already existed for about 4.5 billion years, and for a thousand more, it was also known as a god, a goddess, a symbol of life. To the ancient Aztecs, the sun was a powerful deity they called Tonatiuh, who required human sacrifices to travel across the sky; in Baltic mythology, the sun was a goddess named Saule, who brought fertility and health; and Chinese mythology held that the sun was the only remaining of ten sun gods. And if that was not enough, it was also known that the sun was about 93 million miles from Earth, and it was made up of six layers: its core, radiative zone, convective zone, photosphere, chromosphere, and corona. These were all facts, like the fire burning at the back of the building, the woman's dead body in the middle of the lobby, the dubious infection taking over every resident present in that moment where the more unreliable someone looked, the more likely it was for the rest to believe they were guilty of a crime no one knew truly anything about. Because as clearly as it seemed, no two people could really knew the sun the same way; it left different marks, a sting that showed others how delicated flesh was in certain sports and how many kisses the summer rays could place between muscles tensioning and a frown hidden under a hat; it could be warm or suffocating, sometimes too similar to the shape of Kuina's eyes and others too alike the commotion that drowned The Beach the instant players started interrogating Momoka's friend about the girl's death, every one of them drawn to Niragi's eagerness for the witch's search to commence.
"You two were always together, but today you happened to not be with her?" A man stated, his point satisfyingly sufficient to give Niragi the chance to carry out the most awaited events.
But Chiasa was far more invested in Chishiya and Kuina than in them and Niragi's commands to drag the girl to the fire. She watched him turned around first, almost immediately followed by her, so close together it was hard to tell where one started and the other began, yet they still parted as two instead of merging into one and Chiasa desired for her too look up and find her there, standing like a lover made out of unspoken apologies that wanted to spill from its lips in the worst moment possible for it to happen, in the wrong time in which she froze after Mira's voice unclogged her hearing and Usagi's questions were only answered by Niragi.
"Both of us were having a good time in the same room, right?" He said.
It was so casual it wasn't congruent to the expression on Usagi's face, angry and disgusted and perhaps a little too akin the reflection Chiasa herself had seen many times from the day after she locked herself inside her room and the next ones that came by in a blur of nightmares that she confused with reality and the reality of it all that crashed into her like an iced cold bucket making her heart drop.
Even before the nurse had asked her to describe what she was feeling as best as she could, she had already had the words prepared on the tip of her tongue, set in the mark of a race to either be puked at her feet or swallowed entirely as pointy as they were, like glass cutting through her flesh: I feel like someone's taken all my skin off, she had voiced out, or cried, or raged, maybe not in a clear tone but in a whisper that the breeze stole from her throat. Because the truth was, at that time, she'd lost everything; her identity was stripped away in those minutes that had passed by and she hadn't been capable of judging how long it lasted. But it did, it lasted indefinitely, long enough that she ended up believing there were no barriers between her and the world, no protective layer to keep her safe, like the six the sun had.
Chiasa blinked, fearful and timid, feeling hurt, raw, and exposed, the same way it felt growing back her skin. However, no one else than herself perceived its venom sinking deeper and deeper inside her guts.
"Hatter was murdered," Ann announced, the bloodied handkerchief on her hand switched to grab a small object, "The executives believed this would throw everyone into confusion, but this bullet was stuck inside Hatter's body, and the firing marks align with the firearms we have here... This means someone at The Beach killed Hatter." She held it high, twisting her wrist, so everyone could see it whether from afar or at close range.
"Could it be that the witch killed Hatter?" A girl broke apart the silence, "I mean, doesn't it sound plausible given the timing of the events? The witch must be among them!" Her mouth opened, and all players waited, though no other sound left her throat, just a barely comprehensive gagging that took the form of a thin sword.
It was only when the blade left her thorax that everyone reunited on the level below stumbled backwards from the one guilty of her body falling lifelessly.
"Let's just burn everyone we find." Last Boss spoke as indifferent as he always did.
"If someone among us is the witch," Chiasa turned around so hard she felt something crack on her back, but it didn't stop her from looking at the mass of people nudging each other out of the way, opening a path for Aguni to enter the lobby, "Then everyone other than the militant members is the witch."
He walked in like a king, a ruler that took the throne by spilling blood and snatched the crown out of his friend's head as if his fingers had removed it gently from its spot. It could be seen from across the room, how it encircled him and his men in an aura full of proudness, triumph, unforgiveness; him, asking them to come forward, was the embodiment of having that place trapped in between his hands.
"If nobody does, then I'll throw everyone into the fire."
And just as the command was pronounced, Niragi fired up to the ceiling, howling like a maniac. Chiasa covered down immediately, falling to her knees so no bullet impacted her, but something felt wrong under the madness of screams and running. She didn't give it a thought at first, choosing to retreat, pushing and launching against walls and the multitude until her leg surrended; the floor's carpet met her limb, though she didn't register it, all she felt was numbness, so alike a wasp's sting she knew she was injured without having to glance at it.
Chiasa wondered what could've happen if she'd spoken, if everybody on that room knew the truth before chaos took place. Would've Aguni took care of her like Niragi did with Arisu? Would've he betrayed her just like she did, even before knowing each other and learning his eyes weren't angry, but always troubled when they found Hatter's no matter the amount of bodies that could hide him in a crowd? Looking back at him, she thought he might have, but when Aguni's head turned upwards and watched her excuse herself between shadows and the panic, she noticed the intention of something hanging on his lips, something she didn't want to hear. Not then, and probably not even when the game finished, because she understood he was aware of the meaning behind all of that and there wasn't anything else to do than that, walk away and pray or hunt the witch down.
A militant appeared rounding a corner, with his head turned shouting at the direction he was distancing himself from, and she wasted no time to grab him by the shoulders and empty his hands.
"Walk." Chiasa ordered, pushing her gun harder into the man's skull.
She knew who could help them win that game. She needed to find Ann.
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FREEFALL, hikari kuina
FanfictionNO TWO PEOPLE CAN KNOW THE SUN THE SAME WAY. . . ˗ˏˋ Chiasa was aware there were as many gods as many stars, that someone could have as many dreams as many wishes and could tell many lies as many monsters could hide inside the same closet, that livi...
