𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇someone else◇

"how long will it take before you start to hate yourself?"

"they found the laptop, y'know." if you looked close enough, you could see sou's eyes slightly widen. "who?" you smiled. "q-taro and keiji." he rolled his eyes, scoffing. "you're smart. you'll get it back. you can just take the phone." sou stared at you for a second. "..you're just giving it to me?" you nodded before leaning closer to him, inches away from his face. "sou, i'm trusting you. if kanna sees the message that's on that phone right now, you're finished." before he could respond, you stood back up, walking towards the door. "i'm going to bed. good luck with your laptop." he said nothing, making his way out the door.

you plopped back down in the bed, groaning. tomorrow would be another day.
_______________________________________________

though, in reality, every tomorrow felt just like the day before. wake up, do some attractions, talk to people, same as yesterday.

or, at least, that's what it felt like the past few days. this morning felt different. you slowly stood, walking out of your room. you closed your eyes, focusing on what you could hear. your ears caught on to someone pacing. humming, you walked towards the long staircase. sure enough q-taro was walking around the space unsteadily. he was quick to spot you. "f/n. wanna... trade tokens..?" just by the way he spoke it was obvious something was wrong. "how many.. you want? i'll.. i'll give ya forty. just give me twenty. not a bad deal for ya, i'm sure."

"i'm not trading. i'll give you twenty tokens." you weren't an idiot. there was clearly a reason he wanted them, and you assumed it wasn't a good one. but, alas, curiosity killed the cat. you counted out twenty tokens before dropping them into his hand. you stared at him, dead in the eyes, and he avoided looking at you. "okay, see ya." you turned on your heel, walking away from him. once you were back in the commons room, you sighed, leaning your head against the wall.

soon enough, you heard him go up the stairs. he was a big guy, so his footsteps were loud enough to keep track of. slowly, you slipped back over to the stairs. q-taro was at the top, inserting tokens into the vending machine at the top. "what'cha doing?" he flinched, turning back to you. "...don't get in the way, f/n... i collected two hundred tokens!" your breath hitched as you pondered on what to say. "you don't think there's a penalty?" he paused, the final token in his hand. "...what'dya mean..?"

"the sacrifice card from the main game. you can escape, but it'll cost the lives of all the other participants." just as you finished talking, you felt someone behind you. "oh, ranger. am i correct?" the doll laughed. "sorry! forgot to mention it sooner! you can escape on your own, it's the real deal. but, y'know, this is what we call a solitary victory. everyone but the escapee dies." you stared at q-taro, trying to analyze his face. "i.. i didn't hear nothin' about this!" ranger laughed. "sorrrrryyyyy, plum forgot about it!"

"you think that'll cut it, dammit?! i.. i already used all those tokens! how dare you do this?!" the doll thought for a minute. "yeah, guess that's not very fair, huh? gotcha! i'll pay 'em back just for you! all the tokens you used! great, right? good for you. you don't have to kill your allies.." q-taro was silent. "huh? what's the matter? stop now and i'll give to tokens back, okay?" silence. "noooo... don't tell me! you gonna sacrifice them just to save yourself? whaatttttt! how scaryyy!"

"why are you doing this, q-taro? what's gotten into you?" he huffed, gripping the last token. "... i ain't never stood on the mound as a first-stringer... i... i gotta prove that even people without parents can have dreams, and make 'em come true.. i gotta show that to the kids at the orphanage!" you took a deep breath, piecing together what to say. "y'know, q-taro, i've worked with a couple orphans at my job. and there was one that stuck out. his parents were killed and he had been in the orphanage for over a year. he kept telling me that all he wanted was a hero. all they all wanted was a hero. didn't you want someone to save you when you were a kid?"

he stayed silent. "you can sacrifice us all to save yourself. but that's not what a hero does. you really wanna stick it to the people who doubted you? prove to them that even in a situation like this, you aren't going to be selfish. just think about gin and kanna. they're kids, and i'm sure they could use a hero right now." everything was quiet for a while. then, q-taro stood. he walked down the stairs before stopping right in front of you. he dropped the final token into your hand before leaving. "..you take the tokens. yer' the only one who can be trusted with 'em." as he left the room, you let out a sigh of relief. suddenly, your body was over taken by fatigue. ranger seemed to be trying to speak to you, but you just left, walking straight to your room.

you didn't remember falling asleep, but you were awakened by a quiet knock at your door.
"f/n? are you in there? ranger wants us all in the lobby.." you recognized the voice. sighing, you got out of bed. "coming, sara." sure enough, everyone was already in the lobby. "we got the raggedy bunch all together now?" q-taro seemed to be in a better mood. "stop callin' us names, you!!" it was like he was back to normal. "the sub-game's in three days... the date hasn't changed. shouldn't be over yet, should it..?" keiji questioned. "oh yeah, there's still time! i want you enjoy the sub-game, but see... y'all are fallin' apart! makes me sick to my stomach to see."

"then.. let us go home, please!" you almost smiled at nao's request. "not like that, dummy. what i'm telling you is this: come and take a bath!" kanna's eyes widened. "a-are there baths?!" ranger grinned. "yep, and we'll do laundry too. so hand over yer clothes!" reko was suspicious. "say what?! what're you planning to do?!" the doll waved her off. "i've got no interest in your filthy garb! i only like clean clothes from corpses.. ahaha!" gin gripped your hand, leaning into your leg. "your heart's dirtier that mud, meow!"

"but if we can have a bath... i'm glad about that." a few people nodded at sou's starement. "e-everyone! it's dangerous to resist...! let's go in! let's all take a bath!" ranger laughed again. "not like you got any right to refuse! we'll br taking men to the men's bath and women to the women's bath. ah, come to think of it, which one do you wanna go in, alice?" you could've sworn you heard the man growl.

"i'm a man, i tell you!"

"how could you live and have no story to tell?" -fyodor dostoyevsky