Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 16: Funeral Service

You saw no use in attending no last-minute meeting that was sure to be full of glares and judgments. Not when the same night would be the sorrowful end to the last beam of power in this stupid building. A friend, an ally, but most of all a father figure despite the short period you truly knew each other. You didn't even try to cross paths with Aguni, too scared to see any reaction from him and preferring the brief and silent ignorance you could hide behind.

Death was a constant event all around you, an afterthought at this point. You thought that you had prepared yourself accordingly for this upcoming situation. That your clinging mind was finally able to accept the fact that sacrifices would have to be made whether you liked it or not, and that it was already a miracle that so many of your friends were still here with you. The carefully built mental wall you had built all came staggering down as you stood before the meeting room - Danma's room. Niragi and his posse were already posted in front of the door, guns held high with power, even if the situation didn't call for their presence. No words needed to be exchanged as they all could feel the sense of morbidity coursing through their veins, even if it was a man that they wanted to be gone, dead on the table just behind that door.

Niragi at least had the decency of not pushing at your buttons, nodding his head at the other two to let you pass through. There was no smirk decorating his face, not even a scowl or biting jabs to throw at you, and that only fueled the fire. "You're the first of the other executives to see him, don't put your wandering hands anywhere."

Briefly pausing, you looked over your shoulder and made eye contact with the man who was usually nothing but a menace. "Aguni?"

"Already saw him. Probably wandering in his room somewhere, but he did say that you would be the only one allowed to see him for now," he replied, tossing the gun back and forth in his hands before pulling up the edges of his mouth to the familiar sardonic grin. "Such a shame that it wasn't me who got to him first. There probably wouldn't be anything recognizable of him left."

There was the same cruel version of the man you knew and hated. It brought back an odd sense of comfort back, something that rooted you into the reality that this was still very much a real thing that was happening and not some dream sequence where Niragi suddenly learned empathy. Let the door close behind you without a second thought, you slowly walked over to the man of the hour.

It could have been something out of a nightmare for all you cared. His peaceful face, with eyelids closed, as if he were sleeping rather than dead. The lack of dirtiness on his body shows that Aguni had taken the time to do something before leaving the body to lie in his room. You didn't know whether to feel compassion for your friend or disgust at the idea of him still staying near his dead friend after what happened. You didn't want to blame Aguni because at the end of the day, Danma didn't blame him either. It was an involuntary reaction and caused those thoughts to course through your mind as your hand covered your mouth, your body trying its best to gag back any contents from your stomach trying to make their way up your throat.

Truthfully, death had never looked better on anyone else. All those days spent with him, planning and playing these games, were nothing but an afterthought as you dragged a chair over to sit closer to the man. His hair was still as silky soft as it could be in this world. Something he prided himself in, along with his newly fit body that acclimated to the forced endurance tests most games pushed him through. You played with the idea of holding his hand, but the fear of having to feel his dead, lifeless and cold body was enough to make you sit tight instead.

Tears were surely rushing down your face at this point - a familiar occurrence that you doubted would stop anytime soon, as the ten of hearts was nearing. Your mind, instead, wandered back again to those mundane times when you had taken interactions with everybody for granted. You would think that in a world where death was waiting to attack around every corner, that you would have held your close ones tighter. Realizing now, that the level of comfort that the hotel brought to you, pulled back your alertness, there was deeper regret to be felt.