𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇pretend sweetly◇

"what can be said of my heart?"

"the victim video...is real. the victim video that nao saw... and it was also my first trial. the woman's name... was megumi sasahara. she was my boss ever since i joined the force. but... then came the day of my nightmares... i.. shot a person. the criminal in a certain case.." he laughed. "she's the benefactor who protected me. i'll never forget it. i owed her the worst kind of debt. left her to die...? no.. i.. but i killed her. megumi..."

"mr. policeman...! get a hold of yourself, meow!" gin held his stuffed animal closer. "..sorry for keeping quiet, everyone. truth is, your friendly policeman's not a policeman anymore." you bit your thumbnail, thinking. keiji saw his chance.. and he took it, you suppose. "i'm surprised. what a dangerous individual we've had lurking in our midst." for a second- you thought 'man, sou's one to talk..' but you quickly shook that thought. "if you vote for me, i won't complain."

"ummm.. everyone.. speaking of voting, i think it's about time.. to decide who you'll vote for, and which four should enter the final vote..." safalin cut the conversation short. gin meowed. "no way..! that was too quick!" safalin hummed, frowning. "well.. you need time to work out the card trades this time, you see..." gashu nodded. "precisely. choosing a victim without a satisfactory discussion is not an outcome we desire either."

"then what to do..? q-taro, keiji, sou... i can't rightly say that you're not suspicious." q-taro grabbed his hat. "h-hold up! don't we need one more person, though?!" sou pulled his scarf up. "troubling, huh? if it's down to three options, it'll make our choices that much narrower.." gin, once again, grabbed your hand. he sniffled. "we gotta suspect someone again, woof? then... maybe it's better to think of who to leave out from the final vote, meow.."

"..sure, gin. that'll give us no reason to lie anymore. and, well, work against the sacrifice, of course." you frowned. "i think big sis f/n and big sis sara should be left out! they're dependable for reasoning, woof!" gin mumbled something about you under his breath, though you didn't catch it. "plus... f/n has a lot of tokens." keiji, at a time like this, after all was said and done, continued to defend you. "right.. if we're leaving someone out, i think i'd say miss f/n too.." now sou, he caught you off guard. "how about we leave out gin, since he doesn't have any tokens?!"

"we shouldn't be selecting gin or kanna.. sacrificin' a kid is no good at all." your outburst in the first main game must've made quite an impact on q-taro. "listen..! the best person to leave out is someone who's very likely to have the sacrifice! if the sacrifice comes around to you, you can trade it away if you had tokens, right?! but... gin only had ten.. if gin had the sacrifice, even once..! he wouldn't be able to trade it!" your heart ached. he couldn't possibly, right..? deciding not to think about that, you went back to something you'd heard earlier. 

"sou, why would you leave me out?" he smiled. "because you're cute. what did you think i was gonna say?" you glared at him, annoyed. "don't give me that look. when our escape failed, i looked at you and had a thought.. she's acting kinda strange. you looked.. relieved. like you had gotten what you wanted. and on top of that, a last minute trade right after our escape failed..just a tad suspicious, isn't it? i want to know the truth about you, miss-"

"q-taro, what is it?" you cut him off, seeing q-taro's eyes widen. "there bein' a trade right before the man game.. izzat true?! which means.. yeah.. just maybe! i figured out who's got the sacrifice! i know! everybody, listen up! i'm the keymaster! yeah, i'm darin' to say it before voting..! i'm.. sorry fer takin' the keymaster from ya, sara. the sacrifice card ya got sent... was mine! and you've still got it now, ain't that right?! it's not f/n!"

"well, actually-"

"you really think i'm the sacrifice..?" sara cut you off, though you didn't really care at this point. "yeah!"
q-taro insisted. "then... just leave me out of the vote!" understanding what she was doing, you decided not to tell the truth. "don't be misled, guys! the sacrifice gets two votes! if she puts those two votes towards herself, she's gettin' selected!" sara nodded. "in other words... if i'm not selected, that will be in proof."

"either way, nobody vote for miss sara.. and we'pl have proof." you wondered if sou would vote for her- just to stir the pot. "i.. would like that, but..!" sara was unable to finish her sentence. "it's about time we proceed with the vote." gashu interrupted her. "please, wait!! can we decide on such an important vote with so much still unclear?!" nao panicked. "oogh.. we just can't sort ut out in such a short time..!"

"what do we do?! one of these candidates is going to end up the victim, remember?!" alice clenched his fists. "we really should discuss this some more..!" sara, just like everyone else, seemed panicked. "you sure don't know when to give up!" q-taro pulled his hat down. "time is up. please select the four who will remain for the final vote. enter your votes, please."

you looked down at your tablet, but, weirdly enough, the voting screen didn't pop up. before you could even ask about it, the vote was over. the results showed up on your screen.

keiji- 2 votes

kanna- 2 votes

sou- 3 votes

nao- 2 votes

your heart ached seeing kanna's name. all you could really do was fight for her. that's it. "sara.. you..!"
q-taro, seeing sara wasn't a part of the preliminary vote, was confused. "it's just like i said. i'm not the sacrifice, i'm a commoner." this somewhat relieved you, given sara was young herself. "four will advance to the final vote. sou hiyori. kanna kizuchi. keiji shinogi. nao egokoro." you observed nao, frankly a bit surprised she had been voted for. if anything, you'd thought it would've been you. nao looked surprised. her eyes didn't.

"w-why me..?! this... isn't.. right..." she said. kanna sniffled. you sighed. "we, well, can't really stop here. look, what's done is done, and despite that, there's still more to do. it's cruel, obviously, but.. there's no use in stopping here." kanna, who seemed on the verge of tears, tried to form a rebuttal. "kanna... we aren't your enemies. sacrifice included, we all have the same goal. to escape. we can't do that by just sitting here. we'll advance the discussion... together.." the words felt bitter on your tongue. keiji laughed. "right you are."

"the real battle begins here.." everyone, for some reason, agreed with you. "alright..! first, it's time for those of us who weren't picked to guide the discussion! incidentally, i am a commoner.. be at ease.." alice crossed his arms. "muscle gorilla! it's not the time to shrivel up, meow! let's remember the card trades in order, woof!" the baseball player, though taken aback, agreed. "now, please grasp your fate with your own hands. may you all not perish.."

"now we will have an in-depth discussion on the card trades! understood?!"

"false words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil." -plato