Objective~Zero

Emotionally Drained

Nokons POV


She didn't do it, did she?
That look she gave me; she was terrified...
Someone made her frame herself, but why? What did she do to them?!

This won't stop until we're all dead, will it?
I mean, isn't that what the others have been thinking as well?
No one trusts anyone at this point.
But that's what they want, isn't it?
They want us to split up so it's easier for them to kill everyone without further suspicion...
I can't let it happen.

I looked at Chairo as he stared at the ground.
I put my arm around him, which caused him to jump. I apologized and tried to smile.
I wanted to; I tried, but something was stopping me.
Orenji.
Ki.
I can't imagine what they felt.


"It's bound to get worse. But that's what they want us to think, right?"


Chairo looked at me with sorrowful eyes. It's clear what the answer is, but I can't let myself think that way. It'll send me in a spiral.

At least I have Tiru and Chairo, right?
It could've been worse, right?

I then grabbed Chairo's hand and headed off, searching for my brother in the group.
Once we did, I led them to our dorm. That's where I tried to collect my thoughts.


"I don't know what to do... We can't die here. But I can't control it."

I have to keep them safe, but how?
I already failed at convincing everyone to group up.
The murderer just waits for people to go alone to an empty area...
They strike at night and day, wherever they can find someone alone, even for a second.
So, is there no way to protect them?
Just like how I couldn't save Orenji...
I'm just going to fuck up again.
Like I always do.
Just like she said I would.
So in the end, she was right...
Nikko was right, and I was just ignorant this whole bloody time.
..
They're dead; I can't reverse that.
No matter how hard I try.

Chairo-"Nokon?"

"Huh?"

Chairo: "Are you okay?"

"No worries."

That's when he sat down with me, gripping hard onto my arm.
His lips were quivering, like I made him upset.

"Y'alright, Chairo?"

Chairo-"I'm sorry."

"For?"

Chairo: "For your loss."

Tiru: "Piss off; that's bullshit. Yous never said that to anyone else!"

Chairo-"I don't k-now them."

"Tiru, for fucks sake, believe the guy every once in a while.

Tiru-"I'm not believing bullshit."

"Well, can you at least stay with me and him? I need to make sure yous are safe."

Tiru-"So yous babysitting us now?"

"Do I have a choice? Ya saw what happens when we split up."

Getting up, I felt a tear slowly drip down my face as I grabbed Tirus's arm.


Tiru- "Fine, I'll stay with ya. Now quit ya crying!"


I hugged Tiru and whispered, "Ta," in his ear.

I then sighed in relief as I looked back up at Chairo.
I then hugged him, trying to convince myself that they wouldn't die on me like Orenji did.
All I can do is put my trust in them.
Stay optimistic.
Or you'll go cut the snake.


Chairos POV

As he held onto me, I could feel myself start to sweat. It's like a dream being around him, even if we're in a nightmare situation. It's always been.


-flashback-

(12 years ago)


In a crowd full of kids, I patiently waited my turn on the monkey bars. Once it was my turn, I climbed up on the ladder and stared at the very end of it.
I wasn't very strong, or, as my dad would say, I never tried to be.
Grabbing the second bar, that's when my hands started to get slippery from my sweat.
One of the older kids then grabbed me from my dangling feet and shoved me to the ground. I assumed it was because I was taking too long.
My vision was blurry for a second, but when I got back into focus, I quickly looked down at my bruises.
The pain was unbearable, but tears were what they wanted from me. So I instead stared down at them, quivering my lips.

As I tried to get back up, that's when one of the girls in the group kicked me back down. Curled up in a ball, I listened as the group talked behind my back.
Looking up, that's when I saw a blue-haired boy step up to the group of kids.
Behind him was a yellow-haired girl with a flower eyepatch.

The boy then reached out his hand in a woeful manner.

Nokon- "Yous alright?"

My face felt warm as my hands started to shake at the thought of grabbing his.
As my hands shook, I ended up slowly grabbing his hand. His hands felt warm and caring, unlike anyone I've met before.
He then pulled me up and observed my scars and bruises.
Jumping up, he then quickly pushes me in a direction away from the group.


Nokon-"Crikey! Did they cause that?!
Don't worry, my friend and I will get you to the nurse's office!"

"N-no it's f-fine."

Nokon-"Come on, mate. No harm in it."

He then grabbed my arm and brought me inside the school building.
Behind us was his friend, I was assuming at least.


-2 minutes later-


Arriving at the nurses, that's when the boy gave me a thumbs up before stepping into the room.
He then smiled, and that's when the room felt hot again.
This is what my father described when he was talking about girls. Why am I feeling this way towards a guy?

The nurse then told the boy and his friend to go and play.

Nokon-"Oh, no worries, we will just wait outside for now. Kay Ki?"

Ki then nods, and that's when they leave the room.

That's when I smiled back as I felt my heartache.
It feels comforting...
My dad said that this was a "crush."
But crushes are between a man and a woman, he said.
But he's not a girl, so what is this? What am I feeling?


-4 minutes later-


After the nurse did nothing to help, she gave me a bag of ice and asked if I wanted my mom to pick me up.

"Mom?"

Nurse- "Do you not have a mother?"

I shook my head.
She then asked for my dad, and that's when I shook my head again before she sent me back off.

After I left, I went to go find the boy.
I had to find out more about him.

Looking outside the office, that's when I spotted his fluffy, blue hair.
I smiled and then ran up to him.
He then smiled at me and then tried to come up with questions to ask me.

Nokon-"What's your name?
Oh, and before you say yours, mine is Nokon Nogato!"

"Oh um.
It's Chairo Chinen-"

Nokon-"Nice to meet ya Chairo!
I'm sure you heard of the wonderful Ki Koyama! You can't miss her or her artwork."

He then sprung his hands out in a showing way for Ki.

Nokon-"After all, she's the best artist of the school!"

Ki-"Shh! You are embarrassing me, Nokon..."

Nokon-"Really? Sorry."

The bell rang, and we all headed to class.
I waved goodbye as he and his friend went to their classes.
When he left, I felt my heart sink a bit.
He'll be here tomorrow though...
Right?


Not too long after the announcements rang, Nokon Nogato was sent to the office.
After that day, I never saw him again.

-end of flashback-


Nokons POV

After some time, I thanked Chairo and tried to cheer myself up again.
I sat on my bed and then hummed a song to try and calm my nerves.
It's what I used to do when people were arguing.
It wasn't working very well today, however.
My leg was bumping up and down like mad.
But sooner or later, my method started kicking in.
The humming blocked out some thoughts in my mind, but I still felt the same as I did earlier.

I then looked over to see Chairo and Tiru sitting next to me. Tiru must've gotten bored, huh?

I tried to smile back as I held my tears building up.
..
Why can't I just forget about it?
..
I then remembered Ramiu, and that's when my anxiety rushed.
Is she okay? I then rushed Chairo and Tiru out of the dorm to hers.

I walked around a corner to find Ramiu talking to, the air it seemed like, by herself.
That's when I walked into her room, causing her to abruptly stop what she was doing.


"Where were you?"

Ramiu: "I'm sorry I was talking to them."

Chairo: "Talking to who?"

"Her brothers. It's a long story."

Ramiu: "Worried about me, Nokon?"

Tiru-"What do you mean by "talking with your brothers?!" Are you a cut snake?"

Ramiu then sighed and looked up.
I assumed not to let tears run down her face.

Ramiu-"Just.. Visions. Maybe I am going crazy. But next time I will tell you where I'm going. Nokons is the most worried about that."

She held her hands together and then looked away for a second.

"With all of us together, we should be able to make it out alive.
Let me make a promise here before I forget.
If any of you... you know, die on me, then I'll vote myself out to be with you guys again."

Chairo-"I can't let you do that-"

Ramiu-"To hell, you are, Gobdaw!"

I looked at them, and that's when I laughed nervously.
That was shot down very quickly.

I then suggested for us all to go to my bunker, and that's when they followed right behind me.

When we got there, we each awkwardly sat down on either the ground or the beds.

For some reason, I still felt half-empty.
Like,
There was still something missing.
..
They would want us to all be safe, so why am I still feeling this guilt?
Why can't I just, yknow,
get over things?
..

Without thinking, I then bit my finger, and that's when it started to bleed uncontrollably.

Chairo then quickly grabbed my hand and looked at my bitten finger.


Tiru-"What the bloody hell did ya do that for?!"

I then looked down at the ground as I tried to not think of all the eyes on me.

"I-.. I still feel guilty. As stupid as this sounds. I still feel empty, yknow? Like only half of me is still here. Why the fuck do I feel this way?"

That's when I felt arms go around me.
I then looked over to see Chairo doing so, shockingly.


Chairo-"I-I'm sorry for getting close, but-"

I then leaned onto his shoulder as I tried to smile.
He's trying to cheer me up; I appreciate it.
I felt some tears flow as I quickly looked away.
Chairo then cleared his voice and tried his sentence again.


Chairo-"But.. I know It will get s-some time to-to get used to Ki being... and Orenji being..."

"Chairo."

Chairo-"Y-yeah?"

"I don't want to think about that...
Sorry for changing the subject, but I feel like we've met before.
That's a crazy thought, right?"

Chairo went silent, and that's when I got up to look at him.
He looked shocked, as if I had forgotten something important.

"What is it, Chairo?"

Chairo-"Y-yeah we have.
In kindergarten, actually."

My mouth made the shape of an o as I tried to think back and remember something.

"I can't remember anything about it. Sorry, Chairo."

Sighing, he then tried to fake a smile towards me.

Chairo-"I kinda expected that.
It's f-fine though."

"It's not fine.
Sorry, Chairo."

Grabbing his hand, that's when suddenly my nerves came back to me.
My finger started to incredibly hurt.
Shit...
Why couldn't I feel it until now?

Trying to think of something else to block the pain, I then thought back to the diary.
Did anything happen on their ride?
If so then, what did they have to go through?
Is there a hint on how to escape this all?
Or was it just our ride that malfunctioned?

Looking over to my bed, I then picked back up the diary as Chairo looked over at it.


Chairo-"What is that?"

"Oh um."

As I blushed a bit, that's when I started to think of an excuse.
I don't want to straight-up say his best friend's diary.

"It's a notebook I found underneath Azuki-iro's bed."

Chairo looked at it and then back at me, curiously.

At the time it was already 10:30, so I guess after I find out, I should probably get to bed.
I then opened it up as Chairo read it with me.


——————————————————
Day 44


Today was...

Cutting to the chase, something happened.
I don't understand why it happened.
But...
People died today.
I don't understand how they let that pass so willingly either.
...

It was a normal day up until that point.
It wasn't until later that sirens started to appear.
There was a weapon found on campus. Along with that was a list.
My heart dropped, and my anxiety is still through the roof.
The speakers told us all to meet up in the cafeteria for who this could've belonged to.

There was a lot of arguing and pushing blame onto others.
People thought it was Netsu at first because of the close handwriting.
But that's when it was pointed out that everyone but Oribu was on the list.
Netsu then started to question Oribu about that fact.
Oribu started to sweat a lot and then responded with, "I don't know" over and over again.


People started to question her for forgetting details about her night, and that's when she started to cry.
I tried to back her up, but that's when they quickly shut me down and continued questioning her.
That's what ended up getting her killed in the end.

She-
She got sent out into a tube...
Keiko was the one who took it the hardest, however.

Later on, I tried to comfort Keiko as he told me all about Oribu.
Like
Keiko's hobby is acting, and Oribus's hobby is video games.
Keiko also told me about her favorite foods, like zingers.

As I tried to help Keiko, I also tried to help myself in the process.
Luckily, my cat Zuzu was there to help me and Keiko.

While I'm writing this,
I feel as if everyone was weird today.

Like how Tokajki was somewhat more all over Netsu.
I didn't quite understand it, and it seemed like neither did Netsu.
Speaking of Netsu.
They were acting calm along with my friend Sora.
Almost like they knew what was going on?!
Sora was also really agreeable the whole time.
Santo didn't even seem to make any statements themselves.
They just agreed with everyone else's, despite how vague they were...

But then again, I didn't do much talking either.
I guess I was just stunned that this could happen so quickly.
..
We killed someone over little evidence of murder after all...

I just want to know what's going on here.
Everyone has been different since that weapon was found.
I don't know if something is going to happen, but I'm scared.
I should get going.
My anxiety is through the roof.


Signing out, for now...
——————————————

On the page were tear marks and crossed-out messages.

So it wasn't them that arrived back to earth?!

I was going to check my phone for them, but then I stopped halfway.
I looked over to Chairo to see he seemed half asleep.
He must've not read it fully, or he was too tired to read.
I then put down my things and pushed them underneath my bed.
Looking around, that's when I found out that everyone was already asleep.
I'll have to look it up tomorrow then.
That's when I walked up to the door and locked it.

I won't have that mistake happen again.

Later after that, I then looked back at everyone else.
Exhausted, I lay down next to Chairo.

Chairo was hurt by me forgetting his existence, yet he still sticks around me?
It's like, no matter how hurtful I can get, he still forgives me.

He's too good of a guy.
His trust in me is too much for this situation.

I have to make it up to him in some way.
Bloody hell, Chairo...
Why can't I remember anything about you, but you remember so much about me?
He's truly someone I'll never understand.