𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇rightest way◇

"i believe that you're my savior."

"there'd no time. i need to introduce you... to the dolls who will be supporting you!" multiple figures arose from the coffins. "nwah?! whoa, nelly...!" a girl with red and blue hair and a yellow hood was the first to speak. "ooooh... just the worst way to wake up.."

"...dead, you mean?" you commented, deadpanning. the dolls, however, ignored you. "can't stand it... we have to support these guys..?" said a boy in a uniform. a buff, blue haired man spoke next, after laughing. "well, fine by me. so? which of you's my partner?" keiji's face seemed to darken. not that you cared... "partner...?" the green haired man cleared his throat. "that should be 'master', you know? you guys are the supports, after all."

"h-hold on! supports? aren't these..?!" the floor master laughed. "i'll introduce you. they're known as the dummies. they're the tragic victims who died before they could meet anyone..." another doll, one with a large hat, grinned. "eeee! sara, you're just so cuuute! relax! we're on your side!" her voice was... high pitched. "naturally, they're dolls... so they got the necessary info input in advance." a man in a suit with glasses frowned. "t..this is desecration of the dead... let me go back home..." there was a young, pink haired girl. probably around kanna's age.

your heart stung.

"it's no use struggling now..." the girl said. "this time, we'll be having you make pairs with the dummies to take on a game! and, of course, one group of three." alice pressed his fists together. "now, red threat of fate... activate!" suddenly, a red light shined from your collar, connecting you to a doll. the blue haired man. it appeared you had been chosen for the trio, given shin's collar connected to the same one. "the people connected by the red thread of fate are the pairs for this game!"

you cautiously moved towards the blue haired man, who towered over shin- much to your entertainment. the doll laughed. "good to meet you... i'm kurumada." forcing a smile, you nodded. "call me
f/n." he nodded. "how nice! everyone looks like they'll get along! well, lastly... i'll introduce myself too. i'm a poor doll killed by the murderer alice yabusame, sou hiyori! of course... sou hiyori is a name of the past to me now... seeing as shin's using it with such care. i'm not going to ask him to give it back now! hey, shin, it was a pity about kanna..."

"..shut up." shin hid his face in his scarf. "you've got such a wonderful look on your face now..." he laughed. "i don't care about you. you're just an enemy." the green haired man continued to smile. "...i see you've grown. anyway, it'll be inconvenient without a nickname. hey, miss f/n. you act as a representative and give me a new name!" you rolled your eyes, groaning. you thought for a second, arriving at a decision. "midori. we'll call you midori."

"midori... that's a good name. thanks. i'm glad to get such a wonderful name!" tired of the shenanigans, keiji cut in. "so? what're you going to make us do this time..?" midori laughed. "you just can't wait, can you? relax! it's a very simple bonus game! you just have to join forces to kill a certain target. that is to say, it's a hunt! you can use any method! shooting, stabbing, striking, strangling, anything goes! it should be a piece of cake for you guys who've killed a bunch of people, albeit indirectly!"

"who exactly do we..?" the blonde asked. "your target is keiji shinogi.... not! well, not that miss f/n seemed to mind... but i wouldn't make you kill your allies! your target is midori. in other words, you just need to kill me." you raised an eyebrow. fucking psycho... "say what..?" midori laughed once again. "no, no, i won't say it twice! now begins the sub-game, the murderer game! i'm looking forward to the finest of bloodlust." with that, he scurried away. "w-wait! is that the whole explanation?" sara asked, to no avail.

"kill sou hiyori... no, kill midori.." your dummy partner laughed. "you alright? now might've been our best chance, y'know?" q-taro was sweating bullets at this point. "like hell! who could just up and do that after havin' it sprung on 'em!?" the pink haired girl hummed. "i bet that guy flew to the furthest ends of this floor." the man with glasses was also sweating. "there's nothing for it. first, we'll share the information we have with everyone..."

"hm? there's still more info..?" the girl with the yellow hood- who introduced herself as anzu- nodded. "that's right! he said it was too much to bother, and so we should give the explanations!" keiji pressed his hand to the back of his neck. "seems like we should ask them for some details, f/n." side eyeing him, you made a disgusted face. "don't talk to me."

"...okie dokie.."

each dummy gave you a piece of information. hinako told you that the requirements for the dummies being chosen as support was that they were dead, and that they had never made contact with the survivors. hayasaka implied that any memories that would trouble the organization behind this had been erased, as they were not real people. they were just fakes. ranmaru said that if the people paired together were too far apart then their collars would activate and, in his words, their heads would fly off. he after clarified that it would only be the dummies collars to activate. mai... didn't really tell you much, just that the dummies had been shown their own victim videos. finally, kurumada told you that there were "monsters" lurking around.

right after kurumada finished talking, there was a strange sound. when sara questioned in, kurumada gave her a strained grin. "already? a monster's come to attack." sure enough, there was some sort of... purple skeleton? "you're dead met if you don't handle it the right way." gin meowed. "that's absurd, muscle punk! we can't fight against something like this, woof!" gin moved away from his partner to get closer to you, reaching for your hand. "true... i can't imagine we can do much taking it on fair and square." keiji was partnered with the young girl- which kind of pissed you off.

he'd already contributed to the death of one.

you shook your thoughts from your head, trying to remain civil. "then put your wits together. we'll all think about it, and pick someone's idea to drive it away." hinako said. "if we discuss it... we might jus' figure out a weakness!" sara nodded in agreement to q-taro's statement. keiji offered to observe the monster, q-taro tried to fight it and got zapped, and hayasaka found a shovel whilst looking for a weapon. kurumada punched the monsters armor off it's head, but it was still roaming. "god damnit, give me the shovel!"

you took the shovel from hayasaka and slammed it into the monster, hitting it over... and over... and over... and over again. eventually, however, it threw you off. "gah!" you yelled, getting thrown to the ground. "f/n! you okay?" keiji offered to help you up. you ignored him, looking around. "gin! get me that torch on the wall!" you pointed to a dimly lit spot in the corner. "on it, meow!" suddenly, the monster went after anzu. "h-help!" anzu continuously yelled out, trying to get away from the monster.

you held the bottom of the shovel to the torch, burning the metal. "f/n! what are you doing? help her!" sara yelled at you, panicking. "idiot! give someone a weapon if you're not gonna use them!" kurumada added. "give me a fucking second, jeez! hop off my dick, dude!" incredibly irritated, you continued to hold the torch to the shovel. q-taro aimed for the monster again, but to no avail. anzu was stuffed into a coffin. "someone do something!" finally, you stood up.

slowly, you approached the monster. he punched the coffin, pushing it in. winding your arm back, you aimed the burning hot edge of your shovel to its neck. and with a yell, you shoved it right through. with a squeal, the head slowly rolled off it's neck. it's body stopped punching, well, it actually stopped moving completely. finally, it fell to the ground. huffing, you turned to everyone. "there! fucking there! god fucking damn it!" you yelled, frustrated with everything. you pried open the coffin, pulling anzu out and into a hug. "y-you saved me!"

her body was cold.

"whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent" - ludwig wittgenstein