𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇we're not together◇

"i know, baby, no attachment."

the next room seemed to be some sort of art gallery. there was a painting of nao, joe, sou- shin? well, both of them really. "i'm not a paintinggg!" as if he heard your thoughts, midori's voice ran through your head. sure enough, the visual of him on the wall was moving. "how are you feeling? anybody die?" he laughed. "another ai, i bet?" midori shook his head. "noooope! just a video call! i observe all the floors!"

"hmph, how cheap... why don't you come see us fair and square, coward?" the green haired man on video clicked his tongue. "just as dumb as your sister, alice... i wanna win too, you know?" your eye twitched. "you..!! don't you dare say that again!" shin stepped forward. "midori... tell me just one thing... are you the mastermind of this death game?" midori mumbled his name before laughing. "grab the truth with your own hands... didn't you learn that..? .... ahh.. don't look so down. i don't intend to hide it.... soon enough.. i want you all to know."

"k..know what?!"  alice, as usual, demanded answers. "oh, just everything. your lost memories with me and... the reason asunaro is having you kill each other, too." your heart beat quick in your chest. kill each other... "hmph..! then spit it out, already! i want a good explanation!" midori laughed once again. "it'd be a waste for me to say it." part of you wanted to rip this fucking frame off the fucking wall just to shut him up. gin clung to your side. "meowww?! which one is it, woof?!"

"what have i been telling you? discover it on your own power... it's alright... i've prepared hints. within the floor, i've made a few places that are rich with memories for you all. the key is remembering your past.... ah, yes. and this murderer game, of course, has a time limit as well." gin meowed. "it's until the dummies run out of battery! in other words, it's their lifespan!"

"h-how many hours do we have..? if it runs out, will our lives....?" midori just smiled. "i've got high hopes for you. good luck!" and with that, the motion from the image stopped. "still... that confirms it. the organization that kidnapped us... was asunaro." sara repeated the name. "my orphanage was named asunaro too. is there a connection after all..?" keiji shrugged. "who knows... was there anything dubious about it?"

"dunno... everybody was real friendly. i mean it... hey, sou! tell me! is midori with asunaro? you guys know each other , right?!" shin remained quiet. "i'm eager to learn what your relationship was...." you had to admit... you were rather curious too. "when he was alive... we were often together. but that's irrelevant now. didn't i say? he's just an enemy. he's not going to go easy on us, not even me. in fact, maybe he'll get more fired up..."

your group continued to explore. you all found yourselves in front of two elevators. however, they didn't seem to work. that being said, you moved on to the next room, which gin pointed out was some sort of locker room. there were a few lockers open, but nothing inside. there was a black stain on the floor, and a red one on the ceiling. as you looked at it, keiji spoke up. "no doubt about it.." you didn't bother looking at him. "i didn't say anything..." you mumbled. "it's dangerous here! maybe we should leave the room..!" sara said, staring at the stains.

"might be better to say it was dangerous. seems like it was cleaned a bit... and quite some time had passed." gin sniffled, grabbing onto your hand. "what happened in this room, meow..?" you shrugged. "probably a trap. whether it's gone off or not yet, i can't say. you guys get out of here. we'll explore it ourselves." you turned to shin and kurumada. "wha- you're quick to sign me up..."

you shushed him, pushing everyone out of the room. huffing, you turned back to your partners, smiling. "let's look around!" you began trying to pry lockers open, to no avail. "say, f/n, what's goin' on between you and the blonde dude? you used to date or somethin'?" you felt your eye twitch. "nope! nothin' goin' on." looking inside an open locker, you heard him speak again. "...you sure? cause it seems like-" you cut him off by slamming the locker shut.

you began to walk over to him, not sure what you were going to say. but that didn't matter, because somehow, your feet left the floor. "what the fu-" before you could register anything, your collar was bound to the ceiling. "f/n!" shin yelled, seemingly concerned. "is everything okay?" keiji walked in, before his eyes landed on you. he mumbled a curse. you pushed off the ceiling, trying to get down, but all it really did was block your airflow more and more.

"we have to get her down!" keiji looked back and forth, trying to come up with a game plan. "don't act like you care.." shin glared at the blonde haired man. "what?" he said. you began to pull at your collar. "sorry, i didn't realize you cared so much." keiji rebuttaled. you awkwardly laughed. "guys it's- it's gettin' pretty hard to breathe!" and suddenly you were the center of attention again. right before anyone could do anything, you fell to the floor.

"ow, shit!" keiji ran over to help you up, which you refused. "ahh.. hello? can you hear me?" you rolled your eyes. "we hear you, midori." he laughed. "soooorrryyy! that locker room trap was for an execution, see.. i didn't intend to use it, but it looks like it malfunctioned. i hurried to stop it... are you okay?" you stared at the ceiling, lying on your back. "yep. just swell."

"oh goodie! we can still play some more!" with that, his voice disappeared. "i told you to get out of here." you told keiji, looking towards his partner, hinako. "are you okay?" you asked her. she shrugged. "yeah?" you continued to lie on the floor. "get out of here, keiji. go explore." he stayed quiet for a second. "... got it." as he left, you finally sat up. "nothin' goin' on, huh?" kurumada prodded. you rolled your eyes "nothing." you stood, rubbing your neck. "it's fine. let's go."

"the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." -thomas hobbes