Despair's last gambit

Chapter 4- So close and yet so far

When Kazuo and Blake awoke both moved backward to take up defensive positions, both realised that they were physically fine but even so they were suspicious of one another;  each had been knocked out thinking that if the other were the traitor they would have been the latest victim, yet they were still uncertain if the fighting would continue.  Blake however realised that if neither of them had been the victim then somebody else must be and wanted to end the stalemate as quickly as possible; as a result  he reached into his pocket for the phone. Kazuo looked scared as he saw Blake search in his coat  and ran out of the room instantly. Blake looked on bewildered and exited the room cautiously, believing Kazuo may have set a trap he intended to draw him into; when he realised there was nothing waiting for him he walked to meet with the others and see if another murder had occurred.

Meanwhile everyone else had gathered into the meeting room as everyone found the body one by one, despite his exit Nizey waited outside the door glancing in at the investigation but resisting any attempts to draw him inside. Sayuri kept her distance from the corpse and kept glancing at Nizey, almost as if she wanted to say something  to him; but only him, yet somehow could not. Mieko had taken the lead in the investigation examining the stab wounds intently for any mistakes the killer could have made. Blake however began handing out weapons to those who asked for them, most took up the offer, excluding Mieko who was too caught up in the investigation to notice and Nizey who said it would reduce his chances of survival not increase them. Shinsuke had been hesitant to take a weapon, not that he didn't know how to wield them but he always fought best hand to hand; Aiko however convinced him to wield the heat sword she had seen, reasoning that if he had it nobody could use it against them. Nizey laughed at Aiko pointing out that Shinsuke was not above suspicion as the traitor and it was just as likely they were giving their best weapon to their worst enemy. The others chose small blades and knives, something that wouldn't be burdensome but would provide protection. When it came to cadence he offered her a Kunai but she merely stuck out her hand and asked him to pass it to her; Blake was bewildered but complied. As Shinsuke and Yuko left to gather the sword, Blake took Cadence aside, the difference in size between the imposing Blake and the minuscule blue haired girl Cadence was even more profound than between Yuko and Shinsuke. Blake whispered to her, "you didn't grab the kunai" cadence looked shocked "well yeah, I was uh afraid I'd hurt myself if I did." She responded, Blake however looked on sceptical "even when I gave it to you, you didn't grab it; it's your action isn't it; grabbing objects." Cadence was frozen with fear and threw herself at Blake pleading with him not to reveal it to anyone else. Blake smiled and nodded, just in time for Yuko to walk back in with a sword almost as big as her; followed closely by Shinsuke who calmly shrugged at a bemused Aiko and stated Yuko needed it more than he did.  Aiko just shrugged back, the two were almost inseparable anyway so it would never be far from him if he needed it, besides  which there was no point in ordering him to take the sword.

Nizey then entered the room and warned everyone that Kazuo was approaching. Kazuo stood at the door and looked carefully at everyone gathered before him. Blake, Kichiro, Shinsuke and Mieko had placed themselves at the front and those that had them drew their weapons. Kazuo looked visibly unnerved,  Nizey however called for calm "nobody is killing, my life depends on it." Kichiro agreed noting that Kazuo was unarmed and there was no need to act rashly. "That's what you think!" Kazuo said with a smirk, "I've put together some explosives whilst I was away and unless the traitor steps forward I intend to detonate them."  Brook shouted at him to get a grip and Aiko implored him to remember how everyone  had refused to give up on him even when Sakakura had said he was a danger and liability   And should be released if not killed before he got out of control but Kazuo was unmoved; silently however so was Nizey.

"Where's your detonator?" He asked calmly, "in my pocket of course" he said patting his pocket for emphasis; "then show us" Nizey retorted; "or else you must be bluffing" Kazuo however merely flicked his hair at the suggestion " I don't need to show you anything" he answered. Nizey however smiled " well for a man with a bomb you looked surprisingly scared when you saw everyone's weapons" he said "almost as if you don't have any of your own.. or perhaps more correctly you can't wield any of your own." Kazuo was taken aback, Blake thought about it; maybe that was why Kazuo had fled so quickly when he reached into his pocket, he was after all the ultimate weaponist and it wasn't unreasonable to presume he had a vast arsenal on his person. Blake shouted out in agreement, Kazuo looked down angrily before charging at Nizey only to be stopped by a trip from Ken. In the confusion many of the others ran from the room but Kazuo tackled Ken and began to punch him, Shinsuke turned to Blake; take Yuko  I can handle him. Blake nodded and escorted her out of the room as Shinsuke executed a takedown on Kazuo shouting for Ken to flee as he did so, Kichiro waited for Ken at the door and walked behind him as he ran away. Kazuo used his time to push Shinsuke away, the two stood face to face and alone; " you know you can't win and yet you don't back down, why?" Shinsuke asked , "for the world!" Kazuo barked back, "I'll kill the traitor, even if it costs me my life,  I'm doing this for everyone despair made suffer! Until I know who that is I can't take any chances,  you all must die; I'm sorry friend" he said. Shinsuke nodded before simply adding "have it your way" and taking up a guard stance. Kazuo ran at Shinsuke who sidestepped him But narrowly missed with a leg sweep, Kazuo went to elbow Shinsuke but he ducked at the last minute and landed a punch to the ribs which forced Kazuo back. "This isn't going to end well" Shinsuke said "you should join us to find the traitor not fight against us."

Shinsuke let his guard down while saying this and was punished for his lapse of concentration by being head butted square in the face. The force of which knocked him back and caused a minor cut to his nose. " one of you betrayed me, betrayed all of us and I won't forgive them." Kazuo said in response before evading  a superkick. "I don't know if it's you but I can't  risk it, the first rule of survival is never to let personal feelings cloud your judgement; like Yuko does for you." Shinsuke was seething with rage and threw a thunderous head butt at Kazuo which knocked him into the wall, "I'd give my life for her" Shinsuke said through gritted teeth "even if she's the traitor?" Kazuo asked with a grin before being hit with a vicious uppercut. "She's not the traitor, I'm not the traitor and she DOES NOT CLOUD MY JUDGEMENT" Shinsuke shouted angrily. "Oh really?" Kazuo said smirking, "you left her to fight me, all you cared about was getting her to safety and ironically you might just have put her in danger, just who is the traitor?" Kazuo asked a now dumbfounded Shinsuke before adding " and look at you, I say one bad thing about her and you fly into a rage and almost kill me, she's rendered you irrational " Shinsuke looked around pensive yet shellshocked before backing away from Kazuo.

Kazuo got to his feet and ran at Shinsuke who stopped him dead in his tracks and threw  Kazuo to the ground with a hip toss, the impact of the throw briefly disorientating him and Shinsuke took the opportunity leave the room to try and find Yuko. As Kazuo tried to climb to his feet and dust himself off, he scoffed at Shinsuke " idiot, fools like him are just weapons to be used and discarded when their masters no longer need them." Kazuo sighed deeply. "When they fall in love it's like they're brainwashed." Kazuo was taken aback at his last few words "wait...love...brainwashing...the traitor...it's... I've gotta stop them." Kazuo leapt to his feet pumped full of adrenaline, ignoring the pains in his body he limped to the door trying to track down the traitor, just as he passed the threshold his bangle beeped and Kazuo's heart sank.

He was out of time.

"Just a few more minutes" he said to himself as he began to fall unconscious, never to wake up again. A knife was stabbed through his chest piercing his heart and killing him almost instantly, his future foundation I.D. had been ripped from his clothing and stabbed through his cheek. His body lay prone in the corridor, despite the violence of his death he looked to be tranquil; perhaps he had finally found the peace in death he had failed to find in life.