Blades of Despair

-Chapter Eleven-

Beyond the Lens

"Hey guys," the face that appeared on the screen was Sanda's, but the difference in demeanour was immediately apparent. She was smiling. She had a beautiful smile, filled with neat, white teeth; what was even more shocking was that the smile seemed genuine. "Super Sanda Heikichi, now the Ultimate Vlogger, is recording live from inside Seiko Academy! Can you believe it? I'm going to get some exclusive clips for you guys, so we can experience the school together! If you're excited, let me know in the comments – though I don't know when I'll be able to upload these videos..." Morino paused the footage, and I looked up at him.

"This is what I meant by the real Sanda," he said, "it seems she was putting on a front when she was around us, and this was her true self."

"But why would she hide this side of her?" Saza questioned. Morino shrugged.

"I can't say, we never got to know her well enough to find out. But there are more clips that I wanted to show you three," said Morino. Without waiting for a reply, he pressed the fast forward button on the camera until he was satisfied. He then turned the camera back to us, and once again we watched as the Sanda we hadn't known appeared once again.

"So, I met all my new classmates today! Talk about Ultimate Students! What a wacky and unique bunch they are! Let's see, there's..." one by one, she listed off each of our names and talked a little bit about each of us. Sanda was talking with such emotional aplomb, and her eyes were so intensely focused on the camera that it felt like she was really talking to me, though I knew it was impossible. I found myself shivering at the memory of discovering her body just earlier today.

"I can't believe this was really her. Oh my god, I talked about her in past tense," I whispered in horror, but Morino gestured for me to be silent and focus on watching. I reluctantly complied and refocused to Sanda's recording. She was talking about Ouji.

"She's the Ultimate Naturalist," she was saying, "and she's so flirtatious, but she totally has the hots for this guy called Hatanaka. I think he's meant to be the Ultimate Construction Worker or something, but he could have fooled me if he had told me that he was the Ultimate Hunk!" I looked up at Ouji, whose teary gaze was fixated on the screen. I couldn't possibly have hoped to fathom what she was feeling at that moment. She really had had an instant connection with Hatanaka, and no doubt she had been wondering over and over if Hatanaka had really ever felt the same way, or if it had all been a lie just so he could get away with murder. I told myself that Hatanaka really did like her; that's why he didn't kill Ouji, who was his target for Motive Day. Besides, the two hit it off before we were even introduced to the killing game, so Hatanaka truly must have regretted using Ouji the way he did. I just couldn't find it within myself to forgive him. Not yet.

"Listen, I've got an exclusive scoop on that mystery sixteenth student that the news teams couldn't find!" I began to watch to Sanda again, who had now started talking about me. "Her name is Orito Asaji; she's really nice and really pretty! But get this! Her Ultimate Talent is extreme luck- sometimes she is really lucky, and sometimes it's the opposite. I hope Ori doesn't get into too much trouble because of her talent, she seems like a really good person to be friends with..." Morino once again paused the video and silently went to the next part. As we waited for him, Ouji wiped her eyes.

"Sanda wanted to be our friend?" she whispered.

"I guess she did," conceded Saza, "but I don't get why she acted so coldly if all she wanted was to be part of the group."

"We shouldn't ask ourselves these sorts of questions," hummed Morino, who was still concentrating on the camera, "because the person we should be asking isn't here anymore. If we worry ourselves with what could have been, instead of what we have left, we can't move forward."