"No, I haven't failed yet! I promise I'll fix everything. Please give me another chance, just one more chance, Yukihara-san!" Takashi pleads desperately as he steps closer and reaches out to touch her shoulder.
"Tanaka-kun, it never crossed my mind that you could be this foolish," she says, slapping his hand away. "First, calm yourself. I cannot stand your behavior when you are unhinged. Now, tell me: how do you intend to fight with a melee weapon against two players armed with a firearm? There is nothing you can do against them. Accept reality. You have failed. If you had exercised even the slightest caution in guarding the entrance, you would not be in this situation."
"Two?" Does she know I'm here?
"I'll capture the girl, and after I find the second player, I'll kill them both simultaneously. Let me at least try! This way, I can prove I'm still useful to you! Please, Yukihara-san, give me this chance. I swear I won't fail," he insists, still agitated.
"There is no need to find anyone," she sighs. "You are so incompetent that you did not even notice his presence. I know you are hiding behind that box, Johann. Show yourself," Mikoto commands.
How did she figure out I'm here? From this angle, I'm sure she couldn't have seen me. In any case, that no longer matters. But should I reveal myself? I glance at Ailiss for guidance.
Ailiss nods. I stand and walk toward her, staying alert to assist her if needed.
"The machine gun we stole! Where is it? With it, I can kill them easily for you," Takashi says eagerly.
"I knew you would need it, so I brought it in my bag," she replies, opening her bag to reveal the large machine gun she stole from Ailiss.
Ailiss focuses her aim on the weapon, likely intending to shoot and disarm them.
"Thank you, Yukihara-san. I won't disappoint you again," Takashi says.
Mikoto picks up the weapon and extends it toward Takashi. At that moment, Ailiss widens her eyes and lowers her aim, anticipating the next event.
As Takashi reaches for the weapon, Mikoto suddenly swivels it toward him and pulls the trigger in a single motion. A loud bang reverberates through the room.
In a horrific scene, the bullet tears through Takashi's abdomen, shredding his insides. The force of the shot sprays blood all over the wall behind him.
Startled, he steps back, clutching his bleeding stomach and staring wide-eyed at the wound.
"Why?! I did everything you asked! I followed every command! You promised you'd love me if I did all this. So why?!" he cries, choking on his own blood.
What is she doing? She discarded her own ally as if he were nothing.
He slumps against the wall and slides to the ground, his head drooping.
"After all this time serving me, you still could not understand something so simple and banal?" Mikoto says, aiming the gun for a second shot. "I lie sometimes."
She finishes him with a bullet to the head, making his corpse even more gruesome to look at.
I can't believe this. Takashi was certainly a deranged individual who deserved to die, but this beautiful girl with an angelic appearance is an actual demon.
"So Takashi was just following orders. From the very beginning, you were the mastermind behind the series of murders?" I ask.
"Let us be honest; reaching this conclusion was not hard. I thought you would figure it out sooner. It just so happened that the vice president of the student council, Tanaka Takashi, had hidden psychopathic tendencies. At the same time, he harbored an obsessive love for me. In this case, he would never refuse my request to butcher other students."
Perhaps that's why I always felt something was off about him. Still, despite my lack of empathy for Takashi, I'm shocked by how easily she disposed of her deranged but loyal subordinate.
"Is he the only one with psychopathic tendencies? What was the point of killing him?"
"If I had not intervened, he would have been killed by you two anyway. Why does it bother you?"
"True, his following orders was irrelevant. He needed to be judged for his crimes regardless. But he was your ally... why discard him like trash?"
"He proved himself unnecessary to me. Why should I keep a useless tool?" she replies emotionlessly. "Do you know all I had to do was promise him a reward after the game, entering a relationship with him?" she laughs lightly. "Men are so easily deceived. He was so eager that he forgot killing you would result in his own death, meaning he could never be rewarded anyway. I was even preparing a lie about black magic, claiming I could resurrect him, but he did not even question the contradiction in my request."
She didn't need to explicitly confirm my earlier suspicions to make them clear. She's in a total psychopathic state, even more so than Takashi.
"Enough talk. Your subordinate doesn't concern me. I don't know how you found where I hid it, but hand over my machine gun," Ailiss demands, her eyes deadly.
"Let me see if I understand your point. Are you demanding that I hand over my only means of defense to you, my adversaries? Have you gone mad? Why would I deliberately put myself at a disadvantage?" Mikoto smirks mockingly.
"You won't comply? Since you're being stubborn, I guess I have no choi—"
Ailiss is interrupted by Mikoto.
"I know what you are planning. You intend to shoot my hands to disarm me. Sorry to disappoint you, but unlike you, I am prepared to face the consequences of killing you both," she says, aiming her weapon as well.
"Even if you intend to kill, I'm fully capable of dodging an amateur."
"And who said I plan to shoot you specifically? You might be able to dodge, but he will not," Mikoto counters, pointing her gun at me.
"Tch. She's not bluffing," Ailiss mutters.
I theoretically end up causing trouble for Ailiss. Fortunately, Mikoto doesn't know that I came here prepared to die. Her threat changes nothing.
"That is right. Now lower your weapon unless you want Johann to die."
Ailiss complies with Mikoto's order.
Did she lower it? Why?
"What are you doing?! Don't give up defeating her because of me. We came here prepared for this!" I exclaim.
"Shut up. Don't meddle in my decisions."
"But this doesn't make sense!"
"Don't make me repeat myself," she snaps, glaring at me and grabbing my collar.
Our argument is interrupted by Mikoto.
"Very well. Drop the gun on the ground, and I will leave you alone for now. I do not want to win so easily; it would not be any fun."
Ailiss complies again and drops the gun.
Mikoto lowers her weapon and walks toward the stairs at the other end of the corridor.
"See you later, Johann, Ailiss," she says as she leaves.
2:27 PM
After Mikoto leaves, we approach the students Takashi had been torturing. Their condition is dire, with bruises and cuts all over their bodies.
"If they'd continued being beaten at this intensity, they'd probably have died today," Ailiss comments.
I try to wake them, but they don't respond. Since they're unconscious, we have no choice but to move them out of here.
"With the infirmary out of order, we can't treat them properly. But saving them might help us rally support against Mikoto's sovereignty," I suggest.
Ailiss agrees, and we carry the boy and girl to the school courtyard, hoping to find someone who knows them. Along the way, I see Miyu, Manabu, and Shou, who were supposed to guard the entrance.
Miyu is tending to their wounds.
I had nearly forgotten about them. For Mikoto to have entered the warehouse, she must have passed through them, apparently using force.
"Ailiss, can you take them alone? I'd like to find out what happened to Manabu and the others."
She agrees, and I go to them.
"Ah, Johann-kun. It was terrible. Kaichou arrived at the entrance with several council members. Manabu and Shou tried to stop her but didn't stand a chance," Miyu explains upon seeing me.
Outnumbered and likely physically weaker than their opponents, they were beaten so badly it hurts just to look at them. I feel a bit guilty about this. They fought to the end, even knowing they would lose, all because of me. In the end, they're good friends.
Now that I think about it, it's entirely possible that the noise that drew Takashi's attention came from one of them getting beaten.
"Sorry, Johann, we couldn't complete the mission," Shou says.
"It's fine. The circumstances have completely changed. Judging by your injuries, I believe you gave it your all. Thank you very much," I reply.
"I swear I won't fail next time," Manabu says.
Hopefully, there won't be a next time.
"No one else tried to enter before her? Did she arrive with so many student council members right from the start?"
"No, it was her first attempt," Miyu replies.
Strange… If she brought reinforcements on her first try, it means she knew beforehand we'd be after Takashi. Could our plans have been leaked somehow?
The only person who could have done so is Keiko. But that seems unlikely. Keiko didn't know Ailiss had hidden the machine gun there, yet Mikoto predicted our actions. So perhaps there's another method.
"I'm sorry for not staying to help you recover, but I have something urgent to attend to. For now, get some rest," I say, bidding farewell to the three.
Afterward, I meet Keiko, who plans to use the rescued students' testimonies to sway some of the student body to our side.
"It will be hard to convince anyone that Kaichou is guilty of something. Even if I struggle to believe it, I'll do everything possible to turn the tide. If I start by seeking support from the victims' friends, it might be more feasible," Keiko says.
"Thank you for helping us. This will be a tough battle, and we'll need all the support we can get. By the way, if it's not too much to ask, could you also lend a hand to Miyu? Those two took a beating from your colleagues and are in a terrible state," I explain.
"I did notice that Kaichou left with an excessive number of bodyguards… I thought about warning them, but there wasn't enough time. Regardless, you can count on me."
I bid farewell to Keiko and turn my attention to Ailiss, who is staring off into the distance. The series of events made me set aside the most shocking incident of the day, and now it comes back to mind.
"Ailiss," I divert my gaze. "About what you did earlier…"
"Forget it immediately. Or at least pretend it never happened," she replies with a deadly look.
4:54 PM
After the events at the school's storage facility, the natural course of action would be to head straight to Ailiss's hideout, the safest place for me. Knowing now that Mikoto is my adversary, I should never confront her in public.
But the conversation we had on the third day keeps hammering in my head. I don't remember the details well, but I recall her referencing things that were yet to happen. Perhaps it was a clue she wanted to leave me.
That's why I thought she was being forced to act hostile toward Ailiss because of Takashi—in other words, a hostage. But that doesn't seem to be the case, as she shot him without any remorse a few hours ago.
I asked Keiko to help me access the student council room when only Mikoto should be there and, of course, to omit this request from Ailiss. She wasn't thrilled about the idea initially but gave in to my persistence.
I slowly open the student council room door and find her sitting at her desk.
"I am astonished. Do you have any idea what trouble you have gotten yourself into by stepping into my territory? If you had at least sneaked in for a surprise attack, I might understand. But showing up in front of me like this? And alone and unarmed, no less. Ailiss might have a chance to escape, but your case is pathetic. I could snap my fingers, and my subordinates would arrest you instantly," Mikoto says.
"May I speak? There are a few points I don't understand, so I'd like to ask some questions. I promise I'll be brief," I say.
"Very well, since you dared to come here in these conditions. The least I can do is hear you out. I will admit I am curious about what drove you to make such a reckless decision. As far as I know, dementia does not usually manifest in young people," she says, tossing a strand of hair behind her shoulder.
"What did our conversation three days ago mean? You seemed to reference future events, possibly everything that has happened so far, from the student murders to our conflict in the warehouse. Are you the same Mikoto as before?"
"Am I the same as before? Surely you must be joking," she laughs for a few seconds. "I was just playing with you. Just as I altered the functioning of this reality, which Ailiss must have told you about, all my actions were meant to destabilize my adversaries. Was that not obvious to you? Based on your academic record, I thought you were smarter than this," she says, staring at me again.
So, as absurd as it is, according to Ailiss, she was indeed able to alter the game's properties, creating these anomalies?
"Excelling in theoretical subjects doesn't make me good at interpersonal interaction. Still, I feel something doesn't add up in your story. I don't understand what you're aiming for with all this. What do you gain from this supposed stage you've set up?"
"You do not need to understand. You do not know who I really am; you never did. You speak as if we have been lifelong friends, but how many times did we talk before the game? Once? Twice? The truth is, I am a priestess. I am the one who conjured this game, and I perfected it to disrupt the memories of other players. This is all one big offering to Death, as well as a way to test my power. It is my first time applying it on a scale as large as a school. And given your unwillingness to be worthy adversaries, it probably will not be the last."
All this horror you made us endure was merely a test?
As I observe her, I sense something is off. She isn't the monster she claims to be. Sure, she coldly killed her ally just hours ago, but part of me refuses to accept this as reality.
"At this point, I should want to lunge at you and strangle you to death. But despite everything you've done, I only feel pity when I look at you. Why is everything so confusing?"
"You are more impressionable than I imagined. We talked twice in our lives before this game. You are nothing special; you just happened to be chosen for the game. Later, I tampered with your memories to unbalance you. I am almost regretting it. I practically broke the game by doing so, as it will be no fun this way," she sighs. "It will be so easy to defeat you if you stay this emotional."
Maybe she's right. I'm overthinking things. These emotions are false.
I should set aside my supposedly implanted feelings and prepare for our confrontation. After all, someone I care about far more has their life at risk. To save Ailiss, I'm willing to give up everything, including understanding you.
"Understood. Maybe things really are as you say," I respond, lowering my head.
"Now that you have finally wrapped your head around that, get out of here. If you stay even a minute longer, I will revoke the privilege I have granted you and treat you as a target to be eliminated immediately," she says, narrowing her eyes.
With no desire to argue further, I comply with her suggestion. I nod, turn my back, and leave the student council room.
The light I could once see in her seems to be fading, leaving her to emerge in darkness.