Chapter Text
...
Red.
The lights had dimmed as the executions took place; the trial hall had dimmed from its usual hue to a frightening shade of red. All of them had been expecting it, but it still managed to be sudden.
Chains launched out from all around them, towards the podiums of the innocent, homing straight towards their necks.
Mion was the first to be snatched, body stiffening and twisting as they were violently dragged from the ground, soaring into a door which slammed behind them. Youhei shot to his feet, eyes widening, but in what must have only been a few seconds of lag, he was apprehended next, and certainly not strong enough to fight.
“S-STOP IT! DON’T HURT HIM!” Matthias begged loudly, bounding forward with his arms extended to try and keep Youhei from being dragged to his inevitable end. Their fingers only barely grazed together, before Youhei was sent barrelling backwards.
“O-OH MY GOD!” Denden cried as she watched the exchange, backing up with her hands to her chest. “NO, STOP!”
Her plead changed nothing.
Azusa, the fighter that she was, attempted to swerve out of the way of the chain, sensing the pattern. It twisted sharply to counteract her evasion attempt, and her fists pounded at the chain as if she could break it. Her face was twisted with disbelief and anger as she was pulled to her own chamber.
Then Osamu- he reacted with a cry to Azusa’s seizure, attempting to reach her on the other side of the door that slammed behind her. That made it easy for the next chain to find him.
Sou’s fingers rose to pry at the chain around his neck as he was yanked back, turning violently pale. He was helpless against the apprehension.
Denden continued to let out a choked cry as their classmates were taken one by one. Ogura stared at the ground, unable to meet their eyes, even in this moment. Erina had her eyes up, glaring into the middle distance. Hirose looked like he might be sick, and Ikeda turned to his companion.
Atsushi was left standing, pale, beads of sweat rolling down his face. He opened his lips and lifted a hand right to Daiki as if to say something more. But before he could, the collar snapped around his neck with disturbing finality.
Daiki’s eyes widened as the chain crackled and snapped and pulled Atsushi into the final door, and he lifted his hand as well. “H…huh…?” He let out softly, clearly hardly comprehending the magnitude of the situation.
After that, the trial room was dim and quiet for a bated few beats.
“What now?” Erina’s shoulders were squared, and she looked nigh afraid to breathe. “They…”
Hirose raised his gaze, eyes widening. “...screens,” He uttered in disbelief.
At that, they all looked up, chins raising as a unit to stare at the new information. Seven screens had been positioned up above in a circle at the centerpoint of the podiums. They must have come out from a wall. Static roared as they all clicked to life, in unison, and gradually clarified to elucidate the execution chambers.
They’d seen this before. They’d seen it before, in Ring Box, which was horrifying and gruesome– Ogura felt ready to vomit– unlike Ouno, the seven about to die torturously were completely innocent.
“DO NOT LOOK!” Ogura raised her voice, throwing herself between her peers and the screens. “Hidemi, Ikeda, LISTEN TO ME!”
The plead fell on deaf ears, and the reality of her height sunk into her gravely. There was no meaningful way she could prevent her classmates from looking up at the screens. What right did she have to prevent them from looking at the consequences of their actions–
No. They were her actions. The cross laid upon her back alone, the blood in the bleeding was all straight from her veins and they did not, did not, did not need to feel responsible for it all.
Denden stared at a screen and screamed. “THEY’RE HURTING THEM!!”
“DENDEN-” Hirose seized her sleeve. “Stop looking. Look away.”
“B-BUT DOCTOR-”
“LOOK AWAY-”
“BUT YOU’RE NOT!” She cried, watching his eyes glued to the screens. “YOU’RE NOT LOOKING AWAY EITHER!”
Ogura’s gaze snapped back– instinctively, to Ikeda and Matthias, the two she’d promised to save. Wasting no time, she positioned herself between Ikeda and the screen, the one person whose height allowed for a clean obstruction. Thank all the goddesses above, he didn’t attempt to move or see around her shoulder, only blinking owlishly up at her.
One down– there was one way to prevent this harm and that was the instillation of ignorance! She whipped around to face Matthias while keeping herself between Ikeda and the screens, upon which each torturous execution was being shown. “Hidemi, HIDEMI! DO NOT EXPOSE YOURSELF TO–”
Matthias was heaving with sobs, whole frame trembling, rattling with each insufficient breath. “They’re killing them! THEY’RE KILLING THEM! I did not want this! I DID NOT WANT TO KILL THEM–” Another harsh sob cut off his self flagellation. “I DIDN’T KNOW!”
Sensing the futility of verbal fighting, she shot out an arm to grab his wrist and pull him behind her. It wasn’t any meaningful obstruction, and he shook off her wrist anyway. “L-LET GO OF ME!”
“HIDEMI-”
“DON’T CALL ME THAT!” He exclaimed in a raised pitch, snapping his gaze back to look up at the screens again. Ogura stared at him, sweat rolling down her face. For a moment, she contemplated tackling him, forcing his eyes shut by some method. With all the power in her, she’d undoubtedly be able to find a way, but…
She could make her own decision, even if Ogura was absolutely positive it was the wrong one.
Denden and Hirose’s frantic back and forth rose in volume as the executions continued to play. Ogura could hear their screaming, though she refused to look- whatever was happening obviously was optimized to be as painful as possible. Their doctor had the right idea–
“B-BUT KUMADA’S LOOKING!” Denden’s cry again. She was fighting to be witness to the brutality.
Kumada shifted, gaze icy. “...if we’re gonna kill these people for our own skin,” The biker mumbled. “We have to at least look at what we’ve done. Otherwise, we’re just-”
“Cowards. We are cowards.” Hirose’s stern voice broke further on the acknowledgement. “Denden, just please don’t look…”
Ikeda shifted, tilting his head. “...what’s happening…?”
Ogura acknowledged him before he could start to think too hard, throwing her arms out on either side of her. “DO NOT MOVE! DO NOT MOVE.” She commanded, and he froze completely still, a complacency which was relieving in the moment but made something inside her fracture as she realized where it probably came from.
The screams raised in volume, mechanical whirring and off-pitch song noises and the sounds of amputation and choking rising to a crescendo. Ogura lifted her hand again, latching her grip around Matthias’ wrist. He didn’t resist this time, and she didn’t pull. The contact only lingered, an anchor for both of them. Ogura squeezed her eyes shut, caked in the dim red light and suspended in the reverberations of death all around them.
The consequences.
This set of deaths couldn’t be painless. There was no mercy here, but there was no way she could cry, because crying implied the weakness of her resolve. Resolve notwithstanding, her primal emotions didn’t care and her eyes were burning no matter how tightly she held them shut.
Screaming,
Screaming,
Screaming,
All she could hear. The only sound that existed. Denden and Hirose had stopped arguing, Ikeda and Matthias stood in silence, and Kumada stood, the smallest in stature but the largest in silhouette as she stood right below the cameras, the closest to them, the most willing to bear witness to the violence.
It could have gone on for seconds.
It could have gone on for minutes.
It could have gone on for hours.
Her teammates trying to see the torture Ogura refused to acknowledge.
The six of them were caked in red light. The bleeding witnessed bleeding– cuts, strangulation, amputation, flagellation– and time ceased to matter when carnage was all you were allowed to see.
Ogura lifted her hands to pull at her hair, chest constricting as if a physical weight laid upon it. However weighted her sacrifice was–
She didn’t want this. She hated this as much as a human could hate anything. She hated this.
SHE HATED THIS.
And she couldn’t breathe with the sounds of her classmates’ torture surrounding her, coiling around her, living and breathing and raw.
Her fingers sunk into her scalp as she fought a cry. Pulling her hair brought some relief from the overstimulation, teeth gritting together.
Was it possible to drown in sound?
Would this nightmare ever end?
I have to save them, she’d told herself over and over again as she orchestrated the murder, planning for this while at the same time failing to acknowledge what it would look like when it happened
I have to save them, she’d said as she recruited one after another, destroyed note after note, forcing Matthias into situational blindness so he couldn’t interfere.
I have to save them, she’d thought, as she spewed lie after lie and omitted details throughout the trial, lips firmly sealed even as her greater sense of justice repelled against everything.
I have to save them, she’d thought, as she forced them into this conclusion.
But this didn’t sound like salvation.
…
…
…
It was over. Finally, it ended.
At least, it was silent, and the lights gradually returned.
…
Denden was still crying softly. Hirose seemed to have resigned to just standing at her side. Matthias was staring at the screens, tears trickling from his face. Ikeda was safely in front of Ogura, still obstructed, but it looked like the cacophony had put him through further dissociation. Kumada was still silhouetted in the light of the projectors, back turned to her fellow traitors.
And Ogura herself stood there, breathing shallow, vision tunneled. The pressure didn’t lift off her lungs.
“...Congratulations. You have successfully completed the trial, and have won your freedom. Please take the elevator upstairs to grab your things, and you will be allowed to leave. Take no longer than five minutes.” Monomoko’s voice sounded strangely empty, grievous, as if it somehow shared in the sentiment.
Ogura finally turned her head, gritting her teeth. “Are you ABSOLUTELY sure we’re getting out??”
“Yes. You will be leaving the facility. Please take the elevator.”
…
It disappeared.
…
She turned sharply towards the elevator. “Come now, come along with me” She prodded, not paying any regard to the fact her lungs would still hardly work. Ikeda followed along pliantly, latched at her wrist. Hirose glanced around, before giving a quick nod. “Yes. Let’s…” It sounded like he was struggling to form sentences. “Let’s get out of here.”
“...finally.” Erina mumbled, swiveling around and heading into the elevator before anyone could see her face.
Denden sniffled, voice already broken from crying. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” She whimpered. “I’m so sorry…”
Ogura didn’t console– Couldn’t console her. There was nothing left to say. They shared in their guilt.
Their trial ‘victory’ had opened a fresh wound. And from this wound, they were bleeding. They would be bleeding for a long time.
“Hidemi,” Ogura lifted her voice. Only one person hadn’t headed into the elevator, who was still standing in front of the screen with a wet face and red, glassy eyes. The nickname wouldn’t reach him, so she strengthened her tone. “Matthias. Come on, we’re- we’re leaving.”
…
He ducked his head, saying something in repeat in a foreign language. It was almost like an incantation, a mantra- he lowered, into a partial bow, as if he was making himself small in the face of all he’d inadvertently killed.
…
And then, he lifted his chin, and walked into the elevator.
The door slammed behind them.
…
And the machine whirred to life, taking them up.
Up, up, up, they lifted up through the ground, leaving the carnal execution chambers in hell below. They lifted up towards freedom, towards escape.
…
Ogura looked around, taking inventory of her classmates– subordinates, now. Since they’d been led, and they’d been put them here. It gave her an inherent responsibility for them. Denden’s lip was trembling as she attempted to fight off another wave of sobs. Hirose lifted a hand shakily to press against his mouth, skin clammy with a green pallor. Erina stared forward, the steel in her gaze to some point fabricated, as if she was attempting to convince herself more than anyone else of her own apathy. Ikeda was clearly… in whatever state he’d been taking lately where he’d become confused and distant, present only through an altered demeanor. And Matthias looked simply miserable.
This moment needed to be remembered. Their faces, their stories, their names.
She needed to remember them. Somehow, she would do them justice for this betrayal.
Somehow.
It must have taken years for the elevator to reach their usual floor. When it did, the bell chimed with a cheery sound, and the doors opened.
Erina was the first to leave. Not surprising. Ogura frowned and debated approaching, but decided against it. She seemed like the type to prefer solitude. She'd... catch up to her later.
Hirose was the next. He took a shuddering breath and stepped out briskly. “I’m going to retrieve my-”
“Wait! Wait.” Ogura demanded. Clenching her fists. “...Consider this, venerable doctor… we do not KNOW where these fiends will take us, nor what will happen next!! Are we positive we’re to be released as a group?? If they split us up, we will not be able to reconvene!!” She decreed brazenly, attempting her usual tone. It felt flat even to her own ears.
Ikeda peered over at her quizzically, and blinked a couple times. “Uh… what?”
“...numbers, we should exchange numbers and…” Ogura’s voice shrunk to an embarrassed mumble. Perhaps they couldn’t afford to be childish right now.
“Oh- right. Absolutely. Here’s…” Hirose hesitated momentarily as he pulled out a notepad, mentally weighing the pros and cons to keeping contact with a murderer. He must have decided she wasn’t an active threat to be avoided, or at least he couldn’t afford to judge, because he jotted something down on the corner, tearing it off and handing it to her. “Here’s my personal number. We need to meet up as soon as possible once we’re resituated.”
At his certain tone, Denden looked up at him and the paper transaction. “Why…?” She asked in a waver. “Why do we need to see each other again? Why not just…”
“Because this cannot happen again!” Ogura exclaimed, voice filling with fire. “I will not ALLOW it! Together we must UNITE! We must be a frontier, a catalyst, and we must EAT THIS OPERATION FROM THE INSIDE!!”
Matthias blinked tears from his gaze, and turned hesitantly to look at her. “You… you mean you want to stop this organization- whoever’s hurting us, from doing it again…?”
The air weighed heavily with the weight of her insinuation. Ogura shook her head sharply, stepping forward. “This is why we must reconvene later! Regardless of what we… what we did together, we can’t simply move on from this. We need to stay in touch, and you-” She pointed two fingers at Ikeda and Matthias, gaze hardening. “I need both of your emails, and I… I too will give you mine.”
Matthias’ gaze deadpanned as he was directly addressed, an expression which gave Ogura pause. “...my emails…”
No, of course he was angry. She’d roped him up in all of this without his knowledge or consent. For his sake, but still. “Hidemi…”
…
He glanced away. “You… you killed them,” He spoke in a wavering voice. “You made me kill them– you made me kill them and I… I didn’t know.”
“I know,” Her voice raised in stress. “I meant it when I told you that you did nothing wrong. I… listen closely. I do not need your email for my sake. I need it for yours. I promised I’d save you. I SWORE to you I’d save you. And the second we get out of here, the SECOND– I’ll be making a beeline for your safety and tearing through ANYONE and ANYTHING that gets in my way. Ikeda too. Let me save you. Just let me. And afterwards, after…” The words tumbled from her, feeling meaningless. “...After, you can leave me behind and live the life you deserve.”
Denden glanced over, expression softening. “Ogura…”
“I am… a fallen deity. I have descended into darkness, saved few at the expense of many and for that there is no excuse.” She spat, tears welling up. “You can consider me a demon, i-if you need to. No longer am I a goddess forward from today– I will be a being that kills evil and is evil. But… the power is still mine. And I will use this power… to protect you.”
That seemed to strike some chord in Matthias, hesitant as he still was about forgiving her. He raised a hand, and it lingered there, hovering.
“From this day forward, my presence will remind you of the murder you were recruited to commit– it will be pain. I will be painful, and I will be the slaughter, and FOR THAT THERE IS NO EXCUSE. But– let me saddle the burden. Let me fight, and struggle, and suffer to defeat the evil so that the new world I make for you will be one with… with a little less cruelty. I beg of you. Let me sink so that… you may fly.”
…
Matthias handed her the notebook. He shut his eyes for a long moment, then shook his head. “I… I might be able to contact you through email… but… I don’t know. Still, we can try.”
Her eyes widened as she scrawled down her email. “Y-yes, yes, YES! BEHOLD, A METHOD BY WHICH WE MAY COMMUNICATE!” She shoved the note into his hands. “Treat it well, TREASURE it, Hidemi! And before you know it, I will be there to rescue you! Ikeda Daiki, here is this for you too!” She shoved a scrap of paper into his hand. He squinted like he wasn’t sure what to do with it. “Huh?”
“Ikeda,” She spoke up, listening to Hirose and Denden walk away. Anxiety prickled under her skin, but she let them gather their things as promised. “Can you tell me anything about the place you live?”
“...” He tilted his head, frowning slightly. “...Kobe.”
“I know, I KNOW! But the house? Address? Email? Anything??” She barked, and something sparked behind Ikeda’s eyes. “My dad has a phone.”
“Your dad-” Ogura scowled, feeling the darkness behind those words. He would have to be the first one to go. “...yes. Do you know his number?”
“Um… yeah.”
She waited patiently as he wrote down the number, and she snatched it, carefully folding it into pieces and sticking it in her pocket. “I will take care of him for you- I will find a way. And you too will be safe.” Ogura continued, peering over at him with as much strength as she had. “...just like I told you. I do not break my promises, Ikeda Daiki. So hold this to your chest as fact. I will save you.”
…
It didn’t look like he knew how to respond to that. Maybe he wasn’t great at responding in general in this state, it seemed that way. A state of compliance that must have been put onto him by the people that hurt him. It made her sick. It made her angry.
But it gave her drive. That was always the way things turned up. She was driven, if nothing else.
Ogura finally turned away, hurrying towards her room. Hopefully she could catch them before and they could do a more comprehensive exchange of information, but they were running out of time.
Even so, she had her ways. Methods. Assuming they got to actually leave, assuming she got back home to her computer… Well, the rabbit hadn’t been lying. She could find people and solutions faster than most teens her age.
On the way to her room, she paused, turning to stare at one dorm. Nishiguchi Mutsuko’s room.
It was quiet inside.
She looked around. No one near.
…
“Thank you,” Ogura said quietly, bowing before the door. “...Thank you for your sacrifice, miss Nishiguchi.”
…
The door did not respond.
Maybe there was nothing after death. Maybe there was nothing that awaited their classmates after the suffering, but for a moment, she needed to believe it.
For those who died, if nothing else, they would live. They would work together, and thrive, and cut through the organization that had killed them, one by one.
Ogura stopped, fingertips lingering on the slips of paper in her pocket. Regardless of freedom and all they’d sacrificed…
Her work had only just begun.