Sunshine, you are my sunshine

You Told Me Once, Dear

Tenko couldn't breathe. She felt herself crumble to the floor. Himiko, she thought desperately. She heard a scream, maybe it was her. It probably was. She crawled hastily to where her girlfriend was laying limp. She struggled to check for a pulse that she knew wouldn't be there. She put her face against Himiko's neck, desperately trying to convince herself that it wasn't real. There wasn't a bullet in between Himiko's eyes. This wasn't real. She repeated it but she didn't believe what she was saying because Himiko was dead and cold just like Angie and she'd lost them both. She didn't save them, not couldn't her brain supplied. Because if she had just tried harder maybe they'd both be here. If she had have tried harder maybe Angie would have stayed in bed instead of planning a murder. Maybe, if she had tried harder, it would be her in Himiko's place. It was a cruel thing to wish upon Himiko but Tenko didn't care. This isn't fair. They were supposed to make it out of here, the three of them. They all promised. It's just her now. Only her. She's the only one left.

___________

Shuichi watched in horror as Tenko broke down. A few people were screaming now, Tsumugi was laughing, but Kaede looked almost somber. He clutched at Kokichi tighter as he glanced around the rest of them. Ryoma was cradling a sobbing Gonta, Miu was standing a little bit in front of them protectively, Kiibo at her side. Korekiyo was just standing there. And Kaito looked like he was about to yell at Kaede. Suddenly the girl clapped and any remorse on her face was immediately gone. She strolled calmly over to Tsumugi and untied the girl. Then she fixed her posture and her presence demanded attention. "Welp that was fun! Kinda." She shrugged and glanced at Tsumugi. "So do we do the evil monologue now or later?" "This is your game, Love you decide" Kaede huffed. "Eh they're all broken right now so I'm gonna wait" Tsumugi chuckled as if what Kaede said was funny. It probably was to them. Kaede kneeled and offered Tsumugi a hand. Tsumugi became bright red as she took Kaede's hand and stood up. They were about to walk away together but Kaito stood in front of them. "Who's forcing you guys to do this? We can help you! I'm sure everyone will forgive you once we know the truth of your situation!" Kaede groaned over dramatically. "Man and I thought you'd finally shut up. This is 'such a pain' as our lost friend Himiko would say." it was obviously a jab at Tenko but the girl didn't react. "Damn. Am I seriously going to have to take a dead body out of her hands?" Tsumugi only shrugged as an answer. Kaito started talking again, "Kaede, Tsumugi, please just let us go, it's not too late!" Kaede laughed but it sounded humorless. "Please tell me you're kidding." She looked at Kaito's face seriously. "Oh my god you're not kidding. Damn you're more of an idiot than I thought." Tsumugi chuckled. Shuichi felt his hands go into fist and he realized Kokichi wasn't next to him anymore. He looked back to Kaede and saw the boy sneaking up on her. His heart hammered in his chest. What the hell was Kokichi thinking? Kaede pulled out her gun again and pointed at Kaito. "I'm gonna give you five seconds to go back to the other little mice and behave m'kay?"  Kaede held up five fingers.

"Five"
Kaito didn't move.

"Four"
Tsumugi was just picking at her nails.

"Three"
Kaede had a shiteating grin on her face as she aimed between Kaito's eyes.

"Two"
Shuichi mentally begged Kaito to move.

"One"
It felt like everything was in slow motion.

He watched as Kokichi lunged at Kaede's hand and ripped the gun out of her grasp. A loud bang echoed throughout the room but no bodies fell. In a split second Kokichi had the gun pointed at Kaede. Kaito collapsed to the ground in shock. Tsumugi barely reacted, still looking at her nails.

Kaede smiled broadly. "Oh ho ho how the turns have tabled!" Nobody moved. Shuichi looked around wildly to find out who or what the bullet had hit. Kaede spoke up again. "The silent treatment huh? That's mildly infuriating, it's so much more fun when you try to stay strong only to break down mid sentence." She paused to give Kokichi time to talk. He didn't. "Hey are you really going to shoot? Cause if you aren't can I go get an ice cream? I'm thinking avocado flavored." She tilted her head, not unlike a confused puppy. She pointed to his arm, oh, that's where the fired shot had hit. "Been through worse huh? Uhhggggg it's no fun if you don't take any of my bait. Hey how about this. Shoot me or I kill uhhh.." she glanced around the room. "Gonta, how would that feel buddy? Being responsible for his death? Do you need some toilet paper to cry into?" She smirked as if her words meant something more than what she had said. She started walking around Kokichi but he still didn't react. "Do you think I'm bluffing? Shoot me or I'll kill him. I'll stab him straight through the abdomen, but you already know that don't you?" She leaned in and whispered something into the boy's ear. His eyes went wide and he spun around to face her. Tears started streaming down Kokichi's face and Shuichi couldn't take it anymore. He started to run to the smaller boy but was suddenly held back by Tsumugi. She had a small smile on her face. "Don't interfere. She's having fun." Kokichi looked broken and a part of Shuichi wanted to beat Kaede's ass for bringing down the boy's walls. The other part wanted to kill her for it.

________________

"You know I'm not lying." Kaede whispered into his ear. "I know you thought it was weird, how fast Maki trusted Kaito, how fast Ryoma actively stopped looking for death," she left a dramatic pause. "And how you already love Shuichi. I'm telling the truth buddy, and while that's great news for you. It also makes this hell doesn't it? No matter what you do, or who you save, it won't change anything. That is, unless you become the next mastermind. So what do you say?" Kokichi's hand clenched and unclenched at his side."I might be an asshole but I'm not an idiot, if what you said is true my subconscious will remember this." Kaede shrugged. "If you want to depend on that, be my guest, but don't blame me when this happens again and again and again.." Kaede smiled brightly but it didn't completely reach her eyes. Kokichi felt trapped. According to Kaede this was the first killing game she had hosted herself, Tsumugi had always been the mastermind before this. Kaede wasn't fully into this whole thing, or at least he really hoped she wasn't. He glanced at Tsumugi and saw her standing by Shuichi. Was there really no way to end this? He could always just kill the mastermind. That probably had the most chances of winning this. He was getting desperate at this point. He sighed to himself, welp so much for moral codes. He raised the gun and shot Tsumugi in the heart. The backlash on the gun aggravated his arm and he ended up biting on the inside of his cheek pretty hard. He felt his heart beat way too fast because he had just killed someone. He was a murderer. Most people flinched at yet another gunshot, Tenko cried out. He pushed any guilt he was feeling down. He had to, he had to show Kaede that he wouldn't back down. D.I.C.E. Would understand wouldn't they? It was for the betterment of everything. Kaede laughed next to him. "Damn I didn't expect that. Good job, I will miss my beloved though... Welp you've entertained me pretty good buddy! You always were the most interesting. Sadly enough whatever point you were trying to prove didn't get through to me sooo... have fun having someone's death on your hands, I'm sure that'll help your recurring nightmares!" Kaede smiled again but each smile was more and more threatening. Before he could even react Kaede had taken the gun out of his hand. He tried to grab it back but she was taller than him and held it out of his reach. "Well it's been a blast but I have to go mourn the love of my life. Toodles!" Kaede practically skipped away. She never even looked back to all the chaos she had created.