Descendants of Death

12. Strangling Tears

"He is innocent," Ryo said.

"Tell me the exact reason why," Manabu replied.

"Hirari requested an extra paper from Yukawa, wrote something on it, and hid it in her pocket. From her face, we can see the suffering she wanted to escape. It's not the face who wanted to live anymore, but a blank pupil from the deepest of the abyss."

"Her eyes were like that too the when I came in. She didn't want to talk to me at first," I added.

"I know it's rare for me to speak up like this because I rarely do the first move, but when I put my trust in someone, I'm sure I won't regret it. Please believe my words because this is the truth that I've witnessed.

"Hirari clearly said to me that I should rely on Yukawa from now on. She said that he might be the key to finding the 'sole killer'," Ryo explained.

"Sole killer? Does that mean we only need to find one?" Manabu asked.

"I'm not sure. The rules say that there are two hunters. If she says that, probably she might have been the first hunter in the first place, leaving us with one, or maybe one of the hunters was already dead. There is no indication we can conclude from the number of hunters remaining," Yukawa explains.

"And another thing why Hirari told us that murder here is inevitable. She said that there might be something that urges the murderer to kill another person and that we shouldn't rely on that information," Ryo added.

"What do you mean?" Manabu asked with raised eyebrows.

"What he's saying is just Hirari's theory but the fact that the murderer is continuously killing us, there might be some hidden condition for that, like the murderer might get killed if he didn't kill. If that's the case, we should finish the game as soon as possible so that we can't create more casualties.

"It might be better if we go forward now. We've already been stalled for a long time. Hirari's death might have hurt us, but she already gave us the clue in this death game. She might be seemingly dumb but she has a point. We should use this opportunity the best that we can," Yukawa said.

"Opportunity? You call Hirari's life an opportunity? Is that how you look at people, just tools?" Rise argued as her nostrils flare. "That's just how you look at life, don't you? Only you and these seven tools that surround you."

"Calm down, Rise. He isn't saying anything like that. We shouldn't do any more fights. It will just complicate the situation," I suggested with a calming voice.

"No, Saori. Think! He's leading us into something... no, into nothing. What's the sense of his plans? Just to make us calm? This situation has never been simple, Saori. You should stop defending that guy and his absurd imagination. If you still don't get it, stop romancing that guy."

I flinched back with my frozen body and red cheeks. "I... it's not like that!"

Rise stands up with a high chin and shoulders back as we all look up at her. "I'm done with this absurdness! My group will not cooperate with any of you pea-brained snakes anymore! Sara, Misaki, let's leave this friggin' circle full of anuses."

Their group stands up and stays in the circle. They might have agreed that we shouldn't be losing each other's sight that's why they stayed in the corner of the room. The five of us are the only ones left to talk.

"Can I continue my explanation?" Ryo asked.

"Yes. I'm not yet satisfied with why you called it a suicide," Manabu replied.

"In that small five minutes, the reason I peeked is that they are fighting not just for some chips, but it's greater than a chance. Hirari told us that we shouldn't tell you that she's going to kill herself."

"You're... kidding, right? Right? Yukawa?" I stuttered as I look at Yukawa but his head is down dead. "No way... There's no way it's the truth..." I stuttered as my head shakes vigorously. "There's no way she'd say that!"

Yukawa clenches his fists and replies. "I should have told you... I can't force her. We heard her reason, and it's the same past as mine. Every night she sleeps, her nightmares hunt her. She might have been the most active of us, but I can sense that what she's holding is deeper than what I have.

"Every air we breathe is heavy, and we can only rest when we passed out. The food we eat, the things we write, and anything that has a light, we all see scary faces, and so we tried our hardest to hide.

"And then she told me this. 'There will be some point in time that we can't hold it anymore. But you found a rope out of the depths of hell, Yukawa. You must maintain that rope and not dull it.' It sounded so deep, but it simply expresses everything I'm feeling and not faking it.

"She saved me in that pool of darkness even when she's drowning herself. And I... am a foolish and selfish man who took advantage of that."As he is shaking tremendously, Yukawa punched the wooden floor.

"I don't care if you both have a darker past, or if you killed a person before. But what matters is what's now. I accept the 'you' who is here right now," I said with a soothing voice, but the next tone that I've said is filled with noise.

"... But what I can't accept is that you've kept it hidden from me. Am I not that trustable, Yukawa!? I didn't keep everything from you, but... You and Hirari, if you just told me what you're feeling, then I... I..." With tears flowing out of my eyes, I escape the room in rush. I closed the door loudly and scream in the hallway while going to the storeroom. It's just because of the simple lack of trust, my chest tightens like being squeezed with a fist.

Now that I think of it. I've done nothing of sort to help everyone. I can't even think of ways to solve the problem. I hated how I always depend on Yukawa. With this, there might be a way to save everyone.

My skin is already dry, and my hair is fragile already that it cuts when pulled accidentally. Because of my dried tears right now, my thinking became different. The dizziness that wraps me became nauseous. My muscles are cramping one by one. My throat is so dry like someone is strangling me from it.

There are no other words that enter my mind other than the repeated desire for 'water'. I didn't expect Yukawa to come for me, but when he did, he saw me in front of the stash where the poisoned water was. And before he realized that it was dangerous, I had already drunk it.