Blades of Despair

-Chapter Fifty-

Lying By The Flames

I was stunned. Everyone, except for Nishi and Yoneda, was frozen. All I could do was stare in petrification as Nishi launched his sudden attack on Ori. Why? Why is he hurting Ori? I looked at her, and my heart shattered. Her face was etched with an expression of pain, confusion and panic. Clearly, she had not been expecting the assault, and she had gone into shock. All she did was gawk at the shadow of Yoneda standing against the flames, while Nishi pinned her arms behind her back.

"Kill her, Yoneda! Quick, do it!" Nishi roared desperately. Morihei was the first to snap out of her astonished state.

"Nishi!" She barked furiously. "What on earth do you think you're doing?"

"Ori's the traitor!" Nishi shouted back.

"What?" Iowa cried. "No... that can't be true! Ori can't be the traitor!"

"Yoneda told me," Nishi told us angrily, "he told me that Ori is the traitor! He read it in those files!" Ori's face went pale.

"Me? The traitor? No... I'm not... Gawa, help me!" She looked at me desperately and began to struggle against Nishi's iron grip, but to no avail.

"Yoneda, what are you waiting for?" Nishi cried. "This was your idea, so just kill her!" I began to frantically watch Ori, who had now begun to scream.

"What? Please, no! Don't kill me, I'm not the traitor! Nishi, let go of me! Gawa! Gawa!" She screeched my name, and I awoke from my terror. I ran towards her and Nishi. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I had to protect Ori. Even if she was the traitor, which I didn't believe, I couldn't let her die. I made a promise to protect you. However, before I could reach her, there was another scream behind me, but it was different to the one that Ori had let out. I whirled around to see Yoneda, doubled over. The flames, dancing and burning as strongly as they had been when we arrived, created shadows on his face that blocked his expression. Why... is Yoneda screaming? But then he made the noise again, and I realised that he wasn't.

He was laughing. It was a horrid noise. An awful combination of malice, amusement and loathing, Yoneda's laugh echoed loud above the roar of the fire.

"What is so funny?" Mina asked, startled and confused. Yoneda didn't reply, he just continued to laugh. His body shook with each bone-chilling howl and cackle that was breathed from his lips.

"Dearest friends and esteemed headmaster of the academy, you must be wondering how I am able to find joy at a time such as this," Yoneda finally managed to say between maniacal hiccups and deranged wheezes. "I must deeply apologise for the confusion caused by my behaviour! It was never my intention to provoke such ugly responses from you all! Well, Nishi, why don't you answer our dear Morihei's question? What on earth do you think you're doing?" Yoneda mimicked Morihei's voice as he repeated her question, and she scowled at him. Nishi looked at Yoneda in surprise, but his grip on Ori didn't loosen.

"W-what? She's the traitor, so I-"

"Did you hear that, fellow students and esteemed headmaster?" Yoneda giggled, waving his arms side to side behind him. "Ori is the traitor! Gasp! I, like, totally can't believe that this is happening right now! Ori can't be the traitor! Isn't that what you're all thinking?"

"Yoneda, what's going on?" Morino demanded angrily. I couldn't keep up with what Yoneda was saying. His mannerisms and personality were alternating so fast; each sentence was said with a different voice or accent. Yoneda didn't listen to Morino. He wasn't listening to anyone.

"Master Naosuke, you will explain yourself at once!" Even Monoworth joined in with our questions and outrage, but still Yoneda paid us no attention. He was practically having a conversation with himself.