#dv ch 1

[brotein-not-for-bros]

Chapter One: END

If Akihiko had to describe the day’s events in a single word, it would be “soul-crushing.”

When Akihiko woke up this morning, there were (at least to his knowledge) zero people in the group dead. And now, as everyone slowly filed out of the “courtroom” with varying levels of broken despair on their faces, two of them had died. Noah and Goro. Akihiko didn’t know either of them too well, but neither of them deserved the end they got. Even murder didn’t justify the punishment Goro had received...Akihiko had to look away as the blood rose upwards over Goro, but the blood-stained scene left afterwards was downright sickening.

“We’re all murderers, now,” he heard someone say. His first reaction was to think No, not all of us--he’d been one of the few people not to cast their vote--but he knew that wasn’t true. Vote or no, he had been a part of Goro’s death. Akihiko’s shoulders sagged as he felt the weight of this sink in. Having blood on his hands was something he hoped to never get used to, especially after seeing the saying brought to life in such a horrifying manner.

Powerless...there was that familiar feeling. Once again, faced with someone’s death, Akihiko had been powerless to do anything. If he had just...if he had just what? Punched a little girl? Pulled his Evoker against the one with the gun? Tried to free Goro from his execution? If only he could summon Caeser here...no, he was not going into that mindset again.

He finally tore his gaze from the detective’s final act and filed into the elevator. No, he couldn’t give up here...he still had people to fight for, and would he do his best to the very end. Still, that didn’t make the churning in his gut or the fog in his head or the gentle weeping he heard any easier to bear.

Once the elevator opened its doors at the lobby with a soft ‘ding,’ Akihiko stepped out into the room, and stopped, unsure where to go. He was exhausted from the day’s events, but he got restless when he was stressed...no way he could go back to his room yet. He simply stood and watched as everyone else wandered out of the room, leaving just a couple of other anguishing souls in the room with him.

[brotein-not-for-bros]

There were a lot of things about the vacation’s rendezvous with the bizarre blabbering bear that unnerved Akihiko, but chief among those was the bear itself. Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t anything natural, and he had a hard time believing that human technology could create such a thing.

But, he did have extensive experience with unnatural black creatures, many of which took the shape of something from human society. The only problem with that theory, though, was that in his time on the island, he hadn’t seen any of the other signs of Shadows. There was no nightly Dark Hour, no bizarre tower rose out of the ground, nobody was suddenly becoming a listless zombie.

Still, there was one final test he could do to see if the Shadows were crossing over into this place...

When he get back to his room after the announcement, he tightly locked the door and closed the blinds over the window. He went over to his still half-full duffle bag and dug under the clothes and things still in it, opening up a secret pocket and pulling out a bright silver handgun and a red armband. He stared at the armband for a moment before sliding it up his arm, the acronym “S.E.E.S.” now showing on his upper left arm. Man, who thought I’d be needing this here?

Akihiko took in a deep breath and let it out. With the gun in his left hand, he pointed it at his forehead from below, firmly said “Persona!” and pulled the trigger.

CLICK

He pulled it again.

CLICK

...so, it seemed it couldn’t summon Caeser here. For better or for worse, that meant that the Shadows weren’t involved in whatever was happening here. Which was probably a good thing for the nineteen other vacationers, but Akihiko couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that his only lead was a dead end.

Walking back to the corner his duffle sat in, he slid the armband off and stick it with the gun back into the secret pocket. He had a feeling he’d be reaching for that pocket again soon, though...if “murder” was the word of the week, having a handgun-like object on him just might save his life.