Things have certainly been quiet ever since Kaleidescape had been put on [ Safe Mode ]. While the new area has been on a… lower quality in comparison to the others, there had been plenty to explore, and even then, the hunt for clues expanded throughout all of Othello Isle.
Still, how long has it been since you’ve heard the chirp of Spec’s voice? While peace and quiet is more than welcomed, there is no way it could have been that. You know from past experience that it is never the case. Namika’s death is but one of the many evidences of that. The events leading up to her discovery have been nothing but strange, different from the usual memo regarding your deceased peers.
It’s tragic that there’s a backlog of murders, but you’re the one living it, witnessing every step of the way. It’s certainly repetitive enough for desensitization. Would there ever be an end to this?
You can only hope.
With the break of pattern with the glitch in the system, it’d be enough of a miracle if you can be guaranteed freedom from this cursed game. Though, that’d have to wait because it was back to routine for you.
“Miss me~? You know the drill.”
Spec’s voice crackles through the speaker. Smug as always, but you can’t help but detect there’s exhaustion creeping underneath his upbeat tone. They were right though. You do know what to do. Off to Paletton Lighthouse you go.
If it were any other motive, Tadao wouldn't do this. Or, at least, that's what they were telling themself. After all, there were probably government secrets involved with their own. Probably - they weren't sure about the exact wording that would have been used, or how much detail. Furthermore, they didn't want their mom and brother to know.
Once Asuta lets them go on the first day, they make their way to the other lodge, trying to locate their new partner as soon as possible.
"Horus. Horus." They repeat blankly in an attempt to get the other's attention. "Horus if it is okay with you, I would like to do a betrayal."
Horus’s looks at Tadao as if they’d just announced what they were planning to do for lunch. “Yah, sure thing.” He gives a cheery thumbs up. “It’s level one so I’ll be fine, go for it.”
Once Horus confirms it's alright with him, Tadao presses the betray button.
Though the lights on Horus’s and Tadao’s colors changed immediately, it took Asuta a little longer than usual to make his way to the site of the betrayal. To no one’s surprise or appreciation, he was still wearing his bloodied vest. Whether he was busy doing something else first or not was up for debate.
What WAS surprising, however, was the small knapsack in his hand, which he jostled around just enough to hear the faint tinking of glass bumping into each other.
“Yeah, so, I didn’t actually NEED to come here in person but I wanted to flex a bit.”
Asuta shook that bag once more.
“These are your ‘essential’ oils, Zebra, and I’ll be taking these during the motive. There will be none of that today or the next or until whenever somebody kills, so sucks to be you, I guess. Tadpole’s benefit, though, I’ll just whisper that all quiet like since it’s not something physical.”
Asuta covered the sides of his mouth with his hands and whispered into Tadao’s ear quickly, before giving a thumbs up gesture. He quickly pulled out his tablet and pressed a button, before speaking into it. The PA system turned on.
“Hey sooooo… I know it’s SUPER quick and all, but I have another secret for everybody in lodge two, so the people living in it better get their hineys over there right now!!”
With a small wink, he skipped off towards the lodge. Tadao follows him after giving Horus a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.
Horus looks on aghast. “... Did an eight year old just yoink a hundo bucks of essentials as a flex?”
This motive, in Aite’s opinion wasn’t that bad. Yeah Aite didn’t want their secrets to get out, but not bad enough to hit the betray button. Even if Kiryuu was a garbage loser, Aite didn’t want to maim them. That wasn’t their deal. You couldn’t just cut one of your rivals arms off like that. Aite would worry about Kiryuu betraying them to save their numerous secrets that Aite knew they had hidden away, but what kind of idiot would betray you after you just poisoned them? That was a part of the reason they did it. Aite could never trust Kiryuu if a motive came along that would push one of their buttons to ditch the good guy image. Kiryuu wasn’t a good guy, even with how much Aite called them one as a joke. Now, there was a much smaller chance that kiryuu would be stupid. Then, the collar turned red “.. The fuck?”.
“OHOHO!!!”
Asuta interjected with a loud and boisterous laugh. He tapped on his tablet and scrolled down, giggling with excitement all the while.The two hour mark had yet to hit, only fifteen minutes prior to the anonymous list was to be revealed.
“Heeeeyyy…. Aiteter Tot, do you know how many betrayals that makes? Huh? Huh? Do you remember?”
“Three?” Asuta was basically a genius. There was a zero percent chance Aite’s barely held attempt to lie about it was going to work, but they might as well try right? Yeah that wasn’t going to work out so Aite decided to take another route. The anarchist had no idea how to fight, nor could they possibly fight Asuta. However their choices were somewhat limited right now. Asuta was faster, stronger, and had a shock collar. Running was impossible. So they reached behind their back and grabbed their Hunga Munga. “Asuta let’s talk about this. You think I am funny right? You wouldn’t want to hurt the funny one?” They held out the Munga in front of them as they backed into a wall. The weapon in their hand was shaking as they trembled, and their eyes were wide with panic. Sweat began to bead on their skin and their breathing became rapid. What was Asuta going to do to them? There was no choice but to do something! So they did, and swung their Hocus Pocus at them, in the worst way one could swing a weapon without hurting yourself.
“Nope. One…. two…. Three…. Four! This time, you’re going to be losing something you find SUPER important. So hey, since like…. ALL of you dweebs are here right now, if any of you attempt to interfere, I’ll have to shock you unconscious. But don’t worry, they won’t die! I know what I’m doing.”
If any character attempted to interfere, Asuta followed through with his promise and shocked them. Feel free to include this in any reaction if you so choose.
[CW: Eye trauma, needles]
Asuta tapped a button, which caused a shock to pulse through Aite’s body. They collapsed to the ground, unable to move. He then proceeded to reach into his back pocket and removed a syringe with a cap on it.
“So I’m not an absolute monster, you know. Just like with the stab, I’ll be treating it and making sure this goes 100% perfect. I shocked you so you can’t squirm, cause that will make this SO much harder. Uh… Anybody who’s super squeamish should go hide in their rooms now,” he waved his hand to shoo them off, “but I don’t know just what to take! Eenie, meenie, miney… Oh!! I got it! Aite. [Eye.] HAHA! Man, I am HILARIOUS! Ok then.”
Asuta pinned Aite to the floor with his knee and grabbed a hold of their arm, injecting it with fluid. Presumably, this was an anesthetic. He checked the time on his tablet for a little while, waiting one minute, two minutes, three minutes… How many? It was awhile that he sat there, cleaning off some surgical tool with a towelette from a previously-sealed packet. There was… a pretty good chance he expected this possibility, actually, from how well-prepared he was to do this.
“That’s long enough for this to be pretty painless. Here goes!!”
With one hand, he pried the eyelids of Aite’s right eye open, and with the other, he handled the tool and dug into their eye socket. It was horribly gruesome to watch, as quick as the process was. With a dexterous hand, pop! Asuta got it out in one piece. Of course, this wasn’t a bloodless process, and both Aite AND Asuta suffered the casualty of clean clothing.
It was just… too tough to watch as Asuta finished up his work, with whatever it was he was up to to stop the bleeding. Though as prepared as the kid was, he didn’t have enough room in his pockets to carry gauze or bandages, so he stood up and pulled out the first aid kit in the kitchen to handle that much.
“I’ll take the first aid kit with me and replace the one here in about an hour so it’s still stocked up, got it?”
He announced, finalizing the wrapping before washing his hands in the sink.
[/CW]
“I’M DONE!!! You can come out now!! To put a nail in the coffin, I’m gonna reveal their secret now! You guys get this one too, since it’s level four. Sorano Amanjaku’s secret is…. Drumroll please… The whole ‘anarchy’ thing is a load of bullshit!! WOO! Sorano uses that as an excuse to ruin other peoples’ business as the heir of a huge company so they can get filthy rich and leave any and all rivals absolutely poor as hickity heckity! Basically, their form of ‘anarchy’ is having the freedom from government to ruin as many lives as possible, including one Kiryuu Mutou, for fun and for profit. Whatta sham!”
Asuta snickered as he dabbed off SOME of the blood on his jacket with a paper towel before sitting back down on the table.
Locked in a lodge at the behest of a pair of children, or someone more sinister threatening to reveal their captives’ tell-tale hearts. Kiryuu’s secrets were stored far, far away from the public eye. To continue the initial metaphor, they were buried so deep below the surface that the sound of its beating would never be heard. Unless, it had been dug up.
Many factors of this motive nagged at Kiryuu’s mind. First was the matter of how their overlords had even acquired such confidential information. So much technology, so much secrecy -- how had they had the means to break past all of that?
There’s only two hours Kiryuu, contemplate the specifics later
Kiryuu didn’t doubt that they would deliver on their promise. They had already exhibited their control enough times for Kiryuu to get the idea. To make matters worse, Kiryuu wouldn’t know which secret they would decide to reveal, and instead it would be fast tracked to the other lodge. To Aite. To the world. He couldn’t have that.
Kiryuu was selective with his secrets. Each piece of information was hidden for a reason. Precious lives, a counted amount of livelihoods, could be made vulnerable with one simple post. Even more so when Aite, and their *loyal* followers got a hold of the information. It would be a matter of when and not if. Aite had proven themselves to be past redemption. They couldn’t be trusted, not now, not ever. Kiryuu gently rubbed his neck. What truce worthy of attention was built on poisoning and destroying your partner’s faith in you?
He shifted in his seat upon the closed toilet, looking at the cubicle walls as he thought. They were already at the 4th stage of betrayal, egregious harm would follow if he pressed the button. Aite was stabbed last time, what would they do this time? What more could they take?
If he didn’t.. Either Aite would press the button, or his secret would eventually come to light and everyone would be made vulnerable.
But if he did press the button, his secret would be safe, *she* would be safe, Aite’s secret would be revealed, and they would be punished. No doubt they would try to betray them next round, provided they both made it to the next round. Or they would simply try to murder him outright. But it was a risk he was willing to take.
Kiryuu tapped the betrayal button and slid the ID back into his pocket. He watched as his collar shifted to blue and rearranged his scarf to completely conceal it. Then he stood, flushed the toilet he hadn’t used, and exited the cubicle, acting as though everything was alright.
Because everything was alright.
I will protect you,
Always and forever.
Kino raised an eyebrow at her tablet, tapped at the screen a couple of times, and glanced up a Kiryuu just in time for his return. So he was trying to hide what he’d done, hm? No matter. While she and Asuta were now bound by the rules to keep his deepest, darkest secret under wraps, there was no such obligation in place preventing her from exposing his efforts at subtlety. Trust and betrayal was a public affair in this place - after all, the collars changing colour served a purpose beyond mere appearances.
“How interesting. It would appear that Kiryuu Mutou has decided his partner’s safety is less important than keeping his secrets. Given the current betrayal level, one of the consequences for them will be grievous physical harm. A pity that they’re locked in with Asuta, really. I can only imagine what he’s going to do with them, but that’s hardly any concern for those of you currently in this lodge. As this is a betrayal at the fourth level, we will be revealing Sorano Amanjaku’s secret not only to you, but the others as well.”
She briefly flicked through something on her tablet, letting the uncomfortable silence take over for a couple of moments before she revealed the secret.
"Sorano Amanjaku, the heir of a large company, only cares about anarchy as a cover for ruining various other businesses so they may acquire more wealth for themself and leave anyone they consider a rival destitute. To them, anarchy is nothing more than the desire to ruin as many lives as possible for little more than profit and entertainment - and they are particularly invested in ruining the livelihood of Kiryuu Mutou."
There wasn’t much fanfare celebrating the reveal. Kino just returned to her tablet and shifted her position so that its screen was not remotely viewable by any of you. After a couple minutes, she looked back up - not smiling, yet somehow less stony than usual.
“I’m certain they’ll be thrilled to see you after this, Kiryuu Mutou.”
The members of Lodge 2 gathered their bearings and made themselves as comfortable as possible. Kiku, Naomi, Tadao, Aite, Jasper, and Kaguya. That made six people total, far below half of the amount of people who originally entered. Though there were seven others across the river, being in a group this small emphasized the dwindling numbers and added on a layer of despair.
Asuta opened the front door to the lodge and allowed himself in, tapping some buttons on his tablet. Kaguya’s collar shifted white for a moment, the sign of a partner being reassigned. Before explaining, he went through the effort of dragging the coffee table from in front of the couch to the center of the room and stood on top of it to give himself a height advantage.
“OK!! Like you just saw, Kaggy’s got a partner this time!! She’s going to be with Inky for this motive.”
He nodded firmly. Seemed like he changed Ika’s nickname. How often would that be happening, hm? He tapped another button on his tablet.
“For the next two hours, you’re going to be locked in here, WOO! Why? Because I’m giving you two hours to betray NOW and completely save yourself from the motive. Appealing, right?!?! In two hours, I’m going to reveal the secrets of EVERY Slim Shady in lodge one without revealing their names. Liiiikeee…. ‘Person A… Murdered someone in the past!’ Or whatever. So you’ll know all the dirty details without knowing who that belongs too.’Oh but that’s not scary Asuta,’ you say. ‘Nobody will know it’s me,’ you say!!”
Asuta smirked and scrolled through a screen on his tablet. Whatever it was, the color of the light shifted ever so slightly over time. So it was something moving? A video, maybe?
“Once per day, though, I’m gonna ‘eenie meenie miney mo’ a secret and add a name in, so you know EXACTLY who’s secret it is! If you betray during these two hours, Kino will never say your secret at ALL, even without your name attached to it. Buuuuutt…. If you wait, and betray AFTER the two hours are up, we just put your secret at the bottom of the pile, so it’ll be revealed eventually. Also, your partner’s secret will be revealed immediately after that…. Oh yeah!! And when we add your name to the secret, we’re gonna post all that juicy, dirty detail online so everyone around the world can see exactly what you did. So… What’ll it be, losers?”
He turned off his tablet display before tucking it into his pocket and crossing his arms. What would you do from here? How would you even approach this? Was it worth it?
Those of you designated as living in Lodge 1 made your way there sooner than later, whether you liked it or not. Keiko, Kyoda, Keahi, Shiloh Lee, Horus, Kiryuu, and Ika. Seven people - a pittance compared to the ten of you who had been summoned to either side during the first motive. You still had a numerical advantage over those in the other lodge by one, but that was hardly comforting. Try as you might to believe otherwise, your last attempts to fight the system had failed. There was always that sense of hopelessness hanging in the air, that no matter what you did, the vicious cycle of death would continue.
Kino entered the lodge shortly after, tapping deliberately at a few buttons on her tablet. Keiko’s collar briefly flashed white as the girl made her way into the middle of the room and gestured for everyone to take a seat.
“There is an uneven number of participants remaining. Keiko Satonaka has been arbitrarily selected to be the individual who will spend the duration of the motive without a partner. She is thus immune from being betrayed, though this comes at the cost of being at the mercy of Asuta’s whims.”
Presumably her own as well, but she would never say it that way. She pressed another button on her tablet.
“I’m certain you are all aware of why I am here by now. The time has come once again for us to present you with a new motive, and frankly this one is rather straightforward. Simply put, we know all of your deepest, darkest secrets. Something you don’t want to become public knowledge, whether that applies to here or to the world as a whole. You will be confined to this lodge for the next two hours. Should you choose to betray your partner during this time, your secret will remain a secret. After those two hours are up, Asuta will reveal all of those secrets to everyone in the other lodge - unless, of course, you have betrayed your partner before then. You may be thinking that this is an unreasonably short amount of time to think and act, but rest assured we have a contingency in place.”
She tapped another button on her tablet and began scrolling through what was presumably some sort of list, judging by the slightly shifting colours.
“The secrets will not have any of your names attached to them - not at first, anyways. Every day, we will select a secret to put a name to. Once that secret has a name put to it, it will be publicized not only to all of you, but to the world as a whole. Of course, you will still be able to betray during this time, but it will not prevent your secret from being revealed. We will simply move it to the end of the rotation, and doing so will result in your partner’s secret being revealed immediately. If you do not want your secret to be revealed to the world, you have the option to betray, or to kill before yours is unveiled. The choice is yours.”
She finished scrolling and pocketed the tablet, staring at each of you in turn as if she could see into the deepest recesses of your souls. The odds that she was bluffing were slim to none, and even if they weren’t, was it really a chance worth taking?
Three days came and went, as per the usual. Even though it was much hard than usual to pinpoint where exactly the intercoms were located, that familiar click of activation sounded. It was Asuta’s voice this time, loud and clear. Especially loud.
“DOOT DOOT DOODUDUDOO get up, goldfishies. If you’re sleeping in a lodge that’s not your own, you have fifteen minutes to get out and go to the living are of the lodge your supposed to be in, got it? And bring your stuff with you, since you won’t be allowed inside the opposite lodge anymore!! Only your own. Too bad so sad for all you partners still alive!”
Clack. Just like that, the announcement was over. You get up and get yourself ready, heading into the common area of your lodge. Just what would it be this time, huh? What kind of division? Would there be enough to be worth betraying?
It was a sluggish walk, despite the beautiful fake sunshine outside.
how can the world turn with you gone from it? | nayeli | chapter 4 | bodies
[cw: swears ]
She’s been laying low for a while, lurking around on her wheelchair and trying to just.. calm down and let her anger towards.. well, everyone, seep out of her bones. She hated this island, she hated most of the people on this island, and she hated this.. killing game. She hated the motives, but everyone hated those. They likely hated everything she hated right now. Being summoned after the motive made her stomach drop in anxiousness- she was fearful of what may happen to people.
Spec was.. being an asshole, as per usual, as she rolled her way to the body discovery location, her heart heavy as she moved, though she couldn’t help looking forward to being able to move her legs again. (Cruel thoughts settled as she struggled to push away all her grievances to Hinoe- she couldn’t help it, being mad at them for taking her legs and Nao’s arm, it wasn’t fair and she was fit to-)
Ah.
Banri.
Well… it could have been worse, right?
Haha.
She didn’t like him anyway.
Ha.
God, Nayeli, since when did you become such an asshole? Nana didn’t raise you like that. Think of Yoshika- that’s his boyfriend, and-.. now he’s dead. Imagine if it was Nao, or Nana, or Himiko- Jesus. You’re cruel.
She mouths an apology though dry lips, her head begins to pound. She wants to move and start investigating but-.. there’s another body. She feels cold. Another body? Another.. body?
“O-only.. one pe-per-person.. had to d..” she can’t even spit the word out, holding it between her teeth because it just.. doesn’t seem like it’s real yet.
So she follows with the rest to see who it is. Who died. Who was so cruel to murder two people? It sickened her, and she could barely breathe as they got closer, and closer and-..
Her heart skipped so many beats she didn’t feel like she was alive.
On the ground. Nao. Nao Saotome. Her friend- her best friend, her closest friend here, he understood, he understood, he UNDERSTOOD- fuck, she remembers their conversation like the words were tattoos on her brain- she remembers the weakness, the vulnerability, and-..
His expression catches her, pained, and her heart feels like it’s being ripped out of her chest. She can hardly bare it as she pushes herself from her wheelchair, collapsing onto the floor, tears are falling from her eyes and she doesn’t even feel them- she doesn’t feel anything, she feels like she’s falling into a dark abyss of nothingness, and she’ll never leave this island- she wishes that it was her on the ground, dead, but she’d never wish that kind of pain on Nao- but she didn’t want him to be dead- not like this, not looking like he had died in a struggle, in pain.
“..Nao..” She whispers, having pulled herself closer to his dead body, her hand shaking as she reaches to take his, but she doesn’t care, she doesn’t care, he understood and the burn isn’t there, it doesn’t hurt as much because her heart hurts so much more.
“You’re ok-okay- you’re okay, you’re.. you’ll be okay, you’ll be okay..” She murmurs to him, like she truly believes it, her heart breaks like her voice does, she swallows and tries to keep convincing herself that this is all a terrible nightmare.
“We’re g-go-going.. we’ll.. we’ll go back to the Car-car-Car-car-..ha..haha.. Wa-wake up, I m-..mis-.. I miss you- ha-.. hah..”
She can’t even finish her sentence, because the sobs rip through her like an explosion, as she stays on the ground beside him, holding onto his stiff hand like it’s a lifeline.
