Digital Deadlock

Well then, this whole therapy session idea went south to literally no one’s surprise. Gemini just sort of sat there, answered a question or two, and listened. He wasn’t disturbed much, as he drank from his mighty tall mug and watched the chaos.

Although, there was another purpose behind all this besides just trying to get him out of cleaning up blood later. “Alright asshats, no need to get violent right now, because I got a little present for y’all.” Coming from Gemini, that sounded ominous. Just don’t let it be another motive.

“I actually opened up the newest area for ya. That way you can solve all your lover quarrels there.” What in the world does he mean? “Go on, go look.”

Reluctantly you all decided to go find the newly opened gate. Traveling down the path- Oh you got to be fucking kidding.

That’s what he meant?!

A dating simulator park?

Why Gemini....? Why are you like this? Why did you have to turn this into a horrible joke?

Oh god, is that 24 Hour Cinderella? Yep. It is.

Lovely.

Mikael watched as the flying death trap exploded. He couldn't avert his gaze; he shouldn't, because he owed to her, because they all owed it to her, to watch her final moments. She had been betrayed by the one person just about everyone else thought they could trust, and tricked into killing three people.

They had condemned her to death, and owed it to her to witness the finality - the cruelty of their vote.

Three cases in, and he still wasn't used to this. This was nothing like the death he'd brought about. This was torture, plain and simple. He had stopped interacting with Masumi once her aggression to the rest of the class reared its head. He had chosen to withdraw from everyone, not wanting to interact with people so volatile.

Had he really known her, in the end?

It was difficult to mourn for a person he didn't understand. It ached, but it wasn't hurting because Masumi had passed. He mourned for the death of the girl who only wished to live up to her father's name - the father who was now dead. How many more people would die? Was justice worth chasing, if it meant that everyone would perish in the end?

He would never voice these thoughts out loud. He was still needed. Even if the whole world knew that he was falling apart, he would never admit to it. If he repeated the lie enough, it would eventually become a truth, wouldn't it?

The execution ended with a blast that shook the room. He could feel tears gathering in his eyes, not because he was upset, but out of frustration and exhaustion. Time had lost meaning, having been forced to stay awake over the course of this trial, but now that it was over, everything came crashing back down.

 After the long and draining trial, Gemini finally holds up his hand and looks around the room before pressing a button on his throne. He stands up and looks at everyone as the room begins to rumble a bit. “Alright, the majority of you voted for Masumi Hoshikawa the SHSL Astronomer as the killer of Akane Ahmiya the SHSL A.R.G Host, Iezane Koisaki the SHSL Soccer Player, and Grigory Chalvinchi the SHSL Survivor. And the majority of you were correct! Time for her punishment.”

Without warning, he walks over to the fragile girl and picks her up. “Normally this would be done automatic, but if we used any of those methods on her, she might die before she has a chance to get in her punishment.” With that he pats his gun on his side, as he swings her over his shoulder. “Nobody try anything or you won’t like the outcome.” 

With that he shifts her on his shoulder and walks to the edge of the courtroom, where a wall is opening up. He salutes towards everyone and walks through before disappearing into the shadows. Several minutes pass as you wait in anticipation. Some of you might’ve tried to follow him, if the opening hadn’t closed a few seconds after he disappeared through it. 

Finally after what seems like an eternity a T.V screen flicks on, showing the terrified Astronomer’s face, front and center. She seems to be strapped into a chair, of some kind of contraption, small lights flicker on and off on the walls around her. A window lies above her, looking up at the night sky, the stars, twinkling like normal, the beauty of space on show for all to see.

And then the camera zooms out a bit, and it’s clear that she’s in some sort of makeshift rocket ship. It looks patched together, and it’s pretty clear it’d never work completely, there’s no way this would make it into the atmosphere. A few seconds pass, and without any warning, the rockets on the bottom start up, and the ship begins to rumble uncontrollably, ready to shoot into the sky.

Tears begin to stream down the Astronomer’s face, it’s completely evident that she looks absolutely terrified. There aren’t even straps on her to keep her in place, this machine is clearly a bucket of bolts, pretty much a death trap for anybody who gets inside it. 

Finally after a few more seconds of waiting the rockets kick off, propelling the ship into the air, the force of the launch can be clearly seen and felt by the astronomer, she... she’s too fragile for this! The G-force acting on her, is too much, and suddenly a few loud snaps can be heard as her bones creak, and break, causing her to cry out in pain. 

Through the glass window, and through the pain, Masumi looks up at the sky... her eyes watering, everything is in agony... and yet... a small look of peace crosses her face as she goes further into the sky... At least she can die among the stars... 

BOOM

Before anyone can really process what just happened, the entire ship explodes into flames, covering the sky... a crack appears... before a portion of what looks like a ceiling crumbles open revealing the deception the execution had been working towards this entire time. She’d never been outside, she’d been in a dome that had been painted to look like the outside, it looks like no matter what, she’d never make it to the stars. 

Masumi Hoshikawa the SHSL Astronomer has been successfully executed

Your vote has been tallied.

Killer of Akane Ahmiya (6:30):

Masumi Hoshikawa - 6

Beatrice Burdock - 1

Killer of Iezane Koisaki:

Masumi Hoshikawa - 6

Luigi P. Gandenza - 1

Killer of Grigory Chalvinchi

Masumi Hoshikawa - 6

Your vote has been tallied.

Killer of Akane Ahmiya (6:30):

Masumi Hoshikawa - 5

Beatrice Burdock - 1

Killer of Iezane Koisaki:

Masumi Hoshikawa - 5

Luigi P. Gandenza - 1

Killer of Grigory Chalvinchi

Masumi Hoshikawa - 5

You are only hurting yourself Greg, so please

"<What does it matter? Do you even care?>" He responds to Kuno in German, trying to put a buffer between his words and Yuna. Yuna can't see the weakness, he'll just exploit it and break Greg down further and Greg needed to stay in control. If could stay in control, then Yuna couldn't hurt him. If he hurts Yuna first, then Yuna can't hurt him.

It takes a few moments to actually get Greg away from Yuna. Kuno may be stronger than him, but Greg is determined. Kuno eventually succeeds, though, and him picking up Yuna like that is enough to stop Greg from trying to get back at the doomsdayer. He, does however, keep staring at Yuna, smiling with narrowed eyes as he notices the other look back at him.

Greg's not sure if it's a relief or not when Yuna's no longer conscious. Either way, the smile drops from his face. Yuna can't hurt Greg like this, but he was also the only one actually paying attention to Greg. Everything hurts and he just wants it to stop, wants everything to go away.

"<I don't care what happens to me. I don't care what he does. I know now that I was right about the world all along. You're just going to hurt me, too.>"

He was so sick of all the intrusions. Each new teen whining up and pitching their own individual sob stories grated at his nerves, before just sliding away from his mind. Ignored. Kuno was the last to intervene, and at the fingers around his neck, he had a very witty comment prepared about whether or not Kuno had just wanted the choking pleasure to himself. The grip was too tight though, he couldn’t speak.

This was definitely an original threat. If it could be called a threat. Getting rid of his pain sensory? He couldn’t care that much. Sure, it’d be sad to be unfeeling, but that’d just spur on his cruelty, and push his drive to destroy further. His eyes slide away from Kuno’s face, despite being brought close to him. His head was fuzzy, the lack of oxygen dizzying as he was dangling there. 

His eyes found Greg’s for a second. Scanning the rich boy over, as if affirming to himself that the power hungry man surely was the same one he believed to have fooled. Nice, it was nice. He was sorry to think he didn’t see it coming, and that he’d have to reevaluate his view of Greg as an emotional weenie. His gaze lingers, before refocusing on Kuno in time to give a mad laugh as his head makes contact with Kuno’s. He slumps down quickly enough, the head slam was just enough to knock him out. Though previously painted with malice, in his slumber his face evened out to a calm peace, making it almost hard to connect this Yuna with the explosive one from a few seconds earlier. 

As Kuno hugged both Akira and Masumi, he finally realized that the whole situation with Yuna was starting to get out of hand. Not only was Greg trying to choke the other boy a harsh sight, but so was Beatice struggling to fight a losing battle. In a matter of minutes, Yuna was already destroying people.

This had to stop.

After discreetly releasing himself from his group hug, Kuno walked over to where Greg and Yuna were having their spat. What's scary was how calm the German appeared to be and just how unreadable his expression was. Just what was he going to do?

"That is enough." Kuno said as he took hold of Greg's arm, having a surprisingly grip on him. "You are only hurting yourself Greg, so please," He then forcefully removed Greg from Yuna and pushed him away. "Stop." Sorry Greg, Kuno does it out of care for you.

Once Greg was at a safe distance, Kuno turned his attention back to Yuna, noting the small details of the real him. The blood on his face... The malicious look in his eyes... that sickingly sweet smile on his face. To think such a person was right under their noses.

"I can see that you are truly a sick individual who cares not for anyone or anything. Not even yourself it seems. A shame really, if you did, you might actually be worth all the anger you have been receiving. But your not." He said, his expression still unreadable. "That being said, I am only going to warn you this one time..."

Kuno closed his eye and let out a long breathe. When he finally opened it back up, Kuno Waechter became an entirely different man. The cold, unrelenting glare Kuno was now giving Yuna looked like it came out of a horror movie. Who was this man? Surely this isn't the Kuno everyone has come to known.

In a flash, Kuno's own hand grabbed onto Yuna's neck, lifting him up to meet the much taller boy's eye. The grip Kuno had on the smaller boy looked so tight, his hand was almost shaking. "If I ever see you causing any sort of trouble for the rest of us, I will guarantee you that you will pay for each every wrong doing you've ever caused us so far." He said in an alarmingly calm and low voice before bringing Yuna's face close to his own.

"I won't kill you, that is far more than you could ever deserve. Instead, I will make sure you never feel ounce of pain. Ever." Yep. Kuno can do that if need be. "Once I finish with you, I will make sure you live a long long life where you can watch everyone live a happy fulfilling life without any thought or cares for you. You'll die alone and long after the world has forgotten you. You'll be the same as you are now. Nothing."

After finishing his talking to Kuno quickly leaned his head back and bashed Yuna's head with his own, knocking the boy out. That should keep him down for a while. Once Yuna had gone limp, Kuno tossed him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and turned to face the others.

"No more trying to attack him, you'll only be giving him what he wants. He takes pleasure in knowing that he's getting to you, so do yourselves a favor and don't even bother with him. He's not worth even a once of your time or attention."

"And I have it." His voice is low as he responds, almost a growl. Even he doesn't know how much of this is true and how much of this is an act. It feels good, having this power, getting these reactions, receiving this attention. He'll do anything to keep that attention.

"A little bit of both." He grins, gripping Yuna's neck tighter.

Beatrice addressing the two of them draws him away from the tunnel-vision attention he'd been paying to Yuna. He wasn't aiming to kill Yuna, no. He wouldn't get rid of him now that he was finally getting the attention he'd craved all along. It was evident that only Yuna was going to provide that attention. Only him. 

"I already know that and I do not care." While he is obviously addressing Beatrice, his eyes only flick away from Yuna's face for a second, where they'd been focused on the blood from the re-opened wound.

When Kuno tripped her, Beatrice went down hard, falling at the foot of Yuna's podium. There was a sharp pain in her head too--had she hit it on a podium? She brought a hand up to the crown of her head and groaned, sitting back up. "Fuck," she said quietly, shooting a glare at Kuno and flipping him off. She'd confront him later. But more importantly...

"Fuck you, stop ignoring me!" she shouted at Yuna and Greg. Greg's hands were around Yuna's neck, but it didn't seem to be doing much, not to mention that he was participating in witty banter instead of ripping Yuna's throat out. "You don't get to just--kill my friends and brush me off!" And shit, she was actually crying again. Partially because her head hurt, but more because she felt completely and utterly useless. 

"At least use both of your hands," she hissed, putting a hand on the podium in an attempt to pull herself up. She didn't feel very good. Falling had taken most of the fight out of her, but with it came some form of clarity. "I don't think he can do a fucking thing after this anyway," she spat at Greg. "No one's going to cooperate with him, and he'll be the first suspect if anything happens." Greg's flirting or whatever the hell was annoying her too, but he wasn't Yuna, and right now that made him some sort of ally.

“Only idiots want power. I fucking demand it." His smile doesn't falter, a slight twitch of the eye at the upset in the choking. Yuna regarded Greg with a new air of interest, reading him as if he was a particularly dull novel that had finally started to pick up. Oh this was fun, this was really fun.

"Gh—" He makes a small choking noise as his throat is grabbed, voice growing tighter with strain. He makes absolutely no move to pry Greg's hands off, one still twirling the tie boredly, the other trailing up Greg's arms, "That a fucking pick up line or a promise?" he says, as if he has to makeup for three chapters worth of acting dumb with as many vulgar, crude things he can stuff into one conversation

No one had stopped him after all. No one had reacted. No one cared, no one cared, no one cared, no one cared, no one cared, no one cared,

"Yes, I get it, you are a piece of human garbage, blah blah blah." Yet another eyeroll accompanies that statement, Greg's only reaction to Yuna grabbing his tie and pulling him down. Yuna's the only one who noticed, who was paying attention. He said he doesn't care, but he was reacting, and as long as Greg gave him something to react to, he would keep reacting, and then Greg could at least pretend.

"You already know what I have done to get what I want, and that's all I want in life - money, and the power that comes from it."

He wants to turn away, to look at Kuno, Mikael, anyone. He wants one of them to help, to get him away, but no one does. No one cares. No one cares. No one...

Your vote has been tallied.

Killer of Akane Ahmiya (6:30):

Masumi Hoshikawa - 4

Beatrice Burdock - 1

Killer of Iezane Koisaki:

Masumi Hoshikawa - 4

Luigi P. Gandenza - 1

Killer of Grigory Chalvinchi

Masumi Hoshikawa - 4

He had voted, in silence.

It hurt. He knew from the moment they identified that note that Masumi was involved. He had trusted Akira, trusted that the Seiyuu knew what he was saying - believed that Yuna was suspicious, and look where they had ended up.

They were going to lose Little Moon this round.

Yuna... he hadn't trusted the teen. But he knew others did. And to think that someone like him would survive to the next round... how laughable. He wanted to cry, to scream, to laugh - but he couldn't. He couldn't lose his composure. He had to keep himself together.

Because if he didn't, then what?

It hurt, so much more than he thought it would. Like a hot knife to an open wound, but so, so much worse. Pain upon pain- did he have to? Yes, he did. He'd remember this for the rest of his life. 

He had thought he hated Grigory. Apparently, that was wrong. Sure, he'd killed more than a few people because of petty revenge, but this? He hated Yuna more than he hated anyone else.

It would fester.

He'd let it fester.

But for now... there were people who needed him. Him, as in, Mikael. Not the rage, the pain, and the hate. He could deal with those at a later time.

Your vote has been tallied.

Killer of Akane Ahmiya (6:30):

Masumi Hoshikawa - 4

Killer of Iezane Koisaki:

Masumi Hoshikawa - 4

Killer of Grigory Chalvinchi

Your vote has been tallied.

Killer of Akane Ahmiya (6:30):

Masumi Hoshikawa - 3

Killer of Iezane Koisaki:

Masumi Hoshikawa - 3

Killer of Grigory Chalvinchi

Your vote has been tallied.

Killer of Akane Ahmiya (6:30):

Masumi Hoshikawa - 2

Killer of Iezane Koisaki:

Masumi Hoshikawa - 2

Killer of Grigory Chalvinchi