Please Don't Yell At Me

As soon as she’d pressed the button to betray her best friend and get out of the cell, Kiku had known it would come to this. It’s why she did it in the first place, after all. She had panicked about what could happen to Keahi if the time limit expired, or even if ey were just left on eir own around the other people who could hurt em. Ey had gotten hurt anyway, and it had probably been her fault, but something worse could’ve happened if she hadn’t done that, right…? She just wanted to protect her best friend. Even then, though, staring at the knife in her hand that Kino had given her was surreal. 

It was a normal kitchen knife, she’s held plenty before, but it felt like the heaviest object in the world. She didn’t want to do this, but she had to. She’d already messed up so bad, ey’d been hurt because of her, so she had to do something. It wasn’t even just for Keahi, it was for Keahi’s mom, and all those other innocent people, and fuck, even Naomi and Possumhead. None of them deserved to be executed over nothing like that, she didn’t want any of them to die! The only person she wanted to die right now was…

“Just… stand over there,” she said with a strained voice, using the knife to point to the far end of the classroom, by the hypothetical teacher’s desk. “Okay, Ika?” 

Despite the fact that Kiku had been visibly holding a knife, Ika hadn’t caught on whatsoever to what was about to happen. To his knowledge, he was just about to play a game with his good pal Kiku! He waddled over next to the desk, still peering at Kiku and her pointy friend curiously. Ika wasn’t supposed to touch those, but he’s sure other people having them is okay.

“Alright! Like this? That’s a silly way to play hide and seek, Ika thinks, haha.” …What’s with him and thinking that everything was hide and seek?

“Y-yeah…” God, this was so easy it was heartbreaking. Ika definitely would’ve died soon anyway, though, right? Like, look at him. There’s no way this kid is living past 17. Honestly, it’s a good thing that she’s helping him go out peacefully and not, like, on fire or drowning or whatever. “Just, uh… t-turn around… towards the wall.” Nope, none of that helped her feel any less like scum right now… 

Ika just chirped a cheerful “Okay!” and shuffled around, facing the wall now. “Oh, so is Ika the seeker, maybe? Does he need to count while Ms. Kiku hides?” 

Kiku gritted her teeth. This was the worst. Barring when she thought that Keahi was dead yesterday, this was the worst she’s ever felt in her life. She takes deep, steadying breaths as she works up the courage to walk up behind Ika. She knows, logically, that this is the right decision; letting so many people die by doing nothing was basically unforgivable. That didn’t make it any easier, though…

She didn’t answer Ika’s question. Making him count down to it would just be fucking cruel. So in silence, with shaking hands, she approaches the penguin researcher. She slowly raises the knife up and- No, no, she can’t, she takes several steps away and almost tosses the knife into the corner, but…

She reorients herself. It was either him or Keahi and over a dozen others. This was obvious. It had to be done… 

“Miss Kiku…?” Ika asked again without turning around.

The urge to fill the idle hours of the day with some form of productive work sent Kiryuu on an expedition around the facility. He’d already seen all of the rooms while avoiding Aite but a second look around perhaps wouldn’t hurt. Why not learn something? Expanding one’s body of knowledge and skill set seemed a worthy pastime. Off Kiryuu went to the classroom, cradling his only companion: ‘a fucking brick’. He didn’t expect people to be in there. But then he also didn’t expect to have to aim his brick at someone any time soon. 

Yet here we are. And with a shout loud enough to be heard from the hall,

“DROP THE KNIFE, KIKU.” 

Kiryuu held his brick above his shoulder, poised and ready to throw at Kiku. 

“WH-!?” Kiku had been so focused, she got taken completely by surprise. She didn’t mean to drop it, but in the shock of being screamed at, she jumped slightly and it fumbled out of her hand. She scrambled with it while it was in mid-air to try and grab it again, but she ended up just slapping it downwards faster. Downwards…. right into her own foot. 

There was a brief moment of lucidity before the excruciating pain hits when a single thought managed to go through Kiku’s head: ‘Well. That isn’t good.’ Then, she was on the ground, screaming in pain, the knife being thoroughly dropped, and the only blood having been spilled being her’s, not Ika’s. 

“Miss Kiku? Can Ika turn around yet?” Ika meanwhile hadn’t even turned around to look at any of this happening, and was just wondering what all the commotion was about. 

“FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK,” is what he got in response. Actually, scratch that, he also got an “AHHHHHHHH,” so that helped explain things slightly, at least. Still, though, uh, not exactly conclusive. Hey, at least if Kiryuu’s shout from before hadn’t attracted any spectators, Kiku’s yelling sure as hell would have!

“Ika, come towards me.” Kiryuu’s tone was firm. He was still holding the brick in position and calculating where the closest first aid kit was. 

“Oh, alright!” Ika doesn’t know what’s going on, but Kiku doesn’t seem to be answering him in a way he can understand, so he sorta side steps her slowly, shuffling towards the sound of Kiryuu’s voice without actually turning away from the wall. He bumps into the table next to him, but manages not to trip over Kiku and fall into the knife himself.

Kiku was just barely cognizant of the fact Kiryuu was there and was the reason her plan to save everyone (including him???) had failed, and while the shame and anger were already there and starting to mix together in uncomfortable ways she hadn’t expected until after her task was achieved, she was still mostly focused on the pain. Getting stabbed involved… a lot of pain. 

If any sort of crowd had gathered, Kino pushed her way through it almost effortlessly to get to the scene. Rather than pay any sort of mind to the wounded party, she simply reached down, secured her grip on the knife, yanked it out, and wiped it off on a cloth procured from her sleeve.

“Apologies, Kiku Fukui, but as your murder attempt has backfired I will be repossessing the knife you requested. If you wish to try again, you are welcome to contact us again later.”

Kiku had been too scared to leave her room for the entirety of the seventh day. She was sure that she’d be the first one. She was the easiest target, small, weak, and unlikable. She was positive, and she was terrified. Most of the day, she’d just been hiding under the covers, not even confident enough in her ability to defend herself to get food. All she could do was wait. If she hid, no one could get to her, right? Except no, not right. She was scared anyway. 

She was lying awake in bed when it happened. She hadn’t been getting any sleep for the past day or so, but the announcement jolted her wide awake. She didn’t even pause to get properly dressed, she jumped out of her bunk with just a t-shirt and some loose pajama bottoms on, clutching her hip-bag tightly with her normally-obscured hand as she headed to the scene of the crime. She didn’t even really care about the dirt on her bare feet, given that if the motive truly was over, she’d be able to get cleaned soon. God, she was never taking showers for granted again. 

The glass was really gone. Holy shit. Maybe… maybe… When she reached the lounge, her heart was pounding in her chest. Was Keahi around? Ey were, ey were standing right there! Right next to… some girl. So then it wasn’t a prank. It wasn’t another trick those kids were playing on her to rile her up or put her in more danger. 

Kiku breathed in deeply and then sighed loudly with relief. Thank god this was fucking over. She had Keahi again, she had real food again, and she had fucking soap again. Not only that, but the dead person wasn’t even from the south side, so when someone inevitably tried making it out like she had something to do with it (because people were always picking on her, especially around here), she had a perfect alibi. All in all, this was the absolute best case scenario.