#bdb2a

As you tailed after the exorcist, you followed her down the flight of steps. The rest of the remaining students tailed after her, making their way down to the ground floor of the castle, and as you came from the stairwell, Aoiko veered off to the side. The students stood in the main hall, confusion present… there was nothing going on on the floor, but the voices were still present.

And as you realised, they came from outside. The next realisation was that the front gate was open, and that you could exit the castle. A collective sound of feet racing to the door was heard next, and you exited the castle, before halting as you saw Kumi standing a few feet in front of you, facing an unfamiliar, tall cat-girl. Her eyes were narrowed and she hissed at them, the ears on her head flattening.

Ears?

You didn’t have much time to dwell on what was happening, as Kumi summoned their dagger out of their sleeve, pointing it at the unfamiliar woman.

"Get away from me, you beast!”

She seemed to take offense to this and approached Kumi, her hand spreading and fingers flexing to reveal razor-sharp talons. Whatever she was, she definitely wasn’t a human. Humans didn’t have what appeared to be real cat ears or sharp talons. The least unusual part about her was that she was six foot five, which caused Kumi to appear even smaller when compared to her stature.

“Watch who you are calling beast, you fool.”

They narrowed their eyes, pointing the dagger at her.

“I am more powerful now. I’m going to hold my ground… and thusly, we shall settle this now. Let’s fight.”

The atmosphere of the trial room following the execution you just witnessed was heavy, Kumi’s eyes boring into you as you stood there. They got to their feet, no mocking applause given this time, and they seemed rather troubled as they spoke.

“Well, you know the drill. You… are all dismissed.”

They turned and began walking towards the door, however something was clearly up. Your ONIbooks did not ping as they usually did with maps of a new area, much like last week, and instead they were silent as you hesitantly stood up. The door to the courtroom had been left open, and as you made your way back to the castle, you could hear voices in the distance.

Voices? They were loud enough that you could hear them from even the third floor, despite the fact that they were clearly coming from one of the floors beneath you. What was going on?

Aoiko hurried out after the students, and without a word, she motioned for the students. Really, what was all of this about?

{tw: stabbing, blood,  scocophobia}

The Agent is pulled away. His hand grasping at the newly attached collar around his neck as he’s dragged into the darkness. Seems like perhaps… He wasn’t ready to die after all? There’s a substantial pause before the monitor in the room flickers on, flipping between a couple feeds of rooms- Rooms you’re familiar with. Rooms in the castle, like a security feed until it flickers into the Main Hall. The place where you’re all called for Kumi’s motive announcements. Empty. Dimly lit. But you can still see him.

[x]

Hanzo Onowai, SHSL Agent, stands alone in the center of the room non-chalant, his hands in his pockets. What would you expect, honestly? But he doesn’t move. A moment passes. Two moments. A third. Finally, Hanzo breaks his previous line of sight, turning his head to check the rest of the room. This was an execution, after all. Why was nothing happening? And just when he lifted his foot to pivot, a there was a sound. Like something hollow hitting something hard.

Hanzo turned, reaching up his sleeve and turning his body a full 180 as he tossed a needle, and the sound of it rebounding off the stone wall and skittering on the floor reverberated through the room.

“Who’s there?”

He called out to his aggressor, reaching into his sleeve for another needle.

The clack from before echoed in the room. Once. Twice. And then a figure appeared from the doorway. A towering fellow, nearly seven feet in height. He walked with a limp in his right leg, and his getup made him seemed prepared for winter. The only discernable features of his face were his eyes… Closed.

“Oh, it’s you. So are yous the real Oyesu, or a fake?”

The man didn’t speak, instead moving closer and closer to Hanzo who kept a handful of throwing needles pinched between his knuckles ready at his side. Hanzo only smiled. It was like he wasn’t taking this man seriously as all. As if he had no reason to fear the person whom he had refered to as Oyesu.

“Well, say something will ya? I know why you’re here. You’re here to kill me, right?”

The man named Oyesu’s eyebrow raised curiously. Did something the Agent had mentioned intrigue him? Perhaps it was so.

“Alright, enough with the silent treatment. Let’s get this over with, Oyesu Onowai. I’ll even let you have the first shot, come on- Have at me!”

Hanzo gave a wide, toothy grin and held his arms out to his side, it almost seemed like he wasn’t really going to fight back… but there was someting… Sinister about the look on his face. As if everything he was planning, each action he made. It was like he was setting up a trap.

“Hanzo-gun.”

Oyesu finally spoke. His voice was thick, muffled by the large scarf around his face, but you could definitely discern some form of throaty, near archaic accent from him.

“Just a fair warning-”

There was a shift. If there were a breeze in the castle, it would definitely have changed directions right now. And even though there wasn’t, you could still hear the splitting of the air from the other side of the monitors as the towering man shifted his weight onto his good leg and made a singular, swift movement.

Oyesu’s knotted cane had been split into two parts. The end piece, which he propped his free arm on to support one side, and the handle- Extending from which was a blade that was now pierced through Hanzo’s chest. A fatal strike- Straight through the heart.

“Your arrogance will be your undoing- This is how an Onowai fights.”

Hanzo sputtered. Coughing out blood in front of him. His eyes- One yellow as you may have seen before, and the other pink- his eyes had been opened… But he still smiled. His needles had dropped to the floor from the shock of the blow, but now he moved, his hand grabbing onto the blade as he looked up at his assassin’s face. The agent gritted his teeth his breathing was heavy, but still he spoke.

“I’m not... An Onowai...”

His last words on his dying breath as the sword was forcefully turned, pulledand ripped to the side, sending a spray of blood across the room. The last man standing in the main hall, Oyesu Onowai, pulled out a cloth, wiping the blood off of his blade before returning it to his scabbard and walking away. Out of the room, leaving Hanzo’s corpse for the work of the cleaning crew.

[TW: Death Idealization, swearing]

Hanzo looked around the room. It looks like nobody - Barring Shirou - cared about his accusation of Anguo. Shun had yelled at him, Anguo had denied his claim. Nobody else seemed to want to acknowledge anything. But a couple of people did ask questions. Valid questions. Things that they probably deserved answered more than 'who was the real culprit'. The ultimate question: Why.

   "Why did I do it? Why did I boite the bullet for someone I didn' even know? Well- For starters, I already told yous, the culprit was Anguo, regardless of what he wants you to believe, so saying it was someone I didn' know isn' quite correct."

His smug grin remained on his face for a couple of moments before the agent spoke again.

   "But no. For the most part yous got that right. I wanted you guys to know you can't trust everythin' peoples say. Whether it be a confession or an accusation. If yous trustin' everybody, yous gonna be the ones bitin' the bullet in the end, and sometimes, yous just gotta loin that the hard way. And as much as you say yous already know that, it seems to me like you didn't. And that's why-"

The smile on his face changes to a frown.

   "I'm done. I'm absolutely sick and tired of bein' around yous guys. All of yous, barrin' maybe Akemi and Anguo, are insufferable. And to think, if yous all really wanted to, you could have used me as an asset. So that's it. I'm outta here, even death is better than putting up with you stooges."

He smiled again, except this time it was slightly, if only slightly, more genuine. The lack of smugness was jarring.

   "So see, Akemi? What'd I tell yous? I kept your secret, and now I'm taking it to my grave. You got that? I could have been a useful asset to any of yous if only you'd thought to try. But no, instead you decided to send me to my death- So feel free to keep dancin' under those scrutiny of those cameras-"

Nodding his head towards one of the corners of the trial room- Just as Hanzo had said, there was a lone security camera watching everyone's every move.

   "I doubt any of yous even noticed them before now. They're in almost every room. Do with that what you will, but whatever. My time's almost up."

Taking two steps backwards from his podium, The agent pulled his hands out of his pockets.

   "You know, an old man once told me- 'He who lives in the shadows dies in the shadows. That is what it means to be a ninja.' Well-"

As if entirely on cue, the ring shot out of the darkness, clamping itself around his neck. And Hanzo only smiled. Using the index and middle fingers of his hands he made a cross in front of him.

▵ Akae was busy staring in her compact mirror, but she saw the form of someone walking towards her. She wasn’t paying much attention to whatever anyone was saying- she knew Shiroi began speaking earlier but did she care much about what she was going to say? Not really.

▵ Her eyes momentarily flickered up, seeing that Shun was actually joining her. She gave an encouraging smile- something that looked just a little wrong with all the blood on her face, and the fact that her makeup was mixing in with it.

▵ That was, until his expression changed. Akae furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, as she watched him turn, slamming his fists on her podium. It even made the art historian flinch. What was this?

▵ Putting away her mirror and tissues, the redhead left her bag there as she stood slowly, holding the wall. Shun. was yelling. at Shiroi. She watched from the shadows, hoping that he’d at least be okay. She had never seen him like this- ever, even when she teased about things. Even when they had that talk about her hurting others. Never like this.

▶ “Sh-Shun, you…”

▵ Akae’s voice was quiet. She didn’t want to interrupt him- what else was she supposed to do while he was going off, protecting her? She stood there, awkwardly, watching on as Shun screamed his sense into everyone- or at least, to Akae, it all made sense. Then… Shiroi. Began speaking. Akae curled her hand up in a fist, and the closer she got to Shun, the more she was ready to use it.

▶ “Okay, enough-”

▵ The red-eyed girl turned and walked away. The redhead glared as she did so. She turned to Shun, whispering.

▶ “No one is going to fight you, Shun, I’m not letting you get hurt again.”

▵ It felt odd, telling Shun to take a step back. She looked over to An, and then back at Hanzo.

▶ “You don’t even know who actually did it? Then why the hell did you try to cover it up? Why couldn’t you just help us all figure it out instead?!”

▵ She glared, not moving her hand off of Shun’s shoulder. Anguo’s response wasn’t something the redhead wanted to hear… it just felt… off. Her own roommate, and she didn’t even notice the burn? She gulped, wishing she had checked everyone herself. Next time, she wouldn’t hesitate to do so. She wasn’t going to make a mistake like this again, letting someone she sworn to protect, die. The art historian wanted to tell everyone ‘i told you so’ but… she told them… what, exactly? Not the answer. Just that they were wrong.

▵ She snapped out of her daze the moment she heard Mitsuki. Squeezing Shun’s shoulder gently, she looked over, not knowing what to do. She wanted to say, ‘it isn’t your fault’, but wasn't it? It was all their faults. Even if Akae questioned Hanzo, she didn’t do it enough. She didn’t do enough. For someone as overly excessive as Akae, this time, it just wasn’t enough.

▵ The art historian looked to the floor. This was it. There was a killer among them, and no one knew if they were planning to strike again, maybe to even get out of here. She didn’t know if she would survive or if they would ever see their loved ones again. Sure, maybe Shizuka was safe (shouldn't she be relieved??) but… what does it matter if Akae can’t see her again? The redhead cringed at her own selfishness.

By the time the end of the trial rolled around, Mitsuki was exhausted but... well, 'optimistic' probably wasn't the right word for it. 'Relieved', that was most likely the word he was looking for. Kayo's killer had been found, or had confessed, rather. He had helped everyone do the best by his (bath)roommate that he possibly could. It certainly didn't erase all of the drama that had followed, but it was something, right?

Mitsuki had silently headed over to Hanzo's podium to return his needle (he didn't bother to acknowledge the agent, it wasn't his place, nor was it worth it) before returning to his podium and staring down at the floor, counting down the moments until trial end in his head. Just a bit longer until execution. Just a bit longer until he could rest. He'd make it. He had done so much worse than this. A few hours was nothing compared to a day.

The trial drew to an end. Kumi announced the verdict. They...

...were completely and utterly incorrect.

"H-how..."

The evidence had... things had pointed to... Hanzo had... everything had lined up in a logical fashion, so... why?!

And he'd yelled at Akae too. Akae was right all alone, and he'd yelled at her, he had been insubordinate in the worst way, he was such an idiotic defective useless excuse for a... his mother and... all of them they would be disgusted... they'd probably do something if they knew... and even he hadn't been meant to, not knowing wasn't an excuse for doing what he'd... he was so... so very...

(The needle too, the needle was planted evidence, and he'd fallen for it, because of course he did, at the end of the day, he was just a-)

...and now Hanzo was going to die for something he hadn't done. That the agent appeared to want it this way (why? he understood this less than so many other things) was no object to the janitor, the fact of the matter was that given the choice it really should have been him, he should have volunteered himself, why hadn't he tried-

(He knew why. Mitsuki was afraid to die, despite all logic dictating he shouldn't have been. How selfish of him. How disgusting of him. To think that he'd let his own needs derail him this far from what he was supposed to be...)

Mitsuki didn't bother addressing the matter of Anguo Lee and his possible guilt. He didn't bother addressing Hanzo either, let alone attempting to look at him. If he hadn't been able to make himself face the agent before, he definitely couldn't now. Instead, he hung his head, shoulders slouched as he repeated over and over, sounding more like a record skipping repeatedly like a human-

He didn’t pay much mind to the vote tally. If things panned out as they had the past couple times (and the fact he’d gotten so used to this was either a testimony to his ability to adapt or...actually, he was just going to go with that and not bother to think heavily on the issue) then it’d all be over soon. They’d be right, and….th...en……..

He blinked.

(Kumi was lying. He knew Kumi lied, they had before and yet-- what did they have to gain here by doing so? Trying to cause the class to split apart finding an imaginary culprit or-- )

Hanzo took his shirt off. Kumi was not lying.

What...what was he supposed to make of this? Of course he wasn’t happy about Hanzo dying, or anyone else for that matter, but if anything he was just...confused. He was prepared to die too, he knew he deserved it, but he was at least going to pick a hill to die on. This just seemed pointless.

He was too deep in thought to engage in the arguments everyone else was having. But still.

“....Oh, good Lord.”

(And then, mentally, he apologized to the good Lord.)

He bit his tongue but there was so much that could be said. Did everyone really think justice had anything to do with this? What did this even accomplish? Well, in the strictest sense, he supposed that momentarily they were safer if they sucessfully found the culprit, but then again…

He could be reasonably certain that Hanzo had done some bad things in the past, and vice-versa, but Shirou at least knew his reasons for doing what he did, while Hanzo was a dangerous enigma, and Hanzo knew a little too much. Were they safer without him around…?

He didn’t know. That made him uneasy. He usually had the answers, he’d always been so certain...no, he just needed more time to think. Somewhere quiet. He could sort this out.

“...Sorry.”

It was said to either nobody in particular, or everyone. As always, it was quite hard to tell.

He jumped at every shadow, every external noise. He felt so certain that even his heartbeat would give him away, with how loud it was, surely anyone could hear it pounding against his ribcage, ready to burst from his chest. He raised his trembling hands to--

...Funny how much he’d revisited that exact same emotion the past week. He’d rather like to never go through that again. But for now, once again he felt quite small.

(And he listened to An’s defense, and it didn’t quite escape him there was something on his hand, and…)

He pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a small sigh. Perhaps it was just his imagination. One could dream.

“...Forgive me, but if you were apparently the last one to see the deceased alive, that does make you a bit suspicious.”

He folded his arms, looking away, a rare frown creasing his face.