#orbit chapter 3

“I bid you all farewell, although I cannot exactly call you friends. In the next life I’ll be sure to remember that it was you all who sent me to my ultimate doom.”

And with that, she was dragged away by the cold chain.

{♪♪♪}

{Commencing execution . . .}

The only light came from behind the kimono-clad girl, escaping from the windows of a door. Where could this be…?

All of a sudden, lanterns whooshed to life with flame, revealing a relatively old-looking Buddhist temple. Hazuki squinted for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. This was… Myoryu-ji! The famous temple they called “Ninja-dera” for all of its traps and secret rooms and tunnels…

So that meant that she had to go forward.

Hazuki began to dash through the temple, turning every which direction. Legends said that the well at the center was the way out, right? So she had to make it there.

She tripped over a rope and hit the ground just as an arrow shot out of the wall right where she was standing. Phew, that was a close one. Onwards, then!

Turning, running, avoiding wires… it seemed to leisurely.

Ah- a trick tile… Hazuki lifted her foot off the sunken floor only to hear a mechanical whirring behind her. She turned around to find a dozen robotic miko behind her, all shouting a mechanical chant of “TRESPASSER!”

Hazuki bolted- now it was exciting. She left behind her geta and ran on bare feet, the android miko trailing her not too far behind. She wasn’t at all physically fit- this would be a challenge for her.

Finally, she was chased to a central room with a well in the middle. The miko surrounded her, blocking any exit. The legend said the way out was at the bottom… so the last thing she could do was pray and hope the legends were true.

She hopped up onto the edge of the well, and with no time to think about hesitating she jumped in.

There was silence for a moment. Then after a few seconds, a sickening crack and the splash of water made it clear that the legends weren’t as true as she’d hoped.

CALIGULA FILE

Victim #1: Junnes Cohen

Place of Body: Cafeteria Kitchen

Time of Death: 9:49 PM

State of body: Sprawled on floor. Red liquid stain on chest.  

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Victim #2: Lisa Titus

Place of Body: Cafeteria Kitchen

Time of Death: 9:52

The announcement going off brings on the sense of creeping dread it always has, but with it, you feel relief in the pit of your stomach. That person is safe. You look around until you see Hayate Gacchiri and Yoshiro Kimura in the cafeteria with serious expressions. 

Going into the kitchen, you see a right mess, as well as... 

She'd learned from her various times bouncing balls against the wall that, in fact, hitting the wall did not count as damaging property. So she wouldn't suffer as Jun had if she well, smashed the wall in. Which was her exact intention, really. As soon as the motive sounded she sped off to find a place of peace. The... ball room. Yeah. That place probably had some bad memories. She could probably expect it to be empty at this point. She poked her head in to confirm it before walking in, seemingly calm. Like the duck kicking under the ocean however, it's a facade and it doesn't take the footballer long to break any calm on the surface.

She lets out a primal scream before beating her hands into the walls. One punch led to another and another and another after that. STUPID Dad! He couldn't do anything! Such a useless guy, so much for being an adult... and now this... and now this! Couldn't he stay out of trouble for two seconds? Usually upon punching something the flurry of fists would eventually slow down but Shinobu still felt the rage in her so she kept on and on. A flash of red catches her eye and she becomes only vaguely aware that she'd bleeding now. White knuckles painted with deep scarlet. Some flicks onto her face and the colour just makes her angrier somehow.

A couple more hits, these ones the hardest of all of them... and then... then she's able to stop. To try and stop anyway. That dark cloud of anger is as persistent as ever. Shinobu takes a deep breath and puts one red hand to her forehead. Rather than feel satisfied she just feels distant - as if her mind is somehow elsewhere. She supposes it is to a degree.

She only vaguely notices it when someone else enters the room. Shinobu allows the hand to drop off her head and fall to her side, spraying the red droplets as it moves. Her reddish-pink eyes seem unusually dark today as they move to greet the newcomer.

The familiar form of CAL flickers onto the screens once more. 

"Good morning, you sniveling children! I've noticed a very disappointing lack of BRUTAL, DEPRAVED, HOMICIDE from you lot lately! So! HERE! IS! A LITTLE! GIFT FOR YOU ALL!" 

CAL-19014 chuckles lightly, before fading out to a black screen. Suddenly, a poorly done, obviously fake imitation of a Hope's Peak logo appears on the screen, before cutting to footage of a small, concrete room, with a gathering of people in it, blindfolded, gagged, and tied to chairs. The floor seems to be covered by a thin layer of water, that is slowly, very slowly, but visibly rising. The camera pans by all of the people, and almost all of them you don't recognize; a girl with glasses and a childish face, a man in a lab coat with glasses, a man in a full business suit, until you see the sight that makes you shiver; the terrified, blindfolded face of the person most important to you. 

The video fades to black before returning to CAL. 

"You all seemed so bored, I thought perhaps you could use some entertainment! This is my little live action show, STARRING! YOUR! LOVED ONES! The winner is the last to drown, but it's a bit of a Pyrrhic victory. They're all done for within a few days unless one of you does a little MURDERING! Ahahahahaha!" 

He frowns.