"We need to check the attractions for Sou..." Joe said, voice sounding dejected.

Sara was killed because of Sou's influence, Kanna had revealed. You weren't sure if Joe's willingness to find this pathetic excuse for a man was because of his sudden drive for his blood in turn of Sara's, or because he wanted to distract himself.

"...You should eat first." You responded quietly. The two of you stood in the lobby alone. Everyone had gone their separate ways, looking for Sou, or whoever the verdict was who'd broken the mystery monitor.

Joe looked away from you. He stared at one of the hallways, looking distant. "Joe, please." You said, slightly louder. He turned to look at you, conscience returning. His expression became soft.

"...I'm fine."

"...Please."

Joe swallowed. He looked empty. He looked... sad.

"...Okay."

You smiled softly, relaxing the rest of your body. "Okay. The food is in there."

~ * ~

The two of you returned to Joe's bedroom to eat comfortably.

"You... stayed in here while I was asleep?" Joe asked, breaking off a piece of bread he'd grabbed and placing it in his mouth.

"Oh..." Shit, was that weird? "I... yeah. I was worried you'd wake up confused and disoriented... So I thought it'd be helpful for me to be here once you woke up. But... I guess I wasn't, huh? ...Sorry."

"...Thank you." He said. He tried to hide his smile, making him look almost bitter.

"...For what?"

"For being here. I don't know... What I'd do by myself."

"...It's not like I'm doing much..."

"You're doing more than you realize." He said, voice sounding clearer and warmer than before. "I don't know what I'd have done, waking up by myself in a panic like I was with no one I knew."

"You know the rest of the group, though."

"But not like I know you." He said. You were taken aback, and it was evident by the way you pulled back slightly, straightening your posture. "Like... Sorry. Obviously, I don't... know you. But... I feel like I feel more comfortable around you. You were the only one... who asked if I was okay. And... you knew Sara better than anyone else did. You'd be the only one who'd understand.

"Everyone just watched." He said. Your heart hurt. It hurt and you felt your eyes stinging with tears that threatened to fall and it's amazing the kind of strength you had to hold them back. It was not your turn to be emotional. "Nobody... Did anything." He said.

And though he didn't say specifics, you knew he was talking about Sara's death. Not her death specifically, but what came afterward. Kai's death. The crying, the screaming, the sobbing. The panic and self-doubt and eventually the rise and fall of their humanity. They watched as Joe sat on the floor in your arms and cried out in anguish and fear for a friend lost. They watched his body go limp and no one helped you with the aftermath. They watched you give his body one last squeeze — a sympathy hug, perhaps — before attempting to lift him, ultimately failing because his unconscious body was like a bag of bricks. Of all people to help — Of all fucking people — the only one who helped bring him to the next floor was Sue Miley. Everyone else watched or went on ahead first.

Did they not care?

"You're the only one who cared." He finished.

Whether they did or not, they did not do well at showing it. Joe saw through their bullshit.

You didn't know how to respond. What was the appropriate thing to say to something like that?

Should you agree? Disagree? Tell the truth or lie in the face of this poor boy who's already lost enough as it was? What was the better option?

Either way, he already knew what the truth was. Was there any point in responding?

It didn't matter. He continued before you got the chance to respond. "...Are you satisfied?"

"...Sorry?"

"With... eating. Did you want to eat anymore? Or are you ready to look for Sou?"

"...I'm satisfied." But that would never really be true.

~ * ~

Stepping out of the attraction with nothing other than Sou's beanie you'd found on the floor earlier, the two of you were silent. Some sort of tension so thick you could cut it with a knife but you weren't sure what it was.

"What do you feel right now?" You asked him, letting the two of you pause.

"What do I feel?" He repeated the question, letting you nod in affirmation. "I'm... tired."

"You seem upset."

"I am upset."

"Would you like to elaborate?" You were met with silence and a blank stare from that once golden boy who stood parallel to you. "You can say no, Joe."

"During the Main Game, I told everyone that if I were in Nao's shoes, I'd be angry." He said, undertones seeming bitter. "How do you interpret that? What does that mean for me?"

"...You're bitter."

Joe stood firm, hands balled at his sides. "It means I'm a liar. Because more than anger, I feel... bitter. Resentful. Remorseful. I could take out all the vocabulary words I've learned in my literature classes over these collective years of my life and I'm not sure I'd ever be able to find a word strong enough to describe... How I'm feeling. I think your description is the closest I could get. Hit the nail on the head, I am feeling bitter.

"The fact that I never imagined I'd be in this situation made me a liar, and now I'm a poet." Because all authors are liars.

The end is never the end is never the end.

Joe's hardened expression, not exactly looking at you, softened when his gaze returned to yours. You could see his attempt at pulling his eyes away from yours, ripping them away like velcro, but he couldn't.

Something about your eyes was so captivating and he could not pull himself away.

And he wasn't sure he wanted to.

"Fuck, there you guys are," And someone came along to pull that velcro apart. Reko continued, "We found that beanie fucker in his room. You're gonna wanna see this, Joe."

He looked back at you before motioning for you to follow along with them.

~ * ~

A few had already gathered in Sou's room, and a few trickled in after the three of you. Joe, as tired as ever, slowly got down on the floor to inspect Sou, who was asleep on the floor. Or, rather, unconscious, you guessed. There was a wooden plan on the floor that you assumed had been the cause of Sou's presumably uncomfortable and unprompted nap on the floor.

Joe reached for Sou's hand, which slid limply out of the formers. The impact startled Sou awake, as he shot up from the floor, wincing from his head injury.

"Ow... Where... Where are we? Why is it so bright in here? Can someone turn that light off..?" Keiji reached over, turned on a lamp, and turned off the main bedroom light, so it wasn't blinding for a man who possibly had a concussion, but still bright enough to where everyone could see each other.

"Knock that bullshit off, Hiyori," Reko responded aggressively. She stood in one corner with her hands crossed over her chest and you could help but notice Alice standing the same way in another corner. "You know where we are. Stop playing the victim. Did you break that computer?"

"...Computer? Oh, do you mean the laptop? Oh..!" He searched the room frantically, pulling himself up to sit on his bottom. "The laptop... Where is it? I still need to get into it to learn more about our kidnappers... If I can't get in before the Main Game... it might spell trouble for us..."

"Again with the bullshit!" Reko barked back. Joe turned away from looking to Sou to give her a look, attempting to pacify her.

She just rolled her eyes, kicking off the wall and leaving the room. Nao followed after her, trying to convince her to calm down. Turning back to Sou, Joe asked, "What are you talking about? We already did the Main Game. And you already looked at the laptop..."

"...That can't be right. I was just in that room! I was looking at the laptop... But... Well, Joe, you aren't one to lie, so... If that's true... then...

"Who died?"

It's crazy how two incredibly vague words had such a chokehold over Joe. He looked stuck. His eyes became distant and it was like he was stuck in that room again. Clicking that damn button, still clinging to a life that Sara had already given up ages ago.

"Who was it? It wasn't Keiji... It wasn't Reko or Nao either, since they just left the room... Oh... Was it Kai? That's... terrible..."

And everyone let out a breath of relief because, for just a moment, they all believed that he'd stop there, but was anyone really shocked to hear him egg Joe on? "Or... Sara?"

Joe swallowed harshly.

"It can't be, can it? it couldn't have been Sara!" Sou clung onto Joe as if it was his friend who had died. "Joe, tell me. Sara isn't dead, is she?"

You saw the slight grimace on Joe's face for the split second that he'd snapped back to reality before he vomited all over Sou. Disgusted, Sou jumped back, gasping. Joe promptly fell over and fainted again.

To his luck, you were only a few feet away, and able to slide your hands beneath him before his head hit the hardwood floor beneath you all.

You weren't one for confrontation, but after all this pent-up anger that had aroused in you over the past four days, you couldn't bite your tongue back. "Fuck you, Sou."

"I beg your pardon?" He hissed.

"Then get on your knees and beg," You hissed back.

"Okay, teens, breakup this catfight," Keiji said. Ever the savior, policeman.

Still not done raging, you immaturely responded, "If you want to seem like a savior for us hostages, maybe you should take initiative instead of a seventeen-year-old boy. Maybe you could start by helping said seventeen-year-old boy get off the ground and onto one of those lobby couches, hm?" You gave him a pissed-off, fake smile.

"I think you can handle him on your own. You did it before."

"I wasn't asking, Keiji."

Everyone was taken aback by your sudden abrasiveness, including yourself.

"...You better listen to them, Keiji Shinogi," Alice said, kicking off the wall and walking past the group the same way Reko had done moments earlier.

The rest of the group followed suit, leaving the four of you and Kanna in Sou's bedroom.

"You take care of him, Keiji. I need to talk to Sou."

Reluctantly, Keiji complied.

"You need to watch yourself, Sou. Joe may be kind to you but you're getting on my last nerve. I wouldn't normally approach another human being like this, but sometimes I wonder if you even are. You're heartless, Sou. You're heartless." You stood up, leaving him sitting on the ground.

You walked to Kanna, "Don't let him leave, okay? I won't force you to stay away from him because I know you won't listen to me anyway. Just keep him away from... everyone else."

Was that too much pressure to put on her? You didn't care. You'd curse this world from hell.

~ * ~

5.19.23

1997 words