Chapter 25
"We're fucked, Rui. Even when you get innocent, Shiho still knows what we've done."
He wrapped his own arms around himself, taking the deepest breath he could.
"When? Tsukasa, if you got guilty, I'm already six feet under. Plus, did you hear her say who you killed? Nobody kno---
Rui stopped talking all of the sudden, Tsukasa noticing, much to his dismay.
"Rui? Rui?! Rui, did you tell someone?!"
Tsukasa put a hand through his hair, letting out a frustrated sigh as he began pacing through his cell, like Rui was doing just moments before.
Minori had some sort of locker in her cell.
It was there when she woke up, and she'd only opened it once.
It was empty, nothing else.
So she just left it there, not like she spent that much time in her cell anyway.
She left the key for it next to her cell's bed, in case she ever needed to use it.
Now, she thought it was the right moment.
"You killed Haruka?!"
An stood right on her cell's doorstep, holding what seemed like half of one of the cell doors' bars, her hands bandaged.
She laughed sarcastically.
"It was you all along huh…!?"
Es went there one more time.
After that, she'd have the nap of the century.
But first, she needed to relax a bit in that place.
Maybe she'd chat a bit with Saki, maybe just take a small nap on the rooftop, or maybe even wander around that weird school, she'd decide on the way.
All she knew was that she could feel the tension from the prisoners from a mile away, and she needed to get away from all that for a bit.
She appeared on the same rooftop that Saki and she had been on just a couple days before, quickly noticing no one was there.
She opened the door to the stairway, not hearing the faint piano melody she heard when Saki was there last time.
It was quiet.
Es went down the stairs, ending up next to one of the classrooms.
She swore she could hear someone playing an electric guitar or something like that inside.
She poked her head slightly to see who it was, remembering that Saki only played the piano.
And, of course, those Luka and Miku people were there but she doubted it was any of them.
And, would you look at that, she was right.
She didn't recognize them, in fact, they didn't even seem familiar like Saki did.
"Oh… Hello."
They said, not stopping whatever they were playing.
"Uhm… Who are you?"
Es stood pretty still, waiting for the unknown person to answer.
"...Well, I can't say I remember that, but call me Es, I suppose…"
"Es..?"
The other Es nodded.
"I… I see. It's a coincidence. My name's Es too."
She muttered. It really was a weird coincidence, it's not everyday she found a person with the same name and the same memory problem.
"What now, you're going to tell me you're a prison warden?"
The other Es chuckled.
"I was, it's funny isn't it?"
"A strange coincidence that we have so much in common, yes."
They nodded as they left the guitar on a table and walked up to her.
"Haha… That's not the coincidence I'm speaking about, Es."
"What?"
Es brushed it off, getting out of the classroom.
"How about we take a walk? I mean, this place is pretty big, isn't it?"
Before Shiho could argue, Es was already walking, the former quickly running to catch up to them.
When she caught up to Es, they spoke.
"What trial are you in?"
Shiho was hesitant to answer.
"Trial 1 just ended."
Es winced slightly, remembering all the chaos they woke up to after the second trial.
"...Es?"
They let out a small "ah"
"Sorry. You said Trial 1 just ended, didn't you?"
Shiho nodded quickly.
"I did, yes."
She stopped for a second before continuing.
"Which years were you the prison guard in?"
"2020, if I'm not mistaken."
Shiho remembered the file she had taken out of the 2020 drawer.
"Oh, that's… curious."
Es tilted their head slightly.
"In what way?"
"Ah… Forget it, it's nothing."
The school bell rang.
Shiho didn't even know there was one.
Wait. What time was it?
"Es… do you happen to know what time it is…?"
Es looked down to their hand, where their clock was.
"7:05 pm."
Shiho jumped a little, running back to the stairway.
"I have to go now, but uh… it was nice to meet you… I guess."
Es waved at her as she ran towards the rooftop.
With only one click she was back in the prison.
She sighed.
"Jackalope!"
She yelled at the corridor, hearing a faint "WHAT" back.
"I'm going to take a nap, make sure the prisoners don't escape."
She threw herself onto her bed, and slowly slipped into unconsciousness.
"We're fucked… We're going to--
Tsukasa's words were suddenly stopped by shouting coming from the hallway.
Rui looked at him before poking his head out to see what was going on outside.
"Ah, shit…"