Chapter 27
Es came back from Saki's Sekai.
They sighed.
"Finally, you're back."
Fuuta had his arms crossed as he sank into the Tenmas' couch, Kanade and Ena sitting there too.
Saki sat on a different chair.
"Welcome back, Es! Was Shiho there?"
Saki asked them, Es nodded as Kanade passed them a cup of tea.
"She was there, yes. Although I think it's pretty obvious that she doesn't remember anything. She's just Milgram's current prison guard."
Fuuta froze at the mention of the prison.
"We know that. Anything new?"
"Trial 1 ended. We won't hear from Hinomori for a bit over a month."
Saki put her own cup down on the table.
"Wait, what'll happen? Will Shiho be okay?"
Saki questioned as Es stretched their arms.
"Guards usually take long naps in between the trials, I don't know why."
Ena chimed in.
"And what happens with the prisoners?"
Es shrugged.
"It depends. I don't mean to scare you but, at least in 2020, everything went to shit while I was asleep."
Ena was startled slightly, turning to Fuuta for confirmation.
The latter noticed and hesitantly nodded.
"True. You only need one prisoner and everyone goes down because of them."
Fuuta pointed at his eye, making Saki wince slightly.
"But none of our friends would actually do that, right?
Kanade chuckled slightly as she said that.
"Right?"
"You never know."
Es sighed.
"No… Tsukasa would never do that. Ichi and Hona would never do that!"
Ena stood up.
"Saki. That has been your logic for the entire time we've been looking for them. You said that with Fuuta's letter, you said that with this."
Saki was about to say something, but Ena continued.
"I know it seems uncharacteristic, but they killed people, it's not out of the question."
Kanade put a hand on Ena's shoulder.
"Ena…"
She turned to look at her.
"There's only a small chance it will happen… I know you're still a bit shaken up by your brother but---"
Ena cut her off.
"I'm fine, Kana. Let's just… keep searching."
Before Ena could sit down again, they heard the front door being unlocked from outside.
Saki would be home alone for quite some time. Her parents were on a trip as always and Tsukasa… wasn't home.
So instead, Toya opened the door.
"Toya? What are you doing here?"
He walked up to them.
"I think… we have a vague idea of what Akito and An have done…"
Kohane ran in shortly after, struggling to catch her breath.
"Aoyagi, wait up…!"
"Kohane?"
Saki waved at her, standing up to close the door.
Es leaned into Fuuta's ear.
"Who are they?"
They whispered, Fuuta let out a frustrated sigh.
"My brother's friends. Well… Asuzawa is my brother's friend, I'm not sure about him though."
Ena leaned in as well.
"They're not friends, that's for sure."
Kanade joined the conversation.
"Oh, speaking of, can we talk outside for a second, Ena?"
Ena nodded, and they both went outside the house.
"So… What did you want to talk about?"
Somewhere, Kazui and Shidou sat together.
Shidou sighed.
"I miss my wife, Kazui."
Mikoto, who neither of them knew was there, groaned.
"Shidou, no offence, but it's the sixth time today you've said something about your wife."
Kazui jumped slightly in his seat.
"Mikoto-! When did you get here?!"
Mikoto pointed at Mahiru, who was standing right beside them.
"I've been here for 6 hours. Mappi brought me here to spy on you."
"Yahoo!!"
Kazui sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"This is an island in the middle of nowhere. How the heck did you two even know this place?"
Mahiru put her hands together, one of her legs rising up behind her as she smiled.
"Anything for young love!"
Kazui let out a "Huh?!"
"We're grown adults?! Goodness… Mikoto. How do you actually know this place?"
Mikoto pointed at his phone.
"I asked Muu to hack into your computer, I had to promise to give her my credit card info but after that, getting here was easy peasy!"
It was 4 am.
Es hoped for the best as she slowly went into the hallway.
No one was up, of course, but she still went ahead and checked on everyone as quietly as she could.
She heard someone's footsteps getting closer.
"Guard?"
Mafuyu had multiple sheets of paper in her hand, her hair was way shorter now.
"Oh… 010. What are you doing at this hour?"
Mafuyu showed her the sheets in her hand.
"Just… Something I used to do. I need to catch up on it!"
She smiled, though Es already knew that smile was probably fake.
Es crossed her arms.
"...What's up with you and 008?"
Mafuyu literally jumped, almost dropping the papers.
"W-what?"
Es turned around, realising it'd be better to bring it up later.
"Nevermind that… I'll be on my way. Enjoy your… Night study or… whatever you're doing."
She walked away, feeling Mafuyu's empty stare on her back.
It was a cold, dead stare.
She… had a certain prisoner she needed to check on.
Without making a sound, she headed towards the hallway's second cell.
Minori's cell.
Before she went in, she felt heavy breathing mere metres from her, they were silent, muted even, if that made sense.
She was probably just half asleep.
It was 4 am, of course she was.
Minori had a wheelchair by her side, half of her face was covered in bandages and her wrist was broken.
And those were probably just the visible injuries, who knows what else had been broken.
She looked exhausted. She most likely was.
Es felt her hands tremble as she walked out of the cell, panting.
They were murderers. It was her job to judge them and theirs to suffer the consequences.
So why was she feeling guilty for them?
They didn't deserve such guilt from her. They didn't and she knew that.
She covered her face with her arm, closing her eyes and breathing slowly.
"It's not your fault… You know it's not, Sh---
She cut herself there.
Was she about to say… Shiho?
Nevermind, not the time.
"It's not your fault… It's not your fault… They shouldn't have killed… They brought this onto themselves…"
She reassured herself, not daring to look back at Minori's cell.
The heavy breathing behind her continued, but this time Es just couldn't bother to check who it was.
Thus far, that was Es' worst moment in the prison of Milgram.