Chapter 40!1!1!1!1
“RUI!”
Mizuki called out to him.
“RUI GRAB MY HAND! YOU'RE WAY TOO HIGH UP!”
It was dark, silent as ever, neither of them knew where everyone else had gone off to.
“I'm okay, Mizuki. I'm fixing what I tore down.”
Mizuki's nerves skyrocketed. They stepped back from Rui, trying to locate anyone else in the imminent darkness.
There was no one though, no one to answer Mizuki's screams calling them.
Then, the lights went on once again.
“Fufu! Could you help me down now, Mizuki?”
Rui asked, making some final touches on the lightbulb he'd broken 2 hours prior. Mizuki helped him down.
“Thank you,”
Rui looked at his right hand, noticing he'd damaged it slightly.
“Ah. Well, that'll get better overtime, I'm sure!”
Mizuki stared at it.
“I don't think so, Rui. Seems pretty serious to me.”
They ran to get a first aid kit, only to come back without it.
“Come, maybe Mafuyu took it?”
Rui and Mizuki hurried towards Mafuyu's cell just as she was coming out of it.
“Mafuyu!”
They threw themselves towards her, Rui chuckling at the moment.
“Mizuki and… Kamishiro… What happened?”
Rui showed her his hand.
“Do you happen to have the first aid kit with you? I may have gotten myself a bit of an injury.”
Mafuyu nodded, kneeling down on the floor of her cell to get it, immediately handing it to Mizuki.
“Alrighty, thanks, Mafuyu!!”
“006, 008 and 010. There you are.”
Rui glanced at Es, who wasn't there just a moment ago.
“Fufu, hi, Warden. Is something wrong?”
He asked, pointing out her unusually confused expression.
“I'm sure it's nothing. If you guys happen to see 009 and 005, tell them to go to the main hall. As soon as possible.”
Es ran towards the other cells, the three prisoners left to process what just happened.
“Hm… Hinomori and Shiraishi. I'll check Hinomori’s cell, she's probably there.”
Mafuyu calmly walked out of sight, looking for Shizuku in every other cell between the former idol’s and her own.
“I'll go get An then, see you, Rui!”
Rui waved at Mizuki as they headed to An's.
Shortly after, Rui started walking around the halls of the prison he'd been spending so many months in.
He still vividly remembered Emu and Nene, the Wonder Stage, everything they'd left behind.
Although Shizuku and Mizuki's hopeful attitude was starting to rub off on him, so that started making his days a bit better.
Rui walked into the main hall of the prison, Tsukasa was talking with Ichika and Minori, Shizuku and Mafuyu had arrived moments before him and were beside Honami and Akito, Mafuyu seemingly running checks on the guilty prisoners’ wounds as always.
“Good morning, Kamishiro!”
An greeted him, Mizuki coming right behind her from the same entrance Rui was standing on at the moment.
“Fufu, good morning, Shiraishi.”
The three walked into the actual hall, And then, Es kicked the door open, which startled some prisoners.
“Alright everyone, line up! I want everyone in a straight line, number order, fast!”
Es yelled with a serious expression, though she quickly exchanged an unknowing and worried look with Honami.
Ichika and Akito, who were together in line, looked at the sudden situation in confusion.
An uncomfortable silence had settled in the room as the back entrance opened to let Jackalope inside.
“Ah, how are you, Es?”
Es glared at him for a second, maintaining a somewhat serious face.
“What the hell is all of this, Jackalope…?!”
She whispered, just enough for him to hear.
Various whispers filled the hall, Es shouted out.
“Silence! Listen up, I won’t be repeating myself.”
As Es began speaking, whirring noises could be heard from all over the prison. As if someone’s trial had just ended.
But Es was there, from Tsukasa to Mafuyu, all the prisoners were there, no one being judged at that exact moment.
Es was saying what told, it was obvious enough from the way she glanced at Jackalope after a couple sentences, how even she was concerned.
“From today forward, this prison will change. As you all may know, I, Es, have been the one and only prison guard throughout these past few months.”
“Go on, continue…”
Jackalope continued, and Es followed right up.
“I’m… I’m still going to be here. I’m still going to continue my duty as Milgram’s prison guard.”
The doors behind her and Jackalope opened in an eerily slow manner.
“However.”
Unfamiliar steps echoed through the prisoners’ ears, sudden fear filled Es as a hand creeped in and grasped her shoulder from behind.
Shizuku had a bad feeling. Where was Shiho even going with this? The look on her sister’s face made her nauseous, Rui putting a hand on her shoulder as he noticed.
She couldn’t understand what was going through her sister’s head at that very moment, Shizuku could only see the panic in her eyes, how she kept her gaze on this mysterious person and how her sight never left her.
That was the Shiho she grew up with, of course, she’d recognize her anywhere. But at that moment, no words were able to escape her throat to help her somehow.
She tried to force her legs, hands, anything to move in Shiho’s direction, her body staying still like everybody else’s.
Like everyone else, all she was able to do was watch like an outsider, it was unsettling for her.
She didn’t care at that point if whatever was happening would end up killing her, she would not lose her sister again.
“Shiho!”
Shizuku stepped out of the line in a hurry, her sister appeared to be in danger, she had to do something, even if she had to force herself to.
Mafuyu gently grabbed her wrist, quickly pulling to get Shizuku back, whispering as quietly as she possibly could, a slightly saddened expression on her face.
“You’ll do her and yourself more harm than good, Shizuku…”
Shizuku looked back at Shiho.
“Asahina…”
Jackalope seemed to carelessly ignore the two though, saying words that were unintelligible to everyone but Es.
Those words though, left Es perplexed, shocked to such an extent that her gaze barely managed to move up to the prisoners.
What was going to happen to her from that moment onwards? No one ever prepared Es for anything like this, Jackalope had never mentioned it.
“I will not be the only one.”
As that slightly panicked sentence left her mouth, the hand stepped out from the shadows behind her.
“Greetings, Milgram Prison.”
Her voice rang through their ears, Akito’s eyes widened.
“Like Es here said,”
This mysterious person, her short hair and piercing stare shook Es to her very core.
There was the apparent internal fear of somehow getting replaced, the uncertainty of what would happen to the others.
Sure, Es was there to judge their sins as forgivable or unforgivable, but she’d made the mistake of getting attached. To Honami, to Shizuku, and even if she wasn’t a prisoner, to Saki.
Es hated, feared the idea that this threat to her attachment to these murderers would destroy just that.
Es hated what someone dying in her guard would signify.
This person seemed somewhat recognizable too, she was sure she’d seen her face somewhere before.
This person fiercely let go of her shoulder, walking ahead with a menacing stare on the prisoners, like examining them from head to toe.
“I myself will ensure your crimes are punished. Although…”
She turned to look at a very nervous An who got startled easily by her mere mention.
“It seems someone has taken that role already, right, Es?”
“Hwha--?!”
They locked eyes for a second, An turned away from her, feeling her heavy gaze on her back.
She didn’t want to ensure anyone’s crimes were punished. Nobody in their right mind would hurt someone like she’d done with no apparent reason.
An didn’t want to be a threat. She never intended for any of it to happen.
All the way to her murder, even if it wasn’t intentional, she’d been at fault all this time, right? If she was comparable to a person such as the new guard then that must mean they’re one of the same, right?
Before she knew, her breathing had become extremely unsteady. Her heartbeat was going fast as she spiraled.
Turning to look at Es, the guard was deep in thought.
Rui chuckled awkwardly, quickly taking one single step forward in the new guard’s direction, catching her attention.
Rui also took a second to glance at Tsukasa, both of the prisoners turning their heads back to her.
He ushered to speak up, waving at her in a friendly but a bit nervous manner.
“Fufu, well, nice to meet you, warden.”
He offered his hand for a handshake, her looking at Rui’s damaged, untreated hand and then at him with an intimidating gaze that sent shivers down his spine.
Rui brushed a bit of blood from his hand off, his other hand sloppily gripping the inside of his pocket, and letting the injured one rest.
“Anyway, What do you suppose we could call you..?”
Then it clicked. The old files, she had seen her before.
“Huh, well-”
The one to give punishment to the guilty of that year’s prisoners,
“Former prisoner 010, year 2020. You’re…”
Es gulped, tripping forward to face her, saying her name with slight underlying terror.
“...Yuzuriha Kotoko.”
“You weren’t going to make me aware of Yuzuriha?”
Es desperately paced around the room, Jackalope laughing at her.
“What can I say, it’s curious to see what comes out of a little surprise, right?”
She glared at the horned rabbit, continuing to pace shortly after.
“I have a bad feeling. I mean, you were probably there when she was here as a prisoner, weren’t you? The files say it all, she almost killed the 006 from that time!”
Jackalope scoffed.
“Es… where are you going with this?”
“I don’t want them to die. None of them deserve to die.”
Es continued, looking at Jackalope’s disinterested face.
“If someone dies under my guard, what does that make me, us, Milgram itself?”
She stopped pacing quickly, running a hand through her gray hair.
“It’s more likely that a prisoner will die. But that’s part of your duty, isn’t it, Es?”
Her eyes widened in shock.
“You’re the prison guard at Milgram, it is your job to hand down judgement. Whether one or two of the prisoners die is none of your concern.”
He was quick to change the subject after that.
“Anyway, I’m gonna go cook, this is stressing me out.”
Es scoffed, annoyed.
“You are stressed?!”
He nodded.
An knocked on Shizuku's cell.
“Oh, Shiraishi… how are you taking what happened this morning?”
Shizuku looked into her eyes, instead of the normal amber eyes, somewhat lit up with life, they were different.
Haruka’s eyes.
“An told me what happened. Are you okay…?”
Haruka asked, putting a hand on Shizuku’s shoulder.
“I really don’t know. Shiho seemed so scared of her too… How’s Shiraishi?”
The blue haired ghost sat down next to her.
“She was really startled by her, y’know? With the mention of what happened with Hanasato, Shinonome and--”
“Oh right! Hanasato is a really big fan of yours, she’s really sweet, did you meet her?”
Shizuku asked cheerfully, Haruka getting caught off guard by the sudden mention of Minori.
“I did, yeah…
but back to the conversation, are you completely, entirely sure you’re alright?”
Shizuku hesitantly nodded, Haruka sighing in relief.
“That's good to hear, Shizuku. I'm here for you, you know? Even if… like this.”
Haruka uttered, being pulled into a tight hug by Shizuku.
“Thank you, Haruka.”